BC_1767_EMONTAGU_GL

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<Q A 1767? TC GL EMONTAGU>
<X ELIZABETH MONTAGU>
 [}ELIZABETH MONTAGU TO LORD LYTTELTON. MO 1457. 1767}]
<P1>
Hillstreet tuesday nov y=e= 3=d= My Lord
   I should have been more uneasy at not hearing from your Lordship in so long a time if I had not heard of you. At last your letter made me great amends for waiting so long for it, as it assured me, that your Lordship enjoy'd a greater share of domestick happiness than before. I hope M=r= Lyttelton will be reconciled to virtue, he parted with her from the petulance of youth, & the delusions of an exorbitant vanity: he was not depraved by disposition. Time will correct his levity, & his vanity has been severely mortified, so that I hope to see him again amiable & good. Your Lordship knows I never despair'd of him. I am rejoyced that Lady Anglesey is so happy. Lord Angleseys understanding, good person & wellbred manner, will recommend him to the World, & assist greatly in surmounting the prejudice against him. I should have answerd
<P2>
[\your Lordships letter/] as soon as I thought you return'd to Hagley, but I was at that time greatly indisposed with a feverish cold & disorder upon my nerves. Last saturday sennight I left Denton. I stopp_d a few days at a Friends house in Yorkshire, & then came on to London, where I arrived on Sunday. I left all M=r= Montagus affairs in Yorkshire & Northumberland in great order. the Colliery prospers extreamly, & tho the Coal trade is in general bad, we have made more money of our Colliery than we expected to have done even in good times. All these things I effected without giving M=r= Montagu any trouble, he pass'd his whole summer in Berkshire. He gives me great praise for my notable managment, & indeed I think I deserve some commendations for my diligence & application. I have taken an infinite deal of pains & with success. I should have returnd sooner to the South, but M=r= Montagu's Steward was prevented coming down to the North at the time he had intended,
<P3>
and as M=r= Montagus estates in Northumberland & Yorkshire were to be [\raised\] & Leases for 7 years to be granted, the Steward intreated me to stay for his treating with the Tenants, & I had the pleasure of seeing that scheme also succeed. So much business tho accompanied with satisfaction has worn me very thin, & my health has not been good, but I attribute much of my indisposition to the bad summer. I am now much better and intend to indulge myself in ease & idleness
   Your Lordships letter directed to Sandleford came safe to my hands, you there regret the absense of our friend Woodhouse. I have taken from Apollo to give him to Ceres, who is a more benignant Deity & feeds her Votaries better. M=r= Montagu is extreamly delighted with Woodhouse & not a little fond of his boy who is your Lordships Godson & his. I am convinced that he will be a Poet from his God Father & Father & he is realy a surprizing child
<P4>
in his apprehension, & beautifull as a Cherubim. M=r= Woodhouse honour'd my Birthday with a better ode than our Sovereigns get for Jack & pension. He does no call me Penthesilea, or by the name of any Heroine, but he gives me the preference to the Heroes & Alexanders to which the Laureates compare their Kings. The Duke of York is to be buried tomorrow, not only in the Vault of the Abby, but in the dark abyss of Oblivion, where great titles without great characters are soon swallow'd up. I imagine by next week he will be as much forgot as any of the blood royal of the Heptarchy. There was an appearance of good nature & humanity, join'd with fortitude, in his behaviour on his death bed, that makes me wish he had lived in times of more seriousness & dignity. In former days the Great, by certain constraints & restraints, acted above themselves, above their natural character. The dissipation & familiarity now
<P5>
in vogue sinks them below it. By help of a peaked beard, a clear starch'd ruff, a little Spanish gravity, & proud reserve, this Harlequin Prince had perhaps pass'd for a Man of acute parts. Gen=l= Pulteneys Funeral is deferd till after ye Royal Obsequies. I suppose in the mean time his Soul hovers over his money in the Stocks. He was loth to dye, & did not care to see any of those Persons who even by his own appointment were to inherit his wealth. He considerd his relations merely as expectants of what he did not like to quit. Hearing a coach drive into ye Court he askd who was come? his Servants said M=rs= Pulteney, Pho says he, she is come too soon, there is a great deal for her but not yet. No friend embalms his memory with a tear, or smooth'd the bed of death with kind attendance, unloved & unloving he lived & dyed. I believe the news papers account of his [\his DELETED\] Will is authentick. I was much alarmd by a paragraph in the
<P6>
papers of the Bishop of Carlisles being dangerously ill, but upon writing to one Porter here to call at his House, I had the pleasure to hear he was well. I imagine Hagley must look very beautifull in its autumnal robe, but I hope you will consider the winter will soon strip off its ornaments, & that your Lordship will soon be in Town. I propose to go to Sandleford on friday but I shall [\stay/] only three or four days & then return to Hillstreet. I imagine that even in the Elysian fields at Howe your Lordship heard a great deal of politicks. D=r= Monseys mackrel upon a gravel walk does not seem to me more improperly situated than an ambitious Politician by the side of a gentle murmuring rill. Charles Townshends death seems to have done L=d= Chathams nerves
 a great deal of good. I hear from Bath that he is in perfect health. He has sold y=e= Pinsent estate to S=r= Fludyer for 20,000,=L= reserving to himself the House & garden
<P7>
and some little ground. I hope his next legacy will be in America, & then he will not mortgage or squander it, for he has great tenderness for American property. I shall be impatient to hear your Lordship is coming to London. November has great merit with me as it assembles together the friends the gaudy june had inticed away.
   I am my Lord
   Your Lordships most [SEAL Obedient]
   Most faithfull H=ble= Serv=t=
   EMontagu
[\ADDRESS\] To / The Right Hon=ble= Lord Lyttelton / at Hagley
[\STAMP/] park / Near Stourbridge / Worcestershire
[\SEAL\]