The Sun.
London, England, 1838-01-11 00:00:00

COLONEL WEBSTER AND THE
“LITERARY GAZETTE."

The following letter has been addressed to the Editor of a
Morning Paper :
Sts--As you have published in your paper of to-day a letter
of mine which appeared in the Literary Gazette of last Satur-
day, you will oblige me by inserting the enclosed.
I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,
HENRY WEBSTER, Lieut.-Colonel.
31, Upper Brook-street, Jan. 8.
" Great Marlborough-street, Jan. 8.
Slr,—ln answer to your application to me for the name of
the author of the " Diary of the Times of George 1V.," I
beg to sal that the authorship of this work is a matter which
has been Intrusted to me under the veil of secrecy ; but as I
am able to declare to you that the writer is a lady, I trust you
will see so necessity for urging any further disclosure. I am,
Sir, your very obedient servant,

" HENRY COLBURN.
"P. S.—lt is a fact that without having the opportunity of
seeing more than a few pages of its contents, I paid 1,000/.
for the copyright of the entire manuscript.
" To Lteut.-Colonel Webster, Upper Brook-street."

We subjoin the following extraordinary correspondence re-
lative to a work recently puillisked.—.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LITERARY GAZETTE.

Tuesday evening, Jan.
SlR—Last night, on my return home late from Drury-lane
Theatre, the last number of your journal was put into my
hands, containing an extract from a work entitled " Diary,
illustrative of the Times of George the Fo-rth, interspersed
with original Letters from the late Queen Caroline, Ate. 2
vols. r Svo. Colburn."

In this extract, one commencing at page lid of the above
work, there is a story of a Lady —, whose conduct is re-
presented as so worthless se; to have beet iretrumental to-
wards the tragic death of her husband, from whom she con-
cealed their female child, feigned its death, buried a kid in
its stead at Leghorn, and behaved so " diabolicelly" that the
result was the death of the unfortunate husband, who went
mad and shot himself. You may readily imagine, as the son
of the lady alluded to, at what time this morning I was at
Mr. Celburn's residence. He had not come down; so I left
word that, at half-past ten, a person would call on him, and
at that hour I wee admitted. Mr. Colburn had not the
slightest conception who I was; end, after alluding to the
recent publication of the " Diary," I begged him to send me
home a copy ; but before I went away I expressed a wish to
see, in the book itself, if the extracts in the Literary Gazette
of last Saturday were correctly given.
A copy having been brought, we examined together the
passage relative to Lady —; and I asked Mr. Colburn if
that was not a dreadful tale, and one that, if true, might en-
danger any woman at a legal tribunal, but most certainly con-
demn her at the awful one of public opinion ? To this he
fully erreed, but added that he did not at all know Who were
the parties alluded to. After this important adrulssion, I
said, "Do you know me, Mr. Colburn ?" He replied in the
negative. " Then, sir, allow me to tell you lam Colonel
Webster, a son of Lady Holland, to whom these remarks ap-
ply. The story of the kid being buried is perfectly true ; the
tragic death of my father, Sir Geoffrey Webster is equally so,
but the details here given are a compound of falsehood and
absurdity, and are put together in a way calculated to give
the deepest pain and unhappiness to my mother and her whole
family. It is extremely fortunate fur you, sir, that the person
now ed4ressing you is of a very moderate temper, and r.ot the
most wasseptible of three other wear relations and connexions,
who wed have taken up this matter with equal promptness,
and UMW ability, perhaps, than myself, and who would pro-
bably *eft
&c. thee editor of such shameful falsehoods. You need, how-
eves., appirehend nothing of that kind from me, provided im-
mediate steps are taken towards suppressing the account of a
long past transaction, now ripped up at the end of nearly 40
years, for the sole purpose of giving pain and mortification."
I then stated to Mr. Colburn, in the following conversation,
th,t, previous to 1796, unfortunate differences had existed be-
tween my father and mother, whore he had left at Florence
with her young family. Young, beautiful, wealthy, and clever, 1
I leave you, sir, to guess how much admired she was in one of
the most seductive of the capitals of Italy. The result was
almest natural, and is soon told. Left, I lament to say, almost
abandoned by her husband, in this distant country, she threw
herself into the anus of one of the most fascinating men of the
day, alai when her children were, consequently, about to
to
torn from her by an order from England, she did feign the
death of her youngest child—she did direct a kid to be bu7ical.
at Leghorn in its stead, and, by every fond artifice that a tender
mother could devise, site did succeed in holding to her bosom
her youngest child. A discovery was sure to take place sooner
er later. It eventually did, and the child, the present Lady
Pellew, was token from her; but the only effect of this very
pardonable offence upon ray father's mind was, that he al-
lowed this child to see it's mother oftener than the rest; and,
so far from this transaction having env immediate offset upon
him, it is with pain I state the fact of his unhappy deatk in
1800, about four years after the transaction, which the
" Dia,y" says killed him. Instead of being ashamed of a
prcceeding which, in my opinion, throws a great charm over
the character of a mother, I consider it as aa example, which,
end,: similar circumstances, every woman worth loving, or
who posseessd a grain of feeling, wou'd have fellowcd ; and,
so far from cherishing much resentment agianst you, Mr. Col-
burn, fur having put forth this garbled acceari, -I rejoice at
the opportun;ty of being able, even on so h .se a foundation,
to establish the simple tarts of an occurrenc has lain
dormant for a very long time, and which has never, to any
knowledge, been made a euhject of attack hi print against my
mo.her.
My tale, sir, is now told ; it is a long or a but, under the
circumstances, not more so then is necessary. After detailing
these facts to Mr. Colburn. I then said to bin:, " Yeu may
imagine my feelings, and 11-. aye it to you to arrange in what
scanner they shall cease to be outraged bs this publication.
Of my future intentions regarding the unknown author you
shall be duly informed."
The result of my interview with Mr. Colburn was the foie
owing letter, which he di,l not hesitate to add-ess to me :
" 13, Great Ararlhorough-street, Jan. 2, 1838.
" Sir,—Among the various annoyances to which publishing
has exposed me, no one, perhaps, has caused me more vexa-
tion than the subject regarding which you have spoken to me.
Tha very honourable aed feeling manner in which you
have alluded to circumstances likely to give you the deepest
pain induces me to offer, without a moment's delay, the era-
sure oi the passages in the a Diary,' which, from the very
peculiar and minute details given, persous who have lived 30
years it the world, and especially in Italy, might aptly to the
party yee allude to.
" I feel greatly obliged to you for the manner in which you
have pointed it out, aid I shall he ready to give you my best
advice regarding the lever you intend addressing the editor of
the Literary Gazette, in which aper you first saw the objec-
tionable passage of the weak.--lam, &c.,
(Signed) " HENRY COLBURN."
I fait perfectly satisfied with this handsome expression of
proper intentions on the part of Mr. Colburn, from whom it
is my hemation to request the name of the author of the
44 Dal." If a man, I shall, upon meeting him, take such a
course-4k upon cool reflection, I may think the circumstances
may *Rey, tho world might approve, and my duty require ;
and afterwards, in consequence of my having condescended to
put rayeeli upon an equality with him, I shall offer him the
satisfaction of a gentleman, either at Calais or Boulogne; be-
cause a man who could thus attack a woman would have no
scruple, Is drag,ging me before a police magistrate. If the
writer be a woman,* I can only lament her feelings and indif-
ferent taste. And if the writer be not living, I must say that
the contents of the " Diary " shed no lustre on his or her
memory.
In apologising to you for this long, but hastily written let-
ter, which I hope you will do me the favour to insert in your
journal, as a son, I could not think or act differently. I have
read no more of the " Diary" than the passages which do
apply to ray own family ; and should any others exist which
may be viewed in the same light, it is my intention, after the
handsome manner in which Mr. Colburn has acted, to treat
them with the silence and indifference they beat deserve.—l
have the honour, &c.,
HENRY WEBSTER, Lieut.-Colonel.
31, Upper Brook-street, Tuesday Evening, Jan. 2, 1838.
It is generally rumoured that Lady Charlotte Bury is the
'writer.

SKATING IN THE REGENT'S PARK.—Yester-
-Nlay skating commenced. The ice was good, excepting a
rippling here and there • the finest and firmest portion was
next to tile Marquis of Hertford's Hindoo pavilion. The per-
formers of eminence were--The Hon. Frederick Byng, Sir
William Newton, Captain Trotter, Dr. Page, and the Rev.
Cyril Page ; Henry and George Chilton, Esqs. ; Henry Hill-
yard and Edward Sheppard, Esqs.—all members of the
skating club formed in 1830 out of the old club, the leading
members of which were the present Duke of Argyll and the
Earl of Jersey. Soon after noon two individuals fell in ;
these accidents occurred from too many per one congregating
together. Happily, except a ducking, no in orr enience arose
to the parties. if the frost continues the marquee will be
erected to-morrow, and abundance of god' caeer provided
for the fair visitants.

Skating has already eommenced on the Serpentine,
and the men belonging to tha Humana Sccie:y are actively
engaged in adopting precautins to prevent t !oss of life.
Tuesday morning, as Mr. Read, the engraver, was
inspecting the mechanism employed at the Bank of England
for the printing of bank notes, and standing with his back to
one of the steam engines, the skirt of his cloth great coat
suddenly became entanglel with the cogs of the wheels then
at work, and he was forcibly drawn towards the machine. Mr.
Read, CM turning to ascertain the cause of the violence, at
once discovered the eminent peril he was in, and loudly called
for assistance. A friend of Mr. Read, a most powerful man,
perceiving his situation, instantly rushed towards him, and
seized him round the waist, at the same time giving him a vio-
lent jerk, which had the effect of separating the skirt from the
body of the coat. Had it not been for the presence of mind
and strength displayed by this gentleman, Mr. Read, ere he
could have disencumbered himself of his coat, must have been
a lifeless and mangled corpse.
CHORLEY OPERATIVE CONSERVATIVE ORANGE
ASSOCIATION.-Our townsmen of the above long-worded
confraternity, will, doubtless, have duly appreciated. cur en-
deavours in procuring for their stomachs a repitition of the
annual festival of " re-action." This could not be—another
fifty pounds of subscription from the clergy and gentry could
not be forthcoming for the exhibition of gastronomy and
speechification. Some of these days we will publish a list of
subscribers, who gave their ten pounds, their five pounds, or
their names, to scotch the Reformers of Church and State.—
Preston Observer.