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 GEORGE SELWYN 
 
 AND 
 
 HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 ISAAC FOOT 
 LIBRARY
 
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 ne(.ti.ijKi(.-har<ilicnUey,1643.
 
 GEORGE SELWYN 
 
 AND 
 
 HIS CONTEMPORARIES ; 
 
 WITH MEMOIRS AND NOTES. 
 
 BY JOHN HENEAGE JESSE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "MEMOIRS OF THK COURT OF ENGLAND DURING THE REIGN 
 
 OF THE STUARTS," AND "THE COURT OF ENGLAND UNDER THE 
 
 HOUSES OF NASSAU AND HANOVER." 
 
 VOL. r. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, 
 
 ^ublidjfv tit ©rtititnn) to 5?ff fiflajeiiti.). 
 
 1843.
 
 London : 
 Printed by S. & J. Bentley, Wilson, and Flkv, 
 Eangor House, Shoe Lane.
 
 LIURAKY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 SANTA BARBARA 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 It seems to have been one of the peculiarities 
 of George Selwyn, to preserve not only every 
 letter addressed to him by his correspondents dur- 
 ing the course of his long life, but also the most 
 trifling notes and unimportant memoranda. 
 
 To this peculiarity the reader is indebted for 
 whatever amusement he may derive from the pe- 
 rusal of these volumes. The greater portion of 
 their contents consists of letters addressed to 
 Selwyn by persons who, in their day, moved 
 in the first ranks of wit, genius, and fashion. 
 Independent of their general merit as epistolary 
 compositions, the Editor conceives that they will 
 be found in a high degree valuable and enter- 
 taining, from the light which they throw on the 
 manners and customs of society in the last age, 
 from their presenting a faithful chronicle of the 
 passing events of tlie day, and from the mass 
 of amusing gossip and lively anecdote which they 
 contain. 
 
 The Editor has felt it to be a moral, as well 
 as an editorial duty, to avoid, as carefully as pos-
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 sible, inserting any matter in the present work 
 whicli might be hurtful to the feelings of the 
 surviving relatives of those who figure in it. It 
 is possible, indeed, that he may not always have 
 succeeded ; and, should such prove the case, he can 
 only state, that it was not intentionally that he 
 has deviated from the rule which he laid down, 
 and that it would give pain to himself to learn 
 that he had pained others. 
 
 To those who have kindly and liberally per- 
 mitted the Editor to avail himself of the letters 
 in their possession, the Editor takes this further 
 opportunity of expressing his sincere thanks. 
 
 London, 
 May, 1843.

 
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 1^
 
 GEORGE SELWYN 
 
 AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 
 
 GEORCxE AUGUSTUS SELWYN. 
 
 George Augustus Selwyn, descended from an 
 ancient and distinguished family in Gloucestershire, 
 was the second son of Colonel John Selwyn, of 
 JMatson in that county, who in his youth had been 
 aide-de-camp to the Duke of Marlborough, and sub- 
 sequently figured as a person of considerable note 
 in the social and political circles of the reigns of 
 George the First and Second. The mother of 
 George Selwyn was Mary, daughter of General 
 Farrington, of the county of Kent, and woman 
 of the bedchamber to Queen Caroline. Horace 
 Walpole has recorded more than one lively anec- 
 dote of her vivacity and social humour; and from 
 her, therefore, we may presume that her son in- 
 herited those agreeable qualities, and that peculiar 
 character of wit, which rendered him the delight 
 of his contemporaries ; her death took place on 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN 
 
 the 6th of November 1777, in her eighty-seventh 
 year. In a small chapel, situated in the grounds 
 at Matson, and containing the remains of several 
 members of the Selwyn family, there is a monu- 
 ment to the memory of the father and mother of 
 George Selwyn. Their epitaph describes them to 
 have been " aifectionate parents, kind to their 
 dependents, charitable to the poor, and faithful 
 and beloved servants to King George the Second 
 and Queen Caroline," 
 
 George Selwyn was born on the 11th of August 
 1719, and was educated at Eton, where, as far as 
 can be presumed from a comparison of dates, he 
 was the contemporary of Gray, the poet, and of 
 Horace Walpole. On quitting Eton, he was en- 
 tered at Hertford College, Oxford, whence, after 
 a short residence, he proceeded to make the tour 
 of Europe. About the year 1744, at the age of 
 twenty-five, he again entered himself at Hertford 
 College, but the following year was compelled to 
 withdraw on account of being guilty of an irre- 
 verent jest, for which the University (viewing his 
 conduct as an act of wanton blasphemy) thought 
 fit to pronounce on him an edict of expulsion, 
 notwithstanding the fact of his having previously 
 withdrawn his name from their books. It is but 
 justice, however, to Selwyn, to observe, that his 
 conduct on this occasion was regarded by several 
 of the dignitaries of the University rather as in- 
 tended to ridicule the errors and mysteries of the
 
 AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 3 
 
 religion of the Church of Rome, than as a deli- 
 berate insult to Christianity. The writer of the 
 present memoir recently applied to the proper 
 authorities at Oxford for permission to avail him- 
 self of the documents connected with Selwyn's 
 dismissal. This request (from very proper motives, 
 he believes) was refused. The reader, however, will 
 find the particulars detailed at sufficient length in 
 the course of the subsequent correspondence.* 
 
 Previously to his becoming a second time a 
 member of the University, George Selwyn appears 
 to have been a member of the clubs of St. James's- 
 street, and a friend of the wits. It may be men- 
 tioned also, that previously to his completing his 
 twenty-first year, his father's influence obtained 
 for him the appointments of Clerk of the Irons 
 and Surveyor of the Meltings at the Mint, to 
 which offices he was nominated on the 1st of 
 March 1740. The duties attached to these re- 
 sponsible appointments were performed, as was 
 then customary, by deputy; and, on inquiry at 
 the Mint, it appears that the only occasions on 
 which Selwyn personally discharged the duties of 
 his offices were comprised in his attendance at 
 the weekly dinners, which were formerly provided 
 at the public expense for the officers connected 
 with that department. 
 
 In 1747 Selwyn obtained a seat in parliament, 
 
 * See Letter from Captain Nicholson to George Selwyn, 12th 
 November 1745. 
 
 B £
 
 4 GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN 
 
 and in June 1751, in consequence of the death 
 of his elder brother, became heir to the family 
 estates, to which he succeeded on the death of 
 his father, in November following. The property 
 which he then inherited comj)rised the family 
 mansion of Matsoii, in the neighbourhood of 
 Gloucester, and the estate adjoining ; a consider- 
 able landed j^roperty at Ludgershall ; and the power 
 of returning a member to parliament for that 
 borough. His family connexions enabled him, 
 during a long course of years, to secure his own 
 return for the city of Gloucester; thus permitting 
 him to nominate a member for Ludgershall at his 
 will. The command of two votes in parliament, 
 and apparently the means which he possessed of 
 influencing the return of a second representative 
 for Gloucester, naturally rendered him a person 
 of considerable political importance — a circumstance 
 which he afterwards took good care to turn to his 
 personal advantage. 
 
 The character of Selwyn was in many respects 
 a remarkable one. With brilliant wit, a quick 
 perception of the ridiculous, and a thorough know- 
 ledge of the world and human nature, he united 
 classical knowledge and a taste for the fine arts. 
 To these qualities may be added others of a very 
 contradictory nature. With a thorough enjoy- 
 ment of the pleasures of society, an imperturba- 
 ble good-humour, a kind heart, and a passionate 
 fondness for children, he united a morbid interest
 
 AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 5 
 
 in the details of human suffering, and, more espe- 
 cially, a taste for witnessing criminal executions. 
 Not only was he a constant frequenter of such 
 scenes of horror, but all the details of crime, the 
 private history of the criminal, his demeanour at 
 his trial, in the dungeon, and on the scaffold, and 
 the state of his feelings in the hour of death and 
 degradation, were to Selwyn matters of the deep- 
 est and most extraordinary interest. Even the 
 most frightful particulars relating to suicide and 
 murder; the investigation of the disfigured corpse, 
 the sight of an acquaintance lying in his shroud, 
 seem to have afforded him a painful and unac- 
 countable pleasure. When the first Lord Holland 
 was on his death-bed, he was told that Selwyn, 
 who had long lived on terms of the closest in- 
 timacy with him, had called to inquire after his 
 health. " The next time Mr. Selwyn calls," he 
 said, " show him up : — if I am alive I shall be de- 
 lighted to see him, and if I am dead he will be glad 
 to see me." 
 
 And yet this was the same individual who 
 delighted in the first words, and in the sunny 
 looks of childhood ; whose friendship seems to have 
 partaken of all the softness of female affection ; 
 and whose heart was never hardened .igainst the 
 wretched and oppressed. To have been intimately 
 acquainted with George Selwyn, and to have loved 
 him, appear to have amounted to the same thing. 
 The value, indeed, attached to the tenderness of
 
 6 GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN 
 
 his friendship, and the importance attached to his 
 advice, (by such men, moreover, as the Duke of 
 Queensberry, Lord Holland, Lord Carlisle, and 
 Gilly Williams, who were intimately acquainted 
 with human nature, and had learnt to estimate 
 human character in its proper light,) will be found 
 sufficiently exemplified throughout the present cor- 
 respondence. 
 
 But it was the interest which he took in chil- 
 dren which constituted the most striking con- 
 tradiction in his character. It will be seen, indeed, 
 in the course of these volumes, that the offspring 
 of Lord Coventry and Lord Carlisle (and, latterly, 
 an engaging child for whom he conceived the 
 deepest interest,)^' were alternately objects of his 
 more than parental anxiety and tenderness. It was, 
 in fact, a singular anomaly, that the same person 
 who, a few hours before, had been gazing on some 
 harrowing scene of mortality or human suffering, 
 should presently afterwards be found identifying 
 himself with the sports and feelings of childhood, 
 or contentedly passing his time in gossiping with 
 an old nurse, and discussing with her the treat- 
 ment and character of her infantine charge. It 
 was scarcely less an anomaly that, after quitting 
 the nursery or the play-ground, the same indi- 
 vidual was to be found in the crowded rooms of 
 White's or Brookes', convulsing a circle of ad- 
 mirers with the roars of laughter provoked by his 
 
 * Maria Fagniani, the present Marchioness of Hertford.
 
 AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 7- 
 
 wit, or, as was too often the case, indulging in the 
 feverish excitement of the gaming-table. 
 
 Respecting Selwyn's extraordinary taste for cri- 
 minal executions, as w^ell as for scenes of gloom 
 and horror, some curious anecdotes have been re- 
 lated. Horace Walpole writes to Sir Horace 
 Mann, 1st September 1750, " Old Peter Le Neve, 
 the herald, (who thought ridicule consisted in not 
 being of an old family,) made this epitaph, and 
 it was a good one, for young Craggs, whose father 
 had been a footman : ' Here lies the last, who died 
 before the first of his family.'* Pray mind howl 
 string old stories to-day. This old Craggs, who 
 was angry with Arthur More, who had worn a 
 livery too, and who was getting into a coach with 
 him, turned about and said, ' Why, Arthur, I 
 am always going to get up behind, are not you?' f 
 
 * Walpole ought to have stated that the younger Craggs died 
 before his father, which adds considerably to the point of Le 
 Neve's witticism. 
 
 -|- James Craggs, the elder, had been footman to the cele- 
 brated Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, through whose interest, 
 supported by his own talents and industry, he rose to be post- 
 master general. His more celebrated son, usually styled the 
 younger Craggs, not only inherited his father's talents, which 
 raised him to the post of secretary of state, but was eminently 
 distinguished by the charm of his manners, a refined taste, and 
 conversational wit. The younger Craggs died on the IGth of 
 February 1720, at the age of thirty-five, and was buried in 
 Westminster Abbey, where there is a monument to his memory, 
 inscribed with the following epitaph written by his friend Pope: — 
 
 Statesman, yet friend to truth ; of soul sincere, 
 In action faithful, and in honour clear ;
 
 8 GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN 
 
 I told this story the other day to George Selwyn, 
 whose passion is to see coffins, and corpses, and 
 executions : he rej^lied, that Arthur More had 
 had his coffin chained to that of his mistress. 
 ' Lord ! ' said I, ' how do you know V — ' Why I 
 saw them the other day in a vault at St. Giles's.' 
 He was walking this week in Westminster Abbey 
 with Lord Abergavenny, and met the man who 
 shows the tombs : ' Oh ! your servant, Mr. Sel- 
 wyn ; I expected to have seen you here the other 
 day, when the old Duke of Richmond's body was 
 taken up.' Shall I tell you another story of George 
 Selwyn before I tap the chapter of Richmond, 
 which you see opens here very a propos f With 
 this strange and dismal turn, he has infinite fun 
 and humour in him. He went lately on a party 
 of pleasure to see places with Lord Abergavenny 
 and a pretty Mrs. Frere, who love one an- 
 other a little. At Cornbury there are portraits 
 of all the royalists and regicides, and illustrious 
 headless. Mrs. Frere ran about, looked at no- 
 thing ; let him look at nothing, screamed about In- 
 dian paper, and hurried over all the rest. George 
 grew peevish, called her back, told her it was 
 
 Who broke no promise, served no private end, 
 Who gained no title, and who lost no friend ; 
 Ennobled by himself, — by all approved. 
 Praised, wept, and honoured, by the muse he loved. 
 
 In scarcely more than a month the elder Craggs followed his 
 son to the grave.
 
 AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 9 
 
 monstrous, when he had come so far with her, to 
 let him see nothing : ' And you are a fool, you 
 don't know what you missed in the other room.' 
 —'Why, what?'— ' Why, my Lord Holland's pic- 
 ture.' — ' AVell ! what is my Lord Holland to me?' 
 — ' Why, do you know,' said he, ' that my Lord 
 Holland's body lies in the same vault in Kensing- 
 ton church with my Lord Abergavenny's mother ? ' 
 Lord ! she was so obliged, and thanked him a thou- 
 sand times." 
 
 Walpole, in a subsequent letter to George 
 Montagu, speaking of a share which he had in 
 capturing a house-breaker, observes, " The next 
 step was to share my glory with my friends. I 
 despatched a courier to White's for George Sel- 
 wyn, who, you know, loves nothing upon earth 
 so well as a criminal, except the execution of him. 
 It happened very luckily, that the drawer, who 
 received my message, has very lately been robbed 
 himself, and had the wound fresh in his memory. 
 He stalked uj) into the club-room, stojiped short, 
 and with a hollow trembling voice said, ' Mr. 
 Selwyn, ]Mr. Walpole's compliments to you, and 
 he has got a house-breaker for you.' A squadron 
 immediately came to reinforce me, and having 
 summoned Morcland with the keys of the fortress, 
 we marched into the house to search for more of 
 the gang. Col. Sebright, with his sword drawn, 
 went first, and then I, exactly the figure of Ro- 
 binson Crusoe, with a candle and lanthorn in my
 
 10 GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN 
 
 hand, a carbine iijoon my shoulder, my hair wet 
 and about my ears, and in a linen night-gown and 
 slippers. We found the kitchen shutters forced, 
 but not finished ; and in the area a tremendous 
 bag of tools, a hammer large enough for the hand 
 of a Jael, and six chisels ; all which spolia opima, 
 as there was no temple of Jupiter CajDitolinus in 
 the neighbourhood, I was reduced to offer on the 
 altar of Sir Thomas Clarges." 
 
 It may readily be imagined that the trials and 
 execution of the rebel lords who suffered for 
 their share in the rebellion of 1745, afforded plen- 
 tiful food for the gratification of Selwyn's unac- 
 countable taste. At the trials of Lords Kilmarnock 
 and Balmerino, observing a Mrs. Bethel * (a daugh- 
 ter of Lord Sandys, who was distinguished by what 
 has been happily styled a hatchet-face) looking 
 wistfully at the rebel lords, " What a shame it 
 is," he said, " to turn her face to the prisoners 
 till they are condemned." Again, some ladies ban- 
 tering him on his want of feeling in attending to 
 see Lord Lovat's head cut off, "Why!" he said, 
 " I made amends by going to the undertaker's to 
 see it sown on again." During his visit at the 
 undertaker's, — after the completion of the process 
 of sewing the head to the body, and when the latter 
 had been placed in the cofHn, — Selwyn, imitating 
 
 * Anne, daughter of Samuel, first Baron Sandys, married 21st 
 July 1768, Christopher Bethel, Esq., who afterwards assumed 
 the name of Codrington.
 
 AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 11 
 
 the voice and manner of the Lord Chancellor at 
 the trial, exclaimed, " My Lord Lovat, your lord- 
 ship may rise." A further anecdote of him, in 
 connexion with the execution of the rebel lords, 
 is recorded by Walpole. Alluding to the prac- 
 tice of stage criminals dropping a handkerchief on 
 the scaffold as a signal to the executioner to 
 strike, " George," says Walpole, " never thinks 
 but a la tete tranchee : he came to town t'other 
 day to have a tooth drawn, and told the man 
 that he would drop his handkerchief for the sig- 
 nal." 
 
 Selwyn, as is well known, paid a visit to Paris 
 for the purpose of seeing Damien broken on the 
 wheel, for attempting to assassinate Louis the Fif- 
 teenth. On the day of the execution he mingled 
 with the crowd in a plain undress and bob-wig ; 
 when a French nobleman, observing the deep in- 
 terest which he took in the scene, and imagining, 
 from the ])lainness of his attire, that he must be 
 a person in the humbler ranks of life, — chose to 
 imagine that the stranger must infallibly be a 
 hangman : " Eh, bien, monsieur," he said, " etes-vous 
 arrive pour voir ce spectacle?" — " Oui, monsieur." 
 — "Vous etes bourreau?" — " Non, non, monsieur." 
 je n'ai pas cette honneur ; je ne suis qu'un amateur." 
 Sir Nathaniel Wraxall has given a somewhat dif- 
 ferent version of this story. " Selwyn's nervous 
 irritability," he says, " and anxious curiosity to 
 observe the effect of dissolution on men, exposed
 
 12 GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN 
 
 him to much ridicule, not unaccompanied with cen- 
 sure. He was accused of attending all executions ; 
 and sometimes, in order to elude notice, disguised 
 in a female dress. I have been assured that, in 
 1756, he went over to Paris expressly for the 
 purpose of witnessing the last moments of Damien, 
 who expired under the most acute tortures, for 
 having attempted the life of Louis the Fifteenth. 
 Being among the crowd, and attempting to ap- 
 proach too near the scaffold, he was at first re- 
 pulsed by one of the executioners ; but having 
 informed the person, that he had made the journey 
 from London solely with a view to be present 
 at the punishment and death of Damien, the man 
 immediately caused the people to make way, ex- 
 claiming at the same time, " Faites place pour 
 monsieur ; c'est un Anglois, et un amateur." 
 
 Shortly after the death of Selwyn a fruitless, 
 though well-intentioned attempt, was made by 
 one of his surviving friends to defend his memory 
 from the charge of having ever deliberately wit- 
 nessed a scene of human suffering ; and it was 
 insisted that only on one occasion, and then by 
 mere accident, had he ever been present at a cri- 
 minal execution. The defence in question ap- 
 peared in the form of a letter, dated April 15tli 
 1791, and was printed in the Gentleman's Maga- 
 zine for that year. " I am irresistibly impelled," 
 says the writer, " to set you and your readers right, 
 from a feeling of the Sophoclean maxim of its
 
 AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 13 
 
 being base to be silent. When lie lived it was 
 his own affair, but now he is gone it becomes 
 us to help him who cannot help himself. Nothing 
 could be more abhorrent than the taste for execu- 
 tions from his real character, which, I presume, 
 you will allow me to know from a friendship of 
 forty years, of which I feel the deprivation most 
 sensibly, as, I may truly say, as David did of Jo- 
 nathan, ' very jileasant hath thou been unto me.' 
 He was better by nature (as Jean Jaques will 
 tell you we all are) than he was by grace ; for, 
 (besides excellent abilities, and a most pleasant 
 imagination, as all the world knows,) he had from 
 her, as I could prove to you by a thousand in- 
 stances, one of the most tender and benevolent 
 of hearts." The writer subsequently adds, " I 
 shall content myself with informing you, that this 
 idle but wide-spread idea of his being fond of 
 executions, (of which he never in his life attended 
 but at one, and that rather accidentally from its 
 lying in his way, than from design,) arose from 
 the pleasantries which it pleased Sir Charles Han- 
 bury Williams and the then Lord Chesterfield 
 to propagate, from that one attendance, for the 
 amusement of their common friends. Of the 
 easiness with which such things sat upon him you 
 may judge from the following circumstance, which 
 I have heard him more than once relate. Sir 
 Charles was telling a large company a similar story 
 to that of his attending upon executions, with many
 
 14 GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN 
 
 strokes of rich humour received with great glee, 
 before his face, when a gentleman, who sat next 
 to the object of their mirth, said to him in a low 
 voice, ' It is strange, George, so intimate as we 
 are, that I shoidd never have heard of this story 
 before.' — ' Not at all strange,' he replied in the 
 same voice, ' for Sir Charles has just invented it, 
 and knows that I will not by contradiction spoil 
 the pleasure of the company he is so highly en- 
 tertaining.' And such was his good-nature in every- 
 thing." 
 
 There is every reason to believe that the writer 
 of the foregoing passages was the Reverend Dr. 
 Warner, a man of great conversational wit, and 
 of some literary reputation in his day ; who, more- 
 over, lived on terms of considerable intimacy with 
 Selwyn, in the last years of his life. In weighing, 
 therefore, the degree of confidence to be placed 
 in Dr. Warner's assertions, while we would willing- 
 ly acquit the latter of intentionally preferring his 
 regard for his friend's memory to truth, yet we 
 are at a loss to account for that utter ignorance 
 of Selwyn's early tastes and habits, which (as far 
 as they concern his singular and morbid passion 
 for witnessing scenes of mortality and horror) are 
 proved by the united, and hitherto uncontradicted, 
 testimony of his contemporaries. Were other 
 evidence wanting of Selwyn's eccentric tastes, it 
 would be found suflficiently supplied by numerous 
 facts and allusions which occur in the course of
 
 AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 15 
 
 the present corresiDondence ; and, moreover, such 
 evidence is rendered the more valuable, in conse- 
 quence of its emanating from men whose friend- 
 ship with Selwyn was far more intimate, and of 
 much longer duration, than that of Dr. Warner's. 
 
 Perhaps no individual has ever acquired so 
 general a reputation for mere wit as George 
 Selwyn. Villiers Duke of Buckingham, Lords 
 Dorset, Rochester, Chesterfield, and Hervey, Sir 
 Charles Hanbury Williams, Bubb Doddington, 
 Sheridan, and (perhaps the most brilliant lumi- 
 nary in this galaxy of wit) the late Theodore 
 Hook, were men who had one and all distinguished 
 themselves in following the paths of literature, 
 while more than one of them had rendered himself 
 eminent in the senate. Thus, the character which 
 each maintained for wit was supported by the 
 adventitious aid of a reputation for literary or ora- 
 torical talents, while the fame of George Selwyn 
 stands exclusively on his character for social plea- 
 santry and conversational wit. 
 
 No task can be more disappointing in its result, 
 than that of collecting the scattered hon mots of 
 a man of professed wit, with a view to prove that 
 his reputation is well deserved. Many of his best 
 sayings have, probably, been lost to us ; others, 
 perhaps, have suffered in the narration ; and, more- 
 over, the charm of manner, which must have greatly 
 enhanced their value at the moment they were 
 uttered, can now, of course, only be taken on
 
 16 GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELW^N 
 
 credit. The manner in which Selwyn more especi- 
 cially gave utterance to the workings of his fancy, 
 is said to have been distinguished by a ludicrous 
 gravity of voice and countenance which never 
 failed to excite laughter in every one but himself. 
 Horace Walj)ole more than once alludes to Selwyn's 
 habit of turning up the whites of his eyes, and 
 to the peculiar demureness of his countenance at 
 the moment when he was giving vent to a thought 
 or expression of irresistible drollery. Wraxall also, 
 who was intimately acquainted with Selwyn, ob- 
 serves, in allusion to his manner of delivering his 
 witticisms, "The effect, when falling from his lips, 
 became greatly augmented by the listless and 
 drowsy manner in which he uttered them, for he 
 always seemed half asleej) ; yet the promptitude 
 of his replies was surprising. The late Duke of 
 Qeensberry, who lived in the most intimate friend- 
 ship with him, told me that Selwyn was j)resent 
 at a public dinner, with the Mayor and Corporation 
 of Gloucester, in the year 1758, when the intelli- 
 gence arrived of our expedition having failed before 
 Rochfort. The Mayor, turning to Selwyn, ' You, 
 sir,' said he, ' who are in the ministerial secrets, can, 
 no doubt, inform us of the cause of this mis- 
 fortune?' Selwyn, though utterly ignorant on the 
 subject, yet unable to resist the occasion of amusing 
 himself at the inquirer's expense, ' I will tell you 
 in confidence the reason, Mr. Mayor,' answered 
 he ; ' the fact is, that the scaling ladders, prepared
 
 AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 17 
 
 for the occasion, were found on trial to be too short.' 
 This solution, which suggested itself to him at the 
 moment, was considered by the JNIayor to be per- 
 fectly explanatory of the failure, and as such he 
 communicated it to all his friends, not being aware, 
 though Selwyn was, that Rochfort lies on the river 
 Charente, some leagues from the sea-shore, and 
 that our troops had never even effected a landing 
 on the French coast." 
 
 Another instance of his peculiar humour is re- 
 lated by Horace Walpole. Speaking of the witty 
 and notorious Lady Townshend, he writes, " On 
 Sunday last, George Selwyn was strolling home to 
 dinner at half an hour after four. He saw my 
 Lady Townshend's coach stop at Caraccioli's chapel. 
 He watched, saw her go in ; her footman laughed ; 
 he followed. She went up to the altar, a woman 
 brought her a cushion ; she knelt, crossed herself, 
 and prayed. He stole up, and knelt by her. Con- 
 ceive her face, if you can, when she turned and 
 found him close to her. In his demure voice he 
 said, ' Pray, madam, how long has your ladyship 
 left the pale of our church ?' She looked furies, 
 and made no answer. Next day he went to her, 
 and she turned it off upon curiosity ; but is any- 
 thing more natural? No, she certainly means to 
 go armed with every viaticum ; the Church of 
 England in one hand, INIethodism in the other, 
 and the host in her mouth." * 
 
 * Walpole's Letters, vol. v. p. 14'8. 
 VOL. I. C
 
 18 GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN 
 
 The following anecdotes afford further specimens 
 of Selwyn's social pleasantry and conversational 
 wit : — 
 
 One night, at White's, observing the postmaster- 
 general, Sir Everard Fawkener, losing a large sum 
 of money at piquet, Selwyn, pointing to the suc- 
 cessful player, remarked, " See how he is robbing 
 the mail !" 
 
 On another occasion, in 1756, observing Mr. 
 Ponsonby, the Speaker of the Irish House of Com- 
 mons, tossing about bank-bills at a hazard-table at 
 Newmarket, " Look," he said, " how easily the 
 Speaker passes the money-bills." 
 
 A few months afterwards, (when the public 
 journals were daily containing an account of some 
 fresh town which had conferred the freedom of its 
 corporation, in a gold box, on Mr. Pitt, afterwards 
 Earl of Chatham, and the Right Honourable Henry 
 Bilson Legge, his fellow patriot and colleague,) 
 Selwyn, who neither admired their politics nor 
 respected their principles, proposed to the old and 
 new club at Arthur's, that he should be deputed 
 to present to them the freedom of each club in a 
 dice-boa^. 
 
 The beautiful Lady Coventry was one day ex- 
 hibiting to him a splendid new dress, covered with 
 large silver spangles, the size of a -shilling, and 
 inquired of him whether he admired her taste, — 
 " Why," he said, " you will be change for a guinea." 
 
 At the sale of the effects of the celebrated
 
 AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 19 
 
 minister, Mr. Pelliam, Selwyn, pointing to a silver 
 dinner-service, observed, " Lord ! how many toads 
 have been eaten off these plates!" Horace Wal- 
 pole, to whom this remark was addressed, happen- 
 ing to observe on another occasion that there had 
 existed the same indecision, irresolution, and want 
 of system, in the politics of Queen Anne, that now 
 distinguished those of the reign of George the 
 Third, had added, " But there is nothing new under 
 the sun." " No," said Selwyn, " nor under the 
 grandson." 
 
 One day, observing Wilkes (who would doubt- 
 less have lost his ears had he lived in the days 
 of the Star Chamber) listening to the reading of 
 the King's speech, previous to its delivery from 
 the throne, Selwyn exclaimed, in the words of the 
 Dunciad, " INIay heaven preserve the ears you 
 lend!"* 
 
 A namesake of Charles Fox having been hung 
 at Tyburn, the latter inquired of Selwyn whether 
 he had attended the execution ? " No," was Sel- 
 wyn's reply, " I make a point of never frequenting 
 rehearsals." 
 
 When Fox was commencing his career of dis- 
 sipation, he lodged with his friend Fitzpatrick, 
 at Mackie's, the oilman, in Piccadilly. Some one 
 mentioning this circumstance at Brookes's, and re- 
 marking that it would be the ruin of poor IMackie ; 
 
 * " Yet, oh ! my sons, a father's words attend ; 
 So may the Fates preserve the ears you lend." 
 
 c 2
 
 20 GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN 
 
 "On tlie contrary," said Selwyn ; "so far from 
 mining liim, thoy will make Mackie's fortune ; for 
 he will have the credit of having the finest pickles 
 in his house of any man in London." 
 
 Selwyn was on one occasion a passenger in a 
 stage-coach, when one of his fellow-travellers, ima- 
 gining from his appearance that he was suffering 
 from illness, kept wearying him with good-natured 
 but constant inquiries as to the state of his health. 
 At length, to the repeated question of " How are 
 you now, sir?" Selwyn replied, " Very well, I thank 
 you ; and I mean to continue so for the rest of 
 the journey." 
 
 When the popular farce of " High Life below 
 Stairs" made its first appearance on the stage, 
 Selwyn expressed his anxiety to be present at its 
 representation ; " For I am weary," he added, " of 
 low life above stairs." 
 
 Again, one of the waiters at Arthur's having 
 been committed to prison for a felony, — " What 
 a horrid idea," said Selwyn, " he will give of us 
 to the people in Newgate ! " 
 
 Selwyn was one day dining in a large party, 
 when Bruce, the celebrated Abyssinian traveller, 
 was one of the company. In the course of the 
 evening Bruce was entertaining the party with 
 some of those strange stories of novelty and ad- 
 venture, which at the time were thought little 
 worthy of credit, when one of the company asked 
 him what musical instruments were used in Abys-
 
 AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 21 
 
 sinia. Bruce hesitated for a moment, and at lenoth 
 said, " I think I saw one lyre there." " Yes," 
 whispered Selwyn to his next neighbour, " and 
 there is one less since he left the country." 
 
 Soon after the celebrated coalition between Fox 
 and Lord North, the former was boasting- at 
 Brookes's of the advantageous peace he had rati- 
 fied with France, adding, that he had at length 
 prevailed on the Court of Versailles to relinquish 
 all pretensions to the gum trade in favour of Great 
 Britain. Selwyn, who was present, and to all ap- 
 pearance asleep in his chair, immediately exclaim- 
 ed, " That, Charles, I am not at all surprised at, 
 for, having permitted the French to draw your tecth^ 
 
 they would be indeed d d fools to quarrel with 
 
 you about your gums." 
 
 When the affairs of Charles Fox were in their 
 more than usually embarrassed state, his friends 
 raised a subscription among themselves for his 
 relief. One of them remarking, that it would 
 require some delicacy in breaking the matter to 
 him, and adding that, " he wondered how Fox 
 would take it — "Take it?" interrupted Selwyn, 
 " why, quarterly^ to be sure." 
 
 A member of the Foley family having hurried 
 over to the Continent, in order to avoid tlie im- 
 portunities of his creditors, " It is a pass-over^' 
 remarked Selwyn, " that will not be much relished 
 by the Jews." 
 
 He was one day walking with Lord Pembroke,
 
 22 GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN 
 
 when they were besieged by a number of young- 
 chimney-sweepers, who kept importuning and 
 plaguing them for money. At length Selwyn made 
 them a low bow : " I have often," he said, " heard 
 of the sovereignty of the people; I suppose your 
 highnesses are in court mourning." 
 
 The following epigram, written on the discovery 
 of a pair of shoes on a lady's bed, appears to be 
 the only occasion on which Selwyn figures as a 
 poet : — 
 
 " Well may suspicion shake its head ; 
 
 Well may Clorinda's spouse be jealous ; 
 When the dear wanton takes to bed 
 
 Her very shoes, — because they 're fellows" 
 
 As Lord Chesterfield had succeeded to the re- 
 putation enjoyed by Lord Dorset, of being the 
 most celebrated wit of his day, so did Selwyn 
 inherit the reputation of Lord Chesterfield; and 
 so was Selwyn succeeded, in his turn, by Richard 
 Brinsley Sheridan. As the last link in this bril- 
 liant chain of wit and talent, extending from the 
 reign of Charles the Second, may be mentioned 
 the name of Theodore Hook. For Sheridan, Sel- 
 wyn is said to have conceived an invincible aver- 
 sion, which was unquestionably, in a great degree, 
 owing to their being violently opposed to each 
 other in politics, and to Sheridan having been the 
 member of a party which had deprived Selwyn 
 of a lucrative post. Wraxall, in his agreeable 
 Memoirs, has recorded an amusing anecdote of the
 
 AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 23 
 
 antipathy with which Selwyn regarded Sheridan, 
 who at this period had given his first and high 
 promise of future excellence in the paths of politics 
 and wit. " One of the first objects," he says, 
 " meditated by Fox's party, after Sheridan's en- 
 trance into the House of Commons in September 
 1780, was to procure, at all events, his election 
 as a member of Brookes's Club. But his success 
 at Stafford met with fewer obstacles than he had 
 to encounter in St. James's Street, where various 
 individuals of that society, impelled either by 
 political or by personal antipathies, were resolute 
 in their determination to exclude him. Among 
 these, two held him in peculiar dislike ; I mean 
 George Selwyn and the late Earl of Besborough. 
 Conscious that every exertion would be made to 
 ensure Sheridan's success, they agreed not to ab- 
 sent themselves during the time allotted by the 
 regulations of the club for ballots; and as one 
 black ball sufficed to extinguish the hopes of a 
 candidate, they repeatedly prevented his election. 
 In order to remove so serious an impediment, 
 Sheridan's friends had recourse to artifice. Having 
 fixed on the evening when it was resolved to put 
 him up, and finding his two inveterate enemies 
 posted as usual, a chairman was sent with a note, 
 written in the name of Lady Duncannon to her 
 father-in-law, acquainting him that a fire had broke 
 out in his house in Cavendish Square, and entreat- 
 ing him innnediately to return home. Unsus-
 
 24 GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN 
 
 picious of any trick, as his son and daughter-in- 
 law lived under his roof, Lord Besborough, without 
 hesitating an instant, quitted the room, and got into 
 a sedan-chair. Selwyn, who resided in the vicinity 
 of Brookes's, in Cleveland Row, received, nearly 
 at the same time, a verbal message to request his 
 presence. Miss Fagniani (whom he had adopted 
 as his daughter, and who afterwards married the 
 present Earl of Yarmouth) being suddenly seized 
 with an alarming indisposition. This summons he 
 obeyed ; and no sooner was the room cleared, than 
 Sheridan, being proposed as a member, a ballot took 
 place, when he was immediately chosen. Lord 
 Besborough and Selwyn returned without delay, on 
 discovering the imposition that had been practised on 
 their credulity, but too late to prevent its effects." 
 
 It has already been mentioned, that the dislike 
 which Selwyn had conceived for Sheridan ori- 
 ginated probably in the latter having been one of 
 the party which had deprived Selwyn of a lucrative 
 post. The appointment in question was that of 
 Paymaster of the Works, of which he was de- 
 prived in 1782, in consequence of the operation of 
 Burke's celebrated bill for reducing the Civil List. 
 Mr. Pitt, indeed, on his coming into power the 
 following year, recompensed him for the place he 
 had lost, by appointing him Surveyor-General of 
 the Crown Lauds, to which office he was nominated 
 on the 23rd of December 1783. This circumstance,
 
 AND HIS CONTEMPORATIIES. 25 
 
 however, is said in no degree to have allayed the 
 bitterness of Selwyn's feelings towards the party 
 by whom he believed himself to have been injured, 
 and of whom he seems to have been in the habit 
 of speaking in no measured terms of acerbity and 
 dislike. 
 
 Selwyn, at least, had no reason to complain that 
 his political services were ill-rewarded by his own 
 party, since at one and the same time we find 
 him holding the appointments of Surveyor of the 
 Meltings, and Clerk of the Irons, in the Mint; 
 Registrar in the Court of Chancery in the Island 
 of Barbadoes, and Surveyor-General of the Crown 
 Lands. To these places, according to the wits of 
 the period, was added the post of " Receiver-General 
 of waif and stray Jokes." 
 
 Although Selwyn sat in the House of Commons 
 for nearly half a century, it may readily be imagined 
 that his talents were not of a nature to render him 
 eminent as a debater. The only anecdote, indeed, 
 which we jjossess of his conduct in Parliament was 
 liis habit of amusing the House, during a long- 
 debate, by snoring in unison with the first mi- 
 nister, Lord North. At the time when Burke 
 was wearying his hearers by those long speeches, 
 which obtained for him the name of the " Dinner- 
 l)ell," a nobleman (who is still living, and who 
 sat in the House of Commons with Selwyn) liap- 
 ])ened to bo entering the House just as Selwyn
 
 26 GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN 
 
 was quitting it: "Is the House up?" was the in- 
 quiry. " No," replied Selwyn, " but Burke is." 
 
 After having represented the city of Gloucester 
 in Parliament for more than thirty years, Selwyn 
 (in consequence of the unpopularity which he ac- 
 quired by his staunch support of ministers in their 
 obstinate prosecution of the American war) was 
 compelled, in 1780, to decline a contest for that 
 city, and to content himself with getting quietly 
 returned for his own borough of Ludgershall. " I 
 knew him," says Wraxall, " with some degree of 
 intimacy, having sat as his colleague in Parlia- 
 ment during more than six years for Ludgers- 
 hall, from 1784 to 1790.— But it was not," adds 
 Wraxall, " so much as a man of wit that I cul- 
 tivated his society. He was likewise thoroughly 
 versed in our history, and master of many curious 
 as well as secret anecdotes, relative to the Houses 
 of Stuart and of Brunswick. As he had an aversion 
 to all long debates in Parliament, during which he 
 frequently fell asleep, we used to withdraw our- 
 selves to one of the committee-rooms up-stairs, 
 where his conversation was often very instructive." 
 In France, where Selwyn was in the habit of 
 passing a considerable portion of his time in the 
 earlier period of his life, his wit ajopears to have 
 been even more relished, and his society more 
 courted, than in England. He was intimate with 
 all the leading persons of talent and fashion in 
 the French capital, and, moreover, was an especial
 
 AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 27 
 
 favourite with the queen of Louis the Fifteenth. 
 Selwyn, it may be remarked, was the person who 
 introduced the celebrated INladame du Deffand to 
 Horace Walpole. 
 
 George Selwyn, during many years, was a de- 
 voted frequenter of the gaming-table ; but, as he 
 died comparatively rich, it may be presumed that 
 his fortune suffered to no great extent by his 
 indulirence in the vice. " When I left the uni- 
 versity," says Wilberforce, " so little did I know 
 of general society, that I came up to London 
 stored with arguments to prove the authenticity 
 of Rowley's poems;* and now I was at once 
 immersed in politics and fashion. The very first 
 time I went to Boodle's I won twenty-five guineas 
 of the Duke of Norfolk. I belonged at this time 
 to five clubs, — ]\Iiles and Evans's, Brookes's, 
 Boodle's, White's, Goosetree's. The first time 
 I was at Brookes's, scarcely knowing any one, 
 I joined, from mere shyness in play, at the faro- 
 table, where George Selwyn kept bank. A friend, 
 who knew my inexperience, and regarded me 
 as a victim decked out for sacrifice, called to 
 me, ' What, Wilberforce ! is that you ?' Selwyn 
 quite resented the interference ; and turning to 
 him said, in his most expressive tone, ' Oh, sir ! 
 
 * The celebrated forgeries of Thomas Chatterton, who had al- 
 most succeeded in persuading the world that his own clever imi- 
 tations of the ancient style of versification were the productions of 
 Thomas Canynge and Thomas Rowley, a priest.
 
 28 GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN 
 
 don't interrupt Mr. Wilberforce ; lie could not be 
 better employed.' Nothing could be more lux- 
 urious than the style of these clubs. Fox, Sheri- 
 dan, Fitzj^atrick, and all your leading- men fre- 
 quented them, and associated upon the easiest 
 terms ; you chatted, played at cards, or gambled, 
 as you pleased." Latterly, Selwyn is said to have 
 entirely got the better of his propensity for play : 
 " Tt was too great a consumer," he said, " of four 
 things — time, health, fortune, and thinking." 
 
 The last years of Selwyn's life were enlivened 
 by the society of an interesting child, whom he 
 adopted as his daughter, and who resided under 
 his roof. That child was Maria Fagniani, the 
 reputed daughter of the Marquis and Marchioness 
 Fagniani. It would be a false affectation of delicacy, 
 were we to pass over in complete silence the 
 mysterious reports respecting the true i)arentage 
 of Selwyn's infantine charge, which at the period 
 were in common circulation. According to gene- 
 ral rumour, the Duke of Queensberry and George 
 Selwyn each believed himself to be the father of 
 the child ; and the impression that such was the 
 fact was rendered still stronger, when the Duke 
 of Queensberry subsequently bequeathed her the 
 sum of 150,000/., besides other property, and 
 George Selwyn the sum of 83,000/. As the 
 writer of the present memoir has had access to 
 Selwyn's most private papers, it might be expected 
 that he would be enabled to clear up the difficulty ;
 
 AND niS CONTEMPORARIES. 29 
 
 liowevei', though there are passages which unques- 
 tionably lend weight to the supposition that either 
 the Duke of Queensberry or Selwyn was the father 
 of the child, — or rather that each severally be- 
 lieved himself to be so, — yet, in fact, there is far 
 from being certain proof that such was really the 
 case. 
 
 In a subsequent part of the present work will 
 be found several interesting letters in proof of 
 Selwyn's deep and almost romantic attachment to 
 liis adopted child. These letters throw a light 
 on a curious passage in the romance of real life ; 
 but it would be depriving them, in a great mea- 
 sure, of their interest, were we to anticipate their 
 contents in the present memoir. 
 
 For some years previously to his death, Sehvyn 
 had been constantly a sufferer from gout and 
 dropsy ; indeed, as much as a twelvemonth be- 
 fore he died he had been so severely afflicted 
 with repeated attacks from these disorders, that 
 his life was more than once despaired of, and his 
 death actually reported in the public jjapers. Sub- 
 sequently to this period, he enjoyed a brief but 
 grateful respite from pain, and, indeed, ajipeared 
 to be in the possession of comparative health. 
 However, about six months before he died, his 
 disorders returned with increased violence, and he 
 expressed his conviction that his case was a hope- 
 less one. Horace Walpole writes to INIiss Berry 
 on the day of Selwyn's death, — " I am on the
 
 30 GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN 
 
 point of losing, or have lost, my oldest acquaint- 
 ance and friend, George Selwyn, who was yester- 
 day at the extremity. These misfortunes, though 
 they can be so but for a short time, are very 
 sensible to the old ; but him I really loved, not 
 only for his infinite wit, but for a thousand good 
 qualities." Again, Walpole writes a few days 
 afterwards, — " Poor Selwyn is gone, to my sorrow ; 
 and no wonder Ucalegon feels it !" 
 
 The death of Selwyn took place at his house 
 in Cleveland Row, St. James's, on the 25th of 
 January 1791, in his seventy-second year. He 
 died penitent, and at his own request the Bible 
 was frequently read to him throughout his last 
 illness. By his will he bequeathed to Maria Fag- 
 niani, whom he styles the daughter of the Mar- 
 quis and INlarchioness Fagniani, 10,000/., four per 
 cent, annuities, together with the sum of 23,000/., 
 to be paid either on her coming of age or on her 
 marriage ; but in the event of her dying previ- 
 ously to either of those events, to be paid to the 
 children of Lord Carlisle. To his nephews, Charles 
 Townshend and Elbro' Woodcock, Esquires, he be- 
 queathed a hundred guineas each ; and to his valet, 
 Pierre Michalin, his wardrobe and an annuity of 
 30/. The residue of his real and personal estates 
 he bequeathed to the Duke of Queensberry, with 
 the exception of Ludgershall, which estate, agree- 
 ably with the provisions of his father's will, de- 
 scended to the Townshend family. His executors
 
 AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 31 
 
 were the Marquis of Stafford, the Earl of Carlisle, 
 and Elbro' Woodcock, Esquire, of whom the two 
 latter administered. 
 
 Shortly after the death of Selwyn there appeared, 
 in some of the literary periodicals, the following 
 tribute to his memory, with which we will con- 
 clude our notices of this most charming of co7ti- 
 panions and most amiable man : 
 
 " If, this gay favourite lost, they yet can live, 
 A tear to Selwyn let the Graces give I 
 With rapid kindness teach Oblivion's pall 
 O'er the sunk foibles of the man to fall ; 
 And fondly dictate to a faithful Muse 
 The prime distinction of the friend they lose. 
 'Twas social wit, which, never kindling strife. 
 Blazed in the small, sweet courtesies of life ; 
 Those little sapphires round the diamond shone, 
 Lending soft radiance to the richer stone." 
 
 COLONEL JOHN SELWYN. 
 
 Colonel John Selwyn, of Matson, the father 
 of George Selwyn, had been aide-de-camp to the 
 great Duke of JMarlborough, and the colonel of 
 a regiment of foot, which latter appointment, after 
 the disgrace of the duke, he was compelled to 
 sell. He was for many years a rejiresentative of 
 the city of Gloucester. On the accession of George 
 the First, he was made Comptroller of the Customs, 
 and subsequently held the appointments of Groom
 
 32 COLONEL JOHN SELWYN. 
 
 of the Bed-chamber to George the Second, Trea- 
 surer to Queen Caroline, and on the resignation of 
 Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, Paymaster of Ma- 
 rines. On the occasion of the rupture between 
 George the Second and his son, Frederick Prince 
 of Wales, he aj^pears to have taken part with the 
 latter. The prince subsequently appointed him his 
 Treasurer, which post he held till the period of his 
 death, on the 5th of November 1751, in his sixty- 
 second year,] 
 
 COLONEL SELWYN TO MR. GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Thursday [1740]. 
 DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I AM disposed once more to pay your debts, 
 which is what you have no pretension to ask. 
 Let me know what your Oxford bills amount to, 
 that they may be paid first, and I will remit the 
 money to you ; but don't always exjject to be an- 
 swered next post, for I have too much business 
 to answer all letters next post, and yours is of a 
 nature that I think does not merit punctuality. 
 
 I am yours, J. S. 
 
 To Mr. Geo. Selwyn, 
 at Hart Hall, Oxon. 
 
 MR. GEORGE SELW^YN TO COLONEL SELWYN. 
 SIR, 
 
 I AM sensible I have been very careless and 
 indiscreet in contracting so many debts, and frankly
 
 MR. HENRY READE. 33 
 
 own that many, if not most of them, have been 
 unnecessary. But nothing grieves me so much as 
 that you should think it indifferent to me whether 
 you are pleased or displeased with what I do. No 
 son in the world can be more convinced than I 
 am of your great affection for me, and of your 
 readiness to comply with every reasonable desire 
 I have had, particularly this of your condescend- 
 ing to pay my debts so quickly, though amounting 
 to so great a sum. However, I beg leave to ob- 
 serve to you, that those in London do not amount 
 to so much by half as Mr. Goodchild has set forth, 
 and before they are paid I shall be glad of an op- 
 portunity to remonstrate against some articles. 
 
 I shall be ready to wait upon you whenever you 
 command me, and, for what is past, beg you will 
 only remember it when you find it repeated. 
 
 1 am, &c., &c. 
 
 Endorsed " Copy of a letter to my father, penned by Dr. 
 Newton, 1740." 
 
 MR. HENRY READE. 
 
 [On reference to an old list of the masters and 
 scholars of Eton College, T find that the writer of 
 this pleasing letter was one of the assistant masters 
 of that celebrated seminary, whore it is not im- 
 probable that Selwyn was his pupil.] 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 MR. HENRY READE 
 
 MR. HENRY READE TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Eton Coll. Oct. 20, 1741. 
 DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 An unwillingness to write to one's best friends 
 is, of all others, the most oppressing and most af- 
 fecting disease. We are perpetually reproaching 
 ourselves for leaving the debt of gratitude unpaid, 
 and at the same time cannot bring ourselves to 
 a resolution of clearing the account. This has 
 been my condition for these several months last 
 past, and though I was every day in danger of 
 losing your esteem by not writing, yet such was 
 my indolence, that, though I knew my fault, I 
 had not power to correct it. Besides, the want of 
 proper materials to make a letter in any degree 
 entertaining, and almost an entire ignorance of 
 common occurrences in life, must greatly encourage 
 and feed the original malady. * 
 
 Give me leave, George, to tell you a story, and, 
 in my turn, I '11 leave you to make the api^lication 
 to it. At Athens, when the government was in 
 the hands of the Archons, (long before you or I 
 were born,) it was the annual custom to assemble 
 all the tribes to the public court of justice, and 
 to call every individual by his name. The penalty 
 for a non-compliance with this order was so very 
 severe, that every person, whether a freeman or 
 a slave, was obliged to make his appearance, and 
 to answer to his name when called upon. If,
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 35 
 
 therefore, a name happened to be mentioned, to 
 which the owner was wanting, it was immediately 
 concluded that the person to whom the name be- 
 longed was either dead, or, what was the same in 
 effect, gone, no matter where, to be a schoolmaster, 
 and so was accordingly wiped out of the book of 
 the living. — Vid. Athen. Dypnosoj). p. 147.* 
 
 I hear that ]\Ir. Thos. Townshend intends soon 
 to send some relations to Eton. If you have any 
 interest ir\ the affair, I should be glad of your re- 
 commendation, and you may depend upon my ut- 
 most diligence and best endeavours. We have a 
 report here that Lord Lincolnf is married to one 
 of Lord Pomfret's daughters; pray let me know 
 whether there is any truth in it : we, who love 
 him, must be very much concerned at it ; not but 
 that the match may be happy, but a husband at 
 twenty-one makes as odd a figure as a ship just 
 launched before she has taken in her ballast. Pray 
 "WTite soon, and add one more obligation to, dear 
 George, your most sincere humble servant. 
 
 Hen. Reade. 
 
 George Selwyn, Esq., 
 
 at John Selwyn's, Esq., Member of Parliament, 
 
 in Cleaveland Court, St. James's, London. 
 
 * The Deipuosophists of Athenaeus, the Greek grammarian, 
 is the only work of that author which has descended to modern 
 times. It consists of a collection of remarks and anecdotes, and 
 is chiefly valuable from its containing numerous quotations from 
 other authors, of whose writings no other specimens are extant. 
 
 f Henry Pelham Clinton, ninth Earl of Lincoln, and first 
 
 D 2
 
 3() GEORGE SELWYN 
 
 GEORGE SELWYN TO MR. VINCENT MATHIAS. 
 
 Paris, September, 8th [1742] N.S. 
 SIR, 
 
 I RETURN you my thanks for the favour of your 
 
 last, and the care you take of my affairs in the 
 Tower. In respect to the rent, I am resolved to 
 fix it to twenty-five pounds per annum, as long as 
 the house belongs to me. My successor, whoever 
 he may be, may, if he please, let it for nothing ; 
 but I think it more probable that, if he considers 
 what the value of the house is, he will raise the 
 rent five pounds more. My tenant quotes General 
 Evans* as a precedent, but I cannot think he should 
 be one for me : he had a very plentiful fortune, and 
 other employments much more considerable ; in 
 so much that, if he did not think it worth his while 
 to be exact in regard to the profits of so incon- 
 siderable a place as that in which I succeed him, 
 he might afford to do it, but I believe you know 
 my circumstances too well, not to think I am in 
 the right to make every reasonable advantage I can. 
 
 Duke of Newcastle of his family, was born on the 20th of 
 April 1720, and married, on the 16th of October 1744, Cathe- 
 rine, eldest surviving daughter and co-heiress of the Right Ho- 
 nourable Henry Pelham. The Duke of Newcastle died on the 
 22nd of February 1794. 
 
 * The predecessor of George Selwyn as Clerk of the Irons and 
 Surveyor of the Meltings at the Mint.
 
 TO MR. VINCENT MATIIIAS. 37 
 
 It concerns me to find that I have not interest 
 enough with my father to obtain a remittance of my 
 quarterage, before the precise time when it becomes 
 due, considering that, unless for particular accidents, 
 I should have been so good an economist as not to 
 have wanted it. However, I hope that I may 
 without scruple draw upon my banker the 25th 
 of this month, according to our style, when I shall, 
 as I drew according to the same style in the last 
 quarter, have lived a complete three months upon 
 my last remittance. To this I have nothing to add, 
 but that if T could have any money allowed me so 
 before hand, I should never have occasion to be so 
 pressing; but as it is, a part of the income which 
 is to provide for the expenses of the ensuing quarter 
 must contribute to pay for those of the last, so that 
 the little that is left being barely sufficient, barring 
 all manner of accidents, I must always be in want, 
 though I have two hundred and twenty pounds a 
 year, which I should otherwise think a competent 
 allowance. 
 
 I have had the honour of receiving a letter from 
 
 my father, which I shall take next the opportunity 
 
 of returning my thanks for. In the meantime I 
 
 beg you will present my duty to him and my 
 
 mother, if you sec them ; and believe me to be 
 
 very much. 
 
 Yours, &c. G. S. 
 
 P.S. I am much obliged to you for your kind 
 offer of ten i)0unds, but I have not drawn for it,
 
 38 GEORGE SELWYN 
 
 since I have a mind (as much as it lies in my power) 
 
 to hide my necessities and disgraces from as many 
 
 as possible. 
 
 A Monsieur, Monsieur Mathias, 
 au Bureau de Commerce, a Whitehall, a Londres. 
 
 Paris, November 10, [1742,] N.S. 
 I HAVE been a little disappointed, as I expected 
 the pleasure of hearing from you, after the receipt 
 of my last, wherein I acquainted you with my 
 last draught of fifty-five pounds, for the preceding 
 quarter, upon ^Nlr. Selwin,* the banker here. But 
 this is not the reason of my giving you the present 
 trouble, which is to beg that, if you know any 
 means by which I can obtain of my father a sum 
 of money over and above my yearly income, that 
 I may be a little beforehand in my affairs, you will 
 
 * Of Mr. Selwyn, the English banker at Paris, Horace Wal- 
 pole writes to the Earl of Hertford, ambassador to the Court of 
 France, in December 1763, " You know how utterly averse I am 
 to meddle, or give impertinent advice ; but the letter I saw was 
 expressed with so much respect and esteem for you, that you 
 would love the person. It is Mr. Selwyn, the banker. He says, 
 he expected no favour ; but the great regard he has for the 
 amiableness of your character makes him miserable at being 
 totally undistinguished by you. He has so good a character him- 
 self, and is so much beloved by many persons here, that you 
 know, that I think you will not dislike my putting you in mind 
 of him." It does not appear that there existed any relationship 
 between George Selwyn and the banker. The former, it will be 
 perceived, spells their names differently ; while Walpole, on the 
 other hand, writes them the same.
 
 TO MR. VINCENT MATHIAS. 39 
 
 be so kind as to inform me of them ; since you 
 say that you do not doubt of his kind intentions 
 towards me, upon a proper application to him 
 for it. I am certain that I should embrace, with 
 all the pleasure imaginable, any opportunity I had 
 of meriting his favour, if any could be found in 
 the situation I am in at present; and I reckon it 
 as one of my greatest misfortunes that, being at 
 this distance from him, my zeal, and the application 
 I would exert to recommend myself to his esteem, 
 cannot be made so manifest as it would be on my 
 return to England. 
 
 In respect to my circumstances, when I consider 
 how much all kind of economy was a stranger to 
 me, and that carelessness and dissipation were, by 
 long use, become almost natural, it is surprising 
 to me that I have been able to keep within bounds 
 so well as I have ; to which I may add, that, being 
 always a stranger where I have been, the manage- 
 ment of my fortune has been still a more difficult 
 task ; but, notwithstanding, I am far from being in 
 an easy enjoyment of my income, which, being 
 so moderate, I might reasonably expect to be. 
 Every quarter I receive, at least the greater part 
 of it is due when I receive it ; and being in an ex- 
 treme want of clothes, I have no possibility of being 
 beforehand, without the assistance which I sue for 
 at present. I believe it is needless to be very 
 circumstantial u]»on this subject, since everybody's 
 own reflections nuist easily suggest to them how
 
 40 GEORGE SELWYN 
 
 many difficulties and necessities a person labours 
 under who has never the present enjoyment of 
 one shilling; and if my father has not entirely 
 withdrawn his affection from me, I am certain he 
 will think it a case that deserves his consideration. 
 That I trouble you with the representation of this, 
 is, I own, much against my will, when I consider 
 how much I give you upon other accounts ; but it 
 is because I imagine that those to whom it might 
 be thought more natural to apply, think me, at 
 present, and my interests, below their concern. 
 
 I have wrote to Mr. Goodchild about some 
 linen, which I am in great want of, as of other 
 things, but have received no answer from him 
 yet, though two posts have elapsed since I wrote. 
 I beg you will take an opportunity to speak to him, 
 and assure him that, if he will provide me with 
 a stock of linen, he shall be jmid within the year ; 
 for which purpose you may deduct a portion from 
 my quarterly remittances. 
 
 I beg my duty to my father and mother, and 
 my love to my brother, the first time you see them ; 
 and to the latter you may add, that if he would 
 be troubled with a letter from me, it would be a 
 pleasure to me to have the liberty of writing to 
 him. 
 
 I am very sorry it is impossible to have any of 
 my books, since I have no fund to buy any, and I 
 must lay myself under obligations to so many people 
 as I borrow of.
 
 TO MR. VINCENT MATHIAS. 41 
 
 I am desired to send for Lord Herbert's History 
 of Henry the Eighth.* If you can find any opportu- 
 nity to send it, I should be glad. It is for an abbe 
 who lodges in my house, and who is writing the life 
 of Cardinal Wolsey in French. Dr. IMiddleton's 
 Life of Cicero is going to be published here, trans- 
 lated by the Abbe Prevot,t which is every article of 
 news I can send from the learned world : from the 
 political nothing can pass to you without exami- 
 nation. 
 
 I am, Sir, &c., &c. G. Selwyn. 
 To Mr. Mathias. 
 
 Paris, January 12, [1743,] N,S. 
 SIR, 
 
 The many difficulties and mortifying circum- 
 stances which a want of money has, and does still 
 expose me to, would have induced me to apply 
 to any person I thought most likely to relieve my 
 distress ; and I should have specified a much larger 
 sum than twenty pounds if I had not judged it more 
 proper to make you the negotiator in that affair, and 
 to leave the particular sum to the consideration 
 of my father. For when I had to ask of my father 
 what is of so much more importance to me than 
 
 * The History of Henry the Eighth, hy Edward Lord Her- 
 bert of Cherbury. 
 
 f Antony Francis d' Exiles Prevost, a voluminous French 
 writer, and the translator of Richardson's Clarissa Harlowe and 
 Sir Charles Grandisou into French. He died in November, 17(3.'J.
 
 42 GEORGE SELWYN 
 
 any addition to my income can possibly be, I mean 
 his affection and favourable o])inion of my conduct, 
 I imagined, that to dwell upon those anxieties only 
 which my necessities occasioned, would have the 
 appearance of being too much concerned about 
 what I regard as trifles, when put in competition 
 with his esteem ; and that, I assure you, was my 
 only motive, for applying to you, rather than to 
 my father, or my brother, in that affair. 
 
 Your admonitions, in respect to writing more 
 frequently, I take very kindly, and thought so very 
 reasonable that I wrote to my father immediately, 
 and to my mother and brother very soon after. 
 I have since received a very kind letter from my 
 brother, for which I have returned my thanks, en- 
 closed in the same cover with yours. 
 
 I am much obliged to Mr. Goodchild for comply- 
 ing so readily with my request in respect to my 
 shirts, which I should be glad were sent to me 
 immediately, since that gentleman's journey hither 
 is so uncertain, and my want of them and other 
 necessaries is greater than you can easily conceive. 
 I should be glad to receive Lord Herbert's History 
 by the same opportunity, because it is a long time 
 that I have promised an abb6 of my acquaintance 
 to procure it for him. 
 
 I beg my compliments to Mr. Popple when you 
 see him, and that you will believe me, &c., &c., 
 
 G. Selwyn. 
 
 To Mr. Vincent Mathias.
 
 TO MR. VINCENT MATIIIAS. 43 
 
 SIR, Paris Saturday 23, [March 1743] N. S. 
 
 I PURPOSE to draw upon J\lr. Selwin next 
 Monday, ^vliich is the 25th, according to our style, 
 for my whole quarterage. In the circumstances 
 I am in at present I cannot possibly begin to 
 clear my account with JNIr. Goodchild till the quar- 
 ter followinof. The monev I shall receive will 
 be 1221 livres; and, if I clear myself here, which 
 I shall think it by all means advisable to do, I 
 shall have about 400, that is, near twenty pounds 
 sterling to maintain me in every expense for the 
 three ensuing months. If I cannot obtain any 
 assistance from my father in such a necessity as 
 this, I shall really think it a very hard case, espe- 
 cially as I have been guilty of no extravagance to 
 reduce me to it ; for if I was obliged to live in a 
 more frugal manner than I have done since I 
 have been at Paris, I do not know whether living 
 in a gaol might not be just as agreeable. I am 
 conscious of having neglected to write to my family 
 in Cleveland Court a great while, but it has not pro- 
 ceeded from any indifference or want of affection, 
 but really a want of knowing Avhat would be most 
 proper to say to them in my present circumstances. 
 
 I beg you will present my duty to my father 
 and mother, and my love to my brother, and Mr. 
 Townshend, when you see them, and believe me 
 to be your most obliged and most obedient servant, 
 
 G. Selwyn. 
 
 P. S. T hope to hear from you very soon.
 
 44 
 
 ANNE PITT. 
 
 Anne Pitt was the eldest daughter of Robert 
 Pitt, Esq., of Boconnock, in Cornwall, and sister 
 of the great Earl of Chatham. She was Maid of 
 Honour to the Queen of George the Second, and 
 afterwards Privy Purse to the Princess Dowager 
 of Wales. She enjoyed among her contemporaries 
 a character for wit, sprightliness, and good-humour ; 
 qualities which she is said to have retained in 
 perfection to a very advanced age. Her bo7ismots 
 are scarcely yet forgotten. She died at her house 
 in Pitt Place, Kensington Gravel-pits, on the 9th 
 of February 1780. 
 
 MISS ANNE PITT TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Argeville, July the 14th, 1743. 
 SIR, 
 
 I AM extremely glad to find, by the letter 
 you do me the favour to write me, that you have 
 reason to be satisfied with the disposition of your 
 father towards you. I can pretend to no merit in 
 this, but desiring to have the truth represented 
 to him concerning you. It is certain that the 
 happiness of your whole life depends upon your 
 being well with Mr. and Mrs. Selwyn, which I 
 heartily wish, for their sakes as well as yours.
 
 ORATOR HENLEY. 45 
 
 If you return to England before I have the plea- 
 sure of seing you, I beg of you to make my com- 
 pliments to them. I shall have nothing else to 
 trouble you with, and am. Sir, your most humble 
 servant, A. Pitt. 
 
 ORATOR HENLEY. 
 
 The Reverend John Henley, better known as 
 
 Orator Henley, is now chiefly remembered from 
 
 the niches which he fills in the "Dunciad:" — 
 
 High on a gorgeous seat, that far out-shone 
 Henley's gilt tub, and Fleckno's Irish throne. 
 
 And again — 
 
 Imbrown'd with native bronze, lo ! Henley stands, 
 Tuning his voice and balancing his hands. 
 How fluent nonsense trickles from his tongue ! 
 How sweet the periods, neither said nor sung I 
 Still break the benches, Henley, with thy strain. 
 While Sherlock, Hare, and Gibson preach in vain. 
 
 Henley was the son of a clergyman ; was edu- 
 cated at St. John's College, Cambridge ; entered 
 into holy orders ; grew weary of his seclusion as 
 a country curate, and came to London in search 
 of preferment and ftime. Failing in his object of 
 rising in his profession by legitimate and respect- 
 able means, and his temper becoming almost bru- 
 talized by disappointment, he set up as a public 
 orator, and opening a chapel in the neighbourhood 
 of Newport-Market, near the corner of Lincoln's
 
 46 ORATOR HENLEY 
 
 Inn Fields, preached on Sundays on theological 
 questions, and on Wednesdays on the sciences, 
 and on other subjects. Each auditor paid a shil- 
 ling for his admission ticket, which bore the device 
 of a rising star, with the words ad summum above, 
 and inveniam viam aut faciam, below. By degrees 
 he broke with the Church, and styling himself a 
 Rationalist, offered to teach mankind " universal 
 knowledge from his lectures, and primitive Chris- 
 tianity from his sermons." To use his own words, 
 he was determined " to reform the gross impostures 
 and faults that have long prevailed in the received 
 institutions and establishments of knowledge and re- 
 ligion." His manner was theatrical ; his pulpit was 
 radiant with A-elvet and gold (the "gilt tub" of Pope,) 
 and his language usually varied from an affected 
 attempt at oratory to familiar buffoonery and irre- 
 verent wit : according to Bishop Warburton, "some- 
 times he broke jests, and sometimes that bread 
 which he called the Primitive Eucharist." Habit- 
 uated, however, as we are, to regard Henley as a 
 compound of knave, madman, and buffoon, he was, 
 nevertheless, distinguished by wit and acuteness ; 
 by the depth of his learning and his indefatigable 
 pursuit after knowledge. His wit is proved by his 
 letter to the Spectator, (No. 396,) signed Peter de 
 Quir. He was versed in the Hebrew, Greek, and 
 Persic tongues ; he was the author of a grammar 
 of ten languages ; and his early, and now forgotten 
 poem, " Esther, Queen of Persia," contains pas-
 
 TO GEORGE SEL\VYN. 47 
 
 sages, which, for beauty of sentiment and grace 
 of versification, give him claim to be ranked as 
 a poet of no mean order. This extraordinary man 
 outlived the unhealthy reputation which he ac- 
 quired by the exercise of his eccentric talents? 
 and died in comparative obscurity in 1756, at 
 the age of sixty-four. 
 
 ORATOR HENLEY TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Jan, 4, 1745. 
 SIR, 
 
 According to my promise, I called on you 
 gentlemen, at the Bedford Head, and likewise sent 
 a letter thither last week, but Mr. Wooderfield 
 told me you seldom came thither. 
 
 I dine at twelve all the year, but shall be glad 
 to take a glass with you at the King's Arms any 
 day from four to six. If I have disobliged Mr. 
 Parsons, (who I hear was with you,) or any of you 
 gentlemen, I never intended it, and ask your par- 
 dons. I shall be proud to oblige or serve my 
 Lord Carteret,* or you, or the rest, at any time. 
 Pray let them see this. I am, with my humble 
 service to all. Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 J. Henley. 
 
 * Robert Lord Carteret, eldest son of John, first Earl Gran- 
 ville, the celebrated minister and statesman. He succeeded as 
 second Earl Granville in 17G3, and died without issue in 1776, 
 when his titles became extinct.
 
 48 ORATOR HENLEY 
 
 [The next letter evidently refers to some disturb- 
 ance created by Selwyn and some of his gay friends 
 at one of Henley's lectures. As Selwyn was at 
 this period a student at Oxford, it may not im- 
 probably be the identical riot recorded by Mr. 
 D'Israeli, in the following passage in his Curiosities 
 of Literature : " Once Henley offered to admit 
 of a disputation, and that he would impartially 
 determine the merits of the contest. It happened 
 that Henley this time was overmatched ; for two 
 Oxonians, supported by a strong party to overawe 
 his ' marrow-bones,' as the butchers were called, 
 said to be in the Orator's pay, entered the list: the 
 one to defend the igtiorance, the other the impu- 
 dence, of the restorer of eloquence himself. As 
 there was a door behind the rostrum, which led 
 to his house, the Orator silently dropped out, post- 
 poning the award to some haj^pier day." Henley 
 at this period lectured in Clare Market, where the 
 butchers still constitute the most influential part of 
 the community. 
 
 And has not Colley still his lord and — 
 
 His butchers Henley, his freemasons, Moore.] 
 
 ORATOR HENLEY TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 January 16, 1745. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 I AM desirous, on a footing of Reason and 
 Right, which are entirely on my side, to make
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 49 
 
 you, Mr. Carteret,* and ^Ir. B. my friends, not 
 my enemies. I hinted this at ]\lr. Balaguerre's, 
 and have written a short letter to INIr. Carteret 
 about it. So many instances of this kind have 
 been repeated, that self-preservation has been at 
 stake. I am accountable for the peace of my con- 
 gregation ; and among the rules and articles of 
 my consent and conditions, as owner and minister, 
 one rule is, to go out directly, (forfeiting what 
 has been given,) if any person cannot, or will not, 
 observe those conditions ; for the smallest circum- 
 stance of disorder has been inflamed to the highest 
 outrage. The bishop's nephew began something 
 of the kind two months ago, and made me retri- 
 bution : so have others, and I must send an 
 attorney to warn those not to come, whom I sus- 
 pect, hereafter. 
 
 Yotc have been at this sport before. I may be 
 useful to you all some time. In the meantime, 
 as you are gentlemen, have good judgment, good 
 nature, and were in fault, I hope this will break 
 no bones, and that you will shew this epistolary 
 dissertation to Mr. C. and Mr. B. 
 
 I am, sir, your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 J. Henley. 
 
 To George Selwyn, Esq., 
 
 at Colonel Selwyn's, in Cleveland Court, 
 
 by St. James's House, Westminster. 
 
 * Robert Carteret, afterwards third Lord Carteret, and second 
 Earl Granville. He died without issue in 1770. 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 50 
 
 THE RIGHT HON. RICHARD RIGBY. 
 
 Richard Rigby, the writer of more than one 
 agreeable letter in the present Collection, was a 
 person of no small importance in the political as 
 well as social circles of the day. He was born in 
 1722, and is said to have been the son of a linen- 
 drajjer, who, as factor to the South-Sea Company, 
 had succeeded in amassing a considerable fortune. 
 This wealth he bequeathed to his son, who speedily 
 squandered the greater portion of it in electioneer- 
 ing, in the pursuit of pleasure, and in the danger- 
 ous excitement of play. 
 
 Though Rigby was, unquestionably, not a states- 
 man of the first order, his talents as a man of busi- 
 ness, and as an orator, were at least sufficient to 
 render him a valuable acquisition to any party to 
 which he might attach himself. Moreover, he was 
 distinguished for his social qualities ; and his con- 
 versational talent, his lively humour, his enjoyment 
 of the pleasures of the table, and the delicacies 
 which were to be met with at his hospitable board, 
 rendered him one of the most popular persons of his 
 day. 
 
 Rigby, in early life, had attached himself to the 
 person of Frederick Prince of Wales, with whom 
 his convivial qualities, and the cheerfulness with 
 which he lost large sums at the gaming-table, ren-
 
 THE RIGHT HON. RICHARD RIGBY. 51 
 
 dered him an esjDecial favourite. Latterly, how- 
 ever, circumstances led to their estrangement, and 
 Rigby became the staunch friend and political par- 
 tizan of John Duke of Bedford, whose name occu- 
 pies so unenviable a place in the pages of Junius, 
 and in the political history of the period. Des- 
 picable, however, as may have been the character 
 of the Duke of Bedford, Rigby at least had no 
 reason to complain of a lukewarm friendship on 
 the part of the duke, or that his services were 
 niggardly repaid. In addition to the loan of a 
 large sum of money to extricate him from his pecu- 
 niary difficulties, the duke, on his appointment as 
 Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, nominated Rigby to 
 be his Secretary ; and, moreover, subsequently ob- 
 tained his return to Parliament as member for the 
 borough of Tavistock, his appointment as a privy 
 counsellor, and a sinecure office of four thousand 
 pounds a-year. Further, the duke nominated Rigby 
 his executor, and cancelled his jDecuniary obligation 
 to him by a special bequest. 
 
 In early life, Rigby and Horace Walpole had 
 been intimate friends. It was scarcely, however, 
 in the nature of the latter to unite personal good- 
 will and kindliness of feeling m ith political hostility ; 
 and, consequently, when he grew to detest the 
 person and politics of the Duke of Bedford, Rigby, 
 almost as a matter of course, became involved in 
 liis j»rejiidices, and, indeed, Mas likened l)y his 
 former friend (ujider the name of Vahht de In 
 
 E 2
 
 52 THE RIGHT HON. RICHARD RIGBY. 
 
 Rigbiere) to the Abbe de la Riviere, the infamous 
 favourite of Gaston, Duke of Orleans.* 
 
 It is due, however, to Horace Walpole, to observe, 
 that the character which he has drawn elsewhere 
 of Rigby, in his " Memoirs of the last Ten Years 
 of the Reign of George the Second," is sketched 
 with apparent fairness. " Rigby," he says, " had 
 an advantageous and manly person, recommended 
 by a spirited jollity that was very pleasing, though 
 sometimes roughened into brutality ; of most in- 
 sinuating good-breeding, when he wished to be 
 agreeable. His passions were turbulent and over- 
 bearing ; his courage bold and fond of exerting 
 itself; his parts strong and quick, but totally 
 uncultivated; and so much had he trusted to un- 
 affected common sense, that he could never after- 
 wards acquire the necessary temperament of art 
 in his public speaking. He had been a pupil of 
 Winnington,f and owed the chief errors of his life 
 
 * Lord Orford's Works, vol. vi. p. 163. 
 
 f The Right Honourable Thomas Winnington successively 
 held the appointments of a Lord of the Admiralty, Lord of the 
 Treasury, Cofferer, and afterwards, Paymaster of the Forces. 
 Walpole elsewhere observes of him, " He had a jolly way of 
 laughing at his own want of principles ; he had more wit than 
 any man I ever knew ; and it was as ready and quick as it was 
 constant and unpremeditated." He is known to have been the 
 favoured lover of the celebrated Ethelreda Harrison, Lady 
 Townshend, and is more than once celebrated in the lively verse 
 of his friend Sir Charles Hanbury Williams : — 
 
 When Winnington and Fox, with flow of soul, 
 With sense and wit, drove round the cheerful bowl, 
 
 Our
 
 THE RIGHT HON. RICHARD RIGBY. 63 
 
 to that man's maxims — perniciously witty. Win- 
 nington had unluckily lived when all yirtue had 
 been set to notorious sale, and, in ridicule of false 
 pretences, had affected an honesty in avowing what- 
 ever was dishonourable. Rigby, whose heart was 
 naturally good, grew to think it sensible to laugh 
 at the shackles of morality; and having early en- 
 cumbered his fortune by gaming, he found his pa- 
 tron's maxims but too well adapted to retrieve his 
 
 Our hearts were opened, and our converse free. 
 But now they both are lost, quite lost to me. 
 One to a mistress gives up all his life, 
 And one from me flies wisely to his wife. 
 
 The death of Winnington is said to have been occasioned by 
 the ignorance of a quack doctor, who, " blooded and purged him 
 to death in a few days." His death is thus aifectionately la- 
 mented by Sir Charles Hanbury Williams in the following 
 epitaph : — 
 
 Near his paternal seat here buried lies, 
 
 The grave, the gay, the witty, and the wise. 
 
 Formed for all parts, in all alike he shined, 
 
 Variously great I a genius unconfined ! 
 
 In converse bright, judicious in debate, 
 
 In private amiable, in public great. 
 
 With all the statesman's knowledge, prudence, art. 
 
 With friendship's open, undesigning heart. 
 
 The friend and heir here join their duty : — one 
 
 Erects the busto ; one inscribes the stone. 
 
 Not that they hope from these his fame should live ; 
 
 That claims a longer date than they can give. 
 
 False to their trusts, the mouldering busts decay, 
 
 And, soon efl'aced, inscriptions wear away : 
 
 But English annals shall their place supply. 
 
 And while they live, his name can never die.
 
 54 THE RIGHT HON. RICHARD RIGBY. 
 
 desperate fortunes. He placed his honour in steady 
 addiction to whatever faction he was united with ; 
 and, from the gaiety of his temper, having indulged 
 himself in profuse drinking, (for in private few men 
 were more temperate,) he was often hurried beyond 
 the bounds of that interest which he meant should 
 govern all his actions, and which his generous 
 extravagance for ever combated. In short, he was 
 a man who was seldom loved or hated with modera- 
 tion ; yet he himself, though a violent opponent, was 
 never a bitter enemy. His amiable qualities were 
 all natural ; his faults acquired, or fatally linked to 
 him by the chain of some other failings." * 
 
 For many years previous to his death, Rigby 
 enjoyed the then lucrative post of Paymaster of the 
 Forces. During this period his festive parties at 
 his residence in the Pay Office were famous. Jovi- 
 ality and freedom of conversation were their prin- 
 cipal characteristics. At the convivial board of 
 the jovial Paymaster Lord Thurlow delighted to 
 forget that he was Lord Chancellor ; and more than 
 one minister of state — including Lord Gower, Lord 
 Weymouth, and Mr. Dundas — very readily drowned 
 the cares of office in conviviality and wine. The 
 country residence of Rigby was at Mistley Hall, 
 in Essex, where he maintained a splendid estab- 
 lishment ; and here, as well as in London, his mode 
 of living was distinguished by luxury, joviality, 
 and expense. 
 
 * Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 254.
 
 THE RIGHT HON. RICHARD RIGBY. 55 
 
 It was one of the peculiarities of Rigby, that 
 though a placeman, and for many years an unscru- 
 pulous supporter of administration, he nevertheless 
 was anxious to have it believed that his vote was 
 an independent one, and, with this object, persisted 
 in never sitting on the ministerial side of the house. 
 Sir Nathaniel Wraxall, who sat in the House of 
 Commons with him, has bequeathed us an interest- 
 ing portrait of the statesman and wit. " When 
 in his place, he was invariably habited in a full- 
 dressed suit of clothes, commonly of a purple, or 
 dark colour, without lace or embroidery, close but- 
 toned, with his sword thrust through the pocket. 
 His countenance was very expressive, but not of 
 genius ; still less did it indicate timidity or modesty : 
 all the comforts of the Pay Office seemed to be 
 eloquently depictured in it; and the lianen purpureum 
 ^\hicli beamed from his features served as a com- 
 ment on the text of Junius, when he panegyrizes 
 the Duke of Bedford's solitary protection of " blush- 
 ing merit" in Mr. Rigby's person. His manner, 
 rough, yet frank, bold, but manly, admirably set 
 off whatever sentiments he uttered in Parliament. 
 Like Jenkinson, he borrowed neither from ancient 
 nor from modern authors. His eloquence was alto- 
 gether his own, simple, strong, and natural ; ad- 
 dressed not to the fancy, but to the plain compre- 
 hension of his hearers. AVhatcver he meant, he 
 expressed indeed without circumlocution or declama- 
 tion. There was a hapjiy audacity about his forehead
 
 56 THE RIGHT HON. RICHARD RIGBY. 
 
 which must have been the gift of nature : art coukl 
 not obtain it by any efforts. He seemed neither 
 to fear nor even to respect the House, whose com- 
 position he well knew; and to the members of 
 which assembly he never appeared to give credit 
 for any portion of virtue, patriotism, or public 
 spirit. Far from concealing these sentiments, he 
 insinuated, or even pronounced them, without dis- 
 guise; and from his lips they neither excited sur- 
 prise, nor even commonly awakened reprehension." 
 
 In consequence of the celebrated resignation 
 of Lord North in 1782, Rigby not only found 
 himself deprived of the means of supporting his 
 former course of extravagance, but, in conse- 
 quence of some regulations introduced by his 
 successor in the Pay Office, Edmund Burke, he 
 found himself compelled to refund a considerable 
 amount of the public money, which remained un- 
 accounted for. In this emergency he is said to 
 have had recourse to Sir Thomas Rumbold, who 
 had recently returned from the East Indies in 
 possession of immense wealth. This wealth he had 
 accumulated during the period he was Governor 
 of Madras ; and, for the unjustifiable means by 
 which he was said to have acquired it, his con- 
 duct was at this very period under investigation, 
 and his person under proscription, by the House 
 of Commons. 
 
 In order to advance the interests of both parties, 
 a com])act is stated to have been entered into be-
 
 THE RIGHT HON. RICHARD RIGBY. 57 
 
 tween Rigby and Ruinbold, by the articles of which 
 the former was to receive a large sum of money, 
 on the condition that he should extricate the other 
 from the imminent danger which threatened him. 
 Rigby, indeed, was no longer a minister of state, but 
 he was a personal friend of more than one member 
 of the administration ; and, moreover, Dundas, (after- 
 wards Lord Melville, and the friend and colleague 
 of Pitt,) who had originally introduced into the 
 House of Commons the Bill for inflicting Pains 
 and Penalties against Rumbold, had long been the 
 intimate associate of Rigby. Whether, in fact, 
 there really existed any secret and improper com- 
 ])act between the impoverished statesman and the 
 grasping Governor, cannot now with any certainty 
 be ascertained. Appearances, however, certainly 
 gave w^eight to the supposition. Not only were 
 the charges against Rumbold, which had hitherto 
 been prosecuted with the utmost vigour, allowed sud- 
 denly to languish, but the circumstance of Rigby 
 uniting his nephew and heir to RumbokVs daughter, 
 lent additional strength to the suspicion. 
 
 Rigby was never married, but he left a natural 
 daughter, to whom he bequeathed the sum of 
 4,000/. His death took place on the 8th of April, 
 1788, in his sixty-seventh year.
 
 58 THE RIGHT HON. RICHARD RIGBY 
 
 THE RIGHT HON. RICHARD RIGBY TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Tuesday, March 12, [1745,] 7 o'clock. 
 DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I THANK you for your letter, which I have this 
 moment received and read ; and, that you may 
 not be surprised at my readiness in answering it, 
 I will begin with telling you the occasion of it. 
 I am just got home from a cock-match, where 
 I have won forty 'pounds in ready money ; and, 
 not having dined, am waiting till I hear the 
 rattle of the coaches from the House of Com- 
 mons, in order to dine at White's ; and now I 
 will begin my journal, for in that style I believe 
 my letters will be best received, considering our 
 situations. I held my resolution of not going to 
 the Ridotto till past three o'clock ; when, finding 
 nobody was willing to sit any longer but Boone, 
 who was not able, I took, as I thought, the least 
 of two evils, and so went there rather than to bed, 
 but found it so infinitely dull that I retired in 
 half an hour. The next morning I heard there 
 had been extreme deep play, and that Harry Fur- 
 nese * went drunk from White's at six o'clock, 
 
 * Henry Furnese, Esq., Secretary, and afterwards a Lord of 
 the Treasury. His abilities were considerable ; but, in conse- 
 quence of his intimacy with Lord Bath, and his determined 
 opposition to Sir Robert Walpole, he entailed on himself the 
 sarcastic malevolence of Horace Walpole, who speaks of him, in 
 his " Memoirs of the Reign of George the Second," as " that 
 old rag of Lord Bath's foohsh quota to an administration, the
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 59 
 
 and won the dear memorable sum of one thousand 
 guineas. He won the chief part of Doneraile* 
 and Bob Bertie.f 
 
 I saw Garrick act Othello that same night, in 
 which, I think, he was very unmeaningly dressed, 
 and succeeded in no degree of comparison with 
 Quin, except in the scene where lago gives him 
 the first suspicion of Desdemona. He endeavoured 
 throughout to play and speak everything directly 
 different from Quin, and failed, I think, in most 
 of his alterations. I 
 
 mute Harry Furnese." For the same reasons, he is more than 
 once attacked by Sir Charles Hanbury WilHams, who thus intro- 
 duces him in his " New Ode to a great number of great Men :" 
 
 And see, with that important face 
 Berenger's clerk to take his place, 
 
 Into the Treasury come ; 
 With pride and meanness act thy part, 
 Thou look'st the very thing thou art. 
 
 Thou Bourgeois Gentilhomme ! 
 
 Oh, my poor country I is this all 
 
 You 've gain'd by the long-labour'd fall 
 
 Of Walpole and his tools ? 
 He was a knave, suppose — what then ? 
 He 'd parts — but this new set of men 
 
 A'n't only knaves, but fools. 
 
 * Arthur St. Leger, fourth Viscount Doneraile in Ireland. 
 He died in August 1747. 
 
 f Lord Robert Bertie, fifth son of Robert, first Duke of An- 
 caster. See post, 16 Oct., 1747. 
 
 :j: It is remarkable that Garrick failed so entirely in the part, 
 that this was the only occasion on which he ever acted in the 
 character of Othello, Quin had rendered himself famous in it at
 
 60 THE RIGHT HON. RICHARD RIGBY 
 
 Friday night I was at the Oratorio, where there 
 was very little company, and Saturday at the Opera, 
 where there was less : they have got INIr. Sullivan 
 there in room of one of the Scotts. I saw both 
 the colonel and my lady* at the Opera, which 
 
 the rival theatre ; and, consequently, when so great an actor as 
 Garrick entered the lists with him, it was natural that he should 
 be jealously alive to his success. Determined to judge for him- 
 self, in regard to the merits of Garrick's acting, Quin, on the 
 night on which his rival was announced to perform Othello, se- 
 cured himself a place in the pit of the rival theatre. About this 
 period had been published Hogarth's famous prints of " Marriage 
 a la Mode," in one of which, it will be remembered, is introduced 
 a negro foot-boy entering the apartment with a tea-equipage. To 
 the quick fancy of Quin, (naturally on the watch to turn his rival 
 into ridicule,) it may readily be imagined that there appeared a 
 ludicrous similarity between the appearance of the foot-boy and 
 the blackened face and diminutive figure of Gan-ick. Accord- 
 ingly, when the latter made his re-appearance in the third or 
 fourth act, Quin suddenly exclaimed, loud enough to afford 
 amusement to half the pit, " Here is Pompey, but where are 
 the tea-things ?" The effect produced on the mind of Garrick 
 (sensitively alive as he is known to have been both to praise 
 and censure) by the notoriety given to this anecdote, may be 
 readily imagined. Many years afterwards, Dr. Griffiths, the 
 editor of the " Monthly Review," inquired of Garrick, among 
 a circle of friends, whether he had ever performed the part of 
 Othello ? The question was asked in perfect ignorance, both 
 of Garrick's failure, and of the story of Quin's witticism : never- 
 theless, the effect which it produced on the great actor painfully 
 forced itself on his expressive countenance, and was never for- 
 gotten by those who witnessed the scene. " Sir," he replied, 
 with evident bitterness of feeling, " I once acted the part to 
 my cost." 
 
 * Colonel and Mrs. Selwyn, the father and mother of George 
 Selwyn.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 61 
 
 is the only time I have seen either of them since 
 your departure : the colonel and I are upon good 
 terms, but her ladyship only curtesys. I supped 
 that nio'ht tete-a-tete with IMetham, who was 
 
 d d angry with Hubby Bubby* for having 
 
 invited all the Musquetaires to supper but him. 
 He went to sleep at twelve, and I to White's, 
 where I stayed till six. Sunday, I dined out of 
 town, at Chelsea College, with jNIr. Winningtonf 
 and INIr. Townshend, \ whom I think a good agree- 
 able man. Yesterday I spent good part of the 
 day with my Lord Coke§ at a cock-match, and 
 went, towards the latter end of Quin's benefit, to 
 INIarianne, where I found he had not greatly 
 pleased. 
 
 This morning I was at my Lord Walpole's, where 
 I found the report of the hurricane at Jamaica is 
 confirmed, in M'hicli they say we have lost all our 
 men-of-war but one, that is to say eight or upwards, 
 besides an hundred sail of merchant-ships, and the 
 
 * Probably the famous Bubb Doddington. 
 
 t Thomas Winnington, Esq., whose name so often occurs 
 in the social and political history of the period. Sir C. Hanbury 
 Williams speaks of him with affection, and Horace Walpolo 
 celebrates his " jolly way of laughing at his own want of prin- 
 ciples." — See ante, p. 52, note. 
 
 \ Probably the Hon. Thomas Townshend, brother-in-law to 
 George Selwyn. See post, July, 1751. 
 
 § Edward Viscount Coke, only son of Thomas Coke, first 
 and only Earl of Leicester of his family. Lord Coke died in 
 the lifetime of his father, in 1753.
 
 62 THE RIGHT HON. RICHARD RIGBY. 
 
 island left in a terrible condition.* They say that 
 the affair of Captain Mostyn, that was acquitted 
 by a court-martial at Spithead, is all to be had 
 over again before the House of Lords. I saw 
 Obrien to-day,f who was sorry he had no opportunity 
 of taking his leave of you. The coaches rattle by 
 
 d d fast, and George brings me word the House 
 
 is up, and I assure you I am extremely hungry, so 
 adieu for the present, but I will write to you be- 
 fore I go into Norfolk next Monday to Lord Wal- 
 
 pole.| Yours sincerely, 
 
 Richard Rigby. 
 
 P.S. Lord Orford has not been so well this 
 
 day or two.§ 
 
 * This disastrous hurricane occurred in October 1744, and 
 is said to have occasioned damage to the amount of 300,000/. 
 
 f Probably Windham O'Brien, created, November 29, 1756, 
 Baron of Ibrickan, and Earl of Thoraond in Ireland. See post, 
 19 Sept. 1768, 
 
 I Horatio, first Lord Walpole, whose name figures so conspi- 
 cuously in the reigns of Queen Anne, George the First, and 
 George the Second, was the younger brother of Sir Robert Wal- 
 pole. He died on the 5th of February, 1757, at the age of se- 
 venty-nine. 
 
 § Sir Robert Walpole, recently created Earl of Orford, died 
 on the 18th of March, 1 745, six days after the date of this letter.
 
 63 
 
 SIR CHARLES HANBURY WILLIAMS. 
 
 Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, so famous for 
 the vivacity of his conversation, the wit and ease 
 of his versification, and occasionally the galling 
 bitterness of his muse, was the third son of John 
 Hanbury, Esq. of Pontypool Park, JNIonmouthshire : 
 he subsequently assumed the arms and surname 
 of Williams, on being bequeathed the property of 
 his godfather, Charles Williams, Esq. of Caerleon. 
 His mother was Albinia, sister of Colonel John 
 Selwyn of Matson, and consequently George Selwyn 
 was his first cousin. Sir Charles represented the 
 borough of Monmouth during several parliaments, 
 and attached himself, as much from feelings of 
 affectionate regard as from motives of self-interest, 
 to Sir Robert Walpole. In 1744 he was created 
 a Knight of the Bath, and subsequently filled the 
 appointments of Envoy to the Elector of Saxony, 
 minister at the Court of Berlin, and ambassador 
 at St. Petersburgh, at which latter court he became 
 a great favourite with the voluptuous Elizabeth. 
 On his return from St. Petersburgh in 1757 his 
 intellects failed him, and during his stay at Ham- 
 burgh, an unjirincipled female prevailed upon him 
 to give her his bond for 2000/., and a promise of 
 marriage, although his wife was still living. He 
 subsequently recovered his reason, ))ut in 1759
 
 64 SIR CHARLES IIANBURY WILLIAMS 
 
 his intellects again forsook him, and on the 2nd 
 of November in that year he expired in a state 
 of insanity, as it has been said, by his own hand. 
 Sir Charles was the father of two daughters, his 
 co-heiresses ; Frances, married to William Capel, 
 fourth Earl of Essex, and Charlotte, who became 
 the wife of the Honourable Robert Boyle Wal- 
 singham, a captain in the navy, who was lost in 
 the " Thunderer" in the West Indies, in 1779, when 
 the whole of the crew perished. 
 
 SIR C. HANBURY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 30th March, 1 745. 
 
 If I have not wrote to you before, it was not 
 because I did not think of you : I have both thought 
 of and mentioned you often with pleasure. 
 
 So much for preface. The town-talk for some 
 time past has been your child.* The moment 
 you turned your back he flew out; went to 
 Lady Tankerville's f drum-major; having unfor- 
 tunately dined that day with Rigby, who plied 
 his head with too many bumpers, and also made 
 
 * Mr. Hobart, subsequently mentioned in this letter. 
 
 f Camilla, daughter of Edward Colville, Esq., of Whitehouse, 
 in the bishopric of Durham, and wife of Charles, second Earl of 
 Tankerville. She was one of the ladies of the Bedchamber to 
 the Queen of George the Second, and subsequently to the Prin- 
 cess Augusta, afterwards Princess of Brunswick. Her death 
 took place on the 8th of October, 1775, at the age of one hun- 
 dred and five.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 65 
 
 him a present of some Chinese crackers. Armed 
 in this manner, he entered the assembly, and re- 
 solving to do something that should make a noise, 
 he gave a string of four-and-twenty crackers to 
 Lady Lucy Clinton,* and bid her put it in the 
 candle, which she very innocently did, to her and 
 the whole room's astonishment ; but when the first 
 went off she threw the rest upon the tea-ta1jle, 
 where, one after another, they all went off, with 
 much noise and not a little stink, to the real joy 
 of most of the women present, who don't dislike 
 an opportunity of finding fault. Lady Lucy in- 
 deed was very plentifully abused, and Mr. Plobartf 
 had his share ; and common fame says he has never 
 received a card since : few women will curtesy to 
 him, and I question if he '11 ever lead any body to 
 their chair again as long as he lives. 
 
 I leave you to judge how deeply he feels this 
 wound. Every body says it would never have hap- 
 pened if you had not retired to your studies ; and 
 you are a little blamed for letting him out alone, 
 
 * Lady Lucy Clinton was the eldest daughter of Henry, 
 seventh Earl of Lincoln. She was born ou the 1 7th of May, 
 1721, and died, unmarried, on the 11th of October 1763. 
 
 -f- Apparently the Hon, John Hobart, eldest son of John first 
 Lord Hobart, who was created, in September 171(), Earl of 
 Buckinghamshire. Some lively letters of Mr. Hobart (who 
 succeeded his father as Earl of Buckinghamshire, and subse- 
 quently held some high appointments in the state) will be found 
 in the " Letters to and from Henrietta, Countess of Suffolk." 
 He died on the 3rd of August, 1793. 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 SIR CHARLES HANBURY WILLIAMS 
 
 when you knew he was not fit for it. He has sunk 
 his chairmen's wages five shillings a-week upon 
 this accident, and intends to turn them off in 
 Passion Week, because he can then go nowhere 
 at all. All private houses are already shut against 
 him, and in that holy time no public place is 
 open. 
 
 I had like to have forgot to tell you, that the 
 Duchess of Queensberry,* wanting a man to make 
 up her ball last night, condescended so far as to 
 send for him, and he danced with Lady Emily 
 Lenox,f and every body that was there says, it 
 was the prettiest sight upon earth to see the two 
 Lady Emilys dance together. The duchess never 
 gives meat suppers, and Hobart told me himself, 
 that he had nothing but half an apple puff and a 
 little wine and water. If you had been there your- 
 self you could have ordered nothing properer. 
 
 I must now tell you, that I think your good 
 
 * Katherine, daughter of Henry Hyde, Earl of Clarendon and 
 Rochester, the patroness of Gay, the Kitty of Prior's ballad, and 
 celebrated by Pope : 
 
 If Queensberry to strip there 's no compelling, 
 'Tis from a handmaid we must take a Helen. 
 
 The Duchess was the wife of Charles, third Duke of Queens- 
 berry, and second Duke of Dover. 
 
 ■f Lady Emily Lenox, daughter of Charles, second Duke of 
 Richmond, She was born on the 6th of October, 1731, and 
 was married, first to James Duke of Leinster, and afterwards to 
 James Ogilvie, Esq. She was the mother of the celebrated 
 Lord Edward Fitzgerald.
 
 TO GEORGE SEUVYN. 67 
 
 friend ]Mr. Walpole * and I have very nearly made 
 up your affairs with Bland, f and in my next 
 letter I expect to receive a postscript, wrote by his 
 own hand. J 
 
 Rigby has been but little in town since you 
 went, and is at present in Essex, and nobody 
 knows when he returns. 
 
 The Coll.§ lives with his fair one, and seldom 
 comes to White's, so I know little of him ; but 
 the Galli has had a benefit, and not twenty people 
 in the house. 
 
 I hope you divert yourself well at the expense 
 of the whole university, though the object is not 
 worthy you. The dullest fellow in it has parts 
 enough to ridicule it, and you have parts to fly 
 at nobler game. 
 
 The newspapers can tell you as much news as 
 I know, or ever will know, and to them I refer 
 you for politics. When we talked together we 
 talked of better things than these ; and while we 
 write to one another we will keep in the same 
 track, and never be serious. I hope even the 
 thoughts of your promise to see Welch mountains || 
 
 * The celebrated Horace Walpole, with whom Selwyn, to the 
 close of his life, lived on terms of intimacy. 
 
 f Probably Sir John Bland, member for Ludgershall, who de- 
 stroyed himself in October, 1755. 
 
 I To this passage is subjoined, in a different hand-writing-, 
 " It 's no such thing, J.B." § Probably Colonel Selwyn. 
 
 II Sir Charles evidently alludes to an invitation he had given 
 Selwyn to his seat, Coldbrook House, Monmouthshire. 
 
 F 2
 
 68 HENRY PLEYDELL DAWNEY. 
 
 does not make you so, for I insist upon your seeing 
 them, and will certainly call upon you in my way 
 down. Mr. Walpole sits by me while I write 
 this : always think of him with affection, for he 
 delights in you, and sometimes remember 
 
 C. H. W. 
 
 [At the period when this letter was written, it 
 is unnecessary to remind the reader, that George 
 Selwyn was still a student at Oxford. The tone, 
 therefore, of the letter (written as it is by a man 
 of the world, of acknowledged wit and fashion, and 
 who had already been awarded honours by the 
 state) proves how highly the social wit of George 
 Selwyn was appreciated by his contemporaries, even 
 at this early period.] 
 
 HENRY PLEYDELL DAWNEY. 
 
 VISCOUNT DOWNE. 
 
 Henry Pleydell Dawney, third Viscount Downe, 
 was at this period a fellow-student of Selwyn at 
 Oxford. He subsequently represented the county of 
 York in Parliament ; rose to be a Colonel in the 
 army, and commanded the twenty-fifth regiment 
 at the battle of Minden, in 1759. He was mor- 
 tally wounded at the battle of Campen the fol- 
 lowing year, and died, unmarried, on the 9th of
 
 MR. WILLIAM UNDERWOOD. 69 
 
 December, 1760. His name more than once oc- 
 curs in the subsequent pages. 
 
 LORD DOWNE TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 April, 1745. 
 DEAR BOSKY, 
 
 I AM extremely glad that I have prevailed 
 upon Lord Abergavenny and Assheton to be of 
 our party. If you will have your horse at Juggins's 
 at eleven, we will meet you. A ride is very agree- 
 able this morning, but much more when we find 
 it particularly so to you. The place of dining we 
 Mill fix upon when mounted. 
 
 Yours sincerely, Downe. 
 
 To George Selwyn, Esq., 
 at Hertford College, Oxon, 
 
 Un. WILLIAISI UNDERWOOD. 
 
 [This, and several of the following letters, will 
 be found to have reference to the unfortunate 
 circumstance of Selwyn's withdrawal from the uni- 
 versity of Oxford.] 
 
 MR. WILLIAM UNDERWOOD TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Oxford, June 22, 1745. 
 SIR, 
 
 The Principal having signified to me, that it 
 was your desire that your name should not be
 
 70 REVEREND CHARLES LYTTELTON 
 
 continued in the book of my office longer than 
 the end of this quarter, I beg leave to acquaint 
 you that it is left out according to your request ; 
 and that there is due to the house 51. lis. 6d. 
 and to myself, for coal, 8.9. ; in all 51. 19s. 6d. ; 
 and to beg the favour of you to order the payment 
 of this small sum, when you have opportunity, 
 to Mr. Ekins, at the late Mr. Groon's, Brow House 
 in Westminster, for the Principal's use, who will 
 account to the house and pay. 
 
 Sir, your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 Wm. Underwood. 
 
 REVEREND CHARLES LYTTELTON. 
 
 Afterwards Bishop of Carlisle. 
 
 Charles, third son of Sir Thomas Lyttelton, and 
 brother of George first Lord Lyttelton, the his- 
 torian and poet, was born at Hagley, in 1714, and 
 received his education at Eton, and afterwards at 
 University College, Oxford. He subsequently be- 
 came a member of the Middle Temple, and was 
 called to the Bar ; but afterwards entered into 
 holy orders, and obtained the rectory of Alve- 
 churcli in Worcestershire. In 1747 he was ap- 
 pointed chaplain to George the Second; in 1748 
 Dean of Exeter; and in 1762 Bishop of Car- 
 lisle. He was a member of Johnson's celebrated
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 71 
 
 " Literary Club ;" President of the Society of Anti- 
 quaries ; and, in addition to other papers on anti- 
 quarian subjects, was the author of a memoir on 
 the authenticity of a copy of JNIagna Charta, in 
 his own possession, which treatise was answered 
 by Judge Blackstone. The bishop died, unmarried, 
 at his house in Clifford Street, London, December 
 22, 1768. Bishop Warburton writes to Dr. Hurd 
 on the occasion, — "A bishop, more or less, in 
 the world is nothing ; and, perhaps, of as small 
 account in the next. I used to despise him for 
 his antiquarianism ; but of late, since I grew old 
 and dull myself, I cultivated an acquaintance with 
 him for the sake of what formerly kept us asun- 
 der." 
 
 REV. CHARLES LYTTELTON TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 University College, June 23, 1745. 
 DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I AM told by some of your Christchurch ac- 
 quaintance, that you have thoughts of being this 
 week in Oxford. You well know how glad I am 
 of every opportunity of seeing you, therefore will 
 assure yourself that I should be the last man living 
 to raise objections about your coming here, if I 
 did not think it of the utmost importance to your 
 character and future welfare to stay away. I know 
 you intend coming as a i)rivate person, not as a
 
 72 REVEREND CHARLES LYTTELTON. 
 
 member of the university, but that will avail no- 
 thing ; for if your late conduct has really been 
 half as bad as it is now represented, — I mean 
 with regard to what passed at the tavern, — the 
 university has it in her power, and, I am sorry 
 to add, in her inclination, to set a j)ublic mark 
 of infamy upon you, by affixing a Programma of 
 Ecvpulsion on every post within the precincts of 
 her jurisdiction. If you are entirely innocent of 
 the tavern business, in God's name, come as soon 
 as you will, and put it in the power of your friends 
 (and myself in particular) to justify your charac- 
 ter, in the manner we would wish when that of 
 an absent friend is arraigned in every company. 
 
 I could say a great deal more to you on this 
 unpleasant subject, but have said enough, I flatter 
 myself, to deter you from hazarding so much for 
 the sake of a short visit to two or three friends. 
 I was dubbed Doctor of Laws on Tuesday, — pro- 
 pose staying here till Friday, — and shall then 
 make a week's tour in Berkshire. If you have 
 any occasion to write to me after I am gone, 
 a letter addressed hither will come safe to hand. 
 
 I am your faithful friend and humble servant, 
 
 C. L. 
 
 To George Selwyii, Esq., 
 at White's Chocolate House, St. James's Street, London.
 
 73 
 
 LORD DOWNE TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Oxon, Christchurch, One o'clock Sunday morning. 
 DEAR BOSKY, 
 
 I CANNOT omit expressing the concern your 
 groundless accusations of not writing have given 
 me, but as you must certainly have received 
 mine of yesterday's date, I will not repeat again 
 the contents. If no unforseen accident inter- 
 venes, you may depend upon my meeting you at 
 Henley on Wednesday. AVoodyeare will attend 
 me, and perhaps a friend or two more; but us 
 you may be sure of. I think the inn looks upon 
 the water, close to the bridge. I hope I do not 
 mistake the day you mentioned in your letter : there 
 is, unfortunately, a blotch upon it ; but I think I 
 cannot mistake it for any day but Wednesday, 
 especially as Wednesday is the day specified in 
 yours to Woodyeare. Dick Leveson comes to-day. 
 
 I am, dear Bosky, yours, 
 
 DowNE. 
 
 P.S. All friends desire their best wishes. 
 
 Indorsed, "Lord Downe, 29th June, 1745."
 
 74 
 
 SIR WILLIAM MAYNARD. 
 
 Sir William Maynard, fourth baronet of his 
 family, was born in 1721. He married Charlotte, 
 daughter of Sir Cecil Bishopp, Bart., of Parham 
 in Sussex; and died on the 18th of January, 1772. 
 The present (third) Lord JNIaynard is his grand- 
 son. Horace Walpole, in his letters to Sir Horace 
 Mann, speaks of Sir William Maynard as a kind 
 of awkward, disagreeable cub ; but the letters, ad- 
 dressed by the latter to George Selwyn, discover 
 no deficiency either of kind feeling or of good 
 sense. 
 
 SIR WILLIAM MAYNARD TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Walthamstow, July 3, 1745. 
 DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I HAVE this moment received yours^ and have 
 only time to tell you the sooner you come here 
 the greater the obligation will be to me. D — n the 
 university ; I wigh they were both on fire, and one 
 could hear the proctors cry like roasted lobsters. 
 My compts. to Dr. Newton. 
 
 Yours affectionately, W. Maynard. 
 
 To G. A. Selwyn, Esq., 
 at Dr. Newton's, Hertford College, Oxon.
 
 75 
 
 HON. RICHARD LEVESON GOWER. 
 
 The Hon. Richard Leveson GowER^Yas the fourth 
 son of John, first Earl Gower, (the great grand- 
 father of the present Duke of Sutherland,) by Lady 
 Evelyn Pierrepoint, daughter of Evelyn Duke of 
 Kingston. He was born on the 30tli of April, 
 1726 ; was chosen member both for Tavistock 
 and Lichfield in the Parliament which assembled 
 in August, 1747, and died, unmarried, on the 19tli of 
 October, 1753. 
 
 HON. R. LEVESON GOWER TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Oxon, July, 1745. 
 DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I AM afraid your affairs are in a bad way, as 
 we have all been swore to our depositions. All 
 is come out, and nothing to be done but sentence 
 to be given. I have deposed nothing else but 
 what I told you ; the sum of which is, that you 
 said some things disrespectfully about religion, 
 which I thought tended to the ridicule of the Ro- 
 man Catholic religion, and that you was disordered 
 by liquor, which is really what I thought ; and I 
 hope will be of some service to you. What the 
 rest have deposed I can't tell, not having seen 
 anything. Assheton was never sent for, which is 
 something very odd to me. Don't impute Lord
 
 76 HON. RICHARD LEVESON GOWER. 
 
 Downe's silence to any disrespect ; for really the 
 reason is, that, just after he received your letter 
 he set out for Yorkshire, and has not had an ojjpor- 
 tunity of answering it ; for I assure you he has 
 not lost any of his friendship for you. The bells 
 toll for prayers, and therefore I am sure you'll 
 not be angry if I conclude by remaining entirely, 
 Yours, Rich. Leveson Gower. 
 
 To George Selwyn, Esq., 
 at White's Chocolate House, St. James's Street, London. 
 
 28th July, 1745. 
 
 By the arrival of Lord Charles Scott * from 
 the Convocation, I find that you are expelled 
 publicly, and your name to be fixed up, as usual 
 on such occasions : nothing remarkable happened. 
 There is a strong edict against keeping company 
 
 * Lord Charles Scott, second son of Francis Duke of Buc- 
 cleuch, and great-grandson of the unfortunate Duke of Mon- 
 mouth. He was born on the 14th February 1727, and died at 
 Christ Church College, Oxford, on the 18th June, 1747. 
 Scarcely more than two months before his death, he appears to 
 have been involved in a serious scrape at the university, with 
 another intimate friend of George Selwyn, Lord Abergavenny. 
 Horace Walpole wi-ites to Sir Horace Mann, 10th April, 1747, 
 " A servant of a college has been killed at Oxford, and a verdict 
 of wilful murder, by persons unknown, brought in by the coroner's 
 inquest. These persons, unknown, are supposed to be Lord Aber- 
 gavenny, Lord Charles Scott, and two more, who had played 
 tricks with the poor fellow that night, while he was drunk ; and 
 the next morning he was found with his skull fractured, at the 
 foot of the first Lord's staircase. One pities the poor boys, who 
 undoubtedly did not foresee the melancholy event of their sport." 
 — Walpole's Letters, vol. ii. p. 182.
 
 DR. BROOKES TO GEORGE SELWYN. 77 
 
 witli you ; and, moreover, that is to be fixed up 
 with the other programma. Lord Charles Scott 
 goes into Yorkshire on Wednesday, and we have 
 all agreed before, long ago, to go with him some 
 part of the way ; and therefore we shall not be 
 here when you arrive. I own I think you will 
 act very injudiciously by coming here, as nobody 
 will be allowed to speak to you without running 
 great danger of being expelled themselves, and, 
 by their silence, people will naturally conjecture 
 tliat you are despised by them. The programma 
 will be out to-morrow, I sujipose, and you will 
 see the whole case. The particulars of the affair 
 will appear, I suppose, much clearer than can 
 possibly be described by, your humble servant, 
 
 Rich. Leveson Gower. 
 
 P.S. I hear it is to be given out in three days' 
 time. 
 
 To George Selwyn, Esq. 
 
 DR. BROOKES TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Astrop, Aug. 12, 1745. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 Your favours of the 8th and of the 9th 
 instant reached me this day in this village ; to 
 which I am invited, by hopes of improving a slender 
 state of health. 
 
 As I made no part of that convocation in which 
 a late decree passed, and truly am, even yet, a 
 stranger to the individual clauses of that decree,
 
 78 DR. BROOKES TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 I think myself at liberty to correspond with a 
 banished man. 
 
 My honest impotent endeavours to check the 
 violence of the storm, which, some time ago, I saw 
 ready to burst upon you, were very unequal to the 
 acknowledgment which gratitude for a trifle has 
 induced you to make. In the little I did, with a 
 view to silence or soften the prosecution, my judg- 
 ment went along with me, and I really thought 
 I was consulting the general credit and interest 
 of the university, as well as yours : even now I 
 cannot but adhere to my opinion, that an eclat on 
 this unhappy occasion was hurtful to both. Num- 
 bers, it seems, entertained very different sentiments. 
 These prevailed, and the censure took place in 
 its utmost extent. In Oxford the matter is now 
 become res indicata, and the duty and oath of every 
 member thereof call upon him to acquiesce in a 
 decree, which possibly the judgment of some may 
 not approve : hence it is, that scarce dare I speak 
 my sentiments concerning your proposed applica- 
 tion to the higher powers for redress. This surely 
 I may venture to say without offence, viz., that 
 if you find cause to conclude that either the matter 
 or the manner of the decree passed against you was 
 irregular, unjust, oppressive, or partial, your struggle 
 to blunt the edge of that decree, and to avoid certain 
 resulting inconveniences, by a regular, a legal, and 
 well-advised appeal to the supreme judge and visitor 
 of the university, may possibly find its justification
 
 LORD DOWNE TO GEORGE SELWYN. 79 
 
 in a primary law of nature, which dictates self- 
 preservation, and self-defence. 
 
 I shall be very glad to know in what point of 
 view this matter stands at your leaving town, and am, 
 
 Sir, your most obedient servant, 
 
 H. Brookes. 
 
 P.S. Mj correspondents direct to me at Astrop 
 
 Wells, near Brackley, Northamptonshire. 
 
 To George Selwyn, Esq., 
 at White's Chocolate House, St. James's, London. 
 
 LORD DOWNE TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Ingleby, August 13, 1745. 
 DEAR BOSKY, 
 
 Though the receipt of your letter, as usual, 
 gave me immense pleasure, yet, I must confess, 
 the mistrust you seemed to entertain of my imme- 
 diately, upon the event of this silly affair, revoking 
 all former friendship, not a little ruffled me. I 
 hope you did not speak what you thought, and am 
 pretty certain that you have other thoughts of me, 
 than that I should in any part of my life form my 
 conduct by that of the university. I am sure there 
 is no reason for the latter, for what have you lost ? 
 how are you hurt ? You cannot, indeed, now enter 
 again into Hertford, and be confined at ten o'clock, 
 and I think you cannot blame your fortune for not 
 being in that capacity. As for the expulsion being 
 nailed up at the colleges, it is just as ridiculous 
 as if a gardener should hang up a scare-crow in
 
 80 LORD ABERGAVENNY 
 
 Essex to fright away the crows in Surrey. The 
 best way is entirely and cordially to despise all 
 their malice, and to forget it, among other insigni- 
 ficant circumstances. I am just going to York, to 
 the races, which began yesterday. The little time 
 the coach is preparing, I thought I could not 
 employ more to my satisfaction, than by assuring you 
 I am, dear Bosky, your friend and humble servant, 
 
 DOWNE. 
 
 To George Selwyn, Esq., 
 at White's Chocolate House, St. James's, London. 
 
 LORD ABERGAVENNY. 
 
 George, fifteenth Baron, and afterwards first 
 Earl of Abergavenny, was born in 1727. He 
 married, on the 5th February 1753, Henrietta, sister 
 of Thomas Pelham, first Earl of Chichester, and 
 widow of the Hon. Richard Temple, by whom 
 he was the father of the late (second) Earl of 
 Abergavenny. Lord Abergavenny was advanced 
 to an earldom on the 17th May, 1784, and died on 
 the 10th of September in that year. 
 
 LORD ABERGAVENNY TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Cowley, Friday-night, 1745. 
 DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I RECEIVED yours this morning, and was very 
 much surprised to find you had left Oxford, where
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 81 
 
 I was in hopes you would have stayed till your 
 quarrel had been quite over, but am now afraid 
 you will not come there again. I went to Lon- 
 don last Thursday, about two o'clock, to return 
 next day, but had time enough to see JNIr. Roberts 
 that day at Ranelagh, with whom I was above an 
 hour, and had a very long conversation ; not only 
 hearing my own character and conduct, but also 
 those of the other Christchurch nobility, as Mr. 
 Hemirigton has pleased to call us in his letter to 
 me. Roberts talked a great deal about you, which 
 will be too long for this paper to contain, but 1 
 find Pelham and I are very good friends as yet. 
 I believe you may tell Lord Downe that I shall not 
 be at Oxford this fortnight, for I am to be at Esher, 
 in Surrey, for a few days, which, I assure you, will 
 
 be d d disagreeable. I hope the Banbury 
 
 dancers were friends with you and mother Douglas. 
 Pray, Avhen you write, give my compliments to 
 Lord Downe, Lord Douglas, Asheton, who I hope 
 is well, and to all my other acquaintance, not for- 
 getting Snug and Private. 
 
 I am, my dear George, yours sincerely, 
 
 Abergavenny. 
 
 REV. CHARLES LYTTELTON TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Argyle Street, Friday. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 As a proof that I am willing to live with you 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 THOMAS STREATFIELD TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 upon the friendly footing we were on together, 
 before your indiscreet affair at Oxford, I was to 
 wait on you last Tuesday, and left a card for you. 
 I am sorry I cannot confirm the same intentions 
 by meeting you to-morrow at the Bedford Head : 
 but the Royal Society having chosen me, together 
 with Lord Macclesfield,* to be one of their auditors 
 of their public accounts, I am obliged to put off 
 an engagement I had made with my brother a week 
 ago, to dine here with the Bishop of Peterborough, 
 in order to attend my brother auditors at the Pre- 
 sident's, by one o'clock, and afterwards dine to- 
 gether. I am, sir, 
 
 Your very faithful humble servant, 
 
 C. Lyttelton. 
 
 THOMAS STREATFIELD, ESQ., TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Sevenoaks, August 21, 1745. 
 DEAR SELWYN, 
 
 I AM very much obliged to you for the favour 
 you design me of your company ; you will find 
 nowhere a more hearty welcome. I do not wonder 
 at your having a dispute with the university, for 
 
 * George, second Earl of Macclesfield. He was celebrated 
 for his mathematical and astronomical knowledge, and to his 
 exertions in Parliament we are principally indebted for the adop- 
 tion of the present Style. In November 1752 he was unani- 
 mously elected President of the Royal Society, and died March 
 17th, 1764.
 
 LADY SUSAN HAMILTON. 83 
 
 * 
 
 1 observe they bear a hatred to every man of more 
 merit than themselves. I shall be impatient till I 
 have the pleasure of seeing you, and am, 
 Your obliged humble servant, 
 
 Thomas Streatfield. 
 
 LADY SUSAN HAMILTON. 
 
 Lady Susan Hamilton was the youngest daugh- 
 ter of James second Duke of Hamilton, who was 
 killed in his celebrated duel with Lord Malion in 
 Hyde Park, in 1712. She married, in 1736, Tracy 
 Keck, Esq., of Great Tew, in Oxfordshire. 
 
 LADY SUSAN KECK TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 28th August, 1745. 
 I WISH I could deserve your thanks by doing 
 you some good, but 1 can do nothing but think, 
 and say you deserve it. I have often had a great 
 mind to have become advocate and evidence for 
 you to your father. Women, you know, like poets, 
 have liberties allowed them, and I would use them 
 to the utmost of my power in your service, but 
 pray let me have a line to say whether you think 
 it could do you any injury, for \ would fain have 
 you part in peace. 
 
 I have got a ])ain and weakness in my hand, 
 which makes me write even more in ci])her than 
 
 G 2
 
 84 LADY SUSAN KECK TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 usual ; but, to confess the truth, I never could 
 write. I was at your just town of Oxford some 
 days ago, and I believe you have carried every- 
 body with you from thence, for there was hardly 
 a gown to be seen. I hope all breaches will be 
 made up before you go abroad ; I mean, where it 
 is essential. I really am in your interest, and am 
 solicitous about it, which makes me forward to 
 engage as many in your favour as I can ; and as 
 I am a useless being, and removed from all op- 
 portunities even to try doing good, I applied to 
 Lady Charlotte Edwin,* who sees, and is in fa- 
 vour with your father, to do you all the kind offices 
 she could. I told your story as Mell as I was en- 
 abled, and I joined my entreaties to Mr. Selwyn 
 for you : she promised me to say all in her power, 
 and I hope she will ; I wish it may be attended 
 with success. 
 
 I could have sworn to the paper you wrote on 
 to me last. I believe there is somethino- in it that 
 it cannot bear nonsense which most peo{)le write, 
 and none more than me : do you think my friend 
 will get me a cargo of it for her own sake, and 
 my honour? Mr. Keck begs you will accept of 
 his compliments, and believe me, I am 
 
 Your obedient humble servant, Susan Keck. 
 
 * Lady Charlotte Hamilton, eldest sister to Susan Keck, and 
 wife of Charles Edwin, Esq., died February 5, 1777, at the age 
 of seventy-four. She was one of the Ladies of the Bedchamber 
 to the widow of Frederick Prince of Wales.
 
 GEORGE SELWYN TO MR. WINCHESTER. 85 
 
 P.S. I cannot help casting- my eyes on that 
 part of your letter where you seem to think the 
 people of Oxford had principles : this really as- 
 tonishes me, for you must know that they never 
 had any, moral or divine : party only governs. 
 
 GEORGE SELWYN TO MR. WINCHESTER, ONE OF THE 
 PROCTORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. 
 
 25th October, 1745. 
 MR. PROCTOR, 
 
 When I reflect upon the inconveniences to 
 which I may have subjected those gentlemen whom 
 you ordered last night to wait upon you, by having 
 in a manner forced myself into their company, I 
 cannot but be much concerned, and therefore I 
 am very desirous of laying myself under an obli- 
 gation for their sakes, M'hich on no account I 
 could be tempted to do for my own : I shall esteem 
 it a very particular one, if you will believe that 
 they have been only criminal by my obstinacy in 
 persisting to stay, which I shall carefully avoid 
 doing for the future, and that their intention was 
 very far from showing a contempt for the orders 
 of the university or of yours ; and therefore let 
 me prevail upon you so far, as that they may not 
 incur your displeasure by what they could not help. 
 I am, sir, your most obedient servant, 
 
 G. Selwyn.
 
 80 
 
 CAPTAIN NICHOLSON. 
 
 Probably the profane frolic (the particulars of 
 which are detailed in this letter, and which led 
 to Selwyn's removal from Oxford) may have ori- 
 ginated the celebrated club, or society, called the 
 Franciscans, founded by Sir Francis Dashwood, af- 
 terwards Lord Le Despenser, and Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer under Lord Bute. " He had founded 
 a society," says Wraxall, " denominated, from his 
 own name, the Franciscans, who, to the number 
 of twelve, met at Medmenham Abbey, near Mar- 
 low in Bucks, on the banks of the Thames. Wilkes 
 was a member of this unholy fraternity, of which 
 he makes mention in his letter to Earl Temple, 
 written from Bagshot, in September 1762. Rites 
 of a nature so subversive of all decency, and cal- 
 culated, by an imitation of the ceremonies and 
 mysteries of the Roman Catholic Church, to render 
 religion itself an object of contumely, were there 
 celebrated, as cannot be reflected on without asto- 
 nishment. Sir Francis himself officiated as high 
 priest, habited in the dress of a Franciscan monk ; 
 engaged in pouring a libation, from a communion- 
 cup, to the mysterious object of their homage."" 
 Sir Francis Dashwood, Wilkes, and Paul White- 
 head, the poet, appear to have been the leading 
 membei*s of this infamous association. Medmen-
 
 CAPT. NICHOLSON TO GEORGE SELWYN. 87 
 
 ham Abbey, which had formerly been a convent 
 of Cistertian monks, stood in a beautiful and re- 
 tired situation on the banks of the Thames. Its 
 profligate possessors had furnished it with every 
 desirable object that could gratify the sense or 
 inflame the imagination, and over the grand en- 
 trance was to be seen the famous inscription on Ra- 
 belais' Abbey of Theleme, " Fay ce que voudrais." 
 
 CAPTAIN NICHOLSON TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 12th November, 1745. 
 SIR, 
 
 As I am an enemy to tyranny and oppression, 
 I should be glad of an opportunity to assist a man 
 who has spirit to attempt to restrain the power 
 of Inquisitors, which is the most dangerous to 
 society of all power to let increase, and who dares 
 to dispute the jurisdiction of their most iniquitous 
 and unjust court, which is unrighteously exercised 
 upon him for daring to restrain such power. There- 
 fore I procured all the intelligence I could, which 
 was, that being at the club, you sent to a silver- 
 smith's for a chalice, which he had got from some 
 church to repair, which, being brought, you filled 
 witli wine, and desired the master of the house 
 to drink success to the club ; which being done, 
 you gave it him again, and said, drink this in 
 remembrance of me; after which you put a bot-
 
 88 CAPTAIN NICHOLSON 
 
 tie of wine under your arm, and did let it drib- 
 ble into the cup ; upon which some of the company 
 withdrew ; by which means it came to light, and 
 the depositions of the whole company, except one, 
 were taken, who deposed to the above effect ; 
 whereupon, a numerous convocation of above two 
 hundred were called, and the depositions of your 
 accusers read, and the only defence you made 
 was by a letter to the Vice-Chancellor, artfully 
 and well wrote, setting forth your innocence ; that 
 your own conscience did not accuse you, that you 
 were in liquor, and that you did it only in ridicule of 
 Transubstantiation ; that your letter being judged 
 no justification, (for you had retired, knowing wdiat 
 their judgment would be, to avoid the ungrateful 
 form of expulsion,) they unanimously expelled you, 
 and sentenced you not to come within five miles 
 of Oxon ; which they find they cannot support, and 
 therefore they think you are come there to tempt 
 them to take you up, that you may have some 
 handle against them. They say you have threat- 
 ened them with law ; whereupon they offered you 
 copies of the depositions against you, which you 
 declined, and that, if you stir in the afiair, the 
 Vice-Chancellor will trouble himself no further 
 than to print those depositions. They say your 
 own friends condemn you in the affair : they accuse 
 you of drawing the figures of the Vice-Chancellor 
 and Proctors in an indecent posture, and of buy- 
 ing a debt to have it in your power to arrest a
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 89 
 
 Proctor, which you did. This is their cant, which 
 I tell you exactly as they tell it, that you may 
 the better judge what use to make of it ; and that 
 you may speedily put your enemies in confusion 
 is my sincere and hearty wish. 
 
 Now, as to news. There has been a motion 
 made to inquire into the conduct of some of the 
 North British Peers, but not carried : we must 
 not call them Scotch ones, for the King's calling 
 North Britain Scotland, in his speech, has occa- 
 sioned much cavil. It is thought both houses 
 will have a long recess. There was a great court 
 on Wednesday, — I cannot say a very splendid one, 
 — but great marks of loyalty, as illuminations, &c. 
 
 All our forces are come from Flanders. The 
 Pretender's second son* is come to Dunkirk, Avhere, 
 it is saidj there are forty transports. The rebels, it 
 is said, are very advantageously encamped between 
 two rivers, and are fortifying their camp.f ]\Iar- 
 shal Wade has sent for some bombs to salute 
 them with. It is a good scheme, that some of the 
 subscriptions have been applied to raise men for 
 the army. St. INIartin's parish has already given 
 
 * Henry Stuart, afterwards the Cardinal of York. He had 
 proceeded to Dunkirk, with a view of supporting his brother, 
 the young Pretender, in his operations in England, but returned 
 to Rome on receiving the tidings of the fatal battle of Culloden. 
 He died in 1807. 
 
 t The young Pretender, at the head of the rebel army, had 
 entered Cumberland on the 8th, and on the 1 7th made his 
 triumphal entry into Carlisle.
 
 90 MR. S. FLOOD 
 
 US 226, and St. James's are following their ex- 
 ample. The forces, come from Flanders, are to 
 lay before the Parliament a return of their losses, 
 &c. It is said the Parliament intends putting 
 the militia under the same footing here that 
 they are in Switzerland, to make every house- 
 keeper a soldier. I thank you for the trouble 
 you took about my recruit, and am. 
 
 Dear sir, your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 John Nicholson. 
 
 MR. RICHARD HAINES TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Tom's, Dec. 8, 1745. 
 SIR, 
 
 An express arrived this day, while His Ma- 
 jesty was at chapel, which brought an account of 
 the rebels being close to Derby, and that the 
 Duke of Cumberland was at INleredan, four miles 
 beyond Coventry, observing their motions. 
 
 Your humble servant, R. Haines. 
 
 To G. Selwyn, Esq. 
 
 MR. S. FLOOD TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Dec, 8th, 1745, Six o'clock at night. 
 SIR, 
 
 The Tower guns have not fired to-day. JMr. 
 Dalkine has received a letter to-day at 12 o'clock 
 from his brother, dated at Packington, not far
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 91 
 
 from Coveiitry, on Friday, stating that the rebels 
 had retreated back towards Ashbiirne, and that the 
 duke had sent Hawley's horse after them in order 
 to harass them. It was thought they intended for' 
 Scotland. This moment I hear the rebels are 
 come back to Derby, but this I cannot depend 
 on. I am, sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 S. Flood. 
 
 [Horace Walpole writes to Sir Horace Mann on 
 the 9th — " I am glad I did not write to you 
 last post as I intended : I should have sent you 
 an account that would have alarmed you, and the 
 danger would have been over before the letter 
 had crossed the sea. The Duke (of Cumberland), 
 from some strange want of intelligence, lay last 
 week for four-and-twenty hours under arms at 
 Stone, in Staffordshire, expecting the rebels every 
 moment, while they were marching in all haste 
 to Derby. The news of this threw the town into 
 great consternation; but his Royal Highness re- 
 paired his mistake, and got to Northampton, 
 between the Highlanders and London. They got 
 nine thousand pounds at Derby, and had the 
 books brought to them, and obliged everybody 
 to give them what they had subscribed against 
 them. Then they retreated a few miles, but 
 returned again to Derby, got ten thousand pounds 
 more, i)lunderod the town, and burnt a house of 
 the Countess (jf Exeter. They are gone again,
 
 92 DR. NEWTON 
 
 and got back to Leake, in Staffordshire, but miser- 
 ably harassed, and, it is said, have left all their 
 cannon behind them, and twenty waggons of sick."* 
 The consternation which prevailed in the metro- 
 polis on the tidings of the rebel army being 
 only one hundred and thirty miles distant, was 
 such, according to Fielding, as " hardly to be 
 credited." The shops were almost universally shut 
 up ; the Bank of England adopted the expedient 
 of paying in sixpences, in order to gain time, 
 and thus to avoid bankruptcy ; and, for some time 
 afterwards, the day was usually denominated Black 
 Friday, Prince Charles, at the head of the rebel 
 army, entered Derby on the 4th of December, 
 but, to his bitter disappointment, was compelled 
 to yield to the remonstrances of his followers, 
 and, finally quitting it on the Gth, retraced his 
 steps to Scotland.] 
 
 DR. NEWTON TO GE0RC4E SELWYN. 
 
 10 Dec. 1745. 
 SIR, 
 
 The following is a copy of the letter written 
 to Dr. B.f June 6, 1745: "Upon the represen- 
 tation of Mr. Selwyn's conduct, I took him imme- 
 diately into the college, and intended to leave 
 his name out of the book at quarter-day, as I 
 
 * Letters, vol. ii. p. 88. 
 
 f Apparently Dr. Brookes. See ante, \% Aug. 1745.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 93 
 
 told the Vice-Cbancellor; but tlie beliaviour appear- 
 ing by tbe enclosed to bave been vastly different 
 from tbe first accounts of it, I doubt not I sball 
 not do rigbt to oblige bim to leave tbe Society, 
 wbilst be conforms to tbe rules of it, as be does 
 strictly, lest be a])pear to retire to avoid expulsion 
 from tbe university, about wbicb be is in no pain, 
 tbere not being sufficient foundation for sucli a 
 procedure against bim. Tbe suspicion wbicb tbe 
 Vice-Cbancellor told me tbe tutors bad of bim, 
 is, I bope, groundless, and I believe tbe tutors 
 tbemselves are better satisfied in tins respect. 
 Tbe upper part of tbe society bere, witb Avbom 
 be often converses, bave, and always bave bad, 
 a very good opinion of bim. He is certainly 
 not intemperate nor dissolute, nor does be ever 
 o-ame, tbat I know or bave beard of. He bas 
 a oood deal of vanity, and loves to be admired 
 and caressed, and so suits bimself witb great 
 ease to tbe gravest and tbe sprigbtliest. I wish, 
 upon tbe whole, you could persuade tbe Vice-Cban- 
 cellor to be content witb bis going at bis own 
 time. He will bo little here in the long vaca- 
 tion. I will be responsible for bis being in good 
 order. At the beginning of this winter be is 
 to go along witb Kecne* to tbe Court of Portugal." 
 
 I am, sir, &:c,, &c. 
 
 * Sir Benjamin Keenc, minister at the Court of Portugal, 
 and afterwards at Madrid, wlure he died on the 15th of Decem- 
 ber, 17j8.
 
 94 DR. NEWTON 
 
 I have sent you the copy of the letter you 
 desired, because you desired it ; but as regards 
 the behaviour mentioned in it, relating to another 
 affair than that for which you was exjielled from 
 the university, I do not see of what use it can 
 be to you in the present case. The hope I had 
 that the Christchurch tutors' suspicion of you was 
 groundless, was a vain hope; for, eight days after, 
 I did myself, at their instance, remove you from 
 being any longer a member of this college, and 
 my having done so was a j^roof to you that I now 
 thought that suspicion well-grounded. I had a 
 reluctance to give you a copy of this letter when 
 you applied for it before, lest, going out of my 
 hands without this remark, I should mislead 
 others into a belief of that which I did not my- 
 self believe, and which, if it were credited, might 
 induce an opinion very disadvantageous to me, 
 that I had removed you without reason. I re- 
 moved you for the same reason for which the 
 university afterwards pretended to remove you : 
 1 had power to do it, which I think they had 
 not, for after I had removed you from the college 
 you ceased to be a member of the university. 
 The university, as I take it, hath power in acts 
 of discipline only over its own members. After 
 you had been removed by me, the university 
 might have come to a resolution that you should 
 not be received into any other college, and that 
 the heads of houses, and tutors, should prohibit
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 95 
 
 their respective members and pupils from keep- 
 ing company with you. But, if the having once 
 been matriculated, or registered a member of this 
 university, doth make you always so, and a 
 magistrate may pursue you after you are gone 
 from thence, and bring you back again to receive 
 a second punishment for the same crime, and 
 such perhaps as you will esteem greater than 
 what the law of the land, or the ecclesiastical 
 law, doth inflict upon persons equally criminal, 
 young gentlemen, who aim at a liberal education, 
 will consider whether it will be proper for them 
 to be matriculated or no ; since, without entering 
 a college, or putting on a gown, they may 
 live as safely and as cheaply in Oxford, and 
 study under such tutors as they shall bring along 
 with them, or find there, with as much profit. 
 Advising you seriously to review the conduct 
 which has given offence, which I am confident 
 you will then disapprove, 
 
 I remain your well-wisher, &c., &c. 
 
 For George Augustus Selwyn, Esq., 
 at White's Chocolate House, St. James's, London. 
 
 MR. A. rOLLETT TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 December 14, 1745. 
 SIR, 
 
 Since the prisoners, that I presume you saw 
 brought into the Tower, wc had the following
 
 96 MR. A. POLLETT TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 brought in yesterday: the Lord Provost of Edin- 
 burgh, and this day eight officers and seventeen 
 private men taken on board the " Soleil," but what 
 their names or titles are I have not learnt. 
 
 I am, sir, your obedient humble servant, 
 
 A. POLLETT, Jun. 
 To George Selwyn, Esq., 
 at Sir Wm. Maynard's, Walthamstow, Essex. 
 
 [Among the prisoners taken on board the "Soleil" 
 was Mr. RadclifFe, the son of Lord Derwentwater, 
 whom the mob mistook for the Pretender's youngest 
 son, afterwards the Cardinal of York, and very 
 nearly succeeded in tearing him to pieces. Accord- 
 ing to Walpole, Radcliffe observed, that " he had 
 heard of English mobs, but could not conceive they 
 were so dreadful ; and wished he had been shot at 
 the battle of Dettingen, where he had been en- 
 gaged."]* 
 
 DR. BROOKES TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Oxon, Dec. 22, 1745. 
 SIR, 
 
 The acknowledgments which yours of the 18tli 
 brings to Oxford, are a testimony of your own good- 
 breeding, but cannot induce me to lay claim to any 
 sort of merit for an act of common civilitv, and 
 indeed of justice, in having returned a dona fide 
 answer on my part to some queries proposed on 
 
 * Letters, vol. ii. p. 89.
 
 DR. BROOKES TO GEORGE SELWYN. 97 
 
 yours. If you could strike any light out of my 
 hasty sentiments, for your direction in a matter 
 which you think of moment, my whole purpose 
 is answered. In the mean time, give me leave, 
 with my wonted openness, to say, that I cannot 
 feel any sort of surjDrise at finding by yours that 
 your counsel discover some degree of unwilling- 
 ness to embark in your aiFair, viz., to engage in 
 measures calculated to defeat and set aside a so- 
 lemn decree pronounced by the University of Ox- 
 ford, the power of which body to make and enforce 
 such decree is so well fortified by charters, and con- 
 firmed by the legislature, that it will not readily 
 yield, even to the weight of Westminster Hall, and 
 will, i)robably, be found to be an overmatch for 
 any individual complainant of an undue exercise 
 of this power, to any of the ordinary courts of 
 justice in Westminster Hall. I do not make this 
 observation in order to discourage your intentions 
 to procure redress for an apparent grievance by 
 the pursuit of any such measures as better heads 
 shall advise, but to support my sentiments hereto- 
 fore communicated to you, viz., that if redress can 
 be obtained for the supposed injury done to you 
 by the severe sentence of the collective body of 
 the university in convocation assembled, it must 
 be by an ai)[)eal to the King, as visitor of the 
 university, and not by a])plication to his courts 
 of justice. 
 
 But, after all, qiKn-e alifn ; for, I must acknow- 
 
 - VOL. I. H
 
 98 DR. BROOKES TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 ledge, that personal appeals to the Crown (though 
 such most undoubtedly lie) are points of practice 
 whereof we have no footsteps, and such a procedure 
 must have its difficulties. You are pleased to call 
 me your friend; that appellation gives me a right 
 to tell you, with a freedom which you will excuse, 
 that I have seriously and coolly considered your 
 whole case, and were your cause wz?/ oiun, I should 
 acquiesce under the first onus, and stir no further. 
 Let not this judgment surprise or determine you; 
 it is a private and personal judgment, which has 
 nothing obligatory in it. I know you are uneasy 
 under the present load, but a fruitless attempt to 
 shake it off would greatly augment that uneasiness ; 
 would be attended with consequences much more 
 hurtful than the censure of which you complain ; 
 and, if you reflect, that the process before a superior 
 judge w^ould be CcV iisdem actis ; that the very indi- 
 vidual depositions read against you are preserved, 
 and would be read before the judge of your appeal, 
 what hopes can be formed that such judge would 
 say, " The University ought to have paid no regard 
 
 to this evidence of Mr. having profaned and 
 
 ridiculed the most solemn act of the Christian 
 religion?" And if your judge did not thus pro- 
 nounce, how much worse would your case then 
 be than it is now ! 
 
 As far as I am capable of forming a judgment, 
 on my late conferences with Dr. Newton, from my 
 soul I think your suspicions of your loss of his
 
 JOHN SELWTN, JUN. 99 
 
 esteem are quite groundless. If the liberty I have 
 here taken should raise the same suspicion con- 
 cerning me, you will do me the highest injustice. 
 I should be Avell pleased to hear that your thoughts 
 of my heart were more favourable, whatever may 
 be your opinion of my head. Whatever steps you 
 take, may the event answer your whole expectation. 
 I am, sir, your affectionate humble servant, 
 
 H. B. 
 
 JOHN SELWYN, jun. 
 
 John Selwyn, the elder brother of George Sel- 
 wyn, aj^pears to have been a young man of con- 
 siderable merit, and is distinguished as having 
 been the early friend of Horace Walpole and Mar- 
 shal Conway. Walpole writes to the latter, April 
 23, 1740, " I did not hurry myself to answer your 
 last, but chose to write to poor Selwyn upon his 
 illness. I pity you excessively upon finding him 
 in such a situation : what a shock it must have 
 been to you ! He deserves so much love from all 
 that know him, and you owe him so much friend- 
 ship, that I can scarce conceive a greater shock." 
 Mr. Selwyn died in the lifetime of his father, 
 on 27th of June 1751, in his forty-third year, 
 when his brother George became the heir to tlie 
 family estates. The inscription on his monument at 
 
 H 2
 
 100 JOHN SELWYN, JUN. 
 
 Matson purports that he was one " whose virtues 
 had been the comfort of his parents, and whose 
 death shortened the life of his father." 
 
 JOHN SELWYN, JUN. ESQ., TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Dec. 24, 1745. 
 DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 We have just received the agreeable news of 
 the Duke [of Cumberland] having fallen upon a 
 party of the rebels at Clifton, near Penrith, and 
 of his having defeated them. He has lost only 
 forty men, and four of his officers are slightly 
 wounded. He has taken one Hamilton, an officer 
 of theirs ; but the action having happened after 
 it was dark, and the courier being despatched 
 immediately, we know no other particulars of their 
 loss. We have, also, an account of the Dover 
 and small- craft privateers having done a great deal 
 of mischief among seventeen French transports 
 between Dunkirk and Boulogne. 
 
 The King of Prussia has taken Dresden, and 
 the King of Poland and the Empress are sending 
 ministers to make peace with him immediately. 
 
 I am, dear George, your most affectionate brother, 
 
 J. fe. 
 
 [The agreeable news alluded to in this letter, 
 proved somewhat ill-founded, as, at the famous
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 101 
 
 skirmish at Clifton, it was the Duke of Cumberland 
 who was defeated, and not the rebels. " The sun 
 was just setting," says Lord JMahon, " when the 
 duke's advancing forces first appeared in sight of 
 Lord George [jSIurray] ; and they slowly formed 
 upon Clifton JNIoor and the high road ; on the one 
 side the stone fences of the village ; on the others, 
 the enclosures of Lord Lonsdale's princely domain. 
 It was now nearly dark ; but the moon shone out 
 at intervals from among the clouds, and by this 
 light Lord George saw a body of men, dismounted 
 dragoons, or rather infantry, who had resumed their 
 proper mode of warfiire, gliding forward to surprise 
 him along the stone fences. He immediately cried, 
 Claymore ! and rushed on,, sword in hand, followed 
 l)y the Macphersons and Stuarts ; and, losing his 
 bonnet in the fray, continued to fight bare-headed 
 among the foremost. In a few minutes the Eng- 
 lish were completely repulsed, their commander. 
 Colonel Honey wood, being left severely wounded 
 on the field, and their total number of killed or 
 disabled exceeding a hundred men, while the in- 
 surgents lost but twelve. It was with great diffi- 
 culty that the Highlanders could be recalled from 
 the pursuit, they exclaiming, that it was a shame 
 to see so many of the King's enemies standing 
 fast upon the moor without attacking them."*] 
 
 * Hist, of Eng. vol. iii. p. 420.
 
 102 MR. WILLIAM SKRINE 
 
 R. LONG, ESQ., TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Calne, May 31st. 1746 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I AM not sorry that your intended scheme is 
 deferred, for it would have been extremely incon- 
 venient to have returned to town so soon as I 
 proposed. I find, by the papers, that the rebel 
 lords * are in the river, therefore suppose their trials 
 will come on. I hope to be present, and have the 
 pleasure of either meeting or of attending my 
 brother Serjeant upon so important an affair. The 
 sessions are ended at the Old Bailey, and I hear 
 Russel is condemned. My compliments to Scroop, 
 and believe me, yours most sincerely, 
 
 R. L. 
 
 Endorsed, " Mr. Long, May 31, 174G." 
 
 MR. WILLIAM SKRINE TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Ashted, 8th of July, 1746. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 Though I could not fix a day for our party 
 to Tunbridge when I was last with you, I can now 
 set out with you for that place to-morrow seven- 
 night, if it shall be agreeable to you, and will dine 
 with you next Tuesday in town, at any place you 
 may please to appoint. Has Mr. Ibbotson's house 
 
 * The Earls of Cromarty and Kilmarnock, and Lord Bal- 
 merino.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 103 
 
 been searched, and how are all the lords in the 
 Tower? I hope they will live to satisfy justice 
 and our curiosity. I am, dear sir, 
 
 Your most humble servant, Wm. Serine. 
 
 To George Selwyn, Esq. in Piccadilly, 
 opposite St. James's Church, London. 
 
 [The trial of the rebel lords took place at the 
 end of July 1746, in Westminster Hall. Walpole 
 writes to Sir Horace INlann, August 1, 1746, " I 
 am this moment come from the conclusion of the 
 greatest and most melancholy scene I ever yet saw ! 
 you will easily guess it was the trials of the rebel 
 lords. As it was the most interesting sight, it 
 was the most solemn and fine : a coronation is a 
 puppet-show, and all the splendour of it idle ; but 
 this sight at once feasted one's eyes and engaged 
 all one's passions. It began last INIonday ; three 
 parts of Westminster Hall were enclosed with gal- 
 leries, and hung with scarlet ; and the whole cere- 
 mony was conducted with the most awful solemnity 
 and decency, except in the one point of leaving 
 the prisoners at the bar, amidst the idle curiosity 
 of the crowd, and even with the witnesses who 
 had sworn against them, whilst the lords adjourned 
 to their own house to consult. No part of the 
 royal family was there, which was a proper regard 
 to the uuliaj)py men who were become their victims. 
 One hundred and thirty-nine lords were present, 
 and made a nolde sight on tlieir ImncheSf frequent 
 (md full. The first appearance of the prisoners,"
 
 104 MR. WILLIAM SKRINE 
 
 adds Walpole, " shocked me ; their behaviour melt- 
 ed me ! Lord Kihiiarnock and Lord Cromarty are 
 both past forty, but look youuger. Lord Kilmar- 
 nock is tall and slender, with an extreme fine 
 person : his behaviour a most just mixture between 
 dignity and submission ; if in anything to be repre- 
 hended, a little affected, and his hair too exactly 
 dressed for a man in his situation ; but when I 
 say this, it is not to find fault with him, but to 
 show how little fault there was to be found. Lord 
 Cromarty is an indifferent figure, appeared much 
 dejected, and rather sullen ; he dropped a few tears 
 the first day, and swooned as soon as he got back 
 to his cell. For Lord Balmerino, he is the most 
 natural brave old fellow I ever saw : the highest 
 intrepidity, even to indifference. At the bar he 
 behaved like a soldier and a man ; in the intervals 
 of form, with carelessness and humour. He pressed 
 extremely to have his wife, his pretty Peggy, with 
 him in the Tower."* Lords Kilmarnock and Bal- 
 merino fell by the hand of the executioner, but 
 Lord Cromarty was pardoned. For the leniency 
 shown him, he was chiefly indebted to the com- 
 passion felt for his wife, who was in an advanced 
 state of pregnancy. The state of suspense in which 
 she was kept, regarding her husband's fate, had 
 such an effect on her mind, that at the birth of 
 her child the distinct impression of an axe was dis- 
 covered on its neck.] 
 
 * Letters, vol. ii. pp. 1.S5, 1^6.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 105 
 
 MR. WILLIAM SKRINE TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Ashted, 13th of August, 1746. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 As I know your design of attending the exe- 
 cutions of the lords on Monday next,* do me the 
 favour to let me hear from you what method you 
 design to take for that purpose, and whether you 
 can assist me in it. I shall be glad to meet you, 
 to spend next Sunday evening anywhere you shall 
 appoint me. 
 
 I am, dear sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 William Serine. 
 
 MR. S. BETHELL to GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 [This is evidently an order of admission to the 
 writer's house on Tower Hill, to enable Selwyn 
 to view the execution of the rebel lords.] 
 
 Tower Hill, 14th August, 1746. 
 SIR, 
 
 As you are unknown to my servants, you 
 will please to show them this, when you will be 
 let into my house. 
 
 I am, sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 S. J3ETIIELL. 
 
 * Lords Kilmarnock and Balmcrino were executed on Tower 
 Hill on the 18tli.
 
 106 SIR WILLIAM MAYNARD 
 
 SIR WILLIAM MAYNARD TO GEORGE SELWYN.* 
 
 August 22nd, 1746. 
 DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 If you would give yourself time to consider 
 how destitute this place must be of all sort of 
 chit-chat, the proper matter for a literary cor- 
 respondence, you would not commend yourself for 
 having sent me a jobation for not punctually an- 
 swering your obliging letters, but, on the contrary, 
 blame yourself for so doing, as only " how do ye 
 do V can be of little pleasure to you. 
 
 When I read the account of old Balmerino's 
 behaviour, I was moved with compassion for him, 
 and think it a pity so brave a fellow should meet 
 with so hard a fate. As for Lady Townshend'sf 
 attachment, [to Lord Kilmarnock,] I am well 
 
 * See ante, SrdJuly, 1745. 
 
 t Ethelreda Harrison, Viscountess Townshend, so celebrated 
 for her eccentricities and wit. " It will be difficult," writes 
 Horace Walpole to George Montagu, " to make you believe to 
 what heights of affectation or extravagance my Lady Townshend 
 carries her passion for my Lord Kilmarnock, whom she never 
 saw but at the bar of his trial, and was smitten with his falling 
 shoulders. She has been under his windows, sends messages 
 to him, has got his dog and his snuff-box, has taken lodgings out 
 of town for to-morrow and Monday night, and then goes to 
 Greenwich ; forswears conversing with the bloody English, and 
 has taken a French master. She insisted on Lord Hervey's 
 promising her he would not sleep a whole night for my Lord 
 Kilmarnock, ' and in return,' says she, ' never trust me more if I 
 am not as yellow as a jonquil for him.' She said gravely 'tother
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 107 
 
 convinced he was a coward ; a sort of people who, 
 for the most part, are not to be trusted ; there- 
 fore I have no j^earnings for him. I imagine her 
 ladyship is as yellow as a jonquil. If you can 
 get old Balmerino's speech, or any other wit, or 
 more particulars of the behaviour of the executed 
 lords, I desire you will send it me down. Lady 
 INIaynard desires her compliments. If my letters 
 are of that value, which you was so good in your 
 last as to set on them, you must thank his Lord- 
 ship. 
 
 Yours affectionately, W. Maynard. 
 
 [The demeanour of Lords Kilmarnock and Bal- 
 merino on the scaffold is thus described, in a very 
 interesting letter from Horace Walpole to Sir 
 Horace JNIann : " Just before they came out of 
 the Tower, Lord Balmerino drank a bumper to 
 
 day, < Since I saw my Lord Kilmarnock I really think no more of 
 Sir Harry Nisbett than if there was no such man in the world.* 
 But, of all her flights, yesterday was the strongest. George Sel- 
 wyn dined with her, and not thinking her aflJiction so serious 
 as she pretends, talked rather jokingly of the execution. She 
 burst into a flood of tears and rage, told him she now believed 
 all his father and mother had said of him, and, with a thousand 
 other reproaches, flung up stairs. George coolly took Mrs. 
 Dorcas, hor woman, and made her sit down to finish the bottle. 
 And, ' Pray, sir,' says Dorcas, * do you think my Lady will be 
 prevailed upon to let me go and see the execution ? I have a 
 friend that has promised to take care of me, and I can lie in the 
 Tower the night before.' My Lady has quarrelled with Sir Charles 
 Windham for calling the two lords malefactors." — Letters, vol. 
 ii. pp. loO, 151.
 
 108 SIR WILLIAM MAYNARD 
 
 King James's health. As the clock struck ten 
 they came forth on foot, Lord Kilmarnock all in 
 black, his hair unpowdered, in a bag, supported 
 by Forster, the great presbyterian, and by Howe, 
 a young clergyman, his friend. Lord Balmerino 
 followed alone in a blue coat, turned up with red, 
 his rebellious regimentals ; a flannel waistcoat, and 
 his shroud beneath ; their hearses following. They 
 were conducted to a house near the scaffold ; the 
 room forwards had benches for sj^ectators; in the 
 second Lord Kilmarnock was jDut, and in the 
 third, backwards. Lord Balmerino ; all three cham- 
 bers hung with black. Here they parted. Balme- 
 rino embraced the other, and said, ' My Lord, I 
 wish I could suffer for both.' He," [Lord Kil- 
 marnock,] adds Walpole, "remained an hour and 
 a half in the house, and shed tears. At last he 
 came to the scaffold, certainly much terrified, but 
 with a resolution that prevented his behaving in 
 the least meanly or unlike a gentleman. He took 
 no notice of the crowd, only to desire that the 
 baize might be lifted up from the rails, that the 
 mob might see the spectacle. He stood and prayed 
 some time with Forster, Avho wept over him, ex- 
 horted, and encouraged him. He delivered a long 
 speech to the sheriff, and with a noble manliness 
 stuck to the recantation he had made at his trial, 
 declaring, he wished that all who embarked in the 
 same cause might meet the same fate. He then 
 took off his bag, coat, and waistcoat, with great
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 109 
 
 composure, and, after some trouble, put on a napkin 
 caj), and then several times tried the block. The 
 executioner was in white, with a white apron, out 
 of tenderness concealing the axe behind himself. 
 At last the Earl knelt down, with a visible un- 
 willingness to depart, and, after five minutes, dropped 
 his handkerchief, the signal, and his head was cut 
 off at once, only hanging by a bit of skin, and 
 was received in a scarlet cloth bv four of the un- 
 dertaker's men, kneeling, who wrapped it up and 
 put it into the coffin with the body ; orders having 
 been given not to expose the heads, as used to be 
 the custom. The scaffold was immediately new 
 strewed with saw-dust, the block new covered, the 
 executioner new dressed, and a new axe brought. 
 Then came old Balmerino, treading with the air 
 of a general. As soon as he mounted the scaffold 
 he read the inscription on his coffin, as he did 
 again afterwards ; he then surveyed the spectators, 
 who were in amazing numbers, even to the masts 
 of ships in the river, and pulling out his spectacles, 
 read a treasonable sj)eech, which he delivered to 
 the sheriff, and said the young Pretender was so 
 sweet a Prince that flesh and blood could not 
 resist following him ; and lying down to try the 
 block, ho said, ' If I had a thousand lives I would 
 lay them all down here in the same cause.' He 
 said, if he had not taken the Sacrament the day 
 before, he would have knocked down Williamson, 
 the Lieutenant of the Tower, for his ill-usage of
 
 no HON. GEORGE TOWNSHEND 
 
 him. He took the axe and felt it, and asked the 
 headsman how many blows he had given Lord Kil- 
 marnock, and gave him three guineas. Two clergy- 
 men, who attended him, coming up, he said, ' No, 
 gentlemen, I believe you have already done me 
 all the service you can.' Then he went to the 
 corner of the scaffold, and called very loud for 
 the warder, to give him his perriwig, which he 
 took off, and put on a nightcap of Scotch plaid, 
 and then pulled off his coat and waistcoat and lay 
 down ; but being told he was on the wrong side, 
 vaulted round, and immediately gave the sign by 
 tossing up his arm, as if he were giving the signal 
 for battle. He received three blows, the first cer- 
 tainly took away all sensation. He was not a 
 quarter of an hour on the scaffold ; Lord Kilmar- 
 nock above half a one. Balmerino certainly died 
 with the intrepidity of a hero, but with the in- 
 sensibility of one too. As he walked from his 
 prison to execution, seeing every window and top 
 of house filled with spectators, he cried out, ' Look, 
 look, how they are all piled up like rotten 
 oranges ! ' " *] 
 
 * Letters, vol. ii. pp. 152 to 155.
 
 Ill 
 
 THE HON. GEORGE TOWNSHEND, 
 
 Afterwards Marquess Townskend. 
 
 George, afterwards first Marquess Townsliend, 
 was the eldest son of Charles third Viscount 
 Townshend, bj Audrey Harrison, celebrated for 
 her wit and eccentricities ; which qualities descended 
 to the subject of this memoir, in common with 
 his gifted brother, Charles Townshend. He was 
 born on the 28th of February, 1723, and at this 
 period was aide-de-camp to the Duke of Cum- 
 berland, under whom he had recently fought at 
 the battle of Culloden. He was present at the 
 battles of Dettingen and Fontenoy ; was third in 
 command of the expedition against Quebec ; and 
 at the close of the celebrated engagement on the 
 heights above that town, (in consequence of Wolfe 
 having been killed, and General Monckton severely 
 wounded,) found himself first in command. He 
 was subsequently engaged at Fellinghausen, and 
 employed on other military services. He repre- 
 sented the county of Norfolk in Parliament from 
 1747 to 1764; in 17G7 he was appointed Lord- 
 Lieutenant of Ireland ; in 1772 Master-General 
 of the Ordnance, and in 1787 was raised to the 
 rank of Marquess. To the more trifling accom- 
 plislmients of social wit, and of being an excellent 
 caricaturist, lie joined the qualities of an able ge-
 
 112 HON. GEORGE TOWNSHEND 
 
 iieral and a powerful orator. Of his wit but few 
 specimens have been handed down to us. When 
 superseded by Lord Harcourt as Lord-Lieutenant 
 of Ireland, tlie latter, on his arrival at Dublin, 
 suddenly disturbed him, at three o'clock in the 
 morning, at a drinking party with some chosen 
 friends. Lord Townshend, in no degree abashed, 
 good-humouredly congratulated his successor. "Your 
 Lordship," he said, " has certainly come among us 
 rather unexpectedly, but you must admit that you 
 did not find us naj)ping." Again, after he had 
 quarrelled with the Duke of Cumberland, (whose 
 personal peculiarities he was in the habit of cari- 
 caturing,) one of the duke's friends observing him 
 at a review, where his presence was far from ac- 
 ceptable, remarked, " How is it that you honour 
 us with your presence to-day : I suppose you are 
 merely a spectator ? " — " And why," retorted Lord 
 Townshend, "may one not come here as a Spectator^ 
 sir, as well as a Tatler f " Lord Townshend died 
 on the 14tli of September, 1807, at the age of 
 eighty-four. 
 
 THE HON. GEORGE TOWNSHEND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 To my well-beloved friend and companion, George Selwyn, 
 from my cell at Dmidee, Oct. y'' 1st, 1746. 
 
 I KNOW you will not dislike this style, which 
 gives my epistle the air of a malefactors con-
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 113 
 
 fession. Your letter I have received, and should 
 have pardoned jour silence without all those apo- 
 logies, in the room of which I wish you liad sub- 
 stituted either some news or some conceit of your 
 own. I was not in the least surprised at your 
 forgetting your agreement to write ; nor shall I 
 be so if you forget it again ; so that, remember, 
 you have no reason to be subject to that remorse 
 of conscience, which so often makes us abandon 
 all thoughts of retrieving a correspondence one 
 has once neglected. 
 
 My time here passes as disagreeably as you can 
 possibly imagine, and I suffer as much as a person 
 must do, who has once kept good company, and is 
 afterwards involved in a set, very few of which have 
 either a good education or any natural parts. Our 
 mirth is riot without any meaning, and our acquaint- 
 ance society without any friendship. Having now 
 achieved a general acquaintance witli my brother 
 officers, and being what is called upon a very good 
 footing with them all, I begin to shut myself up 
 in my own quarters, and have recourse to books. 
 Yet, if Telle was here, I could soon start some most 
 excellent subjects and characters for his entertain- 
 ment and my own ; but the worst of all is, that I 
 cannot get a soul to laugh with me. If I delighted 
 in power, I might indeed bo happy, for I am, in 
 a manner, king over seventy men, by whom I may 
 be worshipped if I please. The captain is a title, 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 114 HON. GEORGE TOWNSHEND 
 
 and character ti^es redoiitahle ; particularly in these 
 times. 
 
 There is not a woman in this part of the island, 
 of any rank, handsome enough to engage one's 
 attention. Those that are tolerable, are so dis- 
 affected that they have shut themselves up ever 
 since that day so fatal to their ambitious hopes. 
 They look upon the militaires with abhorrence, as 
 we have had so good a share in slaughtering so 
 many of their husbands, brothers, and lovers, who 
 were, as I am since informed, a heap of the finest, 
 robust, brawny corpuses that ever were seen. Do 
 not desjDair, George, for I assure you the spirit 
 and strength of rebellion is yet sufficient to furnish 
 you more entertainment on Tower Hill before your 
 time is out. There are peers enough yet left, and 
 enthusiasts enough, to declare for so rash a cause, 
 whenever occasion f)resents itself. It is the High- 
 lands who have suffered this bout, but the Low- 
 lands, whenever it comes to be their turn to de- 
 clare, can turn out as great a mob. The disaffec- 
 tion which still remains is too apparent to all, 
 and I wish it was still less latent, that the land 
 might be more effectively purged at once, and 
 the lenity of the government less exposed. 
 
 Let me know in your next, if you hear from fat 
 Bob, what footing the boy is on with his hostess 
 at his quarters ; if the Major still shines in town ; 
 what fine men the expedition has deprived the 
 town of; and what is expected will become of
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 115 
 
 Lord Lovat, and of the ladies we have in Edinburgh 
 Castle : I mean the squadron of the Pretender's 
 Amazonians, some of whom I know. If you have 
 any new prints that are good, conundrums, or wit 
 in any shape, prithee send them me. Alas ! Per- 
 kin * is at last escaped, so that you will not see 
 the very head of all chopped on Tower Hill. I 
 suppose you have heard of Lord Ancram f having 
 been shot at, for his active behaviour in the King's 
 service in the Highlands, and a like attempt having 
 been made on INlajor Lockhart. 
 
 I hear my brother I is to go soon to Lincoln's 
 Inn ; let me knoAV if you see him. Think once 
 more of INIr. Hussey's antagonist, or rather fugitive, 
 and what I have lost by not being in London.^ 
 
 * Prince Charles Edward. That unfortunate young Prince 
 had embarked at Borradale, for France, on the 30th September, 
 only the day previous to the date of this letter. 
 
 f William Henry, Earl of Ancram, who succeeded his father 
 in July, 1767, as fourth Marquis of Lothian. He was aide-de- 
 camp to the Duke of Cumberland at the battle of Fontenoy, where 
 he received a severe wound in the head, and commanded the 
 cavalry at the battle of Culloden. In 1770 he attained the rank 
 of General, and died on the 12th of April, 1775, at the age of 
 sixty-five. 
 
 X The Hon. Charles Townshend, afterwards the celebrated 
 statesman and wit. 
 
 § This is in allusion to the celebrated quarrel, if it may be 
 so designated, between Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, and Mr. 
 Hussey, subsequently created Lord Beaulieu. The beautiful 
 Isabella Duchess of Manchester, after the death of her husband, 
 William second Duke of Manchester, disappointed a number of 
 wealthy and noble admirers, by conferring her hand and vast pro- 
 perty on a stalwart Irishman without fortune, Mr. Edward Hus- 
 
 I 2
 
 116 HON. G. TOWNSHEND. 
 
 Give me a short account of Lord Belfield's * affair 
 who, I hear, has acted, as I imagined, like a man 
 of honour. Adieu ! and let me hear from jou 
 soon. Your sincere friend, and humble servant, 
 
 George Townshend. 
 P.S. George, there is just now fine sport at Car- 
 lisle,! but I am so far north I cannot propose meet- 
 ing you there : it is a pity. 
 
 sey. It was on this occasion that Sir C. H. Williams composed 
 his well-known " Ode to the Honourable Henry Fox : " — 
 
 Wide was the extent of her commands ; 
 O'er fertile fields, o'er barren sands, 
 
 She stretched her haughty reign. 
 The coxcomb, fool, and man of sense. 
 Youth, manhood, age and impotence, 
 
 With pride received her chain. 
 
 But careful Heaven reserved her Grace 
 For one of the Milesian race. 
 
 On stronger parts depending. 
 Nature, indeed, denies them sense, 
 But gives them legs and impudence, 
 That beats all understanding. 
 These, and other passages, gave great offence to Mr. Hussey 
 and the Irish, and as Sir Charles retired suddenly from the me- 
 tropolis, the circumstance led many to believe that he wanted 
 resolution to defend himself. The duchess (who was the eldest 
 daughter of John Duke of Montague, and granddaughter of the 
 great Duke of Marlborough,) died in 1786, at the age of ninety- 
 four. 
 
 * Robert Rochfort, created Lord Belfield in Ireland in 1737, 
 and Earl of Belvidere in 1756. The affair here alluded to was, 
 without doubt, the intrigue between Lady Belfield (a daughter of 
 Lord Molesworth) and Mr. Arthur Rochfort, her husband's bro- 
 ther-in-law. It was first noised to the world in 1 7 43. 
 
 t The executions of the gallant and unfortunate adherents of 
 the House of Stuart.
 
 J. HARCOURT. 117 
 
 J. HARCOURT, ESQ., TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 St. Alban's Street, Wednesday morning. 
 DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 You will infinitely oblige me if you can lend 
 me your two tickets for the trial for one day, the 
 first they are disengaged. JNIy thanks shall be as 
 sincere as if they came from Cheapside. 
 
 Yours, J. H. 
 P.S. Call soon, or send an answer. I don't go 
 out to-day. 
 
 To George Selwyn, Esq., at Mr. Lane's, Piccadilly. 
 Endorsed " Harcourt, March 1 2, 1 747." 
 
 [The tickets alluded to in this, and in the following 
 note, were evidently for admission to the trial of 
 the celebrated Lord Lovat, who was arraigned in 
 Westminster Hall in the course of this month, 
 and was executed on the 9th of April, at the age 
 of eighty. This extraordinary man, notwithstand- 
 ing his many vices, and the exceeding infamy oJ" 
 his character, died with a dignity which would 
 have done credit to an ancient IJonian. On the 
 scaffold he jested with the executioner on his oc- 
 cupation, and died with the beautiful line of 
 Horace on his lips : " Didce et decorum est pro patrid 
 mori." There is a story still ])revalent in Scotland, 
 that, when Lord Lovat was on his way to the
 
 118 MR. MATHIAS. 
 
 Tower, after his condemnation, an old woman thrust 
 her head into the window of the coach which con- 
 veyed him, and exclaimed : " You d — d old rascal ! 
 I begin to thinK you '11 be hung at last." — " You 
 d — d old b — h ! " is said to have been the reply, 
 " I begin to think I shall."] 
 
 MR. VINCENT MATHIAS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 18th of March, 1747. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I RETURN you many thanks for your ticket of 
 this morning, which procured me one of the best 
 seats in the hall, and I lost not a word of all that 
 was said. I am now to desire you would contrive 
 for to-morrow, that 1 may hear the Lord High 
 Steward's * speech, and sentence passed. I will 
 meet, and follow such directions as you shall give 
 
 * Philip Yorke, the celebrated Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. 
 His conduct, as Lord High Steward, at the trials of the rebel 
 lords, is severely commented upon by Horace Walpole. " The 
 Chancellor," he writes to Sir Horace Mann, " was Lord High 
 Steward, but though a most comely personage, with a fine voices 
 his behaviour was mean, curiously searching for occasion to bow 
 to the minister, (Henry Pelham,) that is no peer, and conse- 
 quently applying to the other ministers, in a manner, for their 
 orders ; and not even ready at the ceremonial. To the prisoners 
 he was peevish; and instead of keeping up the humane dignity of 
 the law of England, whose character it is to point out favour to 
 the criminal, he crossed them, and almost scolded at any oifer 
 they made towards defence." — Walpole's Correspondence, vol. ii 
 p. 135.
 
 T. PHILLIPS. 119 
 
 me, and further desire you will write them, so that 
 I may get them early in the morning. 
 
 I am, sir, your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 Vincent JNIathias. 
 P.S. I leave a copy of this at White's. I have 
 sent the ticket back to Sir William Maynard. 
 
 T. PHILLIPS ESQ., TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Heythrop, July 14th. 
 I CAN, with great pleasure, inform you, my 
 dear Selwvn, that the head is ordered to be de- 
 livered on the first application made on your part. 
 The expense is little more than a guinea ; the 
 person who calls for it should pay it. 
 
 Adieu ! mo7i clier mo7idain, 
 
 T. Phillips. 
 
 [The editor has been induced to insert this brief 
 note, because, from George Selwyn's peculiar tastes 
 and eccentricities, he thought it not altogether im- 
 probable that the head here alluded to might be 
 that of one of the rebel lords.] 
 
 sir WILLIAM MAYNARD TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Walthamstow, June Cth, 1 747. 
 DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 You don't seem to me to be quite in good 
 spirits. I wish you would resolve to be cheerful,
 
 120 SIR W. MAYNARD TO GEORGE SELWTN. 
 
 and determine ujDon not taking any notice of anj 
 disagreeable things that may be said or done. You 
 must remember that this is deeper play than at 
 White's, and I fear you are come to your last stake, 
 which, if you lose, you will, in all probability, prove 
 a bankrujDt ; and you have, in some measure, proved 
 the ill effects of that in your late disgrace. 
 
 Let a man have ever so many good natural 
 qualities, yet, when he wants money, and the sup- 
 port of his own family, those who in the time 
 of such a man's prosperity courted him, either 
 because he diverted them, or they thought it might 
 some time or other be in his power to serve them, 
 will, in case of the want of the two above-men- 
 tioned supports, be always ready to show him all 
 the insult imaginable. This, in my opinion, is a 
 situation in life not the least to be desired ; and 
 when people have to do with turbulent spirits, the 
 greatest caution imaginable must be used to avoid it. 
 
 As the Parliament is likelv to be dissolved so 
 soon, and to proceed immediately to a new election, 
 I fear I have no chance of coming in at the next 
 general election. If you will let me know when 
 you shall be in town after your Wiltshire journey, 
 I will endeavour to meet you, but do not forget to 
 remember the post-days, and that I shall not re- 
 ceive a letter here till the day after its arrival in 
 London. Yours affectionately, W. M. 
 
 To George Augustus Selwyn, Esq., 
 at Ludgershall, Wilts.
 
 121 
 
 GEORGE JAMES WILLIAMS. 
 
 George James Williams, or, as he is usually 
 and more familiarly styled, Gilly Williams, is now 
 remembered only from that high character for 
 social wit, which appears to have been univer- 
 sally awarded him by his contemporaries. It is 
 remarkable, indeed, how little information can be 
 gleaned respecting a man once so courted and 
 so admired. In resj)ect to the history of his life, 
 we are in possession but of few facts ; and of his 
 wit nothing has survived but its reputation. Little 
 indeed is known of him but the legend, that he 
 was the wittiest among the witty, and the gayest 
 among the gay ; that he was the son of William 
 Peere Williams, a celebrated lawyer of his day ; 
 that he was uncle by marriage to the first minis- 
 ter, Lord North ; and that he filled the situation 
 of Receiver General of Excise, to which he was 
 appointed on the 8th of November, 1774. The 
 fact of his name, even, being still in some degree 
 familiar to posterity is, perhaps, ])rincipally owing 
 to its frequent occurrence in the Correspondence 
 of Horace Walpole. He was, as is well known, 
 one of the famous imrtie quarrce, consisting, besides 
 himself, of George Sclwyn, Dick Edgecombe, and 
 Horace Walj)ole, who met at stated periods in 
 the year at Strawberry Hill, and constituted what
 
 122 GEORGE JAMES WILLIAMS 
 
 Walpole styles his " oiit-of-toum " party. Williams 
 died at his house in Cleveland Court, St. James's, 
 on the 28th of November, 1805, at the age of 
 eighty-six. His name is now familiar only to 
 the few ; but, unless the editor be much mis- 
 taken, his reputation for wit, which has hitherto 
 survived only on credit, will be revived in a three- 
 fold degree by the publication of his sprightly and 
 delightful epistolary correspondence. 
 
 "GILLY WILLIAMS" TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Dillington, Somerset, 16 October, 1747. 
 DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I CONGRATULATE you on the near approach of 
 Parliament, and figure you to myself before a 
 glass at your rehearsals. I must intimate to you 
 not to forget closing your periods with a signi- 
 ficant stroke of the breast, and recommend Mr. 
 Barry* as a pattern, who I think pathetically 
 excels in that beauty. 
 
 You rejoice me much in telling me our vene- 
 rable archdeacon survived his last year's debauch 
 on the fowls and egg-sauce ; and don't doubt but by 
 your annual visits Mrs. Cole receives an annual 
 refreshment. 
 
 You must have observed that most letters from 
 the country are spun out by descanting on those 
 
 * Spranger Barry, an actor of considerable talent, and the con- 
 temporary and rival of Gai-rick. He died in January, 1777.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 128 
 
 received, and which they attempt answering ; and 
 that every sentence begins with being either sorry 
 or glad. Apropos, I am glad to hear B. Bertie* 
 is returned from Scarborough, having laid in such 
 a stock of health and spirits by the waters, as to 
 dedicate the rest of his days altogether to wine. 
 
 What will poor Harcourt do without Naptin ? 
 but I hope he has exchanged him for a female 
 assistant, a nurse, for he certainly is within one 
 
 of being bedridden. Could they convey him 
 
 to St. Alban's Street in a horse-litter, we shall 
 nightly enjoy him even in those circumstances. 
 Among friends, I think it is so entirely neces- 
 sary for the amicable knot that meets at his lodg- 
 ings to have him in a nightcap and swelled , 
 
 that T shall write to JNIr. Smith to provide accord- 
 ingly against his first appearance. 
 
 I propose, the latter end of the week after 
 next, praying the aid of a post-horse to carry me 
 to town ;f and I hope I need not assure you, 
 among the many pleasures I expect there, one 
 of the greatest will be that of assuring you in 
 person how much 
 
 I am your sincere friend, &c., G. J. W. 
 
 * Lord Robert Bertie, fifth son of Robert first Duke of An- 
 caster ; a Lord of the Bedchamber, Colonel of the second regi- 
 ment of Life Guards, and member of Parliament for Boston. 
 He died on the 10th of March 1782, and was buried at Chisol- 
 hurst. 
 
 -j- It forms a curious contrast with the modern rapid and 
 luxurious mode of travelling, to find a fine gentleman riding 
 a common post-horse from Ilminstcr to London, a distance of 
 one hundred and thirty-four miles from the metropolis.
 
 124 
 
 CHARLES TOWNSHEND. 
 
 Charles Townshend, so celebrated for his talents 
 as a statesman and the brilliancy of his wit, was 
 the second son of Charles, third Viscount Towns- 
 hend, by his wife, Audrey Harrison, whose eccen- 
 tricities, as well as wit, her son inherited to. He 
 was born on the 29th of August, 1 725 ; was 
 brought into Parliament in 1747; and successively 
 held the appointments of a Lord of Trade and of 
 the Admiralty ; Secretary at War, President of the 
 Board of Trade, Paymaster, and, in 1766, Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer, which office he retained at the 
 period of his death, on the 4th of Sej^tember, 1767. 
 Burke, in his fine speech on the expediency of 
 taxing the American colonies, alluding to the great 
 Lord Chatham, observes, — " Before this splendid 
 orb had entirely set, and while the western horizon 
 was in a blaze with his descending glory, on the 
 opjDosite quarter of the heavens arose another lumi- 
 nary, and for his hour became lord of the ascend- 
 ant. This light too is passed, and set for ever ! 
 I speak of Charles Townshend, whom I cannot 
 even now remember without some degree of sen- 
 sibility. In truth, he was the delight and orna- 
 ment of this house, and the charm of every private 
 society which he honoured with his presence. Per- 
 haps there never arose in this country, nor in any 
 country, a man of more pointed and finished wit, 
 and (where his passions were not concerned) of
 
 CHARLES TOWNSHEND. 125 
 
 a more refined, exquisite, and penetrating judg- 
 ment." jNIr. Townsbend married Caroline, daughter 
 and heir of John second Duke of Argyll and 
 Greenwich, and widow of Francis Earl of Dal- 
 keith. This lady was created Baroness Greenwich 
 in 1766, and died, without leaving male issue, in 
 1794. 
 
 RIGHT HON. CHARLES TOWNSHEND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 23 January, 1748. 
 DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 It is very convenient for Mr. Dyson* to 
 have our journey to the Tower deferred ; and for 
 my part I am so indolent as to find a pleasure 
 in only putting off a trouble. We shall both be 
 ready to attend you next Wednesday, and do, with 
 reason, propose both amusement and information 
 to ourselves from it. I shall give tea that mornino-. 
 I cannot go to the Opera, because I have for- 
 sworn all expense which does not end in pleasing 
 me, and, .besides, I have not yet been dutifully to 
 welcome my father to this wicked town. 
 
 You will find me at home in any part of the 
 evening ; or, to save you the trouble of so long 
 a night visit, I will meet you at Toms's at what- 
 ever hour you name. 
 
 I am, dear George, with sincerity, 
 
 Your very affectionate humble servant, 
 
 Charles Townshend. 
 
 To George Augustus Selwyn, Esq. 
 
 * Commissioner for Trade and Plantations.
 
 126 GEORGE JAMES WILLIAMS 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Dillington, near Ilminster, Monday morning. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 Your three sheets, which, by my being from 
 home, came to me a post later than you intended, 
 deserve my earliest thanks ; you have, indeed, 
 made ample amends for your long silence. I must 
 confess I was of Cartwright's opinion, and expected 
 the date of my next letter from Paris ; for more 
 than once have you travelled, like the prophets 
 in the Scriptures, without scrip, or purse, or changes 
 of raiment. But I am glad to find you on this 
 side of the water. 
 
 I am sorry Lord Abergavenny is going to join 
 the noble invalids at Bath. We came through 
 it, and left such dukes and duchesses as Dugdale 
 never dreamt of. Bolton, Chandos, &c., were at 
 the head of every list. Your friend will carry 
 blood enough to them, however his constitution 
 may be imj^aired. 
 
 I had almost forgot to tell you, that the day 
 I left you I rode near ten miles on my way 
 home with the Ordinary of Gloucester, and have 
 several anecdotes of the late burnings and hang- 
 ings, which I have reserved for your jDrivate ear. 
 I do not know whether he was sensible you had 
 a partiality for his profession, but he expressed
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 127 
 
 the greatest regard for you, and I am sure you 
 may command his service. 
 
 Old Poulett is roaring with the gout ; he laments 
 he did not know he was so near Matson, or he 
 would certainly have desired you to have procured 
 him a down bed and a . We propose leav- 
 ing this place the 6tli of next month, and being 
 in Tylney Street the 9th or 10th. What do you 
 intend ? I think the almanack bids you take care 
 of colds, and to abstain from physic. I say, shun 
 the knowing ones, and abstain from hazard. Add 
 to these, remember your friends, and among them 
 one who is 
 
 JNlost sincerely and affectionately yours, 
 
 G. J. W. 
 
 THOMAS SCROPE, ESQ. TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 London, Wednesday, July 1748. 
 DEAR SELWYN, 
 
 Do NOT think me impertinent in troubling you 
 with this letter. I left Tunbridge on Tuesday 
 morning early, and somewhat abruptly, with the 
 Duke of Rutland.* I Avant very much to go 
 thither again, but am advised against it ; of the 
 particulars you shall be informed when I have 
 
 * John, third Duke of Rutland, born in October 1696 ; died 
 May 29, 1779.
 
 128 THOMAS SCROPE. 
 
 the pleasure to meet you. Lord Abergavenny is 
 there,* and a set of company that I am sure you 
 will like. A very agreeable party was formed, 
 and was to have been executed this day ; sed 
 Diis aliter visum est. We had proposed to go 
 in the morning to Penshurst ; Miss Neville f 
 was one of our company, and Miss Chudleigh.t 
 IMr. Lyttleton had offered us French horns, and 
 we were afterwards to have dined at Tunbridge. 
 Why we did not, you and more will hear sooner 
 than I could wish, although, when you do hear, 
 I am sure you will laugh. 
 
 I have now a post-chaise, in which a certain 
 person has often travelled. If your business and 
 inclinations permit, I will give you a place in it 
 to Tunbridge, and carry you back whenever you 
 are tired. Let me know your approbation by a 
 letter, directed to the Mineral Water Warehouse 
 in St. Alban's Street. I should choose myself 
 to go on Friday next. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 Thos. Scrope. 
 
 * Eridge Castle, an ancient hunting-seat of the Abergavenny 
 family, is situated about two miles from Tunbridge Wells. It 
 has since been enlarged and beautified by the late Earl, the son of 
 the nobleman referred to in the text. 
 
 ■\ Katherine, sister of George, first Earl of Abergavenny, and 
 aunt of the late lord, was born in 1728. She afterwards be- 
 came maid of honour to the wife of Frederick Prince of Wales, 
 and died, unmarried, in 1820, at the age of ninety-two. 
 
 + Afterwards the too-celebrated Duchess of Kingston.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 129 
 
 P.S. Excuse haste, for I have a troublesome 
 affair upon my hands, which will give me some 
 trouble to finish to mj own mind. 
 
 THOMAS SCROPE, ESQ., TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 St. Alban's Street, July 22, 1748. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I DO not wonder the letter I wrote to you last 
 Wednesday has been a matter of surprise. I own 
 the occasion of that, and several others that I 
 have been obliged lately to write, has been a 
 matter of much surprise to myself. 
 
 I involved myself last Monday in a ridiculous 
 affair, which I have since been obliged to treat 
 with the utmost gravity ; though at the same time 
 I must say the ridiculous a^ipeared in so strong 
 a light to me, that it was with the utmost diffi- 
 culty I maintained the necessary decorum. To 
 try your patience no longer, the affair was this : 
 After drinking four bottles, which had made me 
 mad, and the rest of the company drunk, I strapped 
 and carried Baron Newman, alias Crook-fingered 
 Jack, in a chair, quite up to the end of Joy's 
 long room, at nine o'clock, where all the company 
 then in Tunbridge were assembled. I tore open 
 the door and top of the chair, and down dropped, 
 to all appearance, a dead man. Miss Chudloigh, 
 who is very subject to fits, struck with the odd 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 GEORGE SELWYN 
 
 appearance, fainted, and was carried off. This, 
 in less than a quarter of an hour, spread among 
 the ladies like a contagion ; I am informed of eight 
 at least, who fell into fits. When I became sober, 
 the Duke of Rutland advised and pressed me by 
 all means to go with him the next morning, and 
 write to Mr. Lyttelton and some others from the 
 road. I did. The affair is now finished to my 
 satisfaction ; but this is a subject more fit for our 
 conversation than our pens. 
 
 I propose myself the pleasure of meeting you 
 on Monday next at Bromley, at eleven o'clock ; 
 and, if I hear nothing from you to the contrary, 
 shall depend upon it. I believe I can carry your 
 portmanteau, for most of my things are left at 
 Tunbridge. If my horses are not able to go through 
 in a day, as they are but hacks, we can take 
 post-horses upon the road, on the first hint. 
 
 I am, with great respect, yours, &c. 
 
 Thos. Scrope. 
 
 GEORGE SELWYN TO THE HON. THOMAS TOWNSHEND. 
 
 June 29, 1751. 
 DEAR BROTHER, 
 
 I RECEIVED yesterday in the afternoon, and 
 not before, a confirmation of what I had from 
 my niece's letter of Thursday so much reason to 
 apprehend, and I have accordingly sent my ser- 
 vant to you w^ith this, not only to know how my
 
 TO THE HON. T. TOWNSHEND. 131 
 
 father and mother do, but, having the most en- 
 tire dependence on your kindness and humanity, 
 as well as on your particular friendship to me, to 
 beg that you will not omit, when you find the 
 most proj)er season for so doing, to present my 
 duty to them both, and to do justice to my pre- 
 sent sentiments and concern, which I am no other- 
 wise able to express than by assuring you they 
 are such, as from the strongest ties of nature, 
 and from my deep sense of the great obligations 
 which I have to them, are the most just on so 
 melancholy and affecting an occasion. 
 
 It would, I am afraid, be in vain to flatter 
 myself that I shall be able at any time to give 
 much relief to their affliction, and at present can 
 only think of sharing it with them. But as 
 length of time never fails to weaken the force of 
 the strongest impression, and may, in all proba- 
 bility give them some leisure to think on me, it 
 will be then that I shall hope for your good 
 offices with them, and that you will be so good 
 as to endeavour to persuade them of my most 
 sincere desire to alleviate the weight of their 
 misfortune by every opportunity that I can find, and 
 to convince them of the love, esteem, and respect 
 which I shall ever retain for the memory of our 
 common loss, by a constant attention to follow 
 his example. 
 
 Dear Sir, T can subscribe with the greatest 
 submission to the severest censure that could be 
 
 K 2
 
 132 THE HON, THOMAS TOWNSHEND 
 
 passed on all my former conduct. In this respect, 
 only let me beg, that my heart, and the measure 
 of my concern may be judged of by your own, 
 and that you will believe me to be, what I really 
 am with the greatest regard, yours, 
 
 G. Selwyn. 
 
 [In this letter, addressed to his brother-in-law, 
 Mr. Thomas Townshend, George Selwyn evidently 
 refers to the recent decease of his elder brother, 
 John, by which, it may be remarked, he became 
 the heir to Matson, and the other family estates.] 
 
 THE HON. THOMAS TOWNSHEND. 
 
 Thomas, second son of Charles, Second Vis- 
 count Townshend, ^vas a Teller of the Exchequer, 
 and one of the first scholars of his day. He was 
 brother-in-law of George Selwyn, having married, 
 in May 1730, Albinia, daughter of Colonel John 
 Selwyn of Matson. He had the honour of being 
 selected by the University of Cambridge to be 
 their representative during six parliaments, and 
 died at an advanced age, in May, 1780. He was 
 the father of Thomas Townshend, the " Tommy 
 Townshend" of Goldsmith's " Retaliation," created 
 in 1783 Baron Sydney of Chiselhurst, and, in 
 1789, Viscount Sydney of St. Leonard's.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 133 
 
 THE HON. THOMAS TOWNSHEND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Frognal, Saturday. [July 1751.] 
 DEAR BROTHER, 
 
 Mr. Pelham * and Lady Catherine being here, 
 I have only time to tell you that Mr. and Mrs. 
 Selwyn endeavour, as much as possible, to support 
 themselves under the severe calamity vi^hich has 
 fallen upon them, and are rather more composed 
 than I expected them to be. It will be much 
 in your power to alleviate, though nothing can 
 repair to them the loss of your dear and excellent 
 brother, and I flatter myself, from the sentiments 
 which you express, and from the serious impressions 
 which I imagine you must feel from this unhappy 
 event, that you will not fail in what your duty, 
 interest, and humanity, call so loudly upon you 
 to do. I have already let your father and mother 
 know of the enquiries which you made after your 
 brother while they were at Danson, and I will 
 take the first opportunity of communicating your 
 letter to them. 
 
 I am, dear brother, most affectionately yours, 
 
 T. T. 
 
 * Henry Pelham, the celebrated minister, son of Thomas Lord 
 Pelham. He married, in 1726, Lady Catherine Manners, daugh- 
 ter of John second Duke of Rutland, and died March 6, 17G4. 
 Lady Catherine survived till 1780.
 
 134 REV. C. LYTTELTON. 
 
 REV. CHARLES LYTTELTON TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Alvechurch, August 11, 1751. 
 DEAR SELWYN, 
 
 Had I not been misinformed with regard to 
 your being in town, I should have certainly waited 
 upon you, with condolence in one hand and con- 
 gratulation in the other, when I made a short ex- 
 cursion thither lately from Sunninghill. Soon after 
 my return there, Thrale wrote me word that he 
 had dined in company with you, and that you 
 expressed great desire to see me, and talked of 
 coming down to Sunninghill for that purpose. I 
 fear by this, things do not go quite right between 
 you and your father. You need not be told of 
 what importance it is to you to make every con- 
 cession he requires. Your good sense and good 
 heart will, I am persuaded, incite you to do what 
 is right in this critical conjuncture, which must 
 determine your future fortune and happiness. I 
 now write from my living, where I arrived last 
 night from Sunninghill, and hope to get to Hag- 
 ley after evening service. If you write to me, 
 direct thither, near Stourbridge, in Worcestershire. 
 I am, dear sir, 
 Your affectionate obedient servant, 
 
 C. Lyttelton. 
 
 To George Selwyn, Esq., 
 at his lodgings, opposite ye Duke of Grafton's, 
 in Old Bond Street, London, M. P.
 
 135 
 
 LORD BATHURST. 
 
 Allan, first Lord Bathurst, was the friend of 
 Harley, Bolingbroke, Swift, Pope, Prior, Coiigreve, 
 Rowe, Atterbury, Addison, Arbuthnot, and Gay. 
 lie was one of Queen Anne's twelve peers, (of 
 whom Lord Wharton inquired whether they in- 
 tended to vote by their foreman,) and in 1771, 
 as many as sixty years afterwards, was advanced 
 to an earldom. Lord Bathurst retained to an 
 iilmost patriarchal age the wit, vivacity, and good- 
 humour, which had rendered him so popular with 
 the wits of the reign of Queen Anne. Till 
 within a month of his death, he rode out two 
 hours every morning, and drank his bottle of wine 
 after dinner. He was the father of Lord Chancellor 
 Apsley, and occasionally, when the latter used to 
 effect an early retreat from the festive dinner 
 parties of the old lord, " Come," Lord Bathurst 
 would say, " now the old gentleman is gone, let 
 us have another bottle." Lord Bathurst was born 
 November 16, 1684, and died September 16, 1775, 
 at the age of ninety-one.
 
 136 LORD BATHURST. 
 
 LORD BATHURST TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Cirencester, 27th August, 1751. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 Your letter, which I received last post, was 
 a great disappointment to me, as by the enclosed, 
 which I received some days ago, I expected I 
 should have had the pleasure of seeing you here 
 very soon. I am sure it would have been a great 
 pleasure to me, but I doubted very much whether 
 I could have made it any to you. Some years 
 ago I should have been better qualified to have 
 entertained a gentleman of your age and vivacity, 
 but, non eadem est cetas nee mens. Wheresoever 
 you are, I wish you happy ; not only for your 
 own sake, but for the sake of your father, whom 
 I really think one of the most worthy men I 
 have known in the space of fifty years, in which I 
 have been conversant with men of all sorts. I 
 shall direct this to Mr. Townshend's, but I do not 
 know his post town ; however, I don't doubt but 
 it will reach you ; and, with my compliments to 
 him, accept the best assurances of my being very 
 sincerely 
 
 Your most faithful humble servant, 
 
 Bathurst. 
 
 To George Augustus Selwyn, Esq., 
 at the Hon. Mr. Townshend's, in Kent. 
 
 Free.
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS. 187 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Bath, Friday morning. QNov. 4, 1751.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I DEFERRED thanking you for your last till I 
 got to this place, in hopes I could have found some- 
 thing more worth your reading than the common 
 contents of country letters. But except you was 
 an Irishman, and did, what few Irishmen do, love 
 to hear of your own country, I could send you 
 little entertainment from hence. 
 
 The first person I met on alighting from my 
 post-horse was Harry Norris who enquired kindly 
 after you, and invited me to dine with him and 
 your friend Bouldliy,* where there were many 
 others, all equally on the qui vive. Dick Lytteltonf 
 left this place on a summons from the Duchess, who 
 is here thought to be in danger. The Queensberry 
 family \ are here, but not the first in precedence, 
 
 * Probably Thomas Bouldby, Esq., of the county of Durham. 
 He married, June 20, 1754, Lady Mary Brudenell, daughter of 
 George third Earl of Cardigan, and widow of Richard Powis, 
 Esq., of Hintlesham in Suffolk. 
 
 t Sir Richard Lyttelton, K. B., fifth son of Sir Thomas 
 Lyttelton, Bart., and brother of George, first Lord Lyttelton. 
 He married Rachael, Duchess of Bridgewater, (widow of Scroop, 
 the first Duke, and daughter of Wriothesley, second Duke of 
 Bedford,) and died, without leaving issue, in 1770. 
 
 \ Charles, third Duke of Queensberry, and his celebrated 
 duchess, the *' Kitty " of Prior, and the patroness of Gay. See 
 ante, March 30, 1745.
 
 138 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 for the Duke and Duchess of Somerset* are the 
 principal persons in all public places. If you were 
 here, you would be much taken with Lady Joan 
 and Lord Oliver, who are actually pretty people. 
 They exj^ect soon to be reinforced with Lady Caro- 
 line Petersham, f but you know best how their 
 hopes are grounded. 
 
 We have been much amused with a story of 
 Montagu J and Taaffe : I think they make the 
 
 * Edward, ninth Duke of Somerset, and grandfather of the 
 present (twelfth) duke, died December 12, 1757. His duchess 
 here alluded to, was Mary, sole daughter and heir of Daniel 
 Webb, Esq., of Monkton-Farley, in Wiltshire. She died Febru- 
 ary 23, 1768. 
 
 + Lady Caroline Fitzroy, daughter of Charles second Duke 
 of Grafton, was born, April 8, 1723, and mai'ried, in August 
 1746, William, Viscount Petersham, afterwards second Earl of 
 Harrington. This lady, who subsequently grew to be so cele- 
 brated for the freedom of her manners and the laxity of her 
 morals, died in 1784. George Selwyn observing her one day 
 in conversation with her sister-in-law, Lady Euston, remarked, 
 " Look I there 's my Lady Euston and my lady us'd to 't I " 
 Walpole's Letters, vol. iii. p. 115. 
 
 ^ Edward Wortley Montagu, only son of the celebrated 
 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, whose eccentricities he inherited 
 without her genius. The story referred to in this letter may 
 be related in a few words. Mr. Montagu, in conjunction with 
 Lords Taaffe and Southwell, was accused of having invited one 
 Abi'aham Payba, alias James Roberts, a Jew, to dine with them 
 at Paris ; and having plied him with wine till he became intoxi- 
 cated, to have won from him at play the sum of eight hundred 
 louis d'ors. It was affirmed, that they subsequently called at 
 his house, and on his exhibiting an evident disinclination to 
 satisfy their demands, that they threatened, unless he instantly 
 paid them, that they would " cut him across the face with their
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 189 
 
 Bastile part of the interlude, but as you are on 
 the spot from whence this news is said to come, 
 you are the best judge of the truth of it. You 
 can't imagine how many excuses Richards has made 
 to me here, for not being laughed at according 
 to our appointment. I believe we may depend 
 on being diverted with him next year, to our hearts' 
 content. I could hear nothing of Harcourt, so I 
 suppose he is not at Bristol, but in Wales, where, 
 I fear, our first-rate will careen for another winter. 
 
 swords." Terrified by their violence, and, at the same time 
 unwilling to part with his gold, the Jew had finesse enough to 
 give them drafts on a Paris banker, by whom, as he had no 
 dealings with him, he well knew that his bills would be dis- 
 honoured ; and, consequently, to escape the vengeance of those 
 whom he had outwitted, he quitted Paris. On ascertaining how 
 completely they had been duped, Mr. Montagu, with his asso- 
 ciates, Lords Taaffe and Southwell, repaired to the house of 
 the Jew, and after ransacking his drawers and strong boxes, 
 are said to have possessed themselves of a very considerable 
 sum of money, in addition to diamonds, jewels, and other valuable 
 articles. The Jew had it now in his power to turn on his 
 persecutors, and accordingly, he appealed to the legislature for 
 redress. Lord Southwell contrived to effect his escape, but 
 Lord Taaffe and Mr. Montagu were arrested, and were kept 
 in separate dungeons in the Grand Chutelet for nearly three 
 months. The case was subsequently tried in a court of law, 
 and decided in favour of the accused ; the Jew being adjudged 
 to make reparation and defray the costs. Fi-om the justice of 
 this sentence he appealed to the hight court of la Tournelle 
 at Paris, who reversed the sentence. Lord Taaffe and Mr. Mon- 
 tagu afterwards appealed, in their turn, but of the definitive 
 result there is no record. — See Nichol's Literary Anecdotes, 
 vol. i. pp. 629 to 634, whoro there is a curious defence by Mr. 
 Montagu of his conduct.
 
 140 SIR WILLIAM MAYNARD 
 
 Don't laugh when I tell you Lady Frances heads 
 the quality table at Brag. On her right hand sits 
 Lord Wenman, * and on her left the dormant peer 
 from St. James's Coffee-house. To be thought well 
 with the great, I affected an intimacy with all of 
 them, to have an opportunity of being as much 
 among my friends as possible. 
 
 I have desired Lord R. Bertie to propose me 
 at White's. Don't let any member shake his head 
 at me for a wit, for G — d knows he may as well 
 reject me for being a giant. I set out to-morrow 
 for my brother's, in my way to town, but as I 
 shall call at some other places on the road, I 
 believe it will be Monday fortnight before T have 
 the pleasure of telling you how much I am 
 
 Yours, &c., &c. 
 
 SIR WILLIAM MAYNARD TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Walton, Nov. 5, 1751. 
 DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 The public papers informed me of your father's 
 being dangerously ill, which was confirmed to me 
 last post, in a letter from Mr. Lane. As you have 
 always convinced me of your love for your father, 
 (though I can't persuade the world you will be 
 sorry for his death,) I shall be glad to know, if 
 
 * Philip, sixth Viscount Wenman, in Ireland, was born Novem- 
 ber 23, 1719. He represented the city of Oxford in Parliament 
 from 1749 to 1754, in which latter year he was returned for the 
 county. He died August 16, 1760.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 141 
 
 you have one moment's leisure, how lie does, as 
 you are so nearly concerned in his doing well. As 
 we have lived so long together upon a footing of 
 strict intimacy, I shall not use the usual ceremony 
 upon these occasions, by endeavouring at a letter 
 of comfort or condolence, but talk to you in the 
 style of one who has always had your confidence. 
 I can't help thinking but it will be more for your 
 interest that your father should recover, as I don't 
 yet imagine you quite established in his good opinion, 
 and as you have so powerful an enemy at home, 
 backed by the insinuations of some other base worldly 
 people, w^ho, I make no scruple, would take the 
 bread given by the parent to the child, to answer 
 any end of their own. It certainly is not right, 
 and I am almost afraid it is wicked, to wish the 
 death of any one else ; I could, how^ever, wish the 
 fates had pitched upon another person, who will 
 not be so great a loss to you as the poor man in 
 question ; and if his life is but spared one twelve- 
 month, — that you may have an opportunity of con- 
 vincing him you are in earnest in your promises 
 of a more frugal way of life, — I think you need 
 not then fear what the world can do unto you. 
 I hope it is needless for me to repeat again, how 
 glad I shall be to see you here whenever it is 
 convenient for you. With wishing you all imagin- 
 able success in your affairs, I am, dear George, 
 Your very affectionate friend and servant, 
 
 Wm. JNIaynard.
 
 142 
 
 ALDERMAN HARRIS. 
 
 [Gabriel Harris, Alderman of Gloucester. In 
 the correspondence of subsequent years, the reader 
 will find him frequently mentioned with affection 
 by Selwyn and his friends.] 
 
 ALDERMAN HARRIS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Wednesday evening, Six o'clock. 
 SIR, 
 
 This waits upon you to acquaint you that 
 myself and another gentleman from Gloucester 
 came to town to-day, by appointment from the 
 Corporation, to consult with you concerning a repre- 
 sentative for our city in the room of your dear and 
 ever honoured father ; and hereby we beg leave 
 to know when we may have the pleasure of waiting 
 upon you on this occasion ; and as we have no 
 other business in town, a speedy answer will greatly 
 oblige. 
 
 Sir, your very obliged humble servant, 
 
 Gab. Harris. 
 
 To George Selwyn, Esq., 
 in Cleveland Court, London, 
 
 Endorsed by George Selwyn — " Message from the Corporation 
 of Gloucester, Nov. 14, 1751."
 
 148 
 
 MR. WILLIAM ROBINS. 
 
 [The Editor has been induced to insert the fol- 
 lowing- letter, because, from the delightful inflation 
 of style by which it is characterized, and also the 
 coincidence of name, it can scarcely be doubted 
 that the writer was a progenitor of a celebrated 
 public functionary of the present day.] 
 
 MR. WILLIAM ROBINS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Gloucester, Nov. 20, 1751. 
 SIR, 
 
 Please to permit me to express my affec- 
 tionate concern for the unfortunate event of the 
 death of your most worthy father, who filled every 
 station in his life with the highest honour, and 
 the greatest applause and veneration. Should I 
 attempt to enumerate his elevated virtues, and 
 constant succession of benevolent services, to all 
 so happy as to be known to him, they would swell 
 as much beyond the common bounds of a letter 
 as they exceed the ability of any one to imitate 
 but yourself, the bright and distinguishing de- 
 scendant of so noble and valuable an ancestor. 
 
 May indulgent heaven alleviate the acute af- 
 fliction of the disconsolate lady, your exceeding 
 good mother, and find some aljatemcnt of sorrow
 
 144 REV. KNIGHT BURROUGHS 
 
 by prudently animadverting on the state that is 
 inevitable on earth, and furnishing herself with 
 this grateful and pleasing reflection, that her late 
 worthy consort was enriched with virtues, and every 
 lovely and laudable disposition. A superior in 
 beneficence could not be found, and the most 
 aspiring after virtue fainted in attempts of equal 
 lustre to him in goodness. 
 
 Sir, if you can form any instances in my sphere 
 of moving, wherein I can be serviceable to you 
 and your family, I shall esteem it an honour to 
 receive your commands, and execute them with 
 punctual regard and the utmost pleasure. I am, 
 with the greatest respect and esteem, sir, 
 
 Your most obedient, humble servant, 
 
 William Robins. 
 
 THE REV. KNIGHT BURROUGHS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Sherfield, near Basingstoke, Hants, 24 Nov. 1751. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 After my compliments of condolence upon 
 account of the late alteration in your family, I 
 must beg leave to add, and I think I can do it 
 with a most sincere pleasure, my hearty congra- 
 tulations upon the present happy change in your 
 affairs ; a change that I flatter myself will be last- 
 ing, and such as will for ever enable you to sup- 
 port that rank and dignity in life which seems
 
 TO GEORGE SELW^'N. 145 
 
 justly due to a person of your merit and fortune. 
 It is true, sir, that your station has always been 
 greatly superior to mine, and is now much more 
 so; yet believe me, sir, notwithstanding the prac- 
 tice of the world is against me, I can truly say, 
 without flattery or view of interest, that I have 
 your welfare very much at heart, and shall always 
 sincerely rejoice at every event that may tend to 
 promote your happiness. After such a declara- 
 tion, the truth of which I am vain enough to be- 
 lieve is indisputable, permit me, sir, to make use 
 of the liberty of a friend, and to entreat your fa- 
 vourable acceptance of my advice, which, though 
 indiifereut, may yet have some little value. Not 
 that I would presume to instruct one that knows 
 things so much better than myself, but I would 
 only beg leave to caution you against indulging 
 yourself in one amusement, — I think I cannot give 
 it a softer name, — which you are sensible, by sad 
 experience, has cost you many an uneasy moment. 
 I need not explain myself any further, but will 
 only add, that when once that fatal passion is rooted 
 in the mind of any man, the Duke of Bedford's 
 fortune will not be sufficient to make him happy. 
 Let me, therefore, conjure you to take a noble 
 resolution, worthy a man of sense and honour, 
 worthy of yourself. Despise a tiling which can- 
 not now do you any good, and will only serve to 
 put you on a level with every needy scoundrel, 
 though he may happen to be stigmatized with a 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 REV. KNIGHT BURROUGHS. 
 
 title. Part with but that one failing, and believe 
 me, dear sir, you will soon become as happy and 
 as universally esteemed as any man in the world. 
 However, it is time for me to have done preach- 
 ing, lest I should grow quite dull ; I shall, there- 
 fore, only beg the favour of you to pardon what 
 I have said, and to consider it, as it really is, the 
 overflowing of a heart sincerely attached to your 
 interest. 
 
 And now, sir, with regard to myself, I shall be 
 very short. Things are a good deal mended, and 
 my father and I quite reconciled, so that when he 
 dies I shall be very happy, and not before ; for 
 though he has promised to leave me two thousand 
 pounds at his death, yet he is determined not to 
 part with any money whilst he lives. However, 
 I thank God I have settled my affairs to my sa- 
 tisfaction ; my creditors having consented to wait 
 for their money, upon condition of being paid their 
 interest, which I can very well afford to do ; so that 
 if I had one hundred j)ounds to furnish my house, 
 and pay a troublesome fellow at Oxford thirty 
 pounds, I should be enabled to sit down easy and 
 contented till the day of deliverance. I am willing 
 to give five per cent., which shall be punctually paid 
 once a-year in London, and to be at the expense 
 of insuring my life, if required ; and yet, believe 
 me, sir, I have hitherto tried all my friends Avith- 
 out success, so that I really don't know whether 
 I shall be able to continue at my living, merely 
 for the want of such a sum.
 
 BENJAMIN BATEIURST, ESQ. 147 
 
 When you have any time to spare, I shall be 
 glad to have the pleasure of hearing from you, and 
 in the mean time beg leave to assure you that I 
 am, dear sir, your faithful friend and very 
 Affectionate humble servant, 
 
 Knight Burroughs. 
 
 BENJAMIN BATHUR8T, ESQ. 
 
 Benjamin Bathurst, Esq., of Sydney in Glou- 
 cestershire, was the third son of Sir Benjamin 
 Bathurst, and brother of Allen first Lord Bathurst. 
 He represented the city of Gloucester during four 
 successive Parliaments in the reign of George the 
 Second, and was a member of the Royal Society. 
 Mr. Bathurst died November 5, 1767. 
 
 BENJAMIN BATHURST, ESQ., TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 December 15, 1751. 
 SIR, 
 
 I HAD the favour of yours, dated Nov. 28th, 
 which I should have answered sooner had I not 
 been from home, and did not receive it till yester- 
 day. The death of your father affected me very 
 much. I had a very sincere regard for him, on 
 account of his many amiable qualities, and shall 
 
 L 2
 
 148 THOMAS SCROPE, ESQ. 
 
 ever pay the greatest regard to his memory. There 
 is an account between him and me not settled, 
 in which I am debtor to him 98/. 8*., with interest, 
 which I will desire Mr. Prene to settle and adjust, 
 when you have leisure. I shall not be in town 
 before February, when I hope to have the pleasure 
 of seeing you, and of finding you in a disposition 
 to do honour to your friends and family. I have 
 ever had favourable expectations of you, and believe 
 I shall not be disappointed in them. The friend- 
 ship I had for your father will always incline me 
 to wish you well. I beg my best respects to Mrs. 
 Selwyn, and hope she will find that comfort in 
 you, as may, in a great measure, alleviate her pre- 
 sent sufferings. I am, with very sincere wishes for 
 your prosperity, 
 
 Your most faithful, humble servant, 
 
 B. Bathurst. 
 
 THOMAS SCROPE, ESQ., TO GEORGE SELWYN.* 
 
 Rome, 12 January, 1752. 
 DEAR SELWYN, 
 
 If I remember right, when I had the pleasure 
 of seeing you in London, not long before I left 
 England, you desired I would write to you, or at 
 least gave me to understand that you would take 
 the trouble of reading a letter from me, without 
 thinking me impertinent for taking up so much of 
 
 * See ante, July, 1748.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 149 
 
 your time. I don't imagine it will be much amuse- 
 ment to you to be told of my motions since I saw 
 you ; but it is very natural for us, who are upon our 
 travels, to imagine that the manner in which we 
 employ our time is of much more importance than 
 it really is, either to ourselves or our friends. 
 
 You must understand that I went directly to 
 Paris, where I spent two or three months neither 
 very agreeably nor very much to the contrary. By 
 what I could see of the French, in that short time, 
 they are a people that I very much dislike. They 
 have a vanity and self-sufficiency enough to destroy, 
 or make one overlook, much better qualities than 
 ever I could yet find in them ; and as to their good 
 breeding, (which, if you take from them, I don't 
 know what will remain,) I think we have much 
 more — I mean what is really so — in England ; but 
 I am writing to one who knows them much better 
 than myself. Their spectacles were very grand, and 
 their stage far surpasses ours ; but their plays, in 
 my opinion, fall as far short. 
 
 From Paris I went to Turin, stopping no longer 
 on the road than was necessary to see the most 
 remarkable places. At Turin I spent three weeks 
 very agreeably ; for during that time I was so lucky 
 as to meet with public rejoicings, as balls, concerts, 
 &:c., from the French ambassador, on account of 
 the birth of the Duke of Burgundy ; * and others 
 
 * Eldest son of the dauphin, and grandson of Louis the Fifth- 
 teenth. This interesting and promising child died at Versailles
 
 150 THOMAS SCROPE, ESQ., 
 
 from the Spanish' ambassadoi-, for what reason I 
 have forgot. I was much pleased Avith the Court 
 of Turin, and surprised at the affability with which 
 the King of Sardinia received us on our being 
 presented. He is the most insignificant looking 
 fellow I ever saw, and more like the late Lord 
 Rockingham* than anybody I can now think of; 
 but he has so much good-nature, and such obliging 
 manners, that one is soon reconciled to his ap- 
 pearance. The Prince of Carignan, first Prince 
 of the Blood, is possessed of a revenue of — seven 
 thousand a year ! Lady Rochford f is exceedingly 
 tired of Turin, as she says she very much dislikes 
 the people, but I rather think the people dislike 
 her. She has for her Cicisbeo an ensign of the 
 Guards, who's pay and income may amount to 
 about half-a-crown a day. 
 
 I left Turin, and went through ISIilan, and all the 
 
 March 23, 1761, at the age of nine years. A short time befoi-e 
 he died, his mother remarked to him, that the spring was fast 
 advancing, and that she should then be able to take him an air- 
 ing. " Yes," he said with a smile, " but it will be to St. Denis." 
 It is needless to remark^ that St. Denis was then the burial-place 
 of the royal family of France. 
 
 * Thomas Wentworth, first Marquis of Rockingham, died 
 December 14, 1750. 
 
 \ Lucy, daughter of Edward Young, Esq., of Dunford, in 
 Wiltshire, and wife of William Henry, fourth Earl of Rochford, 
 who at this period was envoy extraordinary at the court of 
 Turin. She died January 9, 1773, and was buried in the church 
 of St. Osyth, Essex, where, agreeably to the will of her husband, 
 a handsome monument was erected to her memory.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 151 
 
 remarkable towns, to Home ; in which journey, as 
 usual, I saw numbers of fine pictures, statues, and 
 palaces ; not to mention prodigious rich and fertile 
 countries, with most wretched and miserably poor 
 inhabitants. I do assure you, without any compli- 
 ment, I have often wished for you since I left 
 England. I have been about a fortnight at Rome, 
 where I believe I shall continue three months longer. 
 The English here at present, that you are likely to 
 know, are Lord Tilney,* and Lord Charlemont,f 
 Lord Dowiie's brother Mr. Dawney,:!: and our old 
 friend ]Mr. Long, who joined with you and I in 
 that modest request to Mr. Ambler to leave his 
 lodgings at Richmond, because we found them 
 convenient for us. Lord Stormont ^ is, perhaps, 
 now at Rome, for he is expected every day ; and 
 Lord Bruce, 1 1 who is now at Venice, is expected 
 
 * John Child Tylney, second Earl Tylney in Ireland. He 
 was member of Parliament for Malmesbury, Ranger and Keeper 
 of Epping Forest, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. 
 
 -f- James, first Earl of Charlemont, President of the Royal 
 Irish Academy, and Commander-in-chief of the Volunteers of 
 Ireland, He died August 4th, 1799, in his seventy-second year. 
 
 -^ The Hon. John Dawney, second son of Henry Viscount 
 Downs. In December 1760 he succeeded, by the death of his 
 brother, as fourth Viscount Downe, and died December 21, 1780. 
 
 8 David, seventh Viscount Stormont, succeeded, on the death 
 of his uncle, the celebrated Lord Mansfield, as second Earl of 
 Mansfield. He afterwards attained to considerable celebrity as a 
 diplomatist and statesman, and died President of the Council, in 
 September, 1 796. 
 
 II Thomas Brudenell Baron Bruce, created, in 1776, Earl of 
 Ailesbury. The Earl died April 19, 1814..
 
 152 THOMAS SCROPE, ESQ. 
 
 before the end of the carnival. I wish to God 
 you could make one with us this spring at Rome 
 or Naples. 
 
 Now I have tried your patience with an account 
 of myself, I must be so unreasonable as to desire 
 you would write to me very soon, and give me an 
 account of what is going forward in England, either 
 public or what relates to our friends ; for news of 
 all sorts from England, at this distance, is amusing, 
 and I am sure must be so when it comes from 
 one that knows so well what would be worth com- 
 municating, and what not. 
 
 A propos, I shall be much obliged to you to talk 
 to our friend in Ayres Street, about the business 
 we mentioned to him. I should be glad to know 
 if he has done anything for me, or is likely to 
 assist me. But, however, as you know the point 
 I have in view, you may perhaps yourself assist me 
 in the means of attaining it. It is, of all the 
 schemes I ever had, the most favourite ; and per- 
 haps you will now think, and I afterwards find it, 
 the most foolish one. However, be that as it will, 
 I shall always be obliged to you for any assistance 
 you can give me, and I don't in the least doubt 
 your inclinations. 
 
 Pray remember me to Sir William Maynard, 
 whom I wish much happiness, and to any of my 
 friends that are so obliging as to enquire after me ; 
 and I beg you will make my compliments to Lord
 
 ALDERMAN UARRIS. 153 
 
 JMoiison,* jNIr. Watson, and George ]Monson,f when- 
 ever you see them. Adieu ! Pray excuse me for 
 tiring you so long, and write soon. I wish I coukl 
 say, with any hope of success, come soon ; which, 
 I assure you, would be a very sensible pleasure to. 
 
 Dear sir, your most affectionate friend, and very 
 humble servant, Thomas Scrope. 
 
 P.S. Direct to me, under cover, to JNIr. Selwyn, 
 banquier, at Paris. 
 
 ALDERMAN HARRIS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Gloucester, 15th January, 1752. 
 SIR, 
 
 At the request of INIr. INIayor, whose extra- 
 ordinary hurry of business will not afford him leisure 
 to write himself, I am desired to acquaint you, 
 that by the Gloucester waggon, this week, is sent 
 the usual present of a lamj^rey-pie from this Cor- 
 poration to his Royal Highness the Prince of 
 Wales. It is directed to you, and I am further 
 to request the favour of you to have the same pre- 
 sented, with the compliments of this body, as your 
 late worthy father used to do. 
 
 Sir, your most obedient humble servant. 
 
 Gab. Harris. 
 
 * John, second Baron Monson, born in 1727, and died July 
 20, 1774. 
 
 f Brother of the above-mentioned Lord Monson. He subse- 
 quently distinguished himself in the military profession, and died a 
 brigadier-general in 1777. See post, 11th January, 1765.
 
 154 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 P.S. The waggoner's inn is the King's Head in 
 the Old Change. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. , 
 
 Farmington, 1st November, 1752. 
 You have made those precious moments, the 
 arrival of the post in the country, much more 
 agreeable to me, by your kind and constant supply 
 of intelligence. Yours found me where you in- 
 tended it should. We came here yesterday to 
 dinner. The earl and his sposa follow on Thurs- 
 day, and, lest the little viscount should have too 
 much jumbling, rest Friday and Saturday ; so that, 
 instead of being in London on Sunday, it will pro- 
 bably be Tuesday at dinner before we reach the 
 metropolis. This I don't regret, as the weather is 
 extremely fine, and while it lasts will make me 
 prefer this place to any other, even to Tylney 
 Street, though it has all the charms of novelty 
 to recommend it. 
 
 I often, in the INIatson road, wish for you and 
 that Leviathan which is at present confined in 
 Wales : I fancy both of you would make this week 
 go off better. I have just heard fi-om him. He 
 forgives you, I will not say with all his heart, but 
 with all his flesh. What in the name of adultery 
 did you do so long in Grosvenor Street ? If this 
 story were told in Oxfordshire, the head of a noble 
 family there would fancy his horns as near sprout-
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 155 
 
 ing as honest Humphrey has done his these many 
 years. 
 
 I think with infinite regret of Dodsley, whom 
 the light nights used generally to reconvey to lewd- 
 ness and Lethe. Are the Naylors come ? But 
 you have left the house, which I think a little 
 ungrateful, considering they so often excused your 
 inebriated midnight visits. I intend to lay the 
 badness of my writing on the cold, for I am just 
 come off my horse, and a fresh frosty morning has 
 so numbed my fingers, that they won't suffer me 
 to say more, than I am yours, &c. 
 
 P.S. The way I intend to take, to prevent your 
 laughing at the equipage, is to make you laugh 
 in it. You shall go, for the first time, along with 
 me, and a merrier couple, I believe, we shan't meet 
 with. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN 
 
 Crome,* Thursday morning. 
 I THINK the least I can do is to return, my dear 
 George, letter for letter, though the tranquillity 
 and want of events in this place won't let me 
 pay you in kind. Pray don't tell my lady we 
 write to each other every post, for you know what 
 she '11 call us, and think we are settled in Lumley's 
 neighbourhood, for the more convenient carrying 
 on that contraband trade. 
 
 * Lord Coventry's seat in Worcestershire.
 
 156 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 You have repeated in yours all we heard of 
 Gwillim, except that he kissed and scrambled 
 every woman he met, by which I can't say he 
 proved himself very like your honour, who, I think, 
 rests content with the annual Egyptian. Fat-hack^ 
 alias Stick-i7i-tJie-7nud, you know, is never angry. 
 Though he laughed much, yet he fancied he should 
 have laughed more if you had kept your word with 
 him. He went off, convinced you was detained 
 by the brewers of small beer at Gloucester, whom 
 you are to have the honour of representing next 
 Parliament. 
 
 Our life here, for a little while, would not dis- 
 please you, for we eat and drink well, and the 
 Earl [of Coventry] holds a pharaoh-bank every 
 night to us, which we have as yet plundered con- 
 siderably. You would smile at old Sandys,* who 
 punts like Sir Robert Hildyard, nor would the 
 Captain much displease you, while he is study- 
 ing a pretty attitude for the Countess.f Sunday 
 se'night will, I believe, be the day of our taking 
 possession of our new hotel. I hate Sir William 
 M{a^nard) worse than ever for taking you away. 
 The reason of your journey is plain to me. You 
 
 * Samuel, first Baron Sandys ; appointed Cliancellor of the 
 Excliequer in 1741 ; Speaker of the House of Lords in 1756; 
 and first Lord of Trade and Plantations in 1761. SmoUet styles 
 him " the motion-maker," and he is well known as an active op- 
 ponent of Sir Robert Walpole. He died April 21, 1770. 
 
 f Maria Gunning, the famous and beautiful Countess of Co- 
 ventry,
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 157 
 
 want to see whetlier his child lias that symmetry 
 and proportion which Albert Durer allows to the 
 human body, or whetlier it resembles its father. 
 You will do our house honour by your inspection. 
 When we are in it, I '11 defy you to produce any 
 one more willing to meet you there than 
 
 Yours, &c., <SiC. 
 
 Endorsed, " Williams, Oct. 28, 1752." 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Crome, Monday morning. [1756.] 
 DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I CAME here but a few days ago, after having 
 made a tour to the camps. I want to know where 
 to find you, and how long you stay at your man- 
 sion-house, for it would not be pleasant to ride 
 so far, only to see squinting Jenny and the gar- 
 dener at the end of my journey. I think your 
 month is up already, and then I am sure you 
 will be impatient to quit your house and all the 
 old midwives you have crammed into it. 
 
 If your Trentham expedition holds, I su]iposc 
 we shall see you here, where you will find the 
 Countess in high spirits and great beauty. You 
 may write to your friends that our London journey 
 will be very early this year to meet our sister 
 Grace * from Scotland, and that the loss of one 
 
 * Elizabeth Gunning, the beautiful Duchess of Hamilton and 
 Argyll, sister to Lady Coventry. See post.
 
 158 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 child will in a few months be repaired, God willing, 
 with the birth of another. 
 
 Old Sandys and his father are just come into 
 the house to discuss whether the King of Prussia's 
 entering Poland will be advantageous to us, so I 
 must say God bless you, and adieu ! 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Saturday morning, [circ. 1757]. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 You know my curiosity too well not to be 
 sensible of the obligations I have to you for so 
 amply remembering your friends in the country, 
 and so largely contributing to the contents of 
 each mail. Our family is much decreased since 
 you left us. The Buck and his wife, and JNIiss 
 Rush out went yesterday, and we are reduced to 
 Miss Wylde, who has a most charming vis-d-ms, 
 Mr. Ward, who sings like a nightingale, and has 
 charmed her in every respect, though she thinks 
 there is too much of the treble in his voice. You 
 may easily imagine that mirth might be composed 
 from these materials. She attacks him in every 
 dress, from the Scotch bonnet to the flounced 
 stomacher. I wish you was here to promote an 
 union of bodies. She has received no answer as 
 yet to her mad letter, for possibly it might have 
 been directed to her in Moorfields.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 150 
 
 Powerscourt * made us all laugh this morning 
 at Ijreakfast till we cried. You can draw none 
 but striking features, such as Lovat, Mrs. Willis, 
 &;c. The countess, when it was first opened, 
 thought it Avas intended to represent your land- 
 lord at Quarley, and was preparing to trace 
 the features in the early dawn of the little infant, 
 who sits with its golden locks on her left hand 
 at the tea-table ; and as she does not know how 
 she came into the world, is very much surprised 
 at the whimsical reception she meets with from 
 the grey-beards of it. I have a story to tell you 
 of the other child which will explain the whole 
 legend of the nursery, and greatly surprise you. 
 
 I see by the Bath papers. Lord Chesterfield f is 
 there, though possibly you may know more of 
 him than I do, by having met with him and my 
 uncle in your walks. Lord Coventry and I set 
 out next Wednesday sen'night, and dine in town 
 on the 4th, where I hope to meet you. In the 
 mean time, let me hear from you as often as 
 you have leisure to remember 
 
 Yours, &c., &c. 
 
 * Edward, second Viscount Powerscourt, died, unmarried. 
 
 May 6, I7G4. 
 
 f The celebrated Lord Chesterfield was, in consequence of ill 
 
 health, a frequent visitor at Bath.
 
 160 
 
 LADY TOWNSHEND. 
 
 Audrey, or, as she chose to style herself, Ethel- 
 reda Harrison, so celebrated for her gallantries, 
 her eccentricities, and wit, was the daughter and 
 sole heiress of Edward Harrison, Esq., of Balls, in 
 Hertfordshire, formerly Governor of Fort St. George 
 in the East Indies. In May 1723 she became 
 the wife of Charles third Viscount Townshend, 
 by whom she became the mother of the first and 
 celebrated Marquis Townshend, and of his still 
 more celebrated brother, Charles Townshend. Of 
 her wit the following may be taken as specimens. 
 Speaking of the two well-known Sir Thomas Ro- 
 binsons, of whom the one was tall and thin, the 
 other short and fat, " I can't imagine," she said, 
 " why the one should be preferred to the other ; 
 I see but little difference between them ; the 
 one is as broad as the other is longT* Again, 
 when speaking of the Methodists, some one in- 
 quiring of her, "Pray, madam, is it true that White- 
 field has recanted f'' "No, sir," was the reply; 
 " he has only cantedr Lady Townshend, who in 
 
 * It was on the tall Sir Thomas Robinson that Lord Chester- 
 field composed the following couplet, on the former soliciting his 
 lordship to honour him with some poetical notice : — 
 
 Unlike my subject will I frame my song ; 
 It shall be witty, and it sha'n't be long.
 
 LADY TOWNSHEND. 161 
 
 her youth had been distinguished by personal 
 beauty, died on the 5th of March, 1788. She 
 was the supposed original of Lady Bellaston in 
 " Tom Jones," and of Lady Tempest in " Pompey 
 the Little." 
 
 LADY TOWNSHEND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 The Duchess of Hamilton complained to Lady 
 Townshend yesterday morning, that Mr. Selwyn 
 and INIr. Williams promised to send her a constant 
 account of Lady Coventry, but that they had never 
 wrote to her one line. Lady Townshend takes 
 the liberty to acquaint Mr. Selwyn of this, that 
 he may apply it as he thinks proper. 
 
 Whitehall, 9 February, 1760. 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 1G2 
 
 MARIA GUNNING, 
 
 COUNTESS OF COVENTRY. 
 
 The letter wliicli follows the present memoir 
 contains an interesting account of the last illness 
 of the beautiful and celebrated Lady Coventry. 
 The frequent occurrence of her name in these 
 pages, as well as that of her no less beautiful 
 sister, the Duchess of Hamilton and Argyll, may 
 render a brief account of them not unacceptable 
 to the reader. George Selwyn, it may be re- 
 marked, ajipears to have no less admired the beauty 
 of Lady Coventry when alive, than he retained a 
 regard for her memory when dead. After her 
 decease, the interest which he had taken in the 
 mother he transferred to her infant daughter, Lady 
 Anne Coventry, then in her fourth year ; and in 
 the subsequent corresj^ondence will be found many 
 pleasing proofs of the anxiety with which he 
 watched over the welfare of the offspring of his 
 deceased friend, and of the parental and almost 
 romantic affection with which he regarded the in- 
 teresting child. 
 
 Maria and Elizabeth Gunning (" those goddesses 
 the Gunnings," as Mrs. Montagu styles them in 
 one of her letters,) were the daughters of John 
 Gunning, Esq., of Castle Coote in Ireland, by 
 Bridget, daughter of Theobald Bourke, sixth Vis-
 
 COUNTESS OF COVENTRY. 163 
 
 count INIayo. JNIaria, the eldest sister, appears to 
 have been born in 1733; the younger sister in 
 1 734 ; consequently, at their first appearance at 
 court, in 1751, the one must have been in her 
 nineteenth, the other in her eighteenth year. 
 
 The surpassing loveliness of the Gunnings has 
 almost become matter of history ; nor perhaps is 
 there any instance of mere beauty having excited 
 so extraordinary a sensation as that produced by 
 the appearance in the fashionable circles of London 
 of these two portionless Irish girls. Horace Wal- 
 pole writes to Sir Horace Mann, on the 18th of 
 June 1751, — " You, who knew England in other 
 times, will find it difficult to conceive what in- 
 difference reigns with regard to ministers and their 
 squabbles. The two JVIiss Gunnings are twenty 
 times more the subject of conversation than the 
 two brothers and Lord Granville.* These are two 
 Irish girls, of no fortune, who are declared the 
 handsomest women alive. I think their being 
 two so handsome, and both such perfect figures, 
 is their chief excellence, for, singly, I have seen 
 much handsomer women than either ; however, 
 they can't walk in the Park, or go to Vaux- 
 hall, but such crowds follow them, that they are 
 generally driven away." 
 
 * The Duke of Newcastle and Henry Pelham. Lord Gran- 
 ville had recently been appointed President of the Council, much 
 against the wish of the latter ; but, agreeably with the King's ex- 
 press desire that he should be admitted into the administration. 
 — Pelham Administration, vol. ii. p. 1 UO. 
 
 M 2
 
 164 MARIA GUNNING, 
 
 Walpole writes to the same correspondent on 
 the 31st of August following, — " As you talk of 
 our beauties, I shall tell you a new story of the 
 Gunnings, who make more noise than any of their 
 predecessors since the days of Helen, though neither 
 of them, nor anything about them, has yet been 
 teterrima belli causa. They went the other day 
 to see Hampton Court ; as they were going into 
 the Beauty-room, another company arrived ; the 
 housekeeper said, ' This way, ladies, here are the 
 beauties.' The Gunnings flew into a passion, and 
 asked her what she meant ; they came to see the 
 palace, not to be shown as a sight themselves." 
 
 The first of the fair sisters whose beauty obtain- 
 ed her a husband was the youngest, Elizabeth, who, 
 on the 14th of February, 1752, became the wife of 
 James Duke of Hamilton.* Horace Walpole, to 
 whom we are almost entirely indebted for our 
 notices of " the Gunnings," thus announces the 
 circumstance to Sir Horace Mann : " The event 
 that has made most noise since my last, is the 
 extempore wedding of the youngest of the two 
 Gunnings, who have made so vehement a noise. 
 Lord Coventry, a grave young lord, of the remains 
 of the patriot breed, has long dangled after the 
 eldest, virtuously, with regard to her honour, not 
 very honourably with regard to his own credit. 
 
 * James sixth Duke of Hamilton, and third Duke of Brandon : 
 born 10th July, 1724 ; died 17th January, 1758.
 
 COUNTESS OF COVENTRY. 165 
 
 About six weeks ago, Duke Hamilton, the very- 
 reverse of the Earl, hot, debauched, extravagant, 
 and equally damaged in his fortune and person, 
 fell in love with the youngest at the masquerade, 
 and determined to rnarry her in the spring. About 
 a fortnight since, at an immense assembly at my 
 Lord Chesterfield's, made to show the house, which 
 is really most magnificent, Duke Hamilton made 
 violent love at one end of the room, while he was 
 playing at pharaoh at the other end ; that is, he 
 saw neither the bank nor his own cards, which 
 were of three hundred pounds each : he soon lost 
 a thousand. I own I was so little a professor in 
 love, that I thought all this parade looked ill for 
 the poor girl : and could not conceive, if he was 
 so much engaged with his mistress as to disregard 
 such sums, why he played at all. However, two 
 nights afterwards, being left alone with her, while 
 her mother and sister were at Bedford House, 
 he found himself so impatient, that he sent for 
 a parson. The doctor refused to perform the cere- 
 mony without licence or ring : the Duke swore he 
 would send for the Archbishop : at last they were 
 married with a ring of the bed-curtain, at half-an- 
 hour after twelve at night, at Mayfair Chapel. The 
 Scotch are enraged ; the women mad that so much 
 beauty has had its effect ; and, what is more silly, 
 my Lord Coventry declares that now he will marry 
 the other." In less than three weeks Maria Gun-
 
 166 MARIA GUNNING, 
 
 ning followed lier sister to the altar. Her choice, 
 it is needless to add, fell on Lord Coventry,* to 
 whom she was married on the 5th of March, 1752. 
 The present Earl is the grandson of this nobleman 
 and his beautiful Countess. 
 
 Universal as had been the interest and curiosity 
 excited by the exceeding beauty of the fair sisters, 
 the feeling was considerably increased by the 
 splendid alliances which they so suddenly formed. 
 "The world," writes Walpole, "is still mad about 
 the Gunnings : the Duchess of Hamilton was pre- 
 sented on Friday ; the crowd was so great that 
 even the noble crowd in the drawing-room clam- 
 bered upon chairs and tables to look at her. There 
 are mobs at their doors to see them get into their 
 chairs ; and people go early to get places at the 
 theatres when it is known they will be there. Dr. 
 Sacheverel never made more noise than these two 
 beauties." Again, adds Walpole a few weeks after- 
 wards, "The Gunnings are gone to their several 
 castles, and one hears no more of them, except 
 that such crowds flock to see the Duchess of Hamil- 
 ton pass, that seven hundred people sat up all night, 
 in and about an inn in Yorkshire, to see her get 
 into her post-chaise next morning." 
 
 About four months after her marriage, we find 
 
 * George William, sixth Earl of Coventry, Lord Lieutenant of 
 the County of Worcester, and successively Lord of the Bed- 
 chamber to George the First and George the Second. He died 
 in 1809, at the age of eighty-seven.
 
 COUNTESS OF COVENTRY. 167 
 
 Lady Coventry paying a visit to the French capital. 
 Horace Walpole, to whose gossiping chronicles we 
 have been so much indebted, records some amusing 
 particulars relating to the journey. " Our beau- 
 ties," he writes to Sir Horace Mann, "are travel- 
 ling Paris-ward. Lady Caroline Petersham and 
 Lady Coventry are just gone thither. It will 
 scarce be possible for the latter to make as much 
 noise there as she and her sister have made in 
 England. It is literally true, that a shoemaker at 
 Worcester got two guineas and a half by showing 
 a shoe that he was making for the Countess, at 
 a penny a-head. I can't say her genius is equal 
 to her beauty : she every day says some new 
 sproposito. She has taken a turn of vast fondness 
 for her lord : Lord Downe met them at Calais, 
 and offered her a tent-bed, for fear of bugs in the 
 inns, ' Oh ! ' said she, ' I had rather be bit to death 
 than lie one night from my dear Cov. ! ' " 
 
 If Lady Coventry anticipated, in the gay circles 
 of Paris, the same triumph which her beauty had 
 obtained for her in the fashionable society of Lon- 
 don, she was destined to be signally disappointed. 
 " Our beauties," writes Walpole, " are returned. 
 The French would not conceive that Lady Caro- 
 line Petersham ever had been handsome, nor that 
 my Lady Coventry has much pretence to be so 
 now. Indeed all the travelled English allow that 
 there is a Madame do lirionni; handsomer, and 
 a finer figure. Poor Lady Coventry was under
 
 168 MARIA GUNNING, 
 
 piteous disadvantages ; for, besides being very silly, 
 ignorant of the world, breeding, speaking no French, 
 and suffered to wear neither red nor powder, she 
 had that perpetual drawback upon her beauty, her 
 lord, who is sillier in a wise way, as ignorant, ill- 
 bred, and speaking very little French himself — -just 
 enough to show how ill-bred he is. The Duke de 
 Luxemburg told him he had called up my Lady 
 Coventry's coach ; my lord replied, Vous avez fort 
 bienfait. He is jealous, prude, and scrupulous. At 
 a dinner at Sir John Bland's, before sixteen persons, 
 he coursed his wife round the table, on suspecting 
 she had stolen on a little red, seized her, scrubbed 
 it off by force with a napkin, and then told her, 
 that since she had deceived him and broke her 
 promise, he would carry her back directly to Eng- 
 land. They were pressed to stay for the great fete 
 at St. Cloud ; he excused himself, because it would 
 make him miss a music-meeting at Worcester ! and 
 she excused herself from the fire-works at Madame 
 Pompadour's, because it was her dancing master's 
 hour ! I will tell you but one more anecdote, and 
 I think you cannot be imperfect in your ideas of 
 them. The Marechale de Lowendahl was pleased 
 with an English fan Lady Coventry had, who very 
 civilly gave it her : my lord made her write for 
 it again the next morning, ' because he had given 
 it her before marriage, and her parting with it 
 would make an irreparable breach,' and send an 
 old one in the room of it ! She comi)lains to every
 
 COUNTESS OF COVENTRY. 1G9 
 
 body she meets, how odd it is that my lord shoukl 
 use her so ill, when she knows he has so great a 
 regard that he Mould die for her, and when he was 
 so good as to marry her without a shilling ! " 
 
 That Lady Coventry was naturally a weak-minded 
 person, — or rather that she wanted that tact and 
 discernment, of which probably a longer communion 
 with the world would have made her the mistress 
 — there is every reason to believe. George the 
 Second, at the close of bis long life, was conversing 
 with her on the dulness of the town, and regreting, 
 for her sake, that there had been no masquerades 
 during the year : " As for sights," said the inconsi- 
 derate beauty, " she was quite satisfied with them ; 
 there was only one which she was eager to see, and 
 that was a Coronation ! " The train of reflection 
 which this speech must have occasioned, could 
 scarcely have been pleasing to an old man : George 
 the Second, however, is said to have been highly 
 diverted with the awkward blunder, and, at sup- 
 per, repeated it with great good-humour to his 
 family. 
 
 If Lady Coventry, however, was a simpleton, 
 she was at least a good-natured one. Horace 
 Walpolc writes to George Montagu, 20th April, 
 175G, " At a great supper t'other night at Lord 
 Hertford's, if Lady Coventry was not the best- 
 humoured creature in the world, T should have 
 made her angry. She said, in a very vulgar ac- 
 cent, if she drank any more she should be muck-
 
 170 MARIA GUNNING, 
 
 ilms ! ' Lord,' said Lady Mary Coke, ' what is 
 that?' — 'Oh!' I said, Mt is only Irish for sen- 
 timental.' " 
 
 Lady Coventry lived only a fevr years to enjoy 
 the triumph of her charms. Walpole writes to 
 Sir Horace Mann on the 5th of October 1760, 
 " The charming Countess is dead at last ; and, 
 as if the whole history of both sisters was to be 
 extraordinary, the Duchess of Hamilton is in a 
 consumption too, and going abroad directly. Per- 
 haps you may see the remains of these prodi- 
 gies;* you will see but little remains: her features 
 were never so beautiful as Lady Coventry's, and 
 she has long been changed, though not yet, I think, 
 above six-and-twenty. The other was but twenty- 
 seven." Lady Coventry died on the 1st of Octo- 
 ber, 17G0. The quantity of j^aint which she laid 
 on her face, is said, by checking the perspiration, 
 to have been the immediate cause of the disorder 
 which occasioned her death. 
 
 A poem was composed by Mason on the death 
 of Lady Coventry, which, had the poet confined 
 himself to the train of reflection naturally sug- 
 gested by the untimely death of a young and 
 beautiful woman, would perhaps have been re- 
 garded as the best elegy in our language. Not- 
 withstanding, however, that Mason has marred the 
 
 * Sir Horace Mann was at this period the English minister at 
 Florence, whither it was probable that the Duchess of Hamil- 
 ton might proceed. 
 
 1
 
 COUNTESS OF COVENTRY. 171 
 
 general effect of his poem by the introduction of 
 much irrelevant matter, and a tedious straininsf 
 after effect, there are lines, which have immediate 
 reference to Lady Coventry, that possess the 
 hiofhest merit : — 
 
 o 
 
 Yes I Coventry is dead. Attend the strain, 
 
 Daughters of Albion ! ye that, light as air. 
 So oft have tripp'd in her fantastic train. 
 
 With hearts as gay, and faces half as fair. 
 For she was fair beyond your brighest bloom ; 
 
 (This Envy owns, since now her bloom is Urd ;) 
 Fair as the forms that, wove in Fancy's loom, 
 
 Float in light vision round the poet's head. 
 Whene'er with soft serenity she smiled. 
 
 Or caught the orient blush of quick surprise. 
 How sweetly mutable, how brightly wild 
 
 The liquid lustre darted from her eyes I 
 Each look, each motion waked a new-born grace, 
 
 That o'er her form a transient glory cast ; 
 Some lovelier wonder soon usurp'd the place, 
 
 Chased by a charm still lovelier than the last. 
 That bell again ! It tells us what she is I 
 
 On what she was no more the strain prolong ; 
 Luxuriant fancy, pause : an hour like this 
 
 Demands the tribute of a serious song. 
 Maria claims it from that sable bier, 
 
 Wliere, cold and wan, the slumberer rests her head ; 
 In still small whispers to reflection's ear. 
 
 She breathes the solemn dictates of the dead. 
 
 If happiness consists in titles, and an extended 
 existence, the Duchess of Hamilton was more 
 favoured than her elder sister. Her married life, 
 however, was perhaps not a liap])y one. " Her 
 history," writes Wal]>ole, " is not unentertaining :
 
 172 MARIA GUNNING. 
 
 Duke Hamilton is the abstract of Scotch pride ; 
 he and the duchess, at their own house, walk in 
 to dinner before their company ; sit together at 
 the upper end of their own table ; eat off the 
 same plate ; and drink to nobody beneath the 
 rank of earl. Would not one wonder how they 
 could get anybody, either above or below that 
 rank, to dine with them at all? I don't know 
 whether you will not think all these very tri- 
 fling histories; but, for myself, I love anything 
 that marks a character strongly."* 
 
 On the 17th of January, 1758, the Duchess 
 was deprived of her husband by death, and on 
 the 3rd of March, the following year, became 
 the wife of Colonel John Campbell, afterwards 
 Duke of Argyll,! thus uniting the two great 
 houses of Hamilton and Campbell. On the 20tli 
 of May, 1776, in the life-time of her second hus- 
 band, she was created Baroness Hamilton, of Ham- 
 bledon in Leicestershire, in her own right. The 
 Duchess was also one of the Ladies of the Bed- 
 chamber to Queen Charlotte, whom she accompa- 
 nied to England from Mecklenburgh-Strelitz, pre- 
 vious to her marriage with George the Third. 
 
 Considering that personal beauty was the sole 
 dowry of the Duchess of Hamilton and Argyll, 
 
 * Walpole's Letters, vol. ii. p. 449. 
 
 t John, ninth Earl and fifth Duke of Argyll, Colonel of the 
 first regiment of foot- guards, and a field-marshal in the army. 
 He died May 24, 1806, in his eighty- seventh year.
 
 DR. I. WALL. 173 
 
 it is remarkable that the untitled daughter of an 
 Irish gentleman should have been the wife of 
 tM'o dukes, and the mother of four. By her 
 first husband she was the mother of James- 
 George, seventh duke, and of Douglas, eighth 
 Duke of Hamilton ; and, by her second husband, 
 of George- William, sixth duke, and of John- 
 Douglas-Edward-Henry, seventh and present Duke 
 of Argyll. Lady Charlotte Bury, — rnatre pulchrd 
 Jilia imlclirior, — is another surviving child of the 
 beautiful Duchess of Hamilton and Argyll. The 
 death of the Duchess took place on the 20th 
 of December, 1790. 
 
 DR. I. WALL TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Croome, August 8, 1760. 
 SIR, 
 
 I HAVE spent almost all my time at this place 
 since my lord went to London, and, indeed. Lady 
 Coventry has been so extremely ill, so much worse 
 than when you saw her last, that she wanted all 
 the attendance I could give her. For two or three 
 days, the oppression on her breast, and the sickness 
 at her stomach were excessive, but these were at 
 last happily removed by some medicines, which, 
 indeed, operated a little roughly, but it Mas a 
 necessary severity, for she could not have lived 
 without it. She has now for tAVO or three days 
 com])luiiied of a pain in her side and across the
 
 174 DR. I. WALL. 
 
 breast, which I look upon to be muscular, and a 
 sort of spasmodic rheumatism. Excuse me for 
 using terms of art, but I don't know how to express 
 myself without them. Her pulse, notwithstanding 
 this, has, for three days last past, been very remark- 
 ably slower; her feverish heats less than usual. 
 She is extremely weak. Yesterday morning a 
 letter came from the Duchess of Hamilton, directed 
 for Lord Coventry. She knew the hand, and un- 
 luckily opened it. 
 
 Hinc illae lachrymse ! 
 
 The duchess had too plainly explained her sen- 
 timents of Lady Coventry's condition ; had lamented 
 her as a sister whom she should never see ; had 
 entirely given her up, ex])ressing her concern as 
 for one already in the grave. 
 
 You, who know how apt Lady Coventry is to 
 be affected, may easily conceive the anguish which 
 such a letter would occasion. Indeed, it did almost 
 kill her. I was called to her, and found her almost 
 fainting and dying away. However, she soon after 
 recovered, and I took my leave ; but after I was 
 gone the same scene was several times renewed. 
 Her attendants thought her expiring. In their 
 hurry, they despatched an express to my lord, who 
 I suppose will, in consequence of that, be here 
 this evening. However, she has had a very good 
 night, and is tolerably well this morning. I make 
 no excuse for being so minute, because I believed
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS. 175 
 
 it would be most agreeable to you that I should 
 be so. 
 
 I am very sorry to find that your Malvern waters 
 have not as yet reached you. I enquired of JMr. 
 Davis, before you left Croome, if they were sent, 
 and he assured me they were. The person they 
 were sent by was Bartlet ; I have again sent to 
 Davis about it. ]\Iy best compliments wait upon 
 Mr. Williams. 
 
 I am, sir, your most obliged humble servant, 
 
 I. Wall. 
 
 GILLY WILLIA]MS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Tunbridge Wells, July 18. [1762.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I FIND this place so very entertaining, that I 
 shall stay here near a week longer than I at first 
 intended ; and if you find London uninhabited, as 
 I suppose by this time it must be, and will come 
 down hither, I will most certainly return with you 
 on Sunday next. The Naylors will receive you most 
 hospitably, and feed you with venison till your 
 cold constitution is warmed to a pitch to be useful 
 to them. 
 
 At the head of our quality is Lady Ladd,* who 
 
 * Probably Mary, daughter of Ralph Thrale, Esq., and widow 
 of Sir John Ladd, Bart., of Warbleton, Sussex. She is fre- 
 quently mentioned in the early period of Madame D'Arblay's 
 Memoirs.
 
 176 HENRY FOX, LORD HOLLAND. 
 
 will divert jou more than if she had been better 
 taught ; better fed, you will allow, she could not 
 be. Among the men, very luckily for me, is 
 Vaughan, who laughs so much at the very odd 
 exhibitions here, that sometimes they are j^eevish. 
 If you were a man of intrigue, I would have men- 
 tioned the Duchess of St. Alban's,* who bears no 
 small part in the entertainment, for very often her 
 Grace, after being well fortified with negus, will 
 dance a minuet by herself. Biddy shall make soups 
 for you ; the widow shall receive you, and nobody 
 will be more glad to see you than. 
 
 Yours most sincerely. 
 
 HENRY FOX, LORD HOLLAND. 
 
 Henry Fox, first Lord Holland, (who for many 
 years was the friend and correspondent of George 
 Selwyn,) was the youngest son of Sir Stephen Fox, 
 whose name so frequently occurs in the social and 
 political annals of the reigns of King Charles the 
 Second and King James the Second. 
 
 Sir Stephen Fox, the founder of his family, and 
 the transmitter of a name which more than one 
 
 * Jane, sole daughter and heir of Sir Walter Roberts, Bart., of 
 Glassenbury, Kent, and wife of George third Duke of St. Alban's. 
 She died December 16, 1778.
 
 HENRY FOX, LORD HOLLAND. 177 
 
 of his descendants has rendered illustrious, had, 
 originally, it is said, been a chorister-boy in Salis- 
 bury Cathedral. By industry, however, and regu- 
 larity of conduct, he advanced himself to be the 
 favourite of his sovereign. During the exile of 
 Charles the Second, he filled the appointment of 
 Treasurer of the Household to that monarch, and 
 was the first person to announce the death of Crom- 
 well to Charles, as he was playing at tennis with 
 the Archduke Leopold and Don John. At the 
 Restoration, he received the appointment of Clerk 
 of the Green Cloth, and subsequently filled the 
 posts successively of Paymaster General of the 
 Forces, and a Lord of the Treasury. As a courtier, 
 he was distinguished by his prudent conduct and 
 bis fidelity to his sovereign ; and De Grammont 
 styles him " one of the richest and most regular 
 men in England." Sir Stephen Fox was twice 
 married. His second wife was Christian, daughter 
 of the Rev. Charles Hope, of Nasely, in Lincoln- 
 shire, whom he married in his seventy-seventh year, 
 and by whom he was father of Stephen, first Earl 
 of Ilchester, and of Henry, the subject of the pre- 
 sent' memoir, who was born after his father had 
 attained to his eightieth year. 
 
 Henry Fox, of whom we are now treating, was 
 born in 1705, and commenced his studies at Eton, 
 where he was the contemporary of his future politi- 
 cal rival, the great Lord Chatham, of Sir Charles 
 Hanbury Williams, and the celebrated Henry Field- 
 
 VOL. L N
 
 178 HENRY FOX, LORD HOLLAND. 
 
 ing. His youth appears to have been passed in 
 frolic and extravagance, and his passion for the 
 gaming-table very nearly wasted his patrimony. 
 He united, hovrever, with his libertinism a taste 
 for graver pursuits, and, indeed, ambition was no less 
 his characteristic than a love of pleasure. He was 
 returned to Parliament for Hendon, in Wiltshire, 
 in March, ] 735, and at the age of thirty-two was 
 appointed Surveyor-General of the Board of Works. 
 In the Parliament which was summoned to meet 
 on the 25tli of June, 1741, he was returned as 
 member for Windsor, for which borough he sat 
 during successive parliaments, till his elevation to 
 the peerage in May, 1762. 
 
 In the " Broad-bottomed Administration," formed 
 by the Pelhams, in 1743, Mr. Fox was appointed 
 a Lord of the Treasury; and the following year 
 still further advanced his fortunes by a run-away 
 marriage with Lady Caroline Lennox, eldest daugh- 
 ter of Charles second Duke of Richmond, and 
 great-grand-daughter of Charles the Second. It 
 may readily be imagined that the surreptitious 
 marriage of the eldest daughter of their house with 
 the son of a chorister, or, as Horace Waljjole 
 designates him, " a footman," should have given 
 no slight offence to the family of Lennox. Walpole 
 writes to Sir Horace Mann, May 29, 1744, " Mr. 
 Fox fell in love with Lady Caroline Lennox ; asked 
 her, was refused, and stole her. His father was 
 a footman ; her great-grandfather a king : liinc UIce
 
 HENRY FOX, LORD HOLLAND. 179 
 
 lachrymce ! all tlie blood royal have been up in 
 arms. The Duke of jMarlborough, who was a 
 friend of the Richmonds, gave her away. If his 
 Majesty's Princess Caroline had been stolen, there 
 could not have been more noise made. The Pel- 
 hams, who are much attached to the Richmonds, 
 but who have tried to make Fox and all that set 
 theirs, wisely entered into the quarrel, and now 
 do not know how to get out of it. They were for 
 hindering Williams, who is Fox's great friend, and 
 at whose house they were married, from having 
 the red ribbon ; but he has got it, with four others, 
 the Viscount Fitzwilliam, CalthorjDe, Whitmore, and 
 Harbord." Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, who had 
 been his schoolfellow at Eton, and at whose house 
 he was married, thus addresses him shortly after 
 his nujitials : 
 
 Such are the nights that I have seen of yore ; 
 Such are the nights that I shall see no more ! 
 When Winnington and Fox, with flow of soul, 
 With sense and wit, drove round the cheerful bowl. 
 Our hearts were open'd, and our converse free, 
 But now they both are lost, quite lost to me. 
 One to a mistress gives up all his life, 
 And one from me flies wisely to his wife ; 
 There proves the highest joys that man can prove, 
 The joys of truth, and of alternate love. 
 Each happy in his different path goes on, 
 Pleased and content ; I, pensive and alone, 
 Rejoice at both your fates, but mourn my own. 
 
 In 174G JMr. Fox was appointed Secretary-at- 
 War, and sworn of the Privy Council. In 1755 
 
 N 2
 
 180 HENRY FOX, LORD HOLLAND. 
 
 he was appointed Secretary of State, but, not- 
 withstanding that he possessed the confidence and 
 favour of the King, he was compelled to resign 
 the appointment the following year to his great 
 rival, Mr. Pitt. " The persons," says Coxe, (speak- 
 ing of the resignation of the Duke of Newcas- 
 tie,) " who now aspired to the management of 
 the House of Commons, were INIr. Fox and Mr. 
 Pitt, whose parliamentary abilities had for some 
 time divided the suffrages of the nation ; who had 
 long fostered recij^rocal jealousy; and who now 
 became public rivals for f)ower. Both these rival 
 statesmen were younger brothers, nearly of the same 
 age ; both were educated at Eton ; both more dis- 
 tinguished for classical knowledge ; both commenced 
 their parliamentary career at the same period, and 
 both raised themselves to eminence by their su- 
 perior talents ; yet no two characters were ever 
 more contrasted. Mr. Fox inherited a strong and 
 vigorous constitution ; was profuse and dissipated 
 in his youth ; and, after squandering his private 
 patrimony, went abroad to extricate himself from 
 his embarrassments. On his return, he obtained 
 a seat in Parliament, and warmly attached himself 
 to Sir Robert Walpole, whom he idolized ; and 
 to Avhose patronage he was indebted for the place 
 of Surveyor-General of the Board of Works. His 
 marriage, in 1744, with Lady Caroline Lennox, 
 daughter of the Duke of Richmond, though at first 
 displeasing to the family, yet finally strengthened
 
 HENRY FOX, LORD HOLLAND. 181 
 
 liis political connexions. He was equally a man 
 of pleasure and business, formed for social and 
 convivial intercourse : of an unruffled temper and 
 frank disposition. No statesman acquired more 
 adherents ; not merely from political motives, but 
 svrayed by his agreeable manners, and attached to 
 him by personal friendship, which he fully merited 
 by his zeal in promoting their interests. He is 
 justly characterized, even by Lord Chesterfield, 
 ' as having no fixed principles of religion or mo- 
 rality, and as too unwary in ridiculing and ex- 
 posing them.' As a parliamentary orator, he was 
 occasionally hesitating and perplexed, but wdien 
 warmed with his subject, he spoke with an ani- 
 mation and rapidity which appeared more striking 
 from his former hesitation. His speeches were not 
 crowded with flowers of rhetoric, or distinguished 
 by ])rilliancy of diction, but were replete with 
 sterling sense and sound argument. He was quick 
 in reply, keen in rej^artee, and skilful in discern- 
 ing the temper of the House. He wrote without 
 effort or affectation ; his public despatches were 
 manly and perspicuous, and his private letters easy 
 and animated. Though of an ambitious spirit, he 
 regarded money as a principal object, and power 
 as a secondary concern." In 1757 Mr. Fox was 
 appointed Paymaster of the Forces, which office 
 he retained till the commencement of the reign 
 of George the Third. On the Gth of May 17G2 
 he obtained a peerage for his wife, as l^aroncss
 
 182 HENRY FOX, LORD HOLLAND. 
 
 Holland, and on IGtli of April 1763 he himself 
 was created Baron Holland of Foxlej, in Wiltshire. 
 Lord Holland was distinguished by a refined 
 taste, a classical mind, and a love of the fine arts ; 
 and to these qualities we may add conversational 
 wit, a kind heart, and a generous disposition. Lord 
 Chesterfield writes to his son, 8th March, 1754, 
 " I am not sorry for the promotion of Mr. Fox, 
 as I have always been upon civil terms with him, 
 and found him ready to do me any little services. 
 He is frank and gentlemanlike in his manner ; 
 and, to a certain degree, I really believe will 
 be your friend upon my account ; if you can af- 
 terwards make him yours upon your own, ta7it 
 mieuoer The private charities of Lord Holland 
 were considerable ; he was an attached and con- 
 siderate husband, and was almost criminally indul- 
 gent to his children. He is said to have en- 
 courao-ed his sons in the frolics and indiscretions 
 
 o 
 
 of youth, and, indeed, when his second, and after- 
 wards celebrated son, Charles James Fox, was in 
 his fifteenth year, is reported, during their resi- 
 dence at Spa, to have supplied him with a certain 
 number of guineas every night to enable him to 
 enjoy the excitement of the gaming-table. 
 
 There existed, in more than one respect, a close 
 resemblance between the character of Lord Hol- 
 land and that of his gifted son. They were both 
 inordinately ambitious ; both had impaired their 
 health and fortunes in the pursuit of pleasure ;
 
 HENRY FOX, LORD HOLLAND. 183 
 
 Ijotli had conceived a fatal addiction to the gaming- 
 table ; both were eminently distingnislied by their 
 talents as statesmen and their oratorical powers ; 
 and both were attached to the cause of literature, 
 and were writers of trifling but elegant verse. In 
 one particular quality, however, that of prudence, 
 there remained a wide difference in their charac- 
 ters. The vices of the father expired with his 
 youth; he succeeded in his object of enjoying 
 place and power, and died the possessor of con- 
 siderable wealth. On the other hand, the son 
 continued a libertine almost to the last ; with all 
 his talents and ambition, he was in the possession 
 of power only for a few months; and, moreover, 
 instead of acquiring a fortune, he squandered every 
 guinea on which he could lay his hand. 
 
 Though certainly far from being of a hoarding or 
 niggardly disposition. Lord Holland grew to be insa- 
 tiable in the pursuit of wealth, and, indeed, while 
 holding the lucrative appointment of Paymaster of 
 the Forces was loudly accused of a criminal appro- 
 priation of the public money. " In his earlier life," 
 says Walpole, " ^Ir. Fox had wasted his fortune 
 ill gaming ; it had been replaced by some family 
 circumstances, but was small, and he continued 
 profuse. Becoming a most fond father, and his 
 constitution admonishing him, he took up an at- 
 tention to enrich himself precipitately." * At one 
 
 * Memoirs of the Last Ten Years of George the Second, 
 vol. ii. p. 40 L
 
 184 HENRY FOX, LORD HOLLAND. 
 
 period, so convinced were the public that Lord 
 Holland was accumulating a large fortune by un- 
 justifiable means, that in an address from the city 
 of London he was openly styled " the public de- 
 faulter of unaccounted millions." That Lord Hol- 
 land availed himself of the perquisites and advan- 
 tages of office in an undue and improper man- 
 ner is not at all unlikely, but that he was guilty 
 of the actual and sweeping frauds of which he is 
 accused in the epigrammatic proscription of the 
 city of London, there is certainly more reason to 
 doubt. Whatever were the means by which he 
 enriched himself, he appears to have justified them 
 to his own conscience, and they certainly in no 
 decree lessened him in the esteem of his friends. 
 
 In the last years of his life, Lord Holland 
 amused himself, at a vast expense, in building his 
 fantastic villa at Kinsgate, situated in a dreary 
 spot near Margate in Kent. It was this circum- 
 stance which drew forth from Gray the poet the 
 following lines, which have seldom been surpassed 
 either in bitterness or poetical power : — 
 
 IMPROMPTU, 
 
 Suggested by a view of the seat and ruins of a deceased nobleman, 
 at Kingsgate, Kent, in 1766. 
 
 Old, and abandon'd by each venal fi-iend, 
 Here Holland form'd the pious resolution. 
 
 To smuggle a few years, and strive to mend 
 A broken character and constitution. 
 
 On this congenial spot he fix'd his choice ; 
 
 Earl Goodwin trembled for his neighbouring sand ;
 
 HENRY FOX, LORD HOLLAND. 185 
 
 Here sea-gulls scream, and cormorants rejoice, 
 And mariners, though shipwreck'd, dread to land. 
 
 Here reign the blustering north and blighting east ; 
 
 No tree is heard to whisper, bird to sing ; 
 Yet Nature could not furnish out the feast, 
 
 Art he invokes new horrors still to bring. 
 
 Here mouldering fanes and battlements arise. 
 Turrets and arches nodding to their fall ; 
 
 Unpeopled monast'ries delude our eyes. 
 And mimic desolation covers all. 
 
 " Ah ! " said the sighing peer, " had Bute been true. 
 Nor M — 's, R — 's, B — 's friendship vain, 
 
 Far better scenes than these had bless'd our view. 
 And realized the beauties which we feign. 
 
 Purged by the sword, and purified by fire, 
 
 Then had we seen proud London's hated walls ; 
 
 Owls would have hooted in St. Peter's choir, 
 And foxes stunk and litter'd in St. Paul's." 
 
 Such is the language in which Lord Holland 
 was spoken of by his political opponents. As a 
 specimen, however, of the very different feelings 
 with which he was regarded by those who mingled 
 with him in social life, we will insert the following 
 verses, addressed to him by his early schoolfellow 
 and friend. Sir Charles Hanbury Williams : — 
 
 To speak and charm in public, friend, is thine ; 
 
 The silent arts of poetry are mine ; 
 
 And when some striking thought affects my mind, 
 
 I rest not till to paper 'tis consigu'd. 
 
 Then, with a parent's fondness, I behold 
 
 INIy child escaped from memory's treacherous hold ; 
 
 And smooth'd in verse, and harmonized in rhyme, 
 
 I dream 'tis placed beyond the reach of time.
 
 186 HENRY FOX, LORD HOLLAND, 
 
 'Twas your desire, (perhaps your flattery too) — 
 My verse, ray fame, if any, springs from you ; 
 And here I pay my tribute where 'tis due. 
 Your smiles were all my vanity required; 
 Your nod was all the fame that I desired. 
 All my ambition was, to gain your praise, 
 And all my pleasure, you alone to please. 
 
 Lord Holland died at Holland House, Kensing- 
 ton, July 1st, 1774, in the sixty-ninth year of his 
 age, and was buried at Farley. He was survived 
 by his widow only twenty-three days, and by his 
 eldest son only six months. His children were 
 Stephen Fox, who succeeded as second Lord Hol- 
 land ; Henry, who died young ; Charles-James, the 
 celebrated statesman ; and Henry-Edward, a gene- 
 ral in the army, and colonel of the 10th regiment 
 of foot, who died in 1811. 
 
 THE RIGHT HON. HENRY FOX TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 September 19, 1762. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 Monsieur de Nivernois (Lord Shelburne 
 thought) was to dine, if not lie, at Ingress ; and 
 I was misinformed too about Lady Bolingbroke 
 and the quarrel. I find since, you know nothing 
 of it.* 
 
 * This has evidently reference to the unfortunate misunder- 
 standing between Lord and Lady Bolingbroke, which terminated 
 in a divorce in 1768. The lady subsequently remarried Topham 
 Beauclerk, Esq., and is now better known as Lady Diana Beau- 
 clerk.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 187 
 
 I believe I was not misinformed about Lord 
 Lincoln,* though indeed very little informed ; nor 
 shall I be more so till I get to London : you 
 may, I believe. I shall not go there the sooner 
 on that account, but I like the situation Mr. 
 Hogarth has put me in so well, that I fancy I 
 shall stay here longer than I intended. 
 
 I hope not to come to town till peace, or no 
 peace, is certain. The odds are now three to one 
 for it, you say : be so good as to let me know 
 as they increase or decrease in your opinion. f I 
 hope, for better reasons than merely to inform 
 me, that you have a better guess now than I 
 have sometimes known you have. I cannot flat- 
 ter you with an opinion that any event can bring 
 your attendance | on the 9th to be dispensed 
 with. Till then, and, soon after that, for a month, 
 you may be absent. To-morrow you will be at 
 the King's elbow, or the Queen's, if that is a 
 better place, in St. George's Hall.§ As I remem- 
 ber, that was a fine sight in 1730. 
 
 * Henry, ninth Earl of Lincoln, and first Duke of Newcastle 
 of his family, died February 22, 1794. See ante, October 20, 
 
 1741. 
 
 -|- The treaty of peace with France was signed at Fontainbleau 
 on the 3rd of November. Mr. Fox was a strong advocate for 
 the measure, and afterwards defended it with all his eloquence 
 against the arguments of Mr. Pitt in the House of Commons. 
 
 J In Parliament, which, however, did not assemble till the 25th 
 of November. 
 
 § Alluding to the approaching ceremony of the installation of 
 Prince William, third son of Frederick Prince of Wales, and of
 
 188 HENRY FOX, LORD HOLLAND. 
 
 I return you Mrs. Power's letter. Would Lady 
 T. have been very angry if you had suffered her to 
 pass for the benefactress ? Lady Coroline makes 
 her best compliments, and thanks you for your 
 conduct. Your other inclosed paper I shall keep. 
 What does the author mean by Villustre smig dont 
 la France reclame Voricjine f I fancy he thinks him 
 descended from the Regent, Duke of Bedford, 
 and so from the Capets ! but that would be by 
 the French : I don't understand it, I join with 
 the mayor in his good wishes, being apprehensive 
 that your friends the French are not so low as 
 Mr. Pitt* and his mob represent them, and that, 
 if this peace is halloed and frightened away, she 
 will not readily or soon come back again. 
 
 Adieu ! dear sir : I hope you dined at Lord 
 Thomond's ; f and I hope too that Mrs. Power 
 looks as pretty as her letter, though I tliink that 
 would not signify much to you. 
 
 Yours ever, H. Fox. 
 
 P.S. You talk slightingly of an Islington turn- 
 Lord Bute, as Knights of the Garter, which took place at Wind- 
 sor on the 22nd of September, 1762. 
 
 * Afterwards the celebrated Lord Chatham, and now the 
 great political opponent of Mr, Fox. His famous oration against 
 the peace with France, on the ground as unsafe, impolitic, and 
 unsound, is well known. 
 
 f Windham O'Brien, created, November 29, 1756, Baron of 
 Ibrickan, and Earl of Thomond in Ireland. He was member of 
 Parliament for Minehead, Lord Lieutenant of the county of 
 Somerset, and a member of the Privy Council.
 
 GILLY WILLTAMS. 180 
 
 pike, whicli (as the end of your journey at least) 
 mav as well be let alone. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 White's, Saturday night. [1762.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I AM sorry to hear by your letter of this 
 morning, that your return was at present sine die. 
 The town is not as yet full, but, for the quantity 
 and quality, diverting. 
 
 Lord Hardwicke is relapsed ;* Jack Yorke,f the 
 dancer, told me this morning he had a bad night, 
 but was something easier, and as they begin to 
 speak with that mystery which usually attends 
 men of consequence in those circumstances, he 
 may be worse than we imagine. Charles Towns- 
 hend is to be in opposition, but he is to be 
 against AYilkes ; for the Peace and for the Cyder. \ 
 I have not yet seen my Lady [Townshend]. I have 
 called at Whitehall, but she is still at George's.^ 
 Report says all proceedings in the lower courts 
 
 * The celebrated chancellor. He died on the Gth of March, 
 1764. 
 
 t The Hon. John Yorke, the chancellor's third son. He died 
 in 1769. 
 
 X Charles Townshend o])j)oscd tniuisters both against ihe Peace 
 and their persecution of Wilkes, but he supported them in the 
 Cider Bill. 
 
 § The Hon. George Townshend, afterwards first Marquis 
 Townshend. See ante, October 1, 1746.
 
 190 GILLY WILLIAMS. 
 
 are stopped as to Wilkes, and the Commons are 
 to take it up, by a message from tlie King, and 
 expel him. 
 
 Lord Sandwich and Gower* keep open house. 
 All that are in town dined to-day with the lat- 
 ter, where we have ate, drank, and laughed, 
 most immoderately. Half a dozen of the lowest 
 class of figure-dancers have folloM'cd our friend 
 Coventry from Paris, and send billets to him 
 every night from Suffolk Street. I wish you 
 could see Lord Clive'sf face, that is over against 
 me while I am writing ; I think it would match 
 your Shafto partly for beauty. Lord Holland will 
 be in town either to-morrow or Monday. With all 
 his houses, he has none to put his head in, but 
 has taken a lodging in Pall Mall. Calcraft walks 
 in the Park every morning arm-in-arm with Colonel 
 Barre. Our friend Harry is peevish, and retired 
 to Strawberry till the meeting. Pray make my 
 best compliments to Lord March and the Ton- 
 dino, and believe me to be 
 
 Yours, &c., &c. 
 
 * Granville, second Earl Gower, and first Marquis of Staf- 
 ford, was born in 1721. He held several high appointments 
 under the state, and died October 26, 1803. 
 
 f Robert, the great Lord Clive, died 22nd Nov. 1774.
 
 191 
 
 JOHN GEORGE MONTAGU. 
 
 John George ]\1ontagu, fourth Enrl of Sand- 
 wicli, (to whom there are references in this, and 
 several subsequent letters,) Avas born in Novem- 
 ber 1718, and, in 1741, married Judith, daughter 
 of Charles first Viscount Fane, by whom he 
 had one son, who succeeded him as fifth Earl 
 of Sandwich. Lord Sandwich is now princi- 
 pally known to posterity from his connexion 
 with INliss Ray, who was shot ])y the Rev. Mr. 
 Hickman, while she was stepping into his lord- 
 ship's carriage at the entrance to Covent Garden 
 Theatre. He was, however, a person of consider- 
 able note and importance in his day. He was 
 educated at Eton, and afterwards at Trinity Col- 
 lege, Cambridge. He quitted the university in 
 1735, without having taken a degree, and the 
 following year proceeded on a voyage round 
 the shores of the Mediterranean, his account 
 of which was afterwards published by his chap- 
 lain, the Reverend John Cooke, with a memoir 
 of his life prefixed. Shortly after liis return to 
 England he took his seat in the House of Lords; 
 in December 1744 he was appointed a Lord of 
 the Admiralty; in November 174G Minister Ple- 
 nipotentiary to the States General, and after- 
 wards to tlie Congress at Aix la Cha])elle ; in
 
 192 JOHN GEORGE MONTAGU. 
 
 February 1748 he was nominated first Lord of 
 the Admirality, and sworn of the Privy Council ; 
 in December 1755 joint Vice-Treasurer of Ire- 
 land ; in 1763 he was appointed Ambassador-Ex- 
 traordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Court of 
 Spain ; in April following, he was again nomi- 
 nated First Lord of the Admiralty ; and the fol- 
 lowing August, one of the principal Secretaries 
 of State, which office he resigned in July, 1765. In 
 August 1770 he was again appointed Secretary 
 of State, which post he exchanged in January 
 1771 for that of First Lord of the Admiralty, 
 which he retained till the downfall of Lord North's 
 Administration. 
 
 In social life, Lord Sandwich was distinguished 
 by his convivial habits, his love of music, and his 
 conversational powers. He was essentially a man 
 of pleasure, and carried libertinism even to the 
 verge of the grave. Wilkes, in his " Letters to 
 the Electors of Aylesbury," styles him the " most 
 abandoned man of his age." He had been a mem- 
 ber of the celebrated Franciscans,* who practised 
 their impure orgies at Medmenham Abbey, near 
 Marlow in Buckinghamshire ; and Churchill, in 
 his poem the " Candidate," exclaims — 
 
 Search Heaven, search Hell, the Devil cannot find 
 An agent like Lothario to his mind. 
 
 It was the misfortune of Lord Sandwich to 
 
 * See ante, 12th November, 17 15.
 
 JOHN GEORGE MONTAGU. 193 
 
 preside at the head of the Board of Admiralty 
 during the least prosperous period of our naval 
 annals. He has, however, the merit of having 
 extended his warmest patronage to the celebrated 
 navigator, Captain Cook ; to naval officers he 
 was always accessible, and his manner to them was 
 invariably gracious and conciliating. One of his 
 peculiarities was, his giving notice to the numer- 
 ous candidates for professional advancement, that 
 he paid no attention to any memorial that ex- 
 tended beyond a single page. " If any man," he 
 said, " will draw up his case, and will put his 
 name to the bottom of the first page, I will give 
 him an immediate reply : where he compels me 
 to turn over the page, he must wait my pleasure." 
 Another amusing anecdote is recorded of him. 
 When ]\Ir. Eden, afterwards Lord Auckland, de- 
 serted the standard of Fox for that of Pitt, he 
 sent, in justification of his apostacy, a circular 
 letter to his former political colleagues. The reply 
 of Lord Sandwich was sufficiently laconic : " Sir," 
 he said, " your letter is before me, and will pre- 
 sently be behind." Lord Sandwich died on the 
 30th of April 1792, in his seventy-fifth year. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 194 
 
 WILLIAM DOUGLAS, 
 
 EARL OF MARCH, 
 
 Afterwards JDuke of Qiueensherry. 
 
 In the course of the subsequent correspondence 
 will be found a series of letters from the extra- 
 ordinary and still famous personage, who forms 
 the subject of the present memoir. As mere li- 
 terary compositions, or as exhibiting specimens of 
 epistolary talent, they possess, perhaps, but slight 
 claims to notice. However, the reader, perhaps, 
 will be little inclined to regret their admission into 
 the present pages, inasmuch as they throw a light 
 on human character, and on the manners and habits 
 of a past age ; and exhibit, in a striking point of 
 view, a strange mixture of strong sense and kind 
 feeling with almost unequalled libertinism and 
 sensuality, 
 
 William Douglas, third Earl of March, and af- 
 terwards fourth Duke of Queensberry, was born 
 in 1725. He succeeded his father as Earl of 
 March in 1731, and his mother, as Earl of Ruglen 
 in 1748. On the accession of George the Third, 
 he was appointed a Lord of the Bedchamber ; in 
 1767 he was made Vice- Admiral of Scotland ; and 
 in October 1778, on the death of his cousin Charles, 
 third Duke of Queensberry, the friend and jmtron 
 of Gay, succeeded to the dukedom and princely
 
 DUKE OF QUEENSBERRY. 195 
 
 estates of Qiieensberry. In 1788, after having- 
 held the appointment of a Lord of the Bedchamber 
 to George the Third for nearly twenty-eight years, 
 the Duke was suddenly deprived of his post. Ima- 
 gining, like many others, that the mental malady 
 under which the King was then labouring Avas a 
 confirmed madness, he deserted the standard of 
 Pitt for that of Fox and the Prince of Wales, 
 and voted in opposition to the minister. It is need- 
 less to add, that the King recovered his intellects, 
 and the Duke of Queensberry was dismissed. 
 
 Though distinguished by no extraordinary talents, 
 and with slender claims to be regarded as an ob- 
 ject of public interest or attention, the Duke never- 
 theless continued to be the " observed of all ob- 
 servers," almost from his boyhood to extreme old 
 age. His passions were for women and the turf; 
 and the sensual devotedness with which he pursued 
 the one, and the eccentricity which he displayed 
 in the enjoyment of both, added to the observation 
 which he attracted from his position as a man of 
 high rank and princely fortune, rendered him an 
 object of unceasing curiosity. He was deeply 
 versed in the mysteries of the turf, and in all prac- 
 tical and theoretical knowledge connected with 
 the race-course was acknowledged to be the most 
 accomplished adept of his time. In his youth he 
 was in the habit of riding his own matches, and 
 in the art of horsemanshi]) there were l)ut few 
 professional jockeys who could compote with him. 
 
 o2
 
 196 WILLIAM DOUGLAS, 
 
 His famous match with the Duke of Hamilton, and 
 that of the machine which long- continued to bear 
 his name, are still matters of notoriety. 
 
 Among the numerous occasions on which the 
 name of the Duke of Queensberry came before the 
 public in connexion with sporting matters, may 
 be mentioned the circumstance of the following- 
 curious trial, which took place before Lord Mans- 
 field in the Court of King's Bench, in 1771. The 
 Duke of Queensberry, then Lord March, Avas the 
 plaintiff, and a JVIr. Pigot the defendant. The ob- 
 ject of the trial was to recover the sum of five 
 hundred guineas, being the amount of a wager laid 
 by the Duke of Queensberry with Mr. Pigot, whe- 
 ther Sir William Codrington or old JNIr. Pigot 
 should die first. It had singularly happened that 
 Mr. Pigot died suddenly the same morning, of the 
 gout in his head, but before either of the parties 
 interested in the result of the wager could by any 
 possibility have been made acquainted with the 
 fact. In the contemporary accounts of the trial, 
 the Duke of Queensberry is mentioned as having 
 been accommodated with a seat on the bench ; 
 while Lord Ossory, and several other noblemen, 
 were examined on the merits of the case. By the 
 counsel for the defendant, it was argued that, (as 
 in the case of a horse dying before the day on 
 which it was to be run,) the wager was invalid and 
 annulled. Lord INlansfield, however, was of a dif- 
 ferent opinion ; and after a brief charge from that
 
 DUKE OF QUEENSBERRY. 197 
 
 great lawyer, the jury brought in a verdict for the 
 plaintiff of five hundred guineas, and sentenced the 
 defendant to defray the costs of the suit. 
 
 It was in connexion with such, and even less 
 reputable connexions, that the name of the Duke 
 of Queensberry was chiefly familiar to the world. 
 However, he united, with a passion for the race- 
 course and the gaming-table, a taste for all the 
 elegancies and refinements of life. He was un- 
 questionably one of the most finished gentlemen 
 of his day ; his high-breeding was never questioned ; 
 and for nearly half a century his dress and equi- 
 page were regarded as the models of good taste 
 by a host of obsecpiious admirers. Nor is this the 
 highest praise that can be awarded him. Deficient 
 neither in wit nor in general information ; with a 
 passion for music, and a redeeming taste for li- 
 terature and the fine arts, and deeply versed in 
 the knowledge of human nature and mankind, 
 there was no individual who, independent of his 
 high rank and noble fortune, had the art of ren- 
 dering himself more generally popular in every 
 society. 
 
 The life of the Duke of Queensl^erry, it must be 
 admitted, w^as a long career of profligacy, compris- 
 ing little beyond the personal history of a man of 
 pleasure, and distinguished ])rinci|)ally by traits of 
 exceeding libertinism, and by some eccentric pe- 
 culiarities in his pursuit of sensual enjoyment. 
 Few, however, are utterly and irredeemably bad ;
 
 198 WILLIAM DOUGLAS, 
 
 and therefore, in the private charities of the Duke 
 of Queensberry, and they were not inconsiderable, 
 in the vast sums which he subscribed for the further- 
 ance of great national purposes, and in his personal 
 good-nature, we gladly recognize a partial atone- 
 ment for his otherwise insensate and libidinous 
 career. 
 
 At the period when he succeeded to the Queens- 
 berry titles and estates he was in his fifty-fourth 
 year ; and, with the accession of rank and fortune, 
 seems to have ceased his intimate connexion with 
 the turf. He was formed but for the enjoyment 
 of two societies, those of London and Newmarket, 
 and when the latter ceased to possess its wonted 
 charms, he confined himself almost entirely, in the 
 decline of life, to the society of the clubs, and to 
 the voluptuous and enervating pleasures which are 
 alone to be obtained in a great city. His estates 
 in Scotland, and even his splendid seat at Ames- 
 bury in Wiltshire, — charming as the latter is in 
 situation, convenient on account of its distance from 
 London, and rendered classical both as the work 
 of Inigo Jones and from its connexion with Prior, 
 Pope, and Gay, and the charming literary society 
 with which the famous Duchess of Queensberry 
 delighted to surround herself, — were rarely visited 
 by the inactive voluptuary. His house in Picca- 
 dilly, and his villa at Richmond, became the easy 
 and favourite resorts of the superannuated libertine ; 
 and here were enacted those frequent scenes of
 
 DUKE OF QUEENSBERRY. 199 
 
 splendid vice, of almost oriental voluptuousness, and, 
 indeed, of deliberate sensuality, of which delicacy 
 precludes a detail. 
 
 Latterly, circumstances estranged the Duke of 
 Queensberry even from the enjoyment of his 
 surburban villa, and he confined himself entirely 
 to his mansion in Piccadilly. It seems, that not- 
 withstanding- the considerable charities which he 
 dispensed at Richmond, and the sums which his 
 magnificent mode of living circulated in the neigh- 
 bourhood, the inhabitants were ill-advised enough 
 to institute against him a vexatious suit at law, 
 for the recovery of a few yards of ground, which, 
 unconscious of any invasion of parochial rights, he 
 had taken into his enclosure. Conscious how great 
 a benefactor he had been to tlie place, the Duke 
 quitted Richmond in disgust, and hereafter con- 
 fined his vices and vast expenditure solely to the 
 metropolis. 
 
 Although the habits and morality of the Duke 
 of Queensberry were entirely of the Epicurean 
 school, he has, nevertheless, some unworthy claims 
 to be regarded in the light of a philosopher. His 
 animal s])irits were proof against the encroachments 
 of senility and disease ; and, to the last, women, 
 the opera, and the society of a few chosen friends, 
 afforded a panacea for the loss of youth and vigour, 
 and fur the increasing infirmities of old age. 
 Though attached to tlio luxuries of the table, his 
 indulgences were ever regulated by i)rudence ; and,
 
 200 WILLIAM DOUGLAS, 
 
 indeed, to his habit of enjoying his pleasures by 
 rule may be attributed the longevity to which he 
 attained. He professedly despised the opinion of 
 the world, and as long as he secured the enjoyment 
 of the moment, cared little whether his conduct 
 was deprecated or approved by mankind. In old 
 age, though deaf with one ear, and blind with one 
 eye, he still retained the cheerfulness of youth, and 
 seems to have confined himself to one single object, 
 the enjoyment of the small remnant of life which 
 remained to him. 
 
 Sir Nathaniel Wraxall, who was well acquainted 
 AA ith the Duke of Queensberry in his latter years, 
 has bequeathed us a curious portrait of him at the 
 close of life : " Few noblemen," he says, " have occu- 
 pied a more conspicuous place about the court and 
 the town, during at least half a century, under the 
 reigns of George the Second and Third. Like 
 Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, he pursued pleasure 
 in every shape, and with as much ardour at four- 
 score as he had done at twenty. After exhausting 
 all the gratifications of human life, towards its close 
 he sat down at his residence, near Hyde Park Cor- 
 ner, where he remained a spectator of that moving 
 scene, which Johnson denominated 'the full tide 
 of human existence," but in which he could no 
 longer take a very active part. I lived in almost 
 daily habits of intercourse with him, when I was 
 in London, during the last seven years of his pro- 
 tracted career. His j^erson had then become a
 
 DUKE OF QUEENSBERRY. 201 
 
 ruin : but not so his mind. Seeing only with one 
 eye, hearing- very imperfectly only with one ear, 
 nearly toothless, and labouring under multiplied 
 infirmities, he possessed all his intellectual faculties, 
 including his memory. Never did any man retain 
 more animation, or manifest a sounder judgment. 
 Even his figure, though emaciated, still remained 
 elegant ; his manners were noble and polished ; his 
 conversation gay, always entertaining, generally ori- 
 ginal, rarely instructive, frequently libertine, indicat- 
 ing a strong, sagacious, masculine intellect, with 
 a thorough knowledge of man. If I were com- 
 pelled to name the particular individual who had 
 received from nature the keenest common sense 
 of any person I ever knew, I should select the 
 Duke of Queensberry. 
 
 " Unfortunately, his sources of information, the 
 turf, the drawing-room, the theatre, the great world, 
 were not the most pure, nor the best adapted 
 to impress him with a favourable idea of his own 
 species. Information as acquired by books, he 
 always treated with contempt ; and used to ask 
 me what advantage, or solid benefit, I had ever 
 derived from the knowledge that he sup])osed me 
 to possess of history; a question which it was 
 not easy for me satisfactorily to answer, either 
 to him or to myself. Known to be immensely 
 rich, destitute of issue, and unmarried, ho formed 
 a mark at which every necessitous man or woman 
 throughout tlie metrppolis directed their aim. It
 
 202 WILLIAM DOUGLAS, 
 
 is a fact, tliat when he lay dying, in December 
 1810, his bed was covered with billets and letters 
 to the number of at least seventy, mostly, indeed, 
 addressed to him by females of every descrijition 
 and of every rank, from duchesses down to ladies 
 of the easiest virtue. Unable, from his extenuated 
 state, to open or to peruse them he ordered them 
 as they arrived to be laid on his bed, w^here they 
 remained, the seals unbroken, till he expired. 
 
 " JMany fabulous stories were circulated and be- 
 lieved respecting him ; as, among others, that he 
 wore a glass eye, that he used milk baths,* and 
 other idle tales. It is, however; a fact, that the 
 Duke performed, in his own drawing-room, the 
 scene of Paris and the goddesses. Three of the 
 most beautiful females to be found in London pre- 
 sented themselves before him, jirecisely as the 
 divinities of Homer are supposed to have appeared 
 to Paris on Mount Ida : while he, habited like the 
 Dardan shepherd, holding a gilded apple in his 
 hand, conferred the prize on her whom he deemed 
 the fairest. This classic exhibition took place at his 
 house opposite the Green Park. Neither the second 
 Duke of Buckingham, commemorated by Pope, 
 whose whole life was a voluptuous whim, nor any 
 
 * There are many persons still living who remember the 
 almost universal prejudice against drinking milk which prevailed 
 in the metropolis, in consequence of its being supposed that this 
 common necessary of life might have been retailed from the daily 
 lavations of the Duke of Queensberry.
 
 DUKE OF QUEENSBERRY. 203 
 
 other of the licentious noblemen his contemjio- 
 raries, appear to have ever realized a scene so 
 analogous to the manners of that profligate period. 
 The correct days of George the Third were reserved 
 to witness its accomplishment." 
 
 The celebrated William Wilberforce used to 
 mention, that, when a young man, he was invited 
 to dine with the Duke of Queensberry at Rich- 
 mond. " I always observe," he used to say, " that 
 the owners of your grand houses have some snug 
 corner in which they are glad to shelter them- 
 selves from their own magnificence. I remember 
 dining, M'hen I was a young man, with the Duke 
 of Queensberry, at his Richmond villa. The party 
 was very small and select ; Pitt, Lord and Lady 
 Chatham, the Duchess of Gordon, and George 
 Selwyn, (who lived for society, and continued in 
 it till he looked really like the wax-work figure 
 of a corpse) were amongst the guests. We dined 
 early, that some of our party might be ready to 
 attend the Opera. The dinner was sumptuous, the 
 views from the villa quite enchanting, and the 
 Thames in all its glory ; but the Duke looked on 
 with indifference. ' What is there,' he said, ' to 
 make so much of in the Thames? — I am quite 
 tired of it, — there it goes, flow, flow, flow, always 
 the same."' " * 
 
 In the last years of his life, the Duke of Queens- 
 berry reluctantly withdrew himself from the society 
 
 * Lii'f of Wilhcrfbico, vol. iii. \>\). 41G, 417.
 
 204 WILLIAM DOUGLAS, 
 
 of the clubs in St. James's Street, and confined 
 himself almost entirely to his mansion in Piccadilly, 
 and to the society of a few chosen friends. His 
 love of music, however, or rather, perhaps, his 
 passion for the figurantes in the ballet, appears to 
 have long survived his powers of enjoyment, and, 
 to the close of his long career, he was almost 
 constantly to be seen in his box at the Opera. 
 
 In fine sunny weather, it was the custom of the 
 Duke of Queensberry to seat himself in his balcony 
 in Piccadilly,* where his figure was familiar to 
 every person who was in the habit of passing 
 through that great thoroughfare. Here, (his ema- 
 ciated figure, rendered the more conspicuous from 
 his custom of holding a j^arosal over his head,) he 
 was in the habit of watching every attractive form, 
 and ogling every pretty face that met his eye. He is 
 said, indeed, to have kept a pony and a servant 
 in constant readiness, in order to follow, and ascer- 
 tain the residence of any fair girl whose attrac- 
 tions i)articularly caught his fancy. 
 
 In addition to retaining in his household a French 
 physician, (who, moreover, is said to have been 
 
 * The London residence of the Duke of Queensberry was 
 situated close to the corner of Park Lane, overlooking the Green 
 Park. It has since been divided into houses, which are now the 
 residences of the Earls of Cadogan and Roseberry. There are 
 many persons who may remember the flight of steps descending 
 from the first floor into the street, (constructed for the con- 
 venience of the Duke of Queensberry in his latter days,) which 
 have only within the last few years been removed.
 
 DUKE OF QUEENSBERRY. 205 
 
 employed by him in the prosecution of his liber- 
 tine amours,) the Duke of Queensberry is known 
 to have conferred a large salary on his medical 
 attendant, the late INIr. Fuller of Piccadilly, on 
 the condition that the latter should keep him alive. 
 The Duke, it may be remarked, was not singular 
 in this uncommon mode of rewarding his physician. 
 AYhen Lord JNIacartney was in China, the Em- 
 peror once expressed his surprise to him that the 
 English should be so foolish as to fee their me- 
 dical attendants wdien they were ill. " For my 
 part," he said, " I always pay them when I am 
 well, and as they get no remuneration when I am 
 sick, they are pretty certain to do their best to 
 keep me in health." 
 
 At the close of life, when suffering under an 
 accumulation of j^ainful disorders, the Duke of 
 Queensberry occasionally betrayed an irritability 
 of manner, which his natural high-breeding and 
 good-nature subsequently rendered matter for self- 
 reproach. " As he had too sound an understand- 
 ing," says Wraxall, " not to despise every species 
 of flattery, we sometimes entered on discussions, 
 during the course of which he was not always 
 master of himself. But he knew how to repair 
 his errors. I have now before my eyes his last 
 note to me, written by himself in pencil, only a 
 short time before his death. It runs thus: — 
 
 " ' I hope you will accept this as an apology 
 for my irritable behaviour when you called this
 
 206 WILLIAM DOUGLAS, 
 
 morning. I will explain all when I see you 
 
 again/ " 
 
 The Duke of Queensberry died, unmarried, on 
 the 23rd of December, 1810, at the age of eighty- 
 six. " Notwithstanding," says Wraxall, " the li- 
 bertine life that he had led, he contemplated 
 with great firmness and composure of mind his 
 approaching end, and almost imminent dissolution ; 
 while Dr. Johnson, a man of exemplary moral 
 conduct, and personally courageous, could not hear 
 the mention of death, nor look, without shudder- 
 ing, at a thigh-bone in a churchyard. The Duke 
 of Queensberry, like Sheffield Duke of Bucking- 
 hamshire, might have said with truth, — 
 
 Incertus morior, non perturbatus." 
 
 Notwithstanding the advanced age of the Duke, 
 it was said that he would have lived longer but 
 for his imprudent indulgence in eating fruit. 
 
 In consequence of the great wealth left by the 
 Duke of Queensberry, and the number of persons 
 interested in its distribution, his decease caused a 
 considerable sensation in the metropolis. In ad- 
 dition to his large landed estates, which devolved 
 on the Duke of Buccleuch and Sir Charles Douglas 
 of Kilhead, of whom the latter succeeded to the 
 Marquisate of Queensberry, his personal property 
 amounted to nearly a million of money. To Lady 
 Yarmouth, the present Marchioness of Hertford, 
 and her husband, the late Marquis, he not only
 
 DUKE OF QUEENSBERRY. 207 
 
 bequeathed the sum of one hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand pounds, his two houses in Piccadilly, his 
 villa at Richmond, and all the furniture which 
 they contained, but Lord Hertford was also named 
 his residuary legatee, by which it was supposed 
 that a further sum of two hundred thousand 
 pounds might eventually devolve on him. To Lord 
 Douglas the Duke bequeathed one hundred thou- 
 sand pounds ; to the Duchess of Somerset, inde- 
 pendent of her husband, ten thousand pounds ; to 
 the Countess of Dunmore ten thousand pounds ; 
 to Lady Anne Hamilton ten thousand pounds ; to 
 Lady Hamilton five hundred pounds a-year ; to 
 General Charles Crawford ten thousand pounds, 
 to General R. W. Crawford five hundred pounds 
 a-year ; to INIr. James five thousand pounds ; to 
 M. Pere Elvizee five thousand pounds ; to General 
 Fitzpatrick five hundred pounds a-year ; to Ge- 
 neral Picton five thousand pounds ; to Mr. Douglas 
 one hundred and fifty thousand pounds ; to Colonel 
 Thomas twenty thousand pounds ; to Viscount Sid- 
 mouth five thousand pounds ; to Lady William 
 Gordon ten thousand jDounds ; to Sir James Mont- 
 gomerie ten thousand pounds ; to the Governors 
 of the Lock Hospital five thousand pounds ; to 
 the Governors of St. George's Hospital five thou- 
 sand pounds ; and to the Cheque Clerk at Coutts's 
 Bank, who kept his account, six hundred pounds 
 a-year. 
 
 It is remarkable that, though the Duke of
 
 208 WILLIAM DOUGLAS, 
 
 Queeiisberry provided in a very liberal manner for 
 all his male domestics, he made not the slightest 
 provision in his will for any of his female ser- 
 vants ; neither did he bequeath any legacy to his 
 medical attendant, Mr. Fuller, though the latter, 
 for some years, had slept almost constantly by his 
 bed-side.* To one Du Bois, who had been his 
 house-steward for thirty years, he left three hun- 
 
 * Mr. Fuller subsequently brought an action, in tbe Court of 
 Common Pleas, on the 11th July, 1811, against the executors 
 of the Duke of Queensberry, for the recovery of ten thousand 
 pounds, the amount of remuneration which he claimed for his 
 professional attendance on the Duke during seven years. 
 
 " Mr. Serjeant Vaughan opened the case on the part of the 
 plaintiflf. In the year 1803 his Grace of Queensberry had parted 
 with his former apothecary, and it became necessary to look for 
 another. He was seventy-eight, and subject to a diversity of 
 complaints, and being attacked by a severe illness, it was ne- 
 cessary to look for a person on whom he could depend. Mr. 
 Fuller was established as a medical man in a great way of bu- 
 siness. He had received seventy guineas for services, during 
 thirty-seven nights, but that sum was independent of the present 
 demand. His Grace was pleased with Mr. Fuller, and being 
 subject to a vertigo, he was apprehensive that some error would 
 be committed by those who had the care of him, and unless he 
 had the service of a medical man, he might be lost. Mr. Fuller 
 was under the necessity of making personal sacrifices to attend, 
 by the Duke's order, and when he (the learned Serjeant) should 
 show that Mr. Fuller was in great business, the Jury would 
 say that he ought not to suffer by neglecting that business 
 to attend on the Duke, He attended till his Grace's- death in 
 1810, and in the course of seven years he slept one thousand 
 two hundred and fifteen nights in his Grace's house ; during that 
 time he also made nine thousand three hundred and forty visits, 
 of two hours each, comprising in the whole a prodigious portion
 
 DUKE OF QUEENSBERRY. 209 
 
 dred pounds a-year ; to his liead groom, John 
 Radford, two hundred pounds a-year, Avith his 
 horses and carriages ; to his confectioner, one Bur- 
 rell, two hundred pounds a-year ; to his footman, 
 Michael, two hundred pounds a-year ; to his Italian 
 valet one hundred pounds a-year ; and to Signer 
 Salj^eitro, who had been leader of the band at the 
 Italian Opera, one hundred pounds a-year. There 
 were also bequests to three French ladies, of some 
 
 of time. His Grace insisted on his attendance at all times. He 
 was called up in the course of the night by desire of the Duke, 
 and the Duke, on these occasions, would not let him go to bed, 
 keeping him many hours confined in a dark room, and it was 
 only when the Duke fell into a doze that he could get to his bed. 
 Mr. Fuller had affixed to these exertions the reward of ten 
 thousand pounds as a recompense, which had met the approba- 
 tion of the Earl of Yarmouth, who possessed a considerable pro- 
 portion of the one million one hundred and twenty thousand 
 pounds left by the Duke at his death. 
 
 " Michael Gummo, John Kettridge, and Louis Du Bois, ser- 
 vants to the late Duke of Queensberry, proved that the plaintiif 
 was constantly about the Duke's person. 
 
 " The Earl of Yarmouth, Sir Henry Halford, Dr. Ainsley, 
 and Mr. Home, deposed that the charge was reasonable, con- 
 sidering the sacrifices made by the plaintiff. Mr. Serjeant 
 Shepherd contended, on the part of the executors, that the 
 plaintiff's demand could not be discharged without the decision 
 of a court of law. He attributed the present claim to a disap- 
 pointment which the plaintiff had sustained by not receiving a 
 legacy from the Duke. 
 
 " The Judge left the Jury to decide whether the Duke had 
 promised to remunerate Mr. Fuller for his services, as in that 
 case he could recover a moderate reward for his assistance. The 
 Jury retired from the box, and on their return, found for the 
 plaintiff — Damages seven thousand five hundred pounds." 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 210 THE EARL OF MARCH 
 
 celebrity, of one thousand pounds each. The will 
 contained no less than twenty-five codicils, and the 
 legacy-duty alone is said to have amounted to one 
 hundred and twenty thousand pounds. On the 
 31st of December the duke's remains were pri- 
 vately interred under the communion-table in a 
 vault in the chancel of St. James's Church, Picca- 
 dilly. They were attended to the grave by his exe- 
 cutor, ]Mr. Douglas, and were accompanied by all the 
 male domestics attached to the duke's household. 
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Seymour Place, 20th October, 1762. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I HAVE received all your letters. You make 
 me wish very much to be with you, but I scarce 
 think it will be possible, though I should like to 
 come, were I to stay but a week. The Rena* has 
 not quite fixed her setting out, but I believe it 
 will be in ten days at furthest. 
 
 As to any news from here concerning politics, 
 or the administration, you are sure to have better 
 
 * A beautiful Italian woman, the mistress of Lord March. 
 Horace Walpole writes to General Conway, from Strawberry 
 Hill, 9th September, 1762, " I have had Lord March and the 
 Rena here for one night, which does not raise my reputation 
 in the neighbourhood, and may usher me again into the North 
 Briton." Lord March, as will be seen by the subsequent cor- 
 respondence, entertained a stronger and more lasting regard for 
 the Rena than for any other of his numerous mistresses.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 211 
 
 information from the duke and duchess than I can 
 give you. I shall let Lord Huntingdon * know, 
 that you are thought to have a better pronunciation 
 than any one that ever came from this country. 
 Augustus Hervey will be appointed Colonel of Ma- 
 rines, and Keppelf will have a flag. I dine to-day 
 with Lady Hervey, I have visited Lady Mary Cha- 
 beau,} and had a note from her. How monstrously 
 you envy me ! This is all you can do at your 
 return, and perhaps more. This cursed peace, that 
 I have expected every day for these two months, 
 I begin now to despair of. Hervey is waiting for 
 me, so I shall finish this epistle after dinner. 
 
 I have just returned from the Hotel de JMilady 
 [Hervey]. At dinner. Lord and Lady Stormont,|| 
 Mrs. Dives, Stanley, Morris, Augustus [Hervey],^ 
 
 * Francis, tenth Earl of Huntingdon, to whom Akenside has 
 addressed one of his Odes : 
 
 But thee, O progeny of heroes old ! 
 Thee to severer toils thy fate requires. 
 
 He died October 2, 1790. 
 
 f Augustus Keppel, afterwards the celebrated admiral, created, 
 in 1782, Viscount Keppel. He was second son of William, 
 second Earl of Albemarle, and died unmarried in 178G. 
 
 + See post, October 26, 1762. 
 
 § Lady Mary Chabot, daughter of John Paul Howard, fourth 
 Earl of Stafford, and wife of the Count de Rohan-Chabot. She 
 died in May, 1769. 
 
 II See ante, January 12, 1752. 
 
 ^ Augustus John Hervey, afterwards third Earl of Bristol, 
 and a vice-admiral. He was the first husband of the celebrated 
 Miss Chudleigh, who married, in his life-time, Evelyn Piorre- 
 
 V 2
 
 212 THE EARL OF MARCH. 
 
 and myself. Never was anything so French as her 
 dinner, and the manner of its being served. It 
 is a charming house, and as I have rather a par- 
 tiality for the French, I am very glad to have 
 the entre. Horace Walj^ole, who was in town yes- 
 terday, tells me I am in great favour, and I always 
 have a great deal of prejudice for those that like 
 me, which is one of the reasons why I love you 
 more than anybody else. I intend sending your 
 gazettes of the King and Queen by Stanley, if he 
 goes before the Tondino.* 
 
 Monsieur de Nivernois f is the most agreeable 
 man in the world. The more I see him the more 
 I like him. He is not yet got into his new house. 
 I never had an opportunity of seeing Miss Newton, 
 so I have not been able to make your excuses. 
 Metham recruits but slowly. He assures us he is 
 to be married to ]\liss (I forget her name, — Lady 
 Jane Coke's heir,):]: as soon as he is recovered, and 
 has told the Tondino that he is immediately to ask 
 for a peerage. Perhaps he may be satisfied with 
 
 point, the last Duke of Kingston, for which offence she was 
 tried in Westminster Hall by her peers. Lord Bristol died 
 December 23, 1779. 
 
 * Another mistress of Lord March, of whom frequent notices 
 will be found in the subsequent correspondence. 
 
 f The Duke de Nivernois, the French ambassador at the 
 court of St. James's. 
 
 :J: Lady Jane Wharton, sister of the celebrated Philip Duke 
 of Wharton. She married, first, John Holt, Esq., of Redgrave, 
 in Suffolk ; and, secondly, Robert Coke, Esq., younger brother 
 of Thomas Coke of Holkham, created, in 1744, Earl of Leicester.
 
 THE RIGHT HON. H. FOX. 213 
 
 an Irish one — Lord Viscount Montgomery and 
 Baron ]Metliam of North Cave. None of your 
 acquaintances are in town ; scarce a number of any 
 sort to make either a dinner or a supper here. 
 I am just now going to Duchess Hamilton's, who 
 is much better. 
 
 Yours most affectionately, 
 
 M. & R. 
 
 THE RIGHT HON. HENRY FOX* TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 26th October, 1762. 
 DEAR SELWYN, 
 
 I WISH to God Rigbyf may find you asleep. 
 He will take care it shall not be in a circle des 
 heaux esprits ; but I imagine jNIad. Geoffrin J to be 
 all delicacy, to speak no louder or quicker than 
 Lady Stafford, and to push les bemw sentiments jus- 
 qiCa ce que on ne s''entend plus. What a contrast 
 you will have between Rigby and a petit maitre, 
 at first ! but he will improve ; but I beg you to con- 
 sider that a little roughness, and a louder voice than 
 is polite, are necessary, and don't bring him into 
 the H. of Commons perfectionne, as I don't doubt 
 you will be. Lady Holland, § T reckon, must trust 
 
 * Afterwards Lord Holland. 
 
 f The Right Hon. Richard Rigby. See ante, p. 50. He was 
 now the intimate friend of Lord Holland, but circumstances 
 afterwards led to their estrangement. 
 
 \ See post, December 2, 1705. 
 
 § On the 6th of May Lady Carolhie I'ox bad been created 
 Baroness Holland in her own right, Mr. Tox still remaining a 
 commoner.
 
 214 THE RIGHT HON. HENRY FOX. 
 
 to your goodness for admittance at Lady Hervey's ; 
 I foresee you the greatest favourite there. What 
 should I write any more for ? Rigby will tell you 
 everything worth your hearing, grave or comic ; 
 and believe him if he assures you that I am, with 
 the sincerest affection, Yours, H. Fox. 
 
 [Lady Hervey, who is referred to in this and 
 some subsequent letters, was Mary Lepel, Lady 
 Hervey, so celebrated for her wit, beauty, and 
 vivacity, which rendered her, in her youth, the 
 brightest ornament of the court of George the 
 First. She was the daughter of Brigadier- General 
 Nicholas Lepel, and at an early age became JVIaid 
 of Honour to Queen Caroline, then Princess of 
 Wales, to whom, on her accession to the throne, 
 she was subsequently aj^pointed Mistress of the 
 Robes. Pope and Voltaire have celebrated her 
 beauty and wit, — the latter in English verse, — and 
 Gay exclaims, in his verses to Pope, on the termi- 
 nation of his translation of Homer — 
 
 Now Hervey, fair of face, I mark full well, 
 
 With thee youth's youngest daughter, sweet Lepel. 
 
 But the most pleasing tribute paid to her beauty 
 and wit, is unquestionably afforded by the following 
 lively copy of verses, said to be the joint compo- 
 sition of the celebrated Earls of Chesterfield and 
 Bath : 
 
 The Muses, quite jaded with rhyming, 
 To Molly Mogg bid a farewell ;
 
 MARY LEPEL, LADY HERVEY. 215 
 
 But renew their sweet melody, chiming 
 To the name of dear Molly Lepel ! 
 
 Bright Venus yet never saw bedded, 
 
 So perfect a beau and a belle, 
 As when Hervey the handsome was wedded, 
 
 To the beautiful Molly Lepel I 
 
 So pow'rful her charms, and so moving. 
 They would warm an old monk in his cell ; 
 
 Should the Pope himself ever go roaming, 
 He would follow dear Molly Lepel ! 
 
 If to the seraglio you brought her, 
 
 Where for slaves their maidens they sell, 
 
 I 'm sure, though the Grand Seignior bought her, 
 He 'd soon turn a slave to Lepel ! 
 
 Had I Hanover, Bremen, and Verden, 
 
 And likewise the Duchy of Zell, 
 I 'd part with them all for a farthing, 
 
 To have my dear Molly Lepel I 
 
 Or, were I the King of Great Britain, 
 
 To choose a minister well, 
 And support the throne that I sit on, 
 
 I 'd have under me Molly Lepel I 
 
 Of all the bright beauties so killing, 
 
 In London's fair city that dwell. 
 None can give me such joy, were she willing, 
 
 As the beautiful Molly Lepel I 
 
 What man would not give the great ticket, 
 
 To his share if the benefit fell, 
 To be but one hour in a thicket 
 
 With the beautiful Molly Lepel ! 
 
 Should Venus now rise from the ocean. 
 
 And naked appear in her shell, 
 She would not cause half the emotion 
 
 That we feel from dear Molly Lepel I
 
 216 MARY LEPEL, LADY HERVEY. 
 
 Old Orpheus, that hushand so civil, 
 
 He foUow'd his wife down to hell ; 
 And who would not go to the devil. 
 For the sake of dear Molly Lepel 1 
 
 Her lips and her breath are much sweeter 
 Than the thing which the Latins call mel ; 
 
 Who would not thus pump for a metre, 
 To chime to dear Molly Lepel ! 
 
 In a bed you have seen pinks and roses, 
 Would you know a more delicate smell. 
 
 Ask the fortunate man who reposes 
 On the bosom of Molly Lepel ! 
 
 'Tis a maxim most fit for a lover, 
 
 If he kisses he never should tell ; 
 But no tongue can ever discover 
 
 His pleasure with Molly Lepel ! 
 
 Heaven keep our good king from a rising. 
 
 But that rising who 's fitter to quell. 
 Than some lady with beauty surprising, 
 
 And who should that be but Lepel ! 
 
 If Curll would print me this sonnet, 
 To a volume my verses should swell, 
 
 A fig for what Dennis says on it. 
 He can never find fault with Lepel ! 
 
 Then Handel to music shall set it. 
 
 Through England my ballad shall sell ; 
 
 And all the world readily get it, 
 To sing to the praise of Lepel ! 
 
 Lord Chesterfield writes to his son, on the 22nd 
 of October, 1750, " Lady Hervey, to my great joy, 
 because to your great advantage, passes all this 
 winter at Paris. She has been bred all her life in 
 courts, of which she has acquired all the easy good-
 
 R. MACKRETH. 217 
 
 breeding and politeness, without the frivolousness." 
 And again he writes, on the 28th of February 
 following, " The word pleasing always puts me in 
 mind of Lady Hervey. Pray tell her that I declare 
 her responsible to me for your pleasing; that I 
 consider her as a pleasing Falstaff, who not only 
 jdeases herself, but is the cause of pleasing in 
 others." In October 1720 she became the wife 
 of the celebrated John Lord Hervey, and died 2nd 
 September, 1768, having recently completed her 
 sixty-eighth year. 
 
 R. MACKRETH * TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 White's, April 5th, 1763. 
 SIR, 
 
 Having quitted business entirely, and let my 
 house to the Cherubim, who is my near relation, 
 I humbly beg leave, after returning you my most 
 grateful thanks for all favours, to recommend him 
 to your patronage, not doubting, by the long experi- 
 ence I have had of his fidelity, but that he will 
 strenuously endeavour to oblige. 
 
 I am, sir, 
 Your most dutiful, and much obliged humble servant, 
 
 R. Mackreth. 
 
 * Proprietor of " White's."
 
 218 EARL OF MARCH. 
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH * TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Newmarket, Wednesday Morning. [April, 1763.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 It is decided to stay here to-day, to-morrow, 
 and Friday, in order to dine in London with 
 you at Old Almack's, if you are not engaged, or 
 at your own house, whichever you like best. Let 
 them know at my house that I shall be in town 
 between three and four. You talk to me of 
 Wilkes' affair as if I had been in London. f I 
 only know that he deserves to be put in the pillory 
 for his abuse of Government, and I shall be very 
 glad to hear that he is severely punished. I have 
 lost a little, on the whole, by the last meeting. 
 Adieu ! till Friday. Yours most affectionately, 
 
 M. & R. 
 P.S. As my coach-horses will not be in town, I 
 wish you would order your servant to hire a coach 
 for the Tondino, that she may have an equipage for 
 Ranelagh. 
 
 * Afterwards Duke of Queensberry. 
 
 f On the 23rd of this month Wilkes published the memorable 
 No. 45 of the North Briton, in which he commented on the 
 King's speech with such unlicensed bitterness, that he was arrest- 
 ed and sent to the Tower.
 
 219 
 
 THE HON. MRS. HERVEY. 
 
 Anne, daughter of Francis Coghlan, Esq., a 
 counsellor of law in Ireland, had the misfortune, in 
 1744, to become the wife of the Hon. Thomas Her- 
 vey, second son of John, first Earl of Bristol. ]\Ir. 
 Hervey, or, as he was usually styled, "Tom Her- 
 vey," was not the least remarkable member of that 
 former generation of the Bristol family, to whose 
 eccentricities Lady Townshend referred in her well- 
 known remark, that " God had made men, women, 
 and Herveys." He figures as a strange compound 
 of wit, talent, and reckless profligacy ; to which may 
 be added, a perversion of intellect, which bordered 
 closely on insanity. One of his peculiarities was 
 that of making frequent appeals to the public, in 
 matters which had reference entirely to his domes- 
 tic differences and private concerns. These appeals 
 were usually made in the form of a printed circular 
 letter, which he distributed among his more inti- 
 mate friends. His letter to Sir Thomas Hanmer, 
 written after his elopement with Lady Hanmer, is 
 well known ; but it was chiefly his printed attacks 
 on his unhai)py wife which displayed to the world 
 the thorough malignity of his nature, and the de- 
 pravity of his heart. Two of these attacks, the 
 one a letter to Lord Shclburne, and the other ad- 
 dressed to Colonel Burgoyne, are now before the
 
 220 THE HON. MRS. HERVEY 
 
 editor ; and are distinguished by an indecency of 
 language and an indelicacy of detail, as well as 
 by the basest aspersions of private character, and 
 even an exposure of secret j^hysical infirmities, which 
 are only to be accounted for on the supposition 
 that their miserable author laboured under partial 
 insanity. It is to one of these infamous attacks 
 that Mrs. Hervey alludes in the following letter. 
 Mr. Hervey died on the 20tli of January, 1775. 
 " Though a vicious man," remarked Dr. Johnson, 
 "he was one of the genteelest men that ever lived." 
 
 THE HON. MRS. HERVEY TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Bond Street, May 25th, 1763. 
 
 Mrs Hervey presents her compliments to Mr. 
 Selwyn, and shall be infinitely beholden to him, 
 if he will take the trouble to get for her some- 
 thing Mr. Hervey has got printed in relation to 
 her, the particulars of which she cannot learn, but 
 is informed, at large, contains most scandalous abuse 
 of her. She is not certain whether he has sent 
 it to Arthur's, but knows it has been read at 
 Saunders's. She is sensible no delicate or prudent 
 person would chuse to draw this extraordinary gen- 
 tleman's resentments and scurrility on himself; 
 therefore she pledges her veracity to Mr. Selwyn, 
 that she will never confess that she had the least 
 assistance from him, if he will be so compassionate
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 221 
 
 as to get this shameful pamphlet for her ; for with- 
 out seeing it she must remain in the utmost dilemma 
 as to her proceedings. 
 
 INIrs. Hervey's relations (who have great good- 
 ness and justice towards her) have kept her in igno- 
 rance of this matter, from -their reluctance to give 
 her new affliction ; but in an affair, where character 
 is in question, she can accept no guide but lawyers ; 
 and, till she sees the horrid libel, cannot know 
 whether she is injured enough to be redressed, but 
 believes the law can defend her from no slander 
 from ]Mr. Hervey, but a denial of her marriage. 
 She is incapable of wishing to retaliate any wrongs 
 on him, or inflicting any punishment that might 
 come within her power. All she wishes is a release 
 fi-om a house he has made dangerous to stay in? 
 and should this pamphlet help her to the means, 
 she will pardon every other consequence of it, 
 and be for ever grateful to Mr. Selwyn if he will 
 procure it for her. She is told there are letters 
 in it Mr. Hervey says he wrote to her. She has 
 every one she ever did receive now in her posses- 
 sion, and thinks it so improbable he should have 
 preserved copies, that she fears they may be dis- 
 graceful fictions she ought not to let pass for letters 
 accepted by her. Poor Mr. Johnson disdains con- 
 cealment when conscience is in question, but till 
 she sees the pamphlet, she knows not how he 
 can help her, and dare not send for him to this 
 house.
 
 222 THE HON. MRS. HERVEY. 
 
 Mrs. Hervey has been told Lord Beaucliamp 
 has now this strange work in his hands, and that 
 Lord Ilchester also has it ; so she thinks Mr. 
 Selwyn cannot fail to get it. She is really made 
 so nervous by all this disgrace to herself, and morti- 
 fication to Mr. Hervey's family, but her hand shakes 
 too much to write, and her head is in such pain 
 and confusion she scarcely knows what she does 
 write. She hopes Mr. Selwyn will pardon the 
 great liberty she takes with him. 
 
 [The individual alluded to in this letter as " poor 
 Mr. Johnson," is unquestionably the celebrated Dr. 
 Samuel Johnson, whose partiality for the Hervey 
 family, and more especially for the memory of his 
 early friend, Henry Hervey, the elder brother of 
 Mr. Thomas Hervey, is well known. Dr. Johnson, 
 more than twenty years after the date of the 
 foregoing letter, speaking to Bos well of his youth- 
 ful associate, Henry Hervey, observed, " He was a 
 vicious man, but very kind to me : if you call a 
 dog Hervey, I shall love him." 
 
 The little information which we possess in regard to 
 Johnson's participation in the matrimonial misunder- 
 standing of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hervey, is thus 
 recorded by Boswell : " The Hon. Thomas Hervey 
 and his lady having unhappily disagreed, and being 
 about to separate, Johnson interfered as their friend, 
 and wrote him a letter of expostulation, which I 
 have not been able to find ; but the substance of
 
 THE HON. MRS. HERVEY. 223 
 
 it is ascertained by a letter to Johnson in answer 
 to it, which JNIr. Hervey printed. The occasion 
 of this correspondence between Dr. Johnson and 
 Mr. Hervey, was thus related to me by Mr. Beau- 
 clerk : ' Tom Hervey had a great liking- for John- 
 son, and in his will had left him a legacy of fifty 
 pounds. One day he said to me, ' Johnson may 
 want this money now more than afterwards : I have 
 a mind to give it him directly : will you be so 
 good as to carry a fifty-pound note from me to 
 him V This I positively refused to do, as he might 
 perhaps, have knocked me down for insulting him, 
 and have afterwards put the note in his pocket. 
 But I said, if Hervey would write him a letter 
 and enclose a fifty-pound note, I should take care 
 to deliver it. He accordingly did write him a 
 letter, mentioning, that he was only paying a legacy 
 a little sooner. To his letter he added, ' P.S. I am 
 going to part imtli my wife.'' Johnson then wrote 
 to him, saying nothing of the note, but remonstrat- 
 ing with him against parting with his wife.' " 
 
 " When I mentioned to Johnson this story," adds 
 Boswell, " in as delicate terms as I could, he told 
 me that the fifty-pound note was given to him by 
 Mr. Hervey in consideration of his having written 
 for him a pamphlet against Sir Charles Hanbury 
 \yilliams, who, Mr. Hervey imagined, was the author 
 of an attack upon liini ; but that it was afterwards 
 discovered to be the work of a garreteer, who wrote
 
 224 THE HON. MRS. HERVEY. 
 
 ' The Fool : ' the pamphlet therefore against Sir 
 Charles was not printed."" 
 
 " This," observes Mr. Croker, " is not inconsistent 
 with Mr. Beauclerk's account. It may have been 
 in consideration of this pamphlet that Hervey left 
 Johnson the fifty pounds in his will ; and, on second 
 thoughts, he may have determined to send it to 
 him. It were, however, to be wished that the 
 story had stood on its original ground. The accej^t- 
 ance of an anticipated legacy from a friend, would 
 have had nothing objectionable in it ; but can so 
 much be said for the emi^loyment of one's pen 
 for hire, in the disgusting squabbles of so mis- 
 chievous and profligate a madman as Mr. Thomas 
 Hervey ?" 
 
 The circumstance of Sir Charles Hanbury Wil- 
 liams having, in his inimitable lampoons, frequently 
 attacked the celebrated John Lord Hervey, the 
 elder brother of Mr. Thomas Hervey, may probably 
 have induced the latter to believe that Sir Charles 
 was also the author of the pamphlet, which he 
 had engaged Dr. Johnson to answer. The real 
 author of the pamphlet, as we are informed by Mr. 
 Croker, was a Mr. William Horsley, whose ephe- 
 meral literary reputation died with himself]
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS. 225 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 14th June, 1763. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 This place is already as thin as a country 
 village : Bully,* and his wife, are gone lovingly to 
 Lydiardjf but he has taken a house in Windsor 
 Forest, and "Cliveden's^'; proud alcove" is again 
 fitting up for the reception of modern wantons. It 
 is so long since the Richmond masquerade,^ I had 
 almost forgotten to mention it. Shelly sent me 
 a ticket. It was a very line sight, but not other- 
 wise entertaining ; no remarkable event, only old 
 Gunninsr in a Grecian sailor's habit, and there was 
 a white-satin priest, who from his not unmasking 
 
 * Lord Bolingbroke. In the course of these letters he will be 
 found usually denominated by this familiar abbreviation. See 
 post, July, 1766. 
 
 t Lydiard Tregoze, in Wiltshire, the ancient seat of the 
 Bolingbroke family in that county. 
 
 I Cliveden, near Maidenhead, where, it is unnecessary to re- 
 mind the reader, that the witty George Villiers, Duke of Bucking- 
 ham, wantoned with his abandoned mistress, the Countess of 
 Shrewsbury, whose husband he had killed in a duel. 
 
 Gallant and gay in Cliveden's proud alcove. 
 The bower of wanton Shrewsbury and love. 
 
 Cliveden was afterwards the residence of Lady Orkney, the 
 mistress of William the Third, and subsequently of Frederick 
 Prince of Wales, It is now [1843] the residence of Sir George 
 Warrender. 
 
 § A splendid masquerade, given by the Uuke of Richmond 
 at his house in Privy Gardens, on the 4th of June, the birth-day 
 of George the Third. 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 GILLY WILLIAMS. 
 
 the whole night was taken for Lord Bath,* but 
 
 proved at last to be . Lord B. is returned from 
 
 Harrowgate, and says he finds such thorough con- 
 tent and happiness in a private life, that it is con- 
 jectured he never will embark again in the stormy 
 ocean of politics. 
 
 Wilkes and his crew seem to have worn them- 
 selves out. Temple f is retired to Stow, and all 
 the contents and non-contents seem inclined to 
 hold their tongues till they meet at Westminster. 
 Will Hervey died of an apoplexy at Wanstead. 
 He had hunted in the morning, and was in a boat 
 on the water, talking to Mr. G. Grenville, when 
 he was taken speechless, and expired presently. To 
 show you that Mr. Thomas Hervey is alive and 
 well, I have enclosed you an advertisement, which 
 he published but yesterday against his wife, not- 
 withstanding its date. Let me hear you are well 
 the first opportunity, and believe me to be, 
 
 Yours ever. 
 To G. A. Selwyn, Esq., 
 at Mr. Foley's, Banker, at Paris, 
 
 The following is the advertisement alluded to in 
 
 this letter : — 
 
 "Bond Street, May 4, 1763. 
 "Whereas, Mrs. Hervey has been three times 
 
 * William Pulteney, the celebrated statesman and wit, was 
 created Earl of Bath July 14, 1742, and died June 8, 1764. See 
 post, 10 July, 1764. 
 
 f Richard, first Earl Temple, K.G. He died September 11, 
 1779.
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH. 227 
 
 from home the last year, and at least as often the 
 year before, without either my leave or privity ; 
 and likewise encouraged her son to persist in the 
 same rebellious practises ; I hereby declare, that 
 I neither am nor will be accountable for any future 
 debts of hers whatever : she is now keeping forci- 
 ble possession of my house, to which I never did 
 invite, or ever thought of inviting her, in all my 
 life." Thomas Hervey." 
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Tuesday, after dinner. [June 1763.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I RECEIVED your letters from Paris at the lodge, 
 where I stayed the w^hole week. I won the first 
 day above 2000/., of which I brought off about 
 1500/. As all things are exaggerated, I am sup- 
 posed to have won at least twice as much. 
 
 I can say nothing to you about Paris or Spa, 
 because I am quite undetermined, and there is 
 always something to do here that I wish to stay 
 for. The Duchess of Hamilton sets out for Paris 
 Wednesday week, and the Duke and Duchess of 
 Ancaster * will go about the same time. I was 
 to-day at Leicester House, to kiss hands for the 
 
 * Peregrine, third Duice of Ancaster, and his Duchess, Mary, 
 daughter of Thomas Panton, Esq., afterwards Mistress of the 
 Robes to Queen Charlotte. 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 THE EARL OF MARCH. 
 
 riband. Lady Augusta* inquired after you in 
 the most gracious and good-humoured manner that 
 can be imagined. She said you had saved your 
 fine coat for the king's birth-day. I told her I 
 was sure you would not be so economical upon 
 another occasion,! ^^^ ^^^^ jou intended to re- 
 turn on purpose to pay your respect to her. 
 
 The masquerade was very numerous and very 
 fine. Old Gunning | was there in a running- 
 footman's habit, with Lady Coventry's picture hung 
 at his button-hole, like a croz> de St. Louis.^ Tom 
 Hervey has advertised his wife, which advertise- 
 ment Williams is to give you an account of. The 
 Bedfords are all arrived. Lord Tavistock dined 
 
 * The Princess Augusta, eldest child of Frederick Prince of 
 Wales, and sister of George the Third, was born July 31, 1737, 
 and was remarkable for personal beauty, and the gentleness of 
 her disposition She married, on the 16th January, 1764, the 
 hereditary Prince of Brunswick Wolfenbuttle, and died in Eng- 
 land, on the 22nd March, 1813. 
 
 + Alluding to the approaching marriage of the princess, which 
 took place in the month of January following. 
 
 '^ John Gunning, Esq., of Castle Coote, county of Roscom- 
 mon, father of the beautiful Lady Coventry, and of the Duchess 
 of Hamilton. 
 
 § The gay world was very nearly being disappointed of this 
 splendid entertainment, by the sudden illness of the Duke of 
 Richmond. Horace Walpole writes to George Montagu on the 
 1st of June, " There has been a sad alarm in the kingdom of 
 white satin and muslin. The Duke of Richmond was seized last 
 night with a sore throat and fever ; and though he is much better 
 to-day, the masquerade of to-morrow night is put off till Monday. 
 Many a Queen of Scots, from sixty to sixteen, has been ready 
 to die of the fright." — Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 284.
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS. 229 
 
 here to-day, with d'Uson and M. de Fleury. 
 
 INIadaine de Boiifflers was at Lady Mary Coke's 
 
 for two days in the Ascot week ; she is now at 
 
 Sion Hill. 
 
 I have eat so much dinner that what I have 
 already Avritten makes my head ache, so I am just 
 going to take a walk in the park, it being now 
 past eight, and the finest evening that ever was. 
 I will write again soon, and more intelligibly, and 
 when I know wdiat I intend doing, I will let 
 you know it. Tondino e in collera, dicendo die 
 la littera non e andata subito. Farewell, my dear 
 George ! Yours most aifectionately, 
 
 JMarch & R. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Saturday, June 18. [1763.] 
 
 Ten thousand thanks to you, my dear George, 
 for your long letter, which I will pretend to re- 
 turn by equal quantity. Poor Paris ! if it was not 
 for a Grimaldi, and a few extravagant heirs ap- 
 ]iarent from England, you might as well live in 
 the provinces. I wonder at your assurance in talk- 
 ing of staying till the wxdding. Surely you reckon 
 without your host, for I really believe you will not 
 see March till you meet him on this side of, what 
 the sailors call, the herring-pond. He gave a 
 breakfast and concert yesterday to the Bouffler;* 
 
 * La Comtcsse de Boufflers. See post, p. 233.
 
 230 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 the Bladens were not there, having retired for the 
 summer season into the country. Panton said 
 it went oif rather heavy, and he himself came 
 to eat strawberries at Betty's,* long before it was 
 finished. 
 
 Your child Nanny,f for I'll call her nobody's 
 else, (and, indeed, she ought to have been laid 
 at your door,) is the better for the sea air. The 
 little boy ^ is just come up to school, and says 
 his sister is the admiration of the whole place ; 
 this you will believe, though its father neither 
 knows nor cares anything about it. 
 
 You will not be surprised at Willis losing 
 wagers. He has lost a very extraordinary one 
 at Oatland's, for 20/., in running against Jack Shel- 
 ley,^ who was to have his hands tied behind him. 
 
 * A celebrated fruit shop in St. James's Street, where men of 
 fashion met to discuss the gossip of the day. 
 
 + Lady Anne Coventry, second daughter of the beautiful 
 countess, was born in 1756, and consequently at this period was 
 in her eighth year. It will be seen by subsequent letters, that 
 Selwyn, who loved children almost as much as he delighted in 
 executions, took a singular interest in this little girl, and indeed 
 regarded her with almost as much aflfection as if she had been 
 his own child. Lady Anne grew to woman's estate, and married, 
 first, in 1778, the Hon. Edward Foley, which marriage was dis- 
 solved in 1787 ; and secondly, Captain Samuel Wright. 
 
 ij: George William, afterwards seventh Earl of Coventry. He 
 died March 26th, 1831. 
 
 § John Shelley, Esq., father of the present (sixth) baronet. 
 He was the eldest son of Sir John Shelley, Bart., of Maresfield 
 Park, Sussex, by Margaret, daughter of Thomas Lord Pelham, 
 and sister of the first Duke of Newcastle, the celebrated minister.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 231 
 
 You see how great men can trifle ! Scipio and 
 others have done it, which old Peachy always ob- 
 served on those occasions. Coventry dined yester- 
 day at Claremont.* The dinner consisted of Lord 
 Spencer,! the Rockinghams, little Villiers, Lord 
 Lyttelton:j: ~and his son, General Mostyn, and his- 
 lordship. The whole play lay between his grace 
 and the general, who, they say, defended himself 
 with a wonderful presence of mind. 
 
 Coventry is going down to Crome, with Jack 
 Shelley, Powerscourt, and the whole Richmond 
 click, to entertain Lady Kildare,^ who is drink- 
 ing tlie waters at Malvern. This party will put 
 
 Mr. Shelley held, at different periods, the appointments of 
 Keeper of the Records in the Tower, Clerk of the Pipe, and 
 Treasurer of the Household. He was also a member of Par- 
 liament, and a Privy Counsellor. In September 1771 he suc- 
 ceeded his father as fifth baronet, and died on the 11th of Sep- 
 tember, 1783. 
 
 * At this period the residence of Thomas, first Duke of New- 
 castle, the celebrated minister. 
 
 t John, first Earl Spencer, father of the beautiful Duchess of 
 Devonshire, and celebrated, if not immortalized, in verse, by his 
 son-in-law William, fifth Duke of Devonshire : 
 
 All posterity should know 
 How pure a spirit warmed the dust below. 
 
 I George, first Baron Lyttelton, the author of the " Monody," 
 and of the " History of Henry the Second." His son, here 
 alluded to, was Thomas, second Baron Lyttelton, the hero of 
 the celebrated ghost- story. 
 
 § Amelia Mary, daughter of Charles Lennox, second Duke 
 of Richmond, and wife of James, twentieth Earl of Kildare, 
 afterwards first Duke of Leinster, She died in 1814.
 
 232 GILLY WILLIAMS. 
 
 even the mountain in motion. I was glad to hear 
 so good an account of Lord Holland, for I shall 
 always think myself obliged to him, and most 
 certainly to you for making me so. Our Short- 
 grove party begins next week. March and Dick 
 Vernon begin to whisper about some sweepstakes 
 at Huntingdon, where, I believe, you have not 
 been since you lent that kindly assistance to D. 
 Hamilton. You will very soon see the Duchess 
 and Lord Lome, though I believe they move im- 
 mediately southward. Bateman and his wife are 
 preparing for the Spa. The Duchess of Marl- 
 borough* is better, though some disagreeable 
 operation is still to be performed. I have not 
 positively resolved on my destination for the sum- 
 mer, though in the autumn I hold myself engaged 
 to you at Crome and elsewhere ; but in the mean 
 time let me hear often from you, for no one can 
 love you and esteem you more than, Yours ever. 
 
 P.S. Lady Townshend gave us yesterday a din- 
 ner, which Clanbrassilf was to have given, with 
 Keith. Poor man ! he seems going on a much 
 longer embassy to the next world, and had scarce 
 breath enough to answer half the questions re- 
 lating to Peter and his humane consort. 
 
 * Caroline, daughter of John fourth Duke of Bedford, and 
 wife of George, third Duke of Marlborough. She died in 1811. 
 
 f James Hamilton, second Viscount Clanbrassil in Ireland, 
 was advanced to the earldom of Clanbrassil November 13, 1756. 
 He was a member of the Privy Council, and Chief Remem- 
 brancer of the Court of Exchequer,
 
 MADAME DE BOUFFLERS. 233 
 
 [La Comtesse de Boufflers, whose name occurs 
 in this and in several subsequent letters, was a 
 person of considerable celebrity in her day. Not 
 content with a reputation for wit, gallantry, and 
 fashion, and with being regarded as a leader of 
 the bo7i ton in Paris, she was eager in acquiring 
 literary fame. During her stay in England she 
 paid a visit to Dr. Johnson, the particulars of which 
 were thus related to Boswell by Topham Beauclerk : 
 " When ^ladame de Boufflers was first in England, 
 she was desirous to see Johnson ; I accordingly 
 went with her to his chambers in the Temple, 
 where she was entertained with his conversation 
 for some time. When our visit was over, she 
 and I left him, and were got into Inner Temple 
 Lane, when all at once I heard a voice like thunder. 
 This was occasioned by Johnson, who, it seems, 
 upon a little reflection, had taken it into his head 
 that he ought to have done the honours of his 
 literary residence to a foreign lady of quality, 
 and, eager to show himself a man of gallantry, 
 was hurrying down the staircase in violent agi- 
 tation. He overtook us before we reached the 
 Temple Gate, and, brushing in between me and 
 Madame de Boufflers, seized her hand and con- 
 ducted her to her coach. His dress was a rusty- 
 brown morning suit, a ])air of old shoes by way 
 of slippers, a little shrivelled wig on the top of 
 his head, and the sleeves of his shirt and the 
 kuees of his breeches hanging loose. A consi-
 
 234 EARL OF MARCH 
 
 derable crowd of people gathered round, and were 
 not a little struck by this singular appearance." 
 Horace Walpole says of Madame de Boufflers — 
 " She is very sensible, and has a measured elo- 
 quence that is just and pleasing, but all is spoiled 
 by an unrelaxed attention to applause : you Avould 
 think she was always sitting for her picture to 
 her biographer." She was the mistress of the 
 Prince de Conti, and is said to have been ex- 
 tremely anxious to be made his wife.] 
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Seymour Place, Tuesday, 21 June, 1763. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 Voiis etes charmant pour les commissions, and 
 the best correspondent in the world ; I like every- 
 thing you have sent me as well as if I had chose 
 them myself. 
 
 INIy tailor, Davenport, is going to Paris in a 
 few days. I have given him directions about my 
 clothes, and I have desired he will consult you, 
 which I do that he may not impose upon me as 
 to the price, which you will take care of. My 
 going abroad appears every day more uncertain, 
 so that I am very glad you went without staying 
 for me. 
 
 I have not seen the Duchess of Bedford and 
 the Duke, only for a few minutes at court. They
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 235 
 
 are now at Woburn. JNIadame de Boufflers went 
 there last Sunday, and from thence she goes to 
 the Duke of Grafton at Wakefield.* I have some 
 thoughts of going to Woburn on Thursday : that 
 is a visit I must absolutely make, and I should 
 like to have done it when Madame de Boufflers 
 was there : perhaps I may find her. The Mar- 
 grave d'Anspach, and a great many foreigners, 
 are to dine here to-morrow. I believe you was 
 gone before the Margrave came. You know he 
 is very nearly related to the royal family, and 
 a sovereign prince. JNIy dinner is a rebound of 
 one we had at Eglinton's. 
 
 I saw Williams this morning at White's ; he 
 inquired after you. Coventry is going in a few 
 days to the country to entertain the Duke of 
 York,f who is to make him a visit in his way 
 to Scarborough. Pray make my best compliments 
 to M. de Nivernois. The little Tondino is now 
 writing you a letter. She has had a spiriti bas- 
 sini. Adieu, my dear George ; I have a visit 
 to make the Duke of Queensberry, who goes to- 
 morrow to Scotland. It is past six, and I am 
 not yet dressed. 
 
 Yours, March & R. 
 
 * Wakefield Lodge in Whittlcbury Forest, Northamptonshire, 
 the seat of the Duke of Grafton. 
 
 t Edward Augustus Duke of York, brother of George the 
 Third. He died at Monaco in Italy, September 1 7, 1 767, at the 
 age of twenty-eight.
 
 236 
 
 MISS MARY TOWNSHEND. 
 
 Miss Mary Townshend was born on the 24th 
 of March, 1734. She was the daughter of the 
 Hon. Thomas Townshend,* by Albinia, daughter 
 of Colonel John Selwyn, and was consequently 
 niece to George Selwyn. Several pleasing and 
 sensible letters of this lady will be found in the 
 present collection. 
 
 MISS MARY TOWNSHEND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Frognal, 23 June. [1763.] 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I HAD the pleasure of receiving your very 
 kind and obliging letter on Saturday. The Duke 
 of Richmond's masquerade, I hear, succeeded ex- 
 tremely well : everything was magnificent and well- 
 conducted. The mask whose ingenuity I hear 
 most of was Mr. Augustus Hervey, who was per- 
 fectly disguised, and attacked everybody, Miss C.f 
 
 * See ante, p. 132. 
 
 t Evidently Miss Chudleigh, afterwards the celebrated 
 Duchess of Kingston. Mr. Augustus Hervey, who afterwards 
 succeeded as third Earl of Bristol, was her husband. At this 
 period they had been married nineteen years, though, from 
 peculiar and prudential motives, both parties connived in keeping 
 their union a secret.
 
 MISS MARY TOWNSIIEND. 237 
 
 not excepted. I was not without amusement that 
 evening, though I had excused myself going to 
 the ball, as INIiss Pelham was so good as to come 
 here for that night, and was very good com- 
 pany. 
 
 I hope you will not forget the visit to St. 
 Cyr,* that you promised me to make, to search 
 
 * St. Cyr, it is almost needless to remark, was the famous and 
 splendid establishment of Madame de Maintenon, for the gratu- 
 itous education of three hundred young ladies of family and small 
 fortune^ for which she herself drew up the rules, and where she 
 secluded herself from the world after the death of her husband, 
 Louis the Fourteenth. Horace Walpole, in a letter to George 
 Montagu, gives the following interesting account of a visit which 
 he paid to St. Cyr in 1769 : — " The first thing I desired to see 
 was Madame de Maintenon's apartment. It consists of two 
 small rooms, a library, and a very small chamber, the same in 
 which the Czar saw her, and in which she died. The bed is 
 taken away, and the room covered now with bad pictures of the 
 royal family, which destroys the gravity and simplicity. It is 
 wainscotted with oak, with plain chairs of the same, covered 
 with dark blue damask. Everywhere else the chairs are of 
 blue cloth. The simplicity and extreme neatness of the whole 
 house, which is vast, are very remarkable. A large apartment 
 above, (for that I have mentioned is on the ground floor,) con- 
 sisting of five rooms, and destined by Louis Quatorze for Ma- 
 dame de Maintenon, is now the infirmary, with neat white linen 
 beds, and decorated with every text of Scripture by which could 
 be insinuated that the foundress was a queen. The hour of 
 vespers being come, we were conducted to the chapel ; and, as 
 it was my curiosity that had led us thither, I was placed in the 
 Maintenon's own tribune, my company in the adjoining gallery. 
 The pensioners two and two, each band headed by a nun, march 
 orderly to their seats, and sing the whole service, which I confess 
 was not a little tedious. The young ladies, to the number of
 
 238 MISS MARY TOWNSHEND 
 
 for some vestige of our old friends. I was in 
 the right not to accept of your invitation to go 
 to Paris, as I should appear so very ancient by 
 inquiring after peojile all of the last age. For 
 your sake I wish I had profited more by their 
 acquaintance, and was capable of making a trifling 
 letter amusing. 
 
 The most remarkable event I have heard of 
 since your departure, is the arrival of a French 
 officer with a leaden coffin and a young child, 
 who went directly to Lord Luxborough's house, 
 and told him that the coffin contained his child, 
 
 two hundred and fifty, are dressed in black, with short aprons 
 of the same, the latter and their stays bound with blue, yellow, 
 green, or red, to distinguish the classes ; the captains and lieu- 
 tenants have knots of a diiFerent colour, for distinction. Their 
 hair is curled and powdered, their coiffure a sort of French round- 
 eared cap, with white tippets, a sort of ruff and large tucker ; in 
 short, a very pretty dress. The nuns are entirely in black, with 
 crape veils and long trains, deep white handkerchiefs, and fore- 
 head cloths, and a very long train. The chapel is plain but very 
 pretty ; and in the middle of the choir, under a flat marble, lies 
 the ■ foundress. Madame de Cambis, one of the nuns, who are 
 about forty, is beautiful as a Madonna, The abbess has no distinc- 
 tion but a larger and richer gold cross ; her apartment consists of 
 two very small rooms. We were shown some rich reliquaries, 
 and the corpo santo that was sent to her by the Pope. We were 
 then carried into the public room of each class. In the first, the 
 young ladies, who were playing at chess, were ordered to sing to 
 us the choruses of Athaliah ; in another they danced minuets and 
 country-dances, while a nun, not quite so able as St. Cecilia, played 
 on a violin. In the others, they acted before us the proverbs, or 
 conversations, written by Madame de Maintenon for their instrue-
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 239 
 
 who bad married him since she left England, and 
 had died in child-bed of the child he had brouffbt 
 with him. Lord Luxborongh, though he had never 
 heard of the marriage, without further inquiry has 
 taken officer, leaden coffin, and child into his 
 house, and is very fond of them all. I doubt that 
 none of our poor half-pay captains will find out 
 such an ingenious way of providing for themselves. 
 All here desire to be most kindly remembered 
 to you. 
 
 tion ; for she was not only their foundress but their saint, and 
 their adoration of her memory has quite edipsed the Virgin 
 Mary. We saw their dormitory, and saw them at supper ; and 
 at last were carried to their archives, where they produced 
 volumes of her letters, and where one of the nuns gave me a 
 small piece of paper with three sentences in her handwriting. 
 I forgot to tell you that this kind dame, who took to me ex- 
 tremely, asked me if we had many convents and many relics in 
 England. I was much embarrassed, for fear of destroying her 
 good opinion of me, and so said we had but few now. Oh ! 
 we went to the apothicaire, where they treated us with cordials, 
 and where one of the ladies told me inoculation was a sin, as 
 it was a voluntary detention from mass, and as voluntary a 
 cause of eating gi-as. Our visit concluded in the garden, now 
 grown very venerable, where the young ladies played at little 
 games before us. After a stay of four hours, we took our leave." 
 — Walpole's Correspondence, vol. v. p. 257.
 
 240 THE EARL OF MARCH. 
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Hotel de Tondino, Saturday morning. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, , 
 
 When I returned from Lord Shelburne's,* I 
 was quite surprised to find you were gone. I did 
 not get up till near two, and I promised to be 
 there at three ; dinner being ordered at that time 
 that Madame de Boufflers might be in time for 
 the play. I found them at dinner when I came ; 
 Lady Mary C. and Monsieur and Madame d'Uson. 
 I expected it would have been a larger party. 
 
 I am now just setting out for Newmarket. The 
 Tondino is a good deal better ; and, as she thinks 
 the air of the country will do her good, 1 shall 
 take her with me, though I return to-morrow. 
 I have called on M. de Nivernois to take leave, 
 but he was not up, so I shall call again. The 
 d'Usons and Boufflers are set out this morning 
 upon their jDrogress. Adieu, my dear George. 
 
 Yours very sincerely and affectionately. 
 
 * William, second Earl of Shelburne, the friend and follower 
 of the great Lord Chatham. He became first minister on the 
 death of the Marquis of Rockingham in 1782, but retired from 
 office on the accession of Mr. Pitt, by whom he was created, in 
 1784, Marquis of Lansdowne. His death took place May 7, 
 1805.
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS. 241 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Wednesday, June 29, 1763. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 Till I received your last, I was afraid you 
 had either broke your banker, or kept up so little 
 correspondence with him, that he never delivered 
 your letters. I find your plan is again altered, and 
 that you do not go to Spa with Lord Holland. 
 That place must be a complete colony of English. 
 Parties are making, from Privy Counsellors down 
 to tavern ^v alters. Lord and Lady Bateman* set 
 out to-morrow ; Jack Sebright f the next day ; 
 Lord and Lady Spencer the day following, and I 
 think I heard the Nailors intended to open a 
 pharaoh-bank in the bishopric of Liege. 
 
 Coventry is just gone down to Crome to open 
 his house for Lady Kiklare, (Sec, who are drinking 
 the jSIalvern waters. The Duke of York sets out, 
 and lies a night or two with the peer to-morrow, 
 on his way to Scarborough ; and who do you think 
 
 * John, second Viscount Bateman in Ireland, M.P. for Wood- 
 stock, Lord Lieutenant of the county of Hereford, a Privy 
 Counsellor, and Master of the Buckhounds. He married July 
 10, 1718, Miss Sambrooke, daughter and coheir of John Sam- 
 brooke, Esq., and niece of Sir Jeremiah Sambrooke, of Gubbins 
 in Hertfordshire. 
 
 f Sir John Sebright, Bart., a lieutenant-general in the array, 
 married, in 1766, Sarah, daughter of Edward Knight, Esq., of 
 Wolverley in Worcestershire, by whom he was the father of 
 the present (seventh) Baronet. He died in March, 1794. 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 he takes, of all his gay companions, as his ser- 
 vant in that journey ? — why, the Baptist ! * Had 
 Bully f been in town, I think it highly probable 
 that he would have been invited to be of the 
 party. In a fortnight he returns, and his present 
 intention is to set out immediately for Paris. 
 
 Bathing agrees with your child, ij^ and I believe 
 the swelling will disperse without an operation. 
 March is well, and I believe will continue jogging 
 on in the dust till Huntingdon races. The Rena 
 and his lordship make frequent excursions to New- 
 market, for, as Lord Beaulieu || observes, at this 
 time of the year nothing is pleasant in this town 
 but the country about it ! Madame Blewflower, 
 as oar Mob calls her, has been at Woburn. Lord 
 Tavistock conveyed her; but, as to the temper of 
 
 * The Hon. Henry St. John, a Groom of the Bedchamber, 
 and subsequently member of Parliament for Wotton Basset, and 
 a colonel in the army. He attended the Duke of York to Italy 
 in 1767, and on the death of his Royal Highness at Monaco, it 
 fell to the melancholy lot of Colonel St. John, then a young- man 
 of pleasure, to escort the remains of his master to England. The 
 origin of his by-name, " the Baptist," by which he is frequently 
 designated in these letters, it is unnecessary to point out. 
 
 f Lord Bolingbroke, elder brother of Henry St. John. (See 
 post, July 30, 1766). Horace Walpole speaks of the two bro- 
 thers as " Lord Corydon and Captain Corydon." Lord Boling- 
 broke was thought to have been too much in the good graces of 
 the beautiful Lady Coventry. 
 
 J Lady Anne Coventry. 
 
 II Edward Hussey, the husband of the beautiful Duchess of 
 Manchester, (see ante, October 1, 1746,) created, May 4, 1762, 
 Baron Beaulieu, of Beaulieu, Hants.
 
 TO GEORGE SEL\\^'N. 243 
 
 her host, her opinion of the place, or the gallan- 
 tries she met there, I am totally ignorant. We 
 have had a most martial review in Hyde Park of 
 all the Guards. N. Berkeley* said they behaved 
 incomparably well, but for the particulars of which 
 I must refer you to Lord Tavistock, who, without 
 l^rejudice or partiality to my countrymen, I will 
 pronounce to be a much prettier man, take him 
 for all in all, than any exotic you can produce in 
 your peregrinations. t 
 
 You are cursed close as to your politics. I 
 want to hear the true "Calcraft quarrel. By a word 
 or two in your last, I am apt to think that all mi- 
 nisterial ideas have not totally subsided in your 
 friend, ;|; and that coelum non animum mutant qui 
 trans mare currunt. I lioj^e the Spa will agree so 
 well with your cousins, Lord Robert Bertie and 
 his sposa, that a child may be the consequence 
 of it ; a report of that sort would give some alarm 
 at Frognal-ll There is no news of Cadogan as yet. 
 
 * Norborne Berkeley, afterwards Lord Bottetourt. He died, 
 unmarried, in 1770. The title is now merged in the Dukedom of 
 Beaufort. See post, January 8, 1765. 
 
 t Francis, Marquis of Tavistock, son of John Duke of Bed- 
 ford, was born in 1739, and died, in the life-time of his father, 
 in 17G7. The circumstances of his melancholy end will here- 
 after be detailed. 
 
 \ Mr. Fox, recently created Baron Holland of Foxley. 
 
 II Lord Robert Bertie, third son of Robert, first Duke of 
 Ancaster, married, April .'3, 17G2, Chctwynd, daughter and co- 
 heir of Montagu Viscount Blundell in Ireland, by whom he had 
 no issue. 
 
 i{ 2
 
 244 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 He is certainly built more for Holland than Paris, 
 and I do not wonder at the preference which he 
 gives to his compatriots. 
 
 I think you give yourself airs as to the Princess,* 
 and the fine things she says of you. I believe that 
 Lady Charlotte only humbugs you to make you 
 smuggle some lace, and not to serve her as you 
 did the last time in regard to the doll. If the 
 following makes you laugh as much as it did me, 
 my pains are answered in copying it. Bunny -f- 
 wanted a cook ; takes one that advertized herself ; 
 writes to her late master, Lord Berkeley of Stjat- 
 ton's brother, for her character, and desires the 
 answer may be directed to Lord Coventry in Gros- 
 venor Square, which comes as follows : — 
 
 " Sir, or madam, the first letter of the name 
 does not distinguish the sex. Cath. York is the 
 best cook I have had in twenty years or more, that 
 I have kept house. She may have lived here about 
 ten months. I believe her very honest, not extra- 
 vagant in the kitchen ; she is very clean. Her 
 temper is like charcoal, which kindles soon, and 
 sparks to the top of the house. She is passionate, 
 and ungovernably wilful in her own way. We had 
 many quarrels, and bore many faults for the sake 
 
 * Apparently the Princess Augusta. See ante, June, 1763. 
 
 + Apparently Sir Charles Bunbury, recently married to the 
 beautiful Lady Sarah Lennox, daughter of the Duke of Rich- 
 mond,
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 245 
 
 of the table. The final quarrel was, my wife, ae- 
 eordinff to custom, sent her maid to see the other 
 maid's candles out. Cath. York bolted her door, 
 and denied her entrance. I do not charge her 
 with drinking, but with being as impetuous as if 
 she did drink. I was afraid we might be burnt in 
 our beds. I am, &c., &c., C. Berkeley." * 
 
 Will not this jewel of a man make a better cor- 
 respondent than Tom Lane? When you return 
 we will inquire after every servant that has left 
 him since he kept house. 
 
 I will give you a Newgate anecdote, which I 
 had from a gentleman who heard it. He called 
 on P. Lewis the night before the execution, and 
 heard one runner call to another, and order a 
 chicken boiled for Rice's supper ; but, says he, 
 you need not be curious about the sauce, for you 
 know he is to be hanged to-morrow. That is true, 
 says the other, but the Ordinary sups with him, 
 and you know he is a hell of a fellow for butter ! 
 If the Continental air has not altered you, this 
 will please you, at least I have known the time 
 when you have gone a good way for such a morsel. 
 I know your economy, so I will never trangress 
 the bounds of a single sheet, though I could go 
 somewhat further in a fresh one, by telling you 
 
 * Charles, third son of William, fourth Lord Berkeley, of 
 Stratton. He married, in 1745, Frances, daughter of Colonel 
 .lolin West, and died iii 1765.
 
 246 THE EARL OF MARCH 
 
 how much I love you, how much I wish for you, 
 and how sincerely I am, 
 
 My dear George, ever yours. 
 P.S. Lord Digby was of the Thomond party, 
 and desires to be remembered to you. Lady Wal- 
 degrave * has declared herself not with child, A 
 turtle will be dressed to-morrow. 
 
 To George Augustus Selwyn, Esq., 
 at Mr. Foley's, Banker, at Paris. 
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Seymour Place, 1 July, 1763. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 Upon my return from Newmarket last Wednes- 
 day I found your letter, by which I find you wholly 
 despair of me. Whether I shall come or not is 
 rather uncertain. If I do, it will be immediately 
 after Huntingdon, which is the last week in this 
 month. 
 
 * Maria, the beautiful Lady Waldegrave, second daughter of 
 Sir Edward Walpole, K.B., and grand- daughter of Sir Robert 
 Walpole. She married James, second Earl of Waldegrave, a 
 man much older than herself, but apparently distinguished by 
 every endearing and estimable quality. Lord Waldegrave dying 
 April 28, J 763, had left her a widow only a few weeks previous 
 to the date of this letter, and apparently with the prospect of her 
 becoming the mother of a posthumous child. She subsequently 
 married, in 1766, William Henry Duke of Gloucester, brother 
 of George the Third, and died in 1807.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 247 
 
 ^ I did not go to Woburn, so I have that visit 
 to make. This week I have been in waiting, 
 and to-day, being Friday, I have nothing fnrther 
 to do. The King did not take his Lord of the 
 Bedchamber to the review last JNlonday, so that 
 I had that day and Tuesday at Newmarket. The 
 horse-guards are to be reviewed next INIonday ; 
 Elliot's the JNIonday following. 
 
 Since this letter was begun I have been at 
 Madame de Boufflers, who returned last night 
 from her expedition to Woburn and Wakefield, 
 and seems perfectly satisfied with everything here. 
 Beauclerk was at AVoburn. She goes on Sunday 
 to stay a week with Lady Ilolderness at Sion 
 Hill in Lord H.'s absence,* who sets out to-morrow 
 for Yorkshire, and the 23rd for Paris. Williams 
 suspects you begin to be a little seccatored, and 
 that you would like as well to sit down to Saunders' 
 turtle, which is just going to be served up, as to 
 any dinner you can have where you are. I know 
 of nothing new or entertaining to send you. Every- 
 thing goes on as when you left us, and I am always, 
 as much as it is possible. 
 
 Your faithful and affectionate friend, 
 
 M. & R. 
 
 * Robert d'Arcy, fourth and last Earl of Ilolderness, grand- 
 son of the celebrated Duke of Schomberg. He married Mary, 
 daughter of Francis Doublet, member of the States of Holland, 
 and died in 1778, when the earldom of Holderness became extinct.
 
 248 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Clifford Street, July 6, 1 763. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 You write such pamphlets to March and the 
 Countess, that I receive my scrap of paper without 
 the least thankfulness. We dined in Seymour 
 Row yesterday, and agreed your time could not 
 be crowded with amusements, when you had so 
 much left vacant for your pen and ink. 
 
 Cadogan * is come back, and I think much more 
 a Dutch than a French man. He holds Paris and 
 all its pleasures cheap, and prefers our English 
 circulation of the bottle after dinner. 
 
 As I am now going to ask a favour of you, 
 I wish you may be at leisure enough to attend 
 to it. Mrs. Mack, and her sister set out for 
 Paris to-day. You know the helpless condition 
 of two women in such a place without a man 
 to protect them ; therefore, whatever little offices 
 you can do for them in the friendly way, I will 
 most thankfully acknowledge. I should imagine 
 they will be with you at the time you receive 
 this letter. Their first intention was for the Spa, 
 
 * The Hon. Charles Sloane Cadogan, afterwards third Baron, 
 and subsequently created Earl Cadogan. He died April 3, 1807, 
 in his eightieth year. Lady Hervey says of him, " he has an ex- 
 cellent understanding, is a man of worth and principle, and gains 
 more by being well known than most people." — Lady Hervey s 
 Letters, p. 303.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 249 
 
 but Cadogan's account lias changed their route 
 for Paris. 
 
 We had a singular accident yesterday at our 
 review in Hyde Park. jNIy Lord Steward was 
 mounted on a most vicious stone horse, who very 
 soon dismounted his lordship ; after which he 
 seized on Sir W. Briton, whose mare he embraced 
 so closely, that in the scramble poor Sir William's 
 nose was beat flat to his face. He is now in a 
 Inost languishing condition, and will make his 
 next appearance as like your nephew JNIidleton* 
 as your nephew is to ma chere chere. I can send 
 you no particular account of the Crome girls,f 
 as he is in the country entertaining the Duke 
 of York ; there is not one person left in town 
 who knows such people exist. I have not yet 
 fixed mv destination for the remains of the sum- 
 mer ; but at all events I shall hold myself en- 
 gaged for Crome and IMatson in October. 
 
 Horry :i: is taken u]3 with nursing his niece, who 
 bore a most painful operation on her breast very 
 
 * George, third Viscount Midleton. He married, in 1752, 
 Albinia, daughter of the Hon. Thomas Townshend, and niece 
 to George Selwyn. Lord Midleton died the 22nd of September, 
 1765. 
 
 ■\ Lady Mary and Lady Anne Coventry. 
 
 % Horace Walpole. In his letters dated at this period, there 
 are some very interesting notices of the last moments of Lord 
 Waldcgrave, and of the fortitude displayed by his young widow. 
 Lady Waldegrave, it is needless to remark, was the niece of Ho- 
 race Walpole.
 
 250 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 heroically. I believe General Waldegrave * will 
 very soon be declared a successor to the earldom 
 and the moveables thereof. Though I suppose 
 you are up to the throat with soup and the truffles 
 of Perigord, yet we have our dainties too ; and 
 since no less than six turtles are dressed in a day 
 at Cornhill, I believe you would condescend to 
 sit a messmate with our alderman f for a day or 
 two. We are very successful in stealing a plate 
 from them, without paying the tax of keeping 
 them company. 
 
 Adieu, my dear George ! 
 
 I am ever yours, &c. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Monday, July 18, 1763. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 How very different, at present, is your amuse- 
 ment and that of your friends ! You are convers- 
 ing with men of beard and wisdom, while Lord 
 March and I are up half the night with people 
 of a profligate character, singing the " Blue Bells 
 of Ireland," and other songs equally impure and 
 vulgar. I think you cannot expect after this to 
 
 * John, brother of the late lord, succeeded as third Earl of 
 Waldegrave. He was a General in the Army ; Governor of Ply- 
 mouth ; and Master of the Horse to Queen Charlotte. He died 
 October 22, 1784. 
 
 f Alderman Harris of Gloucester. See ante, 14 Nov. 1751.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 251 
 
 see him at Paris, which I o^\'n I rejoice at, as it 
 will in great measure hasten the pleasure of seeing 
 you here. 
 
 We have agreed you love to be coddled in a 
 coach with an old dowager, so expect to see you 
 in the Lorn convoy ; and don't be surprised if you 
 meet old Duke Scapin on the road in a mask, 
 making some certain family demands with a pistol. 
 
 Cov.* is returned to town ; he stays to relieve 
 the distresses of half a dozen half-starved vestals, 
 and then talks of setting out for France. As he 
 is full as helpless as either of the women I have 
 consigned to you, he will equally want your assist- 
 ance. His errand is to buy furniture, to talk of 
 tapestry and glasses, and to pay for importing a 
 worse thing than an English courier could have 
 helped him to. He told us last night his estate 
 was ten thousand per ann., with a debt of fifty. 
 T suppose you would be willing to add to [the] 
 incumbrance very considerably for your own little 
 girl. I have sent them the dolls, and their father 
 visits them on Friday next : they are both much 
 better for the sea-water. 
 
 I met the poor Countess' f Mrs. White in the 
 street this very morning with her stomach up to 
 her chin. She inquired lovingly after you ; I fancy 
 she wants to be taken into your asylum with 
 Kitty. This city, with our court, is not half so 
 
 * Lord Coventry. 
 
 f Maria Gunning, the beautiful Lady Coventry. 
 VOL. I. R fi
 
 252 GILLY WILLIAMS. 
 
 full as yours without it. There is nobody at 
 White's : our jovial club meets at the Star in 
 Garter. Topham Beauclerk is come to reconvey 
 the Boufflers. She is out of patience with our 
 politics, and our ridiculous abuse on every person, 
 who either governs or is likely to govern us. By 
 March's account of her, I dare say she will be 
 infinitely entertaining on her return, with her 
 remarks on a set of people, I suppose, as diiferent 
 from her own as Hottentots. I have notified the 
 presents which Lord Holland is to make to my 
 Lady and Horry.* The latter is gone a progress 
 into Northamptonshire to Lady Betty Germaine's. 
 Is it not surprising how he moves from old Suffolk 
 on the Thames to another old goody on the Tyne ; 
 and does not see the ridicule which he would so 
 strongly paint in any other character ? Believe 
 me to be, my dear George, 
 
 Ever yours, &c., &c. 
 
 [The reader, perhaps, will hardly agree with 
 Williams, that any ridicule is to be attached to 
 Horace Walpole for the homage which he is known 
 to have paid to the venerable, and once celebrated 
 ladies here referred to. Lady Betty Germaine 
 (who, sixty years previous to the date of this 
 letter, had been celebrated in the lively verses 
 of Swift) was the second daughter of Charles, 
 
 * Horace Walpole, and apparently his niece, Liidy Waldegrave, 
 afterwards Duchess of Gloucester.
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS. 253 
 
 second Earl of Berkele}% and widow of Sir John 
 Germaine of Drayton, Northamptonshire, who, at 
 his death in December, 1718, bequeathed her his 
 lars'e estates. Her whole life was distin<>:nislied 
 by acts of goodness and generosity ; while her wit, 
 her good-humour, and unvarying cheerfulness ren- 
 dered her one of the most charming companions 
 of her time. Horace Walpole, in describing to 
 George JNlontagu * his " progress " into Northamp- 
 tonshire, referred to by Williams, has left us an 
 interesting picture of Drayton. " I rummaged it,'' 
 he says, " from head to foot, examined every 
 spangled bed and enamelled pair of bellows, for 
 such there are ; in short, I do not believe the 
 old mansion was ever better pleased with an in- 
 habitant since the days of Walter de Drayton, 
 except when it has received its divine old mistress. 
 If one could honour her more than one did before, 
 it would be to see with what religion she keeps 
 up the old dwelling and customs, as well as old 
 servants, who you may imagine do not love her 
 less than other people do." Lady Betty died at 
 an advanced age, December IG, 1769, bequeathing 
 the greater part of her estate, together with her 
 name, to Lord George Sackville, so celebrated 
 for the disagreeable notoriety which he obtained 
 by his conduct at the battle of Minden. 
 
 The other " goody," as Williams thought i)roper 
 to call her, was the celebrated Henrietta, Countess 
 
 • Letters, vol. iv. p. 289.
 
 254 THE HON. C. S. CADOGAN. 
 
 of Suffolk, mistress of George the Second ; a lady 
 possessed of no less amiable and agreeable qualities 
 than her friend Lady Betty Germaine. Her resi- 
 dence at Marble Hill, on the banks of the Thames, 
 (of which Lords Burlington and Pembroke de- 
 signed the house for her, Lord Bathurst and Pope 
 laid out the gardens, and Swift, Gay, and Ar- 
 buthnot superintended the household,) rendered 
 her a near neighbour of Horace Walpole's, and 
 from her lips he gathered much of that agreeable 
 gossip which is to be found in his charming " Re- 
 miniscences." Lady Suffolk died in July, 1767, 
 at the age of seventy-nine.] 
 
 THE HON. CHARLES SLOANE CADOGAN TO GEORGE 
 
 SELWYN.* 
 
 Caro mio Monsieur, 
 
 Your amici. Milord Ashburnham, and il Signor 
 Gulielmo, dine with us in a family way to-morrow. 
 Voidez vous inmiger la soupe avec questi Signori f 
 Servo humilissimo, 
 
 Cadogano, 
 
 detto 
 
 Vauder Duggan. 
 
 Thursday niglit., late. 
 
 * See ante, p. 248, note.
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS. 255 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Tuesday, July 19. [1763.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I WROTE to you yesterday, since wliicli, I 
 have heard an account of a treaty of marriage, 
 announced here yesterday by Lord Essex, which 
 I believe will surprise you as much as it did the 
 company he told it to. Lord Digby is very soon 
 to be married to JNIiss Fielding. Thousands might 
 have been won in this house, on his lordship's 
 not knowing that such a being existed.* 
 
 If you hold your intention of setting out with 
 Lord Lome, you may be here in a fortnight, 
 which will be before I leave London for the last 
 time. In a few days we go to Shortgrove ; shall 
 return the beginning of August, and then shall 
 set out with Willis for Ashburnham, wheatears 
 and sea-bathing. 
 
 Lord Pomfret is dying of a violent fever :f a 
 strong delirium is apprehended. Lord Lincoln has 
 a sore throat, which has filled this room to-night ; 
 having disappointed a large jiarty which was to 
 have made the tour of Sussex with him. 
 
 * Henry, seventh Baron and first Earl Dig^by, married, in 
 1763, to Elizabeth, daughter of the Hon. Charles William 
 Fielding, son of Basil, fourth Earl of Denbigh. See post, 4 
 August, 1765. 
 
 t George, second Earl of Pomfret. He survived till 9 June,
 
 256 THE EARL OF MARCH 
 
 The Duke of York expressed the highest satis- 
 faction at Crome. Powerscourt was there, and 
 all the invalids from Malvern, consisting of Lady 
 Kildare, IMrs. Pitt, Lord W. Fitzgerald, Mrs. 
 Grey. In short every one, whom Dr. Wall de- 
 clared sound enough to be carried so far, dined 
 there, and it was the merriest hospital that had 
 been seen for some time. 
 
 There is no news. Politics stand much as 
 they did in spite of all the abilities of discontent 
 and opposition. Mynheer Cadogan is with his wife, 
 getting a seventh son.* JNIarch says he intends 
 to write to you this post, and as I love you as 
 much as he does, I am determined for this time 
 to be a better correspondent. Adieu ! my dear 
 George ! I think of October with pleasure, as we 
 shall most certainly pass it together. 
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Tuesday, July 19th, 176^5. 
 MY DEAREST GEORGE, 
 
 I SHALL send the message and things by 
 Lady Holderness, who sets out on Thursday, and 
 has promised to take them. 
 
 Madame de Boufflers goes on Saturday. They 
 all dine with me to-morrow, and I go the next 
 day to Newmarket, and from thence to Hunting- 
 
 * In the Peerages there is no record of Lord Cadogan having 
 been the father of more than six sons.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 257 
 
 don which begins next INIonday. There is no 
 such thing as lampreys at this time of the year, 
 and they will keep, to be sent here, as the Che- 
 rubim * assures me, upon thorough information. 
 All my stockings have been seized, by not being 
 taken out of the paper and rolled up, which 
 would have made them pass for old stockings. 
 
 It is extremely uncertain when the marriage f 
 will be, but I should think undoubtedly not 
 sooner than the latter end of September, there- 
 fore do not order any clothes for me till I write 
 to you again. 
 
 I have fixed nothing about moving to France. 
 Lord Coventry talks of being at Paris in three 
 weeks. I have been all the morning at Peter- 
 sham with Madame de Boufflers. She dined at 
 Sion Hill. The Duke of Queensberry, Essex, and 
 Harvey, dined wdth me, so that I have not had 
 a minute to myself all day, and for fear this 
 should be too late for the post, I have only time 
 to add, that I am always yours most affectionately, 
 
 M. & R. 
 
 * See ante, 5 April, 1763. 
 
 f The marriage between the Princess Augusta, sister of 
 George the Third, and the Prince of Brunswick Wolfenbuttle, 
 which took place on the 1 6th of January following. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 258 
 
 THE HON. HENRY ST. JOHN. 
 
 The Hon. Henry St. John was the second son 
 of John second Viscount St. John ; brother of 
 Frederick, the second Viscount Bolingbroke, the 
 " Bully " of these letters ; and nephew of the 
 celebrated Lord Bolingbroke, the minister of Queen 
 Anne. ]Mr. St. John, or, as his friends familiarly 
 designate him, " the Baptist," was a man of wit 
 and pleasure, but aj)parently gifted with some 
 better qualities than those of the mere man of 
 fashion. Several agreeable letters from him will 
 be found in the present collection. He subse- 
 quently represented Wotton Basset in Parliament; 
 became Groom of the Bedchamber and Aide-de- 
 camp to King George the Third, and was Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel of the 67tli Regiment of Foot. 
 He married, August 22, 1771, the eldest daugh- 
 ter of Colonel Thomas Bladen, sister of Harriot, 
 Countess of Essex, and died Ajiril 4, 1818. 
 
 THE HON. HENRY ST. JOHN TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Scarborough, July 24, 1763. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 I HAD the pleasure of yours a few days ago, 
 informing me of your having bought and sent to
 
 THE HON. HENRY ST. JOHN. 259 
 
 Calais the applique, for the Duke of York. I 
 am upon this occasion, as I have been before 
 upon many others, much obliged to you, and 
 wish you would still give yourself the further 
 trouble of writing to your correspondent at Calais, 
 to whom you have sent it, to desire him to direct 
 it, " ]Mr. ]\Iinett, at Dover," mentioning it is for me, 
 and I am sure ISIinett will get it passed safely 
 at the Custom House for me. You will be pleased 
 to make Foley pay for it, and place it to my 
 brother's account. I am satisfied it is du dernier 
 gout, and the Duke is well pleased to hear that 
 it is coming, and so pretty, though he certainly 
 will not be able to wear it at the marriage, as 
 he sets out about the 15th of next month for 
 the JNIediterranean. I am very happy to attend 
 him in his travels in Italy, a country I wanted 
 much to see, and by no means a bad opportunity 
 of seeing it. 
 
 We go to town in a week, in order to pre- 
 pare om'selves for our expedition. I fear it will 
 not be my fate to see you for some time ; at 
 least not till next spring. I shall always wish 
 to hear of your health, and shall be happy to 
 obey your commands in any country I may pass 
 through. 
 
 I hope Paris amuses you as much as it did 
 me when I was last there, and you must be very 
 happy. I often think how pleasantly I passed my 
 time there. Je vous prie de vous charger de mes 
 
 s 2
 
 260 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 compliments tres sinceres a Madame de Coislin. I 
 should be glad to hear from you once more before 
 I set out, if you can find leisure in so dissipated 
 a place. I am most sincerely yours, 
 
 H. St. John. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 White's, Thursday, August 4, 1763. 
 
 If the heavens are as unfavourable to the Con- 
 tinent as to us islanders, you have passed this 
 month more to your satisfaction in a warm capital 
 than we have done in our green fields, where we 
 have been wet to the skin three times a-day at 
 least. I wished for you much last week at Short- 
 grove. The Rena called there by herself on her 
 return from March, who set out from Newmarket 
 to Huntingdon. She met Lord Coventry, Cadogan, 
 and me. The universal gallant was infinitely enter- 
 taining, but in every other respect as innocent 
 and harmless as you would have been, my dear ; 
 so I think the song says. When she went off in 
 the morning, she found she had as little to fear 
 from us as from a parcel of old eunuchs. 
 
 March, I hear, has lost at Huntingdon. I sup- 
 pose party, that spoils everything with us, spoiled 
 that, and from a very jovial meeting, converted 
 it to a dull one. I have been looking for the
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 261 
 
 newspaper, to send you your nephew jNIidleton's* 
 speech at the Surrey meeting. He talks of cruel 
 insinuations of his unaltered loyalty, and his steady 
 adlierence to the good of his country, &c., &c. I 
 own I sleep easier in my bed, to think there is 
 so much disinterested, independent loyalty left 
 among us. Jack Sebright f has thrown INIr. Pitt 
 out of Bath ; in short, the great man has quarrelled 
 with his constituents for addressing on the peace, 
 and swears he will never again represent a set 
 of wretches, who think so very differently from 
 him. 
 
 Lord Digby has come to town, I believe, to 
 consummate.^ He has stole this match upon us, 
 and shut us out of a very comfortable house, where 
 we had promised ourselves many a cod and oyster- 
 sauce for the winter. It is looked on as a cer- 
 tain thing that you will return with Lord Lome 
 
 * Albinia, eldest daughter of the Hon. Thomas Townshend, 
 and niece of George Selwyn, married April 25, 1752, George, 
 Viscount Midleton, in the kingdom of Ireland. See ante, 6 
 July. 
 
 t Sir John Sebright, Bart., a lieutenant-general in the army, 
 and colonel of a regiment of infantry. He died in r\Iarch, 1794. 
 
 X See ante, 19 July. Horace Walpole writes to Colonel 
 Conway, August 9th, " Lord Digby is to be married imme- 
 diately to the pretty Miss Fielding ; and Mr. Boothby, they say, 
 to Lady Mary Douglas. What more news I know, I cannot 
 send you ; for I have had it from Lady Denbigh and Lady 
 Blandford, who have so confounded names, genders, and circum- 
 stances, that I am not sure whether Prince Ferdinand is not going 
 to bo married to the hereditary Prince." — Walpole's Letters, vol. 
 iv. p. 293.
 
 262 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 and the duchess, but when will that be ? I shall 
 set out to-morrow morning for Ashburnham, and 
 shall go from thence to Brighthelmstone,* if I can 
 get any tolerable accommodation. Lord Coventry 
 says he left the children well there, but not, as 
 he thinks, much mended in those complaints for 
 which they were sent there.f I look on his visit 
 to have been as much out of form as affection, 
 and having satisfied the public, he leaves the rest 
 to God Almighty. He talks of setting out next 
 week for Paris, and is now hiring a French ser- 
 vant to pay his post-horses. Don't think of in- 
 troducing him to any part of the great world, 
 for he is determined to be as private as an up- 
 holsterer, and to pass his time in buying glasses 
 and tapestry, for a place in which he never sees 
 himself, but he wishes himself, and all belonging 
 to it, at the devil. 
 
 How do my friends like their situation ? I am 
 much obliged to you for the care you have taken 
 of them, as I am convinced my recommending 
 them to you will be of infinite use to them. This 
 place is quite deserted, though the Queen's delivery, 
 
 * Brighton, just at this period, was dawning from a small 
 fishing-village into an indifferent watering-place. 
 
 t The children of Lord Coventry, by the beautiful countess, 
 were, Lady Mary Alicia, born in 1754, and married in 1777 to 
 Sir Andrew Baynton, Bart., from whom she was divorced in 
 1783; Lady Anne, Selwyn's favourite, divorced from the Hon. 
 Edward Foley, in 1787 ; and George William, afterwards seventh 
 Earl of Coventry, tlie father of the present (eighth) Earl.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 263 
 
 which is expected now every day,* keeps a few 
 of the court corps at White's. Pray, my dear 
 George, till you come, continue to write, and direct 
 to Clifford Street. I am ever yours, 
 
 G. I. W. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Brighthelmstone, August 22. [1763.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I RECEIVED yours last night, which has been 
 entirely put out of my head by the arrival of a 
 messenger this morning, with an account of Lord 
 Egremont's death. f I think he said when he left 
 London my lord was alive ; but 1)y their sending 
 for the child I suppose it is by this time deter- 
 mined. 
 
 I told you in my last how long I intended to 
 stay. The regimen of sea-bathing agrees so per- 
 fectly well with m&, that as long as the weather 
 will give us leave I propose to follow it. After 
 tliat I will be at your service, either for JVIatson, 
 or any other place you have most inclination for. 
 I suppose by that time our old quarters at Crome 
 will be ready for us, and the Peer returned with 
 
 * Queen Charlotte was delivered of the late Duke of York on 
 the IGth of this month. 
 
 t Charles, second Earl of Egremont, Secretary of State in 
 1701, on the resignation of Mr. Pitt. He died on the preceding 
 day, viz. 21 August, 1763.
 
 264 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 his various purchases, at which his chaplains will 
 stare egregiously. You talk of a meeting at Aber- 
 gavenny's, as if I was either Miller or Dupree, 
 and could command the house when I wanted to 
 make it convenient to me. God knows, I never 
 had the most distant invitation to it. 
 
 As to the lodgings in this place, the best are 
 most execrable, and what you would find now, I 
 believe not habitable, though possibly Mademoiselle 
 would let you, for a night or two, have that bed 
 with the children, which their father had, the 
 whole house being their own. 1 believe they will 
 stay till October. Nanny looks remarkably hand- 
 some, and has a bloom from the salt water, which 
 any person, totally indifferent to her, would ad- 
 mire. Their maid confines them too much, by 
 their father's order, for they are never seen with 
 other children, though there are some of their own 
 age and condition. 
 
 Our company consists of Fanny Pelham,* old 
 Brudenel, and his wife ; Peachy and family ; Colo- 
 nel Clinton ; Colonel Philipps, &c., &c. I have 
 named you those whom you know ; the rest are 
 numerous, but vulgars. From the pleasantness of 
 the place, and the health I have already established 
 here, I never liked any situation better. As this 
 
 * Daughter of the celebrated minister, Henry Pelham, bro- 
 ther of Thomas first Duke of Newcastle. She was born August 
 18, 1728, and died possessed of great wealth, at her seat at 
 Esher in Surrey, on the 10th of January, 1804.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 2G5 
 
 vacancy in the Secretary's office will occasion some 
 promotions, let me have the earliest intelligence, 
 and remember the post comes to us every day. 
 
 Adien. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Brighthelmstone, August 2i). [17G3.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 Many thanks to you for your letters, though I 
 do not think yoii so punctual a correspondent in 
 England as you was at Paris. However, I will 
 not ])unisli you by keeping you in suspense about 
 your child, for, as I go every morning into the 
 sea with her, I can form a muscular survey of her. 
 I assure you she is perfectly well, and appeared 
 to-day rather to advantage as to her complexion, 
 for she bathed next to a blackamoor. It would as- 
 tonish you to see the mixture of sexes at this place, 
 and with what a coolness and indifference half a 
 dozen Irishmen will bathe close to those whom we 
 call prudes elsewhere, such as Charlotte Tufton,* 
 &c. ; and can you imagine Lady Catherine f will 
 ever appear on the beach, when there are such 
 
 * Lady Charlotte Tufton, born in September 1728, was the 
 second daughter of Sackville, seventh Earl of Thanet. She died 
 May 12, 1803, in her 70th year. 
 
 t Probably Lady Catherhie Tufton, sister of the seventh Earl 
 of Thanet, and aiuit of Lady Charlotte. There was a rumour, 
 
 VOL. I. s 5
 
 266 GILLY WILLIAMS. 
 
 indelicacies staring her in the face ? 1 do not be- 
 lieve you will come, but if you do, on notice, I can 
 secure a good tolerable bed for you. 
 
 Some peoj^le looked important last post, and 
 said Mr. Pitt had been two hours with the Kino- 
 the preceding Saturday. If it was true, how much 
 of the conference has transpired ? I have heard 
 from Lord Thomond,* and most sincerely feel for 
 him. Is it not cruel, that two brothers who loved 
 one another, and really lived together like brothers, 
 must be sej^arated, when so many are left, who 
 are torments to themselves and to everybody else ! 
 Heaven seems to have a strange partiality for my 
 friends, for it takes them to itself with a wonder- 
 ful predilection. 
 
 I don't think the Trentham party must be a 
 bad one. If you go, God bless you, but till you 
 do, let us hear from you. 
 
 about this period, that she was to be married to Dr. Dunean, one 
 of the King's physicians. On the report being mentioned to 
 George Selwyn, " How often," he said, " will she repeat that 
 line of Shakspeare, 
 
 ' Wake, Duncan, with this knocking, — would thou couldst I ' " 
 
 — Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 138. Dr. Duncan, on the 5th of 
 September, married Lady Mary Tufton, a younger sister of Lady 
 Catherine, and aunt of Lady Charlotte, and was created a baronet 
 August 9, 17G4. See post, July 29, 1764. 
 * See ante, 19 September, 1762.
 
 LORD HOLLAND. 267 
 
 LORD HOLLAND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Aubigny, October^ 5, 1763. 
 DEAR SELWYN, 
 
 I HAVE had, by the same messenger who 
 brought me yours, full accounts of the late trans- 
 action, and I believe true. I will give you the 
 account given me of that Sunday, when I see you ; 
 I must not write it in this letter which goes by 
 the post. Lord IMansfield* had nothing to do with 
 it, nor, as I believe, knew more, or sooner, anything 
 of the matter than you did. Do you know that his 
 lordship had a great share of Pitt's invective be- 
 stowed on him? 
 
 And here, after a thousand thanks to you for 
 your letter, I drop all politics that may not go by 
 the post, till I see you, when I will tell you all 
 I know of them, with the trait I mentioned. Had 
 it been from a political friend only, I should be 
 ashamed to be hurt by it. No politics will or can 
 mortify me. I thought this man's friendship had 
 not been only political. I loved him, and whether 
 to feel or not to feel, to despise or grieve on such 
 an occasion, be most worthy of a man, I wont dis- 
 pute ; but the fact is, that I have been, and still 
 am, whenever I think of it, very unhapjiy.-f- 
 
 * William, the first and celebrated Earl of Mansfield. 
 
 -j- The person who is here so feelingly alluded to, is evidently 
 the Right Hon. Richard Rigby, whose political apostacy, in con- 
 junction with Lord Gower and George Grenville, and the con-
 
 268 LORD HOLLAND 
 
 I sent Betty a present by Lord Bateman,* which 
 he tells me she received very graciously indeed. 
 She advised me against going into the House of 
 Lords,! ^^^^ ^o did you ; and very wisely, if I 
 retained any further views of ambition. But it 
 was to cut up that by the root, and with that in- 
 tention, and, after deliberation with that intention, 
 that I did it; and Lady Caroline and I find great 
 reason now to be glad that it was done. You are 
 not well, I am afraid, with Lady Townshend, not 
 to have seen her since you came to London : I 
 have heard nothing from her. Another table was 
 sent from Paris before I left it ; but if you want 
 anything, I shall neither want opportunity nor incli- 
 nation to send or bring it to you. I was very sorry 
 
 sequent alienation of whose friendship appears to have been most 
 sensibly felt by Lord Holland. In a poem, privately printed, en- 
 titled " Lord Holland returning from Italy, 1767," I find the 
 following lines : 
 
 Slight was the pain they gave, and short its date ; 
 
 I found I could not both despise and hate. 
 
 But Rigby, what did I for thee endure ? 
 
 Thy serpent's tooth admitted of no cure. 
 
 Lost converse, never thought of without tears ! 
 
 Lost promised hope of my declining years ! 
 
 Oh I what a heavy task 'tis to remove 
 
 The accustom'd ties of confidence and love I 
 
 Friendship, in anguish, turn'd away her face. 
 
 While cunning Interest sneer'd at her disgrace. 
 * See ante, 29th June, 1763. 
 
 f On the 16th of April Lord Holland had been raised to 
 the peerage by the title of Lord Holland, and Baron of Foxley, 
 in the county of Wilts.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 269 
 
 yoii was gone from Paris, but how could I be angry, 
 or, as Lord March did not come, surprised ? 
 
 Charles* is, I hear, again a jDerfect schoolboy in 
 dress. JNIadame de Coislin calls him son jeune 
 amoureiLVy and enquires after him very kindly, and 
 after you too ; but the mauvais j)laisants talk so, 
 that, if it comes to her ears, it will soon make her 
 prefer the tr op jeune au trop froid amant. T tell her 
 I am amant too ; but I am le trop vieu.v, she finds, 
 I doubt not, of the unexceptionable sort ; with 
 whom, however, Charles may one day roll, though 
 you and I never shall. 
 
 Madame GeofFrin is vastly civil, and Lady Hol- 
 land and she grow every day more amiable in each 
 other's eyes, which will certainly not hurt you there. 
 If the Parliament meets before Christmas, I come 
 a week before the meeting, to come back with 
 Charles, and return with him after the holydays. 
 What more I can do must be considered then ; 
 but I hate London, and London hates me. I will 
 be there as little as I can, and when there, as 
 much with you as Lord March will permit. I wish 
 you had both come here. Here is a large and 
 good house, in a fine country and a fine climate, 
 and in the midst of a most extensive scigneurie.-\ 
 
 * The celebrated Charles James Fox, the favourite child of 
 his father, now in his fifteenth year. 
 
 \ Lord Holland was at this period the guest of his brother-in- 
 law, Charles third Duke of Richmond, at Aubigny, in France ; 
 a territory which the duke inherited from his great-grandmother, 
 Louise de Queroualle, Duchess of llichmond, the celebrated
 
 270 WILLIAM VAREY, ESQ., 
 
 You would have been most welcome to the duke 
 and duchess, and have diverted yourself I think : 
 I am sure you would Lady Caroline, and done me 
 more good than even the climate, which has done 
 me a great deal. Stephen* gives his compliments, 
 but says you left Paris in a shabby manner : he is 
 a great favourite with everybody.! 
 
 WILLIAM VAREY, ESQ., TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Ixworth Abbey, Feb. 10, 1764. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 This morning I received your kind letter, 
 which gave me that sort of pleasure that every 
 one feels upon finding themselves remembered 
 where they wish not to be forgot. My absence 
 from London prevented my seeing the ruffles. I 
 dare say I shall like them, but the price is so 
 trifling that it is of no consequence. I shall be 
 obliged to you for four pair of Valenciennes, as 
 good as people w^ear when they dress, but not 
 too deep. The price I shall not regard, as they 
 are always handsome and in fashion. 
 
 mistress of Chai-les the Second, of which monarch his grace was 
 the great-grandson. 
 
 * Stephen Fox, the eldest son of Lord Holland, whom he 
 succeeded in his titles as second Lord Holland. He married 
 Lady Mary Fitzpatrick, daughter of John, Earl of Upper Ossory, 
 and died on the 26th of December, 1774. 
 
 ■f The conclusion of this letter is unfortunately lost.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 271 
 
 I congratulate you upon the reception I hear 
 your friend* has had at court. He cannot fail of 
 beins: well received wherever he is known, and in 
 France he cannot want recommendations. I desire 
 my comjiliments to him, and hope he kept up the 
 credit of the English sportsmen at Comiiiegne. 
 IMadame la Comtesse I hope is well, and le pmivre 
 Raton.^ Cannot you find a French artist to supjily 
 that bit of tail he lost in Hyde Park? I take it 
 for granted you have made a trip to Madame de 
 Sevigne's^ estate, in order to compare the ancient 
 map of it with its present situation, and will read 
 her letters again with double pleasure, from having 
 accurately surveyed the spot where tliey were wrote. 
 
 I am so retired here that I dare say I know less 
 of what passes in London than you do. Williams 
 and I passed a fortnight together at Ashburnham. 
 We often talked of you, and as often wished you 
 with us. 
 
 Mrs. Boone has been, and is, very ill, but I hope 
 her case is not desperate, and would have you bring 
 the box by all means. I wish you health to enjoy 
 the gay scenes that surround you, and am 
 
 Your most sincere friend, and humble servant, 
 
 Wm. Varey. 
 
 * Lord March. 
 
 + Selwyn's favourite dog. He is frequently mentioned in the 
 subsequent correspondence. 
 
 X Selwyn, like Horace Walpolo, was an ardent admirer of 
 Madame de Sevigne and her celebrated letters.
 
 272 THE EARL OF MARCH. 
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Fontainbleau. 
 
 You desire to know what I intend to do, which 
 is more than I can tell myself, but I shall certainly 
 be here on Sunday, and for some days afterwards. 
 I supped at Berringhen's the first night ; the next 
 day made my visits, but found nobody but mother 
 Praslin. She asked me to supi^er, and has sent me 
 another card since, so that I find I am quite well 
 there. I sup to-night with the Prince Soubize ; 
 to-morrow, with Madame de Choiseul; and Mon- 
 day, with the Duke de Chartres ; in short, there 
 is business for every night, and I am in no danger 
 of being on the pave. I dined to-day at what is 
 called no dinner, at Madame de Coingnie's. The 
 Queen * asked Madame de Mirepoix, Si elle n'avoit 
 pas beaucoup entendu medire de Monsieur Selwyn 
 et elle? Elle a repondu, Oui, beaucoup, Madame. 
 — Xen suis bien aise dit la Reine. Moniii will be 
 excessively glad to see you. I have not had time 
 to go to see him, though he is but a mile from 
 here, and has pressed me very much to come. 
 
 Pray say something for me to the little Tondino, 
 if I should not have time to write. I was not quite 
 well this morning, and could not get uj), or I should 
 have wrote to you both. Farewell, for I must go out. 
 
 Yours, &c., &c. M. & R. 
 
 * Maria Leczinski, daughter of Stanislaus, King of Poland, 
 and Queen of Louis the Fifteenth of France. Selwyn is more 
 than once mentioned as being a personal favourite with her.
 
 CAPTAIN ROBERT DIGBY. 273 
 
 P.S. There was no room taken for Fox, so I 
 have taken the best I could get in this house, 
 which is not a very good one, but there are lodg- 
 ings enough to be had. 
 
 CAPTAIN ROBERT DIGBY. 
 
 Robert Digby, at this period a captain in the 
 navy, was a younger son of Edward, third son 
 of "William fifth Lord Digby, by Charlotte, only 
 surviving daughter of Sir Stephen Fox, Knt., and 
 sister of Henry first Lord Holland, the celebrated 
 minister. He was born on the 20th of December, 
 1732 ; was promoted to be Rear-Admiral on the 
 19th of March, 1779, and died an Admiral of the 
 Red, in 1814. This letter contains an interesting 
 allusion to the recent marriage of Lady Susan Fox 
 (eldest daughter of Stephen, first Earl of Ilchester, 
 and niece of Lord Holland) to O'Brien, the actor, 
 or, as the Peerages complaisantly style him, William 
 O'Brien, of Stinsford, co. Dorset, Esq. Horace 
 Walpole, in a letter to the Earl of Hertford, dated 
 the 12th of this month, details some curious par- 
 ticulars respecting this unfortunate marriage. "You 
 will have heard of the sad misfortune that has hap- 
 pened to Lord Ilchester by his daughter's marriage 
 with O'Brien the actor. But, perhaps, you do not 
 
 VOL. L T
 
 274 CAPTAIN ROBERT DIGBY 
 
 know the circumstances, and how much his grief 
 must be agg-ravated by reflection on his own credulity 
 and negligence. The affair has been in train for 
 eighteen months. The swain had learned to coun- 
 terfeit Lady Sarah Bunbury's hand so well, that 
 in the country Lord Ilchester has himself delivered 
 several of CBrien's letters to Lady Susan ; but it 
 was not till about a week before the catastrophe 
 that the family was apprised of the intrigue. Lord 
 Cathcart went to ]\Iiss Reade's, the paintress : she 
 said softly to him, ' ]\Iy lord, there is a couple in the 
 next room, that I am sure ought not to be toge- 
 ther ; I wish your lordship would look in.' He 
 did ; shut the door again, and went directly and 
 informed Lord Ilchester. Lady Susan was exam- 
 ined, flung herself at her father's feet, confessed 
 all, vowed to break off* — but — what a but ! — desired 
 to see the loved object, and take a last leave. You 
 will be amazed ; — even this was granted. The 
 parting scene happened the beginning of the w^eek. 
 On Friday she came of age, and on Saturday morn- 
 ing — instead of being under lock and key in the 
 country — walked down stairs, took her footman, 
 said she was going to breakfast w^ith Lady Sarah, 
 but would call at JNIiss Reade's : in the street, pre- 
 tended to recollect a particular cap in which she 
 was to be drawn, sent the footman back for it, 
 whipped into a hackney chair, was married at Co- 
 vent Garden church, and set out for Mr. O'Brien's 
 villa at Dunstable. My lady— my Lady Hertford !
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 275 
 
 what say you to permitting young ladies to act 
 plays, and go to painters by themselves V * 
 
 CAPTAIN ROBERT DIGBY TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Hotel de Tours, April 19th. [17G4.] 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I WOULD with pleasure have sent your letters 
 a leur adresse, had they come to my hands. I fancy 
 Lord Holland has, (though I forgot to ask him,) 
 for he told me, a few days after, that he had a 
 letter from you, and that you desired I would in- 
 quire for a house for you. I wish you had been 
 a little more particular about the price, and whether 
 it must be garni, or whether you would have furni- 
 ture from the tapissiers. However, I shall make 
 what inquiries I can, and let you know if I meet 
 with anything that I think will do for you, garni 
 or not. If you could come into these lodgings, 
 at the same price I have them, you would be better 
 lodged, I think, than in any house here ; but the 
 master of the house, to whom I have been talking 
 about it, says he will not let them again under four- 
 teen louis per month. I give but eleven. Perhaps 
 you may recollect them, the green appartement, au 
 premier. 
 
 As I have not made a great acquaintance here, 
 I cannot tell you what is generally said of M. 
 
 * Walpnlo's Letters, vol. iv. p. 405. 
 
 T 2
 
 276 CAPTAIN ROBERT DIGBY. 
 
 D'Eon's book,* for I believe few people have seen 
 it. Though Lord Holland has one, I have never 
 been able to get a sight of it yet. He lends it 
 about by the hour ; it is so much inquired after. 
 You will probably see him the latter end of next 
 week, and then, if not sooner, hear his opinion ; 
 I shall therefore say nothing of him, but that, ex- 
 clusive of grief for this unhappy affair, I never saw 
 him better. I hope the journey will be of service 
 to him, for at present he is exceeding low-spirited, 
 but has no other complaints. Stephen Fox, who 
 is at other times very cheerful and good-humoured, 
 goes with him as far as Kingsgate, which will, I 
 fancy, be a great comfort to him. I do not intend 
 staying here above ten days or a fortnight longer, 
 and as I intend returning by Brussels, shall pro- 
 bably miss the pleasure of seeing you either here 
 or in England, which, give me leave to assure you, 
 is some mortification ; for nobody more sincerely 
 wishes your happiness, and to have the honour of 
 being better acquainted, than, your very humble 
 
 and most obedient servant, 
 
 Robert Digby. 
 
 P.S. I suppose you have heard of Madame Pom- 
 padour's death. She seems already almost as much 
 forgot as if there never had been such a person, f 
 
 * See post, 10 July, 1764. 
 
 t Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, the 
 celebrated mistress of Louis the Fifteenth of France, died April 
 14thj 1764, at the age of forty-two.
 
 'Ill 
 
 THE HON. GEORGE LANE PARKER. 
 
 The Hon. George Lane Parker was the second 
 son of George, second Earl of Macclesfield. He was 
 born on the 6th of September, 1724, and at the pe- 
 riod of his letter to Selwyn was a colonel in the first 
 regiment of foot guards. On April 30th, 1770, he 
 ^vas advanced to the rank of major-general, and, on 
 August 29th, 1777, was promoted to be a lieu- 
 tenant-general. He was also colonel of the 20th 
 regiment of foot, and for some time member of 
 Parliament for Tregony. He married in May, 1782, 
 the widow of Sir Cottrell Dormer, and died Sep- 
 tember Gth, 1791. This letter commences with 
 some interesting particulars relating to the will of 
 William Pulteney, the celebrated Earl of Bath, 
 who died on the eighth of the preceding month, at 
 the age of eighty-two. Lady Ilervey writes to the 
 Rev. Edmund Morris shortly after the Earl's de- 
 cease, " Lord Bath's leaving me no little bauble, 
 in token of remembrance, did not surprise, and con- 
 sequently could not vex me. He was a most agree- 
 able companion, and a very good-humoured man ; 
 Init r, that have known liini above forty years, 
 knew that he never th(jught of any one when he 
 did not see them, nor ever cared a great deal for 
 those he did see. T am sorry he did not leave poor 
 Johnstone wherewithal to make her easy, as she
 
 278 HON. GEORGE LANE PARKER 
 
 was not only a near relation who wanted his kind- 
 ness, but the daughter of a man to whom he had 
 essential obligations, and professed to love. I wish 
 he had left Mrs. [Elizabeth] Carter the forty 
 pounds a-year you mention, but she is not named 
 in his will ; whilst he lived he made her several 
 presents, and, as I have been told, solicited a pen- 
 sion for her from the Crown. She has great merit, 
 but very little money, and as he saw her often, 
 and profited by the one, it is pity he did not furnish 
 her with the other. He has left an immense for- 
 tune to a brother he never cared for, and always, 
 with reason, despised ; and a great deal to a man 
 he once liked, but had lately great reason to think 
 ill of. I am sorry he is dead ; he was very agree- 
 able and entertaining ; and w^henever I was well 
 enough to go down stairs, and give him a good 
 dinner, he was always ready to come and give me 
 his good company in return. I was satisfied with 
 that. One must take people as they are ; perhaps 
 hardly any one is in every respect just what they 
 should be."* 
 
 HON. GEORGE LANE PARKER TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 London, July 10th, 1764. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 In obedience with your commands, I trouble 
 you with this letter, which (had I not absolutely 
 
 * Lady Hervey's Letters, pp. 307, 308.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 279 
 
 promised to send you an account of Lord Bath's 
 will, and D'Eon's trial) I should not have done, as 
 T am informed by Lord March, that he designed to 
 write to you by this post, and he will undoubtedly 
 send you as full and particular an account of every- 
 thing as I possibly could do. 
 
 That I may not, therefore, take up any more of 
 your time than is absolutely necessary, I will enter 
 upon the two subjects without any further preface, 
 and only relate the mere facts, as well as the best 
 information I can get. Lord Bath, I find, has given 
 everything to General Pulteney, (recommending to 
 him to leave the Bradford estate to JVIr. Coleman, 
 who in that case is to take the name of Pulteney,) 
 except the interest of nineteen thousand pounds, and 
 the lease of Lord Egremont's house, which he has 
 given to Mr. Coleman for his life. The lease of 
 Lord Egremont's house he has further entailed on 
 Coleman's children, if any, and afterwards on the 
 Lakes and their children, and on Mr. Douglas and 
 his children ; so that it can never be bought up 
 by the Egremont family. He has given Mrs. 
 .Johnstone,* his niece, four thousand pounds ; to Mr. 
 Douglas five hundred pounds and his library ; to 
 Mrs. Montagu, a ring he used to wear, and his 
 
 * Miss Pulteney, niece of Lord Bath, had married William, se- 
 cond son of Sir James Johnstone, Bart. On the death of General 
 Pulteney, in 1767, she inherited the vast wealth accumulated by 
 Lord Bath, and at the same time her husband, who succeeded 
 to the baronetcy in 1797, adopted the surname of Pulteney.
 
 280 HON. GEORGE LANE PARKER 
 
 wife's ear-rings ; to the bishops of Rochester and 
 Bristol one hundred pounds each ; to Lord Pul- 
 teney's girl thirty pounds per annum, and his ser- 
 vants three years' wages. He has not mentioned 
 Mrs. Sear or Charles Price. 
 
 So much for Lord Bath. With regard to D'Eon, 
 he was tried on JMonday. The information laid 
 against him was for libelling Guerchy,* both in his 
 private and public character ; in his private, by 
 accusing him of forgery, and attempting to corrupt 
 people to seize his papers ; in his public, as repre- 
 senting him as unfit for the character he sustained. 
 D'Eon pleaded not guilty. The Attorney-General, 
 in opening, took notice that this prosecution was 
 carried on at the suit of the Crown, who thought, 
 as this was the common cause of all the foreio-n 
 ministers, it was necessary to make an example of 
 a person, who had attacked the character of one 
 of them in so scandalous a manner, by an infamous 
 libel. One Dixon, a printer, was produced, who 
 proved that he printed twelve hundred copies of 
 the book, and produced a receipt from D'Eon, 
 wherein he acknowledged to have received sixty 
 guineas for what he called his work. D'Eon had 
 no council to plead for him. Lord Mansfield then 
 said but little ; only observing, that in case they 
 
 * The Comte de Guerchy, who had recently been appointed 
 the French ambassador to the Court of England. Horace Wal- 
 pole speaks of de Guerchy as being actually " adored " in this 
 country. He died at Paris, September 1 7th, 176 7
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 281 
 
 found it a libel, it was a very great aggravation ; 
 the crime being against a person in the character 
 Guerchy is in here. The jury, without going out, 
 found him guilty. 
 
 These are all the particulars I have been able 
 to collect in relation to the two things you desired 
 I should inform you of, in which perhaps you may 
 think I have been too tedious and minute, though, 
 as I know your curiosity, I think you will excuse 
 my erring on that side. Believe me to be, dear 
 sir, ever yours, 
 
 George Lane Parker. 
 
 [The strange story of the Chevalier d'Eon is thus 
 related by jNIr. Croker in his notes to Horace Wal- 
 pole's letters to the Earl of Hertford : " This sin- 
 gular person had been secretary to the Duke de 
 Nivernois' embassy, and, in the interval between 
 that ambassador's departure and the arrival of 
 M. de Guerchv, the French mission to our court 
 devolved upon him. This honour, as INIr. Walpole 
 intimates, seems to have turned his head, and he 
 was so absurdly exasperated at being superseded 
 by M. de Guerchy, that he refused to deliver his 
 letters of recall, set his court at defiance, and pub- 
 lished a volume of libels on M. de Guerchy and 
 the French ministers. As he persisted in with- 
 holding the letters of recall, the two courts were 
 ol)liged to notify in the London Gazette that his 
 mission was at an cikI ; and the French govern-
 
 282 CHEVALIER D'EON. 
 
 ment desired that he might be given up to them. 
 This, of course, could not be done ; but he was 
 proceeded against by criminal information, and 
 finally convicted of the libels against M. de Guer- 
 chy. D'Eon asserted, that the French ministry had 
 a design to carry him off privately ; and it has been 
 said that he was apprised of this scheme by Louis 
 the Fifteenth, who, it seems, had entertained some 
 kind of secret and extra-official communication with 
 this adventurer. He afterwards continued in ob- 
 scurity till 1777, when the public was astonished 
 by the trial of an action before Lord Mansfield, 
 for money lost on a wager respecting his sex. On 
 that trial, it seemed proved beyond all doubt that 
 the person was a female. Proceedings in the Par- 
 liament of Paris had a similar result, and the soldier 
 and the minister was condemned to wear woman's 
 attire, which D'Eon did for many years. He emi- 
 grated at the Revolution, and died in London in 
 May, 1810. On examination, after death, the body 
 proved to be that of a male. This circumstance, 
 attested by the most respectable authorities, is so 
 strongly at variance with all the former evidence, 
 that the French biographers have been induced to 
 doubt whether the original Chevalier d'Eon, and 
 the person who died in 1810, were the same; and 
 they even endeavour to show that the real person, 
 the Chevaliere, as they term it, died in 1790 : but 
 we cannot admit this solution of the difficulty ; for 
 one, at least, of the surgeons who examined the
 
 CHEVALIER D'EON. 283 
 
 body ill 1810, had known D'Eon in his female 
 habiliments, and he had for ten years lived un- 
 questioned under the name of D'Eon."* Hannah 
 Moore, who met the Chevaliere d'Eon late in life, 
 gives the following- account of this extraordinary 
 person : — " On Friday I gratified the curiosity of 
 many years, by meeting at dinner Madame la Che- 
 valiere d'Eon : she is extremely entertaining, has 
 universal information, wit, vivacity, and gaiety. 
 Something too much of the latter, (I have heard,) 
 when she has taken a bottle or two of Burgundy ; 
 but this being a very sober party, she was kept 
 entirely within the limits of decorum. General 
 Johnson was of the party, and it was ridiculous to 
 hear her military conversation. Sometimes it was, 
 ' Quand j'etais colonel d'un tel regiment!' then 
 again, ' Non, c'etait quand j'etais secretaire d'am- 
 bassade du Due de Nivernois,' or ' Quand je nego- 
 ciais la paix de Paris."' She is, to be sure, a pheno- 
 menon in history ; and, as such, a great curiosity. 
 But one d'Eon is enough, and one slice of her quite 
 sufficient."]! 
 
 * Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 322, note, 
 t Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 15G.
 
 284 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Brighthelmstone, July 23rd, 1764. 
 I HAVE been expecting, my dear George, a 
 line from yqu for several packets, with the advice 
 of your having joined your foreign friends, of whom 
 by this time you may be as heartily tired as you 
 was of your English ones ; though not quite so 
 much at home as to tell them so. Hans Stanley is 
 governor of the Isle of White, and Lord Frederick 
 Campbell * comes into the Admiralty. Are not 
 
 you d d sorry for Lord Lome's son ? The 
 
 poor duchess now will never be the mother of 
 two dukes, which I thought the whimsical disposi- 
 tion of fortune once intended.f The Congress at 
 Stow opens this day ; and of all the King's servants, 
 you may easily guess our friend Coventry would 
 be the only one to attend it. I hear it is to last a 
 
 * Third son of John, fourth Duke of Argyll ; a privy coun- 
 sellor and Lord Registrar of Scotland. He married Mary, 
 (widow of Lawrence, fourth Earl Ferrers, who was hung at 
 Tyburn for the murder of his steward,) which lady was burnt 
 to death at Coomb Bank, in Kent, in 1807. 
 
 ■f John Lord Lome, afterwards fifth Duke of Argyll, had 
 married, March 3, 1759, Elizabeth Gunning, (widow of James 
 Duke of Hamilton,) by whom he was the father of George 
 William, the late Duke of Argyll^ and of the present (seventh) 
 Duke. Williams seems to imply that some accident had happen- 
 ed to the infant son of Lord Lome, but there is no trace of such 
 an event. It has already been mentioned that the Duchess of 
 Hamilton, the daughter of a private Irish gentleman, became 
 successively the wife of two dukes and the mother of four. 
 See ante, p. 173.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 285 
 
 week, with Ashburnliani,* Offley, Tommy Pelliam,f 
 Besboroiigh, ^c, &;c.:j: 
 
 Old Bath left above a million sterling behind 
 him. Bet Thompson, Billy Varey, and Chas. Price, 
 were three of his pall-bearers, though neither of 
 them a legatee. The stupid old general ^ has 
 everything, and, with everything, takes possession 
 of the toad-eaters likewise. The physicians seem 
 to be more serious about the Duke of Devonshire's 
 last attack than they at first appeared to be. I 
 can say no more, but God bless you, and Adieu ! 
 
 [Horace Walpole writes to the Earl of Hertford, 
 shortly after the date of the foregoing letter, " The 
 letters yesterday, from Spa, give a melancholy 
 account of the poor Duke of Devonshire : as he 
 cannot drink the waters, they think of removing 
 
 * Jolin, second Earl of Ashburnham, was born in 1724, and 
 married, in 1756, Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Ambrose 
 Crawley, Esq., an alderman of London. He died on the 8th 
 of April, 1812, in his eighty-ninth year. 
 
 ■f Thomas Pelhara succeeded his cousin, (Thomas first Duke 
 of Newcastle,) as Baron Pelham in 1768, and in 1801 was 
 created Earl of Chichester. He filled, successively, the appoint- 
 ments of a Lord of the Admiralty, Comptroller of the House- 
 hold, and Keeper of the Great Wardrobe, and died on the 6th 
 of January, 1805. 
 
 X William, second Earl of Besborough, married Caroline, 
 daughter of William Cavendish, third Duke of Devonshire, 
 and died on the 11th of March, 1793. He was father of the 
 present (third) Earl. 
 
 § General Fulteney, the only brother of Lord Bath, died at 
 Pulteney House, Piccadilly, 26th of October, 1767, in his eighty- 
 second year.
 
 286 LORD HOLLAND 
 
 him, I suppose to the baths of Aix-la-Chapelle ; 
 but I look on his case as a lost one. There's a 
 chapter for moralizing ! but five-and-forty, with 
 forty thousand pounds a-year, and happiness where- 
 ever he turned him ! My reflection is, that it is 
 folly to be unhappy at anything, when felicity itself 
 is such a phantom." William, fourth Duke of 
 Devonshire, K.G., was born in 1720, and married 
 in March, 1748, Lady Charlotte Boyle, third and 
 youngest daughter of Richard, Earl of Burlington 
 and Cork. His Grace, in 1751, was appointed 
 Master of the Horse, and a Privy Counsellor; in 
 1754, Lord High Treasurer of Ireland, in 1755 
 Lord-Lieutenant of that kingdom, in 1756 First 
 Commissioner of the Treasury, and, the following- 
 year. Lord Chamberlain of the Household. His 
 death took place at Spa, on the 2nd of October, 
 1764, in the forty-fourth year of his age.] 
 
 LORD HOLLAND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Kingsgate, July 29, 1764. 
 DEAR SELWYN, 
 
 My Lady is charmed with you, you talk so 
 much of Stephen,* and wishes you to write often. 
 She wishes you to bring her a piece of broad, 
 and a piece of narrow white ribbon ; beau hlanc, 
 c'est assez. We saw the china you speak of at 
 
 * Stephen Fox, Lord Holland's second son^ and his successor 
 in the title.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 287 
 
 Poiriers, and know it by your description, not 
 your drawing ; it is Sevre cliina, and Lady Ilches- 
 ter,* I fancy, M'ill not be very desirous of it. 
 
 You was likely to give a good account of D'Eon, 
 who had forgot that he had been (as he says) aide- 
 de-camp, and most strongly attached to Broglie. T 
 must suppose you never read his book. The reason 
 which he gives why the ministers took the com- 
 mand from Broglie, is the most offensive, and, to 
 the French Court, the most impertinent thing in 
 it. If flattery can make him a favourite there, he 
 must be so, and I hear he is. Stephen has seen 
 Beaiicoup : why did he not wait on you then ? But 
 as JNIadame Geoffrin is seldom out of town, we 
 wonder you do not mention her. If Lady Holland's 
 and my united and well concerted endeavours have 
 failed there, I shall wonder and be sorry ; if you 
 have been fickle, neither. 
 
 I do not guess what D' Eon's sentence will be, but 
 I have long thought he is not himself, nor has 
 materials for a sul>ject to keep the curiosity of 
 our public alive: Mine, whilst I am here, is quite 
 asleep, nor dreams of London. I fear I cannot 
 furnish you with one anecdote : all the news I 
 hear is, that Dr. Duncan * is a baronet. 
 
 * Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Strangways Horner, Esq., of 
 Mells Park, Somersetshire, and wife of Stephen Fox, first Earl 
 of Ilchester. She died in 1792. 
 
 -j- William Duncan, M.D. He married, September 5, 1703, 
 Lady Mary Tuflon, eldest daughter of Sackville, seventh Earl of 
 Thanct, and was created a baronet August 9, 17G4. See ante, 
 August 29, 17G3.
 
 288 LORD HOLLAND. 
 
 Pray ask Stephen if he gave one of my books 
 to the Duchesse de Coss6, and what became of 
 the other. Give 7Jies tendres souvenirs, with as much 
 sensibilite as is requisite, to every soul you meet. 
 
 M. Lauragais' letter to ]Mr. Churchill would have 
 furnished an excellent article in poor Sir Charles 
 Williams's treatise, to show that the French were 
 the most impolite people in Europe.* He had got 
 together many curious instances; this would have 
 made a great figure amongst them. Make Lady 
 Holland's and my best compliments to Lord and 
 Lady Hertford, Lord Beau champ, Mr. Churchill, 
 and Lady Mary,t and make them in English ; and 
 to Mr. Hume,;]; and with great sincerity ; which 
 word, being the truth, is worth very many tendres 
 amities, attachements eternels, &c. Adieu ! 
 
 Yours ever, 
 
 Holland. 
 
 A Monsieur, Monsieur G. Selwyn, 
 chez Monsieur Foley, Banquier, Rue St. Sauveur, a Paris. 
 
 * See ante, 12 January, 1752, where the same opinion is held 
 in a lively but sensible letter of Mr. Thomas Scrope, one of 
 Selwyn's earliest friends. 
 
 + Lady Mary Churchill, natural daughter of Sir Robert Wal- 
 pole, for whom he procured the rank of an Earl's daughter. She 
 married Colonel Charles Churchill, a natural son of Mrs. Old- 
 field the actress, by General Churchill, son of an elder brother of 
 the great Duke of Marlborough. 
 
 X David Hume, the historian, was at this period secretary to 
 the Earl of Hertford, the English ambassador at the Court of 
 France.
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS. 289 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Brighthelrastone, July 30. [1764.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 This packet brings very serious advice indeed. 
 I received a notification in form last night, that 
 Nanny would very shortly bend her knee to Bab 
 St. John,* as her mother-in-law. God grant this 
 woman long life, or the poor children will have 
 more odd uncles, aunts, and cousins than any 
 people of their condition in Europe. I shall see 
 him in a few days, and shall hear more particulars, 
 but I was not willing this ship should sail without 
 your knowing as much as I do. I begin to suspect 
 the stamina of those descended from our dear friend 
 the countess. Her children have not had an hour's 
 perfect health since they have been here. Nanny 
 is just recovered from the chicken-pox, and has 
 now a violent inflammation in one of her eyes, 
 though I hope a proper care will prevent any evil 
 consequences. 
 
 Coventry says the Stow party ended but badly ; 
 the weather bad, the wine bad, and the ceremony 
 intolerable. I am just returned to this ])lace from 
 Jack Shelley's, where we have lived as well for a 
 few days as if old had been in Abraham's 
 
 * Lord Coventry remarried, September 27, 1764, Barbara, 
 daughter of John, tenth Lord St. .John of Bletso. She died in 
 1804. 
 
 VOL I. U
 
 290 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 bosom. There is a degree of good-nature in the 
 heir-apparent, which makes one forgive all his 
 vanity, nonsense, &c. You would laugh at our 
 collection, though I assure you we are much obliged 
 to France for sending us twice a-week some very 
 extraordinary exotics. Barbers, milliners, barons, 
 counts, arrive here almost every tide, and they stay 
 here till their finances are so exhausted, that they 
 decamp 2ipon the stage-coach, and not in it. 
 
 Lord Percival * told me he saw you and the 
 Rena, and that Lord March was expected. I hope, 
 for your sake, he is arrived. Our King has had a 
 fall from his horse, but not hurt. You shall hear 
 by the next packet ; till then. Adieu ! 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Brighthelmstone, August 18, 1764. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 The master of the packet brought me your 
 letters together yesterday morning, for which I 
 thank you, being very sincerely glad that you and 
 Lord March pass your time so much to your satis- 
 faction. 
 
 You will be very angry if I do not begin with an 
 account of your children, who, in my opinion, con- 
 tinue still much out of order. The youngestf es- 
 
 * John James, afterwards third Earl of Egmont. He died 
 February 22, 1822. 
 
 f Lady Anne Coventry.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 291 
 
 pecially, has such an inflammation in one of her eyes 
 that she can scarce open it. You will see their 
 father before 1 do, and he will explain what he 
 thinks of them, and what he intends to do with or for 
 them. His journey to Paris is on the old tapestry 
 account, where he will not stay above a week, and 
 returns to be married, for certain, before Michael- 
 mas. Our King has most graciously acceded to 
 the match, and told the Earl she was the wisest, 
 piiidentest, handsomest of his subjects. 
 
 You have so many deep politicians with you, that 
 I believe I need not tell you that it is my opinion 
 that the Administration stock rises. The hand 
 of Providence seems stretched out for them. Lord 
 Hardwicke* is gone : Leggef is now at the very 
 last gasp, and the Duke of Devonshire is on his 
 road for the Spa, having had frequent returns 
 of fits, which the faculty call nervous, because 
 they do not know what to make of them. Lord 
 Besborough, John Cavendish, and Fitzherbert, are 
 in his grace's suite. It is given out he is to stay 
 about a month, and to return, like the army, in 
 high spirits.:]: 
 
 * Philip Yorke, first Earl of Hardwicke, the celebrated chan- 
 cellor. He died March C, 17G4. 
 
 f The Right Hon. Henry Bilson Legge, fourth son of Wil- 
 liam first Earl of Dartmouth. He was three times Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer, and in Eebruary 1748 was appointed Envoy Ex- 
 traordinary to the King of Prussia. He survived the date of this 
 letter only three days, expiring August 21, 17G4. 
 
 I The Duke died at Spa in little more than six weeks after the 
 
 date of this letter, 2 October 17G4. 
 
 V 2
 
 292 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 Charles Townshend* employs his summer in wri- 
 ting pamphlets, and has just published one of the 
 best that has yet made its appearance, entitled a 
 " Defence of the Minority on the Question relating 
 to Warrants." Among my invalids, I forgot to 
 mention Lord Temple.f During the whole Stow 
 party he was confined to his chair with a leg very 
 disproportionate to his feet, about the size of my 
 body. This is said to be a scorbutic gout, but I 
 hope to God it will be nothing worse, and take 
 his brother out of the House of Commons ; for 
 in that case, except Jack Shelley should turn and 
 take the lead, I know not who is equal to it.:}: 
 Hans Stanley is by this time on your side of the 
 water, in jDcrfect good humour with his patent of 
 Governor of the Isle of Wight. Lord Carnarvon 
 has resigned the Bedchamber, but declares he does 
 not mean hostility. As to Lord Holland, I hear 
 he is at Margate, but in what humour, either as 
 to mind or body, I know not. 
 
 Lady Catherine and Fanny ^ have been at this 
 place about a fortnight, but yesterday, a ship came 
 
 * The celebrated Charles Townshend, the minister and wit. 
 
 + Richard first Earl Temple^ and uncle of George first 
 Marquis of Buckingham. He died September 11, 1779. 
 
 J Had Lord Temple's illness ended fatally, it would have 
 transferred his celebrated brother, George Grenville, (at this pe- 
 riod First Lord of the Treasury) to the House of Lords. 
 
 § Probably Lady Catherine Tufton and Miss Frances Pelham, 
 who are both mentioned in previous letters as occasional visitors 
 at Brighton. See 22 and 29 August 1763.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 293 
 
 off the coast from the Levant, M-liicli the old 
 ^voman thought might have the plague on board, 
 so she packed up all her things, and set out with 
 her family in the middle of the night. I see so 
 much trouble likely to attend my finery, that I 
 beg leave to be off from the suit of velvet, and 
 will content myself with our home manufacture 
 of some sort or other. Pray make my best com- 
 pliments to Lord JNIarch, and believe me to be. 
 
 Ever yours, &c., &c. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Brighthelmstone, August 25, 1764. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I CAN recollect no news since my last. This 
 has been our race week, and Jack Shelley has 
 acted the part of his uncle in his grace's absence.* 
 He has talked to everybody about everything, and 
 has tried to keep up those spirits, which, as my 
 Lord Clarendon says, " grow rather languid in their 
 expectations of the reversion of the Crown." 
 
 IVIr. Legge diedf yesterday morning at Tunbridge 
 Wells, and Hans Stanley is talked of to succeed 
 him in the county. The pattern of velvet you 
 sent me is so pretty, that it has made me alter my 
 
 * Mr, Shelley was nephew, on the mother's side, of Thomas 
 first duke of Newcastle, the celebrated minister. See ante, June, 
 1763. 
 
 f See ante, 1 8 August.
 
 294 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 intentions, and determines me to risk the vigilance 
 of the Custom House officers ; but the master of 
 the packet here tells me he can do it with much 
 more ease and security, therefore I wish you would 
 order the suit of clothes immediately, and send 
 them, well packed, directed to Captain Killick, to 
 be left with Mr. Ballard at Dieppe. 
 
 Dick Cox is here, and says, if you will buy him 
 a set of dishes and plates of the blue and white 
 china, which you brought over last year for your 
 mother, he will give you as many dinners off them 
 as you will condescend to accept of Remember 
 me to the Earls of JVIarch and Coventry, and be- 
 lieve me to be, my dear George, 
 
 Ever yours, &c. &c. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Brighthelmstone, September 11. [1764.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I WAS very sorry when I saw the face of our 
 smuggling captain and he brought me no des- 
 patches from you. The letter which Coventry wrote 
 the Sunday after the express, 1 have received, 
 M'hich contains some very cold inquiries after the 
 children, whom he seems to leave to Providence 
 and me. Children often recover their o-ood looks 
 as surprisingly as they lose them, and I hope 
 Nanny will do the same ; but at this instant all
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 295 
 
 her beauty is gone, and she looks Hke a poor 
 miserable object. They are to stay till the end 
 of the month, and then to go down to Crome 
 with their step-mother. 
 
 Your ivory tops are most shabby affairs indeed ; 
 indeed they are such, I believe, as Lord Hard- 
 wicke's daughter receives from her relations. Lady 
 Something Grey* is here, and I wish to God you 
 could see her equipage. Two of the most mi- 
 seraljle lean mares, tied to a hackney-coach, will 
 not cause much distress in twenty thousand per 
 annum. Your nephew Midleton f and my lady 
 have been in the neighbourhood on a visit to Tom- 
 my Pelliam, but, as none of the minority were (where 
 I could wish them) in the sea, he did not do this 
 place the honour of a visit, but retired to Pepper 
 Harrow, after declaring there would be a change 
 shortly in the Administration. This arrangement 
 was: Lord Northumberland, First Lord of the Trea- 
 sury, and Bowlby his Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 
 The Duke of York, on his arrival, went first 
 to his mother, then to his Majesty, and directly from 
 them to Mr. Foote's.J You see, ccelum non ani- 
 mnm mutant. ]\Ir. Legge told a very fat fellow 
 
 * Apparently Lady Henrietta Cavendish Bentinck, second 
 daughter of William second Duke of Portland, and wife of the 
 Hon. George Harry Grey, fifth Earl of Stamford. She died on 
 the 4th of June 1827. 
 
 f George Viscount Midleton, married to Selwyn's niece. See 
 ante, 4 August 17G.'J. 
 
 :j; Sanuiel VooW, \\\c (clcliraU'd cuniedian.
 
 296 LORD HOLLAND 
 
 who came to see him the day he died, " Sir, you 
 are a great weight, but let me tell you, you are 
 in at the death." I do not believe any of your 
 d d monsieurs would go off the stage so gal- 
 lantly. If you had sent my finery to Dieppe time 
 enough for my friend to have clapped them on 
 board the last trip, I should by this time have 
 been in possession. Now I begin to fear the Cus- 
 tom House will make free with them, and that I 
 shall see one of their little boys at play in my 
 birth-day clothes. I shall stay here a week longer. 
 Let me know in your next when you imagine 
 you shall leave Paris. I do not expect you to be 
 certain, as nothing is less so than the kite you 
 are tied to. God bless you both, and 
 
 Adieu, &c. &c. &c. 
 
 LORD HOLLAND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Kingsgate, September 23^ 1764. 
 DEAR SELWYN, 
 
 This waits your landing with an invitation of 
 sincerity, and not of compliment; and I will be 
 so sure that you will accept it, that, till I see you, 
 I shall say nothing of Hume's* absurdity, Horry's 
 
 * See post, 2nd of December 1765, David Hume was at this 
 period Secretary to the British embassy at Paris, where his repu- 
 tation as an historian and a philosopher had procured him a most 
 flattering reception, and where Mason, in his " Heroic Epistle," 
 speaks of him as '< drunk with Gallic wine and Gallic praise."
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 297 
 
 pamphlet,* kc. Tell Lord IMarcli that he may break- 
 fast or dine here, as well at least as at an inn, and 
 lie at Margate, two miles off, as well as at Canter- 
 bury. But we dine exactly at two ; so you will have 
 full time to go to Canterbury after your coffee, if that 
 is what you choose. Lady Caroline is not here, but 
 will be to-morrow, and very glad to see Lord jVIarch 
 and you and ask after her friends at Paris. 
 
 Yours ever, Holland. 
 
 P.S. Hor. may write another pamphlet, for I 
 hear the Duke of Grafton has turned the duchess 
 out, (though she is brave, and has seen service,) 
 without assigning a reason. 
 
 [Horace Walpole writes to the Earl of Hertford, 
 on the 9th of the month, " You ask about what 
 I had mentioned in the beginning, the dissensions 
 in the house of Grafton. The world says they are 
 actually ])arted : I do not believe that, but will tell 
 you exactly all I know. His grace, it seems, for 
 many months has kept one Nancy Parsons,f one 
 
 * Horace Walpole, during the preceding month, had published 
 a pamphlet in defence of his friend Marshal Conway, who had 
 recently been dismissed from his employments for opposing the 
 Ministry in the House of Commons during the prosecution of 
 Wilkes. 
 
 f The connexion of Nancy Parsons with the Duke of Grafton 
 has been immortalised by Junius. " The example," he says, " of 
 the English nobility may, for aught I know, sufficiently justify 
 the Duke of Grafton when he indulges his genius in all the 
 fashionable excesses of the age; yet, considering his rank and 
 station, I think it would do him more honour to be able to deny
 
 298 LORD HOLLAND. 
 
 of the commonest creatures in London, once much 
 liked, but out of date. He is certainly grown un- 
 commonly attached to her, so much, that it has 
 put an end to all his decorum. She was publicly 
 with him at Ascot races, and is now in the forest ; 
 I do not know if actually in the house. At first, 
 I concluded this was merely stratagem to pique the 
 duchess ; but it certainly goes further. Before the 
 duchess laid in, she had a little house on Richmond 
 Hill, whither the duke sometimes, though seldom, 
 came to dine. During her month of confinement 
 he was scarcely in town at all, nor did even come 
 up to see the Duke of Devonshire. The duchess 
 is certainly gone to her father. She affected to 
 talk of the duke familiarly, and said she should 
 call in the forest as she went to Lord Ravens- 
 worth's : I susjiect she is gone thither to recrimi- 
 nate and complain."* Augustus Henry, third Duke 
 
 the fact than to defend it hy such authority. But if vice itself 
 could be excused, there is a certain display of it, a certain outrage 
 to decency and violation of public decorum, which, for the benefit 
 of society, should never be forgiven. It is not that he kept a 
 mistress at home, but that he constantly attended her abroad. It 
 is not the private indulgence, but the public insult, of which I 
 complain. The name of Miss Parsons would hardly have been 
 known, if the First Lord of the Treasury had not led her in tri- 
 umph through the Opera House, even in the presence of the 
 Queen. When we see a man act in this manner, we may admit 
 the shameless depravity of his heart, but what are we to think 
 of his understanding?" — Letter to the printer of the Public 
 Advertiser, 22nd of June, 1709. 
 
 * Walpole's Correspondence, vol. iv. p. 448.
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS. 299 
 
 of Grafton, was publicly separated from his duchess 
 (Ann, only child of Henry Liddell, Lord Ravens- 
 worth) about three months after the date of Wal- 
 pole's letter; and on the 23rd of JNIarch, 17G9, 
 their marriage was dissolved by an act of parlia- 
 ment, which received the royal assent. The duke 
 shortly afterwards married Elizabeth, third daughter 
 of the Rev. Sir Richard Wrottesley, Bart., Dean of 
 '\A^indsor ; and his injured and charming duchess, 
 about the same time, became the wife of the Earl 
 of Upper Ossory. Several pleasing letters from 
 her, after she had become Countess of Upper 
 Ossory, will be found in the subsequent corres- 
 pondence.] 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Clifford Street, Septr. 29. [1764.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 You may talk as you please of what you have 
 seen and heard since we i)arted, but I would not 
 have given up my last night's supper for the whole 
 put together. The earl brought his new countess 
 to JNIargaret Street the night after the consumma- 
 tion.* You know him so well, that I dare say you 
 are perfectly master of his words and actions on 
 such an occasion ; and as for her ladyship, it was 
 all })rettinoss, fright, insi})idity, question, and aii- 
 
 * Lord Coventry's marriage with Lady Barbara St. .John took 
 j)lai;c on the 27th, two days previous to the date of this letter.
 
 800 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 swer, which neither gold stuffs, diamonds, a new 
 chair, with a very large coronet in the centre, like 
 the Queen's, — neither of these, I say, had power 
 to alter; and as my friend was never cut out for 
 decent and matrimonial gallantry, a very awkward 
 air made them both as entertaining a couple as 
 ever 1 passed an hour with. They are to be intro- 
 duced at court on Sunday, and to set out for Crome 
 the next day. Her toad-eater for the summer is 
 a Miss Houblon. 
 
 Nanny seems as much frightened as when she 
 was delivered over to Mademoiselle from Kitty. 
 I wish she may fall now into as good hands, for I 
 believe Mademoiselle Comte's reign is short. He 
 has already told me her French is very impure, and 
 her orthograj^hy worse. He may possibly have an- 
 other who may excel her in both, and rob the house 
 into the bargain. The countess has three thousand 
 for her fortune, for which she has a rent-charge 
 of eight hundred pounds. She has now a cough, 
 so we may probably expect black Brookes to be 
 trotting over with a prayer-book before the year 
 is out. 
 
 I will tell you now what will become of me. I 
 shall set out to-morrow for Bunny's; shall stay 
 there a few days ; and from thence go through Bath 
 to my sisters in Devonshire, and, at the end of the 
 month, shall return through Bath to Crome, and 
 thence to London. I believe you will approve of 
 my not interrupting the honeymoon, in which I
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 301 
 
 think a third person has very little to do. Bully 
 was yesterday so very attentive to me at White's, 
 that I believe he intends to crave leave to visit 
 his kinswoman.* 
 
 The Baptist f has recovered his fatigue, and been 
 so well nursed at Lydiard,^ that there is no appear- 
 ance of his having been for a whole twelvemonth 
 together on a post-horse. I have been for two 
 days, since I returned to town, at Strawberry. The 
 Duke of Devonshire's illness seems to have sunk 
 Horry's spirits prodigiously. He expects the re- 
 surrection of INIr. Pitt, as the Jews do the coming 
 of the IMessiah, and, for all I can see, with as much 
 reason. Everything political goes on as well as he 
 could wish it. There has not been the least foun- 
 dation for any ill-humour at Woburn, but all har- 
 mony and unanimity ; in short, the whole state 
 army is in high spirits. 
 
 Charles To^\^lshend's pamphlet is well answered. 
 The writer, I do not know who he is, has proved 
 that Charles has gone altogether on false facts, 
 which you know is uncommon, and has gone 
 through the whole with such spirit, that it is much 
 the best performance that has ever appeared on 
 our side. Horry has published Lord Herbert's 
 
 * Lord Bolingbroke and Lady Barbara St. John were severally 
 descended from Sir Oliver St. John, of Penmark, Glamorgan- 
 shire, who died in 1437. 
 
 t The Hon. Henry St. John, 
 
 J Lydiard Tregoze, in Wiltshire, the seat of Lord Boling- 
 broke.
 
 302 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 Life, with a very extraordinary Dedication to Lord 
 Powis. I have not read it, reserving it for the 
 post-chaise, but I am tokl nothing is more odd 
 and entertaining.* 
 
 My Lady f is creaking along in her okl coach 
 between London and Paddington for ever. Be- 
 tween the King's ministers that ruin her country, 
 and the late lord's executors that plunder her join- 
 ture, she is in one constant alarm, and her con- 
 versation an uninterrupted thread of abuse. As 
 for the Duchess of Grafton, she is at her father's, 
 
 * The Life of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, written by him- 
 self, printed in quarto at Strawberry Hill. Horace Walpole, in 
 a letter to Geoi'ge Montagu dated 16th July, 1764, informs us 
 of the circumstances under which this celebrated piece of auto- 
 biography first saw the light, and also affords a clue to the 
 " extraordinary Dedication " referred to by Williams. " I found 
 it the MS.) a year ago at Lady Hertford's, to whom Lady Powis 
 had lent it. I took it up, and soon threw it down again, as the 
 dullest thing I ever saw. She persuaded me to take it home. 
 My Lady Waldegrave was here in all her grief; Gray and I 
 read it to amuse her. We could not get on for laughing and 
 screaming. I begged to have it to print : Lord Powis, sensible 
 of the extravagance, refused — I insisted — he persisted. I told 
 my Lady Hertford it was no matter ; I would print it, I was 
 determined. I sat down and wrote a flattering Dedication to 
 Lord Powis, which I knew he would swallow : he did, and gave 
 up his ancestor. But this was not enough ; I was resolved the 
 world should not think I admired it seriously, though there really 
 are fine passages in it, and good sense too : I drew up an equi- 
 vocal Preface, in which you will discover my opinion, and sent it 
 with the Dedication. The Earl gulped down the one under the 
 palliative of the other, and here you will have all." — Walpole's 
 Letters, vol. iv. p. 430. 
 
 ■f Probably Lady Townshend.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 303 
 
 and, according to all accounts, to come no more 
 to Eiiston ; but my belief is, her pride must sub- 
 mit, and everything will be accommodated. The 
 Duke of Cumberland goes from Newmarket to 
 Euston, and all the sjiorting court follows him. 
 Various are the reasons given for your friend's* 
 bilkino- Newmarket. Intrigue is the substance of 
 all our conjectures, and we wish him Lord Co- 
 ventry's vigour to complete his wicked intentions. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Clifford Street. [Oct. 1764.] 
 
 You will certainly want to know how the 
 children relish their new relation. I will give 
 you a trait of Nanny that pleased me. When 
 JNIademoiselle broke it to them, Maria cried, and 
 the little one said, " Do not cry, sister ! If she 
 is civil to us, we will be civil to her ; if not, 
 you know we can sit up in our own rooms, and 
 take no notice of her." There is a degree of phi- 
 losophy in this infant that I do not think age can 
 improve. 
 
 A board of General Officers have sat on John- 
 son and Lyttelton, and, as I am informed, have 
 determined the affair in .Johnson's favour. This is 
 what neither you nor I care one farthing about. 
 As to what concerns us more nearly, we shall pass 
 
 * Lord March.
 
 304 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 a Christmas week over a fowl and bacon with 
 Branch at Matson. I shall have a passion for the 
 party, and I am sure you have done the old house 
 sufficient honour to sigh after it, in all the pleasures 
 of the Court of Versailles ; but Nanny would tell 
 us, it is not all that nonsense that makes us happy. 
 I subscribe to Sir W. Temple, except " old wood 
 to burn, old friends to converse with, and old books 
 to read,"* all the rest is not worth one farthing. 
 God bless you, and adieu ! 
 
 To George Selwyn, Esq., 
 at Mr. Foley's, Banker, a Paris. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Spring Hill, October 8th. [1764.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I HOPE you have received my last, which gave 
 you as early an account as I could get of the 
 nuptials. The ceremony and consummation being 
 reputably passed, they set out for Crome, where 
 Bunny f and I dined with them yesterday. You 
 are so little interested about the master and mis- 
 tress of that house, any further than they relate 
 to Nanny, that I will not presume to mention them 
 till I have told you her little ladyship seems happy, 
 
 * Dr. King, in his agreeable Anecdotes of His Own Time, 
 attributes this saying to Alphonso, King of Arragon. 
 
 t Apparently Sir Thomas Charles Bunbury, Bart., of whom 
 there is frequent mention in the subsequent correspondence.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 305 
 
 and tolerably reconciled to her new mamma. As 
 to her humour appearing in her eye, and in different 
 parts of her face, it is exactly as it %yas, and is 
 likely to continue so, as I find tlie jihysical tribe 
 are not to be in fashion there, or ever again con- 
 sulted. 
 
 I like the behaviour of the children much, and 
 likewise the propriety of Bab's behaviour to them ; 
 but you would have laughed to have seen what 
 a hearty kiss the little one would often give Made- 
 moiselle, as looking upon her as the only real friend 
 she had in the family. You can easily imagine 
 such a scene wanted a second person, equally ac- 
 quainted, equally interested, and equally disposed 
 to enjoy it : if you had been at our party, it would 
 have been complete. There is no possibility of 
 saying more of her at present, than that she is 
 very pretty : the rest is all grimace ; but as to his 
 lordship, he certainly surpasses all you can conceive 
 of him : his plantations, his house, his wife, his 
 plate, his equipage, his — &c. &c. &c. — are all topics 
 that call forth his genius continually. We went 
 to church with them, and the curiosity of all the 
 neighbouring parishes would not have displeased 
 you. T thought I could hear, among the crowd, 
 some odious comparisons ; and these were all in 
 favour of our old friend,* who lies very (piietly 
 in the neighbourhood. I do not love to deal in 
 horoscoi)es, but his lordshij) will certainly tire of 
 
 * The late beautiful Countess of Coventry. 
 VUL. I. X
 
 806 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 this plaything, as he has done of all he has hitherto 
 played with, and be plagued with the noise of the 
 rattle when he is no longer pleased with blowing 
 at the whistle. He means to instruct by lectures 
 in his table-talk, and by drawing pictures of good 
 and bad wives. You know how he succeeded in 
 the last ; God grant him better success in his pre- 
 sent plan. 
 
 When your name came upon the carpet, I said 
 you had so little attended to beauty, that I am 
 sure you did not know her by sight. I thought 
 this might remove any report of your disappro- 
 bation, if there ever had been any. She has a 
 toad-eater, a Miss Houblon, who seems to me to 
 have sense enough to see a little ridicule in the -whole 
 thing. All our advices from the metropolis are 
 in favour of Administration. The dirt thrown upon 
 it seems to have recoiled upon its adversaries, and 
 even our friend Coventry now talks of JMr. Gren- 
 ville, and mentions some conferences he has had 
 with him, like his confidential walks with the old 
 King in the closet. I suppose you have had ex- 
 presses about Newmarket. The papers had killed 
 his Royal Highness,* but as he is out of order, 
 he is of course in danger, as all those bodies must 
 be on the slightest attack. Ran by f was sent down 
 
 * William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, the hero of Cul- 
 loden. He survived till the 31st of October, 1765. 
 
 f A celebrated surgeon. He attended Sir Robert Walpole 
 in his last illness ; was Serjeant-Surgeon to the King, and a 
 Fellow of the Royal Society.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 307 
 
 to him : the -wound in his leg is said to be the 
 present complaint. 
 
 I do not see Lord IMarcirs name in the list: 
 has he ^vithdra^yn his horses, or do they subsist 
 under Fox Vernon's name ? Bully is victorious. 
 The next mare he may christen Barbara,* and send 
 his groom with her to the Boar's Head, in INIother 
 Holcombe's neighbourhood. I shall leave this place 
 to-morrow morning ; shall go through Bath to my 
 sister's in Devonshire ; and have promised to return 
 to Crome, in my way to London. Lord Thomond 
 and Cadogan will not be much in town till the 
 Parliament meets, which will certainly be in Janu- 
 ary; and they have hinted there will always be 
 a very good fire and a piece of beef at Sliortgrove, 
 to which w^e shall be most heartily welcome. I 
 hope to God, George, you will take a sufficient 
 fill of all the stuff and trumpery which you have 
 been engaged in for these last four months, and 
 for which you are no more formed by nature 
 than you are for a INIethodist preacher. Do come 
 and live among your friends, who love and honour 
 you, and, believe me, none among them loves you 
 more than, Yours ever, &c. &c. 
 
 * The Christian name of Lord Coventry's new Countess. 
 
 X 2
 
 308 THE EARL OF MARCH. 
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Newmarket, Thursday, Oct. 1765. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I HAD your letter yesterday, and you would 
 have heard from me sooner had I had any good 
 news to send you. The rich people win every- 
 thing. Sir J. Lowther* has won above seven 
 thousand. Maxwell will bring you an account of 
 our bad success with Scapeflood. It cost me 
 much less than I expected, but more than I can 
 afford, for I am at this time, as you know, ex- 
 ceeding poor. 
 
 I am very sorry to hear that you are still 
 throwing out f as well as me. I fear, if luck 
 does not come soon, it will only find us at five 
 
 pound stakes, and it must be a d d long run 
 
 to bring us home at that rate. Adieu ! my dear 
 George ! I will not think of desiring you to come 
 here, because I do not know that you like it, 
 and I shall see you in London on Monday. I 
 have one little push to make on Saturday. Adieu ! 
 
 Yours, M. & R. 
 
 * Sir James Lowther, Bart., created, 24 May, 1784, Earl of 
 Lonsdale. He married, 7 September, 1761, Margaret, daughter 
 of John Earl of Bute, and died 24 May, 1802. 
 
 f At hazard.
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS. 309 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Crome, Saturday, 19 October, [1764.] 
 I HOPE by this time my last has reached 
 you at Orford's, or wherever your kite has carried 
 you. We go on just as you left us, saving- that 
 great want of whist and swabbers. There is a 
 noble miscreant in the coop at Worcester. He 
 has only robbed his uncle, who kept him out of 
 charity ; then fired his house, when the whole 
 family was asleep, and run away with three damsels 
 by the light of it. I met the Wrottesleys in the 
 middle of the town, and, let me tell you, a JNIaid 
 of Honour s face at Worcester is no very common 
 spectacle.* I have seen you in spirits at a Lon- 
 don face, though it was that of the Ordinary of 
 Newgate. 
 
 As to your question about Don Quixote, Horry 
 
 * They were two sisters, Maids of Honour to Queen Charlotte, 
 and daughters of the Reverend Sir Richard Wrottesley, Dean of 
 Worcester. The eldest, Mary, died unmarried December 1 7, 
 1769; Harriet, the youngest, married, in 1779, General William 
 Gardiner, brother of Luke Viscount Mountjoy, and died Decem- 
 ber 4, 1823. In " Earl Delawar's Farewell, on resigning the 
 place of Vice-Chamberlain to the Queen," we find — • 
 Ye maids, who Britain's court bedeck, 
 Miss Wrottesley, Tyron, Beauclerk, Keck, 
 
 Miss Meadows and Boscawen I 
 A dismal tale I have to tell ; 
 This is to bid you all farewell ; 
 
 Farewell ! for I am going, c^c &c. 
 
 VOL. I. X 3
 
 310 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 says Lord Herbert was a Don Quixote with the 
 austere j^hilosophy of Plato : he does not tell you 
 Plato was a Quixote. I wish most heartily he 
 had the managing of other old family stories ; two 
 or three such books in a quarter would make us 
 read your Dr. Carne, (if that is his name,) for I 
 never heard of him in my life. We know no- 
 thing of His Royal Highness [the Duke of York] 
 going into Wales ; he is now at Plymouth's,* to 
 the surprise of this whole county, who know 
 enough of the host not to wonder at the guest. 
 
 What is the matter with Burgoyne?f — if any- 
 thing, I am more concerned for him than for 
 Monseigneur the Dauphin. I can figure no being 
 happier than Horry. Monstrari digito prwtereun- 
 tium has been his whole aim. For this he has 
 wrote, printed, and built. To this we owe Lord 
 Herbert, and I hope in future shall owe much 
 more diversion. We see nothing of old Argyll | 
 in the papers. Was she ever sick ? 
 
 * Other Hickman, fourth Earl of Plymouth^, married, in 1750, 
 Katharine, daughter of Thomas Lord Archer, and died 20 April, 
 1777. 
 
 + James Burgoyne, well known as a man of pleasure, and 
 from his lively dramatic writings ; but still better known as 
 Lieutenant-General Burgoyne, and from his compulsory surren- 
 der to General Gates at Saratoga: — 
 
 Burgoyne, unconscious of impending fates. 
 
 Could cut his way through woods, but not through Gates. 
 
 General Burgoyne died at his house in Hertford Street, Lon- 
 don, 4 August, 1792, and was buried in the cloisters of Westmin- 
 ster Abbey. 
 
 i Jane, daughter of Thomas Warburton, Esq., of Winnington
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 811 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Bath, November 1> 1764. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 Your last letter met me at this place on 
 my return from my western tour, and very glad 
 I was to hear you kept up your spirits so well. 
 T am at this place encircled with Irish and 
 West Indians, whose brogue and black language 
 I would not wish to exchange for the most re- 
 fined speculation of the President Henault.* 
 
 The Duke and Duchess of Bedford are here ; 
 I dine with them often. I can give you no 
 account of the children, having heard nothing 
 from Crome since I left it ; and as we are ad- 
 vancing in November, the weather gloomy, and the 
 Worcestershire roads worse, I propose going to 
 London from hence directly, without seeing how 
 the lovers look, though the honeymoon is past. 
 The earl was to have been in waiting this week, 
 but whether he sends the scripture excuse, or goes 
 in person, I know not. 
 
 Rigby is returned. He is afraid of coming to 
 Bath, lest the gout should lay hold of him, but 
 meets our family when it returns to Woburn 
 As to the state of politics, I hope it to be 
 " majority for ever ! " There is such a cursed 
 
 in Cheshire, and widow of John second Duke of Argyll. The 
 duchess, who had been a Maid of Honour to Queen Anne, died 
 on the 16th of January, 1767. 
 * See post, December 2, 1765.
 
 312 GILLY WILLIAMS. 
 
 murrain among the factions at Wildman's that 
 the hand of God seems stretched out against 
 them. The poor Duke of Devonshire has left 
 his children under the guardianship of George, 
 Frederick, and John,* jointly. Is it possible they 
 can agree for one week ? He has left Conway five 
 thousand,f and two hundred to Lord Strafford.:}: 
 
 Lord Rockingham's youngest sister has just 
 married her footman, John Sturgeon.§ Surely he 
 is the very first of that name that ever had a 
 Right Honourable annexed to it. I made the 
 Duchess of Bedford laugh yesterday, with the 
 story of Lord March's handsome Jack wanting to 
 go to live with Lady Harrington. Had he met 
 with a Wentworth, he must have made his for- 
 tune infallibly. 
 
 Sir Onesiphorus Paul 1| and his Lady are the 
 
 * Lords George, Frederick, and John Cavendish, the duke's 
 brothers. 
 
 -j- The celebrated Marshal Conway. The bequest was made in 
 the following codicil, in the duke's own handwriting : " I give 
 to General Conway five thousand pounds, as a testimony of my 
 friendship to him, and of my sense of his honourable conduct and 
 friendship for me." 
 
 j^ William Wentworth Earl of Strafford. He married Lady 
 Anne Campbell, daughter of John Duke of Argyll, and died in 
 1791. 
 
 § Lady Henrietta Alicia Wentworth, youngest daughter of 
 Thomas first Marquis of Rockingham. She was born December 
 7, 1737, and married, about this period, her footman, William, 
 or, as the Peerages style him, William Sturgeon, Esq. 
 
 II Onesiphorus Paul, Esq., of Rodboroiigh in Gloucestershire, 
 was created a baronet 3 September, 1762, and died 21 Septem- 
 ber 1774.
 
 TO GEORGE SEL^VYN. 313 
 
 finest couple that has been seen here since Bath 
 was built. By the bye, her ladyship drinks most 
 
 d bly. They have bespoke two whole-length 
 
 pictures, which some time or other will divert 
 us. His dress and manner are beyond my paint- 
 ing ; however, they may come within Mr. Gains- 
 borough's : that is the painter by whom, if you 
 remember, we once saw the caricature of old 
 Winchelsea. 
 
 S. Fanshawe and Willis are both here, not for 
 an appetite, but for the effects of too good a one. 
 I go for London in a few days, and shall take old 
 Execution Southwell in my post-chaise as a com- 
 panion. I write this in a full coffee-house, and 
 with such materials, that you have good luck if 
 you can read two lines of it. Adieu ! 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Clifford Street, Nov. 10, 17G4. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I NEVER write to you but that I hope it will 
 be the last, and that we are to see you again in 
 your native country, which has its charms, let 
 fashion and affectation say what they please to the 
 contrary. 
 
 I am just returned to the metropolis from the 
 west, and in my ])assage assisted at the closing of 
 old Poulett's eyes, for he died three days after I
 
 314 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 left him. He made an end like Falstaffe, " bab- 
 bling of green fields." What he has done with his 
 fortune has not yet transpired.* 
 
 This place is as deserted as it generally used 
 to be in Angnst ; half a dozen old courtiers at 
 White's ; as many young ones at the Maca- 
 roni's ;t the rest of the world hunting or shooting. 
 Our peer is to continue at Crome till after Christ- 
 mas. He says his countess and the girls are well, 
 but enters into no particulars. The weather al- 
 tering so much for the worse, and the gloom of 
 November setting in, I could not prevail on my- 
 self to plough my way home from Bath through 
 
 the d d deep roads of Worcesterhire, for which 
 
 reason you will think me a worse correspondent 
 than usual, as Nanny cannot be mentioned. But 
 since you have applied to the fountain-head for 
 that sort of intelligence, I hope her father takes 
 care to give you due satisfaction. 
 
 The girls talk of nothing but the match between 
 Lord 'Rockingham's sister and her footman, John 
 
 Sturgeon. Never so much and discretion met 
 
 together, for she has entailed her fortune with as 
 much circumspection as Lord Mansfield could have 
 
 * John, second Earl Poulett, died November 5, 1764. 
 
 f The Macaroni Club was the " Crockford's " of the last 
 century. Walpole speaks of it, in one of his letters, as " conoi- 
 posed of all the travelled young men who wear long curls and 
 spying-glasses." It comprised, however, the men of rank and 
 pleasure of the day, and, were the term " dandy " not obsolete^ 
 it would be synonymous with that of " Macaroni " in the last age.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 315 
 
 done, and has not left one cranny of the law un- 
 stopped.* It is supposed she is with child by him, 
 for they used to j)ass many hours together, which 
 she called teaching John the mathematics. I be- 
 lieve we know some ladies who would not dislike 
 taking in some Irish pupils, and in return would 
 pay as well for their instruction. 
 
 Bully read me an extract out of one of your 
 letters the other day. Contrary to all expectations, 
 his affairs thrive in the hands of Comjiton. He 
 wins so much at Newmarket, that he looks upon 
 it as one of his best farms, and one indeed that 
 will bear no price at market. Your inquiry after 
 the Duchess of Grafton may be answered, that they 
 will most certainly come together again. Will not 
 Ravensworth's f account of it be entertaining, and 
 more so for being unintelligible ? 
 
 * Horace Walpole writes to Lord Hertford, Nov. 1, 1764, 
 " Lady Harriet has mixed a wonderful degree of prudence with 
 her potion, and, considering how plain she is, has not, I think, 
 sweetened the draught too much for her lover : she settles a 
 single hundred pound on him a-year for his life ; entails her 
 whole fortune on their children, if they have any ; and, if not, on 
 her own family ; nay, in the height of the novel, provides for a 
 ^separation, and ensures the same pin-money to Damon, in case 
 they part. This deed she has vested out of her power, hy send- 
 ing it to Lord Mansfield [who had married her aunt,] whom she 
 makes trustee ; it is drawn up in her own hand, and Lord Mans- 
 field says it is as binding as any lawyer could make it. Did one 
 ever hear of more reflection in a delirium ! " — Walpole's Letters, 
 vol. iv. p. AGO. 
 
 t Henry Liddell, first Lord Kavensworth, the father of the 
 Duchess of (irafton. He died 30th January, 1784.
 
 316 RIGHT HON. THOMAS TOWNSHEND. 
 
 I give you a thousand thanks for my velvet. 
 I am told it is the prettiest in the world, and has 
 not suffered in the least from the rude hands of 
 my smuggling captain. Rigby was forced to bring 
 his clothes on his own and his servants' backs. 
 
 RIGHT HON. THOMAS TOWNSHEND.* 
 
 Thomas Townshend, the " Tommy Townshend " 
 of Goldsmith's " Retaliation," f was the eldest son of 
 the Hon. Thomas Townshend, (son of Charles second 
 Viscount Townshend,) by Albinia, daughter of Co- 
 lonel John Selwyn of Matson, and sister to George 
 Selwyn. He was born in February, 1733. During 
 the time he remained a Commoner, he represented 
 the borough of Whitchurch in four Parliaments, 
 and for more than thirty years enjoyed a suc- 
 cession of important and lucrative posts. He had 
 been one of the Clerks of the Household to Georo-e 
 the Third, when Prince of Wales, on whose ac- 
 cession to the throne he was appointed one of 
 the Clerks of the Board of Green Cloth, which' 
 post he resigned in 1762. In July 1765 he was 
 made a Lord of the Treasury, and subsequently held 
 the appointment of Secretary at War. On the 
 change which took place in the government, in 
 
 * Afterwards Viscount Sydney. 
 
 f Though fraught with all learning, yet straining his throaty 
 To persuade Tommy Townshend to lend him a vote.
 
 RIGHT HON. THOMAS TOWNSHEND. 817 
 
 July, 1782, in consequence of the death of Lord 
 Rockingham, he was nominated one of the prin- 
 cipal Secretaries of State, which situation he re- 
 tained, with the exception of a few months, till 
 June, 1789. On the 6th of IMarch 1783 he was 
 created Baron Sydney of Chislehurst, and on the 
 9tli of June 1789 was advanced to a Viscountcy. 
 For his success in public life, he seems to have 
 been indebted rather to family and parliamentary 
 influence, than to the possession of extraordinary 
 talents. However, as he was distinguished by steady 
 abilities, and was a bold, able, and unembarrassed 
 speaker in parliament, these qualities, added to his 
 family influence, rendered him a valuable acqui- 
 sition to his party. The manner of his death, which 
 took place at his seat at Chislehurst, in Kent, 13th 
 June 1800, is thus related in a contemporary no- 
 tice of the event : " Returning from his morning 
 ride, he went into the garden, and walked round 
 the pond to see his ducks, as was his usual custom, 
 and then returned to the parlour, desiring his ser- 
 vant to bring him pen and ink, saying he would 
 write to his attorney to inform him when he should 
 be in town. After writing, ' Sir, I shall be — ,' 
 his lordship fell back in his chair in a fit. His 
 eldest son, who was with him, called for assistance, 
 but to no purpose : the last words his lordship 
 spoke were, ' Give me my draught ;' in three mi- 
 nutes afterwards he expired." * 
 
 * Annual Register for 1800, p. 62.
 
 318 RIGHT HON, THOMAS TOWNSHEND 
 
 RIGHT HON. THOMAS TOWNSHEND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Frognal, November 11, 1764. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 Your reproaches to me for not sending you 
 any news have certainly the appearance of justice ; 
 though it was not in my power to do it, as Lon- 
 don was so empty when I wrote last, that there 
 was no tittle-tattle stirring, or, at least it was such 
 very small talk that it would not bear carriage 
 as far as Frognal ; but, if I may believe the pre- 
 sent conversation of the town, I have cause to re- 
 turn the complaint, as you have omitted informing 
 me of a marriage which is here said to be agreed 
 on between Lord March and Lady Anne Conway,* 
 and we give that reason for his being absent from 
 Newmarket last meeting. I shall not be surprised 
 if the report is contradicted : if it is true, I be- 
 lieve he has made a good choice. A sister of 
 Lord Rockingham's has much outdone Lady Susan 
 O'Brien.t She has married her footman and drop- 
 ped her title, and, with most extraordinary discre- 
 tion, has put her fortune into trustees' hands, and 
 entailed it on her family in case she has no child, 
 except an annuity of an hundred a-year, which 
 she has settled on Mr. Sturgeon. 
 
 * Eldest daughter of Francis, first Marquis of Hertford, 
 born in 1744. She married Charles Moore, first Marquis of 
 Drogheda. 
 
 f See ante, pp. 273, 274'.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 819 
 
 Another important event, is the marriage of INIiss 
 Hunter to a Dr. Delap, with whose sister she boarded. 
 It is said, that her father has added two liiindred 
 a-year to her other settlement. 
 
 INIathias has received your letter, and told me 
 that he would make all possible inquiries concern- 
 ing the imjiortation of your baggage. The strict- 
 ness of the Custom House officers still continues. 
 jNIr. Rigby brought one fine suit of clothes, which 
 he saved by wearing it when he landed. JNIr. 
 Elliot saved a coat and waistcoat by the same 
 means, but not having taken the precaution for the 
 breeches, they were seized and burnt. 
 
 JMy brother imagines that Count Brull has been 
 in England before, and that he is already acquaint- 
 ed with him. I have recommended to him sub- 
 mission to jNIadame GeofFrin's decisions, but I hope, 
 for the sake of my friends, that she does not 
 admit many to be of her academy, who are capable 
 of making so very flat compliments as those of 
 the jMarquis de Brancas. 
 
 I do not think we shall stay here longer than the 
 end of this month ; and, may be, not so long, if 
 the weather continues so bad as it is at i)resent. 
 As soon as I go to town, I shall obey your com- 
 mands, and go and see your pictures. JMy grand- 
 mother and I arc extremely obliged to you for 
 your offer about the china, but we arc deter- 
 mined not to have tlie boxes opened till we have 
 the pleasure of seeing you, which we would flatter
 
 320 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 ourselves is not far off. She orders me to give 
 lier love to you. The family desire to be kindly 
 remembered to you. Farewell. 
 
 A Monsieur, Monsieur Selwyn, 
 chez Monsieur Foley, Banquier, a Paris. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 White's, November 13. [1764.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 You make me of that consequence by your 
 frequent couriers and despatches, that I wish, for 
 both our sakes, they did not open our correspond- 
 ence at the Secretary's office. I should not dis- 
 like to see an English and a French Willis em- 
 ployed in decyphering and giving meaning to that 
 which originally had none at all. 
 
 They have been so taken up these moonlight 
 nights at Crome, in returning their wedding visits, 
 that I have heard nothing from thence since I came 
 to town. You have made me such a coxcomb by 
 that very pretty velvet, that I wish you would let me 
 trouble you to buy two pair of point-ruffles, not ex- 
 ceeding five pounds each pair, and pray let them be 
 shallow, and not in the Hippesley way. Old Poulett 
 lias left all to his brother Vere,* who is an acquisi- 
 
 * Vere Poulett succeeded his brother, November 5, 17G4, as 
 third Earl Poulett.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 321 
 
 tion to the ministry ; as I hear he has been a 
 pamphleteer, though as yet only to the benefit 
 of the trnnkmaker and pastrycook. Horry told 
 me last night, he intended to be at Paris in Fe- 
 bruary. It is a d d cold time for a patriot 
 
 to leave us in, but, take my word for it, Lady 
 Mary's * promotion to Windsor has had its due 
 operation. 
 
 AYliom do you think they have married Lord 
 INIarch to? — no less a person than Lady Anne 
 Conway ; and as she is fifteen,! ^'^^^ IMadame D. 
 fifty, the honourable proposal gains more credit 
 than the intrigue. The Master of the Rolls, (the 
 English one, not Rigby,) tumbled out of his chair 
 last Sunday at church, and is, they say, in eMremis.X 
 Prince William's J title is to be Gloucester ; that of 
 Lancaster interfering too much with the rights and 
 privileges of that duchy. He is to have the exact 
 
 * Lady Mary Churchill, Walpole'a half-sister, (see ante, July 
 29, 1764,) had been recently removed from being housekeeper at 
 Kensington Palace, to be housekeeper at Windsor Castle. 
 
 \ Lady Anne Conway was born August 1, 1744, and, conse- 
 quently, was at this period in her twenty-first year. The mar- 
 riage never took place, 
 
 \ Sir Thomas Clarke, Master of the Rolls ; died shortly after 
 the above was written. 
 
 § Prince William Henry, brother of George the Third, born 
 November 15, 1743, and created Duke of Gloucester November 
 17, 1764. He married, September 6, 176G, Maria, daughter of 
 Sir Edward Walpole, and widow of .lames Earl of Waldegrave, 
 and died August 26, 1805. 
 
 VOL. I. Y
 
 322 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 establishment of his brother the Duke of York. 
 The Duke of Marlborough will have the riband, if 
 it goes out of the royal family. 
 
 Poor Wolly is dead. He died of a cold pigeon- 
 pie for want of Willis's assistance. I spoke to Lord 
 Holland, at court, last Sunday. He looks well in 
 the face, but is weaker in his limbs than ever I saw 
 him. Horry Walpole dined there yesterday, and 
 says his stomach is totally gone. I find the pre- 
 sent topic of abuse, instead of Asliton, Rigby, &c., is 
 the Woburn family. De Beaumont* has breakfasted 
 with him at Strawberry. He is now as much a 
 curiosity to all foreigners as the tombs and lions. 
 
 You will be glad to hear the Duchess of Ha- 
 milton is breeding again ; so there is a chance for 
 another lusiis naturce, and Gunning may still unite 
 those great rival houses. George Pitt kissed hands 
 last Sunday for Plenipotentiary, and is not to carry 
 over his credentials till IMay.f The town is emp- 
 tier than it usually is at Midsummer ; scarce a 
 
 * M. Elie de Beaumont was born at Caventan, in Normandy, 
 in 1732; was admitted an advocate at the French bar in 1762, 
 and died in 1786. Though incapacitated by physical infirmities 
 from attaining to excellence as a pleader, he, nevertheless, ac- 
 quired a lasting reputation by the beauty and eloquence with 
 which he drew up his memorials, and more especially his famous 
 one in favour of the unfortunate Calas family. In private life 
 he was distinguished by the liveliness of his wit, and by kindness 
 of heart. 
 
 -j- George Pitt, Esq., of Strathfieldsay, created, in 1776, Baron 
 Rivers. In 1761 he was British Envoy at Turin, and, in 1770, 
 Ambassador extraordinary to Spain. He died May 7, 1803.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 323 
 
 patriot left, or a Cavendish to whisper. Egmoiit 
 is reduced to a soliloquy, or, to what is Morse, to 
 Cholmondley. The little Edgecombe is as like the 
 old Edgecombe* — as they more properly said of 
 the Pouletts — as two peas. You shall now hear 
 from me frequently. God bless you, my dear 
 George, and adieu ! 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 White's, 1 Dec. [1764.] 
 
 I WONDER what the devil you do with yourself, 
 sic raro scrihis ! I do not believe vou think I have 
 a penny left in my pocket, that you will not put 
 me to the expense of a letter, but wait till a 
 
 d d odd animal joins the IMaearonis to save me 
 
 twelvepence postage. Pray tell Lord INIarch, that I 
 am this moment come from the opera, and the 
 knowing ones agree, nothing like Manzolif has 
 been imported into this country for ages. Signora 
 Scotti is pretty, but her voice scarce strong enough 
 to reach three benches from the orchestra. But I 
 
 * George, first Earl of Mount Edgecombe, He had recently 
 become a father, his only son, Richard, the late (second) Earl, 
 having been born September 13, 1764. 
 
 + Dr. Burney mentions Manzoli's voice as " the most powerful 
 and voluminous soprano " that had been heard on the English 
 stage since the time of Earinelli. " The lovers of music," he 
 says, " were more unanimous in approving his voice and talents 
 than those of any other singer within my memory." 
 
 y 2
 
 324 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 can tell you something which, as Lord Bacon says, 
 Mill come more home to vonr business and bosom. 
 Old Harrington's robbery is found out. His porter 
 was the principal thief, who let in a cheesemonger, 
 and another not yet taken, who divided the spoil. 
 A watch and some of the ]3late are returned. The 
 cheesemonger is the evidence, so the porter will 
 go alone in the cart : they were discovered nego- 
 tiating one of the bank-notes at Chester * 
 
 No army on earth was ever in higher spirits than 
 our Administration. Opposition seems on its death- 
 bed. The Yorkes have left it. Charles Yorke has 
 been squeamish, and would not return to his old post 
 again, but kisses hands next Wednesday for a bre- 
 vet of precedency at the bar. He has acted, as 
 most lawyers do out of their business, with as much 
 absurdity, and as little knowledge of the Avorld, as 
 a fellow of a college. The Duke and Duchess of 
 
 * The circumstances of the robbery, which was committed 
 nearly a twelvemonth previous to the discovery of the culprits, 
 are thus detailed by Horace Walpole, in a letter to the Earl of 
 Hertford : " The house of Harrington has supplied us with new 
 matter of talk. My lord was robbed, about three o'clock in 
 the night, between Saturday and Sunday last, of money, bills, 
 watches, and snuff-boxes, to the amount of three thousand pounds. 
 Nothing is yet discovered, but that the guard in the stable-yard 
 saw a man, in a great-coat and white stockings, come from there- 
 abouts at the time I have named. The servants have all been 
 examined over and over to no purpose. Fielding is all day in the 
 house, and a guard of his at night." — Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. 
 p. 332. — One Bradley, an accomplice, was subsequently admitted 
 a witness for the prosecution ; and on his evidence the porter, 
 John Wisket, was hanged, in January, 1765.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 325 
 
 Grafton are separated, though the articles are not 
 yet agreed upon between them. General Conway is 
 to treat in favour of the duke, and old Ellison for 
 the duchess : it is thought she will retire upon 
 her jointure. Coventry comes in about a fortnight. 
 He says concisely, the children are well ; but as 
 he corresponds with you, and you are satisfied, I 
 suppose he has been more particular. The dow- 
 ager's birthday was full and well dressed.* People 
 say Lord Holland looks well ; but I think he breaks 
 very fast, and has more of the old man in his 
 speech, which you remember was remarkably quick 
 and lively. God bless you, my dear George ! When 
 you have nothing else to do, let me hear from 
 you — see you, I suppose, I never shall. &c., &c. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Tuesday, Dec. 4. [1764.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I WROTE to you on Saturday last, and told you 
 all the news in that scrap of paper. Sir John 
 Fielding's f is crowded every morning with the 
 
 * Augusta Princess of Wales, the mother of George the 
 Third; born 19th of November, 1709. 
 
 -|- Sir John Fielding, the chief police-magistrate, half-brother 
 of the celebrated Henry Fielding, the novelist. Though blind 
 from his youth, he was distinguished by the activity and sagacity 
 with which he discharged the functions of his office. He was the 
 author of several tracts on the Penal Code, and was conspicuous
 
 326 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 choice spirits of both sexes. Both the thieves are 
 now taken, and have confessed the whole of Har- 
 rington's robbery. The porter let them in, and 
 concealed them under his own bed, and then as- 
 sisted them in breaking open the bureau. He is 
 certainly the most proj)er turnkey for the door he 
 waited at, since a more impudent, abandoned dog- 
 never existed. 
 
 Have you not great expectations on your return, 
 from the account Ravensworth will give of the 
 separation of his son and daughter?* J confess 
 I am sorry for her, since, from the first step of the 
 ladder she falls to the bottom. I want to propose 
 to my ladyf to have a club of them; she herself 
 in the chair, supported by Lady Talbot | and Lady 
 Mary Coke.^ I think they might grow as formi- 
 dable as the Macaronis at least, and put all do- 
 mestic felicity out of countenance. Now I have 
 mentioned the Macaronis, I can tell you that it 
 
 for the benevolent zeal with which he pi'omoted the interests of 
 several public charitable institutions. He was knighted in 1761, 
 and died in 1780. 
 
 * The Duke and Duchess of Grafton. 
 
 f Probably Lady Townshend. 
 
 :}; Mary, daughter of Adam de Cardounel, Esq., of Bedhampton 
 Park, in the county of Southampton, and wife of William first 
 Earl Talbot. She died in 1787. 
 
 § Lady Mary Coke was the fifth daughter of John second 
 Duke of Argyll, and, in 1747, became the wife of Edward, 
 Viscount Coke, who died in 1753, in the lifetime of his father, 
 Thomas Earl of Leicester. She subsequently, as there is every 
 reason to believe, was married to Edward Duke of York, brother 
 of George the Third. Lady Mary was possessed of extraordi-
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 327 
 
 flourishes much. Drogheda* plays immensely deep, 
 and with as little skill as you do. Bully was chose 
 last night; Lord Gower went from White's to his 
 election. 
 
 Yorke kisses hands to-morrow for his patent of 
 precedency.f The language which passed between 
 him and his grace at Claremont:]: was rather more 
 acrimonious than courtlike, and properer for Bil- 
 lingsgate than a drawing-room. Whenever old 
 Tilbury resigns the seals, he Avill most undoubtedly 
 succeed to them.^^ Charles Townshend says he 
 shall hold out one more campaign, but I believe 
 
 nary personal beauty, and preserved to a very advanced age the 
 cheerfulness and vivacity for which she had been distinguished in 
 her youth. She died 30th of October, 1811. 
 
 * Charles first Marquis of Drogheda, died December 22, 1821. 
 
 t Charles Yorke, second son of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. 
 He had previously held the appointment of Attorney-General, 
 not being at the time a King's counsel ; and consequently on his 
 resignation, in 1763, he was compelled to return to his former 
 position at the outer bar. It was in order to remedy this ano- 
 maly that yir. Yorke was granted a patent of precedency next 
 after the King's counsel. 
 
 :{: The first Duke of Newcastle, the celebrated minister. The 
 high words which seem to have arisen between his grace and Mr. 
 Yorke may have originated in the latter having been refused the 
 appointment of Master of the Rolls, which had recently become 
 vacant by the death of Sir Thomas Clarke. 
 
 S The prophecy of the elevation of Charles Yorke was subse- 
 quently fulfilled. On the 17th of January 1770 he was appointed 
 Keeper of the Great Seal and Lord High Chancellor; and at 
 the same time a patent was ordered to be prepared, creating 
 him a peer, by the title of Lord Mordcn. He died suddenly, 
 however, three days afterwards, before the patent could be com- 
 pleted.
 
 328 RIGHT HON. THOMAS TOWNSHEND. 
 
 that will depend on the offers which Administration 
 shall make him. 
 
 That Monsieur de Beaumont, whom I mentioned 
 dining with Horry, was the advocate that has made 
 so much noise in that family which was executed 
 for the murder of their son at Toulouse ; Caylus I 
 think their name was. Now, prithee, my dear 
 George, in your next, name some time when it is 
 likely we may see you. You may eat boiled chick- 
 ens and kiss Raton as well on this side of the water 
 as on the other ; and if March does, as he has the 
 credit of doing, you must be more alone there than 
 here. &c., &c. 
 
 RIGHT HON. THOMAS TOWNSHEND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 London, December 11, 1764. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 The embarras of removing, and the business 
 which always presents itself on first coming to 
 town, has prevented my acknowledging as soon 
 as I ought to have done, the receipt of your last. 
 My grandmother caught no cold with her journey, 
 and has been in perfect health since she came to 
 town. I am sorry that it has not been in my power 
 to go to see your pictures, and am afraid I shall 
 not be able to send you any account of them before 
 you return, as I am going to nurse my sister, who 
 has miscarried, in the country, and my stay there 
 depends on her health. 
 
 If you can bring over any regulations for the
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS. 329 
 
 police, which are not contraband, they will be ex- 
 tremely acceptable, as the good people of London 
 have taken much of late to house-breaking. An 
 ample confession has been made concerning the 
 robbery committed last year at Lord Harrington's ; 
 the porter and another man will be hanged. Lady 
 Harrington is in great spirits with the discovery. 
 She has received some odd compliments upon the 
 occasion, which you will easily guess. 
 
 The town is as yet very empty, but the few of the 
 bon ton who are here are entertained with balls once 
 a-week at the sensible Mrs. Pitt's,* who has had 
 an additional pension given her of five hundred 
 a-year. ^Irs. Poyntz has mortified me by going 
 out of town just as I came to it. I hear from 
 those who have seen her that she much imjn-oved 
 by her travels. The Archbishop of Paris is par- 
 ticularly in her good graces. My grandmother 
 and my father desire me to send their love to you. 
 I am, dear sir, yours most affectionately. 
 
 A Monsieur, Monsieur Selwyn, 
 chez Monsieur Foley, Banquier, a Paris. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Wednesday, December 12, 1764. 
 
 I FIND, my dear George, if neither Macaronis 
 nor French are on the road, our correspondence 
 
 * Miss Anne Pitt, sister of the great Lord Chatham. (See 
 ante, 14 July, 1743.) This was her third pension.
 
 330 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 stops ; so unwilling- are you to put me to sixpence 
 charge, when I assure you I would expend a much 
 larger sum to hear you was well. To hear you 
 are happy I hardly expect, till you are got among 
 your old friends, who have known you longer, and 
 therefore like you better than any exotic you 
 have met with. 
 
 Lord Northumberland* wants to hear from you : 
 on a tapestry commission, I think it was. He 
 talked so much to me about something, tliat be- 
 fore he had finished his discourse I had forgot 
 the subject. Downe's f child is to be christened 
 this evening. The sponsors I know not, but his 
 three names made me laugh not a little, John 
 Christopher Burton. I wish to God when he ar- 
 rives at the years of puberty he may marry Mary 
 Joseph ina Antonietta Bentley. 
 
 I have heard of a book of Wilkes's, published 
 at Paris. It seems, he abuses King, Lords, and 
 Commons, venalis popuhis, venalis curia, &c. I am 
 glad he is of your side of the water; and further 
 
 * Sir Hugh Smithson, who married the heiress of the Percys, 
 and who (on the death of his father-in-law, Algernon Duke of 
 Somerset,) succeeded, by letters patent, to the earldom of Nor- 
 thumberland. He was created a duke in 1766, and died June 
 0, 1786. According to Horace Walpole, Sir Hugh Smithson had 
 " the misfortune of being coupled with the blood of a man that 
 either let or drove coaches — such was Sir Hugh's grandfather I" 
 Letters, vol. ii. p. 321. 
 
 t John, fourth Viscount Downe. The child in question was 
 christened " John Christopher," and succeeded as fifth Viscount 
 Downe, in 1780.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 331 
 
 I care not. We have got such an opera, that 
 tlie King- and Queen have been two Saturdays fol- 
 lowing. Manzoli* is ravishing; people, with and 
 without ears, are dying for him. The Dutchman f 
 is at the Almack house every night. You have 
 no loss, as Quinze is everything, no Hazard. Drog- 
 heda is the game bear. We talk of filling up 
 twelve vacancies in the old club by lists ; I shall 
 keep a jjlace for Lord jNIarch, and will engage as 
 many as I can, if that proposal should take place. 
 Lord Tavistocki supped there last night ; he is by 
 much the most amiable being I ever saw, young 
 or old. He asked me if you was not supposed to 
 be much emaciated from your bunch of grapes 
 dinner ; but my dear George, do begin to use 
 yourself to eat before you come to us, or you 
 will die of a surfeit in a fortnight. 
 
 * See ante, 1 December. Horace Walpole writes to the Earl 
 of Hertford on the 3rd, " Manzoli is come a little late, or I think 
 he would have had as many diamond watches and snuff-boxes as 
 Farinelli had." Manzoli, however, as it subsequently proved, 
 had no reason to complain that his talents were not appreciated 
 by the British public. According to one of the public journals 
 of the period, " Siguier Manzoli, the Italian singer at the Hay- 
 market, got no less, after paying all charges of every kind, by 
 his benefit last week, (March, 1765,) than one thousand guineas. 
 This, (added to a sum of fifteen hundred pounds which he has al- 
 ready saved,) and the remaining profits of the season, is surely an 
 undoubted proof of British generosity. One particular lady com- 
 plimented the singer with a two hundred pound bill for a single 
 ticket on that occasion." 
 
 f The Hon. Hans Sloane Cadogau. See ante, July 6, 1763. 
 
 X See ante, June ;,'[), 1763.
 
 382 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 Lord Exeter, the first week after he landed from 
 Italy, had an epileptic fit.* Horry Walpole whis- 
 pers now and then with a Cavendish, but I think 
 he seems rather to be ashamed of his company. 
 He is going- to make an addition to Strawberry, 
 consisting of a Gothic Museum. I think, as Bays 
 says, " that will be a stroke," and the contents 
 of it beyond any repository in the world. 
 
 &c., &c. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 [December, 1764]. 
 
 Indeed, my dear George, you will infallibly lose 
 the fans, if Lord March does not speak to some 
 of the ministers on your side of the water, to or- 
 der their couriers to take them. Lord Sandwich 
 told me last night he had used his utmost endea- 
 vours, but at this time the reciprocal search is so 
 very exact, that he sees no probability of sending 
 them. Spain has made a regular and formal com- 
 plaint, on their embassadress, Madame Masserano, 
 losing twenty. 
 
 The Earl of Coventry and his countess came 
 last night. He says the children are well ; that 
 is, I suppose, for anything he knows to the con- 
 trary. 
 
 * Brownlow, ninth Earl of Exeter, He survived till Decem- 
 ber 26, 1793.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 333 
 
 You will love the Duchess of Bedford* a§ well 
 as I do, for begging the old Privy Seal, which, on 
 the delivery of the new one, is the Duke of INIarl- 
 borough'sf perquisite. She intends to frame it, 
 and Horry Walpole is to write the inscription for 
 it. It is singularly circumstanced, that the same 
 seal should have been her father's, her husband's, 
 her brother's, and her son's ! ^ 
 
 Harrington's porter was condemned yesterday. 
 Cadogan and I have already bespoken places at 
 the Brazier's, and I hope Parson Digby^ will come 
 time enough to be of the party. I presume we 
 shall have your honour's company, if your stomach 
 is not too squeamish for a single swing. 
 
 I called yesterday on my lady, || and she is going 
 to have an execution of her own. Draper, the 
 butler, that bloodhound after a corpse, has turned 
 
 out the d dest thief in the world. She says 
 
 she finds several hundred pounds unpaid, which he 
 ought to have discharged. He has fled for the 
 
 * Gertrude, daughter of John Earl Gower, and wife of John 
 fourth Duke of Bedford. 
 
 t George thii'd Duke of Marlborough. He married, 1762, 
 Lady Caroline Russell, only daughter of the Duchess of Bedford, 
 and was appointed Lord Privy Seal April 22, 1763. 
 
 :{: The persons here alluded to, were John and Granville, first 
 and second Earls Gower; John Duke of Bedford; and George 
 Duke of Marlborough ; who were successively appointed to the 
 office of Privy Seal, in 1741, 175.5, 17G1, and 1763. 
 
 § The Rev. William Digby, grandson of William fifth Lord 
 Digby. See post, April 12, 1766. 
 
 II Lady Townshcnd. See post, July 10, 1765.
 
 334 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 same, but Mr. Fielding and his myrmidons are 
 after him, and her ladyship not Ijeing very com- 
 passionate, he must go the gallows. Our Princess 
 of Brunswick * is brought to bed of a daughter. 
 I believe, if it had been a son, the Opposition 
 would have lighted up their windows. 
 
 Since I begun this, I have seen the countess 
 and the children. They are all well, and her lady- 
 ship is in a fair way to increase her nursery. The 
 Duke of Gloucester has professed a passion for the 
 Dowager Waldegrave. f He is never from her 
 elbow. This flatters Horry Walpole not a little, 
 though he jjretends to dislike it. I believe we 
 shall lose our Strawberry Christmas, for he talks 
 of going to Woburn and Goodwood. Pray remem- 
 ber, George, this is the fourth letter I have wrote 
 to you since I received one from you. I wish the 
 Monsieurs at h — 1 for keeping you. Adieu. 
 
 For George Selwyn, Esq., 
 at Mr. Foley's, Banker, a Paris. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO THE EARL OF MARCH. 
 
 Tuesday, December 18. [1764.] 
 I HAD despaired, my dear lord, of ever being- 
 able to send the fans which I had bought for you, 
 when I received a very civil note last night from 
 
 * Sister of George the Third. 
 
 + They were afterwards married, but not till September, 1766.
 
 TO THE EARL OF MARCH. 335 
 
 Lord Sandwich, that with great difticulty ho had 
 prevailed on Guerchy to undertake the convey- 
 ance of them, and you will most certainly receive 
 them by the first French courier that goes from 
 hence ; indeed, our English Secretary deserves your 
 thanks for the very active part he has taken to 
 oblige the ladies.* 
 
 As it is now the common question in all assem- 
 blies, when you and your fellow-traveller will re- 
 turn, I believe they may be answered, that next 
 month will infallibly bring you, though nothing is 
 less expected than a turbulent and busy season. 
 How the lords may attend their parliamentary 
 duty I know not, but the Bedchamber was so ill 
 supplied, that Bob Bertie f was left in pawn for a 
 month. 
 
 There is no stranger arrived lately but Andrew 
 Mitchell:]: from Berlin, who is to tell the story of 
 the King of Prussia at all the next dinners which 
 will be given for these next six months. People 
 did not like our new Countess of Coventry, at Sa- 
 turday's opera, near so well as the old. She did 
 not make noise enough, and sat as private and 
 pale-faced as Miss Ilolman ; I am not sure our 
 friend George would not have compared her to 
 Scrimpshire. It appeared, on the conviction of 
 Lord Harrington's porter, that he had offered to 
 
 * Lord Sandwich was at this period Secretary of State, 
 -j- Lord llobert Bertie. See ante, October 16, 1747. 
 I Sir Andrew Mitchell, the well-known diplomatist.
 
 336 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 shoot her ladyshij), as a troublesome useless b , 
 
 that would leave no stone unturned to find out 
 the culprit : there might be a good Grub com- 
 posed for his dying sjjeech. You have sent Gre- 
 ville* home a better dressed author than he went. 
 He talks of Voltaire, and gives some hints as if 
 we were soon to taste of that fund of knowledge 
 he has imbibed. 
 
 Nothing can be more complaisant and well-bred 
 than the parting of the Duke and Duchess of Graf- 
 ton. No lovers ever met with greater decorum ; 
 a correspondence is established, and they are to 
 live in friendship till their death : the Opposition 
 are afraid of losing either, and therefore commend 
 both. Horry Walpole told me he sat an hour with 
 her yesterday, and nothing could be more sensible 
 or unaifected than her conduct. I believe she is 
 rather fatio-ued with her constant messmate the 
 old General Ellison,f as it is the only thing in 
 breeches she has as yet been familiar with. My 
 paper will admit of no more than bidding you, 
 my dear Lord, adieu ! 
 
 * Fulke Greville, Esq., eldest son of the Hon. Algernon Gre- 
 ville, second son of Fulke, fifth Baron Brooke. He was the 
 author of a work entitled " Maxims and Characters," in the style 
 of Rochefoucaultj and husband of Mrs. Greville, the authoress of 
 the " Ode to Indifference." 
 
 f He had been selected by the duchess to adjust the terms of 
 her separation from the duke. General Conway acted as agent 
 on the part of his grace.
 
 337 
 
 THE EARL OF TYRONE.* 
 
 George, second Earl of Tyrone, was created an 
 English peer by the title of Baron Tyrone, of Ilaver- 
 ford West, in 1786, and on the 19 th of August, 
 1789, was advanced to be Marquis of Waterford. 
 He married, in 17()9, Elizabetli, daughter and 
 heiress of Henry INIonk, of Charleville, Esq., by 
 a daughter of the first Duke of Portland, and died 
 3rd December, 1800. The present marquis is the 
 grandson of this lord. 
 
 THE EARL OF TYRONE TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 London, Dec. 20. 
 
 I DID not recover my sea-sickness enough to 
 enable me to obey your commands from Dover, 
 where we were very well treated by the officers, 
 who, after having searched our trunks very strictly, 
 made every allowance which could be reasonably 
 expected, and did not insist on confining us to a 
 single suit, on seeing we had nothing which had 
 not been worn. I mention this jmrticularly, be- 
 cause the captain of the ship will either lose or 
 spoil anything you commit to his care. They 
 neither attempted to search us nor our servants, 
 which I was much pleased at, as I could not help 
 blushing at the ridiculous figure we made in our 
 
 * Afterwards Marquis of Watorford. 
 VOL. I. Z
 
 338 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 fine clothes. You must wear your gold, for not 
 even a button will be admitted. We were not 
 stopped on the road, though we were told we 
 should, and had nothing searched in London but 
 what we sent by the stage. 
 
 I have not yet been at Almack's, and am sorry 
 I am not sufficiently acquainted here to inform you 
 of any occurrences which might give you pleasure. 
 I shall be very glad when you come, and am, with 
 great regard, 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 Tyrone. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Christmas-day. [1764.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I THANK you for your last, though I do not 
 like some part of it, and, indeed, do not under- 
 stand it. How the devil can a Lord of the Bed- 
 chamber,* and also one in your worship's situation, 
 stay ex regno in defiance of the meeting of Par- 
 liament and the Queen's birth-day? You must 
 certainly have mistaken the month, and I am de- 
 termined to read it the first week in Jaimary, 
 instead of the month that follows it. How you 
 fare upon the Continent, I know not, but with 
 us it is one of the coldest Christmases I ever passed. 
 
 * Lord March.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 339 
 
 I hope the Earl of JNIareh takes care to keep him- 
 self warm with the largest — — of the jNIost 
 Christian King's subjects; but you, wlio lie whole 
 nights alone, what you can do to amuse yourself 
 is, and will be, a mystery to me. 
 
 You will be glad to hear, for the children''s sake, 
 that Lord Coventry has bought Sir H. Hunlock's 
 house in Piccadilly. He gives ten thousand guineas 
 for it, and takes possession at Lady Day. The 
 little ones will have much better air in those 
 attics than in those d d lodgings they at pre- 
 sent inhabit. I have told you Nelly O'Brien has 
 a son. It was christened yesterday. Bunny and 
 his trull were sponsors. Now for his name ; guess 
 it if you can ; it is of no less consequence in this 
 country than Alfred ; but INIagill was so drunk he 
 had like to have named it Hiccup ! 
 
 The Duchess of Grafton has bought Sir Charles 
 Bunbury's house in Upper Grosvenor Street. She 
 is at present in St. James's Square, and is chiefly 
 visited by Wildman and his friends. Willis has 
 left a card, and I believe intends to pluck a pigeon 
 with her. George Monson is come, and looks 
 tolerably well. A piece of his nose is gone, and 
 he limps a little, but that is not much. He re- 
 ceives his visitors at his brother's in Albemarle 
 Street, but he lies every night with his wife at 
 Little Holland House. Do you think P. passes 
 his Christmas as well at Besan^on as he did in 
 Bedfordshire? Sir Charles Coote, an Irishman, is 
 
 z 2
 
 340 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 to entertain this year, but I believe the gambols are 
 not as yet begun, for Secretary Sandwich is still 
 in town. Let me know, in your next, whether 
 you have received the fans, and whether the 
 ladies like them. Jersey is returned, and not near 
 so crabbed as he went; I think he sees more 
 ability in Mr. Grenville than formerly. Pray tell 
 Lord March, that I wish you both the merriest 
 Christmas that Englishmen can enjoy, though for 
 your lives you cannot be as merry as Frenchmen 
 till you are as mad as they. 
 
 GILLY Vl^ILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Friday, January 4, 1765. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 Possibly you may care so little about it as 
 not to know the Parliament meets the 10th, and 
 that making a good arrangement of troops on that 
 day, will be half the battle. Not one of the Dispo- 
 sition but what is already arrived, from the Mar- 
 quis of Rockingham to Midleton * and George 
 Onslow.f The Marquis supped last night at White's, 
 and blushed at Willis's request to be helped to 
 some sturgeon; the other's good stomach got the 
 
 * George, third Viscount Midleton, nephew to George Selwyn. 
 See ante, 6th July, 1763. 
 
 f George, afterwards fourth Baron, and first Earl of Onslow, 
 Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey, Treasurer of the Household, and a 
 Lord of the Bedchamber. He married, in 1753, Henrietta, 
 daughter of Sir John Shelley, Bart., and died 17th May, 1814.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 341 
 
 better of his breeding, and he totally forgot the 
 name of the varlet that run off with his sister.* 
 
 I am glad you have wrote to the stout Earl.-f- 
 He seemed to think you had forgot him, and the 
 countess might have ordered one of the nine foot- 
 men that jDrecede her chair, ;|; to have thrown you 
 into the dirt for it. Pray tell Lord ]March, if he 
 abuses us for want of society, it is from not know- 
 ing us. Have we not every house open every night, 
 from Cornely's || to IVIrs. Holman's ? every one of 
 which, by the bye, will fully satisfy your Russian 
 bear. JNIrs. Anne Pitt gives regularly a weekly 
 ball, and she is about the pitch of Madame Geoffriu. 
 As for the Lady Hervey, § she is reserved entirely 
 for wits, of which the only symptom they give the 
 
 * Alluding, of course, to the unfortunate marriage of the 
 Marquis's sister with her footman, William Sturgeon. 
 
 t Of Northumberland. 
 
 J Walpole mentions, in a letter dated December preceding, 
 that Lady Northumberland had recently made an addition of 
 an ei(//tt/i footman. The heiress of the Percys was, apparently? 
 a person of little learning and less delicacy. " The stoi-y I am 
 going to tell you," writes Walpole, " will divert you much. 
 There was a vast assembly at Marlborough House, and a throng 
 in the doorway. My Lady Talbot said, ' Bless me, I think this 
 is like the Straits of Thermopylae!' My Lady Northumberland 
 replied, ' 1 don't know what street that is, but I wish I could get 
 
 my through.' I hope you admire the contrast." — Walpole's 
 
 Letters, vol. v. p. 13. 
 
 II Mrs. Cornely's, or Corneille's, was a fashionable place of 
 public amusement in Soho Square : Mrs. Holman's also seems 
 to have been a place of anmsement, but of a less reputable kind. 
 
 § The celebrated Mary Lepel, widow of John Lord Ilervey. 
 Sec ante, p. 214.
 
 342 GILLY WILLIAMS. 
 
 world is, excluding' you from their circle ! Poor 
 Lady Coventry makes an excellent mother, but, 
 God help her ! a most unworthy successor to the 
 bustle and uproar which followed that name for- 
 merly. If he had married Miss JMazey, she could 
 not have appeared in a more j^rivate and undis- 
 tinguished character. I dined last week with her 
 at the Duchess's,* Avho affected a tear even at the 
 sound of her name. She has already begun to 
 cough, and I reckon by next autumn Brookes will 
 be on his palfrey, recommending her to the bosom 
 of Abraham. Coventry has given us one dinner in 
 Margaret Street, and has been most excellent in his 
 old way of disputation. JNIy Lord Chamberlain was 
 of the party, at whose house we have our next 
 rebound. Once more, do not say we want society. 
 
 We dine to-morrow at Charles Townshend's. 
 What he is now I knoAv not, but the last time we 
 saw him he had no acrimony in him, but seemed 
 rather looking towards the Pay Office, which, I 
 suppose. Lord Holland will soon quit, either by a 
 natural or political death. 
 
 I give a breakfast on AVednesday next, the morn- 
 ing the porter makes his exit. If Parson Digby 
 is in town I shall send him a card ; he is our Ordi- 
 nary on all these great occasions. 
 
 I have not seen my lady for this week past. She 
 is totally taken up with the investigation of Draper, 
 
 * Elizabeth Gunning-, Duchess of Hamilton, sistei* of the 
 former and beautiful Lady Coventry.
 
 MISS MARY TOWNSHEND. 343 
 
 wlio, I believe has parts enough to keep himself 
 out of her clutches. Old Betty Germaine is dying,* 
 and her door is surrounded with Lysters. 
 
 &c., &c 
 
 MISS MARY TOWNSHEND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 London, Jan. 8, 1765. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I HAVE been confined with a cough ever since 
 I returned, therefore have not been able to ven- 
 ture ma poitrine delicate at the painter's, to look at 
 your pictures. I saw Mrs. Anne Pitt f the other 
 day in a circle, and my maiwaisc honte Angloise 
 would not permit me to give the intelligence you 
 sent. She informed us of a match which was just 
 declared ; Lord Shelburne \ to Lady Sojiliia Car- 
 teret. We expect that the Richelieu An(/lois will 
 bring us over a Countess of March, but we are in 
 doubt whether it will be Madame de Gisors or 
 Lady Anne Conway. 
 
 JNIy sister desires mc to thank you for the kind 
 permission you have given her to employ you to get 
 
 *■ Lady Betty Germaine. She survived till December 16, 
 1769. See ante, p. 252. 
 
 f Sister of the great Lord Chatham. See ante, 14th July, 1 J'iS. 
 
 ^ William Earl of Shelburne, afterwards the celebrated mi- 
 nister, created Marquis of Lansdowne in 1784. He married, 
 shortly after the date of this letter. Lady Sophia Carteret, 
 daughter of John Earl Granville, and died May 7, 1805. See 
 ante, p. 240.
 
 344 MISS MARY TOWNSHEND. 
 
 anything she wants at Paris ; but her patriot prin- 
 ciples will not allow her to encourage the manu- 
 factures of "so formidable friends." I played with 
 her boys at the French games you were so good 
 as to give them, which were of much use and 
 amusement to them. 
 
 Lord Coventry has bought Sir H. Hunlock's 
 house in Piccadilly for ten thousand pounds, and 
 is to pay seventy-five pounds per annum ground- 
 rent. The beauty of the new countess was for 
 some days set above that of your old friend, and 
 at present, with equal injustice, she is scarcely al- 
 lowed to be pretty. It is reported that our youngest 
 Princess is betrothed to the Prince Royal of Den- 
 mark.* She promises to be tall, and is a good 
 likeness of the Princess of Brunswick. Dr. Ro- 
 binson, Bishop of Kildare, is expected to be de- 
 clared Primate of Ireland. Accounts came yes- 
 terday of Lord Shannon's death :f it was occa- 
 sioned by the gout in his head. My father and 
 my grandmother send their love to you, and join 
 with me in wishing you many hapj^y new years. 
 Believe me to be, dear sir. 
 
 Most aifectionately yours, &c., &c. 
 
 P.S. The King has declared his sister's intended 
 
 * Caroline Matilda, youngest sister of George the Third. 
 Her misfortunes, after she became Queen of Denmark, have 
 rendered her history familiar with every one. She closed her 
 short, but troubled career, at Zell, March 10, 1775, at the age 
 of twenty-four. 
 
 f Henry, first Earl of Shannon, died 27th September, 1764.
 
 THE HON. HENRY ST. JOHN. 345 
 
 marriage. Lord Townshend * moved, and Lord 
 Bottetourt f seconded it, in the House of Lords. 
 
 THE HON. HENRY ST. J0HN| TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Sackville Street, Jan. 11, 1765. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 I SHOULD not have intruded on the gay mo- 
 ments you now pass your time in, had not my 
 brother intimated to me your obliging request of 
 hearing from me ; and what served to encourage 
 my writing, was the curiosity which you expressed 
 to hear of Waistcotfs execution, § which my bro- 
 ther and I went to see, at the risk of breakinff our 
 necks by cHmbing up an old rotten scaffolding, 
 which I feared would tumble before the cart drove 
 off with the six malefactors. However, we escaped, 
 and had a full view of Mr. Waistcott, who went 
 to the gallows with a white cockade in his hat, 
 as an emblem of his innocence, and died with the 
 same hardness as appeared through his whole trial. 
 
 * George, the celebrated Marquis Townshend. See ante, 1st 
 October, 1746. 
 
 f Norborne Berkeley, Lord Bottetourt, in whose person was 
 revived the Barony of Bottetourt, which had been considered ex- 
 tinct since the reign of Edward the Third. He died, unmarried, 
 in 1770. \ See ante, 24th July, 1763. 
 
 § John Wisket, executed for the burglary committed at Lord 
 Harrington's in December, 176 J. He is the porter who has 
 so often been alluded to.
 
 346 THE HON. HENRY ST. JOHN 
 
 I hope you have had good sjDort at the Place de 
 Greve,* to make up for losing the sight of the 
 execution of so notorious a villain as Lady Har- 
 rington's porter. Mais laissons Id ce discours histe ! 
 and let us talk of the living and lively world, that 
 you now and have so long inhabited. You are now 
 in the midst of the Carnival at the gayest town 
 in the world, and I doubt not but you enjoy tout ce 
 que la gala^iterie la plus raffinee peut inspirer de tendre 
 et d^agreable. I should be exceedingly hajij^y to 
 partake of the amusements you are engaged in ; 
 but as that cannot be, I cannot help having the 
 selfish wish that you will soon leave those giddy, 
 enchanting scenes, for the more grave, splenetic 
 ones of London, as it is so long since I had the 
 pleasure of your company. 
 
 I was yesterday at the opening of Parliament, 
 where Mr. Conway worked himself into a rage at 
 his last year's dismission,t which produced some 
 repartees from JNIr. [George] Grenville, not quite 
 
 * The Place de Greve, so celebrated from having been 
 drenched with the blood of the victims of the French Revolu- 
 tion, was the spot where criminals were executed in Paris till 
 within the last few years, when the scene was changed to tlie 
 Barriere d'Arcueil, or de St. Jacques, at the extremity of the 
 Rue St. Jacques ; a much more retired quarter of the French 
 capital. 
 
 t In April 1764, General Conway had been removed from 
 his post of Groom of the Bedchamber, as well as from the com- 
 mand of his regiment, for voting against the Administration, on 
 the celebrated question of General Warrants. In a letter to his
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 347 
 
 SO warm, however as the former.* I siipjiose your 
 friends dispense with your attendance, as the war 
 is not likely to be so warm, or the success of it so 
 doubtful, as last year. Our friend JMonson-j- looks 
 very well, and the same as ever. His nose and 
 legs have suffered by the war, but have not dis- 
 fio'ured him so much as it would have done another 
 man. 
 
 JNIy brother desires you would be so good as to 
 send him some very good Provence oil, if you can 
 find such a thing at Paris. He makes you a thou- 
 sand apologies for giving you the trouble, and 
 begs your pardon. If you are not already loaded 
 with commissions, which I am sensible are not 
 in general very agreeable, I own I should be ex- 
 ceedingly glad if you would order for me one dozen 
 pair of silk stockings ; eight pair of them to be 
 of the finest white silk that can possibly be made, 
 and four pair of a lightish grey; the feet to be ex- 
 brother, the Earl of Hertford, he styles his dismissal " the 
 harshest and most mijust ever offered to any man on the like 
 occasion." " I never," he says, " gave a single vote against the 
 ministry, except in the questions of the great constitutional points 
 of the Warrants." 
 
 * The ostensible subject of the debate was the delay, on the 
 part of the Court of Spain, to pay the Manilla ransoms. 
 
 -j- George, third son of John, first Baron Monson. He was 
 at this period colonel of the 96th regiment of foot, and had 
 recently highly distinguished himself at the capture of Manilla, 
 and on other occasions. He died in Bengal, a brigadier- 
 general, in 1777. See ante, 12th January, 1752, and post, 19th 
 March, 1765.
 
 348 THE HON. HENRY ST. JOHN. 
 
 ceedingly long, and the legs to be of the same size 
 as your own. There is no difficulty in passing them, 
 if already washed and marked ; but I will not give 
 you that trouble also, but will endeavour to find 
 some opportunity of getting them safe here. 
 
 I beg my compliments to Lord Ossory,* if he 
 is at Paris; and should you ever meet with my 
 former fair correspondent, Madame Coislin, je vous 
 prie de lid faire mille amities. It is time, my dear 
 sir, to close this tedious letter, and hope for your 
 forgiveness in troubling you so much, and beg leave 
 now to assure you I am, my dear sir. 
 
 Your most obedient and most faithful servant, 
 
 H. St. John. 
 
 [The question referred to in this letter, of the 
 legality of issuing general warrants, (that is to 
 say, warrants of arrest in which no particular indi- 
 vidual is named, but by which the officers of the 
 Crown are empowered to seize any number of sus- 
 pected persons,) occupied for a considerable time 
 the attention of Parliament and of the country ; 
 and had its origin, as is well known, in the sweep- 
 jug warrant issued on the 26th of April, 1763, for 
 the arrest of the authors, printers, and publishers, 
 of the forty-fifth number of the North Briton, in 
 which the character of George the Third was j)erso- 
 
 * John Earl of Upper Ossory. He subsequently married the 
 divorced Duchess of Grafton, and died 1st February, 1818.
 
 JOHN WILKES. 849 
 
 nally attacked. Accordingly, three days afterwards, 
 Kearsley, the avowed publisher of the paper, Balfe 
 the printer, and the celebrated John Wilkes, the 
 author of it, were arrested ; and the latter, after 
 undergoing an examination before the Secretary 
 of State, was hurried off, in a coach, to the Tower, 
 where he w^as committed to close imprisonment ; 
 and his friends, and even his counsel and solicitor, 
 were refused admittance to him. At the same 
 time, his house was searched, and his papers seized 
 and taken possession of by the Government. The 
 detention, however, of Wilkes in the Tower was 
 of brief duration ; for, on the 3rd of May, he 
 obtained a writ of Habeas Corpus, and was brought 
 before the Court of Common Pleas, in Westminster 
 Hall. Here he defended himself with great cool- 
 ness and confidence ; and, on a second hearing, the 
 Lord Chief Justice Pratt delivered the joint opi- 
 nion of the Judges, that " though the commitment 
 of ]Mr. Wilkes, and the general warrant, were not 
 in themselves illegal, being justified by numerous 
 precedents, yet, that jNIr. Wilkes was entitled to his 
 discharge by virtue of his privilege' as a member 
 of Parliament : inasmuch as the privilege of Parlia- 
 ment could be forfeited only by treason, felony, 
 or breach of the ])eace ; while JNIr. Wilkes stood 
 accvised only of writing a libel, which did not come 
 under the head of any of the crimes defined, but 
 which, at most, had but a tendency to disturb the 
 peace." Wilkes was immediately discharged from
 
 350 JOHN WILKES. 
 
 custody, to the enthusiastic delight of a great mass 
 of the people, but a prosecution for libel was forth- 
 with instituted against him by the Attorney- 
 General. The perfect confidence and self-possession 
 displayed by Wilkes throughout the whole of 
 these proceedings, is exemplified by more than one 
 anecdote. On his discharge from confinement, dis- 
 covering that, in addition to his private papers, 
 a silver candlestick had been abstracted from his 
 bedchamber, he addressed the following laconic 
 epistle to the Secretaries of State, Lords Egremont 
 and Halifax : " My lords, on my return from 
 Westminster Hall, where I have been discharged 
 from my commitment to the Tower under your 
 lordships' warrant, I find that my house has been 
 robbed, and am informed that the stolen goods 
 are in the possession of one or both of your lord- 
 ships ; I therefore insist that you do forthwith 
 return them to your humble servant, John Wilkes." 
 To this impudent epistle Lords Halifax and Egre- 
 mont replied, that his expressions were scurrilous 
 and indecent, and that, as far as regarded the 
 abstraction of his private papers, they had been 
 seized on account of his being the author of an 
 infamous and seditious libel. — Further proof of 
 Wilkes' self-confidence is afforded by the following 
 anecdote. After his arrest, having been compelled 
 by the messengers to accompany them to his own 
 house, he there found Churchill, the poet, whose 
 connexion with the North Briton rendered him
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS. 351 
 
 liable, under the general warrant, to arrest and 
 imprisonment. Wilkes, however, perceiving his 
 friend's danger, and that the messengers were not 
 aware of Churchill's person, addressed him with 
 great presence of mind as INIr. Thompson, and 
 by this means saved him from sharing his own fate.] 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 White's, Friday, Jan. 11, 1765. 
 
 It is not I alone, but all your friends, nay, the 
 King himself, who have expressed themselves with 
 some concern that you still continue to run after 
 gewgaws and hunt butterflies, when your presence 
 is absolutely wanted at Westminster. I have autho- 
 rity for mentioning the surprise of the Royal Per- 
 sonage, and Lord Gower desires me to acquaint you 
 with it. 
 
 The session opened yesterday. Lord Towns- 
 hend and Bottetourt moved in the Lords ; Lord 
 Wentworth and Tom Pitt* in the Commons. Their 
 lordships separated without the least demur. Lord 
 Temple was ill and absent ; (Alderman) Beckford 
 was tedious, and Conway violently passionate, but 
 chiefly in his own cause, and called the removal 
 of himself the most profligate measure that ever 
 
 * Thomas Pitt, Esq., nephew of the first Earl of Chatham, 
 created Baron Camelford, December 30, 1783. He was the 
 father of Thomas, second and last Lord Camelford, who was 
 killed in a duel with Captain Best, in 1804.
 
 352 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 was attempted. Sir W. Meredith gave notice that 
 he had a motion to make on Tuesday se'night, 
 so the old story of the warrants will be told over 
 again ; the only grievance that ill-humour can 
 suggest, and which they will spin out with as 
 much real regard for the constitution of this 
 country as Madame Geolfrin. I should have told 
 you, that the mover in the Lords, and the seconder 
 in the Commons, distinguished themselves very 
 much. You would not have liked your old friend 
 George, he dusted the French so much. Guerchy * 
 was there, but had not enough of the language to 
 be thoroughly apprized of the distress of his country 
 till it was explained to him in the evening. Nor- 
 borne + was all thanks and emptiness for having 
 been admitted into the House ; that the Speech was 
 incomparable, the King incomparable, and the peace 
 incomparable. At the rehearsal on Wednesday 
 night, of the Speech, at Lord Halifax's, Lord Lich- 
 field came extremely drunk, and proposed amend- 
 ments and alterations, to the no small amusement 
 of the company. Pomfret'sf head was naturally 
 as hot as the other's accidentally, and he seconded 
 him, so, between them both, the evening ended 
 much more sprightly, than those meetings usually do. 
 Lord Shelburne will soon be married to Lady 
 Sophia Carteret ; every preliminary is settled, and 
 
 * The French ambassador. 
 
 f Norborne Berkeley, Lord Bottetourt. 
 
 X George, second Earl of Pomfret, died June 9, 1 785.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 353 
 
 it will take place long before that of the Prince 
 Royal of Denmark and our Caroline Matilda. You 
 -will see the speech at Lord Hertford's, and that 
 alliance mentioned in it. You may tell him, his 
 brother* sets out in the month of jNIarch, like a 
 lion, and I believe will end as like it in the Iamb 
 way. Mrs. Boone died at Bath on Wednesday 
 morning ; Charles is of course inconsolable. I 
 called on Lord Holland this morning, and when 
 I told him that I should write to you by this post, he 
 desired me to enclose his commission for a snuff- 
 box. I read him your paragraph on good breeding, 
 which I am sure was true, and pleased him. 
 
 I beg your pardon for having got as far as two 
 sides of my letter without mentioning Nanny. She 
 looks well and healthy, though one eye appears 
 to be considerably less than the other. Their step- 
 mother behaves so well to them, that I wish her 
 indulgence may not, in the end, prove worse than 
 a little wholesome reserve and moderate restraint. 
 She knows our peer too well not to be partial to 
 the boy ; who, indeed, deserves at present all they 
 can do for him. T met mother Gunning f last 
 week at Soho. She told me, though she could 
 not go to the woman, she should be glad to see 
 the children, and desired I would tell my Lord 
 
 * General Conway, only surviving brother of Francis first 
 Earl of Hertford, at this period ambassador at Paris. 
 
 -j- Bridget, daughter of John Bourk, Viscount Mayo in Ire- 
 land, and mother of the first, and beautiful Lady Coventry. She 
 was housekeeper of Somerset House, and died 7 June, 1770. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 A
 
 854 GILLY WILLIAMS. 
 
 SO. It is feared old Gunning will die, and defeat 
 all the smuggled finery of the Earl and Countess 
 for the ensuing birth-day. I am confident one 
 White's evening between him and Lord Gower 
 beats all the stuff and nonsense of your exotic 
 suppers ; and as for your whist, there is Mostyri 
 and Reynolds shall play as execrably ill as any two 
 you shall produce, yourself one. I have a great 
 mind, in return for your parties, to tell you I go 
 to-night to Northumberland House. By the bye, 
 why did not you write when you said you would ? 
 I told him of it, and he seemed chagrined at the 
 disappointment. 
 
 There is a rot among the Irish governors. Old 
 Shannon is dead,* and your friend Bowes is ap- 
 pointed one of the Justices in his room. The Duke 
 of Bedfordf is tied by both legs to his couch by the 
 gout. The Marchioness of Tavistock advances 
 happily in her pregnancy. The Duke of Cumber- 
 land has been at death's door, in a lethargy, but 
 by every kind of dram, and many blisters, he is 
 at present better, though it is supposed such an 
 amendment can be but of short continuance. ^ Har- 
 rington's man was hanged last Wednesday. The 
 dog died game, went in the cart in a blue and 
 
 * Lord Shannon had been fifteen times one of the Lords 
 Justices of Ireland. See ante, 8 January. 
 
 -^ John, fourth Duke of Bedford, the celebrated minister. He 
 died 15 January, 1771. 
 
 J William Augustus Duke of Cumberland, the hero of Cullo- 
 den, died on the 31st of October following.
 
 LORD BYRON. 355 
 
 gold frock, and, as an emblem of innocence, had a 
 white cockade in his hat. He ate several oranges in 
 his passage, enquired if his hearse was ready, and then, 
 as old Rowe used to saj, was launched into eternity. 
 Your mother looks well from her window. Ducie* 
 tells me they want you at Gloucester about the 
 succession to Bell's place, who is in eMremis. 
 JSIake my best compliments to your fellow traveller, 
 and believe me to be, my dear George, Ever yours. 
 
 WILLIAM LORD BYRON. 
 
 [The principal topic referred to in the next let- 
 ter, is the celebrated duel between Lord Byron and 
 ]\Ir. Chaworth, which took place at the Star and 
 Garter tavern in Pall INIall, January 26, 1765. 
 Horace Walpole writes, the day following, to the 
 Earl of Hertford, "The following is the account 
 nearest the truth that I can learn of the fatal 
 duel last night. A club of Nottinghamshire gen- 
 tlemen had dined at the Star and Garter, and 
 there had been a dispute between the combatants, 
 whether Lord Byron, who took no care of his 
 game, or Mr. Chaworth, who was active in the 
 association, had most game on their manor. The 
 company, however, had apprehended no conse- 
 
 * Mathew Morton, second Baron Ducie, Lord Lieutenant of 
 the county of Gloucester. He died December 25, 1770. 
 
 2 A 2
 
 356 LORD BYRON. 
 
 quences, and parted at eight o'clock ; but Lord 
 Byron, stepping into an empty chamber, and send- 
 ing the drawer for Mr. Chaworth, or calling him 
 thither himself, took the candle from the waiter, 
 and bidding Mr. Chaworth defend himself, drew 
 his sword. Mr. Chaworth, who was an excellent 
 fencer, ran Lord Byron through the sleeve of his 
 coat, and then received a wound fourteen inches 
 deep into his body. He was carried to his house 
 in Berkeley Street ; made his will with the great- 
 est composure ; and dictated a paper, which, they 
 say, allows it was a fair duel, and died at nine 
 this morning. Lord Byron has not gone off, but 
 says he will take his trial, which, if the coroner 
 brings in a verdict of manslaughter, may, accord- 
 ing to precedent, be in the House of Lords, and 
 without the ceremonial of AVestminster Hall. 
 George Selwyn is much missed on this occasion, 
 but we conclude it will bring him over."* William, 
 fifth Lord Byron, the great uncle of the illustrious 
 poet, was born in 1722, and married, in 1747, 
 Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Shaw, Esq., of Bes- 
 thorpe Hall, in Norfolk. By this lady he had one 
 son, William ; who had also an only son, who was 
 killed in Corsica in 1794 ; thus opening the succes- 
 sion to the great poet. The latter years of Lord 
 Byron's strange life were passed, in the language of 
 Mr. Thomas Moore, " in a state of austere and almost 
 savage seclusion." His death took place at Newstead 
 Abbey, 19 May, 1798, in his seventy-seventh year.] 
 * Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 491.
 
 MISS MARY TOWNSllEND. 357 
 
 MISS MARY TOWNSllEND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 London, February 8. [1765.] 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I HAVE this moiiieiit had the pleasure of 
 receiving a letter from you, and, as you desire 
 to hear from me before you set out, I would not 
 omit answering it this post, lest my letter should 
 be left to the mercy of les Messieurs Todds de 
 Paris. 
 
 You have escaped sitting in the House of 
 Commons till near six in the morning, on the 
 Legality of General Warrants, by staying so long 
 at Paris. I believe there has been no other 
 business of importance, yet, when you hear that 
 Lady Townshend* has been arrested, and has com- 
 plained of a breach of privilege to the House of 
 Lords, you will lament your absence from Lon- 
 don at this time. She wished to employ either 
 the Duke of Newcastle or Lord Cornwallis to 
 make her complaint, but she says one was too 
 
 * Audrey, daughter of Edward Harrison, Esq., and widow of 
 Charles third Viscount Townshend. (See ante, p. IGO.) She 
 was arrested in the streets at the suit of a house-painter, whose 
 bill she refused to pay in consequence of its being- double the 
 amount of the estimate he had sent in to her. The attorney, 
 who had given the order for her arrest, was afterwards ar- 
 raigned at the bar of the House of Lords, for seizing the person 
 of a peeress in her own right, but, after a severe reprimand, was 
 dismissed on making a humble submission and paying the cus- 
 tomary fees.
 
 358 MISS MARY TOWNSHEND. 
 
 old and the other too young ; therefore she desired 
 Lord Winchelsea to undertake it. 
 
 Mr. Chaworth was a much more poj^ular man 
 than his adversary, which I believe has inclined 
 people to give hints which they had not much 
 foundation for. The coroner has brought his 
 verdict in manslaughter, and there is no reason 
 to doubt the duel having been a fair one. Lord 
 Byron is to be tried in the House of Lords. 
 
 Lord Shelburne was married on Sunday. Lady 
 G. Lennox asked me the other day, if I could 
 persuade you to bring her half a dozen small tam- 
 bour-needles. As I then did not imagine I had 
 time to write to you, I refused the commission, 
 but as you are so good as to make me a general 
 offer, I take the liberty of desiring these for 
 my friend. In return, I will choose chip hats, or 
 any other English bagatelles^ for any marquise that 
 you please. 
 
 Marsh Dickinson died of the General Warrants, 
 and the Duke of Bridge water chooses Lord Hincli- 
 inbrooke in his room. Mr. Eyre is chosen at 
 Salisbury in opposition to Mr. P. Bathurst, who 
 lost it by two votes. The Macaronis have de- 
 molished Young White's by admitting almost the 
 whole Club, and are themselves in danger of being 
 deserted in their turn by their members being 
 chosen into the Old Club. Mr. Beauclerk has 
 had that honour, and Mr. R. Vernon is chosen 
 at last. Your friends in Burlington Street desire
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS. 359 
 
 to be most kindly remembered to you ; my grand- 
 mother in particular. She is very well. 
 
 Yours most affectionately. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Friday, Feb. 22. [1765.] 
 
 Though I am out of your sight, I hope I 
 am not out of your mind. For God's sake, when 
 you had altered your intentions, and did not 
 think of coming any more to England, why did 
 you not tell me so, and I would have been as 
 regular in my correspondence as ever ? INIany 
 are the events which have happened since I wrote 
 last, but they are stale, and have been already 
 digested, so I will not repeat them. I suppose 
 Byron has told you himself, that he intends to 
 surrender as soon as Westminster Hall is ready 
 for him. It will be a shew for a day to the 
 Queen and the foreign ministers, but cannot pos- 
 sibly be attended with any ill consequences to 
 the culprit. Lord Holland has been very near 
 death for these three days, with his old suffocation. 
 I have sent this morning, and he is something 
 better, though most people imagine it will be a 
 hard run thing l^etween him and the Duke of Cum- 
 berland, who is most certainly in as bad a way as 
 anything alive can be.
 
 360 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 If ever you condescend to look again upon this 
 poor unhappy and divided country, you will see 
 we are a little imj^roved as to gaiety. There 
 is now opened at Almack's, in three very elegant 
 new-built rooms, a ten-guinea subscription, for 
 which you have a ball and supper once a week 
 for twelve weeks. You may imagine, by the 
 sum, the company is chosen ; though, refined as 
 it is, it will be scarce able to put old Soho* out 
 of countenance.i* The men's tickets are not trans- 
 ferable, so, if the ladies do not like us, they have 
 no opportunity of changing us, but must see the 
 same persons for ever. The House of Commons 
 was called over last Wednesday, and Rigby made 
 
 * Alluding evidently to Mrs. Cornely's fashionable assemblies 
 in Soho Square, the origin, apparently, of Ranelagh and the Pan- 
 theon. 
 
 + *' The new assembly-room at Almack's was opened the 
 night before last, and they say is very magnificent, but it was 
 empty ; half the town is ill with colds, and many were afraid to 
 go, as the house is scarcely built yet. Almack advertised that it 
 was built with hot bricks and boiling water : think what a rage 
 there must be for public places, if this notice, instead of terrifying 
 could draw anybody thither. They tell me the ceilings were 
 dripping with wet ; but can you believe me, when I assure you 
 the Duke of Cumberland was there ? nay, had a levee in the 
 morning, and went to the Opera before the assembly. There is 
 a vast flight of steps, and he was forced to rest two or three 
 times." — Horace Walpole to the Earl of Hertford, February 14, 
 1765. As Williams' letter, eight days afterwards, speaks of the 
 Duke of Cumberland, as " certainly in as bad a way as anything 
 alive can be," it is not improbable that his illness was caused 
 by the indiscretion alluded to by Walpole. The duke died on 
 the 31st of October in this year.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 361 
 
 your excuse by saying you was in France on par- 
 ticular business. Pray write to him, and thank 
 him, and when you write next to me, give me 
 some sense, as the boys say, that I may answer 
 for you as often as you are attacked ; for I love 
 
 you, and hate most d bly to hear you abused, 
 
 without having a Mord to answer in your defence. 
 Court, city, country, all cry out on him * that 
 keei)S you abroad, and it requires more tongues 
 than ever the Rena was in possession of, to suc- 
 ceed as his advocate. 
 
 The children in jMargaret Street are complain- 
 ing again. IMaria will have her glands opened 
 at last, and so be marked for life ; but they talk 
 of no operation yet for Lady Anne. The count- 
 ess looks broad about the hips, and will, about 
 the end of the nine months, do credit to our friend,* 
 who goes on just as usual, opposing and disputing 
 with every person, every night, at the old Club, 
 to the no small surprise of some new members, 
 who have had i)erseYerance enough to be duly 
 elected, viz. Tophani Beauclerk, James Walters, 
 Sir Geo. Pigot, and Dick Vernon. On finding 
 them in such good-humour, I started Lord JNJarch, 
 but they swore he was now a foreigner, and 
 rejected him. I wish you may be able to read 
 this scrawl, but I am this moment going to dine 
 
 * Lord March. 
 
 \ Lady Coventry was brought to bed, on the 20th of June 
 following, of the Hon. John Coventry, who died in 1829.
 
 362 LORD HOLLAND 
 
 with Boone the widower, and shall lose my dinner, 
 if, without the further ceremony, I do not bid you 
 
 Adieu ! 
 
 LORD HOLLAND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 March 12, 1765. 
 DEAR SELWYN, 
 
 Are not you a very extraordinary gentleman ? 
 You say that you will come away in ten days, and 
 in the same letter desire me to write you news. 
 Just so you served me last September, and be- 
 cause my letter could not reach you at Paris, I 
 sent a letter to Dover, where I suppose it still is. 
 This time I will take a different way, and suppose 
 you have no thoughts of leaving Paris ; and, 
 therefore, I am to desire you, in Lady Holland's, 
 Lady Louisa Conolly,* and Lady Sarah Bunbury's f 
 names, to take them a box above stairs at the 
 French comedy, for two months from Easter. Lady 
 Sarah is here, and M. de Guerchy, who has just 
 gone, has told us that the comedy continues this 
 year after Easter. 
 
 * Lady Louisa Augusta Lenox, daughter of Charles second 
 Duke of Richmond. She was born November 24, 1 743, and 
 married, December 30, 1758, Thomas Conolly, Esq., of Castle- 
 town, in Ireland. 
 
 f Lady Sarah Bunbury was the younger sister of Lady Hol- 
 land and Lady Louisa Conolly.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 3G3 
 
 The ladies leave this town on Easter Monday. 
 T, with Charles,* shall sail to Calais, sup there, 
 and return alone to Kingsgate. I hope JNIadame 
 de Couslin will make Charles more welcome than 
 formerly : I am not in the least afraid that you 
 should stand in his way, as she must be sated with 
 you by this time. Dupre, a French master that 
 the late Lord Downe and you used to talk much 
 of, has joined with De Verger in swearing to an 
 accusation of Guerchy for offering them money to 
 assassinate D'Eon.f The grand jury of London 
 found the bill. Nobody believes it, and I am afraid 
 they v,'i\\ not go on : if they do, it must end in 
 their confusion. What your friend Dupre's mo- 
 tive is, I do not hear guessed. 
 
 Lord Abergavenny's! story was told so ill for him, 
 as hardly to be credible. Yesterday and to-day 
 I hear it said that it is made up, and that she is 
 with him at his house in Sussex. When you come 
 
 * Charles James Fox, Lord Holland's youngest son, now in 
 his seventeenth year. 
 
 f Early in this month the Chevalier d'Eon had obtained fresh 
 notoriety, by preferring a charge against the Count de Guerchy, 
 for conspiring with others to murder him. D'Eon actually con- 
 trived to suborn three witnesses, who swore to the fact, and the 
 consequence was that a bill of indictment was found against M. 
 de Guerchy at the sessions at Hicks's Hall. 
 
 :{: George, fifteenth Baron, and first Earl of Abergavenny. 
 (See ante, p. 80.) He married, February 5, 1753, Henrietta, 
 sister of Thomas Pelhani, first Earl of Chichester, and widow 
 of the Hon. Richard Temple.
 
 364 RIGHT HON. RICHARD DIGBY 
 
 here you will know the truth. Guerchy does not 
 allow such an expression as leche-frite in the sense 
 you use it : he says it is a sop in the pan. Adieu ! 
 
 Yours, Holland. 
 
 A Monsieur, Monsieur George Selwyn, 
 chez Monsieur Foley, Banquier, Rue St. Sauveur, a Paris. 
 
 RIGHT HON. RICHARD DIGBY TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 St. James's Place, 12th March, 1765. 
 DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 Last Saturday I received your letter, and 
 though I feel very much disposed to answer it, 
 yet I should be more so if Williams did not tell 
 me that you are to leave Paris before my letter 
 can reach you. I Avill, however, trust to a few 
 more of INIarch's delays, and begin by telling you 
 that I wish you to buy the cliiffoniere you mention, 
 and draw upon me for the money, as I intend to 
 make a present of it to the Duchess of Bedford. 
 Her Grace would be glad to have her jesuite sent 
 to the Custom House, and pay the duty for it. 
 So much for my Paris commissions, if you receive 
 this in time; which I should not doubt, indeed, 
 from your expressions to me, but Williams says 
 he has much better intelligence of your motions, 
 for the Rena's maid has wrote to Coulii to say 
 she is to be in London the IGth of this month. 
 T suppose neither March nor you will be sur])rised
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 865 
 
 to hear that your staying at Paris all the winter 
 has procured you abuse in plenty, which you do 
 not care one farthing for, if you are as wise as 1 
 take you to be ; but I hope seriously that JMarcli 
 has not neglected to make some apology at St. 
 James's for his waitings. We have wanted neither 
 of you ministerially, for the Opposition is reduced 
 as low as I wish it to be in the House of Commons, 
 and, literally speaking, quite out of doors at the 
 House of Lords, for Lord Temple never goes there. 
 But 1 should be seriously sorry that March should 
 suffer for want of attention to his master.* He 
 is, blessed be God, quite recovered, and gone out to- 
 day in his post-chaise to take the air. 
 
 Abergavenny's story is as much a mystery here as 
 at Paris. He has been making love to my lady's 
 maid, I believe, and her ladyship is gone out of town 
 sulky, but I do not find they are parted. f Both he 
 and your friend Lord Downe continue to counte- 
 nance and support that little rascal Dui)r6, though 
 he is one of the three Frenchmen who swore to 
 iSIonsieur de Guerchy's conspiracy before the grand 
 jury. A noli prosequi is issued from the Attorn ey- 
 
 * Lord March was a Lord of the Bedchamber to George the 
 Third. 
 
 f " The town says that Lord and Lady Abergavenny are 
 parted, and that he has not been much milder than Monsieur de 
 Seillem on the chapter of a mistress he has taken. I do not know 
 the trutli of this ; but his lordship's heart, I believe, is more 
 inflammable than tender." — Horace Walpole to Lord Hertford, 
 February 12, 1765. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 A 7
 
 366 DR. GEM. 
 
 General upon that business, which is the only me- 
 thod, and the only remedy too, which the wise laws 
 of this country admit as a satisfaction for an aifront 
 of this atrocious nature. 
 
 The old club flourishes very much, and the young 
 one has been better attended than of late years, 
 but the deep play is removed to Almack's, where 
 you will certainly follow it. I hope one story about 
 you both is false, which is, that you have lost im- 
 mense sums at play. Lord Byron's trial is fixed for 
 the 16th of April, in Westminster Hall. Though 
 you have but little chance of an execution, yet, if 
 that event does not bring you, I shall despair of 
 ever seeing you again. Pray give my best wishes 
 to March, and believe me very truly and sincerely 
 
 Yours, Richard Rigby. 
 
 DR. GEM. 
 
 Dr. Gem was an English physician, who settled, 
 and, for many years, was resident at Paris. He 
 was a correspondent of Horace Walpole, who says 
 of him, that he was " no less esteemed for his pro- 
 fessional knowledge, than for his kind attention 
 to the poor who applied to him for medical as- 
 sistance."
 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS. 307 
 
 DR. R. GEM TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Thursday evening. [1765.] 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 The Baron D'Olbach and I intend ourselves 
 the pleasure of waiting on you to dinner to-morrow. 
 The Baron * has not the least objection to ]\P della 
 Rena's being of the party, for nothing prudish enters 
 into his character. I shall be very proud of the 
 honour of meeting Lord March, as I may not per- 
 haps have any other opportunity of seeing him 
 during my stay here. I am, dear sir. 
 
 Your very aifectionate humble servant, 
 
 R. Gem. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Friday, March. [1765.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 If you have not absolutely forgot there is 
 such a place as England, I should put you in mind 
 that there is a very interesting period drawing near, 
 which I hope your friend JVIarch will not treat 
 with that neglect which he has done everything 
 
 * Gibbon, who was introduced to the Baron d'Olbach at the 
 house of Madame Geoffrin at Paris in 1763, merely speaks of 
 him, in a letter to his father, as a man of parts and fortune 
 who gave regular dinners twice in every week. — Miscellaneous 
 Works, p. 235.
 
 368 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 that has been transacted in this island for these 
 last six months. As Byron is now in the Tower, 
 his trial will be in Westminster Hall in about six 
 weeks, and, for God's sake, take care that he an- 
 swers to his name on that occasion, or he will be 
 thought to be of no consequence, either in this or 
 any other country. It makes me quite peevish to 
 hear the things that are said of you both, and to 
 be without power of reply. 
 
 Our King has been out of order for these three 
 or four last days with his old complaint in his 
 head, but has found benefit by bleeding, and is at 
 present well.* Lord Holland (as old Lord Car- 
 lisle says in the Strafford Letters) does not yield yet 
 to (joodmayi Mors. He has certainly parried this 
 stroke, though I do not take his dissolution to be 
 far off. I believe Charles Townshend to be of the 
 same opinion, and in all probability will be his 
 successor. What say you to your friend Aber- 
 gavenny? Did you think those turtles, that were 
 always on the same perch, would have ever fought ? 
 I think he might have made love to his nursery- 
 maid anywhere else, and his wife need not have 
 run away from him to have told the whole town of 
 it. In short they have both acted like a couple of 
 
 * The Quarterly Reviewer for June 1840, observes, " In 
 April 1765 his Majesty had a serious illness: its peculiar cha- 
 racter was then unknown, but we have the best authority for be- 
 lieving that it was of the same nature as those which thrice after 
 afflicted his Majesty, and finally incapacitated him for the duties 
 of government."
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 3G9 
 
 fools, and Jemmy Plum, by affecting the part of 
 a mediator, has made the breach wider. 
 
 Little Hiiski reports Lord JNIarch to have won 
 two thousand louis of a German at billiards. I 
 did not know he was more an adept at that game 
 than you are at any other, but I think you are 
 both said to be losers on the whole, at least Betty 
 says that her letters mention you as pillaged. Our 
 female Almack's flourishes beyond description. If 
 you had such a thing at Paris, you would fill half 
 a quire of flourished paper with the description of 
 it. Almack's Scotch face, in a bag- wig, waiting 
 at supper, would divert you, as would his lady in 
 a sack, making tea and curtseying to the duchesses. 
 If you should want to continue your travels for 
 some time longer, you had better join the Chud- 
 leigli,* who is setting out for some famous waters 
 in Bohemia. They are thought to be the greatest 
 contractors, and she the properest subject for its 
 contracting powers. 
 
 Report says Lord Bristol is dying at Bath ;f if 
 so, between the new Earl and the Countess of 
 Bristol, I the town will not want diversion for some 
 
 * Afterwards the famous Duchess of Kingston. 
 
 f George WilHam, second Earl of Bristol. He survived till 
 March 20, 1775. 
 
 I Had Lord Bristol been actually dead, it would have ele- 
 vated to the Earldom his brother Augustus John Hervey, who 
 was privately married to Miss Chudleigh, the " new Countess" 
 here alluded to. The fact of her marriage was strongly sus- 
 pected at the time, and vv;is afterwards clearly proved at lu-r 
 
 VOL. 1. '^ B
 
 370 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 time. The Duke of Cumberland has submitted to 
 have more drains opened, and while the discharge 
 from them continues, will find relief, but nothing- 
 can keep that very diseased body long above ground. 
 I shall regularly write to you once a-week, till you 
 once more tell me you are coming ; but, in fact, 
 shall not expect you till I see you. 
 
 Yours ever, &lc. &c. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 White's, Tuesday, March 19. [1765.] 
 I DO most seriously assure you, my dear George, 
 that I have not felt a more satisfactory pleasure 
 for some time, than when I learned this was likely 
 to find you at Calais on your way home.* I found 
 two of yours when I came home last night, one 
 of the 7th, and the other of the 13th, and as 
 these equinoctial gales may possibly keep you a 
 few days longer away among the , I shall fol- 
 low your Irish directions, and send this to the house 
 which has been burned down these three months. 
 
 I think our friend George JVIonsonf is the only 
 topic I have talked to you about lately ; nor would 
 
 trial for bigamy in Westminster Hall, after she had profligately 
 remarried the Duke of Kingston. 
 
 * It appears by one of Walpole's letters, that George Selwyn 
 and Lord March arrived in England at the beginning of April, 
 after being wind-bound at Calais for nine days. 
 
 ■f See ante, January 11, 17C5.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 371 
 
 you easily imagine his friends see as little of him 
 as they do of the nabobs, his former companions. 
 He lives shut up with Lady Anne,* and is going 
 to settle for life in some remote county. I have 
 spoke to him but once ; he has never been at 
 White's, and not twice at the House of Commons. 
 As we cannot have the best of the brothers, T 
 wish she had married them all three, and removed, 
 what we think nuisances, into some snug incestu- 
 ous colony by themselves. 
 
 There is not the least chance of either hempen 
 or silken halter in Byron's process, though it will 
 last three days, and probably be as well at- 
 tended as if the fate of the country depended 
 upon it. He is in Wilkins's apartment; walks 
 about the garrison with a warder, and makes 
 public dinners for Lady Falmouth and JNIiss 8en- 
 nisheri, three days in a week. How different from 
 the recluse life we have known passed in those 
 walls. 
 
 I suppose you have heard the grand jury of 
 Middlesex have found a bill of indictment against 
 Guerchy for an attempt on D'Eon's life. Two of 
 the three witnesses were Vergy and Dupre. It 
 is sto]iped by a noli prosequi, but T think the wit- 
 nesses should not be let off so easily. Tf ])oor 
 
 * Lady Anne Vane, danghtcr of Honry Earl of Darlington, 
 and widow of the Hon. Charles Hope Weir, son of the Earl of 
 Hopotoun, remarried, about this period, the Hon. (ieorge Mon- 
 son, the early friend of (ieorge Sclwyn. See ante, 12th .Tanuarv, 
 1752, and I 1th January, 170.). 
 
 2 « 2
 
 372 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 Downe had been alive, I believe he would have 
 talked to one of them pretty roundly on the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 Horry Walpole has now postponed his journey 
 till May. He procrastinates on this side of the 
 water as much as March on the other. To tell 
 you the truth, as I believe he has no great cor- 
 diality for his Excellency,* he is not very impa- 
 tient to see him. How do you think he has em- 
 ployed that leisure which his political frenzy has 
 allowed of? In writing a novel, entitled the 
 " Castle of Otranto," and such a novel, that no 
 boarding-school jMiss of thirteen could get half 
 through without yawning. It consists of ghosts and 
 enchantments ; pictures walk out of their frames, 
 and are good company for half an hour together; 
 helmets drop from the moon, and cover half a 
 family. He says it was a dream, and I fancy one 
 when he had some feverish disposition in him. 
 
 I called on Lord Holland yesterday morning. 
 He is extremely weak and feeble in his limbs, but 
 looks better, and breathes easier, than before his 
 last plunge. Lady Holland, Lady Sarah, and 
 Louisa Conolly, set out in a fortnight for Paris, and 
 he, for tlie sake of the voyage, goes with them 
 as far as Calais. 
 
 * The Earl of Hertford, at this period ambassador at Paris. 
 Horace Walpole was not very distantly related to him, and it is 
 to this nobleman, during his embassy at Paris, that many of 
 Walpole's charming letters are addressed.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 373 
 
 His JNIajesty has not been well enough yet to 
 come out to his levee. You see our Queen has 
 turned poetess ; at least the newspapers have made 
 her the author of no bad copy of verses, which 
 Horry AValpole swears he knows to be authentic. 
 I have seen but little of the children, though 
 I hear they are very happy and comfortable. 
 The Countess is extremely good to them ; rather 
 too much so, for they are ungovernable for want 
 of contradiction. You will laugh at her plan of 
 life when you know it, as it seems a studied and 
 affected contrast to her predecessor. You may tell 
 Lord iVIarch his cousin, the Duchess of Hamilton, 
 is by much the handsomest woman in London, and 
 his cousin, the Marquis of Lome, keeps open house. 
 That one should happen again,* and the other 
 should happen at all, is rather surprising. 
 
 Charles Townshend was a candidate for the Pay 
 OfKce if death had taken your friend, [Lord Hol- 
 land,] so I suppose there died his opposition. As 
 to my lady,f she has been employed between be- 
 ing seized by bailiffs, and seizing upon the ])ailiff's, 
 all this winter. Old Winchelsea moved her breach 
 of privilege in the House of Lords, and did it with 
 great good-humour. Your nephews are at present 
 the only support of Wildman's. The " Post Of- 
 
 * The Duchess of Hamilton (the beautiful Elizabeth Gun- 
 ning) had been recently ill, and it had been thought unlikely that 
 she would recover either her beauty or her health. 
 
 f Lady Townshend.
 
 374 I. SHAFTO, ESQ. 
 
 fice" speaks like a Cicero, and begins with O mores, 
 tempora ! He gave White's such a duster in 
 his last exordium, for their profligacy, their gaming, 
 and every species of debauchery, that I expected 
 the next grand jury would have presented them. 
 Pray do not leave the shoes behind you. Unpack 
 the box, and let John put them in his pocket ; if 
 he bribes the Custom House officers, I will re- 
 imburse him. The Duchess of Grafton goes no- 
 w^here but to church. May every good wind blow 
 you and JVlarch safe to all your friends ; and among 
 them, believe me no one is more sincerely so than 
 
 Yours ever. 
 P.S. Your house is papered and painted, and 
 looks very neat, and very English. 
 
 I. SHAFTO, ESQ., TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 1 July, 1765. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I HAVE this moment received the favour of 
 your letter. I intended to have gone out of town 
 on Thursday, but as you shall not receive your 
 money before the end of this w^eek, I must post- 
 pone my journey till Sunday. A month would 
 have made no difference to me, had I not had 
 others to pay before I leave town, and must pay, 
 therefore must beg that you will leave the whole 
 before the week is out, at White's, as it is to
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH. 375 
 
 be paid away to others to wlioiii I have lost, and 
 do not choose to leave town till tliat is done. 
 Be sure you could not wish an indulgence I 
 should not be happy to grant, if in my power. 
 Newmarket is next week, and I must be pre- 
 pared ; you know how necessary it is, and part 
 of the money I owe is to those who will want it 
 against that time. I should be glad to get out 
 of town on Friday, if vou could contrive it, as I 
 want much to get to Newmarket this week. To- 
 day I dine out of town; shall return to-morrow 
 against dinner, and beg to know from you, if I 
 can get away on Friday. I am, most truly yours, 
 
 I. Shafto. 
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH TO GEORGE SELVVYN. 
 
 Sunday Morning. [17(35.] 
 
 When I came home last night I found your 
 letter on my table. So you have lost a thousand 
 ])ounds, which you have done twenty times in 
 your life-time, and won it again as often, and 
 why should not the same thing happen again? T 
 make no doubt that it will. 1 am sorry, how- 
 ever, that you have lost your money; it is un- 
 pleasant. In the meantime, what the devil signify 
 the le fahle de Paris or the nonsense of White's ! 
 You may bo sure they will bo glad you have lost 
 your money; not because tliey dislike you, but 
 because they like to Uuigh. Tiny shall certainly
 
 376 THE EARL OF MARCU. 
 
 not have that pleasure from me, for I will even 
 deny that I know anything of it. 
 
 As to your banker, I will call there to-mor- 
 row ; make yourself easy about that, for I have 
 three thousand pounds now at Coutts\ There will 
 be no bankruptcy without we are both ruined at 
 the same time. You may be very sure all this 
 will soon be known here, since everybody knows 
 it at Paris ; but if you come as soon as you intend, 
 perhaps you may be here first. All that signifies 
 nothing ; the disagreeable part, is having lost your 
 money ; Almack's or White's will bring all back 
 again. 
 
 How can you think, my dear George, and I hope 
 you do not think, that anybody, or anything, can 
 make a tracasserie between you and me ? I take 
 it ill that you even talk of it, which you do in the 
 letter I had by Ligonier. I must be the poorest 
 creature upon earth — after having known you so long, 
 and always as the best and sincerest friend that 
 any one ever had, — if any one alive can make any 
 impression upon me, when you are concerned. I 
 told you, in a letter I wrote some time ago, that 
 I depended more upon the continuance of our 
 friendship than anything else in the world, which 
 I certainly do, because I have so many reasons to 
 know you, and I am sure I know myself. 
 
 Tuesday, after the Opera. 
 
 By your letter, which I had this morning, I find 
 you were to set out last Sunday. I fear the roads
 
 I. SHAFTO, ESQ. 377 
 
 are so very bad, that you will not be here so soon 
 as you imagine. A rebound of our dinners with 
 Charles Townshend is to be at my house on Satur- 
 day ; we shall be all happy if you come in time 
 to make one. Farewell, my dear George, — I am 
 afraid of being too late for the post. &c. &c. 
 
 I. SHAFTO, ESQ., TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 July 4th, 1765. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I INTENDED to have spoke to you last night, 
 but had not an opportunity, in regard to the one 
 thousand pounds you owe me. Your money I relied 
 on, which has made me lose more than I otherwise 
 should have done, and which I must pay before I 
 leave town. On Monday early I must at all 
 events go to Newmarket, and hope it will not be 
 inconvenient to you to leave the money for me at 
 White's either to-morrow or next day. If you 
 cannot so soon, I must beg the favour that you will 
 give me your note, ]iayable to me on order in a 
 fortnight or three weeks, and I can get it dis- 
 counted at my banker's. I should not have men- 
 tioned this affair to you, could I with convenience 
 to myself do without it ; therefore I flatter myself 
 you will excuse this application. 
 
 I am, yours sincerely, 
 
 T. SlIAFTO.
 
 378 THE EARL OF MARCH 
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I HAVE received from Bob, as I imagine, for 
 I had no letter, but a cover in which there was 
 nine hundred and fifty guineas in notes, payable 
 to my order. As there wanted another fifty pounds 
 to make up the thousand, I was afraid there might 
 have been some mistake, but as I shall pay none 
 of them without endorsing, it will be of no con- 
 sequence whether it is so or not. I continue to 
 lose everything I ])lay for. I dine at Guerchy's on 
 Sunday. Yours, M. & R. 
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I HAVE lost my match and am quite broke. I 
 cannot tell you how much. I am obliged to you for 
 thinking of my difl^iculties, and providing for them 
 in the midst of all your own. Let me hear soon. 
 
 Yours very affectionately, 
 
 March & R.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 379 
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Newmarket, Monday morning-. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 Lord Edward brought me your letter yester- 
 day. I was always afraid of having some bad 
 accounts of you, though Bunbury told me you 
 was higher than ever; but your bill of play lately 
 has been so very desperate, that half an hours 
 bad luck was more than sufficient to lose a greater 
 sum than you have lost. 
 
 I should be sorry, indeed, if I thought anything 
 I could have done would have saved you. If you 
 imagine it would, I believe you are mistaken, and 
 then it only would have been an additional mor- 
 tification. 
 
 The weather has been so very fine, that I have 
 continued here in hopes it would do me good. 
 My intention is to be in town on Wednesday ; 
 to leave Newmarket after the race on Tuesday, 
 and sleep at Hockerel. Think of the ceiito pen- 
 sieri ! The having no debts to pay does not make 
 the proverb worse, and in tlic midst of your mis- 
 fortunes, if you compare yourself to those you 
 meet at Almack's, you arc j)orhaps the luckiest 
 man there in point of ]>lay. Adieu ! 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 ]\I. & II.
 
 380 LORD HOLLAND 
 
 LORD HOLLAND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 July 9, 1765, 
 DEAR SELWYN, 
 
 I LANDED at Calais here at 8 last night, safe, 
 with your suit of clothes. In the next place, 
 you will be glad to hear Lady Holland, though 
 not after so quiet or good a passage, arrived safe 
 at Dover last night : I expect her here in an 
 hour. Le Prince de Chimee would come to 
 London for a week or ten days, so Stephen* was 
 forced to go with him, and they are half way to 
 London by this time. 
 
 Your letter, I think, speaks a change certain ; 
 and stability they may well promise themselves. 
 There is no mystery in the thing. Make whom 
 they will ministers, the Parliament will follow ; 
 and what has happened these last six weeks is 
 (if I mistake not) a very strong security against 
 more unnecessary changes at Court. I hope 
 nothing is likely to happen that will vex or af- 
 fect you. I only hope Sir Charles Bunbury has 
 not lost his Paris place, and dropped, as I fear 
 he has, between two stools. I hear he was sup- 
 posed, by some at Paris, to have been in the 
 wrong to me. I beg you would do him the jus- 
 tice to say, that there is nobody I have less reason 
 
 '' Stephen Fox, Lord Holland's eldest son, and his successor 
 in the title.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 381 
 
 to complain of than liiin : I except no man what- 
 ever ; not even him I am writing to. 
 
 I beg my love to Hor. Walpole : I cannot wish 
 him joy of the gont ; I am very sorry he is 
 afflicted with it. Politics seem to be taking the 
 turn he would choose.* Do not let the task be 
 thought too arduous by his friends : possimt quia 
 posse videntur is truer nowhere than when applied 
 to ministers : I will find him an o])portunity to 
 write to me soon by a safe hand. INIay I beg of 
 you to write to me by the post ; though by the 
 post not too warily? I have another thing to 
 ask of you, and very earnestly, but I believe in 
 vain. Leave off play ! you are a fool at it. 'Tis 
 not quite so bad as Affligio ; nor are you so cer- 
 tain to lose with him, but you are as certain 
 not to win of Price ; and Lord INIarch I cannot 
 think advises that. 
 
 Ever yours, dear Selwyn, most affectionately, 
 
 Holland. 
 
 P.S. What will Lord G. Sackvillc be ? — Paymas- 
 ter? If Lord Temple or Pitt, or the old Witch of 
 Blomesbury had died some time ago, it had been 
 something ; but there is no use in the 1). of Bol- 
 
 * At the time when Lord Holland was writing this letter the 
 celebrated Rockingham administration was forming; and the fol- 
 lowing day it was known that Marshal Conway, the bosom friend of 
 Horace Walpole, was appointed one of the Secretaries of State. 
 The circumstance of his friend's advancement is dwelt upon by 
 Walpole with great elation in his letters.
 
 882 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 ton's shooting himself:* it brings Perry to one's 
 inind. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 White's, Julj 10. [1765.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 The event of the day is, that the King declared 
 to his ministers that he had no further occasion for 
 their services, but had sent for Mr. Pitt, who was to 
 have full powers to form that which he thought ca- 
 pable of carrying on the government. This, Lord 
 Rockingham promulgated at his levee. This has 
 set every chair and chariot in town in motion, and 
 has sto])ped Jack Shelley f and Lord Coventry from 
 their Paris expedition. 
 
 I was never more angry with this great man's ^ 
 gout than at present. He will be so long on the 
 road, that we shall be weary of asking questions, 
 and hearing for answer from Willis that nothing has 
 triinspired. He is to have full powers, and, as 
 
 * Charles, fifth Duke of Bolton. He committed suicide on 
 the 5th of this month, by shooting himself through the head. 
 The ball entered the right ear, came out at the upper part of the 
 left side of the head, and was found in his nightcap. An inquest 
 was held on his body at the King's Arms Taveini in Bond Street, 
 and, on the evidence of his physician, the Jury returned a verdict 
 of lunacy. -f See ante, June 18, 1763. 
 
 :j: Mr Pitt. He declined becoming a member of the new ad- 
 ministration.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 383 
 
 dictator, may take his administration either from 
 AVhite's, Ahiiack's, or Betty's. 
 
 Tlie next article of my journal is, that Lady 
 Townshend was robbed yesterday of five hundred 
 and fifty pounds in bank notes. She kept them in 
 the drawer of a little table, and in a room to which 
 nobody had access but Molly, the niece of Dorcas, 
 and her upper footman, who used to pay her bills, 
 and by that means knew where she kept her money. 
 It seems these two have kept up a constant corres- 
 pondence with Draper, her old thief,* who lives now 
 in Ireland, and to whom, without the least doubt, 
 they have remitted the money. You would like 
 the house at this instant better than ever ; JNIetho- 
 dists, constables, Fieldings, turnkeys, &c., &c. She 
 sleeps with one of Fielding's men in the next room. 
 Horace Walpole has been called to the council, to 
 apjdy to Lord Hertford for a melius inquirendum in 
 Ireland after this Draper, who lives with a Mr. 
 Burke. He says he is glad of this edaircissemenU 
 as it will deliver all those he wished well to out of 
 a very disagreeable state of servitude ; and, indeed, 
 he has all along been in that respect very consistent. 
 I am afraid Lady Holland's old friend continues 
 in his tergiversations, for no longer ago than last 
 night, vide avuncidum nostrum intranicm istuin locum., 
 vul(/o dictum St. James's Park, hord instante decimd : 
 proh pudor, iuversique mores! I write this to ])er- 
 
 * Scf ante, p. ;].3;3.
 
 384 LADY ANNE COVENTRY 
 
 plex Lord Grantham,* who may probably open the 
 letter. I found him with my lady at Whitehall 
 to-day. He w^as desired to do nothing less than to 
 open every letter that was left at Lombard-street, 
 to detect Draper and all his correspondents. We 
 have not your foresight, for we know neither the 
 date nor number of the notes they have stolen. 
 
 LADY ANNE COVENTRY TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 [The writer of this letter had only recently com- 
 pleted her eighth year.] 
 
 Brighthelmstone, 13 Juillet, 1765. 
 MONSIEUR, 
 
 Nous vous sommes infiniment obligee, ma soeur 
 et moi, du present que vous avez eu la bont^ de 
 nous envoyer. Nous esperons que vous tiendrez la 
 promesse que vous nous avez faite de nous venir voir 
 ici. Nous avons une chambre a votre service. Nous 
 nous portons fort bien, en attendant le plaisir de 
 vous voir. Jai celui de me dire. 
 
 Monsieur, votre tres humble, Anne Coventry. 
 
 [The deep interest conceived by Selwyn in the 
 offspring of his deceased friend, the beautiful 
 
 * Thomas, first Baron Grantham, who is better known in 
 history as Sir Thomas Robinson, had recently been appointed one 
 of the Postmasters-General. He died September 30, 1770, after 
 a long life, the greater part of which was employed in the public 
 service.
 
 TO GEORGE SEL\N^'N. 385 
 
 Countess, induces the editor to transcribe another 
 brief epistle from the pen of his young favourite, 
 which seems to have been preserved by him as 
 aifording evidence of her amiable disposition : — 
 
 March 4, 1770. 
 MY DEAR NURSE, 
 
 This is the only opportunity I have of writing 
 you a line to let you know we are all well. I am 
 sorry that I have not time to write a line to your 
 poor Polly. INIy love to her, and tell her I will not 
 forget her when I grow up : I will remember you 
 likewise, you may depend upon it. I long to see 
 you, but longing will not do. I had not time to 
 write to you that time you went to Mr. Burgess. 
 He told me you were very well. If I can know how 
 you are in two or three days time I shall be con- 
 tented ; so adieu ! I am your ever loving friend, 
 
 Anne Coventry. 
 
 To Mrs. Slielton, 
 at the Earl of March's, in Piccadilly, London. 
 
 [It has already been mentioned, that Lady Anne 
 Coventry married, on the 20th of October 1778, 
 Edward, second son of Thomas Lord Foley, which 
 marriage was dissolved by act of Parliament, in 
 1787. She subsequently re-married, on the 15th of 
 July 1788, Captain Samuel Wright.] 
 
 vol.. I. 
 
 i: c
 
 386 LORD HOLLAND 
 
 LORD HOLLAND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Kingsgate, July 19, 1765. 
 DEAR SELWYN, 
 
 Yours of the 12tli was a charming letter, and 
 miofht well excuse you from writinof ao-ain in haste. 
 If being very thankful for it, is being worthy of 
 it, I am. Charles brought your cloths ; you say, 
 if it was the green ? Had you any other at Calais ? 
 It is unlucky I did not know it, if you had, for I 
 could have brought anything, and I shall certainly 
 never go again. I was sick, for the first time, 
 going. It was necessary to come back ; I was not 
 sick ; but when I go again unnecessarily I wish I 
 may. 
 
 Stephen brought his Prince * to dinner here on 
 Wednesday ; carried him to Dover, and a lucky 
 wind wafted him away next morning. I hope 
 Stephen's news is true, that Williams has a com- 
 pensation. I am heartily glad of it if he has ; and 
 I hope it will comfort you under your concern for 
 the piteous sight you saw at St. James's. 
 
 You think the King ill advised to quarrel with 
 those who really love him. Mj dear Selwj^n, how 
 can you think that at this time of day ? Pray do 
 not forget the stories told of the former ministers. 
 
 * Evidently the Prince de Chimee, mentioned in a former 
 letter.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 887 
 
 Notwithstanding they deny them, I may perhaps 
 take the liberty to believe some of them. 
 
 I have not the least suspicion of Charles Price's 
 honesty. He may be as innocent and foolish at 
 play as you are ; and you may win, but then I 
 am told he cannot pay you if you do. 
 
 As to Lord March, I believe him to be a man 
 of as much honour as any man; but every one 
 who was at Paris lays the playing with Affligio to 
 his door, and I hear his lordship still defends him. 
 God forbid I should suspect any ill design : upon 
 my honour I do not ; but I have no patience with 
 such a travel's as there must be in his way of think- 
 ing, who can doubt of Affligio's being a sharper; 
 and I heartily wish Stephen had never heard it 
 doubted. 
 
 Now, dear Selwyn, I had better not have said 
 this, and if I had a little of that insincerity, which 
 the Duchess of Bedford told Lord Ophaly* she 
 feared it was impossible to acquit me of, I should 
 not. What, Selwyn, do you think she could mean ? 
 But you are not of a onake to be a confidant there. 
 Adieu ! when you have a minute to write, you 
 can write to nobody who will be more pleased 
 with, or who deserves more any mark of your 
 fiivour. 
 
 Yours ever, Holland. 
 
 * George Earl of Offaly, eldest son of James first Duke of 
 Leinster. He died, in the life-time of his father, on the 2Gth 
 of October following. 
 
 2 c 2
 
 388 THE EARL OF COVENTRY. 
 
 THE EARL OF COVENTRY TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Crome, 3rd August, 1765. 
 DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I HAVE refused so many ajjplications to let 
 the little boy* leave Marybone, that I must beg 
 of you not to ask it. There is no one but Duchess 
 Hamilton [his aunt] has liberty to send for him, 
 and it would be very inconvenient to extend that 
 privilege any farther. 
 
 This place is burnt uj) to a degree which I never 
 remember before. I am particularly sorry for it, 
 as I expect Lord Lytteltonf here every minute, 
 who you know is an elegans locorum spectator. Ex- 
 cept the usual country visits draw me from hence 
 (and they are absences only of a day) I think I 
 shall reside here till the second week in Septem- 
 ber, and if you should grow weary of town in the 
 course of that time, you will be sure to find 
 Your faithful and obedient, 
 
 Coventry. 
 
 * Lord Deerhurst, afterwards seventh Earl of Coventry, now 
 in his eighth year. Many years afterwards he had the misfor- 
 tune to lose his sight by the bursting of a fowling-piece. He 
 died March 26, 1831. 
 
 f George, first Lord Lyttelton, the author of the " Monody," 
 and of the " History of Henry the Second." He died August 
 22, 1773.
 
 LORD HOLLAND. 389 
 
 LORD HOLLAND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Sunday morning, August 4. [1765.] 
 
 A SCRUPLE in office suspends Lord Digby's 
 kissing bands till Wednesday.* I am sorry for it. 
 When it is done I shall be very happy indeed, and 
 beg you will let those, who will be sorry for it, 
 know how much I am so. 
 
 The confidence Pitt has in himself, has done 
 more for liim than his parts and eloquence. The 
 excessive self-conceit of Grenville, that could make 
 his writers call him (if he did not write it himself ) 
 the greatest minister this country ever saw, as well 
 as his pride and obstinacy, established him. It 
 did not hurt him that he had a better oj)inion of 
 himself than he, or perhaps anybody else, ever 
 deserved ; on the contrary, it helped him ; but 
 when the fool said upon that, " the King cannot 
 do without me" hoc nocuit. Adieu ! dear Selwyn. 
 
 Yours ever, Holland. 
 
 [The celebrated George Grenville, whose cha- 
 racter Lord Holland attacks with so much bitter- 
 ness, had been driven from his post as first minister 
 on the lOtli of the preceding month. How dif- 
 
 * Henry, seventh Baron Digby in Ireland, was advanced to 
 be a Peer of Great Britain on the 13th of this month. In 1790 
 he was created Earl Digby, and died December 9.5, 1793. Lord 
 Digby's mother was Charlotte, daughter of Sir Stephen Fox, and 
 consequently he was nephew to Lord Holland.
 
 890 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 ferent from the language in which he is here spoken 
 of, is the fine encomium in wliich Burke has en- 
 shrined his name. " With a masculine understand- 
 ing, a stout and resolute heart, he had an appli- 
 cation undissipated and unwearied. He took public 
 business not as a duty he was to fulfil, but as a plea- 
 sure he was to enjoy; and he seemed to have no 
 delight out of the House, except in such things 
 as someway related to the business that was to be 
 done within it. If he was ambitious, I will say 
 this for him, his ambition was of a noble and 
 generous strain : it was to raise himself, not by 
 the low, pimping politics of a court, but to win 
 his way to power, through the laborious gradations 
 of public service ; and to secure himself a well- 
 earned rank in Parliament, by a thorough know- 
 ledge of its constitution, and a perfect practice in 
 all its business." Mr. Grenville, who rose by suc- 
 cessive gradations from being a junior Lord of the 
 Admiralty to the post of Prime Minister, died 
 November 13, 1770, at the age of fifty-eight. He 
 was second son of Richard Grenville, Esq., and 
 younger brother of Richard, first Earl TemiDle.] 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Tunbridge Wells, August 8th. [1765.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I RECEIVED both your letters this morning, 
 for which I thank you, and liojie I shall never
 
 TO GEORGE SEL^TN. 391 
 
 be beast eiioiigli to forget what I owe you for 
 the zeal and activity which you express to serve 
 me. Some card must, I think, turn up in one's 
 favour, and as for the people who hold the bank, 
 I remember it is your maxim to win from your 
 enemies, and that makes you never set March at 
 hazard. 
 
 The next time you see me will be in weepers ; 
 but do not be in a hurry. I have had the mis- 
 fortune to lose my poor brother Greathead. This 
 place is dull and deserted beyond description ; not 
 one woman of fashion or an Irish Dean to keej) 
 up its reputation. Her Grace of Grafton does not 
 appear. Old Pulteney * is the only gallant, and 
 seems to play the part of Volpone, and will starve 
 at his death those whom he has fed with expecta- 
 tion in his life-time. 
 
 The rains, which autumn generally supplies us 
 M'ith most plentifully, are setting in, and will make 
 the cross-road from this place to Brighthelmstone 
 impassable for a carriage. I jDropose therefore to 
 be in London on Sunday evening, and after I have 
 supplied myself with black apparel, I will set out 
 with you for Brighthelmstone, or any otlier phice 
 that you shall prefer to it ; only remember tliat 
 Tuesday sev'night is the day fixed for the children 
 
 * General Henry Pulteney, the only brother of the celebrated 
 Lord Bathj and the inheritor of his large fortune. (See .ante, 
 July 10, 17G4.) He died at Bath House, Piccadilly, October 
 26, 1767, in his eighty-second year.
 
 392 LORD HOLLAND 
 
 to leave it. Poor Mrs. F. continues much as she 
 was. If there is any alteration I think it is for 
 the worse ; and what with tliis sick house, the 
 alteration of the weather, the times, this place, 
 &c., &c., I could sit in an evening and cry " heigh 
 ho !" between Tom Hervey and Bully; but I flatter 
 myself that Si jnale nunc, et olim non sic erit. I 
 feel myself as pedantic as Draper * in a pamphlet. 
 Let us sup together, my dear George, on Sunday 
 night, till when, adieu ! 
 
 LORD HOLLAND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Kingsgate, August 16, 1765. 
 DEAR SELWYN, 
 
 Lord Digby is a peer, and I am perfectly 
 content. Stephen Digby f I place as you do, and 
 Lord Hillsborough:}: cannot be placed to my account : 
 Lord Halifax brought him in, in 1763. He was 
 
 * Sir William Draper, chiefly celebrated for his unlucky con- 
 troversy with Junius in defence of the Marquis of Granby. He 
 died at Bath January 8, 1787. 
 
 t A younger brother of Lord Digby, and a colonel in the 
 army. He afterwards married, on the 1st October, 1771> Lady 
 Lucy Strangways Fox, youngest daughter of Stephen Earl of 
 llchester, elder brother of Lord Holland. 
 
 :j: Wills Hill, second Viscount Hillsborough in L-eland, had 
 been raised to the peerage of England by the title of Baron 
 Harwich in Essex, on the 20th of November 1756. Lord 
 Holland alludes to his having been appointed First Commissioner 
 of Trade and Plantations in September 1763. On the
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 893 
 
 very well with the last ministry ; too wise to be of 
 their opinion, and they had been wiser had they 
 consulted him ; but in a political inquisition he 
 could not be found under my name, though he 
 loves me, and I love him very well. I am under 
 sincere concern for his dear Countess,* whom I give 
 over, and I fear with great reason. She will be 
 as great a loss to him as any man ever met with ; 
 and I am sorry he has not his place, if that might, 
 by employing him, have at all diverted his thoughts 
 from a melancholy that will sit heavy on him, and 
 is no small weight on my spirits. If you could 
 say any thing certain concerning the Duchess of 
 Queensberry,f it were more than any other body 
 could. I did not tell you what Sir James Lowther 
 said as certain ; but, to be sure, Lord March knows 
 what is in his way, if there is any thing, and how to 
 remove it. 
 
 Charles was come away before he received my 
 letter. In one of yours you say stories were told 
 of the late ministry's behaviour to the King, which 
 
 20th of January 1768 he was appointed Secretary of State 
 for the Colonies, which post he retained till August 1772, 
 when, on his retirement, the King advanced him to the Earl- 
 dom of Hillsborough. 
 
 * Margaretta, only surviving daughter of Robert Earl of 
 Kildare, and sister of James first Duke of Leinster. She sur- 
 vived the date of Lord Holland's letter about five months, 
 expiring at Naples on the 15th of January, 1776, in her thirty- 
 eighth year. 
 
 f See ante, 30 March, 1745.
 
 394 LORD HOLLAND 
 
 exceeded all belief, and were as strongly denied as 
 they were asserted. Now, my dear Selwyn, furnish 
 me with some of those stories that exceed belief, to 
 entertain Sandwich, who still says he will come 
 here. I don't know Lord Rockingham,* but if he 
 says he intends something for Williams, has he 
 learnt so much of the D. of N. that it can be 
 doubtful?! I wish the Duke of Grafton may be 
 in the right, for whatever regard is paid to me and 
 my friends I shall be glad to receive and return. 
 What looks best like it, is Ellis; unless, perhaps, 
 that was the Duke of Cumberland's doing. Was 
 it so, and will he have a Vice-Treasurership of Ire- 
 land ? 
 
 We are very glad Grenville is taken some care 
 
 * Charles, second Marquis of Rockingham, distinguished by 
 his upright conduct as a statesman and his amiable qualities 
 in private life, was born on the 13th of May 1730. On the 
 10th of this month he had been appointed to the post of First 
 Lord of the Treasury, in the room of George Grenville. This 
 post, however, he found it impracticable to retain without the 
 support of Mr. Pitt, and accordingly he resigned the premier- 
 ship on the 1st of August, 1766. On the resignation of Lord 
 North, in March 1782, he was again advanced to the chief 
 direction of affairs, and died in office on the 1st of July fol- 
 lowing. 
 
 f Alluding to the celebrated minister the Duke of Newcastle, 
 whose promises were little to be relied upon. Sir Robert 
 Walpole said of him, "his name is Perfidy;" and his col- 
 league Lord Chatham designated him in still plainer terms, " a 
 very great liar." The Duke died on the 17th of November, 
 1768, at the age of seventy-five, having filled successive situa- 
 tions, either in the Court or State, for a period amounting to 
 forty-six years.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 395 
 
 of. Do you know Gordon, who by this means is, 
 1 suppose, upon the pavef Madame de INIasseran 
 is to breakfast at Holland House when Lady Hol- 
 land returns. She desires to know if she must 
 necessarily ask JMonsieur de Seillern. I think of 
 Pitt as you do : it is well for him there are so 
 many Hume-Campbells.* When you say you could 
 not come with Madame Bentheim, but will take 
 some other opportunity, have you really any such 
 design? Indeed you will be more than welcome. 
 I have not yet, from what has been done, been 
 able to judge who are ministers. If I knew, I 
 would wish they would shew their regard to me 
 by doing something clever for you. You can't get 
 any thing for me, I believe ; else I give you leave 
 to sell me for a small favour to yourself. 
 
 Tell Lord Bolingbroke to take Jupiter's advice : — 
 
 Follow, and you '11 see her soon appeased ; 
 For I, who made her, know her inmost state ; 
 No woman, once well pleased, can truly hate. 
 
 She has been well pleased, I hope : let him follow, 
 court, and prevail M'itli her to be so again.f 
 
 * Hugh Hume- Campbell, third Earl of Marchmont (one of 
 the representative peers of Scotland, and Lord Keeper of the 
 Great Seal in that country), and his twin brother, Hume 
 Campbell. They were possessed of no mean talents, resembled 
 each other closely in their characters and disposition, and were 
 so alike in their persons that it was difficult to distinguish one 
 from the other. 
 
 \ This was written in the early stages of the niatriniouial 
 di (Terences between Lord and Lady Bolingbroke, which led to 
 their separation and subseciuent divorce.
 
 396 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 I need not leave it them, dear Selwyn, — I have 
 given my children a great love for you in my life- 
 time ; and yet I assure you I have enough left to 
 last me abundantly as long as I live. 
 
 Yours ever, Holland. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Ashburnham, 19 August, [1765.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I WILL venture to return you thanks for your 
 two letters, though it is possible my directing them 
 to Matson may make you not receive them so soon 
 as I could wish. 
 
 You seem to me, in the first page of one of 
 your letters, to be talking in your sleep ; but, 
 after all, you must take me with all my faults, 
 since I promise to love you with all yours. Varey 
 and I shall leave this place on Monday next, and 
 indeed with regret ; for I do not recollect I ever 
 passed an August month more to my satisfaction. 
 It is literally living on the fat, and with the fat 
 of the land ; and the deep ruts in the park, made 
 by frequent airings, prove that we, the inhabitants, 
 thrive by our delicious viands. Why do not you 
 speak out as to Lord Gower? Is he to come in 
 or not?* I'll never believe it till I read it in 
 
 * Granville, second Earl Gower, had resigned his post of 
 Loi'd Chamberlain on the removal of the Grenville adminis-
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 397 
 
 the Gazette, and look upon it as thrown out only 
 to amuse. If you had said the E. of Northumber- 
 land, I should have attended to you. Pray send 
 me word to Brighthelmstone how Bell and Harris* 
 do, not forgetting the old woman and Renaud.f 
 
 By all accounts, Lord Holland will not live to 
 reach his destination ; and so far from o-oino* to 
 Naples, you will not even go to Lyons. No, you 
 will be lingering about till the Newmarket week 
 in October, and then say it is the pleasantest season 
 to go there. From thence you will proceed to 
 Naylors, after supping in three or four of the 
 common rooms in Cambridge. I shall expect to 
 see your autumnal face when I return from the 
 sea, and nobody will be more glad to do so than 
 
 Yours ever, &c. 6cc. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Brighthelmstone, August 22. 
 
 Nothing, my dear George, could surj^rise me 
 more than the letter you enclosed, and I am cer- 
 tainly at a loss to know what step should be taken 
 
 tration in July, and remained without office till December 1707, 
 when he was appointed President of the Council. 
 
 * Alderman Harris of Gloucester, a great favourite with 
 Selwyn and his friends. See ante, 14 November, 1751. 
 
 f Selwyn's housekeeper at Matson,
 
 398 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 about it. If Charles* should think we are joking 
 with his patronage and protection, he will give us 
 his Grace of Bolton's opposition in the shape of 
 cold water. The worst of all is, that people who 
 are very apt to laugh, are never imagined to be 
 serious ; and I am afraid the ridiculous part of the 
 request will be laid altogether to our door. Would 
 an explanatory letter to him be prof)er ? God send 
 that this accident, which at another time would 
 have infinitely diverted us, may not be attended 
 with some untoward circumstances. I am deter- 
 mined, for the future, that not only my conversa- 
 tion, but my correspondence, shall be yea, yea, or 
 nay, nay. 
 
 I found your stick this morning, which shall be 
 conveyed to you by the first safe hand that goes 
 from hence. Lascelles, the Yorkshire member, 
 landed yesterday in the packet from Dieppe, and 
 has brought the prettiest watch for Lady Coventry 
 I ever saw. It has all the taste and eleo-ance 
 which Dulac and others say our friend the Earl is 
 so remarkable for. I think, about autumn, we 
 must be toad-eaters enough to swear to this, or 
 to any thing else that liis chaplains advance. 
 
 Lascelles made me laugh by telling me he had 
 brought over some manuscripts which treat of the 
 longitude : they are to be delivered to you, and 
 
 * The celebrated Charles Townshend. (See ante, 23 Jan. 
 1748.) He had recently been appointed Paymaster-General 
 and Chancellor of the Exchequer.
 
 TO GEORGE SEL^^TN. 399 
 
 you are desired to explain tliem properly to the 
 commissioners appointed by Parliament for issuing 
 the reward. I don't think they can make you a 
 mathematician but by the same degrees the mock 
 doctor was made. 
 
 Fanshawe set out this morning. He will arrive 
 in London the very quintessence of wheatears ; 
 for he has eat nothing else for this week past, and 
 it is feared he has destroyed the species. You 
 may tell JMarch that Fanny P[elham]* was much 
 disappointed that her old friend did not come 
 with us. She has not been in humour since ; but 
 by the breadth of her hat, and the depth of her 
 cap, she contrives to shew no more of her face 
 than of . Pray send me word what you in- 
 tend to do as to our fat friend. I wish heartily 
 we had both what we want ; but I am so much 
 like Charles Vernon, and the rest of the world, 
 that I would willingly be served first. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Brighthelmstone, Friday morning, Seven o'clock. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 You deserve my best thanks for thinking of 
 me so much, ^and being such an excellent corres- 
 pondent. 
 
 * Sister of the celebrated minister Henry Pelhani, and niece 
 of the Duke of Newcastle. See ante, 22 August, 1703.
 
 400 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 I have sent your stick by Mr. Lascelles this 
 morning-, and could not let him go without joining 
 a letter of mine with those manuscripts of the 
 French mathematician, which I hope will deserve 
 your patronage. As to Lord Fortescue, I thought 
 he had neither parts nor spirits to go out of the 
 suicide door.* Bully's being so curious an in- 
 quirer looks remarkable. I remember a man seeing 
 a military execution in Hyde Park,f and when it 
 was over, he turned about and said, " By G — I 
 thought there was more in it !" He shot himself 
 the next morning ! 
 
 Now as to Charles [Townshend], if he comes, 
 which I a little suspect ; and if, after you have 
 told him the state of his recommendation, you think 
 my appearance necessary, I will be up in twelve 
 hours. For God's sake, take pains in the explana- 
 tion of our Welch friend's request, and do not let 
 him imagine we have even a smile upon our faces. 
 Could not .my lady [Townshend] be of use ? She 
 has made me the most friendly offers. Could not 
 we make Harcourt write to her? If Lord Rock- 
 ingham should be at York races during Charles's 
 coming, we should be much out of luck. 
 
 * This passage requires some elucidation, which the editor is 
 unable to aflFord. The Lord Fortescue, who must be here 
 alluded to, was Matthew, second Baron Fortescue, who suc- 
 ceeded to the title on the 2nd of May, 1751, and died on the lOth 
 of July, 1785. 
 
 t The scene of military executions was within the railings of 
 Hyde Park, close to Cumberland gate.
 
 THE DUKE OF RICHMOND. 401 
 
 The bearer of this is at this instant giving such a 
 description of his life at Paris, and his tour after it, 
 that would divert you beyond imagination. How- 
 ever, he is this instant getting into his chaise, so, 
 my dear friend, adieu. 
 
 THE DUKE OF RICHMOND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 [Charles, third Duke of Richmond, had recently 
 been appointed Ambassador Extraordinary to the 
 Court of France. In JNIay 1766 he was appointed 
 one of the Secretaries of State; in 1783 Master of 
 the Ordnance ; and in 1796 was advanced to be a 
 Field Marshal. The Duke, who was distinguished 
 by his noble encouragement of the fine arts, died 
 December 29, 1806, in his seventy-second year.] 
 
 Whitehall, Saturday Morning, Aug. 24, 1765. 
 MY dear sir. 
 
 As I presume your friend the Baron d'Olbach 
 only wants me to carry to France for him his libels, 
 b — y and irreligious books, T take it for granted 
 they will not take up much room. If therefore the 
 box is not too large, I shall with pleasure obey your 
 commands. 
 
 I am, my dear Sir, ever yours most sincerely, 
 
 Richmond and L. 
 
 P. S. Let him send the box to my house at 
 Whitehall. 
 
 VOL. I. - J»
 
 402 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 THE EARL OF COVENTRY TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Croome, Aug. 26, 1765. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I SUPPOSE 1 am oblig-ed to you for the letter I 
 had from Lord IMarch this morning, oifering to take 
 my waiting the first of next month, in exchange of 
 his own, which is not till the 29th. I have accepted 
 it with thanks, and have signified as much to the 
 Earl by this night's post, yet as letters sometimes 
 miscarry, and the occasion is important, I wish you 
 would repeat to him that his proposal is most 
 agreeal^le to me, and that I shall depend upon him, 
 as he may upon yours, very sincerely, 
 
 Coventry. 
 P. S. I shall not trust you in a post-chaise with 
 Nanny a year or two hence. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Brighthelmstone, Friday Night. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I HOPE this finds you safely returned from 
 Woburn, where I doubt ]\Iarch's perseverance to 
 stay longer than a day or two at furthest. You 
 have said and done everything' so much as I wished, 
 that I do not think a London journey necessary. I 
 have wrote to Charles to thank him, and mentioned 
 in my letter all that a week's conversation could 
 have informed liim of. I am not apt to be very
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 403 
 
 sanguine in these matters, but I think, in this 
 instance, my patron seems so much in earnest, that 
 nothing is surer than the success of his negotiation. 
 I am entirely of your way of thinking, that was I 
 so unlike a beggar as to have my choice, I should 
 wish not to be continued in my old office, lest I 
 should be giving my friends so much trouble, in the 
 future ministerial vicissitudes, that iu the end they 
 should be heartily tired of me. No lover was ever 
 more impatient to hear of his mistress, than I am 
 of Lord Rockingham's return. The rapidity of one 
 conversation of Charles's would do me more good 
 than an epistle twice as long as old Bell's. 
 
 Let me know in your next whether you hold 
 your resolution of setting out for Matson on Sunday 
 the 8th. I shall have completed my watering by 
 the Sunday following, and in three days after that 
 I will eat a carp with you cheek by jowl with 
 Alderman Harris. I do not go to Ashlmrnham. 
 I had a letter from him yesterday, in which he 
 desires me to take him a house in this place, 
 where he is to come next week, in order, I believe, 
 to bathe his Countess. They succeed Pembroke* 
 in his lodgings, and will add much to my amusement. 
 I shall prefer his cook to Shergold's, iu which de- 
 cision T am sure of Willis's vote. 
 
 * Henry tenth Earl of Pembroke, afterwards a general in the 
 army, was born in 1734. In 1756 he marrie<l Elizabeth, 
 daughter of Charles third Duke of Marlborough, and died 2(')th 
 January, 1794. 
 
 2 I) 2
 
 404 GILLY WILLIAMS. 
 
 Jack Shelley is gone to entertain his Sussex 
 friends. Pembroke gave him such a tumble the 
 other night, by telling him Mr. Pitt would no more 
 trust him than his postilion, that for the time it 
 quite disconcerted him. Poor Lady Bully [Boliug- 
 broke] would envy the extreme conjugal felicity her 
 sister* lives in, if she had been witness of their life 
 here ; but fond as he was, in the evening he seemed 
 to have his partiality in the grasshopper bagnio. 
 
 When you see my lady, pray make the finest 
 speeches you can think of for me. I owe her and 
 the rest of my friends more than I can live to repay 
 them ; but, indeed, George, you are the first credi- 
 tor, and, unlike Weymouth,! I will always acknow- 
 ledge the debt, and endeavour to pay it. When I 
 reflect on the Countess of Dalkeith | at dinner in 
 your parlour, I learn to trust old Time with every 
 thing, and he will conduct and reconcile the greatest 
 contradictions just as he pleases. 
 
 * Lady Bollngbroke and Lady Pembroke were both daughters 
 of Charles Duke of Marlborough. 
 
 f Thomas, third Viscount Weymouth, created in 1789 first 
 Marquis of Bath. He died 19th Nov. 1 793. 
 
 J Caroline, daughter of John Duke of Argyll, and widow of 
 Francis Earl of Dalkeith, who died in the life time of his father 
 (Francis, second Duke of Buccleuch), in 1750. Lady Dalkeith 
 married secondly the Right Hon. Charles Townshend. She was 
 created Baroness Greenwich in 1766, and died in 1794.
 
 LORD HOLLAND. 405 
 
 LORD HOLLAND TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Kingsgate, Aug. 27, 1765. 
 DEAR SELAVYN, 
 
 You are very good to me indeed. I did not 
 quote you when I told the false news of Lord For- 
 tescue's* death to Sir G. Oxendenf cum suis, who 
 dined here the day I received it, and spread it next 
 day all over Kent I doubt not ; so you will not be 
 hated or suspected ; but there is no sure way of pre- 
 venting that, but, — what you will not take yet 
 awhile, I hope, — by being as dull as a post. 
 
 I was in hopes to have heard of its success with 
 the Duke, whenever I first heard of my letter to 
 Lord A. I am afraid now I must suppose it had 
 none. It will be a trial; but that sad sort of 
 wisdom, the philosophy of old age, grows upon me 
 every day. I scarce think 1 shall see Sandwich ; 
 but he comes, if he does come, not only to be 
 laughed at, but to save his ten guineas. I am not 
 so desirous of knowing the reports I inquired after, 
 as to have liked to be by when G. G.f enumerated 
 them. I am persuaded, Selwyn, that the Kiii,u-, who 
 we see can swallow anything almost,^ could not, 
 
 * See ante, p. 400. 
 
 f Sir George Oxenden, Bart., ALP. for Sandwich, and at 
 different times a Lord of tlie Admiralty and of the Treasury. He 
 died February 20, 1775. 
 
 [ George Grenville. 
 
 § If Lord Holland was often in the habit of speaking thus 
 openly and disrespectfully of his royal master, we cannot wonder
 
 406 LORD HOLLAND 
 
 however, bear his conversation. A dose, so hirge 
 and so nauseous, often repeated, was too much for 
 any body's stomach. Sir Charles Williams imputes 
 Hampden's loss of Sir Richard Ellis's goodwill and 
 estate to a like cause, — 
 
 Still the same round of dull discourse be run, 
 Till by bimself the blockbead was undone.* 
 
 tbat George tbe Tbird should have conceived that prejudice 
 against him, of which Lord Holland bittei-ly complains, and ex- 
 presses his wonder at, in a subsequent letter. 
 
 * Sir Richard Ellys was a wealthy baronet without children, 
 and was descended from the celebrated Hampden, for whose cha- 
 racter he affected the greatest reverence. The chief expectants 
 of his wealth were Horatio, brother of Sir Robert Walpole, and 
 Mr. Richard Hampden ; the latter of whom was collaterally 
 descended from the great patriot. Sir C. H. Williams thus 
 amusingly ridicules the sedulous court which they paid to the old 
 baronet : — 
 
 Far beyond the rest, to gain his love, 
 
 Horace and Hampden diligently strove; 
 
 But Horace' flattery was too thick and coarse, 
 
 And Hampden's conversation ten times worse ; 
 
 Thither did Horace every day repair. 
 
 While politics were but his second care : 
 
 hi strict attendance Hampden did the same, 
 
 Arm'd with the strong pretensions of his name. 
 
 By ties of blood he claimed the foremost place, 
 
 As the last branch of patriot Hampden's race. 
 
 His daily visits punctually he paid : 
 
 From morn till noon, from noon till night, he stayed. 
 
 Still the same race of dull discourse was run, 
 
 Till hy himself the blockhead was undone. 
 
 Sir Richard Ellys disappointed both one and the other, by be- 
 queathing his wealth, after his wife's death, to the second son of 
 John Hobart, Earl of Buckinghamshire.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 407 
 
 Every eclaircissement must, in this case, be a fresh, 
 and I dare swear very heavy, offence, 
 
 I am not sorry, though I wondered hpw it hap- 
 l)ened, that my letter to Lord A. was known. Why 
 should it be a secret ? Thus far was right. 
 
 All that I collect, from what you say on the 
 subject of money, is, that fortune has been a little 
 favourable lately ; or, may be, the last night only. 
 Till you leave off play entirely, you must be, in 
 earnest and without irony, eii verite le serviteur tres 
 humble des evmemens. I wish you had asked my 
 comical old friend, the Duke of Bedford, Mliat he 
 would recommend Stephen for. He was capable 
 of holding a discourse upon it that might have en- 
 tertained you. Charles sticks to it, and since you 
 walk by the side of the water with your hat off, he 
 is not sure you will not fling yourself in ; but with 
 your hat on, he swears you never will, unless to 
 spite him. 
 
 Poor Ilorri !* Give my love to him. The two 
 things he wished most have happened, for C. 
 against R.;t and yet I fear his own feeling must 
 have not only deadened, but quite overcome, both 
 the sensations those events would have inspired.]: 
 
 * Horace Walpole. 
 
 t The appointment of General Conway, whom Walpole almost 
 idolized, as Secretary of State; and, probably, the removal of 
 Rigby from the administration. 
 
 X Lord Holland apparently alludes to Walpole's sufferings 
 from the gout, under a severe attack of which he was at this 
 period labouring.
 
 408 GILLY WILLIAMS. 
 
 It is excessive hot. You do not venture within 
 Tom Hervey's * reach, I hope, this weather. Adieu ! 
 yours ever, Holland. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 White's Sat. Evening. [1765.] 
 
 You desired me, my dear George, to write 
 to you, though I have nothing to say, nor has any 
 event happened, in the course of these two days, 
 worth communicating. You will hear in a few 
 days of a vacancy for Westminster, Sandys being 
 in ecVtremis.-\ It is an inflammatory fever, which 
 has settled in his brain, and baffles all the faculty. 
 Poor man ! he has had so small a share of the 
 good things of this w^orld, that I could wish there 
 was a better chance for his being rewarded in 
 the next. 
 
 The Duke of York set out this morning for 
 Rigby's. Cadogan has Beauclerk for his compa- 
 nion in the chaise. Gimcrack's match ivas, Lady 
 Caroline Stanhope's is declared. J I think, in that 
 
 * See ante, p. 219. 
 
 f Edwin Lord Sandys succeeded his father, as second Baron, in 
 1770. He had been a Lord of the Admiralty, and at this period 
 represented the city of Westminster in Parliament. He survived 
 till March 11, 1797. 
 
 ^ Lady Caroline Stanhope, eldest daughter of William second 
 Earl of Harrington, born March 11, 1747. She married, Octo- 
 ber 7, 1765, Kenneth Mackenzie, Viscount Fortrose, and died of 
 consumption February 9, 1767. She was daughter of the noto- 
 rious Lady Harrington.
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH. 409 
 
 family the young man will meet with as good a 
 rough rider to instruct him, as all Covent Garden 
 could furnish. 
 
 Coventry mends slowly. His old mother-in-law 
 is come to town, and would much divert you.* 
 She is as good-natured, mellow an old hostess, as 
 ever kept any Black or White Lion in any town 
 in Europe. Your friend Chas. Price had such a 
 tumble last night, that the whole ^Macaroni rings 
 with it. Old Harrington has just now told me 
 that he rode alone in joining the jovial chase. I 
 hope you found Lord Holland perfectly well. 
 Pray make my best respects to him. However 
 unfashionable it may be in the present age to 
 remember obligations to him, I hope I shall not 
 live long enough to forget mine. Adieu ! my 
 dear George, and do not fail to let us see you 
 on Wednesday next. 
 
 , THE EARL OF MARCH TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Seymour Place, September ^JSth, 1765. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I ENX'LOSE you a letter from the Tondino, who 
 is verv sensible of your attention. There would 
 
 ♦ Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Ambrose Crowley, Knt., of 
 Greenwich, an Alderman of the city of London. She married, 
 in 1725, John, tenth Lord St. John of Bletsoe, by whom she was 
 the mother of the second Lady Coventry, and of a numerous 
 family. Lady St. John died October 2i, 1761).
 
 410 THE EARL OF MARCH. 
 
 have been no scruple of remaining in your house, 
 for we both know vou too well for that, but she 
 wanted to get back to all her chifons, contrary to 
 my inclination. 
 
 Lord Folkestone has kissed hands as Earl of 
 Malmesbury ; * Lord Spencer as Earl Spencer.f 
 Lord De Spencer J is to be an Earl, but by what 
 title I do not know, as he has not kissed hands. 
 There is a great entertainment to-day at Cler- 
 mont. The Duke of Newcastle is very angry 
 that neither the Duke of York nor Gloucester be 
 of it. They are, I hear, much displeased at his 
 free manner of inviting them to meet the Prince, 
 instead of tiis meeting them. So much for Panto ! 
 But I think our Princes much in the right. 
 
 The great B. § was yesterday at the dressing, 
 comme un homme de qualite qui a les entrts. Neither 
 he nor any of his family were at the balls ; they 
 were only invited to the Duke of York's. Lady 
 Hertford arrived last night with the heaii Richard. 
 
 Fortescue and his wife came with them. 
 
 « 
 
 * This is a mistake. William, second Viscount Folkestone 
 was created Earl of Radnor on the 29th of October followinof. 
 He died 28 January, 1776. 
 
 -f- John, Earl Spencer, was advanced to the earldom 1 Novem- 
 ber, 1765. Lord Spencer was the father of the beautiful Geor- 
 giana, Duchess of Devonshire. He died 31 October, 1783. 
 
 \ Francis, twenty first Baron Le Despencer, died 9 December, 
 1781. The report of his intended elevation to an earldom proved 
 incorrect. 
 
 § Apparently the Ditke of Bedford, the celebrated minister, 
 who had recently retired from office with the Grenville adminis- 
 tration.
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS. 411 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Crome, Thursday, October 1 7th. [1765.] 
 
 I THANK you, my dear George, for your letter, 
 which I received this morning-. It was acconii>a- 
 nied by one from Cadogan, who tells me you dined 
 witli him, and was covered with Raton's* hairs. 
 I hope the Countess owns you have done justice 
 to him, for, in fact, you have thought of nothing 
 
 but that little son of a b since you saw her 
 
 last. 
 
 I told Nanny what you have brought for her, 
 though by the by she does not deserve it, for, 
 from the want of all restraint and contradiction, 
 she grows so intolerably passionate, that I wish 
 one time or other she does not hurt her sister. 
 She constantly throws the cards in her face, if 
 she is not perfectly satisfied with her hand, as if 
 she was the daughter of the Bishop of London. 
 
 AVe escaped the Dukes of York and Gloucester 
 by one week. We are told they passed by Mother 
 Ilolman's in their way to Lord Plymouth's. If 
 they come here, which is in the chapter of accidents, 
 the party will be as entertaining as anything of 
 
 that sort can be. Your d d Dumpy lost us 
 
 Bunny's company last Sunday. lie ran away from 
 the public day, though black Brookes Mas the 
 oidy person mIio graced it. I am heartily glad 
 
 * George Selwyn's dog, apparently a gift IVnm Lady Coventry.
 
 412 GILLY WILLIAMS. 
 
 you met with my friend Lord Tliomond. A laugli 
 now and then does infinite good, and takes away 
 any humour tliat is apt to breed with phlegm and 
 disappointment. 
 
 The success of my Padrone Charles [Townshend] 
 pleases me. The old cat will leave him so im- 
 mensely rich, that I hope it will give his requests 
 the weight of commands. What says my Lady to 
 this accession of wealth ? I suppose she has swelled 
 it to a royal appanage. I am much obliged to 
 you for the cloak; it comes most opportunely, as 
 the weather seems to call for it. If fortune should 
 bring you again into this part of the world, we 
 might return to town through Bath, and make our 
 bows to the Duchess of Bedford. Has Horry 
 wrote ? You do not know how popular he is. 
 Will they not be surprised in France to find all 
 
 our wits without s ? * My best compliments 
 
 to Lord March. Adieu. 
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Wednesday morning, 6 o'clock. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I AiAi just preparing to conduct the poor little 
 Tondino to Dover, and as I shall hardly be able 
 to write to you there, I shall endeavour to say 
 two or three words to you while she is getting 
 
 * Horace Walpole set out for Paris at the beginning of Sep- 
 tember,
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH. 413 
 
 ready. I am sure you will bo good to her, for I 
 know you love me ; and I can desire nothing of 
 you that I shall feel so sensibly as your notice 
 of her. 
 
 She will tell you all my intentions, and I shall 
 write to you when I am more composed. My 
 heart is so full that I can neither think, speak, 
 nor write. How I shall be able to part with her, 
 or bear to come back to this house, I do not know. 
 The sound of her voice fills my eyes with fresh 
 tears. My dear George, J'ai le caeiir si serve que 
 je ne suis hon (i present qua plcurer. Farewell ! 
 I hear her coming, and this is perhaps the last 
 time I shall see her here. 
 
 Take all the care you can of her. Je la recom- 
 mende a vous, my best and only real friend. Fare- 
 well ! farewell ! What she will tell you is really 
 what I intend. 
 
 THE EARL OF MARCH TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 White's, Friday night, post time. 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 I HAVE this moment received your letter from 
 Newark. I wrote to you last night, but I quite 
 forgot Raton. I have not had liim to sec me to- 
 day, having been the whole morning in the city 
 with Lady II., but I have sent to your niai<l, :md 
 she says that her /ifflc king is perfectly well, and 
 in groat spirits.
 
 414 GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 Lord H. dined to-day at Petersham ; and H. 
 St. John, Colonel Craigs, and myself, dined with 
 her ladyship,* to try a cook Lord Barrymore has 
 sent from Paris, and he is an excellent one. Le 
 Chevalier and his nurse are still at your house. 
 I am in haste to return to the coterie, having left 
 them to write to Newmarket, and to send you this 
 scrawl ; so farewell, my dear George. 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Crome, Monday, October 21. [1765.] 
 
 Your box of cards and counters arrived this 
 morning, and made the children as haj^py as any 
 of your present companions possibly could be by 
 taking in the knowing ones for the rest of their 
 lives. 
 
 Pray, my dear George, send some serious ad- 
 monitions to your daughter Nanny. Her spirit is 
 much beyond that of her late mamma's. There 
 is seldom a night she does not fight us all round. 
 The very last night of all, she hit me a box of 
 the ear, and told her good-natured step-mother 
 not to be so impertinent as to trouble her head 
 about her. The father talks to her out of Lord 
 
 * Lord and Lady Harrington are evidently the persons al- 
 luded to.
 
 TO GEORGE SELWYN. 415 
 
 Halifax's " Advice to his daughters," * which, God 
 knows, comes much too early in the day for our 
 comprehension, so that I fear she will be outdone 
 before she knows she is to blame. My only de- 
 pendence is on La Comte, though she loves her 
 too well to correct her. 
 
 I suppose you will stay all next week, but let 
 us know W'hat becomes of you the week after. 
 The papers say Charles Townshend and Conway 
 are to change places. I am so much concerned 
 in all his changes and chances at present, that I 
 cannot help being inquisitive about them. 
 
 This house is full of tobacco ; the yard is full 
 of tenants, and the Peer, with an important face, 
 is telling us how much he pays to the land-tax. 
 Once more, my dear friend, adieu ! 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Crome, Monday, 28th October. [17G5.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 Nothing pleased me better than your ju-u- 
 dence in retiring from that warm scene of action 
 to your old friend Sir William Maynard.f Po<>i' 
 Bully ! Though I cannot pity him, yet T think 
 
 * A treatise entitled " Advice to a Daughter," by (Jeorpo 
 Savile, Marquis of Halifax, the distinguished statesman of tin- 
 reign of Charles the Second. 
 
 f See ante, ^rd July, 174-.5.
 
 41 G GILLY WILLIAMS 
 
 he should in all his practice know so much of the 
 human heart as to despair of retrieving it when 
 once it is alienated and otherwise engaged. With 
 what he offers, she will have less than the Rena,* 
 and you may propose an apartment next to the 
 widow Harris at Matson. 
 
 We have returned our visits these last moon- 
 light nights. The dinner at Sir R. Wrottesley's f 
 was not a bad one. That jumble between leather 
 and prunella would have entertained you. The 
 maid of honour :j: is at Blenheim, and I suppose 
 e secretis in this paper controversy ; and as she is 
 retained for the house of Trentham,^ she breathes 
 not peace. You would have pitied Lady ]\Iary. 
 Sick, and as like Taaffe as it is possible, though 
 at the same time well-bred, and in every action 
 discovering a superiority to the savages she was en- 
 compassed with. The Bishop was as usual all 
 sketch and outline in his discourse ; said you lost 
 a great opi^ortunity of not appearing with your 
 sword-bearer before H. R. H. ; and Mrs. Johnson, 
 
 with a wriggle and grimace, looked as at 
 
 your name as Mrs. Villiers or Brenton would have 
 done. 
 
 * This refers, apparently, to the allowance given to the Rena 
 by Lord March, on her ceasing to be under his protection. 
 
 f The Rev. Sir Richard Wrottesley, Bart., Dean of Worces- 
 ter, was born in 1711. He married Lady Mary Gower, daugh- 
 ter of John, first Earl Gower, and died 1769. 
 
 X Miss Wrottesley. See ante, 19th October, 17(54. 
 
 § The seat of Lord Gower in Staffordshire.
 
 TO GEORGE SEL^^TN. 417 
 
 AVliat do you mean by saying you will come 
 back to Crome, and go to town through Bath? 
 If you really mean it, I will be of that party A\ith 
 all my heart, and will not fix upon any plan till I 
 hear further from you. I like our hostess * better 
 and better every hour I am with her ; indeed she 
 is the very best thing in petticoats I ever saw in 
 my life. If you can leave JNIarch, &c. &c., we 
 shall still have a tolerable fortnight together be- 
 fore we meet in that d — d scene of confusion, 
 which everybody declares London will be for the 
 next six months. Adieu ! 
 
 GILLY WILLIAMS TO GEORGE SELWYN. 
 
 Crome, Nov. 2. [1765.] 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 You are certainly the very worst corre- 
 spondent that ever wrote from London to his friend 
 in the country. If T had not received other ad- 
 vices, we should have heard nothing of that very 
 material event that happened in Grosvenor Street 
 on Thursday evening.f I hope, in your next, that 
 you will be explicit as to the consequences that 
 are likely to ensue from it; how it will afloct ad- 
 ministration in general, and how i)articuiar parts 
 
 * Lady Coventry. 
 
 f The death of the Duke of Cumberhuid. lie expired at 
 his house in Upper Grosvenor Street on tlii' .ilst of October. 
 
 VOL. I. - ^'
 
 418 GILLY WILLIAMS. 
 
 of it You know we are miserable politicians in 
 this house. Sir J. Peachey himself, or Harris of 
 Gloucester, never heard of things later, or deduced 
 worse reasonings from state premises. 
 
 I do not like to hear that you set out for Bath 
 with Bully. I fear I shall have scarce spirits 
 enough to cross the country with these winter 
 blasts in one's teeth by myself; but I shall wait 
 for Monday's post before I come to any deter- 
 mination on that subject. This family will stay 
 till the last week in this month. The little Wrot- 
 tesley, as I told you, comes either Monday or 
 Tuesday. You may be safely trusted in the next 
 room to her, for I do not believe you would quit 
 Raton's bells for any other avocation whatever. 
 Mother Holcombe is sitting by me, and inquiring 
 what you did at Newmarket. I have told her 
 that you have acquired immense sums at play, but 
 have squandered them upon women. She replies 
 it is well it is no worse. I hope your conference 
 with Lord Rockingham will fully answer your pur- 
 pose. Adieu ! 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 London : 
 Printed by S. & J. Bentley, Wilson, and Fley. 
 Baugor House, Shoe Lane.
 
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