Kit-Cat Club, The
Page 64
and Copyright Act 230
Dryden's publisher 4, 51–2, 78, 334
fails to be appointed War Office stationer 332
female authors 54
libretti 144
Miscellany Poems 30, 39, 67, 78–9, 127, 193, 330
official government stationer 361
Ovid's Metamorphoses 330, 367
pamphlets 181
Pope on 12
prints Gazette 170, 272
prints Guardian 285
prints Spectator243
Prior's poems published by 335
republishes Faerie Queene262–3
rifts with Kit-Cat authors 118–19, 152
Steele's publisher 105, 310
WRITING: anonymous ballad attributed to 147
classical translations 195
verses 12
Tonson, Jacob Jr 175, 363
and Barn Elms renovations 117
death 368, 376
and Kit-Cat portraits 360, 376, 377
and Steele 350, 361
will 369, 376
work in publishing firm 282, 325, 335, 349
Topham, Richard 187, 191
Torcy, Jean Baptiste Colbert, Marquis de 273
Tories 50
anti-Unionists 163
anti-Whig propaganda 232–3, 294, 314
attitudes to war 104, 160, 248, 257, 272
backlash against new money 245
clubs 239, 240, 276
and Dryden's funeral 2
excluded from Kit-Cat Club 39–40, 57
and Hanoverians 156, 304–5, 314
High Church Tories 139, 163, 181
Irish 207, 302
loss of royal favour 140, 156
opposition to Act of Settlement 98
opposition to standing army 50
parochialism 85
peace treaty concluded by 285
political fortunes 86, 96, 153, 226–7, 234–6
Prior and 94
purged from office 322
resignations in support of Harley 180
satirists 67–8, 70, 73, 110, 116, 137, 139, 144, 146, 147, 155, 235, 316, 370
Tory Dozen 276, 343
and William and Mary 26
Townshend, Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount 154, 305
dismissal 329, 330
leader of Prince's Party 330–31, 334, 353
Lord President of Privy Council 353
on Somer's support for Septennial Act 323
and Steele 318
and Walpole 311–12
Treasury 24, 25, 219, 305, 322
Treatise on the Principles of Human Knowledge (Berkeley) 285
Treaty of Grand Alliance (1701) 104
Trevelyan, G. M. 376, 392, 394
Trinity College, Cambridge 22
Trinity College, Dublin 15, 212, 227
Tunbridge Wells, Kent 254–5
Ulster 201
Union of England and Scotland 162–6, 169, 174, 202, 204, 320, 395–6
United East India Company 17, 19, 53, 54, 194, 228, 248
United Provinces 103, 165
Utrecht, Treaty of (1713) 285–6, 287, 289, 291, 304, 305, 315, 319, 331, 343
Vanbrugh, Charles 338
Vanbrugh, Sir John xiv, 18–19, 61, 191, 237, 276
ARCHITECTURE 119–20, 141, 185, 312, 330, 390–91
Barn Elms house 115, 117, 127, 313, 377
Blenheim Palace 140–41, 152, 159, 280, 337, 363–4
career disappointments 338
Castle Howard 81–3, 115, 119, 159, 212
Claremont 308–9, 311, 357
Eastbury 355
garden architecture 357, 391
Kimbolton Castle 185
Nottingham Castle 309
quarrel with Duchess of Marlborough 308, 313, 337, 352, 364
Queen's Theatre 131, 133, 136–8, 141, 145
Stowe 356–7
Surveyor to Royal Naval Hospital 337
‘Vanburgh Castle’ 360
Whitehall townhouse 83, 115
DRAMAS AND VERSE 19, 42, 55, 65–6, 67, 83, 138, 260, 357
censors and 6
The Mistake 153
The Pilgrim 132
Provok'd Wife54–5, 58, 66, 83, 253
The Relapse 19, 54, 64–5, 67, 245, 247, 253
A Short Vindication of The Relapse and The Provok'd Wife 69
Squire Trelooby 136
‘To A Lady More Cruel Than Fair’
(poem) 134
GENERAL: alleged homosexuality 64, 337
background 19
on Betterton's company 76
birth of sons 338
Collier's attack on 65, 69–70
and Congreve 55, 136–7
death 364
and Dryden's funeral 5
financial problems 259, 280, 306, 352, 354, 364
fond memories of Kit-Cat Club 362
and Hanoverians 158–61, 167, 306, 308
heraldic appointment 121, 159, 269
imprisonment in France 18–19
invests in South Sea Company 353, 354
Kneller's portrait of 269
knighthood 303, 306
legacy and literary reputation 386
and Manchester 89
marriage 336–9
military career 19, 83, 107
musical interests 133, 167–8, 390
and Newcastle 308–9, 313, 314
patrons 15, 107–8, 115, 120, 357
prosecution 83
and Steele 71, 149, 173, 364
theatre manager 136, 138, 141, 152, 159, 183–4, 259, 306
and Tonson 19, 33, 115–18, 121, 126, 127, 133, 336–8, 352, 360, 363
tours great houses of northern England 80–81
Van Dyck, Anthony 267
Venice 132, 144
Vigo Bay 112, 356
Villiers, Barbara 116
Villiers, Edward, see Jersey, 1st Earl of
Vine tavern, Long Acre 139
Virtuosi of St Luke 373
Voltaire 62, 288, 389
Waller, Edmund 12
Walpole, Dolly 154, 312
Walpole, Horace 271, 323, 340
Walpole, Robert:
GENERAL: background 153
burlesque organized by 259
Cabinet weakened by 394
character 153, 314
and Cobham 358
critical of South Sea Company 353
defends Steele in Commons 296–7
Freemason 372
house parties 312
and impeachment of Sacheverell 222
imprisoned in Tower on corruption charges 296
Kit-Cat Club member 153, 362
disinterest in literary patronage 312
legacy of 383
lives apart from wife 340
love of wining and dining 153–4
opposed to peace 276
and Oxford 393
papers xiv
patrons 153
South Sea rescue scheme 354, 355, 358
and Stanhope 235, 329–30
and Steele 300, 312
and Sunderland 355
and Tory prosecutions 318
and Vanburgh 364
POLITICAL CAREER 7, 311–12
chairs Committee of Secrecy 314
Chancellor of the Exchequer 322, 355
First Lord of Treasury 355
first Prime Minister 355, 393
leader of Prince's Party 330–31, 334, 346, 353
leader of Whig MPs 153, 156, 232
leads opposition to Peerage Bill 343, 344
ministerial posts 186, 222, 311, 481n
Paymaster General 353
resignation 330
as Treasurer's Whig 179, 186, 191
Walsh, William 52–3, 75, 79, 100
candidate for Stepney's jobs 178
collaborates on Squire Trelooby136
death 186
The Golden Age Restor'd 116
and Pope 193
Wa
r of the League of Augsburg (War of the Grand Alliance) 10–11, 14
end of 31, 46, 50, 63
War of Spanish Succession 140, 199, 206
increasing opposition to 195–6, 218, 225
outbreak of 109, 112
peace negotiations 196, 207, 220, 273–6, 283, 284
peace treaty 285
restraining orders 278, 278–9
war in Flanders 112, 356
war in Spain 112, 154, 180
as Whig enterprise 181, 194
Ward, Edward (‘Ned’) 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 61, 80, 191, 196, 247, 271, 336
Warwick, Charlotte (née Myddleton, of Chirk), Countess of 129, 171, 187–8, 326–7, 349
Warwick, Edward Rich, 6th Earl of 129, 326, 347
Way of the World (Congreve) 67, 76–8, 143, 155, 226
Weldon, John 99
Westminster Abbey 1–2, 3, 5–6, 177–8, 335, 347–8, 355, 366
Westminster School 20–22, 38
Wharton, Lady Lucy (née Loftus) 67, 200, 212, 215
Wharton, Philip Wharton, 1st Duke of 354, 373
Wharton, Thomas, 5th Baron and 1st Marquess of 61, 119, 253
and Addison 182, 200, 202–3, 208
and Anne 107, 200, 201
appearance 200
Court positions 49–50
death 316
and defections to Harley 225
denied high office 178
Dissenter 139, 165, 201, 202, 208–9, 214, 217, 227, 275, 307
ennoblement 165
financial situation 182, 238
flirtation with Dolly Walpole 154
and Harley's resignation 180
house attacked 223
ill health 134
and impeachment of Sacheverell 221, 224
impeachment threat 238
Irish properties 200–201
journalistic attacks on 238–9
Junto Whig 49, 156
Keeper of the Privy Seal 307
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 190, 199–217, 226–7, 237, 396
loses office 232
and Marlborough 220
marriage 200
officer of Kit-Cat club 113
patronage 97, 104, 182–3, 212–13, 235, 278
political ballads 382
reputation as atheist and libertine 66–8
son of 354
speeches 96, 208
on stealing of effigies 274–5
and Steele 300
and Swift 216–17, 237, 238, 294
and Union 165
Whig Examiner, The 234, 252
Whigs 74
GENERAL: anti-clericalism 250
attitude to war 194, 196, 273–6, 278–9, 286, 287
and Bank of England 25
business interests 136
clubs 373
Country Whigs 50, 191
Court Whigs 50, 86
deposed ministers 231–2
Dissenters'
wing 49, 139
and Dryden's funeral 2, 3, 5, 8
election results 86–7, 153, 155, 182, 235, 313
and Glorious Revolution 11
and Hanoverians 158, 161, 276–7
libertarians 35
Kit-Cat members 34–5, 39
legacy of 392
loss of office 86, 96, 113, 116
majority in Lords 139
and monarchy 86, 110
mug-house clubs 320
Parliamentary rebels 323
patronage 39
political ideas 37, 197, 252
propaganda 233, 288, 293, 299, 320, 321
Protestant patriotism 110, 140, 200, 251–2, 292
Queen Anne softens towards 140
religion 13, 67
schism in 186, 328–31, 334, 346, 353, 362
strengthened by Jacobite invasion attempt 182
Treasurer's Whigs 179, 180, 186, 191
ultra-Whigs 7
and Union 162–6, 169
JUNTO 14, 104, 128, 139, 179, 180
Anne and 107, 116, 156, 190, 196
declining fortunes of 92, 99
election defeat 97
electoral influence 86, 96
elevation to high office 190–91, 218
and Hanoverian succession 94–5, 98
ill health 134
labelled anti-democratic 102
lead Court Whigs 50
love lives 66–7
meet at Kit-Cat Club 49, 87
members of 14, 24, 49–50
negotiations with Marlborough–Godolphin ministry 147
optimism 140
rift with Treasurer's Whigs 186
and standing army debate 50, 51
Stepney and 48, 94–5
and Union 162–3
Walpole and 153
White's, St James's 372
Whitehall Palace 64, 65, 83
Wilde, Oscar 386
Wilkes, John 373
William III, King (William of Orange) 3, 10–11, 49, 53, 92, 158, 191
architectural tastes 81, 82–3
and army 50–51
assassination plots 63, 86
Court of 24, 50
death 106–8
dismisses Somers 93
and Dorset 47
lands at Torbay 134
and literary patronage 40
and Marlborough 104
Montagu and 23, 24, 86–7
moral crusade of 63–4, 68, 69, 70
Partition Treaties with France 93, 99–100
relations with France 50
and Scotland 162, 163
sexual allegations against 64
and Stanhope 111
succession 95, 97
and Tories 96
wars 14, 15, 29, 103, 104, 162, 203, 215
and Whigs 34, 107, 110, 394, 395
widowed 26
Will's Coffee House 4–5, 16, 34, 36, 71, 105, 150
Witty Club 5, 34, 36, 52, 53, 79, 80
Woodstock, Oxfordshire 140, 168
Woolf, Virginia 246, 347, 387
Wordsworth, William 384
Lyrical Ballads 384
Works of Virgil (trans. Dryden) 51–3
World, The (club) 371
Wortley Montagu, Edward 95, 125–6, 264
Wortley Montagu, Lady Mary 97, 269, 302
on Addison 123, 331–2
anecdotes 382
as child toast 59–61
friendship with Congreve 60, 143
on Henrietta Churchill's pregnancy 365
marriage 264
on Vanburgh's marriage 336–7
wit 60
Wren, Sir Christopher 326
Wycherley, William 9, 16, 212
The Country Wife 127
Yale University 375
Yarbrugh, Henrietta Maria 337–9, 360
Yarbrugh, Colonel James 337
York Buildings, Charing Cross 259, 316, 340
Zoffany, Johann: Academicians of the Royal Society 270
Acknowledgements
In a book containing so much about patronage, I must start by thanking my own patrons for their generosity, in particular Flora Fraser and the judges of the inaugural Elizabeth Longford Award, as well as Mr Douglas Blythe, and the Society of Authors. My warmest thanks also go to my agent Lizzy Kremer and to my editor Arabella Pike, as well as Gail Lynch, Alice Massey, Annabel Wright, Katharine Reeve and Carol Anderson.
In a book about friendship, I also wish to thank my own friends who have helped with my research in innumerable ways: Tim Richardson for guidance on eighteenth-century gardens and countless other tips; Rodolph de Salis for finding some obscure answers; Sara Payne for revealing local landmarks; Sir Kit Booth for advice on Dr Garth; David Dudding for the reference to the Yale Kit-Cat; Peter Tregear for advice on opera; Peter Parker for advice on Isherwood's Kit-Cat; Frances Wilson, Tom Dyckhoff, Jane Ridley, Juliet Carey, Norma Clarke, Caroline Maclean, Kirsty Crawford and others for their advice and encouragement; Nadette, Marie and Michael for accommodat
ing me in Dublin; Audrey and Austin Burton of Green Hammerton for their hospitality in Yorkshire; Giles Macdonogh for advice on the history of drink; Ed Kemp for advice on Congreve; and my mother, Michele Field, for her constant supply of clippings and references. In addition, I thank: the staff of the British Library, particularly Dr Frances Harris, and the staffs of the Beinecke Library at Yale University, the Gilbert Collection in Dublin, the Guildhall Library in the City of London, the Westminster Archives, the New York Public Library and Columbia University Library; Corin Fawcett and Sarah Colborne at the University of Nottingham Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections; Amanda Bevin and others at the National Archives, Kew; Mrs Cottrell-Dormer and Sheridan Strong at Rousham House; Rhys Griffith at the Herefordshire County Archives; Eddie Smith at Westminster School; David Onnekink at the University of Utrecht; Roy Wolper at the Scriblerian journal; Aileen Douglas at Trinity College Dublin, as well as Maire Kennedy, Charles Benson, Gerry Lyne and Dennis McCarthy in Dublin; Kate Harris at Longleat; Dr Chris Ridgeway at Castle Howard; Tim Rowse at Harvard University; Ray Barker at Beningbrough Hall, North Yorkshire; Mr and Mrs Stuart Shepherd of Northampton; Paul Cox, Francesca Odell, Robin Francis and their colleagues at the Heinz Archive, National Portrait Gallery, London; Shane Burris at Pennsylvania State University's Palermo Library; Shona Robertson at the National Theatre Archives, London; Lesley Whitelaw at Middle Temple Library, London; Philip Carter and Matthew Kilburn at the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; Margaret Ryan and Elaine Alahendra at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office archives; Hayley Whiting at the Bank of England archives; Jonathan Smith and William St Clair at Trinity College, Cambridge; Laura Edmundson in the British Pictures department at Sotheby's; Peter Milburn and Huw Colwyn Foulkes at the Harper's Trust, Bedford, as well as Tom Brown and Patricia Debens; Richard Knight at the Archives Centre, Holborn Library; Alice Sherwood and the other members of London's current Kit-Cat Club; Malcolm Taylor at the English Folk Dance and Song Society; Catherine Hall at the Theatre Museum, London; Carol Siegel at the Bough House Museum; Brian Perry at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, New Brunswick; Kim Kitson and Andrew King at Claremont Landscape Gardens; Caroline Dalton; Victoria Glendinning; Brian Masters; Cedric Reverand; James Winn; Eveline Cruikshanks; David McKitterick; James Sambrook; Katherine Bucknell; and Dr Christine Ferdinand.
Above all, I wish to thank those friends and experts who generously gave their time to provide comments and corrections to the text, especially Paul Laikin, Martha Redding and Stuart Handley. Responsibility for what Richard Steele called ‘squint-eyed Error’ in this book, however, is entirely my own.
About the Author
OPHELIA FIELD was educated at Christ Church, Oxford and the London School of Economics. Ophelia is the author of The Favourite: Sarah, Duchess of Marl borough, and has written for the TLS, Literary Review and Sunday Telegraph, among others. When not writing, she has directed programmes at a number of refugee and human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch and the writers' association, PEN.