Read Ebook: Private Letters of Edward Gibbon (1753-1794) Volume 2 (of 2) by Gibbon Edward Prothero Rowland E Rowland Edmund Baron Ernle Editor

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 1667 lines and 186648 words, and 34 pages

I have meditated a letter many posts, and the bell of Saturday evening now admonishes or rather reproaches. Allow me only to say that I am perfectly well, and expect very soon some more lines. The season no longer invites me to Brighthelmston, but the Sheffields, &c., insist on my passing another fortnight there, which will carry me to the end of the month.

I am, Dear Madam, Ever yours, E. GIBBON.

Bentinck Street, Oct. 21st, 1781.

Inform me of your health.

E. G.

The Hon. William Conway, afterwards Lord Sheffield's colleague in the representation of Coventry.

Brighthelmstone, Nov. 2nd, 1781.

DEAR MADAM,

If I had not been fortified by the friendly assurances which you sent me, I should indeed have been alarmed by the melancholy account that I heard of your health as soon as I arrived in Sussex. Since that time I have been gradually better satisfied with the frequent and favourable dispatches from Bath, and I have now the satisfaction to find that even in Mr. H.'s apprehensive fancy you have in a great measure recovered that situation which I wish you long to preserve.

I hear of no public changes of administration, but you are perhaps already informed that a grand officer of my household at length retires on a pension, her wages for her life, with which she seems well contented, though I am ignorant of her plans. Mrs. Porten opened the business to her, but I have not yet sustained the last tender interview which I really dislike very much. Caplin assumes with pleasure the office of prime minister, and we hope that some lessons at White's will turn the housemaid into a good Cook for private ordinary days.

I am, dear Madam, Ever yours.

Bentinck Street, 1/4 before five, 1781.

Bentinck Street, November 20th, 1781.

I came yesterday from Jenkinson's , where I had spent two very agreeable days. We all tremble on the edge of a precipice, and whatever may be the event, the American war seems now to be reduced to very narrow compass both of time and place.

E. G.

H. of Commons, December 6th, 1781.

DEAR MADAM,

I am, Dear Madam, Ever yours, E. G.

Thanks for the Carpet.

Parliament met November 27, 1781, and sat till December 20.

Bentinck Street, December 26th, 1781.

DEAR MADAM,

Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

Bentinck Street, Dec. 29, 1781.

LE GRAND GIBBON.

Lord North, while his own house was under repair, occupied Lord Sheffield's house in Downing Street.

Jan. 23rd, 1782.

DEAR MADAM,

I am not sorry that the indiscretion of certain female correspondents should give the opportunity of sending you a very fair but not flattering picture of myself.--It is very true that I have had a fit of the Gout; but if the name of agreable can ever be applied to the ugly monster, my Gout has deserved it on this occasion. It lasted on the whole no more than ten days, attacked only one foot, was attended with scarcely any fever, loss of appetite, or lowness of spirits, and has left me in perfect health both of mind and body.--Our busy scene commences to-morrow; and I am now entering into the hurry of the winter: but I will write again soon.

I am Most truly yours, E. G.

Parliament met January 21, 1782.

March 2nd, 1782.

DEAR MADAM,

I am much afraid that I have lost all credit by repeated promises and repeated neglects, yet I still persuade myself that you are glad to hear, though in two lines, of my health and good spirits, and that you will postpone more ample conversations to the Easter Holydays, when I can talk more in an hour than I could write in a month. Perhaps I should even have delayed this scrap of an Epistle, were I not apprehensive that the parliamentary events of this week would have given you some uneasiness both on a private and public account. Though I am not in the secret, especially of the adverse party, yet I know more than it is proper to trust to paper.

I am Ever yours, E. G.

Lord North resigned on March 20, and the new ministry, with the Marquis of Rockingham as first Lord of the Treasury, was finally settled on Sunday, March 24.

The new Cabinet consisted of the following ministers:--

Marquis of Rockingham First Lord of the Treasury. Lord Thurlow, to continue Lord Chancellor. Earl of Shelburne } Principal Secretaries of State. Charles James Fox } Lord J. Cavendish Chancellor of the Exchequer. Admiral Lord Keppel First Lord of the Admiralty. Duke of Grafton Lord Privy Seal. Lord Camden President of the Council. Duke of Richmond Master-General of the Ordnance. General Conway Commander-in-Chief. John Dunning Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

March 20th, 1782.

MY DEAR MADAM,

I am, Dear Madam, Ever yours, E. G.

Bentinck Street, March 28th, 1782.

DEAR MADAM,

In our common disappointment you will be pleased to hear that the Gout has totally left me, and that it is only the extreme shortness of our adjournment and the busy uncertainty of the times that have prevented my Easter visit to Bath. I am satisfied that Bath is very pleasant in the months of May and June, and you may be assured that I will come down, as soon as our fate is determined and the busyness of parliament has begun to subside. Pray give my compliments to Mrs. Hayley. I fear she will be gone before my arrival.

I am, Dear Madam, Ever yours, E. G.

May 4th, 1782.

DEAR MADAM,

I am Most truly yours, E. G.

Next Wednesday I conclude my forty-fifth year, and in spite of the changes of Kings and Ministers, I am very glad that I was born.

Lady Elizabeth Hervey, daughter of Frederick, Earl of Bristol, and Bishop of Derry, married, in 1776, John Thomas Foster. Her father, says Walpole to Mann in December, 1783, though a rich man, allowed her to be governess to a natural daughter of the Duke of Devonshire. Lady Elizabeth Foster, writes Miss Burney , "has the character of being so alluring, that Mrs. Holroyd told me it was the opinion of Mr. Gibbon no man could withstand her, and that, if she chose to beckon the Lord Chancellor from his woolsack, in full sight of the world, he could not resist obedience." Lady Elizabeth, who, in October, 1809, married as her second husband William, fifth Duke of Devonshire, died March 30, 1824.

Bentinck Street, May 29th, 1782.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet