Part 12 (2/2)
'h.e.l.l is worth trying for' . . . cries; Pigeons are left unpluck'd, the game unplay'd,
And F forgets the certain Bett he made; E'en S-l-n feels Ambition fire his breast And leaves half told, the fabricated Jest.
The murmurs hush'd--the Herald straight proclaim'd S-l-n the witty next in order nam'd, But he was gone to hear the dismal yells Of tortur'd Ghosts and suffering Criminals, Tho' summoned thrice, he chose not to return, Charmed to behold the crackling Culprits burn With George all know Ambition must give place When there's an Execution in the case.” (pp. 3 and 17.)
(1777, Aug.) . . .. I am convinced that I shall be free some time hence from that agitation of mind with which I am now so tormented, and from those almost constant sinkings of my spirits; but, my dear Lord, you may be quite a.s.sured that des plaies comme les miennes ne se referment fas bientot, and when they do they have altered the whole const.i.tution of the mind to such a degree as never to let it feel as it did before. But brisons la.
Mr. D'Oyley tells me that no important news is likely to come from America before the 20th of this month. Lady Cornwallis told me yesterday she expected some much sooner. Mr. D'Oyley's picture of affairs was not a joyous one, but he gave an infinitely better account of them to me than I have had from anybody else.
The Opposition affects great spirits, and to be sanguine about a change of men and of measures. Je n'en crois rien. Charles said last night if I would give him five guineas he would give me 100 if I lost my place. He must get one himself to justify my accepting the proposal. The match of tennis stark naked was not played, which I am sorry for. Another red Ribbon vacant, Sir C. Montagu. Clinton antic.i.p.ated that which Lord Inchiquin had.
I saw Horry W(alpole) yesterday for a few minutes; his distresses are, Lord O(rford's) lunacy, and the d.u.c.h.ess of Gloucester's situation if his R(oyal) H(ighness) dies, who will probably come and die in his own country. I wish these were mine, and I had no other, but we cannot choose our own misfortunes; if we could, there is n.o.body who would not prefer being concerned for a mad nephew whom they did not care for, or a simple Princess whom they would laugh at, si l'orgueil ne s'en meloit pas.
The great rendezvous of the White's people has been at my Lord Cadogan's, as that of the Macaroni's at Lord Egremont's. Adieu pour aujourd'hui; I need not conclude, as this letter does not go till Tuesday.
Monday morning.--At Almack's last night: Duke of Grafton, Lord Egremont, Jack Townsh(en)d, W. Hanger, Lord March, Varcy, Barker, Hare, 2 Craufurds, Thompson, Lord North[ingto]n, Foley, Sir W Draper, Sir C. Davers, Self, Boothby.
There was no news last night, and but little play. Boothby loses regularly his 300, and, if he had a run in his favour [has] n.o.body to furnish him with materials to profit by it. Lady Harriot came again to fetch her husband in their vis a vis, and I crammed myself in too. I left Draper and Sir C. Davers travelling through the worst roads of Canada, Triconderaga (sic), and the Lord knows what country. But it was so tiresome that I was glad to leave them in the mud in[to] which their conversation had carried them.
Lord North (ingto) n is very sour about Lord Cov(entry)'s treatment of his sister, and talks of going to Crome to expostulate with him about it. I hope that he will not. It will do the cause no good in any respect. I am for leaving everything for the present, bad as it is, where the ill stars of them all have placed them. Cov (entry)'s mind will take another turn, and [he will] do of his own accord perhaps more than he ought.
Mademoiselle D'Eon goes to France in a few days; she is now in her habit de femme, in black silk and diamonds, which she received from the Empress of Russia, when she was in the army and at her Court as minister, A German of her acquaintance has promised Lady Townshend to contrive that she and I shall have a sight of her before she goes. She met her grandson coming to town in a chaise and four, ventre a terre, from Brighthelmstone; he dined with us. Storer's attachment at present, as he says, is to Lady Payne. O'Brien gets 9,000 pounds a year, and the t.i.tle, by Lord Inchiquin's death.
The absence of Lord Carlisle as a Commissioner to America caused a break in the correspondence. Selwyn was much abroad during his friend's absence, and the distance between England and America was prohibitive of letters frequent. Two, however, from Paris in 1779 give an insight into Selwyn's life abroad. He resumed the correspondence in 1780. He was not well; he was being pressed to go to ”that abominable town” of Gloucester. He hated electioneering, but it is from Matson that the next letter, in the midst of the General Election of 1780, is dated. He lost his seat--perhaps not without regret--for he returned to the less irksome representation, if such it could be called, of Ludgershall.
(1779,) April 18, Sunday, Paris.--. . . I have managed in regard to my lodging as I once did in regard to poor Mr. Pottinger, whom I wanted to avoid and so asked him in my confusion to dine with me, which you cannot forget that he accepted. I wished above all things to be lodged as far from a certain Lady(140) as I could, and I have so contrived it, that for the present I am next door. I intend for the future to describe her by that name, that is, La Dame, as Lord Clarendon does the d.u.c.h.ess of Cleveland. I will for the rest of my life mention her as little as possible; but when I am forced to speak upon her subject I will take care not to call her by her name, and I am the more authorised so to do, as she has called me by every name but that by which I should be described, and that is your friend.
The Barone servante is gone to England, as you perhaps know, and perhaps she is now on his (sic) road back. However I shall be quit I hope for a distant bow; for although honest Iago had taken as much care as possible that he should cut my throat, a much better friend took care that he should not; which is the Marechal B(iron).(141)
I went yesterday to the Marechal for the first time; he was in his levee room; it was the day that the officers of the Gardes francoises always dine with him. We dropt upon him once (again?) the same day; but this was at noon, and he was giving audience. He took me out immediately into another room, and after some civil reproaches for not having been there before--for some English, who dine with him on a Friday, had told him that I was come--he entered into a very particular conversation upon that very disagreeable subject, upon which he spoke with all the reason and good nature and propriety imaginable.
I said for you everything which I could conceive it would be agreeable to you that I should say. I found it very acceptable, and his respect for you so great, and so much real kindness mixed with it, that having in my coach a picture of Caroline, which I had intended for the d.u.c.h.esse de la Valiere, I desired him to accept of it, and I think he received it as well as I could for her sake have wished him to do. I believe he will think that Lady Dunmore's daughters will not be the only beauties that we shall be able to produce. He was delighted with it. I gave him also another of Admiral Keppell,(142) which is an extraordinary good one. Caroline's was not a good impression, which I am sorry for. I gave my other where I dined, to Me de la Vaupaliere, to be a pendant to your own, and you must send me one of Lady C(arlisle), ill as she is represented, that the collection may be complete.
What he said besides was inevitable. I am unwilling to repeat it. I wish that there was not so much truth in it. I wish that it could be remedied, but that is impossible, for the only step towards it, which is returning to her family, and to yours, she is determined not to take; she will return no more to England I believe, if she can help it, unless [to] be totally abandoned and plundered everywhere else becomes a necessary inducement.
I am at Galan's, at the Hotel de Bourbon, next door to where we used to lodge, what is now called l'Hotel de Danmark. But I must remove, for one apartment will not do; we must have three; one for Monsieur le Marquis, another for the child and her people, and one for myself. So I think I must go for the present to the Pare Royal.
Every kind of house has been offered to me, to induce . . .
(140) The Countess Dowager of Carlisle, whose proposed marriage to a foreign baron met with opposition from her family and friends.
(141) Armand Louis de Gontaut, Duc de Biron (1753-1794). Though he joined the Revolutionists he perished on the scaffold,
(142) Admiral Lord Keppel (1725-1786), second son of second Earl of Albemarle. He was a Whig in politics, and was First Lord of the Admiralty under the Rockingham Administration in 1782, and was soon after created a peer. ”I ever looked on Lord Keppell,” Burke said, ”as one of the greatest and best men of his age.”
(1779,) Avril 18, Sunday night, Paris.(143)--I wrote to you this morning, as I hope that you will know. This afternoon I find tous mes projets pour le present sont suspendus. I am obliged to set out to-morrow for Lyons. It is so unexpected, that it is by much the greatest embarras I ever felt, and a monstrous exercise of expense to me. But Mie Mie will be there to-morrow. Les parens ont change d'avis, and I must go to Lyons to fetch (her). G.o.d knows how much further I would go to conduct her safely, but I was made to believe there was no occasion for it. I expected her here on Friday next, or on this day sevennight. Combien de termps faut-il que je sois le jouet des caprices des autres?
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