'for' on the west side the blossoms were so covered with dust one could not distinguish them; on the eastern hand the hedges were white in all the pride of May. Good night! Wednesday, June 1. My letter is a perfect diary. There has been a sad alarm in the kingdom of white satin and muslin. The duke of Richmond was seized last night with a sore throat and fever; and though he is much better to-day, the masquerade of to morrow night is put off till Monday. Many a queen of Scots, from sixty to sixteen, has been ready to die of the fright. Adieu once more! I think I can have nothing more to say before the post goes out to-morrow. Yours ever. To GEORGE MONTAGU, Esq. Strawberry-hill, June 16, 1763. I Do not like your putting off your visit hither for so long. Indeed, by September the gallery will probably have all its fine clothes on, and by what have been tried, I think it will look very well. The fashion of the garments to be sure will be ancient, but I have given them an air that is very becoming. Princess Amelia was here last night while I was abroad; and if Margaret is not too much prejudiced by the guinea left, or by natural partiality to what servants call our house, I think was pleased, particularly with the chapel. As Mountain-George will not come to Mahomet-me, Mahomet-I must come to Greatworth. Mr. Chute and I think of visiting you about the seventeenth of July, if you shall be at home, and nothing happens to derange our scheme; possibly we may call at Horton; we certainly shall proceed to Drayton, Burleigh, Fotheringay, Peterborough, and Ely; and shall like much of your company, all, or part of the tour. The only present proviso I have to make is the health of my niece, who is at present much out of order, we think not breeding, and who was taken so ill on Monday, that I was forced to carry her suddenly to town, where I yesterday left her better, at her father's. There has been a report that the new lord Holland' was dead at Paris, but I believe it is not true. I was very indifferent about it: eight months ago it had been lucky. I saw his jackall t'other night in the meadows,2 the secretary at war, so emptilyimportant, and distilling paragraphs of old news with such solemnity, that I did not know whether it was a man or the Utrecht gazette. Yours ever. To GEORGE MONTAGU, Esq. Strawberry-hill, July 1, 1763. MR. CHUTE and I intend to be with you on the seventeenth or eighteenth, but, as we are wandering swains, we do not drive one nail into one day of the almanack irremovably. Our first stage is to Bleckley, the parsonage of venerable Cole, the antiquarian of Cambridge. Bleckley lies by Fenny Stratford; now can you direct us how to make Horton' in our way from Stratford to Greatworth? If this meander engrosses more time than we propose, do not be disappointed, and think we shall not come, for we shall. The journey you must accept as a great sacrifice either to you or to my promise, for I quit the gallery almost in the critical minute of consummation. Gilders, carvers, upholsterers, and picture-cleaners are labouring at their several forges, and I do not love to trust a hammer or a brush without my own supervisal. This will make my stay very short, but it is a greater compliment than a month would be at another season; and yet I am not profuse of months. Well, but I begin to be ashamed of my magnificence; Strawberry is growing sumptuous in its latter day; it will scarce be any longer like the fruit of its name, or the modesty of its ancient demeanor, 1 Mr. Fox, created, 16th April 1763, baron Holland of Foxley, county Wilts; his lady Georgina Carolina Lenox, eldest daughter of Charles second duke of Richmond, having been previously created baroness of Holland, in the county of Lincoln, in May 1762. This report of his death proved to be unfounded, that event not having taken place until the 1st July 1774. [Ed.] 2 Welbore Ellis, esq., who was elevated to the peerage on the 13th August 1774, as baron Mendip, of Mendip, in the county of Somerset. He was grand uncle to the late viscount Clifden. [Ed.] 1 The seat of the earl of Halifax. [Or.] both which seem to have been in Spencer's prophetic eye, when sung of he the blushing strawberries Which lurk, close-shrouded from high-looking eyes, Shewing that sweetness low and hidden lies. In truth, my collection was too great already to be lodged humbly; it has extended my walls, and pomp followed. It was a neat, small house; it now will be a comfortable one, and, except one fine apartment, does not deviate from its simplicity. Adieu! I know nothing about the world, and am only Strawberry's and Yours sincerely. DEAR SIR, TO THE REV. MR. COLE. Strawberry-hill, July 1, 1763. As you have given me leave, I propose to pass a day with you, on my way to Mr. Montagu's. If you have no engagement, 1 will be with you on the 16th of this month, and if it is not inconvenient, and you will tell me truly whether it is or not, I shall bring my friend Mr. Chute with me, who is destined to the same place. I will beg you, too, to let me know how far it is to Bleckley, and what road I must take: that is, how far from London, or how far from Twickenham, and the road from each, as I am uncertain yet from which I shall set out. If any part of this proposal does not suit you, I trust you will own it, and I will take some other opportunity of calling on you, being most truly, Dear sir, Your much obliged and obedient servant. DEAR SIR, TO THE REV. MR. COLE. Strawberry-hill, July 12, 1763. Upon consulting maps and roads, and the knowing, I find it will be my best way to call on Mr. Montagu first, before I come to you, or I must go the same road twice. This will make it a few days later than I intended before I wait on you, and will leave you time to complete your hay-harvest, as I gladly embrace your offer of bearing me company on the tour, I meditate to Burleigh, Drayton, Peterborough, Ely, and twenty other places, of all which you shall take as much or as little as you please. It will, I think, be Wednesday or Thursday se'nnight before I wait on you, that is the 20th or 21st, and I fear I shall come alone; for Mr. Chute is confined with the gout: but you shall hear again before I set out. Remember I am to see Sir Kenelm Digby's. The countess of I thank you much for your informations. Cumberland is an acquisition, and quite new to me. With the countess of Kent I am acquainted since my last edition. Addison certainly changed scies in the epitaph to indicabit to avoid the jingle with dies: though it is thought may have been borrowed elsewhere. possible that the To GEORGE MONTAGU, Esq. Stamford, Saturday night, July 23, 1763. 2 "THUS far our arms have with success been crowned," bating a few mishaps, which will attend long marches like ours. We have conquered as many towns as Louis Quartorze in the campaign of seventy-two; that is, seen them, for he did little more, and into the bargain he had much better roads, and a dryer summer. It has rained perpetually till to-day, and made us experience the rich soil of Northamptonshire, which is a clay-pudding, stuck full of villages. After we parted with you on Thursday, we saw Castle Ashby1 and Easton Mauduit. The first is most magnificently triste, and has all the formality of the Comptons. I should admire it if I could see out of it, or any thing in it: but there is scarce any furniture, and the bad little frames of glass exclude all objects. Easton is miserable enough; there are many modern portraits, and one I was glad to see of the duchess of Shrewsbury. We lay at Wellingborough1 A seat of the earl of Northampton. [Or.] 2 A seat of the earl of Sussex, [Or.] 3 pray never lie there-the beastliest inn upon earth is there! We were carried into a vast bedchamber, which I suppose is the club-room, for it stunk of tobacco like a justice of peace. I desired some boiling water for tea; they brought me a sugar dish of hot water in a pewter plate. Yesterday morning, we went to Boughton, where we were scarce landed, before the Cardigans, in a coach and six and three chaises, arrived with a cold dinner in their pockets, on their way to Deane; for as it is in dispute, they never reside at Boughton. This was most unlucky, that we should pitch on the only hour in the year in which they are there. I was so disconcerted, and so afraid of falling foul of the countess and her caprices, that I hurried from chamber to chamber, and scarce knew what I saw, but that the house is in the grand old French style, that gods and goddesses lived over my head in every room, and that there was nothing but pedigrees all round me, and under my feet, for there is literally a coat of arms at the end of every step of the stairs: did the duke mean to pun, and intend this for the descent of the Montagus? Well! we hurried away, and got to Drayton an hour before dinner. Oh! the dear old place! you would be transported with it. In the first place, it stands in as ugly a hole as Boughton: well! that is not its beauty. The front is a brave strong castle wall, embattled and loop-holed for defence. Passing the great gate, you come to a sumptuous but narrow modern court, behind which rises the old mansion, all towers and turrets. The house is excellent; has a vast hall, ditto dining-room, king's chamber, trunk gallery at the top of the house, handsome chapel, and seven or eight distinct apartments, besides closets and conveniences without end. Then it is covered with portraits, crammed with old china, furnished richly, and not a rag in it under forty, fifty, or a thousand years old; but not a bed or chair that has lost a tooth, or got a grey hair, so well are they preserved. I rummaged it from head to foot, examined every spangled bed, and enamelled pair of bellows, for such there are; in short, I do not believe the old mansion was ever better pleased with an inhabitant, since the days of Walter de Drayton, except when it has received 3 The seat of lord Montagu. It was built by Ralph, first duke of Montagu, very much after the model of the palaces of Versailles. [Ed.] ✦ A seat of the earl of Cardigan. [Ed.] |