Chapter 20

134As these Memoirs will not be continued, it may be worth while to give a short abstract of the rest of Lord George’s life. Though in Opposition, he kept a door open for his return to Court without his associates, by not joining them against the American war. When that war grew more and more hopeless, Lord George was offered to undertake that province, and most injudiciously accepted it. This was the more surprising tome, as, besides his having retrieved his character by the affair with Johnstone, and acquired a large fortune from Lady Elizabeth Germaine, with the additional favourable circumstance of changing his name, whence his sons, if dropping that of Sackville, might avoid great part of the disgrace that had fallen on their father, he himself not three years before, in a conversation, in which he had given me many instances of the King’s duplicity, had said to me, “Sir, whoever lives to see the end of this reign, will see one of the most unfortunate that ever was in England!” The position of the American war certainly countenanced his prediction. Yet his native ambition, or the vanity of supposing that he could give a new turn to affairs, overpowered his judgment, and shut his eyes on the torrent of abuse that would again be let loose against him—and was. He did recommence his career with great spirit and activity, but with no success at all; and it was only in his deportment that he did show spirit. In Parliament he was browbeaten by daily insults; and his former parts so entirely forsook him, that younger men, who had not seen his outset, would not believe what was attested to them of his precedent abilities. Disappointed of the glory he had promised to himself, and quarrelling with Lord Sandwich, the head of the Admiralty, who counteracted or would not concur in his plans, Lord George relaxed, and finding his associates inclined to sacrifice him as a scapegoat (though they could not save their own places), he yielded to the storm, and was so far fortunate, that being the first victim before the general crash, he made terms for himself, and retired into the House of Lords with a Viscount’s coronet; yet even that lucky retreat could not be obtained without a new, and most cruel, and unprecedented insult. The Marquis of Caermarthen objected to his admission into the House of Lords on the old sentence of the court martial. What heightened the flagrancy of that attack on the foundation of so almost obsolete a stigma was, that Lord Caermarthen had actually been in the King’s service with Lord George while recently Secretary of State. Lord Caermarthen made himself odious; and Lord George found at least that mankind were not so abandoned as to enjoy such wanton malevolence.Lord George, become Viscount Sackville, died in the autumn of 1785, of a short illness, and in a manner that once more did him honour. He spoke of the bitter scenes through which he had passed, and with great firmness declared how resigned he was to death. Of Prince Ferdinand he spoke with singular candour; said his Highness had undone him from resentment; yet was so great a man, that he not only forgave but admired him. General Sloper, his enemy, he said, was a very black man; for Lord Caermarthen, he was so weak, that he felt nothing for him but contempt. It was remarkable that Lord Caermarthen, moderate as his abilities were, disgustful as his assault on Lord Sackville had been, and though disliked by the King, was by the last collision of parties become at that very moment Secretary of State.[A long note on the character of Lord George Sackville is also given by Walpole in the Memoirs of George the Second (vol. ii. p. 432). He evidently bore that nobleman no good will, and falls in the course of his remarks into some inconsistencies, which, as Lord Holland remarks, “it would be difficult to explain, if it were any part of the duty of an editor to explain the contradictions of an author.” A well-written and interesting, though partial, account of Lord George is contained in the Memoirs of his friend and secretary, Richard Cumberland. Many additional and curious particulars have been collected by Mr. Coventry in that ingenious work, “Critical Enquiry regarding the real Author of Junius, proving them to have been written by Lord Viscount Sackville.”—E.]135He ran away with a natural daughter of Lord Baltimore, supposed to be of weak understanding, and who, besides, was almost a child.—E.136Vide the character of Lord Weymouth, supra vol. ii. pp. 176, 177, and vol. iii. pp. 135, 136.—E.137A very different account of this transaction is given in the Appendix, from the Memoirs of the Duke of Grafton, and no doubt it is the true one.—E.138He had prevailed on Grimaldi to attempt making peace; but the latter having the fate of Squillace before his eyes, would not take it on himself, but advised his master to call the Castilians to council. They, persuaded that a commercial nation, as England was, would not make war for a rock, exhorted the King to maintain his point of honour. D’Aranda, his favourite, agreed with the Castilians; but though the King, who, from the time he was King of Naples, and had been humbled into a neutrality by our navy, hated this country, yet he was at that moment so much influenced by Grimaldi, that he rose abruptly and broke up the council. [The King, independently of Grimaldi, was personally inclined to come to an accommodation with Englandat almost any rate.—(Malmesbury Dispatches, vol. ii. p. 66.)—E.]139The Comte du Châtelet (Choiseul’s friend), when Ambassador in England, told me that the Duc de Choiseul, though knowing he himself should be the successor, gave the Cardinal de Bernis warning of his approaching fall; but was not credited.140The Duchesse de Grammont, sister of Choiseul, and the Princesse de Beauvau, her friend.141Louis Philippeaux, created Duc de la Vrillière—the brother-in-law of Maurepas—a willing instrument of oppression, being licentious, selfish, and unprincipled, like too many of his colleagues. He died childless, in 1777, in his seventy-third year.—E.142See some account of La Chalotais, supra, vol. ii. p. 246.143Yet that was, in fact, only the ostensible weight that seemed to turn the scale. The Cabal were willing to let the Prince have the apparent credit of deciding his master. They had long been urging him to dismiss Choiseul; but they did not wish that a measure distasteful to the public should be rendered more so by their removing him to prevent a war with England. The Administration that succeeded Choiseul, immediately acted upon principles so consentaneous to those of the Court of London, namely, by exalting the prerogative, and by destruction of the Parliaments, that it was impossible but the two Courts should grow cordial friends; and so they continued to the death of Louis Quinze.144The King ordered La Vrillière to say that it was out of regard to the Duchesse de Choiseul that he did not send the Duke farther off.145The wife and the sister pretended to make a formal reconciliation, declaring that they gave up their own resentments that they might not disturb the Duke’s retirement and tranquillity. That Madame de Choiseul could not, however, forgive the injuries and insults she had received, appeared fifteen years afterwards; for, retiring into a convent on the Duke’s death, and Madame de Grammont, who was a large woman, and probably grown more corpulent, going to visit her, Madame de Choiseul excused herself from seeing her, on pretence that the conventual stairs were so narrow that Madame de Grammont would have difficulty to ascend them.146See a character of the Duc de Choiseul, supra, vol. ii. p. 243.—E.147Lord Sandwich has received similar praise, as an efficient public servant, from Mr. Butler, a very acute and well-informed writer, who lived on terms of intimacy with him, and was in every respect qualified to form a just opinion of his merits. “Lord Sandwich might serve as a model for a man of business. He rose early, and till a late dinner dedicated his whole time to business; he was very methodical; slow, not wearisome; cautious, not suspicious; rather a man of sense than a man of talent; he had much real good nature; his promises might be relied on. His manners partook of the old Court, and he possessed in a singular degree the art of attaching persons of every rank to him. Few houses were more agreeable or instructive than his Lordship’s; it was filled with rank, beauty, and talent, and every one was at ease. He professed to be fond of music, and musicians flocked to him; he was the soul of the Catch Club, and one of the Directors of the Concert of Ancient Music, but (which is the case with more than one noble, and more than one gentle amateur) he had not the least real ear for music, and was equally insensible of harmony and melody.”—(Butler’s Reminiscences, vol. i. p. 74.)148The spirit shown by the Duke of Bedford during his last illness is very remarkable; notwithstanding the languor and depression attendant on the complaint under which he laboured, he neglected no part of his business, either public or private. He spoke several times in the Lords during the session of 1770; he attended with his usual regularity the meetings of the various institutions of which he was a member; he superintended the management of his extensive estates, and yet all the while never allowing himself to lose the amusements which he enjoyed whilst in health. Some of the notices in his Journal are in this respect very characteristic.“31st March.—At the Trinity House for the election of Lord Weymouth to succeed the late Lord Winchelsea. Dined at the King’s Arms. Went to the opera—La Constanza di Rossinello—a bad one. Supped at Mr. Rigby’s in lieu of the Club, the Waldegraves being out of town.“4th April.—I went to Streatham, and in Charrington’s farm, Tooting, I marked three hundred and forty-four trees, chiefly elm,—many of them large ones. I came home to dinner; Lord and Lady Carlisle then dined with us. In the evening I went to Lady Holderness’s.”—(Appendix to Cavendish’s Debates, vol. i. p. 624.)In the collection of papers at Woburn are some of his letters written within a month of his death. One is an application to Lord Barrington on behalf of a French officer whom he considered it a point of honour to provide for. Neither the style nor tone is that of a dying man; he says, “It seems next to impossible to conceive that any fresh subterfuge can be found to avoid giving Captain Gualy the reasonable request I have made in his favour, especially considering the offer I have made to compensate to any officer, out of my own pocket, that might be aggrieved by it, such loss as he shall sustain by such promotion, more especially considering that this gentleman is kinsman and namesake of Madame de Choiseul, and a man of credit and character. Should it be so, I wish to have it explicitly of your Lordship, that I may inform that lady that I have entirely lost all credit at my own Court, and that the King’s Ministers pay no regard to my solicitations, though ever so just and reasonable, notwithstanding the services I may venture to assert that I did my country in negotiating and signing the last peace, &c.” Whatever might have been the Duke’s errors of judgment, he was a high-minded warm-hearted man, of great energy of character and capacity for business.—E.149Mr. Justice Bathurst was the second son of Allen, the first Lord Bathurst, “one of the most amiable, as he was one of the most fortunate men of his age,” immortalized alike by the polished poetry of Pope and the brilliant eloquence of Burke. He had not much of his father’s gaiety and spirit. For some years he had sat on the Bench of the Common Pleas, with a fair reputation, and he had previously enjoyed a considerable practice at the Bar. A very popular and useful work, Buller’s Nisi Prius, is understood to have been compiled from his notes. In early life he had made some figure in the House of Commons as Attorney-General to the Prince, and Walpole notices him as a rising man in the Opposition.—(Walpole’s Letters, vol. ii. p. 262.)—As a Commissioner of the Great Seal he showed but moderate parts, and his appointment as Chancellor excited much surprise. It had been believed that the Seals would be offered to Mr. De Grey, as they had been in the preceding year by the Duke of Grafton; and that gentleman so perfectly expected it, that he announced himself as Lord Chancellor at a dinner of his family. On the very day following this announcement it was declared that the choice had fallen on Mr. Bathurst. He is not to be ranked among the great men who have filled this high office; his decisions are seldom cited, and indeed few of them have been preserved. It was perhaps a disadvantage to him to preside over a bar of superior talents to himself, the leaders of which were Thurlow and Wedderburne. A coolness that took place between him and Lord North furnished the King, who never liked him, with an excuse for transferring the Seals to Lord Thurlow, and he became President of the Council. He died at an advanced age in 1794.—E.150When the writ for his re-election was moved, the House gave a deep groan—an unprecedented mark of dislike.151See some interesting observations on Wedderburne in Lord Brougham’s Historical Sketches, vol. i. p. 70–87.—E.152There appears to be no authority for this statement of Walpole’s. Grimaldi, indeed, told Mr. Harris, on the latter acquainting him with his recall, that “he was sure that the moment he mentioned it to the King his Majesty would recall his Ambassador from London, when, of course, no prospect would remain of that accommodation being brought about which his Catholic Majesty had so much at heart.”—(Mr. Harris to Lord Rochford, 13th of January, 1771.)—He also declined to recognise Mr. Harris any longer as Minister, upon the pitiful plea of the absence of his credentials. Probably he at the same time wrote to Prince Masserano desiring him to expect an immediate recall. Far from the King taking such a step, he manifested his satisfaction at the arrangement in a more evident manner than Grimaldi wished, and expressed great satisfaction at the gracious manner in which Prince Masserano had been received at the British Court after signing the declaration.—(Mr. Harris’s Letter, 14th February.—Malmesbury Correspondence, vol. i p. 75–6.)—E.153He was afterwards Secretary of State in 1782, and in the following year concluded the preliminaries of peace with France. Some of his letters, very agreeably written, are published in Lord Malmesbury’s Correspondence. He died in 1786.—E.154The debate is reported by Cavendish, vol. ii. p. 245.—Wedderburne not only voted for the motion, but supported it by a very able speech, which was answered by his colleague Thurlow (the Attorney-General). The best speech against the motion was made by Mr. Fox, who, it may be worth noticing, never altered the strong opinion which he expressed on this, as well as on other occasions, of the incapacity of Mr. Wilkes.—E.155William, the sixth Lord Craven. He had succeeded to the title only in 1769. He died in 1791. His widow married the Margrave of Anspach.—E.156The object of the motion was to repeal the clause which “protects such rights, titles, or claims, under any grants or letters patent from the Crown, as are prosecuted with effect, within a certain time therein (viz., in the Act) limited.” An able defence of Sir James Lowther was made by Lord North, and a still more able defence of the Duke of Portland by Dunning. The correctness of Walpole’s statement of the feelings of the Court is illustrated by the following extract from a letter of the King’s to Lord North: “11th February.—What has passed in the House of Commons this day is a fresh proof that truth, justice, and even honour are constantly to be given up when they relate to Sir James Lowther.”—(MS.)—The King’s indignation, however, was directed against what he conceived to be an encroachment on the prerogative of the Crown, and did not arise from any partiality for Sir James Lowther.—E.157Henry, first Duke of Newcastle of his family, and ninth Earl of Lincoln. He had separated himself from his uncle’s political friends on coming to the title. He died in 1794, aged seventy-four. The present Duke is his grandson.—E.158The House nevertheless afterwards decreed against Lord Anglesea.—E.159Cavendish’s Parliamentary Debates, vol. ii. p. 311.—The King saw the difficulties of this question, though he shared the prejudices of the day in a letter to Lord North of the 21st. He says, “I have much considered this affair of the printers, and in the strongest manner recommend that every caution should be used to prevent its becoming a serious business. It is highly necessary that this strange and lawless method of publishing debates should be put a stop to. But is not the House of Lords the best court to bring such miscreants before, as it can fine as well as imprison, and has broader shoulders to support the odium of so salutary a measure?”—(MS.)—It is easy to smile at the King’s indignation, but the publication of the debates was not more reasonable than the publication of the list of divisions, which many warm friends of constitutional liberty, even in the present day, were disposed to regard as highly objectionable.—E.160Sir George Colebrooke, Bart., an eminent merchant in the City, chairman, and for a long time a most influential director of the East India Company. He succeeded to the Baronetcy on the death of his brother, Sir James, who left two daughters—the Countess of Tankerville and Lady Aubrey. Sir George was a Whig, but he made the interests of the Company his first object in all his political connections, and in return he made his connection with the Company contribute to his political importance, which, at critical periods, when parties were nicely balanced, was found to be not inconsiderable. He had been educated at Leyden, and both wrote and spoke with spirit and ability. The failure of some extensive speculations in which he had been involved by a partner obliged his firm, in 1773, to suspend their payments, and he retired for some years to the Continent; but eventually a satisfactory arrangement was made with his creditors, and he passed the latter years of his life in ease and independence. It was during this period that he amused himself in composing his Memoirs, a work that gives a curious picture of the political intrigues of the day. He died in 1809, leaving two sons, both of whom attained high office in India. The younger, Mr. Henry Colebrooke, was a member of the Supreme Council in Bengal, a very eminent Oriental scholar, and the author of some valuable works on Hindoo law and literature. The present Baronet is his son.—E.161See infra, p. 319, where Walpole expresses a more favourable opinion of the measure. The union of Lord Barrington with Lord Chatham’s friends eventually proved fatal to it; but their arguments were completely refuted by Sir Gilbert Elliot.—(Cavendish, vol. ii. p. 325.)—E.162They broke the glasses of Lord Townshend’s state-coach as he passed to Parliament, and demolished Lord Annesley’s house.163This case is given briefly in contemporary reports, under the title of Smith and othersv.Lord Pomfret and wife. It had been originally heard before Lord Camden when he held the Great Seal. He directed an action at law to be brought to try the right in dispute. The verdict, as Walpole correctly states, was given against Lord Pomfret. His Lordship then applied to the Commissioners of the Great Seal, who had succeeded Lord Camden, for a new trial, which they refused. On this he appealed to the Lords, where anew trial, and not the estatein question, was granted, upon some distinction taken by Lord Mansfield as to the original order for the action having been made without Lord Pomfret’s consent—a point which seems to have escaped the counsel, who had argued the case on the merits, which seem to have been on Lord Pomfret’s side, since the new trial ended in a verdict in his favour. There are some points of practice involved in the case which make it probable that the decision of the Lords would not be followed in the present day, and there is no doubt that the interference of thelayLords in the adjudication of rights of this nature was wholly unjustifiable. No similar instance has occurred during the present century,—the attendance of lay peers on appeals being regarded as a mere matter of form. The decision on the appeal rests exclusively with thelawpeers, otherwise the appeal would be from a court of great authority to one of none at all.—E.164Mr. Turner was M.P. for York, and a friend of Lord Rockingham.—E.165The King wrote thus to Lord North on the 17th of March:—“If Lord Mayor and Oliver be not committed to the Tower the authority of the House of Commons is annihilated. Send Jenkinson to Lord Mansfield for his opinion of the best way of enforcing the commitment, if these people continue to disobey. You know very well I was averse to meddling with the printers, but now there is no retreating. The honour of the House of Commons must be supported.” (MS.)—E.166In the year 1762.—See vol. i. pp. 109, 120.167Then only Mr. Fox.168The City’s claim to exemption from the jurisdiction of the House was founded on the restitution of their charter by King William, which had been forfeited by the Quo Warranto of Charles the Second, and which confirmed all their ancient privileges, but gave no new; and the House said they had never enjoyed such exemption.169“They [the Spanish Ministers] also report that we have given averbalassurance to evacuate the Falkland Islands in the space of two months.”—(Letter from Mr. Harris to Lord Rochford, 14th February, in Malmesbury Correspondence, vol. i. p. 77.)—This was probably the origin of the report so generally credited at the time, and which the Spaniards circulated as much as possible in order to save their honour. The English Ministers, however, may have stated that the Islands might soon be given up as not worth keeping, which indeed speedily happened.—E.170Three millions, it was said, but undoubtedly half the number, were lost by that execrable monopoly. [Mill states that a third of the population perished.—History of British India, vol. iii. p. 431.—E.]171Sir John Wrottesley, of Wrottesley, M.P. for the county of Stafford, afterwards a Major-General and Colonel of the 45th regiment. He was nephew of the Duchess of Bedford, and brother-in-law of the Duke of Grafton. He died in 1787. Lord Wrottesley is his grandson.—E.172Son of James Grenville, younger brother of Lord Temple.173They got his hat, and sold small pieces of it as relics and monuments of their fury.174He gave a good living to Sir William Meredith’s brother, for this service.175Eldest son of the Earl of Sandwich.176He was a shrewd clever man, and seems to have succeeded in all he undertook. His popularity during his mayoralty obtained him a second rich widow. He died very opulent in 1793, aged sixty-five. A detailed account of him is given in the “Gentleman’s Magazine,” vol. lxiii. p. 188; and this was afterwards enlarged and printed in a 4to volume, at the expense of his widow, for private circulation. Thus he procured a place in theBiographie Universelle, a work which, with singular want of discrimination, leaves unnoticed some of his most distinguished contemporaries, particularly Wedderburne and De Grey.—E.177Dr. Scott, Rector of Simonburn in Northumberland. Like too many divines of his day he dabbled much in political writing. He died in 1814.—E.178The estimation in which Dr. Markham was held, both as Master of Westminster and as a scholar, is alone sufficient to justify his appointment. He was a personal friend of Lord Mansfield, like whom he professed Tory principles; but he was far too honest and of too high a spirit to be guilty of any unworthiness as a courtier. He owes his place in the Rolliad mainly to his friendship for Hastings, whom he loved and admired, as he also did Edmund Burke. It would be unjust to his memory to overlook that he lived on terms of affectionate regard with General Wolfe. He was by no means an exaggerated politician. He afterwards became Archbishop of York, and held that preferment for near thirty years, having died in 1807.—E.179She was a daughter of Lord Pomfret, and had married the Hon. William Finch, envoy in Sweden and in Holland, second son of Lord Winchelsea who died in 1776. She was an accomplished and most estimable person.—E.180He afterwards became Dean of Christchurch, a college over which he presided for many years with distinguished reputation. A bishoprick was often within his reach, but he preferred seeing that of Oxford given to his brother, who was also a man of learning and character.—E.181This appeared afterwards, when he proved to have been dazzled by royal favour, or duped by royal hypocrisy. He broke out in the year ——, at a meeting of the association in Yorkshire, into so extravagant a panegyric on the King, that he exposed himself to the highest ridicule.182Mademoiselle Crom of Geneva.183The younger. His father, though in Parliament also, had not spoken there for many years.184Brother of the Duke of Hamilton, killed by Lord Mohun in a duel in the reign of Queen Anne. Lord Selkirk was a fulsome old courtier.185This was particularly applicable to Sir Gilbert Elliot, who had quitted Archibald Duke of Argyle for Mr. Pitt, Mr. Pitt for Lord Bute, Lord Bute for Mr. Grenville, and had again deserted from Mr. Grenville to Lord Bute, and was at the service of the Duke of Grafton, who neglected him, and of Lord North whom he assisted, while at the same time he had privately more weight with the King than Lord North had.186The Dauphin said exultingly to the Prince of Conti, “Papa Roi est bien le maître pourtant.” The Prince replied, “Oui, Monseigneur, si fort le maître, qu’il ne tient qu’à lui de donner sa couronne à M. le Comte d’Artois, votre cadet.”187See supra, p. 225.188See supra, p. 284.189Arthur Annesley had married Lucy, only daughter of Lord Lyttelton. His claim to the Earldom of Anglesea, was rejected by the House of Lords in England, but the Irish House of Lords recognised him as Viscount Valentia. The proceedings on his claim possess considerable interest, but still more is to be found in the contest between his father and his cousin, which suggested to Sir Walter Scott some of the incidents in Guy Mannering.—E.190See the proceedings in Cavendish, vol. ii. p. 307. The gross corruption of the borough, and the improbability of any improvement, furnished a strong ground for the disfranchisement.—E.191Personal abuse was carried so far in the public papers at this time, that Monsieur Francés, the French resident, received an anonymous letter, threatening him with defamation unless he should send 50l.to the writer. He despised the menace, and heard no more of it.192See particularly Memoirs of George the Second, vol. i. p. 93.—E.193The Duke of Grafton was immediately attacked by his bitter enemy, Junius; but the same paper contained a more terrible invective on the King, whom it inhumanly taxed with the murder of Mr. Yorke, for having forced him to accept the Great Seal, which occasioned his death.—[Junius, Letter l. See the Duke of Grafton’s Memoirs in the Appendix.—E.]194Dr. North subsequently was preferred to the see of Winchester, which he held until his death at a very advanced age in 1820. His son, who is also in holy orders, has succeeded to the Earldom of Guilford.—E.195The title of it was “The Adventures of Humphrey Clinker.” [Walpole here yields to the miserable party prejudices of his day, which pursued poor Smollett even beyond the tomb. Humphrey Clinker, as Sir Walter Scott elegantly and justly observes, “was the last, and, like music sweetest at the close, the sweetest of his compositions. It is not worth defending so excellent a work against so weak an objection.”—(Prose Works, vol. iii. p. 162.)—E.]196D’Eon was afterwards allowed to be a woman, and assumed the habit.—[But see supra, vol. ii. p. 14, note.—E.]197Maupeou’s character presents a remarkable contrast to that of his illustrious predecessor, D’Aguessau. He lived in obscurity from the time that he was removed from the Government, but had amassed great wealth. He died in 1792, aged sixty-eight.—E.198Madame Adelaide was not less respectable than her sister Madame Victoire. The latter was the mother of the accomplished Comte de Narbonne. See Memoirs of Madame D’Arblay, vol. v. p. 371.—E.199Mademoiselle Guimarre. She lodged at the Communauté de St. Joseph, Rue St. Dominique, in the same convent where lived my great friend, Madame du Deffand.200Madame de la Garde.201Madame Sabatin.202Her first husband was the Prince of Lixin; but she herself was certainly daughter of Leopold, Duke of Lorrain, by his adored mistress, the Princess of Craon, whose twenty children all resembled the Duke, and not their supposed father, the Prince of Craon.203Lord Harcourt soon afterwards went to England, though it had been a wiser step to have kept him there to make his court, when the Spanish Minister’s conduct must have prejudiced her so much against the Court of Spain; but we trusted to the pacific disposition of the new French Ministry. They kept the peace with us for the same reason that we had made it with them,—that the King might be at leisure to crush his Parliaments!204The Comte de Fuentes. (See vol. i. p. 127.)205The Marquis di Caraccioli, who had been Minister in England, from whence he was just arrived.206The Chancellors of France do not visit Foreign Ministers, both insisting on the first visit.207He dealt to the extent of 14,000l.a-year.208He had been imprisoned for challenging Sir W. Meredith; and was a different person from Allen killed in St. George’s Fields. (Supra vol. iii. p. 325.)209About the same time the Lieutenancy of Glamorganshire was refused to Lord Mount Stewart, Lord Bute’s son, for the same reason. Yet that the Favourite retained his influence with the Princess of Wales, and that she still retained some over her son, came out by the indiscretion of Mrs. Anne Pitt, privy-purse to the Princess, and intimate friend of Lady Bute. Endeavouring to persuade her cousin, the young Lord Villiers, only son of the Countess of Grandison, to marry a younger and homely daughter of Lord Bute, she engaged that if he would, the Princess Dowager would procure him an English peerage—he preferred a pretty daughter of Lord Hertford.210I cannot help taking notice of a faulty expression of Bishop Burnet. He says Lord Clarendon “had too much levity of wit.” One would think he was rather speaking of the Duke of Buckingham’s buffoonery, when he carried the fire shovel and tongs to mimic the Chancellor’s mace and purse. Burnet meant Lord Clarendon’s want of judgment in venting his satiric humour too incautiously against his enemies. (Burnet’s History of His Own Time, vol. i. p. 95.) I am disposed to think that Burnet referred to Clarendon’s freedom in private, especially at his own table, for he was always of very convivial habits. This interpretation is rather strengthened by the words which follow the passage quoted, viz., “and he did not always observe the decorum of his post.”—E.211Sir John afterwards received a Peerage from Mr. Pitt. He died without male issue in 1808.—E.212“The Princess Dowager was a woman of strong mind. When she was very ill she would order her carriage and drive about the streets to show that she was alive. The King and Queen used to go and see her every evening at eight o’clock; but when she got worse they went at seven, pretending they mistook the hour. The night before her death they were with her from seven to nine. She kept up the conversation as usual, went to bed, and was found dead in the morning.”—(Pinkerton’s Walpoliana, vol. i. p. 65.—E.)213Elliot MSS.214Duke of Grafton’s MS. Memoirs.

Lord George, become Viscount Sackville, died in the autumn of 1785, of a short illness, and in a manner that once more did him honour. He spoke of the bitter scenes through which he had passed, and with great firmness declared how resigned he was to death. Of Prince Ferdinand he spoke with singular candour; said his Highness had undone him from resentment; yet was so great a man, that he not only forgave but admired him. General Sloper, his enemy, he said, was a very black man; for Lord Caermarthen, he was so weak, that he felt nothing for him but contempt. It was remarkable that Lord Caermarthen, moderate as his abilities were, disgustful as his assault on Lord Sackville had been, and though disliked by the King, was by the last collision of parties become at that very moment Secretary of State.

[A long note on the character of Lord George Sackville is also given by Walpole in the Memoirs of George the Second (vol. ii. p. 432). He evidently bore that nobleman no good will, and falls in the course of his remarks into some inconsistencies, which, as Lord Holland remarks, “it would be difficult to explain, if it were any part of the duty of an editor to explain the contradictions of an author.” A well-written and interesting, though partial, account of Lord George is contained in the Memoirs of his friend and secretary, Richard Cumberland. Many additional and curious particulars have been collected by Mr. Coventry in that ingenious work, “Critical Enquiry regarding the real Author of Junius, proving them to have been written by Lord Viscount Sackville.”—E.]

135He ran away with a natural daughter of Lord Baltimore, supposed to be of weak understanding, and who, besides, was almost a child.—E.

136Vide the character of Lord Weymouth, supra vol. ii. pp. 176, 177, and vol. iii. pp. 135, 136.—E.

137A very different account of this transaction is given in the Appendix, from the Memoirs of the Duke of Grafton, and no doubt it is the true one.—E.

138He had prevailed on Grimaldi to attempt making peace; but the latter having the fate of Squillace before his eyes, would not take it on himself, but advised his master to call the Castilians to council. They, persuaded that a commercial nation, as England was, would not make war for a rock, exhorted the King to maintain his point of honour. D’Aranda, his favourite, agreed with the Castilians; but though the King, who, from the time he was King of Naples, and had been humbled into a neutrality by our navy, hated this country, yet he was at that moment so much influenced by Grimaldi, that he rose abruptly and broke up the council. [The King, independently of Grimaldi, was personally inclined to come to an accommodation with Englandat almost any rate.—(Malmesbury Dispatches, vol. ii. p. 66.)—E.]

139The Comte du Châtelet (Choiseul’s friend), when Ambassador in England, told me that the Duc de Choiseul, though knowing he himself should be the successor, gave the Cardinal de Bernis warning of his approaching fall; but was not credited.

140The Duchesse de Grammont, sister of Choiseul, and the Princesse de Beauvau, her friend.

141Louis Philippeaux, created Duc de la Vrillière—the brother-in-law of Maurepas—a willing instrument of oppression, being licentious, selfish, and unprincipled, like too many of his colleagues. He died childless, in 1777, in his seventy-third year.—E.

142See some account of La Chalotais, supra, vol. ii. p. 246.

143Yet that was, in fact, only the ostensible weight that seemed to turn the scale. The Cabal were willing to let the Prince have the apparent credit of deciding his master. They had long been urging him to dismiss Choiseul; but they did not wish that a measure distasteful to the public should be rendered more so by their removing him to prevent a war with England. The Administration that succeeded Choiseul, immediately acted upon principles so consentaneous to those of the Court of London, namely, by exalting the prerogative, and by destruction of the Parliaments, that it was impossible but the two Courts should grow cordial friends; and so they continued to the death of Louis Quinze.

144The King ordered La Vrillière to say that it was out of regard to the Duchesse de Choiseul that he did not send the Duke farther off.

145The wife and the sister pretended to make a formal reconciliation, declaring that they gave up their own resentments that they might not disturb the Duke’s retirement and tranquillity. That Madame de Choiseul could not, however, forgive the injuries and insults she had received, appeared fifteen years afterwards; for, retiring into a convent on the Duke’s death, and Madame de Grammont, who was a large woman, and probably grown more corpulent, going to visit her, Madame de Choiseul excused herself from seeing her, on pretence that the conventual stairs were so narrow that Madame de Grammont would have difficulty to ascend them.

146See a character of the Duc de Choiseul, supra, vol. ii. p. 243.—E.

147Lord Sandwich has received similar praise, as an efficient public servant, from Mr. Butler, a very acute and well-informed writer, who lived on terms of intimacy with him, and was in every respect qualified to form a just opinion of his merits. “Lord Sandwich might serve as a model for a man of business. He rose early, and till a late dinner dedicated his whole time to business; he was very methodical; slow, not wearisome; cautious, not suspicious; rather a man of sense than a man of talent; he had much real good nature; his promises might be relied on. His manners partook of the old Court, and he possessed in a singular degree the art of attaching persons of every rank to him. Few houses were more agreeable or instructive than his Lordship’s; it was filled with rank, beauty, and talent, and every one was at ease. He professed to be fond of music, and musicians flocked to him; he was the soul of the Catch Club, and one of the Directors of the Concert of Ancient Music, but (which is the case with more than one noble, and more than one gentle amateur) he had not the least real ear for music, and was equally insensible of harmony and melody.”—(Butler’s Reminiscences, vol. i. p. 74.)

148The spirit shown by the Duke of Bedford during his last illness is very remarkable; notwithstanding the languor and depression attendant on the complaint under which he laboured, he neglected no part of his business, either public or private. He spoke several times in the Lords during the session of 1770; he attended with his usual regularity the meetings of the various institutions of which he was a member; he superintended the management of his extensive estates, and yet all the while never allowing himself to lose the amusements which he enjoyed whilst in health. Some of the notices in his Journal are in this respect very characteristic.“31st March.—At the Trinity House for the election of Lord Weymouth to succeed the late Lord Winchelsea. Dined at the King’s Arms. Went to the opera—La Constanza di Rossinello—a bad one. Supped at Mr. Rigby’s in lieu of the Club, the Waldegraves being out of town.“4th April.—I went to Streatham, and in Charrington’s farm, Tooting, I marked three hundred and forty-four trees, chiefly elm,—many of them large ones. I came home to dinner; Lord and Lady Carlisle then dined with us. In the evening I went to Lady Holderness’s.”—(Appendix to Cavendish’s Debates, vol. i. p. 624.)In the collection of papers at Woburn are some of his letters written within a month of his death. One is an application to Lord Barrington on behalf of a French officer whom he considered it a point of honour to provide for. Neither the style nor tone is that of a dying man; he says, “It seems next to impossible to conceive that any fresh subterfuge can be found to avoid giving Captain Gualy the reasonable request I have made in his favour, especially considering the offer I have made to compensate to any officer, out of my own pocket, that might be aggrieved by it, such loss as he shall sustain by such promotion, more especially considering that this gentleman is kinsman and namesake of Madame de Choiseul, and a man of credit and character. Should it be so, I wish to have it explicitly of your Lordship, that I may inform that lady that I have entirely lost all credit at my own Court, and that the King’s Ministers pay no regard to my solicitations, though ever so just and reasonable, notwithstanding the services I may venture to assert that I did my country in negotiating and signing the last peace, &c.” Whatever might have been the Duke’s errors of judgment, he was a high-minded warm-hearted man, of great energy of character and capacity for business.—E.

“31st March.—At the Trinity House for the election of Lord Weymouth to succeed the late Lord Winchelsea. Dined at the King’s Arms. Went to the opera—La Constanza di Rossinello—a bad one. Supped at Mr. Rigby’s in lieu of the Club, the Waldegraves being out of town.

“4th April.—I went to Streatham, and in Charrington’s farm, Tooting, I marked three hundred and forty-four trees, chiefly elm,—many of them large ones. I came home to dinner; Lord and Lady Carlisle then dined with us. In the evening I went to Lady Holderness’s.”—(Appendix to Cavendish’s Debates, vol. i. p. 624.)

In the collection of papers at Woburn are some of his letters written within a month of his death. One is an application to Lord Barrington on behalf of a French officer whom he considered it a point of honour to provide for. Neither the style nor tone is that of a dying man; he says, “It seems next to impossible to conceive that any fresh subterfuge can be found to avoid giving Captain Gualy the reasonable request I have made in his favour, especially considering the offer I have made to compensate to any officer, out of my own pocket, that might be aggrieved by it, such loss as he shall sustain by such promotion, more especially considering that this gentleman is kinsman and namesake of Madame de Choiseul, and a man of credit and character. Should it be so, I wish to have it explicitly of your Lordship, that I may inform that lady that I have entirely lost all credit at my own Court, and that the King’s Ministers pay no regard to my solicitations, though ever so just and reasonable, notwithstanding the services I may venture to assert that I did my country in negotiating and signing the last peace, &c.” Whatever might have been the Duke’s errors of judgment, he was a high-minded warm-hearted man, of great energy of character and capacity for business.—E.

149Mr. Justice Bathurst was the second son of Allen, the first Lord Bathurst, “one of the most amiable, as he was one of the most fortunate men of his age,” immortalized alike by the polished poetry of Pope and the brilliant eloquence of Burke. He had not much of his father’s gaiety and spirit. For some years he had sat on the Bench of the Common Pleas, with a fair reputation, and he had previously enjoyed a considerable practice at the Bar. A very popular and useful work, Buller’s Nisi Prius, is understood to have been compiled from his notes. In early life he had made some figure in the House of Commons as Attorney-General to the Prince, and Walpole notices him as a rising man in the Opposition.—(Walpole’s Letters, vol. ii. p. 262.)—As a Commissioner of the Great Seal he showed but moderate parts, and his appointment as Chancellor excited much surprise. It had been believed that the Seals would be offered to Mr. De Grey, as they had been in the preceding year by the Duke of Grafton; and that gentleman so perfectly expected it, that he announced himself as Lord Chancellor at a dinner of his family. On the very day following this announcement it was declared that the choice had fallen on Mr. Bathurst. He is not to be ranked among the great men who have filled this high office; his decisions are seldom cited, and indeed few of them have been preserved. It was perhaps a disadvantage to him to preside over a bar of superior talents to himself, the leaders of which were Thurlow and Wedderburne. A coolness that took place between him and Lord North furnished the King, who never liked him, with an excuse for transferring the Seals to Lord Thurlow, and he became President of the Council. He died at an advanced age in 1794.—E.

150When the writ for his re-election was moved, the House gave a deep groan—an unprecedented mark of dislike.

151See some interesting observations on Wedderburne in Lord Brougham’s Historical Sketches, vol. i. p. 70–87.—E.

152There appears to be no authority for this statement of Walpole’s. Grimaldi, indeed, told Mr. Harris, on the latter acquainting him with his recall, that “he was sure that the moment he mentioned it to the King his Majesty would recall his Ambassador from London, when, of course, no prospect would remain of that accommodation being brought about which his Catholic Majesty had so much at heart.”—(Mr. Harris to Lord Rochford, 13th of January, 1771.)—He also declined to recognise Mr. Harris any longer as Minister, upon the pitiful plea of the absence of his credentials. Probably he at the same time wrote to Prince Masserano desiring him to expect an immediate recall. Far from the King taking such a step, he manifested his satisfaction at the arrangement in a more evident manner than Grimaldi wished, and expressed great satisfaction at the gracious manner in which Prince Masserano had been received at the British Court after signing the declaration.—(Mr. Harris’s Letter, 14th February.—Malmesbury Correspondence, vol. i p. 75–6.)—E.

153He was afterwards Secretary of State in 1782, and in the following year concluded the preliminaries of peace with France. Some of his letters, very agreeably written, are published in Lord Malmesbury’s Correspondence. He died in 1786.—E.

154The debate is reported by Cavendish, vol. ii. p. 245.—Wedderburne not only voted for the motion, but supported it by a very able speech, which was answered by his colleague Thurlow (the Attorney-General). The best speech against the motion was made by Mr. Fox, who, it may be worth noticing, never altered the strong opinion which he expressed on this, as well as on other occasions, of the incapacity of Mr. Wilkes.—E.

155William, the sixth Lord Craven. He had succeeded to the title only in 1769. He died in 1791. His widow married the Margrave of Anspach.—E.

156The object of the motion was to repeal the clause which “protects such rights, titles, or claims, under any grants or letters patent from the Crown, as are prosecuted with effect, within a certain time therein (viz., in the Act) limited.” An able defence of Sir James Lowther was made by Lord North, and a still more able defence of the Duke of Portland by Dunning. The correctness of Walpole’s statement of the feelings of the Court is illustrated by the following extract from a letter of the King’s to Lord North: “11th February.—What has passed in the House of Commons this day is a fresh proof that truth, justice, and even honour are constantly to be given up when they relate to Sir James Lowther.”—(MS.)—The King’s indignation, however, was directed against what he conceived to be an encroachment on the prerogative of the Crown, and did not arise from any partiality for Sir James Lowther.—E.

157Henry, first Duke of Newcastle of his family, and ninth Earl of Lincoln. He had separated himself from his uncle’s political friends on coming to the title. He died in 1794, aged seventy-four. The present Duke is his grandson.—E.

158The House nevertheless afterwards decreed against Lord Anglesea.—E.

159Cavendish’s Parliamentary Debates, vol. ii. p. 311.—The King saw the difficulties of this question, though he shared the prejudices of the day in a letter to Lord North of the 21st. He says, “I have much considered this affair of the printers, and in the strongest manner recommend that every caution should be used to prevent its becoming a serious business. It is highly necessary that this strange and lawless method of publishing debates should be put a stop to. But is not the House of Lords the best court to bring such miscreants before, as it can fine as well as imprison, and has broader shoulders to support the odium of so salutary a measure?”—(MS.)—It is easy to smile at the King’s indignation, but the publication of the debates was not more reasonable than the publication of the list of divisions, which many warm friends of constitutional liberty, even in the present day, were disposed to regard as highly objectionable.—E.

160Sir George Colebrooke, Bart., an eminent merchant in the City, chairman, and for a long time a most influential director of the East India Company. He succeeded to the Baronetcy on the death of his brother, Sir James, who left two daughters—the Countess of Tankerville and Lady Aubrey. Sir George was a Whig, but he made the interests of the Company his first object in all his political connections, and in return he made his connection with the Company contribute to his political importance, which, at critical periods, when parties were nicely balanced, was found to be not inconsiderable. He had been educated at Leyden, and both wrote and spoke with spirit and ability. The failure of some extensive speculations in which he had been involved by a partner obliged his firm, in 1773, to suspend their payments, and he retired for some years to the Continent; but eventually a satisfactory arrangement was made with his creditors, and he passed the latter years of his life in ease and independence. It was during this period that he amused himself in composing his Memoirs, a work that gives a curious picture of the political intrigues of the day. He died in 1809, leaving two sons, both of whom attained high office in India. The younger, Mr. Henry Colebrooke, was a member of the Supreme Council in Bengal, a very eminent Oriental scholar, and the author of some valuable works on Hindoo law and literature. The present Baronet is his son.—E.

161See infra, p. 319, where Walpole expresses a more favourable opinion of the measure. The union of Lord Barrington with Lord Chatham’s friends eventually proved fatal to it; but their arguments were completely refuted by Sir Gilbert Elliot.—(Cavendish, vol. ii. p. 325.)—E.

162They broke the glasses of Lord Townshend’s state-coach as he passed to Parliament, and demolished Lord Annesley’s house.

163This case is given briefly in contemporary reports, under the title of Smith and othersv.Lord Pomfret and wife. It had been originally heard before Lord Camden when he held the Great Seal. He directed an action at law to be brought to try the right in dispute. The verdict, as Walpole correctly states, was given against Lord Pomfret. His Lordship then applied to the Commissioners of the Great Seal, who had succeeded Lord Camden, for a new trial, which they refused. On this he appealed to the Lords, where anew trial, and not the estatein question, was granted, upon some distinction taken by Lord Mansfield as to the original order for the action having been made without Lord Pomfret’s consent—a point which seems to have escaped the counsel, who had argued the case on the merits, which seem to have been on Lord Pomfret’s side, since the new trial ended in a verdict in his favour. There are some points of practice involved in the case which make it probable that the decision of the Lords would not be followed in the present day, and there is no doubt that the interference of thelayLords in the adjudication of rights of this nature was wholly unjustifiable. No similar instance has occurred during the present century,—the attendance of lay peers on appeals being regarded as a mere matter of form. The decision on the appeal rests exclusively with thelawpeers, otherwise the appeal would be from a court of great authority to one of none at all.—E.

164Mr. Turner was M.P. for York, and a friend of Lord Rockingham.—E.

165The King wrote thus to Lord North on the 17th of March:—“If Lord Mayor and Oliver be not committed to the Tower the authority of the House of Commons is annihilated. Send Jenkinson to Lord Mansfield for his opinion of the best way of enforcing the commitment, if these people continue to disobey. You know very well I was averse to meddling with the printers, but now there is no retreating. The honour of the House of Commons must be supported.” (MS.)—E.

166In the year 1762.—See vol. i. pp. 109, 120.

167Then only Mr. Fox.

168The City’s claim to exemption from the jurisdiction of the House was founded on the restitution of their charter by King William, which had been forfeited by the Quo Warranto of Charles the Second, and which confirmed all their ancient privileges, but gave no new; and the House said they had never enjoyed such exemption.

169“They [the Spanish Ministers] also report that we have given averbalassurance to evacuate the Falkland Islands in the space of two months.”—(Letter from Mr. Harris to Lord Rochford, 14th February, in Malmesbury Correspondence, vol. i. p. 77.)—This was probably the origin of the report so generally credited at the time, and which the Spaniards circulated as much as possible in order to save their honour. The English Ministers, however, may have stated that the Islands might soon be given up as not worth keeping, which indeed speedily happened.—E.

170Three millions, it was said, but undoubtedly half the number, were lost by that execrable monopoly. [Mill states that a third of the population perished.—History of British India, vol. iii. p. 431.—E.]

171Sir John Wrottesley, of Wrottesley, M.P. for the county of Stafford, afterwards a Major-General and Colonel of the 45th regiment. He was nephew of the Duchess of Bedford, and brother-in-law of the Duke of Grafton. He died in 1787. Lord Wrottesley is his grandson.—E.

172Son of James Grenville, younger brother of Lord Temple.

173They got his hat, and sold small pieces of it as relics and monuments of their fury.

174He gave a good living to Sir William Meredith’s brother, for this service.

175Eldest son of the Earl of Sandwich.

176He was a shrewd clever man, and seems to have succeeded in all he undertook. His popularity during his mayoralty obtained him a second rich widow. He died very opulent in 1793, aged sixty-five. A detailed account of him is given in the “Gentleman’s Magazine,” vol. lxiii. p. 188; and this was afterwards enlarged and printed in a 4to volume, at the expense of his widow, for private circulation. Thus he procured a place in theBiographie Universelle, a work which, with singular want of discrimination, leaves unnoticed some of his most distinguished contemporaries, particularly Wedderburne and De Grey.—E.

177Dr. Scott, Rector of Simonburn in Northumberland. Like too many divines of his day he dabbled much in political writing. He died in 1814.—E.

178The estimation in which Dr. Markham was held, both as Master of Westminster and as a scholar, is alone sufficient to justify his appointment. He was a personal friend of Lord Mansfield, like whom he professed Tory principles; but he was far too honest and of too high a spirit to be guilty of any unworthiness as a courtier. He owes his place in the Rolliad mainly to his friendship for Hastings, whom he loved and admired, as he also did Edmund Burke. It would be unjust to his memory to overlook that he lived on terms of affectionate regard with General Wolfe. He was by no means an exaggerated politician. He afterwards became Archbishop of York, and held that preferment for near thirty years, having died in 1807.—E.

179She was a daughter of Lord Pomfret, and had married the Hon. William Finch, envoy in Sweden and in Holland, second son of Lord Winchelsea who died in 1776. She was an accomplished and most estimable person.—E.

180He afterwards became Dean of Christchurch, a college over which he presided for many years with distinguished reputation. A bishoprick was often within his reach, but he preferred seeing that of Oxford given to his brother, who was also a man of learning and character.—E.

181This appeared afterwards, when he proved to have been dazzled by royal favour, or duped by royal hypocrisy. He broke out in the year ——, at a meeting of the association in Yorkshire, into so extravagant a panegyric on the King, that he exposed himself to the highest ridicule.

182Mademoiselle Crom of Geneva.

183The younger. His father, though in Parliament also, had not spoken there for many years.

184Brother of the Duke of Hamilton, killed by Lord Mohun in a duel in the reign of Queen Anne. Lord Selkirk was a fulsome old courtier.

185This was particularly applicable to Sir Gilbert Elliot, who had quitted Archibald Duke of Argyle for Mr. Pitt, Mr. Pitt for Lord Bute, Lord Bute for Mr. Grenville, and had again deserted from Mr. Grenville to Lord Bute, and was at the service of the Duke of Grafton, who neglected him, and of Lord North whom he assisted, while at the same time he had privately more weight with the King than Lord North had.

186The Dauphin said exultingly to the Prince of Conti, “Papa Roi est bien le maître pourtant.” The Prince replied, “Oui, Monseigneur, si fort le maître, qu’il ne tient qu’à lui de donner sa couronne à M. le Comte d’Artois, votre cadet.”

187See supra, p. 225.

188See supra, p. 284.

189Arthur Annesley had married Lucy, only daughter of Lord Lyttelton. His claim to the Earldom of Anglesea, was rejected by the House of Lords in England, but the Irish House of Lords recognised him as Viscount Valentia. The proceedings on his claim possess considerable interest, but still more is to be found in the contest between his father and his cousin, which suggested to Sir Walter Scott some of the incidents in Guy Mannering.—E.

190See the proceedings in Cavendish, vol. ii. p. 307. The gross corruption of the borough, and the improbability of any improvement, furnished a strong ground for the disfranchisement.—E.

191Personal abuse was carried so far in the public papers at this time, that Monsieur Francés, the French resident, received an anonymous letter, threatening him with defamation unless he should send 50l.to the writer. He despised the menace, and heard no more of it.

192See particularly Memoirs of George the Second, vol. i. p. 93.—E.

193The Duke of Grafton was immediately attacked by his bitter enemy, Junius; but the same paper contained a more terrible invective on the King, whom it inhumanly taxed with the murder of Mr. Yorke, for having forced him to accept the Great Seal, which occasioned his death.—[Junius, Letter l. See the Duke of Grafton’s Memoirs in the Appendix.—E.]

194Dr. North subsequently was preferred to the see of Winchester, which he held until his death at a very advanced age in 1820. His son, who is also in holy orders, has succeeded to the Earldom of Guilford.—E.

195The title of it was “The Adventures of Humphrey Clinker.” [Walpole here yields to the miserable party prejudices of his day, which pursued poor Smollett even beyond the tomb. Humphrey Clinker, as Sir Walter Scott elegantly and justly observes, “was the last, and, like music sweetest at the close, the sweetest of his compositions. It is not worth defending so excellent a work against so weak an objection.”—(Prose Works, vol. iii. p. 162.)—E.]

196D’Eon was afterwards allowed to be a woman, and assumed the habit.—[But see supra, vol. ii. p. 14, note.—E.]

197Maupeou’s character presents a remarkable contrast to that of his illustrious predecessor, D’Aguessau. He lived in obscurity from the time that he was removed from the Government, but had amassed great wealth. He died in 1792, aged sixty-eight.—E.

198Madame Adelaide was not less respectable than her sister Madame Victoire. The latter was the mother of the accomplished Comte de Narbonne. See Memoirs of Madame D’Arblay, vol. v. p. 371.—E.

199Mademoiselle Guimarre. She lodged at the Communauté de St. Joseph, Rue St. Dominique, in the same convent where lived my great friend, Madame du Deffand.

200Madame de la Garde.

201Madame Sabatin.

202Her first husband was the Prince of Lixin; but she herself was certainly daughter of Leopold, Duke of Lorrain, by his adored mistress, the Princess of Craon, whose twenty children all resembled the Duke, and not their supposed father, the Prince of Craon.

203Lord Harcourt soon afterwards went to England, though it had been a wiser step to have kept him there to make his court, when the Spanish Minister’s conduct must have prejudiced her so much against the Court of Spain; but we trusted to the pacific disposition of the new French Ministry. They kept the peace with us for the same reason that we had made it with them,—that the King might be at leisure to crush his Parliaments!

204The Comte de Fuentes. (See vol. i. p. 127.)

205The Marquis di Caraccioli, who had been Minister in England, from whence he was just arrived.

206The Chancellors of France do not visit Foreign Ministers, both insisting on the first visit.

207He dealt to the extent of 14,000l.a-year.

208He had been imprisoned for challenging Sir W. Meredith; and was a different person from Allen killed in St. George’s Fields. (Supra vol. iii. p. 325.)

209About the same time the Lieutenancy of Glamorganshire was refused to Lord Mount Stewart, Lord Bute’s son, for the same reason. Yet that the Favourite retained his influence with the Princess of Wales, and that she still retained some over her son, came out by the indiscretion of Mrs. Anne Pitt, privy-purse to the Princess, and intimate friend of Lady Bute. Endeavouring to persuade her cousin, the young Lord Villiers, only son of the Countess of Grandison, to marry a younger and homely daughter of Lord Bute, she engaged that if he would, the Princess Dowager would procure him an English peerage—he preferred a pretty daughter of Lord Hertford.

210I cannot help taking notice of a faulty expression of Bishop Burnet. He says Lord Clarendon “had too much levity of wit.” One would think he was rather speaking of the Duke of Buckingham’s buffoonery, when he carried the fire shovel and tongs to mimic the Chancellor’s mace and purse. Burnet meant Lord Clarendon’s want of judgment in venting his satiric humour too incautiously against his enemies. (Burnet’s History of His Own Time, vol. i. p. 95.) I am disposed to think that Burnet referred to Clarendon’s freedom in private, especially at his own table, for he was always of very convivial habits. This interpretation is rather strengthened by the words which follow the passage quoted, viz., “and he did not always observe the decorum of his post.”—E.

211Sir John afterwards received a Peerage from Mr. Pitt. He died without male issue in 1808.—E.

212“The Princess Dowager was a woman of strong mind. When she was very ill she would order her carriage and drive about the streets to show that she was alive. The King and Queen used to go and see her every evening at eight o’clock; but when she got worse they went at seven, pretending they mistook the hour. The night before her death they were with her from seven to nine. She kept up the conversation as usual, went to bed, and was found dead in the morning.”—(Pinkerton’s Walpoliana, vol. i. p. 65.—E.)

213Elliot MSS.

214Duke of Grafton’s MS. Memoirs.

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