The bas-bleus from this time constantly celebrated, amongst their intimates, the feast of shells mentioned in Ossian by drinking out of them on any particular occasion.
Lord Bath’s portrait, not satisfying Mrs. Montagu, had been returned to Mr. Reynolds for amendment, and Lord Bath writes—
“Madam,
“I will sitt to Mr. Reynolds either Wenesday or Saturday next, whichever is most convenient to him, and shall be glad to meet Mr. Tristram Shandy (as you call him) or Mr. Sterne (as I must call him) there, but where it is to be you do not mention. If the alteration can be made in a quarter of an hour, it is scarce worth taking the Picture out of your house, but if it is to be altered at Mr. Reynolds’ I will be there on either of the days mentioned. Last night I slept extreamely well and the better since I went from Mrs. Vesey’s, happy in seeing you look so charmingly and well....
“3 a clock, Dec. 26th, 1761.”
Lord Bath had remarkably penetrating and brilliant eyes, and one of the faults found with the picture was in the representation of this feature.
The next letter from Lord Bath runs—
“How cruel was it, before I got out of bed, to receive a letter forbidding me coming to you this night! but I hope nothing will prevent me from having that happiness to-morrow. On Wenesday about one of the Clock, I will most certainly be at Mr. Reynolds’ to mend my sickly looks, and to sitt down in my chair, as I should do; instead of being half standing, which criticism of Mr. Sterne’s I think perfectly right; as for my looks, I fear they will not be much mended by any Physick of Mr. Reynolds. He has made an old man look as if he was in pain, which an old man generally is, and so far he is right.”
Mrs. Montagu took Mr. Sterne to the sittings so that he might amuse Lord Bath with his bons mots! Surely this would form a pretty and historical picture if any artist would paint it.
On the publication of her poems, to which Mrs. Carter looked forward in a nervous frame of mind, Mrs. Montagu says—
“I am sorry for your tremors and trepidations, but they are mere nervous disorders, and the manuscript must be printed, so my dear Urania, away with your lamentations, sit down, revise, correct, augment, print, and publish. I am sure you will have a pleasure in communicating the pious, virtuous sentiments that breathe in all your verses. My inferior Soul will feel a joy in your producing such proofs of genius to the world.... The very best of your poetical productions have never been published, they may indeed have been seen by a few in manuscripts, but the finest things on sheets are soon lost—
Print them and bind them fast I beg you.”
Writing to her brother, William Robinson, then at Rome, at this period, Mrs. Montagu congratulates him on the prospect of a son or daughter—
“I desire to have all the share I can in the little one, shall be happy to be accepted as a godmother, and thank you for being so obliging as to intend it my name if it is a girl; it will not disgrace her if she should be a toast, for I once knew a Miss Betty Robinson that set up for one; if it is not disagreeable to you I should be glad if it was christened Elizabeth Montagu, which will be also a compliment to my husband. I envy you, my dear brother, the pleasure of seeing at your leisure the Queen of Cities, Imperial Rome.”
The Rev. Laurence Sterne had been in bad health for some time; he had just completed his fifth and sixth volumes of “Tristram Shandy,” and with permission from the Archbishop of York for absence for a year or more, he left Coxwould for the South of France, leaving the following paper with Mrs. Montagu, who, it will be remembered, was his cousin by marriage.
“December 28, 1761.
“Memorandums left with Mrs. Montagu in case I should die abroad.
“L. Sterne.
“My sermons in a trunk at my friend Mr. Hall’s, St. John’s Street, 2 Vols. to be picked out of them.—N.B. There are enough for 3 Vols.—
“My Letters in my bureau at Coxwould and a bundle in a trunk with my sermons.—
“Note. The large piles of letters in the garrets at York, to be sifted over, in search for some either of Wit, or Humour—or what is better than both—of Humanity and good Nature—these will make a couple of Volumes more, and as not one of ’em was ever wrote, like Pope’s or Voiture’s, to be printed, they are more likely to be read—if there wants ought to serve the completion of a 3rd volume—the Political Romance I wrote, which was never publish’d—may be added to the fag end of the volumes.... Tho’ I have 2 reasons why I wish it may not be wanted—first an undeserved compliment to one, whom I have since found to be a very corrupt man—I knew him weak and ignorant—but thought him honest. The other reason is I have hung up Dr. Topham in the romance in a ridiculous light—which upon my soul I now doubt whether he deserves it—so let the Romance go to sleep not by itself—for ’twil have company.
“My Conscio ad Clinum in Latin which I made for Fountayne, to preach before the University to enable him to take his Doctor’s Degree—you will find 2 copies of it, with my sermons—
“—He got Honour by it—What got I?—Nothing in my lifetime, then let me not (I charge you Mrs. Sterne) be robbed of it after my death. That long pathetic letter to him of the hard measure I have received—I charge you, to let it be printed—’Tis equitable you should derive that good from my sufferings at least.
“I have made my will—but I leave all I have to you and my Lydia—you will not Quarrel about it—but I advise you to sell my estate, which will bring 1800 pds. (or more after the year), and what you can raise from my Works—and the sale of the last copyright of the 5th and 6th Vols. of Tristram—and the produce of this last work, all of which I have left (except 50 pds. in my bookseller Becket’s hands, and which Mr. Garrick will receive and lay out in stocks for me)—all these I would advise you to collect—together with the sale of my library, &c., &c.—and lay it out in Government Securities—If my Lydia should marry—I charge you,—I charge you over again (that you may remember it the more)—That upon no Delusive prospect, or promise from any one, you leave yourself DEPENDENT; reserve enough for your comfort—or let her wait your Death. I leave this in the hands of our Cosin Mrs. Montagu—not because she is our cosin—but because I am sure she has a good heart.
“We shall meet again.
“—Memᵈᵘᵐ. Whenever I die—’tis most probable, I shall have about £200 due to me from my living—If Lydia should dye before you; Leave my Sister something worthy of your self—in case you do not think it meet to purchase an annuity for your greater comfort; if you chuse that—do it in God’s name—
“—The pictures of the Mountebank and his Macaroni—is in a Lady’s hands, who upon seeing ’em most cavaliery declared she would never part with them—and from an excess of civility—or rather weakness I could not summon up severity to demand them.
“—If I dye, her Name, &c., is inclosed in a billet seal’d up and given with this—and then you must demand them—If refused—you have nothing to do but send a 2d. message importing—’tis not for her Interest to keep them.
“Laurence Sterne.
“Memorandums left by Mr. Sterne in
Mrs. Montagu’s hands before he
left England.”
Two teardrops are on this paper, which indicate Sterne’s emotional temperament.
Sir J. Reynolds, pinx. E. Fisher. sc.
Laurence Sterne.
Walker & Cockerell, ph. sc.
And now, patient reader, I, the Editress of this literary mosaic of my great-great-aunt’s letters and those of her friends, take leave of you. If life and eyesight are vouchsafed to me, I hope to write the remainder of her life some day, for she lived till 1800. Each year added to her enormous circle of clever acquaintance, British and foreign. The letters of Garrick and his wife, later ones of Sterne and Dr. Johnson, Mrs. Vesey, Edmund Burke, Hannah More, and a host of other notabilities, belong to a different period. As it is, the compilation of this work has occupied me five years. One whole winter was devoted to arranging the correspondence in chronological order, as very few of the letters are dated.