Private Letters of Edward Gibbon (1753-1794) Volume 2 (of 2)

561.
To Lord Sheffield

Lausanne, April 9th, 1791.

I will say no more, because I can say no more on the unfortunate subject of Buriton, the most unlucky because the least expected of all my worldly embarrassments. Tell me fairly whether you suspect any secret management, or any legal chicanery, &c., on the side of the purchasers. If they are sincere and willing as ourselves, what hinders that we should give possession, we of the land and they of the money, and let the Master in Chancery make his report whenever it may amuse him? If such a scheme be impracticable, goad, I conjure you, the lawyers and fix a day, a definite day, a short day for the final conclusion, for my release from a state of suspense which keeps me hanging between heaven and earth.

You say nothing of what rent may be due from Newhaven, and of the payment of my wretched legacy. My repairs and improvements have now run away with a great deal of money, and my cash account with the Goslings has seldom been so low. It would, however, suffice to pay for the Madeira which is arrived in perfect health: but with my usual accuracy I have lost the account.

After mature consideration I accept your terms of £250 annuity and four thousand mortgage with the security which you propose; the former on some farms at Sheffield (doubtless of a more ample produce), the latter on the Newhaven estate, the imperfect title of which it will not become me to dispute. Notwithstanding your recent discovery of a fee farm rent, I think you will still have a very good bargain; but if you are obstinate, you may strike off ten pounds a year from the Annuity, for your chance of getting back any money would be a very poor one indeed. – With regard to the writings, I have no objection to the method which you propose of lodging them in Batt's hands. I do not recollect anything more on the subject of business, since I have already approved of the distribution of the purchase money. £8000 on Buriton, £4000 in Yorkshire, the loose residue, if any, in the funds. We may therefore proceed to more interesting and less interested topics.

*First, of my health; It is now tolerably restored: my legs are still weak, but the animal in general is in a sound and lively condition; and we have great hopes from the fine weather and the Pyrmont waters. I most sincerely wished for the presence of Maria, to embellish a ball which I gave the 29th of last month to all the best company, natives and foreigners, of Lausanne, with the aid of the Severys, especially of the mother and son, who directed the œconomy, and performed the honours of the Fête. It opened about seven in the evening; the assembly of men and women was pleased and pleasing, the music good, the illumination splendid, the refreshments profuse: at twelve, one hundred and thirty persons sat down to a very good supper; at two, I stole away to bed, in a snug corner; and I was informed at breakfast, that the remains of the Veteran and young troops, with Severy and his sister at their head, had concluded the last dance about a quarter before seven. This magnificent entertainment has gained me great credit; and the expence was more reasonable than you can easily imagine. This was an extraordinary event, but I give frequent dinners; and in the summer I have an assembly every Sunday evening. What a wicked wretch! says Lady Pantile.

I cannot pity you for the accumulation of business, as you ought not to pity me, if I complained of the tranquillity of Lausanne: we suffer or enjoy the effects of our own choice. Perhaps you will mutter something of our not being born for ourselves, of public spirit (I have formerly read of such a thing), of private friendship, for which I give you full and ample credit, &c. But your parliamentary operations, at least, will probably expire in the month of June; and I shall refuse to sign the Newhaven conveyance, unless I am satisfied that you will execute the Lausanne visit this summer. On the 15th of June, suppose lord, lady, Maria, and maid, (poor Louisa!) in a post coach, with Etienne on horseback, set out from Downing-street, or Sheffield-place, cross the Channel from Brighton to Dieppe, visit the national assembly, buy caps at Paris, examine the ruins of Versailles, and arrive at Lausanne, without danger or fatigue, the second week in July; you will be lodged pleasantly and comfortably, and will not perhaps despise my situation. A couple of months will roll, alas! too hastily away: you will all be amused by new scenes, new people; and whenever Maria and you, with Severy, mount on horseback to visit the country, the Glaciers, &c., My lady and myself shall form a very quiet tête-à-tête at home. In September, if you are tired, you may return by a direct or indirect way; but I only desire that you will not make the plan impracticable by grasping at too much. In return, I promise you a visit of three or four months in the autumn of ninety-two: you and my booksellers are now my principal attractions in England. You had some right to growl at hearing of my supplement in the papers: but Cadell's indiscretion was founded on a loose hint which I had thrown out in a letter, and which in all probability will never be executed. Yet I am not totally idle. Adieu.*

562.
Lord Sheffield to Edward Gibbon

Downing Street, 21st April, 1791.

A BARGAIN WITH THE SHEFFIELDS.

At length the Buriton business is almost concluded, and all your and my cares on that subject will be at an end, the moment I receive the Deeds which were sent to you early this morning for signature. The Masters in Chancery are the Devils, and I should not have expressed myself much more amiably of the Master of the Rolls, if he had not been at last particularly attentive to my exhortations to dispatch. All difficulties are at end, the conveyances, &c., engrossed, and one part of them are gone to you, because Lord Stawell's Lawyers wish you to sign that part, notwithstanding they drew up the Power of Attorney which you signed to enable me.

At the same time are gone the Deeds which convey Newhaven from Ed. Gibbon to Lord Sheffield, reciting the £4000 on Mortgage and the annuity of £250 per Ann. The conveyance is to J. T. Batt to the use of Lord Sheffield. Batt is Trustee; and the Deeds, when returned with the other writings belonging to the Estate, must be left in his hands as such, not only on account of the Mortgage of £4000, but also because the Newhaven Estate is made subject to the Annuity, notwithstanding a greater proportion of the Sheffield Estate is chargeable with it than is necessary to pay the whole. It was unnecessary to send you the Deed which grants the Annuity of £250 chargeable on Sheffield and Newhaven. It is signed by me and left in Batt's hands. He has perused and examined the drafts of the Conveyance and of the grant of the annuity before they were engrossed.

There are four deeds sent for your signature – and with them directions as to the parts where to be signed, which parts are marked with pencil. It is also mentioned that you should have English witnesses. Frank North might be one, and I suppose you may find at any time another fit English witness at Lausanne. You will despatch as soon as you can and return the writings immediately. If you give me a line of notice as soon as they are signed it will be still better, and will forward, and in reality conclude, matters.

SNUGNESS OF GIBBON'S AFFAIRS.

We have not been able to get any intelligence of the conveyance of the Newhaven Estate to your Grandfather, which is somewhat strange. I mentioned in my last that I had given directions for forming the conveyance from you to me, previous to the discovery of a Quit-rent, and that I thought you had better pay me the value of that Quit-rent than alter the even sum of £4000 Mortgage or £250 annuity. I must therefore take 28 years' purchase for the Quit-rent, and I flatter myself you are too much of a gentleman and too little of the Jew to make any objection. You have a good bargain, and I would sooner have seen you at the Devil than have given you so much, if you did not seem to be under my direction in these matters.

I almost envy you the snugness of your affairs. You will be a rich fellow. What a damned long letter on such matter, to make things easy to the meanest capacities.

Perhaps I may write soon on the Russian War, the Slave Trade, and the Corn Bill. The first has been an extraordinary business. On the second I was a considerable prop to good sense against nonsense and the most eloquent declamation on humanity. What think you of shutting the Ports of the West Indies? It would not have succeeded better than the experiment at Boston. I have beaten Pitt 3 times on the Corn Bill.

563.
Lord Sheffield to Edward Gibbon

Downing Street, 13th May, 1791.

Nothing could be more unfair and insidious than the proposition that you would come here in 1792, if we would go to you in 1791. It raised the whole Family, and everybody one knows, against me. It raised me against myself. It is true in a weak season, when we supposed you poorly, I exhibited a disposition to go to you, but when you recovered insurmountable difficulties occurred. The Great Navigation in Sussex which is at its crisis depends on me, and a thousand other matters, besides expence when I have not got a shilling to spare. However, the Idea is entertained. I am much conciliated, as I should be to anything that binds you to a compact to be here in 1792. I cannot prevail on myself at once to say – I will, altho' I apprehend I must. Therefore say by the return of the post, whether you can accommodate the Louisa, if she should make a fifth in the Coach with My Lady, her woman, Maria and myself. I suppose she might, if necessary, sleep with Maria or the Woman. I have not mentioned this letter to the Ladies, but Maria is anxious that Louisa should go, and we think she is at an age to receive improvement even in a visit for a couple of months. I cannot go sooner than the beginning of July, and I must be here early in October. Desire our Friend De Severy to write detail to me on the subject of the journey.

It just occurred to write this letter. A Committee is waiting for me, but to make you amends, I send you Woodfall's account of one of the most extraordinary debates in Parliament.¹⁶³

Yours ever,

S.

564.
To Lord Sheffield

Lausanne, May 18th, 1791.

DANGER OF RUSSIAN WAR.

*I write a short letter, on small paper, to inform you, that the various deeds, which arrived safe and in good condition, have this morning been sealed, signed, and delivered, in the presence of respectable and well known English witnesses,* though out of compliment to you I inserted one Irish evidence, a protégé of Sarah's, and considering all things a very pretty gentleman. I am very well behaved to him. *To have read the aforesaid acts, would have been difficult; to have understood them, impracticable. I therefore signed them with my eyes shut, and in that implicit confidence, which we freemen and Britons are humbly content to yield to our lawyers and ministers. I hope, however, most seriously hope, that every thing has been carefully examined, and that I am not totally ruined. It is not without much impatience that I expect an account of the payment and investment of the purchase-money,* and am somewhat afraid of the high charges of auctioneers and attornies. The writings well secured are delivered to a trusty carrier, who promises to begin his Journey Monday next, the 23rd instant, and to deposit them in Downing Street about a fortnight afterwards. *It was my intention to have added a new edition of my Will: but I have an unexpected call to go to Geneva to-morrow with the Severys, and must defer that business a few days, till after my return. On my return I may possibly find a letter from you, and will write more fully in answer: my posthumous work, contained in a single sheet, will not ruin you in postage. In the meanwhile, let me desire you either never to talk of Lausanne, or to execute the journey this summer; after the dispatch of public and private business, there can be no real obstacle but in yourself, and if you deceive me I shall insist on the additional year's purchase for Newhaven, which I had given up in consideration of the visit. Pray do not go to War with Russia:¹⁶⁴ it is very foolish: I am quite angry with Pitt. Adieu.* Pray inform Mrs. G. of our conclusion and her security. I write to her this post after a long pause. I am a sad dog.

565.
To his Stepmother

Lausanne, May 18th, 1791.

Dear Madam,

*As much as I am accustomed to my own sins, I am shocked, really shocked, when I think of my long and most inexcusable silence; nor do I dare to compute how many months I have suffered to elapse without sending a single line – (Oh shame! shame!) – to the best and dearest of my friends, who indeed has been very seldom out of my thoughts. I have sometimes imagined, that if the opportunities of writing occurred less frequently, they would be seized with more diligence; but the unfortunate departure of the post twice every week encourages procrastination, and each short successive delay is indulged without scruple, till the whole has swelled to a tremendous account. I will try, alas! to reform; and although I am afraid that writing grows painful to you, I have the confidence to solicit a speedy line, to say that you love and forgive me. After a long experience of the unfeeling doubts and delays of the law, you will probably soon hear from Lord S. that the Buriton transaction is at last concluded, and I hope you will be satisfied with the full and firm security of your annuity. That you may long continue to enjoy it is the first and most sincere wish of my heart.

LIKE ADAM ALONE IN PARADISE.

In the placid course of our lives, at Lausanne and Bath, we have few events to relate, and fewer changes to describe; but I indulge myself in the pleasing belief that we are both as well and as happy as the common order of Nature will allow us to expect. I should be satisfied, had I received from time to time some indirect, but agreeable information of the general state of your health. For myself, I have no complaint, except the Gout; and though the visits of my old enemy are longer, and more enfeebling, they are confined to my feet and knees; the pain is moderate, and my imprisonment to my chamber, or my chair, is much alleviated by the daily kindness of my friends. I wish it were in my power to give you an adequate idea of the conveniency of my house, and the beauty of my garden: both of which I have improved at a considerable expence since the death of poor Deyverdun. But the loss of a friend is indeed irreparable, and I sometimes feel, that like Adam I am alone in Paradise. Were I ten years younger, I might possibly think of a female companion; but the choice is difficult, the success doubtful, the engagement perpetual, and at fifty-four a man should never think of altering the whole System of his life and habits. The disposal of Buriton, and the death of my aunt Hester, who has left me a small estate in Sussex, makes me very easy in my worldly affairs; my income is equal to my expence, and my expence is adequate to my wishes. You may possibly have heard of litterary projects which are ascribed to me by the public without my knowledge: but it is much more probable that I have closed the account: and though I shall never lay aside the pleasing occupations of study, you may be assured that I have no serious settled thoughts of a new work. Next year I shall meditate, and I trust shall execute, a visit to England, in which the Belvidere is one of my powerful loadstones. I often reflect, with a painful emotion, on the imperious circumstances which have thrown us at such a distance from each other.

In the moving picture of the World, you cannot be indifferent to the strange Revolution which has humbled all that was high, and exalted all that was low, in France. The irregular and lively spirit of the Nation has disgraced their liberty, and instead of building a free constitution, they have only exchanged Despotism for Anarchy. This town and country are crowded with noble Exiles; and we sometimes count in an assembly a dozen princesses and dutchesses. Burke, if I remember right, is no favourite of yours; but there is surely much eloquence and much sense in his book. The prosperity of England forms a proud contrast with the disorders of France; but I hope we shall avoid the folly of a Russian War. Pitt, in this instance, seems too like his father.*

I am, My Dearest Madam,

Ever most affectionately Yours,

E. Gibbon.

566.
To Lord Sheffield

Lausanne, May 31st, 1791.

*At length I see a ray of sunshine breaking from a dark cloud. Your Epistle of the 13th arrived this morning, the 25th instant, the day after my return from Geneva; it has been communicated to Severy; we now believe that you intend a visit to Lausanne this summer, and we hope that you will execute that intention. If you are a man of honour, you shall find me one; and, on the day of your arrival at Lausanne, I will ratify my engagement of visiting the British isle before the end of the year 1792, excepting only the fair and foul exception of the Gout. You rejoyce me by proposing the addition of dear Louisa; it was not without a bitter pang that I threw her overboard, to lighten the vessel and secure the Voyage: I was fearful of Mrs. Moss, a second carriage, and a long train of difficulty and expence, which might have ended in blowing up the whole scheme. But if you can bodkin the sweet creature in the coach, she will find an easy welcome at Lausanne. The first arrangements which I must make before your arrival, may be altered by your own taste, on a survey of the premises, and you will all be commodiously and pleasantly lodged. You have heard a great deal of the beauty of my house, garden, and situation; but such are their intrinsic value, that, unless I am much deceived, they will bear the test even of exagerated praise. From my knowledge of your Lordship, I have always entertained some doubt how you would get through the French society of a Lausanne winter: but I am satisfied that, exclusive of friendship, your summer visits to the banks of the Leman Lake will long be remembered as one of the most agreeable periods of your life; and that you will scarcely regret the amusement of a Sussex Committee of Navigation in the dog days. You ask for details: what details? a map of France and a post-book are easy and infallible guides. If the Ladies are not afraid of the Ocean, you are not ignorant of the passage from Brighton to Dieppe: Paris will then be in your direct road; and even allowing you to look at the Pandæmonium, the ruins of Versailles, &c., a fortnight diligently employed will clear you from Sheffield-place to Gibbon Castle. What can I say more?

As little have I to say on the subject of my worldly matters, which seems now, Jupiter be praised, to be drawing towards a final conclusion; since, when people part with their money, they are indeed serious. I do not perfectly understand the ratio of the precise sum which you have poured into Gosling's reservoir, but suppose it will be explained in a general account;* as that reservoir is unproductive, I hope the Yorkshire mortgage will soon be in motion. I had not a doubt of the Law's (in either sense of the word) delaying to the last moment the payment of Hester's paltry legacy, but I conceive that you are in possession of Newhaven, and that you have obtained for me the year's or at least the nine months' rent to which I must have been entitled last Lady-day. I do not perfectly understand whether my share of Hug, or to what amount, has actually been paid. By this time you must have received the Deeds. —Act.

BURKE A RATIONAL MADMAN.

*You have been very dutiful in sending me, what I have always desired, a cut Woodfall on a remarkable debate; a debate, indeed, most remarkable! Poor Burke is the most eloquent and rational madman that I ever knew. I love Fox's feelings, but I detest the political principles of the man, and of the party. Formerly you detested them more strongly, during the American War, than myself. I am half afraid that you are corrupted by your unfortunate connections. Should you admire the National assembly, we shall have many an altercation, for I am as high an Aristocrate as Burke himself; and he has truly observed, that it is impossible to debate with temper on the subject of that cursed Revolution. In my last excursion to Geneva I frequently saw the Neckers, who by this time are returned to their Summer residence of Copet. He is much restored in health and spirits, especially since the publication of his last book,¹⁶⁵ which has probably reached England. Both parties who agree in abusing him, agree likewise that he is a man of virtue and Genius: but I much fear that the purest intentions have been productive of the most baneful consequences. Our military men, I mean the French, are leaving us every day for the camp of the princes at Worms, and support what is called —¹⁶⁶ representation. Their hopes are sanguine; I will not answer for their being well grounded: it is certain, however, that the emperor had an interview the 19th instant with the Count of Artois at Mantua; and the Aristocrates talk in mysterious language of Spain, Sardinia, the empire, four or five armies, &c. They will doubtless strike a blow this summer: May it not recoil on their own heads! Adieu. Embrace our female travellers. A short delay.*