Chapter 26

242. This letter, together with the rest of this curious correspondence, is to be seen in the Appendix.

243. Coxe MSS.

244. Coxe MSS., vol. xlvi. p. 148.

245. Ibid. p. 145.

246. See Swift’s Letters.

247. Ibid. vol. xiv. p. 131.

248. Swift’s Letters, vol. xiv. p. 90.

249. Coxe, vol. vi. quarto, p. 615.

250. See Cunningham and others.

251. See Appendix.

252. Coxe, p. 361.

253. See Coxe, p. 619, and also Lord Sunderland’s answer.

254. Coxe, vol. iii. p. 645.

255. Hogarth personated the Ghost of Brutus, but, being wholly deficient in memory, he was unable to commit to memory the few lines which constituted his part. The verses he was to deliver were therefore pasted in very large letters on the outside of an illuminated lantern, so that he could read them as he came on the stage, with that appropriate implement in his hand.

256. Biographical Dict., Art. Hoadly.

257. Coxe.

258. The play-bill of “All for Love; or the World Well Lost,” has been given at length by Dr. Coxe. It runs as follows:Marc Anthony, Captain Fish, Page of the Duchess.Ventidius, Old Mr. Jennings.Sarapion, the High Priest, Miss Cairnes.Alexis, Mrs. La Vie.Cleopatra, Lady Charlotte Macarthy.Octavia, Lady Anne Spencer.Children of Marc Anthony, Lady Anne Egerton, Lady Diana Spencer.(Scene, the Bow-window Room.)(Great screens for changing scenes.)

258. The play-bill of “All for Love; or the World Well Lost,” has been given at length by Dr. Coxe. It runs as follows:

Marc Anthony, Captain Fish, Page of the Duchess.Ventidius, Old Mr. Jennings.Sarapion, the High Priest, Miss Cairnes.Alexis, Mrs. La Vie.Cleopatra, Lady Charlotte Macarthy.Octavia, Lady Anne Spencer.Children of Marc Anthony, Lady Anne Egerton, Lady Diana Spencer.(Scene, the Bow-window Room.)(Great screens for changing scenes.)

Marc Anthony, Captain Fish, Page of the Duchess.

Ventidius, Old Mr. Jennings.

Sarapion, the High Priest, Miss Cairnes.

Alexis, Mrs. La Vie.

Cleopatra, Lady Charlotte Macarthy.

Octavia, Lady Anne Spencer.

Children of Marc Anthony, Lady Anne Egerton, Lady Diana Spencer.

(Scene, the Bow-window Room.)

(Great screens for changing scenes.)

259. Coxe.

260. His second wife. He married first a Miss Talbot, niece of the Duke of Shrewsbury.—Burke’s Peerage.

261. Coxe.

262. Biographia Britannica.

263. Biographia Britannica.

264. Macauley, p. 290.

265. Coxe.

266. Anecdotes of Lady M. W., edited by Lord Wharncliffe, vol. i. p. 74.

267. Coxe, vol. i. p. 625.

268. Macauley, p. 308.

269. Coxe.

270. Biographia Britannica.

271. Coxe.

272. Political and Literary Anecdotes of his Own Time, by Dr. King.

273. Scott’s Life of Swift.

274. Lord Chesterfield’s Characters.

275. Lord Chesterfield. Horace Walpole.

276. Such was also the case even with the great Lord Clarendon, after many years of exile. See Mr. James’s Life of Louis Quatorze, vol. iii.

277. Coxe, p. 629.

278. Mem. of Lord Walpole. Coxe, p. 8.

279. The origin of Mr. James Craggs is said by Lady Mary W. Montague to be derived from a very low source. His father was footman to the Duchess of Norfolk, and a footman of the old school, who managed his mistress’s intrigues as well as other household affairs.—Lady M. W. M.’s Letters. Hence the epigram in Horace Walpole’s Letters.

280. Coxe, Appendix.

281. Life of Lord Walpole, p. 20.

282. Horace Walpole, Reminiscences.

283. For the rest of this curious letter, see Appendix. It was kindly pointed out to me by Deputy Holmes, Esq. keeper of the Manuscripts, British Museum. That gentleman found it crumpled up among Dr. Coxe’s papers, while he was arranging those manuscripts in their present convenient form. To this letter there is neither date nor address: on the back it is endorsed, “From the Duke of Marlborough;” Mr. Holmes surmises, in the handwriting of Lord Godolphin. Archdeacon Coxe has not noticed the Duke’s perplexity on the point expressed in this letter.

284. See Opinions.

285. Horace Walpole, Reminiscences.

286. Coxe, p. 646.

287. Coxe, vol. vi. octavo, p. 646.

288. “Our bishops,” says the Duchess, writing of the Princess, whose condescension she had so greatly extolled, “are now about to employ hands to write the finest character that ever was heard of Queen Caroline; who, as it is no treason, I freely own that I am glad she is dead. Upon her great understanding and goodness there come out nauseous panegyrics every day, that make one sick, so full of nonsense and lies. There is one very remarkable from a Dr. Clarke, in order to have the first bishoprick that falls, and I dare say he will have it, though there is something extremely ridiculous in the panegyric; for, after he has given her the most perfect character that ever any woman had, or can have, he allows that she had sacrificed her reputation to the great and the many, to show her duty to the King and her love to the country. These are the clergyman’s words exactly, which allows she did wrong things, but it was to please the King,—which is condemning him. I suppose he must mean some good she did to her own country, for I know of none she did in England, unless taking from the public deserves a panegyric.”—Private Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 169. Duchess of Marlborough’s Opinions.

289. See Dr. Coxe, p. 648.

290. Coxe, p. 649.

291. Newspapers of the day.

292. Coxe Papers, vol. xli. p. 76.

293. Warton’s Essay on Pope, vol. ii. p. 303.

294. Swift’s Correspondence, vol. xv. p. 236.

295. Biographia.

296. London Chronicle, November 21, 1758.

297. His avarice has been attributed greatly to the Duchess’s influence.

298. Collins’s Baronage, vol. ii.

299. See Lady M. W. Montague’s Letters.

300. Coxe, p. 653.

301. Coxe, p. 653.

302. See some curious letters in the Coxe MSS., vol. xliii. p. 70.

303. Burke’s Extinct Peerage, art. Coningsby.

304. By Frances, daughter of the Earl of Ranelagh.

305. Oct. 8, 1722. The Duke died June 16, 1722.

306. Coxe MSS., vol. xliii. p. 70.

307. Coxe MSS., vol. xliii. p. 71.

308. Coxe.

309. Private Correspondence, p. 206. Letter from Mr. Maynwaring to the Duchess.

310. Ibid. See also Horace Walpole’s Letters.

311. Burke’s Peerage, art. Somerset.

312. Private Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 147.

313. Private Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 147.

314. Coxe, p. 656.

315. Coxe.

316. Ibid.

317. H. Walpole’s Reminiscences.

318. Warton on Pope.

319. Warton on Pope, p. 141.

320. Macauley.

321. Chesterfield’s Characters.

322. Chesterfield, Smollett, Tindal, &c.

323. See Macauley, p. 225.

324. Private Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 161.

325. Private Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 152.

326. Private Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 495.

327. Private Correspondence, p. 495.

328. Macaulay, p. 370.

329. Private Correspondence, p. 461.

330. Private Correspondence, p. 465.

331. Letter from Lord Godolphin to the Duchess. Private Correspondence, p. 479.

332. Private Correspondence, p. 467.

333. Coxe MSS. vol. xliii. p. 123.

334. Private Correspondence, p. 472, 473.

335. Burke’s Peerage.

336. Horace Walpole, Reminiscences.

337. Chesterfield. Annual Register. Collins’ Baronage.

338. Chesterfield’s Characters.

339. Note in Chesterfield’s Characters, p. 50.

340. Lord Wharncliffe, vol. i. p. 2.

341. Ibid.

342. Collins’s Baronage.

343. Chesterfield.

344. Lady M. W. Montague.

345. This letter is given literally as it is written, without any alteration of grammar or punctuation.—Coxe MSS., vol. xliii. p. 148.

346. Letters to Sir Horace Mann, vol. iii. p. 286.

347. Letters to Sir Horace Mann, vol. ii. p. 144.

348. Dallaway’s Memoirs of Lady M. W. Lord Wharncliffe. Edition of Lady M. W.

349. Horace Walpole mentions this anecdote of Lady Bateman, but a later account specifies Lady Anne Egerton as the heroine of the blackened picture.

350. Those who have read the novels of Richardson, faithful delineations of manners, cannot but recal to mind the descriptions given of parental authority, and of filial fear, by that prolix, but, in some points, incomparable novelist.

351. Coxe MSS., vol. iv.

352. Private Correspondence, vol. i. p. 103.

353. Private Correspondence, vol. i. p. 100–102.

354. Memoirs of the Life of Whiston, p. 102.

355. Private Correspondence, vol. i. p. 6.

356. Lord Wharncliffe, vol. i. p. 76.

357. Life of Colley Cibber, p. 66.

358. Life of Colley Cibber, p. 461.

359. Such was her excellence in the “Provoked Husband,” that the managers made her a present of fifty guineas above her agreement, which was only a verbal one; “for they knew,” says Cibber, “that she was incapable of deserting them for another stage.” One of the many good traits in the character of this erring woman was her refusing to receive her salary, when disabled by illness from performing, although her agreement entitled her to receive it.—Life of Colley Cibber, p. 291.

360. It was not situated exactly on the spot, but near to the summer-house, which has been mentioned in p. 10. vol. i. of this work. The summer-house is also pulled down.

361. In Holywell-house, the Dowager Lady Spencer, mother of the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire, long resided. Her ladyship received among her guests the late antiquary, —— Browne, Esq. of St. Albans, whose death, at a very advanced age, took place very recently. The authoress had the honour of conversing with this venerable antiquary, but could not learn from him that there were any particular traces in Holywell-house of the Duchess or her children, though there are several, as Mr. Browne informed her, of the Spencer and Cavendish family, more especially of the present Duke of Devonshire, whose visits to Holywell in childhood were frequent.

362. From the catalogue, Holywell-house must have been very commodious; but the rooms, though numerous, were not large. The authoress saw it on the eve of its destruction, and, not being at all aware of its peculiar interest to her, was struck by its massive though not picturesque appearance. It commanded a fine view of St. Alban’s Abbey.

363. On this occasion the churchwardens of Kingston paid “twenty pence” for mending the ways when the Queen went from Wimbledon to Nonsuch.

364. The survey taken of it by order of parliament, in 1649, describes it minutely, and is very curious. It is printed in the Archæologia of the Society of Antiquaries, vol. x. p. 399, 8vo., from the original in the Augmentation Office.

365. There is a view of this, the Duchess’s house, in the fifth volume of the “Vitruvius Britannicus.”

366. The following account, supplied by William Upcott, Esq., from some one of the daily papers of that day, is curious. “Woodstock, June 19. Yesterday being Monday, about six o’clock in the evening, was laid the first stone of the Duke of Marlborough’s house, by Mr. Vanbrugge, and then seven gentlemen gave it a stroke with a hammer, and threw down each of them a guinea; Sir Thomas Wheate was the first, Dr. Bouchel the second, Mr. Vanbrugge the third; I know not the rest. There were several sorts of musick; three morris dances; one of young fellows, one of maidens, and one of old beldames. There were about a hundred buckets, bowls, and pans, filled with wine, punch, cakes, and ale. From my lord’s house all went to the Town-hall, where plenty of sack, claret, cakes, &c., were prepared for the gentry and better sort; and under the Cross eight barrels of ale, with abundance of cakes, were placed for the common people. The stone laid by Mr. Vanbrugge was eight square, finely polished, about eighteen inches over, and upon it were these words inlayed in pewter—In memory of the battel of Blenheim, June 8, 1705, Anna Regina.”

367. Coxe MSS., vol. xlvi.

368. Coxe MSS., vol. xlvi. p. 8.

369. Coxe MSS., vol. xlvi. p. 8.

370. In the possession of William Upcott, Esq.

371. The word is expressed thus + in the original letter.

372. Coxe MSS., vol. xli p. 14.

373. For the correspondence on this subject, hitherto unpublished, see Appendix.

374. Appendix.

375. Coxe MSS.

376. Coxe Papers.

377. Coxe, p. 642.

378. Coxe MSS., vol. xlvi. p. 74.

379. Coxe.

380. Newspapers. Anecdote supplied by W. Upcott, Esq.

381. Letter from Vanburgh to Tonson. D’Israeli’s Curiosities of Literature. 1823.

382. Letter to Mr. Hutchinson, Coxe MSS.

383. Life of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough. Published in 1745.

384. Walpole’s Reminiscences, p. 293.

385. Reminiscences.

386. Chesterfield’s Characters.

387. Private Correspondence, vol. ii.

388. Granger’s Biog. Hist. of Great Britain. Art. Jennings.

389. Private Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 179.

390. Life of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough.

391. Macauley.

392. Lord Chesterfield.

393. Biographical Dictionary.

394. Manuscript Notes in the copy of the Duchess’s Opinions in the British Museum.

395. Coxe MSS., vol. xliii. p. 123.

396. He conducted the paper called the “Champion.” His sister Sarah, a literary character also, was the intimate friend of Dr. Hoadly. Possibly, from her name, she may have been a god-daughter of the Duchess.

397. Reminiscences, p. 308.

398. Letters of Walpole, vol. i. p. 42.

399. Private Correspondence. Life of the Duchess.

400. Manuscript Notes to her Opinions.

401. Private Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 168.

402. Private Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 209.

403. Coxe. Private Correspondence, &c.

404. Life of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough.

405. Life of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough.

406. The details of her grievances are to be found in the Appendix.

407. Coxe MSS., vol. xliii. p. 123.

408. Coxe MSS.

409. As her early and only biographer expresses it, at her house at the Friery, St. James’s. Friery Passage was formerly close to Marlborough-house.

410. Coxe MSS.

411. See Appendix.

412. Coxe MSS., vol. xv. p. 151.

413. Coxe MSS., vol. xli. p. 14.

414. Blank in manuscript.

415. Coxe MSS., vol. xlvi. p. 28.

416. Coxe MSS., vol. xlvi. p. 56.

417. Coxe MSS., vol. xlvi. p. 127.

418. Coxe MSS., vol xli. p. 25.

419. Coxe MSS., vol. xlvi. p. 24.

420. Coxe MSS., vol. xli. p. 31.

421. Coxe MSS., vol. xlvi. p. 29.

422. Coxe MSS., vol. xlvi. p. 76.

423. Coxe MSS., vol. xlvi. p. 68.

424. Coxe MSS., vol. xlvi. p. 142.

425. Coxe MSS. vol., xlvi. p. 148.

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