In a letter dated 1760, presumably in February, Lord Bath writes to Mrs. Montagu—
“Madam,
“There is more easy natural witt in any two of your most careless lines than there is in all Colman’s Play,[311] and as for his dedication you may be sure the Rogue meant to abuse me for pretending to chide him for his neglect of Lord Cooke;[312] however, I have this day, to amend his manners, constituted him a Judge in Shropshire, on condition that he never makes another Rhime, unless it be an Epithalamium twenty years hence, when the Millenium begins.
“I return you many thanks for the kind present you sent me, and will keep them till you do me the honour to dine with me, which I hope will be Wednesday or Thursday, as you chuse, but on Tuesday evening I cannot be sure of being free, since Sir Phil Boteler, Miss Desbouveries, and some other company are to dine with me, and stay the evening at cards.”
George Colman was nephew, by marriage, to Lord Bath, his mother being a Miss Gumley, sister of Lady Bath.
[311] George Colman the elder, born 1732, died 1794; dramatist, etc. His first acknowledged comedy, “The Jealous Wife,” first acted at Drury Lane on the 12th of February, 1761, and dedicated to the Earl of Bath as a “lover of the belles lettres.”
[312] Means Lord Coke, in his work upon Lyttelton. In 1757, Colman had been entered by Lord Bath at Lincoln’s Inn and called to the bar.
CHAPTER V.
1761 — DEATH OF ADMIRAL BOSCAWEN—CORRESPONDENCE WITH LORD BATH — CORONATION OF GEORGE III. — IN LONDON, AT SANDLEFORD, AND AT TUNBRIDGE WELLS.
1761