WALPOLE ' S LETTERS TO SIR HORACE MANN.
THE letters in these concluding volumes of the series commence in 1776, when WALPOLE was about sixty and beginning to talk of old age, and end in 1786, the year of Sir HORACE MANN'S death. The Bentleian edition of WALPOLE is rendered more complete by various addenda : some epistles to GEORGE SELWYN from the late publica- tion of the Selwyn Correspondence ; a few miscellaneous letters ; a paper of suggestions to the Duke of GLOUCESTER, (who had offended GEORGE the Third by marrying WALPOLE'S niece,) pointing out the best course to be pursued in appealing to Parliament for an income and protection, without further offence to the King ; a memoir by WALPOLE touching his sinecures, written at a time when the inancial distress of the American War induced a call for their abolition ; an autobiography, to 1779, under the title of "Short notes of my Life," confined to mere facts, and principally about his tiritings ; together with WALroLE's own description of Strawberry Hill and its curiosities. The time of these letters embraces great political events : the full-blown corruption and misgovernment of India, on which Wm.- koLE falls into the common cry ; the middle and close of the American War ; the first appearance of the younger PITT, both as orator and statesman ; the coalition of Fox and NORTH, with its downfall and the destruction of the family Whig oligarchy. The leading incidents of these topics are touched upon in the volumes before us, and at varying lengths ; but more in the character of Observer than actor. At an earlier period of life WALPOLE mingled in the world of politics, and his accounts had the narrative air which is derived from first-hand knowledge. More confined to the house by gout and advancing years, and dependent upon the information of others, his present notice of events has rather the character of a commentary, and of a commentator not uninfected by the " laudator temporis acti." Notwithstanding this tinge and the Walpolean prejudices, there is a good deal of interest attached to the criticisms of the drawingroom statesman, and a good deal of
truth in some of his smart remarks : one result of which amounts to this—that though our Ministers managed the American war as badly as possible, yet the Continental Powers were even worse: we did nothing well with our forces, but they did nothing at all with more. The letters, too, show the truth of the remark that history has little effect upon life in general. It is a constant topic of in- dignant commentary with the retired man of fashion how little grief was felt by the public for the public misfortunes : balls, operas, parties, gambling, and all the other pursuits of pleasure, go on just as usual, though armies surrender, fleets show the white feather, and an incapable Ministry despoils the Crown of its "brightest jewel" the Colonies of North America. The only thing that really suspended business and pleasure were the Riots of '80; which seem to have had that effect for a week or so, by coming home to men's doors.
A similar remark applies to fashion as to politics—the matter is second-hand, and there is less of it : what there is wants the fresh- ness and life which many of the earlier letters possess. Unless we are misled by fancy, the present collection is like the Odyssey after the Iliad. WALPOLE calls more upon memory and reflection for materials ; his jokes are oftener drawn from the past to be used as illustrations, and events often commented upon as much as de- scribed. There is consequently less of point and interest in this collection than in most other series of his epistles. Perhaps one cause of this may be that a fuller light bas already been thrown upon the period. Parliamentary reporting had begun ; fashionable sayings and doings were chronicled in a better and bolder because a plainer manner by the press ; in short, "the Fourth Estate" was rising into more importance. WALPOLE himself admits this : he refers MANN to the Gazettes for events, and complains of the scan- dal of the newspapers—" Othello's occupation's gone." The more private topics are less various than before, and chiefly of a personal nature—his health, his nephew, Lord Oaroan's bad conduct, and matters of a similar kind. Perhaps the clearest im- pression left is the profligacy of the age ; though some of his tales on this topic may be read at greater length in the contemporary newspapers. Looking at matters in this point of view, an allow- ance might be made for the Duke of QUEENSBERRY, the Marquis of HERTFORD, and GEORGE the Fourth : they were only the marked men of their day, and had the misfortune to outlive it,—" thrown by upon life's weedy shore "; and very rank weeds they were. The more subdued style of composition we noticed in the pre- vious series of the MANN Correspondence is still visible, probably to a greater degree. This, however, gives a more philosophical character to passages whose subjects admit of it. There is in the following, for example, a truth much wider than the instances them- selves.
A HINT FOB PUBLICISTS OF ALL KINDS.
When I see men late in life thrust themselves into the world's face without a call, I feel a contemptuous pity for them : but they are always punished; they find themselves misplaced; and the more they try to adapt themselves to the tone of an age to which they belong not, the more awkwardly they Suc- ceed. Not only the fashions in dress and manners change, but the ways of thinking, nay, of speaking and pronouncing. Even the taste in beauty and wit alters. A Helen or a Lord Rochester, perhaps, would not be approved but in one specific half-century. Sir William Temple says, that the Earl of Norwich, who had been the wit of the Court of Charles the First, was laughed at in that of Charles the Second. I myself remember that Lord Leicester, who had rather a jargon than wit, which was much admired in his day, having retired for a few years, and returning to town after a new generation had come about, recommenced his old routine, but was taken for a driveller by the new people in fashion, who neither understood his phrases nor allusions. At least, neither man nor woman that has been in vogue must hazard an interregnum and hope to resume the sceptre. An actor or actress that is a favourite may continue on the stage a long time : their decays are not descried, at least bat allowed by those who grow old along with them ; and the young, who come into the world one by one, hearing such performers applauded, believe them perfect, instead of criticizing: but if they quit the stage for a few years, and return to it, a large crop of new auditors has taken possession, are struck with the increased defects, and do not submit, when in a body, to be told by the aged that such a performer is charming, when they hear and see to the contrary.
THE OLD BEAU BIT.
You deserve that I should serve you as Mrs. Bmcegirdle, the vestal actrest, treated the old Lord Burlington, with whom he was in love in vain. One day he sent her a present of some fine old china. She told the servant be had made a mistake ; that it was true the letter was for her, but the china for his lady, to whom he must carry it. Lord ! the Countess was so full of gratitude when her husband came home to dinner.
AN INCIDENT OF GAMING.
By the tenour of the petitions you would think we were starving; yet there is a little coin stirring. Within this week there has been a cast at hazard at the Cocoa Tree, the difference of which amounted to an hundred and four- score thousand pounds. Mr. ORirne, an Irish gamester, had won one hundred thousand pounds of a young Mr. Harvey of Chigwell, just started from a mid- shipman into an estate by his elder brother's death. O'Birne said, " You can never pay me." " I can, said the youth ; "my estate will sell for the debt.' " No," said 0'; "I will win ten thousand—you shall throw for the odd ninety They did, and Harvey won.
DIATRIBE ON LATE HOURS BY A SEXAGENARIAN.
One effect the American war has not had that it ought to have had ; it has not brought us to our senses. Silly dissipation rather Increases, and without an object. The present folly is late hours. Everybody tries to be particular by being too late ; and, as everybody tries it, nobody is so. It is the faahioa now to go to Ranelagh two hours after it is over. You may not believe this, but it is literal. The music ends at ten; the company go at twelve. Lord Derby's cook lately gave him warning. The man owned he liked his place, but said he should be killed by dressing suppers at three in the morning. The Earl asked him coolly at how much he valued his life ? That is, he would have paid him for killing him. You see we have brought the spirit of calculation to per- fection! I do not regret being old, for I see nothing I envy. To live in a crowd, to arrive everywhere too late, and to sell annuities for forty times more than I can ever pay, are not such supreme joys as to make me wish myself young again.
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