Mrs. H⸺.
She was the sister of John Wilkes, of famous memory, had a large portion of his intellectual endowments, and was very little his inferior in vivacity, humour, and wit. She was married first to an opulent merchant, who was succeeded in his business by his head clerk, Mr. Hayley, whose fortunes were made by his obtaining the hand of the widow. He was afterwards Alderman Hayley, and was a near relation of Hayley, the poet. He was a plain, sensible, good sort of man, wholly absorbed in commercial pursuits, and soon found it expedient, for the sake of a quiet life, to suffer his cara sposa to do as she liked. She was exceedingly well informed, had read a great deal, possessed a fine taste, and, with respect to literary merit, considerable judgment. She accordingly sought, with much avidity, the society of those who were distinguished in the world by their talents and their writings. When the expression of those is used, it must be understood to apply to men only, for on all occasions she was at no pains to conceal her contemptuous opinion of her own sex; and it was no uncommon thing to see her at table, surrounded with ten or twelve eminent men, without a single female.
She had great conversation talents, and unfortunately, like her brother, she seldom permitted any ideas of religion, or even of delicacy, to impose a restraint upon her observations.
Her disregard of propriety was also and conspicuously manifested on other occasions. She invariably attended all the more remarkable trials at the Old Bailey, where she regularly had a certain place reserved for her. When the discussion or trial was of such a nature, that decorum, and indeed the Judges themselves, desired women to withdraw, she never stirred from her place, but persisted in remaining to hear the whole, with the most unmoved and unblushing earnestness of attention.
She every summer made an excursion to such parts of the kingdom as she had not before visited, and was always accompanied by a single male friend, who for a great number of years was an American gentleman, connected with the house of Hayley by the ties of mercantile interests. Upon one occasion, she visited the Highlands with this gentleman, and though accustomed to a very luxurious style of living, she submitted to the greatest privations and hardships in the indulgence of her curiosity. This indeed was unbounded; it extended to the manufactories, manners, high and low, and worse than low, in whatever place she visited. Her professed object was to see every body, and every thing, which deserved or excited attention.
The season in which she visited the Highlands proved moreover to be very wet and tempestuous, and the character of her mind cannot perhaps be more accurately delineated, than by an extract of a letter which she wrote to her brother, John Wilkes, from Scotland. It began—
“Dear Brother,
“The rain has been and still is so incessant, that I have serious intentions of constructing another ark, into which, however, I shall be exceedingly scrupulous whom I admit. As I know your particular taste, I shall have a cabin for your use, fitted up and adorned with scripture and other prints. But I will on no consideration whatever suffer any unclean animals to enter; for example, nothing shall prevail upon me to admit either Scotch men or Scotch women,” &c. &c.
The whole of the epistle was of the same strain and character, full of wit, humour, and ingenious (however unjust) raillery.
She had a house after her husband’s death, and perhaps before, at Bromley; the measured distance of which from her town residence in Great Alifte-street, Goodman’s-fields, was precisely ten miles. She had four beautiful black horses, and on entering her carriage, she never failed to take her watch in her hand, and her coachman was sure to have a sorry bout of it, if he exceeded the space of an hour either going or coming. She had also a strong predilection for the drama, had a box at each of the theatres, and generally went from one house to another. She was most particularly fond of Shakspeare, and never failed to be present when any of his plays were represented. She allowed her coachman but half an hour to drive from Goodman’s-fields to either theatre. Her remarks on the performances and performers were ingenious, lively, pertinent, and just, and very much contributed to the information and amusement of her company.
She was particularly nice in her carriage, which was always built in the highest and most expensive style of fashion, and kept with particular neatness. She had one day a rich citizen with her in one of these excursions to or from Bromley, who, from want of observation or attention, did not perceive that the glass near which he sate was drawn up, and he was so thoughtless as to spit upon it. She indulged in much laughter, and remarked, that her coachman could not possibly have had a greater compliment paid to his care of the glasses.
She had a daughter, who did not appear to be exempted, by her relationship, from the general, indeed the universal dislike, or rather contempt, which she avowed for all her sex.
They were on the very worst terms possible; and so reluctant was she, on her daughter’s marriage, to perform the stipulations required by old H.’s will, that the most harsh and rigorous proceedings were found unavoidably necessary, and she was arrested on a Saturday night on coming from the play, when she had thousands at her command, and detained, with her male friend, who always accompanied her, in a spunging-house, till the Monday morning.
In the end she served this same gentleman a most slippery trick. He was a native of Nantucket, and as Mr. H.’s commercial connections were principally in America, he was one of their most intimate and valuable correspondents. On coming to England, he took up his residence in H.’s house, and on his death, undertook the conduct of the great and extensive concern for the widow. He was her most intimate counsellor, confidant, and friend, embarked his fortunes with her’s, attended her every where, and on every occasion, and was in all respects the master of her house, and director of her family. At the conclusion of the American war, it was found expedient that some confidential person should go over to America, to see after the property still remaining in that country, and which was not much less in value than a hundred thousand pounds. Mr. R⸺ offered himself for the purpose. The lady’s attachment to him was so strong, that she determined not to part with him, and resolved to accompany him. Before they embarked, it was determined, on consultation, that they should be married, and the Archbishop’s license was accordingly obtained. From some cause or other, the solemnization was deferred, and they mutually covenanted that it should take place on their arrival in America. They accordingly set sail lovingly together. When they got to America, they were much noticed, and feasted, and were hospitably received, even by General Washington himself, and the most considerable persons of the country. Still the marriage was not solemnized. Almost the first letters which came out from England, brought the unwelcome information that the presence of Mrs. H. or her agent and representative, was indispensably necessary, to secure the property which was left behind, no less considerable than that after which they went in search. The gentleman of whom we are speaking, voluntarily undertook this mission also; and leaving his friend and mistress, with the promise, and indeed determination, to return immediately, and perform his contract, he appointed a young mercantile man to transact his business in his absence, and departed for England.
But mark the waywardness and inconstancy of some females: he had hardly set foot on British land, when a packet arrived from a correspondent in America, with the information, that the lady had found solitude in that distant part of the globe so irksome, and indeed so intolerable, that in one short week after his departure, she had united herself in indissoluble bonds with the young man whom he had left as his mercantile representative. There were no writings, settlements, or contracts, but one simple deed, stating that the longest liver should take all the property.
Before the narrative of Mrs. H. is resumed, the sequel of the fortunes of this disappointed gentleman, as far as they are known, shall be added. His grief was probably neither very acute, nor very permanent; indeed he was already beginning to feel his situation to be a sort of unmanly thaldrom: and there can be very little doubt, that if he had been either pressing or importunate, he might mutatis mutandis have been the happy bridegroom in America, rather than the forsaken lover in England. But he was a man with a great spirit of enterprize, had seen much of the world, and was anxious to see more. He had also some very lofty schemes of mercantile aggrandisement, particularly with respect to the South Sea Whale Fishery. He was an exceedingly ingenious mechanic, and had invented a machine for the more certain destruction of whales, which had the approbation of some of our most accomplished mechanics. With this view, not meeting in this country, or from our government, the encouragement he wanted, and the assistance which he asked, he removed to France.
The French Revolution had commenced, and he received from the Ruling Powers the most munificent promises, and so much immediate and effectual assistance, that by their aid and countenance he formed one establishment, upon a very large scale, at Dunkirk, and another at l’Orient. Here, for some years, he prosecuted his plans with such success, that he had the fairest prospect of acquiring the greatest opulence. Unfortunately, one of his partners at l’Orient, laboured under the suspicion of being an aristocrat, in the atrocious times of Robespierre. Suspicion was but another term with this sanguinary crew, for guilt, and the guillotine was (to use their abominable jargon) in constant requisition. This most worthy and excellent man, with little, perhaps with no form of trial, was put to death, and his friend and patron, the American, escaped with life only. All the property was seized, plundered, or confiscated, and the whole establishment fell to the ground. Whether he yet survives, or if he does, in what situation he remains, was unknown when this was written. M. R. had great talents, many amiable qualities, and, in those respects, deserved a far better fate.
Now to return to Mrs. Hayley. The hours of rapture, even with younger subjects, (votaries at the Hymeneal shrine) do not always extend beyond the honeymoon. When a female, approaching to seventy, leads to the altar a bridegroom who has not seen thirty, these hours of Elysium seldom continue quite so long. In a very short interval, a separation was mutually thought expedient. The lady, as before observed, had confided everything to the generosity of her husband, and, with such an allowance as he thought proper to make her, she took a very early opportunity of re-crossing the Atlantic; and after a short residence in London, fixed herself at Bath, where she passed
“An old age of cards.”
Thy care is fixed, and zealously attends
To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light,
And hope that reaps not shame.