Part 15 (2/2)
Ossory's new house is delightful, and the furniture mighty well chose. I have not met yet Lord Euston there, as I expected, But I have dined there less this than former years.
(163) Pitt's second speech, on May 31st, was against a Bill to continue an Act for the appointment of Commissioners' accounts. The Opposition were defeated by 98 votes to 42. The speech attracted great notice.
(1781,) June 2, Sat.u.r.day morning.--Charles Fox has desired me to send Gregg to him, and is to discharge the annuity for which you are bound, and, I hope, to pay off the arrears at the same time. I have wrote to Gregg, to desire that he will lose no time, as Charles's property is of a very fluctuating kind. My dinner of yesterday was a very agreeable one to me, and seemed to be so to the rest. But Charles had forgot, when he promised to come to me, that he was engaged to the Duke of Grafton. The rest came, for this remarkable sitting at Pharo was over yesterday morning about seven o'clock, and so shall be my further account of it. The event is so often repeated that it becomes less extraordinary. But I have known of no other to entertain you with for some days past. General Craigs sets off for Ireland in about a week or ten days. I shall send my box of things for the children, either by him or Mr. Kinsman. . . .
The Montem is put off from Monday till Wednesday, for the convenience of their Majesties, who are to be there. The Queen will not have prayers read in the manner that they have been used to be there; she sees it [in] the light of a comedy acted, and therefore, improper. Doctor Young, the Fellow, has just been with me, to ask me if I could borrow a regimental suit of clothes, sash, and gorgette from some officer of the Guards, of my acquaintance. I intend to ask Richard, for the boy who is to wear it is, by Doctor Y(oung)'s account, of Richard's height. If I had known it before, I could have sent to Matson for a sash which my father wore at the battle of Blenheim, where he a.s.sisted as Aid-de-Camp to my Lord Marlborough.
It will be a very lucrative campaign for the boy, who is captain.
His name is Roberts; he is a son of one of the Fellows.
Storer's business is not, from what I have accidentally heard, in so great forwardness as I was in hopes that it had been. There must be two vacancies at the Board before he has a very good chance, if he has any. Lord Walsingham has no inclination to quit; it is a scene of business which he likes. Mr. Buller has been many years in Parliament, and I am afraid that his pretensions will preponderate above the friends.h.i.+p or good-will which Lord N(orth) professes to Storer. I picked up this by accident as I was going out yesterday airing with Mie Mie, after my company had left me. I met Lord Brudenel, and I collected this from his conversation, for he did not tell it me directly. But this and everything else, trifling or not, I think myself obliged to let you know, et enfin ne n'en laisser au boute de ma plume.
But I am particularly desirous to inform you of what concerns Storer, because I am persuaded that you wish to serve him. Your protection ought to be a valid one, and Lord N(orth) will not, I should imagine, choose to displease you; as to myself, maintenant que mes ongles sont rognes comme ils le sont, he will treat me with what indifference he pleases, and I know no remedy for it, but what is worse than the disease. Then it is more supineness, insensibility, and natural arrogance than any desire to use me worse than another. He has no tact in point of breeding, and he lays all his business on Robinson's(164) shoulders, who has behaved worse to me than any man ever did; but I must take shame to myself for that, because, if I had rejected his first proposal of standing for Gloucester, by his suggestion, against my own reason and inclination, he would never have dared to have treated me ill any more. I hope to be rich enough in a year or two more, if I live, to be as much a patriot as I happen to choose; but it is a fichu matter, as times go, and n.o.body of common sense ever gives you any credit for it. I shall be contented only, if, instead of making a bargain with a Minister, I can be in circ.u.mstances good enough to sell him one, if he uses me ill.
(164) John Robinson, Secretary to the Treasury.
[1781,] June 5, Tuesday.--. . . . I know of nothing rpmarkable at the Birthday yesterday. I put on the best clothes which I had, about nine at night, to make a bow to their Majesties sur leur pa.s.sage, as they went to the ball room, and there the Queen stopped and said some very gracious things to me, which my great deference to her Majesty made me not understand, but I bowed and thanked her, supposing that she said something that interested me. The King's face was turned the other way, and he did not see me, but I was taken notice of dans l'antichambre du Roi, and so it was very well, and it was there that I saw my nephew Broderick, who had just had an audience of the King. His Royal Highness's(165) equipages are very becoming, and give some little splendour to the Court. I could tell poor Guerchy now that we had not des vaisseaux only, but des carro(s)es; we have des Princes, G.o.d knows, a foison. The Princess Royal seems a very agreeable young woman, but I had only a transient glance of her. Her air and manner seemed good. One coach came by after another in their liveries, and each stuffed with royal children, like a cornucopia with fruit and flowers. Bory got I do not (know) how many of my servants, by some escalier derobe, to see the ball-room and some of the dances; he has a back stairs interest through that of Lord Trentham's nurse, and being himself the State Trumpeter in a neighbouring kingdom, is of some note and importance, and all is at my use and service. He is a very honest good creature.
I wish that I had room for him here in this house instead of in Chesterfield Street. Bob grows every day more and more attached to him, but I cannot dawdle him as Horry Walpole does Tonton, for Me du Deffand's sake, nor does he seem to expect it. He has the accueil of a respectable old suisse in my hall, where I meet him on coming home in a posture couchante. Adieu; till I have letters, remember me kindly to all, but to the dear children in particular. It is a great grievance to me not to see them. Je vieillis, et je m'en appercois.
(165) The Prince of Wales.
(1781,) June 11, Monday evening.--. . . . The Duke of Q(ueensberry) dined here to-day, and, by an accident, the Duke of Dorset. I had also Mr. Selwin who was a banker in Paris, a worthy man, but a more splenetic one I never knew, with an extreme good understanding. We are of the same family, by his account, although I do not know the degree of affinity in which we stand to each other.
To-morrow I find a Motion(165) is to come from Fox concerning America, to which he may, contrary to his expectation or wishes, find in the friends of Government an a.s.sent. People now seem by their discourse to despair more of that cause than ever. There has been wretched management, disgraceful politics, I am sure; where the princ.i.p.al blame is, the Lord only knows; in many places, I am afraid.
The Duke of Gloucester is going to-morrow, as I hear, to Brussels, to meet the Emperor. I hope for our sake that they will be deux tetes dans le meme bonnet, but la difference en est trop evidente.
That between our master and his son is not less, if report says true. They have great reason to be uneasy, I believe, but they must, when they reflect, think, that their own conduct has been very much the cause of it, and that they either have not read history, or forgot it.
The Pharo bank goes on, and winning; cela s'entend. The winnings are computed to be 30,000. Each of the bankers, to encourage him in his application and to make him as much amends as possible for the waste of his const.i.tution, is ent.i.tled to a guinea for every deal from the bank; and so our Trusty is in a way of honest industry, dealing at the pay of a guinea every ten minutes. There is also an insurance against cards coming up on the losing side, which is no inconsiderable profit to the underwriters.
Offly has had unexpectedly fallen to him, by way of legacy, an estate of some hundreds a year, which enables him to punt till past five in the morning.
I had a very pleasant day yesterday at Gregg's, and as often as I mention these excursions I have a long dissertation from the Duke [of Queensberry] upon the folly of having a country house at above ten or fourteen miles distance from London; which reflections will end in nothing but a condemnation of what he has, and never procure the enjoyment of that which I am sure he would like above all things if he had it. His uncertainty is in some measure the cause of my own, but shall not govern it, beyond the present year.
Craigs sets out for Ireland on Thursday. I am concerned at the account which you give me of Ekins. I hope to hear no more of your own gout. But if you feel symptoms of it, pray do not conceal them from me.
I go to-night to Marlborough House,(166) and there is also a promenade at Bedford House,(167) but it is announced that no candles will be lighted. My nephew Broderick is to have a 500 pound gratuity, and a Majority, and Lord Cornwallis(168) will solicit leave for his purchasing a company in the Guards.
Pray remember me most kindly to Lady Carlisle, and my hearty love to all the children without exception or preference. If George is to come here again, let me know it. If not, I shall not expect it.
Charles's house, like a phoenix from the flames, is new painted, and going to be new furnished, with certain precautions to keep his furniture a l'abri de ses creanciers. You have heard how he has liquidated the annuity for which you was engaged. There are still arrears due to you, to a considerable amount. This Pharo Bank is held in a manner which, being so exposed to public view, bids defiance to all decency and police. The whole town as it pa.s.ses views the dealer and the punters, by means of the candles, and the windows being levelled with the ground. The Opposition, who have Charles for their ablest advocate, is quite ashamed of the proceeding, and hates to hear it mentioned.
I hear of neither deaths, marriages, or preferments; public news come to your knowledge sooner, and with more authenticity, than through me; so I have no more to say at present, but to beg that I may hear from you as often as possible, and that I may have the satisfaction of knowing that you are well. These a.s.surances cannot be too often repeated to me, who am interested by every degree of affection in knowing whatever concerns you or yours.
My best compliments to Dr. Ekins, and my love once more to George, and to his sisters. He has wrote as often to me as I expected. I shall never, as long as I live, forget his a.s.surances upon that head, the tone and air with which he said it, and the cordiality of it. Il a indubitablement le meilleur des coeurs possibles.
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