Part 17 (1/2)
(173) The first hvraison was published in 1779; Johnson completed the work in 1781.
(174) Alexander Wedderburn (1733-1805). He was appointed Solicitor-General in 1771 and Attorney-General in 1778. He was created a peer as Lord Loughborough on his appointment as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. In 1793 he reached the Woolsack, and in 1801 was created Earl of Rosslyn. Beginning political life as a Tory, he presently became a Whig and an opponent to Lord North; then he took office under him. A member of the Coalition Cabinet of Fox and North on its fall he became leader of the Whigs in the House of Lords, only to conclude his official life as Lord Chancellor in Pitt's administration.
(175) George Johnston (1730-1787), sometimes called ”Governor”
Johnston; a naval officer. He became Governor of West Florida in 1763, in 1768, having returned to England, he became member for c.o.c.kermouth, and in 1778 he was appointed a commissioner to treat with America, from which, by reason of a partisan letter, he was obliged to withdraw. In 1779 ne was appointed commodore of a small fleet. In 1781 he was again returned to Parliament. He was a violent and self-advertising politician.
1781, Nov. 17, Sat.u.r.day night.--I do not know how I shall conclude my letter, but I begin it in no better spirits than I can have, when I reflect, as I can never help doing, upon a loss which I sustained this day; it is now thirty years, and which as many more, although they will certainly annihilate the reflection of, can never repair.
I will not be so unjust to the kindness which I have received from you and some others as to say that when I lost my father I lost the only friend I could have, but I most undoubtedly lost the best, and being to-day where that happened, and more at leisure to recollect it, je la sens, cette perte, avec la meme vivacite aujourd'hui, que je ne l'eusse faite que depuis trots jours.
I set my heart therefore particularly on receiving to-day a letter from you, et la 'voici. It is a great consolation to me, as that it proves to me, with manifold other arguments, that whatever may be your occupation, you will find a moment to tell me, what if you did not I should have not the least doubt of, and that neither business or distance will deprive me of the place which I have always maintained in your mind and regard.
But mes jeremiades ne sont pas encore finies. The Castle air, by which I find the health of the children must be in some measure affected, and your own to be made a sacrifice to I do not know what, is to me a great grievance, and one to which I know as yet no remedy. The only one is to return here, and the sooner you do the better, and the happier we shall both be, I am sure.
Ce r.e.t.a.r.dement de la poste, aussi, si cela n'est pas un malheur excessif, il ne laisse pas d'etre un tres grand inconvenient; and I have only to comfort myself that when it was the most necessary to the ease of your life to have my letters come to you more exactly, that is, when the poor boy was so il
, that then they came with more expedition, et qu'alors et les courriers et les vents aient eu egalement compa.s.sion de ce que vous avez senti a cette occasion.
Gregg is to go to Neasdon to-morrow from Mitcham; he has dined here once; when his business will permit it I shall see him again. I have already hinted to him what you have desired as to his account. He desires it as a satisfaction to himself as well as to you. Delme does not please him by his conduct in any manner, and I think that he will, if he undertakes anything for him, do it more to oblige you than for any other reason.
I am very sorry to hear such an account of the affairs of that family, and of so little disposition to do what is necessary to set them to rights. If the estate and the resources were forty times what they are, such dissipation and want of management must undo them.
I am very glad that Storer is coming, and when he does I hope that he will come and attend with better grace that that has been done, which has been done (sic) for him. But the point of the cause to which he is to advert, and the only one, is the part which you have acted by him, and the benefit which will accrue to him from it. He has, when he reflects, a great deal of sense, and his heart is very good; therefore I look upon his present humour to be rather un effervescence than the result of much reflection.
The town is at this moment, as much as I can judge of it, as great a solitude as it has been at any time these two months past. But we are at the even of beaucoup de tintarparre, comme de nouvelles. Lord Cornwallis's situation is as critical, both for himself and for this country, as any can possibly be; and if George, in his History of Greece, and of Nicaeas in the expedition to Syracuse, can find a parallel for it, I cannot; no more than a remedy, or a reparation for all the losses which we have and must sustain, if we are not successful. Till I see the issue of this cast, I will not conclude, what the Duc de Chatelet told me to be true, that it is une cause perdue.
I will take the first opportunity of speaking to Gregg about your not writing to him, for he has been waiting for a letter from you, with unusual impatience, and I will write to Boothby if he does not in a few days return to town. I was with Ekins last night, and I stayed with him till ten. He is more crippled than I ever knew him to be. He is going to change his house, from which change, as of posture, he derives some comfort. It matters little from what hope(s) we derive comfort while we hope them.
Lady Mary H(oward) is very angry with me, as Lady Townshend a.s.sures me, for not having been near her. The truth is, that when I carried George to wait on her the day that he was in town, before his going to school, her room was quite insupportable, and for that reason I could not allow him safely to stay there.
Mr. Walpole, more defait, more perdus de ses membres, than I ever yet saw any poor wretch, is gone to-night to the play-house, to see the Tragedy of Narbonne. The gout may put what shackles it pleases on some people; on les rompt, et la vanite l'emporte. He seems as able to act a part in the drama as to a.s.sist at the performance of it.
Poor Barker has lost all the hopes which he ever had of resource.
His uncle, from whom he had great and reasonable expectations formerly, is dead at Constantinople, and without a groat. He has now, poor man, pour tout potage, Lady Harrington's dinner and compa.s.sion, and the one is as late and uncertain as the other. If his own relation, with his enormous wealth, and after such unexpected and unmerited good fortune, does not a.s.sist him, he will for ever pa.s.s with me for a man dest.i.tue de sentimens comme de principes. But, perhaps, not knowing more than I do of the connection and of the persons, my judgment may be severe and unjust.
My dear Lord, to what an unreasonable length have I spun out this letter. But from my disposition of mind to-day, and being alone, or en famille only, I did not think that I should be very concise. To my own tristes you have added more, and the account(s) which I have of your health, and of what it may be, and of the Castle air, &c., do by no means aid me on this occasion. I will fairly own to you, that, a quelque prise que ce soit, I wish this administration of yours in Ireland was at an end; and if no other ever began, I should be as well contented, unless, what is impossible, it could be exempt from those solicitudes which do not seem in any degree to be suitable to your const.i.tution. However, it will be not what I think or feel which must determine that question. I am only sorry that whatever be the burthen, I can take no part of it, for you, on my own shoulders. You have given me one occupation,(176) and for that I am much obliged, because, while no adverse accident happens, it will be one of the pleasures of my life, and not an inconsiderable one neither, and will, I hope, be one of those indisputable marks of affection with which I am, ever have been, and shall remain your(s).
My best and most cordial respects to Lady C(arlisle) and my love to the children, and my compliments besides to whom you please.
(176) Probably to look after Lord Morpeth during his father's absence in Ireland.
(1781, Nov.?) 27 (26?), Monday night.--Storer came to town this morning, as he proposes to tell you to-night; he dined with me. I met him first in the street, as I was returning from Lincoln's Inn.
He had been, as he was engaged to do, to Lord Loughborough, to whom he had made a promise of going on his arrival. Neither the air or the bonne chere of the Castle have (has) done him any harm; il a bonne mine. He has left me to go to Brooks's, and perhaps to the c.o.c.kpit(177); but as that is a compliment to the Minister rather than as a support of Government, he shewed no great empress.e.m.e.nt; nor could I inspire him with a zeal which I have not myself. I am not a solicitor of any future benefit from those who are in power, and when I require no more than common civility, they must not be surprised, if I [do] not pay what I do not receive.
We have had a blow, for the cause is a common (one). This surrender of Lord Cornwallis (178) seems to have put le comble a nos disgraces. What has been said about it, either at White's or parmi les Grenouilles at Brooks's, I know not.(179) I have not been out but for an hour before dinner to Mr. Woodc.o.c.k. I received the first news of this yesterday from Williams, who dined with me, but you may be sure it was a subject he did not like to dwell upon, and I chose to talk with him rather of old than of modern times, because of them we may be agreed; of the present, whatever we think, we should talk and differ in discourse widely.
This evening I have had your letter of the 20th. I am diverted with your account of my two Irish friends. They are so completely of that cast, that I cannot but imagine that they meant to be of your side.
Richards was sent away quickly for that purpose by my Lord Chamberlain, as my Lord told me. The other I have but a slight acquaintance with. I only guessed, as he desired a letter of introduction to you, that he meant to profess, by that, attachment.