Kitabı oku: «Private Letters of Edward Gibbon (1753-1794) Volume 1 (of 2)», sayfa 13
116.
To J. B. Holroyd, Esq
Beriton, October 25th, 1771.
Dear Holroyd,
To shew that I am not an ungratefull Wretch, I wrote immediately to Damer,144 and to shew that I am a very careless one, I directed the letter to another person, whose Epistle went to Damer. Lord Milton's heir was ordered to send me without delay a brown Ratteen Frock, and the Taylor was desired to use his interest with his cousin the Duke of Dorset. The mistake has been rectified, but I have not yet had an answer. Is your Bucks Scheme settled, do you start and where do I meet you? I will attend you either in London, at Winslow, or at Denham,145 where under your protection, I believe I might trespass for one night on Mr. Way. From thence, "Tencro duce et auspice Tencro," I will try to find out my little dairy. My Hops are well sold, with judgement, and that Judgement my own, for even Mrs. G. wanted me to keep them for Wayhill Fair, where they were a mere drug. The little farm, I told you of, I have raised from £25 to £38 pr. annum, but Plâit au ciel, that I had neither Farm, nor Tenants, they suit not my humour. I have wrote on the wrong side of the paper.
Your four-footed friend is not thought to have attained years of strength and discretion, however if you are impatient he shall be forthcoming. A two-legged friend of yours I breakfasted with this morning at Up-park, – Lascelles; he seems civilized. We abused you, your place, Wife, children, &c. &c., pretty much. Adieu.
E. G.
Pray write to me as soon as I wish, but much sooner than I deserve.
117.
To J. B. Holroyd, Esq
Beriton, Nov. 18, 1771.
*Most respectable South Saxon,
It would ill become me to reproach a dilatory correspondent.
"Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes?" Especially when that Correspondent had given me hopes of undertaking a very troublesome Expedition for my sole advantage, and indeed great would be the advantage. Yet thus much I may say, that I am obliged very soon to go to town upon other business, which, in that hope, I have hitherto deferred. If by next Sunday I have no answer, or if I hear that your Journey to Denham is put off sine die, or to a long Day, I shall on Monday morning set off for London, and wait your future Will with Faith, Hope, and Charity. Adieu.
I have had no answer from J. D., but will see him if in Town.*
118.
To his Stepmother
Sheffield Place, January the 8th, 1772.
Dear Madam,
A VISIT TO SHEFFIELD PLACE
I am safe housed at Sheffield Place where I arrived last Monday, and find it a very hospitable shelter against the snow which covers the Country. Here I shall stay till at least Sunday seven-night, and hope to receive the Map and Greyhound by the hands of Tregus. Aubrey has refused in a manner (though very polite) as shews plainly that the Puppy only sought to gratify his own Vanity. The Oracle is now writing a proper letter for the young Goose. Should anything immediately result from it, you may depend on the earliest intelligence.
I am, dear Madam,Ever yours,E. G.
119.
To his Stepmother
Sheffield Place, January 14th, 1772.
Dear Madam,
What a villain that B[ricknall] is. Pray leave neither him nor his assistant one moment's peace or quietness till we get the Plan. If you can get it, as I think you must within ten or twelve days. It will be best to send Tregus over with it, and Miss Holroyd, for so long will I wait here in the expectation of it. The Oracle is very impatient to see it. He proposes to be in town himself by the beginning of next month. We shall then give our attention to the transaction with the G[oslings], which will be neither so simple nor so easy as we once flattered ourselves. The magnanimous Spirit of my Governor keeps me however from desponding.
I am, Dear Madam,Ever yours,E. G.
120.
To his Stepmother
Sheffield Place, January 20th, 1772.
Dear Madam,
I know not what to say or do about that Anabaptist as Holroyd calls him. You will, I am sure, persecute him with all the zeal of an Inquisitor, and if he should be in town after I get there (which will be next Sunday), pray send me his direction that I may flog him myself. Holroyd, who will be soon in town likewise, wants to see a State. of what I rent of others, and what is rented of me, with the term in each of them. If it would not give you too much trouble, you might (I should think) make it out, with Luff's assistance.
I have got Mr. Barton's account; the balance to Lady-Day amounts to £82 14s. 10d., which you will please to pay him if you have the money. I am sorry to hear from him, though not from yourself, that you are confined with a cold, I hope not a serious one. My cold is only in my hands, pen and Ink, which are all frozen. Do you hear anything of Petersfield House?
I am, Dear Madam,Sincerely yours,E. G.
121.
To his Stepmother
Pall Mall, February the 4th, 1772.
Dear Madam,
What a fool, what a great fool, what an egregious fool he is! I called upon him yesterday morning in Palace Yard, and as a particular favourite was admitted into a bed-chamber up two pair of stairs to breakfast with him and Madame. N.B. that Madame is incognito, sees no company, has no cloaths, but seems however better satisfied with the air of Westminster than with the solitude of Petersfield. The conversation turned partly on the Hampshire Election,146 and I unwarily said things without any meaning, which made him stare, and for which, had I then received your letter, I deserved to have had my bones broken.
REVOLUTION IN DENMARK.
Very astonishing indeed these Denmark affairs.147 We are just as much in the dark about them in London, as you can be at Beriton. It seems that the King, whether from nature or any officious helps of medicine, is totally incapable of Government. The Physician and the Queen ruled him entirely, and had led him into measures which had disgusted the old Ministry, the Nobility and at last the Army. The Mal-contents linked themselves with the Queen Dowager and her son, and the weak Monarch is now in their hands. Mothers-in-law are very dreadful animals, and he stands a very poor chance indeed. His wife is sent to a castle, and it seems to be the General opinion, that if an Order of – Ladies were to be founded, she would be the Sovereign of it. Do you not think that our wise K – might have suffered his Mama148 to dye in peace without knowing it? They now reckon her life by hours.
I will immediately send you the new Play149 which is not much liked. There is nothing else. The Spanish Romance150 does not come out till next month. I am totally a stranger to Mrs. Williams and her misfortunes. You warded off the blow by talking of your journey to Bath; but I hope you will seriously and speedily think of it, as I am convinced that your health as well as spirits would find the greatest benefit from such an excursion. – Business is at a stand till Holroyd comes to town, which will be in a few days. I hope that soon after his arrival I shall be able to write something to the purpose.
I am, dear Madam,Most truly yours,E. G.
122.
To J. B. Holroyd, Esq
London, 1772.
*Dear Holroyd,
The sudden Change from the sobriety of Sheffield-Place to the Irregularities of this Town, and to the Wicked Company of Wilbraham,151 Clarke,152 Damer, &c. having deranged me a good deal, I am forced to employ one of my secretaries to acquaint you of a Piece of News I know nothing about myself. It is certain, some extraordinary Intelligence is arrived this Morning from Denmark, & as certain that the Levee was suddenly prevented by it. The Particulars of that Intelligence are variously & obscurely told. It is said, that the king had rais'd a little Physician to the Rank of Minister & Ganymede: such a mad Administration had disgusted all the Nobility, that the Fleet and army had rose, and shut up the King in his Palace. La Reine se trouve mêlée la dedans, & it is reported that she is confined, but whether in Consequence of the Insurrection, or of some amorous amusements of her own, does not seem to be agreed. Such is the rough Draft of an Affair that nobody yet understands. Embrassez de ma Part Madame, et le reste de la chère Famille.
Gibbon.
et plus Bas– Wilbraham, Sec.*
123.
To his Stepmother
Saturday Evening, near eleven, '72.
Dear Madam,
I did not intend to have troubled you till Monday or Tuesday, but I have this moment found a note from Mrs. P. requesting some game, to answer a hare, on Wednesday. At this season I know of no game but a Turkey. Holroyd is in town, as active but not so effectual as I could wish. He is pleased with Bricknall's four plans, but wishes that he would sketch out the outlines of them, on a single piece of paper, that their relative situation may be seen at one view. Adieu, Dear Madam, and believe me,
Ever yours,E. G.
124.
To J. B. Holroyd, Esq
Boodle's, 10 o'clock, Monday night, Feb. 3rd, 1772.
THE ROYAL MARRIAGE ACT.
*I love, honour, and respect every member of Sheffield-place; even my great enemy Datch,153 to whom you will please to convey my sincere wishes, that no simpleton may wait on him at dinner, that his wise Papa may not show him any pictures, and that his much wiser Mamma may chain him hand and foot, in direct contradiction to Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights.
THE OPENING OF THE PANTHEON.
It is difficult to write news – because there are none. Parliament is perfectly quiet; and I think that Barré,154 who is just now playing at Whist in the Room, will not have exercise of the lungs, except, perhaps, on a Message much talked of, and soon expected, to recommend it to the wisdom of the H. of C. to provide a proper future remedy against the improper marriages of the younger branches of the royal family.155 The noise of Lutteral156 is subsided, but there was some foundation for it. The Colonel's expenses in his bold enterprise were yet unpaid by government. The Hero threatened, assumed the Patriot, received a sop, and again sunk into the Courtier. As to Denmark, it seems now that the king, who was totally unfit for government, has only passed from the hands of his Queen Wife to those of his Queen Mother-in-Law. The former is said to have indulged a very vague taste in her Amours. She would not be admitted into the Pantheon,157 from whence the Gentlemen Proprietors exclude all beauty, unless unspotted and immaculate (tautology, by the by). The Gentlemen Proprietors, on the other hand, are friends and patrons of the Leopard Beauties. Advertising challenges have passed between the two Great Factions, and a bloody battle is expected Wednesday Night. A propos, the Pantheon, in point of Ennui and Magnificence, is the wonder of the XVIIIth Century and the British Empire. Adieu.*
125.
To J. B. Holroyd, Esq
Boodle's, Saturday night, Feb. 8, 1772.
*Though it is very late and the bell tells me that I have not above ten minutes left, I employ them with pleasure in congratulating you on the late Victory of our Dear Mamma the Church of England.158 She had last Thursday 71 rebellious sons, who pretended to set aside her will on account of insanity: but 217 Worthy Champions, headed by Lord North, Burke, Hans Stanley, Charles Fox, Godfrey Clarke, &c., though they allowed the thirty-nine clauses of her Testament were absurd and unreasonable, supported the validity of it with infinite humour. By the by, C. F. prepared himself for that holy war, by passing twenty-two hours in the pious exercise of Hazard; his devotions cost him only about £500 per hour – in all £11,000. Gaby lost £5000. This is from the best authority. I hear, too, but will not warrant it, that Will Hanger,159 by way of paying his court to L. C., has lost this winter £12,000. How I long to be ruined!
There are two county contests, Sir Thomas Egerton and Colonel Townley in Lancashire,160 after the county had for some time gone a-begging. In Salop, Sir Watkin, supported by Lord Gower, happened by a punctilio to disoblige Lord Craven, who told us last night, that he had not quite £9000 a-year in that county, and who has set up Pigot against him. You may suppose we all wish for Got Almighty,161 against that Black Devil.
I am sorry your journey is deferred. No news from Fleet Street. What shall I do? Compliments to Datch. As he is now in Durance, great minds forgive their enemies, and I hope he may be released by this time. – Coming, sir. Adieu.
You see the P[rincess] of W[ales] is gone. Hans Stanley says, it is believed the Empress Queen162 has taken the same journey.*
126.
To J. B. Holroyd, Esq
London, Feb. 13, 1772.
Dear H.,
GOSSIP OF THE TOWN.
The principal object of my writing to-night is to acquaint you, that the old Anabaptist has escaped Damnation by sending in his papers, &c., on the 10th Instant, the destined day of judgement. *They arrived safe in town last night, and will be in your hands in their intact virgin State in a day or two. Consider them at leisure, if that word is known in the Rural life. Unite, divide, but above all raise. Bring them to London with you: I wait your orders; nor shall I, for fear of tumbling, take a single step till your arrival, which, on many accounts, I hope will not be long deferred.* No news from Fleet Street! What is their surveyor about?
*Clouds still hover over the Horizon of Denmark. The public circumstances of the Revolution are related, and, I understand, very exactly, in the foreign Papers. The secret springs of it still remain unknown. The town, indeed, seems at present quite tired of the subject. The Princess's death,163 her Character, and what she left, engross the Conversation. She died without a will; and as her savings were generally disposed of in Charity, the small remains of her personal fortune will make a trifling object when divided among her Children. Her favourite, the P[rincess] of B[runswick]164 very properly insisted on the K.'s immediately sealing up all the papers, to secure her from the Idle reports which would be so readily swallowed by the great English Monster. The business of L. and Lady Grosvenor165 is finally compromised, by the arbitration of the Chancellor166 and Lord Cambden. He gives her £1200 a year separate maintenance, and £1500 to set out with; but, as her Ladyship is now a new face, her Husband, who has already bestowed on the public seventy young Beauties, has conceived a violent but hopeless passion for his chaste Moiety.* Her brother Vernon told me, that he has now in his hands a counter-affidavit of Countess Denhoff, in which she declares that she received a sum of money to swear the former, the contents of which are totally false. Such infamous conduct may blast her, but can never acquit the other; any more than another allegation of her friends, which must be only whispered to Mrs. H[orton], viz. that though the D[uke] of C[umberland] possessed the inclination, he wanted the power to injure any husband. Poor Mrs. H.! Yet why do I say poor? – *Lord Chesterfield is dying.167 County Oppositions subside.* Adieu. Je me recommande. Entirely yours.
127.
To his Stepmother
Pall Mall, Feb. 17th, 1772.
Dear Madam,
I would tell you that I have been somewhat out of order; a foulness or fullness, call it as you please, in my stomach which occasioned an ache as well there as in my head, and indeed a general languor all over me. Turton, whom I called to my assistance, despising the solemn nonsense of the faculty, has given me Pills with some James's Powder in them, & I think the enemy has, or at least is sounding a retreat; he has been marching off all this morning in very loose order.
Bricknall is gone down to Holroyd in the same condition as I received him. I expect that great man in town in a few days, and hope that his active Genius will hasten and facilitate everything. You are so good as to say, dear Madam, that you had no objection to your Annuity being transferred from Bucks to Hants.
I propose sending you the draught of a Deed to that effect, which you will please to return with any observations that may occur to you. When do you go to Bath?
Ever yours,E. G.
128.
To J. B. Holroyd, Esq
Feb. 21, 1772.
Dear H.,
An exact man should acknowledge the receipt of Letters, Papers, &c. How do I know for instance whether my Hampshire Acres, the long expected fruits of my Anabaptist's Labours, may not be sunk, irrecoverably sunk in the Sussex Dirt? *However, notwithstanding my indignation, I will employ five minutes in telling you two or three recent pieces of News.
1. Charles Fox is commenced Patriot, and is already attempting to pronounce the words Country, Liberty, Corruption, &c.; with what success, time will discover. Yesterday he resigned the Admiralty.168 The most probable account seems to be, that he could not prevail on Ministry to join with him in his intended repeal of the Marriage Act (a favourite measure of his father, who opposed it from its origin,) and that Charles very judiciously thought Lord Holland's friendship imported him more than Lord North's.
2. Yesterday the Marriage Message came to both Houses of Parliament. You will see the words of it in the Papers; and, thanks to the submissive piety of this Session, it is hoped that the Princes of the next Generation will not find it so easy as their Uncles have done to expose themselves and to burthen the Public.
DR. NOWELL'S SERMON.
3. To-day the House of C. was employed in a very odd way. Tommy Townshend169 moved, that the Sermon of Dr. Knowell, who preached before the House on the 30th of January (id est, before the Speaker and four Members,) should be burnt by the Common Hangman, as containing arbitrary, Tory, High-flown doctrines. The House was nearly agreeing to the Motion, till they recollected that they had already thanked the Preacher for his excellent discourse, and ordered it to be printed. Knowell's Bookseller is much obliged to the Right Honourable Tommy Townshend.
When do you come to Town? I want Money, and am tired of sticking to the Earth by so many Roots.* No news from Fleet Street. Embrassez de ma part la Sainte famille. Adieu.
Ever yours,E. G.
129.
To his Stepmother
Pall Mall, February the 22nd, 1772.
Dear Madam,
I write by return of the Post, as you desire it, but have not anything to say. Mr. Bayley, whom by this time you have probably seen, saw me the day before yesterday, well, perfectly well, and sucked me quite dry as to news.
I am, Dear Madam,Ever yours,E. G.
130.
To his Stepmother
March 5th, 1772.
Dear Madam,
I know you are so good as to be satisfied with my short notes, which, from hurry and laziness, I defer to the moment the post is going out. I am perfectly well and have entirely thrown off all remains of my late disorder. Holroyd will be in town in a very few days, and I hope will furnish me with materials for a more ample Letter. I now write from Atwood's, a new Club into which I have been chose, and am now thouroughly established. It is unnecessary to add how much I am,
Dear Madam,Ever yours,E. G.
131.
To his Stepmother
Pall Mall, March 21st, 1772.
Dear Madam,
I admit the justice of your kind reproaches, and without attempting any idle excuses, I will endeavour to prove my repentance by my amendment. We are now (Holroyd and myself) very busy, but with much less success than I could wish. Though it has been mathematically demonstrated to the Goose, that at twenty-two, he would make near 3 pr. cent. of his money, the Goose, for such he most truly is, after a long shuffling dilatory suspense, without being able to find out his own foolish mind, has this morning told me that he must at least for the present decline it. We immediately proceed to an Advertisement, and the Oracle has made the value of the thing so clear even to me that I am almost as sanguine as himself. We are soon to have a Conference about Beriton. He thinks the map you have sent will be of use, and prevent his losing his Way, when he goes down with me about Easter, as he will certainly do. As from Bricknall's slowness it was impossible to let the Farms at Lady Day, they can only be let at Michaelmas: and we, however reluctantly, go through another and last Harvest. I am doubly anxious that it should be the last, not only to have my own affairs in a smaller compass and clearer order, but likewise to release you, dear Madam, from a melancholy situation, which your affection for me has persuaded you to undertake.
SIR RICHARD WORSLEY.
*Sir Richard Worsley170 is just come home. I am sorry to see many alterations, and little improvement. From an honest wild English buck, he is grown a philosopher. Lord Petersfield displeases every body by the affectation of consequence: the young baronet disgusts no less by the affectation of wisdom. He speaks in short sentences, quotes Montaigne, seldom smiles, never laughs, drinks only water, professes to command his passions, and intends to marry in five months. The two lords, his uncle as well as Jemmy, attempt to show him that such behaviour, even were it reasonable, does not suit this country. He remains incorrigible, and is every day losing ground in the good opinion of the public, which at his first arrival ran strongly in his favour. Deyverdun is probably on his journey towards England, but is not yet come.*
The attention of the Public is much engaged about the Marriage Bill. The Princes of the Blood will lose their natural rights, and a most odious law will be forced upon Parliament. I do not remember ever to have seen so general a concurrence of all ranks, parties, and professions of men. Administration themselves are the reluctant executioners, but the King will be obeyed, and the bill is universally considered as his, reduced into legal or rather illegal form by Ld. Mansfield and the Chancellor. By the bye, the Duke of Manchester told me the other day that since the bill Lady Waldegrave has authorized all her friends to declare that she is married. The Duke and Duchess of C[umberland] are in town, but live in princely solitude. He drives her about the streets in a Phaeton, and they have sometimes concerts to which none but the Luttrel family are admitted.
I am, Dear Madam,Ever yours,E. G.
The Hon. John Damer, eldest son of Lord Milton, afterwards created Earl of Dorchester. His mother was Lady Caroline Sackville, daughter of the first Duke of Dorset, and sister of the then existing Duke; married, in 1742, to Joseph Damer, Lord Milton.
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Denham, Bucks, built in 1667 by Sir Roger Hill, came to Lewis Way through his marriage with Abigail Locke, Sir Roger's granddaughter. Lewis Way, who died January 24, 1771, left by his first wife one son, Benjamin, who succeeded to Denham, and one daughter, Abigail, wife of J. B. Holroyd. By his second wife he left another son, Gregory Lewis Way, the translator of Fabliaux; or, Tales abridged from French Manuscripts of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries (edited by George Ellis, and published in two volumes in 1796-1800), who is more than once mentioned in these letters. Denham Place was the "pastoral retreat" of Sir Humphrey Davy.
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Lord Henley, M.P. for the county of Southampton, succeeded his father as second and last Earl of Northington in January, 1772. At the election to fill this vacancy Sir Henry Paulet St. John was elected.
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Caroline Matilda, posthumous child of Frederick, Prince of Wales, was born in July, 1751. She married in October, 1766, Christian VII., King of Denmark. Before her departure from England, her portrait was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, who complained that she was so constantly in tears that he could do justice neither to her nor to himself. The marriage proved unhappy. Her husband appears to have been a low brute, whose excesses impaired whatever mind he originally possessed. The queen, on her side, was guilty, at the least, of imprudences which were used against her by her enemies. During his travels, the king had made a favourite of a young physician named Struensee, who practically became Prime Minister, and, with his friend Brandt, governed Denmark. The Queen Dowager, Juliana Maria, stepmother of the king, placed herself, with her son Frederick, at the head of the malcontents. In January, 1772, Struensee and Brandt were arrested, and, after a protracted inquiry, executed in the following April. The queen was imprisoned at the Castle of Cronenbourg. From this prison she was released by the intervention of her brother, George III., and passed the few remaining years of her life at Zell, in Hanover, where her great-grandmother, Sophia Dorothea, had died in captivity. There she died in 1775, at the age of twenty-four.
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The Princess Dowager (1719-1772), youngest daughter of Frederick II., Duke of Saxe Gotha, widow of Frederick, Prince of Wales, mother of George III. and the Queen Caroline of Denmark, died at Carlton House on February 8, 1772.
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Either Joseph Cradock's adaptation of Voltaire's play Les Scythes, acted at Covent Garden under the title of Zobeïde, with a prologue by Goldsmith, or Cumberland's Fashionable Lover, as acted at Drury Lane. Both plays were published early in 1772.
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The History of the Famous Preacher, Friar Gerund de Campazas, otherwise Gerund Zotes. London, 1772. 2 vols., 8vo.
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George Wilbraham, of Delamere Lodge, Cheshire.
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Godfrey Bagnal Clarke, M.P. for Derbyshire, who had made the tour of Italy at the same time as Gibbon.
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The name by which Mr. Holroyd's son called himself.
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Colonel Isaac Barré (1726-1802), succeeded Lord Fitzmaurice as M.P. for Chipping Wycombe in 1761. He afterwards sat for Calne. He had served under Wolfe at Quebec, and appears in West's famous picture of the death of Wolfe. At the battle he lost his left eye, and in his picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds the right side of his face is turned towards the spectator. He was a prominent opponent of Lord North, and held office under the first Pitt, and subsequently in the Rockingham and Shelburne administrations.
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The Duke of Cumberland married, in October, 1771, Mrs. Horton, a daughter of Simon Luttrell, Lord Irnham (afterwards Earl of Carhampton), "a young widow of twenty-four, with the most amorous eyes in the world, and eyelashes a yard long." The Duke of Gloucester, a few months later, avowed his clandestine marriage with Maria, an illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Walpole, and widow of the second Earl of Waldegrave. The Royal Marriage Bill was brought in, in consequence of these marriages, on February 20, 1772, and became law in the following March.
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Colonel Luttrell (1743-1821), brother of the Duchess of Cumberland, had been declared by the House to be elected for Middlesex against Wilkes in April, 1769, although the latter polled 1143 votes to Colonel Luttrell's 296. He was made adjutant-general of the land forces in Ireland; but in 1772, being discontented with the post, threatened to resign his seat for Middlesex, and so renew the struggle with Wilkes. The circumstances in which the appointment was made are noticed by Junius (August 22, 1770).
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Walpole, writing in May, 1770, speaks of "a winter-Ranelagh erecting in Oxford Road at the expense of sixty thousand pounds." "Imagine Balbec in all its glory!" he writes, when it was approaching completion in April, 1771. The Pantheon, built by Wyatt, was opened on January 27, 1772, "to a crowded company of between fifteen hundred and two thousand people. In point of consequence, the company were an olio of all sorts; peers, peeresses, honourables, and right honourables, jew brokers, demireps, lottery insurers, and quack doctors" (Annual Register). It was destroyed by fire on January 16, 1792.
Gentlemen and ladies could only subscribe to the Pantheon on the recommendation of a peeress, in order to prevent, as the proprietors announce in the Gazetteer (December 17, 1771), "such persons only from obtaining subscriptions whose appearance might not only be improper but subversive of that elegance and propriety which they wish on every occasion to preserve." On the other hand, once admitted to be subscribers, they could introduce friends of any or no character. The struggle between the two factions was decided by the efforts of a number of gentlemen, headed by Mr. William Hanger, who, with drawn swords, succeeded in forcing an entrance for Mrs. Baddeley. Possibly Gibbon meant, instead of repeating "Gentlemen Proprietors," to mark the contrast by writing "Gentlemen Subscribers" in the second sentence. The dispute is alluded to in a poem published in 1772, called The Pantheon Rupture; or, A Dispute between Elegance and Reason. In their dialogue Elegance says —
And hate the very name of a divorce;Besides the Managers admit none in,That e'er were known to have committed sin; —The needy dame, who makes of love a trade,These Realms of Virtue must not dare invade;The company's selected from a classToo chaste to suffer demireps to pass.ReasonBut, Elegance, before more time you waste,Inform me, pray, are all those Ladies chaste?EleganceChaste! surely yes. – The Managers admitNone but chaste Ladies, in their virtuous set;Besides, if any one a slip hath made,A Title hides it with oblivion's shade."
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Parliament met January 21, 1772. On February 6, Sir W. Meredith presented a petition from the "Feathers Tavern Association," signed by two hundred and fifty clergymen, lawyers, and physicians, praying that their professions might be relieved from the necessity of subscription to the XXXIX. Articles. The House decided, by 217 to 71, not to receive the petition.
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Afterwards the third Lord Coleraine.
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Lord Archibald Hamilton, M.P. for Lancashire, accepted the stewardship of the Manor of East Hendred, January, 1772. Sir T. Egerton was elected in his place.
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An allusion to the Welsh opinion that Sir Watkin Williams Wynn was as great a person. On the death of Sir John Astley, M.P. for Shropshire, Sir Watkin was elected.
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Maria Theresa did not die till November, 1780.
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i. e. The Princess of Wales.
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Her eldest child, Augusta (1737-1813), married, in 1764, the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
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Henrietta Vernon, married to Lord Grosvenor in July, 1764, was seduced by the Duke of Cumberland. Lord Grosvenor brought an action against the duke for criminal conversation, July 5, 1770, and recovered damages in the sum of £10,000. Lady Grosvenor, who was separated, not divorced, married, in 1802, General Porter, M.P. for Stockbridge.
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Lord Apsley.
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Lord Chesterfield died March 24, 1773.
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Fox only retired from the Government on the Royal Marriage question. In January, 1773, he resumed office as one of the Lords of the Treasury.
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Afterwards Lord Sydney. Dr. Nowell's sermon, which, it was alleged, inculcated passive obedience, was preached January 30, 1772, at St. Margaret's, Westminster. The vote of thanks was voted January 31, and the sermon printed by desire of the House. On February 21 it was moved that, for the future, the thanks of the House should not be voted till the sermon was printed and delivered. The motion here attributed to Townshend was an expression of his opinion, given in the course of the debate. Lord North evaded the motion by moving the order of the day. On February 25 a motion was proposed and carried to expunge the entry of the vote of thanks.
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Sir R. Worsley succeeded to the baronetcy on the death, in 1768, of Sir Thomas Worsley. He was M.P. for Newport, Isle of Wight, 1774-84, and for Newtown, Isle of Wight, 1790-1802. He was sworn a privy councillor, and made Governor of the Island in January, 1780. He was also Comptroller of the Royal Household. He published his History of the Isle of Wight in 1781. In 1782, on the accession to office of the Rockingham administration, he was deprived of the Governorship of the Island in favour of the Duke of Bolton. As Diplomatic Resident at Venice, he made the collections and sketches which are reproduced in the Museum Worsleyanum (2 vols., 1794-1803). He died in 1805. His only son predeceased him. His estates passed, through his only sister, Henrietta Frances (married to John Bridgman-Simpson, Esq.), to her only child, Henrietta, who married the Earl of Yarborough.
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