Poor Doctor Ingenhousz is gone for ever; he died last week at Bowood. Ld. L., with his warm benevolence to those to whom he is attached, afforded him every friendly comfort to the last. He did not shun the sight of a dying man, altho’ at his time of life the spectacle is but painful to contemplate, as it brings to mind a crisis that to him cannot be very distant. Ingenhousz was a Dutchman by birth; he was first distinguished as an inoculator to the Imperial Court.

We stayed exactly a week at Sherborne; I passed my time agreeably and left it with regret. I did nothing the whole morning but float upon the water in a state of luxurious indolence. Ld. Digby told me he had heard that Ld. Ossory had asked the Chancellor for a Commissioner of Bankruptcy for Bobus.[18] I can believe it now, tho’ two years ago I was credulous enough to receive as sincere the fustian declamations upon independence, and that a lofty, aspiring mind would owe nothing to the influence of others; that it would extort reward by its sole merit, and that the only check upon his felicity in uniting himself to his antiquated wife was that her connections were great and powerful, which, to little minds, might be supposed operated as an inducement to the union.

Not, however, to speak fairly, do I think these motives actuated him: I truly believe he imagined he felt the belle passion. Be that as it may, I now think he is disposed to avail himself very readily of any advantage those connections can procure him, for his whole deportment recently demonstrates what is always said, ‘That no one despises situation and family, but those who have no claim nor chance of either.’ He reminds me of the old story of the opera contractor, Gallini, who captivated a lady of noble family, Lady Betty Germaine, and was astonished at hearing that his marriage with her did not ennoble him, and that he did not legally become what he styled himself, Ld. Betty Gallini. The alteration has not escaped the keenness of Dumont, who observes that after a visit to Warwick Castle he is more than usually inflated with dignity and a soaring spirit; he says the Lord-erie of the coronets, escutcheons, towers, gateways, etc., at that place inspire him by anticipation with all the haughtiness he will feel when he fulfils the dignities he expects to acquire.

Fifty thousand years, if so many were allowed, would not efface from my mind the advice a man gave me about my poor little girl; he said, ‘Suppress her entirely; do not let her suffer in a pecuniary way. She is not injured, as she is ignorant of what she loses. Success for her is doubtful, and the misconstruction and chattering of the world against her is certain.’ These worldly maxims revolted my feelings, but convinced me he who could give them was made to thrive, and would not kick at that stumbling-block in the road to ambition which throws many off their course, called genuine honesty, as there is a material difference in the essential properties of that quality. The one he will make use of will help him on. Depraved as men are in a corrupt state of things, they yet like the names of virtues as much as they abhor the practice. La Rochefoucauld says, ‘L’hypocrisie est un hommage que le vice rend à la vertu.’ I heard of Dr. Parr’s saying a thing to Mackintosh that was more coarse than witty, but yet it was pointed and quick. Mackintosh, in canvassing O’Coigly’s character, alluding to some transactions, said, ‘That was shabby; besides, his confession proved that he died with a lie in his mouth.’ ‘No, no, Jemmy, he was not shabby, because he was an Irishman and not a Scotchman; he did not die with a lie in his mouth, because he was a Catholic and not a philosopher.’

Leaving Sherborne they went to Saltram by way of Honiton, Exeter, Ashburton and Ivybridge.

SALTRAM

This house (Saltram, Ld. Boringdon’s) is quite the best I ever resided in. The apartments are numerous and excellent; they contain many pictures, and some very fine. It is an immense pile of building. The beauty of the view depends upon the tide, which when full is very pleasing, Mount Edgcombe, Plymouth, etc. Switzerland, Italy, the Tyrol, and Nice have rendered me difficult about picturesque and grand views, therefore I am less inclined to be enthusiastic than most people.

Living in a house built and liked by the great Raleigh[19] brought him more forcibly to my recollection. I turned over various histories to obtain all I could relating to him,—State Trials, Biographia Britannica, Gibbon’s Memoirs, Osborne’s detached remarks. I stayed at Saltram till the 22nd September. Ye time slipped away easily. Ld. Bor. was really happy at seeing us, and cordiality combined with goodheartedness and temper are such excellent ingredients in a character, that if there are any deficiencies they are overlooked. I had the misfortune—and a most severe, heartfelt one it was—to lose my faithful companion, my attached Pierrot.[20] He died! I loved him for his own merits, and was grateful for his devotion to me; indeed, I am convinced that he could not have survived my loss. Ld. H. made impromptu the following lines for his epitaph:—

Pierrot, of race, of form, of manners rare,

Envied alike in life and death lies here.