SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

Gossip.

Letters addressed to the Countess of Ossory, ftom the year 1769 to 1797. By Horace Walpole, Lord Orford. Row first printed from Original MSS. Edited with Notes

by the Right Honourable R. Vernon Smith, M.P. In two volumes. Benney.

POLITICAL STATISTICS,

Analogies and Contrasts, or Comparative Sketches of France and England. By the Author of " Revelations of Russia," " The White Slave," " Eastern Europe and the Emperor Nicholas." In two volumes News. Maincrins, Clinical Observations on the Pathology and Treatment of Continued Fever, from Cases occurring in the Medical Practice of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. By Ed- ward Latham Ormerod, M.B., Caine College, Cambridge ; Licentiate of the Rosa; College of Physicians; Demonstrator of Morbid Anatomy at St. Bartholomew's Hospital Longman and Co, FICTION,

Rose, Blanche, and Violet. By G. H. Lewes, Esq., Author of .` Hanthorpe," Biographical History of Philosophy," &c. &c. In three volumes.

Smith, Elder, and Co, WALPOLE'S LETTERS TO THE COUNTESS OF OSSORT, ANNE LIDDELL, daughter of Lord Ravensworth, was first married to that Duke of Grafton whom Junius has rendered so prominent in the Peerage. After her divorce, she married Lord Upper Ossory, in March 1769. About the same time, the Duke of Grafton married Miss Wrot- Lesley, niece of the Dutchess of Bedford, and first cousin of Lord Ossory; circumstances which were not forgotten by the "Stat Nominis Umbra. The letters before us begin in October 1769 ; and seem to have originated in Lady Osaory'a announcement of her marriage, or in some spontaneous congratulation of Horace Walpole to an old friend. The correspondence thus begun continued with only the intermission of a single year till 1797, the period of Walpole's death. Without adopting in full the quoted panegyric of Mr. Vernon, we infer from the manner and topics of Wal- pole that Lady Ossory was a woman of sound sense, general accomplish- ments, and strong understanding,—quite capable of compelling the mac- caroni philosopher to revise his views on books, men, or politics, when he had thrown them off in a moment of spite, temper, or caprice.

The subjects of the letters are very various : frequently private or per- sonal—such as questions of heraldry and antiquity for family friends ; the troubles or affected troubles which the celebrity of Strawberry Hill brought upon its owner ; bargains for articles of yeah; theatate of Wal- pole's own health, or that of his dogs or servants ; with a good deal of small gossip respecting the fashionable individuals of the time, but to- wards whom all regard has long since perished except among persons who may have a family or traditional connexion with them. And these things predominate rather too much for general readers ; unless in the autobio- graphical particulars as to Walpole's health, and the gallantry with which he bore up under the martyrdom of old age, gout, and other severe ail- ments. But there are better things in the book than such matters : the bon moth and anecdotes of the day; and reminiscences of Walpole to illus- trate the present by the past,—though somewhat in the spirit of the " laudator temporis acti," which strengthened as he grew older. Of no- velty in facts we trace little or none; but there are many comments on passing events in connexion with the actors, that have some freshness from the living knowledge of Walpole. The literary and theatrical criticisms are tinged by the artificial character of the age and the writer, but in the main just, except where strong personal prejudices intervened, as in the case of Johnson. A very striking feature is political commentary on historical events. The period embraces four subjects of this kind,—the American War ; the Riots of London ; the Coalition of Fox and North ; and the French Revolution. In letters written during intervals of meet- ings, or of suspended correspondence, points occurring during those in- tervals are of course passed over, so that we do not get a complete view of the subject; and sometimes the principal events drop out,-88 the capitulation of Cornwallis, and the most startling features of the Coalition. Walpole's current remarks on the policy of the American War and the atrocities of the French Revolution are remarkable for their justness and sagacity : the commentaries en both affairs might represent the sounder opinion upon the subject now. Another feature in the letters, as we draw towards the conclusion, is the years of the writer. Horace Walpole lived till George the Fourth had reached middle age, and he had kissed the hands of the Prince's great-great grandfather George the First. In his old age, Horace Walpole seems to unite the times of the Stuarts with the present generation ; and, unlike the generality of such living links, he was able both to exhibit the far-off past and to pass a judgment (though rather old-fashioned) upon the actual present. These letters can hardly be said to throw any absolutely new light upon the age, or to exhibit Walpole in any fresh phase. The period had been gone over already by the writer, and some of the jokes and sentiments presented to other correspondents. Walpole himself appears as he was before. The keen, shrewd, self-satisfied dilettante and dissatisfied man, piquing himself on his philosophy and his pedigree in the same breath; in-

fluenced of men by the humour of the moment, which humour was eitha by some slight, some prejudice, or some interest. Ever

declaiming against corruption and the want of public spirit, yet living himself on the emoluments of places to which no duty was attached, or at least for which none was performed. Affecting to laugh at his col- lection and his pursuits of vertu, but sore at the slightest remark made upon any bit : he owns he was not in " charity" with Reynolds, and seems ever after to have depreciated him, because the great artist had passed a discriminating opinion on a portrait Walpole had bought, and which criticism of the President he cavils at precisely in the style of Sir Fretful Plagiary. Without one single claim to the attention of man- kind beyond his authorship and his taste in vertu, he was always pro- fessing to undervalue both, while cockering both with the most jealous care, and ,desiring only to be looked upon as a gentleman, because he said he was. not a genius. The etiquette of the old school rendered bun scrupulous to the forms of politeness, and tractable to the weakness of others—before their face. He really and without a joke improved upon the Devil, and was good-tempered when not displeased. To his animals and his servants he was kind ; and his affections were warm towards his friends—till they crossed his objects or mortified his vanity, (which was soon done,) and then he was depreciatory, if not malignant and slan-

derous.

But though they are not very new or instructive, it was desirable to have these letters, as completing the series of Horace Walpole's known correspondence. They also make additions to our stock of mots; though several of these, as well as some of Walpole's own remarks, require a commentary longer than the text, unless the reader is well enough ac- ouainted with the minute history of the time to understand the allusions. Thus, in the first of the following ana, the family name of the Ormonds, and the family of the Mr. Calcraft who " only determined to be a patriot when he could not be a peer," must be known before the point is relished.

George Selwyn.—" George Selwyn is, I think, the only person remaining who can strike wit out of the present politics. On hearing Calcraft wanted to be Earl of Ormond, he said, it would be very proper, as no doubt there had been many Butlers in his family."

"You ask about Mr. Selwyn: have you heard his incomparable reply to Lord George Gordon, who asked him if he would choose him again for Luggershall?

ge replied, constituents would not." Oh, yes, if you would recommend me, they would choose me if I came from the coast of Africa" That is accord- ing to what part of the coast yon came from: they would certainly if you came from the Guinea Coast.' Now, madam, is not this true inspiration as well as true wit? Had one asked him in which of the four _quarters of the world Guinea is situated, could he have told ?"

Charles The Comte d'Artois carried his eldest boy, the Comte d'Angon-

lime, to see the Dauphin. The child said, sat bien petit.' The Prince re- plied, Patience, mon infant, vous le trouverez bientOt trop grand. "

Louis Philippe in 1790.—"Madame de Sillery's [Geniis] protest against the Monseigneur was no panic, but an emanation of that poissarde cant that her re- creant protector has adopted. When the late Emperor died, she forbade her pu-

pils to mourn for him. The Due de Chartres obeyed. The Due de Montpenaier, the second son, about seventeen, *ould not, but bespoke a black coat. La Goa-

vernante said to him tine% 'fantaisie eat-ce eels?' Fantaisie!' cried the prince, est-ce one &Maisie que de vouloir porter le devil de FEmpereur?' 'Well then ! ' said the mock Minerva, you shall have no other coat till that is worn out.' Would not one think that the Due de Chartres was her son, and the two others sprang from Henri Quatre by the Dutchess of Orleans? "

The following is old enough, but the controversy brings out the action and circumstances.

"The letter pretended to be written by my father to the late King, advising a peerage to be conferred on Mr. Pulteney, I am thoroughly convinced is spurious; the length alone would be suspicious; but I have better detection to offer. I was alone with Sir Robert when he came 'irom St. James's the last time he saw George II., and when he had advised the peerage in question, of which he told me; and I have not forgotten the action of his hand, which he turned as when one locks a door, adding, I have shut the door on him.' Pulteney had gobbled the honour, but perceived his error too late; for the very first day that he entered the House of Lords he dashed his patent on the floor in a rage, and vowed be would never take it up: but it was too late—he had kissed the King's hand for it!"

Mr. Vernon Smith, the editor, justly remarks on the formal politeness of the letters, to one with whom the writer was so intimate, coupled with the "perfect freedom" of some of the stories and anecdotes. To us, however, the oddest parts are the references to the divorce, &c. Walpole thrice goes out of his way to mention the name of Junius as a sort of good thing in itself; and he makes needless allusions to the Dateless of Grafton, as well as to the Duke. There is sometimes a similar wantonness in the stories to which Mr. Smith alludes. The lan- guage is rarely indelicate, and .•sometimes the story is only made so by the mode in which the writer thinks fit to tell it. The following is the only one we venture to quote, from what was addressed to beauty, rank, and fashion, within the memory of living man. "Apropos to millions, have you heard, madam, of the Prince de Gnemene's breaking for 28,000,000 of livres ? Would not one think it was a debt contracted by the two Foleys? I know of another Prince de Gnemend, who lived, I think, early in the reign of Louis Quatorze, and had a great deal of wit. His wife was a savants. One day he met coming out of her closet an old Jew, (not such as the present Prince and the Foleys deal with, but) quite in m.s, and half stark. The Prince asked who he was? The Princess replied Mais il me montre l'Hebreu.' Eh bien,' said the Prince, et bientOt it vons montrera son cal.' I hope this story, if you did not know it, will make amends for the rest of my rhapsody,"

The following sketch of the unfortunate Queen of France in 1795 has interest from its bearing upon Burke's celebrated description ; and is curious for Walpole's allusions, evidently intended to be pleasant, to the Dutchess and Duke of Grafton, &c. The Italics are Walpole's, the note Mr. Smith's.

" Madame Clotilde was married on Monday morning, and at night was the ban- quet roial—the finest sight sur la terre,—I believe, for I did not see it. I hus- band my pleasures and my person, and do not expose my wrinkles au grand jour. Last night I did limp to the Bal Pare; and as I am the hare with many real friends, was placed on the bane des Ambassadeurs, just behind the Royal Family. i It was in the theatre, the bravest in the universe; and yet taste predominates over

expense. What I have to say, I can tell your Ladyship in a word, for it was im- rible to see anything but the Queen! Hebes and Floras, and Helens and Braces, are street-walkers to her. She is a statue of beauty, when standing or sitting; grace itself when she moves. She was dressed in silver, scattered over with bairierroses; few diamonds, and feathers, much lower than the monument. They say she does not dance in time; but then it is wrong to dance in time. Four years ago I thought her like an English Dutchess,* whose name I have forgotten for some years. Horrible! but the Queen has had the cestus since. The King's likeness to a Duke, whose name is equally out of my books, remains; and as if there was a fatality that chained the two families together, Madame is as like Lady Georgians as two peas." Fifteen years later, when all was changed, and Burke poured forth his own reminiscences, Walpole was true to old impressions, and thus defends the passage in the Reflections. "One word more about Mr. Burke's book: I know the tirade on the Queen of Prance is condemned, and yet I must avow I admire it much. It paints her ex- actly as she appeared to me the first time I saw her when Dauphiness. She was ping after the late King to chapel, and shot through the room like an aerial Xing, all brightness and grace, and without seeming to touch earth—' vera incessu patuit deal' Had 1 Mr. Burke's powers, I would have described her in

words."

* Lady Ossory, formerly Dotebese of Grafton. One of the most frequent topics is highway robbery, sometimes in open day. Well as we may know by tradition the unsafe character of the roads formerly, the actual fact seems to set imagination at defiance. A passenger is safer now among the most barbarous people, except perhaps the robber clans of Koordistan and Toorkistan, than he was in the out- skirts of London seventy years since : bating the more martial prepara- tions, the time was as bad for robbery as the middle ages. Of the many stories of this kind the following is one of the best. "Lady Browne and I were as usual going to the Dutchess of Montrose at seven o'clock. The evening was very dark. In the close lane under her park-pale, and within twenty yards of the gate, a black figure on horseback pushed by between the chaise and the hedge on my side. I suspected it was a highwayman; and so I found did Lady Browne, for she was speaking and stopped. To divert her fears, I was just going to say, Is not that the apothecary going to the Datchess?' when I heard a voice cry 'Stop!' and the figure came back to the chaise. I had the presence of mind, before I let down the glass, to take out my watch and staff it within my waistcoat under my arm. He said, Your parses and watches! ' I replied, I have no watch. Then your purse ! ' I gave it to him; it had nine guineas. It was so dark that I could not see his hand, but felt him take it. He then asked for Lady Browne's purse, and said, Don't be frightened; I will not hurt you.' I said, `No, you won't frighten the lady ?' He replied, ' No, I give you my word I will do you no hart' Lady Browne gave him her purse, and was going to add her watch; bat he said, I am much obl*ed to you • I wish you good night!' pulled off his hat, and rode away. Well,' said Lady Browne, you will not be afraid of being robbed another time for you see there IS nothing in it." Oh! but I am,' said she; and now I am in terrors lest he should return, for I have given him a parse with only bad money that I carry on pur- pose >I The Riots of London in 1780, as graphie_elly though slightly described by Walpole, seem to have wanted little but a party conspiracy with an object, to have forestalled the Barricades of Paris, or even the first Re- volution. There might be more of individual pluck among the nobility and gentry of Great Britain than in the old noblesse or the modern func- tionary of France ; but the authorities were just as timorous, and the ar- rangements as disorganized, as in any foreign capital lately. The following scene at the Houses of Parliament was substantially what we have been familiar with of late, except that John Bull's sense of propriety kept him from entering where he had no "right" " I know that a governor or a gazetteer ought not to desert their posts if a town is besieged, or a town is full of news; and therefore, madam, I resume my office. I smile today, but I trembled last night; for an hour or more I never felt more anxiety. I knew the bravest of my friends were barricaded into the House of Commons, and every avenue to it impassible. Till I heard the Horse and Foot Guards were gone to their rescue, I expected nothing but some dire misfortune; and the first thing I heard this morning was, that part of the town had had a for- tunate escape from being burnt after ten last night. You must not expect order, madam: I must recollect circumstances as they occur; and the best idea I can give your Ladyship of the tumult will be to relate it as I heard it.

" I had come to town in the morning on a private occasion, and found it so much as I left it, that though I saw a few blue cockades here and there, I only took them for new recruits. Nobody came in: between seven and eight I saw a hack and another coach arrive at Lord Shelburne's, and thence concluded that Lord George Gordon's trumpet had brayed to no purpose. At eight I went to Gloucester House; the Dutchess told me there had been a riot, and that Lord Mansfield's glasses had been broken, and a bishop's, but that most of the popu- lace were dispersed. About nine his Royal Highness and Colonel Heywood arrived; and then we heard a much more alarming account. The concourse had

been incredible, and had by no means obeyed the injunctions of their or rather had interpreted the spirit instead of the letter. The Duke had

the House with the utmost difficulty, and found it sunk from the temple of dig- nity to an asylum of lamentable objects. There were the Lords Hilsborough, Stormont, Townshend, without their bags, and with their hair dishevelled about their ears, and Lord Willoughby. without his periwig, and Lord Mansfield, whose glasses had been broken, quivering on the woolsack like an aspen. Lord Ash- burnham bad been torn out of his chariot, the Bishop of Lincoln ill-treated, the Duke of Northumberland had lost his watch in the holy hurlyburly, and Mr. Mackenzie his snuffbox and spectacles. Alarm came that the mob had thrown down Lord Boston, and were trampling him to death; which they almost did. They had diswigged Lord Bathurst on his answering them stoutly, and told him he was the Pope, and an old woman; thus splitting Pope Joan into two. Lord Hillsborough, on being taxed with negligence, affirmed that the Cabinet had the day before empowered Lord North to take precautions, but two justices that were called denied having received any orders. Colonel Heywood, a very stout man and luckily a very cool one, told me he had thrice been collared as he went by the Duke's order to inquire what was doing in the other House; but though he wan not suffered to pass he reasoned the mob into releasing him, yet he said he never saw so serious an appearance and such determined countenances. About eight the Lords adjourned, and were suffered to go home; though the rioters declared that if the other House did not repeal the bill there would at night be terrible mischief. Mr. Burke's name had been given out as the object of resentment. General Conway I knew would be intrepid and not give way; nor did he, but in- spired the other House with his own resolution. Lord George Gordon was ran- ning backwards and forwards, and from the windows of the Speaker's chamber denouncing all that spoke against him to the mob in the lobby. Mr. Conway

i

tasked him severely both in the House and aside; and Colonel Murray told him he was a disgrace to his family. Still the Members were besieged, and locked up for four hours; nor could divide, as the lobby was crammed. Mr. Conway and Lord Frederick Cavendish, with whom I supped afterwards, told me there was a moment when they thought they must have opened the doors and fought their way out sword in hand. Lord North was very firm; and at last they got the Guards and cleared the pass."

Among] the persons who figure in these letters is Oliver Goldsmith. As an author, he was not fully appreciated by Walpole : the poet's nature was too refinedly simple to be relished by the artificial man of fashion; The man, too, was misunderstood: but Walpole saw what many among Goldsmith's friends did not see, that there was some "sense" about him

even in his most absurd moments.

" I dined and passed Saturday at Beauclerc's, with the Edgcumbes, the Gar- ricks, and Dr. Goldsmith, and was most thoroughly tired, as I knew I should be, I who hate the playing off a butt. Goldsmith is a fool; the more wearing for- having some sense. It was the night of a new comedy, called the School for Wives,' which was exceedingly applauded, and which Charles Fox says is exe- crable. Garrick has at least the chief hand in it. I never saw anybody in a greater fidget, nor more vain when he returned; for he went to the playhouse at half-an hour after five, and we sat waiting for him till ten, when he was to act a speech in ' Cato' with Goldsmith; that is, the latter sat in Vother's lap, covered with a cloak, and while Goldsmith spoke Garrick's arms that embraced him made foolish actions. How could one laugh when one had expected this for Mir hours?'

It is probable that the " butt," through all this buffoonery, was taking the measure of the superfine exclusive ; and, had he lived to cultivate satire, might have painted a character that would have made Walpole wince and whine for the remainder of his life.

The volumes are edited by Mr. Vernon Smith with a few foot-notes ; but many readers would have been pleased with more. There are also some " characters " from Lord Ossory's manuscripts, and a few private letters referring to events alluded to in the text ; the best of which are by Mr. Fitzpatrick, written from America daring the Revolutionary war, in which he served.