Amongst the friends of the Wests, Mrs. Montagu now made acquaintance
with Mr. R. Berenger,[507] called by Mrs. West “the little Marquis.”
He was the son of Moses Beranger and Penelope Temple, and was therefore
related on the maternal side to West. He afterwards became “Gentleman
of the Horse” to George III. He wrote a book called the “History and
Art of Horsemanship.” He was famous for his charm in social life.
Hannah More called him “everybody’s favourite, all chivalry, blank
verse and anecdote,” and Dr. Johnson dubbed him “the Standard of
true Elegance.” He was a great friend of the Garricks. Another fresh
acquaintance was William Henry Lyttelton, brother of Sir George
(afterwards Lord) Westcote.
[507] R. Berenger, born 1720, died 1782.
At some early period of this year Sarah Robinson became the wife of
George Lewis Scott, but no date is recorded, and no letters concerning
the marriage remain. Only on June 9, when Mrs. Montagu was making her
yearly visit to Tunbridge Wells in company with Lady Romney, she writes
to her husband at Sandleford to say she had arrived safely, “Mrs. Scott
and the Captain,” whose departure to China had been delayed, seeing
her off. From other letters it appears the Scotts, accompanied by Lady
Barbara Montagu, took up their abode in Leicester Fields, now Leicester
Square, doubtless to be close to Leicester House, where, with their
mother, the widowed Princess of Wales,[508] Scott’s royal pupils dwelt.
[508] Frederick, Prince of Wales, died March 31, 1751.
At Tunbridge Mrs. Montagu joined Mr. and Mrs. West and their son, and
lodged in the same house. At Tunbridge were Sir George Lyttelton, his
brother the Dean, the famous Mr. Garrick, the Bishop of London, etc.
Then she wrote--
“Monsieur[509] and Madame Mirepoix are come to pass a few days
here, but I imagine they will soon be tired of us. The Justices of
Peace have done great service to the imprudent part of our company
by prohibiting gaming, and though you may suppose I do not number
myself among them, I feel my obligations to them on account of the
servants, who have one temptation less to be idle and bad.”
[509] The French ambassador and his wife. She was a daughter of the
Princesse de Craon.
She then adds grateful words to her husband, who had written to say
he had made a fresh will, and in her favour. Mr. Montagu was then in
London, but on the eve of going north to attend to his own estates
in Yorkshire, and the complicated business of regulating Mr. Rogers’
affairs in Northumberland. In this letter he says--
“I this day, though I could ill spare the time, dined in Leicester
Fields” (with the Scotts). “Being in the city I was informed by Dr.
Middleton’s bookseller that Mrs. Middleton has had the good luck
to sell Hildersham for 2000 guineas, it cost the Doctor, he said,
£1600, besides what he lay’d out in building, so that if there
should be some loss it cannot be much.”
[Page heading: HILDERSHAM]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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