LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. I. MRS. HOWARD, COUNTESS OF SUFFOLK. From the picture in the poet Pope's Frontispiece. II. ETHELREDA HARRISON, VISCOUNTESS TOWNSHEND, WIFE OF CHARLES, THIRD VISCOUNT TOWNSHEND, MOTHER OF CHARLES TOWNSHEND. From the original, formerly at Strawberry Hill III. RICHARD BENTLEY, ESQ., ONLY SON OF THE LEARNED MASTER OF TRINITY PAGE 150 THE LETTERS OF HORACE WALPOLE. 205. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Jan. 17, 1746. Ir is a very good symptom, I can tell you, that I write to you seldom it is a fortnight since my last; and nothing material has happened in this interval. The rebels are intrenching and fortifying themselves in Scotland; and what a despicable affair is a rebellion upon the defensive! General Hawley is marched from Edinburgh, to put it quite out. I must give you some idea of this man, who will give a mortal blow to the pride of the Scotch nobility. He is called Lord Chief Justice; frequent and sudden executions are his passion. Last winter he had intelligence of a spy to come from the French army: the first notice our army had of his arrival, was by seeing him dangle on a gallows in his muff and boots. One of the surgeons of the army begged the body of a soldier who was hanged for desertion, to dissect: "Well," said Hawley, "but then you shall give me the skeleton to hang up in the guard-room." He is very brave and able; with no small bias to the brutal. Two years ago, when he arrived at Ghent, the magistrates, according to custom, sent a gentleman, with the offer of a sum of money to engage his 1 See Vol. i. p. 414. "First, I direct and order that (as there is now a peace, and I may die the common way) my carcase may be put any where; 'tis equal to me; but I will have no more expense or ridiculous show, than if a poor soldier (who is as good a man) was to be buried from the hospital. The priest, I conclude, will have the fee; let the puppy have it. Pay the carpenter for the carcase-box."-General Hawley's Will.-CUNNINGHAM. VOL. II. B more. favour. He told the gentleman, in great wrath, that the King his master paid him, and that he should go tell the magistrates so; at the same time dragging him to the head of the stairs, and kicking him down. He then went to the town-hall; on their refusing him entrance, he burst open the door with his foot, and seated himself abruptly told them how he had been affronted, was persuaded they had no hand in it, and demanded to have the gentleman given up to him, who never dared to appear in the town while he stayed in it. Now I am telling you anecdotes of him, you shall hear two When the Prince of Hesse, our son-in-law, arrived at Brussels, and found Hawley did not wait on him, the Prince sent to know if he expected the first visit? He replied, "He always expected that inferior officers should wait on their commanders; and not only that, but he gave his Highness but half an hour to consider of it." The Prince went to him. I believe I told you of Lord John Drummond sending a drum to Wade to propose a cartel. Wade returned a civil answer, which had the King's and Council's approbation. When the drummer arrived with it at Edinburgh, Hawley opened it and threw it into the fire, would not let the drummer go back, but made him write to Lord J. Drummond, "That rebels were not to be treated with." If you don't think that spirit like this will do-do you see, I would not give a farthing for your presumption.' The French invasion is laid aside; we are turning our hands to war again upon the continent. The House of Commons is something of which I can give you no description: Mr. Pitt, the meteor of it, is neither yet in place, nor his friends out. Some Tories oppose: Mr. Pelham is distressed, and has vast majorities. When the scene clears a little, I will tell you more of it. The two last letters I have had from you, are of Dec. 21 and Jan. 4. You was then still in uneasiness; by this time I hope you have no other distresses than are naturally incident to your Minyness. I never hear any thing of the Countess [of Orford] except just now, that she is grown tired of sublunary affairs, and willing to come to a composition with her lord: I believe the price will be two thousand a-year. The other day, his and her lawyers were talking over the affair before her and several other people: her counsel, in 1 Glover, in his Memoirs, speaks of Hawley with great contempt, and talks of "his beastly ignorance and negligence," which occasioned the loss of the battle of Falkirk. -DOVER. |