CHAPTER XII.
Returning to the year 1781, it is to be observed that after that year, the Bluestocking assemblies gradually died out. Cumberland’s caricature of them excited the displeasure of good Queen Charlotte; and Miss Burney, who recognised herself as alluded to under the guise of an Arcadian nymph, has given a description of a breakfast at the palace in Portman Square, which did not the least resemble that which was described, a generation earlier, by Madame du Bocage. The later breakfast was sumptuous, gorgeous, overcrowded. In splendour of company, banquet, and locality, it could not be surpassed; and hundreds were there. But we miss the more select number of intellectual people, who used to fill the smaller house in Hill Street, where the Bluestockings met, and dignified their place of meeting. From the year 1781, Mrs. Montagu’s letters take a graver tone, which is occasionally enlivened by some of her old brilliancy of expression. The following letter is without date of the year, but it was written when Hill Street was about being abandoned for the palace in Portman Square.
“Hill Street, 2d March, 1781.... You will find this town more gay and splendid than ever; so little effect has the combined evil of wars, and devastation, and hurricanes. The profuse liberality toVestris, ye dancer, and the enthusiastic admiration of his capers exceeds all the folly I ever knew. Making a visit to a wife of one of thecorps diplomatique, the other night, I had the mortification of overhearing a group of foreigners ridiculing the English for the bustle made about Vestris.
“... I have already on my chimney-piece a multitude of cards for assemblies for every day till near the end of passion week. I hope some of the fine people will spend the Easter holidays in ye country; for such a succession of assemblies is tiresome.
“... I have, greatly to my satisfaction, got my new house finished and fit for habitation; and I should have taken possession at this very time, but the wise people and the medical people say it would be dangerous to go into a new house just after the winter damp.... As I always leave London early in May, I was convinced it was not worth while to run hazard for a few weeks’ pleasure. It is much the fashion to go and see my house, and I receive many compliments upon its elegance and magnificence, but what most recommends it to me is its convenience and cheerfulness. A good house is a great comfort in old age and among the few felicities that money will procure.
“... I shall be much obliged to you if you will bring to London Thou’s History, which I lent to your caro sposo five years ago. I suppose he has long done with it, and I want to read it.”
“London, December ye 4th, 1781.... At this time of ye year, the great city is solitary, silent, and quiet. Its present state makes a good preface to the succeeding months of crowd, noise, and bustle....One always finds some friends in town; a few agreable people may at any time be gathered together; and, for my own part, I think one seldom passes the whole of one’s time more agreably than before the meeting of parliament in January; and this never appeared more strongly to me than this year, when so excellent a house was ready to receive me.
“... As age is apt to bring with it a certain degree of melancholy and discontent, I endeavour to prevent its having that effect, by sympathising in the joy of my young friends and of improving the objects about me.... As fast as time wrinkles my forehead, I smooth the grounds about Sandleford, or embellish my town habitation. In a little while, I shall never see anything belonging to me that is not pretty, except when I behold myself in the looking-glass.... At Sandleford, I can assure you, Mr. Brown has not neglected any of its capabilities. He is forming it into a lovely pastoral—a sweet Arcadian scene. In not attempting more, he adapts his scheme to the character of the place and my purse. We shall not erect temples to heathen gods, build proud bridges over humble rivulets, or do any of the marvellous things suggested by caprice, and indulged by the wantonness of wealth. The noble rooms which Mr. Wyatt was building when you were at Sandleford are now finishing with the greatest simplicity.
“... To-morrow is look’d to with anxious expectation, as it will in some measure declare on what terms peace may be obtain’d. I believe all the belligerent powers are tir’d of the war. But what difficulties the cunning of statesmen, the pride of kings, or the caprice of the people may put in the way, onecannot tell. The Spaniards are proud, the French are petulant, the Dutch are avaricious, and the English are a happy compound of all these things.
“... My steward (from Northumberland), who made his annual visit to me in November, told me that north of my estates there were many fields of oats and barley lying under the snow. I have been very busy with him, settling our year’s accounts, for these ten days past.
“Lord Edward Bentinck is going to be married to Miss Cumberland. The Bishop of St. Asaph’s eldest daughter to the learned and ingenious Mr. Jones.”
“Portman Square, January ye 17th, 1782.... Montagu,” she writes to her sister-in-law, “returns to me only at Christmas and the long vacation. The last is spent entirely at Sandleford; for I think the worst thing one can do by young persons is to give them a habit of restlessness, which is now so prevalent in the fine world, that all domestick duties, even the tender parental attentions, are neglected for it....
“I think you did wisely, as well as kindly, in letting my neice partake of the pleasures of your neighbourhood. To be within the sound of a ball, and not allow’d to go to it, must seem a hardship to a young person.... Life never knows the return of spring, and I am always an advocate for their gathering the primroses of their time. A young person not allow’d to please himself, sometimes will lose any desire to please others.
“I think it would be very desirable for my brother to be a prebend of Canterbury. There is a localdignity in it, and a clergyman in the neighbourhood of Canterbury ought to have a stall in the cathedral, in which he can take a nap with decorum. I should think from the kind disposition the primate has shown for the family, he will lend a favorable ear to my brother’s application.... So great is his respect and tenderness for his brother, Sir William, that perhaps the request, supported by him, would have additional force.
“... I am glad my good friend, Mr. Brown, is employed by so rich a person as Lord Bristol. Such an income as his lordship’s cannot be annually expended on domestick expenses without foolish prodigality and waste.... I am very glad Mr. Brown likes me as a correspondent; for I am obliged to make a very paltry figure to him as an employer. He is narrowly circumscrib’d, both in space and expense; but he really gives the poor widow and her paltry plans as great attention as he could bestow on an unlimited commission and an unbounded space. He has made a plan to make my grounds, in prospect of the house and new rooms, very pleasing, and will execute as much of it every year as I choose, the expense being agreed upon, which will keep pace with the improvements. The only way to cheat old Time is, while it robs us of some enjoyments and pleasures, to be providing new ones. I am a great deal younger, I think, since I came into my new House, from its cheerfulness; and, from its admirable conveniences and comforts, less afraid of growing old. My friends and acquaintances are much pleased with it, ... and I am not afraid to confess the pleasure I take in their finding it agreable andcommodious for company. But the great satisfaction I feel, as its inhabitant, I dare confess to few; for few would hear it without envy. People are not very envious at any advantages they see another possess, if they do not perceive those advantages add to the happiness of the possessor. Many a wrinkled old virgin makes it a necessary article of merit in a blooming girl, that she should not know she is handsome.
“... The Bishop of Durham is going to be married to Miss Boughton. She is a very proper Person for a wife to a grave bishop—a woman of good family, good character, and good temper.
“... Pray have my neices read ‘Le Théâtre de l’Education,’ by Mme. de Genlis? If they have not, I will get it for them.... I think it is one of the prettiest books that has been written for young persons. The author is governess to the Duc de Chartres’ children.”
Even Walpole acknowledged the beauty of the house which Mrs. Montagu had built for her old age and for her heirs—till Lord Rokeby vacated it recently, the ground lease having “fallen in,” and the edifice passing to the ground landlord. “I dined,” writes Walpole to Mason, in February, 1782, “on Tuesday with the Harcourts, at Mrs. Montagu’s new palace, and was much surprised. Instead of vagaries, it is a noble, simple edifice. Magnificent, yet no gilding. It is grand, not tawdry, not larded, and embroidered, and pomponned with shreds, and remnants, and clinquant, like all the harlequinades of Adam, which never let the eye repose an instant.”
The next letter is addressed to the writer’s niece, Miss Robinson.
“July ye 9th, 1782.... I was, in my youth, directed in the choice of friends by their solid merit and established character, which was oftener found in persons older than myself than in my contemporaries. If from hence I have often wept for dying, I have never been obliged to blush for my living, friends.... The chief honour and felicity of my life has been derived from the superior merit of my friends; and, from my experience, I would, above all things, recommend to every young person to endeavour to connect themselves with persons whom they can esteem, and, indeed, reverence, rather than with those whose understandings and virtues they think merely on a level with, or, perhaps, inferior to, their own.... Principles, opinions, and habits are acquired and formed from those with whom we live and converse most.... Be cautious, be delicate, be a little ambitious, my dear neice, in the choice of your friends. I would be far from inculcating a supercilious contempt for persons of weak understanding, or a censorious condemnation of their levity of manners. Humility and charity are the greatest virtues, and let them ever guide your manners and regulate your conversation.... Be assured that the wisest persons are the least severe, and the most virtuous are the most charitable.”
“Sandleford, July 9, 1782.... I had a great deal of occupation of a more important kind, which was the examination and payment of ye workmen who had been employed in building and adorning the said house.... As I got everything accomplishedbefore I left London, I had the satisfaction of getting a receit in full of all demands from the various artificers. I will own my taste is unfashionable, but there is to me a wonderful charm in those words ‘in full of all demands.’ My house never appeared to me so noble, so splendid, so pleasant, so convenient, as when I had paid off every shilling of debt it had incurred. The worst of haunted houses, in my opinion, are those haunted by duns.
“... Mr. Wyatt has nearly completed what belonged to the architect; and Mr. Brown, by removing a good deal of ground and throwing it down below, to raise what was too low, while he sank what was too high, has much improved the view to the south; and, having, at my request, made a fanlight over the east window, so that the arch formed by the trees is now visible, these rooms are the most beautiful imaginable. With the shelter, comfort, and convenience of walls and roofs, you have a beautiful passage and the green shade of a grove.... The celebrated Mr. Brown has already beautified our pastoral scenes extreamly.
“... I can easily give you credit when you say you love society, because I know society loves you, and I am perfectly of the opinion of the common maxim, that nobody lives out of the world who is fit to live in it. Now your husband’s party have got into power, I have no doubt but they will bestow a prebendary upon him, if he asks them. However, his income will very well afford your spending some months in London every winter.”
“Sandleford, June ye 16th 1783.... You must know, as many authors with whom I have not anypersonal acquaintance do me the favour to send me their works, I found the carriage of them to be amongst my weekly expenses during the summer. So, of late, if I make a short excursion into the country, I order the literature to wait until my return. Or, if I go for a longer time, to be sent down at proper opportunities, with the tea, or groceries, or some other of the vulgar necessaries of life. So my dear nephew’s letter was supposed to come with a pamphlet from a bookseller’s shop, and my porter kept it, with other things from the same source, till my return from Bath.
“... I found Sandleford improv’d by the attentions of the great Mr. Brown. My pleasure in those improvements was mix’d with regret for his death.... Brown was certainly a man of great genius.... Happily for me, he made a plan for all that is intended to be done here. As I do not allow my yearly expenses to exceed my yearly income, I go on softly; so that the plan will hardly be completed by this time two years.
“... I dare say my brother has read with great pleasure Mr. Potter’s ‘Enquiry into some Passages of Doctor Johnson’s Lives of the Poets.’ Mr. Potter has also ably vindicated his friend Mr. Gray’s Odes, etc., from cruel and unjust criticism, and this is done with great wit, taste, and good manners,—ingredients rarely put into the bitters of criticism. Modern witts and modern orators are apt to fall into the Billingsgate style, and from every kind of chastisement, made more severe and outrageous than the fault it should correct, one takes the part of the culprit against the harshness of the corrector.”
“Sandleford, September ye 30th, 1783.... We are all very well and very happy; these are the best articles a country journal can contain, and most likely to be found in a journal when ambitious pursuits and tumultuous pleasures are perfectly excluded.
“... There is a mode of taking exercise which, from my own experience, I think I shall recommend to all my friends who are not riders, and that is a one-horse chair. Sir Richard Jebb, just before I left London, advis’d me to the use of this carriage. I objected to it, as unpleasant and unsafe. He assur’d me, that would I allow him to order me one of his coachmaker, after a model of one he had used on every kind of roads, he would answer for my finding it easy and secure. To this I consented, and, in a very obliging manner, he attended almost daily to see it was properly constructed, and, about six weeks ago, he wrote me word it was finished. I sent to London for it; and I find it the most delightful way of taking exercise imaginable. I take an airing sometimes of sixteen or seventeen miles (ye going and return included), and I am never weary while abroad, nor fatigued when I get home. My machine is hung so low, I am exalted but little above the grazing herds, and at ye same time can hear distinctly the song of the skylark above my head. No rural sight or rural sound is intercepted. Miss Gregory is my charioteer: she prides herself more on caution than dexterity, so avoids everything that could alarm me. As my driver is young, I chose an old horse to draw me; but so much has every danger been obviated by the construction of the carriage, I believe I should be very safe with a steed of morevivacity and spirit. If the weather is doubtful, my post-chaise follows, that we may take shelter against its inclemencies. I am much pleased with this prescription of Sir Richard Jebb’s.
“... We are doing a great piece of work in feathers. Every sort of feather is useful; so shall be much obliged if you can collect some for me.”
The old formality toward her sister-in-law never changed, as the following letter will show:
“November 26, 1783.... You mention, my dear madam, with regret that you had not asked me to dine; but you wrong your hospitality, for you offered me a very comfortable dinner; but knowing, in your unsettled state at Burfield, dining guests must be very troublesome, I had calculated and contrived all things so as to make you merely a noonday visit. To tell you the truth, I am so afraid of my postillion and servants getting a too great dose of ale at the houses of gentlemen in a country neighbourhood, that I make a rule never to dine from home. I have enjoy’d your kind and elegant hospitality at your house in Kent, and am sure the same spirit would ever exert itself to give an agreeable welcome to your friends.
“... Mr. Barret has been very judicious in his choice of Mr. Wyatt for his architect. He has a most happy art of improving an old house. Where a part is to be extended beyond the first intention, the additions should be Gothick; for symmetry not being the object of the Gothick architects, irregularity is not considered an imperfection in their designs. Additions made to houses in any other taste destroy the intended proportions, and introduce confusion and deformity. I am more a friend to the Gothick on theoutside than within; for, unless by great expense and care, the Gothick fitting-up is clumsy and gloomy. Mr. Walpole tells me Mr. Wyatt has made a most beautiful design for Mr. Barret. I shall make my ingenious friend show it to me when he has leisure.
“Pray do you not begin to entertain hopes that you may one day sail in the air to our planet? Miss Gregory went yesterday to see our air-balloon launched. I had letters to write, and expected company to dine with me and to stay the evening, so I could not find time to attend this aerial machine. All the philosophers at Paris are busy, making experiments on their balloons, and theirbeaux espritsare making verses and utteringdes bons motson them. A friend of mine brought me a dialogue, written Paris, between the cock, the duck, and the sheep, which made the air voyage together. The cock was the only animal that seem’d the greater coxcomb for his travels. It is impossible to say whether this new invention may not lead to discoveries of importance. At present, it is merely a philosophical shuttle-cock for the amusement of old children. As we are not so eager for new playthings as our lively neighbours the French, we do not make such a bustle about these balloons as they do; for I understand they are the subject of conversation in all the polite circles at Paris.
“... Of the many obligations I have received from Mr. Montagu, I do not reckon it among the least that he permitted me to have my younger brothers to dine with me every Sunday while they were at Westminster School; and, after the death of my mother, to have them at Sandleford during holydaysand vacations. Whether these attention make any impression on those who receive them or not, the person who has paid them must ever reflect with pleasure on having done their part.Fate ben per voi, do good for your own sake, is an admirable moral maxim.
“... The Prince of Wales has given many brilliant entertainments, but his present bad condition of health will suspend, at least, those gaieties. It is thought he has an abscess forming in his side. It is said he suffers a great deal, but if those sufferings bring him into a habit of temperance, it will be good for him to have been afflicted. His political engagements have been productive of some salutary chastisements. He has been hiss’dà toute outranceat the theatres.
“The French ambassador has fitted up his house with much gayety and splendor. He is much connected with that party which is at present very unpopular. It is affirmed that his court has remitted £70,000 to him, to support the party in elections. The French Cabinet has ever made use of bribery whenever they could introduce it for their purposes; and alas! there are few places or persons to whom gold does not find access!
“... I think your evening readings must be very improving to my neice. History presents to young persons many good examples, and will counteract the impressions of our newspapers, which give an account of the vices, follies, and extravagances of ye times. It is much better for a young lady to read the characters of the Lucretias and Portias, than to defile her mind with paragraphs of crim. con., elopements, etc.
“... My health has not been interrupted by the bad weather we have had. I believe Portman Square is the Montpellier of England. I never enjoy’d such health as since I came to live in it.”
“1784, Sandleford.... The improvements out-of-doors have advanced greatly from the time I left Sandleford last August. When I left a little rivulet had assumed the air of a river. Charming walks on its banks and through the wood make me often think with gratitude of the late Mr. Brown, by whose plans all these things were accomplish’d.... We are now embellishing the grounds to the south and making an approach to the house, which will be far preferable to the present. Mr. Wyatt has built me a large bedchamber and dressing-room, which command a beautiful prospect.... Mrs. More and Mrs. Garrick are now with me, and, I flatter myself, will not leave me before I may hope for my lord primate’s return.”
It was in the above year that Johnson gave the following testimony to the quality of Mrs. Montagu’s intellect: “Mrs. Montagu, sir, does not make a trade of her wit; but Mrs. Montagu is a very extraordinary woman; she has a constant stream of conversation, and it is always impregnated—it has always meaning.” He further said, “That lady exerts more mind in conversation than any person I ever met with. Sir, she displays such powers of ratiocination, such radiations of intellectual eminence, as are amazing....”