“I see by the Gazette that the King of Prussia has obtained a great victory over the combined army under Prince Soubise. This is an unexpected event, and must give a turn to his affairs. One thing seems to be collected from it, that this enterprising courageous Prince has not made peace nor flung himself into the arms of France as we were given to believe.”
This was the Battle of Rosbach in Saxony, won against the Austrians and French by Frederick the Great of Prussia on November 5, 1757. The year’s correspondence ends with a letter to Emin of Lady A. Sophia Egerton, enclosing a letter of recommendation of him to her uncle, Mr. Bentinck, then in diplomatic service in Holland. Emin was going to rejoin the Prussian Army.
CHAPTER III.
1758, 1759 — BEGINNING OF CORRESPONDENCE WITH MRS. CARTER, WITH DR. JOHNSON, AND WITH BURKE.
1758
1758 commences with a letter on March 2, from Mrs. Montagu to her husband, who had left London for Sandleford. In it she says—
“I shall enclose an Advertizer in which you will find a curious article from Warsaw. It astonished all Europe to find the King of Prussia had got copies of the plans of the Imperial Court and Dresden, the means by which he obtained them are now discover’d. To this contrivance his Prussian Majesty and his Country owe their present being, but one cannot envy the state of a King if it is necessary to take such means for preservation as would startle a vulgar man of Honour. To get false keys to cabinets is but a poor low trick, and it is very strange to see a hero guilty of burglary, but as Mr. Pope observes, ‘the story of the great is generally a tale that blends their glory with their shame.’ Mr. Stanhope call’d on me as I was writing, and I am to dine with my brother Morris, so must abridge my letter. I can’t hear what pass’d in the House of Lords yesterday in Delany’s trial.... I was at the Oratorio last night, where I heard the Dublin man-of-war was sent to Mr. Boscawen to supply the loss of the Invincible. I am to be at Lady Hillsborough’s assembly to-night.”
The Delany trial had lasted for nearly ten years. It was on account of Dr. Delany, in inadvertence, having burnt a paper of importance belonging to his first wife. Sometimes it appeared to be at an end, but it was as often renewed. At last, on March 5, Lord Mansfield,[180] after an hour and a half’s speech, decided in favour of Delany. The cost of the suit exceeded the disputed sum, but the relief to the good dean and his wife on its decision balanced everything.
[180] “Silver-tongued Murray.”
BISHOP CLAYTON
On March 9 Mrs. Montagu writes—