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THE WALPOLE LETTERS. The Letters of Hora...
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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 Life Of Sir Charles James Napier. Th...
Which las the most important part of the two ? "We both act by the direction of oar nature , and -who shall presume . to decide ? the bug may produce a sleepless night ¦ for the Body , and to the ingenious mind thus kept wakeful some great invention may occur . Who ia the originator ? The bug which sucks blood , or the man who unwillingly lies awake under the operation of bug grazing- Yet the invention may overturn the order of things , perhaps ena"ble us to reach the moon ! Oh ! vaiii and miserable man ! Take a beautiful horse and place it alongside of a fat red-nosed bumboat woman of Portsmouth : woman Is divine ! but if this be our divinity what is her adorer , man ? Is not the beautiful horse at her side more divine ? more beautiful , more clean , more gentle , more innocent ? Look at the elegantly formed gnat that stings her : is he not more divine -with bis light glistening wings ? But he bites ! Yes ! And ask a bullock what ske does . Now put her beside a luxurious bishop . Where ia the difference ? He is full of wine , as she is of gin : is the vine a finer plant than the juniper ? She dresses her own beefsteak , obtained by her labour : his is dressed by a skilful cook , and paid for by others' labour ! Oh ! vain , miserable man ! * we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us ! ' "
This is not exactly in the . mood of Seneca . The vein of abuse now becomes more conspicuous . The East India Directors are " Leaden head people , " Lord Ripon ' s letters are" silly . " Sometimes lie wrote , '' My own dear brother , Satan h imself ; " then , 'I am a child in the hands of God ; ' but he prefers castigating others even to praising himself . These are examples of the allusions Sir William Napier has thought fit to preserve : ¦ " That soft , little , silky man , Lieut .-Colonel Melville" — " Blatant Buist "—* I mean apology to the jackals for comparing them to the certain civil servants" — "With a few exceptions the editors are men whose vileness has driven them from . good society . One was driven from the church , for some tricks with a cbild ; another was broke for stealing a pearl , and for cowardice . " He refers , of course , to the Indian , press : — " How can I enter into a controversy on my own character with such miserable wretches as Buist of the Bombay Times , or Cope of the Delhi Gazette ?—since arrested for thieving . " Having cast a . similar slur upon Mr . Fonblanque , he adds
;" The English journalists generally have the decency to state facts , and reason on them according to the bent of their politics ; but these Indian ruffians , for they are neither more norless , invent the most atrocious falsehoods . " Lord Ripon is , again , " a pack-ass , " " an imbecile ; " Sir James Graham ** weak and silly ; " General Outram " deserves to be shot ; " but we have quoted , more than enough to prove the rashness and bad taste of the biographer . " WVliave only a little space for samples of the sparkling varieties that confer an incessant fascination upon these volumes . Here is a reminiscence of Meeanee ^—"I always felt confident of victory sometow , even when on tlie edge of the bank I first saw the multitudes below me , and the mass of shields ! JupiterAmmon ! what a "weight of flesh and bones to have pressed boldly upon us ! I trusted to our fire , we could not miss ; yet some nervous fellows fired in the air and burnt my face , -though on horseback . I saw numbers do this , it enraged me . "
. /¦ Again : — - 'V- . ' : ¦ ¦ ' . ' . . ¦ ' ¦ ;¦ ¦ ¦ . : ¦ . - ¦¦•¦ ' . '¦ ' , '; ¦ ' . " The greatest scene of destruction I ever saw before was the lane going up to Hougoumont ; but I assure you it was nothing to the bed of the Fullaillee : it was - horrible . When they found they could not force our line their courage fell , and their rushes over the edge of the bank became less frequent , while our men pushed more boldly to the edge ; then the Beloochees cut at their legs , but the soldiers growing jnore cool and expert as the battle went on , stepped back to reload , and putting the muzzles of their muskets just over the edge , let fly into the mass . Covered by their shields the Beloochees fell over each other , and wounded men remained beneath the dead , glad of the protection . Those who attempted to run were shot down as they ascended the opposite bank ; so that from that part not one roan , in my belief , escaped . The soldiers bayoneted all that had life on the top of the heaps as we passed in pursuit , and all below "were smothered . " Napier could vilify , but he could compliment also . This , to the Duke of Wellington , is not bad for a soldier : —
u A 3 your Grace never had a master in war , how can I convey to your mind the feelings of a disciple ?" The Ameers of Sindh have appealed to English ladies in behalf of their u violated hareems : " "" Mark the love of the Ameers , the ' Patriarchs' for their women , from the description « f a whip found in Nuaseer ' s zenana avowedly to flog the women of those fallen princes . The whip-handle is one foot and half an inch long , covered with brass wire for two inches at each end , and silvered , wire in the middle . At each end is an ivory knob , and . there are two lashes , each one foot five inches and three-quarters , exclusive of tassels at the end of each lash . The lashes are made of plaited wire five-eighths of an inch in circumference , and capable of inflicting a terrible flagellation . " . We must now quote at random : — " Marriage is a dead drag upon military ambition . I have done pretty well , but not half of what I could have done as a bachelor . "
" Xord Brougham ia a qxieor fellow . He was talking something about burials at Mis 3 Coutts ' s , of boing buried alive , and finished by saying , However , I don't know , I nevex was buried . You ought to have been , said I , for your lordship was dead onee , you know . He looked hard at me , and then said in a low voice , Yes ! yes ! I was dead .. H « did not seem to like the joke , and the less so as the old beau opened Ma mouth and gave a deep guttural laugh , while the others broke but aloud . " " Pray give my . beat respects to that blaze of beauty Lady John Thynne , and toll her she did me great honour to dream of me . I fear as I stopped her on the Queen ' s highway aba took me . at firet for a highwayman , and her dream might not have been
so eompiimeatary . I had been riding Red Rover again , after a year and a half : the last time as a king at the head of an army , now as a wrotch paying turnpikes : and taken for a footpad by that beautiful woman !" Xou will be amused , aa Montagu and I were , at tho account we heard from an ear-witness of Lord Brougham's bringing Hogg to the bar of tho House of Lords , for some transaction about sugar , aawo understood . When Hogg appeared , Brougham JSSL " r ' jI ^ *• "" •*•• . •¦ And then suddenly said , < Mr . flogr ,, oh } I be U your aT ^ i ? O £ Z ! L > r »™> - <* W * ti 8 state . I forgot yon are now a harontt buttcr-P « tJT ^ r « rtS' 1 ^ durhlg his B P eech ' everv tirao " « named him it was Sir P < tS ^ S ^ * ? 5 bttt neve Sit James Hogg . "
^ ' hoJFSZl ho w ^ r 5 , *?* toyaltyta dine at Oflborn « . ™ " * » f ° w aSZed bv ?' remon ? trSi Dg J * ** * dMb waistc ^ t , not of the newest , but was colt bu * BudSZroeM r ° ^ ? C 03 sit y <* ^ urt dross . Uo had no other waist-J £ S £ 2 X $ Z £± " »* ° «—** in-O ^ f ^ fiSlt a seat
" Lord John ¦ Russell , in concert with' them , wanted to do me out of iw 1 ~ this was made clear at an interview with his lordship . He was shv and W On ° I was explicit and not shy , and spoke with such vehemence as to settle th " f ?" cit » once—for jumping to my feet , ami extending rav clenched hand , I said > " , f Lord John > If they can ' t Jnd a precedent for . my going out with a scat , I ^; t Tl fmd one for a com inander-2 , 1-chief not going out when offered the situation Ah -I he , they will , I am sure , find one . My lord , I do not caie whether thev an but to India I will not go without a seat in council . They found their nrer ^ w *?*' " Lady Campbell , daughter of Lord Edward Fitzgerald-has been K agreeable as ever . When- the devil tempted Dunstan ia . the form of Ti , p 7 v " , woman , he no more took hold of her nose with hot tongs than I would ' Dpt > p , 1 it , he . had . a daughter by the she-devil , and Pamela is certainly a descendantfif lT * for nothing else could be so agreeable , so pretty , so wonderful as she is' XViL ' serpent also . .. Well , whether of devil ' s blood or saint ' s blood , she is delightful n f a are her children . " - ° ' ana so . We ciuv conceive no class of readers , military , political , civil , or General to whom this book will not be deeply interesting Q iiU >
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The Walpole Letters. The Letters Of Hora...
THE WALPOLE LETTERS . The Letters of Horace Walpole , Earl of Orford . Edited b y Peter Cunuin ^ nm Now First . . Chronologically Arranged . Vol . II . Bentl The second volume of this admirable edition contains the correspondcno ^ Tf ten yeavd—from 1746-50 , the period of the Jacobite rebellion the triil * and execution of the rebel lords , the Netherlands campaign , the mX ! and decoration of Strawberry -Hill , the Lisbon earthquake ^ and the SI for one night only , of single-speech Hamilton . Such pleasant reading is nowhere else to . be found;—less cannot fairly be said of the Walpole Letterrendered doubly interesting now , and doubly valuable as materials of historv by the careful chronological ordering and generally sensible annotations of Mr . Peter Cunningham . We had a few words to say against the Editor ' s plan as exemplified in the first volume ; in the second we ^ inight mark some superfluous notes ; but upon , the "whole the uomiuentary is ° apleasixnt and careful elucidation of flip . tRxh .
It would be an _ impertineuce to criticise the Walpole Letters . They are classics _ of ^ conceited elegance , of charming levity , of reckless aneeddte of fascinating slander , of epigram and allusion . New generations of readers , however , are continually growing up , for whom there may be novelty , even in the corresp ondence of Horace Walpole . To remind such readers of the treasure arranged for them by Mr . Cunningham , we merely glean from the golden field a sheaf of Walpoliana . There is sublinie impertinence in this , to Sir Horace Mann : —
Don t think , my dear child , that I hurry over my letters , or neglect writing to you ; I assure you I never do , when I have the least grain to lap up ia a letter : but consider how many chapters of correspondence are extinct : Pope and poetry are dead Patriotism has kissed hands on accepting a place : the Ladies O [ rford ] and T ^ ownshendJ h ave exhausted scandal both in their persons and conversations : divinity and controversy are grown good Christians ,. say their praj'grs .-and ' spare their neighbours ; and I think even self-murder is out of fashion . Now judge whether a correspondent can fumisb . matter for the common intercourse of the post ! Here is a cabinet landscape sketch of Twickenham : —
It is set in enamelled meadows , with iiligree hedges : — " A . small Euphrates through the piece is roll'd , : And little finches wave their wiugs in gold . " Two delightful roads , that you would call dusty , supply me continually ' with coaches and chaises : barges as solemn as Bca'ons of the Excheciiitr inoze under my window ; Richmond Hill and Ham walks bound by prospect ; but , thank God ! the Thames i 3 between me and the Duchess of Queeusberry . Dowagers as plenty as flounders inhabit all around , and Pope ' s ghost is just now skimming under my window by a most poetical moonlight . I have about land enough to keep such a farm as Noah ' s , when he set up in the ark with a pair of each kind ; but my cottage is rather cleaner than I believe his was after they had been cooped up together forty days . Lord John liussell was once accused of cant by a renegade liberal . He replied that to cant was absurd , but that to recant was infamous . Walpole
says : — Hero i . s a Ion mot of my Lady Townshcnd : we were talking of the Methodists ; somebody 3 aid , " Pray , Madam , is it true that Wliitfield has recanted ? " "No , Sir , he has only ccuiled . " A propos of Methodism , to Sir Horace Mann : — If you ever think of returning to England , as I hope it will be long first , you must prepare yourself with Mcthocliam . I really believe 'that by that time it will be
necessary : this sect increases as fust as almost evur any religious nonsciisu did . Lady Fanny Shirley has chosen this way of bestowing the < lrcgs of her beauty ; and Mr . Lyttelton is very near making tho same sacrifice of the dregs ' of all those various characters that ho ban worn . The Methodists love your big sinners , ni proper subjects to work upon—and , indeed , they have a , plentiful harvest—I think what you call flugrancy was never more in fashion . Drinking is at the highest wiue-niark ; and gaming joined with it no violent , that at the ln = ) t Newmarket meeting , in the rapidity of both , a bank-bill was thrown down , and nolxxly immediately claiming it , thev agreed to give it to a man that was standing bv .
And , to tho same correspondent , with respect to feudal dignity : —• Mr . Chute , who went from lienco thia morning , and ia always thinking of blazoning your pedigree in the noblest colours , has turned over , oil my library , till lie baa tapped a now and very groat family for you : in short , by your mother it is very clear that you are descended from Hubert de Burgh , Grand Justiciary to Richard tho Seeond : indeed I think ho was hanged ; but that is a . misfortune that will attend very illustrious genealogies ; it is as common to them aa to th * j pedigrees about Paddington and Blackheuth . 1 have had at loast a dozen great- £ reat-granUfnthers that enmo to untimely ends . All your virtuosos in heraldry arc content to know that thoy had ancestors who lived live hundred vcura ayo , no matter how thoy died . A match with a low woman corrupts a ( stream of blood as loaxg as tho Danube , —tyranny , villany , and executions are mere ilea-hites , and leavo no stain . The good Lord of Hath , whom I aaw on ltiohmond-groon this evening , did intend , I bolbvc , to ennoble my genealogy with another execution .
The Duke of Newcastle , in 1749 , was elected Chancellor of Cambridge : — His coolc 3 have been thero those ten days , distilling essences of ovory living creature , and massacring and confounding all the spociea that Noah and Moses took such pains to preserve and distinguish . It would bo pleasant to see pmUuita and professors acuruhing for etymologies of strange dishes , aud tracing raoro wonderful
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 25, 1857, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25041857/page/18/
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