late colonies, a plan was adopted for confining them on board of lighters for the term of their sentences. In those colleges, undergraduates in villany commence masters of arts, and at the expiration of their studies issue as mischievous as if they had taken their degrees in law, physic, or divinity, at one of our regular universities; but, having no profession, nor testimonial to their characters, they can get no employment, and therefore live upon the public. In short, the grievance is so crying, that one dare not stir out after dinner but well-armed. If one goes abroad to dinner, you would think one was going to the relief of Gibraltar. You may judge how depraved we are, when the war has not consumed half the reprobates, nor press-gangs thinned their numbers! But no wonder how should the morals of the people be purified, when such frantic dissipation reigns above them? Contagion does not mount, but descend. A new theatre is going to be erected merely for people of fashion, that they may not be confined to vulgar hours-that is, to day or night. Fashion is always silly, for, before it can spread far, it must be calculated for silly people; as examples of sense, wit, or ingenuity, could be imitated only by a few. All the discoveries that I can perceive to have been made by the present age, iş to prefer riding about the streets rather than on the roads or on the turf, and being too late for every thing. Thus, though we have more public diversions than would suffice for two capitals, nobody goes to them till they are over. E This is literally true. Ranelagh-that is, the music there,- finishes at half an hour after ten at night; but the most fashionable set out for it, though above a mile out of town, at eleven, or later. Well! but is not this censure being old and cross? were not the charming people of my youth guilty of equivalent absurdities? Oh, yes; but the sensible folks of my youth had not lost America, nor dipped us in wars with half Europe that cost us fifteen millions a-year. I believe the Jews went to Ranelagh at midnight, though Titus was at Knightsbridge. But Titus demolished their Ranelagh as well as Jerusalem. Adieu ! LETTER CCCLXXXIV. Strawberry Hill, Sept. 25, 1782. I Do not at all guess when this letter will set out; for I do not know when I shall have any thing to put into it, except an answer to one or two points of yours of the 15th of this month, which I have received this morning so soon, that I suppose the East-wind must have brought it himself. I cannot tell why your nephew neglected so many posts; I neither believe him ill nor on the road to Florence, either of which I think I should have heard from Mrs. Noel; but I shall see her this evening at Twickenham Park, and will ask her. My nephew, who is going to you, has not so much reason for that journey. He was disappointed of preferment when Lord Shelburne, with whom he had connected himself, was made Secretary of State. However, Mr. Fox, who had the other Seals, named Lord Cholmondeley for the embassy to Berlin. When those two Ministers quarrelled, Lord Cholmondeley thought it became him to follow Mr. Fox, and resigned his unenjoyed post. This is what I have heard; for I have not seen him since the affair happened, nor am I of his privy council. At night. I have been at the Duchess of Montrose's. Mrs. Noel knew nothing of your nephew; but Miss Howe, who was there too, had a letter to-day from her sister, General Pitt's wife,* who is at the camp at Cox-heath, and happened to say that your nephew was there the day before yesterday with the son and daughter of your brother Edward; so, t'other Sir Horace is neither ill nor on the road to you. I hope you know so from himself before this. We are in no pain for Gibraltar. There are accounts of Lord Howe having passed Lisbon. We reckon that the Bourbonian Princes will have made but a foolish jaunt.† Our rich fleet from the Baltic is arrived with, all the stores we wanted. This is the sum total of our present news, and the relief of Gibraltar will probably be all we shall have this season. By the silence of new letters from New York, the fable of Colonies revolting from the Congress is quite annihilated. Every thing is mighty quiet here; and as the Parliament does not meet till the very end of November, I shall probably have very little to tell you for the next two months. I am not sorry that your influenza ended in a little gout, which will carry it off. I have great respect for the Gout, though it has broken my limbs to pieces, like the rack; but it is like the Turk, it seldom 66 -bears a brother near the throne." I am afraid it will not cure a famine. We expected one from a very different cause-from heat and draught. In this region of humidity never was so wet a summer as the present; but we had a * General Sir William Augustus Pitt, K. B., brother to George Lord Rivers, married Mary, sister of Kichard the fourth Viscount Howe.-Ed. The length and celebrity of the siege, rendered more interesting by the fame of the extraordinary preparations now going on by sea and land, had drawn volunteers from every part of Europe to the camp before Gibraltar; and not only the nobility of Spain, but many of other countries were assembled, either to display their valour, or to gratify curiosity in beholding such a naval and military spectacle as, it was probable, had never before been exhibited. The arrival of two Princes of the blood-royal of France, served to increase the splendour of the scene. The Count d'Artois, and his cousin the Duke de Bourbon, seemed eager to immortalize their names, by partaking of the glory of so signal an enterprize as the recovery of Gibraltar to the crown of their kinsman and ally. So confidently was success anticipated, that the Duke de Crillon was thought extremely cautious of hazarding an opinion, when he allowed so long a term as fourteen days to the certainty of being in possession of the place.-ED. parenthesis of fine weather for ten days, that housed most of the corn, of which there were plenty. Grass and leaves we have in such abun dance, that our landscapes are even uncommonly luxuriant. Nebuchadnezzar, who used to eat his dominions, would here be the most opulent prince upon earth. Our papers say, Lady Hamilton is dead at Naples. I am very sorry for her; but I hope, as she was a good fortune in land, that Sir Wil liam loses nothing by her death. If you write to him, pray mention my concern. 30th. My answer to your last would be so mouldy if I detained this any longer, that I determine to send it away. I might keep it back to the end of the week, by which time some account of Lord Howe and Gibraltar is expected; but that event may reach you before my letter could. I shall content myself if I am able to wish you joy; for I reckon Gibraltar in your department, especially as your vigilance and activity extend themselves to every possible duty that you can hook into your province. LETTER CCCLXXXV. Strawberry Hill, Oct. 12, 1782. An hour after I had sent my last to town for the Secretary's office, I received the account of the demolition of the Spanish floating butteries at Gibraltar.* There was no occasion for sending a postscript after my letter as I was sure you must learn that great success before my relation could reach you, especially as our intelligence came from * On the 13th of September, the ten floating batteries of the enemy were observed to be moored in a line, lying parallel to the Rock, and at about nine hundred yards' distance. The surrounding hills were covered with people; and it seemed as if all Spain had assembled to behold the spectacle. The cannonade and bombardment, on all sides and in all directions, from the isthmus, the sea, and the various works of the fortress, was tremendous beyond example. The prodigious showers of red-hot balls, of bombs, and of carcasses, which filled the air, astonished the commanders of the allied forces. A scene more terrible than this day and the succeeding night exhibited, imagination could not conceive. By two in the morning, the Admiral's ship and the ship commanded by the Prince of Nassau were in flames, and the rest took fire successively. The ten floating batteries were all consumed. "Such," says the historian of this mighty achievement," was the sig nal and complete defensive victory obtained by a comparatively handful of brave men over the combined efforts and united powers, by sea and by land, of two great, warlike, and potent nations, who, sparing no expense or exertion of art for the attainment of a favourite object, exceeded all former example, as well in the magnitude as in the formidable nature of their preparations; a victory which has shed a signal blaze of glory over the whole garrison, but which cannot fail particularly to immortalize the name of General Eliott, and to hand down to posterity, with distinguished honour, those of Lieutenant-General Boyd and the other principal officers.-ED. the Continent. We have heard nothing but confirmations of that shining advantage, and assertions that the combined fleets mean to dispute the wall with Lord Howe. He has been detained by adverse winds; but we depend on Eliott's being as firm as his rocks (which are all that are left of Gibraltar) to maintain them till he is relieved, or has nothing but his rocks left to eat. The winds, the only powers that have made a figure in this war, have been playing the devil: we have lost two men-of- war; and the Jamaica fleet, that were dispersed by a storm are not all arrived. The enemies have probably not fared better; for the winds, like the armed nautrality, mean no good to any body. This nothing is all I have to say; so, must tarry till something hap pens. I am sorry our correspondence makes us resemble vultures that live upon carcasses, and banquet where there is a notable destruction of the human species. Oh! I had rather it starved! 15th. Our generals and admirals are very inattentive people! they seem to forget that our correspondence depends on them. Eliott and Lord Howe have not sent me a paragraph for you this fortnight. I have not a dish for your table, brother vulture! but a dozen Jamaica ships that have been cast away; and you are too much the representative of the royal eagle to be content with such vulgar food. A public minister cannot descend to feast on merchantmen. Well! if it is possible, you shall have an arm of the Compte d'Artois; or a leg of the Duke of Bourbon; or, which you would like better, on Mediterranean accounts, the heart of the Duc de Crillon! A propos, I hear Sir William Draper persists in bringing General Murray to a court-martial; of which he will probably make nothing. 16th. I have just received yours of September 28th, when you had not heard of the destruction of the floating batteries; though it had reached us on the 29th, and even me, who live ten miles out of the world, on the 30th. I was told yesterday, that in London the siege is believed to be raised. I hope so, and that there will be no massacres there: though it is thought that the combined fleets will fight Lord Howe-it is not my opinion; but what signifies making conjectures on what is passed by this time one way or the other? I shall no longer wait for the event, but send this to town to-morrow, meagre as it is. LETTER CCCLXXXVI. Strawberry Hill, Oct. 23, 1782. SINCE I wrote last, I have received yours of October 5th, when you did not know of the demolition of the spanish floating batteries; which surprises me, as it happened on the 13th of September, and I had learnt it on the 30th, though certainly I take no trouble to get intelligence, but am here quite ignorant of all that passes. By the common newspapers I see that the raising of the siege is still believed, and that no account is received yet of Lord Howe, for which the public is as impatient as it is at present for any thing; which is because it is the chief object of the moment. The public does not fa * On the 11th of September, Lord Howe had sailed from Portsmouth with thirtyfour ships of the line, several frigates and fire-ships, a fleet of transports, victuallers, and store-ships, with a body of troops on board, for the relief of Gibraltar. He was accompanied by as brave and able a set of naval officers as had ever been joined in any service. The following occurrence, which took place during the passage, is related by Mr. Tucker: "A battle with the combined fleets of France and Spain was fully expected; and, the enemy being in very superior force, Lord Howe was desirous of ascertaining the sentiments of the senior officers under his command, whether, if an option presented itself, the day or the night would be more eligible for the action. It was understood that, as against such an out-numbering force, his Lordship's own prepossession was in favour of the night, in confidence that the discipline and practice of the British fleet would compensate for their inferiority in numbers, while in the darkness the disparity would be less perceptible. On the first opportunity during the passage, his Lordship assembled all the flag-officers and captains on board the Victory, and having fully stated the probable chances, commencing with the junior officer, according to the practice of courts-martial,the requested their voice separately. Every officer accorded with what was supposed to be also the commander-in-chief's views, until it came to the turn of Sir John Jervis; but he dissented. Expressing regret that his duty compelled him to offer an opinion contrary, not only to that of his brother officers, but also, as he feared, to that of the commander-in-chief, he was satisfied, that, if the choice of a day or night battle were afforded, the former would be greatly preferable. In the first place it would give the fleet the benefit of the able direction and tactics of his Lordship, who might take the more prompt advantage of any mistake on the part of the enemy, or of any fluctuation of wind, to make a successful impression on the most vulnerable point. Then, the execution of any evolution they attempted would be materially aided by the admirable code of day-signals, which his Lordship had then lately introduced. While, in the mélée of a battle at night, there must always be greater risk of separation, and of ships receiving the fire of their friends as well as foes!' Sir John concluded by strongly urging the advan tages of a daylight fight. After him the senior captains, and then Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Hughes and Vice-Admiral Milbanke, gave their opinion in conformity with the junior captains, Vice Admiral Barrington alone concurring with Sir John Jervis; only further observing, That he could not contemplate that any ship would be found wanting in the day of battle; yet, should there unfortunately be a shy cock among them, daylight would expose him.' It is related, that Lord Howe made no comment. The events of that voyage did not call his Lordship's discretion into exercise; but he seems afterwards to have evinced his sense of the soundness of Sir John Jervis's opinion, by the course he adopted on the evening of the 31st of May, 1794, when the enemy's fleet were directly to leeward of him." Life of Earl St. Vincent, vol. i. p. 79.-Ed. |