are coming to murder you; it is not in my power to save you, & I cannot bear to see it -I will make you some excuse & get away.' Still he pressed me earnestly to stay with him, but I made some excuse & slipped out of a door opposite to his frame. I found myself upon a great Stone Staircase, which ended on a vaulted high passage, where were several cases, as of pictures, with straw & packing lying about. A Maid said to me, 'you are right, that is your way '—I wondered the palace seem'd SO deserted. I turned to the right, & found myself in another vaulted passage but less, & parallel to the Stairs, there was a Porter's lodge, Somebody spoke to me, I went out at the gate, sively disappointed to find them King William, the Latter only said to Him, 'I think you are a Major General in the French service.' March 7th, 1762. Mr Onslow, the late Speaker, gave me this account, which he received from Lord Wilmington, his Predecessor. When Lord Grey was taken with the Duke of Monmouth, he bought his pardon of Hyde, Lord Rochester, for £16,000, for which he gave bond, but coud not pay it. Rochester, always indigent, sued him for the money, but Lord Grey constantly pleaded his privilege. After the Revolution, Lord Grey thought himself clear, & refused directly to pay. Lord Rochester consulted Sir John Leveson, who advised him to get a bill passed for retrenching privilege, during a prorogation of Parliament. He took the advice, & got the Tradesmen of Westminster to petition the Parliament as they were ruined by not being able to get in their debts. Sir Edward Seymour and Christ. Musgrave & the old Members opposed, but it was carried by the good nature of the younger Members, & passed thro the Lords too. Lord Grey then compounded his debt with Lord Rochester. Some time after, Sir John Leveson was Candidate for Westminster on the popularity of this act; but Lord Halifax demolished his popularity by these two lines, "Leveson, thy Tradesmen's bill wont do, They, the pretended reason; Hyde, the true." These lines, indifferent as they were, opened the eyes of the Mob, & Sir John Leveson was forced to decline. He May 22d, 1766. Mr Onslow the late Speaker told me that K. William first proposed that the House of Hanover shd give up their German Dominions. Stepney was ordered to sound the Elector (George 1st). replied he wd not give up his country where he was happy & beloved for any crown on the globe, & which he might not keep a twelvemonth. Stepney then asked if he wd consent that any of his family shd, on same conditions: He replied, if the Crown of England is offered to us, none of my family shall wear it before myself. Among Ld Somers's papers was a Letter from Prss Sophia on the same occasion; she sd in it that her family governed by principles that made their subjects happy, but which do not in England, & She recommended le pauvre Prince de Galles, who had tasted misfortune enough, to submit to any terms. Two months after, King William got her to Loo, and she changed her mind. He told me that K. William had inherited an Estate of 200000£ a year, & had reduced it to one, by advancing money for public Services, which he cd not have carried otherwise. He told me that my Father had told him the D. of Marlbro was for pushing things to the last extremity ag. Ld Oxford. Comyns (afterwards Chief Baron) was Ld Oxford's Council. When Comyns carried him the answer he had drawn for him to the articles of impeachment, & told him of the Duke's acrimony, Ld Oxford pulled out an original letter (that he had intercepted) from the Duke to the Pretender; & wd have had him carry an authentic copy of it to the Duke. Comyns was timid & declined the office, but advised sending it by Ld Harley. Ld. Oxford did. The Duke very soon after fell into his Dotage, & was carried by the Dss to Tunbridge, where he was seen every day on the walks, but without appearing to know anybody or returning their bows; yet Comyns coming thither, the Duke pulled off his hat & made him a most respectfull bow, which showed the impression that had been made on him & his sense that Comyns knew the transaction. 3. From MR HOBART, BROTHER AND SECRETARY OF LORD BUCKINGHAM, EMBASSADOR IN RUSSIA. JUNE 25, 1763. The Czarina Elizabeth made the great Duchess Catherine accept of Soltikoff for a galant, that She might have a son. Afterwards the Great Duchess had a Daughter (since dead) by Count Poniatowski, a handsome young Pole, who was here in England & admired by Lady Harrington. The Empress, who thought to atone for her own galantries by keep ing her Court chaste, was very angry at the second intrigue, & threatened to shut up the Great Duchess in a Convent. The Great Duchess sent her word that it was very hard that She might not do that to please herself that She had done to please Her. Mr Hobart says they do not believe Catherine was in any danger from her Husband. Her own ambition, that of Princess Daskiou & a few others led the way. The Princess often disguised herself like an old peasant with a false beard, or like a drummer, & used to go among the People to stir up sedition. When the plot was ripe, one of the Conspirators was taken up ; the Great Duchess grew alarmed, & says if She coud make any terms for herself, She woud desist; but the Princess flew into a rage, & said that might satisfy her, but woud not them, & forced her to proceed. Count Mernich who was with the Czar, offerred him three councils, 1, to go to Cronstadt; 2, to secure the pass of Narva, with the Holstein guards; 3, or for them two alone to go to the Conspirators; he, Mernich, woud go first, & hoped as he had commanded the Army to have weight with them, that he woud tell them they were going to dethrone the only descendant of Peter the Great for a Woman that was nothing to them and a Bastard. 'If, said he, they do not mind me, but fire, I have lived long enough; if they fire at you, you will at least die like an Emperor.' The Czar was most inclined to the last, but was over persuaded by the Women, & went to Cronstadt too late. Orloff, who lives in the Czarina's outward room, under pretence of guarding her, is supposed to be her lover; Mr Hobart saw him with diamonds worth £40000. Peter offered Prince Antony of Brunswic leave to return to Germany, but he woud not without his children. It is said, His family had refused to receive him, if he left them. He lives near Archangel, with his youngest Son, who is said to have parts, & his Daughter. It is night there for 3 months. He has never seen his Son Czar John since their fall. The latter is stupified with drugs. There is a palace near a furlong in length, about 20 miles from Petersburg, built by Elizabeth, entirely painted blue & gold on the outside; 30000 ducats were melted for the leaf gold. The Emperor's mistress was permitted to retire to an estate he had given her, & was to have everything restored, but one large diamond ring; but her Sister Princess Daskiou stopped a pellice of black fox skins & other things. Mr Hobart saw the Czarina & Orloff at a masquerade dressed exactly alike as Dutch Skippers. She pulled off her mask & playd at chess with the Imperial Minister. 4. AT THE SCOTCH COLLEGE AT PARIS. March 15th, 1766. I saw them, at least as a supplement, the papers of King James 2d. without which the Memoirs There are about 14 MSS. vol- woud gain no credit. In the umes of letters & memorials, same Library is the Strong box, with his campaigns. There is in which the King brought also a volume of Memoirs, over his papers, & which but they are not written by was all he brought away with the King, only drawn out from him: It is a large black box, his papers. Mr Gordon, the clasped all round with three Principal, a very amiable old ribs of brass. He showed me man, told me he hoped they also three other boxes, the shoud be allowed soon to first of which he told me print & publish them contained the papers of Bishop everybody concerned is dead. Atterbury, the second of the I advised Him by all means to Duke of Ormond, & the print the Original papers with largest, other papers belonging as VOL. CCXXI.-NO. MCCCXXXVIII. S Mr Gordon has a whole length of Mary Queen of Scots, painted when she was 16, in France. It is ill preserved, but I am persuaded an original. The face is oval; the nose thin at top, larger towards the bottom, & rather, as hers certainly did, bending downwards. The forehead is very high and large, the eyebrows very narrow, the hair auburn. It is more handsome than pleasing, but having never been a good picture, the fault may have been the Painter's. to the Pretender & his affairs, very ancient Charters of the which he said were very curious. Kings of Scotland, with the He showed me another volume seals finely preserved. There of letters written by the Queen is one of Robert Bruce in his of Scots and James 1st to the misfortunes, when He had no Bishop of Glascow. In one of Seal. her letters, in which She mentions her weeping over her misfortunes, are two spaces, on which nothing has been written, & on the second of which is evidently the mark of a tear. There is also her Will, dated Feb. 7th & her Codicil of requests, dated Feb. 8th le Matin de ma mort; both written in a strong, clear, firm hand. There is also the prayerbook she used on the Scaffold (or Shaffold, as is written in the first leaf). It is very well illuminated, & by the dresses, seems to have been painted about the time of Charles 6th or 7th of France. There is another larger, that belonged to Anne of Bretagne ; & a third printed at Glasgow, which belonged to Archbishop Beaton. Before it are a Man & Woman kneeling, He has a surcoat of Arms, which seem to be Those of Scotland with quarterings: the Woman's headdress has the piked horns, which are as old as our Anne of Bohemia Wife of Richd 2d. They probably represent James 3d of Scotland. If this book was printed so late as Beaton's time, these portraits must have been taken from some more ancient. He showed me several Dr Smith went with me; as We returned, I told him that John Duke of Argyle had certainly in his latter years, when his understanding was impaired, been drawn in to correspond with the Pretender, & with which He grew so alarmed that he woud not for the two last years of his life not 2 sign his name, & it was with great difficulty & after much time that he coud be persuaded to sign the marriage articles between his eldest Daughter & Ld Dalkeith. Dr Smith said, he had never heard so much, yet believed it, & as a confirmation said that he had been told by Archibald Stewart, the famous Jacobite Provost of Adam Smith, who was in Paris as tutor to the young Duke of Buccleuch and his brother. 2 Sic. |