BC_1759_EMONTAGU_GL_2

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<Q A 1759? TC GL EMONTAGU>
<X ELIZABETH MONTAGU>
 [}ELIZABETH MONTAGU TO LORD LYTTELTON. MO 1392. 1759? OCTOBER 23. EMENDATIONS BY MATTHEW MONTAGU?}]
<P1>
Oct ye 23=d= [\ADDED 59\]
   I am afraid your Lordship will think I am very impertinent to break in upon your business at Hagley with a frivolous letter, but when I tell you I write at the request of a friend I hope it will dispell any frown your brow may have contracted; or at least that I shall not be the object of your displeasure who had not the least intention of writing to you to day. [\6 LINES CROSSED OUT BY MM? After so long an absence from home you must have a great deal of business, and it is cruel to be interrupted in it by idle correspondents, so that I feel both fear & reluctance in setting down to write to y=r= Lordship However as a friend wants your councils & sollicits me to write [\for them DELETED\] I hope you will excuse it.\] The friend I would intimate, is the Person whom I told your Lordship I suspected to be the Author of a letter lately publish'd: you know the delicacies of their situation, & will not wonder they should wish to consult the Person in the World of whose wisedom and fidelity they have the highest opinion. [\but INTO But\] the subject on which they would consult you is of too much importance to them to be convey_d by
<P2>
By the post, so that I was only to tell your Lordship that they were in want of your advice, and wish'd you would come to Town as early in November as you could. I assured them you had business in the Country that could not be neglected, I was answer'd (^he was not made for the mean occupations of a Country Gentleman;^) and then a long conversation was begun in which the greatest respect & zeal for you was express'd, & much intimated of the high opinion others had of you. [\10 LINES CROSSED OUT BY MM? I assured the person over & over that you could not be here [\long/] before the birth day, that my advice to you to come then had been but ill received, & therefore I wish'd they w=d= write themselves, but they did not care to write by [\this\] post. Here ends my negotiation, & in all reason my letter should end here too; but as your Lordship must have some idle moment which you would give to a news paper you may as well hear from me how the World goes on here.\] I wrote a letter to Lady Townshend to congratulate her on M=r= Townshends success at Quebeck, to which I had the most obliging answer imaginable, it was as affectionate as to a daughter and as respectfull as to an Empress. She said her spirits had been so worn out she could not recover her dejection & begg'd to see me on sunday I found her very low spirited still tho' pleased with the late event. M=r= Charles Townshend was excessively gracious
<P3>
to me, & we talk'd of the affair of Quebeck with the regards due to Gen=l= Townshend. M=r= Wolfe was killd, & G=l= Monckton wounded early in the action, so that certainly much of the glory of the day belongs justly to M=r= Townshend, but to shew how precarious the affections of the people are, it is not the fashion to give him any share of the honour, his letter is criticised as if he was [\a/] Secretary & not a General: but most remarkable it is that in the Citty address the whole glory is given to M=r= Wolfe, without the least mention of y=e= other officers. What an opinion does this give one of the wisedom, justice & generosity of the publick! The encomiums on M=r= Wolfe run very high, a great action is perform'd & envy can endure to give praise to a dead Man; and there was certainly something very captivating in his character; he took the publick opinion by a (\coup de main\) , to which it surrenders more willingly than to a regular siege. The people had not time to [\be/] tired of hearing him call'd the Brave, he is the subject of all peoples praise, and I question whether all the Duke of Marlbroughs conquests gaind him greater honour. a long series of great actions & merit shewn through a long period of time, & on various occasions, must gain a lasting reputation, but in life as in writing what is short but compleat bears y=e= character of sublime. Our friend Monsey is gone to Claremont. [\5 LINES CROSSED OUT BY MM? I was glad to find
<P4>
By a letter Miss Hanley wrote me the day before your Lordship went to Clewer that M=rs= Hanley was better. I hope your Lordship is in better health than when you left London, & that you found M=r= Lyttelton well.\] I hear our army in Germany is very sickly. I believe I made my last visit to Lady Medows this afternoon, after so long illness she has a very painfull exit. it was fortunate for me that she did not ask me to attend her, for tho I am in [\as/] good health & spirits as possible, yet I found the object affect my nerves. [\10 LINES CROSSED OUT BY MM? She may still last sometime, but I believe can hardly live till morning. She has not desired to see her Brother or any friend. Your Lordship will send me an answer to this to shew to our friend, who will otherwise imagine I have not obey'd their comman[{d{] [\FOLD\] for indeed I promised to do it with that reluctance with which I should undertake any thing that could appear to your Lordship as an impertinent & troublesome sollicition and I know it is not in your power to leave your business in the Country as soon as they wish.\]
   I am my Lord
   [\CROSSED OUT BY MM? Your Lordships
   Most Obliged & Obed=t=
   Humble Servant\]
   E:M: