HIS PRIVATE AFFAIRS.
The short delay of my answer, you must ascribe on this occasion not to lazyness but to despondency. What a melancholy prospect of public and private affairs. Excuse my saying anything of the former (indeed there is nothing fixed or certain), I am too much engaged by the latter.
What can I say about Fleet Street? The remittance they mention from Hugonin, with another of a halfe year's rent fromBucks, will diminish though not discharge the accruing interest which indeed must always gain upon me, unless I could live upon air. With regard to the principal, as they are in very affluent circumstances, I did flatter myself that instead of urging me to dispose of the dearest part of my property, the new River share, at the most unfavourable season, they would have allowed me the chance of another summer to dispose of Lenborough which would ease me at once of principal and interest. I beg you would make that earnest request to them, I mean to Clive, and manage it with all the zeal and dexterity of your friendship. Let me know, whether I can second it by any steps of politeness and propriety. I had rather write than speak.—Should they still be inflexible and rigourously exact the immediate sale of the New River, give me your advice and assistance. Youradvicewhether in honour and prudence, I may dispute the point and gain time by the dilatory and expensive resources of the law. If I ought to yield, youradviceas to the best method of Sale. Sure they cannot insist on my selling it much below its value. I fear you must run to town for two or three days. With regard to Buriton. Hugonin has sent me a letter for you unsealed. I have kept it some days, without having courage to read it. Is it very bad? I was much satisfied with your conference with Winton, but can we depend on his promises? What security have we between this time and Michaelmas for the intentions of an attorney and the conduct of a madman.
Adieu, my dear friend. My disposition is chearful, my wants not extravagant, my amusements within my own power, and connected with the amusement of many. But the scene before me is horrid, unless you can shew me some ray of comfort. Adieu.
Mrs. G. presses me; I think of going about the 15th of next month and staying a fortnight at Bath.—I have got a Groom for you, but am not yet assured of his Character.
Bentinck Street, April the 6th, 1778.
Dear Madam,
As we can talk more in an hour than we can write in a day, I shall only say that I propose myself the pleasure (anda great pleasure it will really be) of waiting on you on Thursday evening the 16th inst. If anything should delay my journey two or three days later you shall certainly have timely notice.
I am, Dear Madam,Most truly yours,E. Gibbon.
Bath, 25th April, 1778.
Here I am in close attendance of my Mama, who is better in health, spirits, &c., than I have known her for some years. Had I attempted an Easter excuse it would have been very ill received. I am vastly complaisant,amusemyself in Routes and private parties and play shilling Whist with the most edifying resignation. The Rooms and public places I seldom frequent, and claim some merit from a sacrifice which in reality is none at all. The Paynes are here, and I contrive to see something of them. Are you acquainted with Dr. Delacour? In truth there is much kindness in that Jew and much good sense likewise; he gives as good dinners as the superstition of the females of his family will permit, and has a proper contempt for all that a reasonable man ought to despise. I had destined and shall give afullfortnight to Bath, and shall return to town the latter end of next week, but as the day is not irrevocably fixed, I do not wish you to suppose me in Bentinck Street before the Monday or Tuesday of the week following. I understand with satisfaction that the Majorina[398]intends to visit the great City. I have much to say and much for you to do. You may expect to be favoured with some military instructions. Adieu. I hear from Zara[399]a very tolerable account; but my proposed visit was respectfully declined. I like the new house very well.
House of Commons, Wednesday Evening, ten o'clock, '78.
I arrived safe in town, and, after finding mostexcellentreasons for two or three days' delay, when I had really very little to do, I now snatch a moment from a very warm debate to tell you that I found the H.'s in town. The Major's eyes are not better, but otherwise his spirits are good, and he becomes his military character. Remember me to the sister. I sympathise in her distress at my departure. Assure all my friends, Christians but more especially Jews,[400]of my own grateful sense of their kindness, but let me say with the utmost truth, that the part of my Bath visit which I recollect with the greatest pleasure, are the moments which I spent with you and with you alone.
The H.'s (I had almost forgot) salute you. They stay till Monday.
I am, Dear Madam,Ever yours,E. Gibbon.
Saturday Night, 16th May, 1778.
Before I received your letter, I had just heard from Bath! I can say nothing on the occasion. Nature and Reason have their respective provinces; and I ought not to hope either to prevent the effect of the former, or to hasten that of the latter.
D'ESTAING'S FLEET.
I shall expect you about the end of next week, but it will be highly proper that you should give me some days either in going or returning. Notwithstanding all you may see in the Papers, you may be assured that there is not any certain intelligence of D'Estaing's squadron having passed the straights of Gibraltar.[401]A Court of Enquiry is ordered and will sit on Monday onBourgoyne;[402]but I am not certain whether he has been forbid Court. I attended Ireland with great alacrity;[403]but the business seems to be compromised. I do not exactly know in what manner or whether the Constituents on either side will be satisfied. The Inscriptions shall be considered. Adieu.
Almack's, Friday, [June 12th, 1778].
*R. Way's letter gave me that sort of satisfaction which one may receive from a good Physician, who, after a careful examination, pronounces your case incurable. But no more of that—I take up the pen, as I suppose by this time you begin to swear at my silence. Yet litterally (a bull) I have not a word to say. Since D'Estaing's fleet has passed through the Gut (I leave you to guess where it must have got out there) it has been totally forgot, and the most wonderful lethargy and oblivion, of war and peace, of Europe and of America, seems to prevail. Lord C[hatham]'s funeral was meanly attended,[404]and Government ingeniously contrived to secure the double odium of suffering the thing to be done, and of doing it with an ill grace. The chief conversation at Almack's is about tents, drill-Serjeants, subdivisions, firings, &c. and I am revered as an old Veteran. Adieu. When do you return? If it suits your evolutions, aunt Kitty and myself meditate a Sussex journey next week. I embrace Mylady.*
London, June the 12th, 1778.
Dear Madam,
Inclosed I send you what you desire. Believe me I have not forgotten, how much, in every sense of the word, I feel myself indebted to you. I wish that all of us in publick and private affairs had a less melancholy prospect before us; but courage and Philosophy must assist us. Letters (I do not mean Epistles) are in every state of life an amusement, a comfort or a resource.
The Holroyds are still in Yorkshire, I expect them in about ten days; and have some thoughts with Mrs. Porten of making them a visit next month. I carry down a good deal of lumber, and shall work reasonably hard.
I am, Dear Madam,Ever yours,E. G.
Monday Evening, 29th June, 1778.
With a trembling hand I inclose a letter from Hugonin in its pure and original state—Return it with proper directions; or answer it yourself, which would please me much better.—I suppose there are complaints of my silence. I am however by four and twenty hours less guilty than I seem——
I expect an account of your meeting and motions; and some encouragement might attract Aunt Kitty and myself in the course of next week——
KEPPEL'S ATTACK ON FRENCH FRIGATES.
What think you of Keppel?[405]We are pleased on the whole: yet some Ministers such as Ld. Mansfield and Wedd[erburn] affect to talk doubtfully about a War. Adieu.
Wednesday evening, July 1st, 1778.
COXHEATH CAMP.
Your plan of operations is clear and distinct; yet, notwithstanding your zeal, and the ideas of Ducal discipline, I think you will be more and longer at S. P. than you imagine. However, I am disposed to advance my journey as much as possible. I want to see you; my martial ardour makes me look to Coxheath,[406]necessity obliges me to think of Beriton, and I feel something of a very new inclination to taste the sweets of the Country. Aunt Kitty shares the same sentiments; but various obstacles will not allow us to be with you before Saturday, or perhaps Sunday evening; I sayevening, as we mean to take the cool part of the day, and shall probably arrive after Supper. Keppel's return[407]has occasioned infinite and inexpressible consternation, which gradually changes into discontent against him. He is ordered out again with three or four large ships as reinforcement; 2 of 90, 2 of 74, and the 50th Regiment as marines. In the mean time the French, with a superior fleet, are masters of the sea; and our homeward-bound East and West India trade is in the most imminent danger. Adieu.
Bentinck-street, July 7th, 1778.
*Expect me——when you see me; and do not regulate your active motions by my uncertainty. Saturday is impossible. The most probable days are, Tuesday or Friday next. I live notunpleasantly, in a round of Ministerial dinners; but I am impatient to see my white house at Brighton. I cannot find that Sheffield really has the same attractions for you. Lord North, as a mark of his gratitude, observed the other day, that your Regiment would make a very good figure in North Carolina. Adieu. I wrote two lines to Mitchel lest he should think me dead.*
Thursday Evening, July, 1778.
O Lord! O Lord!—I am quite tired of Parliament and sigh for the country. I talked of being at S. P. next Saturday; I shall think myself fortunate if I reach it that day sen'night. Many bills are sent to the Lords, the forms of their house will consume some days, the Ch.'s temper[408]may destroy more time, and the prorogation will not take place before the 17th. In the meanwhile every body is going out of town, and the danger of not getting a house will probably force me to stay, and, after all, this place is not uncomfortable. Adieu. No news. I embrace my Lady.
Adam talks of accompanying me.
Sheffield Place, July 19th, 1778.
Dear Madam,
Miss Holroyd who arrived here yesterday informed me that you were certain that I could not be at S. P. as you had not received any letter from me. This throws me under some difficulty, since I must either set aside your authority or distrust the evidence of my senses, which seems to tell me that I am actually at the seat of J. B. Holroyd, Major of the Sussex Militia. The aforesaid Major returned last night from his first sally, which had lasted a whole week, during which time he left me Governor of the Castle and Guardian of his fair Spouse. I acquitted myselfof this great office in so satisfactory a manner, that I am again invested with the same dignity, as the doughty Champion moves forward to-morrow morng. on a second Expedition. The Regiment is divided between Lewes and Brighthelmstone, and the Duke of Richmond, &c., works like a Serjeant, a clerk, and a pack-horse. Their motions are irregular and uncertain, and if the Major's quarters should be fixed at Brighthelmstone, My Lady and Sarah will immediately march, and I shall follow the Camp, as it is a place where I can enjoy studious leisure in the midst of dissipation. If they are ordered to any other place I shall return to my retirement in Bentinck Street, as at all events the 'decline and fall' must proceed, which it does at present with tolerable vigour.
Mr. Eliot, whom I saw in London as frequently as I could, wished (if Plymouth and Port Eliot were not burnt down) to receive me in September to meet Lord and Lady Ely. I expressed gratitude but declined a promise. I should think the journey a very proper one; but I must own that I neither like the expence nor the loss of time. Yet those would sound like paltry excuses after a six months' expedition to Paris.
The Major with our three Ladies, Abigail Holroyd, Sarah Holroyd, and Catherine Porten, present their compliments to you. We often talk you over, and this morning at Breakfast his honour scolded sister for not bringing you with her; though on calmer reflection we all thought it better that your second visit to S. P. should be deferred to a more peaceable and settled time, such as it may be hoped next year will prove. Sarah looks well; several passages yesterday of the House, &c., affected her a good deal, but I think she will grow easy and cheerful.
I am, dear Madam,Most entirely yours,E. Gibbon.
Wednesday morn, Brighton, 1778.
You feed me royally and almost superabundantly.—Though Brighton is truly the most agreeable place in the World, I am desirous to spend three or four days at S. P., and am notunwilling to meet Lord M[ansfield]. But are you sure of a visit from that venerable Sage? You have a formidable Rival, Gerard Hamilton,[409]who has invited me to dinner for Sunday to meet the Chief Justice whom I wish to conciliate, which your instructions will enable me to do; but at all events if you miss the Judge you will have the Historian the beginning of next week. Adieu.
Brighthelmstone, 1778, Wednesday morning, ten o'clock.
I have carefully perused the Report, and think you have considerably improved both the matter and arrangement. The remarks were as clear to my conception as they could be made without the help of maps, and the general language is easy and spirited: to render the style minutely elegant and correct would be a tedious and at the same time a very useless task. As it now stands the work must do credit to the author and may do service to the country. Adieu. We meet at Lord G.'s.
Friday morning; I suspect that my Lady will decline the party.
Tuesday evening, Sept. 20th, 1778.
FRUITLESS SEARCH FOR FRENCH FLEET.
The French fleet is stole back into Brest without meeting Keppel;[410]the Fox frigate taken same day, the Captain (Windsor, Lord Plymouth's brother) killed; others add, but doubtful, that we have lost a fleet of twelve merchantmen. There is good reason to believe that we have taken the Iphigenie, a French frigate. Youwere hardly aware of the depth of ditch you tumbled into, and I have sent you the enclosed that you may see Hugonin's despair and reproaches. The money must be found by Saturday sen-night; and the only step I could think of was a fair polite letter to Clive, who came to town yesterday, stating the business, representing the probable near conclusion of the New River sale, and begging leave to draw upon him. I know his good nature, but if he hesitates you must intercede, or help me some way or other. Adieu. How do you advance in les Travaux de Mars? The advertisements have been inserted; Hugonin has received one application from a Mr. Butler, Camberwell, Surry, to make enquiries.
Saturday night, September 25th, 1778.
*No news from the fleets; we are so tired of waiting, that our impatience seems gradually to subside into a careless and supine indifference. We sometimes yawn, and ask, just by way of conversation, Whether Spain will joyn?[411]I believe you may depend on the truth, not the sincerity, of an answer from their Court, that they will not support or acknowledge the independence of the Americans. But on the other hand, Magazines are forming, troops marching, in a style which threatens Gibraltar. Gib. is, however, a hard morsel; 5000 effectives, and every article of defence in the most compleat state. We are certainly courting Russia. So much for the Republic.*
I am strangely amazed and frightened about Buriton: as I had not the least suspicion of the approaching, nay impending demand of so large a sum. How could it amount to so much, and why did Hug. stipulate so near a day? I have desired him to gain time or borrow money. They bite in the New River, and I am offered 7½, but Newton encourages me to hold out, and thinks I may get ¼ more, which is not to be despised in certain situations——
I have seen several servants, and like one who has lived with Mr. Milbank (Sir Ralph's eldest son), who desired hisbrother to give him a very good character. On a quarrel between him and the Swiss Valet de Chambre, both were dismissed, the one with honour, the other with ignominy. Something more in the Italian than the Swiss style had been designed by the Valet de Chambre, but rejected by your Candidate; yet, as he was discharged, there is something not perfectly clear. If you chuse it, you may write to Milbank, who is with his Militia in the North: but send me the letter and I will forward it. If without any farther ceremony you have a mind to try him (I mean no harm), I can order him to quarters. I am satisfied with his appearance, and he professes to understand what you require. Adieu.
Bentinck Street, Sept. 29, 1778.
Dear Madam,
I think I grow worse and worse. I am sensible that you are acquainted with my sentiments and my faults, and that you are disposed to believe that the stream of my friendship is deep and pure, though it flowssilently, very silently indeed. Yet my conscience whispers in my ear that I ought not to abuse the confidence which you may with justice repose in me. My conscience, likewise, informs me that as I made Sarah Holroyd the security of my promise, she has a right to complain that she became in some measure the accomplice of my quill. She has, I daresay, given you a particular account of the way I spent the greatest part of the summer; how, in the absence of the Major, I was left Governor of the Castle and Director of the fair females who inhabited it, and how I behaved myself in the execution of that important office.
DISCOMFORTS OF BRIGHTON.
I went over to Brighthelmstone, but found not much encouragement to settle, the Company was not agreeable, few of my acquaintance except the Paynes and Beauclercs; more difficulty and more expence than I expected in settling myself with any degree of comfort, and great inconvenience in being so long absent and distant from my tools. Upon mature consideration I resolved to relinquish that plan and to retire for some time to my rural retirement in Bentinck Street: the neighbourhood isnot very populous at present, nor am I much interrupted by visits or invitations; yet I find as much society as I want for relaxation; and motives enough to engage me to take more exercise of a morning than I should anywhere else; besides the occasional Holydays which I sometimes allow myself to various friends who dwell in villas adjacent to town. In the meantime I have the pleasure to see the sheets of my second volume insensibly acquire a respectable or at least a decent size; and though my progress gives me a clearer view of the difficulties of my undertaking, yet I find that gentle and steady diligence will in time carry me through it: and I still look forwards to the spring of 1780 with hope though not with confidence.
Before I left Sussex I visited, in company with the Major, Cox Heath Camp: where I was received as a Father of the Old Hampshire Militia, though few officers now remain in it, with whom I have any connection. Jolliffe was returned to his station of Ensign, with theCaveof General Keppel, who would not however see him or forgive his extravagant behaviour, which was much worse than anything you saw in the Papers. I am afraid you were malicious enough to rejoyce at his absurdity. While I was in the Camp, I felt my military ardour revive; but I soon recollected that, notwithstanding the pleasure of passing a part of the winter on the Down, my library is upon the whole as agreeable as a Tent, and Almack's as comfortable as a Suttling booth. What odd animals we are! I have deferred from post to post, I am afraid to think how long, a very easy and pleasing occupation, which has now made me pass a very agreeable half hour in conversing with the dearest and most valued of my friends; who will derive some pleasure from the conversation. I positively believe I shall reform.——
Before I conclude I must add three words on a subject which is not so entertaining. You know how little I love to talk about business, but I ought not to omit what you will probably hear from some other quarter. My tenant Winton had donesomemischief to Buriton; he threatened to injure it much more deeply, and I was persuaded by my Council to get rid of him, which I have just accomplished. Till the farm is let again, which I hope will be soon, Hugonin has undertaken the temporary administration. I have lost considerably in taking leave of my old tenant, and fear my loss in engaging a new one will be still moreconsiderable, and I can ill support these extraordinary demands. Yet I should consider that, if all external circumstances were as smooth and satisfactory as the temper of my own mind, my condition would be too fortunate.
I am, Dear Madam,Most truly yours,E. Gibbon.
I cannot go to Port Eliot this autumn, but shall try to propose an accomodation to Madam of meeting at Bath.
October 27th, 1778.
PAUL JONES.
You are certainly right in your suspicions that I shall not again visit S. P. before the meeting of Parliament. I am perfectly well in wind and limb, but the time is so short, the derangement is so considerable, and I am so deeply engaged not in London but at Rome, that I can only regret and hope.—There is not any account of the French fleets in Europe or America. Sir Charles Hardy[412]is sailed chiefly to protect and convoy the East Indiamen now in Ireland. I know not what to say of your countrymen, nor have I any notion of the plan (if any) of Government. The A. G.[413]came to town last night, and I am just going to sup with him. I expect a full account of the Regiment. Adieu. Denmark[414](inseparably connected with Russia) has behaved very handsomely in restoring two Victuallers and ordering the captor, one of Paul Jones's Squad, to quit the Harbour of Bergen. This is sure and important.
Tuesday night, November, 1778.
*You sometimes complain that I do not send you early news; but you will now be satisfied with receiving a full and true account of all the parliamentary transactions ofnextThursday. In town we think it an excellent piece of humour (the author is one Tickell)[415]Burke and C. Fox are pleased with their own Speaches, but serious Patriots groan that such things should be turned to farce. We seem to have a chance of an additional Dutch War:[416]you may depend upon its being a very important business, from which we cannot extricate ourselves without either loss or shame. *Hugonin was in town last week about his eyes. I have given him full powers, and still hope that he will agree with Hearsay on tolerable terms. Say something to Beauclerc and Lady Dy. I pity them both, and I pity you too, for at this time of year Brighton must be a damned place. I shall now be immersed in politics. Society and study and hardly a moment be ever found for Epistolary Commerce. Therefore be patient.Vale.
Wednesday Night, December, 1778.
Good news from India, a revolution has happened among the Marattas; the French interest is destroyed, Ragged boy[417](or some such name) is placed on the throne of that warlike people, and we have now more to hope than to fear from them. According to the Orders sent out in the Spring it is not impossible that Pondicherry,[418]feebly garrisoned, may at this moment be in our hands. The West Indies[419]are tolerably secure by the land and sea force which went from New York, and our operations in that part of the World may be offensive. In several places the Sky clears a little, and if we could be secure from Spain we may promise ourselves some success. You see I am less desponding than usual. But we must depend more on arms and policy than upon idle threats, which may do mischief and cannot do good. We must likewise remove a Secretary of State so universally odious to the Army,[420]&c.
THE BATTLE OF USHANT.
Our Admirals[421]have had a spar or two, and Sir H. P.,finding that K. did not apply for a Court Martial upon him, has this day lodged a charge of six Articles in the Admiralty and has made himself the accuser of his Commander.
Saturday Night, 1778.
Our East India Revolution has not succeeded, and Raggaboy is no longer at the head of the Marattas.[422]In the West we much fear that D'Estaing is run down to the Islands.[423]Black again. The Court Martial would furnish volumes of opinions, but not a line of fact. In private life you see we open a lively campaign of Marchionesses, Countesses, &c.—I am sorry to find that you are so firm about Buriton. Consider the bad condition and growing expence which I am so little able to bear. The option of the term of years cannot perhaps be admitted, but otherwise I am much disposed to accept the hard conditions of Hearsay, and almost fear that our delay will lose the opportunity. I am transported to hear that you will call at Buriton in your way to Bath, and only beg, that considering my situation rather than your spirit, you will not leave the place without deciding the business. How long do you stay at Bath? Shall you not return through town? I want to see you about some things which I cannot trust to paper. Adieu.
Almack's, Wednesday evening, 1778.
*I delayed writing, not so much through indolence as because I expected every post to hear from you. The supplies are raised. Clive and Gosling allow me (very handsomely) to draw for theBarbarian tribute, and the New river (unless one of the Suitors retreats) is gone, alas gone for ever, for £7550. The state of Buriton is uncertain, incomprehensible, tremendous. It would be endless to send you the folios of Hugonin, but I have enclosed you one of his most pictoresque Epistles, on which you may meditate. Few offers; one, promising enough, came from a Gentleman at Camberwell: I detected him, with masterly skill and diligence, to be only an Attorney's clerk, without money, credit, or experience. I wrote as yet in vain to Sir John Shelley, about Hearsay; perhaps you might get intelligence about him.
I much fear that the Buriton expedition is necessary; but it has occurred to me, that if Imet, instead ofaccompanyingyou, it would save me a journey of above one hundred miles. That reflection led to another of a very impudent nature;viz.that if I did not accompany you, I certainly could be of no use to you or myself on the spot; that I had much rather, while you examined the premises, pass the time in a horse-pond; and that I had still rather pass it in my library with the 'decline and fall.' But that would be an effort of friendship worthy of Theseus or Perithous: modern times would hardly credit, much less imitate, such exalted virtue.
SUMMER CAMPAIGN IN AMERICA.
No news from America, yet there are people, large ones too, who talk of conquering it next summer with the help of 20,000 Russians. I fancy you are better satisfied with private than public War. The Lisbon Packet in coming home met about forty of our privateers. Adieu. I hardly know whether I direct right to you, but I think S. P. the surest.*
Bentinck Street, Jan. 7th, 1779.
Dear Madam,
You will pity rather than blame me when I tell you that all last week I have been a good deal indisposed. The changes of weather brought a severe cold, accompanied with some degree of fever. I was confined to my room several days, and the state of my spirits as well as that of my health would have rendered the effort of writing very painful to me. The effort would have been still more painful with regard to the subject ofyour two last letters. I feel your happiness so much connected with mine, that the account of your sentiments and situation must disturb the enjoyments and encrease the anxiety of my own life. I feel it the more deeply as I am sensible that it is not in my power to remove the two causes of your present uneasiness.
I know not how to offer advice, and I am incapable of giving any efficacious help. I have easily perceived in my successive visits to Bath that a dislike of the place, of public life, and of mixed Society was insensibly gaining ground in your mind: and as I know that our happiness must always depend on our opinions and habits, I never presumed to prescribe for the constitution of another. Business and pleasure, Society or no Society, town or country, have undoubtedly their respective merits, and every one must on those subjects think and judge and act for themselves. The gay hurry of Bath or the silent retirement of Mrs. Massey's in Essex may alike be enjoyed by the mind to which they are adapted, and the only advice which I could think of offering, would be, not to engage yourself rashly in a connection of which you might afterwards repent. I have always considered marriage as a very serious undertaking, and the agreement of any friends to live together in the same house is a sort of marriage. If they have passed several years in different modes of life, their manners, their opinions, their sentiments on almost every subject must have contracted a different colour, and every little circumstance of hours, &c., will prove the cause of mutual restraint or mutual dissatisfaction.
But I now find, what indeed I have sometimes feared, that your design of retiring from Bath is not entirely the effect of choice and inclination; that a stronger power, the power of necessity or at least of prudence, urges you to take that resolution, and that in a word you find the place too expensive. You do not explicitly say what income would support your present establishment, and I am not so stupid or so ungrateful as not to feel the generous delicacy of your behaviour. If my own circumstances were affluent, the obligations and friendship of twenty years would instantly prompt me to gratify my own inclinations in the performance of sacred duty. I am not insensible that in my present situation, you have a substantial and even legal claim upon me to a very considerable amount, and while I feel the value of your tenderness on this occasion, Imust lament that it is not in my power to attain even the humble though indispensable virtue of Justice.
LESS INCOME THAN EXPENSES.
Without recurring to any recollections which would be painful to us both, I may appeal to the anxious regard which you have always felt and expressed for my interest. You know the distressed embarrassed situation in which my affairs were left, and though I have always been directed by the advice of Mr. H., I have hitherto been disappointed in every attempt to extricate myself by the sale of Lenborough Estate. The prospect of public affairs and the universal want of money forces me at present to suspend every idea of a sale, and all credit is so compleatly dead, that in the most pressing exigency I should be at a loss how to borrow a thousand pounds. In the mean time I have been paying five per Cent. interest on a Estate which hardly produced three per Cent.; and in the very moment when I could the least afford it, the madness of my Buriton tenant has involved me in new scenes of vexation and expence. My desires have always been moderate and my domestic economy has been conducted with tolerable prudence. Yet my income has never been quite adequate to my expences, and those expences, unless I retired from Parliament—from London and from England—it would be impossible for me to retrench. When I look back I cannot find much to censure or regret in my own conduct, but when I look forwards, I am sometimes alarmed and perplexed. I should indeed find room to despond, if my spirits were not supported by the resources which I derive from my litterary character, and by the well grounded hopes which I build on the assistance of a tried and powerful friend.
I cannot onthishead explain myself more particularly by letter, but I have the strongest reasons to believe that the year which we have just begun will not end without producing a material improvement in my situation. If you have not already taken any decisive steps about leaving Bath, I could wish that you would suspend them till I can have the pleasure of conversing with you in the Easter holidays. If you still persist in your design, why should you bury yourself at Mrs. Massey's? Some pleasant village retirement at a moderate distance from London, where I could frequently visit you, might be consistent with your plan of expence, and you might there find yourself at once delivered from the costly and tasteless vanities of a fashionablelife. Whatever resolution you adopt, let me hear from you soon, and always believe me with the most unalterable affection,
Ever yours,E. G.
I can say nothing of public affairs. Men of all parties—Ministers themselves—think them bad enough; but I do assure you that I have not any claims to the injurious epithet of 'a Patriot.' The apprehension of a Dutch War, though it is now blown over, was real and serious.
London, January the 26th, 1779.
Dear Madam,
PROSPECT OF A PLACE.
As we are mutually convinced of each other's sentiments, words, compliments, assurances would be as idle as they are useless: yet it would be incumbent on me to employ them, if they became either of us; since I am so unfortunate as to be reduced to those equivocal marks of regard, whilst I receive from you the most solid and substantial proofs of that friendship and real affection which I have invariably experienced above twenty years.—You ask me why I should wish you to wait till Easter, and you seem desirous of an explanation of the latter part of my letter. It is for that very purpose of an explanation that I desired that delay, as it includes a variety of circumstances which I ought not to trust to paper or to the post. I can only say in general that from the assistance of a very powerful friend I have room to hope that I may soon be placed in an honourable and advantageous post[424]either at home or abroad, which would enableme to satisfy my duty as well as inclination by making your residence at Bath easy and comfortable to you in the manner you yourself have calculated your expences. I am not of a sanguine temper, and I am very sensible that besides the usual grounds of doubt and distrust, there are many circumstances which it is impossible for me to explain, that may either forward or delay or entirely disappoint the most rational expectations. Last week things seemed to draw so very near a crisis that I suspended my letter in hopes of making it more satisfactory to you and to myself. At present they are rather thrown back, and for aught I know the present Session of Parliament may end in darkness and uncertainty. Yet, I think the chance is worth waiting for a few months, perhaps somewhat longer; the difference of your income and expence cannot be very important, and if you do not wish me to make a difficult effort, I cannot see any great mischief in your eating a little deeper into your principal. I am the more anxious that you should not hastily quit a place which upon the whole must suit you better than any other; not only because I hope it will not be necessary, but as I am sure in your indifferent state of health, the unpleasant removal would be attended with fatigue of body and anxiety of mind which might be very prejudicial to you.
I am much flattered by your approbation of my pamphlet.[425]It was a disagreeable but a necessary step, after which I take my absolute and final leave of controversy. My second volume advances, and I hope will be finished within theensuingyear (1780). You were right as to the benefit I have derived from the first; under the pressure of various difficulties, it proved a seasonable and useful friend; but if it supported, it did not enrich its author. I did not send a copy of my vindication to Port Eliot, nor indeed to any person except to yourself. Eliot must be in town in a fortnight to a very severe call of the House. I have meditated a letter to him, or rather to Mrs. E., above three months without success.
I am, Dear Madam,Ever yours,E. Gibbon.
February 6th, 1779.