MR. AND MRS. VESEY
Mention is made of Mr. Vesey visiting Hagley, his wife too indisposed to accompany him. “Alas! in all that prospect I have not one glimpse of you. When will you come and dance on my lawns or sport on my hills with the Muses, or meditate in my woods with the pensive Goddess of Wisdom.”
Mrs. Montagu started on her return to London on November 10. From Weatherby she answers the above letter on November 11, having journeyed “48 miles through the roughest roads in the gloomiest day in the dreariest month of the year.” Mention is made of the King’s funeral. “I approve much of your Lordship’s prudence in not going to the King’s funeral,[298] it is a ceremony for those who wish to catch a cold rather than for one who wants to get rid of one.”
[298] The funeral of King George took place the same day, November 11, 1760.
FLOODS
From Ferrybridge, on the 15th, Mrs. Montagu writes to her husband that the rain had been so heavy that the waters of Newark were said to be impassable.
Arrived at Grantham on Sunday the 17th, she writes—
“My Dearest,
“I got here very safe to-night, but the journey from Ferrybridge has been very unpleasant, from the great depth of the waters. Our coach is fortunately hung very high, all the people who passed Newark to-day got a great deal of water into their carriage, but I had very little. The waters were impassable till this morning, and it is now raining hard, so I had good fortune to get thro’ in the short interval; some of the water near Barnby Moor was as deep as at Newark, and tho’ this is only a long day’s journey, I have got out every day as soon as it was light; the horses perform admirably. I shall get to Stilton to-morrow, and, I hope, get you some cheese.”
Writing the same evening to Lord Lyttelton, she says—