Part 3 (1/2)
(3) Selwyn rivalled Walpole as an ardent admirer of Mme. de Sevigne (1626-1696) through her ”Letters”; he read them a.s.siduously, and pa.s.sionately collected any information relating to her; prizing the smallest object that had once been hers as a precious relic.
(4) Lady Sarah Bunbury (1745-1826), youngest daughter of Charles Lennox, second Duke of Richmond; great granddaughter of Charles II.; sister to Lady Holland, Lady Louisa Conolly, and Lady Emily, d.u.c.h.ess of Leinster; divorced from her first husband, Sir Charles Bunbury, the well-known racing baronet, in 1776; married, for the second time, George Napier, sixth son of Francis, fifth Lord Napier, in 1702; mother of the distinguished soldiers, Sir Charles James Napier, Sir George Thomas Napier, and Sir William Francis Napier, the historian of the Peninsular War. Const.i.tutional reasons alone prevented George III. from marrying her; he settled 1,000 pounds a year on her at Napier's death in 1807. She was quite blind when she died.
(5) Charles, whenever the name occurs, refers to Charles James Fox (1749-1806). He entered Parliament at nineteen; at twenty was made a Lord of the Admiralty; in 1773 a Commissioner of the Treasury; in 1782 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in the Rockingham Ministry; in 1783 he became again Secretary of State in the memorable Coalition Ministry formed by himself and Lord North under the nominal premiers.h.i.+p of the Duke of Portland. When the Whigs at length returned to power in 1806 he was again Secretary for Foreign Affairs in Lord Grenville's Ministry of all the Talents, and died in office. No statesman so little in office ever obtained so great influence in Parliament and in the country.
(6) Wilmot, fourth Viscount Lisbourne.
(7) George James Williams, commonly known as Gilly Williams (1716-1805), son of William Peere Williams, an eminent lawyer; uncle by marriage to Lord North; appointed Receiver-General of Excise in 1774. It was he of whom it was said that he was wittiest among the witty and gayest among the gay, and his society was much sought after. He and Edgec.u.mbe, with Selwyn, met at Strawberry Hill at stated periods, forming the famous group--Walpole's ”out-of-town party.”
(8) Lord Charles Spencer (1740-1820); second son of third Duke of Marlborough; M.P. for Oxfords.h.i.+re 1761-1784, and again 1796-1801; filled from time to time several minor political offices.
(9) Richard Vernon (1726-1800), termed father of the turf. He was a captain in the army and a Member of Parliament; it was as a sporting man, however, that he was best known. One of the original members of the Jockey Club, he had a racing partners.h.i.+p with Lord March, and rode in races. His skill at cards and on the turf afforded the means for extravagant living. He married the youngest daughter of the first Earl Gower.
(10) William Douglas (1725-1810), third Earl of March and fourth Duke of Queensberry, in his later years called ”Old Q.” He was appointed a Lord of the Bedchamber on the accession of George III., and in 1767 made Vice-Admiral of Scotland. Pleasure in all its forms was the sole object of his life, regardless of public opinion; he was good-natured and shrewd, and not without interest in politics and literature. At the time of the King's madness, in 1788, he openly declared for the Prince of Wales, and voted for the regency; he entertained the princes and Fox with reckless prodigality until the King regained his reason, when he lost his place at Court, and prudently retired to Scotland for a time. Among Selwyn's many friends the Duke of Queensberry held the first place. ”Hors son milord March, il n'amie rien,” writes Mme. du Deffand, in her portrait of Selwyn, whose unentailed property was left to the Duke of Queensberry, and who survived his friend by nineteen years.
(11) Augustus Henry, third Duke of Grafton (1735-1811). In 1766 he became First Lord of the Treasury in Lord Chatham's Ministry, resigning in January, 1770; and in 1771 Lord Privy Seal in Lord North's Government, stipulating at the same time that he should not be ”summoned to any Cabinet.” He resigned in 1775, but joined the Rockingham Ministry in 1782 as Lord Privy Seal. On the formation of the Coalition Ministry of North and Fox, in 1783, Grafton left office for the last time.
(12) Woburn.
(13) James Crawford of Auchinames, Renfrews.h.i.+re. He belonged to the group of fas.h.i.+onable young men who frequented the clubs and played heavily. He was a Member of Parliament. In 1769 he accompanied Charles Fox abroad, and the following year visited Voltaire at Ferney. He was a correspondent of David Hume and of Mme. du Deffand, who always referred to him affectionately as ”Mon pet.i.t Crauford”; in a letter in which she urges her desire that he should become more intimate with Horace Walpole, she writes, ”Vous etes melancholique, et lui est gai; tout l'amuse et tout vous ennuie.” Crawford was called the Fish at Eton, a name which clung to him throughout life.
He had wit and vivacity, but the reputation of being affected, insincere, and jealous. Much of his life was pa.s.sed abroad. He died in London in 1814.
(14) Raton was a present from Lady Coventry, and Selwyn was much attached to him. Sir Joshua Reynolds introduced him in his portrait of Selwyn and Lord Carlisle which is at Castle Howard.
(15) The Order of the Thistle had just been conferred on Carlisle.
(16) Isabella, Countess of Carlisle (1721-1795); daughter of fourth Lord Byron. In 1743 she became the second wife of the fourth Earl of Carlisle, who died in 1758, and was the mother of the fifth Earl. In 1759 she married Sir William Musgrave.
(17) Sir William Musgrave (died 1800), of Hayton Castle, c.u.mberland.
Commissioner of Customs and a well-known personage in London Society. He was Vice-President of the Royal Society, and filled many useful offices.
(18) Henry Fox, first Baron Holland (1705-1774); Secretary for War, 1746; Secretary of State, 1735 Paymaster General, 1757; Leader of the House of Commons, 1762; created Baron Holland, 1763. He had at this time gone abroad for his health.
(19) Lady Holland (1723-1774); eldest daughter of Charles, second Duke of Richmond. Her runaway marriage to Lord Holland, then Mr.
Fox, which, however, proved very happy, created much talk at the time.
(20) Francis Seymour (1743-1822); son of Francis, Earl of Hertford, afterwards second Marquis of Hertford.
(21) Lady Diana Bolingbroke (1734-1808); eldest daughter of second Duke of Marlborough; sister to Lady Pembroke. She was celebrated for her high character, beauty, and accomplishments. Two days after her unhappy marriage with Lord Bolingbroke was dissolved she married Topham Beauclerk.
1768, Jan. 5, Tuesday morning, Chesterfield Street.--Many and many happy new years to you, some of which I hope to have the pleasure of being a witness of. When I came to town yesterday from Gloucesters.h.i.+re, I received, to my surprise and great satisfaction, your letter of the 16th of last month, for this is now the second which I have had within a week beyond my expectation.
My answer to the first is now on the road to you, and will, I hope, reach you some time next week. I don't recollect in any which I have wrote that there was any expression of formality, which you seem to have observed, and which I certainly did not intend, because I know it would not be acceptable to you; and therefore don't interpret that to be formality, which can be nothing but that respect, which no degree of familiarity can ever make me lose in my commerce with you.
I was surprised to find that Sir Ch[arle]s and Lady Sarah [Bunbury]
were in town, and had not been out of it. The weather has been and is so cold there is no stirring from one's fireside, and so they changed their mind. I dine with them to-day, when I hope I shall see Harry; I have not seen him yet. I have been absent, it is now above a fortnight. I shall not seal up my letter till I have been in Privy Garden. I was asked to dine at Lord George's(22) to-day, but am glad that, it being postday, I can dine where I may be able to pick up something that will be interesting to you. I don't wish to add fuel, but it is natural to wish that one's letters are made as acceptable as possible.