William Godwin: his Friends and Contemporaries
Ch. II. 1785-1788
Thomas Holcroft to William Godwin, 24 July 1788
“London, July 24th, 1788.
“Dear Sir,—I am greatly
obliged by your kind attention, but Trenck”—‘The Life of Baron F. von der Trenck,’
translated from the German by T.
Holcroft—“I find, must not go to press yet; there are 250
copies overlooked, so that when you return to town it will be time enough to
marginate—yes, marginate. It needs ![]()
| THE WESTMINSTER ELECTION. | 51 |
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little philosophy to prove that if no man
had ever made innovations, we should all have been dumb.
“The tide is turned, instead of Townshend. The whole Town, great and small,
old and young, the little vulgar and the great, seem all to be bawling,
‘Hood for ever!’
‘The beast with two horns (blue and orange) appears to have pushed
westward and northward and southward, till behold an he-goat came from the
West.’ Despatches from Cheltenham, Pitt and Treasury runners, canvassing, Military interference,
the potent Magistrate Sir Sampson Wright
collared by Sheridan, Bayonets pointed
at patriot throats, James Parry, Esq.,
become a leader from the breakfasting-houses in company with Lord William Russell, &c. Oh, here is the
devil to pay! A mad world, my masters! Women murdered, Men with their skulls
fractured, sailors with broken arms, Bullies committed, Freedom maintained by
battle-array, soldiers polling by hundreds and sent to the house of correction
by (oh! no, I had forgotten—bailed by their officers, who commanded them to
present, and if occasion were to fire), the Foxites disagreeing and disunited,
Liberty Hall in an Uproar, Pitt and prerogative
triumphant, &c., &c., &c. For I am quite out of breath. Observe,
however, I will not vouch for the truth of a single syllable of all this; but I
will cite you most grave and respectable authorities, viz., Herald and Post. This, however, you may, if so it you shall please, affirm
from me, sir, namely, that scandal (and, I believe, falsehood), pitiful, mean,
mutual scandal, never was more plentifully dispersed; and that electioneering
is a trade so despicably degrading, so eternally incompatible with moral and
mental dignity, that I can scarcely believe a truly great, mind capable of the
dirty drudgery of such vice. I am at least certain no mind is great while thus
employed. It is the periodical reign of the evil nature or Demon. A most paltry
apology, but the best I can make.
“Since writing the above, having the advantage of an
exquisitely dizzy headache, I strolled, in company with this delightful
associate, to the hustings, and thence into Westminster. ‘’Fore
heaven, they are all in a tune.’ I must indeed except three ![]()
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unities, whom in my traverse sailing progress I
encountered between the Garden and the Horse Guards, i.e., a Barber’s boy, a Lamplighter’s Do., and a young
Chimneysweeper, who all had the singularity to wear ‘Townshend for ever’ pinned in front. No: two of them
were in Hedge Lane. One thing amazes me: the walls abound in squibs and
pasquinades, many of them keen and excellently adapted to the capacity of their
serene worships the worthy Electors of Westminster, all for Lord Hood, and no sign of any such in behalf of
Townshend. This is the very reverse of what might have
been expected. Tis plain the Hoodites have been most remarkably active, and I
suspect the adverse party has been very foolishly lulled to sleep by Mrs
Security. To afford you some small comfort, however, let me tell you an active
Foxite has laid 10 Guineas to five that Townshend is 100
ahead at the poll, and affirms that he shall himself go up to the Hustings
to-morrow (Friday) at the head of 400 voters. In the meantime the state of the
poll yesterday was— | “July 23d.— | Hood, | 2892 |
| | Townshend, | 2741 |
| | | —— |
| | Majority, | 151 |
and according to the account I have just received, for I sent
expressly to afford you as much of that information which your aunt Abigail
desires as possible— | “July 24th, 5 p.m.— | Hood, | 3380 |
| | Townshend, | 3258 |
| | | —— |
| | Majority, | 122 |
“The Lord knows when I wrote so long a letter before,
or when I shall again.—I am, dear sir, very sincerely,
Thomas Holcroft (1745-1809)
English playwright and novelist; a friend of William Godwin indicted for treason in 1794;
author of
The Road to Ruin (1792). His
Memoirs (1816) were completed by William Hazlitt.
Samuel Hood, first viscount Hood (1724-1816)
British naval officer and peer; after serving in the American war he was a lord of the
Admiralty (1788-93); as commander in the Mediterranean he captured Corsica in 1794. In 1804
he married the Hon. Mary Elizabeth Frederica Mackenzie, friend of Walter Scott.
James Perry (1756-1821)
Whig journalist; founder and editor of the
European Magazine
(1782), editor of the
Morning Chronicle (1790-1821).
William Pitt the younger (1759-1806)
The second son of William Pitt, earl of Chatham (1708-1778); he was Tory prime minister
1783-1801.
Lord William Russell (1767-1840)
The son of Francis Russell, Marquess of Tavistock; educated at Westminster School, he was
MP for Surrey (1798-1807) and Tavistock (1807-19, 1826-30). He was murdered by his
valet.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816)
Anglo-Irish playwright, author of
The School for Scandal (1777),
Whig MP and ally of Charles James Fox (1780-1812).
Lord John Townshend (1757-1833)
The son of George Townshend, first Marquess Townshend; he was educated at Eton and St
John's College, Cambridge and was a Whig MP for Cambridge, Westminster, and Knaresborough.
He was a denizen of Holland House and Sheridan's literary executor.
Baron Frederic Trenck (1726-1794)
Prussian adventurer whose autobiography was translated by Holcroft into English in 1788
as
The Life of Baron Frederic Trenck; containing his Adventures; his
cruel and excessive Sufferings, during ten years imprisonment, at the Fortress of
Magdeburg.
Sir Sampson Wright (1777 c.-1793)
Police magistrate at Bow-street, London, where he succeeded Sir John Fielding in 1780; he
was knighted in 1782.
Morning Herald. (1780-1869). Sir Henry Bate Dudley (1745–1824) and Alexander Chalmers (1759–1834) were among the
original editors; Thomas Holcroft (1745–1809) was Paris correspondent.
Morning Post. (1772-1937). A large-circulation London daily that published verse by many of the prominent poets of
the romantic era. John Taylor (1750–1826), Daniel Stuart (1766-1846), and Nicholas Byrne
(d. 1833) were among its editors.
