Mr. West, attacked by his enemy the gout, was now a prisoner at Wickham. On January 24, in a long letter, these paragraphs are of interest—
“The joyous Berenger passed five days with us last week, read to us a play in Shakespeare and the ‘Volpone’ of B. Johnson, and repeated innumerable scraps out of a hundred others, laughed a great deal, said many droll and some witty things, and then disappear’d, after promising to come frequently to strut upon the little stage of Wickham, which you may perceive has been lately graced with almost as great a variety of characters as are exhibited at Drury Lane, so that we have little occasion to run to the great city in search of company, much less for the sake of society, which indeed there is almost lost, in the various bustle of Resort, the busy hum of Men, the embarrassments of Hoops,—Interruptions of Messages and ostentatious dinners and Drums, Trumpets, Politics, etc., etc.,—but besides the pleasures of social converse, we have had amusements of a stiller kind furnished by the obliging civility of some of my brother Authors; among which are two new papers, ‘The Adventurer’ and ‘The World,’[39] by Adam Fitz-Adam. The writer of the former sent me the first 14 numbers with a very handsome letter. To the other I had indeed a kind of right since I am inform’d that the judicious Tasters of the Town have declared it to be written by Sir G(eorge) L(yttelton), by Mr. Pitt, or your humble servant; with how much sagacity this opinion is form’d I shall leave you to judge, for I doubt not but this character will recommend them to your perusal, as it precludes me saying anything in their favour: of the former I may be so free as to declare I like them very well, but I will be still bolder in recommending to you Dr. Leland’s ‘Observations of Lord Bolingbroke’s letter,’ which was sent me by the author yesterday, and which I have read through with great pleasure and edification. I must transcribe a part of my boy’s[40] letter about the death of the Bishop of Cloyne: ‘We have had a great loss at Oxford; the poor Bishop of Cloyne died on Sunday about 8 o’clock in the evening. Mrs. Berkeley[41] was sitting by him, and spoke to him several times, and he never answered, so it is supposed he was dead a quarter of an hour before it was discovered, for he died without a groan or any sign of pain.’
“He has received Rollin, for which I thank you in his name.”
[39] Edward Moore published “The World.”
[40] His son Richard, then at Oxford.
[41] George Berkeley, born 1684, died 1753. Celebrated divine and author.
To this Mrs. Montagu rejoins—
“How happy was the Bishop of Cloyne’s exit, or rather entrance, one should call it into another, than departure out of this life, for it had none of the agonising pangs of farewell. I pity poor Mrs. Berkeley, who had so little preparation for so heavy a stroke. I hope the constant conversation and example of a man so eminent in every Christian virtue may have given her an uncommon degree of fortitude and patience. I have heard her temper and understanding highly commended. She had a perfect adoration of the Bishop.... Dr. Berkeley had formerly made his addresses to Mrs. Donnellan: what were her reasons for refusing him I know not, friends were consenting, circumstances equal, her opinion captivated, but perhaps aversion to the cares of a married life, and apprehensions from some particularities in his temper hinder’d the match; however their friendship always continued, and I have always heard her give him for virtues and talents the preference to all mankind.”
THE VAPOURS
Mrs. Montagu continues that she had neither health nor spirits to read with pleasure. “The misfortunes I have suffered and those I have feared have worn me out; after the various turns of hope and fear on my poor Lydia’s account, I am at last in despair about her. Mr. Botham sent to us for a milch ass for her some days ago.” After a long lamentation on Lydia’s behalf, she ends, “I am that poor little selfish animal, a human creature, made more poor, more little, more selfish by the Vapours; in all Sir Hans’ Museum there is not so ugly a monster as a woman in Vapours.” Lydia becoming worse, Mrs. Montagu wrote to inform her sister, Mrs. Laurence Sterne, whose curious letter I give in full as a specimen of her style. Both she and her sister Lydia wrote large, legible hands, much alike.