TO THE COUNTESS OF OXFORD. [Came to Dover-street, Tuesday, 18th Sept., O.S.; received at : Avignon, Sept. 14th, N.S. [1744]. THE disorder of your ladyship's health which you mention gives me the highest concern, though I hope it is now over, and that the good air of Welbeck will wholly establish it I beg of you, with the utmost earnestness, that you would be careful of yourself; I can receive no proof of your friendship so obliging to me, though I am yours by every tie that can engage a grateful heart. Mr. Wortley has said nothing to me of his visit to your ladyship, nor can I guess on what account it was, but suppose it relating to some country interest; I know so well your just way of thinking, that I am sure you always act right. Mrs. Massam informed me of the hard fortune of poor Lady Euston: I very much pity Lady Burlington, but should do it yet more, if there had not been some circumstances in her marrying her daughter, which make her in some measure blamable for the event; however, there can be no excuse for the brutal behaviour of her worthless husband. Your happy disposition of the charming Duchess of Portland secures you from all sorrows of that kind, and I pray to God you may live to see your grandchildren as 1 George Earl of Euston was second son of Charles second Duke of Grafton, by Lady Henrietta, daughter of Charles Marquis of Worcester, son of Henry Duke of Beaufort. Lord Euston married, in 1741, Lady Dorothy, daughter of Richard third and last Earl of Burlington of that house: she died in April, 1742. Lord Euston died in 1747, leaving no children.-W. The following is taken from a note to one of the Honourable Horace Walpole's letters to Sir Horace Mann, dated June 20th, 1743: "Upon a picture of Lady Dorothy, at the Duke of Devonshire's at Chiswick, is the following touching inscription, written by her mother, which commemorates her virtues and her fate : "Lady Dorothy Boyle, born May the 14th, 1724. She was the comfort and joy of her parents, the delight of all who knew her angelic temper, and the admiration of all who saw her beauty. She was married October 10th, 1741, and delivered (by death) from misery, May the 2nd, 1742. This picture was drawn seven weeks after her death (from memory), by her most affectionate mother, Dorothy Burlington.”—W. happily settled: your life is the greatest blessing that can be bestowed on your family; I am fully persuaded they all think so, and I hope that consideration will be of force to make you careful to preserve it: I need not add how dear it is to me, being to my last moment, dearest madam, with the tenderest affection, Your ladyship's devoted servant. TO THE COUNTESS OF OXFORD. [Came to Dover-street, Saturday, O.S., Oct. 27; received at Avignon, Oct. 15, N.S. [1744]. DEAREST MADAM,-I have received but this day your ladyship's of August 29th: this length of passage is, I suppose, occasioned by the cessation of correspondence between Dover and Calais; all letters must now go round by Holland, which is a great grief to me, since I must now content myself to be some weeks longer before I can hear from my dearest Lady Oxford, whose kindness was the greatest comfort of my life. Everything that relates to you is of importance to me; I am therefore very much concerned that you have fallen into ill hands, in your building. This world is so corrupt it is difficult to meet with honesty in any station, and such good hearts as yours, which are not naturally inclined to suspicion, are often liable to be imposed on: if I could think myself capable of being any way useful to you, it would make this distance between us doubly painful to me. I am surprised Lord Burlington is unmentioned in Pope's will; on the whole, it appears to me more reasonable and less vain than Í expected from him. I cannot conclude my letter without repeating my most earnest desire that you would consider your health in the first place, and let no business whatever interrupt your care of it; there is no expression can tell you how dear it is to Your ladyship's most faithful and affectionate servant. To MR. WORTLEY MONTAGU. Avignon, Oct. 29, N.S. [1744]. I HAVE wrote twice to you this month, but fear you may not have had either of them. I send this by Geneva. I received yours of September 29th this morning. I am very much concerned for the ill state of poor Lady Oxford's health: she is the only friend I can depend on in this world (except yourself). She tells me she stays at Welbeck, having been cheated of some thousands by one she employed in her building there, and is very troublesomely engaged in setting things in order. I have had a letter from my son of a very old date, but no direction where to answer it; there is nothing in it worth repeating. We have had unusual rains, but they are always welcome here, drought being the general complaint of this province. TO THE COUNTESS OF OXFORD. [Came to Dover-street, Tuesday, 20th Nov., O.S.; received at Avignon, Oct. 29 [1744]. DEAREST MADAM,-I received your ladyship's obliging letter of September 24th this morning, and, some time since, that in which was a copy of Pope's will, for which I returned you my immediate thanks, but fear that letter miscarried, since I hear they should all be directed through Holland. These redoubled attacks of your cholic, which must necessarily weaken any constitution, give me inexpressible pain. I had, at the same time, a letter from Mr. Wortley that tells me your health is very uncertain. If I am so unhappy to survive you, I shall look upon myself as a widow and an orphan, having no friend in this world but yourself: if you saw the tears with which these lines are accompanied, you would be convinced of the sincerity of them; let me beg you upon my knees to take care of your life, and let no other regard whatever occasion the neglect of it. I fear the omission of the Bath waters this autumn season may be attended with ill consequences; for God's sake (dear madam) leave all things, when it is necessary to think of your own preservation. Mr. Wortley tells me Lady Peterborough' is with you, which I am glad of for both your sakes: he adds, that your alterations at Welbeck are in the best taste; I pray Almighty God you may live many comfortable years to enjoy them, and that some part of the reward of your virtue may be in this world: these are the daily and most earnest prayers of Your ladyship's most faithful and devoted servant.2 TO THE COUNTESS OF OXFORD. [Received at Welbeck, Monday, June 10th, O.S.; came to Doverstreet, 8th, O.S.] Avignon, June 1 [1745]. DEAREST MADAM,-It is but this day I have received the pleasure of your ladyship's obliging letter; it is impossible to tell you the joy it gave me after so long a silence, though very much abated by the account of your ill health. I pray with the utmost fervency that your journey may contribute to your recovery, and am persuaded that it is the safest, and most probable method of mending a constitu This must have been Mary the daughter of John Cox, Esq., of London, the wife of Charles fourth Earl of Peterborough, who succeeded his grandfather, the famous Lord Peterborough, in 1735.-W. 2 [Here should follow a letter to the Countess of Oxford, dated Ap. 13, 1745. The letter is missing, but there is a summary of it in the Hunter MSS., in the British Museum, as follows (see preface to this edition): 66 "Avignon, April 13, N.S. [1745]. "The post is stopped: writes by an English family: very indifferent about politics, but looked upon here as capable of great designs, at the same time that I am and desire to be ignorant of all projects whatever: watched here as a dangerous person, which I attribute chiefly to Mrs. Hay, who having changed her own religion has a secret hatred against every one that does not do the same: health extremely good: I saw Lord Goreing at Venice; he appeared to me a very well disposed young man I hear Miss F. Levison has made a very silly match."] tion: I could wish it southward, not in regard to my own interest, but as a removal to a better air. I have often repeated to you how exceeding dear your life is to me; if you valued it as much, all other considerations would be laid aside, when your preservation was in question. I believe the interruption of our correspondence may be partly owing to your ladyship's having forgot to direct your letter enclosed to Monsieur Pierre de Vos, à Rotterdam, Holland. Whatever good fortune happens to me, must always come through your hands; this is the first prize that ever came to my share, and it is owing to your ladyship in all senses. My daughter wrote me word the last post, that Thoresby is utterly destroyed by fire; I cannot help feeling some concern, and at the same time making many reflections on the vanity of all worldly possessions: I thank God my heart is so entirely detached from them, that I never desire more than the small portion I enjoy. I finish my letter with the most earnest recommendations to your ladyship to take care of your health, and the assurances of the most unalterable gratitude and affection from, dearest madam, Your most faithfully devoted humble servant. TO MR. WORTLEY MONTAGU. Avignon, June 8, N.S. [1745]. I HAVE this day yours of the 8th of April, O.S., and at the same time one from Lady Oxford, who has not received (as she says) any from me since November, though I have wrote several times. I perfectly remember carrying back the manuscript you mention, and delivering it to Lord Oxford. I never failed returning to himself all the books he lent me. It is true, I showed it to the Duchess of Montague, but we read it 1 The Duke of Kingston's seat at Thoresby, in Nottinghamshire, was burnt down April 4th, 1745, nothing being saved but the writings, plate, and a little of the furniture.-T. |