Little memoirs of the eighteenth century

Front matter

Book_^.AjAi.

LITTLE MEMOIRS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

JY THE SAME AUTHOR.

Preface

In the following Memoirs I have invited the reader to meet a little company of men and women xoho may seem, at first sight, to have little or nothing in common ivith one another, consisting as they do of two grandes dames of the second George's Court, a poet playioright who dabbled in diplomacy, an aristocratic declassee zvho died in the odour of royalty, an ea-shoemaJcer turned bookseller, a Highland lady with litej-ary proclivities, and a distinguished scholar tvho xvas chiejiy remarkable for his misfortunes. Yet the points of resemblance, though less obvious, are scarcely less decided than the points of contrast, for all were children of the same century, cdl belonged to the genus ' self-revecder^ all have left their ' confessions,'' in the form of letters or autobiography, all were celebrated, or at least notorious, in their own day {with the exception of John Txveddell, whose notoriety xcas posthumous), and all have fallen, xvhether deservedly or not, into neglect, if not oblivion.

It has seemed almost like an act of charity to resuscitate these sociable garrulous beings, if only for half an hour, and allow them to gossip to a modern reader. The long stories that they told to a more leisured age woidd strain the patience of a tzventieth-century audience ; yet there are

PREFACE

'm these long-winded chronicles many quaint reflections, many curious traits of character, many intimate records of men and manners, xvhich, like the dried petals in a howl of pot-pourri, still preserve their savour and pungency.

I have made no attempt to act as special pleader for any member of my little company. While allowing them to tell their own stories in their oxvn comjdacent fashion, I have quoted, hy way of corrective, certain of the more candid comments of their contemporaries. Horace Walpole disposes of Lady Pomfrefs pretensions to lear7iing, and pricks the bubble of Lady Craven^s reputation ; Cumberland is satirised by Sheridan, and a member of the Pindar family pokes fun at Mr. Lackington ; while the kind-hearted Sir Walter gives Mrs. Grant a rap on the knicckles, and poor John Tweddell is jilted by his sweetheart — the most practical of all adverse comments. Thus, having presented the evidence to the best of my ability, I leave to the judicious reader the task of summing up and finding a veidict.

Contents

PAQK

LADY HERTFORD (1699-1754) : LADY POMFRET (cir. 1700-1761), 3

LADY CRAVEN (Margravine of Anspach) (1750-1828), . . 119