April-Oct. 1777. carefullest of Kings.66 Hitherto, with one exception to be mentioned presently, his main business seems to have been that of introducing, on different Court-Days, a great number of Travelling English, who want to see the King, and whom the King little wants, but quietly submits to. Incoherent Sherlock, whom we discover to have been of the number, has, in his tawdry disjointed Book, this Passage: 'The last time of my seeing him' (this Hero-King of my heart) was at Berlin' (not a hint of the time when). 'He came 'thither to receive the adieus of the Baron de Swieten, Minister from their Imperial Majesties' (thank you; that means, 8th October 177767), and to give audience to the new Minister, the 'Count Cobenzl. The Foreign Ministers, the persons who were 'to be presented' (we, for instance), 'and the Military, were all that were at Court. We were ten English' (thirteen by tale): 'the King spoke to the first and the last; not on account of their 'situation, but because their names struck him. The first was 'Major Dalrymple. To him the King said: "You have been "presented to me before?" "I ask your Majesty's pardon; it "was my Uncle" (Lord Dalrymple, of whom presently). Mr. 'Pitt' (unknown to me which Pitt, subsequent Lord Camelford or another) was the last. The King: "Are you a relation of "Lord Chatham's?" "Yes, Sire."-"He is a man whom I highly esteem" (read "esteemed”). 66 'He then went to the Foreign Ministers; and talked more to 'Prince Dolgorucki, the Russian Ambassador, than to any other. In the midst of his conversation with this Prince, he turned "An ingenious young Friend of mine, connected with Legationary Business, found lately, at the Hague, a consccutive Series, complete for four or five years (I think, from 1780 onwards), of Friedrich's Letters to his Minister in London,-Copies punctually filched as they went through the Post-office there :-specimens of which I saw; and the whole of which I might have seen, had it been worth the effort necessary. But Friedrich's London Minister, in this case, was a person of no significance or intimacy; and the King's Letters, though strangely exact, clear, and even elucidative on English Court-Politics and vicissitudes, seemed to be nearly barren as to Prussian. Rödenbeck, iii, 172. 67 April-Oct. 1777. '68 ' abruptly to Mr. Elliot, the English Minister, and asked: "What "is the Duchess of Kingston's family name?" This transition 'was less Pindaric than it appears; he had just been speaking ' of the Court of Petersburg, and that Lady was then there.' Whereupon Sherlock hops his ways again; leaving us considerably uncertain. But, by a curious accident, here, at first hand, is confirmation of the flighty creature;-a Letter from Excellency Elliot himself having come our way: To William Eden, Esquire (of the Foreign-Office, London; Elliot's Brother-in-law; afterwards Lord Auckland). "Berlin, 12th October 1777. "My dear Eden,-If you are waiting upon the pinnacle of "all impatience to give me news from the Howes” (unknown to of no interest to us), "I am waiting with no less impatience "to receive it, and think every other subject too little interest us, ing to be mentioned. I must, however, tell you, the King has "been here;69 to the astonishment of all croakers, hearty and in high spirits. He was very civil to all of us. I was attended by one dozen English, which nearly completes my half-hundred "this season. Pitt made one of the twelve, and was particularly distinguished. KING: 'Monsieur est-il parent de Mylord Chat"ham? PITT: Oui, Sire.' KING: C'est un homme que j'ai "beaucoup estimé. 66 "You have no idea of the joy the people expressed to see "the King on Horseback,-all the Grub-street nonsense of 'a "Country groaning under the weight of its burdens,' of ‘a Na"tion governed with a rod of iron,' vanished before the sincere "acclamations of all ranks, who joined in testifying their enthu"siasm for their great Monarch. I long for Harris and Com pany" (Excellency Harris; making for Russia, I believe); "they are to pig together in my house; so that I flatter myself "with having a near view, if not a taste, of connubial joys. My "love to E and e" (your big Eleanor and your little, a baby in es Sherlock, ii. 27. 69 Came to Berlin, 8th October,' on the Van-Swieten errand; 'saw Princess Amelia twice; and on the 9th, returned to Potsdam' (Rödenbeck, iii. 172). April-Oct. 1777. arms, who are my Sister and Niece;-pretty, this!). "Your "most affectionate, H. E." "P.S. I quite forgot to tell you, I sent out a servant some "time ago to England to bring a couple of Horses. He will "deliver some Packets to you; which I beg you will send, with "Lord Marischal's compliments, to their respective Addresses. "There is also a china cup for Mr. Macnamara, Lawyer, in the "Temple or Lincoln's Inn, from the same person" (lively old gentleman, age 91 gone; did die next year). "What does "Eleanor mean about my Congratulatory Letter to Lord Suf"folk" (our Foreign Secretary, on his marriage lately)? "I "wished his Lordship, most sincerely, every happiness in his new state, as soon as I knew of it. I beg, however, Eleanor "will do the like;-and although it is not my system to 'congratulate' anybody upon marriage, yet I never fail to wish "them what, I think, it is always two to one they do not "obtain."70 66 As to the Dalrymple of Sherlock, read this (Friedrich to D'Alembert, two years before?1): "A Mylord "of wonderful name" (Lord Dalrymple, if I could remember it), "of amiable genius (au nom baroque, à "l'esprit aimable), gave me a Letter on your part. "Ah, how goes the Prince of Philosophers, then? "Is he gay; is he busy; did you see him often?' To "which the Mylord: 'I? No; I am straight from Lon"don!"""Quoi donc ?" In short, knowing my Anaxagoras, this Mylord preferred to be introduced by him; and was right: "One of the amiablest Eng"lishmen I have seen;-I except only the name, which "I shall never remember" (but do, on this new occasion): "Why doesn't he get himself unchristened of it, "and take that of Stair, which equally belongs to him?” (Earl of Stair by and by; Nephew, or Grand-Nephew, 70 Eden-House Correspondence (part of which, not this, has been published, in late years). Euvres de Frédéric, xxv. 21: 5th August 1775. April-Oct. 1777. of the great Earl of Stair, once so well known to some of us. Becomes English Minister here in 1785, if we much cared.) That word of reminiscence about Pitt is worth more attention. Not spoken lightly, but with meaning and sincerity; something almost pathetic in it, after the sixteen-years separation: "A man whom I much esteemed," --and had good reason to do so! Pitt's subsequent sad and bright fortunes, from the end of the Seven-Years War and triumphant summing-up of the Jenkins's-Ear Question, are known to readers. His Burton-Pynsent meed of honour (Estate of 3,000l. a-year bequeathed him by an aged Patriot, "Let this bit of England go a noble road!"); his lofty silences, in the World Political; his vehement attempts in it, when again asked to attempt, all futile, with great pain to him, and great disdain from him:-his passionate impatiences on minor matters, 'labourers' (ornamenting Burton-Pynsent Park, in Somersetshire) 'planting trees by torchlight;' 'kitchen 'people' (at Hayes in North Kent, House still to be seen) 'roasting a series of chickens, chicken after chicken, all day, that at any hour, within ten minutes, my Lord may dine!'-these things dwell in the memory of every worthy reader. Here, saved from my poor friend Smelfungus (nobody knows how much of him I suppress), is a brief jotting, in the form of rough memoranda, if it be permissible: 'Pitt four years King; lost in quicksands, after that; off to 'Bath, from gout, from semi-insanity; "India should pay, but how?" Lost in General-Warrants, in Wilkes Controversies, 'American Revolts,-generally, in shallow quicksands ;—dies at his post, but his post had become a delirious one. 'A delicate, proud, noble man; pure as refined gold. Something sensitive, almost feminine in him; yet with an edge, a 6 April-Oct. 1777. fire, a steadiness; liker Friedrich, in some fine principal points, 'than any of his Contemporaries. The one King England has ' had, this King of Four Years, since the Constitutional system 'set in. Oliver Cromwell, yes indeed, but he died, and there was nothing for it but to hang his body on the gallows. Dutch William, too, might have been considerable, but he was Dutch, and to us proved to be nothing. Then again, so long as Sarah Jennings held the Queen's Majesty in bondage, some gleams of 'Kinghood for us under Marlborough:-after whom Noodleism ' and Somnambulism, zero on the back of zero, and all our Affairs, 'temporal, spiritual and eternal, jumbling at random, which we 'call the Career of Freedom, till Pitt stretched out his hand upon them. For four years; never again, he; never again one resembling him,-nor indeed can ever be. 6 'Never, I should think. Pitts are not born often; this Pitt's 'ideas could occur in the History of Mankind once only. Stranger theory of society, completely believed in by a clear, sharp and altogether human head, incapable of falsity, was seldom heard 'of in the world. For King: open your mouth, let the first gentleman that falls into it (a mass of Hanover stolidity, stu'pidity, foreign to you, heedless of you) be King: Supreme Majesty he, with hypothetical decorations, dignities, solemn appliances, high as the stars (the whole, except the money, a 'mendacity, and sin against Heaven): him you declare Sent'of-God, Supreme Captain of your England; and having done so, tie him up (according to Pitt) with Constitutional straps, 'so that he cannot stir hand or foot, for fear of accidents: in 'which state he is fully cooked; throw me at his Majesty's feet, ' and let me bless Heaven for such a Pillar of Cloud by day. 6 'Pitt, closely as I could scrutinise, seems never to have 'doubted in his noble heart but he had some reverence for George II. "Reverenced his Office," says a simple reader? 'Alas no, my friend, man does not "reverence Office," but only 'sham-reverences it. I defy him to reverence anything but a 'Man filling an Office (with or without salary) nobly. Filling a ' noble office ignobly; doing a celestial task in a quietly infernal manner? It were kinder perhaps to run your sword through 'him (or through yourself) than to take to revering him! If |