Mrs. Montagu

“ The morning of life, like the morning of the day, should be dedicated to business. On the proper use of that ‘sweet hour of prime’ will depend the glory of your noon of life, and serenity of the evening. Give it, therefore, dear Mr. Lyttelton, to the strenuous exertion and labour of the mind, before the indolence of the meridian hour, or the unabated fervour of the exhausted day renders you unfit for severe application. ”

“ Berenice. I might have used them had I loved the same man: Cleopatra, the coquette was a proper mistress for the Reveller Anthony; but the god-like Titus, the delight as well as Master of Mankind, left no part of the heart unengaged and at liberty to dissemble. What had not yielded to his wisdom, submitted to his witt, was subdued by his magnanimity, or won by his gentleness; when affection does not vary, behaviour cannot change; and methinks Anthony should have quitted you from distrust of your love, and Titus have retain’d me from confidence in mine. ”

“ Pitt has brought his bark into a happy port. A Barony for his wife and a pension of £3000 a year for three lives are agreeable circumstances in a retreat, which delivers him from the difficulty of carrying on the War, or making the Peace, and keeps all his laurels green and unfading on his brow. No Minister in this country has ever known so well the times and seasons of going in and coming out with advantage to himself. ”

“ Pitt answered with great heat that he was sorry to hear such language from a gentleman who was to be a Peer; he set forth the great importance and dignity of Mr. Beckford personally, and above all the dignity and importance of an alderman, concluding it was a title he should be more proud of than that of a Peer. This speech has enraged the Lords, offended the Commons, and the City ungratefully say was too gross. Those who wish well to this country, and consequently to a union of parties at this juncture, are sorry for these heats; it is well if they do not unsolder the Union.... ”

“ Your talents and situation will fit you for public trusts; it is a duty in you to qualify yourself for them, to give your virtue every strength, and then to employ it in the service of your country in its most important interests, true religion, and good government. I hope you will excuse my having said so much, that has the air of advice to one who wants it so little, but young people are apt to be prodigal of time because they think they have so many years before them; but if life be long, the season for improvement is short. ”

“ Gesner a Poet. A Poet should create, but he should not make monsters. I think our Author has not the sublime, but his genius suits his subject. What a noble piety! what a purity of heart in Abel! and how finely is his character contrasted with Cain’s. Abel’s are virtues of disposition and temper in a great degree, and so are Cain’s vices, which rightly imagined in a state of life where example and discipline could not have so much influence as in a larger society and more mix’d life. ”

“ I should be sorry to see you quit Thucydides for Voltaire, Livy for Vertot, Xenophon for the bragging Memoirs of French Marshals, and the universal Tully and deep Tacitus for speculative politicians, modern orators, and the dreamers in Universities or convents. I will own that in Natural Philosophy and some of the lesser branches of learning the Moderns excel; but it would not be right for a person of your situation to strike into any private paths of Science. The study of History will best fit you for active life. ”

“ Indeed, poor creature, her situation is miserable, allied to the faults and the infamy of a bad man, subject to his aspersions, and liable to the censures of his friends (for the worst have some) , as in all disagreements in wedlock, blame falls ever on the innocent where there is no harmony. ‘How happy to behold in wedded pair!’ each has the credit of the other’s virtues; they have double honour, united interests and all that can make people strong in society. ”

“ Public spirit will teach the art of public speaking better than the rules of rhetoric, but above all things, the character of the orator gives persuasion, grace, and dignity to the Oration. Integrity of Manners gives the best testimony of sincerity of speech. If you form your conduct upon the sacred book which gives rules far more perfect than human wisdom could contrive, you will be an honour to religion, a support to your country, and a blessing to your family. It may seem strange that I have last mentioned what should be first regarded. The Bible alone will make a good man ”

“ I know you are too reasonable to wish Mr. Boscawen might avoid the hazards of his profession. The Duke of Marlbro’ his kinsman, lived to old age and survived perhaps all the cowards that were born on the [119] same day, the accidents of life are more than the chances of war. Be not afraid, but commit it all to the great and wise Disposer of all events; a firm hope and cheerful reliance on Providence I do believe to be the best means to bring about what we wish, and that such confidence does it far better than all our anxious foresight, our provident schemes and measuring of security. ”

“ A noble mind will fill a great situation, and enjoy it with pleasure and gratitude, without the swellings of insolence, but such a change is dangerous where there is a mediocrity of sense and virtue. I heartily wish she may be worthy of our young King, be pleasing in the domestick scene, and great in the publick; his good nature will impart to her a share of power and a degree of confidence, and I wish for the publick she may never abuse the one, nor misapply the other. ”

“ The leafless trees and barren soil of my landscape will very ill bear comparison with the shady oaks and beautiful verdure of South Lodge, and the grinning Mandarins still worse supply the place of a British Statesman: but as you can improve every society and place into which you enter, I expect such hints from you as will set off the figures, and enliven the landscape with rural beauty. ”

“ As this will probably be the Last time I shall ever trouble your Majesty, I beg leave to express my warmest wishes and prayers on your behalf: may the God of heaven and earth have you always under his protection, and Direct you to Seek his honour and Glory in all you Do, and may you reap the Benefit by an increase of Happiness in this world and in the next. ”

“ I return you thanks for the interest you took in my wife, and there is not an honest man, who will not do me the justice to say, I have ever given her the character of as moral and virtuous a woman as ever God made—what occasion’d discontent ever betwixt us is now no more—we have settled accounts to each other’s satisfaction and honour, and I am persuaded shall end our days without one word of reproach or even Incivility. ”

“ Elevation of sentiment and dignity of language are necessary to make an orator; modern life and modern language will hardly inspire you with either. I look upon Virtue as the muse of Eloquence, she inspired the phillippics of the Grecian and Roman Orator, her voice awakened Rome, slumbering in the snares of Catiline. ”

“ If the ancient inhabitants of Parnassus were to look down from their immortal bowers on our labyrinths, whose greatest boast is a fanciful intricacy, our narrow paths where genius cannot take his bounding steps, and all the pert ornaments in our parterres of wit, they would call them the modern’s folly; a name the wise farmer often gives to some spot from whence the Squire has banished the golden harvest, to trim it up for pleasure with paltry ornaments and quaint conceits. ”

“ Montagu thought Miss Carter’s dancing would be better improved if she went to School, and he is as desirous she should be a fine dancer as if she was to be a Maid of Honour. I was the more willing in regard to Miss Botham going, for my cousin is of such a ‘diversian’ temper, as Cotes used to express it, that I feared she would not be easily restrained in a place of this sort; she is a fine girl, but so lively and so idle, she requires infinite care. ”

“ There are undoubtedly many circumstances of propriety in every person’s situation, which none can feel properly but themselves. I am not, however, if I know myself, one of those expectants who think everything ought to be sacrificed to their Interest. It occurred to me that a letter from you to Miss Pitt might be of great service to me. I thought too of mentioning Mrs. Boscawen. The Admiral has such great merit with the Ministry and the Nation, that the want of it will be the more readily overlooked in any person for whom he may be induced to apply. ”

“ I would fain have homicide no longer reckoned as hitherto it has been, a title to Heroism, and the infamous but fashionable traffick of human blood, no matter for or against, who, if they pay but well, called by its true name assassination. Your Lordship has still a great field left open to you for another and yet another volume, which nobody can range in so usefully to mankind as yourself. ”

“ They have a very pretty house at Bath for the winter, and one at Bath Easton for the summer; their houses are adorned by the ingenuity of the owners, but as their income is small, they deny themselves unnecessary expenses. My sister [99] seems very happy; it has pleased God to lead her to truth, by the road of affliction; but what draws the sting of death and triumphs over the grave, cannot fail to heal the wounds of disappointment. Lady Bab Montagu concurs with her in all these things, and their convent, for by its regularity it resembles one, is really a cheerful place. ”

“ I wish you joy of a pleasure for life at least, the good you have done to Mr. Botham and his family.... I am pleased you have hired the wood, now one may walk in the bowling green without coveting what is your neighbour’s. I hope hiring is a step to purchasing; laying field to field is a natural thought and not a blameable one, when no injustice is meant. I have often thought what a pretty place Sandleford would be if it was bounded by the little river, Newbury Wash, and Greenham Heath. ”

“ I have been in very great pain with my rheumatism for some time, but now, I bless God, I hope the worst is over. May health and peace keep company with that benevolence and genius which are already with you. ”

“ Lady Yarmouth has him with her in a morning and promises him her interest with a very great man; Lord Northumberland, Lord Anson, and General York are to be his advocates with Mr. Pitt. He is an astonishing creature to take thus with all kinds of people. He hopes to go home in January in a sort of public character. He is full of anecdotes of the King of Prussia. He says his eyes and forehead are just like mine, and he is as particular in his description of him as a portrait painter would be. ”

“ I never read such a mass of inconsistencies and contradictions, such a vain ostentation of learning, and if I durst, I would say it, all that can show ‘the trifling head, or the corrupted heart.’ I think I may venture to say trifling, for whatever does not relate to the argument is so, and to teize the gentle reader with all the miserable sophisms that perplex’d the world 2000 years ago, is barbarous. ”

“ To such ladies as have secret histories belonging to them, he hints that he knows every one’s private life and shall publish it. This place grows so full of subscriptions that no person of moderate fortune will long be able to come to it. The people of the rooms are endeavouring to obtain a subscription of half a guinea each man, and a crown each woman for the season. As yet it has not been complied with, but they require it with such insolence, that I make no doubt it will be complied with. I shall be glad to hear you are safely settled in Hill Street. ”

“ What will be the consequence of all this I can’t tell, my fears are great for the publick, for myself I have none in any event: the worst that can happen to me is [95] to remain in the office I am in under the Duke of Newcastle, but I will remain for the same sense of honour and duty upon which I came into it, if the King and his Grace shall determine to stand the attacks made upon them. How happy are Mr. Stillingfleet and Mr. Torriano to enjoy the Madonna’s conversation, instead of hearing the nonsensical speculations of the town.... Little Tom is quite well and desires his best compliments. ”

“ Bonus’ help exceed hers as much as she does my milkmaids. There is particularly a Duchess of Richmond whom you have read of under the name of Mademoiselle Stuart in the ‘Memoirs of the Count de Grammont,’ whose charms are so divine that my nephew Pitt is absolutely falling in love with her and does nothing but gaze upon her from morning till night. What would you living beauties give if twenty years hence, when you begin to suffer by time, there could be found a Mr. Bonus to restore you again, as he has done this fair lady and others at Hagley? ”

“ It is entitled a subscription for a ‘History of Bath and Tunbridge for these last 40 years,’ by Richard Nashe, Esqre., with an Apology for the Author’s life. The whole money, two guineas, is to be paid down at once, for he does not pretend any book is to come out. Some have subscribed 10 guineas, many five, and a great many hundred pounds are already subscribed. It is to be kept open for life, and people give to him who will not part with a guinea to relieve the greatest real and unmerited distress imaginable. ”

“ To this Lord Lyttelton replies from Hagley on October 18—
“You tell me, good Madonna, that you are grown as robust as a milkmaid. If you are so, I have no objection to your going to Balls, Plays or Poppet Shows if you please every night; but you have sometimes the spirits of a milkmaid without the strength. However, I believe Diversions are better for you than too much reading, and therefore I am not sorry you have no time to committ excess with your books. ”

“ I am a little uneasy lest the surprize should have hurt you, satisfy me in that matter and my imagination will then sit down and weave laurel garlands for your husband’s head, and I too will rejoice in the advantage which I hope his country will reap from his arms, but think me not ignoble if I own, glory is but a bright moonshine when compared to your welfare, and think me not below the standard of true patriotism, if I confess, it is for the sake of such as you, my country is a name so dear. ”