Complete Works of Frances Burney

by Frances Burney

  I turned hastily away, fairly saying, “I hope not. “Yes, he is; he seems as if he wanted to bow to you.” I shrank back. “No, he looks off; he thinks you in too bad company!” “Ah, Mr. Windham,” cried I, “you should not be so hardhearted towards him, whoever else may; and I could tell you, and I will tell you if you please, a very forcible reason.” He assented. “You must know, then, that people there are in this world who scruple not to assert that there is a very strong personal resemblance between Mr. Windham and Mr. Hastings; nay, in the profile, I see it myself at this moment and therefore ought not you to be a little softer than the rest, if merely in sympathy?”

  He laughed very heartily; and owned he had heard of the resemblance before.

  “I could take him extremely well,” I cried, “for your uncle.”

  “No, no; if he looks like my elder brother, I aspire at no more.”

  “No, no; he is more like your uncle; he has just that air; he seems just of that time of life. Can You then be so unnatural as to prosecute him with this eagerness?”

  And then, once again, I ventured to give him a little touch of Moličre’s old woman, lest he should forget that good and honest dame; and I told him there was one thing she particularly objected to in all the speeches that had yet been made, and hoped his speech would be exempt from.

  He inquired what that was.

  “Why, she says she does not like to hear every orator compliment another; every fresh speaker say, he leaves to the superior ability of his successor the prosecution of the business.” “O, no,” cried he, very readily, “I detest all that sort of adulation. I hold it in the utmost contempt.”

  “And, indeed, it will be time to avoid it when your turn comes, for I have heard it in no less than four speeches already.” And then he offered his assistance about servants and carriages, and we all came away, our different routes; but my Fredy and Susan must remember my meeting with Mr. Hastings in coming out, and his calling after me, and saying, with a very comic sort of politeness, “I must come here to have the pleasure of seeing Miss Burney, for I see her nowhere else.”

  What a strange incident would have been formed had this rencontre happened thus if I had accepted Mr. Windham’s offered services! I am most glad I had not; I should have felt myself a conspirator, to have been so met by Mr. Hastings DEATH OF YOUNG LADY MULGRAVE.

  May.-On the 17th of this month Miss Port bade her sad reluctant adieu to London. I gave what time I could command from Miss Port’s departure to my excellent and maternal Mrs. Ord, who supported herself with unabating fortitude and resignation. But a new calamity affected her much, and affected me greatly also, though neither she nor I were more than distant spectators in comparison with the nearer mourners; the amiable and lovely Lady Mulgrave gave a child to her lord, and died, in the first dawn of youthful beauty and sweetness, exactly a year after she became his wife. ’Twas, indeed, a tremendous blow. It was all our wonder that Lord Mulgrave kept his senses, as he had not been famed for patience or piety; but I believe he was benignly inspired with both, from his deep admiration of their excellence in his lovely wife.

  AGAIN AT WINDSOR.

  I must mention a laughable enough circumstance. Her majesty inquired of me if I had ever met with- Lady Hawke? “Oh yes,” I cried, “and Lady Say and Sele too.” “ She has just desired permission to send me a novel of her own Writing,” answered her majesty.

  “I hope,” cried I, “’tis not the ‘Mausoleum of Julia!’”

  But yes, it proved no less! and this she has now published and sends about. You must remember Lady Say and Sele’s quotation from it.(275) Her majesty was so gracious as to lend it me, for I had some curiosity to read it. It is all of a piece: all love, love, love, unmixed and unadulterated with any more worldly materials.

  I read also the second volume of the “Paston Letters,” and found their character the same as in the first, and therefore read them with curiosity and entertainment.

  The greater part of the month was spent, alas! at Windsor, with what a dreary vacuity of heart and of pleasure I need not say. The only period of it in which my spirits could be commanded to revive was during two of the excursions in which Mr. Fairly was of the party; and the sight of him, calm, mild, nay cheerful, under such superior sorrows —— struck me with that sort of edifying admiration that led me, perforce, to the best exertion in my power for the conquest of my deep depression. If I did this from conscience in private, from a sense of obligation to him in public I reiterated my efforts, as I received from him all the condoling softness and attention he could possibly have bestowed upon me had my affliction been equal or even greater than his own.

  ANOTHER MEETING WITH MR. CRUTCHLEY.

  On one of the Egham race days the queen sent Miss Planta and me on the course, in one of the royal coaches, with Lord Templeton and Mr. Charles Fairly,(276) for our beaux. Lady Templeton was then at the Lodge, and I had the honour of two or three conferences with er during her stay. On the course, we were espied by Mr. Crutchley, who instantly devoted himself to my service for the morning — taking care of our places, naming jockeys, horses, bets, plates, etc., and talking between times of Streatham and all the Streathamites. We were both, I believe, very glad of this discourse. He pointed out to me where his house stood, in a fine park, within sight of the race-ground, and proposed introducing me to his sister, who was his housekeeper, and asking me if, through her invitation, I would come to Sunning Hill park. I assured him I lived so completely in a monastery that I could make no new acquaintance. He then said he expected soon Susan and Sophy Thrale on a visit to his sister, and he presumed I would not refuse coming to see them. I truly answered I should rejoice to do it if in my power, but that most probably I must content myself with meeting them on the Terrace. He promised to bring them there with his sister, though he had given up that walk these five years.

  It will give me indeed great pleasure to see them again.

  MR. TURBULENT’S TROUBLESOME PLEASANTRIES. My two young beaux Stayed dinner with us, and I afterwards strolled upon the lawn with them till tea-time. I could not go on the Terrace, nor persuade them to go on by themselves. We backed as the royal party returned home; and when they had all entered the house, Colonel Wellbred, who had stood aloof, quitted the train to join our little society. “Miss

  Burney,” he cried, “I think I know which horse you betted upon!

  Cordelia!”

  “For the name’s sake you think it,” I cried; and he began some questions and comments upon the races, when suddenly the window of the tea-room opened, and the voice of Mr. Turbulent, with a most sarcastic tone, called out, “I hope Miss Burney and Colonel Wellbred are well!”

  We could neither Of us keep a profound gravity, though really he deserved it from us both. I turned from the Colonel, and said I was coming directly to the tea-room.

  Colonel Wellbred would have detained me to finish Our race discourse, for he had shut the window when he had made his speech, but I said it was time to go in.

  “Oh no,” cried he, laughing a little, “Mr. Turbulent only wants his own tea, and he does not deserve it for this!”

  In, however, I went, and Colonel Manners took the famous chair the instant I was seated. We all began race talk, but Mr. Turbulent, approaching very significantly, said, “Do you want a chair On the other side, ma’am? Shall I tell the colonel-to bring one?”

  “No, indeed cried I, half seriously, lest he should do it. . . .

  Colonel Wellbred, not knowing what had passed, came to that same other side, and renewed his conversation. In the midst of all this Mr. Turbulent hastily advanced with a chair, saying, “Colonel Wellbred, I cannot bear to see you standing so long.”

  I found it impossible not to laugh under My hat, though I really wished to bid him stand in a corner for a naughty boy. The colonel, I suppose, laughed too, whether he would or not, for I heard no answer. However, he took the chair, and finding me wholly unembarrassed by this polissonnerie, though not wholly unprovoked by
it, he renewed his discourse, and kept his seat till the party, very late, broke up; but Colonel Manners, who knew not what to make of all this, exclaimed, “Why, ma’am, you cannot keep Mr. Turbulent in much order.”

  June.-Mrs. Schwellenberg came to Windsor with us after the birthday, for the rest of the summer.

  Mr. Turbulent took a formal leave of me at the same time, as his wife now came to settle at Windsor, and he ceased to belong to our party. He only comes to the princesses at stated hours, and then returns to his own home. He gave me many serious thanks for the time passed with me, spoke in flourishing terms of its contrast to former times, and vowed no compensation could ever be made him for the hours he had thrown away by compulsion on “The Oyster.”(277) His behaviour altogether was very well — here and there a little eccentric, but, in the main, merely good-humoured and high-spirited.

  COLONEL FAIRLY AND SECOND ATTACHMENTS.

  I am persuaded there is no manner of truth in the report relative to Mr. Fairly and Miss Fuzilier, for he led me into a long conversation with him one evening when the party was large, and all were otherwise engaged, upon subjects of this nature, in the course of which he asked me if I thought any second attachment could either be as strong or as happy as a first.

  I was extremely surprised by the question, and quite unprepared how to answer it, as I knew not with what feelings or intentions I might war by any unwary opinions. I did little, therefore, but evade and listen, though he kept up the discourse in a very animated manner, till the party all broke up.

  Had I spoken without any consideration but what was general and genuine, I should have told him that my idea was simply this, that where a first blessing was withdrawn by providence, not lost by misconduct, it seemed to me most consonant to reason, nature, and mortal life, to accept what could come second, in this as in all other deprivations. Is it not a species of submission to the divine will to make ourselves as happy as we can in what is left us to obtain, where bereft of what we had sought? My own conflict for content in a life totally adverse to my own inclinations, is all built on this principle, and when it succeeds, to this owes its success.

  I presumed not, however, to talk in this way to Mr. Fairly, for I am wholly ignorant in what manner or to what degree his first attachment may have rivetted his affections; but by the whole of what passed it seemed to me very evident that he was not merely entirely without any engagement, but entirely at this time without any plan or scheme of forming any; and probably he never may.

  (257) “Selections from the State Papers preserved in the Foreign Department of the Government of India, 1772-1785,” Edited by G. W. Forrest, VOL i. P, 178.

  (258) “Warren Hastings,” by Sir Alfred Lyall, .

  (259) Selections from State Papers,” vol. i. p. xlviii.

  (260) In his defence at the bar of the House of Commons, (Feb. 4th, 1788) Sir Elijah Impey attempted to justify his conduct by precedent, but the single precedent on which he relied does not prove much in his favour. A Hindoo, named Radachund Metre, was condemned to death for forgery in 1765, but was pardoned on this very ground, that capital punishment for such a crime was unheard of in India.

  (261) Speech on Mr. Fox’s East India Bill, Dec. 1st, 1783,

  (262) Fanny’s brother, the scholar. He was, at this time, master of a school at Hammersmith-ED.

  (263) Windham had introduced and carried through the House of Commons the charge respecting Fyzoolla Khan, the Nawab of Rampore; but this charge, with many others of the original articles of impeachment, was not proceeded upon at the trial. Fyzoolla Khan was one of the Rohilla chiefs, who, more fortunate than the rest, had been permitted by treaty, after the conquest of Rohilcund in 17 74, to retain possession of Rampore as a vassal of the Vizier of Oude. By this treaty the Nawab of Rampore was empowered to maintain an army of 5,000 horse and foot in all and in return he bound himself to place from 2,000 to 3,000 troops at the disposal of the Vizier whenever that assistance might be required. In November, 1780, the Vizier, or rather, Hastings, speaking by the mouth of the Vizier, called upon Fyzoolla Khan to furnish forthwith a contingent of 5,000 horse. The unhappy Nawab offered all the assistance in his power, but not only Was the demand unwarranted by the terms of the treaty, but the number of horse required was far greater than he had the means to furnish. Thereupon Mr. Hastings gave permission to the Vizier to dispossess his vassal of his dominions. This iniquitous scheme, however, was never carried out, and in 1782, Fyzoolla Khan made his peace with the Governor-General, and procured his own future exemption from military service, by payment of a large sum of money.-ED.

  (264) Mr. Hastings’s enemy was Mr. afterwards Sir Philip Francis, by some people supposed to have been the author of “Junius’s Letters.” The best friend of Mr. Hastings here alluded to was Clement Francis, Esq. of Aylsham, in Norfolk, who married Charlotte, fourth daughter of Dr. Burney. [Francis, though an active supporter of the impeachment, was not one of the “managers.” He had been nominated to the committee by Burke, but rejected by the House, on the ground of his well-known animosity to Hastings.-ED.)

  (265) After all, Impey escaped impeachment. In December, 1787, Sir Gilbert Elliot, one of the managers of Hastings’ impeachment, brought before the House of Commons six charges against Impey, of which the first, and most serious, related to the death of Nuncomar. The charges were referred to a committee, before which Impey made his defence, February 4, 1788. On May 9, a division was taken on the first charge, and showed a majority of eighteen in favour of Impey. The subject was resumed, May 27, and finally disposed of by the rejection of sir Gilbert Elliot’s motion without a division-ED.

  (266) Saturday, February 16, 1788.-ED.

  (267) Macaulay attributes perhaps too exclusively to Court influence Fanny’s prepossession in favour of Hastings. It should be remembered that her family and many of her friends were, equally with herself, partisans of Hastings, to whom, moreover, she had been first introduced by a much valued friend, Mr. Cambridge (see ante, vol. i., P. 326).-ED.

  (268) “Miss Fuzilier” is the name given in the “Diary” to Miss Charlotte Margaret Gunning, daughter of Sir Robert Gunning. She married Colonel Digby (“Mr. Fairly”) in 1790.-ED.

  (269) This would seem to fix the date as Thursday, February 21, Thursday being mentioned by Fanny as the Court-day (see ante, ). According, however, to Debrett’s “History of the Trial,” Fox spoke on the charge relating to Cheyt Sing on Friday, February 22, the first day of the Court’s sitting since the preceding Tuesday.-ED.’

  (270) The managers had desired that each charge should be taken separately, and replied to, before proceeding to the next. Hastings’s counsel, on the other hand, demanded that all the charges should be presented before the defence was opened. The Lords, by a large majority, decided against the managers.-ED.

  (271) Windham relates that when he called upon Dr. Johnson, six days before his death, Johnson put into his hands a copy of the New Testament, saying “Extremum hoc mumus morientis habeto.” See the extracts from Windham’s journal in Croker’s “Boswell,” v., 326. In a codicil to Johnson’s will, dated Dec. 9, 1784, we find, among other bequests of books, “to Mr. Windham, Poete Greci Henrici per Henriculum Stephanum.”-ED.

  (272) i.e. to the benches assigned to the Commons in Westminster Hall. These immediately adjoined the chamberlain’s box in which Miss Burney was seated.-ED.

  (273) Mrs. Delany died on the 15th of April, 1788.-ED.

  (274) Her sister Susan and Mrs. Locke. The day referred to must have been Friday, April 11th, on which day Mr. Anstruther spoke on the charge relating to Cheyt Sing.-ED. (275) See ante, vol. 1, .-ED.

  (276) The young son of Colonel Digby.-ED.

  (277) Mrs. Haggerdorn, Fanny’s predecessor in office. See ante, .-ED.

  SECTION 13. (1788.)

  ROYAL VISIT TO CHELTENHAM.

  (Since her establishment at Court we have not yet found Fanny so content with her surroundings as she shows herself in the following section of the “ Diary.” The
comparative quiet of country life at Cheltenham was far more to her taste than the tiresome splendours of Windsor and St. James’s. She had still, it is true, her official duties to perform : it was Court life still, but Court life en déshabille. But her time was otherwise more at her own disposal, and, above all things, the absence of “Cerbera,” as she nicknamed the amiable Mrs. Schwellenberg and the presence of Colonel Digby, contributed to restore to her harassed mind that tranquillity which is so pleasantly apparent in the following pages.

  In the frequent society of Colonel Digby Fanny seems to have found an enjoyment peculiarly adapted to her reserved and sensitive disposition. The colonel was almost equally retiring and sensitive with herself, and his natural seriousness was deepened by sorrow for the recent loss of his wife. A similarity of tastes, as well as (in some respects) of disposition, drew him continually to Fanny’s tea-table, and the gentleness of his manners, the refined and intellectual character of his conversation, so unlike the Court gossip to which she was usually condemned to remain a patient listener, caused her more and more to welcome his visits and to regret his departure. “How unexpected an indulgence,” she writes, “a luxury, I may say, to me, are these evenings now becoming!” The colonel reads to her- -poetry, love-letters, even sermons, and while she listens to such reading, and such a reader, her work goes on with an alacrity that renders it all pleasure. The friendship which grew up between them was evidently, at least on the part of Fanny, of a more than ordinarily tender description. Whether, had circumstances permitted, it might have ripened into a feeling yet more tender, must remain a matter of speculation. Circumstances did not permit, and in after years both married elsewhere.-ED.] Page 155

  THE ROYAL PARTY AND THEIR SUITE.

  July.-Early in this month the king’s indisposition occasioned the plan of his going to Cheltenham, to try the effect of the waters drank upon the spot. It was settled that the party should be the smallest that was possible, as his majesty was to inhabit the house of Lord Fauconberg, vacated for that purpose, which was very small. He resolved upon only taking his equerry in waiting and pages, etc. Lord Courtown, his treasurer of the household, was already at Cheltenham, and therefore at hand to attend. The queen agreed to carry her lady of the bedchamber in waiting, with Miss Planta and F. B., and none others but wardrobe-women for herself and the princesses.