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tiara of diamonds was very pretty, her stomacher sumptuous; her violet-velvet mantle and ermine so heavy, that the spectators knew as much of her upper half as the king himself. You will have no doubts of her sense by what I shall tell you. On the road, they wanted her to curl her toupet: she said she thought it looked as well as any of the ladies sent to fetch her; if the king bid her she would wear a periwig, otherwise she would remain as she was. When she caught the first glimpse of the palace, she grew frightened and turned pale; the duchess of Hamilton smiled-the princess said, "My dear duchess, you may laugh, you have been married twice, but it is no joke to me." Her lips trembled as the coach stopped, but she jumped out with spirit, and has done nothing but with good-humour and cheerfulness. She talks a great deal-is easy, civil, and not disconcerted. At first, when the bride-maids and court were introduced to her, she said, "Mon Dieu, il y en a tant, il У en a tant!" She was pleased when she was to kiss the peeresses; but lady Augusta was forced to take her hand and give it to those that were to kiss it, which was prettily humble and goodnatured. While they waited for supper, she sat down, sung, and played. Her French is tolerable, she exchanged much both of that and German with the king, the duke, and the duke of York. They did not get to bed till two. To-day was a drawing-room: every body was presented to her; but she spoke to nobody, as she could not know a soul. The crowd was much less than at a birth-day, the magnificence very little. The king looked very handsome, and talked to her continually with great good-humour. It does not promise as if they two would be the two most unhappy persons in England from this event. The bride-maids, especially lady Caroline Russel, lady Sarah Lenox, and lady Elizabeth Keppel, were beautiful figures. With neither features nor air, lady Sarah was by far the chief angel. The duchess of Hamilton was almost in

more.

2 Elizabeth Gunning, one of the famous beauties. She married James, duke of Hamilton, who died 12th January 1758; and secondly, Major-general Campbell, afterwards John fifth duke of Argyle. Her beauty was so great, and created such a sensation, that it was said by Horace Walpole that seven hundred people sat up all night in and about an inn in Yorkshire, to see her get into her post-chaise next morning. [Ed.]

possession of her former beauty, to-day; and your other duchess,3 your daughter, was much better dressed than I ever saw her. Except a pretty lady Sutherland, and a most perfect beauty, an Irish miss Smith, I don't think the queen saw much else to discourage her: my niece,5 lady Kildare, Mrs. Fitzroy, were none of them there. There is a ball to-night, and two more drawing-rooms; but I have done with them. The duchess of Queensbury and lady Westmoreland were in the procession, and did credit to the ancient nobility.

You don't presume to suppose, I hope, that we are thinking of you, and wars, and misfortunes, and distresses, in these festival times. Mr. Pitt himself would be mobbed if he talked of any thing but clothes, and diamonds, and bride-maids. Oh! yes, we have wars, civil wars; there is a campaign opened in the bed-chamber. Every body is excluded but the ministers; even the lords of the bed-chamber, cabinet counsellors, and foreign ministers: but it has given such offence that I don't know whether lord Huntingdon must not be the scape-goat. Adieu! I am going to transcribe most of this letter to your

countess.

Yours ever.

To GEORGE MONTAGU, Esq.

Arlington-street, Sept. 24, 1761.

I AM glad you arrived safe in Dublin, and hitherto like it so well; but your trial is not begun yet. When your king comes, the ploughshares will be put into the fire. Bless your stars that your king is not to be married or crowned. All the vines of Bourdeaux, and all the fumes of Irish brains cannot make a town so drunk as a regal wedding and coronation. "I

3 The duchess of Richmond, Mr. Conway's daughter-in-law. Lady Mary Bruce, who married 1st April 1757, Charles duke of Richmond, was the only daughter of Charles last earl of Ailesbury, by his third wife Caroline, daughter of general John Campbell, afterwards fourth duke of Argyle. Lady Ailesbury married secondly the Right Hon. Henry Seymour Conway. [Ed.] Afterwards married to lord Llandaff. [Or.]

* The countess of Waldegrave. [Or.]

am going to let London cool, and will not venture into it again this fortnight. Oh! the buzz, the prattle, the crowds, the noise, the hurry! Nay, people are so little come to their senses, that though the coronation was but the day before yesterday, the duke of Devonshire had forty messages yesterday, desiring tickets for a ball, that they fancied was to be at court last night. People had set up a night and a day, and yet wanted to see a dance. If I was to entitle ages, I would call this the century of crowds. For the coronation, if a puppet-show could be worth a million, that is. The multitudes, balconies, guards, and processions, made Palace-yard the liveliest spectacle in the world: the hall was the most glorious. The blaze of lights, the richness and variety of habits, the ceremonial, the benches of peers and peeresses, frequent and full, were as awful as a pageant can be; and yet for the king's sake and my own, I never wish to see another; nor am impatient to have my lord Effingham's promise fulfilled. The king complained that so few precedents were kept for their proceedings. Lord Effingham owned, the earl marshal's office had been strangely neglected; but he had taken such care for the future, that the next coronation would be regulated in the most exact manner imaginable. The number of peers and peeresses present was not very great; some of the latter, with no excuse in the world, appeared in lord Lincoln's gallery, and even walked about the hall indecently in the intervals of the procession. My lady Harrington, covered with all the diamonds she could borrow, hire, or seize, and with the air of Roxana, was the finest figure at a distance; she complained to George Selwyn that she was to walk with lady Portsmouth, who would have a wig, and a stick -"Pho," said he, "You will only look as if you were taken up by the constable." She told this every where, thinking the reflection was on my lady Portsmouth. Lady Pembroke alone, at the head of the countesses, was the picture of majestic modesty; the duchess of Richmond as pretty as nature and dress, with no pains of her own, could make her; lady Spencer, lady Sutherland, and lady Northampton, very pretty figures. Lady Kildare, still beauty itself, if not a little too large. The ancient peeresses were by no means the worst party: lady Westmoreland, still handsome, and with more dignity than all; the duchess of Queensbury looked well, though her locks milk

white; lady Albemarle very genteel; nay, the middle age had some good représentatives in lady Holderness, lady Rochford, and lady Strafford, the perfectest little figure of all. My lady Suffolk ordered her robes, and I dressed part of her head, as I made some of my lord Hertford's dress; for you know, no profession comes amiss to me, from the tribune of a people to a habit-maker. Don't imagine that there was not figures as excellent on the other side: old Exeter, who told the king he was the handsomest man she ever saw; old Effingham and a lady Say and Seale, with her hair powdered and her tresses black, were an excellent contrast to the handsome. Lord B**** put on rouge upon his wife and the duchess of Bedford in the painted chamber; the duchess of Queensbury told me of the latter, that she looked like an orange-peach, half red and half yellow. The coronets of the peers and their robes disguised them strangely; it required all the beauty of the dukes of Richmond and Marlborough to make them noticed. One there was, though of another species, the noblest figure I ever saw, the highconstable of Scotland, lord Errol; as one saw him in a space capable of containing him, one admired him. At the wedding, dressed in tissue, he looked like one of the giants in Guildhall, new gilt. It added to the energy of his person, that one considered him acting so considerable a part in that very hall, where so few years ago one saw his father, lord Kilmarnock, condemned to the block. The champion acted his part admirably, and dashed down his gauntlet with proud defiance. His associates, lord E****, lord Talbot, and the duke of Bedford, were woful; lord Talbot piqued himself on backing his horse down the hall, and not turning his rump towards the king, but he had taken such pains to dress it to that duty, that it entered backwards: and at his retreat the spectators clapped, a terrible indecorum, but suitable to such Bartholomew-fair doings. He had twenty demelés, and came out of none creditably. He had taken away the tables of the knights of the Bath, and was forced to admit two in their old place, and dine the others in the court of

2

1 James, lord Boyd, fourteenth earl of Errol, equally celebrated for his extraordinary stature and symmetry, as for his personal and mental accomplishments. [Ed.]

2 The earl of Effingham, whose place it was, as earl marshal, to accompany the champion. [Ed.]

requests. Sir William Stanhope said, "We are ill-treated. for some of us are gentlemen." Beckford told the earl, it was hard to refuse a table to the city of London, whom it would cost ten thousand pounds to banquet the king, and that his lordship would repent it, if they had not a table in the hall; they had. To the barons of the Cinque-ports, who made the same complaint, he said, "If you come to me as lord steward, I tell you, it is impossible; if, as lord Talbot, I am a match for any of you;" and then he said to lord Bute, “If I were a minister, thus I would talk to France, to Spain, to the Dutch— none of your half measures." This has brought me to a melancholy topic. Bussy goes to-morrow, a Spanish war is hanging in the air, destruction is taking a new lease of mankind-of the remnant of mankind. I have no prospect of seeing Mr. Conway. Adieu; I will not disturb you with my forebodings. You I shall see again in spite of war, and I trust in spite of Ireland.

Yours ever.

I was much disappointed at not seeing your brother John: I kept a place for him to the last minute, but have heard nothing of him.

TO THE HON. H. S. CONWAY.

Arlington-street, Sept. 25, 1761.

THIS is the most unhappy day I have known of years: Bussy goes away! Mankind is again given up to the sword! Peace and you are far from England !

Strawberry-hill.

I was interrupted this morning, just as I had begun my letter, by lord Waldegrave; and then the duke of Devonshire sent for me to Burlington-house to meet the duchess of Bedford, and see the old pictures from Hardwicke. If my letter reaches you three days later, at least you are saved from a lamentation. Bussy has put off his journey to Monday (to be sure, you know this is Friday): he says this is a strange country, he can get no waggoner to carry his goods on a Sunday. I am glad a Spanish

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