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THE YALE EDITION OF HORACE WALPOLE'S CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 Editor: Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis, Fellow of Yale University. 
 
 Robert William Chapman, hon. d.litt., ll.d. 
 
 Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. 
 
 •Albert Gabriel Feuillerat, ph.d., d.litt. 
 
 Sterling Professor of French, Yale University. 
 Robin Flower, f.b.a., d.litt. 
 
 Deputy Keeper of MSS, British Museum. 
 
 Edgar Stevenson Furniss, ph.d., ll.d. 
 
 Dean of the Graduate School and Provost of Yale 
 University. 
 
 Henry M. Hake, m.a. 
 
 Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London. 
 
 advisory COMMITTEE 
 
 Andrew Keooii, litt.d. 
 
 Librarian and Sterling Professor of Bibliography, 
 Emeritus , Yale University. 
 
 Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer 
 Felbrigg Hall, Norfolk. 
 
 Owen Frederick Morshead, m.a. 
 
 Librarian to H.M. the King, Windsor Castle. 
 Lewis Bernstein Namier, m.a. 
 
 Professor of Modem History, University of 
 Manchester. 
 
 Wallace Notestein, ph.d., litt.d. 
 
 Sterling Professor of English History, Yale University. 
 
 Frederick Albert Pottle, ph.d., ll.d 
 Professor of English, Yale University. 
 
 Chauncey Brewster Tinker, ph.d., litt.d. 
 Sterling Professor of English Literature and Keeper 
 of Rare Books, Yale University. 
 
 The Earl Waldecrave 
 Chewton Priory, Bath. 
 
 Leonard Whibley, m.a. 
 r Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge. 
 
 Karl Young, ph.d., litt.d., ll.d. 
 
 Sterling Professor of English, Yale University. 
 
 FARMINGTON, CONNECTICUT 
 
 25 July 1944. 
 
 Dear Professor Middeldorf, 
 
 Yes, I own all the originals of Mann's 
 letters to Horace Walpole, 892 in number. We began 
 the editing of them three years ago, but the war has 
 interrupted that part of our work. They are, never- 
 theless, partially indexed, and I shall be delighted 
 to put them at your disposal the next time you are at 
 the Yale Library. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 ft. $ Ji\AvCa 
 
 Professor Ulrich Middeldorf, 
 Chairman, Department of Art, 
 The University of Chicago, 
 Chicago, Illinois 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 with funding from 
 Getty Research Institute 
 
 https://archive.org/details/mannmannersatcou01dora 
 
4 MANN 5 AND MANNERS. 
 

 
 
‘MANN’ AND MANNERS 
 
 AT THE 
 
 COURT OF FLORENCE, 
 
 1740— 1786. 
 
 FOUNDED ON THE LETTERS OF HORACE MANN 
 TO HORACE WALPOLE. 
 
 ur 
 
 DR. DORAN, F.S.A., 
 
 AUTHOR OP 
 
 ‘LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND OF THE HOUSE OF HANOVER,’ ETC. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON, 
 
 ilublisljers in ©cbtnarg to p?er fHajestg. 
 
 1876. 
 
 (All rights reserved .) 
 
LONDON : 
 
 FEINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, 
 STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. 
 
 ■nt <i£Tnr CEMIEB 
 LIBRARY a 
 
THESE ILLUSTRATIONS OF 
 
 LIFE IN ITALY DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 ARE DEDICATED TO 
 
 WILLIAM P. FRITH, Esq., R.A., 
 
 WITH VERY PLEASANT MEMORIES 
 AND THE 
 
 MOST FRIENDLY WISHES. 
 
CONTENTS OF YOL. I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Mann Family — The Mann Pedigree — Walpole in France — 
 Walpole in Italy — Walpole with Mann — The Family of Medici 
 ■ — The Last of the Medici — The Lorraine Court in Florence 
 — The Princess de Craon — Mann as a Letter- writer ... ... 1 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1741. 
 
 The Princess’s Party — Etiquette — Prince Kaunitz — English and 
 Foreign — Ceremony — A French Abbe — His Romantic Story — 
 English in Florence — Police and People — Lady Walpole — The 
 Plague — A Serenade ■ — General Wachtendonck — The Silent 
 Company — English Critics — The Cicisbeos — An Adventure — 
 Match Making — England and Italy — At the Theatre — Operatic 
 Riot — A Fraudulent Banker — Jacobite Movement — Intrigues 12 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1742. 
 
 Warlike Movements — Admiral Haddock — At the Opera— Oliver 
 St. John — Earthquake — Condition of Leghorn — News from 
 Home — Troubles and Amusements — Mann’s Illness — The 
 Spaniards in Tuscany — Domestic Scenes — Mrs. Goldworthy — 
 Cedrati — The Jacobites — War — Mann at Home — Madame 
 Griffoni — Antinori — Politics — Theatricals — Mann’s House 
 — Lady Walpole — Presents from England — The Princess de 
 Craon — Prince and Princess — Madame Griffoni — Festivals — 
 Foreign Post — Lady Walpole — The Grand Electress —Monte- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 mar — Alarms — On Sea and Ashore— At the Pretaja — From 
 Madeira — Mr. Wright storms Lucca — Climates — The Pri- 
 mate of Lorraine — Ideas of Neutrality — Balaam and his Ass — 
 Hospitality ... ... ... ... ... ... 36 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1742. 
 
 The Pretender — At thePetraja — English Sailors — Captain Smith— 
 
 A Christening — Sposo and Sposa — Monsieur de Beauvau— 
 Cavaliers and Coachmen- — Scandal — A Young English Gentle- 
 man— Mr. Chute’s Letter — Fooling — Company at Mann’s— 
 War Bulletins — Pleasures — Prospects of Tuscany — Alarm at 
 Naples — A Yalet in trouble — Gratitude ... ... ... 79 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 1742. 
 
 Amateur Concerts — Divers and Sundry — Mann, neglected — Mann 
 and Richecourt — English Fleet — Marching and Counter- 
 marching — The English Admiral — War — Strong Measures — 
 Merry-making — English Captains — Illegitimate Medici — A 
 Mad Bishop — Censorship — Watching Pope and King — The 
 Domenichino — The Pope and Maria Theresa — The Pope in 
 trouble — A Strange English Admiral — Festivities ... ... 98 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 1742. 
 
 A Lazy Lady — Rural Entertainments— Satirical Medal— A Lively 
 Nun — A Domenichino by Sasso Ferrate — English Naval 
 Captains — More Captains— At Home and at Court — Sailor’s 
 Politics — Royal Gifts — Cold Ceremony— A Quarrel — Unwilling 
 to fight — Husband and Cicisbeo — Sposi e Spose — Princely 
 Economy — Bribing a Minister — Delicate Corruption ... 119 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 1743. 
 
 Theatres — Italian Fever — The Dowager Electress — Cold Com- 
 fort — A Duel — An Illustrious Stranger — A Poor Rich Man— 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 IX 
 
 The Influenza — Death of the Daughter of Cosmo III. — Strange 
 Arrangements — Travelling English — The Electress’s Will- 
 Bequests — Legacies — The Funeral — The Medici — A Duel — 
 King Theodore — Naval Battle — An Illiterate Admiral — Small 
 Talk — The ‘ Burletta’- — Ii Furibondo — The Duchess of Modena 
 — English in Florence — Plague — Against the Plague — A 
 Medal well earned — A Tender Bride — Madame Sarasin ... 137 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1744. 
 
 The Pretender and his Son — Prince Charles Edward — His Progress 
 — Jacobite Excitement — Suspense — Papal Sympathy — Charles 
 Edward in France — The Coffee-pot— Admiral Rowley — Patron- 
 age — Arrears of Pay — An Adventurer— M. de Magnan — Car- 
 nival — La Tesi — Italian Marriages — English Marriages — 
 Epithalamium — Mann’s Nights — Friends and Lovers— A Poor 
 Match ... ... ... ... ... ... 168 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1745. 
 
 Mutual Presents — Ignorant Captains — Savona bombarded — Move- 
 ments of Charles Edward — Jacobite Plans — Progress of Charles 
 Edward — Sea Fight— Letter to the Old Chevalier — Letters 
 from Rome — Flying Reports — The Chevalier’s Sons — English 
 Jacobites in Rome — The Jacobite Pope — Scenes in Rome — The 
 Old Chevalier — The Leghorn Merchants — Papal Perplexity — 
 Pope and Pretender — The Emperor Francis ... ... 189 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1745. 
 
 Social Traits — Speculation — The Craons — Sorrow and Joy — Eti- 
 quette — Legacy Duties — -Death of the Earl of Orford — Lady 
 Orford— Mr. Chute — His Letter — Prince de Beauvau— Wal- 
 pole’s Eagle — Family History — Mr. St. John — The Emperor 
 Francis — A Riot in Rome — Abuse of the Pope — Coupling — 
 Sea-Bears ... ... ... ... ... ... 208 
 
X 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 1746. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 The Jacobite Invasion — English Jacobites in Eome — Jacobite 
 Beports — Jacobites in Florence — Conflicting Intelligence — At 
 Sea — Eome and Florence — Pretended Jacobite Victory — Jacob- 
 ite History — The Higher Powers — The Wandering Stuart — 
 Uncertainty — Jacobite Hopes — Cardinal Aquaviva — The Young 
 Pretender — An English Gentleman — Garden Assemblies — Italy 
 — Marchese Folco — Orange-flower Water — Satisfaction ... 228 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 1747. 
 
 A Ducal Burglar — The Opera at Florence— The Ballet — Escorting 
 a Princess — Union of the Churches — Dancing Freemasons — A 
 Point of Honour — The Young Chevalier — Naval Court- 
 martial— Eoute of the Young Chevalier — An Italian Spring — 
 Jacobite Views — An English Projector — Lord Hobart — Henry 
 Stuart, a Cardinal — His Eminence, Cardinal York — The Duke 
 of Cumberland — A Bankrupt Cardinal — Caffarelli, a Ducal 
 Vocalist — Prince Pamfili — Scene in an Opera Box — The 
 Ladies — Eival Singers ... ... ... ... ... 249 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 1748. 
 
 An Eccentric Peer — Death of Binuncim — Lent — The Ex-King 
 Stanislaus — Fire on Board Ship — Cardinal Albani — Casa 
 Craon — Pope, Priest, and Emperor — Pope and Bishop — 
 Indiscretion — The Cardinal of York — An Affectionate Wife — 
 Mann’s State-dinners — The French in Genoa — An Impostor — 
 
 A Suicide — The Young Girls at Geneva ... ... ... 272 
 
 CHAPTEE Xni 
 1749, 1750. 
 
 The Young Pretender — Eesignation of Prince Craon — Movements 
 of the Young Chevalier — The Jacobites — Opening Letters — 
 Entertainments — A Painted Duke — A Trip to the Jubilee — 
 German Navy- — Carnival— Society in Florence — Literature — 
 Translated Plays — The Beast and the Baron — A New Fashion 
 — A German Marquis — Wit of Villars — The Venetian Ambas- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 xi 
 
 sadress — A Leader of Fashion — The Pope and the Venetians — 
 English Friends — Marriage Speculations — Florentine Villas— 
 Patricians and Nobles — Mann at Fiesole — Literature rewarded 
 — Illustrious and Most Illustrious — A Genuine Hero ... 289 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 1751, 1752. 
 
 The Empress Dowager — New Year’s Day— Hot Pies in Opera 
 Boxes — Imperial Funeral — The Brother of Mme. De Pom- 
 padour — Morals in Courts — A Widowed Mistress— The Pious 
 Lucchi — Compulsory Naturalization — An Epigram — English 
 Merchants at Leghorn — Lady M. W. Montagu — Changes in 
 Cicisbeoship — Mr. Conway — Gentlemen’s Gentlemen — Wit and 
 Impertinence — Death of Mann’s Father — A Guercino, by Astley 
 — Six Lives for One — Unwelcome Guests — A West Indian— The 
 Stuart Family — The Esterhazys — Banquets — Duke Leopold of 
 Lorraine — A cting and Playing ... ... ... ... 317 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 1753, 1754. 
 
 Duelling — Honour — Seeing Company — Prince of Anspach — Lord 
 and Lady Rochford — Theodore, King of Corsica — Feastings — 
 Wilton the Sculptor — Astley and Wilton — Bianca Capello— 
 History of a Picture — English and Florentines — State Pleasures 
 — Naples and Malta — The Inquisition — A Little War- 
 Deserters — Pope and Emperor — Rome and Tuscany — A Fight- 
 ing Friar — A Bandit Dominican— The Queen of Naples — 
 Miracles — The Papal Nuncio — Duke of Bridgewater — Boling- 
 broke — Lords Cork and Huntingdon— Priests and Friars ... 342 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 1755, 1756. 
 
 Deaths of Cardinals — The Due De Pentliievre — Sir Horace Mann, 
 Bart. — The Margravine of Bareith — A Curious Game — The 
 Margrave of Bareith — The Kings of Prussia and England — 
 Mann’s Arms — French Guests — Use made of Martyrs’ Bones — - 
 English, departing — Character of Sir Horace Mann — Pretender. 
 Elector of Cologne — Remedy against Hydrophobia — An Old 
 Joke — Voltaire’s ‘ Pucelle ’ — Causes of Earthquakes — Our 
 
Xll 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Admirals — Lack of Sympathy — French Successes — The Pre- 
 tender offended — Anti-English Feeling — Illness of Eichecourt 
 — Complications ... ... ... ... ... 372 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 1757. 
 
 Pope Benedict XIV. — Death of Richecourt’s Daughter— Damiens 
 and Louis XV.— France and the Young Pretender — The Pope 
 and the King of France — The Pope’s Letter — A Blasphemous 
 Prayer — Naval Affairs — Exit Eichecourt — Ginori — A Sick Pope 
 — Neglected Tuscany — Picture-buying — Prussia and Austria 
 — Difficulties — Te Deum ! — Walpole, on the Pope — The Pope, on 
 Walpole— Mann, Critical — Papal Ignorance ... ... 396 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 1757. 
 
 Before the Opera Curtain — Manzoli — Our Fleet at Leghorn — The 
 King of Prussia — Speculation — Marquis Botta — The New 
 Regent — A Te Deum, whispered — Baron Stosch — Mann’s 
 Ambition — Rule of Action — Dr. Cocchi — Character of Dr. 
 Cocchi — Dr. Cocchi’s Works — The Countess Rena — Walpole’s 
 Guest ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 416 
 
‘MANN’ AND MANNERS 
 
 AT THE 
 
 COURT OF FLORENCE. 
 
 In the year 1737 there was an Assembly in the 
 London mansion of one of the minor Queens of 
 Fashion, — Mrs. Strode. To a young fellow there, 
 who bore about him a sober look of satisfaction, one 
 of the light and lively Princesses of that Queen’s 
 Court — dashing Mrs. Morehead — swept up, and con- 
 gratulated him on his good luck. The gentleman was 
 Mr. Horace Mann. He acknowledged his good luck. 
 Yes ; Sir Robert Walpole had appointed him to the 
 English Legation at Florence, to assist and soon 
 succeed the present envoy from England, Mr. Fane. 
 
 ‘ And so,’ said the lively lady, ‘ you are going- 
 abroad, where you will become an ambassador, or 
 some great man. Well, Sir, if I should make you 
 a visit, what employment will you give me ? ’ The 
 by no means too modest young diplomatist gave her, 
 at once, a reply. It was one of those saucy answers 
 which fine gentlemen delivered unblushingiy, and 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 THE MANN FAMILY. 
 
 which fine ladies, laughing gaily behind their fans, 
 took much more as a compliment than an offence. 
 It took very much the form in prose of what Chester- 
 field said in his rhymes on dear Molly Lepel ; and 
 Mrs. Morehead was as little stirred, angrily, by Horace 
 Mann’s audacious gallantry as Mary Lepel was by 
 Chesterfield’s impudent audacity. 
 
 Horace Mann was the second son of a country 
 ’squire, Robert Mann, who was settled at Linton, in 
 Kent ; and who kept this son on a very scanty 
 allowance, which the sire stopt as soon as he heard 
 of the appointment conferred on his son by Sir 
 Robert Walpole. The father had never moved a 
 finger to obtain for his son that, or any other employ- 
 ment. It was a spontaneous act on the part of the 
 great English statesman. There was no sympathy 
 between Robert Mann and Robert Walpole, but there 
 was much friendship and a distant cousinship between 
 their two sons, the two Horaces — Walpole and Mann. 
 The Christian names, Robert, Horace, Edward, and 
 Galfridus, were common to both families, and Horace 
 Walpole seems to have had as sincere an affection for 
 ‘ Gal,’ as he had a warm friendship for Horace. 
 
 The latter says in a letter from Florence, dated 
 March 31, 1752 : ‘My father had always the unac- 
 countable vanity of appropriating to himself great 
 merit even in what he called providing for me, though 
 I owe it. totally to your Father, without the know- 
 ledge, much less the assistance, of mine ; so that really 
 he has never done any more for me than to support 
 me scantily for a few years, till I was fixed here, 
 for, from that moment, he stopped the poor allowance 
 
THE MANN PEDIGREE. 
 
 3 
 
 he made me, and even bragged of having done greatly 
 for me/ 
 
 The Florentines were, with their old pride of blood, 
 anxious to know whether Mann were cavalier or noble, 
 gentleman or aristocrat. Mann’s mother was a Guise. 
 ‘ I never/ he writes, £ had any doubt of my mother’s 
 side.’ He knew less of his father’s descent. He 
 wished something could be made out of it, and yet 
 affected to think that it did not matter whether 
 his father’s ancestors, if he had any, were hanged or 
 not. Mann indeed knew that his father’s father had 
 possessed and ‘spent’ a small estate, which had been 
 long in the family ; and that his own father had once 
 a mind and opportunity to buy it back, but, as Mann 
 supposed, preferred, under some impulse of vanity, to 
 be the first of his folk who settled in another place. 
 Mr. Chute pretended to have traced Mann’s descent as 
 far back as his great-great-grandmother, and he said, 
 according to Walpole’s persiflage, c by her character 
 she would be extremely shocked at your wet-brown- 
 paperness, and that she was particularly famous for 
 breaking her own pads.’ It was not till the Floren- 
 tines saw Mann’s pedigree suspended in the hall of 
 his house at Florence, that they were fully satisfied of 
 his gentility. As he left London in 1738, to repair 
 to his post, he little thought that he was destined 
 to occupy it for nearly half a century, and that 
 he would never again see his native land. 
 
 In the month of March, 1739, among the pas- 
 „ sengers who landed at Calais, from the sailing packet, 
 were Horace Walpole and his friend Gray. They, at 
 
4 
 
 WALPOLE IN FRANCE. 
 
 once, found themselves in a new world. They were 
 hound for Italy, taking Paris by the way, for their 
 pleasure, and intending to stay awhile at Rheims, for 
 the purpose of perfecting themselves in French, — a 
 curious preliminary for a sojourn in Italy. 
 
 April and May were spent by the travellers in 
 the French capital. Horace Walpole made, of course, 
 acute observations on what came within range of his 
 experience. French music set his fine teeth on edge. 
 
 ‘ It resembles,’ he said, ‘ gooseberry tart as much as it 
 does harmony.’ French splendour mixed with squalor 
 shocked him. His sympathy for the dead Duke, 
 whose funeral he saw from the window of a noble- 
 man’s house, was disturbed by the thought, that 
 though the palatial rooms were hung with rich damask 
 and gold, the broken window panes were mended with 
 paper. French religious feeling made him smile, when 
 he heard a Benedictine call miracles by the name of 
 ‘fables,’ and saw a priestly showman laugh at the 
 relics which he exhibited. Walpole looked at the 
 fagade of the palace of Versailles, and called it a 
 ‘ lumber of littleness.’ He sauntered through the trim 
 gardens and among the c cascadelines,’ and pronounced 
 the whole a pretty toy enough for such a great child 
 as Louis XIV. Having delivered himself of so much 
 wisdom, he took Gray with him to Rheims. 
 
 June, July, and August in the city where the Kings 
 of France and Navarre used to be solemnly crowned, 
 did not afford Walpole much matter for comment. 
 Royalty, royal troops, and royal comedians were ex- 
 pected, and ‘ Our women,’ he remarks, ‘ grow more 
 gay, more lively, from day to day, in expecting them.’ 
 
WALPOLE IN ITALY. 
 
 5 
 
 With a view to the officers, one lady was ‘ brewing a 
 wash of a finer dye, and brushing up her eyes for 
 their arrival.’ Another was reckoning upon ‘ fifteen 
 of them ; ’ and a Madame Lelu, ‘ finding her linen robe 
 conceal too many beauties, had bespoke one of gauze.’ 
 In September the wayfarers were among the 
 mountains of Savoy, ‘ the lonely lords of glorious 
 desolate prospects.’ The majesty of Nature had the 
 unreserved allegiance of the most artificial of gentle- 
 men. In October they were at Geneva, then back to 
 Lyons, and in November they crossed the Alps, 
 
 ‘ carried in low arm-chairs on poles, swathed in beaver 
 bonnets, beaver gloves, beaver stockings, muffs, and 
 bear-skins.' On the way, a young wolf came down 
 and carried off Walpole’s pet dog, Tory. Turin, safely 
 reached, was declared to be one of the prettiest cities 
 ever seen. Next came Genoa and Bologna, with the 
 remark, ‘we don’t go a staring after crooked towers 
 and conundrum staircases.’ In January, 1740, the 
 friends were over the Apennines and safe in Florence. 
 After Walpole had been weeks in that city, he wrote 
 to West : ‘ To speak sincerely, Calais surprised me more 
 than anything I have seen since.’ He adds, ‘ The most 
 remarkable thing I have observed since I came abroad, 
 is that there are no people so obviously mad as the 
 English.’ Later, he became £ fond of Florence to a 
 degree ; ’tis infinitely the most agreeable of all the 
 places I have seen since London.’ The Floren- 
 tines liked the English very well, and Walpole had a 
 gay time of it. During the Carnival, he says, £ I 
 have done nothing but slip out of my domino into 
 bed ; and out of bed into my domino.’ In March, 
 
WALPOLE WITH MANN. 
 
 a P.S. in a letter to West, says: ‘Direct to me (for 
 to be sure yon will not be so outrageous as to leave 
 me quite off), recommande a Mons. Mann, Ministre de 
 sa Majeste Britannique a Florence.’ 
 
 After brief sojourn with the Minister, Walpole 
 set out on that tour in Italy which he has described 
 in letters from Siena, Rome, and Naples. In July he 
 was again in Florence. ‘ I am lodged/ he says, ‘ with 
 Mr. Mann, the best of creatures. I have a terrace all 
 to myself, with an open gallery on the Arno. Over 
 against me is the famous gallery ; and on either hand 
 two fair bridges. The air is so serene and so secure, 
 that one sleeps with all the windows and doors thrown 
 open to the river, and only covered with a slight 
 gauze, to keep away the gnats.’ 
 
 One of the periods he most enjoyed and best 
 remembered was the month he spent at the Fair of 
 Reggio, where the strangest figures were the Duke and 
 Duchess of Modena, whose granddaughter, the Arch- 
 duchess, he received, forty-five years later, at. Straw- 
 berry. At the fair, in 1745, the above Duke was to be 
 seen, ‘ with a mound of vennillion on the left side of 
 his forehead, to symmetrize with a wen on the right.’ 
 His sister, the Princess Benedict, ‘ was painted and 
 peeled like an old summer-house, with bristles on her 
 chin sprouting through a coat of plaister.’ Soon after, 
 Walpole bade farewell to Italy ; and having agreed 
 that the two Horaces should begin and maintain a cor- 
 respondence, by letters, Walpole left Mann to his other 
 duties at the Court of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. 
 One word as to this personage and Horace Mann’s 
 position at his Court. 
 
THE FAMILY OF MEDICI. 
 
 7 
 
 Horace Mann entered on his duties at the begin- 
 ning of a new era. The House of Medici had fur- 
 nished Grand Dukes to Tuscany since 1569 ; for the 
 previous three hundred years the family had been 
 among the most honoured of the Florentine Republic. 
 There came a time when the head of the House pre- 
 ferred being the last Magnate in the Empire to the 
 first Man in the Republic. The title of Grand Duke, 
 with an Imperial body of troops to add to the dignity, 
 had a higher sound than that of Leader or Adviser of 
 the Commonwealth. The flatterers of the Grand 
 Ducal family told them they were descended from 
 Charlemagne. When Mary Stuart was provoked to 
 anger by Queen Catherine de’ Medici, she told her 
 royal mother-in-law, that she was only one of a race 
 of tradespeople. 
 
 Roscoe speaks of the whole Grand Ducal line with 
 withering contempt, not quite justifiable in its uni- 
 versal application. But no measure of contempt could 
 reach the demerits of the last of the race, Giovanni 
 Gaston, who succeeded to the title in 1723. At this 
 Duke John’s crapulous court, Mr. (afterwards Lord) 
 Fane was the English Minister — and the predecessor 
 of Mann, who seems to have been for a time Secretary 
 of Legation and Mr. Fane’s substitute when that 
 gentleman was indisposed. 
 
 John Gaston was not a fool by nature, but an 
 imbecile by abuse of it. Born in 1671, he succeeded 
 the travelled Cosmo in 1723. In 1697 he married a 
 widow, Anna Marie of Saxe Lauenburgh, a lady of 
 enormous weight, immense self-will, and no personal 
 attractions. In order to forget her, her first husband 
 

 8 THE LAST OF THE MEDICI. 
 
 took to hard drinking, which succeeded in killing him ; 
 and her second, John Gaston, ran away from her at 
 the end of a year. His mother, Mary of Orleans, 
 gave him a hearty welcome in Paris, but in Paris as 
 well as afterwards in Florence, John Gaston was more 
 of a rioter in taverns than a sojourner in palaces, 
 among decently-conducted princes. 
 
 Matters went worse with J ohn and with his country 
 after his accession. He had not strength to rule him- 
 self, and he left the government of the duchy to his 
 valet, Giulio Dami. There was no heir, apparent or 
 presumptive. The Grand Duke was chief buffoon in 
 the company of buffoons by whom he was surrounded. 
 Half his time was passed in bed, to recover from the 
 effects of the half ill spent out of it ; and business 
 became such a terror to this pitiful descendant of 
 the great citizen, Lorenzo, that to ask him to sign 
 a paper was like asking him to sign his own death- 
 warrant. 
 
 The Great States of Europe took the case of 
 Giovanni Gaston into serious consideration, which 
 concluded by their proposal to confer his Grand 
 Duchy, after his death, on Don Carlos, son of the 
 King of Spain, and Elizabeth Farnese of Parma. 
 John protested loudly against the arrangement, which, 
 indeed, came to nothing. There was a disjointed 
 condition of things just then in Europe ; and it was 
 sought to partly repair it by inducing Francis, Duke 
 of Lorraine, to give up his duchy and hereditary 
 estates in France, in exchange for the Duchy of 
 Tuscany, when it should be vacant, and the hand 
 of the Archduchess of Austria, the Maria Theresa. 
 
THE LORRAINE COURT IN FLORENCE. 
 
 9 
 
 Duke Francis strove hard to keep Lorraine and get 
 Tuscany and Maria Theresa too. But he was told 
 somewhat peremptorily, ‘No, no ! Without sur- 
 render of Lorraine, no Tuscany, no wedding with 
 the Archduchess.’ Francis acquiesced in an arrange- 
 ment which ultimately made of him an Emperor 
 of Germany. Meanwhile, as John Gaston con- 
 veniently and characteristically died, in 1737, Duke 
 Francis succeeded to the Tuscan Duchy, and Mr. 
 Fane represented England at his court. 
 
 Francis was not a resident Grand Duke ; he lived 
 at Vienna, and left the Prince de Craon at Florence 
 to administer the affairs of the dukedom. The court 
 swarmed with Lorrainers. All the good posts were 
 given to gentlemen from Lorraine, and the Prince de 
 Craon held the best of all. He was a Beauvau, 
 descended of the old Angevin house so called, which 
 had furnished many a brave soldier, wise statesman, 
 and gifted scholar to France. His father had been 
 the trusty servant of Duke Leopold. Duke Leopold 
 had an ‘ illegitimate mistress,’ and a legitimate son, 
 Francis. The younger M. de Beauvau took the son 
 for his pupil and the mistress for his wife. When 
 Francis became Grand Duke, he remembered this 
 double service to his father and himself, and he 
 obtained the elevation of M. de Beauvau to the 
 dignity of a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, 
 The Prince and his Princess are prominent figures in 
 the earlier records in the following pages. 
 
 The Princess de Craon wms not much of a Princess. 
 Duke Leopold of Lorraine was a gallant and hand- 
 some man. There was one lady at his court who 
 
10 
 
 THE PRINCESS EE CRAON. 
 
 cared nothing for his gallantry or good looks. She 
 wrote as much to her husband, absent in Tuscany; but 
 the gallantry was so insinuating and the good looks 
 so irresistible, that the lady at last wrote to her hus- 
 band, that if he did not immediately take her away 
 from Lorraine, she would not answer for the conse- 
 quences. She was ‘ erept ’ from the gay court ; and the 
 balked Duke thereof, walking abroad in the meadows to 
 digest his melancholy, saw a buxom girl in a field 
 driving turkeys. His melancholy was cured. In a 
 week the thoroughly washed and newly decked rustic 
 beauty was lolling and laughing from one of the 
 windows in the ducal palace at Nancy. This was the 
 lady who was afterwards married by M. de Beauvau. 
 For their respective services they became Prince and 
 Princess de Craon, and they were vice-gerents in 
 Florence for Francis, the husband of Maria Theresa. 
 
 At that Court of Florence, Mr. Mann did Mr. Fane’s 
 work for nearly two years, before he (Mann) was the 
 regularly appointed minister, and he frequently com- 
 plains that though he did the work, Mr. Fane (remain- 
 ing nominally Minister, and really not in the Duchy at 
 all) received the whole of the pay ! Mr. Fane was 
 a very particular person, and was very easily put out. 
 Walpole speaks of him as having ‘ once kept his bed 
 six weeks, because the Duke of Newcastle, in one of 
 his letters, forgot to sign himself, your very humble 
 servant, as usual, and only put, your humble servant. ’ 
 
 Walpole’s letters to Mann were periodically returned 
 to the writer, at his own request, as they were written, 
 as most of his letters were, for posterity. Mann, 
 in return, literally wrote reams of paper. They con- 
 
MANN AS A LETTER-WRITER. 
 
 11 
 
 tain a great deal of what Gratiano furnished by word 
 of mouth, ‘ an infinite deal of nothing ’ ; and one 
 might say of the writer in every page, as Sir John 
 says to the Prince, £ thou hast damnable iteration.’ 
 Moreover, very much, in some thousands of letters, 
 is a mere repetition of Walpole’s home news, or dull 
 comment thereupon. No small space, too, is occupied 
 by reports from foreign Gazettes, followed by correc- 
 tions of the reports, by the Gazettes themselves. But 
 the letters, slip-shod in style and loose in their spelling 
 as they are, are rich in illustrations of Life in Italy 
 during nearly half of the last century. To these 
 illustrations the following pages are confined, — and 
 they are now submitted to that pleasant old friend, 
 — The Courteous and Gentle Reader. 
 
12 
 
 THE PRINCESS'S PARTY. 
 
 1741. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1741. 
 
 £ I am just come from the Princess’s/ writes Mann, in 
 May, 1741, ‘ where was much company in the great 
 apartments. It was not an invitation, hut a hint 
 given to the ladies that their going would please. 
 The Prince took an opportunity to make me under- 
 stand ’twas no invitation, by saying he could not tell 
 by what accident all that company was met ; but 
 supposed, to see Count Kaunitz, the handsome Ger- 
 man. I found each dame protesting to her Cicisbeo, 
 that she could not see anything, extraordinary ; that 
 he was proud, affected, tho’ very well made ; but he 
 sat three hours at his toilette every morning, and that 
 the Inglesino (Hervey) was much handsomer, to which 
 most of the men agreed. Mme. Bolognetti was 
 there, by way of returning the visit the Princess 
 made her yesterday. The three first days, she had 
 “colique,” “accablements,” et “vomissment,” but being 
 given to understand all would not do, she at last 
 went. 
 
 ‘There has been a strange demele between Mes- 
 dames Griffoni and Yitelli. It happened on the road 
 from Leghorn. The former desired leave to pass her 
 
1741. 
 
 ETIQUETTE. 
 
 13 
 
 chaise, which was not granted. However, it passed ; 
 then, the second chaise (with some of Madame Grif- 
 foni’s attendants, young Panciattici and another) fell 
 down. Madame Vitelli ordered her postillion to pass 
 over it. This could not be done, and the stop gave 
 room for harsh discourse. Vitelli told the men they 
 were B — -f- — ti ! They replied Bu — g — ne, etc. In 
 short, they all came to Florence in high wrath, and now 
 each lady asks satisfaction; and the whole affair is put 
 into the hands of two wise gentlemen to make an 
 ‘ agiustamento,’ but they don’t know how to dispose 
 of the above titles. Though everybody condemns 
 Vitelli and subscribes to her title. Carducci is in the 
 thickest of it all ; as he, on this occasion, abandoned 
 her for the Griffoni, who had four chaises of attend- 
 ants ; the other only one. 
 
 ‘ The Princess went last week to the Opera ; made 
 it wait till an hour and \ ; was received at the door 
 by a crowd of Cavaliers ; behaved stiff, and went 
 away before the second dance. All this moves con- 
 versation here.’ 
 
 May 23rd, 1741. — C I cannot help telling you what 
 a Rook Prince Kaunitz has been, and with what art 
 he has got several pretty things whilst he was at 
 
 Florence. He first attacked the Bishop of A , 
 
 praised a stone snuff-box of his excessively ; which 
 for a long while had no effect, but at last told 
 him that it was finer than that the Ele'ctress had 
 given him; which the Bishop could not withstand, 
 and according to the Italian fashion, told him, it 
 was al suo commando. The word was no sooner out 
 of his mouth, but the Baron put it into his pocket. 
 
14 
 
 P BINGE KAUNITZ. 
 
 1741. 
 
 He then went to Stosch’s, and after having seen many 
 things, told him, he believed he was related to him. 
 Stosch was agreeably surprized to find so great a 
 cousin, and asked him, how ? The other replied that 
 his name was likewise Stosch. This wanted also 
 explanation, which was cleared up by telling him that 
 his name was Stosch-Kaunitz. There being then no 
 doubt that they were nearly related, Stosch embraced 
 him, and rewarded him for his humility, or rather to 
 act nobly according to his great birth and of Casa 
 Kaunitz, by presenting to him a gold hilt for a 
 Hanger, and two very good Intaglios. Buonclelmonte 
 gave him the “ Museum Florentinum ; ” Ginori, the 
 “ Vocabulario della Crusca,” and he asked General 
 Braitwitz for two Neapolitan horses, on a promise 
 to send him two of his own Stud from Vienna, which 
 Braitwitz’s friends bid him never expect ; and now 
 each of these generous people laugh at the other, for 
 being so easily caught. Stosch thinks he is the only 
 gainer, as he has acquired great nobility ! ’ 
 
 Stosch was a noble, like Kaunitz, and was a diplo- 
 matist also, after a certain fashion. He was a Prussian 
 virtuoso ; but he was employed by England, as a spy 
 on the ‘ Pretender.’ General Braitwitz was the com- 
 mander of Maria Theresa, the Queen of Hungary’s 
 troops in Tuscany. He was an amazingly ignorant 
 person. He spoke of the Queen and the King of 
 Sardinia as ‘ Ces deux Potences,’ meaning ‘ Potentats.’ 
 Among the English sojourning at Florence, at this 
 time, was the eccentric Lady Walpole. Her maiden 
 name was Margaret Rolle. She was a great Devon- 
 shire heiress, and she was married to Sir Robert 
 
1741. 
 
 ENGLISH AND FOREIGN. 
 
 15 
 
 Walpole’s eldest son, who was raised to the peerage 
 in his father’s lifetime. She soon separated from her 
 husband. At Florence, Count de Richecourt was her 
 recognized lover. The Count (a Lorrainer) was the 
 creature of the favourite minister of the Grand Duke. 
 He treated the De Craons with an aggravating amount 
 of lofty scorn ; and he did not care to be otherwise 
 than capricious and aggravating with my lady. 
 
 ‘I must tell you,’ writes Mann, ‘that you are 
 infinitely mistaken in thinking that my lady took the 
 reception ill from her Count. There are pieces of 
 sincerity and freedom that spoil nothing. I hear that 
 he has ordered a very fine chariot, which is to cost 
 600 crowns, and to be presented to her. I believe in 
 my conscience, an affair is struck up with the Senator 
 Rucellai, who is eternally there ! ’ 
 
 Among the able medical men of Florence, no one 
 was more able or distinguished than Dr. Cocchi, Mann’s 
 favourite physician. ‘ ’Tis terrible,’ the minister 
 writes in May, ‘ a man of his worth, and who might 
 be so useful to society, should be so neglected. They 
 have made him, in company with two old women 
 (Franchi and another), Inspector and Regulator of the 
 Sick in the Hospital, which honour, as ’tis termed in 
 the letter, from the Secretary’s office, of notification, 
 he seems determined to refuse. What do you think 
 his gain would be for an immense deal of trouble ? 
 Why, some long wax candles ; perhaps eight or ten 
 pounds of wax, a year ; and this honour and profit 
 the Court, who on all occasions, professes infinite 
 esteem of his merit, has procured him. As therefore 
 he is neither sensible of the one nor of the other, I 
 can’t blame him to refuse them.’ 
 
16 
 
 CEREMONY. 
 
 1741. 
 
 June the 13th, Mann writes of the Duke of 
 Modena’s plump and handsome sister : ‘ The Princess 
 of Modena is here. There is a violent demele, and 
 our Princess has not been, or will go, to see her. 
 Some time ago, she employed the Bishop of Assamea (?) 
 and de Sade to write to Modena to settle the inter- 
 view : — to be met at such a distance ; not to wait a 
 moment ; an equal chaise ; and the right hand. The 
 negotiators told Madame de Craon all was settled and 
 agreed to. The night of the other’s arrival, she sent 
 Marquis Forzoni to compliment her and to know the 
 hour precisely she might come. The answer was 
 whenever she pleased, and how impatient she was to 
 see her. Forzoni had private instructions to touch 
 on the affair of the right hand, which, by the answer 
 he received, shows it was far from being agreed to. 
 Count Somebody, who acts as her Great Master, told 
 him the pretention was extraordinary and could not 
 be allowed. He went, however, to his Princess, who 
 returned the same answer, adding, that however great 
 her desire was to see Madame de Craon, yet she did 
 not dare give up what her house had always insisted 
 upon, for fear of offending her mother. At Forzoni’s 
 return all was in a flame. “ Comment ! Elle ne me 
 donnera pas la main ? Madame de Modene fera ceque 
 lui plaira ; mais je n’irai point; je ne mettrai pied 
 dans sa maison; je me dispenserai bien de la voir !” etc., 
 etc., etc. Since which Mme. de Craon goes much about 
 en attelage, with an Ecuyer on horseback, and braves it 
 out. The Eegency sent the Prince of Modena a nasty 
 present of eatables, very ordinary servants of the 
 Court, and very scrub coaches, which she makes use of 
 
1741. 
 
 A FRENCH ABBE. 
 
 17 
 
 with a guard at her door. She would not use the 
 Duke of Tuscany’s box, though it is lighted and 
 adorned every night. They have taken the box over 
 against mine, joined with that of the singers, — hung 
 with damask and well illuminated. She is courteous 
 to a degree, and is adored by all the ladies, whom she 
 entertains by turns at dinner, and who pay her great 
 court. When she does not go to the Opera, she stays 
 at home and receives the whole town.’ 
 
 Mann subsequently passes to a story which, as lie 
 says, for the variety of incident merits a place in a 
 romance. 
 
 ‘ Count Lorenzi (a Florentine, but Minister from 
 France) received last post a letter from Cardinal 
 Tencin, to desire he would apply to the government 
 to have a French Abbe, who was some days before 
 arrived here, secured in the fortress. This was im- 
 mediately done. The Abbe’s story, as Prince Craon 
 told it me yesterday, is as follows : — He is born of 
 noble parents, in some part of France. His mother 
 was taken in labour when abroad, and put to bed in a 
 little hut. The child and she were carried home in a 
 chaise some time after. The former had fits and 
 showed little signs of life ; was therefore baptized in a 
 great hurry, and by mistake they made use of rose- 
 water instead of pure. The circumstance appears 
 trifling, but will appear of consequence in the sequel. 
 From his infancy, to the age of 17 or 18, nothing ex- 
 traordinary happened. He followed his studies with 
 a view of attaching himself to the Church. He then 
 travelled about France, where he fell in love with and 
 married a woman of fashion, unknown to his father, to 
 
 YOL. 1. 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 IIIS ROMANTIC STORY. 
 
 1741 . 
 
 whom he returned, and was pressed to take his degrees, 
 which he began by the tonsure, thinking that of no 
 consequence. Soon after, he received advice of his 
 wife’s death, at the same time that she did of his. He 
 then went on and became a Priest. She did not give 
 credit so easily to his death, but wrote to the Cure of 
 the parish where he lived, and was confirmed by him 
 that such a one of that name was dead and buried. The 
 mistake was occasioned by the death of his brother. 
 She soon after married a second husband, who died 
 soon. Some years after, the Abbe returned to the 
 place where his wife lived, and made an acquaintance 
 who told him there was a lady at a small distance in 
 the country who had a great curiosity to see him, 
 having been intimately acquainted with a person of 
 his name. They went. At his first entrance, the 
 lady fainted away. He had forgot her. As soon as 
 she was recovered, she desired a tete a tete, and soon 
 convinced him that she had been his lawful wife. He, 
 preferring his first engagement to all others, which lie 
 had taken in consequence of her supposed death, con- 
 tinued with her, and had three children, and called 
 upon his brother for the restitution of what he had 
 renounced when he became a Priest. They refused it 
 on his being no Christian, and quoted the rose-water ! 
 On this a law suit was commenced, but as the case 
 was so extraordinary and so intricate, nobody but the 
 Pope could determine it. The Priest therefore went 
 to Rome, and has been in the house and under the pro- 
 tection of Abbe Franchini. What success he had there 
 is not yet known. He left Rome, came here, and was 
 taken up, and is now in the Fortezza di basso.’ 
 
1741. 
 
 ENGLISH IN FLORENCE. 
 
 19 
 
 In a P.S. Mann notices the arrival of certain ‘hears ’ 
 and their ‘leaders’ in these words: — ‘Four English 
 are arrived here to-day. Mr. Clepham, who was with 
 Lord Mansel, leads the other three. Their names I 
 don’t know.’ In a subsequent undated letter, he refers 
 to these gentlemen, who were on the ‘grand tour,’ thus 
 — ‘ The four English, the most silent creatures I ever 
 saw, arc gone to Pisa, but will return to my little 
 house near the Arno.’ The departure of the Princess 
 of Modena, after scattering diamonds, snuff-boxes, 
 and gold-headed canes in profusion, among those who 
 had paid most court to her, is duly announced, at 
 great length. Florence was not much the duller for 
 her going. On the 24th June, Mann writes: — ‘ Here 
 are a vast many strangers, both men and women, for 
 our St. John. Their names I don’t know. The 
 English, Mr. Bouverie (a relation of Sir Jacob) and 
 Mr. Fuller, I know nothing of, nor of Mr. Trap, except 
 that he is a son of the famous Doctor Trap ; Miss and 
 Mr. Clepham. They all travel at Mr. Bcuverie’s 
 expense. They all dined with me and Sir Erasmus 
 (Phillips), but such a silent meeting I have seldom 
 seen : I could not get them to open their mouths ; in 
 short, I was vastly fatigued. They go nowhere, on 
 account of their having no language.’ Another 
 Englishman is noticed, a Mr. Sturgiss, who was a 
 friend of Lord AValpole’s, and the lover of Lord 
 Walpole’s wife ; indeed, he came abroad with her ; but 
 they soon parted, yet he remained a friend to whom 
 my lady showed ample hospitality. ‘ Sturgiss has 
 come back, but there is so little room for him in 
 my Lady’s little house, that she lends him the use of 
 
20 
 
 POLICE AND PEOPLE. 
 
 1741. 
 
 one room to sleep in. Every morning liis heel is 
 removed, and my lady receives company there. 5 
 
 In a letter of July 1, referring to St. John’s day, 
 Mann says : — ‘ On St. John’s day I was at the 
 Prince’s lodge to see the races. The Great Duke 
 won the Paglio. When it was carried to Prince 
 Craon’s house, attended by crowds, there were three 
 solemn Fischiati. In the afternoon of the same day 
 there was a country fellow to see the show ; 7 or 
 8 Gens d’armes, out of a joke, beat time with their 
 canes on his back. The fellow’s entreaties to them to 
 give over were in vain. At last he turned about to 
 the people, saying : “ Popolo, ajutatemi ; quest! mi 
 ammazoranno certo.” No sooner were the words out 
 of his mouth but the people assaulted the Gen's d’armes 
 with stones, with such vigour and so well aimed, that 
 some were wounded, and had it not been for a neigh- 
 bouring church, into which they fled, ’tis thought 
 they would have been murdered. The Priests were 
 forced to shut the doors, which was hardly sufficient 
 to prevent the people entering, whose rage was so 
 great that in all probability they would have finished 
 their work even at the altar. Some such insolence as 
 this will one time or other occasion a general solleva- 
 tion. Woe be to them when it happens.’ 
 
 Passing from the c people ’ ou the race- course to 
 the ‘ Quality ’ at the Opera, Mann says ; — ‘ The 
 Princess, after having led ’ (the Duke of) £ St. Aignan 
 and poor Count Lorenzi in triumph through the 
 Corso, in her phaeton, went in the same state to the 
 Opera, in the Great Theater, and supped in the Great 
 Duke’s box. The Prince, the day before, came behind 
 
1741. 
 
 LADY WALPOLE. 
 
 21 
 
 me, and with liis hands on my shoulders, prevented 
 my turning so as to see who it was. “ Devinez,” says 
 lie, “ qui je suis, vous me connaitrez par le chaleur do 
 mes embrassements.” All I could answer on the 
 sudden was, “ Ha, ha ! mon Prince ; oui, je vous 
 connois.” What else can one say to such things ? ’ 
 
 c I can’t omit telling you that Count R.’ 
 (Richecourt, Lady Walpole’s lover) ‘ is, I am assured, 
 sent for to Vienna. There is the greatest confusion at 
 a certain house ’ (Lady W.’s), ‘ but I believe she will 
 not follow. Whether the little bottle’ (laudanum) 
 ‘is to be used on this occasion, we shall soon see, but 
 I fancy the drops of a larger bottle will render the 
 former useless, seeming to be convinced they are a 
 better specific. . . . Count Richecourt is gone 
 
 with all the mystery imaginable ; where, nobody 
 knows ; nor why. He asked peoples’ orders pour Jes 
 eaux. My Lady, I suspect much, is moving, though 
 the Count said lie should return in 3 months ; to 
 others, G. Sturgiss ’ (the other lover) ‘ was sent to 
 Leghorn. Nicolini, the Abbe, her creditor, was sent 
 for, and told by her that, for the debt, she designed to 
 put some pearls into his hands. He says he will take 
 them ; and I told him he was in the right. Sturgiss 
 asked much t’other day about Geneva ; and then of 
 Aix in Provence. This, you will say, is all very dark, 
 but still I think may mean something. . . . Poor 
 Prince Craon is at the Petraja, and has again got the 
 itch ! August 6. — Prince Craon, poor man, staid at 
 the Petraja to scratch himself.’ 
 
 On the 12th August, Mann sent Walpole news of 
 a. ‘ scare ’ at Leghorn. ‘ The whole town of Leghorn 
 
22 
 
 THE EL AGUE. 
 
 1741 . 
 
 lias been alarmed on account of a sickness that lias 
 been discovered on board a French vessel from Algiers, 
 which is judged to be certainly the plague. Six people 
 are dead already. At last, the Government took the 
 resolution to send the ship out into the road, and after 
 burning for 6 hours to sink her ; which has been 
 executed. The remainder of the crew were obliged to 
 swim to the Marzocco (a little fort), where everything 
 was prepared for them, and where they must live some 
 months. A second alarm has been occasioned there 
 by the dangerous illness of General Wachtendonck, 
 who has been given over by his physicians and turned 
 over to the priests. He was not dead at the departure 
 of the last letter, but there were few hopes. They 
 had exposed the Sacrament in several Churches, and 
 were making processions for his recovery. Though 
 the subject is melancholy, I own I could not help 
 laughing at Mrs. Goldworthy ’s account, — whose 
 words are, “ There is no hopes of his doing well. 
 God send he may, as he has but few equals. 1 am 
 afraid he is too good to be amongst us ! ” What 
 
 words could Madame make use of stronger? She must 
 have told him he has no equals. 5 
 
 The moribund warrior was General of the Grand 
 Duke’s troops at Leghorn. Mrs. Goldwortliy’s hus- 
 band was English Consul in that town, where he 
 intrigued, unsuccessfully, to supplant Mann at Flo- 
 rence. Madame was a niece of Sir Charles Wager, 
 and an ill-educated woman. Wachtendonck was her 
 Cieisbeo, and something more. He spent a good deal 
 of money on her ; and, being a methodical man, he 
 put down every Zecchino in his account book, and 
 
1741. 
 
 A SERENADE. 
 
 23 
 
 the reason for which it was expended. Mann was 
 delighted at the condition in the domestic affairs of 
 his enemy, the Consul. Meanwhile, there were gay 
 doings at Florence. 
 
 ‘ There’s a very great Cocchiata ’ (a serenade in 
 coaches) ‘ to night on the Terrass of the Corsini house, 
 Lung’ Arno. Chains are put up at the ends of the 
 street, to prevent Coaches approaching, so that the 
 whole town will he there, or thereabouts, a-foot ; ’tis 
 a charming situation, you know, for such a thing ; 
 and the night is most favourable, after some of the 
 hottest days, they say, of this or any other summer. 
 Oh, if you were here, I am sure you would be pleased 
 and would be among’st ’em in your long night-gown, 
 till break of day. ’Tis made by 12 Cavalieri, set on 
 foot and managed by Abbate Capponi. It begins at 
 5 hours.’ 
 
 On the 21st August, Mann expresses a hope that 
 some at least of the letters addressed to Walpole 
 would reach him. There was faint reliance on the 
 perfect trustworthiness of the Post in those days. 
 To a reference, made by Walpole, to Spence, who 
 was travelling with him, Mann replies : £ Spence, I 
 take it, will always be a Fellow of a College ; that is, 
 with all their classical learning, extreme tiresome. 
 It is a character, extreme difficult, I have observed, 
 to lay aside ; but how few people there are we can 
 bear to be locked up with ! ’ The Prince de Craon 
 was one of these. ‘ The Prince and Princess are still 
 at the Pet-raja ; and the Prince extreme bad with 
 the Itch.’ Mann adds : ‘ Wachtendonck is dead. He 
 died last Tuesday of a malignant fever which has 
 
24 
 
 GENERAL WAGHTENDONCE. 
 
 1741 
 
 been common here among the poor people, attributed 
 to the effects of the inundation. At the beginning 
 of his illness, he sent to desire Mr. and Mrs. Gold- 
 worthy not to come to him. He, however, went and 
 was totally neglected. This did not proceed from 
 pique, but from a desire, as he expressed it, to “ fare 
 il gran passo come si dove vat’ The Priests soon got 
 about him, and banished the two pictures, Mrs. Gold- 
 worthy’s and the Princess Triulzi’s, from his bed-side, 
 to make room for those of Saints of both sexes. Altars 
 were erected, and whole loads of relicks brought him, 
 to which the pious General applied with great fervour. 
 I was told that he was in great danger, but was still 
 kept alive aforza delle gran preghiere, and that Mrs. 
 
 Gold had caused many masses to be said for his 
 
 recovery ; so that he made his exit quite to the satis- 
 faction of the Capuchins, and edification of his Godly 
 beholders. His Farewell was performed with great 
 pomp, after he had lain in state in his Hall, in the 
 midst of altars erected for the occasion. He left 
 Mrs. Goldworthy his body coach and a pair of horses, 
 but they say the order cannot be complied with, as 
 it was verbal ; besides, being a Chevalier de Malta, he 
 could not bequeath unless he had a permission for 
 a fifth part ; which if asked is never denied. 
 
 ‘Last night (at the Opera), Bali Kinaldi took some- 
 thing ill of Cavaliere Pitti, who had never any design 
 to offend him, and less inclination to fight, which the 
 other observing, was less tractable. But, as it was 
 near my box, I was desired to intercede On my 
 first appearance, before I knew a word of the story, 
 Albergotti, who was mediating, said : “ Via, Signor 
 
1741 . 
 
 THE SILENT COMPANY. 
 
 Bali. Ecco un Ministro chi e capace cli fare la pace 
 tra 1’ Inghilterra e la Spagna ; che non sia mai cletto 
 cli’ abbia mancato in questo.” On which the Bali was 
 more compliant, and condescended to promise not to 
 kill Pitti. It has been since said that I made the 
 Agiustamento.’ 
 
 2 7 th August . — ‘ Mr. Chute is a good deal with me. 
 The silent company dined here the day before yester- 
 day, and as most of them are downright Johns, Mr. 
 Chute was convinced they despised him much. They 
 disliked his fan extremely. They wanted to drink 
 after dinner ; but you know I never allow that, so 
 called for coffee, and asked them if they would not 
 walk in the garden. I saw they were out of humour, 
 and was convinced all the time one is entertaining and 
 thinking to be civil, that they despise one vastly. 
 Indeed, there are so few worth obliging that to attempt 
 it is time and money thrown away. Last night we had 
 the most terrible storm of rain and hail, with thunder 
 and lightning, I ever heard. My servants were all 
 frightened out of their wits. They all stuck close 
 together, nor would separate to go to bed, till ’twas 
 over. I was pleased to see that Giuseppe ran home to 
 his wife, the moment he had put me to bed. It has 
 cooled the air so much that I fear I shall be drove 
 out of the Terreno soon. I shall be sorry to quit 
 it, for ’tis the prettiest appartment I ever saw.’ 
 
 September 2nd . — ‘ I was at Mons. Suares’ villa, to 
 see his “ Demetrio,” which I was forced to praise 
 vastly. The whole town was in raptures about it, 
 though it was bad enough. Mr. Chute and I sat 
 together and had the private satisfaction of abusing 
 
26 
 
 ENGLISH CRITICS. 
 
 1741. 
 
 them all the while, hut then wc had the mortification 
 after it was over to be obliged to commend every- 
 thing, and own that the sentiments were great, and 
 that Metastasio was unico. Mr. Chute thanks you 
 for liking the Maison Quarree, and promises in return 
 to like anything you please to direct. He is ex- 
 tremely entertaining, but he found out that the herd 
 of English do not take to him ever since he came in 
 his fan. . . . Poor Prince Craon is bad with his itch ; 
 on which account he is returned from the Petraja. 
 The Princess came sore against her will, et dans la 
 prevention de tomber malade d son entree dans 
 Florence, with which she is now confined to her bed. 
 The Prince asked me if I would go into her room, 
 which I accepted, but Forzoni had received instruc- 
 tions to the contrary, so all was over. Conte del 
 Benniro is dead at last ! The little Countess has put 
 her husband under the Papilli. Some blame her 
 much. I had not seen her for some time before 
 yesterday, and that was at a distance, in the deepest 
 mourning-coach I ever saw. I did not know her at 
 first, but was soon convinced it could be nobody else 
 by her extreme liveliness through such dismal trappings. 
 I thought she would have jumped out of them, so 
 great was her pleasure to be met. The Sposo and 
 Sposa Eossi, from high words have come to blows. 
 He bore the first tolerably well, but when Madame 
 pushed things further, he turned again, pulled off her 
 cap and tumbled her hair so, that she was unfit to 
 appear at the Conversation, to which she was that 
 instant going. Her own relations are against her, and 
 she has been told that if she goes on with her fisty- 
 
1741. 
 
 THE CICISBEOS. 
 
 cuffs, she runs great risk of dying in a convent, or at 
 best, a villa.’ 
 
 Sept. 10. — £ I was last night, for the first time, at 
 tire Burletta, at the little theater ; the worst entertain- 
 ment I really ever saw. The first woman is called 
 La Cecca, from being protected by Cecco. She is a 
 third sister of the Giudita. He, Cecco, introduced her 
 to his mother, who really looked upon her with 
 pleasure, made everybody observe everything that 
 Avas tolerable about her, and from that time took her 
 under her own protection.’ 
 
 Mann, in a letter dated September I7tli, gives 
 further illustrations of Florentine life, in a description 
 of a flutter among the Cicisbeos, at a great Festino at 
 Riccasoli’s : — - 
 
 £ There Avere 280 ladies, and men out of all pro- 
 portion. It proved a fatal night to the Cicisbeos. 
 In the first place, the great black-headed Frescobaldi 
 fairly dismissed her Bernardino, avIio “per verita ed 
 in legge cT onore,” Avas greatly disconcerted. I expect, 
 hoAvever, to hear she has taken him on again, as the 
 fat Antinori can never be sufficient alone. The 
 Gaburra dismissed poor Andre Siristori, who, in 
 appearance, is disconsolate. I saAV him the next 
 night at the opera. She Avas in my box, and he in all 
 those opposite to it. Some suspect that her relations 
 have made her uneasy, and that this separation is a 
 concerted matter. Madame Gondi has turned off the 
 poor pale-faced Abbe ; to be sure, for the same reasons 
 
 that Miss Edwards did Lord Anne . She has 
 
 not, I hear, yet fixed upon another. The Vitelli 
 pines after Avhat the Parigi robs her of, and daily sees 
 
28 
 
 AN ADVENTURE. 
 
 mi. 
 
 Giovanino’s infidelities. He thinks Conclucci supplies 
 his place. . . . The greatest heroine of all is the Pepi. 
 Pecori left her for a few days, for the Parigi. I did 
 not know till lately, she was so exasperated, that she 
 had resolved his death ; for which purpose she dressed 
 herself like an Abbe, with a couple of pistols in 
 her pockets, and marched out to waylay him ; but, 
 most unluckily, met with the Guard of Sbirri, who, 
 after a certain hour, stops odd figures, to search for 
 prohibited arms. They found the pistols upon her, 
 and hurried her to the Bargello’s prison, where she 
 was forced to discover herself to be an injured Lady, 
 and that Love was the cause of her transports. 
 Money, I suppose, helped it up, and she was dismissed 
 to go home to sleep by her husband/ 
 
 ‘ Cecco’s mother has not appeared at any of these 
 places ; she says, on account of some waters she is 
 drinking, which require her to stay at home in the 
 evenings, to avoid the night air. But Ceeco was 
 more honest. On my asking him, bonnement, why his 
 mother did not appear, he whispered me that she 
 had no jewels, that they were all in pawn, nor could 
 be redeemed ! I have known her pay a monstrous 
 price for the use of her own jewels, for one night ; 
 and then return them the next morning to the jew. 
 1 really pity her, but more on another account. She 
 tells me that if it were possible to add a little more to 
 the Dote they design to give the Teresina, she should 
 have hopes of marrying her to Roberto Pandolfini, who 
 has explained himself so far as to discover he likes her 
 person ; but, as his mother had 12,000 crowns, he 
 must have it too. However, Madame thinks 9 or 10 
 
1741. 
 
 MA TCH-MAKING. 
 
 29 
 
 Avould do, and is actually employing a tried and 
 common friend to persuade him to take 6, which is 
 all they have to give. That oaf, the Bishop, might 
 give her something, hut he has declared his conscience 
 wont let him take from God, to give his niece.’ 
 
 Among the Mann letters, there is occasionally one 
 from Chute, ‘To the Hon. Horatio Walpole, Esq., 
 These,’ is the superscription over some chronicling of 
 small beer, with this notice of princely malady and 
 manners : c The poor Prince’s Distemper being of a 
 nature to be carried always at his Fingers’ ends, and 
 so not admitting of enquiries much, I, who you know 
 am half blind, must be ill qualify’ d to give an account 
 of his Progress ; but I think he does not ferret so 
 much as he did. His Princess, I believe, enjoys per- 
 fect Health ; a Circumstance always supposed con- 
 ducing to which, she took care to mark strongly the 
 other night to her whole assembly, by addressing 
 herself to us all, as she sail’d in all her floating 
 majesty from the further end of the Gallery to the 
 Door of one of her more private Apartments, in these 
 Terms: “Je ne demande Permission a Perso n n o 
 you know how to accent it, and explain advan- 
 tageously, as I did, to the state of her Constitution.’ 
 At this time Walpole had returned to England. 
 The first letter addressed by him to the British 
 Minister at Florence, was begun at Calais in Sep- 
 tember, 1741, and finished at Sittingbourne (Kent) on 
 the 13th of the month. ‘The country town,’ writes 
 the wanderer, at home, ‘ delights me ; the populous- 
 ness, the ease, the gaiety, and well-dressed every-body 
 amaze me. Canterbury, which on my setting- out I 
 
30 
 
 ENGLAND AND ITALY. 
 
 1741. 
 
 thought deplorable, is a Paradise to Modena, Reggio, 
 Parma, etc. I had before discovered that there was 
 nowhere but in England, “middling people.” I per- 
 ceive now that there is peculiar to ns, “middling 
 houses.” How snug they are ! ’ 
 
 To this outburst, Mann replies : — ‘ I am glad of 
 all that’s in your letter ; that you are safe arrived ; 
 that your company diverted you ; and that, at landing, 
 they respected the person of your trunks ; and am 
 extremely glad to find that you was struck, as I really 
 was, at my return to England, after having been 
 abroad, where there is such a ragged appearance, 
 except in the very great towns, to what we see in 
 the middling towns at home. If we could alter some 
 things (many things), and totally change the climate, 
 it would be preferable to all other places.’ 
 
 From this faint praise of home, Mann gets back to 
 the noblest house in Florence, and to the Prince Craon, 
 who, having recovered from his itch, celebrated the 
 event by a grand dinner : — ‘ ’Twas a dinner at which 
 the Princess did not appear, but at the window of the 
 gallery which looks, you know, into the room where 
 we dined. We were 25 at table. The Prince and I 
 sat at the two ends of the table ; but not to be less 
 loving than if we had been near, we sent messages to 
 each other continually. Among others, one was to 
 drink your health, to me ; which I returned by the 
 same Page, by drinking his child’s health, to him ; 
 — Prince Beauvau’s. The only difficulty I was put 
 to on this occasion, where healths must not be drunk 
 in water, was about wine, as I have totally left it off, 
 since the beginning of my illness, but a thimble-full 
 
1741 . 
 
 AT THE THEATRE. 
 
 31 
 
 does to colour the water, and one glass does for the 
 whole table. At night, there was no invitation of 
 ladies, but it was given out that “ tutte sarebbero 
 gradite.” . . . Madame Griff oni is vastly well and 
 continues handsome. Her sister grows monstrously 
 fat, else would be handsome too. The good little 
 Albizi has been ill of a fever, but is much better. She 
 is deprived for a time of her little hero, who is become 
 a Colonel of one of the two regiments to be raised out 
 of the Militia, which he is about to form. Capponi, 
 you know, has the other. They are always called 
 Signori Colonelli.’ 
 
 ‘We had a strange uproar last Wednesday, at the 
 Burletta ; an affair of party. I never saw anything 
 like it before, but have heard of it happening in 
 England. Albergotti was the hero ; he had made his 
 addresses to the Romana, but being ill received, he 
 would not permit the applause the Pit gave her ; 
 superior greatly to that which was given to the Cecca, 
 whom really every body did applaud till it was known 
 Albera;otti was offended with the notice that was 
 taken of the Romana. Piques of this kind went on 
 for many nights, but were always kept within the 
 bounds of gentle hissing (which may be taken, as 
 ’tis often meant in Italy, for a call of silence, or of 
 attention) and violent clapping ; but on the fatal 
 Wednesday night, just when the Romana was at the 
 height of her favourite song, which could hardly 
 be heard for the clapping, she was silenced by a 
 most dreadful concert of cat-calls, performed by the 
 Lorraine officers, and their servants. You cannot con- 
 ceive the damp that was struck all over the theater. 
 
32 
 
 OPERATIC RIOT. 
 
 1741. 
 
 The ladies were all offended, and afraid to go home, 
 it having been discovered that the Cat-callers were 
 
 O 
 
 all armed. Albergotti was not one of them, though 
 publickly known to be the promoter of it. One of the 
 officers called to him from the Pit, and said, “ Marquis, 
 c’est pour vous venger ! ” In that the Impresario was 
 affronted, so was his theater. The affair was carried 
 the next morning before the Council, as what might 
 have “des suites facheuses to prevent which it was 
 thought proper to order Albergotti to repair to Arezzo, 
 his native country, there to receive the orders that 
 were to be sent to the Governor. He departed yester- 
 day. The town in the mean time was deprived of 
 an opera on the next opera-night ! ’ 
 
 November 26th . — ‘You know Yanneschi, Lord Mid- 
 dlesex’s favourite poet. He wrote an opera, formerly, in 
 which there was an air that began : “ Leon che scherza e 
 ride.” I don’t remember the rest. Condeli was struck 
 with the idea, and made the following imi ation off- 
 hand, soon after there had been an earthquake in 
 Florence : — 
 
 “II vezzoso Terremoto 
 Ingollava la Citta, 
 
 Ed il Fulminar giulivo 
 Non lasciare un uomo vivo 
 Scherzaggiando in qua e in la — - 
 
 I am sure you like it, for its oddness. 
 
 December 1 7th. — ‘ Nothing is spoke of but Gavi 
 (a fraudulent banker) and his accomplices. He is in 
 a church, and what is more strange, the Priests think 
 him too great a villain to harbour him, so that he is 
 
1741. 
 
 A FRAUDULENT BANKER. 
 
 DO 
 
 DO 
 
 drove from one convent to another. The secret is, that 
 as soon as they can fix him, they mean to take him 
 bv force. I pity his poor wife. She is with child, and 
 constantly attended, night and day by the Sbirri in 
 her room. She sent a complaint the other day, that 
 the Sbirri “ non la lasciavano vestire con pace, e chc 
 consumavano tutte le Bracie ; die per l’amor di Dio 
 dessero a dire che non tocasseno le Bracie.” The 
 great concern for her small coal made them suspect a 
 rat. Upon examination, they found GO 00 crowns 
 under them. In different holes and corners, they found 
 18,000 crowns, but all in silver ; from which ’tis 
 thought he found means to carry off his gold.’ 
 
 December 1 9th , — - £ I had like to have forgot to tell 
 you, that about 3 weeks ago, 6 medals were sent 
 from England to Rome, vastly satirical. Sir Robert 
 Walpole, with a cord round his neck, led by the Devil. 
 On the other side, Sir Robert leads the King by the 
 nose. The person writes me word he has seen them, 
 and has promised, if possible, to get me one. There 
 are mottoes, but he did not say what.’ 
 
 As Mr. Mann was stationed at Florence partly to 
 watch over, partly to receive reports of the sayings 
 and doings of the Pretender and his family in Italy, 
 the Minister’s letters occasionally contain references to 
 this subject. On the 22nd August, 1741, we have the 
 first notice of the movements of the Stuart Princes. 
 
 ‘ I have been writing,’ says Mann to Walpole, £ since 8 
 hours of the morning, and now it is 5 hours at night. 
 I was alarmed in the middle of the night, by an express 
 from Rome, to acquaint me, the Eldest boy was going 
 off at night, in company with Murray and one servant, 
 
 YOT,. T. D 
 
84 
 
 JACOBITE MO VEMENT. 
 
 1741 
 
 (Walpole has here written, over the word ‘ Murray ’ — 
 ‘ Lord Dunbar/ who did not go with him at all.) ‘ It 
 was in so private a manner that nobody knew it. My 
 Abbe got notice of it two days after. I am horribly 
 uneasy lest I should be deceived ; and how is it 
 possible to know the truth ? The circumstances are 
 very particular. They went in a borrowed chaise, 3 
 posts from Rome ; then they took post by Fuligno, 
 Fossombrone, so to Brescia, by the Grisons, into 
 France. Cardinal Tencin presented to the Boy, on the 
 14th, in the name of his Master, a set of Plate da 
 Campagna. They say it was fine wrought and gilt. 
 He gave him at the same time a letter, by which the 
 French King declares him (but I cannot believe it, 
 though the whole town is full of it) Commander in 
 Chief of all his troops by sea and land. The expressions 
 are so odd, the command so great, and the thing so 
 extraordinary, that I can’t tell what to make of it. 
 In some of the letters about the town there is added to 
 the above, “ In case of a war with England.” ’ 
 
 On the 27th August, 1741, Mann writes, ‘ It is a 
 very hard matter to say what is, what is not ; espe- 
 cially when folks make it their business to puzzle on 
 this fact. I have represented the thing to them at 55 
 (Hanover). I am almost wild, there is such a strange 
 noise about my ears, I can hardly write. One tells 
 me one thing ; another tells me the contrary. Some 
 affirm, with all the particulars, 2’s’ (Prince Charles 
 Edward’s) ‘journey into France, just indeed as I had 
 heard it a week ago. If I was present at the Petraja 
 I could judge better of it ; but as I cannot go there, I 
 must say what Viviani and others tell me.’ 
 
1741. 
 
 INTRIGUES. 
 
 Mann’s despatches were sent, not direct to Eng- 
 land, but round by Hanover, where he expected 
 George II. might then be. In a letter of September 
 24th, he names one ‘Jackson of Leghorn, who by 
 being concerned in commerce, has been and is very 
 attentive to what is going forward.’ Subsequently he 
 adds : ‘ It is certain they flatter themselves that the 
 Marriage ’ (Union of England and Scotland) ‘ may be 
 broke off; 202’s’ (Mann’s) ‘friend at 77 ’ (Lome) ‘says 
 that two of Miss North and Grey’s tenants ’ (Scotsmen) 
 ‘ have been there to confer with 1 1 ’ (the old Chevalier) 
 ‘ about the Settlements, and that their setting out was 
 what deceived him.’ ‘ In France,’ Mann writes, October 
 8th, ‘the King of England is spoken of with very little 
 attention, and is constantly called Monsieur Hanover. 
 202 ’ (Mann) ‘ does not believe this and infinite other 
 impertinencies, which are unreal, but I saw him in a 
 great passion on hearing a letter read from France, 
 which contained them ! ’ 
 
 And so ends the chronicle of the first year. 
 
36 
 
 WARLIKE MOVEMENTS. 
 
 1742. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1742. 
 
 At this period England was ‘meddling and muddling’ 
 in Continental politics. The interests of Great Britain 
 were being made subservient to those of the Electorate 
 of Hanover. We were supporting the cause of Maria 
 Theresa, the Queen of Hungary, against France, 
 Spain, and Bavaria. Fleets, armies, and subsidies 
 were lavished for a foolish object, and for ungrateful 
 personages. Tuscany was threatened with a Spanish 
 invasion. 
 
 January 17th . — ‘ The Great Duke has not sufficient 
 force to make any resistance in case of need. H. M. 
 sends a fleet perhaps, but on a supposition, no doubt, 
 that Leghorn could make some defence itself, which 
 at present is not the case. Five thousand good troops 
 would not be enough ; but these are as bad as can 
 be, and the greatest part Tuscans, poor country 
 fellows indeed ; but you know the whole country is 
 inclined to the Spaniards. An opinion has prevailed 
 since my going to Leghorn, that England had pur- 
 chased that town of the Great Duke, for money ! It 
 is not the first time it has been talked of, and by all 
 
1742 . 
 
 ADMIRAL HADDOCK. 
 
 thinking people greatly wished to he true. Sure, the 
 advantages of having it must he great. Now if ever 
 is the time to bring it about. We might part with 
 something we have in the Mediterranean, at least Port 
 Mahon, not of half so much use as this would he. 
 Leghorn would be what we must always have — a port 
 in these seas, and would be at the same time a con- 
 siderable trading town. Will you mention this by 
 way of discourse ; the time more than ever makes it 
 proper. 5 
 
 ‘ . . . Mr. Haddock is at Port Mahon. On his 
 passage thither he saw the Spanish squadron, and 
 was preparing to engage it, but soon discovered the 
 Toulon squadron, when the Spaniards bore down 
 towards the French. Mr. Haddock called a Council, 
 in which it was not judged proper to attack them, as 
 they were joined with the French. This is the ac- 
 count of the Captain of The Garland, man-of-war, 
 who lately arrived at Genoa. At this rate, if their 
 united fleets are to convey the second embarkation, 
 Mr. Haddock, without a reinforcement, is not strong 
 enough to prevent its taking place. 5 
 
 January 12th. — ‘ The poor Prince de Craon is ex- 
 tremely disgusted ; no visits have passed, and I believe 
 both he and she are determined to retire, if things 
 don’t mend. De Sade came into my box, the other 
 night, “ Helas ! 55 said he, “ le pauvre Prince de Craon 
 est au desespoir. 55 “He would not appear at Council!” 
 says I. “ Non ! 55 dit il, “ il a raison. ‘ Tenez, 5 je lui ai 
 dit, ‘ mon Prince ! si vous etes delicat, il faut vous 
 retirer. Si vous ne l’etes pas, tirez votre pension sans 
 rien faire. 5 55 Is not this quite like De Sade ? 
 
38 
 
 AT TTIE OPERA. 
 
 1742 . 
 
 ‘ Lady Walpole is returned. She drove directly to 
 the old palace, the habitation of the Count. She wants 
 satisfaction for the affronts she received. . . . Poor 
 Mr. St. John, the madman in religion, though in no- 
 thing else so, wanted to make me a present of some pier 
 glasses, for saving his fine and numerous library, which 
 I refused. He still pressed it, but I was obstinate. 
 
 “ Lord ! ” says I to Mr. Chute, “ what can I say more 
 to the man?” “Why, very true,” says he, “he cannot 
 even pretend that his present will not cast a reflection 
 upon you.” I have no heart to speak to you about 
 our operas, they are so very bad. One goes there 
 notwithstanding. The Bagnolese cariccita to a degree. 
 She really squeezes out her words so, that it puts 
 one in mind of something else. Tedeschino is very 
 middling, a humble imitator of Salembeni. The 
 Tenore is very good, but an extreme mean figure. The 
 rest arc not worth naming. Poor Giuseppe Ridolfi will 
 pay dear for the honour of being Impresario. For, to 
 make it worse, they have contrived in this, as in other 
 trifles, to disoblige the whole town by refusing a per- 
 mission for masks, so that the theater is always empty. 
 That of the Via del Cocomero is most frequented. 
 “Dido” was the first opera, and pleased. Fini com- 
 posed the second ; the vilest musick that ever was 
 heard. The audience at the end cried out, “Eh bene ! 
 cli bene ! ma Diclone ! Diclone ! ” which they say it 
 is to be, much to the mortification of Signor Fini, 
 who swears there is not even an “ ombra di sapere o 
 cli gusta,” left in Florence.’ 
 
 ‘ On Tuesday last, at the time everybody was at 
 the opera, there was a severe shock of an Earthquake 
 
1742. 
 
 OLIVER 8T. JOHN. 
 
 39 
 
 at Leghorn, which frightened them all out of their 
 wits. There were afterwards severe repetitions. 
 Braitwitz slept in his carriage, in the place. The 
 public diversions were suspended as inconsistent with 
 prayer, to which everybody was ordered to betake 
 themselves.’ 
 
 January 28 th . — ‘ I told you of Mr. St. John and 
 his Glasses. Many letters passed, and all I could say 
 was not sufficient to convince him, I would not have 
 them ; by this at last he understood I wanted some- 
 thing else in lieu of them ; and what do you think 
 he did? Why he sent me 100 Zecchini, as the full 
 value of them, which he said I ought not to refuse 
 accepting, for if that was wrong the offering it was 
 so too, and that he was incapable of committing an 
 error ; that in Equity and Justice a valuable con- 
 sideration was due to me for the services I had done 
 him ; that no man, of whatever rank, need have felt 
 the least shame of either proposing or accepting it ; 
 that it need not be made a necessary clause in every 
 deed of conveyance, or lease, and concludes his letter 
 with (what, tho’ I was devilishly angry, made me 
 laugh extremely) “ a small sample of his poetry,” — he 
 calls it : — 
 
 ” Let him who would be happy, strive 
 To be the simplest man alive, 
 
 And he may be the simplest man but one; 
 
 And that man I am, Oliver St. John.” 
 
 Did you ever hear anything like this poor simple 
 man? ... I wrote him a most thundering answer 
 when I returned his hundred Zecchini, to which he 
 
40 
 
 EARTHQUAKE. 
 
 1742. 
 
 wrote a reply, two days after, by telling me that lie 
 had deposited the same sum in his Advocate’s hands, 
 which I would please to demand when my scruples 
 were not insuperable ; that he meant me no affront, 
 but a genteel present, but that if I persisted in 
 thinking it so, “ I might take my Remedy ! ” 
 
 ‘ This poor man has got a scheme in his crazy 
 head to convert all the Jews in Leghorn, for which 
 purpose he struck up a correspondence with Mr. 
 Porter, the parson there, a poor creature. St. John 
 wrote him the strangest long letter about it, and made 
 him the greatest offers of houses, money, settlements 
 for life, etc., and at last sent him a Poem of 80 
 Stanzas, of 6 lines each, the title of which was, 
 “ Great News to the Listening Jews,” — to the tune 
 and metre of “ Old Sir Simon the King ; ” and yet, 
 except on this religious key, the poor man is vastly 
 sensible, and was always known to have a great deal 
 of learning.’ 
 
 ‘ The Earthquake at Leghorn has been very severe. 
 They had in all sixteen shocks. We felt nothing of 
 them here.’ 
 
 c Jesus ! I little expected to be obliged to take up 
 this letter again to add so horrid a postscript. A few 
 hours ago, an Estafette arrived from Leghorn with a 
 very short and confused account of a vile shock of an 
 Earthquake that happened yesterday, at about 19 
 hours. All the houses, they say, have suffered ex- 
 tremely, particularly the Jews’ quarter. Part of a 
 church fell in, and some people have been killed. All 
 the inhabitants fled out of the town, and everything 
 was in horrid confusion. Braitwitz has asked for 
 
1742. 
 
 EARTHQUAKE. 
 
 41 
 
 tents, etc., to lodge his troops ; as their Quarters are 
 so much damaged it makes it unsafe to live in them. 
 Abbe Tornaquenei, to whom I have just sent to ask 
 some account of this accident, knows no more than 
 what I have mentioned, but has promised me a par- 
 ticular account as soon as he receives it. They have 
 despatched a Courier, an hour ago, to Leghorn. I am 
 going to write a letter to Mrs. Gold worthy, to invite 
 her to Florence. Common humanity engages me to 
 press her to come from that horrid place, and to forget 
 everything they have said and done against me. I 
 suppose my letter will find them on board some ship 
 in the Mole, as nobody lives in their houses.’ 
 
 On the 3rd February, Mann continues the theme 
 of the Earthquake. ‘ The damage that has been done 
 must be very considerable, though it is yet not distinctly 
 known, as people are too much terrified to examine 
 narrowly into the buildings, most of which are for the 
 present totally abandoned, from the dread of another 
 shock which, if equal to the former, would, it is 
 believed, lay the whole town in ruins. The inhabi- 
 tants, from upwards of 40 (thousand) are reduced to 4 
 or 5 (thousand). Many whole families fled to Pisa, 
 Lucca, etc., in the dresses they escaped with out of 
 their houses, not daring to return for money or 
 common necessaries. All the English in general took 
 refuge on board the ships in the Mole, where they 
 still remain, and have conveyed thither their books 
 and cash. Those that were obliged, either by their 
 employments or for want of means to escape, remained 
 in the town, spent both days and nights in the 
 Square, — some in coaches, others in chairs, till tents 
 
42 
 
 CONDITION OF LEGHORN. 
 
 1742 . 
 
 could be pitched, in which Braitwitz and all his 
 officers etc., now live.’ 
 
 ‘ The Madonna di Monte Nero, who is to Leghorn 
 what the Lady of the (illegible) is to Florence, was, 
 by Braitwitz’s order, brought into the town and 
 placed in the Square, about which are erected many 
 Altars for the publick devotion, as nobody will run the 
 risk of being crushed in the churches, as one or two 
 poor people were by the fall of the roof of that 
 mentioned in the enclosed paper. Those who fled from 
 there knew nothing of what they left behind them, and 
 those that are there are still too much frightened to 
 give any rational account by letter. Besides the hurt 
 done to all the houses, it is greatly to be feared that 
 the publick and private cisterns were spoilt, by which 
 alone, except one little spouting fountain, the whole 
 town is supplied with water. If so, the expense of 
 repairing them will be immense; and, at this juncture, 
 if the Spaniards should besiege the town, for want of 
 water only, it would be obliged to surrender. Leghorn 
 has received a blow, of which it will not recover for 
 a very considerable time. 
 
 £ A Council of Regency was assembled on Wednes- 
 day night, to consider of the proper order and steps 
 that were to be taken for the relief of it. You will 
 hardly believe that it was by mere accident this was 
 thought of at all. Well, but better late than never ! 
 Orders were sent by an Estafette last Thursday to 
 oblige the Bakers to bake, which they had omitted, as 
 the Butchers had to kill meat. In short, nobody 
 thought of any other means to secure life but by 
 running from the Earthquake ; so that as none of the 
 
1742. 
 
 EARTHQUAKE. 
 
 43 
 
 people about carried provisions into the town as usual, 
 the inhabitants suffered extremely. Six hundred loafs 
 of bread are ordered daily to be distributed to the 
 needy. Patrols are in the streets night and day, 
 to prevent the houses that are abandoned being 
 plundered. The Great Dukes iron works to furnish 
 iron to all that want it, upon credit. The Monte di 
 Pieta to furnish money to those who have none, for 
 the immediate repair of their houses. But lo ! the 
 great iron works have no iron, nor the Pieta any 
 money. ’ 
 
 ‘ We have had three days of devotion for the sake 
 of the Livornesi, though surely never was there so 
 little inclination to pray. ’Twas quite ridiculous, the 
 last night of the Opera, to see the contrast between 
 the pleasure of masking and the devotion they were 
 entering upon. They did not dare publickly to say 
 anything against it, for fear it should be a sin, but 
 many of the ladies wished it had been deferred till 
 Lent. 
 
 ‘ Col. Capponi has been at Leghorn during the six- 
 teen shocks, and came frightened out of his senses. 
 . . . His old unckle at Leghorn would never stir out 
 of his house, though he was quite alone in it, and 
 would by this means, have encouraged the people, had 
 not Braitwitz’s example on the contrary been more 
 prevalent. The terror people were seized with has 
 occasioned the utmost desolation. Ferdinand the 
 Second went with his whole court to Leghorn, on 
 a like occasion, to encourage, by his presence, the 
 inhabitants to stay in the town, by which he pre- 
 vented the ill consequences of their pa-nick fear.’ 
 
44 
 
 NEWS FROM HOME. 
 
 1742. 
 
 February 24 th. — - I am to have Mrs. Goldworthy, 
 with her children and maids, etc., the day after to- 
 morrow. Poor creatures ! I really pity them. They 
 come directly from on board to Florence, as his house, 
 like all those that were comer houses, has suffered 
 most and been rendered uninhabitable. I foresee it 
 must be vastly troublesome, but in certain cases one 
 cannot avoid these things. I shall retire into the two 
 rooms t’other side of the hall, and leave the rest of 
 the house to them.’ 
 
 Walpole addressed a letter to Mann, dated 9 th 
 February, 1742, in which he gave an account of the 
 intrigues of the Prince of Wales, ‘ who it must seem 
 proposes to be King ; ’ of the plot to impeacli Sir 
 Robert ; of the triumph of the latter when George the 
 Second raised him to the peerage as Earl of Orford, 
 and conferred on his natural daughter, Mary Skerret, 
 the rank she would have enjoyed had she been legiti- 
 mate ; and of the general confusion that existed at a, 
 time when men ought to be most united. To this 
 letter Mann replied on March 18th, the day after he 
 had received Horace Walpole’s letter, which was written 
 nearly six weeks earlier : — 
 
 f The first part of your letter of the 9 th February 
 terrifies me a great deal ... I try to flatter myself 
 that all will still go well. It is infinitely kind of you 
 to write me the true state of things. Such malignant 
 whispers are set about by some others here that I 
 should be distracted, if I did not know by your letters, 
 how far to credit them . . . The Pretender’s party is in 
 high spirits about all this, and flatter themselves that 
 it will turn out well for them. Surely 304’ (the 
 
1742. 
 
 TROUBLES AND AMUSEMENTS. 
 
 45 
 
 Prince of Wales) ‘ does not think seriously of what he 
 is doing. He may he the first to repent when it will 
 he too late to quench the flame he is blowing up. . . . 
 The King is greatly to he pitied. I own to you I feel 
 for him now what I never did before . . . Lady Walpole 
 has told Mrs. Goldworthy that she knows for certain, 
 Mr. Haddock (the Admiral) is recalled. This part of 
 the world is in great expectation of great deeds, on 
 which account it is reported that 17,000 Spaniards are 
 to march from Barcelona, instead of coming up by sea. 
 
 . . . Don Phillip departed the 22nd February and is to 
 be at Aix the 5th of next month; thence to Antibes, and 
 so to be escorted by the French, Spanish, and Neapoli- 
 tan Gallies, but where he is to land is not known here.’ 
 In this month Masquerades and Earthquakes are 
 still the theme ; £ Here am I, at four hours in the 
 night, the last of Carnival, ever since fifteen in the 
 morning, writing. All the world has been in mask 
 the whole day, and will be again, after cramming as 
 much gras as will make them sick with their ceneri 
 for three days. You know how this is. There is a 
 ball after midnight ; we were there together last year, 
 would it were the same this ? . , . I did not expect 
 Mrs. Goldworthy till to-morrow ; but behold she came 
 in at 23, with three children, two maids, and a man. 
 I was forced to leave her with Mr. Chute and Whit- 
 hed. Poor creature ! she has been frightened terribly, 
 and gives a. most lamentable account of the situation 
 of Leghorn ; and yet she will be devilishly trouble- 
 some. The Princess said : “ Comment vous aurez done 
 des enfants sans en etre le pere ! ” Antinori puts these 
 gross ideas into her head.’ 
 
46 
 
 MANN’S ILLNESS. 
 
 1742. 
 
 For some time Mann was the victim of a serious 
 and painful complaint, requiring a serious and painful 
 operation. His letters are full of details of the most 
 unreserved nature, as if he were proud of his afflictions, 
 and as if his friends must, with sympathy for the 
 sufferer, be gratified by being taken into the utmost 
 confidence with regard to the progress and cure of the 
 malady. He wrote in bed, in all sorts of positions, 
 the reasons for which are liberally supplied. ‘ On the 
 9th day of my laying in/ as he calls it, he wakes up 
 to render an account of the new scenes which had 
 opened in Florence — through the shifts and changes of 
 the war. One of the strangest incidents of that con- 
 test between the Queen of Hungary and her adversa- 
 ries was that her husband, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, 
 gave leave to a Spanish army, hostile to Maria Theresa, 
 to have passage through his Duchy. Accordingly, on 
 March 11, 1742, Mann called for his writing materials, 
 and as he lay in bed, now on one side, now on another, 
 sometimes on his back, at others on his face, he sent 
 the following account to his c dear child.’ 
 
 ‘ The Spaniards are marching under the walls of 
 Florence, this morning 1 The fourth column went by. 
 In all they have been more than 10,000 men — but 
 great numbers desert. The General (M. Castelar) 
 demanded some whom he supposed had been debauched 
 by the Great Duke’s officers ; and bid the Spanish 
 agent acquaint the Regency that if they were not 
 given up, he would leave a sufficient body of troops 
 at all the avenues of Florence, to prevent the like in- 
 conveniences. An officer was sent to him to treat the 
 matter, but I hear nothing has been concluded. Caste- 
 
1742. 
 
 THE SPANIARDS IN TUSCANY. 
 
 47 
 
 lar was asked by an Orso’ (one of the faction that 
 supported Don Philip) ‘ why they did not stay ; that 
 they had deceived their well-wishers, etc. He replied 
 that they were to go into Lombardy now, but that 
 Tuscany would afterwards be an affair of three days. 
 I believe some of the Regency are firmly persuaded 
 it will be so. At a time that it was only known 
 at Vienna that the Spaniards were to pass within 
 two miles of the town, as was first stipulated, an order 
 came to plant the cannon of the fortresses against the 
 town, and charged ; and in case of an insurrection, to 
 fire. They were accordingly prepared in the sight of 
 the whole people, who were astonished to see such 
 preparations against them. You have heard, to be 
 sure, of the alliance between the Queen of Hungary 
 and King of Sardinia, for the mutual defence of each 
 other’s states. The King of Sardinia reserves to 
 himself a power to make good his pretensions to this 
 part of the Queen’s dominions in Italy ! He is to fur- 
 nish her with a considerable body of troops that had 
 already begun their march in order to unite themselves 
 with those under the command of Prince cle Traun, 
 who it is thought would march into the Pope’s States, 
 towards Bologna, to attack M. de Montemar. A little 
 time then must decide our fate. . . 
 
 ‘ . . . Adieu, my dearest child, I am tired of the 
 awkward posture in which I write in bed ; on which 
 account you must excuse many blots and errors. The 
 Countess Galli is the only woman I have admitted 
 yet ; and she has a right to come when she pleases ; 
 as at my request, she serves Mrs. Goldworthy, and is 
 often in the house. I hear nothing of the poor simple 
 
48 
 
 DOMESTIC SCENES. 
 
 1742. 
 
 things going away. She is such a fool ! and chatters 
 and talks so much, and so literally translates all her 
 little conceits and ideas into horrid French or Italian ! 
 Mr. Chute says she talks from hand to mouth. T’other 
 day she told a company of ladies that il suo Marito 
 era gravido to do I don’t know what. They stared, 
 but did not understand how he was to be eased. 
 Then she’s a notable, and teaches her poor children 
 all kinds of things wrong. — ‘ Indeed, you shan’t have 
 any pudding, Charles, unless you spell it ! How do 
 you spell pudding? P-u-d pud, d-i-n-g, pudding ; and 
 so the poor child repeats it after her. She tires them 
 to death with religion and the prayers of the day, and 
 in order to bring things down to their capacities, she 
 told them why, for example, if Jesus Christ was here 
 and would touch your sister she would be well, and 
 cut her teeth ; so the poor brats walk about the house 
 all day long wishing for Jesus Christ to be in the 
 room. 
 
 £ I send the new Emperor’s letter ’ (Charles VII. 
 Elector of Bavaria. His election was supported by the 
 French, and it caused a general war) £ to the Pope. It 
 is looked upon as — low. Ho but consider the affecta- 
 
 tion of attributing his election, in a great measure to 
 the Pope ! There are a thousand Pasquinades at 
 Rome ; but bad. The best of them I think is that on 
 the stile of the forum (sic) the Emperor is cited to 
 fix his habitation. There was a man dressed in a 
 most ragged cloak, with these words on his back, — 
 A tutti v'e rimedio, fuorite al Bavaro ! ’ — an Italian 
 pun, you know Bavaro signifies the great cape of a 
 cloak ; or, I believe, at Rome, a cloak itself ; which 
 
1742. 
 
 MllS. G0LDW0BT1IY. 
 
 49 
 
 makes it better. Tencin raves and storms at all 
 these liberties. The Pretender has shown great 
 rejoicings at this Election. 
 
 ‘We are now entered into the Quaresima (Lent) 
 and are to have the Concert as last year, though not 
 in Palazzo Strozzi ; ’twill be the only diversion for 
 Mrs. Goldworthy, with whom I shall be most extremely 
 embarrassed. She is such a horrid fool, such a little 
 unconnected thing, and so fiddle-faddle ! oh, it has 
 been a terrible earthquake for me ! The Ladies begin 
 to visit her. I was in her apartment with the Countess 
 del Benniro and the little Albizzi, but was forced to 
 fly on hearing the name of the Princess (who is now 
 with her) and many more. Her’s was a return of a 
 visit, as you may imagine. There’s the Griffoni too, 
 but I can’t go in as I am undressed. Lady Walpole 
 was here this morning, for the first time she ever set 
 her foot in this house. She talks of nothing but 
 Venice, and goes about dressed a la Veniziana. I am 
 no favourite still. She was angry, I believe, that I 
 sent the morning after her return from Padoue, instead 
 of going to see how she did. Her answer was, that 
 she thought I had been unwell. I could not go till 
 the third day, because of one of my head-aches, with 
 which, however, I am not so much troubled since my 
 illness, and which I attribute in a great measure to 
 my having left off snuff . . . 
 
 ‘ I dare not venture to send any of your things 
 home ; ’tis more dangerous than ever. The Spaniards 
 keep a watch out of the Gulph of Spezia and may 
 take every ship that passes. The merchants are horribly 
 uneasy. I can venture, therefore, to send nothing home 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
50 
 
 GE.Dm.TL 
 
 1742. 
 
 but a great jar of Cedrati in gucizzo, which is the only 
 way of preserving them for so long a voyage. The 
 whim of sending you them came through my hearing 
 a dissertation upon Cedrati at Signor Ferroni’s, where 
 my brother of France said he had that day (as he did 
 every Christmas) sent six Cedrati to Cardinal Fleuri, 
 who was extremely pleased with them. Well, says I, 
 if I knew how to get any to England, I would really 
 send Mr. Walpole some. “ In guazzo! ” they all cried, 
 “ there is no other way; ” and some days after Madame 
 Ferroni sent me some from Bella Vista. I got more, 
 and set folks about them to put them “ in guazzo.” 
 The earthcjuake has so deranged everybody and every- 
 thing at Leghorn, that there they are still. . . On 
 fryday last they say there was two small shocks not 
 felt by everybody. 
 
 ‘ The Princess sends me word from t’other appart- 
 ment, qu’elle croyoit de trouver Monsieur Mann, et 
 qu’elle me grondera un peu quand elle me voit. I 
 deny positively that I am at home. — Adieu, my 
 dearest Child, I am for ever yours.’ 
 
 The above letter is addressed ‘ To the ITonble. 
 Horace Walpole, Esq., Jun., at the Eight Honble. Sir 
 Kobert Walpole, London. 
 
 Out of the general confusion the Jacobites hoped 
 to reap substantial advantages. In a letter of the 
 25th March, Mann informs Walpole that he has 
 received repeated accounts from Eome, that ‘ all the 
 notices and insinuations of what is doing in England, 
 in the House of Lords and in the Commons, and of 
 the disconsolate condition in which the King is de- 
 scribed, are regularly sent thither, to a person I have 
 
1742 . 
 
 THE JACOBITES. 
 
 51 
 
 named to the Duke of Newcastle, by divers people, 
 particularly Sir Francis Dashwood (whom, however, I 
 have not named), which notices are immediately 
 carried to 11 ’ (the old Chevalier). To Walpole’s 
 announcement that Lord Limerick’s motion in the 
 Commons against Sir Robert Walpole (‘for a com- 
 mittee to examine into the conduct of the last twenty 
 years ’) had been lost by 244 to 242, and that the 
 Duke of Argyle had resigned, Mann replied in a letter 
 of April 17, 1742: ‘We are told, and ’tis wrote 
 from Rome, that things are greatly exasperated since 
 that motion was thrown out ; and since the Duke of 
 Argyle resigned, from whom great matters are now 
 expected. I rather believe the Lords hoped much 
 greater had he stayed in. You guessed very right ; 
 the Pretender and all that set are in high spirits, and 
 flatter themselves more than ever. I don’t know but 
 they have reason. I confess to you, I should be very 
 sorry to see the Duke of Argyle with an army ; then 
 might the Pretender, in my opinion, triumph.’ 
 
 April 8th.— ‘ There has been a Medal struck, with 
 the Great Duke Francis’s head on one side, with the 
 motto “ Aut Caesar aut Nihil ” ; on the other, the Em- 
 peror Charles, with “Et Caesar et Nihil.” Accompanied 
 with this idea of peace universal, there is a stronger 
 persuasion than ever that Don Phillip is at last to be 
 our Great Duke. I don’t wonder at the common 
 people who wish it believing it, as they see he ad- 
 vances on his journey towards Italy; but I find 
 among the Lorrains such an opinion likewise prevails, 
 and they say they are to go to Milan. A great 
 number of cases are continually sending off to Leg- 
 
52 
 
 WAR. 
 
 1742. 
 
 horn, in order to go to Trieste ; but nothing out of 
 the Palazzo Pitti or Gallery is visibly touched. Don 
 Phillip, according to the disposition of the route, and 
 notice by a courier that passed to Naples, was to 
 arrive at Antibes as the day before yesterday, the 6th. 
 They suppose he is to embark immediately. I can’t 
 tell how that will be, but I have received a letter this 
 morning from Mr. Haddock, by a ship he has de- 
 spatched to Leghorn, in answer to that I wrote him 
 lately, to acquaint me that he was ready to put to sea, 
 and would to the utmost of his power endeavour to 
 execute the King’s orders, either by preventing the 
 further embarkation of troops from Spain for Italy, 
 or by giving all aid and protection to the countries 
 of his Majesty’s allies. This I have acquainted Prince 
 Craon with, by a letter this morning, and have re- 
 ceived for answer that he will communicate the con- 
 tents of it to the Kegency, and then tell me their 
 answer. The Captain who brought this letter says 
 that all the dispositions were made in the fleet, in 
 the best order. The Frigates were out and stationed 
 at Barcelona, so as to watch the motions of the Span- 
 iards, one of which had taken the Tender belonging 
 to Admiral Perez, with 60 men and an officer on board 
 her. Admiral Haddock had been extreme ill, but was 
 something better.’ 
 
 ‘ I do not recover strength so fast as I would wish. 
 
 . . . The weather is so extravagantly bad that if I was 
 well I could not venture out. I receive a great deal 
 of company. All the ladies in town come by turns to 
 me. Mrs Goldworthy being still here, without the least 
 necessity, as her home is prepared at Leghorn, makes 
 
1742. 
 
 MANN AT HOME. 
 
 53 
 
 it very inconvenient, as she makes use of all the house 
 except the two small rooms on the right hand of the 
 Hall. She talks now of going away, hut I see she 
 will draw it on as long as she can ; nor I believe 
 would she have thought of it had she not been 
 frightened by some great cracks which, on exami- 
 nation, prove to be of consequence, and must be 
 mended. On which account, as soon as I am able, 
 and she is gone, I must retire again to my old appart- 
 ments near the Gallery, as all the other rooms will be 
 rendered uninhabitable, and the front towards the 
 garden almost pulled down ? ’ 
 
 Mann makes frequent allusion to the great Italian 
 beauty of that day, Madame Griffoni (nee Elizabetta 
 Capponi), to whom Horace Walpole had made love, 
 after his fashion, and whom he spoke of as £ his illus- 
 trious mistress.’ Presents, messages, and compliments • 
 passed between them through the agency of Mann ; 
 but Walpole makes singular comment on his friend’s 
 intimation that he had gone to an entertainment at 
 the illustrious beauty’s house. ‘How exceedingly 
 obliging to go to Madame Griffoni’s festino ; but, be- 
 lieve me, I shall be angry if, for my sake, you do 
 things that are out of your character, don’t you 
 know that I am infinitely fonder of that than of her.’ 
 The fine gentleman’s affected passion soon died out : 
 ‘Lord!’ he writes to Mann, ‘I am heartily tired of that 
 romantic love and correspondence.’ Walpole’s jokes 
 upon her and her more or less illustrious Cicisbeos 
 were not marked by much refinement. He became 
 weary of writing to her, his ‘ Serene Princess ! ’ — 
 
 ‘ Alas ! I owe her two letters, and where to find a 
 
54 
 
 MADAME GMFFONI. 
 
 1742, 
 
 beau sentiment, I cannot tell. I believe I may liavc 
 some by me in an old cliest of drawers, with some 
 exploded red-heel shoes and full-bottom wigs ; but 
 they would come out so yellow and moth-eaten. . . . 
 Do vow to her that my eyes have been so bad that, as 
 1 wrote you word over and over, I have not been able 
 to write a line.’ Madame Griffoni wrote to Walpole 
 from Florence, and he noticed her by saying to Mann, 
 ‘ Where to find a penful of Italian in the world, I 
 know not ! ’ The married lady sent to her Cicisbeo for 
 an hour, a tender gift of hams and wine. ‘ My dear 
 child,’ he wrote to Mann, ‘ be my friend, and preserve 
 me from heroic presents ! I cannot possibly at this 
 distance, begin a new courtship of regali ; for I sup- 
 pose all these hams were to be converted into watches 
 and toys.’ He is aware that a Florentine Ariadne 
 is not likely to be altogether abandoned, and after 
 awhile he asks, ‘ Who consoles my illustrious mistress?’ 
 As years passed by, and after a whole generation had 
 gone to ‘the senseless damp of graves,’ he had curiosity 
 enough to enquire ‘ if Madame Griffoni, though thir- 
 teen years older, preserves any remains of beauty, 
 like the Duchess of Queensberry. ’ When the Miss 
 Berrys were in Florence, in 1790, Walpole recalled to 
 memory his old Florentine time and its manners ; and 
 he wrote to Agnes, ‘ I suppose none of my Florentine 
 acquaintances are still upon earth? The handsomest 
 woman there of my days was a Madame Griffoni, 
 my fair Geraldine. She would now be a Methusela- 
 ness, and much more like a frightful picture I have 
 of her by a one-eyed German painter. I lived then 
 with Sir Horace Mann, in Casa Marinetti, in Via de’ 
 
1742. 
 
 ANTINORI. 
 
 55 
 
 Santi Apostoli, by the Ponte di Trinitk.’ From that 
 Casci, Mann wrote as follows to Walpole, in April, 
 1742:— 
 
 ‘ Madame Griffoni sends you a thousand compli- 
 ments. Antinori, who was by, desires hers too. She 
 has of late taken to the eldest Seristori, or he to her, 
 which she does not seem to disapprove of, to the great 
 disturbance of Marquis Albizzi, who has challenged 
 him for it ; but by the interposition of friends 
 nothing came of it.’ 
 
 Antinori was the sister of Griffoni — of whose hus- 
 band, by the way, no notice is taken by any one. It 
 is otherwise of her Cicisbei. There was quite a sen- 
 sation in Florence, when Montemar, the General com- 
 manding the Spanish troops in Italy against the 
 Imperialists, was reported to have left the Galla for 
 Griffoni, and then to have offered the homage of his 
 services to Antinori, — for whom Mann himself came to 
 entertain a strange and deep affection. 
 
 April 17 th . — £ A poem lately came to my sight, 
 printed in 1741, it is said to be Pope’s, and entitled 
 “ Are these things so ? ” It has been brought to light 
 and translated by word of mouth to all that would or 
 would not hear it ; and has been given to be translated 
 into Italian verse, in order (if the person will do it) to 
 be, I imagine, printed and made as publick as possible. 
 202 ’ (Mann himself) ‘ has done all he can to prevent 
 its appearance in that language, having some influence 
 over the person chosen out to do it, and the only one 
 indeed here that is capable of such a performance. 
 Can you imagine anything more inveterate ? There 
 can be no motive in this but malice, as in my opinion 
 
56 
 
 POLITICS. 
 
 1742. 
 
 there is nothing but downright scandal and insolence 
 in that poem, without the least invention or aught that 
 could indicate it to be of Pope, but it’s supreme 
 scandal and villainy. Surely those that can write 
 or can like such performances must be extremely un- 
 happy from the Gaul (sic) of bitterness in their own 
 hearts.’ 
 
 Turning from poetry to politics, Mann says : — c The 
 country is in great attention to see how Don Phillip is 
 to be disposed of. His proceedings on his journey, in 
 order, as it is confidently said, to embark at Antibes, 
 makes people conclude he will embark, which they 
 think he would not do if there were not great security 
 for his passage. Various are the conjectures where he 
 is to land ; some think in the Genoese state, and that 
 a house has been prepared on another pretence, by 
 Marquis Mari. Dispositions have been made at Orbi 
 tello sufficient to make some suspect he is to land 
 there ; and, by the letters of this morning from Rome, 
 it is wrote that Acquaviva has most magnificently 
 furnished his palace at Capracola and that it is pub- 
 lickly said Don Phillip is to reside there till his fate be 
 decided ; which people interpret, till he is to take 
 possession of Tuscany, which the Queen of Spain is 
 working to bring about.’ 
 
 With Mann’s letter went one from Mr. Chute, 
 written on the same day, April 1 7. It is, as Mr. Chute 
 remarks, c four sides to very little purpose.’ One line 
 refers to the climate of Florence, at such an advanced 
 Spring-time. £ The season is still sick of a lingering 
 Winter. In another letter’s time it will be Spring ! ’ 
 Chute adds : ‘ We can give no guess at the D. of O’s 
 
1742. 
 
 THEATRICALS. 
 
 57 
 
 reasons, if he has any. He puts me in mind of an 
 Epitaph that was made on a covetous Archbishop : 
 
 “ Here lies his Grace in cold clay clad 
 Who died for want of what he had.” ’ 
 
 Spring did not come so early as Chute foretold. 
 Mann writes on the 22nd April, ‘ The Post is not 
 yet come in from France, on account of the extreme 
 bad weather. For some days past, particularly high 
 winds have retarded the passage from Genoa to 
 Lirici.’ Meanwhile, when Europe was in arms and 
 Death was sagacious of his quarry from afar, Florence 
 was stirred by the following incident : — 
 
 “ I have most innocently been drawn into a contest 
 about my box in the Great Theater. Three months 
 after I had made use of it, when I expected nothing 
 less, Ridolfi, who was the Impresario, came to me 
 before the Carnival, and offered me a better box than 
 my old one, assruing me that Count Richecourt had 
 given orders to his Secretary to give up his. On those 
 assurances I took it ; but found about ten days ago 
 that the Count has been highly offended ever since, 
 saying that I had shown by this, the highest mark of 
 disattention in not having wrote to him at Padoue to 
 know if Rodolfi had really the authority he pretended. 
 Was ever anything so wrong judged 1 What had I 
 to do with anybody but the Impresario ? and what 
 reason had I to disbelieve his assertions ? But Twill 
 be difficult to please at present. I sent Dr. Cocchi to 
 Count Richecourt, as I don’t go out, to represent the 
 thing in its true light, but was enraged to find that 
 neither that justification, or that still further conde- 
 
58 
 
 MANN’S SOUSE. 
 
 1742 . 
 
 scension of resigning the box to him (assuring him that 
 I by no means pretended that the possession I had had 
 of it, for one Carnival, by a mistake, authorized me 
 to deprive him of it any longer), met with the reception 
 I had reason to expect.’ 
 
 ‘ I told you Mrs. Goldworthy left me last Monday. 
 I have received a letter of thanks which begins so : — 
 “ as Words is wliat I have not Retori ck to find out to 
 thank you,” — and so on, three long sides of nonsense. 
 You asked if the maids might not be useful to make 
 English things for me during my illness. Their time 
 I am told was employed in making, and I suppose 
 
 unmaking, boys and girls. Never was such a 
 
 house ! Such ointments, gallipots, and nastiness have 
 been found in all the corners ; foh ! That part of the 
 house is airing and will be sweet I hope in about 10 
 days, against I inhabit it, while this part is mending. 
 
 £ A stop has been put to Gavi’s process, and he set 
 at large ; I mean, he has the whole Fortezzo di Basso 
 for his prison, with a permission to receive' all the 
 world. All his original papers, on which his process 
 was formed, have been restored him ; so there’s an 
 end of this. 
 
 £ I long to see old Sarah’s Memoirs, as well as the 
 Duchess of Queensberry’s answer who we hear has 
 wrote against her ; these two game hens must be very 
 entertaining to the town. 
 
 £ I thank you for the trouble you have taken to 
 transcribe so great a part of Pope’s new Dunciad. I 
 think it is vastly obscure in many places, but in 
 general, pretty. Whilst satire is general one can 
 bear it ; but I so detest that abject creature that I 
 
1742. 
 
 LADY WALPOLE . 
 
 59 
 
 am even prejudiced against all lie can write, so far am 
 I from approving all that comes from his pen, as it is 
 so much the fashion to do. 
 
 ‘ . . . My Lady (Lady Walpole), Sturgiss, Riche- 
 court, and all that party use most provoking language 
 about Sir Robert. She has taken great pains to say 
 to everybody that I am so prejudiced a creature 
 of his, that all that I can say is to be doubted ; that 
 either I don’t know, or won’t own the truth of half 
 what she asserts and which is alone to be depended 
 upon ; that she has the best and greatest correspond- 
 ents now in England, where letters are no longer 
 intercepted — and, after all this, you can’t conceive 
 what idle stuff is vended about by her emissary Stur- 
 giss, who has a crowd of hearers at the Swiss Coffee 
 House near the Duomo. I say nothing to all this. 
 One week generally destroys the notices of the past, 
 ’twould be endless and of no kind of use to enter into 
 
 disputes. W s are always impudent. . . . She 
 
 threatens to go to England to see for her estate and 
 the title which lays dormant in her, which she will 
 have, to leave the name she has so long detested. It 
 is so much the fashion, my dear child, to abuse Sir R., 
 that nobody can be thought a well-wisher to the 
 Queen of Hungary, who does otherwise. Everything 
 that was done for her when he was Minister is forgot. 
 
 May 15 til . — £ I have a thousand of your things here, 
 bronzes, pictures, little vases, etc., and I can venture to 
 send nothing away but the cats.’ (These were Maltese 
 cats, — chronicled in the Walpole letters.) £ Did you ever 
 receive the cedrati ? I have in the last week, at Mr. 
 Trevor’s request, sent him a jar of cedrati, in the 
 same manner. 
 
CO 
 
 PRESENTS FROM ENGLAND. 
 
 1742 . 
 
 ‘ I cannot comprehend how I could defer one 
 moment telling you that the cargo of fine things came 
 safe to my hands three days ago. I cannot express to 
 you the pleasure the discovery of such new beauty 
 gave me on opening them. The box which I most 
 particularly thank you for, is really one of the most 
 delicate pieces of work I ever saw. So says the whole 
 town, for it is handed about as a great curiosity. . . . 
 Each person was quite pleased with their presents. 
 The very morning after I got them, Prince Craon came 
 with G-uadegni, and Buondelmonte, and he stayed to 
 drink chocolate. I told him I had a letter, which with 
 his tabletts and Buckles I presented to him ; the red 
 one first which he admired, then came that most mag- 
 nificent one, at the beauty of which he seemed amazed. 
 He cried : “ Quest ce que best, Monsieur ? C’en est 
 trop ; ” then run into the next room to show them to 
 everybody. I cannot repeat to you what each one 
 said, but it was applause in different shapes, and the 
 many obliging things they all said of you- made me 
 open my treasure of steel ware for each to furnish 
 himself as he liked best. What could I not have 
 parted with on such an occasion ? The Prince read 
 his letter aloud ; this raised their curiosity to see the 
 things for the Princess, but I thought it a better com- 
 pliment to Him as well as to her to refuse showing them 
 till lie had seen them. This she afterwards interpreted 
 as a particular jinezza. 
 
 ‘ Rendez vous was given me the same day at 21 
 hours to see all the Jewels of Francescho which are on 
 sail (sic) at the Princess’s, I did not like the occasion, 
 but could not defer it, though I assure you I lost 
 
1742. 
 
 THE PRINCESS EE CBAON. 
 
 61 
 
 nothing by displaying your presents after she had 
 seen the Jewels. I gave her your letter and the little 
 case, and desired she would give leave for a little 
 bundle my servant had without, to be put into her 
 room, this was refused and immediately called for, 
 and all the things opened. Such joy ! such Exclama- 
 tions. There was Antinori, Guadegni, de Sade, Buon- 
 delmonte, Madame Seresini and Pugi and St. Jean and 
 Forzoni and the Pages and the whole tribe that used 
 to attend at Pharaoh and Lansequenet, and all were 
 applied to for their approbation, and each strove to 
 make his court by the strength of his expressions. 
 Mme. Seresini stuck to the Indian Ink. “Eh, Madame, 
 je vous prie, n’en disposez pas trop volontiers, car vous 
 trouverez bien des occasions pour en faire honneur. 
 Je connois le prix de ca ! ” I was glad of this as I 
 really did not myself, nor did the Princess seem to 
 think of it so highly, but her whole attention was 
 taken up with the Morocco patch box, which was the 
 first she had ever seen, — and the Turkey handker- 
 chiefs, particularly that with the small sprigs, about 
 which her expressions were quite extravagant. — “Je 
 me leverois volontiers a minuit pour le voir. Oh la 
 grande beaute ! ” “Ah qu’il est obligeant, et qu’il con- 
 noit mongout!” “Ilfaut qu’il ait etudie pour me faire 
 plaisir ! Mais c’est trop magnifique; s’il etoit possible, 
 je le gronderais ! ” Here Prince Craon could keep his 
 resolution no longer to conceal from her his Sardony 
 and pocket-book till July, as a present on her fete, 
 as he till then designed : “ Ah, si vous scaviez tout, 
 Madame, quest ce que vous diriez ? ” — “ Comment 
 tout, Monsieur ? Ne me rendez done pas confuse.” — 
 
62 
 
 FRINGE AND PRINCESS. 
 
 1742. 
 
 “Eli bien ! je ne vous le montrerai pas; j’ai fini ma 
 mie ; je n’en dirai plus rien ; meme, j’ai promis de 
 garder le secret. Ces messieurs en sont temoins.” — 
 “ Mais quest ce done ? Ces messieurs sont tous dans 
 un complot contre moi! Permettez que je vous dise, 
 Messieurs, que e’est un peu impertinent.” — Every one 
 excused himself on the promise given to the Prince. 
 Here’s a secret, you’ll say, en bon train. In short the 
 Prince to save his word, said : “Eh bien, Messieurs, 
 soyez temoins que ce n’est pas moi. Si Madame de 
 Craon veut fouiller ma poche gauche, quest ce que je 
 puis faire ? ” At this she darted her hand into his 
 pocket, with eagerness, and pulled out the etui. The 
 little resistance it made to be opened, for she could 
 not find the clasps, seemed to augment the pleasure 
 when the book presented itself : “ Ah, 9a ! e’est veri- 
 tablement, trop ! Est ce que vous permettez 9a ? Mais 
 e’est exceder ! et je veux etre fierement en colere ! 
 Comment ! des tablettes de cette magnificence avec 
 des presents si considerables que voila ! ” — “Ah, 
 Princesse,” says I, “ ne le prenez pas sur ce ton, je 
 vous supplie. Monsieur Walpole n’a pas pretendu 
 vous faire des presents de prix. Ce sont des baga- 
 telles qu’il espere seulement etre de votre gout.” — 
 “Qu’appelez vous des bagatelles, Monsieur, qu’est ce 
 que vous qualifiez de ce nom la ? ” — “ Mais, Princesse, 
 regardez ces souliers de femme, ces eventails, ces 
 mouchoirs.’’*— ‘ Oh pour ceque vous venez de nommer, 
 je lui s9ais bon gre ” — “ Allons, Madame; accommodons 
 tout 9a.” — “ Je mettrai ces boittes sur ma toilette ; ne 
 laissez pas meme un morceau de ce papier Indien, car 
 je ne veux rien perdre de tout 9a,” 
 
1742. 
 
 MADAMS GR1FF0NI. 
 
 63 
 
 ! I made my escape as soon as I could, not to miss 
 the Griffoni, but I got to her door just as her coach 
 was moving from it. She took it for a visit in return 
 to those she had made me during my illness. My 
 coach coming up with hers, I told her I had a letter 
 to deliver her, which she desired I would give to the 
 servant, to save me the trouble of returning. I told 
 her my directions were to give it into her own hands, 
 she must excuse me if I deferred till I found her at 
 home, and that I would attempt it the next morning. 
 In the mean time, the presents to her cousin had been 
 shown that evening to every body, so that she had 
 heard of them, and on my giving her the letter, I said 
 I was directed to present her a trifle in your name. 
 She began to say you have favoured her too gene- 
 rously before, etc. I stopped her by showing her the 
 Queen of Scots’s picture, and then the fans ; and then 
 said there was still a trifle to show her the work of 
 England ; on which I helped her to open the case. 
 I saw she was surprized and would have said as many 
 pretty things as the Princess had done, but I stopped 
 her by telling her that I was only the porter of these 
 things, and that I should give you sufficient pleasure 
 by telling you only that she la aveva gradita. “ Oh, 
 questo glielo diro di me,” etc. She staid at home that 
 evening. The watch was shewn to the few ladies, and 
 they sent many more the next morning to see it. 
 Insomuch that nothing else was talked of at the 
 Theater the next evening. The Riccardi told her 
 mother who had not seen it, that she would not 
 pretend to give a description of it, as it was im- 
 possible, but advised her to sec it, or send to ask for 
 my box which might give her some idea.’ 
 
64 
 
 FESTIVALS. 
 
 1742. 
 
 ‘ Last night there was a Ball at Madame Craon’s, 
 being the Queen’s Day. Madame Griffoni was there 
 in your watch, and the whole town examined it, and 
 was delighted with the workmanship. Madame 
 Griffoni was the only one uneasy for fear of its being- 
 let fall. I had before given the fans to the little 
 Albizzi, who sends you many thanks, and that 
 ‘Monsieur Walpole non doveva far queste ceremonie 
 ni darci questo incommodo.’ Madame Galli I have 
 not seen, though I have been twice to give her the pins 
 and fans. She has a child sick, and receives nobody. 
 The Suareses are not come back, tho’ expected soon. 
 I keep the charming box, the handsome cone, etc., till 
 they are here. They say Ferdinando is a Sposo to a 
 rich Friulian lady. I have wrote to the Pucci how I 
 am to send her silks and Giovinando’s salts. I thank 
 you for the books, the prints, the pamphlets, and the 
 views of Houghton. Stosch told me six months ago 
 you ought to have sent him the letter to put into his 
 great collection, by which you would have paid him 
 for the carriage of medals from Borne, and Postadge, 
 etc. I asked him seriously what you owed him, and 
 would have paid it, but he said he joked.’ 
 
 ‘There was a great Festin di Giuoco t’other day, 
 at the Sposo Paneiattici’s,- — the wedding feast put off by 
 his having the small-pox ; and his Brothers, meazles. 
 ’Twas extremely fine. She could not dance last night 
 at Prince Craon’s. Poor Mr. Chute was obliged to 
 play at ombre with the Prince and that horrid 
 Guadagni who scowled most indecently, tore the cards 
 and begged God would give her patience ! and all 
 this fluster for a fish or two that she lost, while Mr. 
 
1742. 
 
 FOREIGN POST'. 
 
 G5 
 
 Chute was losing twenty at a pistole a peice. The 
 Prince was peevish because the violins made a noise 
 and such a carillon that he could not mind his 
 cards.’ 
 
 £ I cannot observe any sign of your letters being 
 opened ; but this last is of a week’s later date than all 
 others by the same post ; this is of more inconvenience 
 with regard to my peace than you are aware of, for as 
 this place and its inhabitants, and the inhabitants 
 of neighbouring Leghorn, the Mantoua Gazzett, etc., 
 are fertile in inventing lyes, till I know they are 
 so, I cannot help being uneasy. Who is that Mr. 
 Paxton, and what is his history ? He is called here a 
 Secretary of Sir R., and told us a dreadfull circum- 
 stance in this last week. He (Sir R.) £ was said to be 
 out of England and coming to Italy. The lye of the 
 coffin and 55,000 pounds has been made much of 
 here, and one would think that the Bern, Mantoua,, 
 and Bologna Gazzettes were furnished by those who 
 supply Pannoni. The letters are just come in from 
 77 ’ (Rome) ‘wherein the peevish Knight,’ (Sir Francis 
 Dashwood) £ is much mentioned. Call him in our 
 list, 12. Nothing of him worth particularising. He 
 discovers his inveteracy to 34 ’ (George II.) £ and 
 a ffi rms that everything possible will be done to curtail 
 his power, and that the inveteracy to prosecute the 
 affair in hand is excessive. 
 
 May 20th . — £ It is a great mortification to me to 
 know that my letters to you are opened, yours to me 
 are not, though your new seal this time has given me 
 some suspicion. I send it you back to see, as I am 
 not convinced it is yours. You will think it odd 
 
 VOL. I. S’ 
 
66 
 
 LADY WALPOLE. 
 
 1742. 
 
 when I tell you that the only danger I think of my 
 letters being seen is before they leave Florence, which 
 is the reason I have so often asked you for the par- 
 ticular dates of those you receive, as I make memo- 
 randums of them here. 
 
 ‘Lady Walpole has of late had the assurance to say 
 that she has letters of Mr. Mann to show, as proofs of 
 his writing ill of her ; this I don’t believe. — This, I 
 send to Count Lorenzi’s to be delivered to the Courier 
 with his, so that they don’t go into any other hands . . . 
 Lady Walpole is actually providing travelling cloaths, 
 and, in order to undertake this journey, makes pro- 
 visions only from day to day. It is said that the 
 motion depends upon advices from England, and that 
 after they come no moment will be lost to fly thither. 
 Compagni and Libri, the bankers, were I know applied 
 to to furnish LlOOO on bills to be given on England ; 
 but on their taking a day to consider, and on their 
 privately asking 202’s (Mr. Mann’s) advice, they have 
 refused to comply with the request, though some time 
 ago their correspondent at Venice furnished by their 
 order £500 . . . What do you think could be the motive 
 of wanting so vast a supply ? Do you think the draft 
 could be designed to be upon the usual people ? ’ 
 
 c . . . What can your Opera directors mean by 
 changing the Visconti for the Famagalli ? You re- 
 member sure how vastly squeezing she was in the 
 Via di Cucomero, and was hardly heard. She really 
 would never have been thought of for the first woman 
 in the Pergola, — and yet is to be the first in the Hay- 
 market ; and indeed as a Director or Connoisseur you 
 ought to have protested. . . .’ 
 
1742. 
 
 THE GRAND ELECTRESS. 
 
 67 
 
 ‘ . . . Prince Craon lias been here this morning 
 to drink Chocolate, and tells me that the Princess 
 carried the patch box and tablettes t’other day to show 
 the Electress, who liked them vastly.’ (Anna Maria 
 cle’ Medici.) This lady was the daughter of Cosmo 
 the Third, Grand Duke ; and widow of John William, 
 Elector Palatine — since whose death she had resided 
 in Florence, — where she admired Walpole’s presents 
 ‘vastly.’ She was an artist, — something more than 
 an amateur, — and added a picture by herself to the 
 masterpieces in the famous Gallery. Although she 
 lived retired, it was in a retirement of the utmost 
 splendour. All that art and ingenuity could supply, 
 and money purchase, the aged daughter of Cosmo 
 gathered around her — -jewels, precious metals, costly 
 attire — the mass of these was immense. The glitter 
 dazzled the eyes of beholders, but could hardly confer 
 dignity on this really last of the Medici. 
 
 The military events of the time brought in new 
 words to the language. On 27th May, Mann writes: — 
 
 ‘ We have no news stirring yet, but we are in expecta- 
 tion of a great deal. Montemar with the Spaniards and 
 Neapolitans are advanced within a few miles of the 
 Austrosards from whom there is a continual Andi- 
 viene of couriers, and even the Orsi ’ (the Italian faction 
 favouring the claims of Don Phillip in Italy) ‘ seem 
 to apprehend the overthrow of the Napolispani (these 
 were all new words since you was in Italy, but greatly 
 now in use), and then what will become of us % for 
 they have to retreat, and when beaten may beat us. 
 All that is certainly known here is, that on the 19th 
 Montemar began to decamp from the environs of 
 
08 
 
 MONTEMAB. 
 
 1742. 
 
 Bologna . . . and wliat is as ridiculous as true is 
 that some days before the Spaniards left, they were 
 desirous of procuring for themselves the Kingdom 
 of Heaven as well as one in Lombardy for Don 
 Phillip, for they all, I mean the officers, were remark- 
 ably devout, took the Sacrament, deposited their little 
 effects in the Banks and Convents in case of a return 
 and, in case not, made their wills. There is a pannick 
 fear it seems throughout the army which is most 
 strangely reduced by desertion. I don’t remember 
 whether I told you that the number, according to 
 the account that Braitwitz has given me, amounts to 
 8312, to the 18th of May, and that from that day 
 to the 25th, 1028 more, and others continually arrive. 
 The Conqueror of the Two Sicilies, — you remember 
 his speech to the late Great Duke, on his return 
 from Bitonto and the answer da capo ! cla capo ! — 
 this conqueror Montemar is thought to be in a 
 woefull plight. If he fight, it is reckoned he will be 
 beat ; if he does not, he will have no army to fight 
 with ; for if they run away from themselves, what will 
 they do when they see their enemy ? All this may 
 turn out well for the Queen’s affairs in Lombardy, but 
 may bring confusion here, against which they are 
 privately taking some precautions, immediately after 
 the arrival of an estafette from Milan, that is from 
 their army. Count Pdchecourt, I am afraid, sent 
 to collect all the money from all the different cases, 
 which amounted they say to 600,000 crowns, and 
 caused it on fryday night to be sent to Leghorn to be 
 deposited in the castle there. Whether it is out of 
 fear of Spanish plunderers or others, I can’t pretend to 
 
1742. 
 
 ALARMS. 
 
 G9 
 
 say. The Electress has omitted going to the Quieta 
 this year ; her courtiers say she is afraid of her jewels 
 in her absence ; to be sure her presence will always 
 command respect ; there must be some very strong 
 reason for her, who is very regular, not to do what she 
 has always reckoned as needfull and salutary, both for 
 her Soul and Body.’ 
 
 June 2. — ‘We are, as I told you in my last, in 
 daily expectation of qualche fatto d’ armi between our 
 neighbouring armies ; there have been some skirmishes 
 between the Hussars and Michelets, who pass and 
 repass the river. The alarm was so great on Tues- 
 day morning in the Spanish Camp, that an order was 
 given to send their baggage to Bologna, and for the 
 whole army to be, as Palombo says, in battle-ray ; in 
 which manner, as two Irish deserters, (who are in the 
 act of eating below more victuals than they have seen 
 for a week,) affirm, they remained all Tuesday, that 
 night, and till Wednesday evening in expectation of 
 a battle, at which time these poor devils left them, 
 and are extreme glad they are alive. The Duke of 
 Modena has either declared his resolution to observe 
 a neutrality, or he declared for the Queen ; the latter 
 is asserted by three people, but I don’t give you that 
 as good authority, finding that they are strangely 
 ignorant of what they ought to know ; even 58 
 (Richecourt) is in the dark. I believe it is certain 
 that on Marquis d’ Ormee’s visit, and pressing him to 
 declare, and the immediate march of the whole Sar- 
 dinian and Austrian army towards the Parano, so as 
 to be between that river and Modena, which made the 
 junction of the Spanish and Modenese troops imprac- 
 
70 
 
 ON SEA AND ASHORE. 
 
 1742 . 
 
 ticable — the Duke, seeing no remedy, wrote to Mon- 
 temar, to tell him that as he had not kept his word in 
 being before Modena with his army, on the Corpus 
 Domini, he looked upon himself as no longer engaged, 
 not thinking that they could expect him to cause his 
 whole country to be ruined for them — so declared as 
 I said above. 
 
 ‘ Here is a vile report about the town, of the King 
 of Prussia having defeated Prince Charles’s army at 
 Czaslaw, near Prague, which has raised the spirits of 
 the Orsi — horrid creatures, whose hatred to their 
 master makes them wish that everything may go 
 wrong — nay, ruin and destruction to everybody that 
 belongs to him. This report of the defeat has raised 
 their spirits that have been drooping ever since the 
 fleet has been so ranged as to prevent more Spaniards 
 coming. Their barks continually fall into Mr. Les- 
 tock’s hands, and they see ’tis impossible to pass. We 
 are awaiting with fear and trembling, for the arrival 
 of the post from Vienna this evening, with aching- 
 hearts, though gay outsides. 
 
 ‘ We have two days’ Gala for the Queen’s delivery. 
 A propos ! I thought of it yesterday, and have made 
 a coat to your delightful wastecoat and faceing which, 
 on account of mourning, I have never been able to 
 wear yet ; after to-morrow, I must lay it by again, as 
 the mourning will last the whole summer. I shall see 
 the Princess to-night, who was to have had a gown 
 like it, if she could have worn coloured cloaths. There 
 is nothing at their house this evening but common 
 staying at home ; but, as there is no public diver- 
 sion, perhaps there may be some ladies. I just 
 
1742. 
 
 AT THE PBETAJA. 
 
 71 
 
 saw the Griffoni this morning coming out of the 
 Anunziata. 
 
 June 17. — ‘The King of Sardinia, they say, has 
 begun to act. His troops are entered Modena, and ’tis 
 affirmed he is actually besieging the Cittadel. The 
 Duke, his Dutchess, and your two friends his maiden 
 sisters were, by the last letters, got no farther than 
 St. Crispino, but were to proceed to Venice. People 
 attached to the Queen affirm that the Duke of Modena 
 is understood with {sic) the King of Sardinia, and that 
 the Cittadel was to surrender as soon as the batteries 
 were fixed, and some coups tires. The Orsi say not, 
 and that it will hold out as long as it can, and prevent 
 the Queen’s and the King’s troops from undertaking 
 anything against Montemar who, on his side, will 
 certainly march to relieve Modena. We shall have 
 something by the letters of this evening. 
 
 ‘ We were at the Pretaja yesterday in the after- 
 noon. The Princess has been there a week. Madame 
 Sarasin swears she has heard the firing cannon from 
 Modena. The Prince likewise. He can distinguish 
 them too. He has pressed us so extremely to pass 
 some days there, that I don’t know how it will be 
 possible to avoid it. “ Faites moi cette amitie,” said 
 the Princess, and on my making bows and saying 
 nothings for answers, she said I appeared to have as 
 much degout for the country as you had ; I must not 
 absolutely refuse. What shall I do ? The Prince is 
 to carry us to Castello and Toppaja and all the places 
 thereabouts. The Princess has desired I will carry 
 the plan of your house the first time I go there. The 
 Prince (who I could see did not like it, because there 
 
72 
 
 FROM MADEIRA. 
 
 1742. 
 
 was not window enough) has spoke to her about it. 
 She said you had found means de l’interesser en tout 
 ceque vous regarde, not since your fine presents I 
 assure you, “car je l’aimois tout autant auparavant.” 
 If any considerable part of the fleet should come to 
 Leghorn, I am to carry her to see it. 
 
 ‘ I have had a stranger, Acciajoli, here this morning 
 to visit me ; a thing come from the islands of Madera 
 (sic) to marry his cousin the rich heiress to Casa 
 Acciajoli. He speaks nothing but Madera ; not a 
 word of Italian. They are to be married at Loreto 
 next month. She says she doesn’t mind the heats 
 and won’t put it off till September, or till she can 
 understand him. I cannot help adding a circum- 
 stance (now that I am speaking of female eagerness) 
 which I have lately been assured is true with regard 
 to the exploits of the Pepi. Her Night- errantry 
 which I formerly mentioned, was more extraordinary 
 than I thought. Her Pistols were not charged against 
 Pecori for infidelity, but against the Parigi for seduc- 
 ing him. She was literally taken up and conducted 
 to the Bargellos to whom she gave 10 Ruspi’ (new 
 coined pistoles) ‘ to be set free. ’ 
 
 June 20th . — Everybody is out of town and will 
 be so till San Giovanni when we are to hear a famous 
 Opera. Egizziello is our Soprano ; the rest I don’t 
 know. 
 
 ‘ For this last week I have had complaints made 
 to me which were brought by an Express, of an 
 Englishman, one Wright’s, design to storm the Town 
 and Republick of Lucca; which horrid design was 
 manifested by his obstinate refusal to deliver a couple 
 
1742. 
 
 MB. WEIGHT STOBMS LUCCA. 
 
 73 
 
 of Pistols to the Guards at the Gate; and his pre- 
 senting one of them cocked at the Corporal and 
 twenty soldiers that demanded them of him ; threaten- 
 ing to kill them if they persisted. Much mischief might 
 have ensued had not a Colonel with thirty more sol- 
 diers, taken this valiant Squire Prisoner. He was 
 conducted with the above attendants to his Inn, where 
 he found another Guard, and two were placed in his 
 bedchamber, till one of the Lucchese noblemen, to 
 whom our countryman had recommendations, found 
 means to persuade the Republick that no mischief 
 should ensue. He was kept three days, prisoner, 
 when at 4 o’clock in the morning, just as his servant 
 was setting out post to tell me, he received a message 
 from the Gonfaloniere, by an officer who speaks English 
 — “ that since he had been so daring as to endeavour 
 to enter the Town by force of Arms, it was therefore 
 ordered that he should forthwith leave the State, 
 never presume to enter it again without leave from 
 the Eepublick ; and that there were post horses at 
 the door of his house, as well as a Guard of Soldiers 
 to see him out of the Territories of the Republick ! ” 
 He answered a great deal, not much to the purpose. 
 However, his compliance with the orders put an end 
 to what had made a great noise, and for three days 
 had put their Excellencies in an uproar.’ 
 
 June 2ith . — ‘ I have received by this Post the 
 Letter of the 20th May, which I should have had by 
 the last, as that of the 26 th came with it, which 
 convinces me that there is some little irregularity in 
 the people that have charge of them ; though I am 
 confident that they are not opened. You continue 
 
74 
 
 CLIMATES. 
 
 1742. 
 
 to tell me mine to you are. It appears strange that 
 they should, for what can any one find to gratify their 
 curiosity ? 1 have strong suspicions that it is done 
 here, and cannot come to the certainty of it. 
 
 £ . . . It is as difficult here to know the truth of 
 the affairs in Germany, as with you. Each side 
 prints accounts of their own victory. We had really 
 liked to have had a Te Deum for the almost defeat 
 of Prince Charles, though things were not quite as 
 had as they were first represented ; yet such another 
 victory would ruin the Queen’s affairs.’ 
 
 Walpole, writing from Downing Street, to Mann, 
 on the 26tli of May, says : — £ To day calls itself the 
 26 th of May, as you perceive by the date ; but I am 
 writing to you by the fire-side instead of going to 
 Vauxhall. If we have one warm day in seven, ££ we 
 bless our stars and think it luxury.” And yet we 
 have as much waterworks and fresco diversions as if 
 we lay ten degrees nearer warmth. Two nights ago, 
 Ranelagh Gardens were opened at Chelsea.’ 
 
 Some degrees nearer the Equator made little dif- 
 ference in the temperature this year. £ In your letter 
 of the 26 th,’ writes Mann, from Florence, on the 24th 
 of June, £ you complain of cold ; had I wrote to you 
 three days ago Ishould have done the same, which 
 is something more extraordinary in this climate ; but 
 for the week past so much rain and hail has fallen, 
 that it appeared quite winter, and I unluckily some 
 days before, tempted by the fine weather, was got 
 down to the Terrass. Its tollerably well to day, and 
 I write with the window open, whilst all the world 
 is at the Corso and horse race. ’Tis St. John’s Day, 
 
1742. 
 
 THE PRIMATE OF LORRAINE. 
 
 75 
 
 but I have not stirred out, though I intend to go 
 to the new Opera, to see Egiziello, whose fame is 
 great ; but I know I shall not like him better than 
 Salimbeni.’ 
 
 The joyous fervency with which John the Baptist 
 was honoured by horse-races, male Soprani, and 
 dancing women, was considerably damped by news 
 which had reached Florence of the death of the 
 Primate of Lorraine. This exemplary ecclesiastic, a 
 son of the Prince de Craon, was famous for his great 
 wit and his greater vices, ‘ I have not seen the 
 Princess this week/ writes Mann ; c but I expect to 
 find everything dismal, for though she never loved 
 the Primate, she must behave as though she was 
 sorry for his death. The news came of it yesterday/ 
 This calamity did not prevent the Prince de Craon 
 from starting the horses at the Paces, at which the 
 Great Duke’s horse won the Paglio.’ 
 
 ‘The last news we had from the armies is that 
 Montemar decamped suddenly a few days ago, with 
 a design ’twas thought, to get to a place called Firale, 
 and so have crossed the Parano to succour Modena, 
 which is actually bombarding, but he could not do it 
 so slyly, for the King of Sardinia was too vigilant 
 and got the start of him, so that it is now supposed 
 he will retire into the Ferronese, where his sick were 
 to have been sent, but most of them died on their 
 passage, by rains, etc. What alarmed us most was 
 that his great Baggage was removed at the same time 
 from Bologna to Faenza, which might denote his 
 retirement into Tuscany. The last we heard of him 
 was that he was at Cento. In this decampment he 
 
76 
 
 IDEAS OF NEUTRALITY. 
 
 1742, 
 
 lias lost near 2000 men, part by the Hussars who 
 attacked them in the Coda, and part by desertion. 
 We have now three ships of war at Leghorn, taking in 
 provisions, and seeking Pilots to go into the Adriatick, 
 so that if Montemar gets into the Perron ese, he may 
 find it difficult to be supplied with provisions, when 
 these ships secure the entrance of the Po. Disgusts 
 have happened at Leghorn, and things are carried 
 strangely high by our folks. Captain Lee sent 
 Richecourt word as to the letter he wrote about it to 
 show the impossibility of giving him the Pilots out 
 of the Gallies, as it would be a manifest breach of 
 the neutrality, which the Great Duke was not in a 
 condition to break. Lee bid these Gentlemen who 
 showed him Richecourt’s letter to tell him, it appeared 
 more like one dictated by a Spanish agent than by the 
 Minister of an Ally whose interest was the chief 
 motive of sending these ships into the Adriatick. It 
 is strange things cannot be managed with a little more 
 decency ; but my friend Gold worthy, I hear, foments 
 matters greatly. Then, it is quite impossible to beat 
 into their heads the notion of a neutrality. They 
 answer, as the sailors did at Lisbon, with Sir John 
 Norris, when they had any quarrel with the people of 
 the country : “ God d — n them ungrateful villains ! 
 are not we here to defend them from Popery and 
 Slavery ? ” ’ 
 
 St. John’s day was a theme which Mr. Chute took 
 up even more warmly and more in detail than Mr. 
 Mann. In a letter to Walpole, dated 24th June, from 
 c Charming Terrazzino, Casa Ambrosio, Florence,’ Mr. 
 Chute says : ‘ Lord ! how I wish you were at Florence 
 
1742. 
 
 BALAAM AND HIS ASS. 
 
 77 
 
 to-day ? ’tis San Giovanni ; the whole town is a 
 “ Stefanier ” (a low word for gluttonising), I have just 
 been one of two thousand gapers to watch St. John’s 
 wabbling Benediction from the top of his wabbling 
 Tower. If lie had danced this dance before King 
 Herod, I can’t but think it would have hit his taste 
 as well as the Damsel’s, for which he swore off his 
 head. We are to have races this afternoon, and to 
 crown all, our Grand Opera, Yia della Pergola, begins 
 at night. I’ll say how I like it when I’ve seen it. I 
 have heard it partly at the Prova, but non saprei, we 
 have got Egizziello, and that must content us ; for I 
 doubt we have nobody else. Our first woman, Sani, 
 is three parts as ugly as yours. I wish she sang half 
 as well. Your Petraja friends, in the midst of all our 
 Mirth, are obliged to be sorry ; the poor Primate is 
 carried off by the Small Pox, the very smallest. He 
 died at Paris. This will very likely spoil our Partie 
 di Campagna. 
 
 ‘ In these perillous times,’ adds Mr. Chute in his 
 letter of the 24th June, £ we have very few English at 
 Florence. We have only two, who, having very 
 queer names, and no less queer dispositions, have 
 determined us to call them Balaam and his Ass. Did 
 you never hear a story of Swift and a stammering 
 ’Squire who carried a Bully about with him to speak 
 for him. This proxy speaker, thinking to be witty on 
 the Dean, said to him, one day at a full table: — 
 “ What do you Gentlemen make of that odd story of 
 Balaam and his ass ? I suppose you do not take it in 
 a litteral sense .” — “ Excuse me, Sir,” says Swift, 
 devilishly nettled to have Scripture ridiculed by any 
 
78 
 
 HOSPITALITY. 
 
 1742. 
 
 but himself ; — “ the thing is quite litteral, I assure 
 you ; and the plainest case in the world. Balaam, 
 Sir, had an impediment in his speech, and his Ass 
 spoke for him ! ” This is just the case of our two 
 Countrymen, — a Prophet and an Ass ! However, they 
 have got somebody to speak for them both for Mini 
 (Mann) and we are vastly civil to them ; and Mini 
 carrys them out in his Coach . . . And now my 
 dear Good Sir, if I don’t run away from you I shall 
 lose the race ; and you’ll be no great gainer if 
 I stay ; so let me assure you I am whatever you 
 please I should be. The Whitheds kiss the Walpoles 
 with all their hearts.’ 
 
1742. 
 
 THE PRETENDER. 
 
 79 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1742. 
 
 The Pretender lias a passing but significant notice in 
 July. Walpole addressed a letter to Mann on June 
 10th, which he headed, as follows: — ‘June 10. The 
 Pretender’s birth-day, which, by the way, I believe he 
 did not expect to keep at Rome, this year ! ’ The letter 
 contains nothing of importance, and Mann, on the 
 15th July, after complaining that Cardinal Tencin 
 had detained the Courier several days at Genoa, refers 
 to the above heading, and replies : ‘ I believe that 
 you are in the right and that the Hero of that day did 
 not expect to be musing in a villa at Rome ; however, 
 whether it be in forty two or forty three, the difference 
 is not great. The Cardinal has promised it shall not 
 be put off longer. He is gone full of projects and has 
 left him full of hopes. No persuasions could detain 
 him, though his surgeons thought a journey might be 
 dangerous, for he has a Piega apart a ’ (an open wound). 
 ‘ His motif must be strong to risk travelling in such a 
 condition. Every one here believes he has hopes of 
 succeeding, if not supplanting, Cardinal Fleury.’ 
 
 July 1st . — £ Richecourt’s character was so publickly 
 infamous, that nothing but the considering him in the 
 
80 
 
 AT TEE TETIiAJA. 
 
 1742. 
 
 light of Lady Walpole’s favourite could have sup- 
 ported him so long. Sturgiss holds forth at a blind 
 coffee house (for he is too much despised to venture to 
 show himself at Pannoni’s), and vends the poor lies 
 that he and his Queen received from some of the Mer- 
 chants at Leghorn ; but believe me they make a most 
 abject figure. Very few now frequent them ; no ladies 
 at all ; nor she them. . . . Sturgiss was so idle as to 
 promise a young fellow of the Academy to get him a 
 pair of colours, in England.’ 
 
 July 1st. — ‘I was at the Petraja when the first 
 post after it was known ’ (the death of the Primate of 
 Lorraine) ‘ came in from Paris. The Prince came to 
 the Princess with his own letters and said, he had 
 received many on the occasion, and some for you, ma 
 mie. “ Helas ! sans doute, il y aura cinquante pour 
 moy!” — “Non, ma mie ; il n’y a que deux ; car, ils me 
 prient de vous faire leurs compliments ; ils ne vous 
 ecrivent pas pour ne pas renouveller votre douleur.” — 
 “Helas ! voila qui est bien, ils pensent sagement.” With 
 all this she is dressed out as gay as ever and receives 
 company. Madame Sarasin slips out first to tell 
 folks not to mention a word of the Primate ! ’tis such 
 affectation ! At the same time she plays at cards, 
 makes love with M. Antinori and everything as before. 
 I carried the plan of Houghton. “ Helas ! Monsieur, 
 vous avez infiniment des bontes pour moi, en tachant 
 de me dissiper dans la conjoncture presente, j’en ai, 
 je vous assure bien besoin ! ” They can get nobody to 
 stay there continually, but Sarasin and Santo Maria.’ 
 ‘All the celebrations of St John have passed with- 
 out anything material happening. The Opera was 
 
1742. 
 
 ENGLISH S A llOBS. 
 
 81 
 
 performed this night only, though even then Egizielo 
 was extreme ill and sang half songs ; the poor creature 
 is now so bad with a fever con Petecchie ’ (spots indi- 
 cating malignant fever) £ that his life is despaired of. 
 He has been blooded four times, and last night had the 
 Communion, etc., so that it is much more likely that 
 he should sing with the angels than with the vile herd, 
 the Seni, Ageta, Eloi, etc. The musick was abomi- 
 nably bad. They are seeking out for somebody to 
 supply his place and have thoughts of getting Cares- 
 terio, but I should prefer another scheme of taking a 
 less performer and putting in dances. This is talked 
 of, and Saufterre proposed it with a fine company that 
 has performed at Bologna.’ 
 
 Since England had taken part in the war, the 
 Spanish cruisers had captured no less than 450 British 
 merchant vessels within the Channel and soundings of 
 the British coast. Our fleet in the Mediterranean, 
 after being commanded by Haddock and Lestock, was 
 placed under the orders of Admiral Matthews, who was 
 further dignified by being appointed Minister-pleni- 
 potentiary to the King of Sardinia and the States of 
 Italy. One of the Admiral’s first orders was given to 
 Captain Norris to destroy five Spanish Galleys in the 
 Bay of St. Tropez. The result caused a joyous sen- 
 sation among the English and the friends of England, 
 in Florence. On July 6th, Mann writes : — ‘ All that is 
 known of this action here is contained in a letter from 
 some seamen at Villa Franca, but as I don’t understand 
 their language, I have desired an exact translation of 
 it in English. The letter says that Captain Norris (in 
 company witli the Spence sloop, and the Duke, fire- 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 CAPTAIN SMITH. 
 
 1742. 
 
 ship) having notice that the Gallies were got as far as 
 St. Tropez, followed them, hut had possitive orders 
 not to attack them in any of the Ports of France ; hut 
 Captain Norris, going too near the Shoer, was fur- 
 nished with a sufficient authority for what he did, by 
 the Spaniards firing upon him, whereupon, says the 
 letter, “ he immediately brought to and, clapping a 
 spring on his cable, gave them four broadsides, the 
 Spence sloop doing the same, which put them in great 
 disorder, so that the Duke fireship was immediately 
 sent in and burnt the whole five with no other loss 
 than two men having their heads shot off. The 
 bravery of Captain Smith was very remarkable, for 
 after having clapt the Gallies on board and given fire 
 in his boat to the train, it did not take effect, where- 
 upon he jumpt into the ship and set fire to the whole 
 body of combustibles, whereby he had a very narrow 
 escape, for the force of the flames beat him into his 
 boat, senseless and much burnt. What the enemy lost 
 is not known, (here you are to understand, .men,) our 
 ships taking no further notice after they saw them 
 entirely consumed.” So far goes the letter which you 
 see still leaves room for a much clearer explanation, as 
 how the Spaniards could contrive to place all their 
 five Gallies so near each other as to be burnt by one 
 fireship. The fact is indisputable, though ’tis said to 
 be impossible.’ 
 
 July 8 th . — ‘We are deprived of all publick amuse- 
 ments by the illness of Egizielo, who, however, is 
 recovering apace, and will, they say, be able to sing 
 the 10th next month. He is so gratefull to some 
 Saint that has cured him, that he has wrote to Naples 
 
1742. 
 
 A CHRISTENING. 
 
 83 
 
 for a famous Mass, etc., which he will have performed 
 in a Church here, the latter end of this month with 
 great pomp, the whole expense of which he is to he at, 
 and will perform himself. We have nothing but the 
 bridge, which is vastly frequented, and it is extreme 
 pleasant. Do you remember that you used to prole 
 about there after supper. I wish you could do so now ! 
 
 ‘ The fat Flora, Sposa Rinuncini, has at last given 
 an heir to that family, a son who is likely to live, 
 whicli has given great joy. He was made a Chris- 
 tian last thursday, with all the Pomp imaginable, 
 though no Dame but Relations w T ere invited ; yet there 
 were fourscore in great Gala ; men in attendance, but 
 none but those invited. The Electress was God- 
 mother, (alone) represented by Mine. Siristori in the 
 high Court fashion. You would have laughed to have 
 seen her figure ; but the choice of her was a compli- 
 ment to Casa Rinuncini, as the wife of the first Carica 
 of her Court : I was invited in form and went in my 
 greatest Gala, your charming wastecoat and sleeves, 
 which is admired beyond expression. The next day I 
 put on my dolefulls again to go to the little Countess 
 del Berino’s, who is in great grief for the loss of her 
 father, Auditor Vieri, who died some days ago, very 
 oddly. He was asleep after dinner, about 19 hours, a 
 picture fell down, in the next room to him, or a glass 
 which was thrown down and broke. The noise awoke 
 him and frightened him so much that it caused an 
 immediate stagnation of his blood, and he died in his 
 full senses in the evening. All the account he could 
 give of it was, he was persuaded it was an earthquake, 
 and that the house was in the act of being swallowed 
 
84 
 
 SPOSO AND 8P0SA. 
 
 1742. 
 
 up. The poor Countess has reason to be afflicted. 
 Her Father almost supported her, and was the only one 
 that could keep the strangest of Bears, her husband, 
 in any awe. Delmonte is the only comfort she has left. 
 
 ‘A propos. He is a Colonel of a regiment of Horse 
 composed out of the Militia which he has newly 
 raised ; in order to make it compleat, he was forced to 
 harangue to poor country fellows, and thought the 
 best argument was to assure them they should never 
 be put to the hardship of fighting or going into any 
 Garrison. He said the Great Duke had promised it 
 him. ‘ E Cospetto ! se mi manca di Parola ! Cazzo ! 
 so farmi rendere raggioni anco di lui ! Cazzo ! ’ He is 
 kind to the Countess, and that’s enough. 
 
 ‘The Sposa Acciajoli sets out to-morrow with all 
 the family and many Cavalieri, for Loreto, where all 
 the relations from Rome are to meet, to be present at 
 the wedding, which is to be performed under the 
 immediate Eye of the Virgin. The Madera Sposo 
 literally can’t speak ten words of Italian, in as many 
 months as he has been here. Her fortune, I am 
 assured, is upwards of two hundred thousand crowns ; 
 I am afraid to put it in figures, lest you should think 
 an 0 had slid in supernumary ! ’ 
 
 The story of the Acciajoli lovers was repaid by a 
 still better story from England. ‘ You have no notion,’ 
 Walpole wrote to Mann, on June 30th, from Downing 
 Street, — that official residence which his father had 
 not yet quitted, and which, declining to receive it as a 
 gift from George the Second, he induced the King to 
 attach to the office of First Lord of the Treasury, — 
 
 ‘ you have no notion how I laughed at the man that 
 
1742. 
 
 MONSIEUR BE BEAUVAU. 
 
 85 
 
 talks nothing but Madeira. I told it to my Lady 
 Pomfret, concluding it would divert her too, and 
 forgetting that she replies when she should laugh, 
 and reasons when she should be diverted, she asked 
 gravely what language that was. “ That Madeira 
 being subject to a European Prince, to be sure they 
 talk some European dialect.” The grave personage ! 
 It was of a piece with her saying that “ Swift 
 would have written better, if he had never written 
 ludicrously.” ’ 
 
 In July, 1742, a son of Prince cle Craon was 
 with the French army, which had taken refuge under 
 the cannon of Prague — ‘ they are all to be cut to 
 pieces,’ writes Mann, ‘ by the Great Duke who is 
 gone there for that purpose. I hope he will spare 
 your friend, M. de Beauvau, out of respect to the 
 memory of his father. The Princess had almost got 
 over the loss of the Primate, when this evil panick 
 took her, which with the bad water at Petraja, has 
 thrown her into most violent coliques and such epuise- 
 ments that she cannot keep off her cradle. I was 
 there yesterday and helped to place her pillows right, 
 in order to receive a Sienna Lady, for the first time, 
 with all the state of convalescence. There was a new 
 set of pillows, from the bigness of a snuff box, to the 
 common size.’ 
 
 July. . . — ‘ We staid at home t’other night and had 
 by way of a tryal, a little company and a little musick 
 in the Garden ; a table of Quadrille, and another of 
 Micchiate, and some Wanderers, and I believe we 
 shall have some more of these nights, and I may ven- 
 ture on better company ; instead of the Yitelli, I may 
 
86 
 
 CAVALIERS AND COACHMEN. 
 
 1742. 
 
 venture to ask the Griffoni . . . The Duke of New- 
 castle has most graciously condescended to recommend 
 to me a Mr. Sacht-hill and Cholwich ’ (sic, probably 
 Walpole understood who were meant). ‘ Y ou may 
 imagine I do what I can to show respect to such 
 recommendation, but one of the men is vastly odd, 
 indeed almost a driveler. I drive them to-morrow to 
 Pratolero. I had almost forgot to tell you that at 
 the end of my conversation that night, when only 
 the Suarases were left, I distributed all my necklaces 
 that were left, among them. The mother seized the 
 Emerald ear-rings and hid them immediately. I’ll 
 swear she designs to pass them for her true ones 
 which are in pawn/ 
 
 July 22nd . — ‘The weather is charming here, the 
 nights particularly, but an ugly accident has almost 
 spoilt fun on the bridge ; people are afraid of coach- 
 men in long whips ; two or three very noisy ones 
 being there some nights ago, cracking their whips to 
 the annoyance of the ladies and every body there, 
 were reprimanded by Cavaliere Azzi, an extreme good- 
 natured fat man whom you have seen frequently play 
 with P. Craon. They gave him in return some very 
 ill language, and provoked him to run after them with 
 his sword drawn. When he had got to the end of 
 the Via Maggio, they all pelted him with stones, and 
 knocked him down, and then came up to him and 
 beat him most horridly with their whips and stamped 
 upon him and then made off, leaving the poor man half 
 dead and most dangerously wounded in his head, with 
 bruises all over him. Some fellows that were suspected 
 are got into churches, and others out of the town.’ 
 
1742. 
 
 SCANDAL. 
 
 87 
 
 In what Mann calls Walpole’s Midsummer Letter, 
 the writer told the Minister at Florence a bit of 
 Florentine scandal, to the following effect : — ‘ The 
 Italian, (Ceretani) who I told you was here, has let 
 me into a piece of secret history which you never 
 mentioned ; perhaps it is not true ; but he says, the 
 mighty mystery of the Count’s (Richecourt’s) elope- 
 ment from Florence, was occasioned by a letter from 
 Wachtendonck,’ (the Queen of Hungary’s General at 
 Leghorn,) ‘ which was so impertinent as to talk of 
 satisfaction for some affront. The great Count, very 
 wisely, never answered it,- — his life to be sure is of too 
 great importance to be trusted at the end of a rash 
 German’s sword. However, the General wrote again, 
 and hinted at coming himself for an answer. So it 
 happened that when he arrived, the Count, had gone 
 to the Baths at Lucca*; those waters were reckoned 
 better for his health than steel in the abstract. How 
 oddly it happened ! He just returned to Florence as 
 the General was dead ! Now was not this heroic lover 
 worth coming after ? I wonder, as the Count must 
 have known my lady’s’ (Lady Walpole’s) ‘ courage and 
 genius for adventures, that he never thought of putting 
 her into man’s clothes, and sending her to answer the 
 challenge. How pretty it would have been to have 
 fought for one’s lover ! And how great the obligation 
 when he durst not fight for himself ! ’ 
 
 £ What a strange story has your Italian told you,’ 
 writes Mann, in reply, July 22nd. £ There is the least 
 
 truth in it imaginable. What he jumbles together is 
 this. When the present Nuncio Archiuto came 
 here, he was entertained by the Earl ’ (Count Riche- 
 
88 
 
 A YOUNG ENGLISH GENTLEMAN. 
 
 1742 . 
 
 court) £ who, to amuse him told him a long story of 
 Wachtendonck, as how some time before, he had, under 
 pretence of visiting the Passes in the mountains, to 
 prevent an enemy passing, disguised himself in a 
 black wig and corked eye-brows, when lo ! it was to 
 meet an antient love, by name the Princess Trielzi, 
 with whom he spent two days in a little house on 
 the mountains ; and who should that lady be but the 
 very sister to the Monsignore he was entertaining. 
 The Primate was at the dinner, and endeavoured by 
 treading on the Earl’s toes and many other ways, to 
 prevent his going on, but to no purpose ! The thing 
 had never any suite, and the Heroes in question had 
 seen each other, both here and at Leghorn, fifty times 
 before the Ear] left Florence, the true cause of which 
 was his being some time in disgrace with his Highness, 
 brought about by many, chiefly by a Maid of Honour 
 to the Queen, cousin to Wachtendonck ; but as soon 
 as his Highness went to the army, he made up matters 
 again.’ 
 
 As a sample of the religion and philosophy and 
 refinement of a fine young English gentleman, lotos- 
 eating at Florence, at this time, a letter from Mr 
 Chute (who with his brother resided near Mann) will 
 afford an extract or two. 
 
 Florence, July 29th . — ‘ By a Circumstance of good 
 Fortune, which I no more comprehend than I deserve 
 it, I am in possession of two charming letters of yours, 
 as yet unanswered. I say, good Fortune, because my 
 conscience assures me I don’t owe them to what I most 
 naturally might, the neglect of acknowledging any 
 one of your Favours — that’s a silly word and smells 
 
1742. 
 
 MB. CHUTE’S LETTER. 
 
 89 
 
 of Goose and Sausages ! . . . Sometimes I think or 
 rather fancy that you have mistaken one of our 
 Dear Mini’s (Mann’s) for one of mine, and that ac- 
 counts for your loving me so much better than I 
 deserve. I love the thought. Why may it not be so ? 
 We are three Persons in one mind, and what more 
 natural than a little confusion about our Operations ! 
 Forgive me this once for independently figuring into 
 the place of the Dearly Beloved. I am fully sensible 
 I am nothing but proceeding, and as fully contented 
 with my station ; in my opinion, you have more merit 
 than if you had begotten me. 
 
 ‘Now which of your charming Letters shall I speak 
 to First. Jesus ! if all terms are too common to ex- 
 press your Friendship, what can be particular enough 
 for my Gratitude ? If I might but once express it, I 
 would be content to be the oldest fellow breathing 
 ever after. . . . Dear Sir, you can’t think how it 
 pleases me that I made you laugh so ; that is, that I 
 made you happy ; for every man’s happy while he 
 laughs ; ’tis the Philosopher’s Stone, the universal 
 Medium, the Summum Bonum while it lasts, and I 
 should scarcely give the preference to a Turkish 
 Paradise, if I had my choice to laugh to all Eternity ; 
 nay, ’tis a Christian one, for what’s the reverse of 
 weeping and wailing and nashing ? (sic). Why, un- 
 doubtly, laughing and giggling and cracking the sides ! 
 Lord, T didn’t think I was good for so much, and 
 the poor Primate ought (if possible) to be in Heaven, 
 for lea vino- us the occasion. In the mind I am in, if 
 you were a King, guess what Post I would choose 
 under you ! Not your Prime Minister ; for I want 
 
90 
 
 FOOLING. 
 
 1742. 
 
 capacity, love ease and hate the Inquisition ; nor your 
 General, for I should never see the Danger till I had 
 lost my Breeches’ (allusion to the capture of Marechal 
 de Broglie’s baggage, at Prague) ; ‘ not for Archbishop, 
 for I can’t swear and stare for what I don’t believe a 
 word of ; — besides an Archbishop is a sort of a Prime 
 Minister, too. No, I would be nothing of all their 
 fine things, but you should revive an ancient laudable 
 usage in my Favour, and make me your good Majestie’s 
 Fool. Lord ! ’t would be vastly pretty, and Dear Mini 
 should be your Plenipo, and have a peace to make 
 with Prussia. We would hang him round with Blue 
 and Green and red Ribbons, and I’d make you laugh 
 at those who doubted if he deserved them. Now, 
 Dear Sir, let me hear from you often; you would make 
 me happy even though you were to copy Tom Thumb. 
 I won’t print you in the J est Book, but I believe I shall 
 bind you and letter you with Gold. Mr. Walpole’s 
 Tom Thumb ; Mr. Walpole’s Jack the Giant Killer, 
 Pilgr im ’s Progress, etc., and you shall stand in my 
 Library in the Post of Honour.’ 
 
 July 2 9th . — ‘ The Countess del Bellino came here 
 this morning to say how sorry she was she could not 
 come here to-morrow night. I am to have all the 
 town in my garden, and all the musick I can get to 
 entertain them, and Copiosi rinfreschi to feed them. 
 I can’t tell you their names, and the number, yet, for 
 it is no invitation. The first I spoke to about it was 
 told that other ladies having promised to take the air 
 in my garden, instead of on the Ponte, she was desired 
 to come too, and so on. Twelve or fourteen have been 
 sent to by Madam Suares who directs, with the same 
 
1742. 
 
 COMPANY AT MANN’S. 
 
 91 
 
 message, and to desire they will bring their friends. 
 I, in discourses, have spoke to others ; so that I 
 reckon the number will be large. I will tell you how 
 it is to be. 
 
 ‘ A great large table is to be placed in the middle 
 of the garden, with many lights, for about 20 Suona- 
 tori of diverse sorts. All the alleys will be lined 
 with Chairs and Benches, but no lights in any other 
 parts of the garden, which I am told will please, 
 per il commodo delle Cicisbeatore. The Hall is to 
 be well lighted and the whole row of rooms, the 
 windows of which are made into doors so that the 
 walk under the orange trees will receive light from 
 them. This is allowed to be better than sticking a 
 light in every orange tree, or a torch at the end of 
 the walks which, if the wind did not, I should expect 
 would be blown out by those who prefer moonlight 
 to artificial (sic). There’s nothing that pleases so 
 much in this country as a Cocchiata’ (originally a 
 serenade listened to from carriages) £ in a garden. 
 Everybody is in expectation of it, and I don’t doubt 
 but I shall be commended. If the Crimine di Purga- 
 torio had not disappointed old Riccardi, when he spent 
 much in Masses to engage them to send him a fine 
 night on the like occasion, I might have been tempted 
 to have laid out some Pauls to have been sure of a 
 fine evening. If the wind blows, it will drive us all 
 in doors, and then we must ride on each other’s backs, 
 for there won’t be room for half the company. 
 
 ‘ I forgot to tell you that some of the ladies have 
 asked leave to come in constuccios’ (?) ‘so that that 
 was added to the message of invitation. Mme. Griffoni 
 
92 
 
 WAR BULLETINS. 
 
 1742. 
 
 has lent me all her ( illegible ), and will leave her sister 
 Antinori to come, though she was brought to bed of 
 a son two days ago. 
 
 ‘ . . . I would not for the world avoid telling you 
 that the letters bring notice this instant from Bologna 
 
 that Lord ! I forgot to tell you that the Miran- 
 
 dola surrendered the 22nd, on the only conditions 
 that were granted them, — Prisoners of War,- — and 
 this was necessary to introduce what the Bologna 
 letters say, — that the King of Sardinia and M. de 
 Traun were at a little place called Ponte di Nero, a 
 very small distance from Bologna, with 30,000 men, 
 that eight great Bolognese were sent to compliment 
 his Majesty, and four to M. Traun, attended by 
 presents and refreshments of all sorts. The Austro- 
 Sards were marching forced marches to intercept the 
 Neapoli-Spani, and prevent perhaps their retiring 
 into the Kingdom of Naples. They will oblige them 
 perhaps to retire and so strengthen them, prodi- 
 giously. Did I ever tell you that Montemar gave 
 7 zecchini to every deserter from the King of Sar- 
 dinia’s army ? And many they have been. Is it not 
 unaccountable how they go on making such expenses?’ 
 
 ‘All the letters mention how extremely surprised the 
 Court of Spain was to hear of Modena’s being taken, 
 as a Courier arrived at Madrid a little before to say 
 that such a day Montemar was to march to succour 
 it. The burning of the Galleys has alarmed them as 
 much, for according to their accounts, those Galleys 
 were to have brought up the great artillery with 
 which the Spanish Admiral promised to force his 
 passage.’ 
 
1742. 
 
 PLEASURES. 
 
 93 
 
 ‘ Tlie Court of Naples is frightened out of its little, 
 very little, senses ; and is as much afraid of the 
 Neapolitans and some Ghost of Massaniello as of 
 the English fleet or the Austro -Sards. It is affirmed 
 that most of their precious matters have been sent 
 away to Rome. The little Queen swears she won’t 
 stay at Naples.’ 
 
 August 5 tli . — ‘ I would have given anything that 
 you had been here last Monday, at the Cocchiata. 
 Mr. Chute and I said so twenty times. Madame 
 Griffoni said she was sure you would have been vastly 
 pleased. “ Yes, Madame,” said I, “I am so well con- 
 vinced of it that I am persuaded he would have had 
 it repeated once a week during the fine weather. The 
 evening was charming, very dark, without the least 
 wind. The lights up and down the garden had the 
 prettiest effect immaginable. Those in the middle, 
 for the Musick, were quite hid by the crowds that 
 pressed about the table. This I would have remedied, 
 but ’twas impossible, for though there were benches, 
 chairs, and stools for 300, there were not near enough. 
 I can neither tell you the number nor the names of 
 the Dame. I gave strickt orders to the Porter, to 
 write them down. He soon found he could not write 
 fast enough, so would have contented himself with 
 counting them only ; but this too he was forced to 
 give up, for when he came to 75, such shoals came 
 in together that he lost his number. Mme. Suares 
 says that there were close to 160 Dame, which I don’t 
 believe ; Cavalieri innumerable, which I do believe, 
 by the number of rinfreschi, 1240 jars! Everybody 
 was extremely well pleased, and it still serves for 
 
94 
 
 PROSPECTS OF TUSCANY. 
 
 1742 . 
 
 conversation ; but, would you believe it ? because it 
 was on a monday night, our former day, many took 
 it into their head that it was to be continued. 
 
 ‘The Opera is begun again. Egiziello is quite 
 recovered, and sung most charmingly ; though, not to 
 fatigue himself, he sang only half airs. To night 
 perhaps he may add their second parts. 
 
 ‘We have got off the party the Prince proposed, 
 by going there last Friday, early. He carried us to 
 Gastello and some little places about. We got away 
 at 24 hours. The Princess was quite abominable with 
 her lassitudes and epuisements, and will not be in a 
 good humour till Prague is taken and her Son safe. 
 
 ‘ We are told not to expect the taking of Prague 
 till this day sennight, unless something extraordinary 
 should happen. They talk of great dissensions since 
 91’ (the Grand 'Duke of Tuscany) ‘arrived there. 
 His brother ’ (Prince Charles of Lorraine) ‘ did so 
 well and is so extremely beloved that most people are 
 persuaded matters cannot be mended by the former’s 
 arrival. I wish with all my heart there was any way 
 to come to the knowledge of what may be designed 
 with regard to 42’ (Tuscany). ‘You cannot conceive 
 what a pleasure they would have if 91 was to resign 
 to his brother (whom call 15) and nobody would 
 blame them. Surely it would be the interest of 130 ’ 
 (England) ‘and others to have 42’ (Tuscany) ‘separate 
 and not dependent either on 86 ’ (Germany) ‘or 168 ’ 
 (Spain) ‘ or any other. Even the Orsi ’ (the Spanish 
 faction in Tuscany) ‘would rejoice, but they cannot 
 bear 91, or his ways, nor can flatter themselves (for 
 interest sake, only) that he will or can reside among 
 
1742. 
 
 ALARM AT NAPLES. 
 
 95 
 
 them. This makes them foresee much misery if 130, 
 who in all probability has the power, was to put 15 
 on the first foot here (ancl somewhere he must be 
 placed). It would be esteemed next to giving 42 its 
 full liberty, nay I believe preferred to it, for they 
 would not know how to settle that matter now. It 
 would be a pity that this should be totally neglected, 
 both for the sake of making Tuscany happy, and the 
 real interest of England. If you can hear anything 
 about it, pray inform me. 
 
 ‘ By the last accounts from the armies, M. de Mon- 
 temar was running away as fast as possible, and the 
 King of Sardinia running after him, though not so 
 fast as these people could run. The former was near 
 Rimini, where some suppose he will fortify himself, 
 whilst others believe he will retire into the Kingdom 
 of Naples. The King of Sardinia and M. de Traun 
 were near Faenze, and may before this have been up 
 with them if they are stopt at Rimini. All agree 
 that Castropignero ’ (?) ‘ is undoubtedly to go imme- 
 diately with his Neapolitans to Naples, and that for 
 several days together he received couriers with re- 
 peated orders. There is infinite confusion there, and 
 their Majesties are not a little alarmed. Their ministers 
 pretend to know for certain that an 100 chaises are in 
 constant readiness to transport the Court to Rome, 
 and that the Queen has declared that she will not go 
 to Spain. This month, in all probability, will decide 
 matters wonderfully, especially if what they say be 
 true, that the Great Duke of Tuscany will, after he 
 has put an end to the present affair in hand, set out 
 for Florence, in order to go to Naples. Directions 
 
96 
 
 A VALET IN TROUBLE. 
 
 1742 . 
 
 came last week to compleat with all haste and privacy 
 many things necessary to put this scheme in execution, 
 though Richecourt won’t own a word of it to me. . . 
 
 ‘ They talk of a number of men actually in March 
 for Trieste. The names of the regiments have been 
 told me, amounting between horse and foot to about 
 11,000 men. These may from thence go to Naples 
 with the English Fleet. They say ’tis settled so. The 
 King of Sardinia to be sure will come in for his share. 
 
 ‘A most woeful accident has befallen poor Mr. 
 Whithed, whose valet de chambre, Ferrari, has robbed 
 him of some money and pawned all his winter Cloaths, 
 — some too have been sold, and what afflicts us all 
 still worse is that things have been carried so far that 
 it will now be difficult to pardon him or save him 
 from the Gallies. He was put into the common jail 
 last Wednesday, and by that step delivered over to 
 the Justice of the country. We hope to be. able to 
 save him from all punishment but banishment. 
 
 e I forgot to tell you that I have been blamed by 
 those who are not acquainted with my reasons, for not 
 inviting Lady Walpole to the musick. None were 
 invited, but if they had, what measures need I keep 
 with one who keeps none with those I respect, or 
 me.’ 
 
 The description of Mann’s gay doings brought back 
 the memory of old pleasures to Walpole. In a letter 
 from Houghton, August 20th, 1742, he writes: — ‘As 
 much as I am obliged to you for the description of 
 your Cocchiata, I don’t like to hear of it. It is veiy 
 unpleasant, instead of being at it, being prisoner in a 
 melancholy, barren province, which would put one 
 
1742. 
 
 GRATITUDE. 
 
 97 
 
 in mind of the Deluge, only that we have no water. 
 Do remember exactly how your last was, for I intend 
 that you shall give me just such another Cocchiata 
 next summer, if it pleases the Kings and Queens of 
 this world to let us be at peace, “For it rests that 
 without fig-leaves,” as my Lord Bacon says in one of 
 his letters, “I do ingenuously confess and acknow- 
 ledge that I like nothing so well as Italy.” 7 
 
 Walpole’s gifts there were warmly acknowledged. 
 The Princess du Craon was no less profuse in epithets 
 magniloquently grateful to Walpole by post, than she 
 had been to Mann by word of mouth. ‘ I have just 
 now received yours of the 15th July,’ writes Walpole, 
 ‘with a married letter from both Prince and Princess 
 Craon, but sure nothing ever equalled the setting out 
 of it. She says : “ The generosity of your friendship 
 for me, Sir, leaves me nothing to desire of all that is 
 precious in England, China, and the Indies.” Do you 
 know,’ he adds by way of bantering comment on this 
 burst from Florence, ‘ after such a testimony from the 
 hand of a Princess, that I am determined after the 
 laudable example of the House of Medici to take the 
 title of Horo.ce the Magnificent. I am only afraid it 
 should be a dangerous example for my posterity, who 
 may ruin themselves in emulating the magnificence of 
 their Ancestors.’ 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 AMATEUR CONCERTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1742. 
 
 The Autumn of this year affords strong contrasts in 
 the Minister’s Chronicle. The ball rooms of Florence 
 were not the less gay for the roar and devastation of 
 battle elsewhere. 
 
 August 12th . — ‘ For want of room last post, I 
 omitted telling you of our concert. Arrigoni has set 
 it on foot. There are 16 Cavalieri who pay about a 
 Zecchino a month. I could not refuse subscribing, as 
 he was Molly’s master. The subscribers may transport 
 it to their own houses. I was the first to invite it to 
 mine ; and at the same time 8 ladies only and their 
 Cicisbeos, with about 12 Scotchmen and some few 
 Cavalieri. It was performed in the Hall. As many 
 of the subscribers are likewise performers, the Ladies 
 may sing, and will, they say, the very next time. 
 There was Madame Griffoni, — because she is the finest 
 woman in Florence, and whom you would have asked. 
 There was little Albizzi, for the latter part of the 
 above reason, and because she brings little Colonel 
 Pandolfini, who did sing most agreeably. There was 
 M. Bagneri, who can sing finely, but would not 
 because Guido is very ill. There was Madame Gerini, 
 
1742 . 
 
 DIVERS AND SUNDRY. 
 
 99 
 
 because she is a good fat creature and brings the 
 Countess Marcolini, a foreigner who sings most admi- 
 rably, but would not that night, because the others did 
 not. Then there came the three Suareses, because 
 they have a right you know, to come. The Yittorina 
 will sing next time, and Cecco will play upon both the 
 fine flutes you sent him. 
 
 ‘The thing was private but pretty enough, and all 
 were well pleased. I may have it again whenever 
 I please. The Chutes are both subscribers. I have 
 promised for the benefit of the Accademia to get from 
 England Handel’s overtures and Corelli’s concertos, 
 and in return I’ll send you all the pretty airs I can 
 get.’ 
 
 ‘ . . . The Spaniards are, they say, still at Eimini ; 
 though some believe they begin to advance. The 
 King of Sardinia and M. de Traun were, by the 
 accounts of yesterday, still at Cerina and its environs. 
 They say these are to march on, though most people 
 are surprised that they have not already. The ardour 
 of M. de Traun is curbed by the prudence of his 
 Sardinian Majesty. 
 
 ‘ . . . Mrs. Gold worthy sets out from Leghorn, next 
 week, for England. She will persecute the Richmonds 
 to intercede for her husband. Sir Charles (Wager) 
 will do what he can ; so would I too to provide for 
 them better out of Italy, that they might abandon all 
 thoughts of Florence. 
 
 ‘ . . . Prince Craon, by his own invitation, dined 
 with me last Thursday. He is at the Petraja, so begs 
 dinners every thursday, the days of Council. He 
 named his company, Camilla Capponi, Buondelmonte, 
 
100 
 
 MANN, NEGLECTED. 
 
 1742. 
 
 Antinori, and de Sade. There was besides, Mr. Gold- 
 worthy and his friend who came to Florence at two 
 o’clock that morning, not being able to bear Leghorn 
 without his Deary ; so he is come to me as his next 
 deary, to comfort him. He is lodged with me. Of 
 what length his visit will be, I cannot yet judge. 
 There were the Chutes, etc. A propos, Mr. Chute 
 insists on your pointing out to him, the exact room 
 you inhabit at Houghton, that we may tap at the 
 window and peep in on you and Pattipan ’ (Walpole’s 
 dog). ‘ My dear child, what will you do at Houghton? 
 I foresee you’ll never stay there, and yet by the plan I 
 think one might live there for ever.’ 
 
 ‘ . . . I have been swelling with indignation 
 against Richecourt for a long time, as he has seemed 
 to take all opportunities to revenge Lady Walpole’s 
 quarrels, and indeed, in things that regard business or 
 recommendations, seemed to make it a rule to cross me 
 in everything ; in so much that in this affair of Mr. 
 Whithed’s servant, whom now we want to save from 
 hanging on the Gallows, and in which I had publickly 
 interested myself so as to go to all their houses to beg 
 him off, he alone in Council opposed the strong argu- 
 ments that the Prince Craon, Braitwitz, etc. etc. made, 
 to shew the regard that might be shewn to my recom- 
 mendation ; so that it gave occasion afterwards to Brait- 
 witz to ask Rinuncini what could the reason be that so 
 soon as my name was mentioned either in publick or 
 private affairs, Richecourt seemed to have made it 
 a point to oppose me, to which Rinuncini and Torna- 
 quira answered that they had remarked it too, — that 
 great regards had indeed been used to be shewn to the 
 
1742 . 
 
 MANN AND RICHECOURT. 
 
 101 
 
 recommendations of ministers, but that nobody doubted 
 but Lady Walpole was the occasion of it all. This 
 you will believe nettled me, and made me resolve to 
 take the first opportunity to shew how little I regarded 
 Richecourt or Lady Walpole’s favour. 
 
 ‘I did not foresee it would be soon, but the same 
 evening, after I had received the letters from England, 
 I went to the Electress to wish her joy of being the 
 next day 75 years old. Richecourt was with her and 
 waited my coming out, to ask what news from England. 
 I shewed him the King’s speech and then told him 
 the changes. I knew I had him, but could not believe 
 he would give me such fair opportunities. “ Mon Dieu, 
 est il possible,” dit il, “ qu’il ait fait cette demarche ? ” 
 — “ Why, not ? Surely, you are not acquainted at all 
 with affairs. What ! do you think what he and they 
 have been working so long for is not good for your 
 school ? ’’ — “ Comment vont les affaires cle Sir Robert 
 Walpole ? ” Here I had him. “ Why, as every one who 
 knew him well was persuaded they must go, if they 
 did him justice ; ” — I could not conceal from him my 
 surprise that many here had been so indiscreet as to 
 talk so freely about things they could not understand. 
 
 ‘ Here he began to give me the definition of our 
 government of King, Lords, and Commons, which 
 strangers could not indeed comprehend. “ How great, 
 therefore,” said I, “ must be their malice or impudence 
 to talk as they publickly did. Had it been confined 
 to the people, I should not have been surprised ; but 
 that people of an higher rank should have encouraged 
 it, nay, talked so, was astonishing.” Here he blushed 
 and was uneasy, and then argued some time on the 
 
102 
 
 MANN AND RICRE COURT. 
 
 1742 . 
 
 nature of common reports, and that we must not 
 credit all that is said ; and most luckily he happened 
 to add that he could not pretend to say whence they 
 proceeded. “Je ne vous le demande pas,” said I 
 abruptly, “ that is the easiest part of the discovery. 
 I know the Source, and both you and I know that 
 clear waters cannot come from it. It is surprising,” 
 continued I, “ that people about here do not first 
 doubt of the truth of all she’ (Lady Walpole) ‘says. 
 Such low malice to seek out old vile satyrs 1 (against 
 Sir Robert) ‘ to get translated into Italian. It could 
 not be for her own use,” said I, “ who could they 
 be done for ? ” “ Mauvaise Poesie ! je n’en s§ais rien,” 
 quite confused. “ I’ll shew it you in Italian,” said 
 I, “ if you will, in the original handwriting of the 
 translator.” (It had been brought me but two days 
 before. One Pasquale is the Poet, but he does not 
 understand English ; so I conclude it was translated 
 into Italian prose by Lady Walpole and her friend.) 
 “ Indeed, indeed,” said I, “it is not enough not to 
 encourage, but such insolences ought to be discouraged. 
 Reflect how respectfuil a name is ill used ; one on 
 whom the King has conferred the highest honours to 
 reward his services, and, if all that was not enough, it 
 was insufferable here, as it was a person for whom the 
 Great Duke had professed a personal friendship.” 
 
 ‘ A thousand other things I said in the heat of my 
 discourse, as “the joy that some folks (for I never named 
 Lady Walpole but as a third person) had shewn on 
 the certainty they were in of Sir Robert’s being to be 
 beheaded ; and to crown all,” said I, “ do you know 
 what scandal they have employed at last ? c’est verita- 
 
1742. 
 
 ENGLISH FLEET. 
 
 103 
 
 blement impitoyable ! (though I knew it came from 
 him and them that Sir Robert had spent vast sums to 
 get clear.) Whom must he have bribed?” said I, “such 
 and such a one, much richer than himself ? ” — “ Ca est 
 vrai. Ah, Monsieur, il faut mepriser tout cela ! ” — “Oh, 
 Monsieur ! ” said I, “ ce n’est pas a cette heure que je 
 commence a le faire ! ” 
 
 e What think you of this dialogue ? It lasted a 
 long while in the Electress’s antechamber and all down 
 the stairs to our Coaches. His carried him to his 
 Deary’s, to give an account, I don’t doubt, of so un- 
 expected a conversation ; and mine carried me, much 
 easier than I had been for a long time, to the Opera, 
 to hear Egiziello, and to brag to the Chutes, between 
 whiles, of what I had done. I must expect that all 
 this malice combined will be set to work to ruin me. ’ 
 
 August 19 th . — ‘ Admiral Matthews rides triumph- 
 ant before Toulon and prevents its stirring. What 
 pleases me much is that the Turkish Ambassador is 
 there a witness to it, and that M. Caylus, who has 
 been rewarded for being beat by Captain Barnet, and 
 who has the care of the Ambassador, must submit to 
 strike to our ships if he does venture out. The fear 
 of not being able to tell his story so well now, may 
 make him wish not to come to blows again. 
 
 c The Lord of the Mediterranean has sent a con- 
 siderable detachment of his fleet to Naples, under the 
 command of Captain Martin, with a compliment to 
 King Charles, as how he wishes his Majesty would 
 withdraw his troops from Lombardy, — or else ! — I 
 really don’t know what else, but they say, the four 
 bomb vessels that make part of the 17, have about 
 
104 
 
 MARCHING AND COUNTERMARCHING. 1742 . 
 
 6,000 shells on board. These passed by, Sunday last, 
 and must have been long since at Naples, though we 
 are as yet unacquainted with the consequences or the 
 effect it has had on the people. If the withdrawing 
 the troops is all we ask, they were so obliging as 
 to prevent our request, since orders had sometime 
 been given for their return to Naples, to make their 
 Majesty’s sojourn there secure.’ 
 
 ‘ The combined armies quitted the advantageous 
 post they had begun to fortify at Rimini, and without 
 once encamping or taking but little repose, continued 
 their forced marches to Sinigaglia. ... It is much 
 suspected Montemar will cross away to Orbitello, on 
 which account we are here again in a mighty fuss, 
 for the prudent cannot think he will carry his folly 
 to perish by the bad air of that place, but suspect, 
 after a few days rest and some preparations, he may 
 invade Tuscany, and by that means excuse the shame- 
 ful campaign he has made, and make a merit at least 
 of having gained that footing in Italy for the Infant.’ 
 August 19th.- — Estafettes fly about at present 
 between the above Ministers (Admiral Matthews and 
 me). Mr. Matthews is desixed to be ready to come 
 when we call for help. I cannot help being persuaded 
 that we shall have no occasion for it, and that the 
 present Neapolitan scheme will have altered their 
 views, and produce orders to Montemar as well as 
 to Castropignero to return to Naples. Pray, Sir, 
 recollect, did I not say to you in the begi nin g of 
 February last, that a few ships being sent to Naples 
 would produce this consequence. I then wrote to Mr. 
 (Admiral) Haddock, poor man ! his name makes 
 
1742. 
 
 THE ENGLISH ADMIRAL. 
 
 105 
 
 me melancholy. They say he is mad, though none 
 of the fleet blame him, but lay the fault on Harriss, 
 his secretary, who totally governed him. I could tell 
 you a long story about him ; but it is too long.’ 
 
 August 26th . — ‘ I told you Estafettes fly about 
 wonderfully. We are strangely busy, but in the 
 midst of it all, I cannot persuade myself that there is 
 any occasion to be alarmed, but some folks love to 
 make a fuss. In consequence of the Express that my 
 brother Minister, who is with the King of Sardinia, 
 sent to Mr. Matthews, with his and their suspicions 
 that the Spaniards would invade Tuscany, the Admiral 
 has sent a ship post to me to say he will cut them all 
 to pieces, if they offer to put their noses into Tuscany ; 
 and, that if I saw occasion for it, I was to direct the 
 Romney to land his men at Leghorn and fetch Captain 
 Martin with his Squadron from Naples (of whom we 
 have heard nothing yet), and that the Admiral himself, 
 in case of need, would come in person, with his troops 
 and his marines, for which he desired preparations 
 might be made. 
 
 ‘ . . . I communicated the contents of his letter 
 to the Count, in a conference, yesterday, which ended 
 by our persuading each other that we did not perceive 
 any necessity to take any part of the fleet off any 
 other service till Montemar should give more peremp- 
 tory signs of his evil intentions against us. They 
 are all at Foligni where, by not being followed by his 
 enemies, he has leisure to rest his troops and look 
 about him, and seems to prefer that plentifull country 
 and advantageous situation to that of Orbitello, where 
 he at first designed to go, had he been followed. He 
 
106 
 
 WAR. 
 
 1742. 
 
 is now ready for all events and can proceed from 
 thence as circumstances may require, either with 
 regard to Don Phillip’s army on t’other side, or the 
 orders he may receive from Spain and Naples. 
 
 ‘ If the Neapolitans retire home, Montemar won’t 
 have 10,000 men left. If the confusion at Naples 
 should produce orders for him to go there too, he must 
 leave at least 3000 men to garrison Orbitello, etc. 
 If he should throw his troops into Tuscany, he cannot 
 do it without giving some indications in time, it is 
 to be hoped, to send proper notices to Mr. Matthews; 
 so that in all this uncertainty, I have not advised 
 Mr. Grenville, of the Romney, to execute any of his 
 orders, as I think it will be sufficient to have a ship 
 or two at Leghorn which, with the merchant ships in 
 the Mole, will be always sufficient to receive the 
 English and their effects now the Sea is secure. Let 
 the Regency therefore, who are so fully acquainted 
 of the King’s intentions to protect this country, make 
 applications to me for assistance when they want it. 
 This, I told Richecourt, I should expect, and in this 
 stile I have wrote to the Admiral, of which I have 
 acquainted His Grace ’ (the Duke of Newcastle) c so 
 that I hope it will not be necessary to recall Mr. 
 Martin till he has executed his commission at Naples 
 and that at Brindisi, if it be true that he is to fetch 
 the Spanish Artillery from thence. We are told that 
 when the Squadron returns, it is to put into Leghorn. 
 If so, we shall all go there, the Prince and Princess 
 and the Chutes. 
 
 ‘ A most dismal affair has happened at a little 
 place they call Merciana, belonging to the Princess 
 
1742. 
 
 STRONG MEASURES. 
 
 107 
 
 of Piombino, in the Isle of Elba, near Porto Longone, 
 which you know belongs to the King of Naples. 
 Captain Osborne and another man-of-war were cruizing 
 thereabouts, and would have visited some barks that 
 refused to come to, and which escaped into St. Andrea, 
 a little port where there is a tower and a small guard. 
 The men -of-war’s boats followed but were fired upon 
 by the guard. This so provoked Captain Osborne 
 that he made a descent, took the Castle and its gar- 
 rison, and put up the King’s colours, demolished the 
 little village, and carried away everything that could 
 be found, with which he would have gone off, but on 
 the people coming down from Porto Longone to the 
 assistance of those of Merciana, the English went 
 ashore again and set fire to all the houses and, they 
 say, consumed everything they had before left higher 
 up in the country where the inhabitants were fled to 
 save themselves. . . . Captain Osborne wrote a letter 
 to Mr. Goldworthy, very confused. He said only, 
 that he was in the act of burning and destroying all 
 that country in return for great provocation he had 
 received, and was warming himself by the flames he 
 had raised ! At the end of his letter he says that the 
 fools are now come down, so that I am just going to 
 work again, with all my cannon. What followed we 
 cannot tell, but the next day a continual firing was 
 heard from 15 to 24 hours, at Leghorn. I pity the 
 poor inhabitants, and am very much afraid that the 
 King of Naples may do some rash thing in return. 
 We have many merchants sent from Leghorn hither, 
 when they were afraid of the Spaniards. It is true 
 that his Sicilian Majesty would perhaps bring his own 
 
108 
 
 MERRY-MAKING. 
 
 1742. 
 
 town about his ears. What a trifle has raised this 
 bustle ! ’ 
 
 ‘ In the midst of all this (though we did not then 
 know it) we had merry-making at the King’s Arms.’ 
 (Mann’s residence, in front of which was displayed 
 the shield of arms of Great Britain.) ‘ I invited the 
 Academy to it, and four more ladies to the 8 I had 
 the first night, as I found the Hall would hold them 
 and their men. They were the Ricardi, Ginori, 
 Panciaticei, and the Galli. The ladies only sang, 
 except Pandolfini, whose Cicisbea, Albizzi, grows in 
 spirits as her husband grows better, about whom she 
 was drolly confidential. Here is an odd sort of a very 
 heavy fat fool come to town, about 18 years old, and 
 almost as big as Gerini ; Moleniari by name, extreme 
 rich, and of a great family of Milan. He is vastly sweet 
 upon the Vittorina Suares who, I assure you, is grown 
 mighty pretty, and seems to enter into the affair as 
 well as anybody. I believe it might be brought about 
 if rightly managed ; but I am afraid the mother will 
 be too eager and cloy the young man instead of 
 making him eager. I seldom see Madame, except at 
 my box at the Opera. Whenever I go to her house, 
 she is always busy in the top appartment looking for 
 papers.’ 
 
 Mann got so perfectly bewildered by the marches 
 and countermarches of the armies ; by the crossing of 
 despatches contradictory in sense and instructions ; 
 by reports of the Spaniards being about to ‘ devour 
 Tuscany ’ in spite of its neutrality, or on the ground 
 that the neutrality had been broken, that he quietly 
 resolved to have at least his nights undisturbed : ‘ I 
 
1742. 
 
 ENGLISH CAPTAINS. 
 
 109 
 
 was obliged to give orders not to be awaked by their 
 packets, which, after one or two. I was convinced 
 ought to stay till morning.’ When morning came, 
 and the despatches were read, full of instructions to 
 the Minister as to how he was in his turn to instruct 
 the English naval Captains at Leghorn, Mann again 
 consulted his own tranquillity amid the general con- 
 fusion. ‘ I was resolved,’ he says, ‘ to cut that, and 
 not to take anything upon myself,’ he left these 
 matters to Admiral Matthews, and advised him to 
 do nothing for the Regency at Florence till his aid 
 was asked for by the Regents. Mann had more 
 trouble with the rough and ready English Captains 
 who were with their vessels before Leghorn, and longed 
 to be doing something in their professional way. ‘ I 
 could not say,’ writes Mann, ‘ to the Squadron at 
 Leghorn, that it had come too soon and might go 
 about its business, neither could I make the Cap- 
 tains behave as they should do. One of them wrote, 
 that “for his part (and Goldworthy appropriated 
 the expression) he did not pique himself upon 
 understanding neutralities, but as they came to save 
 this country, they would do so and so, and would 
 assist the Government against then’ will.” Imagine 
 to yourself a pack of Captains, with a Goldworthy at 
 their head, getting drunk and confirming each other in 
 their uonsense, that the Italians _ are all cowards, and 
 God damn the Spaniards.’ 
 
 Captain Martin sailed to join Admiral Matthews, 
 leaving four ships for the defence of Leghorn, ‘ that is 
 for the (English) merchants.’ The Prince and Princess 
 de Craon were to have visited the English Squadron, 
 
110 
 
 ILLEGITIMATE MEDICI. 
 
 1742. 
 
 but Martins departure gave them welcome excuse 
 for remaining at Florence, to move from which they 
 lacked pecuniary means ! ‘ They dirtily resolved not 
 
 to go, after preparations had been made to receive them 
 enPrincesse (sic), on account of the expense. De Sade, 
 who had lent the Prince, some days before, fifty 
 zecchini, dissuaded them from it, though I never saw 
 Her so much set upon anything before. Don’t you 
 pity them extremely to be obliged to borrow a poor 
 
 fifty from De Sade, whom the Dutchess of M is 
 
 not in a condition to supply abundantly at present, 
 as I believe the King of Sardinia does not allow her 
 Highness much for her menus plaisirs. 
 
 ‘There has been the most extraordinary discovery 
 of an half Prince, who would have made a very good 
 Great Duke of Tuscany, had he come into the world 
 a little sooner. He is a young man of twenty years 
 
 old, son of the Princess Leonora, and one of her foot- 
 
 » 
 
 men, and brought into the world under the nose of the 
 Electress. Can you ever forgive her that all the 
 entreaties, which handsome young fellows put in her 
 way during the Cardinal’s lifetime, should not prevail 
 upon her to procure such an advantage to Tuscany ? 
 . . . The child was absolutely put into the (Foundling) 
 Hospital till he was 12 years old, and then got out 
 with much difficulty, by the means of two worthy 
 Priests who put him in, and by whom the discovery as 
 well as the forthcoming of the young fellow to dispute 
 his mother’s inheritance with the Great Duke (whom 
 she made her Heir) has been made. I am assured the 
 matter is quite clear, and the man has letters from the 
 Princess which, in the abundance of her tenderness, 
 
1742. 
 
 A MAD BISHOP. 
 
 Ill 
 
 she wrote to him when he came out of the Hospital of 
 the Innocents. She allowed him 15 crowns a month, 
 only, for his maintenance, and, in her will, she left him 
 3000 crowns, under the denomination of her God-son ; 
 but, in order to hush up the matter, it is believed they 
 must give him a good deal more. It is said that the 
 examination into this affair has led to the discovery 
 of four more children who, instead of being Cadets 
 of the House of Medici, are confounded among the 
 other Bastards of the Hospital. Hard fate for them 
 and Tuscany ! ’ 
 
 ‘ The Suares family are in great distress. The 
 poor foolish Bishop is turned mad, occasioned, they 
 say, by some very unjust persecutions of Richecourt 
 and Rucellai. He was brought from San Mignato, 
 a few days ago, and they have obliged him to renounce 
 his bishoprick. He raves often that all his family are 
 in a plot to marry the two girls to the two above- 
 named people against his consent. Yesterday, in a 
 great rage, he showed all his disreputable possessions 
 to Madame Suares, who blessed her stars the girls were 
 not by. They are however sensible that it may be a 
 great prejudice to their getting husbands, and indeed 
 the whole family is strangely disconcerted. Madame 
 Suares is fully convinced that his disorder must be 
 concealed, so that she only whispers to everybody that 
 she wishes to make it pass for any other illness, the 
 pain of which makes him rave.’ 
 
 ‘ We have had a strange pack of English here, 
 whose names 1 don’t recollect. They were at Stosch’s 
 one day, to see his things, and a parson who was 
 among them was made believe that the large picture 
 
112 
 
 CENSORSHIP. 
 
 1742 . 
 
 of Cataline’s Conspiracy was the Last Supper. He 
 was desired by the company to say which was Christ’s 
 figure ; he. instantly pitched upon Cataline, but con- 
 fessed it was the first time he had ever seen our Lord 
 and Saviour with a sword by his side. 
 
 ‘ Among the foolish Bishops and Parsons, I must 
 tell you what the Archbishop of Florence, (who, by 
 the instigation of the Jesuits, had absolutely forbid 
 Cavaliere Pepi to let “ Don Pilogio ” (a sort of 
 Tartuffe ) be acted,) said on the occasion, when 
 the Impresario expostulated the matter with him. 
 Pepi desired he would consider the expences he had 
 been at, and the Opera was to begin in a few days. 
 “ What expenses ? ” says the Bishop. — “ Why, the 
 musick.” — -“Ah, Signor Cavaliere! you are mocking 
 me. The Musick may serve for any other Opera. 
 Besides, I cannot bear that mixing together of men 
 and women in these pieces ; away ! away ! with it ! 
 it is unbecoming ! ” Pepi replied, “ I expect then 
 that you will order all the men to go to Mass at the 
 Duomo, and the women at Santa Croce.” Pepi’s 
 arguments could not prevail, so that he was forced to 
 chuse another burletta, very bad indeed. 
 
 ‘ When I began this letter I had determined not to 
 go to a great Function in a Church and Convent, to 
 which I was invited yesterday ; but being told it 
 would be taken ill, I hurried on my Cloaths and have 
 made my appearance for half-an-hour. It is what 
 they call a Sacramento, or a Confirmation of several 
 Nuns, in the lump. One of Casa Guadigni, another 
 of Aguiccioni, and four others. All the world was 
 there ; and a most magnificent Rinfresco.’ 
 
1742. 
 
 WATCHING POPE AND KING. 
 
 113 
 
 September . . . — ‘ Prince Craon was deputed to 
 tiring- me the Great Dukes thanks for the attention L 
 have shown to his service, etc., etc. I have desired 
 him to make a proper return for so great an honour, 
 which he promised to do in the best and strongest 
 manner ; for, says he, it will be neccessary, as I know 
 Richecourt has put you in an indifferent light with 
 the Great Duke, and described you as a creature of 
 Lord Orford, therefore no friend to the Queen of 
 Hungary or the Great Duke. The Prince added that 
 Richecourt assured him, in the beginning, that Mann 
 was not of long duration, as your father was concerned 
 in all that was to be discovered, and therefore Mann 
 would be demolished with him and the rest. Things 
 are greatly changed now, Richecourt is, in appearance 
 the civilest creature alive to me, and I correspond full 
 as much as is necessary and no more. 
 
 September . . . — c I am threatened with a visit from 
 the Captain who has the command of the ships at Leg- 
 horn, which, by the Admiral’s directions are to be at 
 my dispositions, and indeed I have desired the Captain 
 to defer his departure from thence as he designed, as he 
 said, to look in at Civita Vecchia and Gaeta, to see 
 whether any clandestine doings were carrying on by 
 the Pope and the King of the Two Sicilies, for as 
 everything is in motion in the Romagna, who knows 
 that before or after defeat the Spaniards may take 
 refuge here. I don’t believe they will, but since it 
 has been thought necessary to leave ships at Leghorn 
 for this service, this undoubtedly is not a proper time 
 to remove from that place on such a foolish errand.’ 
 September . . . — ' Montemar arrived safe at Genoa 
 
114 
 
 THE IJOMENICEINO. 
 
 1742. 
 
 by land. He did not care to trust to the sea, for fear of 
 our ships, which likely would have snapped him up . . . 
 The King of Sardinia set out the 29th of last month, 
 at the head of his army to cross the mountains, to drive 
 Don Phillip out of Savoy, who has taken the title of 
 Duke of Savoy, and obliged the inhabitants to pay 
 him homage as their Lord, which has greatly incensed, 
 the King of Sardinia.’ 
 
 September . . . — Montemar’s disgrace was public at 
 last. Mami states that he wrote to Prince de Craon for 
 passports for himself and Castellari, to return to Spain 
 through Tuscany. ‘He is recalled and, they say, in 
 high disgrace. The command of his army, which is 
 about twelve thousand, was, by the same courier’s 
 despatches, given to M. de Gages, who immediately 
 gave order for his troops to prepare for a march. They 
 are all going back to Lombardy.’ Mann had at this 
 time bought for Walpole the Domenichino of which so 
 much is said in Walpole’s Letters ; and had got it safe 
 into Florence. ‘ I was forced to defer sending for it,’ he 
 writes, ‘ till all the troops were out of that road, and 
 now must make haste, before they infest it again. . . . 
 Many foolish people of Florence gave out that Monte- 
 mar, at the same time that he asked for Passports of 
 the Regency, sent to desire one of me, to be secure at 
 Sea, and to prevent his first making a visit to the 
 King at St. James’s before he obeyed the summons 
 of the Queen of Spain: “ Venez id! venez Due de 
 Bitonto.” 
 
 September 23rd.— Perhaps Montemar may be put 
 into arrest on his arrival in Spain. His reluctancy to 
 get there seems to denote his fears. He travels about 
 
1742. 
 
 THE POPE AND MAlilA THERESA. 
 
 115 
 
 10 or 12 miles a clay, and stops in the strangest places. 
 He is now at Empoli, a dirty village about two posts 
 and a half from Florence towards Pisa. They say he 
 absolutely will not embark till he receives a courier 
 from Spain, with private instructions from his friends, 
 that he may judge whether it may be prudent to 
 present himself there or not till he has justified his 
 conduct, which he says he is fully capable of doing. 
 M. de Gages is now the man who begins the dance by 
 leading again up to the Parano, but I believe he will 
 observe the rules of country dances, and return to the 
 place from whence he came. 
 
 ‘ The Pone is on the point of breaking into an open 
 quarrel with the Queen of Hungary. Her Apostolick 
 Majesty’s General has seized two Abbies in the State 
 of Milan belonging to Valenti Gonzaga, his Secretary 
 of State, which the Pope so resents that he has 
 wrote a thundering letter to Vienna to tell her that he 
 looks upon this step as an open affront to his person, 
 and insists upon restitution and satisfaction ; and, to 
 indemnify the Cardinal, ordered the income of those 
 Abbies should be made good to him out of the 
 Chamber. Whilst this affair was depending, and they 
 were waiting the return of the Courier, an accident 
 happened that will not, it is thought, help towards 
 getting his Holyness satisfaction, but may widen the 
 breach. 
 
 ‘ Cardinal Acquaviva, who is omnipotent at Rome, 
 taking it into his head that a ‘ Neapolitan Abbe,’ 
 called Don Cicio Pontero, was carrying on an illicit 
 correspondence at Naples, procured an order for 
 him to be seized, and gave his consent that the Pope’s 
 
116 
 
 THE POPE IN TROUBLE. 
 
 1742, 
 
 Sbirri might enter the Place d’Espagne, to do it ; so 
 that Don Cicio was taken in bed. He immediately 
 produced a Patent of Protection from the Queen of 
 Hungary ; notwithstanding which he was sequestered 
 and bis papers seized and sent to the Governor of 
 Rome. M. de Thun being’ soon informed of what had 
 passed, publickly claimed the prisoner, but in vain ; 
 on which he instantly despatched two Couriers, one 
 to Vienna and another to M. de Traun. On a strict 
 examination of Don Cicio’s papers, nothing was to be 
 found to justify such a step in a country where Pro- 
 tections are of such mighty weight. The Governor of 
 Rome swears he gave no orders for taking him up. 
 The Pope says the same ; so that all the fault is lain 
 upon Cardinal Valenti, against whom the Queen, it is 
 supposed, will turn her whole resentment. The Court 
 of Rome is apprehensive that she will turn their 
 Nuncio from Vienna, if the Pope should support his 
 Secretary any longer. 
 
 ‘ The poor Pope is made to be a Spaniard, against 
 his will, by those that are about him, though he is 
 really Austrian. He is buffeted by both. He has 
 lately sent Mons. Bussy, Commander of his Gallies, 
 to M. de Gages, to threaten to excommunicate the 
 Spaniards, in good earnest, if they do not evacuate his 
 ruined State,’ 
 
 September 30th. — £ Montemar loiters still about 
 Reggio, Massa, etc. They say he flatters himself still 
 to be restored to the command of his army, though 1 
 can’t think it at all probable, for the Courier that 
 brought his dismission had letters to each of the 
 principal officers, from the King, to acquaint them 
 
1742. 
 
 A STRANGE ENGLISH ADMIRAL. 
 
 117 
 
 with it, and to exhort each of them to recover the 
 honour of his arms. 
 
 ‘ . . . I flatter myself that at last our sea-folks see 
 the absurdity of forcing assistance upon people that 
 don’t want it. They have hitherto seemed to think 
 that because a man was sure of a good Physician, — 
 lie ought to wish to be sick ; but these people have 
 been too wise to accept this offer, as such a step alone 
 could put them in the necessity of wanting their 
 assistance. Mr. Matthews has in the last week given 
 orders to the Commanders of the few ships left at 
 Leghorn not to take any one step without my direc- 
 tions. Had I been his Governor before I would have 
 prevented him committing so many cruelties upon 
 the poor innocent inhabitants of Marciana, and 1 
 am endeavouring now to persuade him to divest his 
 Monkey of the honours he has bestowed upon him, 
 and of the ensigns of the Catholick faith which he 
 robbed their churches of, and with which he has 
 adorned him. Imagine to yourself how much the 
 true believers must be offended, to see Pug with a 
 Crucifix about his neck, and their god pasted on his 
 forehead ! Don’t you think there is as much supersti- 
 tion in this man’s thinking it his duty to show his 
 publick contempt of these things, as he thinks they 
 sheAV in their adoration of them ? for, in short, Pro- 
 testant and Roman superstitions are just of the same 
 weight.’ 
 
 The September record is thus brought to a close : — 
 
 ‘ Madame Bolognetti is here, and graced my Hall. She 
 is returned from Bologna with her sister, Frescobaldi, 
 and stays to meet her t’other sister, Madame Acciajoli, 
 
118 
 
 FESTIVITIES. 
 
 1742. 
 
 who (I told yon) went to Loreto to marry her daughter 
 to the Madera man ; but I never told you that the Sposa 
 immediately after fell ill of the Small Pox, by which 
 they say she is ten times more ugly than before. The 
 Princess fell ill too on Madame Bolognetti’s arrival, 
 but it would not do, for the latter would not go to her 
 first ; so they have not seen each other.’ 
 
 September 12th .- — Richecourt is now sick and goes 
 not to the Council meetings. Lady Walpole is tender 
 to a degree, and always attending to give each glass of 
 water with her own hand ; and makes the Tisanne at 
 home, which she carries regularly in her chair every 
 morning, in a Pentolino ’ (small pot). 
 
 September . . . — ‘We have had many Festinos 
 for the Sposi in this last week, which have greatly in- 
 terfered with our Opera. Count Delci has taken to 
 wife Nicolini’s neice ; and Count Bareli, a Malaspina. 
 There was a most magnificent Ball at Casa Jacontri’ (?) 
 ‘ to which, as to all the other di ginoco, I have been 
 invited. There was one of the latter at Ridolfi’s, 
 another at Strozzi’s, a third at Count Bareli’s, and this 
 evening, which is the last (as well as the last Opera), 
 at Count Delci’s. I shall be at both. ’ 
 
 September . . . — Many days have been taken up 
 by my attendance on Mrs. Prat anel one Mr. Bethel 
 whom I formerly knew, and who, though extreme ill, 
 passed by Florence to see me. He is going I believe 
 to dye at Yenise, for I cannot think he will get to 
 England, as asthma is his disorder, in regard to 
 which, he says, he hates to go Vetturino, but wishes 
 to go post, at least, into the next world. 
 
1742. 
 
 A LAZY LADY. 
 
 119 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 1742. 
 
 October 15th. — October opens with a joyous note. ‘We 
 are now in the height of the Villegiatura, notwithstand- 
 ing the coldness and the badness of the weather ought 
 to have drawn everybody from the country that was in 
 it. I had the last appearance of those worth seeing, 
 last Thursday evening, to the number of thirty of the 
 most chosen. It was the solito concerto, which they 
 soon turned out, to make room for minuets, but pre- 
 ferred eating gras to both, which you know the terrible 
 mezzo, notte would have deprived them of ; and you 
 may remember how voracious the Italian Dame are of 
 a bit of gras, else I dare say many of them would have 
 danced till morning. Madame Griffon i was not there. 
 
 . . . She is perfectly well, though for State or Laziness 
 she lays in bed. I told her ’twas the latter, and she did 
 not contradict it. She has always a great deal of com- 
 pany, with Ottavio Manelli at her bed's side ; and by 
 keeping up, keeps off the horrid day of going into the 
 country, which she hates as much as you do.’ 
 
 October 23rd . — ‘I am invited this morning to a 
 breakfast at the Princess’s, on the opening her new 
 appartment, or rather her old one new fitted up. It is 
 
120 
 
 R URAL ENTERTAINMENTS. 
 
 1742. 
 
 truly pretty and convenient. All those strange little 
 partitions and closets through which one passed, where 
 the maids and the parrots used to make a thousand 
 odures, are all removed. She sleeps in the first room, 
 which is large ; in the next where she used to sleep, 
 she is only to repose. There is a new cradle and all the 
 lazy machines you can imagine, with all her Saxon, 
 China, Walpolian India cabinets and everything that 
 is fine crowded on the tables. I told her I would write 
 you word how fine it is.’ 
 
 October 30th . — ‘Florence is quite deserted. Every- 
 body is making merry in the country, for which reason 
 you may easily conceive how dull the town is. Bali del 
 Borgo, alias the old Duke of Grog, gave a grand ball 
 at his villa, near the Suares, last Monday, at the same 
 time that Rinaldi did the same at his villa, quite on the 
 opposite side of the country. The former was most 
 frequented. There was all sorts of people in all kinds 
 of foolish dresses which they call da Villa. The Sposa 
 Delci, Nicol ini’s sister, whom we have seen dressed like 
 a Queen, was, they tell me, in a sort of an English 
 riding habit which could not set strait, because she 
 is vastly crooked. Then she had an horrid black 
 velvet English cap on a very wry head which is on a 
 wry neck, and danced extremely for the first time 
 with one leg considerably shorter than the other. The 
 Teresina who grows beautiful to the greatest degree, 
 was full as ill-bedecked. All the old folks bestirred 
 themselves wonderfully. Che vuol Ella ? In villa 
 bisogna star allegro ! However, they divert, and I 
 can easily forgive them. I sent the Chutes to perso- 
 nate me, as the trouble of getting home, and the 
 
1742. 
 
 SATIRICAL MEDAL. 
 
 121 
 
 hazard of catching cold is too great ; and then I don’t 
 care to be out of the way, for who knows that the 
 Spaniards would not take that opportunity to come. 
 I can assure you people think they will. I can’t say I 
 am one of them.’ 
 
 October 23rd. — £ I have a hundred letters to write 
 to England, the Admiral, and the Captains at Leghorn. 
 The latter are becoming very pliant, notwithstanding 
 the foolish notions our Console’ (Goldworthy, the British 
 Consul) ‘ put into their heads. They are all, by express 
 orders, to depend upon the directions I send them. 
 Chatelet is returned from Leghorn much regretted by 
 our Captains, as he feasted them daily. He gave a 
 ball on the Queen’s day. One of them, about 60, 
 danced more than any of the young ones at 20. On 
 my shewing in joke some surprise, Chatelet answered : 
 “ Mais il dansoit pour lui ! ” The Great Duke has 
 ordered a very handsome gratification for Chatelet for 
 the expences he has made during the stay of our Cap- 
 tains. I could not avoid showing him some attention, 
 so I have invited him, with Prince Craon, Braitwitz, 
 etc., etc., to dinner to-morrow ; nobody, however, will 
 give me any gratification, though I protest I ruin myself. 
 Patience ! there is no avoiding these things. Some- 
 time ago, a medal, I had heard of was sent me from 
 Borne. I can only let you know what it is by the 
 design of it. On one side, there is a robed figure, 
 with the words above it, “The Generouse Duke of 
 Argyle.” Beneath the feet, is the word “ Pentioner.” 
 On the other side, a Devil, in fantastic dress, calls to 
 the open mouth of a monster (the mouth of Hell) 
 “Make room for Sir Robert ! ” That gentleman is 
 
122 
 
 A LIVELY NUN. 
 
 1742. 
 
 close behind, with a look of great indifference ; and 
 beneath his feet is inscribed, “No Excise.” Never 
 sure was such a low idea ! - The same spelling of the 
 word “ Gfenerouse ” convinces me that it was made by 
 some Irish Jacobite. The workmanship is abominable. 
 It is the nastyest brass thing you ever saw.’ 
 
 October 30th . — ‘ You know no doubt the first part 
 of the history of the beautiful Yenetian Nun of the Reira 
 family, as how she was debauched by M. de Trouby, 
 the French Ambassador at Venice, who by means of 
 false keys had free entrance into her convent, which, 
 being at length discovered, the Nun was most closely 
 confined, but not being able to bear the treatment of 
 her Sister Nuns who upbraided her with her broken 
 vows and past pleasures, she found means to get the 
 Pope’s permission to be transported into another con- 
 vent at Ferrara where she soon gained a Supra con - 
 versa, by whose assistance she made a second escape ; 
 and, thinking to legitimate her second infidelity to her 
 first cold Sposo J. C., she married a Colonel in the 
 Spanish service and remained at Bologna with him ; but 
 lo ! as the vengeance of nostro Signore always overtakes 
 the unfaithfull, an order was sent from Rome to arrest 
 her, and M. de Gages was induced to do the same by the 
 officer. She was, at the departure of the last letter, 
 gar dee d vue and her husband under arrest, so that it 
 is greatly feared the povera Colonella will pay most 
 severely for her past pleasures.’ 
 
 ‘ Now I am mentioning unfortunate wives, I cannot 
 omit acquainting you with the unhappy state of a, poor 
 Florentine 13 am a of your acquaintance, the Gondi, on 
 whom the poor, pale-faced A bin Neri used to be so 
 
1742 . A DOMENIGHINO BY SASSO FERRATO ! 123 
 
 sweet in the face of the Opera. She is so sorely 
 afflicted with the scurvy that there seems to be no 
 remedy .... Doctor Tyrril, famous for great cures, 
 has refused to assist her, saying that though his mer- 
 curial unctions have been so efficacious, yet the scurvy 
 of Madame Gondi has taken such deep root and is of 
 so bad a nature that he despairs of giving her a 113' 
 relief. I pity the poor creature vastly, but )'ou would 
 laugh to hear all the ladies talk of the Scorbuta with 
 such compassion.’ 
 
 November 6th . — I must not conceal to you a strong 
 suspicion of the Dominicallity of your Madonna ! not 
 from the beauty, for nothing can exceed it, but on m3 7 
 unpacking it, I found wrote on the back, Sasso Ferrato ; 
 whose name is not to be found in the Abecedario 
 Pittorico, or in any Lives of the Painters that I have 
 seen ; but I find his name is well known in Florence 
 as a famous painter of Madonnas. Nunziato Baldocci 
 has one ; Marquis Corsi, another. Nobody can tell 
 me where or when he lived ; but there is a little place 
 somewhere in Italy, called Sasso Ferrato. I would 
 willingly erase those words, but am afraid that ink or 
 anything else I should use might in time eat into the 
 picture. If I were you, I would line it. The canvass 
 is rather too dry, so that a lining would both preserve 
 it and remove the scandal. I have a little Madonna 
 and Child now in my house which has been called b3 7 
 the same author. It is as much inferior to your’s as is 
 possible, but it cannot be denied that there is a great 
 resemblance in the manner of painting.’ 
 
 November 6. — ‘ More Captains came to take care of 
 us, though we don’t want ’em; and all talk of protecting 
 
124 
 
 ENGLISH NAVAL CAPTAINS. ' 
 
 1742. 
 
 the Great Duke and his dominions. 1 always answer, 
 the Merchants of Leghorn ought to he fully satisfied 
 with the care the Admiral shews for them, on whose 
 account they are solely there ; and that when the 
 Great Duke wants the assistance of the Fleet, lie will 
 apply to me for it ; that his accepting their assistance 
 before would give the Spaniards a pretence likewise to 
 break the neutrality which the Great Duke has so 
 much interest to maintain. This, they say, they 
 don’t understand. What need he be afraid of ? Are 
 not we come to save him from Popery and Slavery ? 
 etc. etc. 
 
 ‘ I despair of convincing them that the Great Duke 
 ought not to wish to have his country invaded, because 
 he is sure of having their assistance at Leghorn. Is 
 not this terrible ? I do assure you that II Furibondo’ 
 (Admiral Matthews) c wrote me that the answer which 
 was given to one of his Emissaries seemed rather 
 dictated by a Spanish Agent than a Minister of the 
 Great Duke ; and that he was sorry to see some of the 
 Lorraine Eegents more friends to Spain than to their 
 Master. Had he said the Florentines in general, he 
 would not have been mistaken ; but the Admiral is as 
 wild as they (the Captains) are all ignorant. Four of 
 them want to have the honour to hiss the Regency’s 
 hand and pay their respects to me ! For which 
 purpose, they set out from Leghorn to-morrow morn- 
 ing. Pity me, dear child ! I shall be devoured by 
 these sea-monsters ! I am making my will, and be- 
 queathing to you my Magdalene, to Sir Robert, my 
 Sabine ; and my debts to my father. All the pretty 
 bijoux you gave me shall be divided among my 
 
1742. 
 
 MORE CAPTAINS. 
 
 125 
 
 brothers and sisters, as the chief marks of my favour.’ 
 In a subsequent letter, Mann writes : ‘ Captain Cox, of 
 the Newcastle, says he has the honour to be known to 
 my Lord (Orford) and will take care of the Domini- 
 chino ; he adds that he has won master Suckling a 
 great nephew of Sir Robert’s on board ; he is the 
 strangest illiterate man I ever corresponded with.’ 
 
 November 13 th , — C A miserable head-ache has till 
 24 hours confined me in bed. The cause was a horrid 
 door against which I sat at supper last night, at Casa 
 Craon, a great supper for our Captains. Oh ! the life 
 I have led for a week past ! The first day they came 
 I was ill with a cold, they dined and supped here. 
 The next day we dined at Braitwitz’s, and I went 
 with a fever. The next day, a great dinner at the 
 Cascina, where there was an encampment of 800 men. 
 This was done by Chatelet, but the rains in the after- 
 noon prevented the exercises and disappointed vast 
 crowds of people who, notwithstanding the bad 
 weather, were as foolish as we to go there. We dined 
 under some open lodges, and though I had my cloak 
 on, etc., I was almost killed. Every day since we 
 have dined out. They are all now in the next room, 
 where there are three tables, at cards. Mesdames 
 Suares and Frescobaldi are the only ladies. 
 
 * Amongst the Captains, there is a man of admired 
 good sense, quiet and easy, and who rails with me at 
 the lowness and horrid meanness of his companions. 
 His name is West, a nephew, 1 believe, of Lord 
 Cobharn. I have had no difficulty to show him the 
 nature of our situation and that II Furibondo has 
 never understood it. The Princess has not shewn 
 
120 
 
 AT HOME AND AT COURT. 
 
 1742. 
 
 herself but once. She has always taken medicine, of 
 the operations of which all the town has had an 
 exact account.’ 
 
 November 2,0th. — ‘ I am extreme ill, though I have 
 been very quiet since the departure of my Captains. If 
 any more should come to kiss the Regency’s hand , I 
 will not take to them as I have to these, but I thought 
 myself obliged to do a good deal to recover the good 
 graces of the Fleet, which I believe I lost by my not 
 letting Mr. Martin protect and assist the Great Duke 
 of Tuscany and his Territories and that important 
 City of Leghorn, when there was no occasion for it. 
 ... I forgot to tell you the finest part of all, which 
 was that we went to the Camp dans mon attellage, — 
 the harness of which only was my own.’ 
 
 ' Poor M. Chute pays dear for the small liberties he 
 took during their stay here, in drinking one little glass 
 of rich wine at each meal, and now is forced to turn 
 more rigorously to the Turneps and water, in hopes of 
 driving away the gout the above excesses brought 
 upon him. He is not, however, very bach’ 
 
 November 20th. — £ We are forced to e’o oftener 
 
 O 
 
 to Prince Craon’s than we cliuse. He torments us to 
 play at Quadrille -mediateur, which is become the most 
 fashionable game at the Court of Florence, and has 
 banished all other games. Prince Craon literally 
 plays from morning to night. The Princess still 
 sticks to Ombre and Antinori.’ 
 
 November 20th. — ' M. de Thun writes word that 
 great preparations are making for the departure of the 
 Pretender’s elder son to France, and that the Pope 
 is to furnish money for it. I own I can’ (not) 'believe 
 
SAILOR'S POLITICS. 
 
 12 7 
 
 1742 . 
 
 a word of all this, as the present occasion does not 
 seem at all favourable especially for the Pope to bear 
 the expense.’ 
 
 November 2 7th . — ‘ 1 told you all my Captains were 
 gone, but I did not tell you half their absurdities. 
 Others are come, quite as bad, and I have to teach them 
 what Neutralities are. Those I had with me went away 
 amaestrati , as I would wish, and have changed their 
 tone. One of them, on the arrival of more ships said 
 to Goldworthy, that he could not conceive the mean- 
 ing of the Admiral’s sending so many ships up, as he 
 must be convinced 3 instead of 7 that were at Leu- 
 horn were sufficient for that service (for the security 
 of the Merchants only, which was the only one 
 to be considered till the Great Duke should ask 
 for assistance), and that he could not conceive where 
 he had his intelligence ; which piques my friend so 
 much that he said, neither the Great Duke’s Regency 
 nor any one else at Florence (meaning me) was a 
 judge of the danger Tuscany was in. To which the 
 Captain replied that Goldworthy must excuse him if 
 he couldn’t be persuaded that he (Goldworthy) was 
 the only wise man in Tuscany. Was ever any thing 
 so silly; to support so ill the alarms which II Furi- 
 bondo puts in his despatches ! What must you think 
 of the other, to be thus alarmed and not to see that this 
 creature has his own private interests in causing many 
 ships to remain there, in order that he may furnish 
 more beef and peas, etc., by which his profit was 
 immense.’ 
 
 November 27th . — ‘ Lord Forrester who carried the 
 last money for the Queen ’ (of Hungary) ‘ to Trieste, 
 
128 
 
 110YAL GIFTS. 
 
 1742. 
 
 went from thence to Vienna, where, you will imagine, 
 he was well received. She made him a present of a 
 cristal snuff-box, very rich with jewels ; and to the 
 officer who accompanied him a diamond ring. Biclie- 
 court’s brother, who has lately been sent to Berlin, 
 carried the Queen’s picture richly adorned with dia- 
 monds to her Plenipotentiary, Lord Hyndford, to 
 whom we hear the King of Prussia has given a fine set 
 of plate, and the eagle to put into his arms ; with 
 “Pro bene merito,” for its'motto. Surely Mr. Bobinson 
 deserves a good deal, as his task was the hardest to 
 persuade the Queen to give up all Silesia instead of 
 about half of it that the King of Prussia asked only, 
 about a year ago.’ 
 
 December 1 8th . — ‘The Great Duke has sent his 
 absolute orders to General Braitwitz to march, and a 
 strong “ miramur ” that he had not done so before ; so 
 that in blind obedience to his orders which he supposes 
 were planned by Bichecourt, he sets out for Firen- 
 zuola in a day or two, and will have with him, if his 
 men choose to stay, about 3500; the rest are quartered 
 in different places on the mountains, equally advan- 
 tageous to desert from. ... We shall see what it all 
 ends in ; desertion, I believe, and the increase of M. de 
 Gages’ army. The above orders were given to protect 
 Tuscany from a suspected design on the part of the 
 Spaniards, to break the neutrality by an invasion of 
 the duchy. Braitwitz, however, declined to obey com- 
 mands which would bring on the very evils for pre- 
 venting which they were issued.’ 
 
 December 11th . — ‘I was deprived of the pleasure 
 of writing to you last post by a violent head-aclie, 
 
1742. 
 
 COLD CEREMONY. 
 
 129 
 
 which I caught at the Princess’s the night before. This 
 is a tax I constantly pay for going there now ’tis so 
 excessively cold. They carry on the same foolish whim 
 of not permitting any fire in any part of the house, 
 and as T am not muffled up like them, it is impossible 
 to resist, after having been used to my good room with 
 carpets and fire at home. I must tell you the garb of 
 the poor Prince who has done all he can to procure a 
 little warmth. He sits in a great rug, horseman’s coat, 
 and about his arms has literally sleeves made out of 
 Doncaster stockings which, for finery, are tipped with 
 silk, the better to join with cotton mittens, which are 
 sewed on. The Princess shivers under fur tippets, 
 short cloaks, and a horrid thing she calls ma capuche, 
 which gives her the air of a Capuchin. I told her 
 t’other day that I was convinced her ails proceeded from 
 her pores being constantly shut, and the perspiration 
 hindered, except when she is in bed, which she takes 
 to, much of late, to be warm and to shew her pretty 
 appartment. The Prince came to see me when I was 
 ill, and the cause was much enlarged on by de Sacle, 
 so that I do not despair of raising a flame, otherwise 
 I must totally abstain going there the evenings.’ 
 
 December 1 1th . — ‘A most important affair has 
 happened to one I interested myself for, by order of 
 Lord Harrington, and for whom I had the Great Duke’s 
 promise a long while ago, that he would show all regard 
 to that recommendation. The person I am speaking 
 of is Marquis Nomis, whom, I believe, you knew ; 
 whose mother is Madame Bothmar of Hanover. This 
 is a sufficient key to the recommendation. He, some- 
 time ago, very foolishly engaged himself by writing 
 
 YOL. I. 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 A QUARREL. 
 
 1742. 
 
 and all the outward functions of a Sposo in this 
 country, to marry the eldest Franchini ; and, after- 
 having exhibited himself with her in this light, at 
 all the publick places, for several months, he repented 
 of his folly, and in order to get off, has drawn himself 
 into a much worse scrape, if possible, (though they must 
 have starved together). He retired to his regiment at 
 Leghorn, hoping to drop his Sposa ; and, though 
 called upon very frequently by her brother, a young- 
 fellow about Norms’ age, did not druse to answer 
 any of his letters. The brother, knowing that when 
 he was thus surrounded by his officers, nothing was to 
 be done, waited till the troops came here, and then 
 began his stronger application in person and by 
 letter, but these being rendered ineffectual, Fran- 
 chini resolved to wait in the street, to meet him and 
 demand satisfaction. This likewise was difficult to 
 execute, as Nomis was apprized of it, and always took 
 care to be in company with his officers and in a coach. 
 However, about a fortnight ago, Franchini stopped his 
 coach when in company with Monsr. Vincent (whom 
 the Primate ruined, you will remember him.) The 
 latter got out only, and told Franchini that if he 
 had any quarrel with his friend, he would answer 
 it. T’other replied, he had an affair of consequence 
 to settle with Nomis, protesting he had no quarrel 
 with Vincent, but that, however, if he obliged him 
 to it, he was ready to give him what satisfaction he 
 pleased, and so drew his sword. On which Vincent 
 put up his, and returned to the coach, saying that was 
 not a proper place (Ponte di S ta ' Trinita). Franchini 
 had time to abuse Nomis extremely, to challenge him 
 
1742 . 
 
 UNWILLING TO FIGHT. 
 
 131 
 
 and bid him appoint a place to fight, but they drove 
 off. The affair soon made much noise, and all the 
 officers were in an uproar against Franchini, who was 
 forced to retire to Bologna. 
 
 ‘ In the mean time, Nomis caused a writing to be 
 published, wherein he asserted that, as an officer and 
 Christian he could not fight ; with all the foolish 
 arguments the latter character could dictate. If they 
 kick thy right side turn thy left also ! However, this 
 supported him among his officers, as his adversary was 
 fled, and afterwards banished by the Government for 
 not obeying their summons to return ; but a pompous 
 writing, drawn up by Abbe Buonacorsi, turned the 
 tables quite. Franchini exposes in this, the reciprocal 
 promise of marriage between Nomis and his sister, 
 underwritten by both ; then he lays open the whole 
 proceedings, the necessity he was under, as a Cavaliere, 
 to call Nomis to account in this manner ; appeals to 
 all the officers as men of honour, and he concludes by 
 telling them that their honour cannot permit them to 
 serve with one so vile, etc. 
 
 ‘ This writing being penned with a great deal of 
 eloquence, and, they say, truth, as witnesses were 
 quoted for every article, no objection was made to it, 
 and the officers began to consult how to behave. They 
 all agreed Franchini was in the right, and Nomis 
 had an intimation he must resign his commission, 
 which he has done, and has resolved to cover all the 
 infamy he has contracted, under the habit of a Priest ! 
 The good fight of Faith will not expose him to such 
 dangers as the point of Franchini’ s sword ! ... He 
 is quite ruined by this accident.’ 
 
132 
 
 HUSBAND AND CICJSBEO. 
 
 1742. 
 
 Walpole’s remark on tliis, written in his letter of 
 January 8th, 1743, is, ‘What an infamous story that 
 affair of Nomis is ; and how different the ideas of 
 honour among officers in your world and ours.’ 
 
 December 11th . — ‘Two important matters have 
 lately so fell out as to shock the whole formidable body 
 of Cicisbeos. The Vernaci, noted for many exploits 
 both in her youth and riper years,— you may recollect 
 the affair between her and Crudeli, and to what strange 
 offices she obliged him, and which ended in the total 
 interruption of his former amusements and obliged 
 him to abandon her, — has been attended of late by 
 Cavalieri Pitti and Garvi ; and, through her husband’s 
 retiring for good to his villa, she has had all the 
 opportunities to do as she pleased. But lo ! some 
 secret complaints reached the ears of the solemn 
 interrupters of honest folks’ pleasures, and when she 
 least expected it, a chair, one dark night was carried 
 to her door, into which she was forced to get, in order 
 to be conducted to a place called Le Male Maritate, 
 where she is like to spend the remainder of her time. 
 How shall I describe to you the tears, the anxieties, 
 and the rabbia of the bella Vernaci ? 
 
 ‘ I come now to the second matter. You have seen 
 the Senator Guadagni and the bella Pucci bill and 
 coo, and make believe they had great joy in so doing. 
 But here again somebody has been busy with odious 
 complaints, which proved successful!. Madame re- 
 ceived a terrible order to remain at her villa, and the 
 Senator, with equal authority, was forbid going near 
 her. For my part, I cannot tell what it all tends to, 
 for to pretend that the ladies will or do care for their 
 
1742. 
 
 SPOSI E SPOSE. 
 
 133 
 
 indifferent husbands is ridiculous ; and to suppose 
 that the many young fellows (who by the custom of 
 the country have no other provision for them but the 
 tables of the one single chief of each family) should 
 not make love to them, is equally absurd. The con- 
 sternation is at present, however, great. Nothing but 
 a Carnival can set all to rights again. Well, this is 
 near, and our hopes rise as it approaches. No matter 
 what opera ; the theaters will be open and masks per- 
 mitted, and so we bid defiance to all/ 
 
 ‘ I figure,’ wrote Walpole in his reply, £ a parcel 
 of lovers who have so many things to dread ; — the 
 government In this world ! Purgatory in the next ! 
 inquisitions, villegiaturas, convents, etc.’ 
 
 December 18 tli . — ‘ All the news that I have to tell 
 you of your acquaintance is that the Sposa Panciatici 
 (Corsi) was brought to bed of a son t’other day, to the 
 great joy of the congiunti. You know ’tis the custom 
 here to make the women presents on such occasions 
 quando ci sono portate bene. Her father, Marchese 
 Corsi, gave her a hundred zechins ; her mother, forty 
 braces of velvet ; her own husband, for so soon bring- 
 ing an heir to his family, 80 zee ; and your friend the 
 Cavaliere de Malta Panciatici, 35 zee. ; the latter, I 
 think, might have been excused, as it is hard a man 
 should give his sister in law a present for having 
 excluded him from all hopes of succession. Young 
 Marquis Corsi is declared Sposo to a daughter of the 
 Princess Corsiui at Pome, for which place he was 
 preparing to set out, but was prevented by the meazles. 
 The Cardinal made this match when he was this last 
 summer in Tuscany. There was a violent Christening 
 
134 
 
 PRINCELY ECONOMY. 
 
 1742. 
 
 last Friday, for the young Panciatici. The excessive 
 rains prevented my going ; however, all the town was 
 there, and was drowned.’ 
 
 December 18 th . — It is now thought the Vernaci 
 w-ill be got out of the Male Maritate. Her husband 
 has presented a memorial to the Regency, setting forth 
 that he was a mighty fool for desiring her to be put 
 in. . . . The Pucci’s husband is not tired yet of 
 living with her in the country, nor is yet persuaded 
 that he was mistaken.’ 
 
 December 18 th . — ‘The Princess has a thousand 
 ails, and never gets up but at 12 at night to sup by 
 her bed’s side. Madame Sarasin is extreme tired of all 
 this, but creeps out sometimes to get two or three 
 rounds at Quadril-Mediateur. There’s a great reform 
 in the family. The Prince has farmed out his Table. 
 When I go there, the fine cook commonly asks me if I 
 stay supper ? to which I always say No, so that none 
 is provided.’ 
 
 While Mann was repeatedly accusing the British 
 Consul at Leghorn of meanness, avarice, and disregard 
 of his country’s interests, he w~as under considerable 
 anxiety lest the political changes at home should drive 
 him from his ministerial post, at the Grand Ducal 
 Court in the capital of Tuscany. When his mind was 
 more at ease on this point, our Envoy became very 
 eager for increase of his salary. Walpole sympathized 
 with him, and Mann, stimulated by the sympathy, sat 
 down and had the impudent audacity to address the 
 following astounding lines to his correspondent. 
 
 ‘ Your advice about the Captains has determined 
 me to impart to you a thought that is come into my 
 
1742. 
 
 B UIBING A MINISTER. 
 
 135 
 
 head which shall be nothing till I receive your appro- 
 bation. Mr. Chute approves of it and would remove 
 my scruples on your account; for my own part, I have 
 not got over them quite. 
 
 ‘ You know that though I have no particular 
 reason to believe that the Duke of Newcastle ’ 
 (Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs) ‘ is not my 
 friend, yet I cannot brag of having any certainty 
 of the contrary. . . . Now, I have been thinking 
 whether it might be improper to endeavour to obtain 
 the Duke’s permission to send him any thing. Let 
 
 me speak out. I mean your fine coffee-pot. The 
 
 only objection, after bringing myself to part with any- 
 thing that came from you, is the intrinsick value to 
 one like him. But I might give it this turn, in order 
 to waive that objection, and call it a peice of fine 
 sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini or John Bologna, 
 saved from the general meltings. The thing in itself 
 can fit nobody better than the person I am speaking 
 of, and if it were to be done, one of my brothers 
 might, in the stile above mentioned, go there and ask 
 leave. Do you think it could offend, or, do you think 
 it proper ? You know the nature of things at present. 
 If the Duke could be pleased, it’s right to do any- 
 thing, for even his indifference might be highly 
 prejudicial to me, and it would not be at all surprising 
 in the present circumstances if some one or other 
 should try for my post. My dear Child, answer 
 this thought, if you disapprove it ; and in case you do 
 not give my brother directions how to execute it pro- 
 perly out of hand, I shall be impatient for your answer, 
 which shall determine me how to act.’ 
 
136 
 
 DELICATE CORRUPTION. 
 
 1742. 
 
 Walpole was not shocked at the idea of bribing a 
 Minister with the silver coffee-pot he had given to 
 Mann, he only thought it would be fruitless, and that 
 the Minister could not be deceived by the lie that was 
 to make it pass for the workmanship of Cellini or 
 Giovanni di Bologna. — ‘ In the first place/ wrote 
 Walpole, January 6th, 1743, ‘I never heard a sus- 
 picion of the Duke’s taking presents ; and should 
 think he would rather be affronted. In the next 
 place, my dear child, though you are fond of that 
 coffee-pot, it would be thought nothing among such 
 wardrobes as he has of the finest wrought plates. 
 Why, he has a set of gold plates that would make a 
 figure on any side-board of the Arabian Tales ; and as 
 for Benvenuto Cellini, if the Duke could take it for 
 his, people in England understand all work too well to 
 be deceived. Lastly, as there has been no talk of 
 alterations in the foreign ministers, why should you 
 be apprehensive ? ’ 
 
 But, if a Secretary of State was not to be bribed, 
 the Secretary’s secretary might be. ‘ As to Stone,’ 
 (says Walpole) ‘if anything was done, to be sure it 
 should be to him, though I really can’t advise even 
 that : by no means think of the Duke.’ 
 
1743. 
 
 THEATRES. 
 
 137 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1743. 
 
 January ls£. — ‘Our Carnival began last Wednesday 
 with the very worst Opera in the Via della Pergola 
 that ever was heard. “ Andromache ” is its name, 
 personated by the Bagnolese in a black velvet gown 
 covered with bugles. Andriani is our first man, 
 very bad in my opinion ; all the rest are worse still. 
 The second night, they took but 17 tickets at the 
 door, though Ridolh undertook this on condition there 
 should be no other Opera in the town, which was 
 granted ; so that in the Via del Cucumero, there is 
 a most horrid representation of “ Agamemnon ” in 
 prose ! Judge what it can be by people who never 
 acted before in their lives. The translation is abomin- 
 able, and indeed the story so old and out of fashion 
 that one can’t bear it. Lady Walpole was a great 
 promoter of these tragedies, where, she says, noble 
 sentiments are not disguised by horrid musick ! ’tis 
 such affectation that makes one sick. 
 
 ‘ The weather is colder than ever I knew ; though 
 I write by the fire-side I am so benumbed that I can 
 hardly form any letters ; ’tis incredible what one 
 suffers abroad at nights, tho’ my box, the famous one 
 
138 
 
 ITALIAN FEVER. 
 
 1743. 
 
 of Count Bichecourt, is so lined . and matted that no 
 air can penetrate but from the front.’ 
 
 January 6th . — ‘My constant attendance upon, 
 first Mr. Chute and then Mr. Whithed, who have been 
 ill of the common fever, prevented me writing to you 
 by the last post. It’s quite shocking to hear how 
 many people are ill of this disorder all over Italy ; 
 many dye ; a person who returned a few days ago 
 with Ginori, from Vienna, died twenty four hours 
 after. The poor sickly Countess Guicciardini went off 
 yesterday. The Count must marry again, having no 
 Heir to a very great Estate which, otherwise, goes to 
 the Certosi. We want him much to take the Teresina, 
 who is as likely as any girl in Florence to bring him an 
 heir in nine months ; neither would we have him 
 observe the common rules of decency, as the Yittorina, 
 her sister, is in great haste to be married. Marquis 
 Malinari of Milan, a young man of 18, almost as big 
 as Sinisani, has made his addresses to the latter for 
 some time, and has declared that he will never marry 
 any one else; he is said to have of his own 18 
 thousand zeechins a year. His uncle is Vice-Legate of 
 Bologna, and very rich too, which must in the end 
 come to Vittorina’s children. Things are so forward 
 that Madame Suares tells me, they waited only for 
 the last answer from the Legate to conclude and con- 
 summate in this very Carnival ; but then again they 
 are all melancholy about the poor disconsolate Tere- 
 sina, who bears it extreme well, but has once declared 
 she will go into a convent, though they are in hopes it 
 was only a little melancholly passing thought. The 
 Brother’s answer and consent ought to have been here 
 
1743. 
 
 THE HOW AGEE ELECTEE SS. 
 
 139 
 
 some time ago, and I must own I do not like the 
 delay. It looks as if somebody had been busy to 
 prevent it, but the excuse is, the Vice-Legate being ill. 
 
 ‘ The Electress is much out of order again. She 
 has a fever with an oppression upon her breast, and a 
 sore leg. People don’t seem to apprehend her to be in 
 any immediate danger, but as she is of late so much 
 decayed, many fear she won’t get on this winter. She 
 has been a good deal touched with the news of the 
 death of the Elector Palatine, which was announced 
 to her two days ago, not for any love she had for him, 
 but by the reflection, I suppose, that an Electress may 
 dye too. The Emperor is said to be very ill with a 
 Goute remontee and the stone. What alterations his 
 death would make ! I fancy, France, at present, 
 would hardly make a second Emperor. 
 
 ‘ I have not been at any of the Theaters all this . 
 week, but they tell me they are totally deserted. The 
 Via della Pergola took five tickets last night. Masks 
 begin to go about the streets in the afternoon, but no 
 permission for their admittance into the Theaters, nor 
 like to be. The Count doesn’t like Pudolfi ever since 
 the affair of my box, and the depriving him of masks 
 is the most essential way to mortify him and chastize 
 his purse ; besides, they would not now disoblige the 
 Electress, who will be most extraordinarily devout. 
 Ginori brought her a present from the Queen of Hun- 
 gary of a large pocket bottle for Hungary water, of 
 lapis Lazuoli, adorned with jewels ; the outer case was 
 varnish of the Queen’s own doing. 
 
 £ . . . I have had a little return of my fever, but 
 am now totally well again, and have got over it with- 
 
140 
 
 COLD COMFORT. 
 
 1743. 
 
 out bleeding, by resolving so to do ; as such an opera- 
 tion weakens me immoderately. General Braitwitz is 
 in a bad way with this universal fever ; he returned 
 from Leghorn on Saturday night at two hours, and has 
 been very ill ever since. . . . Mr. Chute and Whithed 
 are just come in. I had not seen them for three days, 
 as the weather was too bad for them to come out after 
 their disorder, and I not well enough to go to them. 
 It is a monstrous sickly time ; half the town has 
 fever.’ 
 
 January 7th . — ‘I caught my indisposition by a 
 debauch with Madame Sarasin, and over fatigue. 
 The poor devil whom everybody abandons, has no 
 resource but in us ; the moment we enter Prince 
 Craon’s, she seizes us for a bit of Quadrille Mediateur, 
 which she sees playing all round the room without 
 being admitted into any partie. In short, she lost 
 vastly, and would play it out after supper, so we sat 
 till 8 hours ; it was the first time I had been there in a 
 fortnight, and was the last that I will stay supper this 
 winter ; we are so much better at home, so warm and 
 comfortable, such good apples, and so little to eat 
 that one’s sure of not being ill. The Chutes are quite 
 of my mind ; though he, poor thing, eats nothing but 
 milk to keep the gout under.’ 
 
 ‘ . . . Viviani, who escaped to the Spaniards as 
 soon as they came into Italy, on a full persuasion that 
 they were to be masters of Tuscany, has been some 
 time at Madrid, where he has had the honour to be 
 Italian master to Don Louis and his sisters, and has 
 made great interest to be appointed the King of 
 Spain’s minister to the Great Duke, being fearful 
 
1743. 
 
 A DUEL. 
 
 141 
 
 to return without a character to protect him, but has 
 not been able to obtain it, so remains in Spain still.’ 
 
 January 7 th . — ‘Two of our young nobles, Marquis 
 Bagnesi and Strozzi, have fought a duel about a debt 
 of fifteen shillings. The latter, the creditor and occa- 
 sion of the fight, behaved ill ; indeed he did not think 
 it would go so far, and when called upon by the 
 former, said, the affair was settled by his having 
 applied to his father, to which Bagnesi replied, “ I may 
 ask my father’s blessing, but not his counsel on an 
 affair of honour,” so that he forced his antagonist to 
 draw, which he did, but instead of passing or defend- 
 ing himself, he waved his sword in the air, and 
 wheeled about so often that his back was as often 
 turned round towards Bagnesi as his face. Lucky 
 for him if he had stuck to this way, by which ho 
 might have come off with a prick in his noble hinder 
 part, instead of a cut in his lip which has divided it. 
 This was done by accident in the scuffling when 
 Bagnesi wrested the sword out of his hand. It was 
 immediately sewed up, but as often breaks out as he 
 attempts to speak, to recount his bravery. 
 
 ‘ Our Opera is as unfrequented as your’s can be, 
 and Iphigenia, in the little house, totally abandoned. 
 The Bagnolesi is highly offended with the town for 
 not liking her, and, what both Ridolfi and she piqued 
 themselves upon, her cloathes ; to ridicule which, a great 
 Bejfana, on Epiphany Day, dressed exactly like her, was 
 carried all over the town with a concert of horns. You 
 must remember what an abominable noise there is 
 here on that day. The Electress chose that day to go 
 out for the first time after her confinement, and told 
 
142 
 
 AN ILLUSTRIOUS STRANGLE. 
 
 1743. 
 
 Prince Craon that the Beffane all went abroad on that 
 day. 
 
 £ I have been interrupted by the receipt of a letter 
 from the Prince, to tell me that he is under the most 
 pressing necessity for 200 zecchini, and he so conjured 
 me to lend him that sum, that though I had it not, I 
 could not say no ! Mr. Whithed has very kindly fur- 
 nished me with it. The prince talks in his letter of 
 pawning his jewels and plate. I am afraid a great 
 part must be sold to pay off his debts. I am sorry for 
 him, but ’tis cruel to put one to such inconveniences.’ 
 
 January 2,9th . — ‘ Everybody’s curiosity is carried 
 to the highest degree, and all arts put in practice to 
 discover who a great person is who is supposed to be 
 on board a man-of-war at Leghorn, which furnishes 
 great speculation for the Politicians there. Four 
 persons are named for the stranger, — the King of 
 Sardinia, King Theodore, Admiral Matthews, and who 
 do you think else ? why, Sir Robert Walpole ! and do 
 you know that many for a while seemed persuaded of 
 it ? The second, however, is generally believed to be 
 the person. His Corsican subjects at Leghorn make 
 no secret of owning that they have expected him above 
 a month, and among our folks at Leghorn, the secret I 
 believe has been ill kept, though most religiously from 
 me. Our Consul ’ (Goldworthy) £ seems to have hugged 
 himself with it, and to have indulged the pleasure 
 many have alone in knowing a secret, that of telling 
 it, though in great confidence, to everybody. . . . ’Tis 
 undoubtedly his Corsican Majesty, whose affairs I 
 greatly fear may suffer by being discovered. Don’t 
 mention it, my dear, however, in England, as it would 
 
1743. 
 
 A POOR RICH MAN. 
 
 143 
 
 be known to come from me. There was not an English 
 Giovanni di Barco to whom it was not whispered, but 
 such art used by Goldworthy to conceal it from me, 
 that was quite impertinent. 
 
 ‘ The epidemic colds encrease much ; poor Bosso 
 Strozzi died of one, two days ago. The instant he 
 was taken ill, he was persuaded he should dye, and 
 refused to see anybody ; even my neighbour, Anna 
 Frescobaldi, his Cicisbea of 30 years standing was 
 forbid. He was so poor (chiefly by mismanagement, 
 for he had 5000 crowns a year) that during his illness, 
 his servants were forced to send to his acquaintance, 
 for shirts and sheets for him to change. Every crea- 
 ture is sorry for his death, except his Heirs and his 
 horses. Of the latter, he had always a great many 
 in his stables, but seldom anything for them to eat. 
 They now will probably fall into hands that will feed 
 them. The former, very distant relations (for the 
 great branch of the great Strozzi family is now ex- 
 tinct) will inherit near a hundred and fifty thousand 
 crowns, and the poor creature managed so ill, that 
 litteraly, in his great house and appearance of so much 
 state, was starving. A great employment or office is 
 by his death become vacant at our Court, that of 
 Great Master of the Ceremonies, and Introductor of 
 Ambassadors. I don’t hear who is talked of for it, 
 but I intend to recommend Nunziato Baldocci who 
 was his deputy. That poor creature was here some 
 nights ago ; somebody was talking of Montemar, and 
 said he always carried Caesar in his pocket, as a model 
 of everything great in the military way. Nunziato 
 did not comprehend anything of this, and in the 
 
144 
 
 THE INFLUENZA. 
 
 1748 . 
 
 greatest surprize, said, “ Come, come ! Cesare in tasca ! 
 Come, mai, Cesare in tasca ? ” thinking even a bust 
 of him would have been a troublesome pocket-piece ! 
 Everybody was highly entertained with his mistake, 
 and more at his astonishment when he found that 
 “ Caesar ” was a book ! ’ 
 
 February 12th . — ‘We have strange melancholly 
 doings here. Everybody is ill of the Influenza, and 
 many dye, particularly among the poor people. Of 
 the rich, or rather nobile, we lost in the last week, the 
 Abbe Capponi who lived with the eldest Pandolfini, 
 the promoter of all musical matters, and Count Pecori, 
 my next door neighbour, the unkle of the young 
 Count, Cicisbeo to the Pepi, who, last summer married 
 Leopolda Peruzzi, out of spite to his nephew ; she is 
 pittied by everybody. The Conderoli at Rome dye 
 a-pace — Pieri, Guadici, and Corradine went off lately. 
 Many others are in an excessive tottering condition. 
 
 ‘ A courier passed by yesterday, for Rome, with 
 the news of the death of Arch-Cardinal Eleuri, so 
 that there are 22 hats vacant. The latter can be, I 
 suppose, of little consequence now ; had he dyed a 
 few years ago, it had been happy for many, but he 
 lived to do all the mischief possible. Could he have 
 attoned for it here below it would have been right, 
 for it’s difficult to guess how mortal transactions are 
 understood out of mortal latitudes. .1 make no doubt 
 but Tencin will work himself into his master’s favour, 
 notwithstanding his (the King’s) declaration that his 
 late nurse shall have no successor. If that should 
 happen both his head and heart are capable of much 
 mischief, and woe be to us as far as it may be in his 
 
1743. DEATH OF THE DAUGHTER OF COSMO III. 145 
 
 power to hurt us. Much caballing has been observed 
 at Rome in ’proportion as the Cardinal drew near his 
 end. Tencin is supposed to promise great matters to 
 his Protector, whom he will now protect. 
 
 ‘ I told you in my last, Theodore was come on the 
 stage again ; he set out to take possession of his throne 
 about a week ago. He sent me the Edict that was 
 to be published. ... We have heard nothing of him 
 since his departure/ 
 
 February 18 m . — 'All our jollity is at an end, our 
 Carnival overset and all the masking schemes dis- 
 appointed ; the Electress died about an hour ago ; the 
 poor remains of the Medici is soon to join her ances- 
 tors, — I mean in the Chappel of Michel Angelo. The 
 common people are convinced she went off in a hur- 
 ricane of wind ; a most violent one began this morning 
 and lasted for about two hours, and now the sun 
 shines as bright as ever, this is proof ; besides for a 
 stronger, just the same thing happened when John 
 Gaston (Medici) went off. Nothing can destroy this 
 opinion which people think they have been eye- 
 witnesses to. All the town is in tears, many with 
 great reason, for the loss of her ; it is very visible, 
 however, it would have affected many much less, had 
 she staid till the beginning of Lent. Nobody appre- 
 hended she was so near her end ; her courtiers were 
 last night at the Opera. In the night she grew bad ; 
 this morning at 16 took the sacrament and_ an hour 
 after had the extreme unction. I am really sorry 
 for the country ; there will be no more disputes about 
 the Jewels ; nor will the Great Duke have anybody 
 to dispute with him about anything he likes to do ; 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 STRANGE ABBANGEMmTS. 
 
 1743. 
 
 what that will be everybody is impatient to see. 
 Prince OttavO de 5 Medici was likewise at the point 
 of death, by the last accounts from Leghorn, where 
 he had accompanied the Sani who was his favourite, 
 and the first singer in that Opera. The death of the 
 Electress employs the discourse of the whole town ; 
 it has made us forget the Spaniards, but they who 
 remember them think it is most fortunate they have 
 been routed before the other happened, and ’tis hoped 
 they are not in a condition to come here to make good 
 their pretensions to her great inheritance. The instant 
 she expired, the gates of the town were shut and not 
 a creature permitted to go out, so that many hundred 
 people from the country were obliged to stay in Flo- 
 rence all last night, even the french courier was not 
 permitted to go. These precautions were interpreted 
 that the Spaniards might not be apprised of it. The 
 guards were tripled in and about the palace, and last 
 night late there was a Council what to do. I can’t 
 tell nor have yet heard any particular’s about her 
 
 wm/ 
 
 February 1 8th . — c I have scratched out the odious 
 name ’ (Sasso Ferrato on the back of the alleged Dome- 
 nichino) c myself, so well that nobody can have the 
 least suspicion ; so that on this account you may be 
 quite at peace. Some fools of our country have been 
 lately here, and when they were told to admire it, 
 “ 0 Lord ! ” said they, “ that is a fine picture indeed ; 
 I have seen many Italian pictures, but none like that ; 
 pray, Sir, what may it be worth ? ” — “ Why, what do 
 you think ?” — “ Really, Sir, I am no good judge, but 
 I should think at least 5 thousand pounds ; for Bri- 
 
1743. 
 
 TRAVELLING ENGLISH. 
 
 147 
 
 gadier Guise has a small fine Italian picture in mina- 
 ture of Carlo Maratti which, he says, cost him 1500 
 pounds.” They dined here yesterday, and I disobliged 
 a Parson violently by not inviting him to say grace. 
 One of ’em being asked to eat beef, replied, “ No, Sir, 
 I thank you, I’ll take a little of the chicken pye, 
 because it’s a greater rarity ; indeed, it looks pure 
 good.” Then I gave them coffy out of your Saxon 
 cups which I was afraid they would break by their 
 wonderfull care to avoid it. The Parson would not 
 go to the Opera, because ’twas Sunday, and must now 
 go to the fleet without hearing any Italian Opera, 
 because there will be no more.’ 
 
 February 25th . — ‘ I have been assured that there 
 were six authentick copies of the Electress’s will, some 
 say more ; that one of them was deposited at Rome, 
 and others in different hands ; one was delivered to 
 her Executors, who are four Senators, D’Alberazino, 
 Mignati, Compagni. and Queratori, who have yearly 
 pensions assigned them of 120 crowns ; all her Cour- 
 tiers and Servants are to have their salaries for life ; 
 to pay which, a considerable sum of money was 
 deposited in the bank of Sta. Maria Nuova, Marquis 
 Rinuncini (the father) has 600 crowns for life, besides 
 which he has a much larger income from a former 
 agreement made with Cardinal Albani, by which the 
 Electress gave up her pretentions to some Church 
 lands in the State of Urbino, in consideration of a 
 yearly pension of about 2000 crowns to her and, 
 after her death, to whom she should name, and 
 this was Rinnncini . . . besides this, he has a con- 
 siderable legacy of rich furniture ; they say, a silver 
 
148 
 
 TEE ELECTEES 8 WILL. 
 
 1743. 
 
 table, two silver stands, two sconces, and one of those 
 magnificent glasses with a silver frame which you may 
 have seen in her Audience Room. Young Rinuncini 
 has 300 crowns, for life, yearly, and half her china, 
 the other half to Coroni ; Tornaquerci, the same pen- 
 sion for life. Marquis Guadagni, ‘ the Great Master/ 
 Siristori, the father, and Bardi, have all, besides their 
 salaries, very rich presents in silver. Madame Uguc- 
 cioni’s share, ’tis said, will be very great. You know, 
 she was her Great Mistress ; she has the spoglie of 
 a particular room in which, besides many things of 
 value, were pieces of velvet brocade, linnen etc., etc., 
 to the value of 10,000 crowns; and they talk of a 
 Toilette, partly of gold, all which, the son believes, was 
 purposely put into a large stone box. Her ladies of 
 honour have presents and the usual fortune in case of 
 marriage. I should have mentioned the Great Duke, 
 first, as He is the most considerable gainer by her 
 death. She leaves to him as Great Duke, most of 
 her Jewels, annexing them to those of the State, with 
 which they are to descend ; they were valued some 
 time ago at a million and a half of crowns, but it is 
 very probable the Jeweller thought to make his court 
 to her by so high an estimation which in Sterling 
 would be 375 thousand pounds. They were her 
 own wearing Jewels. He is heir to a thousand other 
 things, but what will displease extremely is the naming 
 of a Medici of the Via Larga, her nearest relation, one 
 of whom she took no notice nor acknowledged in her 
 life time ; a person very obscure and no more than 
 a Commissary at Prato ; to him, as her pin prossimo 
 Agnato, she has left in money, 30,000 crowns, and 
 
1743. 
 
 BEQUESTS. 
 
 149 
 
 as people to whom pensions are given, dye off, they 
 are to be given to him, till the sum is made up to 
 100,000 crowns. The money, in all probability, will 
 not give so much uneasiness as the declaration above, 
 which in times more troublesome would give him 
 pretensions to more. She has left presents in jewels 
 to the Queen of Hungary, Prince Charles, and they 
 say to several Princes of Germany ; but the principal 
 legacy is to the Prince of Salzbach, present Elector 
 Palatine, which is very considerable. The Pope is 
 to have a Picture, they say that of Solomeni with 
 the fine silver frame. 
 
 ‘ The Count (Richecourt) had a commission (dated 
 1738) from the Great Duke to act for him, in case of 
 her death, on the strength of which he ivould be 
 present at everything, and sealed up all the doors of 
 her appartments and cabinets, so that nothing is to be 
 done but burying her, till the Great Duke sends orders. 
 
 . . . Mr. Chute says he is very glad she left him 
 nothing as he should despair of getting it. She was so 
 much set upon finishing the Chappel of St. Laurence, 
 of late years, and has spent such large sums about it, 
 that people were astonished she left nothing for carry- 
 ing the work on ; she only leaves 50 crowns a year 
 for taking care of it, and recommends the finishing of 
 it to the Great Duke. The workmen were all turned 
 off the day after her death. I have been assured that 
 she was at 1000 crowns a week expence on the build- 
 ing. People who pretend to know, assert that for a 
 considerable time past, she has given in charities 1000 
 zecchins a month, and it is well known, the be- 
 ginning of her illness, that in one month she distributed 
 
150 
 
 LEGACIES. 
 
 1743. 
 
 9000 zecchins. I don’t hear she has left anything to 
 the poor, for which they are all in despair, and are 
 firmly persuaded that the Devil came for her in the 
 Temporcile which happened so suddenly at the time of 
 death and ended with it. She certainly did not ex- 
 pect to dye so soon, nor did anybody else. The fryday 
 before the monday she dyed, she was so tollerably well 
 that the Physicians made her encrease her diet, and 
 she told Mgr. Uggucioni that she was perfectly easy. 
 On the Sunday night she had a more than usual 
 oppression on her breast, for which they blooded her, 
 and to which many attribute her death. On the mon- 
 day morning, her Confessor by a stratagem was carried 
 to her, for she would not have him sent for, and about 
 17 hours, he was bid tell her she must soon dye, to 
 which she answered by asking him with some emotion, 
 “ Who told you so?” he said: “her physicians.” — 
 “ Very well, then let us do what there is to be done ; 
 and do it quickly.” So they brought her the com- 
 munion. She afterwards made a Codicile to her will, 
 but could not sign it ; but 3 people and a lawyer 
 attached what she ordered. She was sensible to the 
 last, but did not speak for about an hour and a half 
 before she died. Primer Ottavo de’ Medici died at 
 Leghorn about 12 hours before her. She had left him 
 a large diamond ring ; he is acknowledged in her will, 
 in the 3rd degree of Relation. He always pretended 
 to be the first. The Codicile she made to her will was 
 to give to the present Elector Palatine what she had 
 before left to the late Elector. ’Tis said about the 
 town that there’s a legacy for il Re cV Anghelterra, but 
 I am afraid it is for one she calls so, at Rome ; but I 
 
1743. 
 
 TEE FUNERAL. 
 
 151 
 
 have not thought proper to make any enquiries for it 
 yet. Her orders were, not to he embalmed, but they 
 were interpreted as being given out of modesty only, 
 and so not complied with. She has lain in state in the 
 great hall of the palace since thursday morning and is 
 to be buried to-night, Saturday, of which I’ll add more 
 when I have seen it, for which purpose I am going to 
 Madame Suares’s with a train of English. 
 
 ‘ Sunday morning. There was nothing extra- 
 ordinary in the funeral last night. All the magnifi- 
 cence consisted in a prodigious number of torches 
 carried by the different orders of priests, the expense 
 of which in lights, they say, amounted to 12 thousand 
 crowns. The body was in a sort of a Coach quite 
 open, with a Canopy over her head ; two other coaches 
 followed with her ladies ; as soon as the procession was 
 passed by Madame Suares’s, I went a back way to St. 
 Laurence where I had been invited by the Master of 
 the Ceremonies ; here was nothing very particular but 
 my being placed next to Lady Walpole, who is so 
 angry with me that she would not even give me the 
 opportunity of making her a bow, which for the future, 
 since I see it will be disagreeable to her, I will never 
 offer to do again. 
 
 ‘I was last night at the Princess’s for an hour, 
 where I have not been for a month. . . . She was epuisee 
 to the greatest degree, having as Madame Sarasin told 
 me “une maladie qui la fait trotter beaucoup.” . . . 
 Her enquiries after you were infinitely great in pro- 
 portion to her strength. By degrees, I got out of the 
 Prince, a certainty about the legacy I mentioned for 
 il Re, ’tis as I expected, but mind with what delicacy 
 
152 
 
 THE MEDICI. 
 
 1743. 
 
 and circumspection — a Ring — “ for the Prince, son of 
 King James the Second of England.” 5 
 
 March 5 th . — c Whether the greatest part of the 
 will will ever be executed we are still to learn, every- 
 thing being suspended till the arrival of orders from 
 Vienna. Some people have taken great liberties about 
 the matter, supposing the value of the legacies being 
 an impediment to their being complied with. Others, 
 Richecourt, etc., pretend to have discovered by great 
 calculation that, after all is complied with, the person 
 who ought to have inherited all, will have but nineteen 
 crowns a year left ; but everybody does not allow this 
 calculation to be just, and pretend to prove by what is 
 visible in the publick funds here, that in money there 
 alone, she had near two millions, and that the legacies 
 in money are very inconsiderable in proportion. That 
 to her Agnato, in money, jewels, and plate, will amount, 
 they say, to 150,000 crowns. 
 
 ‘ What unaccountable people these Medici have 
 been. The Electress acknowledges her Relations after 
 her death, and Princess Eleanora’s children are her 
 husband’s ! 
 
 ‘We should have more amusement during Lent 
 than we had in the Carnival. Eilippo Medici, who 
 was almost ruined by his cousin’s death, being Im- 
 presario for the little Theatre, has now begun an 
 Accademia in a large room close to it, where I find it 
 will be greatly the fashion to go. He said publickly 
 there on Monday night: “ The Electress hated masks 
 so heartily that she died on purpose to put a stop to 
 them ! ” and afterwards, — “By such a step she found 
 the only means to make the House of Medici weep!” — 
 
1743. 
 
 A DUEL. 
 
 153 
 
 It was vastly applauded, but you must know he is not 
 the least related to her family. . . . Everything goes 
 on as usual except that Prince Craon shuns me now 
 I am his creditor.’ 
 
 March 12th. — ‘ Instead of notice to go into mourn- 
 ing for the Electress, I have received a notice from 
 Nunziato Balducci (deputy to Resso Strozzi) that 
 here is to he Gala to-morrow for the Arch-Duke’s 
 birthday.’ 
 
 March 12th. — ‘ Your Princess Elisabetta’s brother, 
 Gigi, has fought with a Lorraine officer ; the latter was 
 the aggressor. They both behaved well. Gigi was 
 wounded . . . and the sword then pierced his thigh. 
 He bled much but would not leave off, it being said 
 that his own blood could not wash out the affront he 
 had received, so fought on till he had wounded his 
 adversary in the hand ; then, there being blood on 
 both sides, they kissed and went home to bed, where 
 Gigi remains still under the surgeon’s hands.’ 
 
 March 12th. — ‘ Cardinal Colonna died suddenly 
 last week. His death makes a vacancy of 24 Hats. 
 People are extreme angry the Pope won’t make a 
 promotion, as 24 little courts are suppressed at Rome, 
 to the great prejudice of many that want to be em- 
 ployed in them.’ 
 
 March 12th. — ‘ Ginori has pressed me much to write 
 to you about some tea seed which he hears, is to be 
 procured in England, and he believes in the Botanick 
 Gardens at Chelsea. If you could get a small quan- 
 tity of it pray send it me with directions about planting 
 it, or any other curious Exotick. He is mad after 
 these things, has a place tollerably well furnished with 
 
154 
 
 KING THEODORE. 
 
 1743. 
 
 them and is at great expence in raising them as well as 
 his China. He talks to me much about Cobolt and 
 Zingho (sic) two minerals which, he says, are found in 
 England, and which would be vastly useful to him in 
 composing the colours for the painting his China. He 
 will make me a present of some with my arms. How 
 it will turn out I can’t tell, for I have seen none very 
 good yet, except the miniature painting on it which is 
 extreme good. He has all sorts of workmen from 
 Saxony.’ 
 
 March 19 ill . — ‘ The Mystery ’ (King Theodore of 
 Corsica) ‘ has come to Florence. I had a mysterious 
 conference with it, last night. The Chutes were shut 
 into the other apartment for four hours, and I am 
 going to it, in a cloak, on foot, whilst they go to the 
 Accademy, as soon as it is dark.’ 
 
 ‘ Monday morning : I was last night for four hours 
 in private with this Ghost. Hid you hear that it was 
 uncle to Lady Yarmouth ? It has talked to me of all 
 its adventures, and strange they are. Lord Carteret 
 is his great friend, but Lord Orford, he says, was the 
 most attached to him, and interested for the sake of 
 his affairs. You might tell him these things and 
 know how far he concerned himself in them. I am 
 quite at a loss how to behave, as I have had no orders 
 at all. I wrote to Lord Carteret, to inclose a letter 
 from the Mystery, (which call in your list, 20, and its 
 tomb (Corsica -Siracoc,) 60. We studied together the 
 science of Gatimoncilia and travelled so far in the 
 pais des desirs that you will soon be an fait of 
 Siracoc . The affair seems to have been mismanaged 
 by the underlings of the Fleet, if it be true that the 
 
1743. 
 
 NAVAL BATTLE. 
 
 155 
 
 King, Lord Carteret, and the Duke of Newcastle gave 
 such possitive orders about it. II Furibondo has been 
 wrote to again, but in the mean time, King Theodore 
 is upon our hands, and we are equally embroiled as 
 there is nothing can be kept secret. Strange com- 
 plaints from him of my neighbour Goldworthy, — his 
 (Theodore’s) letters opened, others detained, etc. I am 
 quite sorry. I don’t know how far the English Court 
 is engaged in all these matters.’ 
 
 March 19th . — ‘I must tell you our feats at sea. 
 Y ou may have heard there was a large Spanish ship, 
 the St. Isidore, disabled in a Port in Corsica, on which 
 we have had an eye for a long time, and it was 
 doomed to be destroyed. A little time ago four ships 
 and a fire ship were sent thither for that purpose. 
 The Captain of the St. Isidore, seeing there was no 
 redemption, saved our folks the trouble of destroying 
 her, he first fired all his guns against our ships and 
 then set fire to all the combustible matter he had 
 prepared, which in a very short time made her sink 
 so suddenly that 72 Spaniards were burnt or drowned. 
 Two men on board the Revenge lost each an arm. At 
 the same time we heard about this we were likewise 
 informed that one of our ships which cruize about 
 Genoa, took the felucca which was crossing over with 
 the standards and the half kettle drums that the 
 Spaniards picked up in the late engagement, and 
 which were carrying to Spain as trophies of what 
 they call their victory at Buon Porto.’ 
 
 March 1 9 th . — c My brother writes me word, our 
 father is as well as ever, so I find he will not be our 
 father which art in Heaven. My letter, which you 
 
156 
 
 KING THEODORE. 
 
 1748. 
 
 saw, produced the effect I foresaw, a most violent fit 
 of passion and abuse ; lie has never made me any 
 answer, so I find he has quite abandoned me. I have 
 wrote to my mother too, but have had no reply. 
 Amongst much nonsense he talked to Gal in the 
 utmost rage, there was this, “ that he could not, nor 
 would, allow me more than he did ! ” Anybody 
 would be surprised to hear after this, that he literally 
 allows me nothing ! ’ 
 
 March — f Jesus ! a fourth letter from Theo- 
 
 dore. He makes me quite wild as I cannot make 
 anything out of his matters, knowing nothing but 
 what he tells me. He is visionary to the last degree. 
 I want to get him away, as I think him in infinite 
 danger. I am to go again to him as soon as it’s dark, 
 with a cloak and a dark lanthorn. I am not used to 
 it, and by no means approve of it.’ 
 
 March 26th .— King Theodore is still here, but I 
 have left off seeing him as I don’t hear or approve of 
 the thing, and then my going might be a means of 
 discovering his local existence, which is the only secret 
 now. I confess to you I should be glad of his success, 
 but then I am too delicate to wish England accessory 
 to it. It would be no credit or honour, nay I believe 
 quire the reverse. He told me an odd thing which 
 would justify the great intimacy he pretends to have 
 with Lord Carteret. He says, Lord Carteret told 
 him that Lady Walpole applied to one of Hanover 
 about the King to induce the King to pity her. . . . 
 I was surprised to hear him talk of these things, and 
 I cut him short by telling him that I knew nothing of 
 them, but was well persuaded the King was too just 
 
174 : 3 . 
 
 AN ILLITERATE ADMIRAL. 
 
 157 
 
 to intermeddle in private affairs. The circumstantial 
 manner in which he speaks of them would almost 
 persuade me that some part is true.’ 
 
 March 2 6th. — ‘ ’Tis wonderful how void Admiral 
 Matthews is of common sense, good manners, or 
 knowledge of the world. He understands nothing 
 but yes and no, and knows no medium. His treat- 
 ment of the King of Naples is not justifiable ; the 
 end might have been brought about full as well with 
 a proper decency, but nothing can exceed his repeated 
 ill-mannerly threats, after. Would it not have been 
 better, to have had some discreet person go and deliver 
 a civil message ; the request was reasonable and must 
 have been granted, and so there would have been an. 
 end. He owns in his last to me that he has had no 
 order for any thing since the first message, and I 
 believe is sorry for what he has done. I am sorry to 
 hear the English spoke of with such disrespect. I 
 own he has given cause, — “ There is nothing we may 
 not expect from him after the affair at Marciana ! ” — 
 say the Italians. It was indeed cruel and barbarous 
 to the highest degree, and I am sure could not be 
 approved of ; what provokes me strangely is that 
 people won’t distinguish between fish and flesh. The 
 next age will, it is to be hoped, produce more genteel 
 porpusses. . . . Matthews has sent me a ridiculous 
 note wrote by the claw of a great lobster, by way 
 of thanks for a present I sent of some Cedrati and 
 Marzolini cheeses, which are more delicate than our 
 cream cheeses in England : “I am much oblig’d to 
 you for you 1 ' kinde present ; the sweetmeats is good ; 
 so sayes sume of my Gentlm 11 is y e cheeses ; but its to 
 
158 
 
 SMALL TALK. 
 
 1743. 
 
 good for me ; I love nothing after y c French fashion.” 
 Is not this charming.’ 
 
 March 28 th , — 'Princess Craon on Saturday last 
 received great honours in the sight of Angels and 
 Men. She represented the Great Dutchess in the 
 ceremony of the Dota. She walked in procession, 
 from the Nunciata to St. Lorenzo, in a high court 
 dress, with a violent train carried by her page, and had 
 50 Dame to attend her ; an attelage of the Great 
 Duke with 8 servants in his livery, and another of her 
 own with as many more. This ceremony is now 
 assigned to the Princess only, with which she has 
 great comfort.’ 
 
 March 2 6th . — ‘ Giovanaro has quite abandoned the 
 Vitelli, and nobody supplies his place ; they say he 
 now thinks of matrimony, and has favourable thoughts 
 of the Teresina. She has refused two or three, because 
 they were piu vecchio del Signor Padre. I think she 
 was vastly in the right ; the Vittorina’s affair is still 
 depending.’ 
 
 April 2nd . — ‘ Sturgiss is in a very declining way 
 ... he has been in a sort of despair ; and within these 
 three weeks has refused to see anybody, and if he had, 
 they say would have frightened them, he was so worn 
 and yellow with the jaundice. It is believed he will 
 not live till night. I can assure you, my lady won't 
 be sorry for it ; she has long since been tired of him. 
 
 I am afraid she will send to me to bury him . . . 
 Strange new English creatures came to be carried to 
 the concert. I planted them the moment I had in- 
 troduced them. Nothing was talked of there, but 
 Sturgiss’s death, for which nobody can give any account 
 
1743. 
 
 the '■ btjrletta: 
 
 159 
 
 but despair. None of the family or Pasquale the 
 Physician thought him in immediate danger two days 
 before. My lady was touched by this last action 
 (his death) though nothing he had done some years 
 before ever moved her. He is to be sent to Leghorn 
 to-night/ 
 
 April 2nd . — c The Pope is enraged to the highest 
 degree, threatens to excommunicate and play the Devil, 
 he must however have patience and provide for two 
 armies/ 
 
 April 2nd . — ‘ We hear Vanneschi is dead. Bon- 
 ducci heard he had succeeded well in England, made 
 Operas, cheated Lord Middlesex, changed his religion, 
 and married a Dam a. He desires me to recommend him 
 to you as his successor. I fancy he would turn his 
 hand to all, and he depends much on your recommen- 
 dation. Pertici the Buffo man and his companion the 
 Tinea nera want sadly to perform in England. They 
 were last year in treaty by means of Smith at Yenise, 
 but were engaged. He tells me he has heard that a 
 word to you in their favour would bring it about, and 
 he hoped you was his friend, for you laughed pro- 
 digiously at him when he acted his burletta. I am 
 afraid this sort of amusement would not do in England 
 where the language is so little understood and in 
 which the only beauty is the frizzo (the smart wit). 
 Perhaps however some of our youngsters who never 
 offered to speak Italian in Italy, would feel an 
 hundred beauties in that unintelligibility/ 
 
 May 21st . — ‘ To-morrow I am to have company at 
 dinner, nay, the whole day, to see a great function 
 from my garden windows. ... In the beginning of the 
 
160 
 
 IL FUB1BONDO. 
 
 1743. 
 
 winter a very troublesome neighbour of mine died of a 
 cracked constitution, and particularly of a hoarseness ; 
 — at which I and all my neighbours rejoiced much, not 
 foreseeing that his appartment would be filled by a 
 much more troublesome guest ; but so it is that the 
 new comer, though very young, is of a monstrous size, 
 and is to be installed to-morrow with great pomp, at 
 which the Archbishop and many holy folks are to be 
 present to give their benediction ; after which he will 
 have a free licence to make noise enough to stun us. 
 In short, a new saint bell is to be hung up, 500 pound 
 bigger than his predecessor. The Christening is to be 
 performed with great ceremony, for which preparations 
 are making in my neighbour’s garden, and many 
 engines to raise him.’ 
 
 May. . . . — 11 Furibondo has again broke out 'and 
 has put all his underlings in the greatest agitation be- 
 cause nothing is the matter. He is not more instructed 
 from home than I am, or less embroiled. Such un- 
 heard of things are daily done by the fleet that do 
 great discredit to England, and would make you wild 
 as a spectator only. ... It is equally feared by friends 
 and foes. ... A certain Hero in his cups owned that now 
 was the time, and that everything that could come 
 within his long reach, he looked upon as Spanish.’ 
 
 ‘ I have King Theodore still to deal with and to 
 comfort in his disappointment. He writes me volumes 
 every hour in the day and most unluckily in such a 
 character, that there is no such thing as decyphering 
 his letters or even knowing what to say to him. Lord 
 Carteret and the Duke of Newcastle have never 
 answered me about him.’ 
 
1743. 
 
 THE DUCHESS OF MODENA. 
 
 161 
 
 May. . . . — ‘ The two minerals I mentioned are 
 Cobolt and Zingho. Ginori tells me they are common 
 in England. Gal made me laugh. I mentioned them 
 to him and he takes them for mineral waters ! The 
 minerals are to make colours for the painting Ginori’s 
 china. 
 
 £ . . . I have poor mad Mr. St. John on my back, 
 who writes me volumes and communicates to me his 
 infinite long letters in Latin to his Confessor : nothing 
 can be so rediculous.’ 
 
 May 21 st — ‘The Dutchess of Modena passed 
 through Florence last thursday in the most shabby 
 equipage I ever saw. She would not accept of any 
 of the horses or coaches that were offered her, nor 
 pass by without taking the benefit of a sight of the 
 holy picture at the Anunciata which was uncovered 
 for her, as for all Princes. 
 
 ‘ The Regency, my brother of France ’ (Count 
 Lorenzi, French Ambassador) £ and myself had the 
 honour of dining with her at the Casa Craon. Mme. 
 de Craon did the honours and extremely well, though 
 nothing but a Princess de Sang and a Cousine could 
 have drawn her from the darkness she had been buried 
 in for a long time on account of her eyes, which can- 
 not bear light ; which, on account of what she suffered 
 that day, has ever since been excluded her appartment ; 
 nay, the one candle that is suffered to come in at 24 
 hours, is covered with a Fanale with a green shirt on. 
 She has quitted her mourning because of her eyes, and 
 took to a white gown ; but being told by a mathe- 
 matician that according to Sir Isaack Newton white 
 is the most offensive to the sight, she has taken a gay 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 ENGLISH IN FLORENCE. 
 
 1743. 
 
 flowered gown with a blue ground, and told me when 
 I wondered to see her so fine, “ Helas, Monsieur, c’est 
 1’unique Robe que j ’ay pour le soulagement de mes 
 yeux.” I am quite a favourite at present, which I am 
 become by means of an attention of a Barril of small 
 Beer which I have procured for her from the fleet.’ 
 
 June 11th . — On the occasion of a display of fire- 
 works in honour of some grand state ceremony, Mann 
 had his house full of visitors. c It was a cruel day for 
 me,’ he says, ‘ I was forced to entertain Mrs. Bosville 
 who has spent all her life in York, and is extreme 
 insipid ; her husband is worse. I know nothing of 
 him but that he has the meanest look and is one of 
 the greatest fools I ever saw. She is daughter to Sir 
 William Wentworth, and neice to the Jamaica General. 
 Most of our fashionable travellers bring us to shame ; 
 no language, no address, ’tis horrible, and I am on 
 such a foot with Madame Suares that I can’t consign 
 them over to Her.’ 
 
 June 25th . — ‘ I have not recovered the fatigue 
 of yesterday’ (the festival of St. John, patron of 
 Florence). 4 Out of civility to my English lady, I 
 went early to see the function upon the Place, which 
 every year grows worse. Even the Senators, whom 
 most despise, begin to neglect this ceremony of St. 
 John. There were but few present. All the English 
 and Suareses dined with me afterwards, then the 
 Paglio, and from thence to a very good conversation 
 at Vernacci’s ; he is Cicisbeo to Madame Niccolini, 
 who serves the Roman Lady Soderini ; nobody serves 
 Mrs. Bosville but poor Bistino. There’s a sort of 
 swaggering Captain from the Fleet who lives in the 
 
1743. 
 
 PLAGUE. 
 
 163 
 
 same apartment, nay, in their closet, to avoid the 
 expense of another room. . . . The husband is the 
 worst of strange creatures. He saw the figure drest 
 up to represent Siena, in the homage yesterday, and 
 because it was old red velvet, he asked in the greatest 
 eagerness, “ ’deed sir, pray what’s that man ? doesn’t 
 he represent the Pope?” — “ Good sir, how came you to 
 fancy the Pope paid homage to the Great Duke ? ” — 
 “ Why, sir, I have heard say he was of a Florentine 
 family ; and then, you see, that figure drest in old red 
 velvet.” ’ 
 
 July 9th . — ‘Our English lady brings us strangely 
 to shame. She has fallen in love with a purser of 
 a ship, whom the country has found out not to be a 
 Cavaliere. They translate it “ Un provisionaro d’una 
 nave.” “ Poor Nikin,” her husband, answered a person 
 who asked him if he had any children : “ Oh, no, 
 
 sir ! If I had I shouldn’t have been here.” ’ 
 
 In the summer of this year, Messina was stricken 
 by the plague. So swiftly fatal was the blow, that, in 
 a short time, thousands of victims perished. All Italy 
 took fright and became cruel. Refugees from Sicily 
 were driven from the ports at which they attempted 
 to land, and they died abandoned on the open seas. 
 Sovereign princes shut themselves up and forbade 
 access not merely to their own persons but to their 
 States. The King of Naples defended himself from 
 infection by prohibiting all intercourse with his 
 Sicilian subjects on one side, and by forbidding any 
 approach to intimacy offered by the Pope on the other. 
 The Holy Father, in his turn, drew a cordon round 
 his dominions, and denounced all attempt on the part 
 
164 
 
 AGAINST THE PLAGUE. 
 
 1743. 
 
 of Naples and even Tuscany to break through it. 
 Each sovereign fraction of Italy banished all the 
 other fractions. Isolation was held to be the specific 
 cure for the scourge ; but great was the horror of all 
 Italians when it was known that the English war 
 ships went from port to port, sent men ashore when- 
 ever anything was wanted from the land, visited 
 Sicilian as well as other barks, and disregarded all 
 regulations laid down by the authorities. The English 
 crews do not seem to have been any the worse for 
 their high-handed proceedings, but when cases of 
 plague were reported to have occurred in various parts 
 of Italy, blame was laid on all the English fleet ; and 
 Florence, dreading a mortal visitation like that which 
 had swept almost the entire life out of Messina, and 
 had been nearly as destructive at Palermo, fell into a 
 hysterical panic, and into this method of providing 
 safety. 
 
 July 23 rd . — ‘The government has cut off all com- 
 munication with Naples and like wise with Home .... 
 A cordon is planted all along the borders of Tuscany 
 with the Pope’s states, and barriers are fixed up to 
 stop folks and goods, the first for 15, the latter 21 days 
 . . . both states have banish’d each other. The sick- 
 ness had certainly got into Calabria, but they say it is 
 absolutely extinct by burning the houses where the 
 poor people had taken refuge. Three of our gates are 
 to be shut, and at each of the others, a Cavaliere is to 
 be placed constantly to examine Bills of Health and 
 passports. The whole Nobility is to take their turn ; 
 this was determined a week ago, but not yet exe- 
 cuted, because here is no wood in the magazines to 
 
1743. 
 
 A MEDAL WELL EARNED. 
 
 165 
 
 build the Ccisotti. I declare to you, Prince Craon 
 told me so yesterday. The Lorrainers sold everything 
 they could lay hold on, some years ago ; old boards, 
 kitchen ware, linnen, etc., and all the vinegar that used 
 to be rigorously kept for fear of a plague, — now, 
 there’s none in the country.’ 
 
 July 2 7th . — ‘I must tell you an instance of the 
 weight Lady Walpole has over one who outweighs all 
 the rest of this Goverment. A Quack Oculist came 
 here with a letter of recomendation to my good Lady. 
 He practiced much during his stay, and had as great 
 attendance as Taylor in England, but performed no 
 one cure except couching, which he did with great 
 dexterity, but instead of curing the disorders in the 
 Eyes, he absolutely blinded above fifty people, and 
 yet my Lady induced some folks to give him a medal, 
 worth 100 zecchini, in the name of the Great Duke, 
 for curing so many of his poor subjects. The medal 
 was made on purpose, the Great Duke’s head on one 
 side ; on the other his whole person on horseback, 
 entering through his arch.’ 
 
 August 6 th . — ‘The Admiral’ (Matthews) ‘has inter- 
 cepted a French courier and took from him all the 
 Pretender’s letters ; these were in such cypher as 
 puzzled the Admiral’s comprehension ; so he sent 
 them, tale quale, to Hanover. 
 
 ‘ Our victory at Dettingen was made as little 
 as possible of by Austro-Florentines. Though they 
 cannot deny that the English behaved with great 
 bravery, they add that they were totally without 
 discipline, and must have been all ruined had it not 
 been for the Austrians . . . All the Gazettes represent 
 
166 
 
 A TENDER BRIDE. 
 
 1748. 
 
 the English army telling the officers that, if they were 
 cowards and afraid to lead them on, they would 
 command themselves, and fight without them. Is not 
 this most piteous ? ’ 
 
 December 10th . — ‘Madame Griffoni has a mind 
 to renew a correspondence with you. . . . She designs 
 to send you some Tuscan wine, hams and Marzolini 
 cheeses ; all eatables and drinkables which you would 
 not have thought worthy the care of your housekeeper 
 or Butler ; here, such a present is esteemed among 
 themselves, because the materials can be sent to 
 market the next morning, to be turned into Scudis 
 and Testons.’ 
 
 December 17th . — ‘The love affair with my neigh- 
 bour and the Marchese goes on wonderfully well, and 
 with a profusion of presents. She was here t’other 
 evening with a finimento of Smeraldi and Diamonds 
 to the value of 1500 crowns, of which and the Donor 
 she is so fond that it is the diversion of the whole 
 town. Some days ago, she was making excuses to me 
 for not coming as often as she thought I expected her. 
 She said she dreaded conducting him through the two 
 courts after having been long in so warm a room “for, 
 caro, you see how very very old he is, and there is 
 much to fear ; and besides since I have taken this 
 trouble upon me, I wish to come out of it with 
 honour.” This speech was pronounced in the pre- 
 sence of all her servants ! Is it not comfortable in 
 one’s old age, to have so careful a nurse ? ’ 
 
 December 31 st . — ‘ Great dissentions in Casa Craon, 
 and poor Madame Sarasin is the victim. She has 
 been turned out, and is preparing to go to Lorraine, 
 
1748. 
 
 MADAME SABAS IN. 
 
 167 
 
 to live with her daughter ; poor creature ! she has not 
 above £ 50 a year, and will he obliged to comb her 
 wigs herself ; and can have nothing for Quadrille. 
 The only reason given for her disgrace is that the 
 Princess was trop fatigues de ses complimens ! ’ The 
 poor old lady had previously been prohibited from 
 playing at cards with the Princess’s guests. Walpole 
 alluded to her in a letter to Mann, comparing with 
 her an awkwardly bewigged old English lady : — ‘ so 
 like old Sarasin at two in the morning when she Las 
 been losing at Pharaoh and clawed her wig aside, and 
 her old trunk is shaded with the venerable white ivy 
 of her own locks,’ 
 
1G8 
 
 THE PRETENDER AND HIS SON , 1744. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1744. 
 
 Mann began the year in a serious spirit, but it was 
 suddenly disturbed by a clap of thunder, which is 
 thus recorded : — 
 
 January 21 st . — £ I have been interrupted by a 
 violent alarm. The Queen of Hungary’s man at 
 Rome has sent a person on purpose in the greatest 
 hurry to tell me that the Pretender’s eldest son was 
 departed in order to go with the French fleet “to make 
 a visit to Miss North and Grey ” (Scotland). All the 
 circumstances of this jaunt and his companion, the 
 dress and hour was mentioned ; but I was determined 
 before I made any use of this notice to wait a few 
 hours for the receit of my own accounts ; they are 
 come, but don’t agree at all with the message, there- 
 fore I will run no risk of a false alarm to the King, 
 which might be of much worse consequence than the 
 delay of a few days can be. I have taken such mea- 
 sures that I cannot fail of knowing the truth soon.’ 
 January 22nd . — The Pretender’s eldest son is 
 departed from Rome, the notice of which has been 
 sent to me by two Expresses from thence ; he is said 
 to travel in the habit and with the arms of a Nea- 
 
1744 . 
 
 FRINGE CHARLES E DWARF. 
 
 169 
 
 politan courier. I can’t doubt of the truth of this 
 information, therefore have not hesitated to despatch 
 it to England where, I suppose, it will make a great 
 noise. It is said he is to go on board the Brest fleet, 
 and so make a descent in Scotland. As to their 
 views, I think it must be uncertain.’ 
 
 January 28th . — ‘ You would be surprised to see 
 the infinite details of the stratagems that were prac- 
 tised to conceal his departure, in which Cardinal 
 Acquaviva and Tencin, the nephew, had the chief 
 management ; they all set out for Cisterna as usual 
 to hunt ; when he was out of the gates of the town, 
 which were opened for him at 10 hours, he with great 
 instance desired the Gentleman who was to take care 
 of him to let him ride because he wanted to be at 
 Cisterna sooner ; this was refused him for some time 
 with an appearance of obstinacy ; so soon as he was 
 on horseback, he rode off and turned out of the road, 
 where he changed his Cloaths for those of a Spanish 
 courier, with a great cap that covered almost his 
 whole face. In this way he went to Acquaviva’s 
 country house, where two post-horses were ready 
 as for a Spanish officer and courier. His brother who 
 set out later, went on to Cisterna, and received a 
 message that the “ Elder had fallen from his horse and 
 had been obliged to stop at Albano, having hurt his 
 leg, of which none of the company was to take any 
 notice, or write it to Rome, for fear of alarming the 
 father.” On the contrary, the Duke Gaetano, whose 
 house they were at, was desired to write frequently, 
 that they were well and had great diversion of hunt- 
 ing ; the messenger was charged to ask for two shirts 
 
170 
 
 HIS PROGRESS. 
 
 1744. 
 
 to carry to Albano, assuring the Company the hurt 
 was so small that he would be able to be with them 
 in a day or two ; in this manner everybody was 
 amused. Cardinal Acquaviva had previously obtained 
 two passports to pass the cross-roads of Tuscany in 
 the name of a Spanish officer ; and it is pretended he 
 had a passport with Lord Carteret’s hand falsified, 
 to be made use of in his passage by sea, in case of 
 need. . . . Some say that he is to go to Brest and 
 on board the squadron, thence to make a descent in 
 Scotland ; others, that he is to go directly to Paris 
 and to serve in the next campaign ; some think he 
 is to marry a Daughter of France, others, that the 
 Princess of Modena, now in Paris, is to be his wife. 
 I should rather believe the Duke of Modena would 
 accept him for his son in law, than that the French 
 King would. 
 
 £ His appearance in the world will undoubtedly 
 occasion a great alarm in England, though it must 
 end in nothing, for it is not to be supposed that there 
 is any considerable of people (sic) either in England 
 or in Scotland, so mad as to espouse so foolish a cause. 
 This inconvenience there will always be, that it will 
 revive a party that was almost forgot. Cardinal 
 Tencin has certainly been the chief promoter of this 
 project, to show his zeal to his benefactor, and perhaps 
 he persuaded his master that this step will draw off 
 the King’s attention from the affairs he is engaged in.’ 
 
 . . . ‘ The Young Pretender arrived the 22nd, at 
 Antibes, after remaining six days at Savona, on ac- 
 count of the bad weather. They say he was violently 
 alarmed at Antibes, where he was not immediately 
 
1744. 
 
 JACOBITE EXCITEMENT. 
 
 171 
 
 admitted. At the same time an English sloop put 
 in there for provisions, with which he was afraid of 
 being carried off. His last letter to his father was of 
 the 22nd.’ 
 
 March 17 th. — ‘ I was in pain for the appearance of 
 the Brest Squadron, on the Jacobites bragging so much 
 of what was to happen ; all the Italian newspapers say 
 that the French had been invited by the Catholicks of 
 Scotland and Ireland. By all accounts this seems to 
 be a scheme of Tencin, exclusive of all the other min- 
 isters. M. Amelot wrote to Count Lorenzi that nous 
 netions pas prevenus of the arrival of that Boy, and 
 that he believed his view could only be to make 
 campaign with Don Philip. They say M. DArgenson, 
 as soon as he heard of his arrival, made strong remon- 
 strances to his master of the consquences of it.’ 
 
 March 31.st. — ‘ The Jacobites tell us continually 
 that this young man is by this time in England, of 
 which they expect notice hourly by a courier, and that 
 a general insurrection has appeared in his favour be- 
 cause his proposals are so good ; he is to publish a 
 manifest to promise liberty of conscience and all kinds 
 of advantages if they will but have him. Soon after 
 the Boy’s departure from Borne, a pompous account of 
 it was printed, composed by Cardinal del Monti and 
 distributed by Murray to all the purple. The author, 
 to show his erudition, draws a paralel between the 
 Boy and Demetrius and addresses it by way of letter 
 to Murray, who answers it and gives an account of the 
 heroic resolution of this young Demetrio to undertake 
 such a journey in spite of all the dangers he knew he 
 must expose himself to ; being very much afraid that 
 
 / 
 
172 
 
 SUSPENSE. 
 
 1744 . 
 
 the notice would be sent by a courier to Mann, Min- 
 istrio Hanoveriano in Firenze, and by him forwarded 
 too soon to Admiral Mathews. Polybius’s Demetrius 
 escaped from Pome and took possession of his king- 
 dom ; that part of the pamphlet is to be made out in 
 proper time. Other authors have exercised their parts 
 in print.’ 
 
 April 7 th . — ‘ It is asserted that a private Embassy 
 from the Jacobites in England has for some time re- 
 sided in Paris and encouraged that vile court to under- 
 take the invasion. . . . All the foreign newspapers 
 make their Ministers say that their King entered into 
 it at the request of a very considerable number of both 
 English and Scotch. ... A courier from France 
 carried the news to the (old) Pretender of the disper- 
 sion of the transports and that the whole project was 
 ruined. Bailli Tencin, nephew of the Cardinal, an- 
 nounced it to the Pretender and his other son ; the 
 latter fainted away on the recital of it, and the former 
 was struck with a most profound melancholly in which 
 he has remained ever since. I hope to increase it by 
 the notices I shall convey to Rome this evening.’ 
 
 ‘ I must tell you that the Prince and Princess 
 Craon, who are naturally French in their hearts, had 
 pretended to me to be anxious about the present cir- 
 cumstances and desired to be informed of the news I 
 should receive. I wrote him a letter last night, witli 
 the contents of a letter I had received from Mr. 
 Trevor, and afterwards added many circumstances out 
 of those from England, and contrived it so that he 
 should receive it at his Conversation. I concluded by 
 saying, “Jene puis douter, mon Prince, que vous n’ayez 
 
1744 . 
 
 PAPAL SYMPATHY. 
 
 178 
 
 une vraie joie, en apprenant toutes ces nouvelles; 
 j’en ai a 1’exces en yous les communiquant ; — to 
 which, contrary to his usual politeness, he made me 
 no answer in writing ; but contented himself by 
 calling my servant and bidding him thank me. I am 
 not surprised ; all his family are in the French ser- 
 vice, and he so weak as to think his religion obliges 
 him to wish the Pretender’s family in England. . . . 
 
 ‘ I have used all my endeavours to get authentick 
 copies or accounts of the Indulto or Briefs that the 
 Pope is supposed to have furnished the Pretender’s 
 Boy with, but cannot yet succeed. It is not doubted 
 that he furnished him likewise with money, but both 
 with so much secresy that I can say nothing with 
 certainty. I cannot help thinking that some resent- 
 ment should be shown. It is absurd to say that 
 Religion obliges them to molest the nation’s quiet. If 
 they must be our Enemies why should they expect 
 good treatment from a power so superior and capable 
 of chastising them. I would not desire their friend- 
 ship ; that’s not worth having, but would insist on 
 their forbearance from insults, or otherwise treat them 
 on the foot of enemies as they declare themselves to 
 us. Is it not intolerable that any sect of people 
 should publickly profess a belief that engages them to 
 occasion the greatest troubles to a great kingdom, and 
 be treated with civility, nay the greatest humanity ? 
 We despise the Court of Rome, in England, very justly 
 in one respect, but too much in another. We should 
 consider what weight it’s opinions have all over Italy 
 and in most parts of Europe. The very subjects of 
 Princes in alliance with us, of which such numbers 
 
 / 
 
174 
 
 CHARLES EDWARD IN FRANCE. 
 
 1744 . 
 
 reside at Rome, are by the maxims of that Court, 
 taught publiekly to confess what they ought not to 
 own in their own countries, and must do it to advance 
 their fortunes at Rome, till it becomes habitual to 
 them, and so the poison spreads everywhere. The 
 very Ambassadors of those Princes in alliance with 
 the King, when they reside at Rome, are found to 
 adore another in that quality. In short, I think we 
 might, with justice, insist upon a contrary behaviour, 
 and if their principles oblige them to be our enemies, 
 as they are the Turks’, that they should expect such 
 treatment as the latter shows them! 
 
 April 28 th . — ‘The Pretender’s son’s people left 
 Rome lately to join him in France, with his Cloathes 
 and Equipage ; there were two Gentlemen, Skelton 
 and Stafford ; three others they call Ajutanti, two 
 french footmen, a Cook and two under cooks who 
 had with them, besides the above things, a large chest 
 of plate ; by all this it seems that he is to stay long in 
 France ; some say he is to make the Campaign is 
 Flanders ; others, on the Rhine. A third party who 
 think themselves the wisest, are of opinion that he 
 will serve in the army, to make an attempt on his 
 Majesty’s Hanoverian dominions ; if this be feazible, I 
 should be inclined to be of that opinion. The Abbe 
 Goddard has been forbidden the Pretender’s house for 
 exclaiming against the French for not having pursued 
 this scheme first as, it is pretended, they promised. 
 It is certain, the Abbe has orders not to approach the 
 house, nor have Corsini, Acquaviva and others been 
 able to obtain his pardon, being taxed with discussing 
 their secrets, and as unfit to be trusted with them.’ 
 
1744 
 
 THE COFFEE-POT. 
 
 175 
 
 Between watching the Jacobites in Italy, and, in 
 accordance with orders from home leaving him dis- 
 cretionary powers, regulating at times the movements 
 of the English Fleet, which was co-operating against 
 the enemies of Maria Theresa, our minister at Florence 
 became one of the busiest of men, and one of the most 
 important in Italian estimation. ‘ Hitherto, my dear 
 Child,’ he writes, July 16th, ‘ I am not a bit the fatter 
 for all this, but much poorer, for the Expresses cost 
 money, and my bills are unpaid since the year 1739, 
 when then may I expect those of ’44. I begin to 
 despise my little spy Abbd at Rome.’ 
 
 Pressed for funds, and desirous of making an 
 appearance equal to that of other ministers, Mann 
 took a step in which Walpole’s famous coffee-pot once 
 more played a part. ‘ You must not be angry,’ he 
 writes on the 17th July, ‘when I tell you I have 
 disposed of your fine coffee-pot, for what it cost, 
 to the Admiral. Some of his captains put me on 
 the head of it, and he wrote to me about it. Indeed, 
 my dear, it was too fine a single piece for me, and 
 I had nothing that was fit to be seen with it. The 
 Chutes and everybody advised me to do it, with a 
 view of making some useful plate, to begin a service. 
 No Consul but has one at present. In every plate and 
 dish I buy, I will write “ Ex dono Horatii Walpole,” 
 for without that beginning I could never have begun. 
 When I shall be able to end I can’t guess ; tell me 
 sincerely, if you approve of it, but don’t be angry with 
 me. Mr. Fane’s plate cost about 600 or 700 pounds, 
 including knives, forks, spoons, salvers, salts, ladles, in 
 short, all small things which I have, so that I have 
 
 / 
 
176 
 
 ADMIRAL ROWLEY. 
 
 1744 . 
 
 plates and dishes to buy ; non e poco, but I may go on 
 by degrees, and creep into a service before I am aware 
 of it ; by the help of the pot, f can lay out <£200 
 now ; and every inch of lace I might put on coats, 
 I will turn into plates and sauce-boats.’ 
 
 September 22nd . — In a letter of this date, Mann 
 thus speaks of II Furibondo’s successor in command 
 of the English fleet, Admiral Rowley, whom he had 
 visited at Leghorn : — ‘We soon contracted an intimacy 
 which I really believe is grown into a friendship ; he 
 is a man of extreme good na,tural parts, vastly mild 
 and liumain, and inclined to do obliging things. . . . 
 I was pleased with his first appearance, though I own 
 it struck me with some respect, as in his person he 
 is extremely like my Lord Orford when I saw him last, 
 though I believe the former is now much fatter.’ Then 
 follows a curious bit of domestic history: — ‘After 
 having shown me a thousand civilities, and given me 
 many marks of his confidence, we talked of your 
 family for which he has great Esteem ; he asked me if 
 I knew one Mr. Gardiner, a natural relation of yours ; 
 he was surprised I did not, and ordered Captain 
 Bockley, with whom he is, to bring him to me. I soon 
 learnt his history, and as I respect his Father, interested 
 myself for him, and desired him to tell me if I could 
 be usefull to him ; when he replied that he had heard 
 the regard the Admiral had for me, and desired I would 
 use my interest with him to get him to be a Lieutenant, 
 from which rank they rise, of course. I soon had 
 authority to give him hopes, if my Lord Orford or 
 Lord Walpole would ask it ; the Admiral bid me write 
 word that they should not be refused. I told him I 
 
1744 . 
 
 PATRONAGE. 
 
 1 77 
 
 was sure one of them would write, but could wish it 
 might be a letter of thanks rather than one to ask it ; 
 he replied that no opportunity offered as yet, and that 
 though the ship he was in was to go home, he should 
 stay behind and not be out of the way of preferment. 
 
 . . . Pray accpiaint them with this, and that nothing 
 will be done without the letter. Mr. Gardiner is 
 vastly esteemed in the fleet ; he is very little of his 
 age. I hope my Lords’ (Walpole’s) ‘heir will be more 
 like a man at 20. . . . I shall be vastly happy if I can 
 be instrumental to this Branch of your family’s pre- 
 ferment, since I owe mine and all gratitude to the true 
 one.’ 
 
 To this proposal for the advancement of Lord 
 Walpole’s alleged natural son, Horace Walpole replied 
 by doubting or denying the assumed fact. Mann re- 
 joined : — ‘You surprise me with the account of young 
 Gardiner. I really took him as my Lord’s son ; — since 
 the fleet believes it, let that opinion be the cause of 
 making his fortune. If he is not my Lord’s son,’ says 
 the representative of English majesty, ‘ I suppose he 
 might have been, so I won’t discover him, for it’s 
 certain Mr. Powley only wishes to advance him on 
 that account, having a most sincere regard for your 
 family ; therefore send me the letter, and give him an 
 opportunity of showing his attention.’ To this extra- 
 ordinary request, Walpole says in a letter written in 
 the following January : ‘ I can say nothing more 
 about young Gardiner, but that I don’t think my 
 father at all inclined now to have any letter written 
 for him.’ It is a fact, however, that Lord Walpole, 
 whilst denying the relationship, had once promised to 
 
 VOL. I. N 
 
 / 
 
178 
 
 ARREARS OF PAY. 
 
 1744 . 
 
 write the letter asked for by Mann,— but after 
 reflection, wisely refrained. 
 
 October 13 th. — ‘I have made another effort to 
 obtain my great arrears from the time I was Charge 
 des affaires to the date of my Residentship. . . . 
 I write to His Grace’ (the Duke of Newcastle) ‘by 
 this post. . . . My request is to have the usual 
 allowance of Charge des affaires of 40 shillings a 
 clay from the time I entered into that appoint- 
 ment (by His Grace’s order) to the date of my 
 being sent as a Resident. . . . Then there are 6 
 quarters extraordinaries, that is to say, for postage of 
 letters, packets, memorials, and stationery ware, for 
 which £100 a quarter is allowed; the first demand is 
 for one year and a half, wanting 5 days, and comes 
 to £1086.’ At some length, Mann asks that Lord 
 Orford may be induced to recommend to the Duke the 
 acquitting of the Minister’s claim, and he adds ; ‘ If 
 I don’t succeed now, I must ever give it over ; but I 
 cannot hope my father will act so by me for the debt 
 I contracted with him for his extraordinary supply 
 during that time, for which I shall see a large deduc- 
 tion out of the little share I shall find in his will.’ 
 
 Admiral Matthews after withdrawing from his 
 command returned to London. Walpole, on the 19 th 
 October, writes : £ I have not seen Admiral Matthews 
 yet, but I take him to be very mad. He walks in the 
 Park with a cockade of three colours. The Duke’ (of 
 Cumberland) ‘ desired a gentleman to ask him the 
 meaning, and all the answer he would give was : “ The 
 Treaty of Worms ! The Treaty of Worms ; ” ’ On this, 
 Mann remarks (Dec. 8) : ‘I forgot to tell you that we 
 
1744. 
 
 AN AD VENTURER. 
 
 179 
 
 nil wear the three coloured cockade which you think is 
 a sign of being mad. Why, it is the “ Triple Alliance” 
 or what an officer in the fleet called “ the Triple of 
 Lyons cockade ! ” The court of Turin, the fleet, 
 and Lobkowitz’s army ’ (Sardinia, England, Austria) 
 ‘ all wear it. They made me take it when I was at 
 Leghorn. All the English, all my servants, even my 
 kitchen boy wore it.’ 
 
 December 22nd . — ‘We have had a Monsieur de 
 Magnan and his wife, a St. Germain’s lady ; he some- 
 times calls himself Marquis; and always a great man; 
 he introduced himself to me by the great protection he 
 received from the Walpoles, and tells me a thousand 
 instances. ... I own to you I don’t believe half he 
 says, or that he is so great a man as he says. He 
 speaks all kinds of languages, 14 in number, and says 
 he was employed by Sir Robert and the late Queen to 
 write; if he did it no better than in the specimen he 
 has given me, I can’t say I think the sums of money 
 he brags of having received were well employed. The 
 specimen I speak of is “ Remarks of a Parisian traveller 
 on the principal Courts of Europe, with a dissertation 
 upon that of England, the Nation in general, and the 
 Prime Minister. 1736.” He is come here with the 
 title of “ Conseiller de Commerce,” though there is no 
 Council; his appointments are fifty crowns a month, 
 which is much less than T500 a year. . . . ’ He will 
 be violently intimate, which I would give into, if I 
 thought it would be agreeable to your family. Pray 
 give me some information about him, for as yet all he 
 has said does not give me a great idea of him, nor the 
 employment he has ; it appears to me that the Great 
 
 / 
 
180 
 
 M. DE MAGNAN. 
 
 1744. 
 
 Duke being tired of his solicitations, has sent him with 
 that title for want of knowing what other to give 
 him. . . . Your Unkle, he pretends, is his Chief Pro- 
 tector.’ Walpole’s information was that the Regent 
 Duke of Orleans had ‘picked him up,’ Walpole knew 
 not where, ‘ to teach the present Duke of Orleans the 
 Russ tongue, when they had a scheme for marrying 
 him into Muscovy. At Paris Lord Waldegrave met 
 with him and sent him over hither, when they pen- 
 sioned him and he was to be a spy ; but made nothing 
 out ; till the King was weary of giving him money ; 
 and then they dispatched him to Vienna with a recom- 
 mendation to Count d’Uhlefeldt who I suppose has 
 tacked him on the Great Duke,’ Magnan was a 
 member of the Greek Church. Walpole’s uncle knew 
 no ill of him, but Mann was advised to keep him at 
 civil distance, and not to enter into correspondence 
 with a person who was ‘ of no use.’ 
 
 £ I thank you,’ replies Mann (March 9th), /for the 
 information of M. de Magnan, who has been chosen 
 head of the Greek Church at Leghorn, in which alone 
 he is likely to figure ; he was too troublesome to me 
 here, would never make use of any coach but mine, 
 and since his departure, persecuting me with his letters, 
 desiring me constantly to communicate to him all I 
 knew. I declined it long before I got your’s, but since 
 have refused the preference he gave me of being 
 Godfather to the child his wife expects daily to be 
 brought to bed of ; indeed I did not chuse it, for 
 according to the custom of the country, I must have 
 made her a present, which I can’t afford.’ 
 
 Harassed as Mann was with the Pretender and 
 
1744 
 
 CARNIVAL. 
 
 181 
 
 saucy Jacobites, with reports from spies who were not 
 always to be trusted, with visits from rough Captains 
 in the English Navy ; and with ‘politicks/ generally, 
 he still found time to chronicle the light sayings and 
 doings of the society in which he lived. Of which 
 here are some samples : — 
 
 January 14 th. — ‘The Tesi has been terribly mor- 
 tified of late ; not only no applause, but she has been 
 affronted in the theater ; all the Gens d’armes are 
 against her ; one got behind the scenes in mask the 
 
 other night, and called her “bruta B ,” which being 
 
 told to San Yitali, he applied to the Directors of the 
 Theater, who immediately caused him to be put into 
 arrest ; he discovered himself and was set at liberty on 
 his parole, but was again ordered into arrest by his 
 Colonel, where he remains still. All his companions 
 take his part against the Tesi and San Yitali ; several 
 abusive libels have been fixed up at his door, and the 
 officer swears he will fight San Vitali.’ 
 
 January 21 st. — ‘ Nothing was ever so brilliant as 
 our Carnival ; the early permission for masks in the 
 theater makes such a crowd, that there’s no stirring. 
 We have been in great danger of their being forbid on 
 account of the late broils which were carried to such a 
 higth that in the last week a paper was found in the 
 play-room, left there by a mask, containing these 
 words: — “Non vogliamo questa bruta B — — , la Tesi, 
 altrimento bruciaremo il Teatro,” the old Fiscal, on the 
 sight of this, did all he could to induce the Regency 
 to forbid masks, but could not succeed. I hope the 
 affair is over. They attribute it to me. Indeed, I 
 have interested myself a good deal in it. Is it not 
 
182 
 
 LA TEST. 
 
 1744. 
 
 ridiculous that a foolish little officer of 16 years old 
 should interrupt the pleasures of a whole town ? ’ 
 
 February 18th . — c This is the last day of our Car- 
 nival which has been the gayest we have ever had : 
 the theater has from the beginning been so crowded 
 with masks that it has been quite troublesome. The 
 embroils about the Tesi have broke out again ; several 
 libels have been fixed up in the Opera House, and the 
 most abusive ones at all the corners of the streets ; the 
 author threatened to burn the theater and sfregiare 
 (dishonour and cut across the face) the Tesi. San Vitali 
 has been horribly abused in them all, which has made 
 him resolve to quit his flame. He leaves here on 
 Saturday, for good ; though they say he is as much in 
 love with her as ever. His circumstances (for by a 
 composition with his family, he is reduced to a hun- 
 dred zecchins a week) do not permit him to give her 
 such proofs of it as she wishes ; therefore she has given 
 many tokens that she is tired of him, which add to his 
 affliction. The Tesi is in great consternation- for this 
 evening, as everything threatened against her was to be 
 executed the last night ; the guards are double and all 
 precautions used to prevent disorders. She has really 
 done nothing to deserve such treatment, though the 
 pique is so great that I don’t apprehend she can live 
 here. Her time of making new conquests is over, so 
 that in all probability she will be very unhappy.’ 
 
 March 10th. — ‘ You will be sorry to hear the 
 Sposa Paniaticci died two days ago in child-bed. 
 Half the town is in tears for her, among whom her 
 grandfather, the old Marquis Riccardi, affects to be 
 one ; he, the next day, appeared in publick and said 
 
1744 . 
 
 ITALIAN MARRIAGES. 
 
 183 
 
 to every one he met : “ See, how I weep. I too shall 
 die, soon ! ” His grief has been greatly lessened by 
 the pleasure he had in counting the candles round her 
 Catafalco and in the procession, both which were mag- 
 nificent. Your Princess is near her time, and very 
 frightened because of the Bissextile and the Comet, 
 both which are bad for women in labour.’ 
 
 April 28th . — ‘We are very gay here at present on 
 account of some weddings, particularly that of young 
 Marquis Tempi who, much against his will, married last 
 night a rich Capponi. There was a ball at Martelli’s, 
 the sposo’s sister, last night ; and, to morrow morning, 
 there will be another at Prince Volandini’s. Marquis 
 Tempi is to make one or two. The great bouncing 
 Antinori is married to little Boccineri. Preparations 
 are making for a good Opera for St. John, when masks 
 are to be permitted for 15 or 20 days; this is a novelty 
 and has been granted to sweeten some extraordinary 
 demands for money. . . . ’ May 28tlr. — Amidst great 
 political events, Mann says that little was thought of 
 but the magnificent series of balls given in honour of 
 the above-named marriage : ‘ Young Marquis Tempi 
 seems the only one displeased, his wife and fortune 
 pleasing the father much better than him. The old 
 Duke of Grog (sic) has appeared at all these assemblies 
 in the shape of a sposo to the Carnisecchi (sic) a 
 widow. The filthy old creature makes a nasty 
 figure. ’ 
 
 The Florentine nobility were far from approving 
 the manner in which some of our English marriages 
 were conducted. In April, 1744, Walpole described 
 that of Lady Sophia Fermor (who was well known in 
 
 / 
 
184 
 
 ENGLISH MARRIAGES. 
 
 1744. 
 
 Florence) to old Lord Carteret. Tire bride (daughter 
 of Lord Pomfret) had been on the point of bringing 
 to a desired end a love match with young Lord 
 Lincoln. That having failed, she married Lord Car- 
 teret and became a very great lady. ‘ Last night,’ 
 writes W alpole, ‘ they were married . . . they supped 
 at Lord Pomfret ’s ; at twelve, Lady Granville, his 
 mother, and all his family, went to bed, but the 
 porter ; then my Lord went home and waited for 
 her in the lodge: she came alone in a hackney chair, 
 met him in the hall, and was led up the back stairs 
 to bed.’ This very common-place way of being 
 married shocked the Florentines, when Mann de- 
 scribed it. ‘ Imagine,’ says the Minister to Walpole, 
 
 ‘ how the little ceremony with which Lady Sophia 
 left her maidenhood must sound here to the Tempis 
 and Capponis. Bestino Uguccioni is quite scandalized 
 at the hackney chair, and no Ball or Festin. Old 
 Riccardi won’t believe it : “ Come nulla ! e una grand 
 Dama poi e uno grand Signore, mi pare di molto, 
 basta ! sara cosi ! ” Everybody is glad of her good 
 fortunes.’ On June 16th Mann reverts to the same 
 subject. ‘Uguccioni is quite mad about Lady Carteret. 
 He is persuaded if he were not a Catholick that he 
 should have a great place ; but still he hopes to 
 engage Lady Pomfret to speak to Lady Carteret to 
 speak to my Lord to speak to the King to write 
 to the Queen to speak to the Great Duke to write to 
 Richecourt to give him an employment here which 
 may at last procure him the honour of being made 
 Gentleman of his Bedchamber without any salary, as 
 was offered to Ceechino. In consequence of the re- 
 
1744. 
 
 EPITEALAMIUM. 
 
 185 
 
 commendation. Lord Harrington ordered Mr. Robinson 
 to . . ( illegible ) . . and in the King’s name some 
 years ago, which honour his mother was wise enough 
 to refuse, finding it would cost her 100 pistoles a 
 year.’ 
 
 In a subsequent letter, Uguccioni is pourtrayed as 
 half mad and rushing into poetry, by deputy. ‘ The 
 poor creature thinks it very necessary to be vastly 
 fond of my Lord Carteret, and to show his zeal has 
 employed a little abbey (sic) to make an epithalamium 
 addressed to them both. It consists of 840 Latin 
 verses, which are now printing with their arms, and 
 all sorts of allusive and pretty ornaments; he designed 
 to get a Latin dedication and sign it himself. When 
 he asked my advice, I asked him what the latter was 
 to say ? that as I apprehended all he could say was 
 that he had bought all those verses cheap, I thought 
 he had better not do it ; he now intends to supply its 
 plane with an Italian manuscript letter ; two printed 
 copies of the verses were to be sent soon by the post, 
 which are to be followed by 300 other copies by sea. 
 I think it is most probable my Lord Carteret will 
 order the bale to be brought to his own house and that 
 it may be consigned to the Housekeeper. In the mean 
 time, poor Bestino is quite mad.’ 
 
 Among the presents which Walpole sent to Mann 
 was a double Windsor chair, whereon two persons 
 could sit and talk, with a bar, or rest, between them. 
 Ladies and their Cicisbeos were delighted with this 
 seat so appropriate for their whisperings ; but they 
 disapproved of the bar as an obstruction to the 
 furthering of love. Mann had several made in ac- 
 
 / 
 
186 
 
 MANN’S NIGHTS. 
 
 1744. 
 
 cordance with their wishes, and when he placed them 
 in his garden on his Thursday nights at home, ladies 
 and their cavalieri serventi almost adored him. On 
 July 4 th he describes one of those nights as the most 
 remarkable thing in Florence : — f The gayest assembly 
 you ever saw and most innocent ; nothing but love 
 going forward. They are coupled in double chairs 
 all over the garden, and retire to the corner when 
 any Saint lures, without molestation. The garden is 
 lighted up very prettily with such lamps as you have 
 in Vaux Hall, which are suspended on green poles 
 surrounded with vine branches. The number of the 
 admirers is great. . . . Last fryday, the English made 
 a fine Cocchiata which diverted the whole town. I 
 had so much the management of it as to make the 
 compliment of serenading Madame Antinori, because 
 her sister Griffoni’s house was too much out of the 
 way. It first began on the Piazza di Sto. Spirito, 
 then moved to the Bridge, thence to Madame Anti- 
 nori’s, where the Princess honoured it, and ended at 
 Santa Croce. I was at the Princess’s, when a long- 
 consultation was held, which night-dress she should 
 appear in. Then M. Antinori advised her to prefer a 
 . . . (illegible) which she refused before all the com- 
 pany that was there, and still he pressed it ; it is 
 literally true. She greatly reprimanded him and bid 
 him call it a casaquin .’ 
 
 July 21s £.- — ‘ My garden walks with the help of 
 some English glass lamps look very pretty. The 
 English say, Vaux Hall in miniature but much better 
 company. The fame of my lamps and my new double 
 chairs, which we call Cicisbeatoji have put me much 
 
1744. 
 
 FRIENDS AND LOVERS. 
 
 187 
 
 in vogue. We have many English, the chief are Lord 
 Egiinton and Lord Coote, the rest you wouldn’t know 
 by their names, except little Brownlow, (Lady Betty’s 
 son) whom you knew at Aix, when she married a 
 young french officer.’ 
 
 No invitations were sent out for these garden 
 nights, and Mann, often, would not recognize some 
 of his own guests. In London, it was different with 
 the ‘Assemblies’ held by the leading Ladies of Society. 
 ‘The fashion now is,’ Walpole tells Mann, ‘to send 
 cards to the women, and to declare that all men are 
 welcome without being asked.” 
 
 October 27th.— ‘ Your friend the Tesi is a little 
 embroiled. You know she turned off Yitali, when 
 he had exhausted his treasures upon her. He had 
 literally nothing left but a hundred zecchins a week. 
 
 . . . Young Marquis Tempi and Corsi tried who would 
 be most in love with her. This occasioned so much 
 displeasure to the Salviatis and their great relations, 
 that they procured an order from Vienna to desire her 
 in the Great Duke’s name not to come back to 
 Florence again. She set out to V enise some days ago, 
 where she is to sing, and afterwards intends to go to 
 Vienna, to get the sentence mitigated, which poor 
 Prince Craon was obliged to give her.’ 
 
 November 10th . — ‘The Vittorina Suares is to be 
 declared Sposa in a few days. Carducci will have 
 patience no longer, and has insisted that Billets of 
 demand and answers may reciprocally pass within a few 
 days ; as for consummation, he will have patience till 
 after Easter, but no longer. The poor Teresina has 
 found nothing yet, which disturbs the family greatly. 
 
 / 
 
188 
 
 A POOR MATCH. 
 
 1744. 
 
 Carducci is but a poor match. He is forced to sell 
 something to pay his debts and make the rest clear, 
 which will amount to 2000 and a few hundred crowns 
 per annum ; out of which, to show his generosity 
 and ajfetto, he is to give his Sposa, for cloathes and 
 pocket money, 12 Scudi a month ! what a temptation 
 to gain more ! Do but imagine a young gay lady of 
 Quality of 16 or 17, with barely £3 a month for her 
 cloathes and menus plaisirs ; it is this treatment makes 
 ail the wives so cheap.’ 
 
 This year was at once the gayest and the most 
 anxious year which Mann had passed in Florence ; 
 and there was more cause for anxiety than ground for 
 gaiety, in the year that was coming. 
 
1745. 
 
 MUTUAL PRESENTS. 
 
 189 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1745. 
 
 The Letters written by Mann in the early part of this 
 year are upon light subjects. In the earliest or 
 serious letters, he is to be found treating of the 
 English Fleet which was near, or of the Pretender, 
 whose movements puzzled him. The national subjects 
 naturally take place of the merely social. Mann 
 writes, under date, March 9th, ‘I told you the Admiral 
 and I are great friends ever since he was at Leghorn ; 
 he made me a present of a pretty mahogany chair and 
 a table ; the latter was ordinary, but all English 
 things please. He has now sent me some beer for the 
 Princess. I sought for an opportunity to make him a 
 present in return, and found a very good one ; he had 
 lost his seal, so I undertook from an impression, to get 
 another cut at Rome, which was excessively well done 
 on a triangular topaz, his arms, crest, and on the other 
 side the head of Marcus Agrippa, with his attributes 
 as an Admiral ; it was vastly well set and was sent 
 down to him last week.’ 
 
 £ ... If I corresponded with Lord Sandwich as 
 formerly, I would advise him to make some regulation 
 about the education of the young people a-board ; to 
 
190 
 
 IGNORANT CAPTAINS. 
 
 1745. 
 
 give them language masters, and to oblige them to 
 learn at least French and Italian. It is terrible to see 
 the figure they make for want of them. Every one 
 that commands a ship has constant occasion for them, 
 when he is charged with the least commission. They 
 have all executed them in English, and as the people 
 that receive their letters don’t understand them, they 
 are forced to apply to Irish priests and such like 
 people to translate them. Six Captains dined last 
 summer with Cardinal Albani and M. de Thun with 
 only their mother tongue.’ 
 
 ‘ . . . There has been a violent fracas at Rome. 
 Cardinal Acquaviva won’t give the English, passports 
 to go to Naples, without they are recommended to 
 him, from Murray’ (the Pretender’s Secretary). ‘ Lord 
 Mentrath (sic) has been possitively refused, but he 
 won’t apply that way ; they have wrote me accounts 
 of it, and I have encouraged them not to condescend 
 to an open Rebel.’ 
 
 June 29th. — ‘This whole week I have been most 
 extraordinarily employed in writing supplicating 
 letters to the Duke of Newcastle and Stone to pay me 
 the infinite arrears that are due to me. I am undone 
 if I do not succeed.’ 
 
 July 2 7tli . — ‘ The Genoese are extremely afraid of 
 a visit from the fleet. They keep constantly all their 
 Gallies around and at the mouth of their Port to 
 prevent a surprize. Their gunners never dare stir 
 from their posts. There are twelve ships before the 
 Port and two Bombs, but they will do nothing till 
 Mr. Rowley sends his orders. All Italy expects to see 
 them bombarded. I would fain have a Doge and 
 
1745. 
 
 SAVONA BOMBARDED. 
 
 191 
 
 Senate travel to St. James’s as they did once to 
 Versailles, but our Monarchs are not in that gout. I 
 receive letters from Captain Cooper to acquaint me 
 that he shall immediately proceed to hostilities against 
 the Genoese. . . . These letters of Mr. Cooper have 
 really put me into a panick for those poor Genoese, 
 who have to share in their Governor’s follies ; these 
 wretches’ houses will be demolished and many of them 
 perish. I am quite agite, nor can talk to you of my 
 Conversations nor any thing else.’ 
 
 August 10 th . — ‘Captain Cooper who commands 
 the Squadron on the coast of Genoa, tells me, in a 
 letter, that being persuaded if Mr. Rowley had been in 
 these seas he would have commenced hostilities against 
 the Genoese ; therefore, believing such a step would be 
 agreeable to our Ministry, he had undertaken it ; the 
 authority he went on seems very mince, and I should 
 have rather waited for better orders. He bombarded 
 Savona a little, — -just enough to convince the world 
 that he could do nothing. Of above a hundred shells 
 he threw, but three reached the town. He then was 
 forced to desist, and came to Leghorn to refit the 
 Bomb vessels which were much shattered by their 
 own fire. Captain Cooper says the fault was in their 
 materials, but I am persuaded it was not only in 
 them but that they themselves are troppo materiali 
 and know not what they are about (excuse that vile 
 conundrum) The Governor of Savona sunk a bark 
 laden with powder, for fear of accidents, which was all 
 the harm they suffered.’ 
 
 Of other doings of the English fleet, Mann states: — 
 ‘ Advice was brought to Mahon that Captain Edge- 
 
 / 
 
192 
 
 MOVEMENTS OF GII ARLES ED WARD. 1745 . 
 
 cumbe bad taken a register skip with 600,000 pieces 
 of Eight, and had carried her into Gibraltar ; that the 
 Jersey had fought a French ship of 74 guns, the St. 
 Esprit, for four hours in the Straights ; the Jersey lost 
 five men, and was much damaged in her cordage ; the 
 night separated them ; a report afterwards prevailed 
 that the St. Esprit sunk in the Bay of Tangier. . . . 
 Our Squadron here is not so lucky. Every one of the 
 transports from Naples with artillery has escaped, 
 though I gave the Captains previous notice of their 
 departure. They have indeed taken many barks on a 
 suspicion of the effects belonging to the enemy, but 
 have been forced to deliver them all up on proofs to 
 the contrary, though not without great vexation 
 to the owners. Yesterday, indeed, I received advice 
 that a ship had brought in six large vessels which 
 sailed lately from Leghorn with corn and provisions 
 for Genoa, of which I gave them notice about ten days 
 ago ; this was bravely done ; the same ships brought 
 in with them three Genoese barks from the same 
 place. The Sardinian Gallies are now at Leghorn and 
 will cruize with our ships, which will be of great use. 
 
 ‘ I must add another half sheet to tell you of the 
 violent alarms we are in, on account of a Courier that 
 arrived at Borne last Thursday. After the strictest 
 business of spies, it has been discovered that the 
 Courier was despatched by the late Duke of Ormond, 
 from Avignon, to the Pretender, with a letter enclosed 
 from his son to acquaint him that he was to leave 
 France, without mentioning, it is said, for what place, 
 and to desire his father not to be uneasy if he should 
 not receive his letters for some posts ; to desire his 
 
1745. 
 
 JACOBITE PLANS. 
 
 194 
 
 blessing ancl that of the Pope immediately on the 
 receipt of this Courier. There were violent confer- 
 ences at the Pretender’s, between him, Acquaviva, 
 Cardinal Riviera, and the French ambassador ; and 
 a thousand reports have been spread: but what alarms 
 me most is an Express that Mr. Whithed heard 
 from the mouth of a certain Don Giuseppe, a Spaniard 
 at Rome, — to Cardinal Riviera at Count Petroni’s 
 Assembly : “We shall make an invasion into Scot- 
 land as soon as England is deprived of troops.’” (The 
 latter were going to Flanders). ‘ This Mr. Whithed 
 heard himself. The joy of the Palazzo dei S.S. 
 Apostoli is insolent already to a degree. 
 
 £ I own I am greatly alarmed, though I don’t see 
 that he can venture to go into Scotland without troops 
 and a considerable fleet. Surely, his friends there 
 cannot be so numerous as to do anything alone. 
 They say we have a large fleet in the Downs or on 
 the Coasts, but the name of an Invasion frightens me. 
 I send accounts of all this and an original second 
 letter by an Estafette from the Cardinal to Hanover 
 and to England, but I thought it useless to send a 
 Courier. 
 
 ‘ I have received a very gracious letter from my 
 Lord Harrington, by order of the King, to acquaint 
 me that my conduct has been approved in my little 
 negotiations with Silvi, and that my answers to his 
 letters have been to his Majesty’s approbation. You 
 love me too well, not to take part in the satisfaction 
 this gives me.’ 
 
 ‘ Letters from England,’ writes Mann, August 17 th, 
 ‘ alarm me extremely, though I still expect worse, and 
 
 YOL. I. o 
 
 / 
 
194 
 
 PROGRESS OF CHARLES EDWARD. 1745 . 
 
 clread to hear the confusion which the notice of the 
 Pretender’s son’s arrival in Scotland will add. . . . 
 I can only be informed of what accounts arrive at 
 Rome, and of those very imperfectly. Since the 
 arrival of the last French courier there, the whole 
 town tells of the boy’s arrival in Scotland. Prince 
 Craon has received advice from Paris of it, and 
 Richecourt has sent me an extract of one he likewise 
 received, the substance of which is that the 12th of 
 last month the boy embarked on board a small ship of 
 12 canons, at St. Lazare in Normandy, which con- 
 ducted him to Bell Isle, from whence he was escorted 
 by a large French ship of 60 guns. It is said he had 
 jo (10,000) muskets and a company of 150 Volun- 
 teers, which was formed the last winter at Paris. 
 Prince Craon’s accounts from Paris, as well as those 
 Count Lorenzi has from Maillebois, add that the 
 french ship of 60 guns was met by one of ours, and 
 that they fought for a long time, during which, the 
 smaller with the Pretender’s son escaped and landed, 
 and that he despatched Lord Temple (who this can be 
 I can’t conceive) with notice of it to the Pretender, 
 and that he was to march to Edingborugh. All this 
 seems to be making too much haste, nor can I com- 
 prehend that he would venture to march to Eding- 
 borugh, with his 150 Volunteers; or that if it is really 
 so, that it should not be known in England before the 
 departure of the last letter. However, as there seems 
 to be no doubt of the scheme in general, you may 
 easily judge of the consternation I am in ; nothing 
 else is talked of here, and with an assurance that 
 astonishes me.’ 
 
1745. 
 
 SEA FIGHT. i05 
 
 4 ... I can neither think or write about any- 
 thing but the invasion, for I hear of nothing else. 
 There is, however, so much inconsistence in the french 
 accounts, and such affectation of publicity, contrary 
 to their usual custom that I know not what to make 
 of it. I have seen a letter from Brest with a long 
 account of the late engagement between one of our 
 ships, which is therein called the Maria Louisa of 74 
 guns, and the 60 gun ship of France, which happened 
 on the 20th (N. S.) of last month ; the small ship with 
 the Pretender’s boy escaped to Scotland, but the 
 muskets and the 150 Volunteers (the half of which, 
 that account says, was killed in the engagement) were 
 on board the large ship, which was so disabled that it 
 was obliged to return to Brest. Now, how is it 
 possible that from the 20th N. S. of last month, 
 supposing the boy got to Scotland the same day, that 
 he should have had time to despatch my Lord Temple 
 from Scotland to Borne with the news that arrived the 
 5th Inst. N. S. ? Again, is it probable that the boy 
 would venture to land without his company of 
 Knights and the arms he had provided, which were 
 said possitively to be on board the ship that returned 
 to Brest ; the account of the engagement with this 
 circumstance is wrote by the second Captain who 
 took the command of the ship in lieu of the first who 
 was killed in the fight ; so that it appears he must, if 
 he landed, be gone alone. The french accounts say 
 that he was on march to Edingborugh, of which they 
 did not doubt he was master of. Maillebois writes to 
 Count Lorenzi : ££ Voila une nouvelle qui consternera 
 beaucoup les amis et allies dc la Reine d’Hongrie ; 
 
 / 
 
196 
 
 LETTER TO THE OLD CHEVALLER. 1745. 
 
 c’est pourquoi je la rendray aussi publique que je 
 pourray.” Count Lorenzi does the same, so that there 
 is not a boy in the streets who does not talk of it . . . 
 A second Courier arrived a few days ago at Rome, 
 supposed to be to the Pretender, though he dismounted 
 at the Post and affected to walk about the streets 
 of Rome, nor publickly went to anybody’s house. 
 
 ■' The boy’s letter to his father is made to contain 
 no more than this : “fatigue enfin d’un long exil, j’ai 
 pris ma resolution d’aller chercher en Ecosse ou une vie 
 ou une mort digne de mon sang” ; this seems too con- 
 cise ; however, this and no more, but asking his father’s 
 and the Pope’s blessing, is published at Rome with 
 great affectation. The Cardinal (friendly Albani) writes 
 that he knows the Pretender has been in person to ask ' 
 the Pope for money for this holy undertaking. The 
 accounts are too exact and prove too much, but I hope 
 it will be found that the Pretender endeavours to make 
 a private utility from a scheme they lend their name 
 to, and which otherwise France alone could draw any 
 profit from. The affectation in publishing all this, 
 
 I hope will end in a scheme of France to cause an 
 alarm in the Kingdom with a view of preventing any 
 more troops being sent to Flanders. I cannot write 
 myself, however, out of the anxiety I am under.’ 
 
 August 2 4 if A — ‘The Pretender’s people stick to it 
 that the boy is gone to Scotland, and Murray is vio- 
 lently angry with those that make any doubt of the 
 reality of anything they have been pleased to publish. 
 They say the Pretender himself is to leave Rome soon, 
 to go either to France or Avignon to be near at hand 
 to direct his son’s steps. The Cardinal, who believes 
 
1745. 
 
 LETTERS FROM ROME. 
 
 197 
 
 this, says that the only thing that retards his journey 
 is the want of money, for which he has applied to the 
 Pope, and that after many conferences on this head, 
 as if they doubted his credit, it had been agreed that 
 he should have ~ crowns, on his depositing jewels 
 for that value in the Monte di Pieta. If it be true, 
 and that he should depart, I must send a Courier to 
 Hanover with the notice, from whence it will be sent 
 to England. Whilst I am writing to you about the 
 father, I am expecting with the utmost impatience, 
 news from you about the son/ 
 
 Mr. Chute, in a letter from Rome (August 28th), 
 speaks of reports abounding there as they did at 
 Florence. £ The Pretendentino was landed in Scot- 
 land, was met by 20, by 40,000 Highlanders on the 
 shore, was marched to Edinburgh, was master of it ; on 
 his march to London, — ££ caro Fratello Duchino non 
 iscrivo piu — a rivederci a St. Giams ! ” Abbe Grant 
 lias letters in his Pockett from seventy Lords who 
 would live and die with the boy. My Lord Dunbar 
 had sent a Monsignore to school me for my neglect 
 of him. I was to expect all the punishments our 
 dying Laws stretch’d by a future Chancellor could 
 bequeathe me. . . . What could I do ? I had once 
 almost resolved to turn Abbate and address a Sonnet 
 to the Pope’s great Dog.’ 
 
 ‘ They tell us, when the Election’ (of Emperor of 
 Germany) ‘ is done, we are to have a vast army in 
 Flanders, and besides that, we are to have peace with 
 the King of Prussia. These are very pleasing Dreams, 
 if one was asleep enough to enjoy them. I own, my 
 fears disturb my rest. 
 
 / 
 
198 
 
 FLYING EFFORTS. 
 
 1745. 
 
 ‘ I blush more for Commodore Cooper’s Bombs at 
 Savona, — which did not do what they might, — than 
 for the poor Duke ’ (of Cumberland) ‘ who was so near 
 doing more than he could at Fontenoy. We must wait 
 with patience for the arrival of Admiral Vernon who, 
 they face me down here, is to bring our Government’s 
 answer to the Genoese remonstrance. In the mean- 
 time we content ourselves with plundering poor 
 harmless Merchant Vessels, and brag of the Miglione 
 di Scudi which our Captains run away with ; this 
 keeps one in Countenance, for riches are respectable. 
 
 ‘ Mr. Whithed makes you his Compliments. He 
 would have been charmed with putting an argument 
 on foot with the Princess Borghese, which she is so 
 well skill’d in the Handling of, but she has done 
 with the Subject, and exhibits herself no more to 
 the English.’ 
 
 August 3Ls£. — - c The French,’ writes Mann, at 
 this date, ‘ begin to be ashamed of the accounts they 
 have published. . . . Letters which have this instant 
 come in from Rome, inform me that even these people 
 begin to depart from their first credulity about the 
 Pretender’s son, yet there is great motion in the 
 family. The Pretender has certainly received Z crowns 
 from the Monte di Pieta, on a supposed deposit of 
 Jewels ; and they assert that he has received more 
 from the Pope, and that preparations are making for 
 either his or the second son’s departure ; some ser- 
 vants have been turned off, and several horses sold. 
 The Cardinal believes that the Pretender himself has 
 had permission to go into France or Avignon ; if so, 
 he will carry his son with him.’ 
 
1745. 
 
 THE CHEVALIER’S SONS. 
 
 199 
 
 There was growing uncertainty by the 7th Sep- 
 tember, on which day Mann wrote of the Pretender’s 
 partizans in Florence, c they affirm he is in Scotland 
 incog . — The Second Son departed from Pome, the 
 29tli, at night, with as much mystery as his Deme- 
 trius did last year ; for some days before, he pretended 
 to be ill with a swelled face, with which he exhibited 
 himself, but the morning of his departure, it was said 
 he had a fever which carried symptoms of the small 
 pox, so nobody was admitted. At three hours in the 
 night, he set out with the same Yalet de Chambre of 
 Bal. Tencin, who attended his brother, whom some 
 believe that he has gone to join ; others, that he goes 
 to Don Phillip’s army only. An opinion prevails that 
 the Pretender himself will set oiit soon.’ 
 
 Mann took infinite pains in sending accounts of 
 what was passing around him, to the Duke of New- 
 castle, also to the King, — in England, or in Hanover, 
 or to meet him in Holland, if he were travelling that 
 way, on his road to his British dominions. £ From 
 Hanover, Mr. Blair wrote to me,’ says Mann, ‘ that 
 the Earl of Kildare, when the news arrived at 
 Hanover of the Pretender’s sons being embarked 
 for Scotland, offered the King to go to Ireland in- 
 stantly, to raise, mount, and cloathe a regiment of 
 Dragoons at his own expense, for the King’s ser- 
 vice.’ Our Minister in Tuscany had other troubles on 
 his mind. He tells Walpole that he ‘ bullied ’ the 
 Captains of the fleet in vain, to do their duty in 
 intercepting hostile vessels of war. ‘ They let every- 
 thing,’ he writes, 'pass into Genoa, which would be 
 starved if proper dispositions were made to prevent it. 
 
 / 
 
200 
 
 ENGLISH JACOBITES IN ROME. 
 
 1745. 
 
 I write continually about it ; tbey tell me they do all 
 they can, but I don’t believe them, and it makes me 
 mad to hear everybody, both friends and enemies abuse 
 us on this account, and laugh at our Dominion of the 
 Seas. The Captains are too rich with prises already 
 taken, to run the risk of being killed for artillery or 
 ammunition ! ’ 
 
 October 5th . — ‘By the reports of our enemies 
 things are so magnified that I am daily terrified. One 
 has nobody to speak to or to receive comfort from ; 
 nay, one’s very friends are taught by their confessors to 
 pray for the Pretender’s son’s success ; you know what 
 Religion can do on weak minds. . . . The behaviour of 
 some English at Rome was as impudent as they dared, 
 for under pretence of the prohibition being only for the 
 father,’ (against visiting him), ‘they paid great court to 
 the sons, and were caressed by them, and you know 
 how many arts are put in practise there, to debauch our 
 young travellers of late. Then, most of their Gover- 
 nors are Jacobites. It is incredible what mischief this 
 circumstance occasions. Holdsworth has done more 
 harm in this way than can be conceived. I have 
 too much reason to believe that Ramsay, who was with 
 my Lord Eglington, was of the same stamp, and his 
 Lord was strangely tinctured. . . . You may easily 
 guess what uneasy hours I pass. Mr. Chute is at 
 Rome, and sends me accounts of the insolences that 
 are broached there, and as both he and Mr. Whithed 
 are enraged at them, they cannot keep their tempers, 
 I fear they will be insulted on this account. The 
 Cardinal seems sincere at present. The Austrian 
 interest and ours are too nearly united to permit him 
 
1745. 
 
 THE JACOBITE POPE. 
 
 201 
 
 to neglect giving me any notice. My private cor- 
 respondents do the same, but they only come to alarm 
 me, for the assurance of the Pretender’s party is so 
 great, that one would think they were sure of success.’ 
 
 October 19 th . — ‘ All possible means, I hope, will be 
 used to take the boy ; he should be made a sacrifice of, 
 it would cure them from making any more attempts, 
 and would discredit France in the greatest degree. 
 The Pope would make a Martyr, and in time, a Saint 
 of him ; but I had rather he should be prayed to, by 
 these fools, in Heaven, than adored in Scotland or 
 England, where, in time, he would make Martyrs of us 
 all. 
 
 ‘The Pope is such a Coglione, that I can’t bear him, 
 nor the insolence of his Court. I think really England 
 ought not to suffer such to declare themselves our 
 enemies, and not chastize them. If their religion 
 teaches them to be such and obliges them to give us all 
 the disturbance they can, they ought to expect we 
 should resent it ; nay, make a merit with Heaven for 
 being chastized on that account. Seriously, their 
 insolence is too great.’ 
 
 October 2 6th . — ‘We are in daily expectation to 
 hear of the Pretender’s departure from Rome. Every- 
 thing is prepared ; a new Berline on springs, and a 
 chaise, are ready near his house at Albano. I have 
 been most delightfully well informed of all his motions. 
 A back door has been made at his villa, to go to a 
 neighbouring little one, where ail his things are ready ; 
 and by the help of that private door, he can go to it, 
 without being seen by any of his servants. 
 
 ‘Poor Mr. Chute and Whithed have been at Rome, 
 
 / 
 
202 
 
 SCENES IN SOME. 
 
 1745. 
 
 at a most shocking time ; but have most heroically 
 kept up their spirits, and contradicted all the lies the 
 Jacobites spread ; by which means, they insensibly 
 became the head of quite a new party in Rome. I 
 say quite new, for really hitherto our English have 
 either laboured secretly or scandalously. Those who 
 have abstained from going to the Pretender’s people, 
 have paid profound court to his sons, or to Dunbar, 
 in company. The latter, not being used to the con- 
 tempt the Chutes have shewn him, has done all he can 
 to discredit them, seeing they were well introduced, by 
 telling everybody they were of the meanest extraction, 
 and that Mr. Chute was Mr. Whithed’s governor. 
 This has made a very disadvantageous impression 
 where they had even been vastly well received before. 
 I have wrote such letters to the Cardinal about it that 
 the Jacobites would poison me if they were to see 
 them. Murray says publickly that the King his 
 Master is highly offended at Chute and Whithed, not 
 so much for what they have said as for their in- 
 solence in not going to court, since they must know 
 how things go now. Was ever such insolence V 
 
 On November the 9th, Mann writes at great length 
 that at the news from England, his spirits were rising, 
 c which the clamours from Rome had quite sunk, for 
 there the Rebellion goes on much more prosperously 
 than in Scotland.’ At still greater length, in his most 
 wordy manner, he proceeds to express his belief that 
 Prince Charles Edward, £ the boy,’ is not in Scotland 
 at all, but in Spain ; a belief founded on the report 
 of a drunken courier who had been to Avignon 
 with Henry, the younger son of the Pretender, and 
 
1745. 
 
 THE OLD CHEVALIER. 
 
 203 
 
 also affirmed in his cups, that the two brothers had 
 there met, and that, on their parting, the elder brother 
 had set out for Spain ! Mann had ‘ a little friend ’ 
 who served him as a spy. This lad’s father was in the 
 Pretender’s household at Albano, and the son affected 
 to be as much of a Jacobite as his sire, and so picked 
 up many a gossiping item which was not intended to 
 be repeated. The courier’s story was one ; and Mann was 
 inclined to believe it. ‘ Mr. Chute,’ he writes on the 
 9th, ‘says that he has had great opportunities of being 
 informed, that the Pretender never showed that anxiety 
 that was natural, had such an enterprize been under- 
 taken by his son in person, though looked upon in the 
 most advantageous light consistent with the nature of 
 it. On the contrary, the Pretender has been consider- 
 ably more gay and cheerfull. You know what a 
 Pusillanimous being it is : even a person of the 
 greatest firmness of mind must have been uneasy, 
 and discovered it at sometime,’ At immense length, 
 Maun justifies his opinion that Charles Edward was 
 not in Scotland, but he does not venture to guess who 
 was playing his part there. 
 
 November 20th. — ‘ The foreign papers say that the 
 King offered the command of the troops going to 
 Scotland, to Lord Stair, but that he answered, that as 
 he was thought too old to command in Flanders, he 
 was not grown younger since. Another paragraph in 
 the papers is credited by all the Italians, — that the 
 King, speaking to his Council of the Rebellion, asked 
 the Bishop of Canterbury what was to be done and 
 what could be undertaken for his safety. The Bishop 
 replied that he would order prayers to be said for him 
 
 / 
 
204 . 
 
 THE LEGHORN MERCHANTS. 
 
 1745. 
 
 in all tlie Churches, from which they conclude all was 
 gone.’ 
 
 The body of English Merchants at Leghorn did 
 not think so. Those gentlemen were stout Hano- 
 verians, and Mann suggested that they would do 
 themselves honour by sending a loyal address to the 
 King. 
 
 ‘They seemed,’ he says, ‘ overjoyed at the oppor- 
 tunity.’ Goldworthy invited them to dinner last 
 Wednesday, which was the King’s birthday ; and 
 there the Address was proposed. Their joy in toasting 
 healths was vastly pompous. I send you the list for 
 your diversion. The address you will probably see 
 printed. I do not approve of the distribution of their 
 Chambers which were fired at the healths. I would 
 very willingly have given half of mine to add to the 
 number of the Duke’s, and have divided the rest between 
 their Imperial Majesties and the King of Sardinia. 
 
 ‘ The following is a copy of the List of Healths. 
 
 Public Healths drank at Leghorn Dinner. 
 
 1. To His Majesty Chambers 100 
 
 2. To the Prince, Princess, and Royal Family . 60 
 
 3. To the Duke (of Cumberland) 40 
 
 4. To their Imperial Majesties 40 
 
 5. To the King of Sardinia 40 
 
 6. To Marshal Wade and success to the King’s 
 
 Forces under his Command 30 
 
 7 . To Success to the Allies 30 
 
 8. Confusion to the Pretender and his Adherents 50 
 
 9. To the Nobility and Gentry who are arming at 
 
 their own Expense in defence of our Re- 
 ligion and Libertys . 
 
 50 
 
1745. 
 
 PAPAL PERPLEXITY. 
 
 205 
 
 10. To a Peace with the King of Prussia our 
 
 Ally 30 
 
 11. To the Admirals and all His Majesty’s Fleet . 30 
 
 12. To His Majesty’s Resident, Mr. Maun, at 
 
 Florence 50 
 
 13. To the Pious and Immortal Memory of King 
 
 William the Third for the Glorious Legacy 
 he left us 50 
 
 14. To the Success of the British Factory and 
 
 Trades 50 
 
 Chambers Nrs 650 
 
 November 23rd . — The Pope was as anxious for 
 the success of the Pretender as he was reluctant to 
 acknowledge the new Emperor of Germany, Francis. 
 
 ‘ He still finds pretences,’ says Mann, ‘ to put oft' 
 acknowledging the Emperor. He had fixed a Con- 
 sistory for that purpose, on the 22nd, but lately sent 
 for the A m bassador and made objections to the terms 
 of the Emperor’s letter. In short the french and 
 Spanish Cabals, united with those of the Pretender, so 
 terrify the coglione Pope, that he does not dare do what 
 he promised. Couriers have been sent to Vienna on 
 this account, and the Marquis de ( illegible ) only waits 
 for their return, and will then probably leave Rome 
 without carrying his acknowledgment to Vienna. Hoav 
 I long to see the Pope punished foi the contempt with 
 which he treats everybody but France, Spain, and the 
 Pretender. Valenti is the villain that governs him 
 under the tuition of Acquaviva. Accounts have been 
 printed at Rome of the Rebels’ success in Scotland. I 
 send one to the Duke of Newcastle by this post. Some- 
 
206 
 
 POPE AND PRETENDED, 
 
 1745. 
 
 thing contemptible and mortifying to Rome ought to 
 be printed in England and dispersed in a foreign 
 language.’ 
 
 December 7th . — ‘I can hear nothing from England 
 about the Pretender’s son, so I’ll tell you what they 
 say at Rome. He gives out that all goes well, and 
 they print accounts of his progress, and his speeches 
 to his Highlanders. They say that France had sent 
 an Irish regiment into Scotland, and that thousands 
 more are to follow. The last thing that has been 
 printed is a letter from Colonel Olimphant (sic) to a 
 friend of his in the King’s service in Flanders ; a most 
 simple composition, but it is too bad. 
 
 ‘ The Pope has given the Pretender ~ crowns, and 
 si indulgences to as many as will pray for his success. 
 Publick devotions have been performed in the Church 
 of St. Francis and at Sto. Spirit o there has been a 
 Triduo, and the Exposition of their Sacrament, with 
 all the solemn nonsence they can invent. I don’t 
 wonder at this, but I own I am surprised the Pope 
 parted with the -S crowns ; half the expense of making 
 a Saint, in the creation of which that old coglione so 
 much delights. 
 
 '. . . A person here has received a letter from a friend 
 of his in Lancashire, a man of an Estate, who ac- 
 quaints him the Papists were grown to that Insolence 
 that, among others, he had received a letter to tell him 
 if he offered to stir in favour of the Government, that 
 he should certainly be murthered and his house burnt 
 down ; which, he tells his friend here, has so alarmed 
 him that he never ventured out after it was dark, nor 
 could venture to do anything till the troops they ex- 
 
1745. 
 
 THE EMI’EROR FRANCIS. 
 
 207 
 
 peeled came into that country. It seems to me 
 astonishing that nobody is taken up. I announced 
 Holds worth’s return to England, loaden I daresay, 
 with treasonable letters, and the boy’s pictures which 
 I know he carried — -but no notice was taken of these 
 informations.’ 
 
 December 27th . — The contents of your letter are 
 like Sal volatile to my drooping spirits. You cannot 
 think how the insolent Jacobites at Rome deject one, T 
 have often made a resolution not to believe a word 
 they say, but they come upon one so many ways that 
 it is impossible to be quite indifferent to their reports. 
 
 ‘ The Pope has at last acknowledged the Emperor, 
 in spite of the French and Spanish Cabals, strength- 
 ened by those of the Pretender, who all shew the 
 utmost mortification. The first is important and 
 threatens every body with the displeasure clu Roy. 
 The second will have every body’s bones broken who 
 offers to rejoice ; and forbids all the Neapolitan Cardi- 
 nals and dependents lighting up a single torch on the 
 occasion ; but they all ventured to disobey, except 
 Cardinal Borghese. It was not the same with the 
 nobility who have Feuds in Naples, which were to be 
 confiscated had they disobeyed. As to the Preten- 
 der, who used on all publick occasions to rejoice with 
 every body, on this he has shown his attachment to 
 his allies, France and Spain, and by that means saved 
 his wax torches. Nay, his anxiety is so great, that I 
 dare say he has taken a resolution to employ all his 
 future naval forces against the new Emperor and any 
 one that calls him so. 
 
208 
 
 SOCIAL TRAITS. 
 
 1745. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1745. 
 
 The other side of the picture, in which social traits 
 are almost exclusively dealt with, presents these 
 sketches to the ‘ Curious.’ 
 
 January 5th . — c Our Carnival is begun with two 
 of the worst Operas that was ever known ; that in the 
 great theater, after the first night’s representation, was 
 suspended for a week in hopes of mending it, but all 
 that has been done is to shorten it, so that there is only 
 not so much bad. Most of the Lorainers are the Ini- 
 presarii, and amongst them the learned Lady Walpole. 
 A droll scene happened lately between her and General 
 Andrasi, a very learned man for a hussar; she put 
 him on the topick of Metaphy gists , as usual ; and on 
 his not being confounded on her mention of Newton, 
 she cried out ; Worse Signor General a letto Voltaire.” 
 — “ No, my Lady, ho letto Newton, e 1’ intendo molto 
 bene”; but as they could not agree, she would not 
 allow that.’ 
 
 ‘ . . . I am resolved,’ says Mr. Chute, writing to 
 Walpole, under Mann’s cover, ‘my letter shall begin 
 with something new, and therefore date it at this end. 
 I dare say this is the first 1745 you have ever seen in 
 
1745. 
 
 SPECULATION. 
 
 209 
 
 your life ; and I swear ’tis an odd thing to look a new 
 year thus in the Face. If I were to live to write 
 1800, a new Century! Jesus! how it would make 
 one stare, if one was not to be blind first. I wonder 
 what sort of a world it will be then ! Will there be a 
 Bruin of Brandenburg to roar and ravage and suck 
 his bloody paws, as he does now ; or will the Queen 
 of Hungary lead one muzzled in a cord and make him 
 leap over her Scepter for the Emperor Joseph ? Will 
 the King of France bestow his favours on a Due or a 
 Duchesse ? or send both to the Devil and turn Saint 
 again ? Who will be Czar of Muscovy ? who King 
 of England in those days ? ’ 
 
 January 12th . — After expressions of grief at Lord 
 Orford’s serious illness, Mann says : — ‘ There is an 
 exercise much in fashion in the fleet, and said to be 
 vastly wholesome, that of swinging. I have a great 
 notion my Lord might bear it ; they are made so easy 
 and secure that there is no danger of falling. I have 
 had one sent me and intend to use it every day. This 
 is all the diversion this winter will afford. A courier 
 arrived two days ago, with the notice of Madame 
 Koyale’s death ’ (the mother of the Great Duke of 
 Tuscany) ‘ and with orders to suspend all diversions, 
 to which a mourning of nine months succeeds. All 
 the Great Duke’s ministers are to dropper, and they 
 say we must follow their example. My brother Mini 
 Lorenzi is preparing for joy and mourning ; he has 
 received a remittance from his court of 500 crowns, 
 to make rejoicing for the Dauphin’s wedding, and is 
 consulting all his acquaintance how to spend them, 
 with most eclat, a Festino in his own house will be 
 
 / 
 
 YOL. I. 
 
 P 
 
210 
 
 THE CRAONS. 
 
 1745. 
 
 but indifferent for want of room ; and it’s not likely 
 they’ll give him the theaters now they are shut up. ’ 
 
 January 28th . — On a sheet of paper with very 
 narrow mourning border, Mann directs attention to 
 that outward and visible sign of grief and says : — ‘ I 
 believe you never saw any like it before ; here every- 
 body uses it but myself. I begged a sheet for this 
 occasion only, and another to keep for a curiosity. 
 Madame Royale was very impolite to dye just at the 
 beginning of Carnival to deprive us of all its diver- 
 sions. ... I have prevailed on the Regency to let the 
 Livorneans divert themselves ; their Opera has been 
 restored, for which I am in high favour with that little 
 town ; but by this I have drawn the Fiorentini upon 
 me, who are angry to see Leghorn preferred, and that 
 I would not make representations in tlieir favour too. 
 It was impossible to succeed, therefore I did not 
 attempt it. 
 
 £ Prince and Princess Craon whine for the loss of 
 this good Princess as if they were really sorry for her ! 
 — and then they were so nearly related and loved each 
 other so perfectly.’ (Madame Royale went over to 
 Paris to complain to her father, the Regent Duke of 
 Orleans, of her husband’s amour with the Princess de 
 Craon.) ‘Have you heard of Prince Beauvau’s ’ (son 
 of the Craons) ‘ good fortune ? besides being made 
 Grand d’Espagne, the King of France complimented 
 him publickly on his future marriage with Mdlle. de 
 Bouillon before anything was agreed upon ; but that 
 has fixed it. The Craons are in great joy; they won’t 
 accept compliments, but don’t refuse them. 
 
 ‘ General Braitwitz has wrote again to the Great 
 
1745. 
 
 SOEBOW AND JOY. 
 
 211 
 
 Duke to insist on having his conge, which he called 
 the permission de mon conge. He had composed the 
 strangest letter that was ever seen, except those the 
 Great Duke writes to him ; for example : “Ille ne pare- 
 letem pur un ojisie cli quitter le service ” — (II n’est pas 
 le terns pour un officier de quitter le service) — I don’t 
 know whether you ever heard a wise saying of the 
 Great Duke’s, that, give him hut five Saints ’ (his 
 first minister was named Toussaint) ‘and he would 
 engage to govern all Europe, “ metis ille ne pas posible 
 de le trove ! ” ’ 
 
 February 1 6th. — ‘I have not been able to go out 
 to day to make my compliment on the birth of the 
 second Arch-Duke which has produced the Ghost of 
 our Carnival, a permission to mask and be merry for 
 three days only. People were in hopes that this 
 event would have restored the remainder of their 
 Carnival, but the Count’ (Richecourt) ‘ keeps his word. 
 He told them last St. John when he would have had 
 them mask without an Opera and when nobody but 
 Sbirri of his own employing did, that they would find 
 it more difficult to obtain leave when they should 
 desire it. There has been gala, Sunday, monday, 
 and to day, for the last, which is to be concluded with 
 a ball in the great theater, and to-morrow we are to 
 weep again for the Arch-Duke’s grandmother, of whom 
 the Florentines say, “ non ci fecero mai riclere ! ” and 
 indeed neither her birthday nor nameday were ever 
 taken notice of here. Many assert and all the town 
 believes that the Great Duke has given leave for the 
 Carnival but that the Count won’t produce the order. 
 You may judge of the clamour against him/ 
 
 / 
 
212 
 
 ETIQUETTE. 
 
 1/45. 
 
 March 9th. — ‘ I must tell you a coup de politique 
 of our wise Regent liere. Count Lorenzi, before the 
 death of the Duchess of Lorraine, received 500 pezzi 
 from his court to make rejoicings for the marriage of 
 the Dauphin ; he was preparing with the greatest eclat, 
 and had announced his balls and tournaments ; the 
 mourning intervened, on which (I thing (sic) very 
 officiously) he wrote a fine letter to the Regency, to 
 acquaint them with his design, hoping the melancholly 
 accident might not make the execution of it improper. 
 On which he received for answer that in these melan- 
 choly circumstances of so deep a mourning they have 
 left it to his discretion ; mine, I must have confessed, 
 would have been to obey the orders of my Court, but 
 he suspended, and gave notice, I suppose, of what had 
 passed, to his. The result has been that instead of a 
 Ball he caused the Te Deum to be sung at the french 
 Convent, and did not invite anybody, which has 
 offended highly. Poor Prince Craon is afraid the 
 Court of France will be angry with him. He spoke 
 to me of it the other day, complaining that he was 
 not invited, I said, no doubt Lorenzi had orders, and 
 that from the answer the Regency gave, he had little 
 reason to suppose they wished to rejoice on the occa- 
 sion, and what might confirm him or his court in that 
 opinion was that three days after they had put in 
 as strong a caveat as they could do against his rejoic- 
 ing, they had caused the mourning to be laid aside 
 for three days, for the birth of the Arch-Duke, during 
 which all publick diversions were not only allowed 
 but encouraged. Don’t wonder that I give you the 
 whole detail of this affair, it has been the subject of 
 
1 745. 
 
 LEGACY DUTIES. 
 
 213 
 
 discourse and discontent out of pique to the person 
 who was the occasion of their being deprived of a 
 diversion the town expected. Count Lorenzi, besides 
 his Te Deum, illuminated his three windows with 
 wax torches for three nights, and gave some bread to 
 the poor, so that neither the Court of France, nor the 
 Court of Florence has acquired great honour.’ 
 
 April 6th. — ‘ I must tell you they have made a 
 demand on Prince Craon of the Gahella’ (tax or duty) 
 ‘of his new daughter-in-law’s fortune, which is 7\ per 
 cent, though they signified to him they intended to 
 make him a present of it. They exact with rigour 
 the Gabella on all the legacies the Electress left, and 
 everything is valued ; but what is most extraordinary, 
 they insist on being paid for the pensions she left to 
 those who are since dead ; for example, Siristori 
 and Mme. Uguccioni died about a year after, con- 
 sequently their pensions cease, but they had fixed 
 their lives in their own accounts, for five years, which 
 they still demand ; it has been answered that they are 
 dead ; well, but they ought to have lived five years. 
 
 . . . Again, the living servants had 5 or 6 crowns per 
 month for their lives ; these are esteemed according 
 to their ages, and they are obliged to pay the whole 
 down as if they were arrived at the end of their 
 calculation — and all this is suffered ! ’ 
 
 April 20 tk . — ‘For this week past, the Holy Week, 
 the Count ’ (Richecourt) ‘ has retired to the country, 
 for devotion ; during which my Lady ’ (Walpole) ‘ had 
 a prohibition to interrupt his confessions. She had 
 permission to go last Saturday. You will admire 
 her economy of time ; she took the advantage of that 
 
 / 
 
214 
 
 DEATH OF THE EARL OF OFF ODD. 1745. 
 
 sequester, to blister for tier complexion, as slie often 
 does (for the return of the Count). Judge, after such 
 an absence, how fair she must appear in his eyes ; and 
 as it is said that Eeligion is a great provocative, it is 
 to be hoped she was no loser by the pause.’ 
 
 On the death of the Earl of Orford, and the 
 accession of Lord Walpole to his father’s dignity, 
 the court of Florence caused the English minister to 
 be overwhelmed with visits or messages of condolence. 
 
 4 Among the first,’ Mann says (May 4th), 4 was Count 
 Eichecourt.’ Mann adds, 4 My Lady brags that she 
 shall now be extremely rich. I consider that she 
 designs to go into mourning. I believe that she 
 expects to be wrote to by my Lord ; but whether 
 then she would go into mourning I can’t tell. To 
 people that have applied to me, to know what change 
 this event would make in her affairs, I have answered 
 that I could not foresee that it would make any but 
 in her name.’ 
 
 Among the Mann letters is a note from the Prince 
 de Craon himself to Horace Walpole, expressive of his 
 sympathy with the latter on account of Lord Orford’s 
 death. It is to this effect, and is in a bold hand for 
 an Octogenarian. 
 
 4 Monsieur, je suis trop Sensible a tons les Evene- 
 ments qui vous interressent pour vous laisser ignorer 
 la part que je prends a la perte que vous venez de 
 faire de Monsieur votre pere ; nous connaissons 
 Made, de Craon et moy la bonte de votre coeur, et 
 nous resscntons vivement ceque luy en a coute dans 
 cette occasion, nous ne pouvons Monsieur vous rien 
 
1745. 
 
 LADY ORFORD. 
 
 215 
 
 offrir de plus propre a servir a votre consolation cpie 
 ces Sentiments dont nous sommes penetrez, qui sont 
 si conformes aux votres. 
 jay L’honneur detre avec 
 l’attacliement le plus inviolable 
 et le plus fidel 
 
 votre tres bumble 
 et tres obeissant Serviteur 
 
 Le prince de Craon. 
 
 florence, 
 
 le 1 de May 1745. 
 
 Le prince de Beauvau est marie depuis un mois avec 
 Mile. D’auvergne, que jay l’honneur Monsieur de 
 vous en donner part persuade que vous luy con- 
 tinuerez l’amitie dont vous lavez honore icy. 
 
 May 18th . — ‘I bear that my Lady Orford is not 
 in mourning because she has received no notice from 
 your family. She tells people she will go to England 
 as the obstacle towards her recovering her right is 
 removed, and will lie attended by an Abbe Nicoli, 
 an under-secretary of the Count’s, but I don’t believe 
 she will go. ... I have lately bad a little correspond- 
 ence with two of your relations ; your Uncle’s eldest 
 son who is coming to Florence (I think you called 
 him pig wigging), be has refused living with me. The 
 other is George Townshend, Captain of a ship, one of 
 those under my directions. . . . The Abbe Nicoli has 
 made cloathes, to appear in England, where his short 
 cloak and band won’t do.’ 
 
 June lsh — ‘ I am inconsolable for the loss of the 
 Chutes who departed last Thursday ; this makes so 
 great a change in my way of life that I don’t know 
 
 / 
 
2L6 
 
 MB. CHUTE. 
 
 1745. 
 
 wliat to betake myself to. I think there is no clanger 
 of my becoming a Cicisbeo, though there is no other 
 society in this country ; after having been four years 
 constantly with people, one is very awkward without 
 them ; he was vastly good to me and bore with me in 
 all my epuisements and headachs. I have now no 
 resource. Mr. Chute went away vastly afflicted for 
 the death of his favourite brother, a confirmation of 
 which he received the night before he set out. I am 
 in great hopes the journey will divert his melancholy. 
 They have taken the road of Bologna, Ravenna, Lo- 
 retto, etc., and will be at Rome in about ten days, 
 where they proposed to stay most part of the summer 
 and then hasten to England.’ 
 
 On the 26 th of June, Mr. Chute seems to have 
 considerably recovered. f Rome, June 26, 1745,’ is 
 written in the uppermost corner of the sheet of fools- 
 cap, and the comment on this text is ‘ I write to you 
 now because you are the only person in the world who 
 can enter freely into the distress which stares you in 
 the face, at the Top of my Letter. Do but think, I 
 am no longer at Florence. I have left Mr. Mann. 
 I need say no more to entitle me to your compassion. 
 You know what I have left, and ’tis my only comfort 
 to think you will love me and write to me because 
 you pity me. ... I may permit myself to do justice 
 to his Goodness for me, which has as much exceeded 
 all I could expect, as it really does what I pretend to 
 deserve. I know I owe the beoinnino- of his Friend- 
 
 O O 
 
 ship to you. . . . The umvearied continuance of it for 
 four years together, I can give no account of at all, 
 except I can suppose he has looked into my heart, 
 
1745. 
 
 HIS LETTER. 
 
 217 
 
 which of all others is undoubtedly the best part of 
 me. This I ought not to say to you, because you are 
 capable of thinking it a real merit which I ascribe to 
 myself ; do so, and censure me as vain, provided you 
 believe me sincerely so. My dear Sir, can you forgive 
 me not writing to you when all mankind did. Mr. 
 Mann promised me to mention me, and I know he 
 did. The reason that I did not mention myself was 
 that I despaired of saying anything you could hear in 
 the way of consolation’ (for Lord Oxford’s death) £ ’Twas 
 folly even to think my letter could do you any good, 
 and I found the great melancholly occasion much too 
 serious for me to compliment about. ... I must thank 
 you ten thousand times for a kind paragraph in your 
 last to Mr. Mann which he would not let me read. 
 My loss is inexpressible on all accounts, nor am I able 
 to find the least comfort in being an horrid step nearer 
 to a mould’ring Estate which has lost the only chance 
 of ever being repaired. 
 
 £ I would never have believed some few years ago 
 that it was possible for me to look with such an eye of 
 indifference upon Rome as I do ; hitherto nothing has 
 made any impression upon me ; all statues appear like 
 those at High Park Corner ’ (from Apsley House, then 
 an ale house, to Park Lane, was occupied by the stone- 
 mason statuaries for gardens and graveyards, who 
 afterwards removed to the New Road) £ and a Raphael 
 or a Domenichino is no more than Queen Anne’s head 
 at an ale house door. I have indeed seen very few as 
 yet, and though I am in the lodging which you had 
 last, which is close by the Villa Medici, I have 
 passed but five minutes there, and when it was too 
 
 / 
 
218 
 
 PRINCE BE BEAUVAU. 
 
 1745, 
 
 dark to enjoy any tiring but the solitude of tlie place, 
 which reduced all the charming people there to down- 
 right gothick sprights. 
 
 ‘ . . . There is just arrived a new french minister 
 here. The Pope despised the former so much, they 
 were forced to recall him ; on his pressing too impor- 
 tunately for an audience some time ago, the Pope 
 came out afc last in a passion and said : “ Coglioncello ! 
 non sai che quando non voglio sentire, non voglio 
 sentire ? ” 
 
 ‘ . . . Poor M. Beauvau, Prince Craon’s youngest 
 son, is in the dreadful list ’ (of killed at the siege of 
 Ypres) ‘ he writes me in answer to my compliment 
 on the occasion, “ Ma consolation ne peut etre que 
 1’ouvrage du Temps ; il emousse la pointe de tous les 
 sentiments, et il detruit enfin la plus vive douleur que 
 les evenements dont il est le pere auroient fait naitre,” 
 — ’tis very true, but I should never have thought of 
 saying it so finely.’ Horace Walpole has written at 
 the foot of this letter in which a man speaks of 
 trusting to time to cure his grief : ‘ Prince Craon is 
 fourscore ! ’ 
 
 June 29th. — £ Prince Craon thanks you for your 
 letter, and says you write “le plus joliment du monde.” 
 You had no time to condole with him for his son, so I 
 suppose you won’t venture renovare dolorem ... I 
 have introduced the Chutes to my friend Cardinal 
 Albani who has introduced them to every body, so 
 that they are in all the high Roman world.’ 
 
 It was in that world Mr. Chute made the discovery 
 of a work of art which became one of the highest 
 prized ornaments of Strawberry. Mann thus describes 
 it in a letter dated July 13th : — 
 
1745. 
 
 WALPOLWS EAGLE. 
 
 219 
 
 ‘ Mr. Chute has pressed me to mention to you, a 
 most beautiful antique Eagle that has lately been 
 found at Rome in the highest preservation and as far 
 superior to that of Benvenuto Cellini as that is to 
 the worst made at Hide Park Corner. Cardinal 
 Albani is in love with it, and says it would be 
 a fine present for the new Emperor, but that he 
 would not know its value. He thinks it too dear. 
 The demand is 250 crowns, but Mr. Chute believes, 
 in case the Cardinal will not have it (as it was 
 he brought him acquainted with it) that he could 
 get it for 100 zecchini (fifty pounds). It stands on a 
 sepulchral stone with its inscriptions and bassi rilievi 
 entire. Mr. Chute thinks you might indulge your 
 taste for antiquities at such an expense ; all I am 
 assured is that your orders will come late in case you 
 would have it. I have not time to say half Mr. Chute 
 writes in its praise, but by his accounts, both the 
 Eagle and the pedestal are compleat.’ 
 
 ‘ I don’t know what to say to Mr. Chute’s Eagle,’ 
 wrote Walpole to Mann (July 28), £ I would fain have 
 it. I can depend upon his taste ; but wouldn’t it 
 be folly to be buying curiosities, now ? how can I 
 tell that I shall have anything in the world to pay 
 for it, by the time it is bought 1 You may present 
 these reasons to Mr. Chute, and if he laughs at them, 
 why then he will buy the Eagle for me ; if he thinks 
 them of weight, not.’ Chute laughed, and he bought 
 the famous Eagle which had been recently discovered 
 in the Gardens of Boecapadregli, within the precincts 
 of Caracalla’s Baths, at Rome. For a century it stood 
 on its altar in the Gallery at Strawberry Hill. At the 
 
220 
 
 LADY OJRFOED. 
 
 1745. 
 
 scattering of Strawberry, by sale, the Earl of Leicester 
 purchased the work of art, for £210. Earl Fitz- 
 william subsequently became its possessor, at a much 
 higher price ; and, at the present moment, the grand 
 weird-looking bird is in the mansion of the Earl of 
 Wernyss in Stratford Place, London. 
 
 August 10th . — c I am become a la mode ; the 
 Lorainers even frequent me, but they are most of 
 them, Anti-Richecourtiani. The last time I was there 
 he took an opportunity to talk of Hanover. ... He 
 said my Lady Orford had wrote to him from thence, 
 to acquaint him that she had been most graciously 
 received by the King and Princess of Hesse, and that 
 she never failed a day going to Herrnhausen. I 
 replied that the name she wore exigeait toujours ties 
 marques cle bonte de Sa Majeste, but I was resolved 
 not to seem to understand the idea he wanted to 
 convey, and which is the same with all her admirers, 
 who fancy this royal favour is gaining a great point. 
 They are ignorant of our laws, and fancy that our 
 Royal family condescend to interfere in family affairs 
 as Giovanni Gaston (the last of the Medici Dukes 
 of Tuscany) used to do. De Sade told me in a large 
 company, speaking of this subject, that “ l’Esprit etoit 
 dangereux.” I told him I did not understand him, 
 but that it was necessary he should distinguish 
 between France and England. I don’t think it impos- 
 sible that my Lady has so far forgot that distinction 
 as to have hopes and a view in this jaunt to Herrn- 
 hausen.’ 
 
 ‘ The Count sees Richmond, Lady Orford’s gentle- 
 woman, often ; lie goes to her, and she to him, and 
 
1745. 
 
 FAMILY HJ STORY. 
 
 221 
 
 carries her with him in his coach, to his country house, 
 where they say he is fitting up an appartment for my 
 Lady. ... I cannot help wishing with many others 
 that she may take a fancy to any place but this, for the 
 country is better without her. . . . It is not my Lord’s 
 business to wish to prove anything against her, which 
 might authorize him to demand a separation, or a 
 divorce, either of which would prejudice his interests. 
 . . . She can have no pretence to demand either, as 
 her absence has been voluntary. She certainly has 
 undertaken this step by advice from England.’ 
 
 This family history is pursued in a letter of the 
 17th August: — ‘I cannot help repeating my fears 
 that my Lord may take a wrong course ; surely it 
 cannot be his business to produce proofs that might 
 authorize a divorce or separation. She would not 
 scruple to own anything that he suspects, provided 
 that she could bring it to that issue. In case she 
 begins a process, in my opinion my Lord should only 
 prove that he never gave cause to her absence ; the 
 consent he gave to her going abroad for her health 
 and the allowance he first continued to her are proofs 
 of his former care of her ; her persistence in staying 
 abroad against his consent, is a sufficient motive for 
 having lessened the first allowance ; though in its 
 diminution of 1000 per. annum, it will be always 
 considered as fully sufficient for a rambling lady. 
 
 ‘ My conversations are very brillantes and very 
 numerous. Pig wiggin delights in them much, though 
 he does not produce himself much. Mme Suares, 
 you know, is easy of access, so ho takes most to her. 
 The Vittorina is to be married in October. They put 
 
 / 
 
222 
 
 MB. ST. JOHN. 
 
 1745. 
 
 it off as long as possible, in hopes of something coming 
 forth for the Teresa, but there seems no likelihood of it. 
 . . . You have heard me speak of Mr. St. John the mad- 
 man ; his madness has now quite changed its situation. 
 He has a demand on Carducci for 1000 crowns, which 
 the latter refuses to pay, as being under age when he 
 contracted the obligation, and the laws here are on his 
 side. St. John thinks he is in honour bound to pay 
 it, and besides is persuaded if he does not, his marriage 
 will turn out a, nullity. St. John says that his sister 
 has often told him so from heaven ; she has been dead 
 these three years, and some miracles were attributed 
 to her, so that she is, with some, in odore di Santita. 
 St. John finished a long letter to me on the subject of 
 Caducci with a singular message from this deceased 
 sister referring to the marriage, which he says, “She 
 prays me to tell you.” 5 
 
 August 31st . — ‘The Countess’s stay at Hanover 
 convinces me she has some scheme. . . . Richecourt 
 constantly receives letters from her, which he does not 
 conceal ; ... he goes publickly to Richmond and 
 makes his coach wait at the door for hours. She has 
 been with him all last week in the country at his 
 Villa. . . . The publicity with which he carries her 
 about is quite affected, though the old creature can 
 hardly speak a word of anything but English.’ Sep- 
 tember 7th. — Mr. Blair, who was at Hanover, in the 
 King’s suite, wrote thus to Mann : — ‘ My Lady Or- 
 ford has been here, on her way to England, and I 
 think, does you great honour in setting forth that you 
 have always been a faithful friend and servant to the 
 late and present Earls of Orforch’ ‘I cannot think,’ 
 
1745 . 
 
 THE EMPEROR FRANCIS. 
 
 223 
 
 says Mann, £ that my Lady meant this as any com- 
 mendation of me.’ 
 
 October 5th . — £ I write to you instead of going to 
 a great ball in the Via del Popolo which the officers 
 give in honour of the Election’ (of Francis, Great Duke 
 of Tuscany, as Emperor of Germany). £ Two were 
 given by the Accademy. To-day is the Emperor’s 
 name (-day ; St. Francis’ day is on October 4th), and 
 we suppose, his coronation. I am very little of a 
 humour to participate of their rejoicings, and yet must 
 be at them, not to be particular. The first day of joy 
 happened to be my Thursday, and the Regency, after 
 the Te Deum, which ended at 24 hours, appointed 
 nothing, depending on everybody’s coming here ; — so 
 they did ; the Prince and Princess, near 200 ladies and 
 too many men to be counted. You may imagine I 
 was crowded, but I had practic’d a Gallery in the 
 Garden, out of which my ground-rooms enter ; my 
 Garden and all was well lighted ; it made a very good 
 appearance. With that Assembly, I put an end to my 
 Thursdays for this summer ; and this evening puts an 
 end to all our festivals, which, on the part of the Govern- 
 ment, have been equal to their extreme poverty, for 
 the Court carried away all the money.’ 
 
 Rome was not so glad, nor disposed to allow 
 others to be so glad at the accession of the new Em- 
 peror, as the Florentines were, or would have been, if 
 the Grand Duke before he was elected to the dignity, 
 had not taken £ all the money 5 he could, from Florence 
 to Vienna. In the above letter Mann says : — 
 
 £ A circumstance has lately happened at Rome 
 that makes me fear greatly for the Chutes, who 
 
 / 
 
224 
 
 A BIOT IN BOMB. 
 
 1745 . 
 
 are strongly in the Austrian party, which Aquaviva 
 piques himself to persecute. On the last Election of 
 the Great Duke of Tuscany to be Emperor of Ger- 
 many (Francis) the mob to show their joy, as well as, 
 I suppose, to get money, made a figure in wood 
 adorned with Imperial Eobes ; this they carried in 
 triumph about the town, not meaning I believe to give 
 any offence, and last week went in great numbers to 
 Franchini’s house, that is the Palazzo Medici, on the 
 Trinita del Monte ; this joy was soon disturbed by 
 Aquaviva’s whole guard of 100 people, armed with 
 guns, sabres, pistols, etc. and headed by the person 
 in his livery who is called Capitano della Piazza di 
 Spagna. They fired on the above mob and then fell 
 on them, with the utmost inhumanity, with their other 
 weapons. Some were killed and many wounded, and 
 had not the gates of the Palazzo Medici been opened 
 to receive the mob, much more mischief would have 
 been done. 
 
 ‘ Cardinal Albani and Franchini immediately made 
 complaints to the Pope, but at the departure of an Ex 
 press they sent with this notice, no answer had been 
 returned. Those in Aquaviva’s party commend him 
 and say he did well by doing what the Government of 
 Rome ought to have done, since any one should be so 
 insolent as to rejoice for an Emperor the Pope had not 
 acknowledged ! In short, little satisfaction is to be 
 expected from the Imbecility of the Pope, guided by 
 Cardinal Yalenti (who is as much a Spaniard as 
 Aquaviva) and totally directed by him. I am sur- 
 prized however that the Pope is not afraid of the 
 consequences of such tumults, for was Cardinal Albani 
 
1745 . 
 
 ABUSE OF THE POPE. 
 
 225 
 
 to encourage the Transteverini and the mob of Rome, 
 which is all Austrian, Rome would be in a flame. 
 Aquaviva’s guard permits nobody to go over the Place 
 d’Espagne (which he calls his jurisdiction) with green 
 cockades. They tear them from them, and abuse 
 them ; and our friends acquainted me some time ago 
 that they and their servants wear them. 
 
 ‘ Cardinal Albani was waiting to see what satisfac- 
 tion the Court of Rome would give, and then, designed 
 to despatch a Courier to Vienna. Poor Fran c hi n i is 
 daily exposed to insults by his neighbourhood to 
 Aquaviva who governs all there with the greatest in- 
 solence. The Pope is a beast and a coglione of whom 
 everybody complains. If I was the Emperor, I would 
 threaten him, if he won’t govern better, to apply to 
 the Colledge of Cardinals, this would mortify him 
 strangely. Whilst these things are going forward, he 
 amuses himself with making Saints, and a little while 
 ago held a publick dispute with a Colonna, a boy of 
 19 ; the Pope himself harangued in the presence of a 
 vast audience. What can be expected from him V 
 
 Aquaviva was soon in a condition which Mann 
 bore with cheerful resignation. On the 19tli October 
 he writes : ‘ The villain is in a fair way of going, as 
 the common people at Rome say, a Casa del Diavolo ! 
 He is vastly ill with a paralytick dangerous disorder, 
 which has already cost him one of his eyes, and the 
 other is in danger. His surgeon says it is all over 
 with him. I wish indeed it may happen soon. Some 
 of his own fools would be persuaded it was a judge- 
 ment from Heaven for the murders he lately ordered 
 to be committed.’ 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
 / 
 
226 
 
 COUPLING. 
 
 1745. 
 
 ‘ . . . The Teresina is a Sposa to young Count 
 Peccori, the very man for whom the Pepi would have 
 killed the Parigi. It is a good match, and they all 
 thank Heaven for so much good luck at a time she 
 was in danger of getting nobody. The Vittorina is to 
 be wedded next Monday to Carducci at their villa, 
 with all privacy.’ 
 
 The Vittorina was married on the following Wed- 
 nesday, and began keeping house with her husband 
 the day after. ‘ I am afraid,’ writes Mann (9th Nov.), 
 ‘ they will soon be unhappy, they are so poor, and she 
 is so lively, and he will be so jealous. The Teresina’s 
 match goes on with Count Peccori. He is a fool but 
 good natured, and in very good circumstances. They 
 will certainly be very happy, and have the prettiest 
 children in the world. 
 
 ‘ I carried Mme. Antinori last week to ( illegible ) 
 to dine with the Princess, who was vastly gracious ; 
 but she is still fond of a shape, for which she laces 
 so tight, that she is always sick. The Duke and 
 Duchess Salviati dined there. Her Grace of Salviati 
 is infinitely devote and has a great deal of humour.’ 
 
 November 20th . — Under this date, Mann refers to 
 the recent death of Lady Granville (formerly Carteret, 
 daughter of the Earl and Countess of Pomfret). ‘ I 
 don’t write to my Lady on this melancholy occasion,’ 
 he says, ‘ I did on her daughter’s marriage with 
 Carteret but she never took any notice of it. She had 
 a little before been offended at my lending Mr. Fermor, 
 her son, money to buy absolute necessaries on his 
 being appointed Captain of a ship, and without which 
 he would have been obliged to eat with the sailors, for 
 
1745. 
 
 SEA-BEARS. 
 
 227 
 
 want of a plate to eat off, or of a napkin. I incon- 
 venienced myself by lending him that money and 
 incurred his Lady mother’s displeasure for my pains, 
 and my Brother was used uncivilly, though she after- 
 wards sent to ask his pardon.’ 
 
 December 7 th . — .... Mann gives another 
 illustration of the character of our naval captains 
 at this period. c If Mr. Townshend,’ he says, ‘was 
 not your cousin, I would tell you that he is not 
 at all better than many of the bears I have had to 
 deal with. I declare to you, I wonder how any of our 
 affairs succeed in the hands of such unexperienced 
 things. How could my Lord Townshend let the educa- 
 tion of any son of his be neglected so ? You cannot 
 conceive the pains I have taken with him ; nobody 
 can unless they were to see the letters I have daily 
 wrote to him, and he is not, I dare say, sensible of it 
 by them.’ 
 
 / 
 
228 
 
 THE JACOBITE INVASION. 
 
 1740. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 1746. 
 
 The year 1746 opened upon Mann and the English 
 Colony at Florence with troubled and uncertain light. 
 On January 4th he writes : — c We are ignorant what 
 the Rebels in Scotland are doing. None but French 
 and Spanish Couriers pass, and they turn one’s brains. 
 By the letters of the former, the Rebels have beat 
 Wade and marched to London. Then Wade is in dis- 
 grace and mistrusted ; in short, there is no kind of 
 absurdity that they do not invent and publish ; and 
 all is credited. I am very sorry for the affair at 
 Carlisle which has furnished them with a large 
 quantity of arms, but I trust they will be taken from 
 them with their lives. On the whole, however, it 
 seems strange that a body of rabble of 9, 10, or ^ 
 men should be permitted to insult the whole King- 
 dom, by the slowness used on our side to disperse 
 them. We gave them all possible advantage and a 
 chance of receiving succours from abroad. Some of 
 our travellers have so good an opinion of their success, 
 that they are gone to Rome, to pay homage among 
 the first. Bouverie does not act publickly as to the 
 Pretender, but has all his people constantly to dine 
 
1746 . 
 
 ENGLISH JACOBITES IN ROME. 
 
 229 
 
 with him. His three companions, Holt, Phelps, and 
 Munroe the mad doctor’s son went last fry day to the 
 Portico of the S tJ Apostoli, to wait for the Pretender’s 
 coming out, to compliment him upon his Son’s birth- 
 day, and went afterwards to dine at his house, — it is 
 said, with him, but I suppose with his people. Mr. St. 
 John is outrageous and rebelliously mad. He curses 
 the King in all companies and he wrote me a strange 
 treasonable letter : he is quite mad and so not worth 
 any notice.’ 
 
 January 18 th . — ‘All I can say to you is that we 
 have four posts wanting from England. You will 
 easily imagine the cruel situation I am in, since our 
 Enemies take advantage of this accident to publish 
 the most violent accounts of the Rebels who, according 
 to them, are masters of London. I do not believe one 
 word they say ; but still, I wish to be assured from 
 you, my dear child, that they are liars . . . 
 
 ‘ . I was most agreeably surprized last fryday 
 by the arrival of the Chutes from Rome, which place 
 they could bear no longer. None but villains are well 
 received there. Had it not been for good Cardinal 
 Albani they must have decamped long ago ; but he 
 supported them, and they their spirits, till the last 
 when, to shew their contempt for those that had used 
 them ill, though they had been civil at first, they 
 came away without taking leave. They have left 
 Bouverie, Phelps, Holt, and Munroe in high favour, 
 because they pay their court publickly to mock- 
 Majesty, with whom they have dined. The first was 
 a worthy disciple of Holdsworth ; the second is a 
 Fellow at Oxford, and flaming. He has nothing to 
 
230 
 
 JACOBITE BE POETS. 
 
 1746. 
 
 lose, but travels at Bouverie’s expense ; but, because 
 he is of the right idea, is thought a great Cavalier. 
 Holt is of Suffolk and has, they say, a good Estate. 
 Munroe is the mad Physician’s son and is himself a 
 travelling Physician. They are all persuaded things 
 will go as they wish ; for, as I told you, they publickly 
 frequent the Pretender and his people. Surely, the 
 Government will take notice at last of this be- 
 haviour. 
 
 ‘ The Chutes keep up my spirits and we endeavour 
 to convince each other that things cannot be as they 
 tell us ; but even here we have so many Enemies ! 
 and many good Catholick friends are taught by their 
 Confessors to wish against us. The poor Prince and 
 Princess are so strangely out when I go there that 
 they don’t know how to talk to me about it. They 
 are so embarassed to name the names different to what 
 they have talked of them all day before ; for they 
 believe all the dirty stuff that comes from Paris more 
 than anything I can say to them.’ 
 
 January 25th . — ‘Your two letters of Nov. 29th 
 and 9th of Dec. which both came together have 
 raised our drooping spirits extremely. The Chutes 
 and I had almost been quite cast down by the villain- 
 ous reports the day before of a Courier who had 
 passed by for Rome. The Rascal gave out that every- 
 thing went on victoriously for the Rebels ; in short 
 that they were masters of almost all England ; that 
 thousands had rose in their favour, and that the King 
 was retired from London. Judge you how it is 
 possible to exist when such stories were spread and 
 believed by most. I don’t tell you we believed him, 
 
1746. 
 
 JACOBITES IN FLORENCE. 
 
 231 
 
 but we dreaded that some accident had happened, 
 that the Rebels had escaped the Dukes army, and 
 that some risings might have been in their favour. 
 Part or all of this we dreaded, when your dear letters 
 came, and as we had been expecting the post for a 
 long time, my house was crowded that morning ; some 
 in hopes of hearing good, and others bad news, (fur 
 friends were fully satisfied and the Orsi ’ (faction in 
 favour of Spanish interests) ‘ and the Jacobites would 
 not be discomfited “ because I am a Minister and 
 obliged to tell lies to serve my Court.” The most 
 sensible, however, knowing that such is not my 
 custom, began to tremble. Cospetto ! se lo dice Mr. 
 Mann, bisogna che sia cosi perche 1’ e troppo honesto e 
 non dice bugie. Povero Principino ! ’ 
 
 February \bth . — ‘The contents of your letter of 
 January 3rd, which arrived yesterday, were so charm- 
 ing, as well as the Gazette which accompanied it, that 
 by the advice of many, and to be revenged of the vile 
 Gazetteers of Bologna, etc., I have translated the 
 Taking of Carlisle into Italian and dated my Gazette 
 from Bologna, with this introduction ; “ Essendoci 
 pervenute da mano sicura le sequente notizie, si crede 
 far cosa grata al Publico con renclerle palesa ; ” and 
 so many of them are to go slyly to Rome where, no 
 doubt, they will be surprised to see my paper dated 
 from Bologna with any other title for the King than 
 that of Elector of Hanover ; for the Pretender’s son, 
 that of Real Principe di Galles. Indeed, I have not 
 had any occasion to name him, but I speak of the 
 Rebels in general. The Italians say already, “Povero 
 Principino! e che le Inglesacci have betrayed him.” 
 
232 
 
 CONFLICTING INTELLIGENCE. 
 
 1746. 
 
 Still, my dear, the Pretender does not show that 
 concern which would he natural were his son in so 
 much danger. I hope the Duke will go into Scotland 
 and finish what he has so well begun. The soldiers 
 will certainly like nobody so well, to conduct them.’ 
 March 15th . — ‘How is it possible not to be con- 
 tinually uneasy ? We always receive the first accounts 
 from France, which are echoed to us from Pome, with 
 all the additions the J acobites please to add ; and all 
 this is credited by every body, and crammed upon us 
 till we receive letters from England ; but in the interval, 
 it is impossible to have courage enough to be quite 
 tranquil. Hawley’s affair, for example, frightened us 
 out of our senses. The French accounts magnified it 
 a hundred-fold, and they said positively the King of 
 France had given a Mr. Brown the Cross of St. Louis, 
 for bringing him such great news. In this belief I 
 remained for above a week, and received many letters 
 of condolence, which confirmed my alarm. Cardinal 
 Albani was as much frighteued, for Dunbar harangued 
 the Patroni’s Assembly with all the particulars and 
 advantages he wished, and our English Jacobite 
 travellers mad q junkets, and got drunk with rejoicing 
 with the Pretender’s servants for that success. We 
 were cast down till your dear letter of the 28th 
 January revived us by showing the affair was not 
 of much consequence, if the not having extinguished 
 the Rebellion may be allowed to be so, when the 
 opportunity was so fair. But we are really now in 
 spirits, believing that the terror the Duke has struck 
 into those villains will put an end to it. ... A 
 Courier passed by yesterday from France to Rome, 
 
1746. 
 
 AT SEA. 
 
 233 
 
 who, as we suppose, carried news to the Pretender that 
 will quite disconcert him ; but we cannot hear the 
 effect till next week.’ 
 
 April 2Qth . — ‘ How terrible it is we cannot put 
 the Rebellion out ! The Jacobites are in high spirits 
 and boast of their conquests. Inverness is represented 
 to be of as much importance a.s Edinburgh Castle ! ’ 
 Mann found some consolation for the Jacobite boast- 
 ing, in certain little successes which he had brought 
 about in the Mediterranean, by advice and orders 
 which he was authorized to give to our naval com- 
 manders. Mr. Townshend received instructions from 
 home to conquer Corsica, then in possession of 
 the Genoese ; Mann advised him not to attempt a 
 perfectly hopeless undertaking, but to harass the 
 Genoese at sea. Townshend followed the Minister’s 
 counsel. £ I must not omit to tell you of my success 
 while I commanded. Lord Colvil, whom I sent to the 
 coasts of Genoa, took a french ship and destroyed 
 eight barks with provisions, five of which had the 
 Pope’s colours ; the other three, Genoese. I expect 
 to be doubly excommunicated, and then poisoned by 
 the Genoese.’ 
 
 May 2ith . — ‘ I am much obliged by your good 
 news, which makes me hope that by this time, the 
 Rebellion is quite at an end. The Jacobites won’t 
 believe it, but still talk of their advantages. A 
 Courier passed by from france to Rome a few days ago, 
 and though I don’t hear he said anything, yet pre- 
 sently it was reported that he carried to the Pretender, 
 the news of his Son’s victory over the Duke, who 
 was retired with difficulty to the mountains, having 
 
234 
 
 ROME AND FLORENCE. 
 
 1746. 
 
 lost his whole army ! Can anything be so absurd ? 
 I promise you never to be alarmed by their accounts 
 again.’ 
 
 On the 31st of May Mann is finally at ease. 
 
 £ Your Victory,’ he says, ‘ was most welcome, and gave 
 me great joy. I was on the point of relapsing into 
 my fears. The french and jacobites tell lies so con- 
 fidently and stick to them so strongly that they 
 stagger me. I told you a Courier passed by this 
 place lately from france to Rome. Immediately, all 
 Italy was imposed upon by the false accounts from 
 that centre of falsehood. All the french letters, 
 nay, those to poor Prince Craon, confirmed a violent 
 victory of the Rebels, and such an encrease of then- 
 force as was able to do every thing. Do but see by the 
 enclosed scrap of a Gazette, a specimen of their im- 
 pudence. At Rome all was joy and insolence, and the 
 Pretender’s people caused an account to be printed, 
 which my friends did not send me, thinking it was 
 unnecessary after the news of our real victory, which 
 they received sooner than I did. Pucci was the first 
 to announce it here. I was at Prince Craon’s when 
 the letter came last Wednesday, the 29 th, and I have 
 received yours only to-day, the 31st. This is owing 
 to the bad method the office is in by sending the 
 packets to a man at Leyden, by which means they 
 are retarded. I have been ordered to send mine the 
 same way, which consequently retards mine too. 
 
 ‘Well ! the Duke is a glorious little hero. I am 
 glad the nation is obliged to him for such noble 
 exploits. I hope, before he leaves Scotland, that 
 he will extirpate even the seeds of Rebellion, though 
 the task I fear is too hard even for him.’ 
 
1746 . PRETENDED JACOBITE VICTORY. 
 
 235 
 
 The scrap from the Bologna Gazette, sent by 
 Mann to Walpole is (in English) to this effect: — - 
 ‘ Versailles, 6th May. On the 30th of April, an officer 
 arrived here, who had been despatched to the King by 
 the Prince Stuart, with the news that the Duke of 
 Perth, having under his command Signor Stappleton, 
 Marechal de Camp in the French service, had passed 
 over an arm of the sea, in front of the position held 
 by the Earl of Loudon, with about 2000 men divided 
 into three bodies. This Duke animated, by his own 
 example, his soldiers to make this passage with the 
 water up to their waists, as their boats could not 
 reach the landing place. ... As soon as they set 
 feet on the shore, he attacked and dispersed two 
 of the above-mentioned corps under the Earl of 
 Loudon ; whereupon, the third, seeing the defeat 
 of the other two, flung their arms on the ground, 
 and shouting “ Prince Stuart for ever ! ” put them- 
 selves under the banner of the Duke of Perth ; who 
 had witnessed the defeat or surrender of the whole 
 force commanded by the Earl of Loudon, wanting- 
 only the Earl himself and two or three other fugitives, 
 to make the Duke’s victory complete. The army of 
 Prince Stuart, in consequence of this advantage, found 
 itself increased by fifteen hundred soldiers, so many 
 prisoners having joined his party. The Irish officer 
 who was selected to carry this news was accompanied 
 by four officers, prisoners of war. The assailants 
 who had attempted to attack a post of the royal 
 Scottish army were repulsed with very great loss ; 
 and at the same time, a Captain of a royal Scottish 
 regiment, at the head of an ambuscade, attacked the 
 
236 
 
 JACOBITE HISTORY. 
 
 1746. 
 
 
 vanguard of the English army and succeeded in 
 capturing 200 soldiers, all mounted. The Swiss 
 officers who had desired to enter the French service 
 had disembarked and been incorporated with the 
 Stuart army, which now numbers 20,000 fighting 
 men. One of their detachments contrived to get 
 possession of 4 English merchant ships, driven 
 a-shore by the waves ; after these vessels had been 
 entirely stript of their rich cargoes, preparation was 
 made to set them on fire, so as to prevent their 
 re -capture by the English.’ 
 
 With such fictitious details Italy and France were 
 amused. The audacity with which a certain Car- 
 dinal writes contemporary history does not exceed 
 that of the partizan historians of the last century. 
 Even after the struggle was all but closed for ever, 
 Rome invented and Florence repeated the most lying 
 legends. ‘The Jacobites and French,’ says Mann, 
 (June 14th), ‘ are still such fools as to think to frighten 
 us with their accounts of a victory on their side, since 
 that of Culloden, and that the Duke was wounded. 
 Nobody believes them, but still the French persist in 
 them lies. ... Is the young Italian ’ (Charles Edward) 
 ‘ taken ? or will he be able to collect his scattered 
 forces ? Prince Craon asked me t’other day what they 
 could do with the young Pretender, in case of his 
 being taken ? “ He would be beheaded ! ” — “ Fie ! 
 
 fie! a King’s Grandson!” — “Well, Prince, it is just 
 that fact that would cause his destruction.” — You 
 know, the Craons affect to be related to them by the 
 means of Prince Beauvau’s wife.’ 
 
 In return for the news of the victory at Culloden, 
 
 
1746. 
 
 THE HIGHER POWERS. 
 
 237 
 
 Mann, on the 21st of June, sent notice of that gained 
 on the 17th by the Austrians and Sardinians, near 
 Placentia, under Prince Lichtenstein, over the French 
 and Spanish armies, commanded by Don Philip. 
 This saved the Italian possessions of the Empress 
 Queen, Maria Theresa ; or, as Prince Lichtenstein put 
 it : — ‘ It pleased His divine Majesty to give Her 
 Imperial Majesty a compleat victory.’ Mann thought 
 that divine Majesty was tardy in manifesting equally 
 satisfactory pleasure in another direction. ‘ Why 
 should the boy escape ? ’ he asks, of the errant Stuart. 
 
 ‘ It has been reported at Rome that he was dead ; 
 and his father accidently hearing of it, fainted away 
 for half an hour, to the great alarm of his courtiers 
 who had little to say to comfort him, but they sent 
 for the French Ambassador and (; illegible ) who have 
 assured him that the Brest squadron will debark such 
 a number of troops as will remedy the little ecliec they 
 have suffered, et retablira ses affaires, and his son in 
 his kingdom.’ 
 
 c Tout peut se retablir ! ’ is less a sentiment of hope 
 than a cry of despair. While Mann was announcing 
 the victory of the Austro- Sardians near Placentia, 
 the defeated Franco-Spanish were not only denying 
 the fact but singing a Te Deum ! ‘ I suppose,’ says 
 
 Mann, ‘ because their army was not totally ruined.’ 
 
 Under the same date, Mann who complained that 
 his official despatches had become each a volume in- 
 stead of a letter, that he was kept writing through the 
 night, that his industry was not slackened by the cir- 
 cumstances of his salary being five years in arrear, and 
 that after all, his post day for writing was never com- 
 
238 
 
 THE WANDERING STUART. 
 
 1746. 
 
 plete without a letter to Walpole, — makes record: 
 — ‘that the Lightening Bomb was overset yesterday 
 near the Gorgona and was sunk immediately. The 
 Captain, Martin, and some of his officers were saved 
 by swimming, with 23 men only. Two of them sup- 
 ported the Captain, who could not swim at all, till he 
 was taken up by the other ships’ boats ; by this un- 
 fortunate accident 45 men were drowned. I am ex- 
 tremely sorry for it, but could not help laughing soon 
 after at a letter your cousin ’ (Townshend) ‘ has sent in 
 for Prince Lichtenstein to wish him joy of his noble 
 feats. On the tip-top of the page is “ My Lord,” and 
 then quite at the bottom, “ I beg leave to acquaint 
 your Highness that I have heard of your victory, from 
 H. Mann, Esqr.” all in English. Pray don’t mention 
 this ; (I disapprove of his language, stile, and spel- 
 ing) but he would hear of it, by some means or 
 other.’ 
 
 Florence was still in doubt as to the whereabouts 
 of Charles Edward. ‘ The letters from France,’ says 
 Mann, who disapproved of Townshend’s spelling, ‘possi- 
 tively say the Pretender’s son has escaped into France. 
 Still, many will not believe,’ adds Mann (who was not 
 pleased with ‘ the Commander’s stile ’), ‘ that he was 
 there in original, and applaud his substitute Perkin for 
 saving his principal’s character. Two ships arrived 
 some time ago, at Nantes, with several of his depend- 
 ants on board, many in number. The Duke of Perth 
 and his son are mentioned, but the first is said to have 
 died in his passage. The account says they were 
 attacked by three of our frigates and lost 30 of their 
 men, but escaped. Mons r Jean Drummond is 
 
1746. 
 
 UNCERTAINTY. 
 
 239 
 
 likewise named, “ et autres officiers ; ” and nobody 
 douts ’ (writes Mann) ‘ that the Pretender’s son is 
 there, though they won’t own it. They all debarked 
 the 7 th inst. The french ships are called the Mars 
 and the Bellona. It is monstrous our three ships 
 should let two escape, but perhaps some folks may be 
 as well pleased.’ 
 
 All Italy was eager to know what had become of 
 the ‘ boy.’ ‘ It is strange methinks,’ (9th of August) 
 ‘ that we can have no certainty about the existence of 
 the Young Pretender. We have had reports of his 
 having been taken, killed, and sunk in a french ship 
 on the Coast of Scotland, as he attempted to get off. 
 Others say, he is hidden in some of the Islands, and 
 that he cannot escape, while others believe him very 
 safe in France. . . . The father is certainly unhappy ; 
 but not so much as to indicate that he thinks him 
 in danger of his life. ’ 
 
 August dOth. — ‘I expect to hear by your next 
 letter that the Rebel Lords have been executed. I 
 want to write that news to Rome, and would add that 
 of the Son’s being taken. ’Tis wondrous strange there 
 is no news of him.’ 
 
 When Walpole described the trial of the Jacobite 
 Lords and the verdict to Mann, the natural good 
 feeling of the latter returned. Irritated as he was by 
 the Jacobites around him, he wrote : £ If the king 
 shews mercy, I shall be glad, so that he deprives 
 them of the power of even making an ill use of it.’ 
 When Walpole’s account of the execution of Lords 
 Kilmarnock and Balmerino arrived, Mann (September 
 27th) pronounced that of the first Lord to be 
 
240 
 
 JACOBITE HOPES. 
 
 1740. 
 
 ‘certainly very decent;’ Balmerino’s ‘much overdone.’ 
 ‘The executions,’ he said, ‘seem to make no impression 
 at Borne. They are as insolent as ever and say that 
 the hoy is still in Scotland, on a full assurance that 
 France is determined to put him in a situation to 
 punish effectually his father’s rebel subjects, for which 
 purpose, Sweden and the King of Prussia would 
 lend all their assistance. Dunbar talks this nonsense 
 daily. The letters from france say that the boy is 
 absolutely arrived at Ostend, but in a miserable 
 situation as to his health. Cardinal Albani has in- 
 formed me that the valet de chambre of the young 
 Pretender had arrived in Borne but had departed 
 instantly for Albano, so that time had not permitted 
 him to learn anything about him.’ 
 
 The death of Philip V. of Spain crushed all the 
 influence of his terrible consort, Elizabeth Farnese, 
 and the new King Ferdinand VI., guided by his wife, 
 Barbara of Portugal, abandoned the old Spanish 
 policy. The new course led to the cruel desertion, on 
 the part of France and Spain, of their late allies, 
 the Genoese, and to the further consequence of the 
 capture of Genoa by the Austrians. Their cruelty 
 and rapacity were without bounds ; but a full account 
 is to be read in Coxe’s ‘ House of Austria.’ Mann 
 refers to one of the articles of the treaty of submission 
 by which the Doge and two (Coxe says ‘ six ’) senators 
 were compelled to repair to Vienna, to implore the 
 clemency of the Empress Queen, and he compares this 
 humiliation with that inflicted by Louis XIV., ‘on 
 which occasion two medals were struck, one repre- 
 senting the bombarding of Genoa, with the legend 
 
1746. 
 
 CARDINAL AQUAVIVA. 
 
 241 
 
 “ Vibrata in superbos fulmina ! ” and at the bottom 
 “ Genoa Emendata ! ” The other on the submission at 
 Versailles, with “Genoa Obsequens ! ” It is remark- 
 able that the Doge of that time, as well as now, was 
 of the Brignoli family.’ 
 
 On the 22nd of November, Mann announces the 
 apparently imminent death of the chief enemy of 
 England, in Borne, Cardinal Aquaviva, whom Mr. 
 Chute thinks ‘ the great, nay the only, cause of the 
 insolences that are committed at Borne.’ Mr. Chute 
 ‘ will be horridly provoked if Aquaviva recovers from 
 the Articulo Mortis in which the Pope gave him his 
 blessing on the 18th. I really believe the Pope him- 
 self was glad to perform that function, as he was 
 always in the greatest awe of him ; and, they say, 
 would be an Austrian if he dared. Valenti still 
 sticks by him, however, and is as much a Spaniard 
 as Aquaviva was. Mr. Chute will tell you stories of 
 them both as will amaze you.’ 
 
 On December 13th, there is this further in- 
 telligence of the Cardinal,— the enemy alike of Maria 
 Theresa and of King George — ‘Mr. Chute will be sorry 
 to hear that Aquaviva is recovering. Pray tell him 
 
 that B sent to ask my pardon for having assured 
 
 me he must die. Everybody and he himself thought 
 so, otherwise he would never have confessed his villa- 
 nies in publick. The Pope who, I am sure, was glad 
 of it, said the next day to a Monsignore who had been 
 present : “ Eh, Monsignore, si fece un bel piangere 
 jieri ! ” At which the whole room burst out in 
 laughter.’ 
 
 Borne, at this time, was still weighing the pos- 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 R 
 
242 
 
 THE YOUNG PRETENDER. 
 
 1746 . 
 
 sibility of dethroning King George. ‘ The sly folks 
 there pretend,’ says Mann, £ to have discovered that 
 something is possitively in agitation again for the 
 young Pretender, which is to be executed this winter, 
 and that Spain has strongly engaged in it. I don’t 
 see how it can be, but I own to you the very notion 
 of it alarms me much. Cardinal Albani says posi- 
 tively that the Pretender’s eldest Son is to be married 
 to a second daughter of Modena, to whom the Duke is 
 to give the Dutchy of Novellara for a portion.’ 
 
 The first of the personal traits of this year refers 
 to Lady Walpole, Countess Or ford : — 
 
 April 19 th. — ‘I intend to scold you for sending us 
 back the Countess so rich and so saucy that there will 
 be no living in the same town. Her Richmond (her 
 maid) has had Richecourt’s advice to quit the house she 
 lives in, and which the laws of the country might have 
 obliged her to do, long ago, but they were so com- 
 plaisant as not to exert their power. ... I remember 
 well that Knight of the United families, as he called 
 himself, the Bouchiers and the Wreys. Pie lived with 
 his cousin Countess nata Rolles, here in Florence, and 
 was too wise and solemn for anybody there. I can 
 easily judge what he must be in the act of making his 
 own terms. I wish they would make the little Abbe 
 Secretary marry the chambermaid. She would pass 
 for a Dama Inglese, under my Lady's tuition here, 
 and be admitted to the learned conversation.’ 
 
 May 24 th. — ‘ I am in the most disagreeable situa- 
 tion imaginable ; in the midst of preparations for the 
 Chutes’ departure. They set out the day after to- 
 morrow. TRey were to have gone last Thursday, but 
 
17 ± 6 . 
 
 AN ENGLISH GENTLEMAN. 
 
 243 
 
 we walked too late together in the Garden. He 
 caught the gout again, and I a fever, with which 
 I was very bad all last week. Well ! it signifies 
 nothing to whine ; we must part. I shall never find 
 anybody again that is so comfortable in all my 
 requirements.’ 
 
 Then follows a notice of the travelling English in 
 general, and of a fashionable sample, in particular : — 
 
 ‘Your recommende Mr. Hobart is come at last, 
 and is so unlike all the English, that I adore him. 
 His regard and esteem for you is motive enough ; but 
 besides, he is extremely well bred, introduces himself 
 vastly well tc all your acquaintances, and is by them 
 as well received. He is the only Englishman that, for 
 a long time, has thought it necessary to speak to a 
 Dama. They go about with their jemmy frocks and 
 frightful staring hats, and exhibit themselves for 
 brutes everywhere. Whilst they despise all the best 
 company, Mr. Hobart seeks it, and is contented to be 
 laughed at by the rest. You will be surprized to hear 
 he is lodged at Lady Orford’s, and is so intimate with 
 me. When he met her in Holland, she pressed him to 
 accept of her house, which he did, but expects soon to 
 be turned out by her arrival. ... 1 cannot think my 
 Lady will be sorry to have so pretty a young man in 
 the house with her. I told him the other day that, on 
 my Lady’s return he would hear such strange stories 
 of me that, as fond as he now seemed, he would then 
 hate me ; he promised he would not, and I really 
 believe him. . . . The old acquaintances you esteemed 
 have not forgot you. I introduced Mr. Hobart to 
 them all, in your name, and he was witness to the 
 
244 
 
 GARDEN ASSEMBLIES. 
 
 1746. 
 
 many obliging things they said of you. The Princess 
 in particular was most gracious, and said no recom- 
 mendation could be so acceptable, which I assured her 
 I would tell you.’ 
 
 This English, gentleman was a supreme favourite 
 with the Florentines. ‘ Mr. Hobart,’ Mann writes on 
 the 14th of June, ‘ is frequently witness to my epuise- 
 ments and embarras. He supplies the place of the 
 Chutes, by coming to me after he has set all the 
 Dame in a twitter. You can’t think how they admire 
 him ; — how he admires them. How he will resist, I 
 can’t tell, but he has much business upon his hands ; 
 hitherto, he supports it very well. He often asks 
 for Cypress wine which, he says, is the best restora- 
 tive in the world. He contents himself to eat goose- 
 berry tarts every night with me, after having been 
 so long used to the elegant suppers with you at 
 White’s, — -what a change ! ’ 
 
 There was, however, compensation. ‘I have begun,’ 
 says Mann, on the 19th July, ‘my assemblies in the 
 garden which are vastly resorted to. Indeed they 
 are pretty. I intend to surprize them with a little 
 musick next Thursday, in bob- cherry walk. I cannot 
 announce it, as it would make the crowd too great.’ 
 
 News of the victory at Culloden, and of that 
 gained by the troops of Maria Theresa and the King 
 of Sard in ia, hardly gave Mann more pleasure than the 
 assurance that Lady Orford was not about to return 
 to Florence, and there make social war against the 
 minister. ‘Last week,’ he says (August 23rd), ‘arrived, 
 quite h I’improviste, the Abate Niccoli. He left the 
 Italian maid he brought from England at a villa the 
 
1746. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 245 
 
 first night not to alarm the town, as he said. I know 
 nobody that was alarmed, but the Eichmond ’ (Lady 
 Orford’s English maid), ‘she indeed was in violent 
 fuss, and in great hurry to execute the orders she 
 received to return. . . . My Lady’s furniture is put 
 into the hands of the famous Gavi. . ' . . She has wrote 
 to a person here ’ (Eichecourt) ‘ to tell him that when 
 she was on the point of settling affairs with my Lord, 
 he broke off, which would oblige her to stay longer in 
 England than she designed ; but as the Florentine 
 world has proofs enough of her amorous constitution, 
 the change of her resolution is attributed to some new 
 passion to which she has sacrificed the Count. ... I 
 fancy he will be better without her.’ 
 
 £ Mr. Hobart has not been at all considered. You 
 know be lodged at her house. I have told him he 
 deserves it, for his little delicacy in staying in a place 
 where he was received so ill ; for after the first week, 
 the Eichmond strip’d the house of almost all the 
 necessary furniture, under pretence of fitting up a villa 
 for my Lady, whom she said she daily expected ; so 
 that he was forced to hire what he wanted.’ 
 
 But none knew better than Mann the advantages 
 of living in Italy. On a day in September (27th) he 
 bursts out with the remark, ‘ You will agree with me 
 that Italy is a charming place. I wish indeed there 
 was a little more society. There is a vast deal of 
 company and crowd, but nothing of the former, and 
 unless one has a Cicisbea, one grows tired of their 
 great assemblies. The frequent Operas we have are a 
 great resource. One sits at home in one’s box, to 
 receive company, which one leaves when it is not 
 
246 
 
 MARCHES E FOLCO. 
 
 1746. 
 
 agreeable, and makes visits, or one attends to the 
 musick. The newly married daughters of Madame 
 Suares, the Piccori and Carducci, do not turn out so 
 well as might have been expected ; but people attri- 
 bute it to the extreme jealousy of their husbands, who 
 permit none but such as they chuse to be about them, 
 so that upon the whole they make a bad figure.’ 
 
 There were among the Florentines a few who 
 visited England, and depended on Mann’s introduc- 
 tion of them to Walpole, and on Walpole’s remem- 
 brance of kindnesses rendered to him in Florence. 
 Walpole was not flattered by the introductions, nor 
 was his memory burthened by much gratitude. Mann 
 smoothed his ruffled plumes. ‘You know, my dear 
 child,’ he says (Oct. 27th), ‘ the necessity I am under 
 on such occasions ’ (being asked for letters of introduc- 
 tion) ‘ of appearing something by shewing such atten- 
 tion to the Florentine nobility, and that I have nobody 
 but you to address them to. None of my own folks 
 would do on these occasions.’ This was written in 
 reference to Marchese Folco (son of the Marchese 
 Rinuncini who had been the representative in England 
 of Giovanni Gaston, the last of the Medici Grand Dukes 
 of Tuscany), whom Mann had sent to Walpole, who 
 remarks thereupon : ‘ I was glad to see him— after 
 I had got over being sorry to see him. . . . and in- 
 quired about fifty people that I had entirely forgot 
 till his arrival. . . . He told me some passages that 
 I don’t forgive you for not telling. Your Cicisbeatura, 
 Sir, with the Antinori ; and Manelli’s marriage and 
 jealousy. Who consoles my illustrious mistress ? ’ 
 Mann assures Walpole, at considerable length, 
 
1 746 . 
 
 ORANGE- FLO WEE WA TER. 
 
 247 
 
 that his politeness to Folco was highly appreciated by 
 his illustrious mistress, Griffoni, who was in grief 
 at the marriage of her Cicisbeo, Marchese Manelli. 
 Folco’s father thanked Mann with great solemnity : 
 “‘En vcrite, Monsieur le Chevalier, nous sommes tous 
 ;iu dernier point sensibles h toutes les graces ct bontds 
 <pie vous avez procure it mon fils.” He has wrote to 
 me in the same stile.’ In reference to Folco’s gossip, 
 Mann asks: ‘What has he been telling you about 
 me ? I assure you I am not quite a Cicisbeo. Sisistori 
 keeps close there. I go too, but not, constantly ; 
 neither do I believe that 1 will be more assidueous 
 when he marries the Lena Guadagni. A rigorous 
 Oieisbeatura would be too much for me. I have 
 neither time nor spirits to go through with it ; ne 
 potrei scrvirla secondo il suo merito. 
 
 4 I forgot to tell you of the cruel separation which 
 caused your Princess so many tears. Manelli pro- 
 mised to return, but has not kept his word. Perhaps 
 she still stays for him, and will not accept of any 
 other to supply his place.’ 
 
 Mann was constantly applied to, to execute com- 
 missions for friends in England, where at this time 
 a new scent was in favour. 4 l have of late had so 
 great, a demand’ (Nov. 22nd) 4 for orange-flower 
 water from England that T must conclude it is greatly 
 esteemed. Your uncle never thought he could have 
 enough, and then he desired some for Lady Catherine 
 Pelham. This has put it into my head to send you 
 a supply of it, and if you should not know what to 
 do with it, you may distribute it about to all the 
 females you have so lately praised.’ 
 
248 
 
 SATISFACTION. 
 
 1746. 
 
 Mann was too amiable to find trouble in anything, 
 now that the Rebellion was suppressed, the chief rebels 
 in their graves, the old Chevalier a helpless gentleman 
 at Rome, and ‘ bonny Prince Charlie,’ a wanderer on 
 the face of the earth. 
 

 A DUCAL TjT~RGT.A ~r 
 
 249 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 1747. 
 
 The chronicle of this year opens with a domestic story 
 which excited ranch attention at the time. In a 
 letter dated .January 10th, Mann informs his 'dear 
 child ’ — ‘ A terrible fracas has happened in Casa Stzozzi 
 at Rome by the dispersion of her famous Museum. 
 Whilst the Princess was here last summer, to marry 
 her second son to another Srrozzi, grand -daughter of 
 old Riccardi, her Cabinet at Rome was broke open, 
 and hundreds of ring's, both Intaglios and Cameos as 
 well as some Medals taken away. The poor old 
 woman did not discover it for some time, as there 
 were no outward marks of force either to the doors of 
 the rooms or the Cabinets. Judge of her amazement 
 and affliction when she opened them : for she both 
 understood and valued them. The thief must have 
 had at least twelve false keys. The whole assortment 
 was doubly locked and the Sanctum Sanctorum well 
 guarded ; but all was not sufficient to keep out the 
 sacrilegious hands of the villain whom all the family 
 and all the world calls Duke Srrozzi. her son The 
 Madonna escaped, as it is lelieved he thought it too 
 remarkable a jewel to dispose of. She has sent to 
 
250 
 
 THE OPERA AT FLORENCE. 
 
 1747 .' 
 
 desire me to enquire of all the Giojellieri and Orefici 
 upon the Ponte Yecchio of London, and to order the 
 Barghello to make diligent search in the Ghetto 
 among the Jews. Many of the things may indeed 
 be known as they are printed in the “ Florentine Mu- 
 seum.” One pities her extremely, not only for the 
 value of the things, but as the loss is irreparable. 
 They say the good old Princess pines about it ex- 
 tremely, and so much the more as by busily making 
 known her misfortune, she has totally discredited her 
 oldest son.’ 
 
 On the last day of January, Mann’s periodical letter 
 is full of the record of public gaiety : — ‘ You know,’ he 
 says, £ what a busy time the Carnival is. I partake 
 none of its amusements but the Opera, and yet that 
 deranges my whole system. The show at the Via 
 della Pergola is really magnificent. The Tesi has 
 been taken from her involuntary retirement, to act 
 Achilles ; and appears with great eclat , though she 
 trembled much the first night, believing that her 
 whole future reputation as an Actress was at stake ; 
 but she does extremely well and has the Gloria, as 
 she calls it, of having restored the Via della Pergola 
 Theater which indeed, by the first Opera produced 
 there, was quite sunk. She rants a little too much 
 whilst she is in woman’s cloaths ; but, they say, the 
 part requires it ; and, as all the Cavalieri Accademici 
 are Impresarii, the Ladies, who don’t love her, are 
 forced to applaud Putello, who does the part of Ulysses, 
 does it very well, too. He formerly, they say, sung 
 much better ; but he lost much of his voice at Naples, 
 so that in his Airs, he is not heard. Tire Fumagalli, 
 
1747. 
 
 TEE BALLET. 
 
 251 
 
 who acts Deidamia, is a good figure and well drest : 
 the rest are not worth naming. The Opera begins with 
 Dances and a numerous Chorus alia Francese, and the 
 whole is conducted with great pomp. There is in par- 
 ticular a great supper, during which the whole theater 
 is vastly illuminated, and it remains so for the Dances 
 which follow ; here, the unfortunate Saufterre, natural 
 son of the Regent and La Mar, gains great applause. 
 Hitherto, in Italy, the Dances were only Dances. 
 The scene opened and discovered the Dancers, who 
 began to dance, but now they are called Contrascene, 
 or Balli Significant!. The first is a Retour cle Chasse 
 Royale. They are seen at a great distance, marching 
 over mountains in procession, followed by crowds with 
 all proper and improper implements ; and then they 
 descend and dance. Upon the whole it is not called a 
 good Opera, but the most splendid entertainment over 
 seen in the Via della Pergola. They act every night 
 but Saturday, in opposition to the Via di Cucumero, 
 where there is a most vile Burletta ; but then there 
 is Denis and Pantateonina whom many prefer to 
 Saufterre and “ Sparecchiata Tavola,” so that parties 
 run very high. I dare not take mine. Twenty 
 English that are now here, have decided boisterously 
 for Denis, with all the Gens d'Armes and Citta- 
 dinanza, in opposition to all the Nobility. Judge 
 then, if it is not prudent to be neutral, which however 
 is no easy task ! 
 
 ‘ Those twenty English embarrass me much. It is 
 vastly the mode to entertain. They have separate 
 lodgings and french cooks, and one is tormented to 
 death. Some indeed entertain vastly well, and have 
 
252 
 
 ESCORTING A PRINCESS. 
 
 1747. 
 
 their hors d’ oeuvres and entremets, in great order. 
 Others who won’t give ten zecchins, (about 5 1.) a 
 month to a Cook, do not succeed quite so well, but 
 yet will imitate the fine way. Lord Hobart and I 
 were ready to burst with laughter t’other day, at a 
 noble table, where ten people were set down to a 
 first course of a soup and two hors d’oeuvres literally 
 consisting of a Mustard pot in a small dish and, 
 opposite to it, a plate of the vile white Radishes. The 
 mustard was to serve for the Bouilli which was to 
 relieve the Soup. I have escaped many dinners by a 
 fever which seized me last Tuesday whilst I was in 
 the hight of my Despatches. ... I was blooded the 
 next day, and went to the Opera, with the Princess ’ 
 (Craon) c last night, which unfortunately has exposed 
 me to a great dinner to day. I wish T could give 
 you a description of her setting forth, for it was her 
 first sortie after an epuisement and an accablement of 
 a fortnight. When we thought all was ready to 
 march, she sent Tozzoni into her room for twenty 
 things. Amongst others, he brought her half a hood to 
 hang over her whole face, to keep the air from striking 
 it, and a monstrous fan, or little screen, made of 
 linnen, with a long handle, for a servant to carry at 
 some distance before her, to prevent the air coming 
 with too much force against the covering to her face. 
 I was put into the Coach with her, and was vastly 
 afraid of hurting her, or squeezing her. I was heartily 
 glad when we got to the Theater where, you know, 
 she takes great precautions to arrive as the curtain 
 draws up, as she pleases herself with the notion that 
 it is done to do her honour ; — just as she attributed 
 
1747. 
 
 UNION OF THE CHURCHES. 
 
 253 
 
 the whole Corso at Rome, when she made her entry, as 
 coming there to make that magnificent.’ 
 
 ‘ Did I ever tell you that your Princess Griffoni 
 (who often enquires after you) has been abandoned by 
 Manelli. He took the opportunity of his marrying, on 
 a promise to return again, but has not kept his word, 
 and she was sometime without, quite sconsolata, till 
 (of very late) Bernardino Riccardi has left his black 
 Frescobaldi, to take to her. Jesus ! here is mad Mr. 
 St. John and Baron Stosch. The first is come to 
 persuade me to unite the Churches of England and 
 Rome ; and the latter to thank me for having sent the 
 corpse of his Brother to be buried at Leghorn. 
 
 ‘ . . . It was just as I said ; Mr. St. John has been 
 preaching to me for above an hour, to make it clear 
 that nothing is so proper or so easy as to bring about 
 this union ; and he is sure if I would but write to 
 King, Lords, and Commons, that they would all agree 
 as to the force of his arguments, and give their 
 consents to put all Dominion under the one or three 
 glorious crowns, so plain a symbol of the Trinity. On 
 his part he will engage to make the Pope accept the 
 laws of England and to prove to him that they are 
 Jesus Christ and the twelve Jurymen his Apostles ! 
 Poor man ! ’ 
 
 On February 14th, Mann announces the close of 
 the Carnival for the morrow, ‘the ashes of Wednesday 
 imbitter the pleasures of the last days ; but the last 
 days were rendered lively by a very curious English 
 display. On the night of the 13th, there was a great 
 ball in the Via della Pergola, at which many of the 
 English represented Free Masonry. Their habits were 
 
254 
 
 DANCING FREEMASONS. 
 
 1747 . 
 
 pretty, and Denis, the first dancer, who is a Master 
 Mason, composed a dance on purpose, which succeeded 
 very well. The Italians liked it as a masquerade, 
 which was all they knew of it. They danced it twice, 
 with great applause ; but the third time the people 
 were offended that their Tresconi was interrupted, 
 which occasioned some bustle, and had not General 
 Salvi threatened to put all the Fidlers into prison, 
 the Tresconi would have got the better. The Im- 
 presarij, I hear, are all offended (for I was not there so 
 late), and Lord March was so angry with them that 
 he proposed that each of the nine Free Masons should 
 fight an Impresario. They intended to appear in the 
 same habits, at the Ball, on Tuesday night, but the 
 fracas has made them alter their minds.’ 
 
 In the same letter, Mann refers to the course 
 adopted by the Jacobites in Borne and Florence. 
 ‘They are making use of the non-arrival of as many 
 as five posts, to publish their villanous reports. It is 
 supposed that Couriers can fly thro’ the air to them, 
 or that the holy people at Borne are instructed of what 
 passes in the remote parts of Europe, by their tutelar 
 Saints. Santa Sobieska ’ (the Princess Clementina 
 Maria Sobieska, grand-daughter of the famous John 
 Sobieski, King of Poland, was the clever and ill- 
 requitecl wife of the Pretender) ‘ no doubt has taken the 
 province of England, and wispers in her Lord’s ear 
 everything that passes at the English Court. I can 
 give you no better account for the assertions lately 
 given at the Palazzo dei Sti. Apostoli of the King of 
 England’s sudden death. It was by the first post 
 from thence whispered as a secret, and the next wrote 
 
1747 . 
 
 A POINT OF HONOUR. 
 
 255 
 
 publickly, and though not supported by any one 
 circumstance, yet by the vulgar it is credited ; the 
 prudent even are astonished at such a report, and in 
 vain endeavour to destroy it. Nothing but the 
 arrival of letters will be able to do that, which you 
 will imagine I wait for with the most cruel im- 
 patience.’ 
 
 The five posts arrived altogether, and on Feb- 
 ruary 28 th, Mann was replying to one letter of Wal- 
 pole’s, which was written on the previous Christmas 
 day. The chief incident or, as Mann says, ‘ a grand 
 affair,’ was, that ‘ a Lorrain Officer insulted M. 
 Langlois in the Theater of Leghorn. Upon the latter 
 returning the same language, the officer made up to 
 him to strike him, which Langlois prevented his doing, 
 by retiiing some steps and drawing his sword. This 
 is represented by the Corps Militaire as an affront to 
 every one who wears a uniform, and likewise a more 
 heinous affront to the Emperor and his Theater. Un- 
 luckily for the officers, the Kegency and all prudent 
 people look upon the necessity Langlois was in to 
 defend himself against a person who was the first 
 aggressor, as a great mitigation of his fault ; and on 
 the contrary they look upon the officer’s proceeding as 
 so irregular that they have represented the whole 
 affair to Vienna, knowing very well that the Militaire 
 would not submit to their decision, unless it were to 
 order Langlois’ head to be cut off for an example. 
 The Factory of Leghorn have made a representation, 
 and I have wrote such a letter to the Regency as has 
 pleased much. The Regency, all the Town, and many 
 even of the Officers are on my side. I expect Langlois 
 
255 
 
 THE YOUNG CHEVALIER. 
 
 1747. 
 
 this evening from Leghorn. His arrest in his house 
 there is to be changed to the City of Florence, for his 
 confinement, and the officer is not to stir from 
 Leghorn. This I obtained with some art, and it is 
 the only shadow of satisfaction the Regency can give 
 me.’ 
 
 Mann wanted even such shadows when he thought 
 of the affairs of the Pretender and the whereabouts of 
 Charles Edward. ‘ Letters from Rome say, he ’ (the 
 young Chevalier) ‘disappeared on a sudden; those from 
 Lions say he passed there on his way to Avignon, but 
 the Vice Legate there has assured the Pope that he 
 was not arrived nor expected. ... At the same time, 
 my sly friends at Rome assure me that they are per- 
 suaded something is in the air, and desire me to be 
 attentive. . . . They think that France will make a 
 descent on Ireland. ... I am not without anxiety on 
 that score.’ 
 
 A postscript referring to a Norfolk Squire named 
 Davis, who had copied so perfectly the famous Dome- 
 nichino as to deceive Mr. Chute, who was familiar with 
 the original, says : — ‘ 1 am afraid that neither your 
 Brother nor Cousin, who I hear are turned painters, 
 will make such a progress. I have a Commission to 
 send the first some Terra gialla di Siena, and to 
 the latter a load of Pastelli, which your Unkle has 
 wrote to me for, and which I can luckily send him 
 in the greatest perfection from hence, as Messina is 
 famous for making them.’ 
 
 On March 14th, Mann refers to the remarkable 
 Court Martial recently held on Commodore Towns- 
 hend. In April 1746, Townshend had informed the 
 
1747 . 
 
 NA VAL G 0 UllT-MAllTlAL. 
 
 257 
 
 Lords of the Admiralty that he had fallen in with a 
 squadron of the enemy’s ships, to which he gave chase 
 till discovering them to be French men-of-war from 
 Toulon, commanded he believed by M. de Lages, he did 
 not think proper to speak with them. The Lords of 
 the Admiralty, not approving of English naval com- 
 manders ruling the waves after this fashion, ordered 
 Townshend to be placed under arrest, and to be tried 
 by court martial, at Port Mahon, as soon as con- 
 venient. The trial did not take place till March, 1747. 
 It then appeared that if Townshind had been capable 
 of writing an intelligible letter in his own language, he 
 would not have found himself suspected of cowardice. 
 He had omitted to state that he had only one ship be- 
 sides his own, which he must have lost had he engaged 
 with de Lages, who had four ships. Mann says ‘ he 
 was honourably acquitted ... he was censured only 
 for his carelessness in writing, and ordered to ask their 
 Lordships’ pardon ; after which he was reinstated in 
 the command of his ship in which he had been a 
 prisoner for so many months.’ 
 
 A singular circumstance in connection with this 
 matter is to be found in Mann’s letter of the 14th 
 March. Townshend’s negligently written despatch to 
 the Admiralty passed through Mann’s hands, to be 
 forwarded to its destination. On which the British 
 Minister at Florence, says : ‘ It was horridly unlucky 
 that he did not send me his fatal letter open ’ (as most 
 of them used to do) ‘ in which case I certainly should 
 not have forwarded it.’ From which it is to be in- 
 ferred that the Minister used to read all unsealed 
 letters. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 s 
 
258 
 
 ROUTE OF THE YOUNG CHEVALIER. 1747 . 
 
 From private sympathy for Townshencl, Mann 
 turns to expressions of fear for the public weal. £ I 
 am alarmed,’ he says, £ since I received notice of the 
 preparations which Murray, (or the Roman Lord Dun- 
 bar) is making to set out for france. . . . Do you 
 think the Pretender would part with the only one in 
 whom he confides unless of some scheme of devilish 
 importance ? ’ 
 
 £ I can’t think what view the people of Rome 
 have in persisting to say the King is in a bad state 
 of health. You can’t imagine their insolence on this 
 head ; nay, many of our friends believe it. They 
 wish the contrary they say, but still the assertions 
 from so many parts stagger them.’ 
 
 The Minister’s fears had increased before he wrote 
 his letter of the 21st. £ We hear that the Pretender’s 
 
 son made a short stay at Avignon and, as all his 
 father’s people and friends say, is gone to Spain. The 
 extraordinary pains they take to persuade people of 
 this would make one doubt the truth of it, especially 
 as they add, as the motive of this journey, his having- 
 left France in great disgust. . . . Whether he be gone 
 to Spain or to some Port in France, it seems highly 
 probable that something is in agitation in his favour. 
 If he be gone to Spain, perhaps it may be a con- 
 trivance of France to raise a jealousy between England 
 and that Court, to prevent what they so much fear, 
 our separate accommodation. Murray’s departure from 
 Rome at this juncture adds to my suspicions ; . . . 
 He says he will depart about (our) Easter, — on ac- 
 count of his health ; that he shall stay some time at 
 Avignon and then proceed to France ; though those 
 
1747. 
 
 AN ITALIAN SPRING. 
 
 259 
 
 who believe the young Pretender is gone to Spain are 
 persuaded that Murray will follow him. . . . Lord 
 George Murray arrived at the Pretender’s, the 17th. 
 from Venice, where he left Lord Elcho ’ (whom Mann 
 more than once stigmatizes as a c fool ’) ‘ and other 
 rebels, and I believe Lord Marechal.’ 
 
 The letter ends with a sad incident. £ As Captain 
 Vanbrugh was returning from Mr. Townshend’s Court 
 Martial to his ship, his boat overset, and he and all 
 his men were drowned, which has vastly afflicted 
 M. Goldworthy who was his brother-in-law.’ Thus 
 Townshend’s carelessness in writing led to the sacrifice 
 of several lives. 
 
 While brave men lost their lives, others of little 
 worth were loaded with honours. ‘ The Count ’ 
 (Riclieeourt) £ is coming to ferret us. He is become 
 an Imperial Marquis, by the name of Traschiato ’ (if 
 he chuses to wear it). ‘ The Emperor has lately given 
 lfim a fief. ... I am vastly afraid my Lady may 
 come to Florence too ; pray watch her motions and 
 her degree of ardour for Mr. Shirley, that one may 
 know if she has any for the Florentine Earl — Marquis 
 di Traschiato and Grand Prior di Perugia.’ 
 
 From a long rambling letter of the 25th April, we 
 catch a breath of a last century Italian Spring. ‘ I 
 am sitting snugly by a good fire, on this 25th April, 
 which I would leave, however, to go to the Opera, 
 was it not for my letters. A week ago it was hot and 
 I left off my furs, and stopt up the chimney, I have 
 been forced to supply the first by a good warm waist- 
 coat, and shall continue the latter till all the snow 
 that is now on the hills round Florence be melted 
 into the Arno.’ 
 
260 
 
 JACOBITE VIEWS. 
 
 1747 . 
 
 In a passage on old Fraser of Lovat’s coming- 
 execution (a mere echo of Walpole’s account), Mann 
 says of the Popish Pretender’s captured followers gene- 
 rally: ‘The Florentines have sent’ (to them) ‘pompous 
 accounts of the ceremony. The reflections on con- 
 demning people for what their religion teaches them 
 to approve was not read to me.’ 
 
 May 1 6th . — ‘The Nuncio at Paris has wrote to 
 Rome that the young Pretender is in the neighbour- 
 hood of that place, and that the Court will make use 
 of him again to raise confusion in some part of Great 
 Britain, when the troops are in flanders, in order to 
 oblige the King to recall them. I have seen people 
 who pretend that the severity which was practised in 
 Scotland last year has exasperated the whole country, 
 and that greater numbers would rise on a second in- 
 vasion than did then, tho’ 1 cannot suppose nor can I 
 understand what they mean by severity when, in all 
 other countries hundreds of them would have been 
 hung up as soon as taken. I wish that the really not 
 using severity there may not make it absolutely 
 necessary hereafter. So soon as the present danger 
 is over, people seem to forget the cruelties that the 
 Rebels committed, and those which they would com- 
 mit again as soon as an occasion offered. 
 
 ‘ I assure you that the Jacobites abroad, both 
 English and foreign, flatter themselves still that some- 
 thing may and will be done. Holt and Munroe are 
 returned here from Rome, on the way ’tis said to 
 England. I should think some notice would be taken 
 of them, as their behaviour at Rome has been so 
 publickly insolent. They have not been with me or 
 
1747 . 
 
 AN ENGLISH PROJECTOR. 
 
 261 
 
 any of the English, but take the opportunity of 
 masking to go to the Theater. It was said here that 
 Bouverie, who was formerly with them, at Rome, and 
 constantly with the Pretender’s people, was forced, on 
 his return to England, to give hail for his behaviour, 
 and that Munroe’s pension as a traveling Physician, 
 had been taken from him, Pray tell me if these cir- 
 cumstances are true.’ 
 
 June 6th . — ‘We have two English here whom I 
 can’t understand, Mr. Mills and Mr. Davison. The 
 first introduced himself into the town with the title 
 of Colonel in the Empress’s service, and then concealed 
 that title ; he came from Vienna with strong recom- 
 mendations from Mr. Toussaint, and they say he is 
 to command a Batallion of Marines lately raised here. 
 He appears to have been much about London and 
 knows everybody. He appears to be rich by the 
 number of servants he keeps. Both he and Davison, 
 who formerly travelled with Lord March, and was at 
 the Accademy at Turin, have made up laced uniforms, 
 blue and red. The former speaks no language but 
 English, and the other very little french and italian. 
 They make continual jaunts to Leghorn and Pisa. 
 Mr. Mills has lost one of his forefingers.’ 
 
 The Empress’s Colonel, who knew every body in 
 England, was not known there. Walpole could learn 
 nothing of him. If he ever made a noise in England, 
 be, like Projectors generally, was forgotten, as soon as 
 out of sight. ‘Lord Bolingbroke, Sarah Malcolm, and 
 old Marlborough,’ says Walpole, ‘ are never mentioned 
 but by elderly folks to their grandchildren, who had 
 never heard of them. What would last Pannoni’s’ 
 
262 
 
 LORD HOBART. 
 
 1747. 
 
 (coffee house at Florence) ‘ a twelvemonth is forgotten 
 here in twelve hours.’ Walpole says of the doctor, 
 ‘ that Monro you mention was made travelling phy- 
 sician, by my father’s interest, who had great regard 
 for the old doctor. If he has any skill in quacking 
 madmen, his art may perhaps be of service now in the 
 Pretender’s Court.’ — The travelling Englishmen in 
 Italy were not all in the Chevalier’s service. ‘ Lord 
 Hobart,’ says Mann, ‘ is still at Naples, but proposes 
 to be here the end of the month. His resolution, 
 however, does not I believe depend upon him, but 
 with some body there with whom he is vastly smitten.’ 
 The same letter affords the following illustration of the 
 lady who was at the head of the Court at Florence — - 
 ‘The Princesse is gone to the Petraja. I must tell you 
 a most delicate expression she made use of. I asked 
 her if she would be at the Procession of Corpus 
 Domini. — “Non, monsieur, mais je vous assure que je 
 suis fatiguee de l’idee que j’avais d’y aller.” Which 
 may be very true, for with that idea, she waked- sooner 
 than usual, and then determined not to go.’ Walpole 
 replies with an illustration of English bizarrerie. A 
 Fleming, at Rome, one Verskovis, an artist in ivory, 
 had moved from Rome to England, where Walpole 
 employed and recommended him, ‘ but he is starviug,’ 
 writes Walpole, ‘and returning to Rome, to carve for 
 — the English, for whom, when he was there before, 
 he could not work fast enough ! ’ The Bouverie who 
 figured at the Pretender’s Court in Rome, was thought 
 none the worse for it, in England, if he was akin to 
 the person alluded to by Walpole (June 26th). ‘Sir 
 Jacob Bouverie, a considerable Jacobite, who is made 
 
1747. 
 
 HENRY STUART, A CARDINAL. 
 
 263 
 
 Viscount Folkestone, bought his ermine at twelve 
 thousand pounds a yard, from the Duchess of Kendal 
 d’ciujourd’hui’ (Lady Yarmouth, the King’s mistress). 
 —But a more important question of ermine had to be 
 noticed by Mann. 
 
 June 27th . — ‘The Pretender’s second son is to be 
 made a Cardinal. The ceremony is fixt for the 3rd 
 of next month ; but violent quarrels have happened 
 about the Ceremonial, on this occasion. He pretends 
 to wear Ermine on his Cappa as a sign of Royalty, 
 and consequently to take place of Cardinal Ruffo and 
 all the other Cardinals, by whom he insists on being 
 visited. All this and much more has alarmed the 
 Eminences. Cardinal Ruffo went to Castle Gandolfo, 
 to expostulate with the Pope upon it. He as usual 
 turned everything into ridicule, but the Cardinal con- 
 tinued with great warmth, and in the name of all the 
 Cardinals, to support their rights. Nothing has yet 
 been decided, but a Congregation is to be held on pur- 
 pose as soon as the Pope returns to Rome. 
 
 ‘ The future Young Cardinal’s family is settled ; 
 he is to have a Monsignore Leigh for a Maestro di 
 Camera, a very noble Irishman born at Cadiz of a 
 little merchant there ; two Sicilian Marquises for his 
 Major Domo and Cup-bearer ; and an Abbe Folingieri 
 for Segretario dell ’ Embasciate. You know the Car- 
 dinals have people about them with these titles, but as 
 all the above are supposed to be vastly noble, the other 
 Cardinals grumble at it. They say he is to be Legate 
 of Avignon, for life, and that he is to have the Areh- 
 bishoprick Monte Reale, which Aquaviva had, and 
 which they say is worth near 100,000 Ducats a year. 
 
264 HIS EMINENCE. CARDINAL YORK. 1747 . 
 
 Is not lie vastly in the right to become Cardinal ? 
 The eldest brother, they say, is certainly to marry 
 soon, but people now differ about the person.’ 
 
 July 11 th . — ‘ Lord Hobart, who has left for awhile 
 his loves at Eome, is here. He tells me he has sent 
 you the Pope’s famous speech on creating the 
 youngest Pretender a Cardinal. It is to be sure, very 
 ridiculous, but I don’t see what the Pope could say on 
 the occasion. I send it this evening; to his Grace. 
 They were so difficult to be got that I have been 
 forced to keep a copy only for myself. 
 
 * . . . The Queen of Naples has lately produced 
 a son, for which the King gave her £ Ducats, and ^ 
 more yearly for her pin money. I think it was paying 
 too dear for an heir to such a crown, that may be 
 taken so easily from him. The Austrians abuse us 
 constantly for having prevented them making that 
 conquest instead of going to ruin their army in 
 Provence which, and all their misfortunes after, they 
 attribute to us. . . 
 
 August 1st — ‘The Pope seems vain of his new 
 little Cardinal and, to show him great honour, ordered 
 that the Poman Senate should make him a visit in 
 great ceremony, which was performed last week, but 
 not in the manner it was designed. The intention was 
 that that august Assembly, represented by four Con- 
 servatori, should mount an antient Char drawn by four 
 horses in front. Prince Borbonini had an old one 
 which was furbished up for the occasion. Prince 
 Colonna was to furnish horses, but unluckily the very 
 morning of the function a dispute arose between them, 
 each pretending that the C'occhio should depart from 
 
1747 . 
 
 THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND. 
 
 265 
 
 liis palace to go to the Capitol to take the Senator, and 
 each being too obstinate to give up that honour, the 
 Conservatori were forced to go in coaches, followed 
 by many Prelates and noble Romans to the young 
 Cardinal’s house (whom they call Cardinal d’ Oreo) ’ 
 (York) ‘to whom they made a pompous Latin speech 
 which he answered in the same language. I have 
 been promised them both, and if they are ridiculous 
 enough, I will send them to you.’ 
 
 ‘ . Prince Craon and the others tell me that 
 the letters from Paris are full of grief on this occa- 
 sion ’ (the almost fruitless victory gained at Laffeldt, 
 by the French, under Saxe, over the Duke of Cum- 
 berland) ‘ as most of the principal families have lost 
 some relation. Young Beauvau, to his joy, has lost 
 a M. de Richelieu, an Unkle, I think, of his wife, 
 by which she inherits something considerable ; on 
 which occasion, I made my compliments to the 
 Princesse, last night ; which she, for decency thought 
 herself obliged to receive with an Helcis ! that sighed 
 through the whole Gallery. Everybody allows that the 
 Duke behaved as bravely as possible, that the English 
 troops did wonders, and that if the Dutch had done as 
 well, and the Austrians could have fought, that our 
 victory would have been compleat. It is horridly 
 unlucky that something should always happen to 
 prevent it being so, and to deprive us of what we 
 were so near obtaining.’ 
 
 Referring to the war which Spain had been so 
 long carrying on, — latterly, on the Spanish King’s 
 part, in order to provide for his brother, Don Philip ! 
 — Mann says, ‘ Surely the King of Spain will be con- 
 
266 
 
 A BANKRUPT CARDINAL. 
 
 1747. 
 
 vinced, at least of the impossibility of making a 
 settlement for his Brother by such means. The 
 Court of Spain has spent five times as much (without 
 being at all the nearer) as would have purchased more 
 than it ever had a view to conquer.’ — Then, turning 
 to the subject of a settlement for Cardinal York, 
 Mann writes 
 
 August 22 nd . — ‘An odd Phenomenon has happened 
 at Eome, a Bankrupt Cardinal ! by name Borghese. 
 Neither the Pope, for the honour of his Purpurea, or 
 his family would assist him, so that he lately took 
 the resolution to retire from Rome, and ordered his 
 family ’ (household) ‘ to be dismissed, and all he had to 
 be sold, to pay his creditors, who must be contented 
 with a very small matter per cento. Cardinal Gua- 
 dagni, hearing his situation, would have resigned to 
 him, on very generous terms, his Badia di Grotta 
 Terrata, but the Pope would not give his approbation, 
 and now presses Guadagni to resign it, on the same 
 terms, to the new Cardinal Di Oreo, for whom they 
 seem resolved to make a revenue suitable to his Royal 
 and Eminent dignity.’ 
 
 September 19 th . — ‘The Great Duke, as such, has 
 made a treaty with the Grand Signor, in consequence 
 of which a commerce is to be opened with the Levant, 
 from which the Ministers (but nobody else) think 
 great advantages are to come to Tuscany. A present 
 is preparing to be sent to Constantinople, worth about 
 <£5000 ; silks, watches, snuff-boxes, and other toys of 
 John Gaston ’ (the last of the Medicean Dukes) ‘who 
 little thought when he bought them that they would 
 fall into the hands of the Turks. Louis is making six 
 
1747. 
 
 CAFFARELLI, A DUOAL VOCALIST. 
 
 267 
 
 gold Razors which it is thought may induce the Sultan 
 to shave his beard, or his favourites, a l’uso Italiano. 
 
 £ Caffarelli sings most divinely well. The Viconti 
 is strangely fallen. Our second Opera begins on 
 Sunday and will be acted in a hurry, to give time 
 to Caffarelli to get to Naples by the latter end of 
 October, to prepare for the great Cantata which is 
 to be performed among the proposed rejoicings for 
 the birth of the Duke of Calabria, which are to last 
 from the 4th to the 19th of November. Most of the 
 English now here will return thither ; the Cantata is 
 to be a Duo by Caffarelli and Egiziello, and a trio, 
 by adding Babi. Caffarelli swears he will make Egiz- 
 iello sing out of tune. He did so by the Astrua, and 
 then publickly beat time to her, for which he was 
 sent to Prison. He has been very good here, and 
 says that in this place, insignificant as it is, he has 
 observed that there are people who know what good 
 singing is, and has promised to give them something 
 fine for the next Opera. I must tell you a bon mot 
 of his. He asked the Zippoli, a very bad singer, who 
 was her Protector ? She answered that she had 
 none but Gesu e la Musica ! To which he replied, ££ I 
 advise you my dear to make much of the first, for 
 you can expect but little from the second.” ’ 
 
 Caffarelli, who insulted that excellent singer, the 
 Astrua, as well as the less distinguished vocalist, the 
 Zippoli, was a pupil (with Farinelli) of Porpora. He 
 made a great fortune, and took care of it. He built 
 a superb palace, on which was inscribed, ‘Amphion 
 Thebas, Ego Domum ! ’ He bought the estate, which 
 carried with it the ducal title of Santo Dorato ; and 
 
268 
 
 PRINCE PA WFILI. 
 
 1747. 
 
 in 1783, at the age of fourscore, the Sol Fa Duke 
 of Santo Dorato left land and territorial title to his 
 nephew. As a contrast with the liberally spending 
 Caffarelli, Mann thus depicts a noted Prince of that 
 time : — 
 
 November 7 th . — ‘We have lately had here the 
 rich Prince Pamfili, the heir of his brother’s monstrous 
 estate of ^ crowns per annum, and 1,700,000 crowns 
 in ready money. I assure you I have taken care not 
 to put a figure too much ; and this creature who has 
 lived upon love and, at most, 10 pauls a day, at Pisa, 
 is now become more covetous since his brother’s death. 
 One instance will be sufficient. He was here with his 
 love, a Pisan Dam a, and all her family, on the Em- 
 peror’s day, (St. Francis) and being in deep mourning, 
 was under necessity to make a coat, to dine at Prince 
 Craon’s. He had, he said, long determined to make 
 up a plain beaver coat, for the winter ; he therefore 
 took that opportunity to execute it, plain buttons, etc., 
 and in order to make it Gala, he actually bought of 
 the Jews some old silver lace, a stripe of which h e 
 put down behind all the button-holes for that day 
 only, and borrowed an old silver waistcoat of some- 
 body, to wear with it, which he was obliged to open 
 on both sides, to make big enough ; for though he 
 starves himself, he has a big belly.’ 
 
 On the 10th October Mann describes characters of 
 another sort. ‘We have,’ he says, ‘a Spectacle which, 
 for the oddity of it, everybody goes to, once ; — a deep, 
 horrible tragedy, represented by Maynards (sic). The 
 actors and actresses and the whole troop have most 
 enormous natural humps, and the Impresario designed 
 
1747. 
 
 SCENE TN AN OPERA BOX. 
 
 269 
 
 to dedicate the piece to Gobbo (bump-backed) Dati, but 
 was afraid for his own. The Craons were there last 
 night ; she promised to carry me but forgot it, and "1 
 I preferred the Opera. The last time the Princess was 
 there, her dignity was doubly hurt. When the boxes 
 applauded Saufterre (the dancer) the Pit hissed, to 
 impose silence to show their regard to Denis (ballet- 
 master) who, after having danced in the first Opera, 
 went to Naples. The Princess thought her presence 
 ought to have imposed more respect, and attributed the 
 little riot, as “faute d’ attention a certaines personnes.” 
 Then a soldier came into the box, to tell Chatelet the 
 Venice Post had arrived, which he Avould not (accord- 
 ing to their rules) pronounce, without first shouldering 
 and presenting his musket. The Princess, who had 
 never seen such a sight in a room, — an impudent 
 fellow to come in with his hat on, and gun in his 
 hand, thought he was come to arrest somebody, and 
 declared she was never so shocked in her life. Neither 
 the Prince or the General could pacify her or make 
 her sensible that it was not a direct affront to her, 
 “mais qu’elle ne s’exposerait plus a des telles sur- 
 prises ! 
 
 Mann complains of the dullness of Florence at 
 this time, and that even as Minister, he has little to do, 
 but he was vigilant : ‘ Mr. Mill,’ he says, ‘ will soon be 
 in England to take care of the prizes which the three 
 great Privateers have taken, which, according to our 
 papers (the Evening Post, No. 240) and his letters, as 
 well as those from Vienna, are of an immense value. 
 They say the Emperor’s share is .£100,000, and that of 
 Mill £40,000, besides ^ more which, he says, he shall 
 
270 
 
 TEE LADIES. 
 
 1747. 
 
 get upon the agency of the whole prise. All this, and 
 that the ships belong to the Emperor, Richecourt and 
 Mill suppose I know nothing of.’ 
 
 Mann reiterates his complaint (Dec. 19th) over the 
 dullness of the Tuscan city, but one portion of his 
 four-paged letter is lively enough : ‘ Everybody 
 
 is still in the country, so that one does not know 
 where to pass the evenings in the week. I have 
 somehow fallen into a new set, merely for want of 
 other company ; Lorraine Dames, who receive each 
 other by turns, because they cannot get on with those 
 of the country, chi non le vogliono. Among them, 
 however, is a daughter of old Mme. Sarasin, whose 
 wig you must remember. This new comer is Comtesse 
 Giovecourt, a mighty good sort of woman, and 
 extremely intimate with Richecourt, whose favour 
 I lost by a Lady ’ (Orford), ‘ and have a chance of 
 regaining it by another ; so whimsically things turn 
 out. 
 
 ‘ Your friend the Albizzi has been long ill and 
 still in danger of falling into a consumption. The 
 cause of her malady is said to be jealousy of Marquis 
 Corsi, of whom she is excessively fond ; but he is too 
 pretty, too young, and too rich to be constant. He 
 has had loves with a famous dancer, and has taken an 
 honour which an English Lord of our acquaintance 
 has a greater right to (but you must not say a word of 
 this to Lord Hobart) ; but what hurt Mme. Albizzi 
 most, they say, was jealousy of her mother, Madame 
 Dini, with Corsi, with whom he passed some days 
 alone in the country ; therefore you must not be 
 surprised at anything of this nature. 
 
1747 . 
 
 RIVAL SINGERS. 
 
 2 71 
 
 ‘ Yon have heard of the great doings at Naples, 
 and the rivalship between Caffarelli and Egiziello, 
 which luckily did not, as was expected, disturb the 
 festa. Upon Caffarelli’s arrival at Naples, Egiziello 
 went to make him a visit, and was received by that 
 saucy creature upon a stool, where he sat during the 
 whole visit. The affair was made up by mediators, 
 and afterwards they appeared good friends.’ 
 
272 
 
 AN ECCENTRIC PEER. 
 
 1748. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1748. 
 
 Mann opens the year 1748 with a sketch of an 
 eccentric English peer, Lord Ashburnham ; the second 
 Ear] (1737-1812). ‘He despised the nobility here 
 because they did not adore him, and naturally was 
 rampant to the lower rank, to obtain homage. I 
 never saw his pride so much hurt as when he saw the 
 court that was paid to a son of M. D’Argenson. His 
 peerage was ready to burst. Clark continually tickled 
 him with dissertations on the differences between an 
 English Peer and a little frenchman. You know to 
 be sure that he did not go to Rome, for fear of being- 
 seized as a hostage for the Pretenders son who was 
 then in England ; though the real secret was that 
 Clark, whose brother was a footman to the Pre- 
 tender, did not choose to go to be claimed by him. 
 Basta ! We have no English here now ; and so much 
 the better. We have indeed an amphibious creature 
 who causes great speculation. It is the famous Mr. 
 Mill, who is known, I am told, in England, by the 
 name of Mill the Projector. Well does he deserve 
 that name here ; for he has filled their heads with 
 such projects that will either ruin them, or hurt as 
 
1748. 
 
 DEATH OF BINUNCINI. 
 
 273 
 
 much, if they are put in practice. Hitherto, I believe 
 by the notices I have sent, they have been stopt, but 
 not abandoned. He went from hence lately to proceed 
 to England, but on his arrival at Vienna, they reflected 
 on the dangers he might be exposed to, and sent 
 O’Kelly in his stead. Mill, however, is very civil and, 
 what I believe you call, a very jolly fellow.’ 
 
 Eccentric as many of the English were who 
 sojourned in Florence for a time, the Florentines them- 
 selves furnished some strange samples. In a long- 
 letter of the 6th February, in which Mann speaks at 
 great length of his illness, he passes from that topic to 
 announce the death of the Marchese Einuncini, ‘ who, 
 from being tollerably, was seized with an appoplexy, 
 after which he was never perfectly in his senses, and 
 died a few days after, not to the great regret of his son 
 (Folco) who, however, during his illness, behaved 
 extremely well and distributed great charities, as is the 
 custom in like cases here. He gave a large quantity 
 of bread to all the poor of the quarter, GO beds, and 
 released many poor prisoners for debt, besides many 
 things of the like nature. The body was exposed with 
 great state the afternoon before it was buried, which 
 was the day after his death ; and the procession from 
 his house to Santa Croce was very great. His will 
 was soon opened, but it was made so judiciously that 
 people cannot judge what he died worth. Some of 
 his legacies were extraordinary : — to his daughter in 
 law a piece of plate worth 50 crowns, and the choice 
 of a jewel ; to his two sisters, the Baronessa del Nero, 
 and Mme. Buondelmonte 50 crowns each, which his 
 son, out of extraordinary generosity, doubled ; so that 
 vor. r. 
 
 T 
 
274 
 
 LENT. 
 
 1748. 
 
 they have £26, 5 shillings sterling each ; to his dear 
 wife, an exhortation, at the death of her mother, to 
 relinquish the 300 crowns a year which Casa Rinun- 
 cini has always allowed her for pin money. The only 
 thing handsome is that, besides a small sum to all his 
 servants, he obliges his son to pay them their wages 
 for life ! 
 
 ‘ The young heir has not yet had time to show 
 himself, nor can we judge yet whether his excessive 
 riches will make him as good an oeconomist as his 
 father.’ 
 
 It was of similar samples that Boccacio said, ‘ V o 
 ragionar d’ un Marchese, non cosa magnifica ! 5 
 
 February 27th . — ‘We have but very few hours 
 more of Carnival ; to make the most of them, there 
 has been an Opera this morning in the Via della 
 Pergola, and there is now a ball in the same place 
 which will last till morning ; many suppers over the 
 town, to lay in as much grease as they can to support 
 the maigre of Lent. To-morrow will be a vile day, 
 everybody sleepy and fatigued with the past pleasures, 
 though they cannot bear the thoughts of their being 
 over, and of the dull doings of Lent. It is indeed 
 a disagreeable time, but I comfort myself with the 
 approaching of the Spring; how many thousands there 
 are who dread it ! What a good work the Ministers at 
 Aix would do to prevent the slaughter that must 
 otherwise ensue. 
 
 ‘ The weather is extravagant ; some few fine days 
 we have had and the sun hot ; but this morning it 
 snowed plentifully in the town, and it is excessive 
 
 cold. . . .’ 
 
1748. 
 
 TEE EX-KING STANISLAUS. 
 
 275 
 
 March 5th . — c I got as far as this last tuesday, 
 but was interrupted by visitors who, having a strong- 
 motive for not appearing at the theater, made a merit 
 of passing their evening here. 0 the Seccatori ! (bores) 
 and, would you believe it ? no sooner were these words 
 out of my pen than I receive a message from the 
 Generale and Generaiessa Salin, to tell me they will 
 come here to prevent me writing too much, which 
 they know must hurt me. ... You wonder at my 
 taking to Lorrainers ; they took to me ; but really 
 they are more sensible than the Italians. The latter 
 will come to a festa in crowds, but you must re- 
 member there is no Society among them.’ 
 
 ‘ . . . I can tell you a secret, that the Princess 
 will certainly carry the Prince soon to his native 
 country (France), after which they both sigh, “ Nescio 
 qua natale solum” etc. — and besides the many motives 
 of disgust they have here, King Stanislaus ’ (the ex- 
 King of Poland, residing at Nancy) ‘ courts them 
 extremely. The Abbess of some place, a daughter of 
 this Prince, died lately of the small pox, and K. 
 Stanislaus of his own motion ferreted out a very 
 distant cousin to give that post to. He wrote to the 
 Prince about it with his own hand: “ Faites moy la 
 confiance; si vous avez quelque Batard dans ce pais 
 afin que je lui puisse faire du bien. Venez, venez, 
 nous vivrons ensemble.” But how will the Princess 
 bear his horrid pipe ? — which he must smoak to the 
 end of his life. 1 
 
 Walpole used to mock our English Summer as 
 setting in with its usual severity. The Spring in 
 Italy was equally severe. On the 25th March, Mann 
 
276 
 
 FIRE ON BOARD SHIP. 
 
 1748. 
 
 tells him : ‘ It snows almost every clay in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Florence ; and, on the mountains ; to get 
 to us, they talk of the mountains being many braces 
 high (sic). This makes it impossible for some English, 
 as Mr. Brownlow, etc., to venture that way, though 
 they are in haste to get to England. Tell Mr. Chute 
 this, as he loves that harmonious little man, and will 
 be glad to see and hear him play in England.’ 
 
 ‘ . . . A horrid accident happened at Leghorn by 
 an English merchant ship taking fire in the Mole 
 amidst above 200 other ships. The consternation was 
 equal to the dreadful consequences that were expected. 
 Mr. Harvey was the lucky instrument to prevent them 
 by a resolution, as judicious as it was courageous, and 
 the only one that could succeed. He returned imme- 
 diately to his ship, manned his boats, and whilst he 
 himself was cutting the cables of the ship that was 
 burning, the powder room took fire, but luckily the 
 quantity of powder was not great, neither did the 
 cannons (16), which fired as they grew hot, do any 
 harm, so that he towed the ship out to sea. He, by 
 this gallant action, merited the thanks of everybody. 
 Every one pressed to him to express their acknowledg- 
 ments ; the Governor went in person, and yesterday I 
 read a message from the Council to desire me to 
 convey them thanks to him, and to tell me they would 
 acquaint the Emperor with the signal service he had 
 done.’ 
 
 ‘ The Emperor has lately sent orders to continue the 
 Process against the Signori that embezzled the corn of 
 the publick granary, and who have been ever since in 
 the Fortress ; their vast Parentado expected a milder 
 
1748. 
 
 CARDINAL ALBANI. 
 
 277 
 
 fate ; poor Madame Borgkerini whose father and hus- 
 band are both equally concerned, fainted t’other day 
 when this notice was given her, though the last had 
 employed a Jesuit to carry her the news with all the 
 precautions imaginable.’ 
 
 In the letter of April 9th, Mann enters into exten- 
 sive details as to his fruitless applications for his 
 arrears of pay. The receipt of each application is 
 acknowledged, and its justice allowed, but nothing 
 further is done, he says, — not even by ‘ the person’ 
 whom Mann evidently remunerated in order to keep 
 his grievance before the Foreign Secretary. £ Basta! 
 I can do no more !’ — and he then chronicles the doings 
 at Borne and in Florence £ I cannot in the least 
 tell why, but the Pretender is retiring ; if this means 
 anything, it does him honour. 
 
 £ Cardinal Albani has been honourably dismissed 
 from meddling with the Queen’s affairs at Borne. She 
 wrote to him to thank him for his past services and 
 accompanied it with a rich cross of Malta set with 
 Diamonds, and to soften the matter still more, the 
 Emperor has declared him Corn-Protector (sic) of the 
 Empire and of the Hereditary States of the Queen. 
 Cardinal Mellini has been appointed her Minister 
 Plenipotentiary with, I believe, all the Salary. The 
 Cardinal (Albani) is excessively mortified, though, he 
 does not own it in his letters to me. He is vastly 
 employed about his nephew’s marriage with the second 
 Princess of Massa and pleases himself with the prospect 
 of that Estate coming to his family. The Sposa passed 
 by here last week. Princess Craon made a mighty 
 fuss with her puzza di Altezza, as they say here ; but 
 
278 
 
 CASA CBAON. 
 
 1748. 
 
 as she had no pretensions to deny the pas to our 
 Princess, every tiling passed off mighty well and she 
 had an epuisement, neither before or after, such as your 
 Princess of Modena gave her by refusing her the right 
 hand.’ 
 
 May 7th . — ‘Every body is grown stupid here. . . . 
 Even scandal seems to be banished from Pannoni’s 
 (coffee house) which was the only tiling diverting 
 that I ever heard it produce. . . . Unless there be a 
 theatre open Florence is, to be sure, the most unsociable 
 place in the world. One must either be alone or in a 
 crowd. Casa Craon is no longer any resource. It is 
 so eclypsed that one never meets any body there but 
 an odd set of folks who resort there merely for the 
 convenience of Cards, and Candles to play at Minchiate, 
 for scratches ; though, at the Old Palace, there are 
 crowds on publick days. 
 
 ‘We are expecting the famous Mrs. Morehead ’ 
 (one of the ladies who congratulated him in England, 
 on the appointment which established him at Florence). 
 ‘ It is possible she may cause some diversion. Her 
 history you may have heard, and how she got into 
 a great Estate that belonged to a Mr. Hunt who died 
 in her company at Paris, and for whom she put on 
 weeds on her return. . . . She travels, I hear, with 
 great magnificence, and is thought a great lady, which 
 I must not contradict.’ 
 
 For five weeks Mann was at the Baths of Pisa. 
 He thought his ‘clear child’ must be as interested as 
 himself in his ailments, and he never fails to describe 
 the most minute particulars. However, at the Baths, 
 Mann recovered health and strength : ‘ 1 found only 
 
1748. 
 
 POPE, PRIEST, AND EMPEROR. 
 
 279 
 
 one inconvenience there,’ he writes (July 2nd), ‘ which 
 was the number of visits I received daily from Leghorn, 
 so that should I have it in my power to return them 
 next season, I am resolved to fix some rule with regard 
 to that article, and appoint two days in the week to 
 receive the Leghorn Gentry.’ Richecourt had some 
 stake at Pisa, and thinking the English Minister’s visit 
 and recovery would give a fashion to the waters and 
 the place, ‘ he has promised,’ says Mann, c to put me 
 into the book which Doctor Cocclii is, by order, 
 writing about them. Next to the Pope’s Neice, a 
 Nun who went there last season, I expect to make 
 the best figure.’ 
 
 c We have the famous Mrs. Morehead here,’ 
 (Florence) ‘ whom I must pass off for a Dama of con- 
 dition, since she has passed in Lorraine and France on 
 that foot ; but some ill-natured people have whispered 
 her story, and I wish it does not make an eclat. She 
 dines here to-morrow with all the rest.’ 
 
 On July 23rd, after a description of how he was 
 repairing and beautifying his villa to the general 
 admiration, Mann relates a very pretty quarrel between 
 Pope, Priest, and Emperor : — ‘ An odd affair has hap- 
 pened here, of which I must give you a little account, 
 as it employs the attention of every body and may 
 have consequences. About a year ago, the Abbe 
 Dumesnil, brother to the Major of that name, an 
 intimate friend and confidant of the Court, w r as, on 
 that account, nominated to the Bishoprick of Yolterra. 
 He w 7 as, by accident, making a visit at the Archbishop 
 of Pisa’s, when he met Senator Ruccellaj, with whom 
 some little dispute arose, and though by the insolence 
 
280 
 
 POPE AXD BISHOP. 
 
 1748. 
 
 of the Abbe some harsh words were interchanged, yet 
 they separated in appearance with civility. Dumesnil, 
 however, reflecting on his future grandeur in the 
 Church, thought this was a good opportunity to give 
 proofs of his zeal for it, and with this view began to 
 accumulate accusations against Ruccellaj, as an enemy 
 to the Church ; and he insisted with great haughtiness, 
 that he should be removed from his employment as 
 Auditor of the Jurisdizione (an employment which 
 obliges him to defend the Great Duke’s right against 
 the encroachments of the Priests). The Regency did 
 not think it at all necessary to comply with Dumesnil’s 
 demand . . . and the Archbishop of Pisa, and others 
 present at the quarrel, were totally on the side of 
 the Ruceellajs. Dumesnil therefore resolved to go to 
 Vienna, to smash, as he said, that heretic and enemy 
 of the Church of God. The Regency forbid him 
 moving from Florence, but he escaped with the horses 
 and servants of the Duke Salviati, who, it is supposed, 
 likewise furnished him with money. The Emperor 
 refused to listen to the angry Abbe who forthwith 
 scattered maledictions and departed for Rome, where 
 the Pope consecrated him Bishop of Volterra. Pope 
 and Bishop soon fell out, and unclean words passed 
 between them. The prelate made his escape on hear- 
 ing that the Pontiff was about to lock him up, and he 
 entered Volterra, preceded by his valet de chambre, 
 who cried out, “ Ecco ! il vostro vescovo ! ” and ex- 
 horted the people to receive him with respect. The 
 Bishop followed, throwing money and benedictions to 
 the crowd ; but no one did him honour, and nobody 
 assisted at his installation but his valet. In his wrath 
 
1748. 
 
 INDISCRETION. 
 
 281 
 
 ho excommunicated the town and galloped off to 
 Florence, where he was at once seized and clapt into 
 prison.’ 
 
 Soon after this event, all Florence was in com- 
 motion at a scandal which had its source in Mann’s 
 pretty garden. £ A certain Countess Ubaldini,’ (says 
 Mann, August 23rcl) £ who for her pranks had been 
 banished the Pope’s States, sauntering through one 
 of the obscurely-illuminated side walks, discovered 
 Signora Bocckaneri and Count Acciajuoli in such 
 loving intercourse, that she not only watched the un- 
 conscious lovers herself, but beckoned others to draw 
 near and be spectators. This indiscreet practicer of 
 ££ pranks ” that made her even too bad for Pome to 
 tolerate, hired a Guardo Nobile to illustrate the inci- 
 dent in an impertinent sonnet.’ Both were spoken of 
 at an Assembly at Prince Craon’s, and, the next 
 morning, it was asserted that Mann had written the 
 lines and repeated them aloud to the visitors. The 
 fury of the Florentine husbands was only exceeded by 
 that of them wives. They were not to be appeased till 
 Mann explained and asserted the honour of his garden 
 as a locality where no gentleman would presume to 
 kiss a lady, in a side walk. For some time, the safety 
 of ladies in the enchanted groves w r as not thought to 
 be sufficiently warranted. £ Would you believe it, a 
 very great Dama, who is Grandmother to children of 
 14, told me, with a languishing voice, that really, till 
 some publick disapprobation was shown, she could not 
 venture for fear they should say the same things of 
 her ! ’ Ultimately, the author and the disperser of 
 copies of the sonnetyvere found out and banished for 
 
282 
 
 THE CARDINAL OF YORK. 
 
 1748. 
 
 six months. Both were in the Noble Guard. Mann 
 then gave a concert in his garden, but insulting pla- 
 cards were affixed to his gates, to shame the nobili who 
 allowed their wives to attend. The Minister resolved 
 that he would cease to open his grounds to the world 
 generally uninvited, and only receive guests there by 
 private invitation. 
 
 On the above social trait Mann writes with even 
 more than his usual profuseness, but after the serious 
 triviality, there comes an interesting historic person- 
 age : — £ The Cardinal 13 ’Oreo, either out of Devotion, 
 or from a desire to get some rich bishoprick, has 
 determined to take Priest’s Orders, which the Pope 
 has consented to with reluctance ; fearing, I supposej 
 that there may be occasion for his getting heirs to 
 the crown of England. He has already begun the 
 progress of Sub-Deacon’s Orders, and is to be a com- 
 pleat Priest, the first of September, and is to say his 
 first Mass, the 8 th, in his own Chappel, being the 
 Virgin’s Birthday, when his father is to receive the 
 body of her son from his hands.’ 
 
 On September 3rd, Mann writes : — ‘ The Cardinal 
 D’Orck advances a-pace in Priesthood. He has re- 
 ceived all the inferior orders, and is to be a compleat 
 Priest in a few days. His brother is furious and 
 declares he will never see him.’ A passage in a subse- 
 quent long letter, crammed with mere political reports, 
 tells us further of Henry Stuart : — ‘ The Cardinal is 
 all devotion. He fasts and prays as much as his 
 mother used to do, and they say, has ruined his con- 
 stitution already. Did you ever hear of a hon mot of 
 the Duke de Richelieu’s when he was at Dunkirk, 
 
1748. 
 
 AN AFFECTIONATE WIFE. 
 
 283 
 
 preparing for the embarkation. A Council was to be 
 held, and they waited only for the second son who 
 was at his prayers. On his coming, the Duke de 
 Richelieu told him publickly that he might, perhaps, 
 by prayers, gain the Kingdom of Heaven, but never 
 the Kingdom of Great Britain.’ The anger of Charles 
 Edward at his brother becoming an ecclesiastic was 
 not soon appeased. Some weeks after the above letter, 
 Mann writes : — ‘ We have heard of all the obstinacies 
 of the Pretender’s son, and the effects that they have 
 produced. The next thing we expect to hear is his 
 being arrived at Bologna, where it is believed he will 
 fix, till he can get over his aversion to Rome and bear 
 the sight of his Cardinal brother, by seeing the Legate. 
 His arrest at Paris makes a great noise.- — Adieu, here 
 are all the English to be presented to your Princess.’ 
 September 3rd . — ‘ Mr. Forrester who travels with 
 Lord Annandale convinced the Princess of the great 
 love and regard his wife had for him, by the pains and 
 troubles she took to correct him, whenever she thought 
 lie deserved it. “ Comment vous corriger ? ” — “ Oui, 
 Madame, par des coups de baton.” — which were no 
 equivocal proof of her affection and desire to amend 
 him, and for which he always owned he was more 
 sensibly obliged than if she had not thought him 
 worth her resentment. . . .’ 
 
 Thursday . — c I omitted to give my usual Assembly, 
 and I had the satisfaction to hear that it displeased 
 greatly. I was glad however of an opportunity that 
 offered to give one to the Countess Acciajuoli for a 
 foreign lady she serves. It was by invitation, with 
 the exclusion of all those who deserved it. The 
 
284 
 
 31 ANN’S STATE-DINNERS. 
 
 1748. 
 
 Ladies were exactly 80 ; the men out of all proportion 
 even of three to one, which is the common calculation. 
 It was really handsome, and I have finished with 
 eclat for the season.’ 
 
 September 5th . — £ I had great company yesterday 
 at dinner, Prince Craon, Prince Beauvau,’ (his son) 
 
 £ Count Richecourt, the Pandolfinis (the eldest son 
 has become Count, and Secretary of State to the 
 Regency). But besides this, with other great company, 
 the Princesse elle-meme honoured my table. So soon 
 as I heard she was in town, I went to the Opera to 
 her to invite her, when she told me she had already 
 determined to surprize me. It was no small affair to 
 adjust things for her, hut everything succeeded very 
 well ; we were twelve at table ; and I expect to see 
 in the gazzettes that the Ministro d’Inghilterra diede 
 tanto pranzo, as was mentioned some little time ago, 
 on a much less occasion, to 8 English captains. The 
 only secret is to add one or two of the country to 
 make it talked of ; and then they thank you so much 
 for all favours that one would think one had saved 
 them from starving.’ 
 
 The Peace of Aix la Chapelle gave a little breathing 
 time to Europe. Its terms formed a sort of Epigram 
 on the folly, wickedness, and uselessness of war ; for 
 the contracting parties fell back nearly into the posi- 
 tions they occupied before war was declared. On Oct. 
 11th, Mann writes : — £ They say the Peace is arrived 
 at Genoa and in Lombardy, though that is all we 
 have heard of it. The situation of the combatants 
 seems to be like that of the Italian Limbo, which 
 nobody understands and which at least is doubtful.’ 
 
1748. 
 
 THE FRENCH IN GENOA. 
 
 285 
 
 ‘ The Austrians and Piedmontese are endeavouring 
 to make the most of the States they are to abandon. 
 The Spaniards are doing the same in Savoy, by 
 exacting vast contributions. The French are dancing 
 and singing at Genoa, not much to the diversion of 
 the inhabitants, who are for the most part excluded 
 from the Opera they have made, act, sing, and dance 
 themselves. Even the Orchestra is all of French 
 officers ; no mercenaries are admitted to this perfor- 
 mance, except the woemen, — French, for the parts in 
 the Opera, and Italian for the dances. I have read 
 the Piece, but don’t well know what it is about ; there 
 are so many Gods and Goddesses, Rivers, Geniis, etc., 
 that interrupt the little story, that were it worth 
 attending to, one should with difficulty follow it. Le 
 Genie de la France says in the Prologue, “ que Louis 
 lie punit ses ennemis, qui tremblent, qu’en les con- 
 damnant au repos ! ” The French and Genoese are 
 vastly tired of each other. Whenever the former retire 
 it is highly probable that the populace of Genoa will 
 rise again against the nobility and (though not with 
 that view) revenge the Queen’s (Maria Theresa’s) 
 quarrel better than her army has known how to 
 do it. 
 
 ‘. . . An odd accident has happened here. In the 
 last week a person arrived who announced himself at 
 the Gates and to Marquis Riccardi, under the name 
 and title of Milord Richard Onslow, fils de l’Orateur 
 de la Chambre basse, Duke of Kingston, and as such 
 introduced to all the Ladies. I did not see him for 
 some days, as he avoided me, but Marquis Riccardi 
 insisted upon it that he was exactly such as he had 
 
286 
 
 AN IMPOSTOR. 
 
 1748 . 
 
 announced liimself. I made it plainly appear that it 
 could not be ; to which he answered “Certo! si, 
 Signore ! ” but being resolved to see him, I went into 
 Mme. Galli’s box. The first thing he said was, that 
 he was very much sorry that he had not met me at 
 home. His accent was very foreign ; he left me too 
 soon to enquire into his family. I told the company, 
 however, that he was not an Englishman, which they 
 seemed to smile at and totally disbelieve. The next 
 night I met him at Count Capponi’s, whose daughter 
 was marrying Marquis Torreziani. I then took him 
 aside to question him, when he persisted in the same 
 idle story of being the Speaker’s son, who being a 
 Lord, he would call himself so, too. I grew very 
 angry, and lie vastly confused, begging I would defer 
 all further explanation till the next morning, when 
 he would show me letters to justify himself. I told 
 him that was cpiite unnecessary, as what he had said 
 was sufficient to convince me, and that I would imme- 
 diately tell Prince Craon and Count Richecourt, who 
 were then present, that Marquis Riccardi had presented 
 him to them, with a title he had no pretentions to. 
 The thing soon made much noise, and he went away 
 with Riccardi as soon as he could ; — complained to him 
 of me, and threatened that I should soon be brought 
 to know the English Nobility better. 
 
 ‘ I had a violent dispute with Riccardi at the 
 Opera afterwards, as he persisted still to assert that 
 he was a Lord, and said so many absurdities to 
 support it, that in presence of many people I told 
 him that I might have expected such a discourse 
 from an Indian ‘ but not from one who had resided in 
 
1748. 
 
 A SUICIDE. 
 
 287 
 
 England in a publick character. In short, the whole 
 company was vastly diverted, and I told him that if 
 his Lord was wise he would run away that night. 
 
 ‘The next morning we heard he had set out on 
 foot from his auberge, since which we have billy 
 heard that he is gone towards Rome, in order, as is 
 most probable, to receive the money from Belloni, for 
 which he had forged himself credit by imitating the 
 hands of Pictet, Walthers and Mr. Salvini at Paris, as 
 appears by his papers which the Fiscal has examined 
 and brought to me. I have not seen then all, but 
 shall to-morrow. He had four servants with laced 
 liveries, who have been stripped this afternoon. His 
 cloaths are to be sold to pay the few debts he has 
 contracted here ; but the Bankers at Marseilles, Lions, 
 Geneva, etc., must lose all they have given him. We 
 have found that his name is Daniel Bets, or something- 
 like it, and that he is either a Dutch man or flamand/ 
 
 In the letters of the 13th November there is a 
 long narrative which refers to the Droit d’Aubaine, 
 by which the goods of a foreigner, dying sud- 
 denly, were forfeited to the State. A young English- 
 man, unnamed, committed suicide at Leghorn. ‘ The 
 young fellow,’ says Mann, c had been long enough in 
 Italy to purge off the English spleen which made him 
 cut his throat.’ However, the English Consul took 
 charge of his effects, and the Council of Regency at 
 Florence laid loud and violent claim to them on behalf 
 of the Emperor. Goldworthy, prompted by Mann, 
 refused to surrender the property. Prince Craon had 
 in Council asserted the Emperor’s jurisdiction. Mann 
 met the Prince at dinner, and explained his objections 
 
288 
 
 THE YOUNG GIBES AT GENEVA. 
 
 174-8. 
 
 to the assertion then made : ‘ Well, well ! 5 replied the 
 weak old Regent, ' reckon that I said nothing at all 
 about it. 5 And -the poor fellow’s property was saved 
 to his heirs. 
 
 By December 13th, there was a ‘young fellow ’ of 
 higher rank on his way to Italy, namely, Lord 
 Walpole, the Earl of Orford’s son. c I shall be vastly 
 glad to see him, 5 says Mann, * but they write me that 
 he is to fix for some time at Geneva. In some 
 respects, I don’t like that place for him. There are, 
 I am told, many young girls who set up for conquests, 
 and whom our young people think vastly genteel and 
 amiable because they are the first foreign woemen they 
 are permitted ..to be free with. ... I should dread 
 Lord Walpole’s having any strong engagement there 
 where there is not the bar of Religion to prevent the 
 only bad consequences to one in his situation. 5 As 
 Mann constantly remarks, the entertaining of English 
 visitors to Florence, who came with letters of intro- 
 duction, added greatly to his expenses, and he adds : 
 
 £ I can hear nothing of my great arrears, nor would 
 there, I believe, be any likelihood of their listening to 
 me, if I was to apply for an encrease of character 
 — from Minister to Ambassador. 5 
 
289 
 
 i749. THE YOUNG PEE TENDER. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 1749. 
 
 The new year opens with, an old complaint. ‘ I am 
 going to pay my Court to the Princess/ Mann writes 
 on the 23rd January, ‘going with most of the English, 
 whom I am to present. Oh, the number of English ! 
 I am absolutely ruined in feasting them. Prince 
 Craon has announced to me, that his son-in-law, M. de 
 Mirepoix, is going Ambassadour to England, and 
 Madame will accompany him. Her brother Prince 
 Beauvau will certainly take that opportunity of 
 gratifying his inclination to see England every year, 
 as the Prince told me.' 
 
 January 31s£. — ‘Our Italy has talked a great 
 deal of the young Pretender’s Imprisonment at Vin- 
 cennes. The manner of his being seized displeased 
 the Craons and Richecourt extremely. Rome talks 
 no w much of his being at Avignon, and would be glad 
 to induce him to leave it. The Pope assembled his 
 Cardinals last Tuesday, — Buffo, Passionei, Valenti, 
 Riviera, and Lanti, to consult about it. They deter- 
 mined that soft insinuations and amiable remonstrances 
 should be made to hint, with the offer of the choice 
 of any City in the Ecclesiastical States of Italy, for 
 yol. t. u 
 
290 
 
 RESIGNATION OF PRINCE OR AON. 1749 . 
 
 bis residence ; but, in case this method failed, it was 
 resolved at the same time, to expose the town of 
 Avignon to any violence which the resentment of 
 France might dictate rather than to use forcible 
 means to drive him from thence. So we may prob- 
 ably see a new scene, as the young man's behaviour 
 does not seem to denote that persuasions will operate 
 much. May one suppose, however, that France will 
 think itself obliged to trouble itself any further about 
 him, or to quarrel with the Pope, for our sake ? ’ 
 
 February 7th . — ‘ Prince Craon has received his 
 conge and withall so gracious that the poor man 
 almost forgets the angherie that made him ask it. 
 The Emperor invites him and the Princess to take 
 Vienna in their way, has given him a thousand 
 zecchins for his journey, and has assigned them a 
 pension of as much, for their life. The Florentines are 
 amazed at all this, and the Lorrainers think it a great 
 deal. The Princess looks pleased indeed, but I dare 
 say she thinks it a poor reward for the signal services 
 she has rendered to the House of Lorraine for 70 years. 
 I whisper this only, for really every one who sees her 
 would abate 20 at least. She declares, however, that 
 she must turn an old woman in Lorraine, in the midst 
 of all her Grand-children. However, I think she may 
 displace Madame cle Boufflers, her daughter, who is 
 the great favourite of King Stanislaus, if she will but 
 take to smoaking a little ; at least if she will bear his 
 pipe. 
 
 ‘Adieu. It strikes 12 at night ; for all our clocks, 
 by order of the Court, have been put alia francese, 
 which confounds the Florentines, extremely.’ 
 
1749 . MOVEMENTS OF THE YOUNG CHEVALIER. 291 
 
 March 8 th . — ‘Rome makes a fuss about the Young 
 Pretender at Avignon. Is be to remain there ? . . . 
 I think he is much more out of the way there than at 
 Rome, where it is all chance if one discovers anything. 
 Avignon is no passage, nor is there any call for 
 strangers, a prohibition might even be given without 
 prejudice, consequently, all who do go there might 
 easily be known. He has lately sent a Mr. Lockart 
 to Rome to sollicit money of the Pope, who swears 
 he will give him none. That person, in appearance, 
 has no commission to the father, from which one is 
 to suppose they are still at variance. O’Brien, now 
 called Lord Lechmere, has lately received the Grand 
 Cordon Rouge, from France, and at the same time 
 the news of his wife being banished to a certain 
 distance from Paris. Tencin and others of that Cabal 
 used to meet at her house, and she is supposed to have 
 discovered their secrets to Spain during the Congress, 
 with which she mixed their complaints of M. Sotto 
 Mayor, by which means she has lost her pension, and 
 the favour of the Court of France/ 
 
 March 21 st . — ‘ The Young Pretender left Avignon 
 in a very misterious manner, on the night of the 25th, 
 with only one person, after having feigned being ill, 
 the better to conceal his departure. He took the 
 route of Dauphine which is all we know, hitherto. 
 Do you think we shall hear of him from Berlin, or 
 Scotland, first 1 I have seen in our papers that orders 
 had been sent into Scotland for regulating the Patroles 
 and Guards in the mountains. This was previous to 
 his departure from Avignon, and looks as if they had 
 been informed of it, or at least suspected some motion 
 
292 
 
 TEE JACOBITES. 
 
 1749. 
 
 there in his favour. At Rome, some say that he is 
 gone to treat of a marriage for himself. Others that 
 he is gone only to some private place, to treat with 
 people who were afraid to go to him ; consequently, 
 that something of great importance is in agitation.’ 
 
 April 18 th . — ‘All the news I have to send you of 
 Italy is, that the Pope is totally employed in cleansing 
 his churches and making Bulls for the regulation of 
 the Anno Santo, in order to draw as many strangers as 
 he can to Rome. The King and Queen of Naples, 
 they say, will he there, and some say that the King 
 of Portugal will gratify his curiosity and devotion 
 in the like manner. I can’t however believe it 
 yet. 
 
 ‘ We are totally ignorant of the motions of the 
 Pretender’s son. So many reports are spread that one 
 is totally at a loss what to believe. Most people agree 
 that lie has been privately to Paris to make a visit to 
 the Princesse de Talmont (?) a Poland (sic) and one of 
 the Queen’s ladies who took his part when he was 
 arrested and sent to Vincennes. They say that she 
 has treated a match for him in Poland, where some 
 suppose now he is gone ; others say he is gone to 
 Sweden, others to Berlin. Some believe that he will 
 soon be again at Avignon, where his family equipages 
 and even the table is kept, as if they expected him 
 daily. Then they say he is to come into Italy, to 
 Bologna or Ferrara. He has obliged his father to 
 send away O’Brien (whom they call Lord Lechmere) 
 who was to have left Rome a few days ago, because 
 the son would have no confidence or communication 
 with the father, so long as that person was entrusted 
 
] 749. 
 
 OPENING LETTERS. 
 
 294 
 
 by him. O’Brien’s wife is in France, but was sent from 
 Paris, by order of the Court, some time ago. 
 
 ‘ The new Duke of Parma has disgusted all his 
 new subjects. He is so horribly French that they 
 cannot please him ; and he is so horribly poor that they 
 are quite disappointed and disgusted. For want of 
 money to feed his servants, he has quartered them on 
 the principal families. His soldiers desert even his 
 Gardes du Corps. The Duke of Modena is fortifying 
 the Mirandola and intends to be very considerable. 
 His vying with his neighbour of Parma, will probably 
 be his ruin ; both their Dutchesses are expected soon 
 in Italy, which will probably make those places agree- 
 able for some time at least to strangers.’ 
 
 May 23rcl .- — ‘You may remember that upon Mons. 
 de Mirepoix being named Ambassador to England, 
 you desired that Prince de Craon would mention you 
 in his letter to Madame. This he promised to do ; 
 but the day before his departure, he seemed to re- 
 collect as of a sudden, that he was to write to her 
 about you. I did not contradict it, and he sat down 
 then to do it, he did not show me the letter, but as he 
 named Mr. St. Leger at the same time, I concluded 
 he would name him in it, so that my curiosity, with 
 the facility of doing it, engaged me to open the letter 
 which I send you, that you may read it and judge 
 whether you will deliver it. In which case it will be 
 easy to seal by putting a large dab of hot wax under 
 the arms.’ 
 
 June 20th . — ‘ I write to you in a Hurricane which 
 is terrible and threatens great mischief. If your 
 summer is as uncouth as ours, your diversions at 
 
294 
 
 ENTERTAINMENTS. 
 
 1749. 
 
 Ranelagh and Vauxhall must be greatly interrupted. 
 We have not had one evening fit for my garden. I 
 still live in my winter Appartments in a cloth coat. 
 At Rome they have had a turbine which Paparini, in 
 a pompous printed description, says ; “si chiama in 
 francese, ouragan ” which has done great mischief. You 
 will image the force of it, by its having rooted up, and 
 what is still more extraordinary, carried off so as not 
 to be found, the vast Pines and Cipresses in Villa 
 Negrone. It grazed the town only, but destroyed 
 everything in its way ; had it gone through the city, 
 it is thought it would have done the same. The 
 heavens, I find, are more serene at Ranelagh, so as to 
 permit the Jubilee Masquerade of which you have 
 given me so charming a description. . . . Our Island 
 will become as famous for Masquerades as for 
 Methodism. You say I must prepare myself for it 
 (Methodism), but among all the English here I can’t 
 get a definition of it.’ 
 
 July 25th. — Mr. and Mrs. Barrett, the former an 
 invalid, the latter a charming lady, with a leaning 
 towards Methodism, were visiting Florence, and were, 
 as friends of Mr. Chute, objects of cordial attention on 
 the part of Mann. ‘ They have been vastly visited ’ 
 (he writes), ‘ and have begun to go to some conver- 
 sazioni. I am preparing one on purpose for Sunday ; 
 the Dames to be invited already amount to 150; 
 judge what a number of men there must be. 1 wish 
 I could invite them too ’ (the men went, uninvited) 
 ‘ that I might exclude some hundreds who only come 
 to scramble for sorbets and to pocket the glasses ! 
 But I wlusper this, lest the nobility should be offended. 
 
1749. 
 
 A PAINTED LUKE. 
 
 29.3 
 
 ‘ The Duke of Modena is now at Venice — an 
 uncouth figure with his white forehead and red cheeks : 
 when I saw him many years ago at Bologna, he had a 
 great wen between his eye-brows, on which he used 
 to hang his wig : then the quantity of paint on the 
 rest of his face, which trickled down mixed with 
 sweat, made him full as ridiculous a figure as he can 
 be. . . . He continued to be ridiculous in every part 
 of his conduct during the war, both Publick and 
 Domestick, and yet I am persuaded that the Dutchess 
 and his family will be sorry that his country is 
 restored to him, for which they must quit their more 
 pleasing abodes to ennuyer themselves with him. He 
 is at Venice with them, waiting, I suppose, for the 
 erection of a triumphal arch, or some emblem of 
 valour and prudence to celebrate his return to Modena. 
 
 £ We have a Lockart here, who I believe was in the 
 Guards when he deserted to the Rebels. He certainly 
 is amongst them. He came here from Rome, recom- 
 mended by Cardinal Carini, to his relations. He has 
 not been with me.’ 
 
 August 15 til . — c It is plain our countrymen think 
 that the approaching J ubilee will be far more pompous 
 than the shows you have had. We hear of crowds 
 being already as far as Paris on their way thither. 
 Rome expects to be enriched by them, and probably 
 will not be mistaken. Were there only one Jubilee in 
 a century, one should not wonder, but the fathers of 
 those who have such a mistaken notion of it could 
 undeceive them, and tell them that there is no time so 
 improper to see the real curiosities of Rome. There 
 will be no Opera that year in all the Ecclesiastical 
 
296 
 
 A TRIP TO THE JUBILEE. 
 
 1749. 
 
 States ; in short, you know that the whole is dedicated 
 to the good of Catholick souls, the purging them of all 
 past sins, and the furnishing them with Indulgences 
 for the future. Hereticks are excluded from all sure 
 benefits, and consequently will pass their time very ill 
 there. I am convinced that if people had a true idea 
 of this Jubilee, many would be prevented taking a 
 trip thither. The Young Pretender is so hidden that 
 nobody, not even the Pope or his father, knows where 
 he is.’ 
 
 November 7 th . — £ I don’t like the old insipid Italian 
 Conversations, where there is often a great crowd but 
 not the best society. One must have a Cicisbea of 
 one’s own to be upon a foot with other people, but that 
 would be infinitely too much trouble, and unless she 
 were like Mrs. Barrett, I think I should not like her. 
 She has the greatest sweetness of temper I ever met 
 with, and has extreme good sense. . . . Marquis 
 Costi’s wedding is the only gayety stirring ; he is to 
 be married to-morrow to a Medici. Your friend, Mme. 
 Albizzi, who is his Cicisbea, made him break off two 
 matches before, and, not succeeding so well in this, is 
 gone into the country upon a promise that she shall 
 have all his attentions a week after the marriage. It 
 is the fashion now for the favourite Cicisbea to wink 
 at her lover’s marrying, upon promise of return a few 
 days after. Sisistori did so with the Antinori ; his 
 brother the Colonel, with the Riccardi ; and many 
 others I could name.’ 
 
 November 28th . — ‘I live a strange life since the 
 departure of the Barretts and some few English I was 
 intimate with ; who are all gone to Rome for this 
 
1749. 
 
 GERMAN NAVY. 
 
 2 97 
 
 Jubilee ; not that I think it will take as much as the 
 Pope expected. Do you know that he has wrote to all 
 his Sons, the Catholick Princes, to desire them to keep 
 good friends, not to disturb the peace and sanctity of 
 this holy year. He has spent a good deal of money 
 in furbishing up and decorating his theaters, — the 
 churches, and if he has not a great deal of company, 
 be will be a loser by it.’ 
 
 It was at this time the ambition of Austria to 
 make the German Empire, — or the Austrian portion of 
 it, — a great maritime power. The government had 
 abandoned the project of Mills (a Promoter, — per- 
 haps the father of that unscrupulous and villainous 
 race) for founding an Austro East Indian Com- 
 pany : — 4 All their views now,’ says Mann, ‘ are 
 directed to Trieste, which the Empress-Queen is 
 resolved shall totally eclipse Venice, as Leghorn is 
 to do all the Ports in the Mediterranean. Three old 
 ships, bought in England some years ago, for Cor- 
 monclel (sic) are to be turned into Imperial Men of 
 War, and to lay the first foundation of a Puissance 
 M aritime in this part of the world ! ’ 
 
 1750. 
 
 January 2nd . — ‘Madame Antinori and others 
 have formed their own opinion of my attentions to 
 Mrs. Barrett. ... I cannot agree with what you say 
 with regard to her. What you call prudery, I 
 attributed to the coldness of the English character. 
 I own she is not brillante, but then I think she has 
 great good sense, excessively quiet I own, and 
 
298 
 
 CARNIVAL. 
 
 1750. 
 
 susceptible of friendship though not of Love, which 
 one does not always seek, though the Italians have 
 no idea of any other affection. They judge of all 
 women by themselves. ... I own I was happy in 
 a quiet family society, not very gay, but agreeable ; 
 perhaps this argues an unfitness for a more sprightly 
 life. . . . Believe me that in Florence such a family 
 (as the Barretts) is a great resource, and I most 
 sincerely wish it was here at present. They are now 
 at Naples, he vastly gay, and as novelty diverts him, 
 he thinks himself better in his health, but I am 
 persuaded that his opinion will last no longer than 
 he is amused. There are crowds of English at the 
 Jubilee. The first great function is over, and in a 
 very little time people will forget they are in the holy 
 year, but from the want of all amusements.’ 
 
 February 13 th. — ‘It is impossible to be in a 
 country like this, at so mad a season, and not to be 
 in some degree tainted with its madness. The first 
 half of our Carnival was so dull that nobody knew 
 it. Nothing but a bad Opera, and unfrequented, to 
 distinguish it from the rest of the year. We did not 
 even suspect that people reserved themselves for the 
 latter part of it ; but then, like all other passions 
 suppressed for a time, — masking, intriguing, and 
 jollity of all kinds broke out with greater fury, 
 which has surpassed that of other Carnivals. I, as 
 a spectator only, was so fatigued that I have not 
 recovered it yet. The contrast now, however, is too 
 great, and I do not wonder at people being out of 
 humour. Devotion and the reflection on many of the 
 sweets of past pleasures, make the scene compleatly 
 
1750. 
 
 SOCIETY IN FLORENCE. 
 
 209 
 
 dull, at present. Florence is vastly altered since you 
 was here, and it alters for the worse, every day. 
 People grow poorer and consequently more discon- 
 tented ; and, not being able to vent then- anger where 
 it might be due, they squabble with each other. 
 There is not the least society, except among the 
 Lorrainers, who are chatty enough, but rather 
 ignorant and insignificant ; and yet, not to be 
 always alone, I am forced to take to them. I go to 
 their homes some evenings, and they come to me. 
 Quadrille and Piquet make their amusement. Mr. 
 Pelham, Milbanke, and one or two other English 
 always sup here ; but I am doing all I can to 
 persuade the former to go to England, where he has 
 long been expected to marry Miss Pelham. It is 
 madness in him to neglect such an offer ; but the 
 Countess Aeciajuoli has too great an ascendant over 
 him, and has so often made him put off the day of 
 his departure as he had fixed it. He is, with the 
 consent of the whole family, to go with the Countess 
 into the country for a few days, with the secret hopes 
 undoubtedly that something may come of it, to make 
 amends for her dislike to her husband. The family, 
 which is extremely antient, and counts a lineal descent 
 from the Counts of Athens, wants an heir, to prevent 
 the Estate devolving to the Church ; but I tell him 
 daily that it imports him much more to hasten to 
 make an heir to the Duke of Newcastle than to the 
 Dukes of Athens. . . .’ 
 
 e . . . The Craons were so poorly housed at and 
 near Florence, that a change from one to the other 
 villa, involved carrying the furniture. The Princess 
 
300 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 mo. 
 
 is now much better off in Lorraine. Stanislaus ’ 
 (says Mann) ‘ has obliged her to live with him at 
 Nancy, and has allotted her the Queens appartments 
 which she was formerly so much used to in Leopold’s 
 time. They say even that after poor Prince Onion’s 
 death, she is to be Queen Leczinska. They expect 
 Madame de Mirepoix, her daughter, when her husband 
 attends the King (of England) to Hanover. P. Craon 
 has wrote me the most kind and affectionate letter ; 
 lie says he is vastly happy, and that nothing is 
 wanting to make him compleatly so, but the birth 
 of a boy, de la facon de son fils, which they hope for 
 in April. M. de Mirepoix will certainly give a ball 
 on the occasion, to have the pleasure of dancing at it, 
 and to convince the heavy English that the French 
 are as light at fifty as they are at twenty.’ 
 
 The same letter, which is one of the longest of 
 Mann’s long epistles, contains one of the few references 
 lie makes to literary subjects. The following is of 
 pleasant interest : — 
 
 ‘You bid me send you Dr. Cocchi’s opinion of 
 Montesquieu’s “Esprit des Loix.” He has not read 
 it, but I must tell you that many here pretend to find 
 fault with it ; unreasonably, I think. They tax him 
 of having made use of other authors’ sentiments as 
 his own ; though they don’t pretend to deny that he 
 lias introduced them judiciously. They allow that 
 it was not necessary to make notes every time, but at 
 least that he oueht to have made some declaration or 
 
 O 
 
 apology, in the preface. They say besides, that in 
 many places he is too concise, consequently obscure. 
 For my own part, where I have not understood him 
 
1750. 
 
 TRANSLATED PLAYS. 
 
 801 
 
 I have attributed it to my own fault ; and upon the 
 whole, I must own that I have never learnt so much 
 from any other book ; and hope still to learn more, 
 by a second reading of it this Lent. I have not seen 
 Heynault’s Abrege, nor is it to be got here, though 
 the French bookseller has promised to send for it. 
 
 c We have a new book here, called “Trattato della 
 Publica Felicita,” by Muratori, the Duke of Modena’s 
 Librarian ; which made a great noise before it was 
 seen here, but it was then found to be a very middling 
 performance. The Abbe Buondelmonte has wrote a 
 little dab, which has been most terribly criticized by 
 Lami, in the “Novelle Litterarie.” Senator Rucellaj 
 lias been writing plays, or rather, translating them, 
 though he won't allow it. He has chosen Addison’s 
 “ Drummer ” which he had read in French only, 
 translated or rather imitated by Destonches. Kucellaj 
 calls his too, the “ Tamburro Notturno.” It was to 
 have been acted this Carnival, but he quarrelled with 
 the actors, and he keeps it still hidden till he finds 
 proper people to do it justice, after Easter. If it is no 
 better than his “ Misan trope,” it will be a most 
 wretched performance. A propos to that. He was 
 most terribly mortified last summer by Madame de 
 Ligneville, Princess Craon’s sister-in-law, who is 
 allowed by everybody to have as much wit as 
 judgement. She was talking in general with the 
 Senatori about Italian comedies ; and she engaged 
 Kucellaj to lend her some ; — among them he sent his 
 own “ Misantrope,” which she read, and not knowing 
 it was Ids, abused most justly and unmercifully. The 
 next time she saw him in a great circle of Litterati, 
 
302 
 
 THE BEAST AND THE BARON. 
 
 1750. 
 
 who were all too well pleased with her saying what 
 they all thought (but out of complaisance had con- 
 cealed) to undeceive her as to the author ; but it was 
 too late, she was vastly confused for some time, but 
 had gone too far to retract. The only way to mitigate 
 it, was to say that, indeed she had read it over hastily, 
 and that perhaps on reading it again should alter her 
 opinions ; but she never mentioned a word to him of it 
 afterwards, and he, from being the greatest admirer of 
 her judgement, wit, and understanding, had ever after 
 the most contemptible opinion of them ! ’ 
 
 From ruffled authors, our Minister proceeds to take 
 note of man and beast. On March 13th, he says: — 
 ‘We have been entertained with a most shabby Tripo- 
 line Ambassador whom people’s curiosity led to see as 
 much as it will the Rhinoceros which we expect from 
 Rome, where it is gone to the Jubilee. This animal 
 is to be recommended to me with its master, Vander 
 Meer, whom the Emperor has made a Baron for the 
 merit of the Beast. You must not be surprised that a 
 Baron de l’Empire should follow this trade, when w'e 
 are told that Augustus himself did not disdain to be 
 a Rhinocerontajo, by shewing one publickly to the 
 Romans ; and this I believe is the only one that lias 
 been in Italy since that time though I have never heard 
 that a medal of it was struck as has now been done in 
 honour of this. 
 
 ‘The Tripoline Ambassador, as I have said, was 
 followed by crowds whenever he stirred out, with 
 which he was offended till Naziato Baldocci, the Master 
 of the Ceremonies who attended him, told him it was 
 to do him honour ; so they persuaded him when, on 
 
1750 . 
 
 A NEW FASHION. 
 
 303 
 
 his arrival at the gates of Bologna and pressing through 
 the streets, the people gave him a solennissima jischiatci 
 (a most solemn hissing and whistling) with which mark 
 of their respect he was taught to he greatly pleased, 
 and bristled his whiskers with joy.’ 
 
 April 17th. — ‘We have now a Mr. Scrim here, 
 the son of the great Apothecary of Bath, who is by 
 much the finest and most delicate man here ; he has 
 the finest cloaths, always wears lace, has a fine equipage 
 and gives great dinners. At one of these to many 
 English, on every salver that was presented when 
 people called for drink, there were two Caraffes ; one 
 with Burgundy, with a printed lay bill pasted on it, 
 was taken up by one of the company, who said aloud 
 that it looked like a dose from an Apothecary’s shop, 
 and he hoped it wasn’t Physick, which he accompanied 
 by putting it to his nose. He afterwards protested 
 that he did not do it on purpose, and indeed he was 
 as much disconcerted as now Mr. Schrim (sic. Query 
 Skreane ?) appeared to be. It cured him ever after 
 of giving Burgundy in caraffes.’ 
 
 May 8th. — ‘ Madame Don Philip has brought the 
 mode into Italy of dressing her head a la Rhino- 
 ceros, which all our ladies here follow ; so that the 
 preceding mode a la Commetta (sic) is only fit for 
 Madame Suares and such antiquated beauties. . . . 
 I have been a regular Courtier to the Marquis of 
 Baden Durlach. . . . The late Queen ’ (Caroline, wife 
 of George II.) ‘ was his great aunt, and he is nephew to 
 the Prince of Orange. . . . Count Richecourt, observing 
 that he hardly ever opens his mouth but to speak 
 English, has engaged us in all his parties, and 
 
304 
 
 A GERMAN MARQUIS . 
 
 1750. 
 
 entertains him at dinner every day. They tell me 
 I should, but I am afraid of not doing it well for so 
 large a company as I must invite with him. The two 
 evenings that there was no burletta, he passed at the 
 Count’s ; the first evening there was an elegant con- 
 cert, at which Verroccini shone much and particularly 
 in a Sonata, in which he brings in Tweed’s Side, 
 which he always plays when I am present. Only 
 young ladies were invited, and were in the greatest 
 Gala. Count Richecourt said the old ones might go 
 to Chapel, for he would have none of them. . . I 
 never saw anybody more smitten than the Marquis, 
 but the Yernacci was as insensible as he was timorous, 
 though she must have much more sense than she has 
 to guess even that he lias a liking for her. Richecourt 
 shows him royal honours, goes to the coach door to 
 meet him, and always waits upon him to it, and at 
 the English Inn where he is lodged, attends two or 
 three hours in his antechamber, whilst under Pretence 
 of a cold, the Marquis laid in bed to read the Memoirs 
 of a Woman of Pleasure, which Stoscli lent him. I 
 will send you by the first opportunity, — Ruccelai’s 
 translation of Addison’s “ Drummer, or Haunted 
 House.’ It has been acted twice but makes a most 
 woeful appearance on an Italian stage. I expected it 
 would have been damned the first night ; but the 
 audience only groaned with impatience and ennuy. 
 Few will go again, though the Burletta which is acted 
 alternately in the same theater is always crouded.’ 
 June 2 6 th . — ‘ We have had a most pitifull little 
 Earthquake, too ; not worth mentioning. It did not 
 even alarm the old woemen, or furnish the priests with 
 
1750. 
 
 WIT OF VILIAMS. 
 
 305 
 
 an excuse to preach about judgements, though they 
 would not have dared to attribute it to Electricity, 
 gravitation or any natural cause. The Inquisition 
 and priestly craft obliges them to pocket up all these 
 for Judgements and miracles, as may best serve their 
 turn ; but nothing of this kind has been preached on 
 this occasion ; no old house has been thrown down, no 
 China jar cracked to give the Priests a handle to 
 be hung on to raise the price of such commodities ; 
 I shall not be surprised to hear that some fine Lady 
 has given the full price for those jars, and that she 
 should keep them with as much veneration as some 
 Generals have done their Hats which a Musket ball 
 has pierced. Some french officers in the war in Italy 
 in the year ’34 were accused of diverting themselves 
 with shooting at their own hats to dance with at the 
 Balls when Marshal Villars danced a minuet supported 
 by two Aide de Camps (sic).’ 
 
 ‘ Did you ever hear what was allowed to be a bon 
 mot of his ? Being asked by somebody, how old he 
 was, he answered : “ J’auray bientot Mil-an upon 
 which town he had then a view.’ 
 
 July 18 th. — ‘ Since my jaunt to Pisa I have taken 
 such a gout for the country that I have been rambling 
 abroad to some country houses. I staid three days 
 at a very fine one of Marquis Acciajuoli’s, situated 
 most abominably among the mountains, towards 
 Volterra. If I could afford it, I really would take 
 a Villa near Florence, but I am afraid of its becoming 
 a cheesecake house for all the English, though the 
 King’s Arms is vastly frequented by them in town, so 
 that I have not a moment to myself.’ 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 x 
 
3o6 
 
 THE VENETIAN AMBASSADRESS. 
 
 1750. 
 
 (In those days, each Ambassador, or other repre- 
 sentative of his sovereign, placed the shield of his 
 country’s arms in front of the house in which he 
 dwelt ; and Innkeepers considered it a favour to be 
 allowed to put up the national arms of any Ambas- 
 sador who had passed a night in their hostelry). 
 
 ‘ I fancy I should be quieter there, and yet I am 
 afraid to venture, for fear of tlieir friendly visits in 
 the morning to avoid the heat, and their lasting the 
 whole day ; here, I can lie denied for some parts 
 of it. 
 
 ‘ We are to have crouds from Turin. A Colonel 
 Shuckburgli and his wife are here, who in order to be 
 very intimate with me, have showed me a letter from 
 somebody who acquaints them that my Lord Orford 
 is to recommend them to me, and they enquire every 
 Post, if I have received his letters. They are eternal 
 players at whist, which I pretend not to know, at the 
 risk of being much despised by them for my ignorance 
 of so fashionable a game.’ 
 
 August 30 th . — ‘In compliance to your Inclinations, 
 I have invited the little Venetian Ambassadress to my 
 Garden on Sunday evening. She takes it all upon her 
 own account, though it literally is for Mrs. Barrett. 
 The first day after her arrival, she laid in bed the whole 
 day. The next, which was yesterday, she made an 
 effort and got dressed by three to dine at Niccolini’s, 
 where 22 people were waiting for her. Of English, 
 the Barretts folks, as Mrs. Davis calls them, Mr. 
 Stanhope and myself were there. Rinuncini, one of 
 her former lovers, was permitted to serve her the 
 whole dinner-time. You liked her too, but it was in 
 
1750. 
 
 J. LEADER OF FASHION. 
 
 30 7 
 
 the days of her beauty, which I think she has quite 
 lost with the small pox, though she is as affected 
 as ever. A Mr. Stephens, of whom she had said very 
 impertinent things, and particularly about a black coat 
 which he had worn some days, told her, upon her 
 asking for whom he was in mourning, that it was for 
 the beauty she had lost in England ! She tells every- 
 body how she diverted herself with the povere Dame 
 Inglese ; — that she invented every day some new 
 extravagant dress, in which she appeared at Court 
 in order to laugh the next day at the number that 
 imitated it. In short, if it were not to offend you, 
 I would say that in all her ways and behaviour she is 
 exactly like a celebrated Cantarina whose head is 
 turned by the self persuasion of her own perfections. 
 She has said no good things here yet, though she 
 was so famous for them in Enoland.’ 
 
 O 
 
 ‘My lists for Sunday have gone forth to the number 
 of 164 Dame; twenty or thirty I must abate for 
 illness or other impediments, Lady Caroline D . . . 
 (i illegible ) who arrived here two days ago, won't come, 
 being resolved never to go into any company, Italian 
 I mean, for she seeks that of the English . . . What 
 people do you send us ! Mr. D . . . ( illegible ) raises 
 my compassion to the utmost degree, to see a man who 
 might in every respect be happy, resolve to be miser- 
 aide, by fancying himself ill. He is ten times worse 
 than Mr. Barrett. He told me last maht that nobod \ 
 ever was so unfortunate, and that he had been at 
 Viterbo within an hour of his perfect recovery. He 
 explained it by telling me that having gone through 
 a salivation to drive out the Devil of a Fever he had 
 
308 
 
 TIIE POPE AND THE VENETIANS. 1750. 
 
 on liis spirits, the injudicious Physician gave him 
 some gentle medicine which struck inward the break- 
 ing-out which had begun to appear, and by that means 
 destroyed all his hopes, by leaving him worse than 
 ever. It is really a madness one cannot account for. 
 He told me that he would take everything that every- 
 body should recommend to him. “But, suppose,” said 
 I, “that any honest good Physician should recommend 
 nothing to you, would you follow his prescription ? ” 
 “Oh no!” said he, “that would be the same as to bid 
 me dye.” Don’t mention these follies of him in 
 England. He seems a very sensible man, except in 
 this point. 
 
 ‘There has been a quarrel between the Pope and 
 the Venetians, about the Patriarch of Aquilaija. 
 They have recalled their Ambassador and turned the 
 Nuncio out of Venice, notwithstanding the menaces 
 of the Court of Vienna to consider any resentment 
 shown by them to the Pope on this occasion, as done 
 to that Court. The Venetians, however, are alarmed 
 and, they say, have taken Waldeck into their service. 
 
 . . . The haughtiness of the Queen ’ (Empress) ‘ on 
 this occasion may probably give the French a fair 
 pretence to raise a great combustion on this foolish 
 account, in Italy. The Venetians have prepared a 
 manifest to be sent to all the Courts of Europe, but 
 the publication of it has been suspended perhaps till 
 their Ambassador’s return. ’ 
 
 August 21 st . — ‘The Venetian Ambassador left Eomc 
 with eclat, without taking leave ; and the Senate 
 turned the Nuncio away, without any ceremony. 
 They shut up the Nunciatura and the Dotaria, and 
 
1750. 
 
 ENGLISH FRIENDS. 
 
 309 
 
 forbid any money being sent to Rome, for benefices, 
 etc., all which money they have paid to the military 
 case. The Empress threatened them violently, before; 
 but has not since taken any step to resent those 
 injuries done to the Pope. The latter repents ex- 
 tremely of what he has done, but it is too late to 
 recall it ; so that it is supposed that things must 
 remain in this situation for this Popes life.’ 
 
 ‘ We have Lord Poultney here who publickly 
 declares against all parties. Somebody was recom- 
 mending an antiquarian to him at Rome, when 
 another advised him not to make use of him, being 
 a known Jacobite. “ Oh !” says he, “that’s no reason 
 at ell. I have nothing to do with that, as I am of 
 no party.” Doesn’t this prove that he is ’ (sic). 
 
 Mann complains of the ‘ crouds ’ of English who 
 mar his home enjoyments, but he makes special 
 exception of the couple of young men, Messrs. Pelham 
 and Milbanke, who, he writes on August 21st, ‘run 
 away this night. We have lived in the greatest 
 intimacy. The former is a very good-natured little 
 man ; the latter has all the good qualities one would 
 always wish to find in any one ; and both have great 
 partiality for me. I have made use of all the weight 
 I have with Mr. Pelham to persuade him to make 
 use of all the interest he may have with his relatives 
 to do something genteel for Milbanke, who deserves 
 everything from him, and more than he can expect 
 from his own family. He is the youngest son of the 
 late Sir Ralph Milbanke who died suddenly and had 
 made no provision for his younger children ; many of 
 them are, however, employed. This one here, after a 
 
310 
 
 MAE MAGE SPECULATIONS. 
 
 1750. 
 
 school and university education, was designed for the 
 Law, which he left, to come abroad with Mr. Pelham, 
 who is of his own age, and with whom he was brought 
 up. I never yet saw anybody who had known Mr. 
 Milbanke, that did not interest himself for him. I 
 shall miss' them extremely. They were commonly 
 both, but particularly Milbanke, of all my gentle 
 riding parties, I called him my Cavelerizzo Mag- 
 giore, as he is vastly clever at all manly exercises 
 and totally directed my Scuderia. In short, I don’t 
 know a more deserving young creature. ... I have 
 mentioned they are to run away to-night. Nobody 
 yet knows of this design, but myself. The attach- 
 ment Mr. Pelham has with the Countess Acciajuoli 
 would make the separation too touching for either 
 of them to bear ; for I never saw any couple more 
 wraped up (sic) in each other, than they are ; the whole 
 family is as fond of him as he is of them ; but ho 
 must go. Colonel Pelham has conjured him to set 
 out for Hanover, to meet his sister, Mrs. Temple, who 
 has been sent abroad, he says, in hopes that exercise, 
 the change of air, and amusements may prevent her 
 falling into a consumption, from her immoderate grief 
 for the loss of her husband and son. I have pressed 
 him long to go, before he had this additional motive, 
 as he is designed for the eldest Miss Pelham, now 
 unmarried ; and by that means he, most probably, 
 will be considered as the Heir to the Pelham family ; 
 views too important to be neglected for any transient 
 attachment. ’ 
 
 October 22ncl . — c The quarrel between the Pope 
 and the Venetians subsided for some time, and the 
 
1750. FLORENTINE VILLAS. 311 
 
 latter, by acting vigorously, have hitherto remained 
 victorious on the side of honour, that is by shewing 
 the greatest resentment to the Pope and abusing him 
 publickly. That was not the only mortification the 
 Pope was obliged to swallow. Pasquin treated him 
 very ludicrously in his own capital. Marforio asks 
 Pasquin, “ Perche si triste 1 ” “ Pereke ! ” replies he, 
 “ perche non avremo piu Commedia ! Pantalone e 
 partito, e il Dottore e impazzato ! ” The old Bolognese 
 Doctor was excessively offended at this coarse wit, 
 in which characters from the Italian Comedy were 
 applied to the Venetian ambassador and to the 
 Pope. (‘ We shall have no more comedy ; Pantalone 
 (The V enetians) is gone away, and the Doctor (Pope) 
 is gone mad ! ’) 
 
 ‘ You are certainly right about the bad taste of the 
 Florentine villas. That of Acciajuoli is a proof of 
 it. One would think that their chief pride was to 
 shew that they could prop up a house by vast walls 
 and Intrenchments more expensive than the habita- 
 tion itself. Palmieri’s, very near Florence, is another 
 proof of it. I had almost broke my neck in coming 
 down from it yesterday on horseback. I had been 
 about Fiesole, to take a pretty villa for about a 
 month. The access to it in a coach is very good, 
 and the plains below charming to ride about on horse- 
 back. Most of the villas on the hill of Fiesole look 
 exactly like a Chinese Fan, with monstrous houses 
 upon trees. 
 
 ‘ There was expectation lately of a Grand Festino 
 which has failed. If the Dauphiness had been brought 
 to bed of a son. Count Lorenzi (French minister at 
 
312 
 
 PATRICIANS AND NOBLES. 
 
 1750. 
 
 Florence) intended to have married for joy and given 
 a Great Ball— which his court would have paid for ; 
 hut as it was only a daughter, and that he was forbid 
 making any rejoicing on that occasion, he intends to 
 extend his respect to his Court by making none for his 
 marriage, which he undertakes in a few days, with an 
 Uglio, a great bouncing girl of about 19 ; how it will 
 go with his weak constitution and game leg, I can’t 
 tell. I am invited to see him hop into this state, next 
 Monday.’ 
 
 ‘We were to have had another Festino upon a quite 
 different occasion, that of old Count Riccardi’s leaving 
 the world. He had a sort of an apoplectick fit ; but, 
 before he would be blooded, he went round to all 
 the Appartments of his house to announce it to his 
 sons and daughters, so fond is he of telling news. 
 Not being permitted to go out of his house, he 
 meditated a great conversation by way of taking leave, 
 and he thought the invitations had been made, but 
 his people turned it into a Cioccolata for half a dozen 
 ladies, which had almost made him dye of a pet. 
 
 ‘ . . . They have just published a new Edict about 
 the Tuscan nobility which is to be divided into two 
 ranks, those that can prove 200 years are to be 
 Patrizii; the others, Nobili only; by which distinction, 
 as they have all been equal hithefto, the latter will be, 
 as it were, degraded, and all will be at a vast expense 
 and trouble to give in their proofs and quarters 
 properly blazoned. Then animosities must ensue 
 between the two ranks, and have an influence in their 
 marriages, etc., etc., etc. Many of the chief families, 
 I hear, intend to take no notice of this Edict, let the 
 
1750. 
 
 MANN AT FIE SOLE. 
 
 313 
 
 consequence be what it will of their not being in the 
 Libro cV Or o' 
 
 Mann’s letter of October 9th is written at ‘ Fiesole 
 Hill.’ ‘Pray mark/ he says, ‘where this letter is 
 dated. You see I have a hill as well as you, and, I 
 am sure, a much greater, if that be any merit. I will 
 not however compare it with the beauties of Straw- 
 berry Hill, though mine is more beset with houses 
 which afford, I believe, the most Chinesque prospect 
 that any fan or sckreen-painter can imagine. Mine is 
 situated rather low upon the hill, at a place called the 
 Forbici, the ascent to which is so easy that to come with 
 a pair of horses or even to walk up and down, is a 
 diversion. The English have already found their way 
 to it. Sir Matthew Featherstone, another sick husband, 
 has this instant been here to make me his first visit. 
 His Lady Featherstone and a pretty Miss — - — , I really 
 forget her name, are in town, to whom I must make 
 a visit to-morrow, and I suppose invite them to this 
 place for the next day. It will be less trouble than 
 giving her a dinner in Town. You will wonder, 
 perhaps, that after living so many years in Florence, 
 I should now think of a Villa / but the reason is plain ; 
 the search of a little variety is the chief motive. I 
 must however be honest enough to confess that had 
 the Barretts been in Florence, or had they proposed to 
 me to go with them to the Baths, this Villegiatura 
 would never have come into my head. 1 dare say 
 they will not be pleased at not finding me in Florence, 
 on their return ; but it is my turn to fare il Prezzioso. 
 I shall perhaps invite them here. This will be another 
 trial whether he will .permit his wife to be under the 
 same roof. 
 
314 
 
 LTTF/rr 1 TUBE BE IF, I TiDED. 
 
 1750. 
 
 c . . . Rapin lias recorded that the great great 
 grandfather of my Lady Countess was a butcher. On 
 which account, her Ladyship, seeing Rapin among my 
 books, asked me how I could keep it, that it was the 
 falsest lying history in the world ! . . . Did you ever 
 hear of a Count Aremberg (an ancestor of the present 
 Duke), who insisted on being descended from Adam ? 
 A relation of his, to whom he was making it clear, 
 answered : “ Ma foi, mon cousin, nous avons de 
 grandes obligations a Noe, pour avoir bien voulu 
 Harder les archives de notre famille dans son Arc ! ” 
 During the time of the Mississipi scheme in France, 
 a footman, who had got great wealth and an Equipage 
 of his own, going hastily out of a house, he by dis- 
 traction got up into his old place. His servants 
 shewing their surprize, said : “ mais, Monsieur ! ” Ho 
 recovered himself by saying: “c’est que j’ai voulu 
 voir combien de laquais je pourrois mettre derriere 
 cette voiture ! ” ’ Other examples of silly people follow 
 in a December letter. 
 
 Florence, December Ath . — ‘ Doctor Cocchi has a 
 pension for writing a book on the Baths of Pisa, — a 
 mark of the Emperors Imperial Munificence, — as 
 many Florins as make about fifteen Pounds Sterling 
 a year ! the half of which is to be deducted the first 
 year for the Patent and fees ! such are the rewards for 
 merit, learning, and infinite trouble in this country. 
 He very prudently foresaw this, and therefore took 
 the opportunity of securing to himself a much greater 
 reward in the honour he hoped to obtain by that work, 
 and which the publick had not deprived him of. A 
 hint was given to him by order of Richecourt, that 
 
1750. ILLUSTRIOUS AND MOST ILLUSTRIOUS. 
 
 315 
 
 he might bo made nobile as a reward for that book ; 
 but that he declined as thinking it too insignificant. 
 No wonder Richecourt should propose it, having 
 nothing but nobility in his head.’ 
 
 ‘A foolish vain Cavaliere, some years ago, making 
 a merit of his affability or condenscenion (sic), before 
 some strangers and in the presence of Dr. Cocchi, 
 gave as an instance, that “ bcnche Cavaliere, io non 
 ho difficolta di permettere alle gente inferiore come 
 il Signor Dottor Cochi ed altre persone di merito di 
 sedere con me ” (although Cavalier, I have no difficulty 
 in allowing inferior persons, like Dr. Cocchi and other 
 people of merit, to be seated with me), and he appealed 
 to Cocchi to confirm his gentle assertion, which Cocchi 
 did by saying, “ E vero, signor Cavaliere, ma Lei 
 sapra forse die gli uomini Illustri sono da preferirsi 
 agli Ulustrissimi .” (Quite true, Signor Cavalier, but 
 you are perhaps aware that men of merit take pre- 
 cedence of the mere Men of Quality.) This was 
 allowed to be a very proper answer/ 
 
 Both the illustrious and most illustrious were 
 curious as to the quality of Mann’s ‘blood,’ and the 
 Minister got his genealogical tree to show its descent 
 in all its branches. ‘ I shall bang it up,’ he says, 
 ‘ in some inner room, though it is the custom as you 
 know of this country to expose these Alberi Gentilme 
 in their Halls, or most publick parts of their house. 
 Besides, I shall only take occasion accidently to let 
 some few see it, who have made it necessary. This is 
 all the revenge I design to take for their malice. . . . 
 
 ‘. . . I have frequent disputes about my priviledges, 
 etc., but am always forced to yield ; and at this very 
 
316 
 
 A GENUINE EERO. 
 
 1750. 
 
 instant I am forced to receive as a favour tlieir not 
 obliging me to go to Leghorn with all my servants 
 to cloath them with English cloth, that being contra- 
 band, though there is no other in the country, and that 
 no distinction was ever made with regard to us and 
 the unlimited priviledges time out of mind to introduce 
 whatever is for the use of ourselves and families. 
 Riehecourt owns this, but says he wont allow it for the 
 future. He laughs at all the right I pretend to claim, 
 and as no notice is taken of such sort of things, I can 
 get no redress. He is the only one in the Regency 
 that both starts and approves of these difficulties. . . . 
 
 £ . . . I must tell you an extraordinary piece of 
 heroism which was lately shewn in Corsica when M. 
 Oarsay (?), the French Commandant, had condemmed 
 a Corsican to dye. During the interval of his sentence 
 and the time for his execution, he escaped by the 
 negligence of the sentinel, who was to be shot for it. 
 The Corsican upon hearing of this, immediately pro- 
 duced himself, to submit to his sentence, saying that it 
 was not just that an innocent man should dye on his 
 account. Carsay, struck with his generosity, pardoned 
 them both. Last week 142 galley slaves escaj>ed from 
 Pisa, and are now wandering about the country seek- 
 ing whom they must destroy for their own subsistence.’ 
 
1751. 
 
 TEE EMPRESS DOWAGER. 
 
 317 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 1751. 
 
 January 1st . — ‘We are now at the entrance of our 
 Carnival, and forced to be contented with the worst 
 Opera and more wretched ■ Intermezzi that ever was 
 permitted in the Via della Pergola ; but an accident 
 has happened that has made the town think itself 
 happy in the continuation of them, — the dread of a 
 stop of all Carnavalesque diversions. The Empress- 
 Dowager is dead. (Elizabeth, daughter of Louis 
 Rhodolph, Duke of Brunswick.) The news of it 
 arrived yesterday, and orders are expected by the 
 next post relating to the tokens of Grief which the 
 country must give. If the death of Madame Royale, 
 the Emperor’s mother, be any rule, a general and deep 
 mourning must take place of all publick as well 
 as private entertainments ; for then, all domestick 
 festins were forbid. The poor Empress Dowager 
 whom nobody can acquit of voluntarily giving this 
 displeasure to the town, is however not pardoned : 
 “ She might at least have put it off till Quadragesima ! 
 (they say). It would have been more polite not to 
 force people’s inclinations not to mourn out of 
 season.” 
 
NEW YEAR'S BAY. 
 
 17-31. 
 
 0I8 
 
 ‘ I thought I had taken sufficient precautions to 
 prevent being interrupted by visits ; but there are 
 certain people who think they have a right to be 
 troublesome at all hours ; the Custom of the Day’ 
 (New Year’s day) ‘justifies them, so I must have 
 patience, and must myself go round this afternoon 
 to act the same part.’ 
 
 January 29th . — £ I have for a fortnight been 
 nursing the most abominable cold . . . and write to 
 you from bed, which Dr. Cocchi says, “is the only 
 good climate at this time of the year, in Tuscany.” 
 Indeed no climate ever produced worse weather. . . . 
 We have had a little fracas here, and for the first 
 time, Ginori has got the better of Richecourt, in a 
 trial of Interest, about the building a town, 1 mean 
 a suburb to Leghorn. Ginori’ s plan, after some years 
 contest (?) . . . has been preferred to Richecourt’s who 
 is extremely piqued ; however, it is to be executed 
 immediately, and Ginori, with two or three people 
 he has already found, have engaged to build eighty 
 houses, in the Spring. You will judge they are not 
 to be palaces ; I think they are to cost 200 crowns 
 each. The view of this is to entice French, Genoese 
 and Roman fishermen to come and settle there, and 
 then to turn them into sailors . . . 
 
 £ . . . You must not expect any Connection in my 
 Letter. I can’t fix five minutes, in one posture, so 
 inconvenient it is to write in bed.’ 
 
 February 19th . — After dwelling on the languid 
 diversions of the season, the deserted theatres, the 
 gloomy balls, and the capricious tyranny of Riche- 
 court, Mann says : — £ to make his court to a 
 
17-51. 
 
 HOT PIES IN OPERA POXES. 
 
 siy 
 
 favourite of his whom the fumes of a hot pye from 
 a hox below disordered, Richecourt immediately called 
 for the “ Prince ” of the Accademy, and of his own 
 authority gave strict orders that no hot pye or dish 
 with meat should enter the theater ; an obedience to 
 which order authorizes the people at the doors to put 
 their dirty paws into every plate or dish of Macharoni 
 (sic) to discover a latent piggion grosso. The very 
 night after, an excellent Macharoni pye was refused 
 admittance, to the great mortification of the Cicisbeo 
 who had prepared it, and of the many Ladies who 
 were to be regaled with it ! 
 
 ‘ This Carnival was destined to be unlucky. You 
 knoAv it used to end with Mardi Gras . . . and iioav 
 by an express order of the Archbishop, this very 
 Mardi Gras is to be Mardi Maigre, a contradiction 
 of terms, for that high priest has ordered the Jubilee, 
 a suite of the Holy Year, to begin on that day, though 
 the Pope himself has dispensed his oavh State from it. 
 You cannot think Iioav this offends.’ 
 
 ‘ Young Vincenzo Albati has been for some years 
 in an unhappy situation. . . . He and his family, one 
 of the best in Florence, were reduced to want by 
 his Avorthless father, who was one of the people 
 engaged in the robbery of the Abbondanza. He 
 luckily died in prison, and before the sentence was 
 pronounced, but the Estate was forfeited to pay that 
 debt. Well, this Vincenzo Albati has been appointed 
 by the Emperor to go and reside at Vienna, Avith the 
 title of Conseiller Intime in the Tuscan Council, there 
 to facilitate the affairs, of this country which they 
 there know nothing of. He is to have 4000 Florins 
 
320 
 
 IMPERIAL FUNERAL. 
 
 1751. 
 
 a year. . . . Riehecourt lias procured him this advan- 
 tageous post, and he could not choose better, but 
 surely it is a mauvais coup de politique for one here 
 who has hitherto and still wishes to command and 
 direct their deliberations from hence, to put it in the 
 power of any one to weaken his command, and one 
 whom he has reduced to beggary, a Tuscan whose 
 whole country he has offended. Albati will become 
 considerable from his own merit. Prince Craon, 
 finding himself teazed with affairs which he could 
 not understand, asked Riehecourt to work for him. 
 The Princess foretold how it would be, nor was she in 
 the least mistaken. The Florentines look upon this 
 as an Epoque worth observation. 
 
 ‘ It has not ceased four days together raining since 
 the middle of October. All Italy is under water, 
 which will produce great misery. I am impatient for 
 some good weather to go frequently to attend my 
 workmen at Bracci’s villa. What say you to that 
 purchase ? ’ 
 
 March 12th . — e On Wednesday, we had a pompous 
 ceremony for the late Empress Dowager, whose 
 obsequies were performed in the church of St. 
 Laurence, a tedious function through which I was 
 forced to sit, having been invited en ceremonie, and 
 attended the whole time, by a person appointed by 
 the Regency. Count Lorenzi made his excuses, the 
 motive of which is believed to be his not wishing to 
 give me place in publick, which he must have done 
 if I had thought of taking it, though I certainly, 
 through inadvertency, should have let him slip above 
 me. 
 
1751. THE BROTHER OF MM E. BE POMPADOUR. 321 
 
 ‘ A. propos to place, we have here a Monsieur cle 
 Yandi feres, Madame de Pompadour’s brother, with 
 whom the Florentines make a great fuss. When he 
 was made Marquis, the French called him le Marquis 
 d’Avant-hier ! One of his companions, coming into 
 the church on Wednesday, asked a Lorraine officer : 
 “ Connoissez vous Monsieur de VandiferesL’ — “ Ouy, 
 Monsieur.” — “Scaurez vous me montrer la place qu’on 
 luy a destine ici ? ” — “ La Place qu’on lui a destine ? 
 Oh, Monsieur, croyez vous, parcequ’il est frfere de 
 la Concubine du Roy, qu’on lui a destine une place 
 ici ? ” — “ Mais, Monsieur, je croyais peut-etre par 
 politique.” — Ma foy, Monsieur, 9 a serait le pousser 
 bien loin ! ” Upon which the Frenchman mixed with 
 the crowd, to look for this great mau. You know his 
 name is Poisson. It is said he addressed himself some 
 time ago to Marquis d’Argenson to get him the Cordon 
 Bleu. The Marquis received the proposal with sur- 
 prise, and told him, “Ma foy, Monsieur, le Poisson est 
 trop petit pour mettre au bleu ! ” You know it is a 
 particular way of dressing fish, and especially a Sauce 
 for large ones. He has with him the Abbe Blanc, 
 who was in England some time, and has published 
 some Letters, “ Sur les Anglois.” ’ 
 
 April 2nd.— All that I can say about Beau 
 Wortley and the Duchess of Queensberry is that the 
 first is quite unaccountable, as I don’t believe that 
 Lady Mary supplies him with any Diamonds or money 
 to buy them ; she keeps them all for her Lover with 
 whom she lives at Brescia. The Dutchess is very 
 mad, and the answer about her house being like that 
 of • Socrates, savours much of the literature of Lady 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 T 
 
322 
 
 MORALS IN COURTS. 
 
 1751 . 
 
 Pomfret, who “ would not be a Curtius to jump into 
 a pit to save other £ women’s’ reputations.” 
 
 £ We have had a report, whilst M. de Vandieres 
 was gone to Leghorn, that his Sister, Mme. de Pom- 
 padour, had left the King of France. Others say 
 that she retired only to the Capuchines to take the 
 Jubilee, and that it was out of policy, knowing how 
 much His Christian Majesty is afraid of the Devil, 
 that he might not he tempted into doing anything 
 that might displease his Confessor, to her disadvantage. 
 How ridiculous is this farce, and so much the more as 
 it is exhibited from a throne. 
 
 £ You have heard of the Duke of Bouffler’s death, 
 by an overturn in his chair. This accident was not 
 the only afflicting circumstance to poor Prince Craon, 
 his father-in law. He (the Duke) had some employ- 
 ment at Court which gave occasion for his papers 
 being sealed up, and afterwards examined ; when lo ! 
 a box of letters came to light from his wife, who was 
 as great a favourite with Stanislaus (the ex-King of 
 Poland, at Nancy) as her mother, our Princess (de 
 Craon), was formerly with Leopold. In these letters, 
 wrote as we may imagine with the freedom of a wife 
 to her husband, who had given leave to some familiar 
 flippancies, she turned into ridicule and exposed the 
 weaknesses of her royal lover. This shocked the 
 poor old man vastly, and it is said that nothing 
 but the favour Prince Craon is in, can make up the 
 matter. ’ 
 
 April 30th . — £ Dr. Cocchi’s opinion of the report 
 made by the Physicians and Surgeons’ (of the fatal 
 illness of the Prince of Wales) £ is that the cause of his 
 
1751 . 
 
 A WIDOWED MISTRESS. 
 
 323 
 
 leath was formed in the pleurisy he had had some time 
 before ; he says it is impossible it shoidd be of a longer 
 standing. Poor Mr. Whithed’s seems to have been 
 of the same nature, though more hasty in its effects. 
 I have not courage yet to undertake to give this 
 melancholy news to the poor girl, who will be in 
 despair, for she really adored him, and lived upon 
 the hopes of seeing him again, which he always en- 
 couraged. Their child is an extremely pretty girl, but 
 is too young to be sensible of her loss. I lately sent 
 him her picture, at his request, but T believe he could 
 not have seen it.’ 
 
 May — ‘ 1 have been forced to act the part of 
 
 a Comforter to the Lucchi’ (Whithed’s mistress) ‘whose 
 despair made me fear the worst of consequences, that of 
 turning her brain. I could not conceal from her the 
 care he had taken of her and the child, thinking it the 
 properest method to calm her, and to be sure it must 
 have been some consolation, though hitherto she seems 
 only sensible to the loss ; but I am impatient to re- 
 ceive a confirmation of her legacy, not that I think 
 there can be any doubt of the authenticity of the copy 
 of the Will, which Mr. Chute and my brother saw. I 
 am sure Mr. Chute will take care of their interest as 
 soon as he is capable of attending to any thing. 
 
 ‘ The only thing that has interested the Court of 
 Florence of late is a number of very low seditious 
 billets that were dispersed in the night, they were 
 manuscript, all by the same hand, and only contained 
 words to this effect : “ Coraggio! o Fiorentini, risvegliate 
 vi ! e tempo di farvi sentire! (Courage, Florentines! 
 arise ! It is time to make yourselves be felt !) — but they 
 
324 
 
 THE PIOUS LUC CHI. 
 
 1751 . 
 
 had no effect, few people were even informed of 
 them. . . . 
 
 ‘ . . . The dread of misery would add great weight 
 to the affliction ’ (of Whithed’s Italian mistress) ‘ though 
 she is as yet totally indifferent to every other passion ; 
 as she thinks of nothing else all day, so she dreams of 
 him every night, which she calls seeing him, and, by his 
 smiling upon her, is convinced that he is in Paradise, 
 through her intercession ! She made a whole Convent 
 of Nuns receive the Sacrament for that purpose, and 
 has ruined herself in Masses ! “ Si vedi,” she says, 
 “ che li hanno fatto bene.” (One sees they have been 
 beneficial to him.) Was I to deprive her of this 
 consolation, I really think she would run mad. Tell 
 Mr. Chute of what importance it is to let them know 
 that they will not be reduced to want. 
 
 ‘. . . Cardinal Tencin has retired to his Arch- 
 bishoprick at Lyons. . . . Previous to his taking that 
 resolution he wrote to the Pope to acquaint him with 
 it, who lost not a moment to forbid him doing it, but 
 his letter arrived too late. The Pretender too will be 
 disappointed.’ 
 
 July 2nd. — ‘ I have lately bought a very fine 
 picture for Lord Kockingham, a Guercino that he had 
 seen at Siena, and which he and many others had 
 offered money for. . . . 
 
 ‘ . . . Never was any country so altered as this ; 
 no society, nor any amusement to keep off the Spleen. 
 
 I sometimes stay at home for a week together for want 
 of knowing where to go. ... I made the Lucchi go 
 into the country, and it has had the effect upon her 
 health that I hoped. The different objects have in some 
 
1751. 
 
 COMPULSORY NATURALIZATION. 
 
 325 
 
 measure diverted her melancholy, though she lives as 
 retired there as she always did in town. It is very 
 uncommon to find so much attachment and gratitude 
 in that rank of life.’ 
 
 July ‘60th . — ‘I am almost engaged in a furious 
 quarrel here with Kichecourt and his Clerk Torna- 
 qumei. . . . The motive of it is the revival of a strange 
 pretention started about 3 years ago by the Count, 
 not only to consider all the English at Leghorn as 
 the Emperor’s subjects, but to make them stile them- 
 selves so ! The affair then surprized both our King 
 and the Ministers and produced very strong orders 
 to me to oppose so artfull and insiduous an insinua- 
 tion. I obeyed them in more gentle terms, but 
 strong, and thought I had put an end to the Dispute, 
 which however they have now renewed with excessive 
 ill menaces, all by letter with Abbe Tornaquinei, the 
 Secretary of State, who unfortunately seems to have 
 forgot how much he has abused to me the author of 
 that pretention, as absurd and tending to the destruc- 
 tion of Leghorn, though he has now so servilely 
 obeyed the dictates of him. Lorenzi having the same 
 orders from his Court ’ (of France) ‘ that I have on this 
 point, and further to act in conjunction with me, has 
 received the same treatment, but however as yet we 
 have the last word, or rather the last letter, which the 
 Count and his Abbe will find very difficult to digest. 
 We have both been obliged to determine not to treat 
 with Count Kichecourt about any business by word of 
 mouth, not to expose ourselves to impertinences we 
 could not bear. Do but imagine his telling me a little 
 while ago, when I told him I had presented a Memorial 
 
326 
 
 AN EPIGRAM. 
 
 1751. 
 
 from the Consul and English Merchants at Leghorn to 
 the Secretary of State, in order to be laid before the 
 Council, relating to an affair of vast importance : 
 “ Oui, Monsieur, j’ai vu veritablement un papier qui 
 m’a fait rire ! ” — “ Vous a fait rire ? C’est singulier qu’il 
 eut procluit un si drole effet ! ” — Somebody coming in 
 prevented the continuation of our discourse. Could 
 anything be more insolent ? A Florentine of good 
 sense hearing of the changes 7 (in the Ministry) £ in 
 England exclaimed : “ It is only our Ministers that 
 
 are eternal ! ” Here is an Epigram some Priest has 
 made upon Richecourt : — * 
 
 “ Lex priina ulcisci, secunda est vivere raptu, 
 Tertia moechari, quarta negare Deum.” 7 
 
 £ Prince Craon used to say ££ C’est un malfaisant ! ” 
 and the late Electress used to say, relating to the 
 affairs she had with the Count: “ Get homrne m’em- 
 poisonne tout ! ” . . . 
 
 ‘ . . . We have crouds of English, and more daily 
 expected, I wish I could contrive some way to run 
 from them ! ’ 
 
 August 20th . — £ We have a larger flight of Wood- 
 cocks this year than has been seen for many years 
 past ; besides near thirty stareing boys, we have a 
 large family of Lord Kilmurray and his lady, who is 
 Aunt to your new Relation Mr. Shirley ’ (whom the 
 dowager Lady Orford had recently married). £ There 
 is besides, Mr. Nightingale, her brother, with his son 
 and daughter. My Lady is almost a Methodist, 
 though not quite a convert to his Sister, Lady 
 Huntingdon. Miss Nightingale has lived most among 
 
1751 . ENGLISH MERCHANTS AT LEGHORN. 
 
 327 
 
 them, and says she knows all their misteries, their 
 Hymns, their Canticles, and their nonsense. She is 
 vastly lively, and though she has two essential defects 
 in her person, she is rather pretty, but not enough to 
 give the Florentines any idea of the beauties we hear 
 so much talked of in England. I am impatient for 
 Mr. Conway’s arrival, to give them a better idea 
 at least of our young men. ’ 
 
 September 24 th . — ‘ I concluded a strong Memorial 
 1 made a few days ago, by order, with the expression’ 
 (referring to the claim made by the Imperial Govern- 
 ment at Vienna to reduce the British merchants at 
 Leghorn to the status of Austrian subjects) — ‘“This 
 pretension is contrary to ancient and universal usage, 
 and opposed to all the rules of the rights of nations.” 
 
 ‘ The joy for the birth of the Due de Bourgogne is 
 not to be confined to France. Count Lorenzi has 
 orders de faire une fete which he designs shall be a 
 Ball, in which he may spend if he pleases more than 
 the 4000 livres which have been allowed him on this 
 occasion. His Countess will shine for the honour 
 of the King her Master, which expression she has so 
 much adopted that, at Cards, when she plays a King, 
 she says, “ Ecco ! il Be, mio Signore ! ” ’ 
 
 October 8 th. — ‘We’ (Mann and the Council at 
 Florence) ‘ are upon very formal terms since the 
 Memorial which I presented. Violent dispatches have 
 been sent to Vienna with strong advices to the 
 Emperor not to part with his English subjects, 
 “ because, to yield on this point would be the ruin of 
 the commerce of Leghorn.” You must know that 
 the Emperor is fond of commerce, and they tickle his 
 
328 
 
 LADY M. W. MONTAGU. 
 
 1751. 
 
 ears with it upon all occasions. I told the person 
 that mentioned the above expression to me, that there 
 seemed to be a small mistake, for that if the Emperor 
 did not yield, it would produce the ruin of the com- 
 merce of Leghorn; or that, if the English did, it would 
 be their ruin ; but there is no danger of their exposing 
 themselves to that risk, assurances of which I am to 
 send home by this post in their name, and that they 
 are too sensible of the blessings they enjoy as the 
 King’s subjects ever to think of becoming those of 
 the Great Duke, or to swerve in the least from their 
 Duty and Allegiance to His Majesty. 
 
 ‘ A Gentleman tells me that some time after Lady 
 Mary’ (Wortley Montagu) ‘had been at Brescia, the 
 opinion prevailed that she was kept in durance by her 
 young officer ; the Governor or Commissary there 
 invited her to dinner, on purpose to enquire into it, 
 with offers to free her ; but she said her confinement 
 was voluntary. Since, however, she wrote to Madame 
 Micheli, with whom she had always been in cor- 
 respondence, to take leave of her, alleging that her 
 lover would not permit her to write or receive any 
 letter without his seeing it.’ 
 
 November 2 6 th . — In this letter Mann describes 
 the government at Florence as ‘ solely directed by 
 ltichecourt, whose servile colleagues never publickly 
 oppose his decisions, however arbitrary or absurd ; and 
 though they frequently expose themselves to share the 
 disapprobation which comes from Vienna . . . they 
 rejoice with their intimates out of hatred to him;’ 
 but, says the writer, ‘ for the common transactions of 
 the town they are all confined to the knowledge of 
 
1751. 
 
 CHANGES IN CIC ISBN 0 SHIP. 
 
 329 
 
 what Cicisbeos have been displaced and what new 
 establishments have been made. The great news of 
 this kind is that Madame Acciajuoli, who immediately 
 after the departure of her joined Cicisbeos, Mr. Pelham 
 and Milbank, took to Jacky Langlois, whom the 
 town thought an unworthy successor, has now turned 
 him off for a young Marquis. Pucci succeeded 
 Lord Rockingham with the S iris tori whom that Pucci 
 has abandoned abruptly without a just cause, con- 
 sequently has offended against le Legge d’ Amicizia, 
 as Madame Acciajuoli has done likewise with regard 
 to her friend the young and handsome Siristori, by 
 debauching her Cavaliere servente from her. These 
 are the circumstances that employ the gay Florentine 
 world. An English traveller frequently deranges the 
 whole harmony of Cicisbeoship.’ 
 
 ‘ We have here two great admirers of England, 
 Niccolini and your friend the Chevalier Lorenzi, who 
 talk of nothing else . . . Lorenzi ’ (brother of the 
 Count Lorenzi who represented France at the Tuscan 
 Court) ‘ sticks to the degagee English mode of a frock 
 in the morning. About Lady Mary Wortley, I will 
 try to get other informations. Niccolini has promised 
 to help me ; his correspondence is universal, and he 
 has a vanity in instructing me about the English and 
 everything that relates to England.’ 
 
 December 3rd . — ‘ Notwithstanding all my pre- 
 cautions, Mr. Conway lay one night at the English 
 Inn, where he was arrived before I knew he had left 
 Leghorn. Next morning I brought him here, and he 
 is now lodged in your Appartment. . . . He made 
 some resistance, nor yielded till I threatened to 
 complain to you. 
 
330 
 
 ME. CONWAY. 
 
 1751. 
 
 ‘ I am sorry that the season of the year admits of 
 no diversion, and that everybody is still in the country 
 to profit of the finest Autumn we have had for many 
 years. Devotion only will bring them back, which 
 will at the same time make them inaccessible, the 
 nearer we approach to Christmas.’ 
 
 December 2 6th. — ‘ I am so happy with Mr. 
 Conway, that I can almost figure to myself the happy 
 time 1 passed with you here. He inhabits the same 
 Appartment, and 1 the same I did then. By this 
 means, since the great alterations I have made, we 
 divide the whole house and are both at large His 
 great Antechamber is the Assembly Room twice a 
 week, to which he ushers forth when he is tired of 
 translating, or other retired occupations in which 
 nobody interrupts him. I leave him after breakfast, 
 which commonly passes in Italian and, unless by 
 accident we go out together in the morning, I seldom 
 see him till three o’clock at dinner. Lord Stormont is 
 frequently with us then, and we do not separate till 
 about 5, for an hour or two, till it is time to go to 
 some Conversation, after which we return to supper 
 tete a tete, and seldom separate till one. 
 
 ‘ He is vastly desirous of improving himself in 
 Italian, which however he knows a good deal of and 
 only wants practice for the common terms and phrases. 
 
 . . . He will perhaps go as far as Turin to meet Lady 
 Ailesbury, and I hope bring her hither. He is averse 
 to carrying her to Mahon, though she seems to prefer 
 that place to any other without him, and if he should 
 be obliged to return hither, it will cause a little 
 amorous contract (sic) between them, as he does not 
 
1751. 
 
 GENTLEMEN’S GENTLEMEN. 
 
 381 
 
 think the air of that place good enough for her ; 
 and if she was to know that reason, she would pique 
 herself upon sharing any danger with him. If she 
 is as good as he is, they must he a happy couple.’ 
 
 1752. 
 
 January 7th. — Mr. Conway is to set out to- 
 morrow for Rome and Naples. On his return, he 
 will pass as much time here as circumstances then 
 will admit of. I wish they may be such as to permit 
 Lady Ailesbury to meet him here, as I think no 
 place can be perfectly agreeable to him without her.’ 
 (Mr. Conway and Lord Stormont were, according to 
 Mann, two of the most perfect gentlemen that ever 
 came from England into Italy.) 
 
 January 28th. — ‘ You ask me what an Uorno nero 
 is. “ Uomo nero ” is a general term for all servants 
 out of livery ; what we call a gentleman servant, but 
 you know the Italians won’t allow the least tincture 
 of gentilizia to those under the rank of Cavaliere ; all 
 others are at most persons civili. They are vastly 
 astonished to hear Lady Kilmurray who (as Mr. Chute 
 said of Mrs. Goldworthy) talks from hand to mouth, 
 talk of il Gentiluomo di My Lord ; but she translated 
 backwards and forwards into all the languages she 
 knew. Marquis Niccolini she called My Lord, in 
 English, and by as literal a translation into French, 
 called Count Salins, Monseigneur, and yet she lived 
 in France with Lady Ferrers, her mother, great part 
 of her younger days. 
 
 ‘ Marquis Tempi died a few days ago of an 
 
332 
 
 WIT AND IMPERTINENCE. 
 
 1752 . 
 
 apoplexy ; his family and relations are the more 
 afflicted as it deprives them of the pleasures of the 
 Carnival. You may remember him by the connection 
 he had with your friend the Marchese Albizzi, whose 
 mother’s Cicisbeo he had been for 30 years. A 
 death however much more important to the publick 
 at the present season is that of our Impresario of the 
 Opera, and husband to the first woman, which it 
 was feared would interrupt it, at least till another 
 had learnt her part ; but the poor creature not only 
 sung two hours after he died (though she then only 
 knew that he was in agony) but continues. I luckily 
 thought of proposing to make a benefit night for her, 
 which has been accepted, and I hope will produce a 
 good deal ; for she is left with two children and is 
 miserable.’ 
 
 Among the swaggering young Englishmen, unlike 
 the Conways, Stormonts, and some others who came 
 under Mann’s view in Florence, was a Mr. Vernon who, 
 — Admiral Vernon being then in fashion, — passed 
 himself off as the Admiral’s nephew^. ‘ We heard 
 afterwards,’ (says Mann, March 10th) ‘that being in 
 France with some company’ (in 1740) ‘the dis- 
 course did not please him, upon which he abruptly 
 said, “ Finissons, ce discours m’ennuie ! ” to which a 
 French gentleman replied : “ Eh bien ! Monsieur, si 
 ce discours vous ennuie, vous n’avez qu’a lever le siege 
 comme a fait Monsieur votre Oncle ” — the news of 
 which ’ (the affair at Carthagena) ‘ had just reached 
 Paris. . . . 
 
 ‘ . . . Count Lorenzi did himself great honour by 
 having a son within the year of his marriage ; but 
 
1752. 
 
 DEATH OF MANN'S FATHER. 
 
 333 
 
 unluckily the child died a few days ago, by the 
 carelessness of his nurse. The Count’s disappointment 
 was great. Richecourt, to console him, said “ vous 
 n’avez perdu que la fapon.” . . .’ Soon after this joke, 
 Mann, hearing of the death of his father, wrote 
 thus : — ‘ From a Villa near Florence, March 31st. I 
 borrowed this little villa of Dr. Cocchi, both to avoid 
 the troublesome ceremonies which are practised in this 
 country, on the death of so near a relation, and to 
 dissipate the melancholly reflections which naturally 
 arise from the prospect of my future situation. The 
 house is annexed to a Church, and the country people 
 are vastly edified by my curiosity, by peeping through 
 the windows of a closet, to see the ceremonies of the 
 Holy Week, which they attributed to Devotion ; but 
 were vastly scandalized to hear that the same day 
 I had a chicken for my dinner, which all Florence 
 soon knew, and which was echoed back to me as the 
 news of the town, where people have nothing to 
 employ themselves about, except the notions of Mr. 
 St. Odil who is going Minister to Rome to give more 
 power to the Priests and Inquisition. He was always 
 the greatest antagonist at Vienna of Richecourt, who 
 is vastly jealous of him here, and excludes everybody 
 from him.’ 
 
 May 5th . — Mann had early in the year sent his 
 portrait, by Astley, to Walpole ; after praise of the 
 painter, he writes : — ‘ Astley has furnished my great 
 room with some excellent copies, particularly one of 
 Lord Rockingham’s G-uercino, which I purchased 
 for him at Sienna. . . . Your old friend, Louis (?) 
 came accidentally to me yesterday, to show me a 
 
A GUEIICINO, BY AST LEY. 
 
 1752. 
 
 33t 
 
 small picture of Correggio, for which he asks a 
 thousand crowns, and casting his eye upon that copy, 
 cried out with admiration: “he! voila done ce 
 fameux Guercin ! ” which, by its reputation, he had 
 been about formerly buying. I let him draw himself 
 into the terrible scrape of praising it, for a quarter of 
 an hour, for its preservation, etc., etc., and then 
 mortified him vastly by gently hinting to him his 
 mistake, which he excused by his not having had his 
 spectacles, “ Sans quoy, Monsieur, vous comprenez bien 
 que je ne me serois point trompe ! ” Don’t however 
 raise Astley’s vanity by mentioning this, or let my 
 Lord know that I had his picture copied. I am not 
 quite convinced it was right, without his leave, which 
 there was no time to ask.’ 
 
 June 31 St.- — ‘ Our tranquility has been a little 
 disturbed . . . there is actually a Rebellion in Tunis. 
 
 . . . The old Bey has got possession of a fort towards 
 the sea, which gives him an opportunity to block up 
 the town that way, as he had done before by land. 
 His Rebel Son is master of the chief fortress in the 
 town, and has lately discovered a large quantity of 
 nitre, with which he daily makes as much gunpowder 
 as he wants, of which he had none before. He has 
 carried all the provisions into his castle, for the 
 maintenance of his troops, which has almost occa- 
 sioned a famine in the town. 
 
 ‘ The Tripolins, having offended the French Court, 
 by seizing one of their vessels, a small Escadre was 
 sent there to demand satisfaction and the head of 
 a French Renegado, which was peremptorily refused; 
 upon which the Commandant of their ships acquainted 
 
1752. 
 
 SIX LIVES FOE ONE. 
 
 335 
 
 the Bey that he would send for the ships that waited 
 his orders at Malta, to joyn him and bombard the 
 town. This threat had the proper effect. The Bey 
 desired time to consider of it till the next morning, 
 and then sent him a message that he would give 
 him ^ zecchins, as an indemnification for the French 
 vessel that had been taken, and that as he had not 
 authority to punish the Renegado, or give him up, he 
 hoped the French King would, in lieu of him, accept 
 six of his subjects who were slaves ; and promised 
 at the same time that the other should never be 
 employed on board his ships, or permitted to go to 
 sea, on pain of death. The French Commander 
 accepted of those conditions (!) and immediately 
 despatched notice to different ports that his country- 
 men might continue their trade to the Levant, which 
 this accident had interrupted. Many of their vessels 
 had taken refuse at Leghorn. I am afraid that our 
 reparation was not so compleat for a much greater 
 offence, in taking a rich paquet boat from Lisbon. 
 
 ‘. . . We are at the eve of some events that people 
 pretend may produce others. It is said that the 
 Empress has consented that a body of her troops, 
 10 Batallions and 6 Squadrons, should live in 
 Tuscany, merely for the good of the country, and 
 that they are actually assembling in Lombardy for 
 that purpose.’ 
 
 August 1 1th . — ‘We have now such crouds of 
 English of both sexes that I have not a moment to 
 myself. Upon a muster yesterday, I think there 
 were four or five and thirty. The females are Mrs. 
 Arbuthnot and her sister, who has not been used to 
 
336 
 
 UNWELCOME GUESTS. 
 
 1752. 
 
 the world, and therefore “ don’t cliuse to go into it, 
 but prefer the society of their honest countrymen to 
 all the Italians whatsomdever.” The other is rather 
 a fine Lady of Kentish breed, refined in France, from 
 whence she has brought the newest modes. She is 
 young and rather pretty. Her husband is a rich West 
 Indian, Mr. Young by name, who, I hear, has made a 
 great figure in England, which, I am told, makes 
 travelling necessary, in point of economy. He makes 
 a figure however here, and has a Concert once a week 
 at his house. I have Danes and Saxons too recom- 
 mended to me ; in short, I never had so many people 
 on my hands at once. It is quite ridiculous to see me 
 at the head of a train, at Count Richecourt’s, or 
 marching into an Assembly. He takes no further 
 notice of them, after a polite reception, but any 
 Minister who would undertake all the English ought 
 to have separate appointments. I cannot avoid ruin- 
 ing myself.’ 
 
 In a letter of August 31st, Mann returns to his 
 ‘roaring, rich West Indian, Young, who talks of his 
 money, and swaggers in his gate as if both his coat 
 pockets were full of it. He buys pictures upon his 
 own judgment, and declares it to be better than 
 any body’s. Hugford, the English painter, allows 
 the assertion, since Young gave him two hundred 
 zecc-hins for a Danae, which Hugford calls a Titian ! 
 The picture is allowed to have merit, but it has been 
 so often washed and retouched that one does not 
 know whose to call it. The great Mengs, whom Sir 
 Hanbury Williams recommended to me, on Mengs’ 
 way to Rome, to work for his master, the King of 
 
1752 . 
 
 A WEST INDIAN. 
 
 337 
 
 Poland, nob only denys the originality of it, but said it 
 was worth nothing. Mr. Young has heard of this, and 
 
 says that Mengs must be the most D d ignorant 
 
 fellow in the world, for said he “I will assert and 
 lay any man a thousand pounds that it is much better 
 than the Venus in the Tribuna.” You will certainly 
 hear much talk of it when it arrives in England, and 
 probably be tempted to go to see it. In the meantime, 
 speak to Astley about it, who knows the picture 
 extremely well. You may then see Mr. Young’s 
 Organ, which cost him three thousand pounds, and 
 his electrical instruments which cost forty thousand 
 pounds ; but he must retrench, he says, because the 
 late Hurricane did so much harm to his Sugar-canes, 
 that he shan’t receive above one third of his Estate ; 
 not above £j this year. 
 
 'Nobody enjoys this swaggerer more than the 
 present Lord Bruce, whom I love extremely, for the 
 great regard with which he speaks of Mr. Conway 
 and Lady Ailesbury. Young has heard of the report 
 of the claim which the Luke of Somerset is to make 
 to part of his Estate, but seems persuaded that no- 
 thing can come of it. Should it, however, go on, he 
 intends to set out immediately for England.’ 
 
 A great proportion of the remainder of this letter 
 deals with more exalted individuals than swaggering 
 West Indians. In Florence, for example : — 
 
 ‘ . . . The Duke of Marlborough, I suppose, is very 
 glad that Lord Somers’s papers, which were in the 
 hands of Mr. Yorke, have been burnt. Prince Craon 
 assured me often that he had seen a pardon signed 
 by the Pretender, for the late Duke. You know the 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 z 
 
388 
 
 THE STUART FAMILY. 
 
 1752, 
 
 former lived in Craon’s house, for some time, in 
 Lorraine. There have been great embroils in the 
 Pretender’s house at Rome, which have produced, 
 they say, a total separation of Cardinal York from 
 his father, in spite of all the pains which the Pope 
 took to bring about a reconciliation. He has now 
 given that commission to Cardinal Doria, at Bologna, 
 where the young Cardinal has fixt his Residence, with 
 a firm resolution, it is said, not to return to Rome, but 
 upon conditions of being permitted to live alone, and 
 to have the sole and independent management of his 
 own Revenues. Some people believe that Cardinal 
 York will be made perpetual Legate of Bologna ; but 
 I own, I cannot think that the other Cardinals will 
 permit the Pope to deprive some of them, York’s 
 successors, of so considerable a Government, to raise 
 as it were a Principality for him. If this should 
 ever happen, I shall be inclined to believe that the 
 Chevalier and his Son have condescended to quarrel 
 in appearance, and that they have more policy than 
 the world has hitherto thought them capable of. 
 
 ‘ The Report of the Eldest Son’s having changed 
 his religion is dropt, but not contradicted. Nothing 
 was ever more publickly talked of at Rome, for some 
 time, so that nothing less then a publick profession of 
 his Faith will be sufficient to satisfy the scruples which 
 that report has raised. Perhaps, he may now go to 
 Rome to make it, as some Politicians pretend that the 
 Cardinal’s retreat to Bologna was on purpose to give 
 his brother an opportunity to make a visit to his father, 
 without breaking his oath of not meeting his brother in 
 that habit. Stosch is still positively of opinion that 
 
1752. 
 
 THE ESTERHAZYS. 
 
 539 
 
 the young Pretender does not exist, though he is 
 forced to write about him, every week.’ 
 
 The letters which chronicle the incidents towards 
 the close of the year are half mirthful, half melan- 
 choly. Among the sadder circumstances may be 
 noted the deaths of Marquis Riccardi and his son, 
 within four days of each other. ‘ The family is quite 
 decayed, and the creditors in the greatest confusion. 
 Marquis Rinuncini is now the great man of Florence. 
 They say he has above ^ crowns a year, which he 
 spends chiefly in the country, where at the head of 
 a hundred low dependants he makes the greatest 
 figure. He has plays acted by his children, and great 
 feastings continually for sycophants.’ 
 
 The greatest ‘ feasting ’ however which Florence 
 had witnessed or enjoyed for many years, was on the 
 occasion of the visit of the Prince and Princess 
 Esterhazy ‘ to whom the whole town was by order of 
 the emperor to show all possible attentions; he was 
 received by a discharge of the cannons, and was per- 
 mitted to lodge at the house Prince Craon lived in, 
 this is all the Court has done for him, but it has 
 roused the nobility, who vye with each other in giving 
 him feasts of all kinds, of which I have partaken. The 
 first was a great cold maigre dinner at the chevalier 
 Antinori’s, one of our Regents, at which the whole 
 company, consisting of 24 people, were starved with 
 cold and Hunger. Pandolfini gave a much better en 
 gras a few days after, but the excessive cold of the 
 Hall in which we dined gave me a head ach, that 
 obliged me to keep in bed for 24 hours afterwards. 
 My friend Madame Antinori, sister to your friend the 
 
340 
 
 BANQUETS. 
 
 1752. 
 
 Griffoni, gave a very handsome ball ; Marquis Corri 
 gave a much finer and a supper to the whole company, 
 which was the largest as well as the finest entertain- 
 ment I ever saw ; the table was served in his fine 
 Gallery. The ladies and distinguished men only were 
 seated, but above two hundred others stood behind 
 in four rows, and all were fed. Most of the principal 
 dishes were changed three times, the Prince and 
 Princess were surprised at the magnificence and order 
 of the whole entertainment, which broke up about 4 to 
 give place again to the Ball, which lasted till seven in 
 the morning. The company had hardly time to recover 
 a sufficient stock of spirits to dance the next evening 
 at the Neapolitan Minister’s, who brought himself to 
 great shame, by the vilest festin that was ever given. 
 He is the same Viviani whom you may remember to 
 have seen at Prince Craon’s, and who deserted to the 
 Spaniards on Montemar’s arrival in Italy, for which 
 he would have been confined in a fortress had they 
 caught him — he afterwards went into Spain, and was 
 employed at Court as a language Master, from thence 
 he returned to Naples, and got some little employ- 
 ment, which not being sufficient to keep him, he 
 contrived to be named a sort of Minister here only to 
 live in Tuscany, without any appointments however 
 and no other credentials than a letter from Marquis 
 Toglieni to Count Richecourt, but the desire of figur- 
 ing as a minister, engaged him, in spite of his ruined 
 circumstances, and the want of the most common 
 furniture in his house (all which he had sold some 
 time ago), to give a fete to Prince Esterhazy, the most 
 shattered ill composed matter you ever saw, and quite 
 
1752. 
 
 DUKE LEOPOLD OF LORRAINE. 
 
 341 
 
 the disgrace of ministerhood. The next morning they 
 set out for Pisa and Leghorn, and at the former place 
 received an invitation by a nobile Lucchese from the 
 Kepublick to go there, where the greatest honours are 
 to be shewn them. They are expected back to-morrow, 
 and every day during their stay is to be distinguished 
 by some great entertainment. The Princess is very 
 unlike your favourite Princess Craon in person, having 
 no pretence to beauty, though much younger, but is 
 vastly obliging — she is originally of Milanese extrac- 
 tion, Lunati, but born in Loraine, her Father having 
 been invited there by Leopold who would have given 
 the preference to Madame Lunati, who they say was 
 much handsomer, but her husband less complaisant. 
 She seeing the inclination of the Duke, desired her 
 husband to carry her immediately from his Court, 
 telling him that she would not otherwise answer for 
 her virtue ; this shocked him immensely, and threw 
 him into a melancholy which Leopold soon observed 
 and asked the reason of. Mon 1 ' Lunati hesitated for 
 some time, and then told him that the motive was, 
 the necessity he found himself under, after all the 
 favors and honours he had received from his Highness, 
 to ask his leave to retire. This excited his curiosity 
 still more, which Mr. Lunati satisfied by protesting 
 to him that his life and everything he possessed was 
 at the Duke’s disposition except his wife. “ Je vous 
 entends, restez; vous n’aurez pas lieu de vous plaindre 
 de moy sur ce sujet.” And immediately attached 
 himself where he found no such scruples. This 
 anecdote I think you will not be displeased to know.’ 
 At a time when in English society ‘there were 
 
342 
 
 ACTING AND PLAYING. 
 
 1752 . 
 
 three who loved their neighbours’ wives, and one who 
 loved his own,’ there was a scandalous affair in 
 England, in which the name of Mr. Child, brother of 
 Lord Tilney, was unpleasantly prominent. Mr. Child 
 left England with some precipitation, ‘but,’ says Mann, 
 ‘ this can be of no great consequence to him, if he had 
 time to secure the money which he had in the funds.’ 
 Mann consoled Lord Tilney, who was then in Florence, 
 by remarking that ‘ it would only be an obligation to 
 his brother to live abroad till the affair could be made 
 up.’ He proceeds to say: ‘The Italians are astonished 
 that the laws in England punish so severely in cases 
 of this kind. . . . They look upon the woman only 
 to be in fault, and such an one here would be punished 
 by confinement to a Villa, or be put into a convent at 
 worst.’ Then, addressing himself to the subject of the 
 drama, he observes : — ‘ Portici acts Tragedies and 
 Comedies, but in the former he is far short of the 
 encomiums which Garrick and others gave him in 
 England. In short, he is Signor Anselmo or Pan- 
 crazio in every heroick character. His wife will not 
 condescend to act plays, which she thinks are beneath 
 a burletta, and says it would be turning histrione, 
 under which denomination she stiles every performance 
 not in musick. This difference in opinion has made 
 a total separation between them. She sings at Leg- 
 horn ; and he acts at Florence.’ Signora Portici 
 thought her husband was, to use Edmund Kean’s 
 words applied to Macready, ‘ not an actor, but a 
 player.’ 
 
1753. 
 
 DUELLING. 
 
 343 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 1753. 
 
 Before the Spring, Mann was engaged in endeavours 
 to stop the acting of a drama which might have 
 proved a real tragedy. On March 23rd, he writes 
 ‘ All the steps which the Regency and I were taking 
 to prevent a duel ’ (between Captain Lee and ‘ a 
 Lorraine Officer ’) ‘ were frustrated by the animosity 
 of the military gentry, according to whose Ideas, 
 the extinction of one of the parties is necessary, or 
 at least a vast quantity of blood to wash off a slap 
 on the face ; but in this they have been disappointed 
 in their turn, for though the two Heroes acted up 
 to those notions, Fortune directed that just as much 
 harm should be done and no more than was absolutely 
 necessary to finish the affair. Lee was wounded in 
 his arm with a sword, and near three hours after- 
 wards disabled his antagonist with a pistol. The 
 Lorraine officer returned to Florence to take refuge 
 in a Church, where he still remains, to secure himself 
 from the resentment of the Regency, for going out 
 of the town contrary to their orders, and of which 
 crime the Emperor himself is now to judge. Lee 
 would have returned to Bologna, whence he proceeded 
 
344 
 
 HONOUR. 
 
 1753. 
 
 to fight, but the Cardinal Legate reflecting to be sure 
 that an Excommunication which ipso facto he in- 
 curred was of little signification, would have nothing 
 to do with an Heretick, therefore notified to him that 
 he must not stay in the State which he had so highly 
 insulted, so that Lee, who was then very ill, was 
 obliged to proceed to Venice, where repose and proper 
 care of his wound has almost put him in a position 
 to proceed on his journey to England. It is quite 
 ridiculous, but still quite agreeable to form, to see 
 with what cordiality they enquire after each other’s 
 health, and how much they seem to interest them- 
 selves for each other’s recovery. The family of the 
 Lorraine Officer think their honour recovered ; the 
 Regency, as well as myself, is pleased that no more 
 harm has happened, the Corps Militaire is satisfied, 
 and nothing now remains but to see how the Emperor 
 will take it.’ Meanwhile, Mann, after long references 
 to English politics and to Walpole’s life at Strawberry, 
 takes care to notify the fact, that ‘ Madame Riche- 
 court is here greatly improved by wearing stays in 
 England. I feasted her largely last Sunday, which 
 has drawn on other entertainments.’ 
 
 Among the more expensive of those entertain- 
 ments are to be reckoned the banquets to Prince San 
 Severino, who tarried in Florence when on his way as 
 Ambassador from the King of Naples to the King 
 of England. £ I have feasted him every day ’ (writes 
 Mann, April 6th), ‘ and attended him to Conversations 
 every night. He was recommended to me by Cardinal 
 Albani, not out of form only but as his friend de tout 
 son coeur. . . . After dinner yesterday, I carried the 
 
1753 . 
 
 SEEING COMPANY. 
 
 345 
 
 Prince and Viviani (the Neapolitan Minister) to the 
 Porta San Gallo where Viviani desired him to take 
 particular notice of the triumphal arch, which, he 
 assured him, was begun and finished in one day, or 
 twenty-four hours, at most. I started at this, and only 
 replied non tanto presto, but he stuck to his assertion 
 and confirmed the Prince in the idea he had before 
 given him of his absurdity. If in the political stile 
 he writes such lies as these to his Court what must it 
 think of him ? The new Minister is of quite different, 
 stamp, very modest, civil, and, I believe, sensible, by 
 much the most decent Neapolitan I have seen, and 
 nothing at all of Corrello in him. I dare say he will 
 please in England. He would attend on his sick 
 companion to-day, a Cavaliere di Malta who goes 
 with him into England, and to whom I had given 
 an Indigestion. They dine however again here to- 
 morrow, and I am to give them a Conversation at 
 night. My friend, Madame Antinori, is to whisper 
 to thirty Dame to come. This is the Method of in- 
 viting a small number without offending others. The 
 Lorraine Ladies are to come as usual without the 
 whisper, but they are so horribly ugly that I should 
 have been quite ashamed of shewing them alone. I 
 intend to put them into the dark room where your 
 old Barni laid. 
 
 ‘ .... We shall have the Prince of Anspach 
 here soon, to whom I must pay great court. Lord 
 and Lady Rochford are coming too, who will expect 
 as much ; then Sir James Gray will be passing to 
 Naples, and I must give him Mr. Conways appart- 
 ment ! ’ — (Gray gave trouble and was a parvenu. 
 
346 
 
 FRINGE OF AN SPACE. 
 
 1753. 
 
 Walpole says that his father was first a box-keeper, 
 then footman to James the Second, 'and this is the 
 man exchanged against Prince Severino ! ’) 
 
 The Prince of Anspach was not thought much of 
 in Florence. ‘ I have been employed ’ (May 4th) ‘ in 
 paying my court to the Prince of Anspach, nobody 
 else took the least notice of him. The members of 
 the Regency have been so absurd as to say they 
 expected the first visit, which the Prince I am sure 
 never thought of. I waited on him the day after 
 his arrival, with many English. He received us en 
 Prince, debout, but vastly civil. I asked his Governor 
 leave to propose any amusement to him ; in short, I 
 asked him to dine with me the next day, and in the 
 mean time attended him to the Gallery Pitti, Boboli, 
 etc. I received him at his coach, with many English 
 whom I chose to distinguish on this occasion, Lord 
 Tilney, Gwin, etc. The Prince did not bring his 
 Pages, nor would permit my shewing him any dis- 
 tinctions, not so much as a fauteuil, that was placed 
 at the head of the table. The company was numerous, 
 and both the dinner and dessert tollerably well. In 
 the afternoon I took him in my coach, and made the 
 whole tour of the town to the Porta San Gallo, where 
 there were vast crowds of ladies whom I afterwards 
 carried him to visit in their boxes at the Theater, and 
 the next morning he set out for Bologna, seemingly 
 vastly satisfied with my attentions to him. He is 
 to take Anspach in his way to Paris, from whence he 
 is to go to England next winter. 
 
 ‘ Adieu, my dear Sir, my nerves are in such a 
 twitter that I can hardly hold my pen. I attribute 
 
1753 . 
 
 LORD AND LADY ROGHFOBD. 
 
 347 
 
 it to my having left off snuff for three days past, as 
 I apprehended that the quantity, which was great, 
 gave me head-ache. I think of nothing but snuff, 
 sleeping and waking. If I am dry or hungry, it is 
 only for snuff, and yet I have still resolution to resist, 
 on hopes that this titillation of my nerves will go off, 
 otherwise I must return to snuff again. I’ll bathe 
 this afternoon, to see what that will do. Doctor 
 Cocchi bade me take a little, but that’s more difficult 
 than not to take any at all.’ 
 
 On June 8th, Mann was still in grief on the 
 same subject, but Walpole showed him no sympathy. 
 After narrating his nervous sufferings when he gave 
 up the luxury, and his £ headaches ’ when he yielded 
 to it, he passes in the letter of the above date to the 
 arrival of Lord and Lady Rochford, in Florence. ‘ I 
 had great curiosity to know them. I studied her a 
 good deal and think her very clever, but her person is 
 so much altered from what I may suppose it was, that 
 I think she must lay aside all thoughts of making 
 any conquests. She is beyond measure dejected to 
 find that she even can’t confine the affections of her 
 lord. There is a certain crisis in women’s lives, which 
 she has arrived at, that few have good sense enough 
 to support, especially such as have lived in the gay 
 world in their youths. English women have not the 
 resource which women in other countries find in that 
 age, in devotion, which is all gaiety, but with us 
 so solemn that it heightens melancholy sometimes 
 into despair. Mr. Chute, I remember, told me of 
 a woman of a certain age, whose friend upbraided 
 her for turning Roman Catholick, and, asking what 
 
348 
 
 THEODORE, KING OF CORSICA. 
 
 1753. 
 
 could induce her, was answered : “Why surely, dear 
 Madam, you must allow that the Roman Catholick 
 religion is much more entertaining.” ’ 
 
 At this time, Theodore, King of Corsica, as he 
 called himself, but really Baron Theodore Stephen de 
 Neuboff, a native of Lorraine, son of a Wesphalian 
 father, was in a London prison, for debt. He had 
 been in various continental services, and had taken 
 advantage of troubled times to land in Corsica, where 
 the people, to escape King Log, elected him, — King 
 Stork (1739.) After reigning and rioting eight 
 months, he left the Island, ostensibly to seek aid 
 against his enemies, the Genoese. He never returned. 
 Mann has already written of him as he appeared in 
 Florence. The Minister now adds these further 
 details : — 
 
 ‘ Theodore made villainous use of the most insig- 
 nificant letters he drew from me, when he sculked 
 about Tuscany, under pretence of having the English 
 newspapers, or by forwarding letters to me from his 
 friends in England. He used to shew the greatest 
 impatience to rescue the packet from me, then retire 
 with great mistery, and return after a certain time to 
 the people about him, and at a distance hold my letter 
 in his hand and pretend to read out of it what he 
 chose they should believe,— sometimes that a fleet 
 of ships was coming to Leghorn for his service which, 
 the next post, had been retarded by contrary winds. 
 Thus he kept his hungry courtiers about him, and got 
 everything they could pawn to feed him, by making my 
 letter say that he was to have great sums of money 
 for him. At last, the sum of j pounds was actually 
 
1753. 
 
 F BASTINGS. 
 
 349 
 
 in my hands, but that I had been obliged to make use 
 of it myself, to get my plate, jewels, and many 
 valuable things out of pawn, for which I asked him 
 ten thousand pardons, and which he was forced to 
 grant, not to disgust me, as I was the channel by 
 which he was to receive the necessary means to mount 
 his throne ! All this his own secretary believed and 
 very mocently told me, after he had quitted him ; 
 upon which I desisted at once sending him any 
 Gazettes or writing at all to him.’ 
 
 On this 8th of June, Mann notices that Mr. West 
 had gone to Eeggio, to be warm. ‘ Indeed he has been 
 too lavish of his natural heat, which will require a 
 whole Florentine summer to restore. We have also 
 had here for a little time, the good natured fat Mr. 
 Parry who would do well to stay through that season, 
 to melt his fat. What a terrible misfortune it is ! 
 He says he has diminished 6 inches since he left 
 England. . . . What would you do with the croud of 
 people I have to dine with me to-day, no less than 16, 
 upon my word. I never willingly exceed 12, but the 
 sudden arrival of my Lord Bolinbroke ’ (Frederick St. 
 John, who succeeded his uncle the celebrated Viscount 
 Bolingbroke in 1751) ‘with three others, obliged me to 
 add them to day, though I don’t think I have dishes 
 and plates for so many, but I find it very convenient 
 of late to adopt a maxim of Prince Oraon, who never 
 had enough of anything for his dinners and Conversa- 
 tions, and always asked more company to the former 
 than his table would hold. He used to say to his 
 servants, Ne vous embarrassez pas; tout qa s’ar- 
 rangera cle soy memo , — so it did by the complaisance 
 
350 
 
 WILTON TEE SCULPTOR. 
 
 1753. 
 
 of his guests, who were forced to wait for drink till the 
 Goblets were not employed by others — riotous English- 
 men would not have so much civility. 
 
 ‘ Here are the French lines you ask for : — 
 
 “Deux Henris immoles par nos braves ayeux, 
 
 L’un a la Liberte, et 1’autre a nos Dieux, 
 
 Nous animent, Louis, aux memes entreprises. 
 
 Ils revivent en Toi, ces anciens Tyrans. 
 
 Crains notre Desespoir. La Noblesse a des Guises ; 
 Paris des Pavaillacs, le Clerge des Clements.” 
 
 ‘ Such Ecclesiastic fury makes one shudder every time 
 one repeats the above lines.’ 
 
 At this period, there was living in Mann’s house, 
 Wilton, ‘ that ingineous, modest, sculptor who so well 
 deserves the encomiums which were given him in The 
 World ’ (it was in The Inspector) ‘unsought most cer- 
 tainly, but justly his due,’ so writes Mann, adding that, 
 Wilton’s father, who was originally a common work- 
 man, but had become a most successful executant of 
 architectural ornaments in plaster, had sent to his son 
 that especial number of The World (Inspector). The 
 son had become celebrated by carrying off the Jubilee 
 Gold Medal, given by the Pope in 1750. Till 1755, 
 Wilton was busily occupied in Florence, as a sculptor, 
 on copies and commissions. In that year he returned 
 to London (where he ended his eminently successful 
 career, in 1803), accompanied by Sir William Chambers, 
 who married his daughter, and Cipriani, the latter a 
 native of Florence, with both of whom Mann was in- 
 timate. It is a curious trait of this Florentine artist’s 
 life, that a painter so accomplished as Cipriani was the 
 
1753. 
 
 ASTLEY AND WILTON. 
 
 351 
 
 pupil of such an undistinguished limner as Hugford, 
 an Englishman who was settled in the Tuscan capital. 
 Besides the above, there was John Astley, the son of a 
 Shropshire village apothecary, of whose ability as a 
 painter, Mann entertained a most favourable opinion. 
 Astley lived to be very rich and very foolish ; but 
 before his extravagances in London obtained for him 
 the designation he was proud of, namely, ‘ Beau 
 Astley,’ he lived in poor condition in Florence. He was 
 the English painter there who, being one of a party of 
 artists, spending in the neighbourhood a festive but 
 sultry evening, followed the example of his heated 
 fellows, by taking off his coat ; whereby it was seen 
 that the back of his waistcoat was made out of one of 
 his canvas studies, representing a landscape with a 
 waterfall ! Of Wilton, Mann writes, November 9th, 
 1750 : — 
 
 ‘ A Statue he did at Home, and a copy of the 
 Venus which he made here for Lord Rockingham, 
 gained him great applause. Swift’s Bust (an original) 
 and a most glorious one of Homer, with some others 
 already in England, are proofs of his abilities. He 
 has finished another Venus, which is admired, by all 
 the Professors (as well as Connoisseurs) here ; a 
 Bacchus for Lord Tilney, of his own invention, far 
 advanced ; with many other works which will be seen 
 in England ; — but is there really any taste for sculpture 
 there, beyond a looking-glass-polished-chimney -piece? 
 which taste, with regard to Sculpture, stands in 
 the same proportion as a most laboriously finished 
 Flemish picture does to a Raphael, or any great Italian 
 hand. . . . Louis 1 4th j who really had as little know- 
 
352 
 
 BIANCA CAPELLO. 
 
 1753. 
 
 ledge of tlie Fine Arts as anybody, sacrificed vast sums, 
 and made the finest Institutions, merely to gain the 
 reputation of a Connoisseur ; and yet they say that, 
 in private, he made a joke of his own ignorance ! . . . 
 
 ‘ I send you the portrait you so often went to see 
 at Casa Vitelli, of the Bianca Capello, by Vasari ; — 
 which, as your Proxy, I have made love to, a long- 
 while. I will now own to you that I have been in 
 possession of it some little time ; it has hung in my 
 bed-chamber, and reproached me indeed of infidelity 
 in depriving you of what I originally designed for 
 you ; but as I had determined to be honest at last, 
 I could not part with it so hastily. I would willingly 
 have sent it with its venerable rich frame of a foot 
 broad, but it would have added to the weight and 
 
 size of the case You will observe one odd 
 
 circumstance, which is that the heads seem (sic) not 
 to have been finished. The portrait was certainly the 
 last that was made of her, a very little time before 
 she dyed, as appears by the age.’ (Bianca Capello, 
 noble and poor, eloped with Cavaliere Buonaventura, 
 who was also so poor, that he was glad to be a 
 
 Giovane di Banco, at Venice. A banker’s clerk, in 
 fact. Her family pursued her, and her husband 
 
 carried her off to Florence), ‘ where,’ says Mann, 
 ‘ they lived for many years in the most private 
 
 manner, till the Great Duke Francesco fell in love 
 with her and at last consented that her husband 
 
 should be murdered by the family of Bicci, that he 
 might marry her.’ (She had then a daughter living, 
 by the first marriage, and she had not only been 
 the Great Duke’s mistress, but presented to him as his 
 
1753. 
 
 HISTORY OF A PICTURE. 
 
 353 
 
 son, a child, afterwards known as Antonio de’ Medici, 
 which child she bought, and then murdered those who 
 were in the secret. On the day she was proclaimed 
 Grand Duchess, her daughter was married to a 
 Bentivoglio, of Bologna (1579.) As Grand Duchess 
 she became execrable for her cruel and capricious 
 tyranny.) ‘Part of her story/ says Mann, ‘is reckoned 
 fabulous. The truth I believe is that both she and 
 her husband were poisoned by his brother (Cardinal 
 Ferdinand de’ Medici), who succeeded him. The late 
 Great Duchess would never acknowledge her or 
 permit her ritratto to be engraved with those of her 
 ancestors, and would have cut her out of the hang- 
 ings of Poggio Imperiale, had she ever been permitted, 
 as she wished, to live there’ — (The Grand Electress 
 denied Bianca’s title to the rank of Grand Duchess) — 
 
 ‘ though either before, or immediately after Francesco 
 had married her, the Republick of Venice sent a 
 Diploma declaring her to be a daughter of the 
 Bepublick. I must still add, by way of history, that 
 upon the death of Marquis Vitelli, his wife who, 
 you know, followed old General Braitwitz to Naples, 
 from whence, by way of parenthesis, Marquis Fres- 
 cobaldi, her brother, had interest enough to cause her 
 to be sent away by that Court, for the decorum of her 
 family, she, as is the custom of the country, insisted 
 upon the restitution of her Dote, which was ^ crowns, 
 to make up which sum, her son, the young Marquis 
 Vitelli, was forced to sell a fine villa and all the 
 furniture of a house in town, by which means this 
 portrait fell into my hands. You will excuse this 
 detail, when you reflect that the history of a picture 
 VOL. i. 2 a 
 
354 
 
 ENGLISH AND FLORENTINES. 
 
 1753. 
 
 is the only sure proof of its originality. . . . Whilst 
 the picture still hung in the dark at Casa Vitelli, it 
 was always called a Bronzini ’ — (Agnolo Bronzini was 
 a Florentine of great repute in the 16th century. He 
 completed the Chapel of St. Lorenzo, which was left 
 unfinished by his master, Panormo, and he painted 
 the portraits of the most illustrious persons of the 
 House of Medici) — ‘but all the Connoisseurs now have 
 declared it to be of Vasari,— a master much less stiff 
 and dry than the former.’ (Vasari, contemporary with 
 Bronzini, was introduced to the Medici family by 
 Cardinal da Cortona. He found liberal patrons in 
 the Dukes of Tuscany, but his celebrity chiefly rests 
 on his well-known biographical and critical work, in 
 which he gives the lives of Italian painters, down to 
 and including those of his own time. Walpole, in 
 a letter, dated December 6th, is warm in the expres- 
 sion of his thanks to Mann, ‘who has so much obliging- 
 ness and attention in his friendships that in the 
 middle of public business, and teazed to death with 
 all kinds of commissions, and overrun with cubs and 
 cubaccionis of every kind, can, for twelve years 
 together, remember any single picture, or bust, or 
 morsel of virtu that a friend of his ever liked . . . 
 and sends it to his friend in the manner in the world 
 to make it the most agreeable.’ Troubled as Mann 
 was with English cubs and cubaccionis, he had con- 
 tempt ever outspoken for the leading Florentines 
 themselves.) ‘All here is so servilely dull that Riche- 
 court himself can I believe hardly have any pleasure 
 in commanding them. Dante calls them “Gente avara, 
 insidiosa, e falsa,” since which time they have ac- 
 
1754. 
 
 STATE PLEASURES. 
 
 355 
 
 quired a just title to the additional epithet, vile, which 
 makes a principal ingredient in their character.’ 
 
 In this general estimate of the Florentines of the 
 last century, Walpole agreed with almost ungenerous 
 alacrity. In reference to the duel between Captain 
 Lee and a Lorraine officer, previously mentioned, Wal- 
 pole writes : ‘ I am glad you have got rid of your duel 
 blood-guiltless. Captain Lee had ill luck in fighting 
 with a Lorraine officer ; he might have boxed the ears 
 of the whole Florentine nobility [con rispetto si dice), 
 and not have occasioned you half the trouble you 
 have had in accommodating this quarrel.’ 
 
 1754. 
 
 The new year found Mann depressed. The Min- 
 ister, as Pope says, ‘grew sick and damned the climate 
 like a lord,’ but Pope referred to the London atmo- 
 sphere. It was not worse than that of Florence. 
 
 January 18 th, 1754. — ‘ I am sorry to perceive 
 that I grow extremely iudolent ; I am afraid it is the 
 English spleen that I have got, which however I am 
 resolved to shake off as soon as the foggy, horrid, 
 English weather will permit me to use any exercise.’ 
 (He had lost taste for the Carnival and its once dear 
 delights). ‘ I have not been to the theater this week, 
 and v/hen I do go I am impatient till the second 
 Act and Dance is over, that I may return home. I 
 sometimes endeavour to persuade myself that the 
 amusements are not what they used to be ; but, when 
 I see that all the young folks are as well pleased 
 with them as I used to be, I am forced to confess 
 
356 
 
 NAPLES AND MALTA. 
 
 1754. 
 
 that my degout is the effect of my being grown old, 
 for which stage of life this is the very worst country 
 in the world, as there is not the least society. . . . 
 Everything here is in a state of languor not to be 
 described, though indeed it agrees pretty much in 
 that respect with other countrys, except France, 
 where their disputes ’ (between the King and the 
 Parliament) ‘might come to something if there was 
 anybody to lead them.’ (There was, however, some- 
 thing stirring elsewhere.) ‘ Have you heard of the 
 King of Naples’ almost declaration of war with the 
 Island of Malta against the Grand Master’s refusal 
 to admit of a Royal Visitation of the Bishoprick of 
 Malta and its Cathedral, by the Bishop of Susiana (?) 
 on the part of the King of Naples, who stiles himself 
 on this occasion, Patrone Sovrano e Legato Reale ; 
 and for disobedience to him as such, he has prohibited 
 all commerce with that Island, consequently intends 
 to starve it, for it produces nothing ; the most 
 common necessaries are imported from Sicily ; besides 
 which he has sequestered everything that belongs to 
 the Order of Malta within his Dominions, or to any 
 Chevalier that does not reside in them. As to the 
 main point about the right of Visitation or not, 
 people differ. Most agree that it has been done 
 perhaps 150 years ago ; but they don’t seem to allow 
 that Charles the Fifth gave them (the Knights) the 
 Island of Malta with that condition, or assumed to 
 himself and his heirs, the titles which the King of 
 Naples takes on this occasion ; the last of which, 
 Legato Reale, must mean from the Pope, who does 
 not care to enter into the dispute. ... It is probable 
 
1754. 
 
 THE INQUISITION. 
 
 357 
 
 that many or most of the Courts will interfere in 
 behalf of Malta, though France, the most interested 
 of any, seems the most indifferent. That Court, 
 not long ago, offered to the Order, Les Isles St. 
 Marguerite, and perhaps would not be sorry to see 
 the Knights obliged to accept of them, on its own 
 conditions. The very situation would make the 
 whole Order and its force subservient to France.’ 
 
 The Pope had a more important subject in hand 
 than the freedom of Malta from episcopal visitation. 
 
 March 29th . — The news we have here consists in 
 a whisper that the disagreements between Rome and 
 this place are adjusted ; the principal condition of 
 which is, the Admission, or to speak more properly, 
 the Re-Establishment of the Inquisition, which has 
 been inactive for some years. It is now to be on the 
 foot as it is at Venice, which, since it could not be 
 totally demolished, is the least dangerous. That was 
 not to be in the least hoped for in these days of 
 Devotion, which is an absolute necessary qualification 
 for advancement, or to maintain any degree of favour. 
 This was flatly said to Richecourt (whose powers as 
 Regent for the Emperor, in his dukedom of Tuscany, 
 are now increased to the utmost) by his Mistress 
 (Maria Theresa) when he was last at Vienna. You 
 know she is all devotion, and he is ever since become 
 a most obsequious courtier.’ 
 
 While the Pope was thus re-establishing that bad 
 old state of things which illustrates the Papal idea of 
 supervision of faith and morals, a drama was being 
 enacted in another part of Italy, which takes us back 
 to the very liveliest of feudal times. 
 
358 
 
 A LITTLE WAR. 
 
 1754. 
 
 April 19 tli . — ‘ You will hardly believe me when I 
 tell you we are here in a state of war with, a neigh- 
 bouring, — not Prince or State ; and that after the first 
 hostilities, our first Column of troops is marched ; that 
 another of equal strength is to follow in a day or 
 two, not to the enemy’s country, but to the frontier 
 of our own, to prevent him committing any Insults. 
 You will never be able to guess. . . . His name is 
 Marchese Del Monte, whose family is very numerous, 
 and which in many branches possesses an Imperial 
 Fief, called Monte di Santa Maria, near Cortona, and 
 between this and the Pope’s State. The cause of the 
 rupture is this. A younger brother of that family, 
 having committed many excesses, had received orders 
 from our Regency not to come into this state. In 
 contempt of this prohibition he even affected to come 
 down from the fief into Cortona with his attendants 
 armed ; so that it was necessary to make use of some 
 stratagem to lay hold of him. This was effected by 
 some Sbirri going into the house where he was, 
 under pretence of searching for contraband goods. . . . 
 They seized him and carried him to the common 
 prison. Some of his attendants who escaped fled 
 with this notice to the Feudo, from whence two of his 
 brothers marched that night with about a hundred of 
 their subjects well armed. They arrived at Cortona 
 before the opening of the gates, which they did not 
 beat down, for want of cannon. They peaceably 
 waited till the gates were opened, to take possession 
 of them. . . . They then marched to the Bagello’s 
 (Sheriff’s) house, round which they began to place 
 fascines in order to set fire to it, on a supposition that 
 
1754 
 
 A LITTLE WAB. 
 
 359 
 
 the prison was annexed to it ; but on being better 
 informed that the prison was at the Pretorian Palace, 
 where the Commissary resides, they marched hither, 
 forced open his Appartments and afterwards the 
 pnblick prisons, from whence they set all the prisoners 
 at Liberty, and carried off their Brother in triumph. 
 
 ‘ One of the brothers is a Dominican Friar. He 
 was particularly desirous that the Commissary should 
 be thrown out of the window, but the others inter- 
 fered. The Regency waited some days, to receive 
 the most exact particulars of this hostility ; and on 
 Saturday despatched them by a Courier to Vienna, 
 intending to wait the Emperor’s orders ; but fresh 
 advice being received from the Mountain that the 
 Marchesi were putting themselves into a posture of 
 defence, and were making dispositions that denoted 
 their design of making a second incursion into the 
 State, as they had done into the Pope’s, from whence 
 they had carried off much provision of all the sorts 
 they could find, — that these Brothers, who were Cadets 
 of the family, had made themselves masters of the 
 whole fief; — had plundered the houses and lands of 
 their relations, and particularly of that branch which 
 is settled at Florence ; — and had carried all these 
 provisions into their Castle, which is at the top of the 
 Mountain, — and had published an order that, on pain 
 of death, all the inhabitants capable of bearing arms, 
 should, on the sound of the Tocsin, immediately repair 
 thither — the Regency, I say, hearing of their warlike 
 dispositions, ordered a Captain with 130 men to march 
 towards Cortona, to a place called Castiglione, where, 
 it is supposed, unless they all deserted, that some of 
 
360 
 
 DESERTERS. 
 
 1754. 
 
 them arrived yesterday. The like number is ordered 
 from the Garrison at Leghorn, who are to go to 
 Borgo San Sepolcro, in hopes that their dispositions 
 may keep the Delmontians in awe till the return of 
 the Courier from Vienna with orders to march with a 
 sufficient force to demolish the whole race of them, — - 
 which will be no easy matter. The whole Feudo 
 consists of a large Mountain, the inhabitants of which 
 are chiefly Banditti, Contrabandieri, and Zingani, the 
 last (Gipsies) literally look upon themselves as at 
 home there ; and all are so devoted to the name of 
 Del Monte that they will expose themselves to any 
 danger on this account. One of the family is always 
 Regent of the whole ; but on this occasion, the turbu- 
 lent cadets have turned him out ; and it is said that 
 they can get together 800 of those resolute, desperate 
 people, against whom regular troops don’t care to 
 fight. This is our present situation, and what makes 
 it more disagreeable is, that at the eve of a war, our 
 troops desert so fast that we shall have none left soon. 
 A few days ago, 36, in a body, sabre d la main, 
 attempted to force the Porta San Gallo, but the Guard 
 had just time to let down the Barrier — not being 
 able to escape, they took refuge in the Churches near, 
 but the next day they surrendered by capitulation.’ 
 May 3rd . — ‘ The Dominican Friar of the Del 
 Monte family, who has left off his frock for a cuirass, 
 and who, in the Patent by which he commands his 
 subjects to steal as much corn, oyl, or what can 
 furnish his castle against a siege, styles himself Per la 
 Grazia di Dio, Marchese Del Monte, Reggente del 
 Feudo di Santa Maria, etc., and has fixed a price on 
 
1754 
 
 POPE AND EMPEROR. 
 
 361 
 
 the head of Marquis Del Monte, our quiet Florentine 
 (nephew of Niccolini), whose part of the Fief he has 
 plundered because he refused to joyn with him, and 
 has dispersed the Bones of their ancestors, in order to 
 convert their leaden coffins into musket balls, in short 
 this mad Friar seems to think he shall be able to 
 defend himself with the assistance of his Banditti, 
 Contrabandieri, and Zingani, against the troops which 
 he foresees the Emperor will send against him. 
 
 ‘ But the last letters from Rome inform us that the 
 Emperor, either as such or as Great Duke, will highly 
 incur the Papal displeasure if he sends his troops to 
 chastize the Friar, as the Court of Rome not only 
 disputes the Imperiality of that Fief, but declares that 
 it makes part of the Ecclesiastical State, consequently 
 that the Pope must take the quarrel upon himself, if 
 any troops set their feet on that ground. Baron St. 
 Odil could get no other answer from Cardinal Valenti, 
 on this subject, but that the Pope had despatched his 
 orders to M. de Richelieu to treat directly with the 
 Emperor before he leaves that country, and they say 
 that he has orders to propose, as a means to end any 
 dispute on that occasion, that the Emperor and Pope 
 should joyn their troops to chastize those Del Monte 
 who have offended, the first at Cortona, the second at 
 Citta di Castello, and not to make any mention of the 
 supreme jurisdiction over that Fief ; which expedient, 
 in my humble opinion, would confirm the Pope’s pre- 
 tensions too much. I should not be sorry to see a 
 quarrel between the Pope and Great Duke, provided it 
 was to spread no farther.’ 
 
 May 1 7th . — 'Major Breton, at the head of half his 
 
362 
 
 DOME AND TUSCANY. 
 
 1754. 
 
 troops, ‘marched in the evening’ (of May 3rd) ‘with a 
 design to reach the rebellious Fief of Santa Maria, by 
 break of day ; at which time precisely he had given 
 orders to the leaders of the other half of his troops to 
 meet him in order to make the Blockade complete ; 
 but, unluckily, a shower of rain retarded his march for 
 many hours, and prevented the other instalment, which 
 took a different route, from joining him till the after- 
 noon, for whose arrival, Messieurs Del Monte and their 
 followers, not thinking it prudent to wait, sallied out 
 of the back door, whilst the Major re-guarded the 
 front ; — at which they afterwards entered ; so that 
 though the Rebels escaped, they have taken their 
 castle ; consequently, by being Masters of the Field of 
 Battle, they have gained a compleat victory ; and had 
 those Rebels had any ground of their own, the troops 
 would have lived at discretion upon it. They are all 
 dispersed in the Pope’s State to the great terror of its 
 Inhabitants, though he threatened to take the quarrel 
 upon himself, if the Emperor should do what he 
 exactly has done ; so that it now only remains to see 
 what will be the effect of these menaces. 
 
 ‘ At least, there will be a delay of the accommoda- 
 tion between Tuscany and Rome, to chastize by that 
 means the Great Duke, for the faults of the Emperor 
 who, if he was wise, would save himself from the 
 Inconveniences which must always ensue from his 
 friendship as Great Duke with the Court of Rome, by 
 constantly keeping up a certain degree of quarrel with 
 it, during which, no usurpation can be made on his 
 authority, or on the liberty of his subjects, by the 
 Inquisition.’ 
 
1754 
 
 A FIGHTING FRIAR. 
 
 363 
 
 June 14 th . — ‘ The Del Monte have not acted up to 
 the first step of rescuing their brother from the com- 
 mon prisons at Cortona, and being masters of that 
 town for some hours, which may be justified by the 
 irregularity of treating a man of rank, independent 
 of Tuscany, with such contempt. It is said that the 
 Emperor hasmuch disapproved of the manner in which 
 the Great Duke’s people acted on that occasion, and 
 though he has endeavoured to chastize them, yet it has 
 been in quality of Emperor taking the part of Tuscany, 
 a great Imperial Fief, against the mountain of Santa 
 Maria, a smaller Fief of the same nature. 
 
 ‘ I told you that the Hero of this petite piece 
 escaped, and that his people were dispersed. He is 
 supposed to be in the Kingdom of Naples, and the 
 Regency, by order of the Emperor, has made instances 
 to its Ministers here that the Dominican Friar may be 
 seized. Most of the troops are returned from thence ; 
 there is only a small detachment to prevent the Friar’s 
 return, and re-assembling his people to take Cortona 
 again for good.’ 
 
 July 5th . — ‘ The mad Friar, when least expected, 
 returned to the neighbourhood of his Fief, and com- 
 mitted such disorders with eight of his followers, in 
 the Pope’s State, that the Commissary of Citta del 
 Castello sent a body of 80 soldiers and sbirri to block 
 them up in the Palazzo to which they had retired. 
 From the windows they killed two or three of the 
 besiegers, wounded others, and in the night found 
 means to escape by a passage underground. This, they 
 say, has greatly irritated the Pope who, it is supposed, 
 will fix a price upon his head. A detachment of 120 
 
364 
 
 A BANDIT DOMINICAN. 
 
 1754. 
 
 of his troops still remains there. The Pope is returned 
 from Castel Gandolfo, not well.’ 
 
 August 9th . — ‘ We' have been alarmed by a third 
 apparition of the Del Monte Friar, in the shape of a 
 common robber on the highway. We thought he had 
 turned Mahometan at Constantinople, for which place 
 it was said he had embarked in the Adriatick, but he 
 lately returned in company of six Bandits and robbed 
 two factors (one, of another Marquis, Del Monte, his 
 cousin) as they returned from market, stript them 
 naked, tied them to trees, and would have killed them, 
 had not the Bandits been more merciful than he was. 
 The Tuscan troops who still live on the Fief could not 
 take him, as he took refuge in the Pope’s State.’ 
 
 September 13 th . — ‘The Hero of the Del Monte 
 affair might have deserved your compassion, had he 
 limited his bravery to the recovering his brother from 
 an infamous prison, and defending himself, ever after, 
 against those who would chastize him for it ; but the 
 Dominican Friar is turned a Robber and Assassin on 
 the highway, attended by about twenty resolute Ban- 
 ditti, who strike terror into the whole Tuscan as well 
 as Ecclesiastical State. Therefore, to frighten them 
 in their turn, an Edict has been published here, 
 promising a reward of 2000 crowns to any one who 
 shall seize any of the three brothers alive, and 1000 
 for killing them; 300, for each of their followers alive; 
 and 100, dead ; besides a pardon for whatever crimes 
 the Seizers or Killers may stand accused of; or a 
 liberty to name a friend (who might be a criminal) 
 in case they do not stand in need of such a favour 
 themselves. ’ 
 
1754. 
 
 TEE QUEEN OF NAPLES. 
 
 3G5 
 
 ‘ The Court of Rome, they say, will follow the 
 example of Tuscany, and publish an Edict of the same 
 tenour, with this alteration probably, that the number 
 of crowns will be changed for the same number of 
 Indulgences for their Souls. This is the least the 
 Pope can do for his new Tuscan friends who have 
 received his Nuncio with open arms, who is to open 
 the Inquisition, and consequently a gate to all sorts 
 of priestly tyranny and iniquity. The wisest here 
 tremble for the effects of this reconciliation, being very 
 sure that it must tend to the aggrandizing a power, 
 from which no earthly good, at least, can be expected.’ 
 While the Del Monte romance was progressing 
 towards the inevitable catastrophe, incidents of a more 
 trifling, but not less interesting nature to the Italians, 
 had to be noted. ‘ I must tell you,’ Mann writes, 
 May 3rd, ‘ that the Pope, lamenting lately to the 
 new Cardinal Sarsali (?) the death of Cardinal Liviz- 
 zani and many of his intimate friends, the other 
 (Cardinal S.) attributed it to the antiquity of the 
 Moon of March, die avevet persino ammazzato Gesu 
 Cristo, at which the Pope smiled. That pious 
 Imbecile is going to his Archbishoprick of Naples, 
 where no doubt such sentiments will recommend him 
 to the Queen, whose piety distinguishes itself by the 
 veneration she has for the Abbess of a Convent at 
 Capua, with whom, whilst the Court is at Cascrta, she 
 goes to dine every Saturday. The follies recounted 
 of these visits are both numerous and credible, con- 
 sidering the place and pitch of their understandings ; 
 among which, one is worthy to be mentioned, and is 
 that the Madrc Badessa assured the Queen that she 
 
366 
 
 MIRACLES. 
 
 1754. 
 
 had been playing the whole night with Gesu Cristo, 
 at Bambina (a Game at Cards), which I dare say her 
 Majesty believed as much as the Nun had dreamt it, 
 and that they were both persuaded of it. 
 
 ‘Adieu ! I can send you nothing but such follies as 
 these from such a country, where the most unpreju- 
 diced are afraid to own that they do not believe that 
 the straw-hat of St. Catherine, or the measure of her 
 waist in a ribbon, or the eating, either dry or in sops, 
 little scraps of paper with the word Gesu, Maria, or 
 any Saint, upon it, will not cure a fever, or procure 
 Salvation/ 
 
 Pursuing the subject of the influence of the 
 Saints, Mann writes, June 14th : ‘I have been obliged 
 to step out to make a visit of congratulation to Count 
 Lorenzi, upon the birth of a son and heir ; a favour 
 which his Countess received from the Madonna di 
 Loretto ; and indeed the whole town considered it as 
 a miracle ; and what is a further proof of it is, that all 
 the females that accompanied her on that journey, 
 obtained the same favour, her Chamber-maid, and 
 even the Mare that drew the chaise/ 
 
 There was one person at Rome, for whom the 
 Saints would do nothing. ‘ The Pretender,’ Mann 
 writes, July 5th, ‘ has not been at Albano this season, 
 on account of his health, which seems to decay very 
 fast. His own apprehensions, which are sometimes 
 carried even to a folly, make people think him in 
 more danger than I believe he is, as yet.’ 
 
 Another great personage ‘going to decay,’ was 
 Richecourt, the Emperor’s Regent in Tuscany, Lady 
 Walpole’s (Orford’s) old lover. August 9th. — ‘ He 
 
1754. 
 
 THE PAPAL NUNCIO. 
 
 367 
 
 was seized with a disorder in the head that produced 
 an effect not quite unlike madness . . . some call it a 
 slight touch of an apoplexy. . . . He was vastly fright- 
 ened, and is firmly persuaded of the truth of what his 
 friends told him, that a dissipation of spirits, either 
 by over fatigue of body or mind must be fatal to him, 
 and that this was a lesson he ouQ-ht not to neglect. . . . 
 Don't mention this hero’s decay, as nothing can be so 
 injurious to a Minister, as to say his head is turned ! 
 Mureilles still teaches to dance, though he has lost 
 all use of his legs ; but some little share of brains is 
 necessary for the Government even of Tuscany. . . . ’ 
 (Sep. 13th.) ‘At Leghorn, they wait for our letters 
 with impatience, to know whether Richecourt is merry 
 or sad, in order to judge of the probability of a return 
 of his late disorder, and meet to compare notes.’ 
 
 Florence soon had another object to attract the 
 inhabitants. Richecourt s health was forgotten in the 
 arrival of the Papal Nuncio, with power to establish 
 the Inquisition. ‘ I have not made acquaintance with 
 this new Minister yet. You know that as such we 
 are not to know each other, but, as Signor Biglia and 
 Mr. Mann, we may converse. He seemed to want to 
 begin last night at Count Richecourt’s Assembly, but 
 as we are to negociate a visit, I would not disappoint 
 my plenipotentiaries. He lives for the present in the 
 Convent of Santo Spirito, and was conducted last 
 Saturday night to the Lodge that looks upon my 
 Garden, to see the company and lights at a distance, 
 though, as the evening was cool, the Dames retired to 
 finish their Parties in the rooms.’ 
 
 ‘ Signora Boccaneri, whom you saw, when she was 
 
368 
 
 DUKE OF BRIDGEWATER. 
 
 1754. 
 
 a fanciulla at the Princess’s, famous for both singing 
 and dancing, has furnished the town with a new 
 scene. . . . Nobody can give any account why her 
 husband, after having admitted lovers of all conditions 
 . . . should have been offended with a young Pro- 
 caccia, a decent, smart, young man, who was contended 
 for by many of the first Dames .... Jealousy led 
 him to discover and get into his possession, from the 
 hands of each of the lovers, a reciprocal contract, or 
 promise of marriage, after his death ; though he is 
 younger than she is. . . . Seeing the affair was of so 
 serious a nature, he thought it prudent to provide for 
 the safety of his life ... so communicated the whole 
 to the Regency, who have relegated the young fellow 
 to the Island of Porto Ferraro, and the lady, I think, 
 to Prato.’ 
 
 November 8 tin . — ‘All our Regents have deserted us. 
 I really don’t know who it is that governs us. They 
 all fled the Eve of St. Charles’s day, which makes 
 Gala here for Prince Charles, and though we had been 
 bid to leave off the mourning which is to last three 
 months for the Queen of Portugal, we had nobody to 
 shew ourselves to, on that day or since. ... We have 
 still our St. Martin’s summer to come ; and people 
 have too much faith in him not to prolong their Ville- 
 giatura. I never knew the town so empty. This has 
 affected the Duke of Bridgewater who, after a short 
 stay, set out this morning to Rome, with a promise, 
 which I did not insist upon, of returning here at a 
 better season.’ (This was the 3rd and last Duke of 
 Bridgewater. He was so silly, when young, that it 
 was in contemplation to set him aside, for the next 
 
1754. 
 
 B 0 LINGBli OKE. 
 
 869 
 
 heir. He, however, succeeded, and held the Dukedom 
 above halt a century: 1748 — 1803.) ‘Yet my Lord 
 and Lady Corke’ (sic, and so spelt by Lord Cork him- 
 self), ‘who went from hence a week ago, with a resolu- 
 tion of settling at Pisa, for the whole winter, agreeable 
 to an established scheme of (Economy, which brought 
 them out ot England, have not been able to resist 
 the dulness of that place, so that 1 expect them back 
 this evening. They are extreme good people. My 
 Lord you know, is an author.’ (In 1751, the Earl 
 of Cork, who described Pisa as a place where only 
 cameleons could live, and where horses grazed in the 
 streets, after playing with the Muses and giving 
 evidence of his classical tastes, attained both notoriety 
 and celebrity by his ‘Remarks on the Life and 
 Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift,’ — the work which 
 \\ arburton coarsely assailed, and Johnson roughly 
 justified. It was in reference to this famous book 
 that Mann proceeded to say of this literary scion of a 
 literary race) — ‘Lord Corke is so far unprejudiced as 
 an author, that I made him quite give up his hero, on 
 the points of honour, honesty, and even patriotism, 
 which he has so tortured ; in return for which, I 
 allowed Lord Bolinbroke stile and clearness of expres- 
 sion whenever he understands himself. . . . 
 
 ‘ . . . Some time ago I had a day or two’s con- 
 versation ’ (before Bolinbroke’s Letter to Sir William 
 Wyndham was published) ‘with Mr. Fraigneau (?) who 
 lived some years with Ld. Bolinbroke ; he did not 
 in the least satisfy me on many points, though he took 
 great pains to defend him in all. Among others, when 
 I asked him how he could justify his behaviour, after 
 
 VOL. i. 2 b 
 
370 
 
 LORDS CORK AND HUNTINGDON. 
 
 1754. 
 
 his return to England, or his ingratitude to your 
 father, to whom he owed that favour, he said, that 
 the first, he was persuaded, was calculated as a better 
 method to get into play than a quiet submission would 
 have been ; and that, to his certain knowledge, it has 
 succeeded so well, that had the late King’ (George I.) 
 ‘returned from Hanover, Lord B. was to have taken 
 Sir Robert Walpole’s place ; of which circumstance 
 Fraigneau informed Thos. Pelham, after Lord Bolin- 
 broke’s death, and though at first Mr. P. treated it 
 with scoff, yet yielded it to the proofs he supported it 
 with.’ 
 
 December 13 th . — ‘ My Lord Corke is a very good 
 man, and much more agreeable than I should have 
 thought the author of the Letters on Swift, to his son, 
 could well be. (Economy has brought my Lord and 
 Lady abroad, though they don’t well know how to put 
 it in practice. We have another more roving genius 
 here in Lord Huntingdon, who will most certainly 
 make a great figure. He has parts equal to anything 
 he undertakes, and a perseverance that surmounts all 
 difficulties. He has acquired great knowledge of the 
 world, in his travels ; with that, very easy politeness, 
 which distinguishes those who have kept the best com- 
 pany ; at the same time that the learned find him 
 perfectly well acquainted with every part of Literature 
 that the best Education furnishes, he has learnt Italian 
 to a surprizing degree of perfection, in a month, which 
 he studies for three hours every morning, and then 
 passes as many more with Doctor Cocchi and his 
 medals ; after which, he stays till past 4 in the 
 gallery, to examine the Statues and Busts, with Wilton’ 
 
1754 
 
 PRIESTS AND FRIARS. 
 
 371 
 
 (the English Sculptor). ‘ In short, he takes the best 
 method to succeed in everything that he sets about ; 
 and, with all his application, he loves dress, so that in 
 every article, I think he is made to shine with great 
 gout and Ease. I seldom mention any of the English 
 to you, because so few are ever worth mentioning, 
 except for their absurdities, but Lord Huntingdon and 
 his friend, Lord Stormont, with your friend, Colonel 
 Conway, are such glaring instances of merit and parts 
 as cannot pass anywhere unobserved.’ 
 
 That £ rare bird ’ among English specimens abroad, 
 the Earl of Huntingdon, who died a bachelor, in 
 1789, was a student, for a year and a half, at the 
 Academy of Caen. Chesterfield held him up to his 
 son as the model of a true gentleman, and the bright 
 example of the union of a scholar with the man of the 
 world. Chesterfield says : ‘ Lord Stormont is well 
 spoken of here. However, in your connections, if 
 you form any with them, show rather a preference 
 to Lord Huntingdon, for reasons which you will easily 
 guess.’ Mann ends the year with these words : — ‘ We 
 are not as yet sensible of the authority the Court of 
 Rome has acquired over us ; they are too cunning to 
 begin severely. Nothing has appeared as yet, but two 
 Edicts of the Nuncio, to restrain the licentiousness of 
 his Priests and Friars, — the latter being absolutely 
 forbid to go out alone ; just as if a companion of the 
 same frock would interfere in his friend’s pleasures.’ 
 
372 
 
 DEATHS OF CARDINALS. 
 
 1755. 
 
 CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 1755. 
 
 January 1 7th . — ‘We are in daily expectation of 
 hearing of Cardinal Valenti’s death ; he lays waiting 
 for it himself, his last fit has already killed one whole 
 side. Cardinals Mellini and Forregiani are likewise 
 far gone : but, when least expected, have been pre- 
 ceded by the bold Cardinal Querini, who has always 
 been at open war with the Pope and Cardinal Ricci. 
 The vacancies will hasten the promotion which is 
 called that of the Corona, and as the Pretender is 
 allowed to keep his at Rome, he too has a nomination, 
 which he has given to the Bishop of Sens.’ 
 
 The thoughts of the Florentines were soon, how- 
 ever, busy with the serious trifling of the Carnival, 
 which, says Mann, March 5th, includes ‘ every thought 
 or occupation but such as relate to masking and balls 
 in the Theater, which, however, are as solemn as the 
 gravest bare-faced Assemblies. Here is none of that 
 fun which, travellers tell me, our Masquerades in 
 England abound with. No stolen matches from 
 thence, no Nuns in disguise who step to a neighbour- 
 ing Bagnio with their Gallants, in short nothing that 
 unnerves a sober spectator.’ Lent followed with its 
 
1755. 
 
 THE BUG BE PENTHIEVBE. 
 
 373 
 
 solemnities, from which English amateurs of antiques, 
 and Florentine dealers in busts, statues, and ancient 
 pictures, were aroused by an Edict from the Regency, 
 prohibiting the exportation of those and other objects 
 coming under the denomination of Cose Rare. 
 
 ‘ It is strange/ Mann writes, ‘ that people, under 
 pretence of maintaining the lustre of a country, should 
 adopt measures so exactly opposite to those by which 
 it was raised to a certain pitch of reputation. The 
 family of Medici, to whom all Europe is indebted for 
 the restoration of Arts and Sciences, made no such 
 Edict, which, with regard to the things that really 
 serve for the ornament of the country, was unneces- 
 sary, as the removal of the Collection in the Gallery 
 is provided against by an article in the Act of Suc- 
 cession.’ 
 
 Living curiosities, however, flow r ed into Florence. 
 A daughter of the Duke of Modena, wife of the 
 Duke de Penthievre, died at Paris, on the 30th 
 April, 1754, at the age of 27 years. This Duke was 
 a ‘ Grand Admiral,’ but no sailor, though he was 
 a brave soldier. He and his wife were extremely 
 devout. ‘ We have had the Duke de Penthievre here 
 for a few days. He travels to dissipate his grief for 
 the loss of his wife, but he won’t be dissipated. He 
 carries Grief about in triumph. It is incredible with 
 what expense as well as trouble, he travels. His train 
 is most numerous, among which is M. le Garde des 
 Bijoux, as well as many other unnecessary folks of 
 whom he can make no use. His method is to travel 
 as slow as he can, for he won’t go fast, or more than 
 two posts a day, from one town to another ; and when 
 
374 
 
 SIR BORAGE MANN, BART. 
 
 1755 . 
 
 there, not to see the curiosities, much less the inhabi- 
 tants of it. People’s curiosity here to see him was 
 equal to the pains he took to hide himself, though the 
 Ladies followed him to all his Masses and Churches, 
 and would have been glad to see the tip of one of the 
 tresses of his wife’s hair, which he carries pleated in 
 his breast, with many other tokens that he intends to 
 bemoan the loss of her, for a long time, unless he falls 
 in love at Modena or Turin.’ Mann does not say that 
 the Duke travelled as Comte de Dinan, or that Florian 
 was his secretary and friend. It may be added that 
 the Duke’s daughter married the Due de Chartres, and 
 became the mother of Louis Philippe. 
 
 On the 15th February, Mann was raised to the 
 dignity of a Baronet, with reversion to his brother 
 Galfridus. Walpole congratulated him on his being 
 raised to chivalry, and Sir Horace bore his honours 
 modestly, and wished the English Government would 
 increase his pay, and discharge all arrears that were 
 due. In Florence, this promotion in rank gave rise to 
 some gossip among the Italians. £ I can’t account for 
 the whisper that was spread of my having been at 
 Rome,’ writes Sir Horace, April 12th ; £ I have hardly 
 been out of my house during the very severe winter, 
 nor do I love travelling. I don’t even go to Pisa for 
 the famous triennial battle of the bridge, which is to 
 be to-morrow, unless the report be true that the 
 Regency has absolutely forbid it, on account of a riot 
 which happened there a few days ago ; as the two 
 Banners were carrying to be blessed, they met in the 
 street, and fought so desperately before the time, that 
 some people were killed on both sides. Nothing can 
 
1755. THE MARGRAVINE OF BAREITH. 375 
 
 exceed the fury of the Pisans on this subject. Santa 
 Maria ! and St. Antonio ! are appellations that pro- 
 duce as much animosity as ever the Guelphs and 
 Ghibellines did.’ 
 
 One of the most singular visitors to Florence this 
 year, was the celebrated sister of Frederick the Great, 
 Frederica Sophia Wilhelmina, the wife of the Mar- 
 grave of Bareith. In her ‘ Memoirs,’ published more 
 than sixty years ago, she describes German princes and 
 manners in such terms as to give the reader an im- 
 pression that the scenes in imperial, royal, princely, 
 and high-noble houses, were like those to be seen in 
 extravaganzas and the introductions to pantomimes. 
 The individuals seem to move and speak to the most 
 outrageously comic music, and reading the Margra- 
 vine’s pages now, the capering, stumbling, quarrelling, 
 and ever laughably restless personages, recall to the 
 mind the clever Paynes or the equally clever Yokes 
 family in the most burlesque of their representations. 
 The Princess, bom in 1707, was married to the Mar- 
 grave in 1731. After her arrival in Florence, the 
 Regent, Richecourt, gave her an ‘ Academie de Belles 
 Lettres,’ that is, a dinner and assembly of learned 
 people, a fitting compliment, it was thought, to the 
 learned Margravine of Bareith. ‘For whose amuse- 
 ment,’ says Sir Horace, May 10th, ‘there was the 
 Gioco della Sibilla. She proposed all the questions to 
 the Sibilla who is represented by a child. Buondel- 
 monte and Lami were the interpreters. The first 
 question was, which was the greatest man, Aristotle or 
 Alexander ? The answer to this was “ Stella.” Great 
 pains was taken to make a comparison between them, 
 
876 
 
 A CURIOUS GAME. 
 
 1755. 
 
 but unluckily, Buondelmonte seemed to forget that 
 Aristotle had been mentioned, and as it was more 
 convenient to chuse somebody of the same trade, 
 he adopted Charles the 12th, and then Cromwell, to 
 compare with Alexander ; and, after having wandered 
 extremely, he could not avoid to talk a great deal of 
 nonsense, to prove that “ Stella ” was a very clear and 
 proper answer to the question proposed ; — that Alex- 
 ander was a star of the first luster, of which he gave 
 a definition, and thereby showed that he w T as as bad an 
 astronomer as he was an historian. Lami came off 
 better in both respects. — The second question was : 
 Why the ancient Tuscans were more given to the 
 Science of Divination than the other People of Italy ? 
 To which the Sibil, with her usual clearness, answered 
 “ Trota ” — upon which, infinite nonsense was talked ; 
 as well as upon the third question : whether matter 
 was divisible a Vinjini. The answer was “ Tamburo,” 
 upon which Buondelmonte began by observing that 
 the Sibil already denoted that it was a question that 
 had made a great noise in the world ! 
 
 ‘ This ridiculous amusement lasted for many hours. 
 Many Ladies were invited, and as they neither under- 
 stood a word of what was said, nor could have their 
 Cicisbeos by them, to talk of something else, they 
 were almost asleep. The Margravine honoured me 
 with some observations, as I happened to be the only 
 man near her, and though she was inclined to approve, 
 she allowed me to say that it was a torturing of 
 common sense, to adapt the Sibils answers to the 
 questions, and that they were often above the portae 
 of the Interpreters to talk extempore upon . . . and 
 
1755. 
 
 THE MARGRAVE OF BAREITH. 
 
 877 
 
 that upon the whole, this sort of amusement was a 
 proof of the decay of knowledge in the country ; but, 
 Count Richecourt came up, and by his great enco- 
 niums upon the learning which the Interpreters had 
 shown, as well as of the great use of such an Institu- 
 tion, to form the judgments of young as well as old 
 people, by torturing their brains to prove that the Art 
 of Divination in Ancient Etrusco was like a “ Trout,” 
 stoped our mouths, and I make no doubt that any 
 great Lady of spirito, who comes here for the future, 
 will insist upon having an Accademia and II Gioco 
 della Sibilla made for her. 
 
 ‘ Count Richecourt entertained the Margrave and 
 his Court at Dinner, at which I had the honour to 
 assist. Great state was observed and the conversa- 
 tion was very languid ; to enliven which, I suppose, 
 the Margrave asked the Master of the Table, which 
 he had rather have been, St. Francis or Caesar ? He 
 did not decide. There was a concert of Musick after 
 dinner, which all the men would willingly have dis- 
 pensed with, as we were forced to stand the whole 
 time, for want of an order from Her Royal Highness 
 to sit down. She was pleased to distinguish me, by 
 talking to me, the whole time ; for, as she is a great 
 composer of Musick, as well as of Operas, Tragedies, 
 etc., the performers did not please her at all ; even the 
 Margrave, she said, played much better ; so she did 
 not attend, but talked to me of her Brother, shewed 
 me his picture, and took occasion to say that it 
 was very unfortunate that the King of England, 
 her Unckle, had not that goodness for his family 
 that might be expected, and that her brother very 
 
378 THE KINGS OF I J RUSSIA- AND ENGLAND. 1755 . 
 
 seriously lamented the misunderstanding that was 
 between them. I retorted her accusation, laid the 
 whole blame upon the King of Prussia, who, I 
 said, had not even that regard for his Unckle which 
 that quality (sic) might exact, besides the decency 
 observed between princes ; and that, to make the 
 breach the wider, he had espoused an Interest totally 
 opposite to that which our King espoused. . . . My 
 discourse led me to the brink of disrespect, which 
 however I avoided, and she was not at all offended. 
 A Lady who was near, overheard a part of our dis- 
 course, and some of my answers have been since 
 quoted about the town. She took occasion to turn 
 into ridicule the report that was spread of both her 
 and the Margrave’s design of changing their religion 
 at Rome. I said that those who had the honour to 
 approach her, could never give credit to it.’ 
 
 The ex-lady Walpole, or Lady Orford, who before 
 and after her husband’s death, had various lovers in 
 Florence, but chiefly Richecourt, had, since her return 
 to England, married at Keith’s Chapel, May Fair, Mr. 
 Shirley ; from whom she soon separated, and in 1755 
 again established herself at Florence. Sir Horace 
 Mann had an extreme horror at the idea of that some- 
 what audacious lady again settling in that city and 
 unsettling all society into which she could penetrate. 
 However, the reality was not up to the mark of the 
 idea. The lady took her fortune with her, and Floren- 
 tine society welcomed her back with such an accom- 
 paniment. Mann was among them, but he excused it 
 on the ground of the lady’s total change of manners. 
 
 ‘ She lives,’ he says, May 30th, ‘ with great decorum. 
 
1755. 
 
 MANN'S ARMS. 
 
 379 
 
 All the ladies have been to see her . . . She has the 
 same house near the town, in which she lived formerly 
 . . . this happens to be near Count Richecourt’s, who 
 is at the Pisa baths. His daughter dined with her 
 here a few days ago, and promised to be a good neigh- 
 bour. In return the ex-Countess Dowager gave her a 
 superb set of jewels.’ (The whole is a good illustration 
 of Lord Cork’s assertion that, above all things, Floren- 
 tine ladies loved decorum. Another lady was about 
 to astonish them.) ‘Your friend, the Venetian Am- 
 bassadress is studying a harlequin dance with which 
 she is to surprize the audience, by way of Intermezzo 
 to the tragedy which is acting at Frescati, by Roman 
 Princes and Princesses.’ 
 
 Mr. Chute, at Sir Horace Mann’s request, furnished 
 him with a motto for Mann’s shield of arms, to be 
 exhibited to Italian Princes and Princesses. Chute, in 
 part allusion to the goats in Mann’s arms, happily 
 suggested, ‘ Per ardua stabiles,’ — steady in difficult 
 places. ‘All your friends approve it,’ wrote Walpole. 
 
 ‘ It alludes so well to the goats,’ wrote Mann, July 
 19th, ‘that I am justified in taking it. Lord Corke, 
 Doctor Cocchi, and others approve of it, extremely.’ 
 
 With the King’s arms in front of his house, his 
 pedigree in his hall, his new title, and the new legend 
 on his seal, the Florentines who had affected most to 
 doubt Mann’s right to be of ‘ blood,’ now acknow- 
 ledged that Sir Llorace was a gentleman and, like St. 
 Patrick, ‘ came of decent people.’ One of the first 
 public events he had to announce was the following: 
 ‘ Tuscany is engaged in a war with Algiers, which, 
 however, it cannot support, as the expense of keeping 
 
380 
 
 FRENCH GUESTS. 
 
 1755 . 
 
 two thirds of the whole fleet (that is, two ships) and 
 of some little precautions to defend the Coast, is too 
 great to be continued, and so much the more as the 
 Count wants a very large sum of money to carry to 
 Vienna in September.’ 
 
 At this time, France and England were on such 
 delicate and dangerous terms that when a French 
 Commandant, meeting Captain Howe at sea, asked 
 him if it was war or peace, Howe replied by firing a 
 broadside into him. M. de Mirepoix made indignant 
 complaint to our Ministry, and those gentlemen 
 replied that it was ‘ a mistake ’ which, they said, was 
 adding ‘ une Ironib indecente d une Insulte eclcitante.’ 
 For all this, Sir Horace was on a good understanding 
 with Lorenzi, the French Ambassador, at Florence. 
 
 August 18 th. — ‘I have not broke as yet with 
 Count Lorenzi who, two days ago, presented two 
 Frenchmen to me at an Assembly, telling me, he 
 would bring them to my home. I made the common 
 reply que je serois charme de faire connoisscmce avec 
 ces Messieurs. One, who is a President du Parlement 
 de Dijon, answered : Ah! Monsieur, il faut se presser, 
 upon which I invited them to dinner the next day.’ 
 
 Sir Horace was busied in endeavouring to procure 
 a Last Supper for Mr. Chute’s Chapel at the Vine. 
 The pictures he saw were too long for the dimensions 
 sent by that not too pious gentleman. * The Guests,’ 
 writes Sir Horace, ‘ being only placed in front and at 
 the ends of the table.’ He did not despair, however, 
 of getting a Last Supper, which * shall edify the most 
 delicate Protestant Believer.’ In the course of his 
 remarks, he says : — ‘I went, yesterday, with Dr. Cocchi 
 
1755. 
 
 USE MADE OF MARTYRS’ BONES. 
 
 381 
 
 to look at a Cenacolo in the Palace Pitti.’ Had it suited 
 he would have had it copied, but he adds : ‘ I was 
 greatly tempted to steal a piece of Chapel Furniture 
 from the private Oratory of John Gaston,’ (Giovanni, 
 the last of the Medicean Grand Dukes) ‘which till then 
 had escaped my observation, and which alone would 
 answer the end of giving a true Catholick air to our 
 friend’s Chapel. It was a little Tabernacle of about 
 two feet, with folding doors, which always stand open 
 to shew a small Madonna and Child in her arms, 
 surrounded by some Angels and Saints, all composed, 
 as the man assured me, of Martyrs’ bones pulverized 
 and worked up into a paste. What reflections does 
 not such a private retreat of Princes and Governors 
 of mankind produce ? ’ 
 
 The little English colony in Florence soon under- 
 stood whether war or peace prevailed. The dispute 
 between England and France referred to a boundary 
 question in America. The locality was a riddle to 
 Sir Horace and his friends, owing, he says, to 4 bad 
 maps.’ The very best did not mark, throughout, the 
 course of the Ohio ! At the same time, the two 
 French Ambassadors in Tuscany and Modena were 
 threatening the English 4 with all the Indignation of 
 their Master,’ and forbidding them their houses, — but 
 promising to be civil again as soon as England re- 
 pented of her ways. Next, came the news of the 
 defeat and death of General Braddock which caused 
 great depression among the English in Florence. The 
 brave and rash warrior fell into an ambuscade, in a 
 wood near Fort de Quesne, where he was overwhelmed 
 by French and Indians. The retreat of the fugitives 
 
ENGLISH, DEPARTING. 
 
 1755 . 
 
 was covered by Major Washington and his Provincials. 
 Our Minister and his countrymen in the Tuscan 
 capital were depressed and discouraged by the news 
 of this unlooked for defeat. The latter began to 
 disperse. 
 
 September 20th , — ‘ Lord Corke has taken a very 
 sudden resolution, on the receipt of some letters, to 
 set out for England in a few days, though he had 
 made all his dispositions to pass the winter here. 
 This, he and my Lady, in an appointed visit from 
 the country, communicated to me, with an air of 
 gravity that surprized me. I cannot guess the motive, 
 but believe it to be a family one. Some time after, 
 he desired I would give testimony, in my letter to the 
 Ministry, of his conduct here, saying that he knew he 
 had been formerly misrepresented to the King, and 
 assured me that though his early connections with 
 certain people (Jacobites) might have given cause to 
 suspect his principles, yet nobody was more seriously 
 attached to the present Establishment than he was, 
 being convinced from his heart that the nation could 
 only be happy under it, and indeed the whole tenour 
 of his conversation since I have known him, has been 
 agreeable to that assertion.’ 
 
 Another of the departing English was Miss Pitt. 
 Walpole has sketched her in his Letters. ‘ The famous 
 Miss Pitt is going away with Mr. Preston, who has 
 lately left off business at Leghorn, in order, they say, 
 to marry her. The ceremony is to be performed in 
 Germany, and they are to live this winter in Holland. 
 She has had a violent quarrel lately with a Mrs. Pru- 
 jean (?) about Religion, in defence of which she has 
 
1755 . CHARACTER OF SIR HORACE MANN. 
 
 383 
 
 told the strangest lies, endeavouring thereby to induce 
 the country-people where they lived to pull her house 
 down. Mr. P. has wrote a long letter in French to 
 Miss Pitt, of which he has given copies to many. A 
 miserable performance. This has given occasion to 
 Colonel Warren, a friend to both, to lament their 
 indiscretion in sparqinq their Dissenteries to the 
 World.’ 
 
 Mann regretted the departure of Lord Cork. The 
 Earl has left testimony in his book on Italy, to the 
 merits of Sir Horace ; — his hospitality, geniality, tact, 
 good taste, — and also to his honest heart and his 
 horrible head-aches. Another visitor, Alexander 
 Drummond, Consul at Aleppo, recorded in ‘ a very 
 vulgar, foolish book of travels ’ (Walpole calls it) his 
 opinion ‘that Mann was extremely polite, that he 
 possessed the most agreeable qualities that distin- 
 guish the fine gentleman, that his house was a 
 palace, his garden when lit up, was a little epitome 
 of Vauxhall ; and that Mann’s Conversazioni resemble 
 our Card Assemblies.’ Walpole laughs at this simile, 
 to say ‘ that an assembly is like an assembly.’ Consul 
 Drummond spoke of the Florentine ladies at these 
 Assemblies .with a saucy freedom, very like that of 
 Walpole himself ; and as the latter called the Consul’s 
 book foolish and vulgar, Mann ignored the author. 
 
 ‘ I protest,’ says Sir Horace, ‘ that I do not remember 
 the creature.’ Mann and ‘ the Colony ’ were next 
 agitated by the threatened invasion of England by 
 France. If made, he doubts their power to escape 
 ‘ in their flat-bottomed boats.’ He adds : ‘ It is pro- 
 bable that, on the like occasions, they will employ 
 
384 
 
 PRETENDER, ELECTOR OF COLOGNE. 1755. 
 
 their Irish and Scotch troops, who little deserve our 
 compassion.’ Then follow the subjoined singular 
 passages : — 
 
 November l&th . — ‘I wish you could tell me for 
 certain whether the young Pretender is to be of the 
 party, that I might let the Pope, and perhaps his 
 father too, know where he is. The former, not long 
 ago, shewed great curiosity to know, and assured Mr. 
 Hope that he believed his father was as ignorant of the 
 place of his existence, as he was. Our clumsy Baron,’ 
 (Stosch) ‘ persists in his opinion that he does not exist 
 at all ! Others here account for the secret by a 
 supposition that he was mad, and confined in some 
 Convent, or house, near Avignon. His people now 
 assert, as it was natural to suppose they would, that 
 he is well and in France ; and France will probably 
 not deny it, whether it be true or not. . . .’ 
 
 The Elector of Cologne was then puzzling people 
 as to his whereabouts as much as the young Pre- 
 tender. This Prince-prelate, ‘who fancied he should 
 divert himself extremely at Pome, left it lately on a 
 sudden. He expected a distinguished reception from 
 the Pope. His first disappointment engaged him to 
 go into the country, upon a supposition that, though 
 unasked, the Pope would alter his behaviour, but that 
 not being the case, he took the pretence (though he is 
 weak enough to be in earnest) of hastening to St. 
 Hubert’s shrine, to prevent the effects of having been 
 licked and slobbered by a favourite dog, that after- 
 wards run mad ; for which that Saint makes an 
 Amlet (sic) that has more virtue than any Relick 
 in the Holy Sanctuary at Rome. We have here in 
 
1756. REMEDY AGAINST EYDROPEOBIA. 
 
 385 
 
 Florence, a miraculous nail, which was a present from 
 San Donato, which, I have heard Mr. Acton say, he 
 saw applyed “red hot to the hand that had been 
 bitten, the flesh of which fryed and hissed, but with- 
 out the least pain to the patient, who was most 
 effectually cured by it.” Had the Elector known this, 
 he certainly would have stopt here, to apply the nail 
 to his cheeks.’ 
 
 1756 . 
 
 The letters addressed to Walpole in the early 
 months of this year are unimportant. In part, they are 
 replies to Walpole, on English politics ; in part, they 
 are taken up with deep expressions of sympathy for 
 the writer’s brother, Galfridus, who was dangerously 
 ill of what seemed consumption, and of, undoubtedly, 
 an unsympathetic wife. Why quicksilver was ad- 
 ministered to Galfridus for this complicated disease 
 puzzled Doctor Cocchi and other Florentine physicians 
 from whom Sir Horace sought enlightenment. Cocchi 
 condemned Naples, as a place unfit for persons in a 
 ‘ decline.’ Lisbon was not to be thought of, since 
 the recent Earthquake ; one effect of which was 
 to move Florence to the expression of much kindly 
 feeling, for a Florentine merchant whose daughter 
 perished in his house, — from which, however, he had 
 the good fortune to rescue his ledger and his cash-box. 
 One other circumstance Mann deals with at immense 
 length; but, briefly, it is this. The Emperor gave 
 a ‘ patent ’ to the Lucchese to make a certain new 
 road, and they at once addressed themselves to the 
 
 2c 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
386 
 
 AN OLD JOKE. 
 
 1756. 
 
 work. The Regency at Florence, who represented the 
 Emperor, as Grand Duke of Tuscany, issued a ducal 
 order to prohibit the Lucchese from profiting by the 
 Imperial £ patent.’ The Lucchese persisted ; where- 
 upon the Florentine authorities drowned the country ; 
 and it was not till much misery had been endured that 
 submerged Lucca rose from out the floods that had 
 been let loose upon her, and that arrangements were 
 made which reconciled the Emperor with the Grand 
 Duke, and which permitted the Lucchese to profit 
 by him, in one character, without bringing down 
 vengeance from him in another. In April, 1756, 
 Mann was in sufficient spirits to treat Walpole to an 
 anecdote. The Lord of Strawberry had recounted an 
 illustration of Lady Coventry’s naivete in her reply to 
 a question of the King’s, if she was not sorry that 
 Masquerades had been given up for a time, — £ sacri- 
 ficed ’ as Walpole said, £ to the Idol, Earthquake.’ 
 The Countess answered, £ No ; ’ she was tired of 
 them. She was surfeited with most sights ; there was 
 but one left that she wanted to see, and that was a 
 coronation. — Mann shows that this was really an 
 older joke. 
 
 £ An instance of the same kind happened to Pope 
 Orsini (Clement XII, 1730-40), who, asking a German 
 Baron if he had seen all the curiosities of Rome, and 
 was satisfied, received for answer, that he had nothing 
 to desire on that account, but to see a Sedia vacante. 
 This Pope would have made some lively answer. The 
 last hon mot that is quoted of him is on occasion of his 
 being dissatisfied with the French Ambassador, for 
 having so often deferred his entry, and told him that 
 
1756. 
 
 VOLTAIRE’S ‘ P UGELLE. ’ 
 
 387 
 
 as lie heard it was fixed for last Sunday, he hoped it 
 would take place. “ Yes,” replied the Envoy, “if the 
 weather is good,” — and added that he had heard his. 
 Holyness had fixed the promotion ’ (of Cardinals, — 
 urged by France) ‘for the next day, and lie hoped it 
 would take place likewise. “ Yes,” said the Pope, “ if 
 the weather is good.” ’ 
 
 The spring of this year ‘ La Pucclle,’ the base 
 attack of a base Frenchman on the noblest of French- 
 women, had got into public notice, and copies were 
 in the hands of Florentines and of the English in 
 Florence. 
 
 April 16 th. — ‘Have you seen a Poem of Voltaire, 
 called the “ Pucellc ? ” . . . It was handed about in 
 manuscript, and now it is printed, entitled “ La 
 Jeane” (?) I am told he was really frightened when 
 he heard that the former was got into the world by 
 somebody’s having stolen a copy of it, which made 
 him immediately resolve to cause it to be printed, as 
 if stolen too ; but with such alterations and omissions 
 of every thing that is personal, and of most that is 
 free about religion (or I should rather say, of all that 
 is downright ridicule), that most people think it is 
 quite spoilt. I have only read it in manuscript, for as 
 yet there are but one or two printed copies here, but 
 as many are expected, I shall then — by favour of a 
 person less scrupulous than I was of breaking his 
 promise not to copy the former, — have a compleat 
 edition by adding the omissions and alterations, and 
 will have one done for you, if you should like it, — 
 provided you don’t tell the Bishop of London ’ (Sher- 
 lock), ‘ who would lay to our charge any harm the 
 
388 
 
 CAUSES OF EARTHQUAKES. 
 
 1756. 
 
 French may do, and perhaps call them only the instru- 
 ments of the Lord’s just vengeance by fire and sword, 
 for the enormous sin of reading such a blasphemous 
 work.’ 
 
 ‘ I have by accident seen his Lordship’s letter upon 
 occasion of the Earthquake, in ’50. Seriously, it hurt 
 me. I would even consent to limit the Liberty of the 
 Press to suppress such performances, which not only 
 discredit the nation in general, but tend to weaken the 
 minds and impose upon the understandings of His 
 Majesty’s subjects. — Has nobody courage enough to 
 write honestly to convince the people that Earthquakes 
 are produced by natural causes ? We have been better 
 off than you, for we have had our Masquerades, etc., 
 as usual, impunely ’ (sic). 
 
 Anxiety for his brother Galfridus is expressed at 
 length in various successive letters. Mann is ex- 
 cessively angry with the blistering and drugging to 
 which Gal is subjected, £ a method of physicking which 
 is quite exploded here. I was witness a few days ago 
 to the writing which Lady Orford signed for Mr. 
 Shirley’s separate maintenance, £750 a year, upon his 
 renouncing all right and title to her Effects, and 
 authority over her person.’ In another letter Mann 
 writes of Lady Orford : ‘ She told me, upon my deliver- 
 ing to her that parchment, that she now looked upon 
 herself as unmarried again, upon which I gave her joy, 
 but told her that if it had been my case I would not 
 have let her be off so cheap.’ 
 
 The quarrels of nations now took place of private 
 dissensions. On the 18tb May, England declared war 
 against France, on the ground of the encroachments of 
 
1756. 
 
 OUR ADMIRALS. 
 
 389 
 
 the latter country in Nova Scotia and on the Ohio, of 
 the invasion of Minorca, and the violation of several 
 articles of the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, which France 
 had solemnly undertaken to observe. When the Due 
 de Richelieu set out for Minorca, he said the matter 
 would be a dejeuner for the troops of the King his 
 master. The unfortunate Byng, as some call that in- 
 competent Admiral, unfortunate for England, met the 
 French fleet under G-alissoniere, and after a ‘ scuffle 5 
 or two, withdrew from the fight, and repaired to Gib- 
 raltar, to refit. He was superseded by Hawke, who 
 was sent out too late to relieve Port St. Philip, and 
 recover Minorca. When, on the afternoon of the 14th 
 July, the valet de chambre of the Count d’Egmont 
 entered the box of the Countess (Richelieu’s daughter) 
 at the Comeclie Italienne, and spoke to her, the lady 
 nearly fainted with joy, the public broke forth into 
 triumphant shouts, the singers sang a Song of Victory 
 which had been prepared beforehand, and soon after 
 the city of Paris blazed with illuminations and fire- 
 works, and shook again with the pealing of bells and 
 the thundering of artillery. Day by day, meanwhile, 
 our Minister at Florence was in extreme agony at the 
 dark hour which had fallen upon old England. His 
 Florentine friends told him that Minorca would be 
 given to Spain, and probably Gibraltar would be 
 restored to her. When he heard that the Genoese 
 had joined France, Mann recognized the old saying 
 of them as people senza fede. ‘ What an oppor- 
 tunity has been lost’ (July 20th); £ at present two 
 privateers of 16 guns and of 24, that are between 
 Corsica and Leghorn prevent any of our Merchant- 
 
390 
 
 LACK OF SYMPATHY. 
 
 17b6. 
 
 men leaving that port. ’ The partiality of the Flo- 
 rentine Regency for the French enraged him. ‘ It is 
 so great/ he writes, in August, ‘that there is no bear- 
 ing it. The head of this Government, a Lorrainer, 
 that is to say, tho’ it may be doing him honour, a 
 Frenchman, who in the best of times, when it would 
 have been impolitic to break with us, could never so 
 far restrain himself as to conceal his hatred, now thinks 
 himself at full liberty to be as partial as he pleases ; 
 but what you’ll think very odd is, that the Tuscans 
 who hate them are all turned French too, and even at 
 Leghorn, where our folks contribute so essentially to 
 feed and enrich thousands, they are all against us too, 
 and exult in what must greatly contribute to the ruin 
 of their trade, if our’s is in any way excluded by the 
 French from the Mediterranean.’ 
 
 Maria Theresa (for few persons spoke of her hus- 
 band, the Emperor Francis) had entered into a friendly 
 treaty to observe neutrality with the French, against 
 whom she had been formerly maintained by the sup- 
 port of England. ‘ Nobody dares disapprove of the 
 new alliance. I really know not yet what the 
 Austrians say to justify such ingratitude. I hope this 
 league, like that of Cambray, will turn at last to the 
 disadvantage of one of the principal promoters of it.’ 
 
 In August, Sir Horace writes : ‘We have many 
 
 people here from Minorca ; they all give strange 
 accounts of it ; I mean our own people. The General 
 (Blakeney’s) great age and gout made him quite in- 
 active. The whole fatigue of the siege fell on two or 
 three officers, Jeffries, Boyd, and Cunningham— an 
 Ingeneur (sic), but a volunteer on this occasion ! — there 
 
17515. 
 
 FRENCH SUCCESSES. 
 
 391 
 
 were not officers enough to sec or direct the execution 
 of the most common things. To this the French owed 
 the lives of many thousands, as many of the mines 
 were not sprung for want of Directors, and others 
 attempted so late that the French carried off the 
 Matches before they took effect.’ 
 
 ‘Mr. Duncan, their clergyman, told me, that at the 
 time of the assault, many of the men had been three 
 days on duty, and that nearly the whole garrison was 
 so fatigued that they must have surrendered in a 
 day or two. The Chevalier Lorcnzi is come from 
 thence and gives most pompous accounts of his 
 bravery. He is very civil and makes me frequent 
 visits, tho’ I can only return them en Wane (i.c. by 
 leaving a card, a new fashion.) His brother (French 
 Ambassador at Florence) would think himself guilty 
 of treason if more than my name entered His doors.’ 
 
 It was the design of Lorenzi’s august master, the 
 King of France, to make a French lake of the Medi- 
 terranean, and to ‘ chasscr les Anglais de la Mcditer- 
 ranee ’ for ever I In the mean time, Mann feared the 
 designs of France in Italy, and the evils that might 
 arise even out of the squabbles between the Pope and 
 the Pretender ! 
 
 ‘ . . . The French Ambassador at Rome is blowing 
 up the coals. . . . The Pretender, ever since the illness 
 of the late Cardinal Ruffo, so long Deacon of the 
 Colledge, fixed his eye upon the vice-Chanccllorship di 
 Santa Chiesa for his devout Son ; but he was then 
 told that it was promised by the Tope, to his favorite, 
 Cardinal Colonna, who accordingly had it. Again, 
 on the death, of Cardinal Valenti, it being foreseen that 
 
392 
 
 TEE PRETENDER OFFENDED. 
 
 175G. 
 
 Cardinal Colonna would quit it, to be made Camer- 
 lingo, the Pretender applyed to him for his interest 
 with the Pope in favour of his Son ; but was told 
 that the Cardinal knew it was designed for another 
 person ; but that as the Chevalier still insisted upon 
 it, he would speak to the Pope, from whom the 
 Cardinal soon after confirmed what he had said before. 
 The Pretender still thought that the Pope would not 
 have the courage to refuse him Avhat his Mediators had 
 not been able to obtain. He therefore wrote a Letter 
 to the Pope, which the Pontiff, either out of forgetful- 
 ness or design, neglected to answer. And it being 
 known some days after that Cardinal (illegible) was to 
 receive his Commission the next morning, for that Im- 
 ployment, the Pretender went to Marquis Stanivelli’s, 
 to complain of the usage he had met with, and there 
 took a resolution to return to Albano. Accordingly, 
 the next day, after dinner, he left Rome without any 
 previous notice to his family, or without taking leave 
 of the Pope, or asking for his Guard, as usual. He 
 then wrote to Cardinal Spinelli to acquaint him with 
 his motives, and if a proper reparation was not made 
 for the affront in not answering his Letter, he should 
 be obliged to carry his person and Misfortunes into 
 another country. The Guards were sent after him ; 
 his Son followed three days after, and the day of the 
 departure of the Letters, Cardinal Spinelli was set out 
 for Albano, after having had two audiences of the 
 Pope, on this weighty affair, for the sequel of which 
 you must wait till next post.’ 
 
 The sequel, however, is not recorded in Manns 
 letters, the next of which is partly occupied with 
 
1756. 
 
 ANTI-ENGLISH FEELING. 
 
 303 
 
 references to the Regent of Tuscany, Richecourt, who, 
 as Frenchman and Austrian official, representing the 
 new alliance, exhibited a miserable lack of dignity as 
 vicegerent in Tuscany, — which was not at war with 
 England. 
 
 October 23rd . — ‘He behaved quite childishly on 
 the two late Gala Days, the 4th and 15th; the first, 
 the Emperor’s, and the latter, the Empress’s day, 
 upon neither of which he invited a single Englishman 
 to dinner, though all other strangers, I mean some of 
 each nation, were asked. This, the ’ (English) ‘ Lords 
 resented ; did not pay their court in the morning as 
 usual, nor put on Gala at the Theater. This was 
 much noticed by the Lorrainers and spoke of. I myself 
 perceived that Richecourt was struck on seeing me 
 enter his Levee room in the morning, with Mr. Dick 
 only (the new Consul at Leghorn) instead of being at 
 the head of a numerous Colony, as usual. He said 
 nothing to me ; seemed disconcerted and perceived 
 that I did not stay above five minutes. The town, 
 which will judge of everything, approved of all this.’ 
 Walpole’s comment on this arrogance was : ‘ There is 
 nothing so catching as the insolence, of a great proud 
 woman by a little upstart minister. The reflection of 
 the sun from brass makes the latter the more trouble- 
 some of the two.’ Walpole rejoiced that the English 
 in Florence showed a ‘disregard of Richecourt.’ 
 
 The fine autumn helped to keep up the spirits of 
 ‘ the colony.’ Sir Horace thus ends this letter of 
 October 23rd : — ‘ We have still so fine a day now and 
 then, that this very day we have dined under the 
 tents in my garden, had a Dish of beans and Bacon 
 
394 
 
 ILLNESS OF RICHE COURT. 
 
 1756. 
 
 and Gooseberry tarts. Mrs. Dick says that this is 
 living ! ’ In the political combinations of the time, the 
 Grand Ducal Tuscans discovered the cost of having 
 in their Grand Duke, an Emperor. November 13th: — 
 £ The Tuscans who, for many ages, have not been 
 martial, are to contribute, as an Imperial Fief, to join 
 in the destruction of Prussia. Three Batallions, with 
 six companies of Grenadiers, have had two orders, and 
 only wait the third, to march. They are so humble 
 and so civil upon it, that it is edifying. Pdchecourt, 
 as long as he wa3 able, opposed this martial dispo- 
 sition, but he is, for the present, incapable of doing 
 any more good or harm, having been attacked by a 
 severe stroke of palsy last Sunday night, which for a 
 considerable time took away the use of his whole left 
 side. The proper application of bleeding, blisters, etc., 
 have so far recovered him that there seems no im- 
 mediate danger, but a perfect recovery is thought more 
 than doubtful. This is a great epoque for Tuscany.’ 
 
 £ . . . The French troops have landed in Corsica ! 
 Everybody saw that unless we had taken possession 
 of the ports of that island, it would be impossible 
 to exclude the French. I fear, a3 that was the only 
 operation left for our fleet to do, people will be angry. 
 Our Merchant ships are taken in sight of Leghorn. I 
 am now reclaiming turn that were taken from under 
 the cannon of the former. The fleet, we hear, is at 
 Gibraltar. ... I am vastly afraid that domestic or 
 rather personal matters ’ (ministerial changes, in Eng- 
 land) £ take off their attention from things of such great 
 importance that we are engaged in, and which would 
 require a well-concerted and regularly pursued system. 
 
1756. 
 
 COMPLICATIONS. 
 
 395 
 
 Our enemies set us an excellent example in this. I 
 am sorry to hear of the follies of those who have no 
 call to meddle with State affairs, hut yet whose rank 
 makes them more conspicuous.’ 
 
 Among the complications which bewildered other 
 men besides our Minister at Florence, was that with 
 Austria. England had a right, under former treaties, 
 to demand the quota Austria (or Maria Theresa) was 
 bound to furnish as aid against France ; but the 
 Empress-Queen, whose mendacity was equal to her 
 audacity, ‘has so whimsically jumbled matters,’ (as 
 Mann writes, on December 13th) £ as to make that 
 demand on England, on account of the difficulties 
 which her having joyned with our only enemy has 
 drawn her into ! ! . . . In the mean time she will 
 probably raise a civil war in Germany, thus still 
 doing the business of France . . . She has got the 
 Aulick Council to condemn the City of Frankfort in a 
 fine of 400,000 florins for not having obeyed their 
 former decree with regard to putting a stop to the 
 raising recruits for the King of Prussia, in their town 
 or district. It is said the Elector of Mentz is to have 
 the execution of this sentence, and that he is to be 
 assisted therein by the Austrian troops that are march- 
 ing from Flanders. There is likewise a decree issued 
 by the Aulick Council, against the people of Nurem- 
 berg, for having resisted their Magistrates when they 
 would have stopt the recruiting for the Prussians. 
 The Bishop of Wurtzburg is to put this last sentence 
 into execution.’ 
 
396 
 
 POPE BENEDICT XIV. 
 
 1757. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 1757. 
 
 Sir Horace begins the new year in low spirits at 
 bis brother’s deplorable illness, and with angry remon- 
 strance at the way in which Galfridus was being 
 mercilessly drugged and tar-watered : both processes 
 much in fashion. The very long letter does not touch 
 on matters connected with Italy, till the last paragraph, 
 which refers to a man who was not quite in the ex- 
 tremity he had been thought to be in — Benedict XIV. 
 (Lambertini), who had been Pope from 1740. 
 
 January 1st . — ‘The Pope, who has had the 
 extreme unction, was so much better at the departure 
 of the last letter that he was almost thought out of 
 danger. The Cardinals are out of all patience. One 
 of his last bon mots was to the surgeon, wdiose name 
 is Ponzio, who made excuses for hurting him with 
 the siringe. The Pope replied that “ Cristo aveva 
 sofferto sotto Ponzio Pilato ; ed Io, chi sono suo 
 Vicario indegno, clevo soffrire sotto Ponzio Coglione.” ’ 
 Mann’s letter of January 8th is an outburst of 
 affectionate despair at the death of his brother Gal- 
 fridus, whom Mann loved more than any other 
 member of his family, and who had been to him both 
 
1757. DEATH OF BICHE COURT'S DAUGHTER. 
 
 397 
 
 a father and a brother. Speaking of Galfridus Mann’s 
 son, he says, ‘ I should think the little boy might be 
 better educated abroad than in England. I should 
 therefore most ardently wish to have him with me. 
 There is, I believe, no place more proper for the educa- 
 tion of a youth than this, where he may be instructed 
 in most sciences with greater care and much less 
 expense than in England, where the school education 
 is confined to too few objects, and many very essential 
 ones are neglected. I should, supposing that my 
 situation here should not be interrupted, have the 
 consolation, by that means, to cherish my own dear 
 Brother’s memory, by my care and tenderness of his 
 son.’ 
 
 The manly grief finds expression and leaves tokens 
 of tears in subsequent letters. Mann’s own affliction 
 served to move his sympathy for others who were 
 afflicted, and he thus writes, January 15th, of Riche- 
 court’s daughter, whom Lady Orford so recently 
 decked with jewels : — 
 
 ‘Nothing can exceed the desolation that is, at 
 present, in Count Richecourt’s family. He, half dead 
 and motionless, is confined to his room, suspecting, but 
 not informed of, what has been passing in his daughter’s 
 Appartment, who, upon a miscarriage, was seized with 
 the small-pox, of so violent a sort that, from the first 
 instant, the dreadful apprehensions she always had 
 of that illness were justified by the opinion of the 
 Physicians. Yesterday, at noon, she was seized with 
 a convulsion that deprived her of her speech, but not 
 in the least of her senses. The scene of her taking- 
 leave of her husband in that condition was most 
 
398 
 
 DAMIENS AND LOUIS XV. 
 
 irsr. 
 
 affecting, and his frantic despair must have added to 
 her distress. They were passionately fond of each 
 other, and much force was necessary to separate them. 
 She afterwards went through the ceremonies of the 
 Church, even the Extreme Unction, still in her senses. 
 She expired at seven o’clock last night ; and they were 
 forced to put the body into a coffin and remove it into 
 a Church, before eleven the same night. All this is 
 to be communicated to her father by degrees, whose 
 fondness for her may make it fatal to him in the 
 melancholy condition he is in. I sympathize so much 
 with any body in affliction that I could not refrain 
 from telling you this melancholy story.’ 
 
 Mann next refers to the attempt of Damiens to 
 stab Louis XV. 
 
 ‘ The consternation France is in at the renewal 
 of the age of Clements and Ravaillacs will, let us hope, 
 take off their attention a while from the war. This 
 atrocious attempt must have astonished you. Couriers 
 have been sent all over Europe with an account of it, 
 and almost daily to Parma. The last we have heard 
 of these was in the King’s own hand, with this ex- 
 pression to his Daughter — mon corps se porte bien, 
 mais mon esprit ne guerira jamais ! ’ (This wretched 
 King whose body was so well, but whose mind was 
 irrecoverably shaken, had scarcely been scratched by 
 the point of Damiens’ penknife, through a thickly 
 quilted waistcoat). c He was always afraid sincd those 
 verses about “ Deux Henris immoles,” etc., were 
 found under his plate. What will he be now ? No- 
 body pretends to guess whether the coup came from 
 a J ansenist or a Molinist ; but whether from one or 
 
1757. FRANCE AND TDD YOUNG PRETENDER. 399 
 
 the other, it is surely time to get rid of a Bull that 
 is capable of producing such mischief. D’Argenson 
 has made the King act so inconsistent and contra- 
 dictory a part, not out of devotion, but because 
 D’Argenson is convinced that the Roman Catholick 
 religion, in its full extent, is necessary for a Monarchy.’ 
 (Walpole has written between the lines : £ What a 
 reason to exclude both ! ’) 
 
 ‘I must tell you an answer that Buondelmonte 
 made to a question that was proposed in the Academy 
 of the . . . ( illegible ) where the foolish Gioco della 
 Sibilla is performed. “ Why do the French love their 
 monarclis more than other nations do theirs?” He 
 hesitated some time, and then said, “J don’t know. 
 Henry the 2nd, killed by a Frenchman; Henry the 4th, 
 killed by a Frenchman ; I don’t know if these be signs 
 of love.” I pass all my evenings alone, and find more 
 satisfaction than I could have at the Theaters.’ 
 
 February 19 th. — In this long letter, — devoted 
 chiefly to English politics, and containing the curious 
 assertion that, if England was in want of Porto Ferrajo, 
 as a harbour, it might be secured, if England did not 
 still neglect the easy means of acquiring a title to 
 Corsica, by paying King Theodore’s debts, — there is 
 the following passage : — 
 
 ‘ . . . I never heard before that the King of France 
 had such a personal enmity to the Young Pretender. 
 Where is he ? We can get no account of him from 
 Rome, and his father is again quite at a loss. Most 
 undoubtedly, the Dauphin would assist the Pretender, 
 with all his power, thinking he was fighting the 
 cause of the Faith. I am surprized the late attempt 
 
400 THE POPE ANP) THE KING OF FRANCE. 1757. 
 
 (Damiens’) was not rather made upon the Dauphin 
 than on his father, whose chief fault is weakness and 
 complyance with others’ opinions. 
 
 ‘ You may suspend your tears still for some time 
 for your favourite the Pope, who is so well recovered 
 as to attend to business, tho’ mostly confined to his 
 bed. He repents having interfered so much in the 
 affairs of France ; but yet could not help it. What 
 Pope dare resist such strong invitations to extend the 
 authority of the Church, when promised that it should 
 be supported by all the power of the King ? When 
 a Cardinal, Pope Benedict was a Jansenist, but, you 
 will allow, his present situation is a good excuse for 
 changing sentiments, since the decrees of the Church 
 are irrevocable.’ 
 
 Sir Horace encloses a copy of a letter which the 
 Pope addressed to Louis XV. When it is remembered 
 that to call that king ‘ an unclean beast ’ is almost an 
 insult on the beasts themselves, it is difficult to con- 
 ceive how even a Pope could stoop to the mendacity 
 and blasphemy in this precious document. 
 
 ‘ Benedict P. P. XIV. To his most beloved Son 
 in Christ, Health and Apostolic Benediction. The 
 unexpected intelligence which we have received of the 
 horrible and infamous attempt committed on the 
 Sacred Person of your Majesty had for some time 
 so overwhelmed us that we hardly knew where we 
 were. But, having at last come to ourselves, we have 
 not omitted, immediately, to render the most lively 
 thanks to the Great God that your Majesty’s precious 
 Life has been secured, and, for as much as we know, 
 all the People of this City have done the same. Con- 
 
1757. 
 
 THE POPE’S LETTEP. 
 
 401 
 
 sidering next what your Majesty has done since this 
 attempt, we believe that we cannot, and ought not, to 
 attribute the rescuing of your Person to any other 
 source but to the special Providence of God, who 
 willed its safety by way of recompense (as may be 
 manifestly believed), for the great fund of Religion 
 which Your Majesty has always had in your heart, 
 and for your Righteous Zeal in preventing the Church 
 from being defrauded of its Rights. Sire, common to 
 many, not to say to all, will be the esteem for your 
 Power, but we pretend to distinguish it with the Love 
 which we bear to your Soul, and on our knees, with 
 tears in our eyes, we pray the Great God to grant you 
 a long life, and a happy, and to maintain it down to 
 the hour of Death, in that state in which, since this 
 event, it has been so exemplarily conducted. Your 
 Majesty’s prerogative as Eldest Son of the Church is 
 borne in mind, and with the utmost fulness of heart 
 we give to Your Majesty, and all the Royal Family, 
 our Apostolic Benediction. — Given at Rome, the 19th 
 of January, 1757 ; the 17th Year of our Pontificate/ 
 
 Mann styles this ‘ a bad letter, which,’ as he says, 
 ‘was wrote in Italian.’ About the time that it was 
 written, the following, in the shape of a hand-bill, and 
 in the spirit of gross flattery to Richecourt, was dis- 
 tributed in the streets of Florence to the number of 
 ‘ some thousands.’ 
 
 ‘ To the Most Holy, Equal- with-God (Mary) 
 commonly called Of Good Counsel,— the Supplication, 
 by which, One of grateful mind, not forgetting kind- 
 nesses, devoutly implores the safe restoration to health 
 of the most Excellent Lord, — the Lord Emanuel, 
 
 2 D 
 
 YOTj. I. 
 
402 
 
 A BLASPHEMOUS PLAYER. 
 
 1757. 
 
 Count of Richecourt. Queen of the World, Supreme 
 Lady of the Heavens, — Mary ! who permittest no one 
 to be afflicted who trusts in Thee, — turn, benignly, 
 thy eyes of mercy on Thy most devoted servant 
 Emanuel, and by the potency of thy intercession, drive 
 far away from him the infirmity by which he is 
 oppressed, in order that he may longer rule the People 
 of Etruria committed to his care, and happily provide, 
 by means of his government, the things of which 
 they may be in want. Through Him whom, without 
 hurt to thy Virginity, thou didst concieve, and didst 
 bear, Our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who glorifies 
 Thee for ever and ever ; Amen ! ’ Mann records, to 
 the credit of Richecourt’s modesty, that, as far as was 
 in his power, the Count called in and suppressed all 
 these bills. Walpole, who really loved the jocose 
 Pope, Benedict, despised Bichecourt; but he was 
 sincerely sorry for the dreadful catastrophe in the 
 Count’s family. ‘What a lesson for human grandeur ! 
 Florence, the scene of all his triumphs and haughtiness, 
 is now the theatre of his misery and misfortunes.’ 
 
 On the 25th of March, Sir Horace alluded to the 
 misery and misfortune of Admiral Byng, but he looked 
 on the sentence of ‘Death’ as ‘an act of vigorous justice.’ 
 Without implying Voltaire’s phrase that the Admiral 
 was shot ‘pour encourager les autres,’ Mann hoped 
 that it ivould give courage to others. He had seen 
 much of our ‘ Sea Captains ’ during his official resi- 
 dence at Florence, and he says : — ‘ Let us hope that 
 the sentence may produce for the future some reforma- 
 tion in the conduct of our Sea Officers, which was so 
 publickly criticized in the last war. I wish we could 
 
1757. 
 
 NAVAL AFFAIRS. 
 
 403 
 
 see a Fleet in these parts, now. Something must he 
 done to recover our maritime reputation. The sea 
 swarms with French Privateers, who daily take all the 
 merchant ships that venture out. I have dissuaded 
 the people at Leghorn from sending many ships away 
 that are laden for above a Million sterling, which, we 
 know, the French have stationed several Privateers 
 and Ships of War, to wait for. They have advice 
 boats continually going backwards and forwards, and 
 others are at anchor at Porto (illegible) to be ready to 
 follow Captain Wright and his prizes that had taken 
 refuge at Poto Ferrajo, from whence, if they can 
 escape, we daily expect them at Leghorn. A plan has 
 been agreed upon to indemnify the Captains of the 
 Merchant Ships who are ruined by laying at a vast 
 expense, in port, by making a small average on the 
 goods they have on board, otherwise they would have 
 ventured out at all hazards . . . 
 
 ‘ . . . Your old friend, the Pope, still holds out. 
 He triumphed lately on the death of Cardinal Londi(?) 
 who was looked upon as the most likely to succeed 
 him : So ! Benedict the Fifteenth has died before 
 Benedict the Fourteenth ! ’ 
 
 April Znd . — ‘ A vulgar report has prevailed here 
 for a day or two, that Admiral Byng had made his 
 escape to Holland. You can’t imagine how this 
 affair employs people here. It is an effect of their 
 want of occupation and of the inaction in other parts. 
 The least event in Germany will take off all their 
 attention from what concerns them so little.’ 
 
 Our court at home, however, took up all the 
 attention of Florence for a time. April 23rd. — ‘Since 
 
404 
 
 EXIT RICHE COURT. 
 
 1757. 
 
 Nature did not compleat the work she had begun, an 
 Event equivalent to it has happened that has given 
 grea/t satisfaction to the Florentines, who, however, 
 have shown more good nature, or at least humanity, 
 than I thought they were capable of. Count Riche- 
 court, before whom all had trembled for so many 
 years, set out, trembling, and even fainting, a few 
 days ago, on his journey to Lorraine. Nothing was 
 ever more visible than his apprehensions of some 
 insults from the common people. Great pains were 
 taken to conceal the exact time of his departure, and 
 even to the few who were admitted familiarly to 
 him every evening, he said : “ A vous revoir demain 
 au soir ! ” Nobody, however was the Dupe. The 
 whole town knew he was to set out, but nobody 
 thought it necessary to feign an attention. He was 
 literally packed up in his litter, in his bedchamber, 
 which vehicle is so contrived as to be detatched from 
 the (' illegible ) to serve even as a bed, and be trans- 
 portable anywhere. In this manner, he was brought 
 down stairs by porters, and put on the backs of the 
 Mules, which marched off with him, without any 
 attendance, except one servant at a distance. His son- 
 in-law and a few servants followed, after ; and even a 
 dozen or two of beggars regretted the time they had 
 lost in waiting for him. 
 
 ‘ What an Exit ! How different from his depar- 
 ture to Vienna two years ago, when his court-yard was 
 filled with Noblesse, and the streets with people to 
 wish him a good journey. 
 
 ‘ He was extremely apprehensive of being insulted 
 by the common people. Nothing was said within his 
 
1757. 
 
 GIN OBI. 
 
 405 
 
 hearing ; but now, nothing, however severe and con- 
 temptable, is omitted, by all sorts, behind his back ! 
 A good thing was said, some time ago, on his first 
 being carried out, after his Apoplexy, to take the air. 
 “ Oh, povero Signore ! e il padre dei poveri ! ” — 
 “ E vero,” replied another, “ne ha fatto tanti ! ” 
 
 £ The Florentines have been extremely disappointed 
 in their hopes of having a Tuscan at the head of this 
 Government. The great antagonist of the Count, 
 Ginori, was certainly to have succeeded him ; the day 
 was fixed for his coming here, but a cruel stroke of an 
 Apoplexy crushed all these hopes. He died on the 
 17th of this month, in the height of popular favour, 
 which he really owed more to his opposition to the 
 Count than to any extraordinary merit, though if half 
 what is said in the enclosed paper was true, you would 
 think that not only the Tuscans, but that mankind in 
 general had had a great loss. His death revived the 
 Count (Richecourt’s) spirits much, and the last act of 
 his authority was to forbid a magnificent funeral that 
 was disposing for him at Leghorn. You must not 
 wonder I say so much about these two people ; we 
 talk of nothing else here.’ 
 
 The printed paper which Mann enclosed in his 
 letter of the 23rd, and which is a copy of a monu- 
 mental inscription that was circulated in Florence, 
 contains a pompous account in Latin, of all Count 
 Ginori’s earthly greatness, which was supposed to have 
 commenced from the day of his birth, in 1702. It 
 tells how Ginori served the Medici, till the race was 
 extinct, and how he transferred his services to the 
 house of Lorraine, which, in the person of Francis, 
 
406 
 
 A SICK POPE. 
 
 1757. 
 
 succeeded to the Great Dukedom of Tuscany ; and 
 in what ample measure both houses, with the Queen 
 of Hungary and Bohemia, had rewarded his bravery 
 as a soldier, and his wisdom as an administrator. It 
 records what he did for arts, science, and commerce, 
 and claims for him a never-dying fame throughout the 
 whole world ! After stating that Ginori died in his 
 56th year, the inscription ends thus : ‘ Elizabeth, his 
 wife, daughter of Bartholomew, Prince Corsini, great 
 grand-daughter of Pope Clement XII. ; the Cavaliere 
 Lorenzo, his son, and Francis Marie, Bishop of Fiesole, 
 his brother, have with tears and trembling raised this 
 monument. Oh ! children, oh ! country, when will 
 you ever find his like again ? ’ 
 
 A greater than Ginori lived on to the disgust of 
 impatient Cardinals who would have him begone. 
 
 £ Your old friend the Pope has again been in the utmost 
 danger ; he received no nourishment for some time, 
 was speechless, and had again received the • extreme 
 unction, so that the people about him thought it high 
 time to strip his room ; but a favourite crisis happened 
 when least expected, that made the want of clean 
 sheets and other necessaries which they had carried 
 off, very inconvenient. At the departure of the 
 letters, he was better than before this last attack. 
 However, the dispositions for building a Conclave are 
 publickly continued. The Cardinals now begin to 
 dread the danger of being shut up during the 
 heats, though they would willingly have spent the 
 Carnival there.’ 
 
 April 3 Otli. — ‘ Our situation here is not altered, 
 except that one of our two members of the Regency 
 
1757. 
 
 NEGLECTED TUSCANY. 
 
 407 
 
 is become incapable of the business. Sometime ago, 
 he wrote Torrequinei, without any vowels. We are 
 now under the sole government of the Chevalier 
 Antinori, which is the strongest proof that II mondo 
 va da se. We not only expect orders, but even people 
 to execute them, from Vienna. The paper which I 
 sent you’ (the prayer for Riehecourt’s recovery) ‘has 
 been suppressed, and a second impression, after 1000 
 had been distributed, prohibited ; but the Sbirri, who 
 go about the streets to whip the children, for singing 
 Gesu e morto ! Pilato e partito, cannot silence them. 
 Pilate has wrote many letters, containing many lies 
 under his own hand, asserting that he grows better 
 every day, on the journey ; but the truth is, that 
 the people about him are fearful that he won’t be 
 able to get to the end of his journey.’ 
 
 May lith . — ‘ We are still left to govern ourselves. 
 We are all mildness and submission to our very insuffi- 
 cient Member of the Regency ; we must conclude, as 
 really everything is at a stand here, that either the 
 Emperor is much embarrassed, or has something of 
 more importance to think of. They say that the King 
 of Prussia gives him full occupation, as well as to the 
 Queen’s army. If the accounts which have escaped 
 from Vienna be true, he will stop perhaps the pub- 
 lication of the Ban of the Empire, and gain over 
 perhaps some of the votes at Ratisbonne, where he 
 has hitherto been treated with the utmost contempt. 
 It is some time since Mr. Mitchell wrote that the 
 King of Prussia was in high health and spirits, and 
 not at all embarrassed by his numerous enemies. If 
 the Austrians don’t defend themselves better, France 
 
408 
 
 PICTURE-BUYING. 
 
 1757. 
 
 must send at least another hundred thousand men 
 into Germany, to do their business.’ 
 
 Among the many commissions which Mann was 
 called on to execute for men of rank and wealth in 
 England, was the delicate one of purchasing pictures 
 for them. These were generally ‘copies.’ Of such 
 ware, he bought an assortment for the Earl of 
 Northumberland’s great gallery, in his house in the 
 Strand. The Earl was ‘ most perfectly satisfied ’ with 
 them. To Horace Walpole, Mann wrote : ‘ I recollect 
 that you never approved of that scheme ; but I trust 
 that you will go to see them, and then that you will 
 be a convert to them, when you reflect that the origi- 
 nals are so near a total decay.’ Walpole went to 
 Northumberland House, saw the much-talked of Italian 
 pictures, and thought little of them. 
 
 June 4 tli . — ‘ I am disappointed by your opinion of 
 Lord Northumberland’s pictures. You know I never 
 saw them, and only could chuse what was of a size for 
 the place, and of painters that were in the greatest 
 repute. I can’t conceive how so many could give me 
 such CEncomiums of them. My Lord too is highly 
 satisfied with them. I wish you could like them. 
 Pray, go to see them by daylight.’ 
 
 The Italian climate was in no respect less rigorous 
 in its summer weather than England. ‘ Here we are 
 in June,’ says Mann, ‘wearing our winter cloaths.’ 
 London was even as Florence was. ‘ I certainly am 
 glad of rain,’ Walpole writes from Arlington Street, 
 June 2nd, ‘ but could wish it was boiled a little over 
 the sun first. Mr. Bentley calls this the hard summer, 
 and says he is forced to buy his fine weather at ' 
 Newcastle ! ’ 
 
1757. 
 
 PRUSSIA AND AUSTRIA. 
 
 409 
 
 The Seven Years War (1756-1763) maintained by 
 Frederick II. of Prussia against Austria, Russia, and 
 France, was now exciting much angry remark in the 
 Duchy of Tuscany. Reflecting on these comments, 
 Mann writes : £ What say you to the surprising success 
 of the King of Prussia ? We daily expect to hear 
 that he lias taken Prague, and the inhabitants of 
 Vienna expect him under their walls. The conster- 
 nation is almost as great there as if he was half 
 way. All their Ministers at court disagree, as much 
 as their Generals at the Army, and the King of 
 Prussia, notwithstanding the loss he has had, of 
 Schwerin, knows how to profit of the incapacity 
 of both. By the late accounts he had received his 
 great artillery, and whilst part of his army was to 
 batter the town ’ (Prague), c a considerable body had 
 been detached to attack Marshal Daun, who was 
 retired into Moravia, and, they say, has had dis- 
 cretional orders to cover Austria as well as he can ; 
 and for which purpose, they suspend his process for 
 not having joyned Brown on the day of action. He 
 excuses himself by the orders he had from Neiberg and 
 the Council of War at Vienna ; and they lay the fault 
 much higher. The French troops will have little 
 courage or inducement to go to remedy des affaires 
 si delabrees.’ 
 
 1 1 trust that the Duke ’ (of Cumberland) ‘ will be 
 able to do something as great on his side, that they 
 may be fully convinced again that the title of Gerant 
 de la Paix de Westphalie (though it would puzzle 
 them to extend that to justify their attacking Han- 
 over) is a troublesome obligation which they had 
 
410 
 
 DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 1757. 
 
 better renounce. A great Lady here, however, is very 
 angry that a Prince of England should go abroad to 
 command a foreign army. I just stopt her, to say, 
 that he was also a Prince of Hanover ; but she went 
 on by saying that it was as unnatural a step as an 
 Arch-Duke’s being sent into Italy to defend St. 
 Marino or the Republick of Lucca. I asked her, if 
 she did not mean Tuscany, but she finished her 
 political remarks with great applause, — till her au- 
 ditors were at liberty to laugh at her.’ 
 
 June 18 th . — ‘In the midst of all this’ (the progress 
 made by the King of Prussia) ‘and the declared enmity 
 between the ministers at Vienna, you will not wonder 
 that they do not think of Tuscany. They even forget 
 that there are very large sums of money accumulated 
 here, none having been called for for a long while, 
 though the Empress is seeking money every where and 
 at any interest. 
 
 ‘Your friend, the Pope, is so well recovered that 
 he gave the publick benediction from the balcony of 
 his palace on Easter Day.’ 
 
 July 2nd . — ‘Your old friend, the Pope, is relapsed. 
 The Cardinals now pray that he may hold out till the 
 Autumn. It is said that Baron Toussaint will be sent 
 here to look into affairs, for a month or two, before M. 
 Botta is put at the head of the Regency. All the 
 private letters from Vienna say this. None of any 
 other kind are sent from thence. Our Regents, two 
 only, one of whom (the Chevalier Antinori) is quite 
 a child by age, are totally neglected there ; though, I 
 dare say, they look upon it as a compliment, and that 
 it is supposed they can govern without any aid or 
 
1757. 
 
 TE DEEM! 
 
 411 
 
 instructions. I wish our folks would let people go 
 on as quietly, they then might have leisure to attend 
 to our affairs abroad.’ 
 
 And now Florence was flying her flags, lighting 
 her festal lamps, kindling her fires, and discharging 
 congratulatory salvoes of artillery, — on occasion of the 
 King of Prussia being compelled, by Prince Charles of 
 Lorraine, to raise the siege of Prague. 
 
 J tdy 9th . — * Couriers flew with such dilligence into 
 all parts, with Prince Charles’s laurels that they left 
 the common posts with the ordinary occurrences vastly 
 behind. Florence was forced to rejoice on that occa- 
 sion. The Emperor sent orders to the Regency of 
 two members, the first of any kind that he has sent 
 since Count Richecourt’s departure in April, to cause 
 a Te Deum to be sung in all the principal cities in 
 Tuscany, and they are, besides this capital, where the 
 farce was performed the day before yesterday, Leg- 
 horn, Sienna and Pistoja. If it was both unnecessary 
 and indiscreet too, as most people are of opinion, to 
 declare by that means Tuscany is concerned in the 
 present war in Germany ... it must be doubly so to 
 perform that ceremony at Leghorn, a free port and a 
 common trading town, where a Consul from the King 
 of Prussia actually resides, with his Master’s Arms 
 over his door, on the Great Place. This, even the 
 Regency disapproves of, but dare not venture to dis- 
 pense with the execution of the orders, tho’ they are 
 persuaded that their Master did not think at the time 
 he gave them. 
 
 * One of the Regency came, as if by accident, to 
 sound me, and I let myself be sounded, but I only 
 
412 
 
 WALPOLE, ON THE POPE. 
 
 1757. 
 
 encreased his embarras, by starting new difficulties 
 “ Well, but what would you advise ? If anybody 
 would make a representation, that would justify, at 
 least, our suspending it for Leghorn.” But I replyed, 
 that I knew nobody in a condition to do the latter, 
 and that I never advised in things that were totally 
 indifferent to me.’ 
 
 Leaving politics and municipal arrangements, 
 Mann, replying to a letter from Walpole, dated from 
 Strawberry Hill, June 20th, 1757, says, C I admire your 
 inscription on the Pope’s picture.’ This referred to an 
 inscription which Walpole had written, and placed 
 behind a bas-relief portrait in wax of Benedict, which 
 hung in the gallery. It is as follows : ‘ Prospero Lam- 
 bertini, Bishop of Rome, by the name of Benedict 
 XIV., who, though an absolute Prince, reigned as 
 harmlessly as a Doge of Venice. He restored the 
 lustre of the Tiara, by those arts alone, by which alone, 
 he attained it, — his virtues. Beloved by Papists, 
 esteemed by Protestants ; a Priest without insolence or 
 interest ; a Prince without favourites ; a Pope without 
 Nepotism; an Author without vanity; in short, a 
 Man whom neither Wit nor Power could spoil. The 
 Son of a favourite Minister, but One who never 
 courted a Prince, nor worshipped a Churchman, offers, 
 in a free Protestant country, this deserved incense to 
 the best of the Roman Pontiffs.” Walpole thought so 
 well of the incense as to have no doubt that the Pope 
 would like to smell it. ‘ If,’ he says, — ‘if the good old 
 soul is still alive, and you could do it unaffectedly 
 and easily, you may convey it to him. It must be a 
 satisfaction to a good heart to know that in so distant 
 
1757. 
 
 THE POPE, ON WALPOLE. 
 
 413 
 
 a country, so detached from his, his merit is acknow- 
 ledged without a possibility of interest entering into 
 the consideration. His death-bed does not want comfort 
 or cheerfulness, but it may be capable of an expansion 
 of heart that may still sweeten it.’ To this, — inscrip- 
 tion, sentiment, and figure of speech, — Sir Horace re- 
 plies: ‘I admire your Inscription on the Pope’s picture. 
 He is better and I hope will see it. The method I have 
 made use of, I think, will succeed. I made Niccolini 
 in love with it, and eager to have a copy, which I gave 
 him. If this should fail, I’ll try some other.’ 
 
 On the 23rd August, he continues : ‘The method I 
 took to convey your elegant Inscription on the Pope’s 
 picture succeeded beyond my expectation. It was 
 sent in confidence by Archiuto, with the translation on 
 the same paper, and was immediately communicated 
 to the Pope, who was so well pleased with it that he 
 made everybody read it who went to him. Innumer- 
 able copies have been dispersed, and to shew you 
 how much people are convinced of the truth of the 
 (Encomium, his Enemies have made a counter one to 
 damage the great effect it had produced in his favour. 
 The good old man is so much recovered that he is 
 carried out every day, in a chair, to take the air.’ 
 
 Benedict XIV. was well enough to criticize 
 Walpole’s panegyric, — which he did, in the following 
 terms, in a letter to a friend at Bologna, — from which 
 Mann makes the following extract : it is ‘ abroad ’ in 
 its contemporary history : — 
 
 ‘ The Volpole is the chief of the present Adminis- 
 tration in the English Court. He has a son who has 
 composed the fair (onesto) but undeserved eulogy on 
 
414 
 
 MANN, CRITICAL. 
 
 1757. 
 
 ourself. This eulogy has been translated into our 
 Italian language, by the famous Niccolini of Florence. 
 We send the whole to our dear Canonico Poggi, in 
 order that he may know how very like we are to the 
 front of the statues (sic) of St. Peter in the Vatican. 
 To those who are at a distance from them, they look 
 very fine indeed, but to those who are near, they 
 appear horribly ugly. May the good Canonico pre- 
 serve his love for us from whom comes, herewith, our 
 Apostolic Benediction.’ 
 
 Mann was not at all satisfied with the translation 
 of Walpole’s Inscription, though it was the work of 
 ‘ the famous Niccolini ;’ and he made a second which he 
 circulated all over Italy. He points out very sensibly 
 where the difficulties lay. 
 
 August 27th . — c It is not near so good as in English, 
 but it was impossible to stick nearer to the original. 
 One could not well say, for “ A Priest without inso- 
 lence,” Prete senza insolenza. It is a Cacophony that 
 was better avoided.’ (He rendered the English thus, 
 Prete non insolente.) 1 I wish, however, I had said, 
 senza superhia, or alterigia, which is pretty near what 
 you mean, and less harsh to Catholick or devout ears ; 
 — and then, the want of a word in Italian for wit , — 
 which is so peculiarly the Pope’s character, — weakens 
 the whole idea ; sometimes it is ingegno, or rather, 
 vivacitd cV ingegno, but neither exactly answers to 
 “ wit.” ’ (For, £ A Man whom neither Wit nor Power 
 could spoil,’ Sir Horace said, in Italian, Un uomo cui 
 ne lo Spirito ne la Potenza poterono guastare.) 
 ‘ Niccolini had made use of corteggid for “ courted,” 
 but corteggicire is a duty and not a crime.’ (In 
 
1757. 
 
 PAPAL IGNORANCE. 
 
 415 
 
 Mann’s version, the line was thus happily rendered : 
 che pero non aduld mai ctlcun Principe.) ‘ Weak, 
 however, as the translation is in comparison of the 
 original, it has pleased extremely. The Pope, you see, 
 was proud of it, and Cardinal Passionei reproves 
 Niccolini for not having given him the preference to 
 convey it to the Pope, instead of Cardinal Archiuto, 
 and adds an invitation to him to go to Eome in the 
 Autumn, when the world would certainly find the 
 Pope alive, for Volpole’s Eulogy has given him fresh 
 life and vigour.’ 
 
 ‘ You will be surprised, perhaps, at the Pope’s 
 ignorance about our Court. Niccolini would have 
 had me correct the old man’s mistake, but I insisted 
 on sending you the letter as it was. Cardinal Passio- 
 nei is to set him right, and perhaps Cardinal Albani, 
 who .may be angry with me for making use of any 
 other channel than his, may convey to the Pope the 
 translation which I have since sent to Albani, with 
 some trifling excuse for not having done it sooner ; 
 though that, I thought, would have been too direct a 
 method, at first. Your commission was to convey 
 it easily and unaffectedly, which was literally executed.’ 
 
 Mann’s interest in the Opera was now somewhat 
 revived ; by way of P.S. to the letter from which the 
 above is taken, he writes: — ‘We have a most excellent 
 Opera here, which was opened last Sunday, the day 
 that the news of a new Ministry came. Its title is 
 La Disfatta di Dario (The Defeat of Darius) ; but 
 everybody calls it La Disfatta dei Lorranesi. Man- 
 zoli is our first man, and the best singer at present in 
 Italy. I am just going to its second representation.’ 
 
416 
 
 BEFORE TEE OPERA CURTAIN. 
 
 1757. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 1757. 
 
 The Opera, for a long time, was the last place, in Italy, 
 at which music, vocal or instrumental, could be heard. 
 Those persons who subscribed for their boxes for the 
 season, received therein any of their friends who chose 
 to call upon them. Those visitors went to the boxes 
 where their friends were lodged for the evening, with- 
 out challenge from money or cheque taker. There was 
 a continual knocking at, and noisily opening and shut- 
 ting of doors. From the boxes came the loud voices of 
 noisy and idle talkers, with bursts of laughter that 
 overwhelmed the orchestra itself. No one regarded 
 the stage or the singers. There was a continual going 
 to and fro, and visits exchanged from box to box, and 
 messages sent and answered, viva voce, across the 
 house. In many of the boxes, the occupants filled up 
 part of their time with sitting down to a hot supper, 
 (the fumes from which spread into the house), with 
 wine, the effect of which was but to increase the noise 
 and make the confusion worse confounded. If a poor 
 dilettante in the pit humbly begged for a little silence, 
 the chances were that he would have his head broken 
 by something flung at him from the revelling guests. 
 
1757. 
 
 MANZOLI. 
 
 417 
 
 This aristocratic rudeness survived in France long 
 after its extinction in Florence the beautiful. The 
 Comte d’Hezecques, in his ‘ Memoirs of a Page, at 
 the Court of Louis XVI./ relates an instance which is 
 much to the point. At the public theatre in V ersailles, 
 the royal Pages arrogantly ruled actors and audiences 
 from the boxes. One day, when one of these impu- 
 dent young gentlemen was drinking a hot milk posset 
 at the front of the box, a Pit-ite, ashamed at a fashion 
 in France which, for a score of years, had been thought 
 too bad to be tolerated in Italy, cried d has ! on such 
 a fashion ! Thereupon, the Page of quality started to 
 his feet and emptied the hot contents of his jug on the 
 heads of the citizens below, who scrambled out of the 
 way of the avalanche, with much precipitation and no 
 chance of redress. Scenes somewhat similar had once 
 been common in Florence. A growing good taste, 
 however, had grown up, and instead of the noisy hot 
 suppers which added many a paroxysm to Mann’s 
 chronic headaches, there was a distribution of light 
 refreshments, beginning with ices, and continuing to 
 the end with sweetmeats. 
 
 Manzoli, moreover, was a proud artist who would 
 insist on respect for his art. In the year 1757, he was 
 at his best; and the Florentines were unwilling to lose, 
 by their indifference, the foremost vocalist in Italy ; — 
 the singer, whom Farinelli took with him to Madrid, 
 where Manzoli’s voice was valued, — for the use of it, — 
 at sixteen thousand ducats a year. The praise awarded 
 him by Sir Horace Mann excited a strong desire 
 among the patrons of our own Opera, to hear him in 
 England ; but Manzoli did not satisfy that desire till 
 
 YOL. i. 2 E 
 
418 
 
 OUR FLEET AT LEGHORN. 
 
 1757. 
 
 1764. Meanwhile an event occurred at Florence, which 
 could not be disregarded. 
 
 September 3rd . — ‘ On Wednesday, at ^ past 2 in 
 the morning, we had a very smart shock of earth- 
 quake, which so alarmed the people, that thousands ran 
 into the streets, from their beds. It was preceded by 
 a violent wind, for some hours ; but neither did any 
 mischief. The Admiral’s Courier returned that night, 
 in eleven days, from England ; he felt nothing of the 
 shock, but he had much difficulty to sit upon his horse, 
 for the wind ; and was frequently forced to stop or 
 turn his back to it. As nobody has prophesyed that it 
 will return, so people are not at all alarmed.’ 
 
 Although the Grand Duchy of Tuscany was neutral, 
 while the Empire was at war, it was not without 
 difficulty that Mann established the right of the 
 British Fleet to anchor at Leghorn and procure there 
 everything of which they might be in need. Against 
 the coming of the ships, Sir Horace provided 400 oxen, 
 1200 sheep, and ‘ eA 7 'erything that Admiral Osborn 
 foresaw he should want at Leghorn.’ He and his 
 vessels were received with all the honours that Mann 
 had previously insisted on ; and he writes : — ‘ It is im- 
 possible to describe the joy that the arrival of the fleet 
 has occasioned both in Florence and at Leghorn. The 
 advantage must be great to the country, and they 
 assure me that the Emperor himself is vastly sensible 
 of it. Leghorn was ruined before ; no business at all 
 done. Two or three French Privateers prevented any 
 ships going out. The Custom House which commonly 
 produces 900,000 scudi per annum, was reduced to 
 less than 400,000 ; and what would that still be re- 
 
1757. 
 
 THE KING OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 419 
 
 cluced to, if that fleet which is to recover everything, 
 was to be its enemy ? Not only interest, therefore, but 
 fear, one would think, should prevent any alteration/ 
 
 In view, however, of the contingencies of war 
 affecting Tuscany, and abolishing its neutrality, Mann 
 began to consider his own interests. He manifested 
 his liking for his post by his desire to retain it. ‘ I can- 
 not judge whether on such occasions, it depends upon 
 one’s own choice to retire to any place, or whether 
 the order be not positive to return home. Could the 
 former be obtained and my appointment continued, 
 I should most undoubtedly prefer it, and with any 
 degree of favour, one might hope it would be granted 
 upon the probability of the suspension not lasting long, 
 and the reflection that upon the sending any Minister 
 again, the allowance for journey and equipage is a 
 considerable article.’ 
 
 The King of Prussia’s alternative at Prague is 
 almost epigrammatically described. ‘ Delay to him 
 was worse than a battle lost ; and if Prague had been 
 relieved by Daun’s army, which was daily increasing, 
 it must have been attended with the King’s total ruin. 
 He, therefore, had only this alternative, — to retire 
 from Prague without striking a blow, or make himself 
 master of it by beating an army almost inaccessibly 
 placed. His own inclination and the reputation of 
 his arms urged him to that desperate effort in which, 
 says one of his enemies, “ il auroit ete victorieux, s’il 
 n’avoit pas tente l’impossible ! ” ’ 
 
 Mann, having provided for the English fleet, went 
 over to Leghorn to look at it. ‘ I stayed a fortnight. 
 The manner of life was so new to me ; for I had seen 
 
420 
 
 SPECULATION. 
 
 1757. 
 
 nothing like it since the year ’44, that I was not dis- 
 pleased with it ; and, I flatter myself that my going 
 there was not totally useless. Many private people 
 received small advantages from it, in relation to their 
 effects that I got released from the Captors ; and this 
 Government attributes to me the merit of everything 
 having passed with the utmost reciprocal satisfaction, 
 in regard to the reception of the fleet, and to the 
 tranquility of its inhabitants during its stay there ; 
 but I am far better pleased with the influence that 
 I obtained over its leader, and the hopes that my 
 solicitations, which induced him to send a Courier 
 to England, may produce something better than — 
 nothing at all.’ 
 
 ‘ Me cannot indeed strike any great blow, but it 
 was not such that induced France, last war, to listen to 
 a peace. It was the ruin of their trade, which pro- 
 duced such intrinsick misery, and, as low as we are 
 fallen, we may still do this with the fleet now in the 
 Mediterranean ; at Marseilles, at Toulon, consequently 
 at Lions and all Provence, they are in the utmost 
 consternation, on account of the interruption of their 
 trade, which, if continued for any time, must produce 
 Bankrupcies (sic) and such extensive inconveniences 
 as must be felt even at Paris. . . . Except my great 
 head-aches, I went through my maritime visits and all 
 the honours that attended them, without any incon- 
 venience. Some might have happened to others, for 
 from two ships that saluted, there remained accident- 
 ally a ball in a cannon of each ! They were prizes 
 which came in after the departure of the fleet, and 
 rejoiced the hearts of the Livomians and of the Govern- 
 
1757. 
 
 MARQUIS BOTTA. 
 
 421 
 
 ment who, by experience, are convinced that the 
 welfare of the State depends on the English trade. 
 This alone may prevent their quarreling with us.’ 
 
 ‘We were lodged at Mr. (Consul) Dicks, as was 
 the Admiral, with whom, and some Captains, not of 
 the Anson party, I did him much good, and we hope 
 that he will daily feel the effects of it, by the prizes 
 they may send in to him.’ 
 
 Admiral Osborn fulfilled Mann’s expectations, and 
 he satisfied even Walpole, who remarked to the Minis- 
 ter at Florence: ‘ I rejoice at Admiral Osborn’s suc- 
 cess. I am not patriot enough to deny that there are 
 Captains and Admirals whose glories have little charms 
 for me ; but Osborn was a steady friend of murdered 
 Byng.’ Leaving a heavy detail of German war news, 
 including the failure of the Duke of Cumberland, with- 
 the remark, — ‘the Austrians begin to have a great 
 dffidence of their new and zealous ally, but they 
 deserve the fate that hangs over them, of being, at 
 least, the last to be devoured ; for France will never 
 let slip such an opportunity of weakening its antient 
 and natural rivals,’ — Sir Horace turns to the affairs 
 of the Grand Duchy. 
 
 ‘ The Emperor has made known his intentions to 
 send Marquis Botta to govern us. He has added two 
 new Members for the Regency, and named a Governor 
 of Leghorn , — all Tuscans. The Lorrainers are in 
 despair, and were literally on the point of sending an 
 Irish Lorrainer to Vienna, to expostulate with the 
 Emperor, in their name, against this disposition. The 
 common people insult them. Tickets have been fixt 
 on the houses of many, as to be let in September. 
 
422 
 
 THE NEW REGENT. 
 
 1757. 
 
 Hitherto, the fear of Count Richecourt’s return, which 
 was cultivated with great industry, restrained them, 
 hut now, they load him and his party with all kinds 
 of abuse.’ 
 
 After allusions to the irregularity of the posts, the 
 detention and the loss of English letters, Sir Horace 
 describes the people of Florence, September 17th, as 
 follows : — ‘ The Florentines are as much occupied with 
 the fitting out Prince Craon’s house for Marquis Botta, 
 as you can be in England for the Secret Expedition. 
 
 . . . On November 12th, Mann writes, ‘Marshal 
 Botta has been here about ten days. They are pleased 
 with him. He has always been used to high life, 
 and his rank gives him. a right to great state ; and 
 indeed, what he takes is almost royal. He returns no 
 visits, not even those of the other Regents. He gives 
 audiences almost all day, but permits few to sit down ; 
 and dismisses people, whom he receives always in his 
 closet, — nay, on St. Charles’s day, he retired from the 
 publick room full of company, — with a slight bow. 
 He seems vastly well informed of Government, is very 
 just, hears reason, and yields to it ; and seems above 
 little arts and tricks ; is polite in the high stile, and 
 gives up his whole time to business.’ 
 
 A week later, Mann corroborates his own testi- 
 mony : ‘ People continue to be pleased with their new 
 Governor, who gives audiences, from seven in the 
 morning till eight at night. The Archbishop, who is 
 to the full as weak and as simple as Archbishops 
 ought to be, was assured by him that the disattentions 
 and vexations which he had received during the late 
 Administration were quite at an end, and that it was 
 
1757. 
 
 A TE DEUM, WHISPERED. 
 
 423 
 
 the Emperor’s intention that all proper regard should 
 be paid to the Church, which so rejoiced the pious 
 heart of that Prelate, that he made his attendants who 
 accompanied him in his coach, join in whispering a 
 Te Deum, as they returned home ! The first time, 
 perhaps, that any Te Deum was sung in chorus, sotto 
 voce ! ’ 
 
 November 12th . — Walpole had alarmed Mann by 
 his allusion to his decaying eyesight, and Mann con- 
 sulted one of the most eminent medical practitioners in 
 Florence, Dr. Cocchi, whose name is of very frequent 
 occurrence in these letters. ‘ I have consulted Dr. 
 Cocchi about your eyes, and he approves of the 
 remedy, tho’ he says that White Spirit of Lavender 
 and Hungary Water are, in that respect, of the same 
 nature ; the former only stronger, and that you must- 
 take care not to bathe too near the eye. Monsignor 
 Cerati, a noted man here, was cured of the same dis- 
 order by Hungary Water only, and by bathing the 
 forehead and temples. Your disorder, as well as his, 
 proceeded, it is plain, from forcing some of the vessels 
 and their filling with blood ; and the operation of the 
 cure is performed by revulsion ; — but, he thinks you 
 do extremely wrong in reading so much by candle 
 light (six hours at a time). Let me entreat you, my 
 dear Child, to follow his prescription, to read very 
 little at night ; even close application by day will 
 hurt your eyes too much.’ 
 
 Baron Stosch, who was an antiquary by taste, and 
 an Ambassador, so far as he was a sort of spy, by 
 occupation, — being employed by the English Govern- 
 ment to watch the Pretender and to communicate to 
 
424 
 
 BARON STOSCH. 
 
 1757 . 
 
 Mann the results of his vigilance, — now passed away 
 from the society of Rome and Florence. ‘ Baron Stosch 
 is dead at last ; after a short illness, or rather weak- 
 ness, for he did not appear to suffer at all. About 
 ten days before, he began to falter in his speech, and 
 was more confused than usual, insomuch that he made 
 use of one word for another ; and, upon being asked 
 at supper what he felt, answered, je sens que je suis 
 bien bete ce soir (which was really a satisfactory proof 
 of his consciousness). It is supposed that he had after- 
 wards in the night a slight fit of an apoplexy. In 
 short, in a day or two, he totally lost his speech, tho’ 
 not quite his understanding ; v r as lethargick, and the 
 second day that he was confined in bed, for before he 
 would get up and lay upon, a couch, he expired, not 
 of an apoplexy, however, as was expected, but of an 
 inflammation. . . . He had made his will in 1754, a 
 copy of which he had deposited, sealed, in my hands. 
 By this he has made his nephew, who quitted the 
 French service, or a German Regiment, about two 
 years ago, to come and live with him, his sole heir. 
 His effects consist only in his Collection, which is 
 very great and worth a large sum. It is to be offered 
 to the Emperor. He has appointed me and Abbe 
 Buonacorsi his Executors ; and has left him a picture ; 
 and me, a Cameo, which I might have bought some 
 years ago for six zecchins. Everything is sealed up 
 as yet, till the Farmers are satisfied. They ’ (Farmers 
 General who gave a sum for the right to collect and 
 keep the taxes) ‘ have a right to 7f per cent on the 
 value or appraisement of the whole. . . . Then, the 
 Emperor is to have an account of the Collection, and 
 
1757. 
 
 MANN’S AMBITION. 
 
 425 
 
 consequently the preference of what part of it, and 
 perhaps at what price, he pleases.’ 
 
 ‘ The collection is very valuable in many branches, 
 and is so well known that there is no doubt that it 
 will excite the curiosity of many and great purchasers. 
 So soon as the present Stosch is at liberty, I will 
 advise him to send accounts of it everywhere ; at 
 least, the heads of it, for an exact Inventory would 
 take up many months. . . . The Cameos and In- 
 taglios are very numerous, but the value quite arbi- 
 trary. The Meleager is the only one of the first 
 class. Lord Duncannon, some years ago, gave old 
 Stosch a hundred zecchins for his Gladiators.’ 
 
 ‘ It would be vastly clever if I could get the 
 addition of old Stosch’s appointments for the branch 
 of the affairs of Lome ; in which case, I could re- 
 linquish what they have allowed me some years past, 
 on account of Secret Service. I would much rather 
 have this, if it were permitted for me to chuse, than 
 what I believe nothing but common report destines 
 for me, that is, to succeed Sir James Gray, at Naples.’ 
 This diplomatic change did not take place ; and 
 Mann was not so ‘ vastly clever ’ as to obtain from Mr. 
 Fox, the Secretary of State, Stosch’s ‘ appointments.’ 
 How our Envoy at Florence went, in part, about it, 
 may be seen in a letter of Walpole’s, November 20th, 
 1757. ‘Mr. Fox,’ (Secretary of State) ‘was going to 
 write to you, but I took all the compliments on myself, 
 as I think it is better for you to be on easy, than on 
 ceremonious terms. To promote this, I have estab- 
 lished a correspondence between you ; he will be glad 
 if you will send him two chests of Florence wine, 
 
426 
 
 RULE OF ACTION. 
 
 1757. 
 
 every year. The perpetuity destroys all possibility of 
 your rnakiug him presents of it. I have compounded 
 for the vases, but he would not hear, nor must you 
 think of giving him the wine.’ Mann, who thus was 
 a sort of agent, sending wine to our ministers at 
 home, liqueurs to the peers, knick-knacks to the ladies, 
 pictures, statues, and articles of virtu to half the 
 nobility who, as the contemporary phrase went, ‘ had 
 the gout,’ submitted to be instructed by Walpole, as 
 to how Sir Horace might best perform his diplomatic 
 office in Florence. Mann was given to both speaking 
 and writing more frankly than became his vocation. 
 Walpole recommended discretion. ‘We plain-dealing 
 houses in Arlington Street,’ he says, ‘ speak our minds 
 . . . pray do not you do that . . . about anything ; 
 remember you are an Envoy, and though you must 
 not be so false as an Ambassador, yet not a grain of 
 truth is consistent with your character. Truth is very 
 well for such simple people as me . . . but I am 
 arrantly wicked enough to desire you should lie and 
 prosper. I know you don’t like my doctrine, and 
 therefore will compound with you for holding your 
 tongue.’ This, Mann was unable to do, at least when 
 his sympathies were excited on behalf of such a friend 
 as Dr. Cocchi. 
 
 November 19 th . — ‘I am extremely uneasy about 
 my worthy friend, Dr. Cocchi, whose health I see 
 daily decay. He had so violent an attack of an 
 Asthma a few days ago, that he alarmed his family 
 and friends very much ; and though he is so well 
 recovered as to be able to lay down in bed, yet the 
 constant irregular motion of his heart and pulse 
 
1757 . 
 
 DR. COGGEI. 
 
 427 
 
 denotes too clearly that Danger is not very remote, 
 and that it may be sudden. His only concern is for 
 his family which, I fear, he will leave in distress. 
 His son is very well instructed and, we hope, may 
 succeed to his father’s Employments. He has this 
 morning read a publick Lecture of anatomy, for him, 
 and exerts the Employment of an Antiquarian (sic) in 
 the Gallery. The father deserves compassion in every 
 respect, being uneasy in his circumstances.’ Later 
 Mann writes : ‘ Dr. Cocchi was highly sensible of the 
 mark of your friendship in the present, which I made 
 him yesterday, of Mr. Gray’s most inimitable Odes, 
 but he was not in a condition to read them.’ Mann 
 then describes, with painful minuteness, the great 
 scholar’s sufferings from aggravated dropsy, and his 
 inability to take the smallest quantity of the simplest 
 food without acute agony. e He bears it all with 
 considerable cheerfulness, and sees Death approach 
 with the utmost indifference from every other con- 
 sideration but that of leaving his family in distress ; 
 for, so slightly is the greatest Merit rewarded here, 
 that he has never been able to make any provision 
 for them, otherwise than by giving the best Education 
 to his Son and Daughter, which gives hopes that the 
 son may succeed to one at least of the little employ- 
 ments that his father has. Nothing but his great 
 youth can be an objection, for he has parts and study 
 fit for anything. The Daughter has great merit, but 
 that, without fortune, avails but little.’ 
 
 The letter announcing the death of this eminent 
 philosopher has disappeared, but Mann alludes to a 
 singular Italian custom with regard to Dr. Cocchi’s 
 
428 
 
 CHARACTER OF DR, COCCHI. 
 
 1757. 
 
 funeral. ‘ I send you the Eloge of Dr. Cocchi, made 
 by a friend of his. It is the custom of this country 
 to put such performances, wrote on parchment, and 
 enclosed in a tin case, into the vault with the corpse, 
 and copies are dispersed to friends. If you have no 
 objection, pray send it to Lord Huntingdon, whom 
 I don’t think it necessary to trouble on purpose.’ 
 
 So ended one of the greatest of Italian physicians 
 and men of science, the ‘ only sensible friend,’ accord- 
 ing to Walpole, that Mann had in Florence. Walpole 
 indeed spoke of him as f a good sort of man rather 
 than a great man, a plain honest creature, with quiet 
 knowledge.’ Cocchi was, in fact, a scholar without 
 the ostentation of scholarship, and, as a physician, 
 Spence, in 1741, found in him the best aid the place 
 could afford, which aid helped to save Walpole’s life. 
 Cocchi was described by the Earl of Cork, as c a man 
 of most extensive learning, who understands, reads, 
 and speaks all the European languages.’ Then, re- 
 ferring to Mann and Cocchi, the Earl says, ‘ could I 
 live with those two gentlemen only, and converse with 
 few or none others, I should scarce desire to return to 
 England, for many years.’ So, if Mann had no word 
 in his letters about the Doctor, Walpole asked, * Do 
 only knaves and fools deserve to be spoken of ? ’ In 
 1745, his name was so highly esteemed in England 
 that his c De Yitto .Pythagorico ’ — a treatise to prove 
 that vegetables only were conducive to the preserva- 
 tion of health and the cure of disease, — was translated, 
 and it met with a wide reception. The work gave 
 evidence of the author’s extensive knowledge which, 
 pleasant as living in Florence might be, was never, 
 
1757 . 
 
 DR. COGGED S WORKS. 
 
 429 
 
 says Walpole, 4 at a lower ebb than there ; — I had 
 forgot. I beg Dr. Cocchi’s pardon, who is much an 
 exception.’ So great an exception, even more gene- 
 rally, that when Cocchi was preparing his 4 Chirurgici 
 Veteres/ which is said to be a very curious work, con- 
 taining valuable extracts from the Greek Physicians, 
 Walpole expressed his extreme readiness to help him 
 in the undertaking : ‘ my regard for him and for you 
 would make me take any pains.’ Walpole’s regard 
 was equally great for Cocchi’s judgment, for he asked 
 him his opinion of Montesquieu and Heinault, and he 
 said of the latter’s 4 Abrege Chronologique,’ that it 
 ‘contained little circumstances that gave one an idea 
 of the manners of old time, like Dr. Cocchi’s treatise of 
 the old rate of expenses.’ Occasionally, Walpole takes 
 a bantering air with Cocchi, and in reference to the 
 Doctor’s 4 Greek Physicians,’ thanks God that he had 
 little Greek and never needed physic. So against the 
 Florentine Medico’s vegetable theory, Walpole regis- 
 ters Lord Fitz waiter’s state, in 1755 — 4 he is past 
 eighty-four, was an old beau, and had scarce any 
 more sense than he has at present ; he has lived many 
 months upon fourteen barrels of oysters, four and 
 twenty bottles of port, and some, I think seven, 
 bottles of brandy per week ! What will Dr. Cocchi, 
 with his Vitto Pithcigorico, say to this ? ’ Probably, 
 that, at all events, it was not a carnivorous diet. 
 
 This scholar, who is better worth chronicling than 
 many of the Florentine Princes, made his mark in 
 Florence, in 1747, by a dissertation which caused its 
 Italian readers to shiver with disgust, namely, a 4 Dis- 
 sertation on the External Use of Cold Water on the 
 
430 
 
 TEE COUNTESS BEN A. 
 
 1757. 
 
 Body, as practised by the Ancients.’ Cocchi, a Pisan 
 by birth, was a Florentine by adoption, born in 1695 ; 
 he died in January, 1758, leaving no fortune for his 
 children, and taking with him only his parchment 
 Eulogy, as a passport to the next world. A few years 
 previously, the wealthy and capable Dr. Mead, in 
 England, was a bankrupt. He was Dr. Cocchi’s friend, 
 when Lord Huntingdon brought the Florentine to 
 England. ‘His friend,’ says Walpole, ‘is undone; 
 his fine collection is going to be sold; he owes about 
 five and twenty thousand pounds. All the world 
 thought him immensely rich ; but, besides the expense 
 of his collection, he kept a table for which alone he is 
 said to have allowed seventy pounds a week ; ’ — that 
 sum would have carried Dr. Cocchi’s table over half 
 a year. 
 
 Among the importations from Florence into Lon- 
 don this December, was a ‘ Countess Rena, of whom,’ 
 writes Walpole, ‘ my Lord Pembroke bought such 
 quantities of Florence, etc. I shall wonder if he deals 
 with her any more, as he has the sweetest wife in the 
 world, and it seems to be some time since La Comtessa 
 was so. Tell me more of her history. Antique as she 
 is, she is since my time.’ Mann replies, December 
 13th: — ‘The Countess Rena picked up that title in 
 her travels. Here, she was known by all the young 
 English, and by their Valets de Place, by the name of 
 La Rena. She is certainly in a pais de connoissance, 
 but probably her having had views to captivate the 
 French Monarch, and having succeeded for a time 
 with his favourite’s brother (now the Marquis de 
 Marigny, formerly De Vandieres, brother of Madame 
 
1757. 
 
 WALPOLE'S GUEST. 
 
 431 
 
 de Pompadour), and then passing into the arms of the 
 grave minister, M. de Machault, etc., etc., etc., will 
 give her more reputation with the younger set, than 
 induce those who knew her here to renew their 
 acquaintance. The most ludicrous part of her history 
 is the conquest of a Mr. Bolland, a rich Aleppo 
 Consul, who spent several thousand pounds to gratify 
 her unlimited caprices.’ This Florentine woman had 
 a strange success in England. In September, 1762, 
 Walpole writes from Strawberry Hill: — ‘I have had 
 Lord March and the Rena here, for one night, which 
 does not ruin my reputation in the neighbourhood, 
 and may usher me again for a Scotchman, into the 
 North Briton.” 
 
 END OF VOL. i. 
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SON, STAMFORD STREET 
 AND CHARING CROSS. 
 

 

 
 
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