BC_1769_EMONTAGU_EV_4
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<Q A 1769 TC EV EMONTAGU> <X ELIZABETH MONTAGU> [}ELIZABETH MONTAGU TO ELIZABETH VESEY. 1769 OCT 6. MO 6400}] <P1> Sandleford y=e= 6=th= of Oct / 1769 My Dear [\Friend\] my beloved Sylph It is so long since I had the pleasure of writing to my Dear M=rs= Vesey, that I shall now write her a book rather than a letter. Last monday sennight I left Sunning Hill, perfectly satisfied with the benefit I had received there, & being indeed in as good health as I have ever enjoy'd. This amendment did not take place till after I had [\WORD INTO been\] a month at Sunning, tho my way of life was well adapted to assist the waters, as it was pleasant, idle, full of exercise, & (\sans soucis\) . My Dear M=rs= Carter staid with me to the very moment of my departure, then she got into her chaise which carried her to Richmond to Miss Talbot, while mine brought me to Sandleford I have since hear'd she [\was/] set out for Deal, & to morrow hope to receive an account of her safe arrival there. I never saw her so well as the whole time she was at Sunning. She had less of the head ach <P2> and her animal spirits seem_d to play about with more than usual vivacity, & considering, that the natural texture of a female brain is hardly strong enough for such a weight [\of learning/] & pressure of solid sense, her head aches were not bad. As to your humble Servant for above this month past she has been in robust health, & I hope will get through the Winter campaign very well. Having finishd my Friends & my own history I will now move round the circle of our Acquaintances M=r= & M=rs= Pitt were at Sunning about three weeks, they are in tolerable spirits again, & are continualy employ'd in making their poor neighbours happy, relieving the sick, & encouraging the industrious. We dined several times with M=r= & M=rs= Dunbar at their sweet (\ferme [\XXé\] \) & we rejoyced much at the noble fortune that is fallen to them. Perhaps you may now have the pleasure of M=rs= Dunbars company at Lucan, for when I saw her last she seem_d to think it not impossible she might go to <P3> Ireland. I own I envy_d M=r= Dunbar his journey to Ireland. As to L=d= Blessingtons estate, he was the Lawful & the deserving Heir, so I envyd it not, but there is neither Law nor Reason that entitles him to go to Lucan more than your humble Servant. We dined one day with Lady Primrose who had been ill but was better. The August Lady Westmorland was with her, & unluckily brought an attendant who fell sick & had like to have died, which must have given trouble & concern to Lady Primrose. a few days before I came hither I gallop'd over to Bullstrode to breakfast with the Duchess of Portland. I found her Grace tolerably well, but a little rheumatick. M=rs= Delany with her in good health & spirits M=rs= Dashwood came during the short time I staid, so if we had had the same faces, every thing w=d= have had the same face it had 30 years ago. The Duchess very kindly invited me & my Friend to spend a week with her, but I had been so long absent from home <P4> I could not reasonably ask M=r= Montagu for such an indulgence. I have heard of Lord Lyttelton in every part of the World this Summer. [\Sometime\] he was at Hagley entertaining foreign Ministers & their Wives. Then I hear_d of him at Bowood, & the other day I had a letter from him from Hagley, in which he expresses great joy that Lady Anglesey gives hopes she shall soon present him with a Grand child. I have [\UNCLEAR\] his Lordship [\UNCLEAR\] Lady [\UNCLEAR\] You will think his application to Venus a poetical license of the boldest kind. I intend to remain here till the beginning of November, unless the winter should come in with great severity. As my Summer passd like a pleasant dream, & the London life is a busy kind of delirium, I am glad to insert between [\them/] that sober solidity of things which one finds at ones Home in the Country. I wish that you would make a party with M=rs= Carter & with me to pass a month at <P5> Sunning Hill in the true gipsey way of life. [\ANNOTATED \2=d= sheet/ \] We would sometimes seek the pensive pleasures of the shady [\forrest/] & hail the spirit of melancholly. (\Maesta dí pensieri, Nobilta de gli affetti, Dell ingegno leggier fermezza, & tempra, Del faticato cuor pace, ei consiglio, De pied graditi oggetti, e [\piu\] gentile [\lacida?\] rimembranza, Malinconia gradita, a te consacro Quegli [\stessi/] pensieri Che tu nell alma mia risvegli ed orni./] Thus would we borrow [\the DELETED\] what the Muse (^in her sweetest saddest plight^) , has address_d to holy melancholly, such as lives in Sequesterd bower, & (^shadowy sets off the face of things^) ; Not the yellow hued cast of envy & discontent [\which/] deforms them. Shakespear says prettily that the Scholars melancholly is fantastical, & certainly between memory & imagination it presents, (^ (\Vaghi fantasmi al penseroso ingegno\) ^) <P6> Windsor Castle at different hours, [\in different aspects/] & in different weather, used to suggest different ideas. Sometimes, when the noon day distinctly shew_d its royal splendor, it brought to ones mind our Elizabeth sitting in Council with the Burleighs Walsinghams, &c planning schemes for the prosperity of England, & the liberty of the low Countries. In the evenings more solemn light one fancied one saw [\deeper into former times when/] Edw=d= & his Philippa [\presiding\] at y=e= Banquet with the Knights of his Institution, & once in a foggy evening with a faint moonlight upon it, I imagined [\of late/] the Palace of King Lisuart, & shoud have calld to have seen the wonders of the painted Chamber & the arch of loyal Lovers as described in Amadis de Gaul, if the D- of C-d had not rattled by in a post equipage. He was so little like the young Esplandion, who for his infant <P7> sport lead a Lion in [\liesse\], that he brought me back to present things & present times. Heros, Statesmen, Legislators, disappeard to make room for Stockjobbers, Nabob catchers, Factious Patriots, & unskilfull ministers. I am afraid we shall have a turbulent winter as to politicks. I saw our friend Burke about a month ago when I was in Town for a day or two. He was going to Lord Rockinghams, to encourage, I presume, the Yorkshire petition. He was vastly agreable & chearfull, & I hope is not such a loser by India stock as is supposed. I hate to think that such a Brute & Barbarian as Heyder Ally sh=d=demolish the fortune of one of the finest & most accomplishd men in polite Europe. Pray have you read l'histoire de Francois premier by Mons=r= Galliard it follows properly Robertsons Charles ye 5=th= & tho not written with such dignity of <P8> style, grace of manner, & that deep & sober thought which constitute the highest perfection of History. Yet you will find y=e= [\UNCLEAR\] a Man of good judgment, great candor, & integrity of heart. As a Catholick, he deals more freely with ye Character of Luther, but he abhors persecution & only throws a strong light, not a false one, on ye characters of ye Reformers. Their excesses & infirmities do not do any real prejudice to the Reformation. (^Th' eternal art educing good from ill^) generaly brings y=e= greatest benefits from men who had not perhaps the best intentions Passions operate more violently than principles & virtues, & every truly good Man is afraid of violent measure in such sacred things as Religion & Government. I realy thing [\SIC\] this book w=d= amuse you it consists of 5 small Volumes What a long letter is this. [\IN THE MARGIN\] L=d= Lyttelton verses will [\attone\] for my very [\UNCLEAR\] prose. Comp=ts= to M=r= Vesey & M=rs= Hancock [\UNCLEAR\]