Memoirs of Horace Walpole and his contemporaries; including numerous original letters, chiefly from Strawberry Hill;

Front matter

CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

1924 087 993 709

The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library.

Contents

OP

THE FIRST VOLUME.

Chaptek Page

CHAPTER 1. THE WALPOLES AND THE MARLBOROtJ^HS

The great historical families of England, are a class apart. They can afford to be independent of genealogical pretensions, and indifferent to the honours of Norman descent ; for it can be no distinction to the inheritors of the name of an eminent statesman, a famous commander, or a hterary genius, to trace their ancestry back to the middle ages, through a wearying succession of the obscure illustrious. Men who hare made themselves honourably celebrated, may be said to create their family. The greatest name ever inserted in the Herald's books, was that of the Stratford wool-stapleh The

VOL. I. B

Lihro d'Oro of mind, if such a work existed, would be a book of reference of far higher interest than the ordinary aristocratic dictionaries, and the compiler might put forth the claims of noble intellect, in terms as lofty as are commonly devoted to the claims of noble blood.

Some writers have taken the trouble to prove that the Walpoles have been settled in Norfolk since that fashionable epoch, the Norman invasion. This is of the less moment, as from the time of Reginald de Walpole, the companion of the Conqueror, they seem to have done nothing worthy of remembrance.

The Kev. "William Cole, who may be known to the reader by his manuscript collections in the British Museum, diligently employed himself in exploring traces of the early Walpoles : one only he discovered worth preserving ; it was found in Italy, where an English gentleman, styled '^Signer Walpole," filled the office of President of an academy called the Apathists, existing in Florence in the sixteenth century.* This connection with literature is at least curious, and we cannot but think it more creditable to an Englishman in those cut-and-thrust times, to have been selected by an intellectual people as the chief of one of their literary institutions, than, like many of his countrymen, to have sought distinction in the ordinarypath of mercenary soldiering. A second instance of an association with literature occurs in the patronage

* MS. letter from Cole to Horace Walpole, formerly at Strawberry Hill.

of Sir William Dugdale by another of the Walpoles. With this family is also associated a name of more romantic interest— Amy Robsart, whose landed property at the death of her husband, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, went to her cousin and heir, John Walpole, Esq., of Houghton.*

Sir Edward Walpole, the representative of the family about the middle of the seventeenth century, was a Member of the Convention Parliament of 1660, and had the reputation of being a good speaker. He was created a Knight of the Bath by Charles II, in recompense for his vote and interest in favour of the Restoration.

Sir Edward Walpole's eldest son, Robert, succeeded him in the family mansion at Houghton, and in the family borough at Castle Rising, or, we should say, in one of the boroughs, for the Walpoles possessed three. He was what was then called ^'a good husband," — improved his estates, economised his expenditure, and brought up a family of nineteen children. But he arrived at no higher dignity than that of colonel of militia, and deputy-lieutenant. In his place in the house, as well as in his county, he is said to have lent his efforts to get rid of the brother of that sovereign by whose restoration his father had gained his honours. Unfortunately for Mr. Robert Walpole, though not for the country,

* " Bloomfield's Norfolk." By Parker. Vol. 3, p. 851. The connection of the Walpoles with the Robsarts will be further shown in the genealogical table at the end of this volume.

B 2

WiUiam III was not " a merry monarch." Though holding no higher position than that of a Norfolk squire, Mr. Walpole did not descend to his grave without having acquired a claim to consideration, likely to survive many knighthoods. He had taken to wife Mary, the daughter and heiress of Sir Geofirey Burwell, of Kougham, in Suffolk, who brought him a large fortune and a large family to inherit it ; the latter, as we have said, amounting to a score save one. Of these, the fifth was that Robert, who was destined to be the founder of his family, and who did more to illustrate and perpetuate the name, than a whole regiment of dubious Normans could have effected, had they made it their particular business.

It has been stated that the rent-roll of the Houghton property exceeded 2000Z. per annum ; but at the birth of the younger Robert, it is doubtfiil whether it reaUzed more than three-fourths of this sum. The Norfolk squire being a good economist, maintained a very moderate expenditure — notwithstanding an ample hospitality and the increase in his establishment of an extra mouth annually, from 1622 to 1694, with only an interval of one year in every five or six. On the 26th August, 1676, Mr. Robert Walpole's fifth child and third son was bom at Houghton, and in due time received his father's baptismal appellation. During his early years the boy was sent to a private school at Massingham, and afterwards his father got him placed on the founda-.

tion at Eton, carefully reminding him that he was a yomiger son, and must apply himself diligently to study, if he desired to get on in the world. A hint was given that the church was a desirable destination for him in his father's opinion, but at the great public school in which he had been placed, he found associates who were destined for professions that ajfforded a more brilliant prospect. Amongst the most talented of his companions was Henry St. John, also born in 1676 ; between whom and Walpole a spirit of rivalry shortly sprung up, which only required a larger theatre to be developed with more important results. Walpole became a good classic, and went to Cambridge with a reputation for scholarship which was indifferently sustained during the continuation of his studies at that learned University. Having entered at King's College, he began to cultivate a taste for elocution, with no particxilar desire to confine its exhibition to a pulpit, when an event occurred that completely put an end to whatever clerical ideas he might have entertained. Robert Walpole was no longer that waiter upon Providence — a younger son. His two elder brothers had ceased to stand between him and the inheritance, and in 1698 he was his father's heir. Young Walpole resigned his scholarship,* abandoned his debating club,

* This was done in the following form : —

" May y'^ 19, 1698.

" The days of my leave of absence from the college being near expir'd, and my father holding his resolutions that I shall not discontinued his studies, threw aside sundry enterprising attempts at literary composition, for which he had found both leisure and inclination, and accompanied his father to Houghton to go through what the old gentleman thought the proper career to render the youngster competent to succeed him with credit, in the important position of a Norfolk squire. He cultivated the land, he interested himself in improving the breed of cattle, and he assisted in the hospitalities which had always rendered his father so popular with the squires in the vicinity.

Fortunately, his education had made so much progress, as to be but Httle affected by having his ideas thus forced into a new direction, and he did not deem it necessary entirely to confine himself within the limits of his county. Whilst in London, enjoying its amusements, he was so fortunate as to recommend himself to Catharine, the beautiful and accomphshed daughter of John Shorter, Esquire, of Bybrook, in Kent. They were married on the 30th of July, 1 700. Walpole returned to Norfolk with his bride. On the 28th of the following November his father died, and he then entered into possession of the Houghton property, which was charged with 9000Z., for his mother's jointure, and a provision for his younger brothers and sisters. The fortune he had by his wife,

any more reside there, I do hereby resign my scholarsliip of King's College, in Cambridge. Witness my hand, the day and year above written. ^ Robert Walpole.

*' Signed in the presence of Henry Hare." — Cole MSS.

enabled him to meet these claims without dipping into his rent-roU. It may be supposed from this, that the young Walpoles were not very handsomely provided for — ^but the family of nineteen, had now dwindled into half a dozen, of whom the youngest, Galfridus, had already entered the naval service, — the other surviving brother, Horace, was diligently pursuing his studies at Cambridge, apparently with a view to the honours of the law ; and three sisters, Susan, Dorothy, and Mary, were at the several ages of 1 3, 1 4, and 1 7, uncertain of any honours, except those which might in due course, attach to what is styled by prudent relatives " a good match."

Robert Walpole succeeded not only to the family property, but to the family boroughs, and in the two short parliaments which were called at the conclusion of the reign of William III, the new member for Castle Hising, had opportunities of feeling; his influence in the House, as well as of studying the position of its different parties. He had had some little amateur practice in oratory, and he now possessed not only the best field for exhibiting his acquirements to advantage in pubhc, but the best subjects for illustration, and the fittest arena for their display.

It has become a kind of fashion of late years, with a certain set of religionists, to speak with contempt of that great movement in the pubhc mind, which counteracted the insidious efforts of James II to throw religious freedom back a couple of centuries ;

and produced the important precedent of the nation's changing the regular order of succession in its rulers, when those in the direct line had forfeited all claim to its confidence. These writers have taken a vast deal of trouble to prove that James was extremely illused; that the profligate lover of Arabella Churchill was a Lear, and his daughters, Mary and Anne, the unnatural Regan and Goneril of his pitiful tragedy. — ^We are not inclined to say much for the wives of the Princes, "William of Orange, and George of Denmark, simply because, aware of their origin, we know that much could not be expected from them. They were daughters of James II, and were the sort of daughters to be produced by such a father. — They were Stuarts, and they acted with that selfishness, weakness, falsehood, and vanity, which, from the time of their first progenitor, have ever been the characteristics of their race. Were we inclined to take up the cudgels for these queens, we should say that however indifferent was their conduct, they were far superior in many points to the rest of their family : they were faithful to their marriage vows — a singular quality in the Stuarts — and they seemed to have some sense of honesty and honour — a sense, which in several of their ancestors, appears to have been altogether absent.

The people of England in preferring these sisters to their father, acted upon the very old maxim which recommends in a choice of evils to choose the least. No doubt they would very gladly have obtained more creditable tenants for the throne that had been left vacant by their ostracism of James, but they were forced to be content with what they could get. There have been few things more important in our parliamentary history, than the various legislative enactments firamed during the seventeenth century, for the protection of the Protestant religion, whilst determining the line of succession in fevour of a series of Protestant sovereigns. When we review the encroachments upon the liberty of the subject, the attempts to destroy the most valuable privileges of Englishmen, and the strenuous efforts made to drag back the nation under the yoke of spiritual despotism and monarchical absolutism from which it had only just escaped, there is no danger of our undervaluing the importance of the succession question, which was so frequently debated in the House of Commons at the close of the reign of WilUam III.

The Tories and the Whigs were at this period in a state of intense fermentation respecting the succession to the Crown ; the former desired the return of the exiled James, the latter determined to admit no right but that of his daughter, the Princess Anne of Denmark, with remainder to the Electress of Hanover (grand-daughter of James I) and her offspring. This, though but one feature in the aspect of affairs, remained the predominating one for nearly half a century ; it required and obtained Walpole's earnest attention, and he acted steadily upon the views he then formed, tlirough all the stormy proceedings of Parliament that marked the next ten years. He joined the Whigs, he assisted in passing the Act of Settlement, he was an ardent admirer of Lord Somers, to whom he shortly became favourably known, and a determined opponent of the partizans of the Stuarts, who soon began to regard him as an enemy. Notwithstanding all his zeal in the cause he advocated, and all his former experience in declamation, it is said that during his first speech in the House, he was too much embarrassed to give either one or the other fair play. Nevertheless, one discriminating critic was found to predict his success as an orator ; and by the strict attention he was giving to his parliamentary duties, it was soon generally observed that he was preparing for this vocation.

Walpole had not been long a member, when he discovered that his schoolfellow St. John possessed the ear of the House, and had already gained a high reputation for eloquence.* This stimulated Walpole to further exertion, and though his progress was not rapid, it was of that steady character which often finally achieves a more prominent success than the more brilliant qualities that at first produce greater effects. He assisted in all those measures which were passed to

* In other respects his reputation was far from being creditable. As Lord Brougham observes, "his youth was a course of unrestrained and habitual indulgence. In a libertine age he was marked as among the most licentious."

secure a line of Protestant Sovereigns to this country, and in the first parliament of Queen Anne, having been returned for Lynn Regis, he put himself forward in a manner that showed he was gaining influence in the House, as well as confidence in himself. Ha attracted the favourable notice of the Duke of Devonshire, with whose heir, the Marquis of Hartington, he lived on terms of the strictest Mendship. He became known to Charles, Viscount Townshend, (an intimacy which shortly ripened into the most Mendly alliance), to Spencer Compton, afterwards Earl of Wilmington, James, afterwards Earl Stanhope, the Earl of Sunderland, and Lord Halifax. Even the Lord Treasurer Godolphin looked upon him as worthy of attention, and introduced him to the great man of his age, the famous Duke of Marlborough.

John Churchill was born on the 24th of June 1650, at Ashe, in Devonshire, and was the second surviving son of Winston Churchill, who has left us some record of his intelligence in a history of England, which is considerably more curious than useful.* His fortune had suffered in the civil wars ; this gave him a claim upon the gratitude of Charles II, — one too which had the good fortune to be acknowledged ; for the claimant was allowed to remain at court — an attendant upon the person of a very forgetful creditor.

* Divi Britannici, being a remark upon the Lives of all Kings of this Isle, from the year of the World 2855, unto the year of Grace 1660. By Sir Winston Churchill, Kt., 1675.

He obtained a few instalments of his debt, and, as Sir Winston Churchill, soon became better known as a courtier, than he had ever been as a soldier. When his children had arrived at a sufficiently interesting age. Sir Winston was fiirther favored by having his eldest son, John, taken into the service of the Duke of York, as page of honour, while his daughter, Arabella, became maid of honour to the Duchess. The boy appears to have had but very little education, and this little he obtained afterwards in the metropohtan school of St. Paul's : but like many other great men he became his own instructor, by availing himself of those opportunities for observation that are thrown away upon individuals of less discernment. If the education of the girl had been better cared for, it was unproductive of good result. Both children were gifted with what was at this period the highest possible recommendation, personal beauty of a very attractive character. As they grew towards adolescence, this gift became more and more valuable, and with minds developed in such a forcing-house as was the Court of Charles II, it can scarcely be doubted th^t they were aware of its importance, and inclined to take it to the best market.

The personal characteristics of Charles II, are sufficiently well known ; less familiar perhaps to the reader, are those of his brother James, Duke of York, whose habits of Ufe at this time, were nearly as bad as those of any of the most notorious libertines of the depraved circle in which he moved. Under the auspices of such a man, it may readily be guessed how the handsome Churchills throve and flourished.

The historical student who has formed any acquaintance with the scandalous memoirs of this period, such as those of ''Grammont'* and ^'The new Atlantis," cannot be ignorant of the adventures attributed to the Duke of York and his protege, Colonel Churchill. Their gallantries, however, are not within our province : suffice it to say, that when the handsome Colonel Churchill returned to England, after having gained distinction by his military services abroad, he powerftdly ingratiated himself with the leading courtiers of both sexes. Among these was the King's favourite sultana, Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland, who failed not to exert her influence over the King to advance the interests of the Colonel. The merits of so handsome an officer were noticed by other ladies, and among them not the least observant was Sarah Jennings, who formed one of a group of lovely sisters then allowed to flourish in the sunshine of the Court in consequence of their father, a Hertfordshire gentleman, having suffered for his zeal in the Royal cause. She was then sixteen, remarkably beautiful, and clever, but haughty, ill-tempered, and capricious. Anne Hyde, Duchess of York, had taken Sarah Jennings into her household, and permitted her to become the constant companion of her daughter, the Princess Anne, upon whose ductile mind she made so strong an impression that it gave rise to a friendship of the warmest and most romantic character.

Miss Jennings was not insensible to the attractions of Colonel Churchill; and he was similarly impressed by the singular grace, beauty, and intelligence of the gravest and steadiest of the Jennings' group. The young lady could not have exclusively consulted her ambition when cultivating the acquaintance of Churchill, for nobler prospects had already in vain been spread before her, though probably her shrewd and calculating mind had weighed the probabihties of her lover's rise to a greatness very far above the present superiority of his rivals.

Both belonged to the household of the King's brother, and had sufficient opportunities for contracting an attachment, of which there is no doubt they availed themselves. But true love at Court, it seems, does not run smoother than elsewhere. Miss . Jennings was not always tractable ; nor were her circumstances, or those of her lover at this time sufficiently prosperous to warrant an alliance. The parents of the young officer were assured that he might aspire to a far higher connection than the daughter of a private gentleman ; and this coming to the ears of the young lady, she was very near dismissing the whole Churchill family from her thoughts with contempt. At last, however, obstacles were all removed, and their marriage took place in the year 1678, in the presence of the Duchess of York: it was strictly private, and not declared until some months afterwards.

In consequence of the Duke of York's acknowledged secession from the religion in which he had been educated, a strong desire existed in the public mind to exclude him from the throne, or to limit his authority in such a way, as to render it impossible that he should do much mischief by his Popish faith; and more than once, the anti-Cathohcism of the people became so much excited, that the Duke and Duchess were forced to leave England. Young Churchill and his wife accompanied them, and the Colonel was also employed in several confidential negotiations between the royal brothers, by which he greatly assisted in the return of the Duke of York to his proper place at Court. The latter testified his gratitude and esteem by procuring the elevation of his useful friend to the Scottish Peerage, by the title of Baron Churchill, of Aymouth — a distinction which was followed in 1683, by the gift of the Colonelcy of the Royal Pegiment of Horse Guards.

The position Lady Churchill held in the mind of the Princess Anne was manifested at the marriage of Her Poyal Highness with Prince George of Denmark, when she was appointed Lady of the Bedchamber. This position was of vast importance to her in more than one point of view. The Duke of York^ although a Papist, was obhged to have his children educated in the Protestant religion, and the friend and confidante of the Princess assisted in estabhshing that reputation of zeal for the Reformed Church, which subsequently recommended her Koyal Mistress to a Crown. Lady Churchill, however, placed too much confidence in the permanence of her relations with the Princess Anne, and soon lost sight of all consideration, personally and politically, for her great associate and supporter. Here began the grand error of her life. The Princess had allowed her a superiority of intelligence, which henceforth Lady Churchill maintained with a jealousy that frequently led her to betray her low opinion of her royal friend's capacity. A frequent correspondence had been carried on between them, which, though expressing the most confidential spirit, did not satisfy the romantic feelings of the Princess, until the distinctions of rank were laid aside. She had insisted on assuming the name of Mrs. Morley, and that her correspondent should take that of Mrs. Freeman. Subsequently other fictitious names were introduced, as Mr. Montgomery, for the Lord Treasurer Godolphin, and Mr. Freeman, for Lord Churchill. In this free and easy style, the royal correspondence had been carried on for a considerable period.

The accession of the Duke of York to the throne was much to the advantage of Lord Churchill. An EngUsh barony of the same name, and the rank of Brigadier, with subsequently that of Major-General, proved that James's protege was not forgotten ; and when his Lordship had distinguished himself by his promptitude and skill in putting down Monmouth's rebellion, the highest distinctions seemed to await him. Much to his credit, however, Lord Churchill was found determined to remain in the religion in which he had been educated, and the eyes of the King began to look on his favourite with distrust. Then it was that his Lordship listened to the ambitious schemes of his wife, whose religious feelings had been offended by the King's insidious attacks upon the Church of England. He was induced to open a negotiation with the Prince of Orange, who was watching with intense interest, the ill-advised measures adopted by his father in-law, to Catholicise the people of England. The result is well known.

On the accession of William and Mary, the Princess A.nne became a prominent object in the state, as heiress presumptive to the British Crown, and, as her sole confidante and adviser, Lady Churchill assumed a position of almost equal importance. In truth, the Sarah Jennings, who a short time since w^as so small a star in the Duke of York's little constellation, now came forth in the more extensive sphere of William and Mary, a meteor of such powerful influence, as to disturb the movements of every planet that ventured to shine within her range. Lord Churchill also acquired a considerable increase of dignity by his change of masters. VOL. I. c

William of Orange was a soldier, and knew how to estimate a soldier's merits; and although his patience was severely taxed by the schemes of the bold and restless Sarah, and his temper ruffled by some indications of her husband's double dealing, he more than once gave convincing evidence that he possessed the highest appreciation of his Lordship's many noble qualities. The same month (February 1688), that witnessed a change in the Government, saw Lord Churchill a member of the Privy Council, a Lord of the Bedchamber, and an Earl in the Enghsh Peerage, by the title of Earl of Marlborough. He was soon afterwards appointed to command the British forces intended to act against the French in the Netherlands, where he added to his reputation by the admirable skill of his military movements. The scene of his next command was Ireland, where the Roman Catholics were making a desperate struggle for their dethroned co-religionist. In the short space of thirty-seven days, he succeeded in reducing Cork and Kinsale, in preventing the rebels from receiving French assistance, and in confining them within such limits as promised a speedy conclusion to the war.

It was at this period that Marlborough committed himself by an act which, considering the favourable position he held with the new king, has generally been regarded as one of egregious folly as well as of deep dishonour. He suffered himself to be led into a correspondence with James. He has usually been represented guilty of the most glaring treachery, in the course of these secret communications, but after a careful examination of the facts of the case, there is reason to believe, that the ftill amount of his transgression, consisted in sending to his former master some expressions of sympathy and regard. Marlborough, it is sufficiently obvious, never could have entertained a desire to abandon William for James ; and, if such had been his intention, he must have shown himself marvellously deficient in the prudence which never deserted him, had he put it in execution at a period when he was in extraordinary favour with William, and the affairs of James were daily becoming more desperate. The fact is, that he followed the example which had been pretty generally given by the great Officers of State, and recommended himself to the phantom Court at St.Germains, with professions, the sincerity of which, was not likely even to be tested, but which, in case of. a change in the fortune of the exiles, might be referred to with advantage. Both Lord and Lady Marlborough were too completely identified with the Protestant cause to do anything which might in the slightest degree assist in restoring a Papist sovereign to the throne. Their present greatness depended on the stabihty of the, existing state of things, and their prospects of further distinction were much more hkely to be realized under the rule of the daughters who in a great measure owed their ambitious position to them; tham

c 2 under that of the father, who had been driven out of the country by their aid.

In the month of May, 1691, Marlborough attended the King abroad, and shared with him the honours of a campaign in the Netherlands, by which he added considerably to his own reputation as a conamander, and to the security of his master's succession to the Crown. The King spoke of his General in the highest terms of eulogy; but this happy understanding, was destroyed early in the following year. In the bickerings between the Queen and her sister, Lady Marlborough showed her partizanship so officiously, as to call not only for her dismissal from the post of honour she held about the person of the Princess Anne, but even to excite the irritated monarch to dismiss her husband from all liis commands and employments under the Crown.

The lofty Sarah, however, would not be dismissed, :and was so far from being dismayed by the royal anger, that her conduct became a thousand times more offensive than before. She exercised her influence over the Princess Anne in a way that was in the highest degree annoying to the King and Queen ; and with an audacity that grew every day more fearless, spoke of them openly in the most contemptuous terms. On the 5th of May following, Marlborough was arrested on a charge of high treason, and committed to the Tower ; but as the documents on which the accusation rested were discovered to have been forged, the

AND HIS CONTEMPORAlilES. 21

Earl obtained his liberation, though not without great difficulty, a httle after Michaelmas. He remained apparently in strict retirement and without any employment, excepting a post which the Princess Anne kindly created for him in her household, which brought him a thousand a year. The death of the Queen, and the reconciliation of the Princess Anne with her brother-in-law, paved the way for the return of the Marlboroughs to power and influence, and the Earl, though with some reluctance on the part of the- King, was appointed governor to the young Duke of Gloucester, the son and heir of the Princess Anne, by George, Prince of Denmark. Shortly afterwards^ he was restored to all his employments. On the 30th of July, 1 700, the new appointment terminated with the death of the young Prince, to the deep regret of the entire nation, a few days after he had completed his eleventh year. Lady Marlborough must have felt in this event a severe blow to her ambition ; for as this hopefiil young Prince was next in succession to the Throne after his mother, the appointment of her husband to superintend his studies and form his character, promised to retain in her family that extent of power and patronage she had already shown herself desirous of monopolizing. And her family was now quite capable of exciting her matronly hopes and fears. It consisted of one son and four daughters.* The former, John, Marquis of Blandford,