Kitabı oku: «Private Letters of Edward Gibbon (1753-1794) Volume 1 (of 2)», sayfa 22

247.
To his Stepmother

House of Commons, May the 2nd, 1775.

Dear Madam,

PRESENTATION AT COURT.

*I accept the Pomeranian Lady with gratitude and pleasure, and shall be impatient to form an acquaintance with her. My presentations passed graciously,* and I am glad that I can now walk about the Rooms on a footing with other people. Sir S. P. had no concern in the business which was transacted by the Lord of the Bed-chamber in one place, and the Chamberlain on the other. *My dinner at Twickenham was attended with less ceremony and more amusement. If they turned out Lord N. to-morrow, they would still leave him one of the best Companions in the Kingdom. By this time I suppose the Eliots with you. I am sure you will say every thing kind and proper on the occasion. I am glad to hear of the approbation of my Constituents for my vote on the Middlesex Election; on the subject of America, I have been something more of a Courtier. You know, I suppose, that Holroyd is just stept over to Ireland for a fortnight. He passed three days with me on his way.*

Adieu, Dear Madam. You have had but a disagreable Winter, I think, in point of health. A Journey to town, Essex, &c., would do you a great deal of good.

Ever yours,

E. G.

248.
To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

15th May, 1775.

Since your departure a considerable event has happened with regard to Deyverdun, which disconcerts many of our schemes. Sir Abraham Hume²⁹¹ has proposed to him to go abroad with his younger brother for four years. Our friend was undetermined especially as the first year or eighteen months were to be passed in the uncomfortable University of Gottingen. But as he was offered in a very handsome way a Life annuity of £100 per annum which will secure him a Philosophic independence free from the odious necessity of riding post with young cubs, reason has compelled him to accept and me to acquiesce. He sets out soon, though he still hopes to see you. A fortune that would enable a Man to give him an Equivalent on less unpleasant terms would just now be a very desirable thing.

Returned this moment from an American debate. A Remonstrance and Representation from the Assembly of New York, presented and feebly introduced by Burke, but most forcibly supported by Fox.²⁹² They disapprove of the violence of their neighbours, acknowledge the necessity of some dependence on Parliament with regard to Commercial restraints and express some affection and moderation; but they claim internal taxation, state many grievances and formally object to the declaratory Act. On the last ground it was impossible to receive it. Division 186 to 67. The House tired and languid. In this season and on America, the Archangel Gabriel would not be heard. On Thursday an attempt to repeal the Quebec bill,²⁹³ and then to the right about, and for myself, having supported the British, I must destroy the Roman Empire.

Are we not very popular in the Bog? Is your business done, and when do you superas condere ad auras? I frequently hear from the Heroine of Brighthelmstone, and in the brevity of my Rescripts treat her with the dignity of a Sultan. Adieu.

No news from Lovegrove. The affair begins to make me seriously unhappy.

249.
To his Stepmother

London, May 16th, 1775.

Dear Madam,

To-day Deyverdun, myself, and another gentleman dined at home. After drinking coffee in the Library, we went down stairs again, and as we entered the Parlour, our ears were saluted with a very harmonious barking, and our eyes gratified by the sight of one of the prettiest animals I ever saw. Her figure and coat are perfect, her manners genteel and lively, and her teeth (as a pair of ruffles have already experienced) most remarkably sharp. She is not the least fatigued with her voyage, and compleatly at home in Bentinck Street. I call her Bath. Gibbon would be ambiguous and Dorothea disrespectful. However it may still be changed. A thousand thanks, and if the E.'s are arrived, many compliments.

I am, dear Madam,

Ever yours,

E. G.

250.
To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

May 30th, 1775.

THE MARCH TO CONCORD.

You will probably see in the Papers, the Boston Gazette Extraordinary. I shall therefore mention a few circumstances which I have from Governor Hutchinson.

That Gazette is the only account arrived. As soon as the business was over the Provincial Congress dispatched a vessel with the news for the good people of England. The vessel was taken up to sail instantly at a considerable loss and expence, as she went without any lading but her ballast. No other letters were allowed to be put on board, nor did the crew know their destination till they were on the Banks of Newfoundland. The Master is a man of character and moderation, and from his mouth the following particulars have been drawn. Fides sit penes auctorem.

It cannot fairly be called a defeat of the King's troops; since they marched to Concord, destroyed or brought away the stores, and then returned back.²⁹⁴ They were so much fatigued with their day's work (they had marched above thirty miles) that they encamped in the evening at some distance from Boston without being attacked in the night. It can hardly be called an engagement, there never was any large body of Provincials. Our troops during the march and retreat were chiefly harrassed by flying parties from behind the stone walls along the road and by many shots from the windows as they passed through the villages. It was then they were guilty of setting fire to some of those hostile houses. Ensign Gould had been sent with only twelve men to repair a wooden bridge for the retreat; he was attacked by the Saints with a minister at their head, who killed two men and took the Ensign with the others prisoners. The next day the Country rose. When the Master came away he says that Boston was invested by a camp of about fifteen hundred tents. They have canon. Their General is a Colonel Ward, a member of the late Council, and who served with credit in the last War. His outposts are advanced so near the town, that they can talk to those of General Gage.

This looks serious, and is indeed so. But the Governor²⁹⁵ observed to me that the month of May is the time for sowing Indian corn, the great sustenance of the Province, and that unless the Insurgents are determined to hasten a famine, they must have returned to their own habitations: especially as the restraining act (they had already heard of it) cuts off all foreign supply, which indeed generally become necessary to the Province before Winter. Adieu.

251.
To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

Bentinck Street, June 3rd, 1775.

The American news becomes every hour more problematical. Darby, the master of the Ship, has not condescended to show to any one the original of the Salem Gazette. He has refused to come to Lord Dartmouth, and what is still more extraordinary, though he says he left his ship at Southampton, a person of consequence sent down there by Government has not been able to learn the least news about it. Yet on the other hand a ship from New York is certainly arrived at Bristol with the report that a Skirmish at Boston was talked of. No news from Gage. What am I to do about Handkerchiefs? I thought the letter you sent me for Downs was an order for them. He sent them to me without my application, and they are already marked and used. On the other hand Mrs. B[enjamin] W[ay] is outrageous. It is all your fault and must be cleared up by you. I think I see some hopes about Lovegrove, though too faint as yet to be worth any detail. I rejoyce in My Lady's health. What is the name of her friend the Dutchess's Captain? Deyverdun is on the wing. I wish you would make and send me a cheese. I must eat two before I think of Sheffield. Bath, who desires his compliments, promises himself a very pleasant summer there.

E.G.

252.
To his Stepmother

London, June 7th, 1775.

Dear Madam,

ENGAGED ON A HISTORICAL WORK.

The post after I received your last letter, I wrote to Eliot to know whether he had any intention of coming to town from Bath, but his Lazyness has not yet condescended to answer me. With the frankness that our friendship permits and requires, I will fairly tell you the state of the case. If he does not visit London, decency and perhaps gratitude call upon me to meet him at Bath; but if he relieves me from that necessity, the Autumn will be a much more convenient time for me to make my appearance in Charles Street. The season is more agreable, and I am just at present engaged in a great Historical Work, no less than a History of the Decline and fall of the Roman Empire, with the first Volume of which I may very possibly oppress the public next winter. It would require some pages to give a more particular idea of it: but I shall only say in general that the subject is curious, and never yet treated as it deserves, and that during some years it has been in my thoughts and even under my pen. Should the attempt fail, it must be by the fault of the execution. Adieu, Dear Madam; all Compliments, where they are due, and believe me,

Most truly yours,

E. G.

253.
To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

June, 1775.

Though Darby's vessel cannot be found, it is pretty clear he is no impostor. He arrived in his boat at Southampton, and probably left his ship in some creek of the Isle of Wight. He has now left town, and is gone, it is said, on a trading voyage to purchase Ammunition in France and Spain. Do you not admire the lenity of Government? This day news came that a Ship arrived at Liverpool from Rhode Island. She sailed the 20th, the day after the Skirmish, and has brought a general confirmation of it. There was a report this evening of the arrival of the Sukey²⁹⁶ from Gage, but it certainly is not true, and you know as much of the matter as Lord North.

254.
To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

London, June the 17th, 1775.

I have not courage to write about America. We talk familiarly of Civil War, Dissolutions of Parliament, Impeachments and Lord Chatham. The boldest tremble, the most vigorous talk of peace. And yet no more than sixty-five rank and file have been killed. Governor H[utchinson] assures me that Gage has plenty of provisions fresh and salted, flour, fish, vegetables, &c.: hopes he is not in danger of being forced —

What can I know of the Tythes? Gilbert has done nothing. I acquainted Mrs. G. with it in a very polite Epistle, which she has answered by a very polite silence.

After calling twice on Sir Richard Sutton, I sent to know when I could have the honour, &c. He was gone for the summer that very morning. – My Lady has received Sevigné²⁹⁷ that is one of the new volumes; instead of the other, a different book (I fancy Danville's Geographie Ancienne) was sent; as it may be of more use to me than to her, the error should be mutually rectified. Deyverdun goes next week. Yesterday I gave a dinner on his account to the Humes, Sir Charles Thompson and Sir Richard Worsley. He is going to marry the youngest Miss Fleming:²⁹⁸ love and £80,000. – This day I sent almost a Charte blanche to Lovegrove (do not be frightened) offering to warrant according to Duane's directions or wishing to know what he should expect as a compensation. The letter was settled between Newton and me, and if it does no good, will do no harm. Adieu.

E. G.

255.
To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

29th June, 1775.

HIS HISTORY GOING TO PRESS.

America is too great a subject – Tythes are best in your hands – Nothing satisfactory from Lovegrove, to whom I have offered Warranty secundum. Duane, Arbitration or a treaty about some compensation – Now Lord Stamford and his brother are out of town. I know not how to get at Brown. The Roman Empire will derange Sheffield; the Press is just set to work, and I shall be very busy the whole summer in correcting and composing. Deyverdun wrote to me from Calais; he will not be fixed till his arrival at Gottingen. He has left me somewhat dull and melancholy. My respects to my Lady, Mama and the sweet Maria. Adieu. Batt dined with me yesterday, Thursday evening. You mistook me when I talked of his visiting Sheffield. It was not Lawyer Batt but Dog Bath, who sends you his compliments, and proposes to himself great amusement in Sussex. What does Foster (Mac) in England? He speaks of the Bog with great modesty.

256.
To his Stepmother

July the 3rd, 1775.

Dear Madam,

I wish you would believe, what is really the case, that before I received your letter I intended to have written this very post. It is true that I had the same intention for many posts before, and that the glorious spirit of procrastination always told me that the next would do just as well: I do not mean as to your franks, for those I must confess I had absolutely and irrecoverably forgotten. *Deyverdun had left me just before your letter arrived, which I shall soon have an opportunity of conveying to him. Though, I flatter myself, he broke from me with some degree of uneasiness, the engagement could not be declined. At the end of the four years he has an annuity of £100 for Life, and may, for the remainder of his days, enjoy a decent independence in that Country, which a Philosopher would perhaps prefer to the rest of Europe. For my own part, after the hurry of the town and of Parliament, I am now retired to my Villa in Bentinck Street, which I begin to find a very pleasing Solitude, at least as well as if it were two hundred miles from London; because when I am tired of the Roman Empire, I can laugh away the Evening at Foote's Theatre, which I could not do in Hampshire or Cornwall.* You know I am not a writer of news, but I cannot forbear telling you that the Dutchess of Bedford made regular proposals of marriage to the young Earl Cholmondely, and was as regularly refused. Poor as he was (he replied to Mr. Fitzpatrick the Embassador) he was not quite poor enough to accept them.

I am, Dear Madam,

Most truly Yours,

E. Gibbon.

257.
To Mrs. Holroyd

Boodle's, Thursday Evening, 13th July, 1775.

PRINTING THE HEAD BEFORE THE TAIL.

The parsimony of your spouse, who rather chuses to build Gateways than to buy books, has hitherto deprived you of Hume. Having just got the best Edition, I have sent you a good one. By this time you have probably received Sevigné. Enclosed Mr. H. will find Aunt's letter. I have not read it, as I never read more business than is absolutely necessary. You will please to inform him that a letter on his plan has been sent to Lovegrove. I write no news, 1st because there are none authentic, and 2dly because you will see dear MacFoster to-morrow.

How does sweet Maria? You have both used me ill in sending me no intelligence about her. I shall soon write again to the Baron and inform him of the reasons which may delay my Journey. Those that would hasten it you will know.

Your slave,

E. G.

258.
To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

July 20th, 1775.

Do you believe that my inclination leads me to S. P.? If you do not, you are a D – fool to give yourself the trouble of asking me. If you do, you may as well believe that I am giving you reasons and not pretences. I am just now in the most busy moment of my life, nor is it so small a work as you may imagine to destroy a great Empire. I do not merely mean correcting the sheets from the press: that might certainly be performed at S. P., as both Printer, Strahan,²⁹⁹ and Author, an odd circumstance, are Senators. But from a natural impatience, as you well know, I have begun to print the head before the tail was quite finished; some parts must be composed, and, as I proceed in the reviewing, so many emendations and alterations occur, which require the neighbourhood of my Library, that in any other region of the Earth, I should find myself every day at a full stop. As well as I can see before me, I think that I may give you September: but I promise nothing. As soon as I find it within my power, I shall order my chaise. Therefore be silent and resigned.

General Frazer, ³⁰⁰ with whom I dined to-day at the British, talks of visiting you next month. Do you remember my Aunt whom you invited, and who is much disposed to accompany me? I was thinking that your mother's illness might render that less convenient. If it does you may give her a civil Epistle. You recollect de Salis; he is in town, and asked after you. – As to public affairs, we are in hourly expectation of a battle, and flying reports arrive but do not prevail. They are certainly premature. What do you think of £1700 a year for 31 years on poor Ireland to gain Flood, and to pay some of the C. F's debts without making a friend of him, but only to buy his place at an extravagant price?³⁰¹ My domestic affairs seem calm; the Wintons are quiet, and the other brute has graciously accepted the Arbitration of Palmer and will mention it to him in a few days. Booth Gray, to whom I wrote about Brown, is silent. Duane was so till this morning, when he sent me a note that he had been ill and could not visit the Tythes of Newhaven till September. Your projects are vast; but the essential thing seems to be a present decent increase of rent for Aunt Gibbon.

I approve of the fall rather than decline of the Sussex society.

E. G.

259.
To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

Bentinck Street, August 1st, 1775.

*Your apprehensions of a precipitate work, &c., are perfectly groundless. I should be much more addicted to a contrary extreme. The head is now printing? true, but it was wrote last year and the year before, the first Chapter has been composed de nouveau three times; the second twice, and all the others have undergone reviews, corrections, &c. As to the tail, it is perfectly formed and digested (and were I so much given to self-content and haste), it is almost all written. The ecclesiastical part, for instance, is written out in fourteen sheets, which I mean to refondre from beginning to end. As to the friendly Critic, it is very difficult to find one who has leisure, candour, freedom, and knowledge sufficient. However, Batt and Deyverdun have read and observed. After all, the public is the best Critic. I print no more than 500 copies of the first Edition; and the second (as it happens frequently to my betters) may receive many improvements. So much for Rome.* Now for Ireland. I am desired to consult you about Lord Ely³⁰² who (between ourselves) pays his court to a niece of Eliot's. His fortune is very large, he is a widower, and as we hear behaved well in his first place; but we wish to get an impartial account of his general character, manners, inclinations, virtues and defects. Can you give or procure it?

NOTHING NEW FROM AMERICA

*We have nothing new from America. But I can venture to assure you, that administration is now as unanimous and decided as the occasion requires. Something will be done this year; but in the spring the force of the country will be exerted to the utmost. Scotch highlanders, Irish papists, Hanoverians, Canadians, Indians, &c. will all in various shapes be employed. Parliament meets the first week in November. I think his Catholic Majesty may be satisfied with his summer's amusement. The Spaniards fought with great bravery, and made a fine retreat; but our Algerine friends surpassed them as much in conduct as in number.³⁰³ Adieu.

The Dutchess³⁰⁴ has stopped Foote's piece. She sent for him to Kingston house and threatened, bribed, argued, and wept for about two hours. He assured her that if the Chamberlain was obstinate, he should publish it with a dedication to her Grace.*

260.
To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

Bentinck Street, August 4th, 1775.

A vue de pays, I should have reached S. P. the first week in September. If you visit Sir John [Russell] about that time, you and My Lady will of course lodge in Bentinck Street, and in your return I may condescend to accompany you. Gage is recalled.³⁰⁵ Good men rejoice. Patriots murmur. Adieu.

E. G.

A quadrille party in the next room, Mrs. Bonfoy, Lady Ely,³⁰⁶ &c.: we are impatient.

You have acted like yourself about Newhaven.

261.
To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

Bentinck Street, August 15th, 1775.

I have not time to hold a long conversation with you: but I want to settle the plan of our visit (Aunt and self) to S. P. According to our last it seemed that you were to go into Bucks the first week in September, and that it would suit us all to attend your return into Sussex. But as I was pacing along the Strand last week, the Baronet arrested me with a friendly laugh and a hearty shake, and told me, among other curious and interesting particulars, that your visit to him would not take place before the 18th: an awkward period, as it intersects the time that we could bestow upon you. Suppose you were to defer it till the first week in October. We could then give you the whole month of September, and come up with you. Siquid novisti rectius istis, candidus imperti, sinon– I have nothing to add about the enclosed. Palmer is out of town, and Lovegrove and Matthews appear wonderfully nonchalant. Eliot is stepped down into Gloucestershire. I shall communicate the Lord's portrait,³⁰⁷ and I think it will please and suit them.