(1790,) Dec. 8, Wednesday, Richmond.—You have bean at C(astle) H(oward) ever since Monday sevennight, and not one single word have you received from your humble slave and beadsman. . . . Here is now come a snip-snap letter of reproach from Lady Ossory for not having answered her letter of compliments upon Lady Caroline's delivery. I received yours on Sunday. That was no post day, so I resolved to answer it in Berkley Square on Monday. But I did not set out till three o'clock, lost all the fine part of the morning, and did not get to town till five in the afternoon—dragged for two hours, two whole hours, through mud, and cold, and mist, till I was perishing; so that when I had eat some dinner I was fit for nothing but to go to bed, and therefore did not go to Berkley Square till yesterday at noon. . . . I saw Caroline and her bambino. . . . The christening is to be, as I understand, to-morrow. I hope in God that I shall be well enough to assist, and name the child, and eat cake, and go through all the functions of a good gossip. If I am obliged to give up that which seems to have been my vocation, c'est fait de moi; I must declare myself good for nothing. I carried yesterday the regalia. The cup has been new boiled, and looks quite royal.
Sir L. Pepys was with me in the morning, and thought my pulse very quiet, which could only have been from the fatigue of the day before—juste Dieu! fatigue, of going 8 or 9 miles, my legs on the foreseat, and reposing my head on Jones's shoulder. The Duke would make her go, and everybody. He thinks that I am now the most helpless creature in the world, when, from infirmity, I want ten times more aid than I ever did. Sir Lucas pronounced no immediate end of myself, but that I should continue to bark, with hemlock. I'll do anything for some time longer, but my patience will, I see, after a certain time, be exhausted. As to poor Pierre, it is over with him. Sir Lucas says the disorder is past all remedy. This is a most distressful story to me, and how to supply his place I do not know.
With this letter a correspondence, unique and delightful, extending over many years, ends. At its close we may well recall Lord Carlisle's words written fourteen years before, "I shall always be grateful to fortune," he said, ". . . for having linked me in so close a friendship with yourself, in spite of disparity of years and pursuits." Selwyn returned to London shortly before Christmas, and died on the 25th of January, 1791. On this very day Walpole, with a touching simplicity and truth, wrote to Miss Berry, "I am on the point of losing, or have lost, my oldest acquaintance and friend, George Selwyn, who was yesterday at the extremity. These misfortunes, tho' they can be so but for a short time, are very sensible to the old; but him I really loved not only for his infinite wit, but for a thousand good qualities."
INDEX
A
Abergavenny, Lord
Abingdon, Lord
Adams, John
Ailesbury, Lady
Albemarle, Lady
Almack's Assembly Rooms, King Street, St. James'; masquerade
at; masquerade stopped by bishops; extinct.
Almack's Club, Pall Mall; events at; thriving; Selwyn and Fox at
supper at; Selwyn's "bureau;" Selwyn avoids; house occupied
by.
Alston, Tommy
Althorp, Lord
Amelia, Princess
America—Lord Carlisle, peace commissioner to; Gower, Lord, on
independence of; Fitzpatrick in; colonies, bad news from;
question of; Storer, with Carlisle in; news from; colonies in; His
Majesty's subjects in; Prohibitory Bill; Selwyn on the war in;
letter-writing between England and; Selwyn regarding politics in;
want of interest in society concerning; Fox's motion to conclude
peace with; public interest in; motion as to; President of
Congress.
Amhurst, Lord
Andre, Major
Androche, Marshal
Argyle, fifth Duke of
Arnold, Benedict
Ascough, Mr.
Ashburnham, second Earl of
Ashburton, Lord, see Dunning
Ashton, Thomas
Ashton, Mr.
Assembly of Notables, National
Astley, Mr.
Aston, Sir W.
Auckland, First Lord, see Eden
Aylesford (Ailsford) Lord; Lord of the Bedchamber
B
Baker, Dr.
Balbi, Comtesse de
Balliol College
Baltimore, Lord
Bampton Lectures (Dr. White's)
"Baptist," the, see Henry St. John
Barbot's Lottery
Barker, Mr.
Barrington, Lord
Barry, Mme. Du "Anecdotes of"
Barry, Richard, sixth Earl of Barrymore,
Barry, Richard, seventh Earl of Barrymore
Barry, Mr.
Barrymore, Lady
Barrymore, Lord, see Barry
Barth, Mrs.
Basilico
Bath
Beauchamp, Lord
Beauclerk, Topham; married to Lady Bolingbroke
Beaufort, Duke of
Beckford, Alderman
Beckford, William, son of Alderman Beckford, author and collector
Bedford, fourth Duke of
Bedford, fifth Duke of
Bedford, Duchess of
Bedford faction
Bedford House; parties at
Belgiojoso
Berkeley, Lord
Berry, Agnes
Berry, Mary
Bertie, Lord
Besbborough, Lord
"Betty, Lady," see Howard, Lady Elizabeth
Biron, Duchesse de
Biron, Admiral, see Byron
Biron, Mrs.
Biron, Duc de
Blake, Miss
Blake, Mr.
Blake, Mrs.
Blandford, Lord
Blaquiere, Sir John
Blenheim
Bloomsbury Gang
Bohn, Comte de
Boisgelin, Comte de
Bolingbroke, Lady
Bolingbroke, Lord "Bully,"
Boon, Charles
Boothby, Mrs.
Boothby, Sir Brooke
Boston, Lady
Boston, Frederick, second Baron
Bouverie, Mr.
Bouverie, Mrs.
Boufflers, Comtesse de; Queen of the emigres; at Richmond
Boufflers, Emilie, Comtesse de; at Richmond
Brereton, Col.
Bristol, Earl of
Brodrick (Broderick), Colonel Henry
Brooke, Earl of
Brooks, Mr.
Brooks's Club, politics and gambling at; fortunes lost at;
card-room at; macaronis at; Fox and Fitzpatrick at; gossip at;
Selwyn at; American question discussed at; supper at;
ill attended; political discussion at; in opposition to;
Fox closeted every instant at; a place of amusement,
speculation, and curiosity; Whigs at, in 1781; Fox gives
audiences at
Brudenell, Lord
Buccleugh, Duchess of
Buccleugh, third Duke of
Buckingham, Lady
Buckingham, Lord
Buckingham House Junto
Buckinghamshire, third Earl of
Buffon, Mme.
"Bully," see Bolingbroke
Bunbury, Lady Sarah; charm of; sought after by the king; social
successes in Paris; Carlisle's youthful passion fon; at Lord
March's
Bunbury, Sir Charles
Bunker's Hill, Battle of
Burgoyne, General
Burke, Edmund; bad judgment of in Parliament
Burrows, Mr.
Bute, Lady
Byron, Lord
Byron, Lord (the poet)
Byron (Biron), Admiral, The Hon. John