The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-04-29 00:00:00

I COUNTESS OF SUFFOLK'S LETTERS.

(From the Universal Revirr.l
Letters to and from Henrietta, (loonies% of Suffolk, and her secon.l
husband, the Honourable George Berkeley. from 1712 to 1761.
With historical, biographical. and explanatory notes. Two mots.
lyo. Price 11. 10a. 31urray. London. 11124.

This highly amusing publication is understood, in the
literary circles, to have been edited by Mr. ('raker, to
whose superintendence Lady Londonderry confided (and
to !heir great advantage) the charge of these family papers.
Lady Suffolk, all the 'Nthd knows, was long the fa-
vourite of George 11. She liad been supposed hostile to
the political influence of his Queen, and her nznie is not
only intimately mixed with the Court intrigues of the
period, but intimately connected with its literature--since
Swift, Pope, Gay, Bolingbroke, Chesterfield, and many
others, have written of her in their works, and now figure
among her corre.pondents.
The volume before us present much matter for grave re-
flection ; and for gay reflection too, if ever reflection takes
that tone. It is pleasant to contemplate, as it' they were!
our contemporaries and familiars, the celebrated of other I
days, divested of their public characters. This is the
gnat charm of authentic correspondence, and these letters
passive it in a remarkahl tle,:ne. But even beyond this
they have a value which highly recommends them ; we
allude to their developement of many points in history,
and their evidence of other motives, and even other events,
than those which occur in tae heavy tissues of the his-
torians.

The account you `ire me (says Lord Chesterfield to Mrs.
Howard, in a letter dated Hague, July 26,1720)01 Lord Herbert's
journey to Paris is very satisfactory, and convinces me of the truth
of a common observation, that little regard is to be had to history,
especially to the causes generally assigned by historians for great
events. I confess his Lio3ship's journey had raised my curiosity,
as it did the speculations of all Europe, and nos been variously ac-
counted for, but the true reason has not been guessed. Stmt.
I thought that he was ordered to go and cruise in the Mcsliterranean
till the arrival of the fleets ; others thought he was sent to
Paris,to show that in hint alone wr were able to fulfil allour engage-
menu. For my own part, I (who am not apt to refine) concluded
I that the Court of France only desired to have him there in the
ab-
sence of Banniares. In short, every one judged according to his
hopes or his fears. But no thubt those Powers that were so appre-
!lenitive of his niotions will think themselves very well of when they
shall come to know, that for this time his Lordship only meditates
the destruction of tied wits. I can tell hint, to his comfort, that
there is not such a thing in France now as a tied wig, but they all
wear their own hair, or little wigs, that they call des bonne/2.-
1 Vol. I. p.

Anti Lady Hervey, in an Epistle of two years later date,
observes,

1 am mightily taken uppritb a book of letters, in which are many
secret negociations in the times of Queen Elizabeth, King James,
and King Charles the First. It lets one into several little anecdotes
of those times which are very curious.—Vo!. 1. p. 411.
Among the epistolary flirtations of Mrs. Howard, is one
of great length and gravity (assisted by Gay the poet, who
was her accessary in such matters), with the renowned
Esti of Peterborough. His Lordship's love-making is
woniltrously like that in the most ancient romances, when
five or ten volumes folio told of the wooer's pains, arid
bore witness to the obduracy with which ladies sustained
their prolix sieges. Yet I'eterborough was a poet too:
' e.r. gr. The following lines arc far superior to those ad-
dressed by Pope to the same lady :
I said to my heart, between sleeping and waking.
" Thou wild thing, that always art leaping or aching.
What black, brown, or fair, in what clime, in what nation,
By turns has no: taught thee a pit-a-potation
Thus accused, the wild thing gave this sober reply:—
" See, the heart without motion, though Celia pass by !
Not the beauty she has, not the wit that she borrows,
Give the eye any joys, or the heart any sorrows.
When our Sappho appears—she, whose wit so refined
I am forced to applaud with the rest of mankicd--
Whatever she so), is with spirit and fire;
Every word I attend, but 1 only p.'mire.
Prudentia as vainly would put in her claim,
Ever gazing on heaven, though man is im aim :
"fis love, not devotion, that turns up her eyes_
Those stars of this arid are too good for the skies.
" But Chloe so lively, so easy, FO fair,
Her wit so genteel, without art, without care;
When she comes in my way—the motion, the pain,
The leapings, the &things, return all again."
0 wonderful creature! a Woman of reason !
Never grave out of pride. never gay out of season
W hen so easy to pleas who this anol should be,
Would one think Mrs. Howard neer dreamt it was she !

Vol. I. p. xlvi.
MIS. HOWARD TO LORD PET7.11i101101:011.

July 26
I have carefully perused your Lordship's letter, about your fair
devil and your black devil, your hell aid tortures, your heaven and
happiness--those sublime expressions which ladies and gentlemen
use in their gallantries and distresses.
I suppose by your fair devil you mean nothing less thon an
angel. If so, my Lord, I beg Lave to give some reasons why I
think a woman is neither like an angel nor a devil, and why suc-
cessful and unhappy love do not in the least resemble heaven and
hell. It is true, you may quote ten thousand pliant letters and
p►ecedents for the use of those love terms, which hare a mighty
captivating sound in the ears of a woman, and have been with
equal propriety applied to all women in all ages.
In the first place, my Lord, an angel pretends to be nothing but
a spirit. If, then, a woman was DO more than an angel, shat
could a lover get by the pursuit ?
The black devil is a spirit too, but one that has lost his beauty
and retained his pride. Tell a woman this, and try how she likes
the simile.

The pleasure of an angel is offering praise : the pleasure of a
woman 1, receiving it.

Succesful love ra very unlike heaven; because you may have
success one hour, and lose it the rest. Heaven is unchangeable.
Who can say so of love or lover ?
In love there are as ninny heavens as there are women ; so that
if a man be o unhappy a• to lose one heaven, he need not throw
himself headlong into hell.
This thought might he carried further. But perhaps you will
ask me, if a woman be neither like angel nor devil, what is she
like ? I answer, that the only thing that is like a woman is_
another U•011111It.

How often has your Lo-dship persuaded foreign ladies that no_'
thing hot them could make you forsake your dear country ! lint
at protest I find it is more to your purpose to tell me that I am the
only woman that could prevail with you to stay in your ungrateful
country.—YoL 1. p. 159.
Lold Chesterfield furnishes the following :-
31•nost, Scarborough, Aug. 1733.
I have beard that ladies often command what they would be
sorry to be obeyed _in. Ido not know whether your command to
me to write to you f*uni hence was not of that sort; however, I de-
termined at all events to obey ; for if you have really desired
to hear from a very faithful servant of yours, 1 should have been
very sorry to have omitted it; and if not, 1 have at once the excuse
of obet:ienee and the pleas Are of revenge, by taking you at your
word.
This preamble being finished, which thy the way) is generally
the most difficult part of a letter, my difficulty begins, which is,
what to say. Complimebts you shall have none: they are sacred
Ito falsehood, and would be profaned by sincerity ; so that here is a
great and luxuriant branch of epistolary commerce entirely cut off.
The nest thing tequired in a letter is news ; but as to that, 1 may
with great truth make use of that short hut comprehensive form of
words of most letter-mien in the country to their friends in town,
which is, this place is so barren of news, and *Words so few mate-
trials Mr a letter, that it would- be but trespwsing upon your pa-
tience to trouble you with a long s.-roll from hence. However,
you shall have the present stare of Scarborough, such as it is.
The ladies here arc inruinerable, and 1 really believe they all
come fur their health, for they look very ill. The men of pleasure
are Lord Carmichael, Colonel Ligonier, and the celebrated Toni
I Paget, who attend upon the Duke of .trgyll all day, and dance
I with the pretty ladies at night. Here are besides hundreds of
Yorkshire beaux, who play the inferior pans, and, as it were, only
tumble, while those three dance upon the high ropes of gallantry.
The grave people are mostly malignant,. or, in Monsterial lan-
guage, notorious Jacobites, such as Lord Stair, 31:itch:nom.
A nglesea, and myself, not to mention many of the House of Com-
mons, of equal disatffiction. Moreover. Pulteney and Lord ('arts_
re: are expected here anon : so that if the Ministry do not make
a plot of this meeting, it is plain they do not want one for this
year.
The people of this town are It present in great consternation,
upon a report they have heard front Londm, which, it true, they
think will ruin them. I confess Ido not believe it; not but that
there is something probable trough in it. They are Informed that,
considering the vast consumption of these waters, there is a design
laid of erasing them next session ; and moreover, that as bathing
in the sea is become the general practice of both sexes, and us the
Kings of England have Always been allowed to be masters of the
was, every person so bathing shall be guaged, and pay so moth
per toot square as their cubical bulk amounts to. 1 own there are
many objections to this scheme, which, no doubt, occur to you
but, to be sure, too, there is one less than to the last, for this tax
being singly upon water, it is evident it would be an ease to the
landed interest, which it is as plain the other would not have been.
iVe have it here that the Prince of Orange does not come over.
I can hardly believe it, but wish I knew whether it be so or no,
for I should take my measures accordingly of coming to town.
I wish you may not think from all this stuf that these waters
are apt to fly into one's head, which may discourage you from
ever coining here, though I AIM persuaded they would do you a
great deal of good ; but to convince you that at least they have done
my head no hurt, 1 assure you no man living is with greater
truth or esteem, Median, yours, he.

C H EST E RFIELD.

It is said that Sirtriosrasr-7—oley is to have the command
at Chatham. It is not known yet whether Sir Charles'
Hamilton resumes his command at Newfoundland, or if
he will be sleceeded by Sir Alexander Cochrane.