Private Letters of Edward Gibbon (1753-1794) Volume 1 (of 2)

269.

To his Stepmother

Dear Madam,

AT WORK ON HIS HISTORY.

I am still alive, and in spite of the influenza perfectly well. But why have you not at least written one line in so very long a space of time? All that I can say on the subject is to declare with the utmost sincerity that not a single morning has arisen without my forming the resolution to write before the evening, and that not a single evening post-bell has rang without sounding the alarm to my conscience. In the mean time, days, hours and weeks have imperceptibly rolled away: a perpetual hurry and long days of Parliamentary business, the whole world coming to town at once, and a great deal of occupation at home relative to my History, which will come out some time after Christmas. In a word, I do not like to write to you, but I want very much to see you. Have you totally forgot your promise of making me a visit in town? I can lodge you, &c., without the smallest inconveniency, and I am sure that after getting the better of so formidable an enemy as you have done, nothing would be so likely to give the last polish as a change of air, of situation and of company. Be so kind as to send me an answer and not a compliment, on this subject.

Mrs. Porten is still well and young. Her sister-in-law has got and lost a child. The former wishes to be remembered to you. You see the honour which Mr. Eliot[316] has acquired. I am amazed how he condescended to accept of it. The Member of St. Germans might lurk in the country, but the knight of Cornwall must attend the House of Commons. – I salute from a distance all Bath friends: and particularly the Colonel,[317] Mrs. G[ould], Fanny, Birds, dogs, &c., &c.

270.

To his Stepmother

MY dear Madam,

Inclosed I send the ordinary draft. As you have never had reason to doubt my sincerity, you will believe me, when I say that I feel myself ashamed of my real and apparent negligence, and deeply concerned at the subject of your last letter. That subject is of such melancholy and weighty import, that though I fear I cannot say anything very satisfactory, I must beg leave to defer, two or three posts longer, the taking any farther notice of it. Allow me only to explain, what I mean by my apparent negligence. Your former letter was delivered to me while I was abroad at dinner, and when I returned home very late at night, I locked it up without having examined the contents. The next morning it was impossible for me to find it or to recollect how I had disposed of it: and I vainly and indolently delayed writing from post to post, in hopes that I might accidentally stumble upon it. – Mr. H. is probably at or near Bath. I am sorry to hear so indifferent an account of Mrs. H.

If there was anything in your former which you have not said in your last letter, may I beg you to repeat it. I am perfectly well, and shall pass my holidays in town.

271.

To his Stepmother

Dear Madam,

HIS BOOK ALMOST READY.

Had I not been engaged in hastening and finishing the Impression, I would with great pleasure have made you a Christmas visit. I may truly say to you and not to Bath, for I have never much relished the style and amusements of that seat of idleness which so many people are fond of; and I am much inclined to think that if you fixed your residence in any other part of the Kingdom, I might pass the remainder of my life without ever seeing Bath again. Since I have mentioned my book, let me add that it will probably make its appearance about the middle or end of February: and that one of the very first copies of it shall be carefully transmitted to Charles Street. The Public, I know not why, except from the happy choice of the subject, have already conceived expectations, which it will not be easy to satisfy: the more especially as lively ignorance is apt to expect much more than the nature and extent of historical materials can enable an author to produce. However, if the first volume is decently received in the world, I shall be encouraged to proceed; and shall find before me a stock of labour and of amusement sufficient to engage my attention for many years. The prosecution of some scheme is in my opinion the circumstance the most conducive to the happiness of life, and, of all schemes, the best is surely that, the success of which chiefly depends on ourselves. Parliamentary business, and agreeable society fill the eye, the intervals of my time, and my situation would in every respect be a comfortable one, if I could only put an end to my Buckinghamshire sale, which is still attended with many difficulties, and will hardly be decided without the interposition of Chancery. You will not wonder that I lose time and catch at every hope, rather than involve myself in that labyrinth of Chicane and expense.

I say nothing of public affairs. Never did they wear a more melancholy aspect. We much fear that Quebec[318] will not hold out the Winter. The Provincials have everywhere displayed courage and abilities worthy of a better cause; and those of my Ministerial friends who are the best acquainted with the state of America, are the least sanguine in their hopes of success for next year.

An odd discovery is just now made. At a sale in the country, an old cabinet was going to be knocked down for twenty shillings, when the curiosity of some people present urged them to examine it more closely. Two private drawers were found; one of which contained bank-notes to a very large amount, the other held an older and more valuable curiosity; the individual ring of Queen Elizabeth, the Earl of Essex, Lady Nottingham, &c.: you remember the story.[319] It was in a very fine purse embroidered with pearls; and is authenticated by a writing, found in the same purse, of an old Lady Cook who attended the Queen in her visit to the Countess, and picked up the ring when her Majesty threw it from her with horror and indignation. I have seen the purse and ring (a yellow kind of diamond) at Barlow's, a silk-mercer in King Street, Covent Garden, who affirms that he has read the paper, but the mystery which is made about the place of sale, and the name of the present proprietor, leaves room for suspicion. Horace Walpole is determined, if possible, to get to the bottom of the affair.

I hope, dear Madam, that not only your health, but your beauty likewise, are perfectly restored, but I must desire an explicit and satisfactory answer about your promised visit to London. The air will, I am sure, be of the greatest service to you, and as the Spring will soon advance upon us, you may easily connect London with Essex, Sussex or any other part of the Kingdom, where you have any visits to make or promises to fulfill.

Bentinck Street, January 3rd of the

New Year 1776. May you find it an agreeable introduction to many happy ones.

P.S. – Messrs. Gosling and Clive will honour your order whenever you chuse to draw for the last half year, and on every future occasion I will take care that it shall be ready for your draught, which I think, once for all, will be the best way of settling it.

272.

To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

*How do you do? Are you alive? Are you buried under mountains of snow? I write merely to triumph in the superiority of my own situation, and to rejoice in my own prudence, in not going down to S. P., as I seriously but foolishly intended to do last week.* Hugonin by appointment came to town, but we soon agreed that the expedition (on his side at least) must be deferred till next summer; for which time he made a very solemn and, as I believe, a very serious engagement. We talked over Horn farm, which will be let next month by auction, and I am only afraid of getting too much money for it. Chalk woods, &c., settled to admiration, and every thing goes well except the d – d Lovegrove. However I have had the arrears of rent paid into Fleet street: which leaves a very moderate balance of interest against me.

GLOOMY ASPECT OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS.

*We proceed triumphantly with the Roman Empire, and shall certainly make our appearance, before the end of next month. I have nothing public. You know we have got 18,000 Germans from Hesse Brunswick and Hesse Darmstadt. I think our meeting will be lively; a spirited Minority, and a desponding Majority. The higher people are placed, the more gloomy are their countenances, the more melancholy their language. You may call this cowardice, but I fear it arises from their knowledge (a late knowledge) of the difficulty and magnitude of the business. Quebec is not yet taken. I hear that Carleton is determined never to capitulate with Rebels. A glorious resolution if it were supported with 50,000 men. Adieu. I embrace My Lady and Maria. Make my excuses to the latter for having neglected her birthday.*

273.

To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

Hares &c. arrived safe; were received with thanks, and devoured with appetite: send more, id est, of hares. I believe in my last I forgot saying any thing of the son of Fergus; his letters reached him. – What think you of the season? Siberia, is it not? A pleasant campaign in America. I read and pondered your last and think that in the place of Lord G. G.[320] you might perhaps succeed; but I much fear that our Leaders have not a genius which can act at the distance of 3000 miles. By the bye the little islands of the Bermudas have just declared in favour of the Congress. You know that a large draught of Guards are just going to America, poor dear creatures! We are met; but no business. Next week may be busy; Scotch Militia &c. Roman Empire (first part) will be finished in a week or fortnight. At last I have heard Texier;[321] wonderful! Embrace My lady. The weather too cold to turn over the page. Adieu.

Since this I received your last, and honour your care of the old Women, a respectable name which in spite of My lady may suit Judges, Bishops, Generals (Je gage que j'ai raison) &c. Several letters directed to you and enclosed to me, have been franked. Ferguson's might be among them. I am rejoyced to hear of Maria's inoculation. I know not when you have done so wise a thing. You may depend upon getting an excellent house. Adieu.

274.

To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

PUBLICATION OF HIS HISTORY.

*You are mistaken about your dates. It is to-morrow seven-night, the 17th, that my book will decline into the World.* I will attend to Coachman and house, though I could wish that in point of price and situation you had been a little more explicit.

*I am glad to find that by degrees you begin to understand the advantage of a civilized city,* – I cannot say as much as Batt and Cantab, who dined with me, Beauclerck and Lady Di.[322] Adieu. *No public business; Parliament has sate every day, but we have not had a single debate.* There is a rumour that Quebec is taken, and Washington is said to have communicated the news to Howe, but it is not yet absolutely believed. *I think you will have your book on Monday. The parent is not forgot, though I had not a single one to spare.*

275.

To his Stepmother

Dear Madam,

I write two lines to return you my thanks for what you say of my book,[323] of which you are not indeed so good a Judge as you would be of any written by another author. By a mistake you have received two bound books instead of one. Be so good as to return one of them by coach or wagon, and I will give an order that an unbound one shall go to-morrow to Brook Street. Your soiled one (honourable marks) you will retain. But when will you flatter me in person in Bentinck Street? March approaches.

276.

To his Stepmother

Dear Madam,

Lazyness is ingenious; but on this occasion mine was provided with too good an excuse, I mean your own silence. From post to post I have expected a letter to fix the time and manner of your Journey to London. I now begin to despair, and am almost inclined to think that your sedentary life has rivetted your chains, and cut off your wings. I must therefore try (though a very sedentary animal myself) whether I cannot visit you at Bath, and as the Easter vacation seems to promise me the most convenient leisure that I am likely to enjoy in the whole year, I entertain some thoughts of running down to you for a few days. The Eliots, who with great difficulty have existed in town about two months, seem to intend moving towards that place about the same time. The Holroyds are likewise in town: they have inoculated their girl, and I understand with the greatest pleasure that there are some hopes of an increase of family. – As to myself, I have the satisfaction of telling you that my book has been very well received by men of letters, men of the world, and even by fine feathered Ladies, in short by every set of people except perhaps by the Clergy, who seem (I know not why) to shew their teeth on the occasion. A thousand Copies are sold, and we are preparing a second Edition, which in so short a time is, for a book of that price, a very uncommon event.

277.

To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

I write two lines to signify my arrival at this place. Beauclerck's heart failed him, and he left me in the lurch; but he had made me take such steps of giving notice, &c., that the journey was become unavoidable. I propose staying till this Day sen'night and shall return for the Budget. This morning I saw Pater, and do not think him worse than he has been for these two or three years past. Soror is actually above stairs with Mrs. G. and other Ladies. Though I had not the opportunity of a whisper, I suppose she desires Compliments. The place appears full, and they say is lively, but you know how little its kind of pleasures have the happiness of charming me. I long to get back to the Library in Bentinck Street, where I shall speedily but not hastily undertake the second Volume. The Ladies here do me the honour of admiring me.

278.

To his Stepmother

Dear Madam,

THE NECKERS IN LONDON.

Though you may censure my silence for two or three posts, you must allow that my taking up my pen while your daughter-in-law is sitting close to me is an instance of no vulgar complaisance. I am a good deal taken up with the Neckers.[324] We are vastly glad to see one another, but she is no longer a Beauty. How is Colonel Gould? I am well.

279.

To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

Lest you should growl, I write, though I have nothing to say, for the Dutchess alias Countess[325] is not an object worthy of our attention. I rejoyce to hear of your approaching arrival, and hope that by that time Newton may have something to say. Your letter to Foster is not forgot: nor was the visit to his namesake of Orchard Street. When will you send me up the lease for Mrs. Gibbon, who will soon complain of my delay by a thundering Epistle? At Bath all were well, Pater not worse, I think, than last year, and Soror in much better looks and spirits. You probably know that poor Lady Russel[326] is brought to bed of a dead child. Great is the desolation of all branches of the family. I write with three or four very fine Ladies round me. Therefore – Adieu.

280.

To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

*I am angry, that you should impede my noble designs of visiting foreign parts, more especially as I have an advantage which Sir Wilful had not, that of understanding your foreign lingos. With regard to Mrs. Gibbon, her intended visit, to which I was not totally a stranger, will do me honour, and though it should delay my emigration till the end of July, there will still remain the months of August, September and October. Above all abstain from giving the least hint to any Bath Correspondent, and perhaps, if I am not provoked by opposition, the thing may not be absolutely certain. At all events you may depend on a previous visit. At present I am very busy with the Neckers. I live with her just as I used to do twenty years ago, laugh at her Paris varnish, and oblige her to become a simple reasonable Suissesse. The man, who might read English husbands lessons of proper and dutiful behaviour, is a sensible good-natured creature. In about a fortnight I again launch into the World in the shape of a quarto Volume. The dear Cadell assures me that he never remembered so eager and impatient a demand for a second Edition.

The town is beginning to break up; the day after to-morrow we have our last day in the house of Commons to inquire into the instructions of the Commissioners;[327] I like the man, and the motion appears plain. Adieu. I dined with Lord Palmerston[328] to-day; a great dinner of Catches; Sir Farby and spouse part of the company or rather of the family: I embrace My lady and the Maria.*

281.

To his Stepmother

Dear Madam,

A PROBABLE VISIT TO PARIS.

Shame, shame, always shame – Yet two lines will I write in the midst of a crowd. My mornings have been very much taken up with preparing and correcting (though in a minute and almost imperceptible way) my new Edition, which will be out the 1st of June. My afternoons (barring the House of Commons) have been a good deal devoted to Madame Necker. Her husband and the rest of her servants leave this country next Tuesday, entertained with the Island, and owning that the barbarous people have been very kind to them. Do you know that they have almost extorted a promise to make them a short visit at Paris in the Autumn. But pray, Madam, when do you set out, the month of June draws near, and both myself, the Portens and the inhabitants of Sheffield Place are impatient to be informed of the time and circumstances of your intended journey.

Poor Mallet![330] I pity his misfortune and feel for him probably more than he does for himself at present. His "William and Margaret," his only good piece of poetry, is torn from him, and by the evidence of old Manuscripts turns out to be the work of the celebrated Andrew Marvel composed in the year 1670. Adieu, dear Madam.

282.

To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

*To tell you any thing of the change or rather changes of Governors I must have known something of them myself: but all is darkness confusion and uncertainty; to such a degree that people do not even know what lyes to invent. The news from America have indeed diverted the public attention into another and far greater channel. All that you see in the papers of the repulse at Quebec as well as the capture of Lee[331] rests on the authority (a very unexceptionable one) of the Provincial papers as they have been transmitted by Governor Tryon from New York. Howe is well and eats plentifully, and the weather seems to clear up so fast that according to the English custom we have passed from the lowest despondency, to a full assurance of success.

My new birth happened last Monday, 700 of the 1500 were gone yesterday. I now understand from pretty good authority that Dr. Porteous,[332] the friend and chaplain of St. Secker, is actually sharpening his goose quill against the last two Chapters.* Mrs. G. has not yet signified her intentions about the London and Sheffield expedition. I have not advanced one single step with regard to Lovegrove. Palmer will not interfere till he has seen the abstract of the title with Duane's observations, which we cannot get them to communicate even to their own friend. Adieu. I embrace My lady and the Maria.

283.

To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

SECOND EDITION OF HIS BOOK.

*Yes, yes I am alive and well; but what shall I say? Town grows empty and this house, where I have passed very agreable hours, is the only place which still unites the flower of the English youth. The style of living though somewhat expensive is exceedingly pleasant and notwithstanding the rage of play I have found more entertaining and even rational society here than in any other Club to which I belong. Mrs. G. still hangs in suspense and seems to consider a town expedition with horror. I think however that she will be soon in motion, and when I have her in Bentinck-street we shall perhaps talk of a Sheffield excursion. I am now deeply engaged in the reign of Constantine, and from the specimens which I have already seen, I can venture to promise that the second Volume will not be less interesting than the first. The 150 °Copies are moving off with decent speed, and the obliging Cadell begins to mutter something of a third Edition for next year. No news of Deyverdun or his French translation. What a lazy dog! Madame Necker has been gone a great while. I gave her en partant the most solemn assurances of following her paws in less than two months, but the voice of indolence begins to whisper a thousand difficulties and, unless your absurd policy should thoroughly provoke me, the Parisian journey may possibly be deferred. I rejoyce in the progress of * * * towards light. By Cork Street I suppose you mean the Carters and highly approve of the place. We are in expectation of American news. Carleton is made a Knight of the Bath.[333] The old report of Washington's resignation and quarrel with the Congress seems to revive.* I shall say nothing of Lovegrove, the beast makes me very uneasy, as I cannot devise any expedient to force, persuade, or bribe him out of his obstinate silence. Adieu.

284.

To his Stepmother

Dear Madam,

I can freely and sincerely tell you, that there is no journey which will give me half the pleasure of staying in Bentinck Street to receive you the latter end of next week, which I shall expect with impatience.

285.

To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

Mrs. G. at last arrived. I enclose her letter. Our plan seems to be to visit Sheffield Place towards the end of next week. À vue de pays, Friday appears the most likely day. I have no news public or private, and loose conversation may be deferred till our meeting. I was deeply engaged in the decline, but this visit and journey put a heavy spoke in the wheel. Adieu.

286.

To J. B. Holroyd, Esq

*We expect you at five o'Clock Tuesday without a sore throat. You have ere this heard of the shocking accident which takes up the attention of the town.* Our old acquaintance poor John Damer[334] shot himself, last Wednesday night, at the Bedford arms, his usual place of resort, where he had passed several hours with four Ladies and a blind fidler. By his own indolence rather than extravagance, his circumstances were embarrassed, and he had frequently declared himself tired of life. *No public news, nor any material expected till the end of this or beginning of the next month when Howe will probably have collected his whole force.[335] A tough business indeed; you see by their declaration that they have now passed the Rubicon and rendered the work of a treaty infinitely more difficult: You will perhaps say, so much the better; but I do assure you that the thinking friends of government are by no means sanguine.* Mrs. G. seems likely to expect your arrival. She has had no answer out of you. I am pretty much a prisoner except about one hour in the evening: but as she dines to-morrow with Mrs. Ashby, *I take the opportunity of eating turtle with Garrick at Hampton.* Adieu.