I saw him, without any difficulty, from the Duchess of Grafton's box. He is extremely slender, and looks many years older than he is in short, I suppose it is his manner with which every mortal is captivated, for though he is well enough for a man, he is far from having anything striking in his person. To-day (this is Tuesday) there was a drawing-room at Leicester-house, and to-night there is a subscription ball for him at Carlisle-house, Soho, made chiefly by the Dukes of Devonshire and Grafton. I was invited to be of it, but not having been to wait on him, did not think it civil to meet him there. The court, by accident or design, had forgot to have a bill passed for naturalising him. The Duke of Grafton undertook it, on which they adopted it, and the Duke of Bedford moved it; but the Prince sent word to the Duke of Grafton, that he should not have liked the compliment half so well if he had not owed it to his grace. You may judge how he will report of us at his

return!

With regard to your behaviour to Wilkes,' I think you observed the just medium: I have not heard it mentioned: if they should choose to blame it, it will not be to me, known as your friend and no friend of theirs. They very likely may say that you did too much, though the Duke of Bedford did ten times more. Churchill has published a new satire, called 'The Duellist,' the finest and bitterest of his works. The poetry is glorious; some lines on Lord Holland, hemlock charming abuse on that scurrilous mortal, Bishop Warburton: an ill-drawn, though deserved, character of Sandwich; and one, as much deserved, and better, of Norton.

Wednesday, after dinner.

The Lord knows when this letter will be finished; I have been writing it this week, and believe I shall continue it till old Monin sets out. Encore, the Prince of Brunswick. At the ball, at Buckingham-house, on Monday; it had began two hours before he arrived. Except the King and Queen's servants, nobody was there but the Duchesses of Marlborough and Ancaster, and Lord Bute's two daughters. No supper. On Sunday evening the Prince had been to Newcastle-house, to visit the Duchess. His speech to the Duke of Bedford, at first, was by no means so strong as they gave it out: he only said, "Milord, nous avons fait deux métiers bien differens;

1 Mr. Wilkes had thought it prudent to retire to Paris, under circumstances which certainly rendered it unlikely that the King's ambassador should pay him any kind of civil attention.-CROKER.

le vôtre a été le plus agréable: j'ai fait couler du sang, vous l'avez fait cesser." His whole behaviour, so much à la minorité, makes this much more improbable. His Princess thoroughly agrees with him. When Mr. Grenville objected to the greatness of her fortune, the King said, "Oh it will not be opposed, for Augusta is in the opposition."

The ball, last night, at Carlisle-house, Soho, was most magnificent: one hundred and fifty men subscribed, at five guineas each, and had each three tickets. All the beauties in town were there, that is, of rank, for there was no bad company. The Duke of Cumberland was there too; and the Hereditary Prince so pleased, and in such spirits, that he stayed till five in the morning. He is gone to-day, heartily sorry to leave everything but St. James's and Leicester-house. They lie to-night at Lord Abercorn's,' at Witham [in Essex], who does not step from his pedestal to meet them. Lady Strafford said to him, "Soh! my lord! I hear your house is to be royally filled on Wednesday."-"And serenely," he replied, and closed his mouth again till next day.

Our politics have been as follow. Last Friday the Opposition moved for Wilkes's complaint of breach of privilege to be heard as to-day Grenville objected to it, and at last yielded, after receiving some smart raps from Charles Townshend and Sir George Saville. On Tuesday the latter, and Sir William Meredith, proposed to put it off to the 13th of February, that Wilkes's servant, the most material evidence, might be here. George Grenville again opposed it, was not supported, and yielded. Afterwards Dowdeswell moved for a committee on the Cider-bill; and, at last, a committee was appointed for Tuesday next, with powers to report the grievances of the bill, and suggest amendments and redress, but with no authority to repeal it. This the administration carried but by 167 to 125. Indeed, many of their people were in the House of Lords, where the Court triumphed still less. They were upon the Essay on Woman.' Sandwich proposed two questions; 1st, that Wilkes was the author of it; 2dly, to order the Black Rod to attach him. It was much

1 Mr. Walpole, by one of those happy expressions which make the chief charm of his writings, characterises the stately formality of this noble lord. His house at Witham is close to the great road, a little beyond the town of Witham. Queen Charlotte slept there on her way to London, in 1761.-CROKER.

2 Mr. Walpole probably understood his lordship to mean that a Serene Highness was not sufficiently important to require his attendance at Witham.-CROKER.

3 Wilkes was convicted, in the Court of King's Bench, on the 21st of January, the day before this letter was begun, of having written the Essay on Woman.'-CROKER.

objected by the Dukes of Devonshire, Grafton, Newcastle, and even Richmond, that the first was not proved, and might affect him in the courts below. Lord Mansfield tried to explain this away, and Lord Marchmont and Lord Temple had warm words. At last Sandwich, artfully, to get something, if not all, agreed to melt both questions into one, which was accepted; and the vote passed, that it appearing Wilkes was the author, he should be taken into custody by the usher. It appearing, was allowed to mean as far as appears. Then a committee was appointed to search for precedents how to proceed on his being withdrawn. That dirty dog Kidgel' had been summoned by the Duke of Grafton, but as they only went on the breach of privilege, he was not called. The new Club,' at the house that was the late Lord Waldegrave's, in Albemarle-street, makes the ministry very uneasy; but they have worse grievances to apprehend!

4

Sir Robert Rich' is extremely angry with my nephew, the Bishop of Exeter, who, like his own and wife's family, is tolerably warm. They were talking together at St. James's, when A'Court came in. "There's poor A'Court," said the Bishop. "Poor A'Court!" replied the Marshal, "I wish all those fellows that oppose the King were to be turned out of the army!" "I hope," said the Bishop, "they will first turn all the old women out of it!"

5

The Duc de Pecquigny was on the point of a duel with Lord Garlies, at Lord Milton's ball, the former handing the latter's partner down to supper. I wish you had this Duke again, lest you should have trouble with him from hence: he seems a genius of the His behaviour on the visit to Woburn was very wrongwrong sort. headed, though their treatment of him was not more right. Lord Sandwich flung him down in one of their horse-plays, and almost put his shoulder out. He said the next day there, at dinner, that for the rest of his life he should fear nothing so much as a lettre de cachet from a French secretary of state, or a coup d'épaule from an

1 Mr. Kidgel, a clergyman, had obtained from a printer a copy of the 'Essay on Woman,' which he said he felt it his duty to denounce. His own personal character turned out to be far from respectable.—CROKER.

2 The Opposition club was in Albemarle-street, and the Ministerial at the Cocoatree; and the papers of the day had several political letters addressed to and from these clubs.-CROKER.

3 The oldest field-marshal in the army.-CROKER.

4 Major-general A'Court had a little before resigned, or rather been dismissed, for his parliamentary opposition, from the command of the second regiment of footguards.--CROKER.

5 John, afterwards seventh Earl of Galloway.-CROKER.

6 Joseph Damer, first Lord Milton.-CROKER.

English one. After this he had a pique with the Duchess, with whom he had been playing at whisk. A shilling and sixpence were left on the table, which nobody claimed. He was asked if it was his, and said no. Then they said, let us put it to the cards: there was already a guinea. The Duchess, in an air of grandeur said, as there was gold for the Groom of the Chambers, the sweeper of the room might have the silver, and brushed it off the table. The Pecquigny took this to himself, though I don't believe meaned; and complained to the whole town of it, with large comments, at his return. It is silly to tell you such silly stories, but in your situation it may grow necessary for you to know the truth, if you should hear them repeated. I am content to have you call me gossip, if I prove but of the least use to you.

Here have I tapped the ninth page! Well! I am this moment going to M. de Guerchy's, to know when Monin sets out, that I may finish this eternal letter. If I tire you, tell me so: I am sure I do myself. If I speak with too much freedom to you, tell me so; I have done it in consequence of your questions, and mean it most kindly. In short, I am ready to amend anything you disapprove; so don't take anything ill, my dear lord, unless I continue after you have reprimanded me. The safe manner in which this goes, has made me, too, more explicit than you know I have been on any other occasion. Adieu!

Wednesday-night, late.

Well, my letter will be finished at last. M. Monin sets out on Friday; so does my Lord Holland: but I affect not to know it, for he is not just the person that you or I should choose to be the bearer of this. You will be diverted with a story they told me to-night at the French Ambassador's. When they went to supper, at Soho,' last night, the Duke of Cumberland placed himself at the head of the table. One of the waiters tapped him on the shoulder, and said, "Sir, your Royal Highness can't sit there; that place is designed for the Hereditary Prince." You ought to have seen how everybody's head has been turned with this Prince, to make this story credible to you. My Lady Rockingham, at Leicester-house, yesterday, cried great sobs for his departure. Yours ever,

PAGE THE NINTH.

1 At Carlisle House.-CUNNINGHAM.

896. TO THE COUNTESS TEMPLE.'

2

[January], 1764.

MR. WALPOLE cannot express how much he is obliged and honoured by the trust Lady Temple is so good as to put in him, nor will her Ladyship's modesty let her be a proper judge how great that is. He will say no more but that, more than slight corrections in measure would destroy the chief merit of the poems, which consists in the beautiful ease and negligence of the composition—a merit which correction may take away, but can never bestow. I do real justice to these poems they should be compared with the first thoughts and sketches of other great poets. Mr. Addison, with infinite labour, accomplished a few fine poems; but what does your Ladyship think were his rough draughts?

897. TO THE COUNTESS TEMPLE.3

January 28, 1764.

I HAVE NOW, Madam, very carefully studied your Ladyship's poems, in which, as I told you, I can find no faults but in the longer metre. This I have tried to supply here and there by a syllable, or by little inversions which mend the cadence; and these I submit to your Ladyship's judgment as mere mechanic corrections, and not at all as improving the ease and natural grace of the original, much less the poetry, which perhaps suffers by my dull criticisms.

Your Ladyship will probably improve on my hints, for your own genteel pen is much more likely to strike out proper alterations than I, who work by dull rules, can do. One thing I am sure of, that larger changes than I have ventured to make, would entirely prejudice the agreeable air of your verses, which is so much and so peculiarly your own.

When I have the honour of seeing you, I will hope for further orders as to the impression, which I trust will not be so rigidly confined as you first proposed. I am, Madam, your most obedient and most sensibly obliged humble servant,

1 Now first collected.-CUNNINGHAM.

HOR. WALPOLE.

2 Anne Chamber, daughter of Thomas Chamber, of Hanworth, by Lady Mary, daughter of the Earl of Berkeley, married 1737, at the Countess of Suffolk's, at Marble Hill, to Richard Grenville, Earl Temple. This was the Countess Temple whose Poems were printed in 1764 at Strawberry Hill.-CUNNINGHAM.

3 Now first collected.-CUNNINGHAM.