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364 THE LEADER. [ISTo, 469, Mauch 19,185...
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TrrvT> nn ^- HORACE AYALPOLL
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HORACE WALFOLE. Journal of the Reign of ...
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SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON'S LK< r Ll ;^ Lectu...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The -Question About "Thevestiges,"Unexpe...
factures" ( Levy ) , in Avhich he endeavours to set forth the revolutions which the change in tlie manners of the age enforces upon certain branches of trade and manufacture * M . Le Pelletier de Saint-Homy has published , a volume on the French Antilles ( Guillaumin ) , which is well spoken of , and M . Bouillevaux , a retired missionary , another agreeable little volume on Ihdq-China , showing that part of Cochin China which borders on India .
364 The Leader. [Isto, 469, Mauch 19,185...
364 THE LEADER . [ ISTo , 469 , Mauch 19 , 1859 .
Trrvt≫ Nn ^- Horace Ayalpoll
in some measure pays the debt I owe the Duke the honour he has done mo . " All I wish of my relations is , that they ' will show the world that they are satisfied with my conduct yet seem to disguise their reasons , ' " If ever I ain fortunate enough to be called the Duchess of Gloucester , there is an end of almost all the comforts I now enjoy , which , if thing's can go on as they are lior , « re jh «« j , " The excellent , right feeling , and prudent Duchess , however ^ was not by any means patient in obscurity , but longed to shine before the world a real duchess .
Not the least amusing leature m the story of the Duke ' s match is the rivalry of the ' Duchess of Cumberland , and the contempt expressed towards that upstrtrt lady by the Walpoles , as well as by the new Duchess of Gloucester . Lady "VYaidegrave ( for so tho latter was still culled ) felt acutely , we are told , the hurt the Duke or ' -Cumberland ' s marriage had occasioned her . . Lady Wjildegrave ' s sister was particularly acrimonious . The recent Mrs . Ilorton , now Duchess of Cumberland , since her wedding was ' openly announced , hud assumed " tnicoiiinioii state ; " -but " their diminutive court , "
we are told , "\ vns so shunned that slit ,- Avas forced ¦ to bestow her hand to be kissed by her menial servants . " Her brother , the famous . Colonel Luttrell , says the historian of . the rival Itietiou , '' burned with impatience to see her and'liiiusclfof more consequence . " Tlie Walpoles-were not likely to remain patient under this . The Duke of Gloucester was urged to a public declaration ; but he delayed , declaring that lie had not been able to i-hid an occasion of speaking to the King . Jt wibiio wonder that he shrunk ii-Oiii the task , if Walpole ' s account of the ¦ 'Duke ' s brother ' s -reception en a similar occasion be correct .
At length , however , the lovely Laiira , Dfnvager Co . untess * xjf WnUlegrave , ay ; is openly recognised as Duchess of Oloti-eoster . . The Dulcc Avould not go to the King himself . ; but he sent ^ . 1 . Lc'pi and to him to own 'his niLirrhigo . The result wa . ^ hat . tlie " lving Avas . enra ^ LMl , the . Duke disgr ' sicod ; the vanity of the lovely Laura satisiied , and thv iiunily i « rideof tlie ¦ Waipo ' lcfi lifled to the highest point . The Duchess sent i \ w Horace , Avho had now nu longer any scruples about-visiting his . niece . A \ r o can do no more than allude to a fe v
,-passages in the journals Avhich abound m mil resting matter , political and private , currying . u ^ .-is ihey do over the stormy days of Wilkc .-i and the American Avar , cIoavii to ' August , 17 b . " 3 , wheve the long series of Wulpolo ' s histories conies at hwt to an end . The second publication , who . se title ivc have placed at the head of this paper , also brings to a close Mr . Cunningham's edition of iho letters .
The concluding volume is prefaced 1 lV ll . neat memoir of the Wulpolo family , and , uuda with a valuable index—so Jong a desideratum to the historical student—to the whole nine volumes . For the notes which Mr , Cunniniflmm ha . s furnished , avc cannot , indeed , say much . Wnljiolc rei | Uiros m those days some noting to make allusions ,. nlrendy obscured by time , hitelligible to ( lie r ^ riler ; but Mr . Cunningham furnishes little but an mrasiomU memorandum—apropos or mal-ii-prujios— -Hint , tlie person . mentioned in the text "died Kieh a tlay and yenr-r-a copiousness of ti > mb , stone niiorwiuill deyreo to
niution , due , we suspect , in no tho lucky circumstance of tho existence m nio British Museum of a very extensive mumiHcript oMtu nry index . Tho bringing , however , of tic whole u € Wnlpolc's correspondence , including tnc letters to Lad / Ossorv , Sir llovuco bum " , « na Mason ,, into regular chronological onJi-r , in i »» ll j handsome , but cheap volumes , is i » llH ( -li ., 5 , service to historical literature . The collection comprises 117 lottors never hitherto pnblislicU ,. ^ - sides 80 others that luivo not been i " . ' ' ^ in nuy previous / edition—tho wliolo reaching uw groat number of 2 , 0 . 05 letters—tho it-Mill , ol tio Hi > aro moments " of tho supposed idk'r . J 5 V' ! , ; " oan noAY oxpeet nothing more from tliu sumo U \^ y pen . The rich mine of " \\' iiJjii > Jenn nuinuHeripis must bo ex-hiuisled ; and tho complete avui-Us oi lloraco Wnlpolu nro bolbro the work ! .
Horace Walfole. Journal Of The Reign Of ...
HORACE WALFOLE . Journal of the Reign of King George the Third , from the year 1771 to 1783 . By Horace Walpole Now first published from the original MSS- , Edited , with notes , by Dr . Doran . In 2 vo ' , ' London :. . li . Bientley . The Letters of Horace Walpole , Edited by Peter Cunningham . . Now first chronologically arranged , in 9 volumes . Vol IX . London -ll . Bentley . To any one who should skim over the ¦ critical journals of the last forty years for notices of Horace ' Walpole , 'it-would be curious to observe the steady rise . which his character , at least his literary character , has been making during that period .
Horace Walpole , like many-, other men , more or less famous than he , had ' formed for himself an ideal" character and- ' position , which lie was constantly holding up to the world as that whicl i ^ he would accept as a faithful likeness ; and the world , as it generally does in" such cases , took him at his word , and stamped him at his own valuation . To say that he was an idler , a dilletanti gentleman , a virtuoso , a fastidious connoisseur , an elegant tiifier , a - writer with a crowquill of airy nothings , a ' gimcraek architect , an amateur author , and ostentatious despiscr of the vulgar herd of Grab-street " scribblers , " a devout believer in the
your discretion . " What nioro could the truest worshipper of-truth have said ? As to Walpole ' s alleged " heartlcssness , " there are abundant proofs , not only in Miss . Berry ' s , eloquent and beautiful defence , but in the most oj > cn facts of his life , to gainsay it . Even his constancy as a ' correspondent—trifling evidence as it may be thought by some—is to its no slight one in his favour . Let any man ask himself how many of the ardent friendships of his early life have been preservedhow many ¦ correspondence ' s ¦ which were to last for ever have dropped with the correspondents
themselves , and been forgotten ? It is rip small thing to say that the warmth of a . n-iendship begun m . ^ hildhood should be steadily .. maintained hi a regular correspondence for . more than half a century . No less creditable to Walpolo is his hero-worship " towards his father , the great Sir Rolx'rt ; the profound respect' and affection with which he regards the memory of his mother , whose reputation the gossips of the age have somewhat tarnished ; or his genuine affection for his brother ' s illegitimate child . AVe are not thick and thin
apologists of Walpole . His narrow class sympathies , his belief in the superior clay whereof his own order were compounded , and his patrician horror of " the mob , " jar upon us in these days of progress and reform . But Walpole must be taken with" his merits , as well as his failings . The former we are convinced , are great ; and the latter are such as the wise and charitable will not visit with too harsh a judgment . The JournaL" edited by Dr . Doran , with notes in his own chatty , pleasant , anecdotical , Walpolean manner , were called by the -writer himself the "Last Journals of Horace Walpolo" They form a continuation to his" Memoirs of the Reign of
King George HI ., " which terminate m the year 1771 . Walpole , in the outset , warns the reader that the Journal "is rather calculated for his own amusement than for posterity ; " and lie adds " : '" I like to keep up the thread ; of my observations ; if they prove useful to anybody else , I shall be glad ; but lam not to answer for their imperfections , as I intend this Journal for no l-egular work . " The publication has been long delayed—we suspect kept back till the recent death of the old Duchess of . Grloucester , for the mother of the Duke of Gloucester was Horace "NValpole ' s . favourite niece , the illegitimate daughter of his brother Edward ; and there is no portion of the Journal which wiil be read , with greater interest than that inwhich the journalist mves the history of the marriage of
this niece , then Laura , Countess of Waldegrave , famous for her beauty , with the somewhat weakminded royal duke . Great talk had arisen upon the secret marriage of the Duke of Cumberland with Mrs . ilorton , when a new subject of gossip was found in the rumoured * marriage of another of the King ' s brothers , the Duke of Cumberland , which was confirmed on his return from Italy . Horace affected to have no knowledge of the match , though shrewdly suspected to have boen well cognisant of it . In the Diary , however , he mentions his constant neutrality , only , now and then dropping a Word or two jn praise of tho excellent heart , and good feeling , and admirable prudence of his niece , who wrotej on her marriage , the following letter to her father , § ir Edward : — " St . Leonard ' s , May 19 , 1772 .
" My dkaii AXU kvjcu iiondiu : ^ Sin , —You cannot easily imagine how much every past affliction has been increased to mo by my not boing at liberty to make you quite easy . Tho duty to a husband being superior to that avo oavo a father , I hope will pletul my pardon , and that , instead of blaming my past reserve , you will think it commendable . " When the Duke of Gloucester married me ( which was in September , 1766 , ) X promised him in no consideration in the world , to own it , even to you , without his permission ; which permission I never hud till yesterday , when he arrived in much hotter health
and looks than evor I saw him ; yet , as you inny suppose , much hurt at all that has past in his absence ; so much so , that I have had groat difficulty to provaU upon him to let things aa much as possible remain as they arc To secure my character , with > - out injuring his , is the utmost of my wishes j and 1 daresay that you anil all my relations will agree with mo that X shall bo . much happier to bo called Liuly Waldogravo , and respoctocl ns Duchess of Gloucester , than to feel myself the cnuse of his leading such a life as his bi'Othor does , in oi'dor for mo to bo culled your Royal Ilignoss . I am prepared for the sort of abuse tho newspapers will bo full of . Very ftjw pooplo will boltovo that u woman will refuse to be called 1 ' rincoBH if It Is in hor power . " To have the power in my pride ; and not using it
virtue and grace of long pedigrees , were once the . commonplaces of all who talked or . wrote of Walpole . Even Lord Macaulay , in his celebrated essay on Walpole ' s correspondence with Mann , repeated these tilings in a . brilliant manner ; though he . was well answered by Miss Berry ' s admirable defence . But the world was ,-before this , coming to ft better judgment on the matter . As volume after volume of letters , historical essays , and journals came forth , and were added to the known fruits of his long life , it was begun to be seen that the master of Strawberry Hill had by no means so . bad an account to give of his time as he had
pleaded guilty to . Like the self-charged profligacy of Bolingbroke , Pope , and Byron , it was felt that the idleness of Walpole was not unlike other men ' s industry—that his admitted lack of learning was wot fatal to his just claim to extensive knowledge , and that his pretence of " trifling" away his days was , in fact , but the outward and fictitious clotliing of a long and , on the whole , a useful life . If any one should think otherwise , let him compare upon $ he shelves of a library the writings of the fine gentleman Wolpole even with those of the professed literary hack , his contemporary , Johnson . JfWalpole , even -regarded
as a man of letters , was an idler , what were his friends and correspondents , Gray , Warton , Malone Isaac Reed , Pinkcrton , or a- score of others ? And if mere bulk should be no test of merit , wliat writer has done more to amuse and delight his readers than Walpolo ? What a fund of anecdote is in his letters , journals , and histories—what inexhaustible sources of quotation and illustration I What a world of famous men and women—from King George the JFirst and the Duchess of Kendal —the elderly gentleman in the "breeches ofsjiuflcploured cloth , " and tho " loan , ill-favoured , old lady , " to whom Walpolo when a boy was introduced privately by night , in their apartment in the sliabbv , old , rod-brick palace of St . James ' s— -down to Wflkes and the Common Council , and tho poor
old king in his solitude and madness . J £ ven St . Simon is eclipsed by his English prototype . Whoever writes of the history or the last oentury must go to Wulpolo , and will find in him , on the whole , a tolerably honest guide j— for his prejudices , though strong and numerous , lio on tho surface , like tho weak points of a man good onougU , and boiXQBti enough , as tho world goes . If tiny body is not sufficiently warned against them it is his o > vn fault . " You will romoinbar , " bo said to Archdeacon Ooxo , " that I nm tho son of Sir Robert Walpolo , and therefore must bo prejudiced in his favour . Facts I will not misrepresent or disguise , tut my ojpinions and reflections on those fhola you will roooivp with caution , und adopt or rujoct at
Sir William Hamilton's Lk< R Ll ;^ Lectu...
SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON'S LK < r Ll ;^ Lectures on AUuphyHte * . lly W » r \ V Jlllimi J 1 'l ,, i ]' Hart . Kdllcdby the Uev . Jl . \<; ^"" 'f ' ' . ' ,, '' Oxford , and Jolm Voltcl » , M : A ,, IWlnlaimh- - ' ) ' 3 l ' . W . BlueUwuud iuhI boiis . ( SIICOND ISOTICJi ) m Tm : cnrdimil iloetriuu oud kuy nolo ol ou
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 19, 1859, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19031859/page/12/
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