Sa-J S. V. 123., May 8. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



379 



fying further advanced in the process than when in S3'rup, 

 or imperfectly finished ; from acahar, to finish ; ad and 

 cabo, head, like Fr. achever.'] 



l^^lllU^. 



WILLIAM PULTENET, EAHL OF BATH. 



(2"-i S. V. 315.) 



II. B. will probably not be able to gain farther 

 information regarding the father of Pulteney, Earl 

 of Bath, than that his name was William. Thus 

 naked and unadorned he stands in the pedigree of 

 his family. Like other cypher?, he may have ac- 

 quired importance from what preceded and fol- 

 lowed him in the genealogical tree, being the son 

 of a popular member for Westminster, knighted 

 by Charles II. ; and the father of William Pulteney, 

 Earl of Bath, the great leader of opposition, the 

 powerful antagonist of Walpole — a man that com- 

 bined quickness of wit with a warm imagination, 

 deservedly regarded as a delightful companion, 

 and who, as an orator, Lord Chesterfield tells us 

 was persuasive, strong, and pathetic* The charge 

 of covetousness, — "the base passion of avarice," 

 as it was called in his case, — may have been 

 brought against Pulteney too unscrupulously, but 

 he certainly did not scatter his abundant wealth 

 wisely and well. 



We are told that from his father, and also 

 through his wifef, Pulteney inherited considerable 

 property ; he received from Henry Guy, Secretary 

 to the Treasury, his guardian, a legacy of 40,000/., 

 and an estate of 500Z. a-year,J This gentleman 

 placed him first in parliament for the borough of 

 Heydon. 



Bishop Newton somewhat innocently describes 

 Lady Bath as a " wonderfully agreeable woman, 

 when she was pleased and in good humour, but 

 often clouded or overcast." Whether she had ac- 

 quired from her husband what Coxe calls " the 

 most rigid economy, but which others called 

 avarice," or whether she had communicated to the 

 earl the auri sacra fames, does not appear § ; but 

 the lady's appetite for wealth, and her capacity 

 for acquisition, are most clearly described by the 

 bishop. Soon after their marriage Lord Bath 

 presented his wife with 10,000Z. " as a nest-egg, 

 to be employed as she pleased." This conjugal 



* Works, vol. ii. p. 451, 



t Anna Maria, the daughter of John Gumley of Isle- 

 worth. 



I Coxe's Life of Sir R. Walpole, vol. ii. p. 151. 



§ Mrs. Elizabeth Carter seems to have solved the 

 problem in a letter which I have just referred to : — 

 "His own disposition was naturally compassionate and 

 generous ; but his unfortunate connexion with a wife of a 

 very contrary disposition, and to whom he was too good- 

 naturedly compliant, had checked the tendency of his 

 own heart, and induced a fatal habit, which he liiust find 

 it difficult to alter at so advanced an age." 



gift was duly cherished, and the nest-egg produced 

 a prolific brood. From her intercourse with Change 

 Alley, and her communications with stockbrokers, 

 her brother called her dressing-room the Jews' 

 Synagogue, — the _10,p00Z. became 60,000/., but it 

 benefited no one individual, nor did it promote 

 one good object. On her death it was added to 

 the vast heap possessed by her childless husband, 

 thus "enriching with greater riches" the man 

 who already possessed countless thousands. When 

 any writer is in search of a subject for his tale, he 

 may select the history of the Pulteney family, and 

 prefix to it the solemn text : " Man walketh in a 

 vain shadow," &c. 



George Colman the elder was, through his mo- 

 ther, a nephew of Lady Bath's, and, what was of 

 importance to himself, he was apparently in favour 

 both with her and Lord Bath. They took a lively 

 interest in his education and early legal career, 

 and would have extinguished, if possible, the 

 ruling passion of his mind — a love of the stage. 

 Had they succeeded, Colman might never have 

 known Garrick, and we might have lost one of 

 the most excellent and delightful comedies in our 

 language — The Clandestine Marriage. 



On perusing the Posthumous Letters published 

 in 1820 by George Colman the younger, the let- 

 ters addressed by Lord Bath to the elder Colman 

 are most characteristic. There is scarcely one 

 where money is not particularly alluded to. He 

 exacts a small loan advanced to the student at 

 Lincoln's Inn, with interest, a useful lesson for a 

 young man, but the terms in which the money 

 was required were needlessly strong. 



The spelling in Lord Bath's letters is singular 

 as a specimen of the careless orthography of a man 

 of talent, and in a high position, a century ago. 



Sir C. H. Williams has devoted not less than 

 nineteen poems to what he considers the political 

 and private misdeeds of Lord Bath ; and in one 

 or more of them her ladyship is not forgotten by 

 this bitter satirist. 



Lord Chesterfield and Lord Bath, says Bishop 

 Newton, "never much loved one another;" and 

 when the former speaks of the Earl's enormous 

 wealth (1,200,000/.), he adds, " his own estate 

 in land was improved to 15,000/. a-year, and the 

 Bradford Estate, which he * * * is as much ; 

 all this he has left to his brother. General Pulte- 

 ney, tho' he never loved him." {Letters, iv. 384.) 

 Again, when General Pulteney died, three years 

 afterwards, Lord C. speaks of the Bradford pro- 

 perty, with a second mysterious hiatus : " He has 

 left all his landed estate, 28,000/. a-year, includ- 

 ing the Bradford Estate, which his brother had 

 * * * from that ancient family, to a cousin 

 german [viz. Frances, the daughter of Daniel 

 Pulteney, and wife of Sir William (Johnstone) 

 Pulteney, Bart.]. 200,000/. in the funds he has 

 left to Lord Darlington, his next nearest relative. 



