673 

 LORD MAHON'S WAR IN SPAIN. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 



SIR I have many acknowledgments to return for your attention hi 

 forwarding the letter from my Lord Mahon, which I have great pleasure 

 i'i copying in your pages. May I respectfully beg his Lordship to 

 allow me thus "to thank him for his very courteous communication. He 

 will remember, that in the article introducing Madame de Muci to the 

 public, as connected with General Stanhope, it was freely stated that 

 the general authority of the class of writings to which these Memoirs 

 belong is as low as well can be. But many very close coincidences be- 

 tween two narratives of the same events, raised, in this case, a strong 

 suspicion that the writer had actually been at Madrid during the scenes 

 described ; whence the question, ""Was there any mistress accompany- 

 ing Stanhope in this retreat, or no ?" Being at present in the country, 

 where I have no reference to the article my Lord Mahon mentions as in 

 the Biographic Universelle, where " the fable of Madame de Muci" is 

 quoted as " a vague rumour," I cannot discover whether this rumour is 

 referred there to these Memoirs, or other general sources. It is unde- 

 niably true, in my Lord Mahon's words, that '' persons of good judg- 

 ment and historical knowledge" would not give the slightest credit to 

 such Memoirs as these, wholly unsupported by external or internal evi- 

 dence or coincidences ; but from the period of the arrival of Madame 

 de Muci at Madrid, the account wears an accuracy of feature, compared 

 with Lord Mahon's History, which almost warrants the positive con- 

 clusion that the writer must have been then upon the spot. The ques- 

 tion then arises, Who is the writer, and what portion of the narrative 

 is true ? The unfortunate delay at Brihueja, with a General like Ven- 

 dome at his heels, and the prolonging this delay a day longer than the 

 time fixed, as well as the completeness of his surprize all are so unlike 

 the general military talents and conduct of General Stanhope, as to 

 make us look around for some reason for a thing so unaccountable at a 

 first sight. The silence of all the English enemies of General Stan- 

 hope, and the disproof of the account of the journey from Lima to 

 Pampeluna, go strongly, pro tanto, against these Memoirs. Still Gene- 

 ral Stanhope may have had a mistress, and this mistress may have 

 delayed him at Brihueja, and this delay may have lost the army, even 

 though Mademoiselle D.'s <( Memoires" be a mere romance. It was 

 Buonaparte who, speaking of an assault he had ordered to please a 

 mistress, which lost many lives, said that instances of this kind were 

 more numerous than ever would be credited. Peradventure some light 

 may hereafter be thrown upon the origin and authority of this rumour, 

 by those diligent pioneers of historical discoveries who ferret out pri- 

 vate memoirs and letters. Lord Mahon will not understand these re- 

 marks as attempting to prove a direct charge against his illustrious ances- 

 tor, but as soliciting information about a story which possesses some 

 curious coincidences with reality. 



Copy of a Letter received by the Author of this article from Lord Mahon. 



" My attention has been directed to an article headed ' General Stan- 

 M. M. No. 84. 2 Y 



