The Ready Writers
Barnard Letters : 1775-1824. - Edited by Anthony Powell. (Duckworth. Illustrated. 21s.) IF history had not told us that Sir Andrew Barnard was a distinguished soldier prominent both in the Peninsula and at Waterloo, if he was not known as one of the founders of the Garrick Club, and if it was not for his many and warmly attached correspondents alluding to him as " a prime fellow," " sweet-blooded " and " of a heavenly temper," we should be inclined to look on him as a somewhat commonplace individual. It is, therefore, difficult to assent to the opinion of Mr. Powell, who edits the Barnard Letters, that Sir Andrew is the " hero " of the book. His own letters are kindly enough but on the whole dull. It is on the letters which are written round him that the charm of the book depends, and of that there is—plenty—a charm which consists of easy, familiar and good-humoured writing, notably in the letter's of Dr. Johnson's friend, Thomas Barnard, Bishop of Limerick, and in those of his daughter-in-law, Lady Anne, whose Letters, from the Cape (not of course published in his book) are a perpetual delight, but who is more widely known as the writer of Auld Robin Gray.
The Bishop's letters were written from Ireland between the years 1797 and 1804, a time of bitter trouble for that distracted country, to his niece Isabella, familiarly and affectionately known as " Boots," who, though unfortunately none of her own letters have been preserved, was an inde- fatigable and obviously a most delightfully inspiring corre- spondent. To her the Bishop writes unbuttoned and quite unalarmed of how " our murders and other outrages, continue every -night as merrily as ever," or how " Law he had a Mighty Pretty Duel on the other side of the river which we saw out of our windows." What strikes one about the Bishop's letters is their detached calm. There were " the French in the Bay " in '98, Lord Edward Fitzgerald's rebellion was in full swing, and the Irish Parliament was being abolished ; but his Lordship, wholly unperturbed by these portents, will rally Isabella on her chances of a good marriage among the military ; will discuss the propriety of his own second marriage-venture at the age of seventy-seven with a girl of twenty-two, and " if I lose her (as I expect to do), I shall certainly look out for a third " ; and will complain that " our claret here [in Limerick] is abominable, but still worse in London." Meanwhile, the rebels are •" Delivering their arms in Thousands, and Paddy takes the oaths of Allegianse with as little difficulty to the King as he did to be true to the French ; He would be glad to see the oath he would not Take." "I think," adds the prelate, " it would be a charity to Hang some more of them."
With Lady Anne's letters we pass to the wider world of London—to the agitation over Queen Caroline's trial, to the affectations of Mrs. Fitzherbert, whom Lady Anne considered a humbug, and to George IV., of whom, on the strength of a thirty-five years' friendship, she can paint a much more favourable picture than is commonly presented. Indeed, it is difficult to think wholly badly of a Prince who, in announcing to Lady Anne the appointment of Sir Andrew as Groom of the Bedchamber, can address her as " My dear old Friend " and end, " God bless you. Your ever affectionate friend, G. R." Sir Andrew, too, speaks of the King's " amiable and affectionate manners " and declares that " my attachment to him as an Individual is most sincere." All Lady Anne's letters reveal her own lovable personality. " Dearest• of Andrews," she will write, " it is an age since I heard from you, but the point is that you are nice, beloved, brave and prosperous," and again, " At the present moment we are a little bunch of Love in the corner of this [Berkeley] Square." A very sweet as well as a very brilliant woman.
There are many other minor, but still interesting or amusing figures on the letter-writing stage. Sir John Moore's letters occur once or twice. There are some considerate letters, on the subject of military discipline, to Sir Andrew from the Duke of Kent, Queen Victoria's father, who was not wholly a tyrannical martinet. A Mr. Ponsonby, apparently a Trinity undergraduate friend, writes about duels and scuffles with the Dublin police. A fellow-soldier tells how in 1796 " the French were about six weeks back within two hundred miles of Vienna, but have,- as the. Directory term it, received a check ; that is to say, they have literally been thrashed most damnably." Another soldier-friend, Lt.-Col. C. Beckwith, produces in 1824 a remarkably prescient account of the United States : " they have a propensity to extravagance, they create for themselves a brilliant futurity, they look coolly on great distances and are willing to grapple.with great difficulties, and easily connect the Mersey and Missouri, in their mind's eye and in sober reality," but somewhat discounts the value of his laudatory forecast by adding, " these countries contain and develop daily all the elements of those ' curses ' which are the common appanage of mankind."
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