Part 17

The road to Chesterfield is pretty. Sheffield was full as dirty and offensive as before. Slept at Penistone, a small village and bad inn quite out of the high road. Got out and looked at the Castle of Skipton, a valuable estate annexed to which belongs to Thanet. Got late in the evening to Lowood Inn, by the side of Windermere. I was not well in the night.

[Sidenote: WORDSWORTH]

_Wednesday._--Sent an invitation to Wordsworth, one of the Lake poets, to come and dine, or visit us in the evening. He came. He is much superior to his writings, and his conversation is even beyond his abilities. I should almost fear he is disposed to apply his talents more towards making himself a _vigorous conversationist_ in the style of our friend Sharp,[303] than to improve his style of composition. He is preparing a manual to guide travellers in their tour amongst the Lakes. He holds some opinions on picturesque subjects with which I completely differ, especially as to the effects produced by _white_ houses on the sides of the hills; to my taste they produce a cheerful effect. He, on the contrary, would brown, or even black-work them; he maintained his opinion with a considerable degree of ingenuity. His objection was chiefly grounded upon the distances being confounded by the glare of white. He seems well read in his provincial history.

On Thursday, after stopping to see a very feeble cascade at Sr. Daniel Le Fleming’s, we reached Keswick to dinner. We found Southey, who had accepted our invitation. He is full of genius and poetical enthusiasm. His _History of Portugal_ is suspended in order that he may publish, by way of prefatory discourse, a _Life of the Cid_, which he is translating from an old Chronicle, and unfortunately into the style and language of the Bible. He has already made that experiment in his translation of _Amadis de Gaul_, and of his _History of Portugal_; to suit the curiosity of the day, he is going to publish the colonial part first.[304] This may be profitable, and the spirit of it obtained him from Whishaw the name of ‘Voulgar Tradesman.’ In the evening we visited his family; I was curious to see his interior. His house is excellent and beautifully situated. He seems much beloved by a numerous domestic circle of connections and friends; he is surrounded by heaps of old and valuable Spanish books.

On Friday we set off to profit by the hospitality of Ld. Thanet, who offered us the comfort and repose of Appleby. We passed by Ullswater, but only saw the upper part of the Lake, which, from all accounts, is very inferior in beauty to the view a few miles lower. From Pooley Bridge we drove through a very fine country to Appleby. On our road we got out to see Brougham Hall, a very beautiful place belonging to Mr. Brougham’s father. The view from the terrace is quite magnificent; the family have not inhabited the house for many years, and it is falling fast into decay.

[Sidenote: APPLEBY CASTLE]

Appleby is placed in a commanding situation above the town; a pretty torrent rushes beneath the walls. The old Keep or Citadel was, till within these few years, used as the prison. Ld. Thanet is Hereditary Sheriff of the County. The present mansion is built out of the old Castle, or rather made within its walls. This was done by the celebrated Ann Clifford, the heiress and representative of the Earls of Cumberland; her daughter married a Tufton, and thus brought these immense northern estates into the present family. She wrote the famous letter, in reply to the solicitation of a Minister of Charles II. or James, to allow a Court member to stand for Appleby, ‘I have been threatened by a usurper, neglected by a Court, but will not be bullied by a subject; your man shall _not_ stand.’

Mr. Wyburgh, a lawyer of eminence, was in the Castle; he was employed on an election arbitration between Ld. Lowther and Thanet, upon the number of votes in Appleby.

Visiting Naworth Castle, where ‘Lord Carlisle occasionally comes for a fortnight in the shooting season,’ the party entered Scotland, and passing Longtown, Moffat, and Lanark, reached Hamilton. ‘The Palace is reckoned gloomy. The present Duke has augmented the collection of pictures, but the Rubens and Vandyke still maintain their posts as the first....’

_8th._--Got to Dumbarton. Slept at Aroquhar; a good inn, well situated upon a salt loch; it was very beautiful, but we could not admire it after having spent the day by the side of Loch Lomond, so in a storm of hail, rain, wind, and sleet, and snow falling upon the mountains, we reached Inverary. The Duke[305] is in perfect health; the inmates there, the Bedfords, Ld. John[306] and Mr. Hunt, the T. Sheridans, E. Bligh, Lewis, Chester, Cornewall, H. Scott. At difft. times, Ld. Ely, Downshire, Messrs. Reid, Ld. John Campbell, Mr. Campbell, Col. Callander, McDonald, and Clanronald, and others whom I have forgotten. The house has undergone great alterations; the upper floor is entirely new furnished. To enliven the scene the high road is brought close to the windows. Upon the whole it is a most princely domain, and the Duke is a noble Chieftain. The only objection to the mode of life is the extraordinary lateness of the hours, and the consequent inability of doing anything; some wags have called it the Castle of Indolence. As late as half past seven in the morning, I have heard the billiards at work by T. Sheridan and Mr. Chester.[307]

After a tour along Loch Tay to Blair Atholl, they turned south to Perth, visited Brechin Castle and Dundee, and reached Edinburgh on October 6.

During our stay there we saw much of Messrs. Playfair, Jeffrey, Brougham, Murray, Dr. Cameron the Catholic Bishop (late Principal of the Scotch College at Valladolid), a very able man, Thompsons, &c., &c. Lauderdale came over to see us; the Bedfords for a short time.

Slept three nights at Dunbar House, and went from thence to Howick, staying several days. Through York to Castle Howard; stayed three nights. Marsh remained there; and by the way of Newark to Nottingham, where Ld. H. received the Freedom of ye City, and we went by Leicester to meet, at Hinckley, Henry E.,[308] whom Miss Fox brought us from St. Anne’s. We there consulted with Chesher, a famous mechanician for instruments; he measured the limb, and gave us hopes that he could contrive an instrument to assist his walking. From Hinckley we went through Litchfield to Trentham Hall, where we stayed a few days; returned through Hinckley to Woburn Abbey. We there spent upwards of a week most agreeably. Returned home, Nov. 24th, 1807.

[Sidenote: HENRY EDWARD FOX]

_Dec. 12th._--Mr. Allen accompanied Henry E. to Hinckley, where he was to reside with Ld. Robt. Fitzgerald, and under his protection.

On 31st Dec. went without Mr. Allen, who was employed busily at home, for a few days to Brocket. We there heard of the measles having appeared in Ld. Robt.’s family, and set off to Hinckley to remove Henry E., if possible, in time. We slept at Woburn one night on our way in going, two at Ampthill, and one more at Woburn on our return. Henry E. did not escape the measles, but is now recovering.

_January 1808, H. House._--Sr. Arthur Paget returned last month from his unsuccessful Embassy. For seven months he only slept one night on land. He never approached nearer the Porte than the small Island of Imbros. B. Frere returned with him. He sent Mr. Morier to Egypt.

The choice of G. Ponsonby for a Leader to the Opposition has been more approved, or, rather, to speak more correctly, less objected to than might have been expected.[309] The public laugh at the having sent to Ireland for a leader; Fox’s friends are indifferent since his death. Petty is reasonable as usual, and Whitbread, goaded by a scribbling gazetteer of the name of Belsham,[310] submits with a thousand reservations each more hostile than the other. Tom Grenville absolutely declined, on the score of health alone; he is in fact far from a robust subject, and quite unfit to undergo the fatigues of a long debate. Sheridan’s talents would entitle him to the first rank, but his profligacy of character, both as to veracity and honesty, besides his habitual debauchery, place him entirely _hors de combat_.

Ld. Granville Leveson is just returned from Petersburg; another fruitless Mission! He describes the Emperor as being totally subjugated by Bonaparte, and even trembling before his representative, General Savary, who assumes the air of a master in Russia.[311] From the little I have heard, he seems to me to be entirely belonging to the present Governt.

On Monday, the 17th, we took Charles to Eton. He is now launched into the sea of human affairs; the _world_ of a public school he will find very different from that of the world seen from under the paternal roof.

[Sidenote: WAR BY COMPULSION]

On ye 16th, the chief persons of ye Opposition dined at Ld. Grenville’s; Whitbread was not originally invited, but was so, at the particular request of Ld. Grey. Stahremberg[312] sent the whole of the correspondence between him and the Governt. which ended in the present rupture between them and his Court. Mr. Canning seems to have rejected the mediation of Austria in very unbecoming terms, and in his usual flippant manner; the whole will be made public. S.’s instructions are peremptory as to his quitting England before the meeting of Parlt. Bonaparte offered passports for _two_ plenipos., hoped they would select men of ‘_formes simples_’ and of a ‘_caractère impassible_’; a glance against either Lds. Lauderdale or Malmesbury. S., in his private letters to Metternich, complained of Mr. Canning’s impetuosity, and misapprehension of several expressions. Whitbread, with malignity and in the most unprovoked manner, attacked Ld. Grey at dinner; all were disgusted at his rancorous spirit. It was unfortunate that such a wrangle should occur before Ld. Grenville upon the subject of peace, as he had only just been persuaded against seceding himself from the H. of Lords upon the precise subject of the question of peace, and the want of discipline and unanimity amongst the difft. parts of the Opposition.

_18th._--Ld. H. dined at Ld. Stafford’s. We went to the Birthday.

_19th._--The same party dined here as did at Ld. Grenville’s, with the addition of a few, and Ld. Erskine, _nommément_ to prevent a recurrence of the unpleasant conversation between Whitbread and Grey.

I hear nothing but of Coleridge, which makes me regret not being acquainted with him. After having accepted, by way of recompense for three scurrilous letters against Mr. Fox which appeared in the _Morning Post_ upon his residence at Paris, a Commissaryship at Malta, he is returned to England, where he is supposed to employ himself in writing articles in the _Courier_.[313] His nature is radically bad; he hates and envies all that are good and celebrated, and to gratify that spleen he has given in to Methodism, not from conviction, but solely to enable him to give vent to his malignity in a garb which is a _passe partout_. He is fond of maintaining paradoxes; at a dinner lately he began by attacking Sir Isaac Newton’s philosophy, Bonaparte’s military talents, and Virgil as a poet. He is often obscure, a mystical species of platonic philosophy, which he dresses up according to his own metaphysical taste, and calls the _mind_. A new theory he descants upon at length, and in his exposition of it absorbs the whole conversation. I have heard of him from various persons; Campbell, the poet, furnished me with the latter particulars.

[Sidenote: OPENING OF PARLIAMENT]

The debate on the Address went off very triumphantly for the Opposition in the Lords, and, as far as the negative success of the failure of Ministers in making an impression, did so in the Commons. Ld. Grenville made a masterly speech in which he pressed strongly the atrocity of the Copenhagen business, the impolicy of their conduct with regard to the U. States, rather depreciated the prospect of the advantages of the emigration of the Portuguese to _Brésil_, and touched lightly upon peace. The novelty of the night was Ld. Kenyon,[314] who did not acquit himself _formidably_. Some considered Mr. G. Ponsonby’s speech as a complete failure, but more temperate judges say it was not so, and the accident of not moving the Amendment arose from a misapprehension of more protests than his alone. Mr. Canning appears to have assumed the lead, and by an endeavour to appear dignified he was heavy and obscure, instead of being, as formerly, pretty flippant. Perceval excelled him much, but the fair ones allow there was not a good speech made in the whole debate. Mr. C. professed that Governt. had laid down a rule, which was to act directly contrary to what they found had been the conduct of their predecessors, and hitherto they had not erred.

On Monday, the 1st of Feb., we moved to Pall Mall. I had been confined many days with a smart inflammation in my eyes.

On Wednesday, 3rd Feb., a long debate in the Commons on Mr. Ponsonby’s motion for further papers on the Danish Expedition.[315] Altho’ he had spoken before, yet this was considered as a debut; his friends were rather anxious, as his forte lies more in reply than in the opening of a business. However, he acquitted himself well, and people seem to be generally satisfied with him. He was answered by Mr. Canning in a speech remarkable chiefly from its length, and the abundance of gross untruths; he read extracts out of those very despatches he refused to give to the House, and in one instance (a dispatch of Ld. Howick’s to Mr. Garlike) read a sentence which, if he had read the context, would have given a different colour to the whole matter. He was very flippant and offensive, and showed neither more nor less ability than usual. Mr. Mills[316] [_sic_], his _élève_, was quite extinguished; it was the first occasion on which he had attempted to speak without previously writing his speech, so he is completely given up by all and laughed at by his own party. Ld. Palmerston’s maiden speech was not attended either with the bad or good qualities of a young beginner; he had practised in debating societies, and formed an unimpressive, bad manner. Some of Opposition who are for the expedition yet voted upon this question, but would not if it had been a vote against the Ministry for that measure. Upon the whole the effect of the debate was rather against Opposition.

Sick of, and indifferent to the measures of a hopeless Opposition, I have omitted noticing any occurrence.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: SOLANO’S DEATH]

_July 1808._--Mr. Campbell, whom we knew at Madrid, returned from Spain with the Deputies from Seville.[317] He remained at Cadiz during the disturbances, surrender of the French fleet, and murder of Solano.[318] The conduct of Solano he ascribed to the greatest infatuation, proceeding from a blind confidence in O’Farrill.[319] The leading people at and about Cadiz, as soon as Murat’s massacre[320] on the 2nd of May was known, urged Solano to hoist the Spanish flag alone, and summon the French fleet to surrender to the Spaniards. He temporised; he was at length threatened that unless he did something decisive against the French by the ensuing day, his life should answer for his conduct. The people showed great symptoms of discontent, called him _embustero_, &c. Amongst the mob many persons supposed of eminence were in disguise. During this period of hesitation on his part, young Perico Giron (whom we knew intimately at Madrid) escaped, upon hearing the events at Madrid, from his regiment at Badajoz, and arrived at Cadiz and challenged Solano. But no duel took place, for the fatal day came when the people assembled tumultuously around his house, called for him to appear and justify his inaction, none of the measures required by the inhabitants having been adopted. He appeared upon his balcony. The sight of him seemed to incense the mob; they attempted to force the entrance of the house, the gateways were barricaded. Upon seeing their fury, he got through the roof of his own house, and gained admittance into that of Mr. Strange (an Irish wine merchant), where he was concealed in a hiding-place so effectually that the mob, after searching, as they imagined, every place, were going off, when unfortunately a man, who had been employed only 14 days before to paint over a panel in order to cover a hiding-place, betrayed the concealment and discovered Solano. He made no resistance; the people hurried him to the place of execution. In going thither, some person said he ought to have a priest, upon which Solano said that it was unnecessary, as he had nothing to confess; this he frequently repeated, till at length the mob lost all restraint, and upwards of fifty bayonets were plunged into his body, and his corpse was hacked and mutilated shockingly in a moment.

As soon as this disgraceful act of cruelty was over, the necessity of having some Governt. was felt, and it was agreed almost by acclamation that Morla, Don Thomas Morla, who had formerly been the Captain-General of Andalusia, and had distinguished himself by the prompt and decisive measures which he had taken to prevent the progress of the yellow fever, was the best fitted to fill the station now vacant. Morla, it was supposed, had not entirely made up his mind as to the side he should take, and that, like Solano, he waited for Dupont’s[321] army. However, he had no choice, and accepted with reluctance the honour. He harangued the people with great ability and fortitude, assured them that if he undertook the charge he would fulfil it rigidly; that they knew him to be inflexible, nor should he depart from what he thought his duty, notwithstanding the dreadful spectacle he had just beheld. He gave an immediate proof of his cleverness and dexterity; during the tumult, about eight hundred of the _Presidarios_, galley-slaves, broke into the Arsenal, armed themselves and others. Morla was aware of the danger, and also of the impolicy of allowing such men to bear arms, and resolved upon disarming them instantly. He ordered processions to be made through the streets of the Capucins and other Franciscan friars, who were to chant hymns and prayers requesting the citizens to lay down their arms. By night almost all the inhabitants had deposited their arms at the feet of the friars.

[Sidenote: DUKE OF INFANTADO]

I was pleased to find such a favourable opinion prevailed with regard to the Duke of Infantado.[322] He had been exiled from his own estates, and lived at San Lucar, where he had acquired the esteem and confidence of all who saw him. Thus his conduct at Bayonne is conceived to arise entirely from compulsion. He was dismissed the Court in consequence of that affair at the Escorial in which he was involved, as there was a paper found in his possession signed by the Prince of the Asturias, nominating him as President of Castille, in which capacity he would have had the governt. of the country. The Prince contended that this instrument could have had no power but after his mother’s death, in proof of which he alleged that the seal was affixed upon black wax, and it was only to obviate the danger that might have arisen in the country should his mother and the Prince of the Peace have been able to shut him up and attempt an exclusion or Regency.

We went in July to Woburn; Mr. Brougham was with us. Our party consisted of Lauderdale, D. of Argyle, W. Elliot, Adam, etc. Extremely pleasant place, both grand and comfortable, and the park very pretty in some parts. Went over to see Luton, belonging to Ld. Bute. The house was built by his father, the Minister, and does no credit to his choice of an architect, the Adams. The collection of pictures is very numerous, the Flemish and Dutch schools are the finest, altho’ amongst the great number of Italian pictures some are good. The most remarkable portraits are those grouped with some malicious skill by Sr. Joshua. They are those of Ld. Bute and his Secretary, Jenkinson, now Ld. Liverpool.[323] The Prime Minister is represented with all the pomp and dignity of office, a splendid dress and commanding air; he is taking, rather than receiving, from his Secretary a bundle of papers, which the Secretary, with a most submissive air, is holding in his hands. The story tells itself,--the Duke of Lerma and Gil Blas; the abject, fawning, sly Secretary, and the haughty great man. People say Sr. Joshua Reynolds marked the characters so strongly in order to stamp the origin of a man, whose sneaking qualities he foresaw would raise him to distinction. Ld. Liverpool, I have been assured, offered frequently a very large sum to withdraw from the eye of the public this memorial. The Library is very extensive, and the three rooms which join it are handsome, altho’ it might have been infinitely better.

[Sidenote: WILLIAM BELSHAM]

We went to Hinckley to see Henry E., who had been there about a month with his aunt; his limb is not worse. From thence for one night to Farming Woods, belonging to Ld. Ossory; charming spot, fine trees, abundance of deer, and wild woodland scenery. Slept at Bromham, Mr. Trevor’s, a pretty water place on the banks of the Ouse. From thence for three nights to Mr. Whitbread’s at Southill. Ly. Madelina Palmer[324] was there. With the exception of the Trevors for one day, the rest of the company was _remplissage_ of the very worst sort, fulsome flatterers, and disgusting dependents. Mr. Belsham, the gazetteer or pamphleteer, who calls his heavy compilation a History of England, was one of them; his manners and appearance are positively offensive to all the senses. He extols Whitbread to the skies, and makes him believe no man can serve the country with equal talents and honesty, and that nothing but Ld. Grey’s envy at his superiority could have kept him out of the highest offices in the late Administration. He has composed a virulent libel against the late Governt., which he circulates about the country, and boasts of his forbearance, that out of consideration to Mr. Whitbread’s _affection_ for Ld. Grey that he does not publish it. It is particularly offensive to Grey, and the subject most urged is the failure of the negotiation. Mr. W. has an unfortunate relish for the society he indulges in at Southill.

Returned on Thursday, 11th August. On ye 19th August news arrived officially from Ld. Collingwood of Dupont’s surrender to Castaños in Andalusia.[325]

_16th August._ The Spanish Deputies dined here. They are five in all, viz., Visconde de Matarosa[326] and Don Andres de la Vega (these were the first, who came from the Junta of Oviedo). The Visconde is a very young man, not above 19; la Vega is a sensible, well-informed man, esteemed by his countryman Jovellanos. Sangro is the Deputy from Galicia; he had been named to go to Bayonne, but escaped and was sent with another, Freyne,[327] who has since returned to Coruña with arms, &c., &c. The Sevillian Deputies are Jacome and Apodaca. Jacome is a member of the Junta at Seville. The latter is the admiral who commanded these last two years at Cadiz, and to whom the French fleet surrendered. He is very lively and pleasing in his manners, and of the whole mission he is the one who has the most _usage du monde_.