I would, if I had had time, have gone from her to Me la Duchesse de Biron, but I went to Lady Lucan, with whom I have tried to menager some petit-petits soupers for these poor distressed people. That must be, when Lord Lucan returns from Lord Spencer's, after the X'ning.
The Duke of Orleans, they tell me, goes all over the city to borrow immense sums, offering as a security his whole revenue. He cannot get a guinea, or deserves one. He is universally despised and detested. Me Buffon is said de lui avoir fait le plus grand sacrifice, sans doute, le sacrifice de sa reputation et de son etat. Que peut-on demander davantage?
There are parties among them, I find; la Duchesse de Biron and Me de Cambis for the Etats Generaux; Me de Boufflers (and) M. de Calonne(275) pour le parti du Roi. It was right to apprise me of all this, or I should, with my civilities, have made a thousand qui pro quo's; but had I known that Lady Derby was in town, I should have gone to her, undoubtedly, par preference, as I shall do, the very next time I go to London. I am desired to dine there on Sunday with Lord Brudnell, but really the going, though but nine miles, par des chemins si bourbeux, and changing my room and bed at this time, is not to my mind. I shall keep here quietly as much as I can, till I know of your being come to town, but when will that be?
If Lord Jersey(276) cannot keep himself steady neither on his legs or his horse, you may be confined at C(astle) H(oward) the whole winter, which is better than to be at Gainthrop with me, and Hodgsson, that is certain. I did not hear but of one of his falls till yesterday, at Lord Ashburnham's.(277) My respects to them both, I beg. Mie Mie sends hers to your Ladyship, with a thousand kind compliments besides. Caroline will receive both from her and me a letter on her arrival at Stackpole Court, and I shall now make no scruple to write to her often, since I find, what I wished, that it is paying my court to Mr. C(ampbell) expressing my affection to her.
Poor William's watch I found in a sad condition. I brought it to town, as he desired, and have lodged it safely with my watch-maker, against his coming home. Miss Digby, the Dean's(278) daughter, it is supposed, will be the new Maid of Honour. Hotham has poor Lord Waldegrave's Regiment; the chariot is not yet disposed of; I will bet my money on Lord Winchelsea.
I wish that I could find out, if there were any thoughts of your brother's going Ambassador to France. I have as yet no authority for it, but the papers.
The K(ing) was at the play last night, for the first time. The acclamations, as I am told, were prodigious. Tears of joy were shed in abundance. Nous savons ce que c'est que la populace, et combien peu il en coute a leurs caprices, ou de pleurer, on de massacrer, selon l'occasion.
We are at peace at home, I thank God, four le moment. I hope that it will continue, and that no Lord Stanhope, or a Dr. Priestly, will think a change of Government would make us happier. John is now at the ackma (acme) of Theatrical reputation, and we shall see his name on every rubrick post, I suppose, of all the Booksellers between St. James's and the Temple, with that of Congreve, Otway, &c., &c.
(273) Miss Gunning was married to the Hon. Stephen Digby on Jan. 6, 1790, see ante letter of November 2, 1788, paragraph beginning "Miss Gunning I find at the Park . . .", and note (235).
(274) The Marquis de La Fayette (1757-1834). Assisted the Americans in the War of Independence. While in America he sent a challenge to Lord Carlisle, who refused to fight. He went home to aid the revolutionists in his own country. In 1789 he placed before the National Assembly a Declaration of Rights based on Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. It was he who introduced the tricolor. The Revolution assuming a character beyond constitutional control, he left Paris in 1790 for his estate until called to the head of the Army of Ardennes. After gaining the three first victories of the war, finding he could not persuade his soldiers to march to Paris to save the Constitution, he went to Liege, where he was seized by the Austrians. He was again active in the Revolution of 1830. He was greatly admired and beloved in America. In 1824, when in America by invitation of Congress, he was voted 200,000 dollars in money and a township of land.
(275) Charles Alexandre de Calonne (1734-1802); statesman, financier, and pamphleteer. On the 3rd of November, 1783, he was made Controller-General, but lost the post in 1787. "A man of incredible facility, facile action, facile elocution, facile thought. . . . in her Majesty's soirees, with the weight of a world lying on him, he is the delight of men and women." (Carlyle, "French Revolution," book lii. ch. 11.).
(276) George Bussey, fourth Earl of Jersey (1735-1805).
(277) John, second Earl of Ashburnham (1724-1812).
(278) William Digby, Dean of Clonfert (1766-1812).
(1789, Nov. 21?) Saturday night, Richmond.—I finished my short note of to-day with saying that I intended to have wrote to you a longer letter, but I sent you all which I had time to write before the post went out. It is, I think, a curious anecdote, and I know it to be a true one; I was surprised to find that the Duke had heard nothing of it, but I suppose that his Highness the D(uke) of O(rleans) does not find it a very pleasant subject to discuss, and if the allegation be true, no one in history can make a more horrid, and at the same time, a more contemptible figure, for I must give him credit for all which might have been, as well as for what was certainly the consequence of his enterprise. I hope that, for the future, both he and his friend here will (to use Cardinal Wolsey's expression) "fling away ambition. By that sin fell the angels. How can man then hope to win by it?" And of all men, the least, a Regent. If I had not been interrupted by the Duke's coming soon after I received the paper, I should have myself wrote a copy of it for Caroline, because I must not have a Welch Lady left out of the secret of affairs. . . .
The Duke(279) looks surprisingly well. He came from London on purpose to see us, and intended, I believe, to have stayed, at least to dinner, but H(is) R(oyal) H(ighness) interfered, as he often does with my pleasures; so the Duke dined at Carlton House—I do not say in such an humble, comfortable society, as with us, but what he likes better, avec des princes, qui sont Princes, sans contredit, mais rien audessus. All in good time, as Me Piozzi(280) frequently in her book, but what she means by it the Devil knows, nor do I care. I only say, that her book, with all its absurdities, has amused me more than many others have done which have a much better reputation.
I heard the D. say nothing of his affairs in Scotland, of those in France, or indeed hardly of anything else, and I, for my part, am afraid of broaching any subject whatever, because upon all there is some string that jars, and to preserve a perfect unison, I think it best to wait than to seek occasions of offering my poor sentiments. He is going again to Newmarket, to survey his works there I suppose, so that he holds out to us but an uncertain prospect of seeing him much here. Je l'attens a la remise, as Me de Sevigne says, and there, after the multiplicity of his rounds and courses, I might expect to see him, if the number of princes, foreign and domestic, were not so great. Dieu merci, je n'ai pas cette Princimanie, but can find comfort in a much inferior region.
At Bushy are Mr. Williams, Mr. Storer, and Sir G. Cooper, and in their rides they call upon me, but besides the Harridans of this neighbourhood, the Greenwich's, the Langdales, &c., I have in the Onslows and Darrels an inexhaustible fund of small talk, and, what is best of all, I have made an intimacy, which will last at least for some months, with my own fireside, to which, perhaps, in the course of the next winter I may admit that very popular man, Mr. Thomas Jones, of whom I shall like, when I know him better, to talk with your Ladyship.
I am now going to share with Mrs. Webb a new entertainment, for I am made to expect a great deal from it. It is Dr. White's Bampton Lectures, which they say contain the most agreeable account imaginable of our Religion compared with that of Mahomet. Mrs. W. reads them to go to Heaven, and I to go into companies where, when the conversation upon French Politics is at a stand, it engrosses the chief of what we have to say. I have a design upon Botany Bay and Cibber's Apology for his own life, which everybody has read, and which I should have read myself forty years ago, if I had not preferred the reading of men so much to that of books.
I expect you in London on Wednesday sevennight, and there and in Grosvenor Place will you find me, en descendant de votre carrosse. I shall then begin to renew my attentions to the Boufflers, Birons, etc., and so prepare my thoughts and language for the ensuing winter; but I shall not remove the household from hence till after Christmas. Till then, if you allow me only to pass two or three days in a week with you, I shall be, for the present, contented.
I am glad that this last mail from France brought nothing so horrible as what I was made to expect. Yet I am not at all at ease, in respect to that poor unfortunate family at the Louvre, which, I protest, I think not much more so than that of Galas.(281) Of all those whom I wish to have hanged, I will be so free as to own that I am more disposed in favour of the M. de la Fayette than of any other, because in him I do not see, what is almost universal in those who have pretensions to patriotism, an exclusive consideration of their own benefit, and meaning, at the bottom, no earthly good to any but to themselves and their own dependants. M. Fayette est entreprenant, hardi, avec un certain point d'honneur, et avec cela, plus consequent que le reste des Reformateurs, qui, apres tout, est un engeance si detestable a mon avis, qu'un pais ne peut avoir un plus grand fleeau. How often will that poor country regret the splendour of a Court, and that Lit de Justice, sur lequel le Roi et ses sujets avoient coutume de dormir si tranquillement! But when I think of ambition, it is not that of all kinds that I condemn . . .
(279) Queensberry.
(280) Mme. Piozzi, formerly Mrs. Thrale (1741-1821). The reference is to "Her Observations and Reflections made in a Journey through France, Italy, and Germany," which was brought out in 1789. She is best known as the friend of Dr. Johnson.
(281) Jean Galas (1698-1762), whose unhappy story was the subject of tragedies prought out in Paris in 1790 and 1791.
(1790) July (Aug?) 7, Saturday, Isleworth.—I hope that this letter will reach you before you set out for Cumberland, because I am impatient to tell you that the Perfection of Nature is at this instant the Perfection of Health. I came over here in my boat to write my letter from a place where I am sure that your thoughts carry you very often, and to make my letter from that local circumstance more welcome to you. I brought over with me two, almost the last, roses now in bloom, which I could find in the Duke's garden; one of them would have been for you if you had been here, because I know the complexion in roses which you prefer; so I have desired Lady Caroline to smell to it sympathiquement. I found upon my table at Richm(on)d, when I came down, as I expected, Lady Sutherland's letter envelop(p)ee a la francoise, and in my next I will transcribe so many extracts, as it shall be the same as if I sent you the letter; but I am not sure that sending the original itself would not be illicit without a particular permission from her Excellency. I am much obliged to her for it, and shall do my best to obtain more, although France is a country now which, if I could, I would obliterate from my mind. Had this Revolution happened two thousand years ago, I might have been amused with an account of it, wrote by some good historian, or if it had happened but a few years hence, I should not [have] felt about it as I do; as it is, the event is too near for me not to feel as I do. I do not like to be obliged to renounce my esteem for any individual, much less to think ill of such numbers. The oppression suffered under the former Government, or [and] the desire of giving to mankind the rights which by nature they seem intituled to, are with me no excuse, when a people sets out, in reforming, with acting in direct opposition to all the principles which before they thought respectable, and really were so, and, to become a free people, commence by being freebooters. However, as this savours too much of party zeal, I will have done with it; yet it is not relative to this country, which I hope will be free from these calamities and abominations, and so I need not fear expatiating sometimes upon the subject.
Me de Boufflers, la Reine des Aristocrates refugies en Angleterre, was to see us yesterday in the evening, and to invite Mie Mie and me to come sometimes to hear her daughter-in-law play upon the harp. I did not expect melody in their heaviness, but I shall certainly go, as the recitative part will be in French, and that you know is always some amusement to me.
The Duke, I hear, will be in London to-night, and so may come to Richmond to dine with us to-morrow. If he does, I shall be a little embarrassed between my two Dukes, for the Duke of Newcastle(282) expects me to dine and to lie at his house at Wimbledon. If I can reconcile two such jarring attachments, I will; if not, I believe I shall prefer my neighbour, as loving him very near as much as myself. Well, Mr. C(ampbell) and Lady C(aroline) are going out in their phaeton, so I shall now have done. . . .
(282) Thomas, third Duke of Newcastle (1752-1795)
(1790, Aug.? or Oct.?) Saturday, Isleworth.—. . . Mr. C(ampbell) called upon me yesterday. He came to see my two pictures, which I had cleaned by Comyns, and are very pretty, as Mr. C. allows, but he will not assent to Comyns's opinion that they are Cuyp's, although much in his style. Comyns values them at what they cost me, which was 50 gs. or thereabouts. Mie Mie has them in her dressing-room, and is vastly pleased with them. We all dine to-day at the Castle.(283) Me la Comtesse Balbi(284) chooses to give a dinner there to all her friends, the Me'sdames Boufflers, the Comte de Boisgelin,(285) M. d'Haveri(?), &c. The Duke, Mie Mie, and I are invited, and the Duke intends to bring Mr. Grieve with him, and as a Member de la Chambre Basse he will pass muster, but he is most wretched at the lingo. They will assemble in the evening at the Duke's, where I suppose that there will be tweedle dum, and tweedle dee, for the whole evening, till supper. George will not, after this, call our house a hermitage; if it is, it is a reform of a merry Order, in which neither St. Francis or St. Bruno have any share.
Lady Graham(286) has got her Duche very soon. A report was spread here yesterday that Prince Augustus(287) was dead, but it is contradicted in the papers of to-day. Mr. C(ampbell) is gone to town, but he and Mr. Grevil return to dinner.
I hope that Frederick liked my letter, and that in my letter to Gertrude there was some bad French for her to correct, and then I Shall hear from her again. I hope that William will be indulged in staying here a day or two with his sister, and that George will not fly away on his Pegasus to Oxford the instant he comes, although I know that the Muses are impatient to see him, and will set their caps at him the moment he comes. I hope that you approve of my choice of what the colour of his gown is to be. I think a light blue celeste, which Lord Stafford had, would be detestable, and scarlet is too glaring. No; it must be a good deep green. I want to know the name of his tutor. I hope that he will have a very good collection of books in his own room, a sufficient allowance, and a hamper of claret, en cas de besom. I think, if there are to be no hounds or horses, we may compound for all the rest. But these I believe the Dean will never suffer to be matriculated. . . .
I have some thought of going to pass a day in town when Warner comes, and if I do I will certainly go there by Fulham, to see the Dean. I have not heard one syllable about him a great while. You know, perhaps that Pyrome(?) is discharged, and relegue a ses terres. He (has) a mechante langue, and to keep himself in place he should cut it out.
(283) The Castle Inn, Hill Street, Richmond. It was for many years a fashionable resort as well as a noted posting house. Mrs. Forty, the wife of a subsequent proprietor, was the subject of Sheridan's toast at the Prince Regent's table—"Fair, Fat, and Forty."
(284) Mme la Comtesse de Balbi (1753-1832), celebrated for her connection with the Comte de Provence, afterward Louis XVIII. At the epoch of the Revolution she retired to Coblentz with Monsieur. Leaving him she came to England, where she remained until the First Consul permitted the emigres to return to their homes, but she was soon discovered to be engaged in royalist intrigues and exiled; her endeavours to obtain the royal favour at the Restoration were vain.
(285) Louis de Boisgelin de Kerdu, Chevalier of Malta (1750-1816), historian; brother of the Cardinal.
(286) Caroline, daughter of the fourth Duke of Manchester, married, in July, 1790, the Marquess of Graham, who succeeded his father as third Duke of Montrose in September of that year.
(287) Augustus, Duke of Sussex, died 1843.
(1790,) Aug. 12, Thursday m(orning), 8 o'clock, Richmond.—I sit down now to write you with some satisfaction, because that I shall have to tell you, towards the end of my letter, that Caroline is perfectly well, but you must have patience; I have not seen her to-day; I shall finish my letter at Isleworth. At present, I only know that about 12 o'clock last night she eat plumb cake and drank wine and water in my parlour—she, Mr. Campbell, and Mie Mie, and who besides I have not yet asked. I was in bed when she came; it was an heure perdue, but not lost upon me, for I was not asleep, nor could sleep till I heard that those two girls were come home safe.
From what, in the name of God? you will say. From seeing that etourdi Lord Barrymore(288) play the fool in three or four different characters upon our Richmond Theatre. Well, but what did that signify? Nothing to me; let him expose himself on as many stages as he pleases, and wherever the phaeton can transport him, but he comes here, and assembles as many people ten miles around as can squeeze into the Booth. I had every fear that Mrs. Webb's nerves or mine could suggest: heat in the first place; I considered Car's situation; an alarm, what difficulty there might be of egress; but we provided, Mr. Campbell and I, against everything. Mrs. Vanheck, who has a most beautiful place at Roehampton, came and carried Mie Mie into her box. Places were separated in the pit; at first Lady C(aroline) was to have been there with Mrs. Woodhouse, etc.; but, I say, the egress was the point I wished for, and looked to. I got two places, by much interest and eloquence, in the hind row of the front box. A door opened into the lobby, and from the lobby you go directly into the street. So I shall hear, I suppose, to-day that all went au mieux.
I did not expect them to be clear of the House till near 12, so went into my room, and soon after to bed, but I slept well. For I had heard of them. They were all, I tell you, before 12 in my parlour, eating cake and chattering, and talking the whole farce over, comme a la grille du convent. I can at present tell you no more, but I was impatient to begin my letter a cette heure; j'ai en quelque facon satisfait a mon envie. I shall embark at eleven for Isleworth, and hope with a fair wind to land at Campbell-ford stairs in ten minutes after. From thence I will finish my letter. I shall there have the whole en detail. The Prince and the Duke of Q. were expected, but I heard from my servants nothing of them.
Il fait un lien beau tems; c'est quelque chose. It has come late, and to make us only a short visit I suppose, and to tell us that we shall have a better autumn than we have had a summer; no courtier cajoles one like a fine day. Yesterday was a fine day also, and I completed, as they call it, my seventy-first year. I dined at your sister's.(289) Mr. Campbell and Car and Mie Mie were to have been of the party; they had an apology to make, I had none. 71 is not an age to Barrymoriser. There were only Mr. Woodcock and his wife. I met on my return their Majesties, que j'ai salues; and so ended my day.
(288) Richard Barry, seventh Earl of Barrymore (1769-1793). Lord Barrymore was brilliant, eccentric, and dissipated, and in his short life he managed to spend 300,000 pounds and encumber his estates. He gambled, owned racehorses and rode them, played cricket, and hunted. He had a strong taste for the stage. At Wargrave-on-Thames he had a private theatre adjoining his house, and liked to make up companies with a mixture of amateurs and professionals. He is the prototype of many modern and aristocratic spendthrifts. He was killed by an accident when he seemed about to be giving up his wild career for a. more useful life. He accepted a commission in the Berkshire Militia and threw himself into his work with characteristic zest. When escorting some French prisoners near Dover, the gun which was in his carriage accidentally exploded and wounded him fatally. (See "The Last Earls of Barrymore," by J. R. Robinson, London, 1894.)
(289) Lady Louisa Leveson-Gower, married to Sir Archibald Macdonald in 1777. She died 1827.
(1790, Aug. 12,) one o'clock, Richmond.—I have been at Isleworth. I found Car very well, and at her painting, with the Italico Anglico artiste of Mr. Campbell's, and Mr. Lewis. Mr. C(ampbell) was gone to London. They were asked to dine to-day at Fulham Field, that is, I think, the name of the Attorney Gen(era)l's(290) place. I am not sure if she told me that they intended to go. Lord Barrymore danced the pas Russe with Delpini, and then performed Scaramouche in the petite piece. I asked how he danced; Mr. Lewis said very ill. How did he perform the other part? execrably bad. "Do you think," I said, "that he would have known how to snuff the candles?" "I rather think not," says Mr. Lewis. Mie Mie is more satisfied with his talents; she thought him an excellent Escaramouche; ce seroit quelque chose au moins. But I am more disposed to think that Mr. Lewis is in the right, and I hope, for the young nobleman's own sake, that toutes les fois qu'il s'avise de se donner en spectacle, et faire de pareilles folies, il aura manque a sa vocation. Sa mere ne jouoit pas un beau role, mais elle y a mieux reussi.
But enough at present of this. No harm of any sort has come from it, but Mie Mie tells me that Mr. Campbell's anxiety the whole time was excessive. After all, she was not in the places which I had provided for the greater security, but went into those which were originally intended for her. The Prince was there, but not the Duke of York, or my friend the Duke of Q.
Now a d'autres choses. I have in my last fright forgot one where there were better grounds for it. The day I wrote to you last, as you know, I was at Isleworth. Coming from thence, and when I landed, the first thing I heard was that people with guns were in pursuit of a mad dog, that he had run into the Duke's garden. Mie Mie came the first naturally into my thoughts; she is there sometimes by herself reading. My impatience to get home, and uneasiness till I found that she was safe and in her room, n'est pas a concevoir. The dog bit several other dogs, a blue-coat boy, and two children, before he was destroyed. John St. John, who dined with me, had met him in a narrow lane, near Mrs. Boverie's, him and his pursuers. John had for his defence a stick, with a heavy handle. He struck him with this, and for the moment got clear of him; il l'a culbute. It is really dreadful; for ten days to come we shall be in a terror, not knowing what dogs may have been bitten. Some now may have le cerveau qui commence a se troubler.
John(291) has a legacy from Lord Guilford(292) of 200 pounds a year, the General(293) one of a thousand pounds; Mr. Keene has a hundred. He has left in legacies about 16,000 pounds, as Mr. Williams tells me, but not much ready money besides. His estate was about 2 or 3,000 per annum. It is to be a Peer, I hear, who shall succeed him. I will write no more to-day. I will send you the extract from Lady Sutherland's(294) letter in my next. The President has told me this morning that Mr. Neckar(295) a faille d'etre pendu. Il voulut tirer son epingle du jeu; il fut sur le point de partir; on ne pousse pas la Liberte a ce point en France; il n'avait pas demande permission a la Populace; ainsi, sans autre forme de proces, on voulut le conduire du Controle a la Lanterne. I am glad to hear that the brats are well. You set off, I understand, on Tuesday; so this will find you in your Chateau antique et romanesque. J'en respecte meme les murailles; tout y a un air si respectable.
I will write to my Lord in a few days, and when I hope to have seen the Dean, but from what his neighbour Mr. Woodcock told me yesterday, I shall have nothing very comfortable to tell him touchant la sante de son bon precepteur, ni sur la mienne; elle exige un management et une regime que je n'ai pas encore observee avec la rigueur necessaire.
Now I expect a troupe of French people whom I met in a boat, as I came this morning from Isleworth—le M. de Choiseul, Me de Choiseul, &c. I have engaged myself to go with them to Mr. Ellis's, because it belonged to Mr. Pope. I said I must go home to finish mes depeches, but I expect them every minute. Je sers d'entreprete entre le M. de Choiseul et Me sa femme.
My love to George. I hope that le Chateau de ses ancetres a pour lui des charmes. I read a great deal of the Howards in Pennant's(296) book. It is the only part that gives me pleasure; such an absurd superficial pretender to learning I never met with, and after all of what learning! Then he tries to copy Mr. Walpole's style in his Book of Antient Authors; le tout est pitoyable. Adieu, dear Lady Carlisle; si vous pouvez supporter tout ce bavardage, cest parce que vous aimez votre fille, qui en est en partie la cause.
(290) Sir Archibald Macdonald, afterward Chief Baron of the Exchequer.
(291) John St. John.
(292) Francis North, Earl of Guildford (1704-1790), father of the statesman.
(293) Henry St. John.
(294) Wife of William, seventeenth and last Earl of Sutherland.
(295) Jacques Necker (1732-1804), the famous financier. He married Mdlle. Curchod, Gibbon's one attachment. Their only child became the celebrated Mme. de Stael. In 1790 he finally was forced to retire from office as Director-General of Finance.
(296) Thomas Pennant (1726-1798), the naturalist and traveller, author of several "Tours" in the British Isles which have become classics. His energy in travelling and scientific spirit and capacity of observation made him too modern for Selwyn and his friends: Walpole said that, Penaant picked up his knowledge as he rode.
(1790,) Aug. 22, Sunday, Richmond.—.. . I have nothing (more) to tell you of Caroline, than that we saw her yesterday in the afternoon, en passant, that is, in her boat, which was full of the company she had had at dinner, and which, as Mie Mie told me, were the Greggs, but ayant la vue courte, I could not distinguish, myself, who they were.
My garden was as full as it could hold of foreigners and their children—Warenzow's boy and girl, and the Marquis de Cinque minutes, who, of all the infants I ever saw, is the most completely spoiled for the present. His roars and screams, if he has not everything which he wants, and in an instant, are enough to split your head. His menace is, "Maman, je veux etre bien mechant ce soir, je vous le promets."
The Duke was in the best humour the whole day I ever saw him, who you know has been at times as gate as the other. He said that my dinner was perfect, and so it was dans son genre. The ladies were much pleased with their reception, and the Duke took such a fancy to them, and to the place, that he believes that he shall be more here than anywhere, and he went to town intending to send down all preparatives for residence. Me de Bouflers told me que je m etois menage une tres jolie retraite, and indeed at this time it is particularly comfortable to me, and the circumstance of Caroline having a house so near is not by any means the least of its agremens. . . .
Monday.—Yesterday was a fine day, but neither news or event; on the Thames une bourgeoisie assez nombreuse, and in the Gardens. I saw our friends at Isleworth in the morning, before they went out in their phaeton. They were going to Lord Guilford's, and to-day dine at Mr. Ellis's. I believe that Madame de Roncherolles dines at Mr. Walpole's, for she has sent to me to carry her. I do not dine there myself, but shall go to fix with Mr. Walpole a day for Caroline and Mr. C(ampbell) to see Strawberry Hall. Her journey to Lady Egremont's is put off for a week. To-morrow I go to Fulham, and from thence to London, from whence I return on Wednesday. Mie Mie and I dine at Isleworth when I return. Mr. Grevil is to be with them this week.
Bunbury is returned from Portsmouth; his news to me were, that the emigration from France thither increases every day, and that in the provinces, as these people say, who are come last from France, the revolt increases, and a desire for the old Constitution. In Britany and Normandy the party is very formidable. M. de Pontcarre, President of the Parlement de Rouen, is in London; so there is another President for me, if I choose it. The young French people and their wives dined yesterday, as they usually do, at the Castle. . . .
(1790 Aug. 23?) Monday night, 11 o'clock, Richmond.—I wrote to you this morning, reserving to myself the liberty of lengthening my letter, after I shall have seen Caroline for the last time before her return from Cliveden, where it was her intention to go to-morrow for a week or ten days, c'est selon; but I must begin this appendix tonight, late as it is. I am still waiting till these French Ladies come with Mie Mie from the play. It is Mr. Parson's benefit, and was expected to be very full. The evening is cold, that is something, but I must see Mie Mie before she goes to bed.
We were to-day at dinner ten, besides the Duke; Madame de Boufflers, the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, M. de Calonne, The Fish, Thomas,(297) Mie Mie and myself. I had liked (sic) to have forgot Lady E. Forster, que l'on n'oublie pas souvent, dans cette partie au moins; but now on sonne deja; le reste donc sera pour demain, et pour quand j'aurai ete l'autre cote de la Riviere; so, for the present, I wish you a good night, my dear Lady Carlisle.
Tuesday morning, Isleworth.—Now, to begin my letter properly, and in course, it would be to say "Good morrow" to you, or, as they say in Ireland, "Good morrow morning" to you, my dear Madam.
I hastened my coming here lest they should be gone, but they do not set out till after dinner. Caroline is well enough to take a much longer journey than from hence to Cliveden. I came with a commission from the Duke to invite them to dinner, to meet the Princess Chatterriski, whom I suppose you know; I find that she is no favourite of Lady C(aroline), nor is her friend D'Oraison of mine, but he comes to. The Duke left me to go and invite the Boufflers, but whether they will come or not I do not know.
Calonne would have entertained yesterday. You never in your life saw any man so inveterate as he was against M. de la Fayette, and, to say the truth, he had reason, if all was true which he imputed'to him, as I believe it was. But what diverted me the most was, that Fayette had seriously proposed to make him, Calonne, King of Madagascar. Surely there never was, since the Earl of Warwick's time, such a king-maker. I would to God that he had accepted of the diadem, but then perhaps he would not have dined with us yesterday. Il en contait a Madame la Duchesse, and sat at dinner between her and Lady E. Forster, avec qui je faisois la conversation; the Duke over against us on the other side of the table, comme la Statue dans le Festin de Pierre, never changing a muscle of his face. The Marquis was above, and there Me la Duchesse lui donna a diner. I was determined upon an audience, and found l'heure du berger. He received me avec un sourire le plus gracieux du monde, and I was obliged to present my address of compliments. But I think that the Nurse is a bad physiognomiste if she did not see that what I said, and what I thought, were not d'accord. He is like the Duke if he is like anything, but a more uninteresting countenance I never saw— fair, white, fate, sans charactere. In short, on a beau faire, on a beau dire. If un enfant ne vous tient d'une maniere ou d'autre, I cannot admire it as I am expected to do; and what a difference that makes will be seen two months hence. Toutes mes affections parlent due meme principe. The Duchess offended me much by coming with a couronne civique, which is a chaplet of oak leaves. In England they are a symbol of loyalty. Il n'en (est) pas de meme en France. I asked if she wore it before the Queen; I was told yes. Je ne comprens rien a cela.
The whole behaviour of the Queen, in her present wretched, humiliated state, is touchante et interessante au dernier point. Elle ne rit, que quand elle ne songe pas a ses malheurs. At other times she is, as Polinitz says of K(ing) James's Queen, when he saw her after the Revolution, une Arethuse. M. le M(arquis) de la Fayette comes to the Tuilleries, and although he be really no more or less than the jailer, he is received with graciousness.
But now, four les Evangiles du jour. I had a letter from Warner this morning before I left Richmond, dated last Thursday night. Your brother's courier did not, however, leave Paris till the morning of Friday. Warner's words are these:—"The courier goes to carry the news of the Decree, of fitting out 25 ships of the line, and adhering to the Family Compact in the defensive Articles, which looks so like a war that it frightens us with the apprehension of being sent packing home to you, or rather without packing."
If the consequence of a war is your brother's return to this country, I do not think it a misfortune to him, and I wish, no other may happen to us, than the expense at which we must be to support one campaign against these United Powers. Still I am of opinion that peace will follow immediately these preparations. But Calonne alarmed me yesterday, when he said, that he thought that the National Assembly would draw them into a war with us. He had not then received his dispatches. I shall hear a great deal of it to-day, true or false, from D'Oraison.
Mrs. Bartho is already gone to Lady Lewisham. Caroline stayed to dine in town, and they returned here about six. I think that Mr. C(ampbell) seems to-day not determined to stay so long at Cliveden as he thought to do. I shall wish them to return, be it only that I may have the more to say to you, and the better security for my letters being well accepted.
I hope that George was amused at the York races. I have seen this morning in Lizy's letter that he was there. Vixen is sitting for his picture, and this is all the news of Isleworth. I may have more to tell Lord C(arlisle) when I write to him, which I shall do by the next post. My love to them all, you know whom I mean.
What does Lord C. mean by calling himself alone? Peut-on etre mieux qu'au sein de sa famille? That was part of an ariette which M. de la Fayette's music played the day the K(ing) went to the Hotel de Ville, as I have been informed by a pamphlet, wrote to abuse Mr. Neckar, and which is incomparably well wrote. I will get it for George if he desires it, and will promise to read it. I am afraid that he is too much of (a) Democrate, but as a lover of justice, and of mankind, and of order and good government, he would not be so long, s'il vouloit se rendre a mes raisons; mais il croit que je n'en ai pas, et que je me retranche a dire des invectives, sans avoir des argumens pour soutenir mon systeme; en cela il se trompe. God bless him; je l'aime de tout mon coeur, et je l'estime aussi, qui est encore davantage.
(297) Thomas Townshend.
(1790,) Sept. 4, Saturday m(orning), Richmond.—. . . My larder is rich from Mr. C(ampbell's) chasse. I had some game the day after the first hostilities against the partridges commenced. . . . Our foreign connections here increase; le Comte de Suffren and his family are going to establish themselves here in a house above the Bridge, and on the banks of the River. He came to the Duke's(298) yesterday, where we dined, and stayed with us the whole evening. He is an aristocrate, and a great sufferer by the troubles in France, but he is a very sober, moderate man, and intelligent. The Duke liked his company very much.
I am loaded now with pamphlets upon this great and extraordinary event; some entertain me, some not. I like much what I have just been reading, which is the opinion of the Abbe Maury,(299) delivered in the National Assembly, upon the executif and legislatif power, in regard to declaring war, and concluding treaties of commerce and alliance. There is a great deal of good sense in it, and comes the nearest to my own opinion of what has passed. I suppose that Lord C. has read it. I hope that George will read it too. If I was sure that the speech was not at Castle H. I would transcribe some passages out of it, a sa consideration.
I desire very much to be of his mind about everything, but, if he is a Republican, I have done with him. If he will in his Republican system throw in a little royal authority as ballast, we shall soon come to an agreement. I wish him to come neuf to all those great and important questions, and examine them sans l'esprit de systeme, without prejudice and strong inclination to be of either side, but to investigate the truth, and adopt it. Il est fait pour raisonner; il commence etre d'un age ou le jugement acquerera tous les jours de la maturite. My love to him, I beg.
I think Lady Derby mends in appearance; the Duke and I go often to her. I would cross the water and make the Duchess a visit, but that I think it right to forbear going in a carriage as long as I can; and then, perhaps, I may go with safety to London, from time to time to see Caroline, when she removes thither. . . .
(298) Queensberry.
(299) Jean Siffren Maury, abbe, the eloquent supporter of the monarchical cause.
(1790,) September 7, Tuesday, 8 o'clock, Richmond.—. . . . I was surprised in the evening with a visit from Mr. Campbell. We were au dessert, that is, the party which dined here after they returned from Egham. . . . His visit put out of my head, in a minute, all the pretty French phrases which I was brewing. . . . Mr. C. stayed to converse with the Welch heiress, to talk with Me de Choiseul upon Greece and the Archipele, and of his uncle's voyage pittoresque, and he spoke a great while in Italian with Me la Comtesse de Suffren. I long to hear, as I shall this morning, his opinion of the party. I asked them (a) few questions about their day's sport; it was a novelty with which I know that they would be pleased.
So Me de Choiseul has obtained leave of her husband, I believe without much difficulty, to stay here one day more. I shall, for my part, make no efforts to detain them. Me de R. has explained to me sufficiently en quoi consiste la mauvaise conduite du Marquis. But young people ne regardent que le surface. The Duke did not return; I believe that he dined and lay at Oatlands. His horse had a violent fall; but I heard of no other event. I suppose he may have lost by that accident.
I know as yet no more of Mr. C(ampbell's) motions than that he and Lady C. go to town this morning, but return to dinner. We shall dine with them, when these Races are over; they finish to-morrow.
I sat yesterday morning a great while with the Fish's friend, Me de Roncherolles. Entre nous, I like her much more than any of the whole set. She has neither du brillant dans son esprit, ni une infinite de grace dans ses manieres, je l'avoue, mais, elle est sans pretensions, et avec beaucoup de bon sens, meme de la solidite, et elle est instruite suffisamment. Mr. Walpole ne lui donne pas la preference. He must have something de l'esprit de l'Academie, &c., something of a charactere marque. Je ne cherche rien de tout cela; je suis content du naturel, et de trouver une personne raisonnable, honnete, et de bonne conversation. She is going to-day for a week or more to Lady Spencer's at St. Alban's. I am sure that it is not there, que je trouverois cette simplicite qui me plait. But this, till it is time to embark for Isleworth, when I shall have something more interesting to talk of than the perfections of Me de Roncherolles. . . .
(1790, Nov.?) Thursday, Richmond.—You are so good, when you do not see me or hear of me, to be desirous of having some information of my state of health and existence. Now I must let you know that I have at this moment every distress, negative and positive, that I can have, et les voici. My negative one is, being for the moment in an impossibility of going to town to see you, Caroline, and the bambino, and that is enough, for it would be a great pleasure to me, as you must imagine. Then, I am, in a manner, here with one single servant. Pierre has left this house to go to his own, where he is very well looked after by his wife, and is (as) comfortably lodged as it is possible to be; but he is, as Mr. Dundas tells me, in a very perilous situation, and yet, by excessive care, may recover.
He has been my doctor lately instead of his own, and given me, daily, powders which he said were the bark, and which I was to take. No such thing; they were powders of a different sort, which, it is fortunate, have done me no mischief. They were in the drawer, and so brought to me as bark. Dundas thought I neglected myself, and rejected the prescription. I maintained that I had missed taking the bark but one day. He knew the contrary from his shop book, and to-day only the mystery was cleared up.
My next grievance is, that je peris de froid; j'en mis penetre au pied de la lettre, and the reason is plain, but why I did not discover it myself is hardly to be conceived. I have no clothes; my stockings are of a fine thin thread, half of them full of holes; I have no flannel waistcoat, which everybody else wears; in short, I have been shivering in the warmest room sans scavoir pourquoi. But yesterday there was a committee at the Duke's upon my drapery, and to-day a tailor is sent for. I am to be flannelled and cottoned, and kept alive if possible; but if that cannot be done, I must be embalmed, with my face, mummy like, only bare, to converse through my cerements. Then, my other footman, the Bruiser, is that, and all things bad besides; he is not an hour in the day at home, and is gaming at alehouses till 12 at night; so the moment that I can get any servant that is tolerable to supply his place I shall send him out of the house, sans autre forme de proces; but, till he is gone, my whole family lives in terror of him.
It is amazing to what a degree I am become helpless; nothing can account for it but extreme dotage, or extreme infancy. I wish Barthow had left Lady Caroline, and was here only to dress me in warmer clothes, but she goes from here, I hear, to Lady Ailesford, so that I must not think of lying in and being nursed for some time. . . .
(1790,) Dec. 8, Wednesday, Richmond.—You have bean at C(astle) H(oward) ever since Monday sevennight, and not one single word have you received from your humble slave and beadsman. . . . Here is now come a snip-snap letter of reproach from Lady Ossory for not having answered her letter of compliments upon Lady Caroline's delivery. I received yours on Sunday. That was no post day, so I resolved to answer it in Berkley Square on Monday. But I did not set out till three o'clock, lost all the fine part of the morning, and did not get to town till five in the afternoon—dragged for two hours, two whole hours, through mud, and cold, and mist, till I was perishing; so that when I had eat some dinner I was fit for nothing but to go to bed, and therefore did not go to Berkley Square till yesterday at noon. . . . I saw Caroline and her bambino. . . . The christening is to be, as I understand, to-morrow. I hope in God that I shall be well enough to assist, and name the child, and eat cake, and go through all the functions of a good gossip. If I am obliged to give up that which seems to have been my vocation, c'est fait de moi; I must declare myself good for nothing. I carried yesterday the regalia. The cup has been new boiled, and looks quite royal.
Sir L. Pepys was with me in the morning, and thought my pulse very quiet, which could only have been from the fatigue of the day before—juste Dieu! fatigue, of going 8 or 9 miles, my legs on the foreseat, and reposing my head on Jones's shoulder. The Duke would make her go, and everybody. He thinks that I am now the most helpless creature in the world, when, from infirmity, I want ten times more aid than I ever did. Sir Lucas pronounced no immediate end of myself, but that I should continue to bark, with hemlock. I'll do anything for some time longer, but my patience will, I see, after a certain time, be exhausted. As to poor Pierre, it is over with him. Sir Lucas says the disorder is past all remedy. This is a most distressful story to me, and how to supply his place I do not know.
With this letter a correspondence, unique and delightful, extending over many years, ends. At its close we may well recall Lord Carlisle's words written fourteen years before, "I shall always be grateful to fortune," he said, ". . . for having linked me in so close a friendship with yourself, in spite of disparity of years and pursuits." Selwyn returned to London shortly before Christmas, and died on the 25th of January, 1791. On this very day Walpole, with a touching simplicity and truth, wrote to Miss Berry, "I am on the point of losing, or have lost, my oldest acquaintance and friend, George Selwyn, who was yesterday at the extremity. These misfortunes, tho' 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."
INDEX
A
Abergavenny, Lord
Abingdon, Lord
Adams, John
Ailesbury, Lady
Albemarle, Lady
Almack's Assembly Rooms, King Street, St. James'; masquerade
at; masquerade stopped by bishops; extinct.
Almack's Club, Pall Mall; events at; thriving; Selwyn and Fox at
supper at; Selwyn's "bureau;" Selwyn avoids; house occupied
by.
Alston, Tommy
Althorp, Lord
Amelia, Princess
America—Lord Carlisle, peace commissioner to; Gower, Lord, on
independence of; Fitzpatrick in; colonies, bad news from;
question of; Storer, with Carlisle in; news from; colonies in; His
Majesty's subjects in; Prohibitory Bill; Selwyn on the war in;
letter-writing between England and; Selwyn regarding politics in;
want of interest in society concerning; Fox's motion to conclude
peace with; public interest in; motion as to; President of
Congress.
Amhurst, Lord
Andre, Major
Androche, Marshal
Argyle, fifth Duke of
Arnold, Benedict
Ascough, Mr.
Ashburnham, second Earl of
Ashburton, Lord, see Dunning
Ashton, Thomas
Ashton, Mr.
Assembly of Notables, National
Astley, Mr.
Aston, Sir W.
Auckland, First Lord, see Eden
Aylesford (Ailsford) Lord; Lord of the Bedchamber
B
Baker, Dr.
Balbi, Comtesse de
Balliol College
Baltimore, Lord
Bampton Lectures (Dr. White's)
"Baptist," the, see Henry St. John
Barbot's Lottery
Barker, Mr.
Barrington, Lord
Barry, Mme. Du "Anecdotes of"
Barry, Richard, sixth Earl of Barrymore,
Barry, Richard, seventh Earl of Barrymore
Barry, Mr.
Barrymore, Lady
Barrymore, Lord, see Barry
Barth, Mrs.
Basilico
Bath
Beauchamp, Lord
Beauclerk, Topham; married to Lady Bolingbroke
Beaufort, Duke of
Beckford, Alderman
Beckford, William, son of Alderman Beckford, author and collector
Bedford, fourth Duke of
Bedford, fifth Duke of
Bedford, Duchess of
Bedford faction
Bedford House; parties at
Belgiojoso
Berkeley, Lord
Berry, Agnes
Berry, Mary
Bertie, Lord
Besbborough, Lord
"Betty, Lady," see Howard, Lady Elizabeth
Biron, Duchesse de
Biron, Admiral, see Byron
Biron, Mrs.
Biron, Duc de
Blake, Miss
Blake, Mr.
Blake, Mrs.
Blandford, Lord
Blaquiere, Sir John
Blenheim
Bloomsbury Gang
Bohn, Comte de
Boisgelin, Comte de
Bolingbroke, Lady
Bolingbroke, Lord "Bully,"
Boon, Charles
Boothby, Mrs.
Boothby, Sir Brooke
Boston, Lady
Boston, Frederick, second Baron
Bouverie, Mr.
Bouverie, Mrs.
Boufflers, Comtesse de; Queen of the emigres; at Richmond
Boufflers, Emilie, Comtesse de; at Richmond
Brereton, Col.
Bristol, Earl of
Brodrick (Broderick), Colonel Henry
Brooke, Earl of
Brooks, Mr.
Brooks's Club, politics and gambling at; fortunes lost at;
card-room at; macaronis at; Fox and Fitzpatrick at; gossip at;
Selwyn at; American question discussed at; supper at;
ill attended; political discussion at; in opposition to;
Fox closeted every instant at; a place of amusement,
speculation, and curiosity; Whigs at, in 1781; Fox gives
audiences at
Brudenell, Lord
Buccleugh, Duchess of
Buccleugh, third Duke of
Buckingham, Lady
Buckingham, Lord
Buckingham House Junto
Buckinghamshire, third Earl of
Buffon, Mme.
"Bully," see Bolingbroke
Bunbury, Lady Sarah; charm of; sought after by the king; social
successes in Paris; Carlisle's youthful passion fon; at Lord
March's
Bunbury, Sir Charles
Bunker's Hill, Battle of
Burgoyne, General
Burke, Edmund; bad judgment of in Parliament
Burrows, Mr.
Bute, Lady
Byron, Lord
Byron, Lord (the poet)
Byron (Biron), Admiral, The Hon. John
C
Cadogan, Lady
Calas, Jean
Calonne, M. de
Cambis, Mme. De
Cambridge University; Walpole at
Camelford, Lord
Campbell, Mr. (first Baron Cawdor)
Camden, Earl
Carlisle, third Earl of
Carlisle, fourth Earl of
Carlisle, fifth Earl of, Frederick Howard; in America, letters from
Hare and Selwyn; Selwyn's letters to, commence; sketch of life;'
Order of Thistle; delay of Ribband and Badge; fears for health
at Turin; friendship for Fox; Fox and Carlisle at Eton; anxiety
regarding Fox's prodigality; Viceroy of Ireland; Storer to;
ill; Peace Commissioner to America; recalled from Ireland;
children of; high ideals; thankfulness for Selwyn's friendship.
Carlisle, sixth Earl of, see Howard, George, Viscount Morpeth
Carlisle, Isabella, Countess Dowager of
Carlisle, Lady Caroline Gower, (wife of the fifth Earl)
Carmarthen, Lord
Carpenter, Lady Almeria
Carteret, Harry
Carysfort, Lord
Castle Howard
Castle Inn, Richmond
Catherine, Empress of Russia
Cavendish, Lord Frederick
Cavendish, Lord George
Cavendish, Lord John
Cawdor, first Lord, see Campbell
Chamberlain, Lord
"Charles," see Fox
Charlotte, Queen, wife of George III.
Chartres, Duc de
Chatelet, Duc de
Chatham, first Earl of
Chatham, second Earl of
Cholmondeley, Lord
Chedworth, Lord
Choiseul, Duc de
Choiseul, Duchesse de
Choiseul, Mons. De
Choiseul, Mme. De
Chudleigh, Elizabeth, see Kingston, Duchess of
Churchill, Lord
Clarence, Duke of
Clarendon, Lord
Clavering, Mr.
Clerk of the Irons
Clermont, Lady
Clermont, Lord
Cleveland, Duchess of
Clinton, Sir Henry
Clive, Lord
Club, Young
Comb Compton, Lady
Compton, Lord
Comyns, picture cleaner
Congreve, Mr.
Conolly, Lady Louisa
Conti, Princesse de
Conway, General
Cooper, Sir Grey
Cornwallis, Lady
Cornwallis, Lord
"Corydon," Lord
"Corydon," Captain
Coventry, Earl of
Coventry, Lady
Cowper, Lady
Cowper, Lord
Craddock, Mr.
Craigs, General
Craven, Lord
Crawford, James, "the Fish,"
Crawford, Mrs.
Crewe, Mr.
Crewe, Mrs.
Crewe, Mrs. ("Old")
Croome (Crome)
Cumberland, Duke of
Cunningham, Colonel
D
Damer, Mrs.
Darell, Mr., of Cambridgeshire
Darrels, The, at Richmond
Dashwood, Sir Francis
Deerhurst, Lord
D'Elci, Comte
Delme, Peter ("the Czar")
Denbigh, Lord
D'Eon (the Chevalier)
Derby, Earl of
Derby, Lady
Dering, Sir E.
Devonshire, Duchess of
Devonshire, fifth Duke of
Devonshire House
"Diaboliad, The,"
igby, Dean of Clonfert
igby, Lord
igby, Miss
Digby, Mr.
Dlettanti, Society of
DOyley (Doiley), Mr.
D'Oraison
Dorset, Duke of
Dolben, Sir J.
Douglas, Jack
Draper, Sir W.
Du Deffand, Mme.
Du Deffand, Marquis
Dundas, Sir William
Dunning, John, first Baron Ashburton
Dunmore, Lady
E
Eardley, Sir S.
Eden, William, first Lord Auckland
Eden, Mrs.
Edgcumbe, Dick; one of Strawberry Hill Group
Egremont, Lord
Ekins, Dr. Jeffrey (tutor to Lord Carlisle, afterwards Dean of
Carlisle)
Elliot, Mrs.
Elliot, Sir Gilbert
Ellis, Mr.
Ellis, Welbore
Ellishere, Mrs.
Emigres, the
Emly, Edward (Dean of Derry) "Emily," "the little Parson"
Emperor of Germany, see Joseph II.
Ernham, Lord
Essex, Lady
Essex, Earl of
Eton, Selwyn at; Carlisle at; Crawford at; Carlisle's verses on
friends at; Fitzpatrick at; Walpole at; Storer at; Fitzwilliam
at; Montem at; Lord Morpeth at
Euston, Lord
Eyre, Mr.
Executions, Selwyn and
F
Fagniani, M.
Fagniani, Marchesa, mother of Mie Mie
Fagniani, Maria (and see Mie Mie)
Falkener, Sir Everard
Family compact
Fanshaw, Mr.
Farrington, Gen., of Kent
Faukener, Lady
Faukener, Mr.
Fauquiers
Ferguson, Sir Adam
Ferrers, Washington, fifth Earl; Robert, sixth Earl
Fish, the, see Crawford
Fitzherbert, Mrs.
Fitzpatrick, Richard ("Richard, the Beau Richard"); at Quinze;
friendship with Fox; losses at Newmarket; returns from Jamaica;
in "The Diaboliad;" wins money at Brooks's; Pharo bank; in his
Pharo pulpit; horses taken from his coach; holds a gambling
bank; Fox as security for; the Beau Richard; at Brooks's; loses
at Hazard; at White's; with the King; elated at change of
ministry; provokes Selwyn
Fitzroy, Lady Caroline
Fitzwilliam, Lady
Fitzwilliam, second Earl
Fletcher, Mr.
Flood, Henry
Floyd, Lady Mary
Floyd, Miss
Foley, Thomas, second Baron
Foster, Lady
Fort St. John
Fox, Charles James, "Charles,"; chief of group; great qualities;
coalition with Lord North; friendship with Carlisle; gambling
debts; leader of Whig party; fortune destroyed; Selwyn advises
concerning debts; goes to Bath; suggested sueing of, by
Carlisle; money troubles, Selwyn's opinion of; women's opinion
of; frequent story of debts; friendship for Richard
Fitzpatrick; loses money at Newmarket; on the American
Question; in "The Diaboliad;" Selwyn and; speech on economy;
holds Pharo bank; Fitzpatrick with; Jews seize effects; his
furniture sold; enchanted with Pitt's speech; motion concerning
American war; auction at his house; gaming; and Selwyn; has a
cockpit; flattery of; speech; first figure in all places; loses
heavily at races; agreeableness of; Selwyn's admiration of his
talents; arrogance of; the new administration; as Secretary for
Foreign Affairs; takes a house in Pall Mall; coalition with
North; Selwyn, relations with
Fox, Henry Edward, youngest son of first Lord Holland
Fox, Henry Richard Vassall, third Baron Holland
Fox, Stephen, second Baron Holland, "Ste"
France
Franklin, Benjamin
Fraser, Mr.
Frederick the Great
French Revolution
G
Gainsborough; picture of Mie Mie by
Galloway, Earl of
Garlies, Lord, see Galloway
Garrick, David
Garrick, Mrs.
Gemm, Dr.
"George," see Howard, George, Lord Morpeth
George III.
Germaine, Lord George Sackville
Gibbon (historian)
Gideon, Sir Sampson
Gilbert, Mr. Thomas
Glenbervie, Lord, Sylvester Douglas
Glendower, Lord
Gloucester, Duchess of
Gloucester, Duke of
Gloucester, monastery of St. Peter at; situation of; city of,
Selwyn member for; election at
Godolphin, Lord
Goostree's (Club)
Gore, Mr.
Gordon, fourth Duke of
Gordon, Duchess of
Gordon, Lord George
Gordon, Lord William
Gower, Lady
Gower, Lady Evelyn Leveson
Gower, Lady Louisa Leveson (sister-in-law of fifth Earl of
Carlisle)
Gower, second Earl
Grady Mr.
Grafton, Duke of
Graham, Dr.
Graham, Lady
Grant, General
Grantham, Lord
Gray, Thomas, the poet
Greenville, Mr. (Grenville)
Greenwich's, The
Gregg, Francis, succeeded Delme as M.P. for Morpeth
Grenville, Mr. George
Grenville, G., Lady
Grevil
Grey, Lord
Grieve, Mr.
Grosvenor Place
Guerchy
Guildford, Earl of, see North
Guise, Mr.
Gunning, Elizabeth (afterwards Duchess of Hamilton)
Gunning, Elizabeth
Gunning, Charlotte Margaret
Gunning, maria
Gunning, Miss
Gunning, Sir Robert
H
Hamilton, Duchess of
Hamilton, Duke of
Hanger, Will
Harcourt, Lord
Hare, James; Losses at Newmarket; at Lady Betty's; at Almack's;
letter to; with Fox; at Brooks's; opens Pharo bank; letter on
London society; at White's
Harridans, the
Harrington, Lady
Harrington, Lord
Harris, Alderman
Hart Hall (Oxford)
Hartley, Mr.
Hautefort, Marquis de
Hawke, Sir S.
Hay, Adam, Member for Peebles
Henault, President
Heneage, Mr.
Hertford College, Selwyn at; Charles Fox at
Hertford, Lady
Hertford, Lord
Hervey, second son of Lord
Hervey, Lady
Hillsborough, Lord
Hinchcliff, Dr.
Holderness, Earl of
Holland, Henry Fox, first Lord Holland
Holland, Stephen Fox, second Lord, see Fox
Holland, Henry, third Lord Holland
Holland, Lady, Georgiana Caroline Gordon, wife of first Lord
Holland; death of; funeral of
Holland, Lady Mary
Holland House. fire at
Horton, Mrs.
Houghton, sale of pictures at
Howard, Frederick, fifth Earl of Carlisle, see Carlisle
Howard, George, Viscount Morpeth, afterwards sixth Earl of
Carlisle, "George"
Howard, Frederick, third son of fifth Earl of Carlisle
Howard, William, second son of fifth Earl
Howard, Lady Caroline, daughter of fifth Earl of Carlisle
(afterwards Lady Cawdor); marriage
Howard, Lady Charlotte, daughter of fifth Earl of Carlisle
Howard, Lady Elizabeth ("Lizzy"), daughter of the fifth Earl of
Carlisle
Howard, Lady Gertrude (afterwards Lady G. Sloane Stanley), daughter
of the fifth Earl of Carlisle
Howard, Lady Anne, sister of the fifth Earl of Carlisle
Howard, Lady Elizabeth ("Betty"), sister of the fifth Earl of
Carlisle (afterwards Lady Delme)
Howard, Lady Frances, sister of the fifth Earl
Howard, Lady Mary
Howard, Lady Julia, sister of the fifth Earl
Howard, George, Lieut.-General
Howard, Mr. (afterwards Duke of Norfolk)
Hughes, Mr.
Hume, David; history
Huntingdon, Lord
I
Ilchester, Stephen Fox, first Earl of
Ilchester, Henry Thomas, second Earl of, see Stavordale
Inchiquin, Lord
Intercourse Bill
Ireland; Lord Carlisle recalled from
Irwin, Sir J.
J
Jay, John
Jersey, Lady
Jersey, fourth Earl of
Jockey Club
Johnson, Samuel, his "Lives of the Poets"
Johnston, George
Jones, Mrs.
Jones, Thomas
Joseph II., Emperor of Germany
Junius
Junto, the blue and buff
K
Kane, Colonel
Keene, Mr.
Keith, Sir R.
Kemble
Keppel, Admiral, First Viscount; First Lord of the Admiralty
Kildare, William Robert, Marquis of
King, The, see George III.
Kingston, Duchess of; trial of
Kingston, Duke of
L
La Fayette, Marquis de
Lamb, Sir M.
Lambert, Sir J.
ansdowne, Lord (see Shelburne)
Langdales, The
Langlois, Mr.
Lascells, The two
Laurens, Henry, President of the American Congress
Lee, Mr.
Leeds, Duke of
Leinster, Duchess of
Leinster, Duke of
Lely, Sir Peter
Lennox, Charles, third Duke of Richmond
L'Espinasse, Mile.
Lewis, Mr.
Lewisham, Lady
Lignonier, Lord
Lincoln, Lord
Lisbourne, Lord
Lothian, Lord
Lotteries, Conty's
Loughborough, Lord
Louis XV.
Louis XVI.
"Louisa, Lady," see Gower
Lucan, Lady
Lucan, Lord
Ludgershall, borough in Wiltshire
Luxembourg, Duc de
Lyttleton, Lord
Lyttleton, Sir George
Lyttleton, Sir Richard
M
Macall
Macaronis
Macartney, Lady
Macartney, Sir George, afterwards Lord Macartney
Macclesfield, Lord
Macdonald, Sir Archibald
Mahon, Lord
Maintenon, Mme. De
Malden, Viscount
Malesherbes, Minister under Louis XVI.
Manchester, Duke of
Mann, Sir Horace
Manners, Jack
Mannin's, a macaroni dinner at
Mansfield, Lord
March, Lord, afterwards fourth Duke of Queensberry, see Queensberry
Marchmont, Lord
Marie Antoinette
Marlborough, Duchess of
Marlborough, fourth Duke of
Marlborough House
Mattesdone, Phillippus de
Matson; village, manor house
Maury, Abbe
Mawbey, Sir Joseph
Maynard, Sir William
Medmenham
Meillor, Mrs.
Melbourne, Lady
Melbourne, Lord
Menil, see Meynell
Metham, Sir G.
Methuen, Mr.
Meynell, Mr.
Middletons, The
Mie Mie; at Campden House; leaves England, relatives negotiated
with for her return; description of; at Richmond; at the
Assembly; sitting to Gainsborough; at the Opera
Minto, Lord
Molyneux, Lord
Monson, Lord
Montagu, Sir C.
Montem
Montgomery, Sir William
More, Mr.
More, Sir J.
Morpeth, Lord, afterwards sixth Earl of Carlisle, see Howard,
George
Morpeth, borough of
Musgrave, Dr.
Musgrave, Sir William, of Hayton Castle
N
Nabobs, Indian
Napier, George
Napier, Lord Francis
Napier, Sir Charles fames
Napier, Sir George Thomas
Napier, Sir William Francis
Naworth
Neasdon, school at
Necker, M.; abuse of
Nevills, The
Newcastle, Duke of
Newmarket
Nicolson, Mr.
Norfolk, Duke of
North, Lord, fourth Earl of Guildford; Selwyn's description of;
fall of his Ministry
North, Frederick, fifth Earl of Guildford
North, Mrs.
Northington, second Earl of
Northumberland, Duchess of
Northumberland, second Duke of
Norton, Sir Fletcher
Nugent, Lord
O
O'Brien (Lord Inchiquin)
Offley, Mr.
Ogilvy, Mr.
Oliver, Mr.
Onslow
Onslows, The
Ord, Maria
Orford, third Lord
Orford, fourth Lord
Oriel College
Orleans, Duke of
Ossory, John, second Earl of
Ossory, Lady
Owen, Mr.
Oxford, University of; corporation of; Lord Morpeth at
P
Palliser, Sir Hugh
Paris; Treaty of
Parker, George Lane
Payne, Jack
Payne, Lady
Payne, Sir R.
Pelham, Henry
Pelham, Lady Frances
Pelham, Miss
Pembroke, Lady
Pembroke, Lord
Pennant, Thomas
Penthurst (Penshurst)
Pepys, Sir Lucas
Percys
Petersham, Lord
Phelippeaux, Jean Frederic, Comte de Maurepas' recognition of the
U.S.
Phillips, General
Pierre, servant of Selwyn's
Pigott, Admiral
Piozzi, Mme, (Mrs. Thrale)
Piquet, La Motte
Pitt, Thomas (uncle of William)
Pitt, William; personal relations with Wilberforce; Duchess of
Gordon confidante of; sudden rise of, first speech; second
speech; Selwyn hears him speak; another speech of; his young
political friends; expected to join the Cabinet; gives Selwyn a
place; remains in office; at Windsor with Lord Thurlow; Selwyn
asked to meet him at dinner
Plympton
Pompadour, Mme. De
Pompeio
Ponsonby, Mr.
Pontcarre, M. de
Porten (Portine), Sir Stanier
Portland, Duke of
Pottinger, Mr.
Powell, Mr.
Powis, Lady
Priestly, Dr.
Proby, Sir John
Public Advertiser
Q
Queen (of England), see Charlotte, wife of George III.
Queensberry, William Douglas, third Earl of March, fourth Duke of
Queensberry, "Old Q"; character and life
Queensberry, fifth Duke of
Queensberry villa
R
Radcliffe, John
Raikes, Mr.
Ramsden, Sir J.
Raton, Selwyn's dog
Ravensworth, Lady
Ravensworth, Lord
Rawdon, Lord
Regency, English, question of
Regency, French
Reynolds, Sir Joshua; Selwyn's joke on
Rich, Sir R.
"Richard," see Fitzpatrick
Richards, Mr.
Richelieu, Marechal de
Richmond, Charles Lennox, second Duke of
Richmond, Duchess of
Richmond, Mr.
Richmond-on-Thames, a fashionable resort; Duke of York at; theatre
Ridley, Sir M.
Rigby, Right Hon. Richard
Robinson, John, Secretary to the Treasury; Selwyn on
Robinson, Mrs.
Rockingham, second Marquis of; party meeting at house of; Cabinet;
Thurloe's negotiations with; and Shelburne; and King; and
Carlisle; first Lord of the Treasury; formation of Ministry
Rohan, Cardinal de
Roncherolles, Mme. De
Rosslyn, Lord
Roxburghe, Duke of
Rutland, Duchess of
Rutland, fourth Duke of
S
Sackville, Viscount, see Lord George Germaine
St. John, Frederick
St. John, John; legacy from Lord Guildford
St. John, Henry; legacy from Lord Guildford
Salisbury, Bishop of
Salisbury, seventh Earl of
Salveyne
Sandwich, John George Montagu, fourth Earl of
"Sarah, Lady," see Bunbury
Sardinia, King of
Sawbridge, Mr.
Scott, General
Scott, Mr.
Seabright, Sir J.
Sefton, Lady
Selwin, Mr., banker in Paris
Selwyn, Albinia (afterwards Lady Sydney), Matson re-entailed on her
descendants
Selwyn family
Selwyn, George Augustus; importance in society, as wit, as beau,
man of fashion, bon mots, jokes fathered on, reputation; a type
of his time, life, ancestry, inheritance of social qualities,
Walpole's "famous George"; possession of Matson, description of
house; to remove gateway of Lantony Priory, schooldays,
sobriquet, holder of sinecure post, illness; recovery, at
Oxford, in Paris, harshly judged at college, no attempt to
renounce pleasure; attends Duchess of Bedford to Paris; member
of Parliament, appointed Paymaster of the Works; life
uneventful, adoption of Mie Mie, anxiety for her; grief at her
departure, at Castle Howard, at Milan; fear of losing Mie Mie,
delight in her companionship, his friends; friend of Fox,
annoyed by his recklessness, lover of the town, journey to
Yorkshire; welcome everywhere; as a politician, Parliamentary
career, personal associations; as a gossip, at executions;
anecdote of George III. and character of, by Mme. du Deffand;
francophile, a favourite in France; secret of charm of; life
comparatively simple, his death a loss to society; commences
corrrespondence with Carlisle; admiration for Mme. de Sevigne,
letters compared with Walpole's, time spent in Paris,
friendship for Carlisle; friendship with Grafton; at Vauxhall;
advises Carlisle regarding Fox's debts; the tie; praise of
Tunbridge; proposed for Royal Society; at Devonshire House;
goes to Lyons; drum at; to Ranelagh; reception in the House of
Commons; six weeks at Streatham; on loss of Minorca and St.
Kitts; deprived of office, appointed Surveyor-General of Crown
Lands; a ministerialist; ill; correspondence with Lady Carlisle
begins; advice to young men; at Richmond; reading Bampton
Lectures; last illness; death
Selwyn, Jasper
Selwyn, John, Colonel
Selwyn, John, elder brother of George
Selwyn, Mary, wife of Colonel John, woman of the bedchamber, mother
of George
Sevigne, Mme. De
Shafto, Robert
Shelburne, Lord
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley
Shirley, Mr.
Siddons, Mrs.
Smith, Dr., Master of Trinity College
Smith, General
Smithson, Sir Hugh
Somerset, Duke of
Sophia, Princess
Southwell, Baron
Spencer, George John, second Earl
Spencer, Lady Diana
Spencer, Lord Charles
Spencer, Lord Robert, "Bob"
Spratt, Bishop
Stael, Mme. De
Stafford, Marquis of; and see Gower
Stanhope, Henry
Stanhope, Lady ("Harriot") Henrietta
Stanhope, Lord
Stanley, Lady Betty
Stanley, Lord
Stapleton, Sir J.
Stavordale, Lord; is a heavy gambler
"Ste," second Lord Holland, see Fox
Stewart, Keith
Stonehewer, Richard
Storer, Anthony Morris, the "Bon ton"; belonging to the Fox group;
opinion of Selwyn; life of; attachment to Lady Payne; kindness
of Carlisle to; description of Pitt's third speech; writes to
Carlisle; on East India affairs; loses at play; Lord North's
friendship for; at Cockpit; grievances; at White's
Stormont, Lord
Strawberry Hill
Stuarts, The
Suffolk, Lord
Suffren, Comte de
Suffren, Comtesse de
Sunderland, Earl of
Surveyor of Meltings in the Mint
Sussex, Duke of
Sutherland, Lady
Sydney, Thomas Townshend, first Viscount, see Townshend