When Ben met Mary: The Letters of Benjamin Thompson, Reichsgraf von Rumford, to Mary Temple, Viscountess Palmerston, 1793–1804

Abstract

This paper publishes the sixty-nine surviving very personal letters that Reichsgraf von Rumford wrote to Viscountess Palmerston after they met in Milan in 1793. The letters draw attention to the private domestic spaces of science and the critical importance of the aristocracy in scientific developments, topics that have both received some discussion recently. They were, however, not written with the purpose of providing historical evidence, but as part of a decade-long friendship which the letters trace, revealing, among other things, Rumford’s other amours. They also describe in some detail his thoughts about his activities as a member of the governing elite in Bavaria, his scientific and engineering researches (especially the writing and publication of his Essays), as well as what he would have termed his philanthropic efforts in Bavaria, Northern Italy, Britain, and Ireland. All this is framed within the context of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars that in so many ways, directly and indirectly, affected Palmerston’s and Rumford’s lives and work.

Introduction

On 22 June 1793 at the Hotel Auberge Imperial in Milan, where they were both staying, Benjamin Thompson, Reichsgraf von Rumford (1753–1814) (Figure 1), on leave from working for the Bavarian government, met Mary Temple, Viscountess Palmerston (1752–1805) (Figure 2).¹ Both in their early forties, they were touring Italy, the one claiming he was restoring his health, the other in the hope of overcoming her grief at the death of a child from a smallpox inoculation. Set against the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, for the following eleven years until her death, they corresponded with an astonishing frankness in a quite remarkable set of letters, that, among other things, encompassed much about life, love, politics, science, and philanthropy.

FIGURE 1 J. P. P. Rauschmayr after Johann Georg Dillis, Portrait of Reichsgraf von Rumford (1797). Wellcome Collection 9153i. Public Domain.

FIGURE 2 Mary Tate, drawing of Viscountess Palmerston (1801). From Connell, Portrait of a Whig Peer, facing p. 129. (This drawing was in the Broadlands collection in 1957 and has subsequently disappeared. Despite due diligence, its current location has not been identified; furthermore, the rights to Connell’s book were not transferred to Andre Deutsch’s successor companies).

Of these letters, sixty-nine from Rumford to Palmerston have survived and are published here; unfortunately, none of the letters from her to him have been located.² We do not know how many letters from Rumford have not survived; there are clearly gaps, especially between November 1799 and August 1801 and following the death of Palmerston’s husband in April 1802. Earlier, in 1794 and 1795, the content of letter 13 suggests a missing letter, while Palmerston, writing to her husband, referred to a letter from Rumford of 26 October 1794 that has not been found³ – and there were probably others.

Rumford fell in love with Palmerston, but didn’t declare this until mid-1795 (letter 16), nearly two years after they had first met, a declaration he repeated a few months later (letter 21). It is quite clear that the affair was never consummated, much to Rumford’s regret (letter 28). That may explain why he went out of his way to tell her about his relationships with various mistresses.

From these very personal letters, it is apparent that for Rumford his scientific work, though important to him, was neither dominant nor insignificant, but simply a part of his overall life. The letters thus help locate scientific research and communication in the private domestic spaces of strong personal friendships and relationships, and, furthermore, they expand on recent studies demonstrating the key roles played by women and aristocrats (frequently the same individuals) in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British science and beyond.⁴ By ignoring, for whatever reasons, such connections, historians have missed their potential as explanatory categories in understanding the place of science in society and culture. For example, detailed below, these letters record some of the social interactions, including with the Palmerstons, that partially contributed unintentionally to the background of establishing the Royal Institution in 1799.⁵ A second example, also discussed below, of the critical importance of personal links, is that of the development of Rumford chimney fireplaces. Begun as an attempt to solve the problem of the smoking chimneys of the Palmerstons’ newly refurbished London townhouse, it was so successful that Rumford fireplaces were quickly installed in the houses of London high society and beyond, its continuing impact illustrated by an ambivalent reference in Northanger Abbey (1817).⁶ This success of his fireplaces led Rumford to reorganise his original plan for his Essays.

These and other instances of what we can learn from these letters are entirely contingent on their being written in the first place; they encompass so much more, especially personal matters, the reason for their existence. They contain the unedited spontaneous outpourings of Rumford’s views and feelings. They contrast strongly with the business-like nature of most of his other letters, for example to his publishers Cadell and Davies, which might be expected, but also to his friend Marc-Auguste Pictet which are almost exclusively on scientific and publishing matters.⁷ Rumford evidently trusted Palmerston completely and only once in these letters refrained from committing something confidential in a letter to her, presumably because he would see her shortly (letter 26). Over the decade of their correspondence, Rumford expressed his emotions and feelings to Palmerston including the desire for love (particularly hers), the state of his health (always a concern), and his paranoia (especially concerning the Bavarian court). Possibly his paranoia accounted for his need to tell Palmerston that he was not an atheist and did not have two faces, though the latter might have been a joke (letters 43 and 47). Altogether, these letters give an insight into the emotional life of a major figure, one of the more colourful men in the history of science.⁸

Rumford

Born on 26 March 1753 in the British colony of Massachusetts, at the age of nineteen Thompson married a wealthy and well-connected widow who held land in Rumford (now Concord), New Hampshire. Through her influence, he was appointed a major in the New Hampshire Militia. Thompson remained loyal to the King, but as the political and military situation deteriorated, even before the start of the formal rebellion of thirteen of the North American colonies, Thompson departed from North America leaving his wife (whom he would never see again) and daughter, Sarah Thompson, not yet two. In mid-1776 he moved to London where he worked for the Secretary of State for the Colonies, George Germain (1716–1785) MP for East Grinstead, though what he did in an official capacity is not clear. However, from the summer of 1778 at Germain’s summer residence, Stoneland Lodge in Sussex, Thompson began experiments on the power of gunpowder.⁹ Possibly on the basis of these experiments, the following year he was nominated to Fellowship of the Royal Society of London and elected in April. He was thus one of the earliest Fellows to be elected in the new Presidency of Joseph Banks that would last forty-two years. That Banks approved of the election is probably indicated by the signature of his close colleague and friend Daniel Solander (1733–1782) on Thompson’s certificate.¹⁰ Germain’s patronage of Thompson continued when towards the end of 1780 he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies. He held this position for a year,¹¹ though in January 1781 Germain granted him leave to complete his elaborate, long (100 page), paper on his gunpowder experiments, read to the Royal Society of London on 29 March 1781 and subsequently published in its Philosophical Transactions.¹² This process brought him into contact with another of Banks’s close associates, Charles Blagden, who would shortly (1784) become one of the Secretaries of the Royal Society of London. He kept a detailed diary during most of his life which shows that he and Thompson/Rumford retained close, if sometimes difficult, links during the ensuing decades.¹³

Later in 1781, now promoted to colonel and commanding the King’s American Dragoons, Thompson returned to North America where he held Long Island against the rebels with considerable ruthlessness including pursuing a scorched earth policy even after the peace treaty had been signed in 1783. He returned to London that year where he received an army half-pension and in September set out to tour the Continent intending to visit Strasbourg and Vienna.¹⁴ He sailed from Dover to Boulogne on the same ship as the historian Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) who described him somewhat sarcastically.¹⁵ According to an account provided by Thompson to Pictet more than a quarter of a century later,¹⁶ at Strasbourg he met Maximillian Joseph, later Duke of Deux Ponts or Zweibrücken, then a general in the French army. They spent much time recollecting and discussing the military actions of the American war and so impressed was the Duke with Thompson that he provided him with a letter of recommendation to his uncle Karl Theodor who had been Elector of the Palatinate since 1742 and also of Bavaria for nearly six years. On becoming Bavarian Elector, he moved his court from Mannheim to Munich where he became unpopular for a number of reasons including his dislike of Bavaria and Munich (he tried to exchange Bavaria for the Austrian Netherlands, now Belgium), infringing the rights of the city’s bürgers and his foreign policy, which though officially neutral tended, before the Revolution, to be pro-French.¹⁷ Indeed, the main language of the court was French and Thompson/Rumford had a tendency to use the French forms of German place names. But above all the Elector restored an absolutist monarchy with which Thompson was entirely in sympathy seeing it as a machine through which social reforms could be delivered and individual liberty restricted,¹⁸ detesting as he did the French Revolution, Jacobinism, and democracy (letters 50, 49, 28, and 66).

Intending to spend only a couple of days in Munich, Thompson was so well received that he stayed a fortnight,¹⁹ but by early December had continued east to Vienna. There he told Blagden of his plans to travel into Northern Italy (Trieste, Venice, Padua), before returning to Munich.²⁰ In Munich, Thompson recommended his services to Karl Theodor who eagerly accepted the offer.²¹ However, as a British subject, Thompson required the permission of the King to begin his service and so returned briefly to London early in 1784. George III not only approved the Bavarian appointment but also knighted him on 23 February.²² Aside from an extended visit to Italy and one to Britain and Ireland, Thompson spent the next fourteen years mostly in Munich (Figure 3) initially as a colonel in the Bavarian army.²³ He became part of the inner circle surrounding the Elector, helped by their sharing a mistress, Josepha, Gräfin Paumgarten (Figure 4), who bore Thompson a daughter, Sophia (Figure 5). Thompson undertook many and various tasks for the Elector, including planning and then in 1788, after overcoming significant opposition,²⁴ implementing a drastic reorganisation of the Bavarian army for which role he was promoted to general.²⁵ His work included producing new uniforms which a later visitor commented “dressed the Bavarian officers like paupers.”²⁶ Closely linked with all these reforms, in Thompson’s mind at least,²⁷ was the issue of the large number of beggars in Munich estimated to be 10% of the city’s population.²⁸ By the end of 1789, Thompson had gained control of the workhouse system and on the first day of the new year organised, using the reformed army, the roundup of all of Munich’s beggars placing them in the military workhouse.²⁹ His aim, as he put it later, was to “to make soldiers citizens, and citizens soldiers.”³⁰

FIGURE 3 Bernardo Bellotto, View of Munich (c.1761), National Gallery of Art, Washington, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.64. Public domain.

FIGURE 4 Moritz Kellerhoven, portrait of Maria Josepha Barbara Johanna Nepomucena Gabriele von Lerchenfeld-Siessbach-Prennberg, Gräfin Paumgarten (c.1790). Courtesy of the Historical Society of New Hampshire, 1979.020.06.

FIGURE 5 Johann Georg Dillis (attributed), Walburger Sophia Barbara Paumgarten (c.1795). Courtesy of the Historical Society of New Hampshire, Edwin G. Burgum Collection, 1946.018.22 a.

Thompson’s influence on the policies of the Elector was both strong and covered a broad range of areas reflecting his seeming view of society as a physical machine by which the poor especially could be controlled. Two instances: workers in the military workhouse produced army uniforms designed by Thompson to secure the best insulating properties; second, seeking to minimise the cost of feeding the poor but maximising their nutrition, Thompson developed new fuel-efficient cooking ranges and a recipe for a nourishing (in his view) soup. But many of his activities were devoted to satisfying the whims of the Elector. One of these was the creation of what became known as the Englisher Garten, a huge public space (370 hectares), that still runs from the centre of Munich north-east along the River Isar for about 4 km.³¹ There the Elector staged fetes, concerts, led a faux rural life, and so on. The project was launched with an elaborate ball on 5 July 1789, perhaps in retrospect not the best timing for an absolute monarch to commence such an expensive venture.³² Nevertheless, Thompson would be involved in its development and construction in the ensuing years, overseeing the building of a semi-circular raked theatre capable of holding 3000 people (letters 15 and 16) possibly inspired by the Roman theatre in Verona that he knew well.

The Elector was also keen on having fountains for his various palaces and in order to fulfil his wishes, Thompson may have toyed with the idea of establishing a factory to manufacture steam engines; he certainly placed an order with Birmingham company of Boulton and Watt for a steam engine, later cancelled much to their annoyance. But that did at least allow Thompson in mid-1791 to send two engineers to Birmingham and, though Matthew Boulton was very suspicions of them, they did obtain access (through bribery) to the engines and made detailed drawings. However, steam-driven fountains were not introduced in Bavaria until after Thompson had left Munich.³³

Thompson’s activities attracted criticism and opposition from both inside and outside the court. However, the Elector provided strong support and continued to reward Thompson: he became a Privy Counsellor in March 1790, received a lifetime pension (of around £400 annually³⁴) a few months later and in February 1792 was promoted Chief of the General Staff.³⁵ On 1 March 1792, the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold II (1747–1792), died. Karl Theodor who had been, with Thompson’s aid, manoeuvring to succeed him, was only able to serve as Vicar of the Empire until the election of Franz II on 5 July 1792. However, that temporary role provided the Elector with the authority to ennoble, on 9 May 1792, Thompson as Reichsgraf von Rumford of the Holy Roman Empire (in French Comte, English Count).³⁶

In October 1792, a French Revolutionary army began occupying the Rhineland following the Battle of Valmy (20 September) where it had defeated the invading Prussian and Austrian armies. The policy of Bavarian neutrality appears to have paid off and, although the Elector lost the Palatinate, Bavaria remained untouched. However, the Bavarian court was divided about how to deal with the crisis and according to the British ambassador, Rumford on the basis of “real and sometimes from feigned sickness” did not appear at court from mid-November, although he frequently met the Elector.³⁷ Using ill-health as his reason Rumford started planning to undertake an extended journey to Italy, that commenced in mid-March 1793 and which by June had brought him to Milan where he met Viscountess Palmerston.

Palmerston

Viscountess Palmerston was born Mary Mee, the daughter of a prosperous banker whose only brother, Benjamin Mee, also entered banking though somewhat less successfully. In 1783, aged twenty-nine, she married, as his second wife, the wealthy Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston, thirteen years her senior.³⁸ The Viscountcy was in the Irish peerage allowing him sit as an MP (Whig) in the House of Commons which he did for various seats from 1762 until his death. They had three houses in England: a town house (20 Hanover Square), a villa at East Sheen, south-west of London, and a country house, Broadlands (Figure 6), on the edge of Romsey in Hampshire.

FIGURE 6 The author, photograph of Broadlands (2021).

The Palmerstons had five children (two boys and three girls) born between 1784 and 1790, but their fourth child, a daughter, died from an adverse reaction to a smallpox inoculation in May 1791 a few months after her second birthday. In July the following year, the family set out for the Grand Tour, though Viscount Palmerston had already visited Italy twice before.³⁹ They were accompanied by their friends Blagden (for at least some portions) who recorded the journey in his diary⁴⁰ and by Mary Carter who acted as Palmerston’s companion; presumably there was also a retinue of servants and nurses, but they are invisible. The party passed through France (seeing Paris in the throes of Revolution and narrowly missing the massacre of the Swiss Guards) into Italy as far as Naples. In Rome, Blagden received a note from Rumford inviting him to meet probably in Milan;⁴¹ in the end, they met at Pavia where Alessandro Volta (1745–1827) showed them his experiments on animal electricity.⁴² The two then went on to Milan where they met the Palmerstons heading north for the summer.

Right from the start Reichsgraf von Rumford and Viscountess Palmerston enjoyed each other’s company and he attached himself to her party. Writing a week later to her brother during a visit to Lake Como, Palmerston commented:

Comte Le Rumford is particularly agreeable and a wonderful pleasant addition to our Society, he draws well, takes sketches as we are on the Lake and has a thousand resources. His History is a very extraordinary one and not the least surprising part that as a Stranger, he should have governed the Electorate of Bavaria for five years reformed numberless Abuses in the state and put the Army on a most respectable footing founded manufactories and almost new modelled the system of Government with the whole kingdom against him and no one Person to support him but the Elector.⁴³

With the exception of a rather overstated claim that he had governed Bavaria, Rumford had given her a reasonably fair account of his time in Munich.

In early July, the Palmerstons left Milan and continued north to Switzerland with their children going to Berne, while Blagden made his way back to England. Rumford had made such an impression on them that even their eight-year-old son, Henry John Temple, asked to be remembered to him,⁴⁴ while in his letters to Palmerston Rumford soon began using the nicknames “wild one” and, slightly later, “butterfly” for her daughters. These appear to be of his own coining and illustrate just how close the friendship had already become.⁴⁵ Rumford remained in Italy visiting Turin and Genoa, returning to Milan in late September. There he waited a week for the Palmerstons to arrive from Switzerland, before needing to depart for Desenzana, a resort at the southern end of Lake Garda on the road to Verona, to see his current mistress, Paumgarten’s sister, Magdalena, Comtesse Nogarola. The Palmerstons arrived back in Milan so soon before Rumford’s departure that he had already written to Viscountess Palmerston explaining his need to depart, the first of his surviving letters to her.⁴⁶

The Palmerstons followed Rumford to Verona where they met Nogarola whom Viscountess Palmerston described as “his amee who I felt much acquainted with tho’ I had never seen her before. She is not handsome, but has fine eyes & a softness in her manner,” suggesting that Rumford had been quite explicit to Palmerston in describing their relationship.⁴⁷ Rumford was not only continuing his affair, but working on improving the kitchens of some of Verona’s public institutions which he urged Palmerston to see (letters 4 and 5).

At Verona Viscount Palmerston made a “sudden resolution to spend another winter at Naples.”⁴⁸ So Rumford and the Palmerstons headed south until Florence where Rumford left them to visit Lucca, Pisa, and Livorno,⁴⁹ before re-joining them in Rome where they found him “settled in the same House with us.”⁵⁰ The week before Christmas, the Palmerstons left Rome and headed to Naples where they were joined by Rumford early in the new year.⁵¹ In Naples they did the usual things, socialising, ascending Vesuvius, etc.⁵² Rumford became ill there, but was fortunate in receiving the attention of the Oxford University trained physician Edward Ash who was on the Continent as a Radcliffe travelling fellow. Viscountess Palmerston, to the dismay of one of her correspondents, decided to delay their departure from Naples, until Rumford had recovered.⁵³ So it was not until sometime in April that the Palmerstons and Rumford left Naples, the latter returning to Verona and the former making their way to Venice (letter 4).

Rumford spent May and early June in Verona where he continued putting into practice some of the ideas he had developed in Munich on fuel efficiency, particularly related to cookery. He advised the hospitals of La Pietà and La Misericordia on how to save fuel in cooking meals for the 800 or more of the poor housed by them. He claimed that by using his designs, the hospitals could save nearly 90% of the wood used in cooking and he oversaw the construction of their new kitchens.⁵⁴ Towards the end of June 1794 Rumford returned to Munich where he was joined in July by the Palmerstons.⁵⁵ They spent ten days on a tour to Salzburg including visiting the brass works at Rosenheim, various salt works, Königsee, Berchtesgaden, and so on.⁵⁶ They then left Rumford in Munich and made their way back to England arriving in October.

Rumford in England

Rumford’s political position in Munich remained difficult as he described to Palmerston (letter 12), so it was not long before he began planning to visit England for the first time in eleven years, claiming to her that the political machinations at Munich were too much for him (letter 16). By mid-August 1795, the Elector had granted Rumford permission to visit London from mid-September until the end of April (letter 18). Rumford took advantage of this opportunity to start publishing his ideas in a series of Essays and also, as in Verona, to apply his ideas practically in Britain. He wrote ahead to Palmerston asking her to order materials (bricks, mortar, etc.) so that his fuel-saving ideas could be implemented in her houses at Broadlands, Sheen and, presumably, her London town house (letter 18). Rumford had described to Palmerston some of his later experiments made following his return to Munich (letter 12), but nothing to suggest the results should be applied in her houses, which may imply that they discussed this while in Italy and Munich or in some letters that are missing.

Rumford’s arrival in London on the evening of Tuesday 13 October 1795 was noted in both the London and provincial press with a puff emphasising his critical importance to the government of Bavaria during the previous ten years.⁵⁷ His first experience in London was unwelcomed as he was promptly robbed when the trunk on the back of his carriage containing his papers – “the labours of my whole life” – was cut off.⁵⁸ He offered a ten guinea reward for the return of the papers which had limited success; in early November Viscount Palmerston reported that some papers had been found and returned, though not Rumford’s important common place book, adding that some of the “most valuable Papers were not in the Trunk.”⁵⁹ Despite this apparent disaster Rumford, who brought a letter from the Elector to the King (letter 20), was presented at court the following day.⁶⁰ He then spent part of the second half of October at Broadlands (letter 23).

Shortly after his return to London, where he stayed at the Royal Hotel, Pall Mall, something happened which deeply angered and offended him. In a series of three letters to Viscountess Palmerston in early November, Rumford vented his emotions: “Never surely was a human being exposed to so much unmerited persecution,” “But here alass! there is no protection for me. No peace, but in the grave,” “I dont know against whom I ought to vent my Rage,” “You can have no conception how much I am disgusted with every thing I see and hear,” “I plainly perceive that all ranks of Society have made a most visible progress in corruption during the twelve years I have been out of the Country,” “I hate mankind with a most perfect hatred,” and so on.⁶¹ However, by the time he wrote the third letter he had calmed down “and the black clouds which obscured my imagination are in a great measure dispelled” (letter 26). This seems to be related to some suspicions he had about Banks’s attitude towards him noted, but dismissed, by Blagden.⁶² Whatever the issue, Rumford certainly did not want to provide details on paper, even to Palmerston, though he wrote he would explain to her “more fully when we meet” (letter 26).⁶³

Despite the difficulties, he seems to have enjoyed considerable prestige during his stay in London interacting with the elite of varying political persuasions. The strong Whig Dowager Countess Spencer invited him to dine at St Albans and to meet her daughter, Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, the latter having scientific interests.⁶⁴ That occasion resulted in Spencer sending the architect Henry Holland to him which Rumford noted in his second emotional letter (letter 25), and meeting them a little later at Chiswick House.⁶⁵ He dined with Blagden at Matthew Montague’s and with Ralph Payne, Lord Lavington (in the Irish peerage), MP for New Woodstock, who had been a Whig but by 1795 supported the Prime Minister William Pitt.⁶⁶ And on St Andrew’s day Rumford was elected a member of the Council of the Royal Society of London, illustrating his good standing with Banks and Blagden,⁶⁷ despite only being in England until the following April. Although that covered most of the Society’s active year, Rumford only attended once, on Christmas Eve.⁶⁸ He also dined twice at the Society’s Club.⁶⁹

In mid-March 1796, following her mother’s death, Rumford’s twenty-one-year-old daughter, whom he had not seen for nearly two decades arrived in London from America (Figure 7) (letter 33). She did not stay with her father at the Royal Hotel, but nearby with his agent, Charles Lackington, and his wife.⁷⁰ Initially Rumford was delighted, but problems soon emerged centring on the state of her education, for example, her lack of French, her expenditure on clothes and her lack of social grace.⁷¹ In a letter to Palmerston, Rumford accused his daughter of indolence (letter 35). Thompson later recollected that she overheard Palmerston telling Rumford that Thompson did not admire much in London, to which he replied that “savages” did not take notice of such things; unsurprisingly Thompson complained strongly to Palmerston about this slur.⁷²

FIGURE 7 Moritz Kellerhoven, portrait of Sarah Thompson (1797). Courtesy of the Historical Society of New Hampshire, 1979.020.07.

Experimental essays

Rumford kept busy in the closing months of 1795 and the beginning of 1796 with publishing and presumably, because of the theft, rewriting some at least of what would become his Experimental Essays, Political, Economical, and Philosophical. Aside from the few contributions he had made to the Philosophical Transactions since his gunpowder paper of 1781 and his 1792 pamphlet on the reform of the Bavarian army, Rumford had published hardly anything and, as he freely admitted to Palmerston, did not know how to set about publication (letter 21). After visiting Broadlands in October, he got down to the serious business of seeing his writings through the press with the help of John Baker Holroyd, Lord Sheffield (in the Irish peerage), MP for Bristol, whom he had certainly met by 1783 when Sheffield helped him obtain an army promotion.⁷³ During 1795, Sheffield was editing the works of his recently deceased friend, the historian Gibbon. These two volumes would be published the following year by Cadell and Davies and it was doubtless this connection that led to Rumford’s Essays being produced by the same firm.

The Essays were first published as a series of separate octavo pamphlets, usually around a hundred pages long and consecutively paginated. They were so well received and popular that they quickly went through many printings (and translations). From the start, it was intended that the pamphlets would be collected together into bound volumes retaining their original pagination. Their publication history is thus complicated and here is not the place to go into full detail except as related to Rumford’s letters to Palmerston. Cadell and Davies received the manuscript of the first Essay, An Account of an Establishment for the Poor at Munich, in mid-November 1795⁷⁴ and a month later the first two volumes were advertised, listing the intended titles of the first ten Essays, though making it clear that each Essay would be issued separately, attributing this action to the “Subjects [being] highly interesting at the moment.”⁷⁵ The first Essay, published on Christmas Eve⁷⁶ was, as he told Palmerston, well-reviewed in the February issue of The Critical Review (letter 28). William Petty-Fitzmaurice, 1st Marquis of Lansdowne (1737–1805) agreed that Rumford’s proposals had “great merit.”⁷⁷

During this period, as his letters and Blagden’s diary illustrate, Rumford was pursuing a very active social life in London high society. Indeed, Palmerston’s husband told her how distracted Rumford was at this time.⁷⁸ Furthermore, he found time during this period to experiment at the Palmerstons’ Hanover Square townhouse on improving domestic fireplaces so that they would not smoke into the room, an issue, it seems he had not considered before.⁷⁹ It appears that the immediate occasion for him looking into the matter was due to the problems created by the remodelling, undertaken by Holland, of the Palmerstons’ house. This project had begun towards the end of 1794 and early the following year it was found that the fireplaces were smoky.⁸⁰ At some point, probably towards the end of 1795, Rumford undertook experiments on the fireplaces, some of which he seems also to have performed in the Royal Hotel.⁸¹ He developed a shape for the entry point from the fireplace to the chimney that ensured the smooth (and irreversible) flow of smoke upwards which was very easy to implement.⁸² His design was first tried in practice by altering two chimneys in the Whitehall house of John Sinclair (1754–1835) which also accommodated the offices of the Board of Agriculture of which Sinclair was President.⁸³ As Rumford fully realised installing the fireplaces at the Board of Agriculture ensured that they would be seen by many prominent people and the same presumably went for the Royal Society of London’s offices in Somerset House.⁸⁴ Indeed, the aristocratic seats and townhouses he listed in his Essay as having installed his fireplaces was impressive. They included, in addition to the Palmerstons, the Devonshires, Spencers, Bessboroughs, Melbournes, and Salisburys among others. In total Rumford claimed that 150 fireplaces in London alone had been altered during the previous two months.⁸⁵ Clearly, Rumford did not personally oversee all these installations, but some he did, such as at Sheffield’s Sussex seat where he spent a week turning the house “topsy turvy” as Sheffield’s daughter told a friend.⁸⁶ Such an effective modification to domesticity soon attracted caricaturists’ attention who emphasised the alleged comforts entailed for both sexes (Figure 8).⁸⁷

FIGURE 8 James Gillray, The Comforts of a Rumford Stove (London: Hannah Humphrey, 1800). Wellcome Collection 9160i. Public Domain.

It would not be surprising given all this that Rumford was behind with his writing. Just before Christmas, he told Palmerston that before he could visit her he must complete a few chapters of his second essay, Of the Fundamental Principles on which General Establishments for the Relief of the Poor may be formed in all Countries (letter 27). The text was with the publishers early in the new year⁸⁸ and there is no evidence that Palmerston minded this neglect. The second Essay was advertised in mid-February⁸⁹ and shortly afterwards Rumford was expecting the appearance of his third Essay (letter 31), On Food, which introduced the world to his famous/notorious soups.⁹⁰ That did not prevent him from asking Palmerston for her recipe for noodles (letter 32) which may have been included towards the end of the Essay which was not published until the second half of March.⁹¹

In February, Rumford received a letter from Sinclair asking him to publish his work on fireplaces as soon as possible.⁹² Rumford obliged and altered the plan of his Essays so that the fourth Essay, Of Chimney Fire-Places, which had not originally been included in the topics to be covered, was published in mid-April.⁹³ Rumford completed the fifth Essay, again not in his initial plan, A Short Account of Several Public Institutions Lately formed in Bavaria, in July. With five Essays now published it was time to gather them into a single volume, which curiously dropped the word “Experimental” from the title.⁹⁴ Rumford dedicated the volume to the Elector on 1 July; two weeks later, evidently highly relieved at the end of the project, he told Palmerston that he had just completed the work (letter 36) which was shortly published.⁹⁵ Soon afterwards, Rumford left London to return to Bavaria (letter 37).

Back in Munich, Rumford continued writing his Essays, and towards the end of January 1797 sent his sixth and, as he appreciated, at nearly 200 pages the longest, to his publishers.⁹⁶ By April 1797 Of the Management of Fire, and the Economy of Fuel was being printed, while he had just completed the seventh, Of the Propagation of Heat in Fluids, (letter 45), though he did not send it to Cadell and Davies until the following month;⁹⁷ Essay six, published in early May,⁹⁸ had been in his initial plan whilst the first part of number seven, which appeared towards the end of June,⁹⁹ had not. References to later Essays in the letters are few and far between though he did tell Palmerston he was working on new ones (letter 55) and presented her with a copy of Essay X (letter 60).

Reaction to Rumford’s Essays was generally positive. Both London and provincial newspapers extracted sections from the third Essay, particularly on barley, suggesting that this Essay at least was well thought of.¹⁰⁰ So it is perhaps not too surprising that shortly after the publication of the second Essay, Rumford told Palmerston triumphantly of the wide-spread and enthusiastic support he had received “for making the Poor comfortable and happy.” Among those who agreed to help, he claimed, was William Wilberforce, MP for Yorkshire, who personally undertook to introduce his ideas in London and would arrange a meeting with Pitt (letter 30). Indeed, the following week Wilberforce told Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) that he was interested in pursuing the idea of Rumford’s plan for “working rooms.” However, Bentham also noted that Wilberforce acknowledged that there was not much in Rumford’s Essay on the poor, which seems to contradict Wilberforce’s interest in applying some of Rumford’s ideas. It is, however, possible that Bentham’s phraseology reflected his own opinion rather than Wilberforce’s.¹⁰¹ Although Bentham had sent Rumford a copy of his Panopticon: or, the Inspection-House (1791),¹⁰² he did not reference any of Bentham’s works in the first two volumes of his Essays, since in many respects their ideas were in opposition.¹⁰³ Nevertheless, when developing his unpublished utopian schemes on pauper management in the latter half of 1797, Bentham extravagantly praised Rumford as the person best fitted to implement them.¹⁰⁴

Rumford in Dublin and the Bettering Society in London

Another who thought highly of Rumford’s ideas was Thomas Pelham MP for Sussex who had been appointed Chief Secretary in Ireland in March 1795 and who in June 1796 would also become Secretary of State for Ireland. They were possibly introduced by Sheffield, Pelham’s brother-in-law. Although Rumford should have returned to Munich at the end of April, instead he told Palmerston of the arrangements being made for him to visit Ireland during May. These included him living in Pelham’s house in Phoenix Park and the provision of an office in Dublin Castle, the seat of government in Ireland (letter 34). Leaving his daughter at a boarding school in Barnes run by French émigrés,¹⁰⁵ by 3 May Rumford, writing from Dublin, told Sheffield of the favourable reception he had received in Ireland.¹⁰⁶

Although during his month or so in Dublin Rumford concentrated on economical cooking, he also exhibited his boiler at the Linen Hall to reduce the costs of bleaching.¹⁰⁷ At the House of Industry which had a capacity of 1500 people,¹⁰⁸ Rumford, working with Pelham and a couple of prominent Irish politicians, made various suggestions for its improvement.¹⁰⁹ The politicians were the Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Parnell (1744–1801), and the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, John Foster (1740–1828). Foster almost immediately thanked Sheffield for introducing Rumford¹¹⁰ and, towards the end of June, told him that Rumford had won “the admiration of all ranks” in Dublin, and had undertaken a great deal of work, though more remained to be done.¹¹¹ His efforts were formally recognised by an address from the Grand Jury of County Dublin (which also thanked Pelham for bringing Rumford there)¹¹² while the Dublin Society awarded him a twenty (Irish) guineas gold medal and the Corporation of Dublin granted him the Freedom of the City.¹¹³

On his way back to London from Dublin at the end of May, Rumford visited Birmingham where he met James Watt sr who, despite the cancelled steam engine order, commented favourably on him and they experimented together on lining copper pans with silver.¹¹⁴ Back in London Rumford pursued activities similar to those in Dublin but did not receive any civic recognition. He designed kitchens for various locations such as Sinclair’s Whitehall house which was open to public inspection.¹¹⁵ Other institutions that received Rumford’s attention included the workhouse of St George’s Hanover Square Parish in Mount Street which with 700 occupants was one of the largest in England¹¹⁶ and the kitchen of the Foundling Hospital whose Treasurer was Thomas Bernard.

It is faintly possible that Rumford and Bernard had met previously when they were teenagers in Massachusetts or young men in London in the late 1770s, but no direct evidence exists that supports such an acquaintance. However, they met, Bernard later wrote that “a similarity of pursuits produced a considerable Intimacy between us.”¹¹⁷ But it was not until March 1796 that Rumford was invited to assist the implementation of his ideas in the Foundling’s kitchen with the aim of saving fuel and thus expense, something always dear to a treasurer. However, owing to his visiting Ireland and then Sheffield Place, Rumford was unable to oversee the work personally. So, when he returned to London in July, he found that the builders had completely misunderstood his instructions which entailed “pull[ing] down the kitchen and rebuild[ing] it.”¹¹⁸ Nevertheless, the final result well satisfied the Hospital’s matron, Hannah Johnson, and Bernard. Although the work cost £150, more than 70% in fuel was saved over a year and one less cook was employed.¹¹⁹

That Rumford could not oversee the new building work was due to being recalled to Munich following the French invasion of the German states at the start of June. On 13 July, he took leave of the King¹²⁰ and shortly thereafter began his circuitous journey to Munich taking his daughter with him. There she pursued an active and enjoyable social life,¹²¹ the Elector creating her Gräfin Rumford (letter 40), though by the summer of 1797 she was clearly so homesick that Rumford took to calling her “the American” (letter 48). The Elector appointed her father commander of the Bavarian army with the task of defending Munich from the opposing Austrian and French armies who were converging on the city in the late summer of 1796. In a spectacular feat of diplomacy, Rumford kept both sides talking until the French army was required elsewhere, upon which the Austrians also withdrew.¹²²

Despite his absence, Rumford’s ideas continued exerting influence in Britain. During the summer of 1796, the possibility of forming “a society for encouraging the industry and promoting the welfare of the poor” was discussed by Bernard, Wilberforce, Edward James Eliot (1758–1797) and Shute Barrington (1734–1826), Bishop of Durham since 1791.¹²³ The outcome was a circular letter dated 17 December 1796 proposing the formation of a “society for bettering the condition and increasing the comforts of the poor” and calling a meeting for the afternoon of the 21st.¹²⁴ Whilst this letter referred to specifically English problems, such as parochial relief and workhouse abuses, it stressed that in improvements to fuel, food, and helping the poor generally “the world is indebted to the philanthropy and abilities of Count Rumford.”¹²⁵ The chief object of the Bettering Society (as it was universally called) was to collect examples of best practice for helping the poor and publishing the results in a series of Reports. This Baconian approach promoted, as the letter put it, that “most beneficial of all sciences – the promotion of the welfare of our fellow-creatures” – a view surely again influenced by Rumford¹²⁶ who was elected a Life Member of the Society on 24 February 1797.¹²⁷ In his letter of thanks, Rumford suggested that the Society would be improved by using models that could be “seen and felt.”¹²⁸

Rumford, who later contributed one report,¹²⁹ as might be expected, received a major share of credit throughout the first three volumes of the Reports for his practical contributions. His innovations both material and social were mentioned with great acclaim in a number of articles, including those by Bernard,¹³⁰ Pelham,¹³¹ George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea,¹³² and William Hillyer (a contractor to the Foundling);¹³³ while Barrington in his report on the poor at Hamburg attributed the success there entirely to Rumford’s example at Munich and his conclusion provides an indication of the esteem in which Rumford was held:

That which has been done in Hamburgh, by the co-operation of its best and wisest citizens, has been effected at Munich by the abilities of perseverance of one individual. The particulars of that establishment are so well and so generally known, that it is unnecessary for me to enter into the detail of them. The institution has, in both instances, been wisely adapted to the circumstances and condition of the respective places; at Munich with additional power, from the establishment being blended with the government of the state, and producing an influence of the country, of what that city is the capital; and from its being connected with a variety of useful, and extraordinary inventions and improvement which Count Rumford has made, and is now making, for the benefit of mankind.¹³⁴

The Royal Institution

After his success in preventing the military occupation of Munich, Rumford resigned command of the Bavarian army to concentrate on his research. In a letter accompanying a long paper on gunpowder for the Royal Society of London,¹³⁵ he told Banks “my power <is> undiminished” but that he was now “master of my time, and devote it almost entirely to my literary pursuits”¹³⁶ which would probably have struck Banks as contradictory. During 1797, Rumford certainly focused on writing his Essays (detailed above) and started experimentation on cannon boring that would lead to his paper on the production of heat by friction. In this paper, he argued against the materiality of heat, specifically the caloric proposed by Antoine Lavoisier, and instead proposed that heat was a mode of motion.¹³⁷ Towards the end of the year, Rumford began suggesting to the Elector that he should be appointed Bavarian ambassador to Britain, writing to Banks asking him to find out how that proposal would be received in London.¹³⁸ It is not known if Banks made any enquiries, but Rumford later claimed that he had been “promised the most gracious reception” (letter 53). However, Rumford could not then immediately pursue this scheme for at the end of the year there were revolutionary disturbances in Swabia and Mannheim. The Elector returned Rumford to command of the army and additionally appointed him chief of police with “ample powers.”¹³⁹ Despite the crisis, Rumford continued to manage his research and writing, by, for example, sending his eighth Essay to London for printing.¹⁴⁰ By the summer, the political crisis had passed and in June Rumford was able to take a fortnight’s holiday with his daughter.¹⁴¹

In August 1798, the Elector fulfilled Rumford’s ambition by appointing him Bavarian ambassador to London.¹⁴² Rumford’s annual income in this role would be £2000, or twice what he was currently earning.¹⁴³ He also saw moving to London as the first step in paving the way for his daughter, and possibly himself, to return to America (letters 47 and 50). That he regarded the move to London as permanent is evinced by arranging for all his books, papers and other possessions to be taken there (letters 53 and 54).

Rumford’s arrival in London the following month, provoked a minor diplomatic incident. An hour after he had arrived at the Royal Hotel, on 19 September, George Canning, a junior Foreign Office minister, visited Rumford to tell him that the King would not accept him as ambassador.¹⁴⁴ Rumford, though very angry, sought to resolve the matter as quietly as possible, by offering his resignation on the grounds of ill health and asking for permission to visit America in the spring of 1799. To both requests, the Elector agreed (letters 54 and 56). A replacement ambassador, however, did not arrive until a couple of years later,¹⁴⁵ presumably due to the death of the old Elector on 16 February 1799 and the succession of Maximilian Joseph.

In the meantime, Rumford looked for somewhere to live and in late October moved into 51 Brompton Row on the western outskirts of London.¹⁴⁶ He rekindled his old contacts, for example with Bernard, who took him to the Foundling Hospital to show him the kitchen that Rumford had been working on before his recall to Munich (letter 54). But on the whole, he seems to have been at something of a loose end. Palmerston’s husband suggested that he had taken to drink and he visited Bath over the new year, calling in at Broadlands on his way back to Brompton.¹⁴⁷ However, Rumford during this period had been working on a plan to establish the kind of practical institution in London that he had hinted at when elected a Life Member of the Bettering Society. Nevertheless, at the end of January 1799 Rumford was apparently still intending to sail to America at the start of March.¹⁴⁸ But on the last day of January, he attended a meeting with those closely associated with the Bettering Society where he presented the “Proposals” he had drawn up for a new institution. Whether he believed that the plan could be implemented without his presence in London is not clear, but two days later he wrote to Palmerston summarising what was intended writing it “may prevent my intended journey to America” (letter 58). And by mid-February Rumford had concluded that he was likely to remain in England.¹⁴⁹

He did, indeed, remain in London while his daughter returned to America in August.¹⁵⁰ Rumford spent the next three or so years working, off and on, to establish what became the Royal Institution of Great Britain. Here is not to place to detail this story, about which much has been written.¹⁵¹ But Rumford’s letters to Palmerston do reveal a couple of aspects to the story that seem not to have been previously noticed. First, the letters show that Rumford met in Italy a number of men who would become Proprietors (subscribing the substantial sum of fifty guineas), Life or Annual Subscribers (who both paid significantly less) of the new institution and so contributed to making it a going concern. These included Edward Ash, 2nd Earl Camden, 2nd Earl Digby, Andrew Douglas, Gilbert Elliot, Matthew Montagu, Viscount Morpeth, Viscount Palmerston, James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, Charles Talbot and, though not in Italy, Thomas Pelham. Furthermore, the letters also show Rumford’s previous connections with a number of women who would become “distinguished patronesses” of the Royal Institution. These included the Countess of Bessborough, the Duchess of Devonshire and Viscountess Palmerston.¹⁵² Right from the start Palmerston took a strong interest in the new Institution telling her elder son it was going well and providing a long description of it shortly after its lecture programme commenced in March 1800.¹⁵³ As so often with new institutions, pre-existing connections and networks, especially as I have argued elsewhere during this period aristocratic ones,¹⁵⁴ became critical to successfully bringing them into existence. The second aspect relates to the large lecture theatre built at the northern end of the gentleman’s townhouse in Albemarle Street acquired by the Institution for its house in the summer of 1799. The theatre, which on occasion could hold a thousand people, was designed by the Clerk of the Works, Thomas Webster (1772–1844).¹⁵⁵ But the inspiration for its semi-circular, raked, amphitheatre form may have come from the theatre that Rumford had had built in Munich’s Englisher Garten in turn derived from the Roman theatre in Verona. Although there is no documentary evidence for such a suggestion, the enthusiastic way Rumford described the Munich theatre to Palmerston (letters 15 and 16) does at least render it a possibility.

Rumford’s work for the Royal Institution did not mean he entirely neglected Palmerston. Although there are no surviving letters from Rumford to her between November 1799 and August 1801, there is evidence of close personal contact during that period which may have obviated the need for correspondence. Over the new year 1799/1800, having arranged for the components of a kitchen for her School of Industry that she was establishing in Romsey to be delivered, he stayed there for most of January to help out.¹⁵⁶ It became apparent during the year that Palmerston’s collaborators lost interest and by the start of 1801 she had taken the school under her own control with successful results, at least according to her husband and her letters to a relative.¹⁵⁷ Possibly Palmerston’s initial lack of engagement was due to her in late 1800 taking her son, Henry John Temple, to Edinburgh to study at the University. By then, in a scenario strongly reminiscent of their journeys around Italy, Rumford too was in Edinburgh having left London in mid-July for Harrogate and indeed there was some discussion about the Palmerstons meeting him there which came to nothing.¹⁵⁸ In September Rumford arrived in Edinburgh, where among other things, he fitted up a kitchen in Heriot’s hospital for children.¹⁵⁹ The Palmerstons arrived in mid-October having spent the previous month making a leisurely tour northwards.¹⁶⁰ After a few days, they went on a tour of Scotland returning to Edinburgh where they settled their son in during early November. They left the city on the 10th taking Rumford with them, reaching London on the 20th.¹⁶¹ Rumford arrived back in time for the completion in early 1801 of the lecture theatre and the opening course of lectures delivered by Thomas Garnett (1766–1802), which Palmerston and her daughters attended “pretty constant[ly].”¹⁶²

Until September, Rumford seems to have spent all of 1801 in London. He then decided or was asked to visit Munich to discuss his future role in Bavaria (letter 62). Equipped with a passport from the French diplomatic representative in London negotiating the Preliminaries of what would become the Peace of Amiens, Rumford set off via France to spend most of October in Munich where he received a good reception from the new Elector (letter 63). Throughout this Continental journey, Rumford kept a detailed diary which at some point he gave to Palmerston. Between 29 April and 4 May 1802, she copied this to ward off her “ceaseless Sorrow” following the death of her husband on 16 April.¹⁶³ With the signing of the Preliminaries, the Elector instructed Rumford, on his way back to London, to visit Paris with despatches for the Bavarian ambassador there. Arriving at the end of October 1801, Rumford remained in Paris until mid-December. In both his letters and diary, he described his mixing with the French governing elite including the First Consul Napoleone Buonaparte for whom Rumford expressed admiration for the anti-democratic stance now dominant in France (letter 66). During his stay, he met Marie-Anne Lavoisier, widow of the chemist Antoine Lavoisier, guillotined during the Terror for being a tax farmer.¹⁶⁴ He later called on her a couple of times during his remaining time in Paris.¹⁶⁵ It may have been meeting her that led to Rumford extending his visit to Paris, since the previous week he had told Pelham that while he would like to stay, he was needed at the Royal Institution.¹⁶⁶

By this time whether Rumford was needed at the Royal Institution was a matter of differing opinions. It is not clear precisely what was the origin of the problem, but by the beginning of 1802, the Institution was at the start of what would be the first (of many) financial crises. Rumford seems to have been blamed and towards the end of February was making preparations to leave London for Paris and presumably the attractions of Lavoisier.¹⁶⁷ However, he carried on the normal work of the Royal Institution until 9 May when he left London, never to return.¹⁶⁸ Palmerston’s view of Rumford’s problems at the Royal Institution showed her loyal to the last, recording in her diary on 21 May 1803 that “Their abuse of Count R is atrocious.”¹⁶⁹

End of the affair

Rumford spent the latter part of the 1802 in Munich, but clearly wanted to be back in Paris with Lavoisier. In the end, she joined him in Bavaria¹⁷⁰ and they seemed to have spent most of 1803 touring Europe, but by November both were back in Paris.¹⁷¹ Early the following year, Rumford informed his daughter that he was intending to marry and listed all of Lavoisier’s virtues concluding “in short, she is another Lady Palmerston.”¹⁷² After sorting out some legal problems, Rumford and Lavoisier married on 24 October 1805.

The death of Viscount Palmerston, Rumford’s departure from the Royal Institution and London and his affair and marriage with Lavoisier all seem to have contributed to a diminution in the flow of letters in these years between Rumford and Palmerston or possibly in her grief she did not retain them. Certainly, Rumford wrote soon after he arrived in Paris to say he was pleased with the city.¹⁷³ It is probably not coincidental that shortly after Rumford told his daughter about his intended marriage his letters to Palmerston resumed with the final three all written in 1804. They included discussion of the practical issues involved in the marriage, but one concluded with a rather tactless comment:

I think I shall live to dive drive caloric off the stage as the late M. Lavoisier (the author of caloric) drove away Phlogiston. What a singular destiny for the wife of two Philosophers!! (letter 67)

It should be found scarcely surprising with comments such as that together with her refusal to stop using Lavoisier in her name, that their marriage proved remarkably unhappy;¹⁷⁴ they divorced in 1809.

Perhaps this episode was an instance of the sturm-und-drang quality, identified by Linda Colley, in the lives of the British elite from the start of the American rebellion to the final defeat of France in 1815.¹⁷⁵ Possibly this tendency was magnified in Rumford’s case by his not really being part of that elite – in total he only spent eight years of his life on those islands. Rumford was one of those people who was seldom content or happy wherever they might happen to be, in his case North America, London, Munich or, later, Paris: “an exile doomed to roam in the wide world, without a home, and without a friend” as he wrote to Palmerston in late 1793 (letter 2). Whatever he did, he felt he never enjoyed the high level of recognition that he believed he deserved and in the case of Munich had had to cope with the intrigues of the Bavarian court – the source of the paranoia displayed in many of his letters?

Without her letters to him, we don’t know whether Palmerston appreciated any of this. She did not live to see either Rumford’s marriage or its breakdown, dying on 19 January 1805. Rumford’s comment that Lavoisier was a second Palmerston is fascinating, suggesting that had Rumford and Palmerston consummated their relationship, it might possibly have ended in a similarly disastrous manner. On that basis, Palmerston was surely wise in keeping significant distance between her and Rumford. It allowed them, as a closer relationship might not, to correspond freely for over a decade giving us a remarkable insight into their complex social and political worlds of which the production and communication of scientific knowledge was just one part.

Abbreviations and contractions

Manuscripts
BL	=	British Library
PRONI	=	Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
RI	=	Royal Institution
RSL	=	Royal Society of London
SU	=	Southampton University
TNA	=	The National Archives
UBCRL	=	University of Birmingham Cadbury Research Library

Printed sources
Reports SBCP	=	The Reports of the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor

Rumford’s Essays (all published London: Cadell and Davies)
Essay I	=	An Account of an Establishment for the Poor at Munich (1796)
Essay II	=	Of the Fundamental Principle of which General Establishments for the Relief of the Poor may be formed in all Countries (1796)
Essay III	=	Of Food; and particular of Feeding the Poor (1796)
Essay IV	=	Of Chimney Fire-Places (1796)
Essay V	=	A Short Account of Several Public Institutions Lately formed in Bavaria (1796)
Essay VI	=	Of the Management of Fire, and the Economy of Fuel (1797)
Essay VII	=	Of the Propagation of Heat in Fluids (two parts, 1797–1798)
Essay VIII	=	Of the Propagation of Heat in Various Substances: Being an Account of a Number of New Experiments Made with a View to the Investigation of the Causes of the Warmth of Natural and Artificial Clothing (1798)
Essay IX	=	An Experimental Inquiry concerning the Source of the Heat which is excited by Friction (1798)176
Essay X	=	On the Construction of Kitchen Fire-Places and Kitchen Utensils, together with Remarks and Observations relating to the various Processes of Cookery; and Proposals for improving that most useful Art (1799)

Biographical Sources
AC	=	Alumini Cantabrigienses
ADB	=	Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
ANB	=	American National Biography
Bourne	=	Kenneth Bourne, ed., The Letters of the Third Viscount Palmerston to Laurence and Elizabeth Sulivan 1804–1863 (London: The Royal Historical Society, 1979)
BU	=	Biographie Universelle
CP	=	Cokayne, Complete Peerage
DBF	=	Dictionnaire de Biographie Française
DBI	=	Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani
DHS	=	Dictionnaire Historique de la Suisse
GM	=	Gentleman’s Magazine
HP	=	History of Parliament
Ingamells	=	John Ingamells, A Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy 1701–1800 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997)
LUI	=	Lessico Universale Italiano
Munk’s Roll	=	Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of London
NDB	=	Neue Deutsche Biographie
ODNB	=	Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Provenance

Following the death of Viscountess Palmerston in 1805, these letters were retained in the family archive at Broadlands. Through marriages, via the Ashley family, the house and contents passed in 1939 to Edwina Ashley (1901–1960), the wife of Louis Mountbatten (1900–1979), later The Earl and Countess Mountbatten of Burma; Broadlands remains the family seat. Extracts of some of these letters from Rumford as well from many other correspondents in the archive were quoted in Brian Connell, Portrait of a Whig Peer Compiled from the papers of the Second Viscount Palmerston 1739–1802 (London: Andre Deutsch, 1957).¹⁷⁷ By then letter 58 had been given to the Royal Institution in 1899 on the occasion of the centenary of its founding.¹⁷⁸

By the late 1940s, the plasma physicist Sanborn Brown (1913–1981) who graduated from Dartmouth College, but spent his career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had begun his life-long study of Rumford.¹⁷⁹ He was assiduous in his search for material relating to Rumford as the notes to his biography published in 1979 testify. This included acquiring manuscripts and at some point he purchased from the Mountbatten family sixty-seven letters from Rumford to Palmerston “which had just been offered for sale at a price our family budget could ill afford.”¹⁸⁰ He later gifted them to Dartmouth College along with other Rumford-related material.

Brown’s purchase presumably occurred before the death of Countess Mountbatten in 1960, since shortly afterwards Earl Mountbatten deposited the Palmerston papers in the Hampshire Record Office, Winchester.¹⁸¹ The papers remained there until the second half of the 1980s when they were transferred, also on deposit, to the University of Southampton. In 2010, after a major fund-raising effort, the University purchased the collection, together with Mountbatten’s own papers, from the estate for £2.85 million. Among those papers is letter 43 that evidently escaped Brown’s attention and so did not make it across the Atlantic.

Biographical register

This provides details on those who are mentioned three or more times in the sixty-nine letters. This list is alphabetised by the name in each entry appearing in bold small capitals. The inclusion of an individual in the register is signified in the letters or in the notes by the name appearing there in small capitals. (Those who appear once or twice in the letters are identified only in the footnotes). Where no source is given, the information has been drawn from the usual genealogical databases.

Aichner. Rumford’s long-term valet, whose name Rumford frequently mis-spelt Eichner.¹⁸²

Edward Ash (1764–1829, Munk’s Roll, Ingamells, 30). Physician who in early 1794 treated Rumford in Naples for which he was ever grateful. He successfully nominated Ash to Fellowship of the Royal Society of London (RSL MS EC/1801/13).

Charles Blagden (1748–1820, ODNB, Ingamells, 96–7). Physician and a Secretary of the Royal Society of London, 1784–1797.

Napoleone Buonaparte (1769–1821, BU). French general and, as First Consul of France, 1799–1804, military dictator of France and the territories it occupied.

Mary Carter (bp.1731ns–1812, Ingamells, 187). Viscountess Palmerston’s companion.¹⁸³

Anton Cetto (1756–1847, NDB). Bavarian ambassador to Paris.

Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744–1818, ODNB). Queen of England as wife of George III whom she married in 1761.

Sarah Culverden, née Mee (bp.1748, d.1810, GM 80(2) (1810): 392). Sister of Viscountess Palmerston. Married in 1767 the banker William Culverden (d.1811, GM 81(1) (1811): 494).

Georgiana Cavendish, née Spencer, Duchess of Devonshire (1757–1806, ODNB, Ingamells, 295–6). Daughter of Dowager Countess Spencer and a leading figure in London high society and Whig politics.

Johann Georg Dillis (1759–1841, NBD). Bavarian artist and Roman Catholic priest. He undertook a number of painting commissions for Palmerston, for which Rumford acted as a go between. While they were in Munich, he also portrayed the Palmerstons’ four children.¹⁸⁴

Eichner see Aichner.

Gilbert Elliot (1751–1814, ODNB). 4th Baronet and later 1st Earl of Minto, Politician and later diplomat and colonial governor. At this time Viceroy of Corsica.

George III (1738–1820, ODNB). King of England, 1760–1820.

George Frederick Charles Joseph (1779–1860, NDB). Later (1816) Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Amelia Elizabeth Godfrey, known as Emma (d.1840, Bourne, 46). Companion to Viscountess Palmerston and her sister; a life-long friend of Palmerston’s children.

Friederike Eleonore Sophie von Kalb, known as “Lore” or “Laura” (1764–1831). Another of Rumford’s mistresses. https://www.nhhistory.org/Object?id=0990305d-8362-44d4-90d5-755fdca3447f (accessed 22 February 2023).

Karl Theodor (1724–1799, NDB). Count Palatine from 1742 and from 1777 also Elector of Bavaria, both to death.

Charles Lackington (c.1740–1807). Rumford’s agent in London.

Marie-Anne Lavoisier, née Paulze (1758–1836, DBF). Widow of the guillotined French chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier. She married Rumford, as her second husband, on 24 October 1805. They divorced in 1809.

Maria Leopoldine, Archduchess of Austria-Este (1776–1848). Became Electrice of Bavaria following her marriage to Karl Theodor on 15 February 1795 six months after the death of his first wife.¹⁸⁵

Maximilian Joseph (1756–1825, NDB). Duke of Zweibrücken or Deux Ponts from 1795. Elector of Bavaria from 1799 until 1806 when, following the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire, he became King.

Benjamin Mee (bp. 1750–1796, GM 66(2) (1796): 706, 787). Palmerston’s brother, and a Director of the Bank of England, 1777–1783. He was declared bankrupt in 1784 which presumably accounts for his moving first to Bengal and then to the Continent. He died at Pyrmont.¹⁸⁶

Elizabeth Mee, née Man (d.1796). Mother of Viscountess Palmerston.

Magdalena, Contessa Nogarola, née von Lerchenfeld-Siessbach-Prennberg (1770–1810). Lived in Verona. Friend and sometime mistress of Rumford and younger sister of Gräfin Paumgarten. https://www.nhhistory.org/Object?id=b8e055b4-6d87-4fc2-8a68-1f04c131f033 (accessed 22 February 2023).

Brownlow North (1741–1820, ODNB, Ingamells, 711–12). Bishop of Winchester, 1781–1820. Broadlands, located within the diocese, is about twelve miles from Winchester.

Maria Josepha Barbara Johanna Nepomucena Gabriele von Lerchenfeld-Siessbach-Prennberg, Gräfin Paumgarten, née von Lerchenfeld-Siessbach-Prennberg (1762–1816) (Figure 4). Elder sister of Contessa Nogarola. Sometime mistress of Karl Theodor and later of Rumford by whom she had Sophia Paumgarten. Lived in Munich or nearby on Lake Starnberg. Her name is occasionally spelt beginning with a “B”. https://www.nhhistory.org/object/136514/painting (accessed 22 February 2023).

Walburga Sophia Barbara Paumgarten (1788–1828) (Figure 5). Rumford’s natural daughter with Gräfin Paumgarten. It is not clear when, if ever, Palmerston became aware of the relationship. Her surname is occasionally spelt beginning with a “B”. https://www.nhhistory.org/Object?id=dc5dc813-0210-415a-822c-2708a54065a8 (accessed 22 February 2023).

Thomas Pelham (1756–1826, ODNB). MP for Sussex, 1789 to 1801. Thereafter sat in the Lords in his father’s barony until he succeeded (1805) as 2nd Earl of Chichester. At this time, Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

Margaret Georgiana, Dowager Countess Spencer, née Poyntz (1737–1814, ODNB, Ingamells, 884). Widow of John, 1st Earl Spencer (1734–1783, ODNB), she travelled in Italy between 1792 and 1794 where she met the Palmerstons on a number of occasions.¹⁸⁷

Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston in the Irish peerage (1739–1802, ODNB, HP, Ingamells, 733–5). Husband of Viscountess Palmerston whom he married, as his second wife, in 1783. Connoisseur and Whig MP for various seats from 1762 until death.

Temple children:

Henry John Temple, later (1802) 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865, ODNB).

Frances (Fanny) Temple (1786–1838).

William Temple (1788–1856).

Elizabeth (Lilly) Temple (1790–1837).

Therese of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1773–1839, NDB). In 1789, married Karl Alexander, later 5th Prince of Thurn and Taxis.

Sarah Thompson, Gräfin von Rumford (1774–1852) (Figure 7). Rumford’s daughter by his first marriage. He did not see her from the time he left America in 1776 until she arrived in London in 1796. On her arrival in Munich later that year, Karl Theodor created her Gräfin (letter 40). Clearly homesick while in Europe, she returned to America in 1799.

Uriah. A senior officer in the Bavarian army and Rumford’s secretary, otherwise unidentified.

Whitworth, Miss (Bourne, 38). A close friend of the Palmerstons. A sister of Charles, Earl Whitworth (1752–1825, ODNB), but otherwise unidentified.

Anne Catherine Wilkinson, later Montagu, née Hobart (bp.1762–1800, Ingamells, 1002). The wife of Montagu Wilkinson (later Montagu), whom she married in 1784. They toured Italy with their children between 1791 and 1796.

Montagu Wilkinson, later (1797) Montagu (1744–1797, Ingamells, 1002, GM, 67(2) (1797): 616). Chief Clerk at the Signet Office.

Editorial conventions

[missing word(s) or letter(s)]

{reconstructed word(s) or letter(s), usually where the MS is torn}

<word(s) inserted above or below line>

To avoid the same words appearing twice in immediate succession, follow on words between pages have been silently omitted.

The letters of Reichsgraf von Rumford to Viscountess Palmerston

Apart from letters 43 and 58, all are in Dartmouth College, Rauner Special Collections MS 793528.

Letter 1: 28 September 1793

   Auberge Imperial, Milan | Saturday Morning 28^th. Sep^r. 93.

I am very sorry to be obliged to leave Milan without waiting your Ladyships arrival,¹⁸⁸ but having, upon my coming here, made arrangements with my friends at Verona to meet them at Desenzana¹⁸⁹ on Tuesday next, to dine, and as it is now out of my power to give notice to my friends of my wish to postpone that meeting, – the Post going from hence to Verona but once a week – it is absolutely necessary for me to set out upon my journey today. I sent forward my Horses and servants yesterday, and shall join them this Evening at Bergamo. I arrived here from Genoa on Saturday, last the 21^st. Instant. My Servants and Horses arrived here from Como the day before. I found them all well.

I found letters at Turin and at Genoa from my friends at Verona which blasted all my hopes of having their company in my journey into Italy. Those who thought it their interest to prevent the journey, tho’ they feigned to approve of it, have found means, in an underhanded way, to prevent it.

I go from hence to Desenzana, where I shall wait ‘till your Ladyship arrives there, or ‘till I can hear from you. If you should have changed your plan, and should have determined not to visit Desenzana, or Verona in your way to Florence pray write me by the next post, which will leave Milan on Wednesday next in the afternoon. Direct to me à l’Auberge della Posta Vecchia à Desenzana. – where, if you come, you will be so good as to join me. If you should not come, I shall proceed by Mantua to Florence as soon as I get your letter, which will be on Thursday next. I shall hope at least to have the pleasure of meeting you at Florence.

I know you will rejoice with me when I inform you that upon my arrival at Milan I found very agreeable letters, both from America and from Bavaria. I had one charming one from Munich in answer to one of mine of the 17^th. of August.

I will tell you nothing of my journey to Turin and to Genoa ‘till I see you. – Only this I will tell you, that Lord Hood¹⁹⁰ thinks himself perfectly safe at Toulon, - and that an English squadron is expected at Genoa, to keep the Genoese in order.¹⁹¹

Adieu, my dear and most amiable Lady Palmerston. Make my best Compliments to Miss Carter and to Lord P.¹⁹² and believe me ever your Ladyships

Most devoted Humble Servant

Letter 2: 29 and 30 November 1793

   Pisa Friday 29^th. Nov^r. | 1793

If ever there was a spoilt child I am one, and it is all your fault. I have been so long used to your agreeable company that I really feel quite aukward [sic] when I am deprived of it; and going from you is so like going from home that it makes me feel quite lonesome and melancholy. It fills my mind with sentiments to which, alas! it has long been unaccustomed. What a train of reflexion does that word home call up, and what inexpressible sentiments does it excite in the mind of a person like me, an exile doomed to roam in the wide world, without a home, and without a friend? – But this is not the subject upon which, upon setting down to write to you, I meant to entertain you; nor is it ground upon which I dare trust myself.

My journey from Florence to this place was performed without the least accident; but on the other hand without either instruction or amusement. – Neither Pistoria nor Lucca afford any thing worthy of attention, nor do I think the Country about them at all beautifull. The Country about the Baths of Lucca is very pritty, but it is by no means to be compared to Switzerland. I arrived here, from Lucca, yesterday, about noon and meant to have left it tomorrow morning, but the Marquis Manfridini¹⁹³ having persuaded me that it would be right to pay my respects [to] their Royal Highnesses I shall stay tomorrow in order to be presented to the Grand Duke¹⁹⁴ in the Evening, and shall set off for Leghorne early on Sunday morning.

You will doubtless have heard of the burning of the French Ship of War at Leghorne, and will expect that I should give you some particulars of that melancholy event. All accounts agree in this, that she must have been set on fire by design, and nobody doubts of what description, or party, the Person or Persons are who committed the most horrible crime, - but who they were has not yet been discovered. Several of the ships Company who were saved are in confinement upon suspicion. About 400 Persons were saved and about 200 destroyed in the flames; they were mostly however, if not all French. Dont be shocked at this however, I beg of you.¹⁹⁵ There are flying reports of an action under the walls of Toulon, in which the English are said to have given the French a sound drubbing. I wish these accounts may be true with all my heart, but as no ship is arrived from Toulon, and as nobody can tell how the accounts came I own I doubt their authenticity. As I dont mean to close my letter till tomorrow Evening if I should pick up any news at Court I will inform you of it. – And with this I shall wish your Ladyship a very good night.

Saturday Evening 10 O’Clock Here I am, and still wind-bound. I am this moment returned from Court, and instead of setting off tomorrow morning for Leghorn, as I intended, I find myself obliged to stay here another day, having received an invitation to dine at Court tomorrow; which invitation, I was told, I could not with decency refuse. You would doubtless think it nothing but affectation, tho’ I were to confirm it with an oath, that the Court air has already given me the vapours. It is however but too true.

Their Royal Highnesses were remarkably gracious to me. You will judge whether those about them followed their example. I found among the Company two old acquaintances, the Prince and Princess Rospiglioso¹⁹⁶ who were formerly at Munich where the[y] spent several weeks. To meet an old acquaintance in a strange place is doubly agreeable.

The news at Court did not amount to much; - Fort Luis they said was taken, - but that the news papers said three days ago.¹⁹⁷ The number of people lost in the French ship that was burnt they now say amounts to only about 80. I am very glad it is no more, however. I am very sorry to find that Admiral Cosby¹⁹⁸ has either left Leghorn this afternoon, or that he will certainly leave it tomorrow. No news from Toulon. A very clever miss something whose acquaintance I have made here, but whose name I have forgot (she is waiting here for Lady Herries’s¹⁹⁹ arrival,) – told me that Lord Hervey²⁰⁰ was to leave Toulon the 16^th. of this month to return to Florence.

By the Bye I must tell you I have made an acquaintance with Lady Bolingbroke.²⁰¹ I met her first at a Mrs. Starkes²⁰² where Govr. Ellis²⁰³ carried me, and I then visited her at her own lodging. I found her with her Father,²⁰⁴ a Lady I did not know, and three charming children.²⁰⁵ Poor thing, how interesting she is in her present unfortunate situation! I felt quite grieved for her. Luckily I leave Pisa soon, or I do not know what I might have been tempted to do to cheat away her tedious lingering hours.

You will think when you see the enormous length of this Epistle that I have a great many leisure hours upon my own hands, and you will certainly think I lied when I told you I hated to write letters. No, do not come to that very erroneous conclusion, I beg of you. Think rather that writing to you is a very remarkable exception to the general rule. And with this observation, and with the assurances of my inalterable Respect &c I shall conclude by subscribing myself your ever devoted R. Not forgetting however my best compliments to Miss Carter, and to Lord P.²⁰⁶ who I hope to find at Rome quite recovered.

P.S. If you should happen to be so lucky as to catch the little wild thing²⁰⁷ I beg you would give her a kiss on my account.

Letter 3: 27 December 1793

   Rome Friday 27^th: Dec^r. | 1793

As Lord Digby²⁰⁸ sets out tomorrow morning for Naples and has offered to take a letter for me I cannot help giving myself the pleasuring [sic] of writing to your Ladyship to thank you for yours of the 24^th. which I received last Evening. As I know you will feel more concern at the news which arrived here yesterday, and which has thrown all Rome into consternation,²⁰⁹ than I do, I wish I was were with you that I might have it more in my power to persuade you that the evil is not by far so great as you imagine – And to own to you the truth – but this must be entre nous – I dont think it any evil at all. An Army at Toulon merely for the sake of keeping possession of that Port, with a Fleet at Toulon merely to be ready to carry off that army in case of accidents, was in my humble opinion, disposing of an Army and a Fleet in a manner very disadvantageous to Great Britain. They might both be much better employed else where. And as to Italy half a dozen ships, and a few Frigates will be quite equal to defending it, now that the naval force of the French is so effectually destroyed in the Mediterranean. But we will talk this matter over together about eight days hence.

It is my intention to leave this place on Monday, and I shall probably arrive at Naples on Friday, where I hope to find you all perfectly well, and as gay as if nothing had happen’d. Be assured I am right, and that all will end well at last.

The Stuarts²¹⁰ send a thousand Compliments to you. We went today to see St. Pauls²¹¹ – not St. Peters,²¹² and we go tomorrow to the Albani Villa.²¹³ We are quite become the inseparables since you abandoned me. I was to have gone this Evening to the Borghese’s²¹⁴ but I excused myself. I dont like an Italian Conversatione at any time, and since you have left us they have become quite insupportable to me.

Adieu amiable Dame – Porter vous toujours bien, - soyez tonjours gaie, et n’oublier pas votre tout devouè²¹⁵ R __

Letter 4: 27 May 1794

   Verona 27^th. May 1794

If my calculations with respect to your journey are right this letter will just meet you at Venice. I hope it will find you as well as it leaves me. The change in my health which has taken place since my arrival at this place is not to be conceived. People here will hardly believe I have been ill, I look so much better (they say,) than I did when I was here last year.²¹⁶ How the air of Bavaria will agree with me I dont know, but I own I am much afraid of the experiment, which however, I must soon try. Doctor Ash writes me from Rome that he has made a party to come to Verona with Mrs. Wilkinson,²¹⁷ who was to leave Rome the 21^st. and that he should not arrive here before the 3^d. of June. This will necessarily delay my journey to Munich a few days, but I think I shall be able to leave Verona about the 5^th. or 6^th. and shall probably perform the journey in five days. I am sorry I have no chance of seeing you before we meet at Munich. My friend,²¹⁸ who desires a thousand compliments to you all, hopes to see you on your return from Venice. If I knew you would come here, and that you would arrive in any reasonable time I would certainly wait for you and accompany you through the Tyrol. Pray give me some account of your intended motions.

I am very busy here building, (not a chimney) but something very nearly related to it,) a Kitchen for a public Hospital. If you pass through Verona you must take a look at it. – But you shall see a still better at Munich. I thank you for your kind letter from Florence. I left a short line for you at the Pilgrim²¹⁹ which I hope you received.

If I get to Munich before you, and in time to write to Inspruch [sic] you shall find a letter there for you, Poste restante­²²⁰ – but I will write to you again from hence; and perhaps more than once.

Adieu my dear Lady Palmerston, and believe me ever your most grateful and most affectionate | R.

My best compliments to Lord P.²²¹ and to Miss Carter. A Kiss for the wild one.²²² –

Letter 5: 9 June 1794

   Verona Monday 9^th. June 1794

I return you a thousand thanks my dear Lady Palmerston for your kindness to me in letting me hear from you so often. Your letter by Lord Morpeth²²³ came safe, and I hear’d from you this Evening by Lord Grandison,²²⁴ who arrived here this afternoon, and who means to stay here tomorrow, as he says, on my account. He goes from hence to Saltzbourg, and from thence to Munich, where I shall be ready to receive him. I wished much to have been able to wait for you at Verona, but I find it will not be in my power. I shall probably set out from hence on Friday or Saturday. I sent my Horses forward the day before yesterday. Doctor Ash, who goes with me, has been here these five days. I have been very busy of late constructing a Kitchen for a large Hospital and which is now nearly finished. It is built upon the same principles as that at Munich. A second Hospital here is following the example, and several Convents and private families are preparing to introduce my improvements in the economy of fuel.²²⁵

I have received a letter from Sir Charles Blagden in which he signifies his intire disapprobation of my returning to Munich. I wish I was at liberty to take a resolution more conformable to his advice, and to my own desire, but unfortunately for me I feel myself bound by ties which I cannot break without wounding my honor, and destroying a well-earned reputation.

I go to Munich fully determined to use every fair means in my power to recover my Liberty, but I never can be guilty of a shamefull desertion. By the time you arrive there my fate will be determined. I hear from all quarters that my return is much wished by the Elector.²²⁶

Countess Nogarola desires to be remembered to you in the kindest manner. She is exceedingly happy at the idea of seeing you at Verona, and stays in Town on purpose to receive you.

I thank you for your bad news from my namesake.²²⁷ What a blow! but I can tell you that it has been returned with interest. News has arrived here today of a most compleat Victory obtain[ed] over the French near Tourney the 22nd.²²⁸ but I cannot get the details of the affair. It is said in general to have been quite decisive, and that Austrian Flanders²²⁹ has been evacuated by the French in consequence of it.

My best Compliments to Lord P.²³⁰ and to Miss Carter. I hear by Lady Gertrude Villars [sic]²³¹ that my little favorite the wild Girl²³² is in high health and beauty. Catch her and give her a kiss on my account. Adieu! my dear Lady Palmerston.

Believe me ever most affectionately and gratefully | Yours R.

Letter 6: 21 June 1794²³³

   Munich Saturday 22nd. [sic] June 1794

Here I am my dear friend at Munich, in the midst of the political whirlpool of the Court, and most curious is my situation. The Elector²³⁴ received me with all the marks of the most unfeigned regard and friendship, and I had many smiles as I passed along from countenances I did not know. In short my reception has been most flattering. But still I am between hope and fear. As I am still a convalescent no mention has yet been made of business, and I have taken care to announce at a very early period my engagements with you to show you Saltzbourg,²³⁵ but I look forward with the greatest apprehension and solicitude to the first conversation upon public affairs, which must inevitably determine the happiness or misery of my future life.

Come quickly and be witness to a scene highly interesting to me, and which excites the curiosity of all Ranks of People in this Country. If you should conclude to come here from Innspruch by the way of Benedict Bayern Lord P²³⁶ must get a permission from the Governor of Innspruch,²³⁷ otherwise the Post Masters will refuse to give Horses for that Road; but if his Lordship makes his application in Person, and if he informs the Governor that he has particular reasons for wishing to take that road I have no doubt but the permission will be readily granted. I came that way myself and the road, which is through the mountains, is not only perfectly good and practicable but the Country is remarkably picturesque and beautifull. Observe the beautifull Cottages when you enter the plain at the foot of the Mountain of Waller See.²³⁸ If, as soon as you have obtained your permission to come by this road, you will immediately send off one of your C[o]uriers, or an Estafette,²³⁹ to me at Munich (chez Albert,) I will come and meet you at Benedict Bayern where I have already provided good Lodgings for you all in that Superb Convent, and where I am sure you will be received and treated with all the distinction and kindness you can wish.

Benedict Bayern is about 40 miles from this place and you will easily arrive there in one day from Inspruch. I was only ten hours on the road. In case you should be obliged to come by the other road, which however I really hope will not be the case, you will be so good as to alight at my Lodgings, chez Albert, à l’Aigle noir, and I will conduct you to the Lodgings provided for you. Come soon I intreat of you, for I long to see you at Munich - My Garden is beautifull.²⁴⁰ Inclosed I send you a letter of introduction to the Abbot of Benedict Bayern²⁴¹ which you will deliver in case you should arrived there before me. D^r. Ash who is with me is very well and begs his best respects to you.

He is in much distress having received some disagreeable accounts from his friends in England which obliges him to go there immediately – He leaves me, to my great sorrow, on Tuesday next, but he has promised to return, if I should stay here.

Adieu! Ever yours most devotedly R.

Letter 7: 2 August 1794

   Munich 2^nd. August 1794

I thank you my dear friend for letting me hear from you so often. I have just received your letter from Nuremburg. As the Post goes out so seldom for Cassel and Munster, and as you are so far advanced on your journey it is almost certain that this would not get to Munster before you have left it, I shall therefore forward it directly to the Hague where I hope it will meet you. I wrote to you by the last Post to Cassel but I am much afraid my letter will come too late to find you there.

Dillis, who charges me with a thousand thanks for all your goodness to him, is just return’d from Neuburg. He will set about your drawings immediately. One is to be Wasserburg – one Landshut, - one a general view of the lake of Stahremberg – one a view of Munich from a beautifull inclination you will remember in the English Garden, and one a view of the Chinese Tower and the weeping birch, and one a view of the Grecian Building taken from the second story of the Chinese Tower. For these six drawings, which will be of a handsome size, you will pay two Guineas each, if you dont think that price too dear. As soon as I see Mr. Klaist,²⁴² which will be in a few days, I shall give orders with respect to your Costumes. I am still in Munich, and very busy writing a narrative of my operations in Bavaria, particularly of the Establishment of the House of Industry. This I mean to Publish, (in English,) as soon as it is finished. Two Translations of it, one in German, and one in Italian, will be published at the same time.²⁴³

As I know you interest yourself most sincerely in every thing that relates to me I cannot let you be ignorant of what so nearly happened yesterday. The President of the Supreme Regency of the Country came to me yesterday charged me with a commission from high authority to sound me, and try to prevail upon me to take an active part in the Government, and to accept of a most important Commission that of the Superintendence and direction of the Police in the whole Country; an Office intirely new, and which I was told would be made perfectly independent of all the <other> Departments of State, and in which it was proposed to give almost unlimited Powers to those who should be placed at the head of it, and every assistance, civil, as well as military that could be desired. I now began to feel how difficult it will be for me to remain in this Country in peace. I see why I was not permitted to go to England. I am quite distressed and unhappy – But I still hope to be able to ward off the danger. I shall go to Nymphenburg²⁴⁴ tomorrow and then I shall know more of the matter. Adieu My Dear Lady Palmerston, Ever Yours Most Affectionately | R.

Letter 8: 10 August 1794

   Munich 10th. August 1794

My dear Lady Palmerston,

I wrote to you by the last Post, and directed my letter to the care of Lord St. Hellens²⁴⁵ at the Hague. I have received no letter from you since that dated from Nuremberg. I informed you in my last that serious and pressing proposals had been made to me to engage in Public business. I have since found means to excuse myself, without giving offence, which has relieved my mind from great anxiety. I am afraid however that Lord Palmerstons²⁴⁶ Prophecy will be verified sooner or later, and that I shall not be able to support very long the system of neutrallity which it is my most earnest wish to maintain.

Mr. Poore²⁴⁷ arrived here this morning from Augsbourg. He came from that place to Munich on purpose to pay me a visit, and means to go from hence to England. If you see Doctor Ash pray make my best compliments to him and tell him I wait with impatience for his return. I wrote to him this day sen’night under cover to Lord Cholmondely.²⁴⁸ Tell him I go on most prosperously in the reestablishment of my health. I really begin to apprehend that I shall grow too fat. You will perhaps smile at these groundless fears.

Pray remember me most kindly to Lord Palmerston and tell him I do not quite dispair of having the pleasure of seeing him in England before next June. I am very busy at present writing an account of my Establishment for the poor, which I mean to publish.²⁴⁹

Pr{ay r}emember me to Miss Carter, [MS torn] {ab}ove all to my dear friend Lady Palmerston; tell her, and tell her often, that she does not know how sincerely I am attached to her, and how much I should be rejoiced to see her again.

Adieu! my Dear, my most aimable friend, let me hear from you often, I beseech of you, and believe me ever your most affectionate | and devoted, R —-

My love to all the Children.²⁵⁰ If you see Sir Charles Blagden pray remember me to him, tell him I shall write to him by the next Post. I have not found time to make any new Experiments, but I hope soon to find Leisure to prosecute my Enquiries with respect to heat. I have just received accounts that my Kitchen at Verona answers most admirably. I must come to England to build one for you. Indeed I ought to do so for the public good.

Address: The Right Honorable | Viscountess Palmerston | Hanover Square | London. | Angleterre.

Letter 9: 28 August 1794

   Munich 28^th. August 1794

I thank you my dear Lady Palmerston for your kindness in writing to me so regularly, tho’ I have much reason to be dissatisfied with the negligence of the Post. Your letter of the 12^th instant from Hanover did not reach me ‘till yesterday. I am exceedingly sorry for all the misfortunes you have met with upon the road; they are however less distressing than the least of those you might easily have met with had you taken the road which would have carried you into the neighbourhood of the armies in the field.

You have doubtless hear’d of the death of the Electrice²⁵¹ and other local news we have none.

I received yesterday a letter from Sir Gilbert Elliot of which I shall send you a copy inclosed. Dillis will probably set out for Corsica the latter end of next month. I am much afraid he will not have time to finish all your drawings before his departure. He begs his best respects to you.

As to myself, I am going on much in the old way. My health continues to be good, and my time is divided between my studies and my amusement. My account of the Establishment for the Poor advances prosperously,²⁵² and I hope will be ready for publication in a couple of months. My treatise upon the economy of fire will require more time.²⁵³ I am making very considerable improvements in the English Garden. The direction of these works affords me both exercise and amusement.

Uriah has obtained leave, (through my generous intercession,) to absent himself from the Army, and pay a visit to his friends in your favorite Country. He is expected here in about a fortnight, and from hence will go with his family to his native Country. Upon this occasion I shall be deprived of my Secretary, - a loss by no means indifferent to a man of my studious disposition.

Tho’ I have every reason to think this letter will not arrive at the Hague in time to find you there, yet as you direct me to address any letters for Mr. Gaetano²⁵⁴ to you there, I shall send this there also also, taking it for granted that you will have left directions for forwarding to England such letters as may come there for you after your departure. I long to hear of your being safe arrived in London. Pray make my compliments to Broadlands and tell him I wish very much to see him. I am sorry to say that my apprehensions of being called out into activity again have increased of late. A formall motion was made in the Assembly of the States, three days ago, to address the Elector²⁵⁵ upon that Subject. This surprized me as much as it alarmed me, for hitherto the States had not showed themselves to be friendly to me. God grant that their confidence and friendship may not be more fatal to me than their opposition was formerly. Adieu! My dear Lady P. Pray make my best Compliments to Lord P.²⁵⁶ Miss Carter, and all my young friend[s]²⁵⁷

There are no letters for Mr. Gaetano.²⁵⁸

Letter 10: 7 September 1794

   Munich September 7^th. 1794

My dear Lady Palmerston

By this days Post I had the pleasure to receive two letters from <you,> one from the Hague of the 23^d. August, the other dated Gorcum²⁵⁹ August the 2ƺ^th, 94 which last date I own I could not make out. The account you give me of your meeting with your Brother²⁶⁰ has afforded me the most heart felt pleasure. And I am not a little flattered by the proof of your esteem and friendship which you have given me by judging me worthy of sharing the satisfaction with you which you felt upon that interesting occasion. I beg you will make my best compliments to my name-sake, and tell him I am very desirous of making his personal acquaintance. I am quite charmed with your heroic resolution to share the dangers of the Campaign with your beloved B. But I own I hope to hear of your being packed off for England, however contrary it may be to your wishes. I should by [sic] very uneasy to hear you were left behind, however safe you might think yourself in Holland. In my last letter²⁶¹ I sent you [I] inclosed Sir Gilbert Elliots letter to me relative to Mr. Dillis. The Elector²⁶² has since given his formal consent to <the> scheme proposed, and Mr. Dillis will set off for Corsica the end of this Month, and will arrive there about the end of October. He has leave of absence ‘till July next, and means at all events to visit Rome and Naples before he comes home. I am afraid he will not be able to finish all your drawings before his departure. He set off yesterday to go and take leave of his Parents. He charges me with a thousand thanks to you for all your goodness to him. You ask me for news. I wish I had any to send your worthy of your attention. I expect the Wilkinsons²⁶³ here the day after tomorrow, from Switzerland, - what their plan is I know not. He has written to me to desire me to take lodgings for them at the Inn, that is all I know, or desire to know, of the matter. The Countess²⁶⁴ will probably leave me in a fortnight or three weeks at farthest to return to Verona with the caro sposo.²⁶⁵ She always charges me to make her best compliments to you. The little Countess of Lerchenfeld²⁶⁶ is with her Uncle²⁶⁷ at the Meinau, upon the Lake of Constance²⁶⁸ where she will probably remain ‘till the end of October. The Countess of P.²⁶⁹ is at her Country House upon the banks of the Lake of Staremberg.²⁷⁰ I paid her a visit there on the 17^th. of last Month. The little Sophia²⁷¹ was perfectly well, and as beautifull as an angel.

You will have already learnt from my various letters my resolutions respecting the propositions that had been made me. I still remain firmly resolved to withstand, as far as it shall be in my power to do so with honor, every attempt that shall be made to bring me to take an active part in public affairs. My health goes on to improve, it is true, but my aversion to public business is such that the very idea of returning to my former situation makes me quite sick. If you should see Dr. Ash pray tell him I am very impatient for him to return to Munich. I have received but one letter from him since he left me. Adieu! my dear Lady Palmerston

Believe me ever most affectionately and devotedly | yours

Letter 11: 20 September 1794

   20^th. Sep^r. 1794

It is some relief to have a friend to whom one can complain when one is in distress. _ My situation in this Country becomes every day more critical and more painfull to me. All my establishments are continually attacked _ All those who have principle and honesty enough to support them are persecuted, and I have the melancholy prospect before me of being obliged either to step forth and take an active part in affairs in the highest degree painfull and disagreeable to me, or to see a work which has cost me years of labour ruined and totally destroyed. What shall I do, my dear friend?_ Indeed I wish you or any body else could tell me what I ought to do. In my life I never was half so much embarrassed. One comfort however I have, and that is that things cannot long remain in the situation they now are. You will recollect my favorite plan, and that which you most approved of. I may venture to tell you that I am not intirely without hope of succeeding in it. I mentioned it a few days ago very seriously, and was heard with attention, and with a certain air of kindness and goodwill which assured me that my request would not be refused if it were not thought necessary for me to remain where I am. I did not push my demand, as I found serious objections were made to my leaving my present place of abode, at this time, but I almost obtained a promise that my wishes should be complied with if in future circumstances should make it eligible for me to take up my abode far from here hence.

But enough upon this subject _ I must indeavour to entertain <you> with something else more amusing. Uriah is returned safe - and sound, and has been promoted to the Rank of Major General. This promotion is maliciously attributed to your humble Servant, but I protest I had no hand in it. It was done unsolicited; and in the handsomest manner possible by him whose prerogative it is to deal out such rewards to those who merit them.²⁷² They leave me alass! Soon to go and pass the winter in your favorite Country. The W^s.²⁷³ are here, _ How happy you are at hitting of Characters! I am quite of your opinion _ never never [sic] did I know any body so tiresome _ so wearing.

The good Bishop²⁷⁴ and his learned Lady²⁷⁵ are expected here every day – what if they should stay here too [sic] the winter!_

If you see Doctor Ash pray send him to me immediately _ I am much in want of his assistance. Dillis sets out at the end of the month. I am sorry he will not be able to finish all your drawings before his departure. But I comfort myself with this that you will probably be the gainer by the delay.

I have received no letter from you since my last,²⁷⁶ _ that is to say since yours from Gorcum. If you should see Lady Spencer pray tell her I am at work for her.

A thousand compliments to the most amiable Miss Carter.- Adieu my dear Lady Palmerston – I am ever most devotedly Yours.

Letter 12: 3, 5 and 6 November 1794

   Munich 3^d. October <Novembre> 1794

If you knew how uneasy I was at your long silence you might then form an idea of the satisfaction I felt at hearing of your safe arrival in London. I thank you for your short epistle of the 7^th. of last month, and for the promise you have made me of writing me soon a long letter. I hope that all my numerous and voluminous letters will have reached you, tho’ the interruptions of the Post in the low Countries have been so frequent that I should not be at all surprised if some of them should have miscarried. I thank you for the wish you have expressed to see me in England:- You must now be too happy, surrounded as you are by so many friends and acquaintances who are dear to you to feel the loss of one poor absentee, but your goodness I know will sometimes induce you to recall to your mind one who you know is so sincerely attached to you.

My situation in this Country is not become more agreeable of late; on the contrary I never saw the absolute necessity of retiring more strongly than at present. _ I am now quite sure that I never can expect one moments quiet and satisfaction in this Country, whatever line of conduct I may adopt. It is in vain that I keep aloof, and avoid every appearance of having any thing to do with public affairs, I am suspected of having a hand in every thing of importance that happens, and am as much exposed to attacks and to sollicitations as if I were actually at the head of the administration. But why should I tire you with this disagreeable subject? _ As soon as my fate shall be finally determined I will inform you of it once for all; in the mean time you know enough of the situation I am in to form a tolerably just idea of what must be going on. I am going on most successfully in the Experiments upon heat, and have lately made some improvements in my machinery which have produced quite marvelous effects. I lately roasted 100^lb. of Veal in six large pieces <at once> through and through, with 36^lb. of the very cheapest (pine) wood, which cost just 3 Crentzers, or something less than one penny farthing English, and several persons who were witnesses to the Experiment declared they never tasted roasted meat more delicately done. What renders this experiment peculiarly interesting is, that meat may be roasted by this contrivance with Sea Coal as well as with wood, or even with Charcoal or with turf. If a pound of Coal gives as much heat in combustion as a pound of wood, (and I believe it does more), upon that supposition, knowing the Price of Coals by the Chaldron,²⁷⁷ and the number of pounds in a Chaldron of Coals, you may easily calculate the expence of Roasting 100^lbs. of Meat in London, by my contrivance. Pray inform yourself, and let me know how much a Chaldron of Coals weighs, and how much it cost at a medium. What a fortune I could make by coming to England taking out a Patent up for my new inventions relative to the economy of fuel, and entering into partnership with Boulton.—²⁷⁸

Wednesday 5^th. Nov^r. As the post does not go out for England ‘till tomorrow I may possibly be able to send you some account of an acquaintance of yours which I hope to receive today from Italy.— I am going this morning with M^r. and M^rs. Douglas, (the Miss Sharp,)²⁷⁹ – to see the Poor house. Mr. Talbot²⁸⁰ has been here, but he left us yesterday to go to Vienna. M^rs. W.²⁸¹ was safely brought to bed about 8 days ago by her husband,²⁸² to the great scandal of all the midwives, male and female, of Munich. Nothing can be more ridiculous than the accounts and details which are given of that famous operation. A midwife, who for form sake was engaged, and who was actually permitted to be present in the room, - tho’ she was not allowed even to approach the patient,_ says the husband must surely be mad, or something worse. She describes him standing the whole time of the labour by the side of the bed with a book in one hand, and his watch in the other, and obliging the midwife to remain in a corner of the room at the greatest possible distance from the poor Lady, who, wrapped up in the bed Clothes, and quite invisible, was not allowed the least assistance and she affirms that it was not till the child had actually been born near half an hour that she was allowed to approach her, and to enquire into the state of affairs under the coverlid.

Thursday Morning: please to return the inclosed when you shall have read it who would think of sending a letter from a third person fifteen hundred miles to be read? – I. – and I am sure it will interest you, - perhaps more than any four pages I could write – You asked me for a long letter – here are two for you. – Adieu, my very dear and most aimable friend. Write me soon I beg of you. Give my best Compliments to Lord P. Miss C – and Sir Charles²⁸³ – My love to the children,²⁸⁴ and a kiss for the wild one. Ever Yours R.²⁸⁵

Letter 13: 4 January 1795

   Munich 4^th. Jan^y. 1795

I thank you my dear friend for your charming letter of the 4^th. December which I have this moment received, together with another short one of the 15^th. – I cannot tell you how much pleasure it gives me to hear from you. I got up this moment morning much disposed to be out of humour, being obliged to go to Court, and to dine there, but the sight of your hand writing gave such a sudden turn to my ideas and to my feelings that I am sure the air of joy and content which has enlivened my countenance will be sufficient to fill all the Courtiers I shall meet with at the Levèe with a thousand fears and apprehensions. Would to God it were in my power to make them compleatly happy – You can have no idea my dear friend, how disagreeable my political situation is become of late, and how little hope I have of ever enjoying one moment of quiet, or the least real satisfaction in this confounded Country. Nobody sure[ly] was ever so plagued as I am, nor so hampered. _ Establishments the most interesting and the most usefull to society will fall to ruin if I withdraw my support from them, and to support them costs me infinite pains and trouble and the sacrifice of every enjoyment which can render life pleasant and agreeable; and probably in the end, of life itself. _ <Oh> What can I do my dear Lady Palmerston? _ Can I leave Munich? am I not in honour bound to sacrifice every thing, even life itself, rather than show a want of constancy and perseverance? _ It is odd to say, but it really appears to me that nothing can save my honour and my life together, but my disgrace, and would it not be really disgracefull to do any thing with a design to procure the disgrace of any Court? – I am really much embarrassed, and I have no friend near me with whom I can advise, nor into whose friendly bosom I can pour forth my complaints. I have a friend at a distance indeed who does not cease to urge me to quit a situation so ungratefull, and <to seek> that repose so necessary to my happiness and which I have so well deserved, in any Country where it is to be found – But the generosity of the friend who gives me this advice is one of the strongest ties which bind me in my present situation.

Tell me once more – can I – ought I to leave Munich? – Can I abandon a friend whose happiness depends so intirely upon her passing her life with me, and who is so ready to abandon every thing on Earth that is dear to her for my sake? –

An event is about to happen at this Court which very probably <will> produce such a change in my situation as will leave me no reason <room> to doubt what steps I ought to take. My last letter will have informed you what this event is,²⁸⁶ and your knowledge of my situation with respect to a certain Court will enable you to see in what manner that event will be likely to affect me. In the mean time, nothing can be more marked than the personal attentions which I receive here. The important Event alluded to will probably take place the end of this month, and I soon after <shall> be able to find out _ how the land lies, _ and to shape my course accordingly. You tell me not to play at tric trac²⁸⁷ too often _ The bad success I have had in my endeavours to make you fond of that game have given me such a dislike to it that I have not played at it _ I hardly recollect the time when. The Young Countess²⁸⁸ is perfectly well, and as aimable and gentle as ever _ The Maxe²⁸⁹ is here _ but to own to you the truth I do not see her as often as perhaps I should do _ were she not quite so ____ (the word is composed of nine letters,)²⁹⁰ ____ as an old acquaintance I cannot quite neglect her, but she sometimes make me blush.

The little dear Sophie²⁹¹ is a little indisposed just now with a cold, but she is as charming as ever, and often comes and dines with me. But the Prophecy of her Mothers Mother that her father²⁹² and her Aunts Lover²⁹³ would renew an old connection with her younger Daughters elder Sister,²⁹⁴ is not likely to be verified. What a beast!! – for Gods sake dont say so, for I assure you I am more ashamed of myself than you can be of me. What would I give that it were otherwise! _ But my adverse stars would have it so. Dont hate me for it I beg of you. I am indeed more to be pitied than to be blamed. And in Persia you know it was ten times worse.

Adieu! my dear friend _ Remember me, but forget my faults²⁹⁵ _ forget also my weaknesses _ except such of that as may justly be intitled to your indulgence.

Remember me kindly to all those about you to whom I am known, _ and to your aimable female friend to whom I wish to be known. Give a kiss on my account to the wild one.²⁹⁶ What pleasure it would give me to break in upon you by surprize some Evening, very late, when you least think of receiving such a visit, at Broadlands!_

I will still hope however to see you at least once more, before I die. _

Write to me now and then I beg of you _ You certainly can never write to any body who will have more pleasure in receiving your letters.

I have heard nothing of M^r. Quinton²⁹⁷ this age – M^r. Brand²⁹⁸ sets out from hence for England in a few days.

W_²⁹⁹ is smoked³⁰⁰ here by every body – he is quite insufferable:–

I do not yet quite despair of seeing you in England in the Spring.

Letter 14: 2 April 1795

   Munich 2^nd. April 1795.

A thousand thanks my dear Lady Palmerston for your goodness to me in giving me the pleasure of hearing from you so often. I have just received your letter of the 10^th. of last month. I should have written to you much oftener this winter <but> the communication with England has been so very uncertain that I was deter[r]ed from writing on that account. Now that the passage seems to be open I shall be more regular in my correspondence. I wish I could acquaint you with any thing interesting in return for all the news you are so kind as to send me, but alass! in this remote corner of the Universe there are few Events worth relating – We have just hear’d from Leghorne that Admiral Hotham³⁰¹ has beat the Toulon Fleet, and taken two Line of Battle Ships. But you will undoubtedly have authentic accounts of this affair in England long before my letter can reach you. Dillis saw Sir Gilbert³⁰² at Leghorn, but being ill of a fever, as he (Dillis) writes me, when the Vice Roi sailed for Corsica he was left behind, and as Sir Gilbert left no instructions for him to follow him, as soon as he recovered, not knowing what he could do better he went on to Rome and Naples. He means in the Spring to return by Leghorn and to offer his Services once more to Sir Gilbert. I rather suspect between ourselves, that our friend Dillis, who is naturally a very great Coward, was apprehensive of being regaled at Corsica with a Seige [sic], and therefore was not over anxious to arrive there. I thank you for the news you send me of my friend Sir Charles. I dont know which to admire more his Courage or his good fortune.³⁰³ Matrimony is so much the fashion, and the young Ladies are grown so partial to us old Gentlemen that I dont know whether in the end I shall not be tempted to take unto myself a Wife. one of these days. If you should see any thing advertised that you think would suit me you will be so good as to inform me of it. The strange events you advert to in Holland do not surprise me half so much as those which have lately happened in Ireland.³⁰⁴ I never hear’d of any thing so unaccountable, and I agree with you intirely in what you say of D^r. Willis.³⁰⁵ My man of business, (if he still be alive, for I have not written to him these two years,) is M^r. Charles Lackington who formerly kept a China Shop in S^t. Albans Street, and who now lives, I believe, with a Sir Something Somebody, as butler, is [sic] Charles Street, S^t. James’s Square.³⁰⁶ My letters directed to M^r. Charles Lackington, Charles Street, S^t. James’s Square, London, used to find their way to him, but to prevent your having any trouble finding him out I will write to him and direct him and to leave his address at your House in Town. As the Post is this moment going out for England I shall hasten to close my letter, but I will write to you again in a few days. Yours most devotedly | R.

Letter 15: 22 May 1795

   Munich 22^nd. May 1795

Whether you are a “Witch”, or not, you frightened me most confoundedly, I do assure you, by your last letter._ My dear friend, how could you be so imprudent? __ __ Or rather, how could such a thing ever enter into your imagination? _ Could I just for a moment believe you were serious in your raillery I should most seriously answer it by assuring you that tho’ your suspicions may perhaps be founded in the nature of things and of circumstances, yet your conclusions, Personnally considered, are by no means just._ Humiliating as it might be to my vanity, I should feel myself obliged to inform you that other Countries besides America and Bavaria produce Cavallo’s,³⁰⁷ which, in the opinion of some People, have great merit. Your favorite Country, for instance had produced some that are said to have met with approbation. Tastes however are so very different, and so very unaccountable that there is no arguing about them._ That is to say, in general they are so,_ There are certain cases however in which the reasons are so apparent from the quallities of the thing chosen, that there is no mistaking them. But it is not my intention to trouble you with the result of my observations and speculations upon this intricate and most profound subject. You tax me with being stupid, my dear Lady P. but you forget that Munich is not so large as London, and that interesting events are rare with us _ Very rare. Besides this, the pursuits of all ranks of People are so invariably directed to the same object, and there is so little of finesse made use of in these pursuits that it is hardly possible that anything new can happen. As to myself, all that I can say is that I am very well, and that my Garden is in the highest beauty. I have made many alterations and improvements in it since you saw it, and am still at work upon it. I am just now building an amphitheatre capable of holding 3000 People. We have lately had here on a visit the young Princess of Taxis,³⁰⁸ niece to our Queen.³⁰⁹ She is very pleasing, and really seemed to be much pleased with our attentions to her, and with what she saw here. I had the honor of showing her the Garden and the Poor House. Her husband³¹⁰ was with her – cela s’entend

Sir Godfrey³¹¹ has just left us – he is going to England. M^r. W. ³¹² is still here at an inn – he is gone to Saxony[.] M^rs. Uriah³¹³ arrived here a few days [ago] in perfect health. I went as far as Mittenwald to meet her. He³¹⁴ arrived here a week before her.

The Max³¹⁵ is still here – she has been very unwell, but she is now much better. She talks of returning soon to Milan with her husband³¹⁶ who is now here. The Norths³¹⁷ are still at Ratisbon. I lately hear’d from Dillis _ he was then at Rome, but was preparing to go from thence to Corsica. As soon as he comes back to Munich I shall set him to Work for your Ladyship. I am engraving a set of views of the English Garden – They will be 30 in number, and about the size of a large Visiting Card. The small Prints of Rome gave me the idea. As soon as they are finished I shall not fail to send you a set of them. The whole set will cost about five shillings or two pence each print. They cannot be very magnificent for this price, but as the drawings are faithfull they may serve to recall to your mind scenes you have formerly contemplated with pleasure. They may perhaps call to your mind at the same time the remembrance of your absent friend. A friend most sincerely attached to you, and who will never forget your goodness to him,__ and who will never cease loving you._ tho’ your friendly chidings, on account of my long silence are most flattering to me, yet I own that the threats with which they were accompanied gave me pain. Indeed my dear Lady Palmerston you must not think me so ungratefull as to be indifferent about you. I am very very [sic] far from being so I do assure you; and I should be really unhappy should you seriously entertain such an opinion of me; and I could not support the idea of being abandoned by you.

You will probably be returned to Town before this letter reached you. If you should see Sir Charles³¹⁸ I should be much obliged to you if you would be so good as to make my compliments to him, and tell him that tho I have so long been silent I have not been idle.

I beg also to be remembered to Lord P.³¹⁹ and to Miss Carter._ and to all the Children. I am very sorry to find that my friend Lilly³²⁰ has again been ill. A little friend³²¹ of yours here has likewise been very ill, but is now recovering.

The Young Electrice³²² has likewise been unwell, and is still confined to her room. Some say she is home-sick, others that her sickness has another cause. We shall soon know who is in the right. Adieu! believe me unalterably | Yours

Letter 16: 13 June 1795

   Munich 13^th. June 1795.

You are certainly one of the most charming Correspondents that ever existed;­_ and if I instead of the word “Correspondents,” I had put women it would have been equally true. And such a perfect mistress are you of the art of pleasing that I hardly know whether I am more flattered when you praise me, or when you scold me. Be assured that I feel myself much too deeply interested in the preservation of your friendship, and the continuation of your correspondence not to do every thing in my power to preserve both.

You wish to know what is become of Dillis! How you will be grieved when I tell you what is become of him!_ Poor man he is dying, if not already dead. His Brother³²³ here, received a letter from him by the last Post from Italy, dated from Civita Vecchia, in which he took a formal and most melancholy leave of him, telling him that he had just arrived there, he hardly knew how, in an English Man of War from Corsica, and was then absolutely dying of a Consumption. The only hopes I have left are founded on the knowledge I have of the melancholy turn of mind for which poor Dillis was ever remarkable. But the next Post will I trust bring a more detailed account of his situation, for a friend of his had come to him from Rome to Civita Vecchia, and was to write to Dillis’s Brother by the next Post which will arrive here tomorrow.

Dillis has been some time in Corsica, and had made the tour of the Island with Sir Gilbert,³²⁴ but he complained of being unwell when he arrived there, and the intolerable heats, from which <he> suffered a great deal, probably served to increase his disorder in such a manner as to render it necessary for him to leave the Island. The news of his melancholy situation has made me quite unhappy. But I still have some hopes left of his recovery, tho’ his relations here seem to have none. Lord and Lady Bruce³²⁵ arriv’d here last Evening, and Lady Berwick³²⁶ is expected today or tomorrow. They will stay here about a week and then go on for England. Lord Longford³²⁷ and his Companion M^r. Nott³²⁸ have been here some days. They go from hence to Vienna. They came from Venice. M^r. Stewart, (now Wortley)³²⁹ with his family, is at Vienna, _ as also Lady Templeto[w]n.³³⁰ I take it very ill of her that she did not come to Munich to pay a visit to her old love. The Bishop of Winchester³³¹ is still at Ratisbon.

You have no idea my dear Lady P. how exquisitely beautiful my Garden is this year; I have been constantly at work upon it almost ever since you left us and have made many improvements. I have just finished a most magnificent amphitheatre, built in the form of a half circle, with five rows of seats rising one above another composed of Earth, and covered with verdure, and crowned above by 25 boxes, each 10 feet wide in front, covered with a roof,_ the whole, especially when filled with People forming a very magnificent view. It hold[s] about 2000 Persons and was quite filled the other <Evening> when Fire-Works were given for the amusement of the Public, and when the Elector³³² was present. The Electrice,³³³ who is still indisposed, and confined to her room, of course was not present. Her illness has much puzzled the Physicians, but we hope it is not dangerous.

I am much flattered by the obliging manner in which you mention my intended journey to England. I have already spoken seriously to the Elector upon the subject, and I really think you will see <me> before the end of October, - perhaps sooner. I cannot describe the impatience I feel to see you. Nothing surely could afford me so much delight. You may perhaps have found out that I am in love with you; for that is what could not be hid:- but neither you, nor any body else, beside myself, - can form any adequate idea of the esteem and affectionate regard I feel for you, - or of the heart-felt pleasure it affords me to reflect upon your kindness to me, and to know that you are really and truly my sincere and affectionate friend. It comes to the share of few to have such a friend; and if I do not deserve it, I am at least grateful for my good fortune. I am very much obliged to you indeed for writing to me so often. I wish I could make my letters contain any thing that could amuse you and repay you in some measure of yours,- But alass! you know what a dull life we Germans lead. I have not yet been at Starenberg³³⁴ – but, the little Sophia³³⁵ and her mother³³⁶ have been settled there these ten days. Poor little Sophia, she has been very ill of a billious fever, and I thought her at one time in great danger. – She is however now recovering very fast. I thought of poor Lilly³³⁷ very often when I saw her in her sick-bed. Pray give Lilly a kiss upon my account.

How could you imagine I had quitted my Lodgings? _ I certainly have not, nor do I mean to do so, unless I am should be turned out of them by head and shoulders. I am Lodged quite in a Princely stile, and my Concerts are the most magnificent Assemblies you ever saw. I have literally all the World at them. At my last I had near 100 Ladies. I have fitted up my great apartment in front of the House, which as you may remember, consists of a very Grand Hall, and three handsome Rooms adjoining to it, in an elegant manner. The stall and all the rooms are bordered by Turkish sopha’s which completely surround them on every side. My concerts are given in two acts, and between the Acts the Company retires to another handsome Appartment consisting of three large Rooms, on the opposite side of the Court, where they find tables spread, for Tea, Punch, and other refreshments. I wish you were here to see in what a style your friend does the honors of Munich. But it would give me still greater pleasure to accompany you in your morning excursions about Clifton or in the Forests of Hampshire.

The Wilkinsons³³⁸ who are still here, set out tomorrow for Switzerland, but I dont dispair of their returning again to Munich in the autumn. My respects to your dear mother.³³⁹ Tell her she must love me a little, were it only for my name’s sake.³⁴⁰ Tell her I mean to present myself to her, for her approbations, in the autumn. My Compliments to Lord P.³⁴¹ and my love to the Children. Adieu! my dear Lady P. I am, and ever shall be, most sincerely Yours | R.

Letter 17: 30 July and 1 August 1795

   Staremberg³⁴² 30^th. July 1795

I write to you from the Bower in my (formal) Garden of Berg which about 12 months ago you honored with your presence. I am here quite alone and am waiting here for my Horses which I expect this afternoon to come and take me to Munich. I came here last Evening from Ammerland, by water. I spent two days at Ammerland. The dear little Sophia³⁴³ is perfectly well. This whole Country is in the highest possible beauty. I visited my little cottage last Evening on my way here from Ammerland, and spent near two hours in going over the Grounds, and in forming schemes for future improvement. As yet however I have not yet begun my operations. The uncertainty of my situation, and of the situations of others with whom I am connected has hitherto deter[r]ed me from attaching myself still more to a spot from which it is very possible I may find it necessary to remove. There is nothing which appears to me more uncertain that my future destination. And even my present situation is so ambiguous that it would be no easy matter to describe it._ Luckily however for me I feel no kind of apprehension nor have I any just reason to be discontented. I am treated with marked civility, and even with Respect and Distinction; at the same time I am permitted to Live in my own way; that is to say, much retired. I have lately finished a very interesting Tour of four weeks through the internal districts of Bavaria. I set out from Munich on the 23^d of June, and returned on the 20^th. of July.. ten days ago. From Munich I took the road leading towards Vienna, which I pursued six Posts to Alten Oetting. From thence I went down the Inn to Passau. From Passau I went up upon the banks of the Danube to Ratisbon, through the most fertile Country without exception, I ever saw. From Ratisbon I went by Neumark to Nuremberg, and from Nuremberg to Bamberg. Methinks I hear you exclaim – what could he have to do at Bamberg? Nothing precisely at Bamberg,- but at Trabelsdorf – a retired Village four Leagues from Bamberg I had so much to do that I spent ten days there. From Trabelsdorf I went to Tis[c]hingen, near Dillingen, near Blenheim, in Swabia, upon the Banks of the Danube. The Country Residence of the Prince of Taxis³⁴⁴ – (and <of> the young and amiable Princess,³⁴⁵ niece to our Queen.³⁴⁶) – where I spent eight days. In the beginning of June she had spent a week at Munich, where we became acquainted, and as she perceived I had some taste in Gardening she kindly invited me to come and assist her in laying out her grounds at Tis[c]hingen, which I accordingly did. I had great hopes upon my return to Munich to find letters from Broadlands – but these my hopes were cruelly disappointed. Your Ladyship will permit me to observe that it is now near two months since I last hear’d from you, tho’ I have written to you twice in that period. It would be highly improper and unjust however, for me to complain. You are really very good to me, and I am certainly not ungrateful.

I am happy to inform you that Dillis is much better and probably quite out of danger. When we last hear’d from him he was at Frescati and hoped to be in Munich in October.

You may perhaps recollect that you asked me in one of your late letters whether I had taken care to provide an heir &^c. &^c. _ Tho’ I have not, it is more than probable that somebody else has. It is confidently said _ and believed _ that it is so. But upon this, and some other subjects which may entertain you we will discourse at our leisure over a comfortable chimney fire next Winter in London. I am quite determined to come to England this Autumn. I finish this Letter in Munich, on Saturday 1^st. August. We have no news here of any importance, except it be that of a Peace said to have been signed on the 23^d. of last Month between the French and the Spaniards. We expect M^r. Walpole³⁴⁷ here every day from England. Pray let me hear from you now and then, and let me know if you will really be glad to see me in England. Apropos – would you like to have a Picture of Dillis? _ There is one here as like as it can stare _ a head, as large as the life and not ill Painted. I will send you my head at the same time and Painted by the same Master._ Or if you would like it better, I will give a miniature of me, not ill done, and (as they say) very like. You may cho[o]se. But you will remember it is à charge de revanche. Adieu My dear Lady P. Ever Yours.

Address: for the Right Honorable | Lady Viscountess Palmerston | Hanover Square | London | Angleterre

Letter 18: 15 August 1795

   Munich 15^th. August 1795

It is now more than two months since I last had the pleasure to hear from you. You may therefore judge whether I am uneasy at your long silence. I hope you have not quite forgot me. If you have not,_ and if you still feel the generous glow of one single spark of that friendship which you formerly had for me let me conjure you to write to me immediately – directing your letter “Hambourg poste Restante”. I shall leave Munich in about four weeks, and hope to be with you at Broadlands about the 20^th. of October. Every thing relative to my journey is finally settled, to my unspeakable joy and satisfaction, and if my friends in England receive me kindly nothing will be wanting to my perfect happiness. My health seems to be perfectly confirmed, and I do not fear even the November smoke and foggs of London. My leave of absence is till the end of April, and I mean to spend the whole winter in London,_ unless you should order otherwise.

I beg you would order Bricks and Mortar to be prepared for the new Kitchen, Wash-house,_ and hot house at Broadlands, Sheene, &c^a._ I mean to put you to a very heavy expence in indulging my foolish passion for introducing new improvements.

We are all well here. The hopes of the E³⁴⁸ however _ alass! are disappointed._ Just at the moment when the joyful news was to have been publicly announced _ and just when a magnificent fête in the English Garden was prepared to celebrate this happy event._ Horse-racings; Balls; Illuminations &c^a. &c^a. _ it was found that our rejoicing were premature. The fête was given, because it was prepared, and announced (tho’ luckily the occasion of it was not announced) and the Elector³⁴⁹ was present at it, and above 20000 of the Inhabitants of Munich _ But the Electrice did not come,_ being somewhat indisposed. Circumstances being thus changed, some triffling alterations were made in the plan of the fête, and things went off very well, and your humble Servant received many Compliments upon the taste and elegance displayed upon the occasion.

I wish you had been here,_ and whether you will believe me, or not, I assure <you> I wished it at the time.

Adieu! my dear Lady P. I am Ever Yours.

Letter 19: 26 September 1795

   Meiningen in Franconia | 26^th. September 1795.

Having overtaken here an Englishman who is going express to London, I cannot refuse myself the pleasure of informing you that I am on my way to England where I hope to arrive about the middle of next month. As the Gentlemans Horses were actually put to when I arrived at the Post House I have only time to tell you that the French are actually in possession of Manheim and of Francfort, and that I am ever my dear Lady Palmerston

Your most devoted | Rumford

Letter 20: 11 October 1795

   Yarmouth, Sunday 11^th. Oct^r. | 12 O’Clock

I am this moment come on shore and avail myself of the opportunity of a messenger going directly to London to acquaint you with my arrival in England. The Packet is not yet come up to Town, the wind contrary, and I fancy I shall not be able to get my Carriage on shore in time to proceed on my way to London before tomorrow morning. As I have a letter from the Elector³⁵⁰ to the King³⁵¹ I must of course deliver that first of all and my second object will certainly be to pay my Respects to my English Electrice. Pray let me hear from you if possible in the mean time. I shall leave word at your house in Town where I lodge as soon as I shall arrive.

Pray make a thousand compliments for me to all my friends to Lord P.³⁵² Miss Carter &c. You will have the good luck if you are able to read this scrawl. But I am so agitated that I can hardly hold my pen; and besides my agitation of mind upon finding myself once more in this Country I am literally in a fever, not having slept these three days past. We have been just three days on our passage. No news.

I am ever, my dear Lady P._ | Most devotedly Yours | R.

I am in perfect health._

Letter 21: 14 October 1795

   Royal Hotel, Pall Mall, | Wednesday Evening | 14^th. October 1795

I return you a thousand thanks, my dear Lady Palmerston, for your kind letter, and am exceedingly sorry that I cannot join you as soon as I could wish. Indeed I am at this moment in such a state of mind as renders me totally unfit for all Society. I have met with such a loss as nothing can ever repair._ I have been deprived of the fruits of all the labours of my whole life. Coming into Town last night at about a quarter of an hour after six in the Evening in my Post Chaise and four I was stopped by S^t. Pauls Church by a Gang of Villains, and in a moment a large Trunk containing almost all the Papers of any consequence I possessed in the World was cutt off from behind my Carriage and carried clear off. What I lament most is the loss of all my Philosophical Papers – The result of whole years of intense study, and of immeasurable Experiments is lost forever._ I feel myself poor for the first time in my life, and I am so much disheartened by this heavy blow that I almost doubt whether I shall intirely recover it. It does not appear to me to be possible for any thing ever to make me smile again, or to remove the sad gloom which overspreads the whole universe. I never felt so indifferent as to life, or rather, life was never so insupportable to me. A Collection of Political Memoirs and Essays, (to me invaluable) the plans, the original plans, of all my operations in Bavaria – all my original proposals as they were made (in writing) to the Elector³⁵³ – all the Returns and other details of the Establishment for the Poor – all these are gone._

I went immediately to M^r. Bond’s³⁵⁴ Office in Bow Street, and by the advice they gave me there I have offered a reward of ten Guinea’s to any Person who shall bring or send back my papers, but I have very little hope of recovering them._ I was at the Levèe today,³⁵⁵ and must stay here to be presented to the Queen.³⁵⁶ I came home after the Levee and have seen nobody. When you get back to Broadlands you will let me know it and I will come to you for a few days,³⁵⁷ but pressing affairs of a very disagreeable nature will oblige me to spend more time in Town than I could wish. My agent³⁵⁸ here has thought proper to make difficulties in complying with a request I made him three months ago by letter to lay out for me in the stocks about 1600£ he has in his hands of mine. It seems it is inconvenient to him to give m<e>y my own money. I must see how I am to get it. As I am not rich 1600£ more or less is an object to me. Luckily I brought between 15 and 1600£ with me from Bavaria, otherwise I might have found myself in serious distress. Judge if in this moment I should make an agreeable companion._ My Treatise upon Establishments for the Poor ought to be published, but I feel myself so out of sorts that I dont know how to set about it.

Pray write to me, and scold me well._ Perhaps a good scolding would do me good. You will let me know when you expect to be back from your excursion that I may arrange my matters accordingly. I cannot be so near without seeing you.

I wish to see you very much, because I love you very much;- but all those who I dont love, I perfectly hate. I am ill-humour’d to a degree, and am not without my fears that you may find me disagreeable. Is this the happiness I expected to enjoy upon coming to London?_ The more I vent my Rage the more I feel myself relieved, and I begin to hope that the whole load of the disorder may go off by expectoration_ But you must not be frightened for I will not sold scold at you, nor will I present myself before you ‘till I am sure of being able to behave. I am sure you will think I am mad, but I certainly am not. I am in my sober senses, Adieu! my dear Lady P. | Good night.

Letter 22: 28 October 1795

   Royal Hotel Pall Mall | Wednesday 28^th. October 1795

Tho’ I have not been much edified by the contents of the inclosed letter, yet it was by no means uninteresting to me, as it showed that I am sometimes in your thoughts. I wish however very much that the Gentleman who has received the stray-epistle meant for me, may be kind enough to forward it to me, when he has done with it. I hope he will have found it very entertaining.

Since I have been returned to Town from Broadlands I have been employed chiefly with my private affairs with my Agent,³⁵⁹ Banker, &c^a. and I have made some visits, and projected more. I have been several times with Lord Sheffield,³⁶⁰ who is in Town. He advised me in all matters relative to my intended Publications.³⁶¹ He is an author himself, as you well know,³⁶² and of course is well acquainted with Booksellers, Printers, Printers Devels &c^a. and all that numerous race [of] troublesome beings who call themselves Critics and whose suffrages it is essential to have._ as I am told.__ He had already introduced me to some of them, and my book is in reading. By the Bye, Lady Sheffield³⁶³ was brought to bed yesterday, of a son, but who died immediately upon coming into the World. Lord Sheffield has offered to take me with him tomorrow to the House of Commons and to get me a good place below where Peers and Strangers are placed.

On Friday I am to dine with Lady Spencer at Holywell House at S^t. Albans, where I am, by appointment, to meet the Duchess of Devonshire. I spent last Evening with Lord and Lady Lavington³⁶⁴ at their House in Argyle Street.

I saw Sir Charles Blagden yesterday³⁶⁵ – I have indeed seen him frequently since my return to Town from Broadlands; He appeared to be much affected when I acquainted him with Miss Godfreys illness, and has repeatedly enquired after her since, and questioned me very particularly respecting the real state of her health.

He certainly appears to interest himself very particularly in every thing that relates to that amiable young Lady. May I beg my best Compliments to her, and to Miss Whitworth?_

I should have written to Your Ladyship before this time, had I known where a letter would have found you. As Lord P.³⁶⁶ is expected here today, or Tomorrow, I suppose this will be likely to find you at Broadlands.

Pray give me an account from time to time of your intended motions, that I may have a chance of shooting you flying.

No news from Germany, but that which we received yesterday through France.

It seems to be quite sure that the french army is retreating, and will probably re-pass the Rhine. Stocks are rising, and betts are making in the City that we shall have peace before Christmas. Three Packets are due from Cuxhaven.

Upon my return to Town from Broadlands I found a letter from Laura,³⁶⁷ but I have received no other from anybody on that side of the Water since my arrival in England.

Pray dont you intend to come to London soon? Sir Charles insists upon it that you are not going to Bristol, but that it is your sister³⁶⁸ who is going there with Miss Godfrey, _ and he pretends to have his information from a quarter that can be depended on. Pray let me know what your intentions are, _ and how far I am to consider myself as having a part in the execution of yours [sic] plans.

Adieu! my dear and most charming Lady P. You know how sincerely I am ever

Yours most devotedly R.

(There is only a 2 between us)

Letter 23: 31 October 1795

   Pall Mall Saturday | 31^st. October, 4 O’Clock

I am this moment returned from S^t. Albans, where I went yesterday to dine. The Duchess³⁶⁹ was there and Lady John Cavendish.³⁷⁰ I left them both there, but the Duchess returns to Town on Monday. I am going to dine today with Lord and Lady Lavington.³⁷¹ I have not yet been able to see Lord Palmerston³⁷² tho’ I have searched for him repeatedly.³⁷³ I hope to be more fortunate tomorrow morning. I found your letter from Brighthelmstone³⁷⁴ upon Town coming to Town[.] I dont know exactly why, but I found that your letter made me melancholy, and I much doubt whether I shall recover my spirits in the course of the day. I feel as if something disagreeable has happened to me, _ or as if some misfortune would soon happen to me. What is this feel? [sic] are you displeased with me? Have I done any thing to offend you? Was your letter more reserved than usual? _ Was it too short? _ or what was it? indeed I dont know – but this I know, that I am a most tiresome Correspondent today, and that I cannot do better than to make haste to finish my letter.

I received letters from Bavaria today. All is well there; and it certainly was not those letters which put me out of sorts.

Adieu! my dear Lady Palmerston. God bless you. If I do not address this letter right you must attribute to this, that I did not know whether B meant Broadlands or Bristol

If I have done, said, or written anything amiss, you must forgive me. It is you who are more to blame than I, for you have really spoilt me. I never reflect one instant either upon what I say, or what I write_ That is to say when I am speaking or writing to you. With others God knows I am cautious enough.

But I will not say one word more­_ | so adieu!

Letter 24: 6 November 1795

   Pall Mall, Friday Morning | 6^th. Nov^r. 95.

Indeed you are very good, my dear Lady Palmerston to write to me so often. If you did but know how much I stand in need of such acts of kindness at this moment to sooth my mind and to prevent my becoming absolutely ferocious! _ Never surely was a human being exposed to so much unmerited persecution.

I now find that the loss of my Papers was but a prelude to much more serious misfortunes which were to befall me upon my return to this Country. To this Country! why did I ever see it? How much happier should I have been had I never quitted the peaceful habitation where I was born! There, at least my innocence would have been sufficient to protect me against the poisonous breath of slander.³⁷⁵ But here alass! there is no protection for me. No peace, but in the grave. Would to God my sufferings were at an end,_ but the idea of leaving my reputation a prey to those infernal wretches who never cease to persecute drives me to distraction. I know that I ought not to write to you in my present state of mind. Forgive me, I know I do wrong. I wrote to you three whole sheets yesterday, but when I had finished the letter I did not dare send it to you. And this I find will, if I dont take great care to prevent it, be of the same complexion. I did not go out of my room all day yesterday, notwithstanding that it was Thursday, and I dont feel the least inclination to go out today. My mind is extremely agitated. I am quite wild with indignation, and what renders my situation quite insupportable, I dont know against whom I ought to vent my Rage. I feel that I have been wounded by some base assas[s]in, but I dont know who he is,_ nor do I even know what the Hellish weapons are with which he has attacked me. I am avoided like a stricken Deer. _ Gracious God! what have I done? _ what I have done in the course of my whole life to be avoided? I write this with my eyes swimming in Tears._ But they are not the tears of repentance. they are the the tears of indignation._ When I reflect upon all I have done to merit the public esteem; - upon all I have suffered; - and upon the success of my exertions, the treatment I meet with drives me to desperation.

But I must not write to you in this state of mind.

Adieu! my dear friend._ You at least know me, and will do me justice,

I ask nothing more from you than to believe me to be worthy of your Esteem. I ask no assistance from you, nor will I accept any from any human being. Conscious of my real worth as an honest man, I will brave alone the united attacks of Earth and Hell, and will either repel these infamous attacks and confound my Enemies,_ or perish in the attempt. After having distinguished myself so much by my exertions in the busy scenes of life, I shall <not> now suffer myself to be pushed off the stage with disgrace, nor shall it ever be said of me that I sneaked away.

Letter 25: 7 November 1795

   Saturday Morning 7^th. Nov^r. 95.

You are really a dear good woman, and I love you very much. You are very kind to me, and I am indeed very grateful to you. Were it not for you I very much suspect that I should not stay in the Country one month. You can have no conception how much I am disgusted with every thing I see and hear. To show you how thoroughly I am disappointed in my expectations with regard to the state of things here, I assure you that I am almost determined to leave the Country without publishing either my Account of my Poor House, or my Experiments upon heat.³⁷⁶ I find nothing here that I expected to find _ No disinterested zeal for the public good._ for the advancement of useful knowledge; on the contrary I plainly perceive that all ranks of Society have made a most visible progress in corruption during the twelve years I have been out of the Country. My poor honest German Servant³⁷⁷ insists upon it that people here in general are worse even than in Italy, and he begs of me every day to hasten my return to Bavaria.

Forgive my croakings my dear Lady Palmerston. You know I am out of humour. – Good Heavens! if you did but know how much reason I have for being so! How cruelly, how unjustly, I have been treated. But I will not bore you with my eternal complaints.

M^r. Holland,³⁷⁸ the Architect was with me yesterday. He was sent to me by Lady Spencer, and I hope he went away satisfied with me. He had reason to be satisfied at least with my communicativeness, and he appear’d to be so. I have promised to go to see him at his House at Sloane Place, and assist him in fitting up a Kitchen, fire-place &c^a in my way. I was last Evening at a M^r. Montagu’s,³⁷⁹ in Cumberland Place, being carried there by S^r. Charles Blagden.³⁸⁰ I was invited to dine there today, but I excused myself; not being in a humour to go any where.

I beg my best compliments to your aimable friend Miss Whitworth. I am very sorry to hear she is still unwell; and I shall be very glad to see you both in Town soon. Lord P.³⁸¹ called upon me yesterday when I was out and left word that he was going out of Town for a few days, _ where, he did not say.

I need not inform you that I am not very well. You know too well my extreme sensibility, and the deep hold which painful idea’s take in my mind, not to know that my health is always much affected by every thing that agitates me, and give me uneasiness. I am however not ill, or at least not seriously so. My mind is much agitated, - that is most certainly true,_ and it is equally true, that I wish myself asleep._ I hate mankind with a most perfect hatred, and so deeply rooted is my aversion to them, that if I were to see a brute animal stand up on his hind legs I should run away from him.

God grant me patience to finish the period allotted for my sufferings here, and quiet rest hereafter. Amen.

Letter 26: 9 November 1795³⁸²

I know I have done very wrong in communicating to you the agitations of my mind, particularly as it <is> not possible for me to give you any satisfactory account of the occasion of my alarms. The total uncertainty I am in, with regard to what has been done, or said against me, _ or by whom _ is what is most peculiarly distressing to me, I dont know what has been said to my charge, but I am quite sure that attempts have been made to injure my reputation, and I have but too much reason to suspect that these attempts have been successful. I felt that I was neglected by those from whom I had reason to expect attention and even friendship, and this unexpected coldness, combined with some other circumstances which I will explain to you more fully when we meet, (but which possibly may not be so alarming as I fancied,) so [illegible] totally disturbed the balance of power in my mind that every thing was brought into confusion. Two grains of Emetic Tartar, which I took yesterday, have intirely removed the fever into which I was thrown, and the black clouds which obscured my imagination are in a great measure dispelled. My reason has recovered her seat, and a consciousness of my own worth, -(pardon the expression, it does not proceed from vanity,) – had restored tranquillity to my mind, and rendered me superior to the malevolence of mankind.

I know that I must have been most abominably traduced, in this Country, as well as upon the Continent. But I think I may fairly say _ let my works praise or condemn me.

Those who know me will esteem me, if they are themselves worthy of Respect and Esteem, _ and the judgement of those who do not know me, may justly be considered as not applying to me, and ought not to give me pain.

Is this indifference the other extreme? You shall tell me your opinion upon all these matters when we meet. Remember me to Miss W.³⁸³ and believe me ever, in all situations, most sincerely and Affectionately Yours.

Address: The Right Honorable | Lady Viscountess Palmerston | at Sir Ferdinand Po[o]le’s³⁸⁴ | Lewes | Sussex

Letter 27: 23 December 1795³⁸⁵

I wish I was a “charming Creature”, there is nothing I should like half so much to be._ particularly if you thought me so._ but alass! __ I know too well how far I am from it. Your warning is kind, but upon my word it is sometimes very difficult, - at least I have frequently found it so _ to follow such good advice. My room us getting on – my bows are full of flour [sic] pots, and I shall sleep in my new sopha bed tomorrow _ I had a visit today from a fine Lady _ but most unfortunately for me I was out. _ She went up into my room and examined everything she could lay her hands on._ Eichner³⁸⁶ did not know what it meant._ He has to be sure sometimes seen Ladies visit me when I am at home, but this was the first time he had ever seen a strange Lady take possession of my apartment and pull my things about._ It was Lady Melbourne.³⁸⁷_ I saw the Dutchess³⁸⁸ yesterday. She is going to Roehampton, and gave me a rendezvous there, but I do not think I shall be able to keep the appointment. If I find a moment of leisure I will dedicate <it> to you and Broadlands. I must however get two or th[re]e Chapters off my hands³⁸⁹ before I stir from Town, or I shall have no peace of mind any where, and shall be good for nothing if I come to you. To come for twenty four hours would only serve to turn my head, and make me still more {dissa}tisfied than I now am {with} my present situation.

I have today ordered a take Copper Kettle with a double-cover to be sent to Broadlands by the waggon. I will leave you and M^r. Pelham to dispute who shall have it. When I come down I will put it up. Adieu! my love to all “enquiring friends” I am ever yours most affectionately.

Address: The Right Honourable | Viscountess Palmerston | Broadlands | Rumsey

Letter 28: 1 February 1796

   Monday 1^st. Feb^y. 1796.

I am really more obliged to you than I can express for your goodness in coming to see me. I received your note from Shene,³⁹⁰ and direct this to the Bush at Farnham.³⁹¹ I am going on very well, but have not yet been out; nor am I anxious to get abroad, for I have so much to do, that I am not sorry to have an excuse for staying at home. The Reviewers I see have noticed the first Essay. In the Critical Review published this day an account is given of me, and of my performance, which ought to satisfy my vanity, if any thing can satisfy it.³⁹² It is a very great satisfaction to me indeed to see my friends partiallity to me in some measure justified by the public opinion. You were always my friend. Even at Naples where they wanted to make a Democrat of me; and in England where some infernal scoundrels wanted to make God almighty knows what of me. I feel however, and have ever felt that I am worthy of your Esteem. I was unreasonable enough to wish you could have loved me better, or rather more, that it is in your power, or in your disposition, but I am however very grateful to you for the affection and friendship you have shown, and had really rather be to you what you like, than what I might wish. I am upon the whole a good Creature, I know I am, and neither vanity nor envy ever disturb the peace of my mind.

What a long and what a serious Epistle!__ Perhaps it may amuse you in the Evening at the Inn where you may perhaps have nothing else to amuse you.

Adieu, God bless you.

Be assured that I am really very much attached to you; More I fancy that you imagine. I shall be however always perfectly devoted to your wishes and to your commands.

I have received a long and very k{ind} letter from the young Princess of Taxis³⁹³ Our Queen’s³⁹⁴ niece. If I had not already so many engagements I should have been seriously tempted to set down before that fair Citadel. She is very petty and remarkably clever, and seems to be very well disposed towards me. Poor thing she has a terrible stick of a husband,³⁹⁵ and nobody about her to comfort her.

Address: The Right Honourable | Lady Viscountess Palmerston | at the Bush Inn | Farnham

Letter 29: 8 February 1796³⁹⁶

   Monday Evening

I thank you, my dear friend for your kind letter, and for all the comforting things you are so good as to say to me.

God knows what kind of an opinion you may have (at bottom, or in the secret recesses of your mind) of me. I am sometimes really much at a loss to ascertain that point, tho’ it is so very interesting to me.

There is a proverb which I have often – very often thought applied to me, and my situation with you._ I know you are a perfect witch, and can divine any thing, pray give me proof of your wonderful powers by writing me the first word only of that proverb. I am quite sure that you guess it,_ but if you will pretend to be stupid I do swear to you I never will believe that this is not mere pretense and affectation. As I am in duty bound to tell you every thing, as you are my confessor, I must inform you that I am not quite well today. I dined out yesterday, like a fool, which I am determined never to do again, and I suppose that in the midst of the animation which you know can sometimes awaken me and make me forget what I am about, I committed some excess at table for which I am now paying very severely having been sick as a horse all day. My disorder will be however most probably sans consequences. I have merely an indigestion – the Devil take them.__

Adieu! my dear Lady P. Give my best love to Miss W.³⁹⁷ I wish it were true what you say of her._ But alass I dare not hope. I can find nobody here in this ungrateful Country who will take compassion on me and love me as I deserve to be loved.

God bless you all | however.

Address: The Right Hon^ble. | Lady Viscountess Palmerston | Broadlands | Rumsey

Letter 30: 12 February 1796

   Friday 12^th. Feb^y. 1796

I thank you my dear friend for your very kind letter _ you may indeed believe [me] when I assure you that it gives me infinite pain to enjoy so little of your Society, the object nearest my heart when I came to the resolution to visit this Country. If you reflect upon my melancholy situation in this Town, which by the bye I hate, _ without a friend to speak to, or care for me, you [will] then be able to form some idea of the pain I feel every time I compare my present situation with what it might have been had it been in my power to indulge my wishes by being with [the] friend I most sincerely Love. But how could I have done otherwise than submit to that dire necessity which forced me to leave you in order to attend more closely and effectually to concerns which are really of too much importance to be neglected. The manner in which I employ the short time I shall be permitted to stay in England will not only decide upon my reputation _ an object I have ever considered as being of the utmost importance to my happiness, _ but also upon the success of various schemes I have formed, and which I have much at heart, for promoting the public good. The spark I have struck has already kindled a flame, an ardent desire for improvement, which with proper care, can hardly fail to spread far and wide. You can hardly form an idea of the enthusiasm with which my schemes for making the Poor comfortable and happy have been received by many of the most worthy and benevolent Characters in this town. M^r. Wilberforce³⁹⁸ has come to a resolution to move heaven and Earth, and what is still more, the House of Commons, to get my system adopted throughout the Kingdom, and to show that it is possible, he will himself undertake to introduce it in London. He has been with me to ask my assistance, and assures me that nothing shall prevent his making the attempt. I have promised him the most complete success._ and infinite satisfaction. He invited me to come and dine with him for the express purpose of meeting M^r. Pitt³⁹⁹ and making his acquaintance. My answer was, _ “as I have nothing to solicit and have no ambition whatever to court the acquaintance of Great Men, I am not particularly anxious to be known to M^r. Pitt, but if he wishes to make my acquaintance I shall think myself honored, and will certainly meet him at any time and in any place he may name.”

Pitts conduct to me upon a former occasion, of which I will give you an account when we meet, rendered this answer necessary;

Tomorrow at 12 OClock Lady Spencer is to call to take me to Lady Holderness⁴⁰⁰ who has desired to make my acquaintance, why or wherefore I know not. As to my health I cannot [say] I am at all satisfied with it. I am certainly not well. I do not sleep well, and I am at times low and nervous. In short I dont much like myself, but I hope with proper care and, great attention to diet to get better.

I have only been out on foot once since I saw [you] and twice or three times in a Carriage. My appetite for food is however tolerably good which gives me hopes that nothing essential is wrong. I believe I work too much. God bless you my very dear friend. Indeed I am most affectionately attached to you, My love to Miss W.⁴⁰¹ adieu!

Address: The Right Honorable | Lady Viscountess Palmerston | Broadlands | Rumsey

Letter 31: 22 February 1796

   Royal Hotel Pall Mall | Monday | 22^nd. Feb^y. 1796.

I received your letter on Saturday the moment I was going into the City to dine with the Middlesex Justices, and take a view of Clarkenwell Prison, and therefore had it not in my power to answer it sooner. I am happy to find you are so happy at Bath – I beg my best Respects to your mother,⁴⁰² and tell her I mean to come and see her before I leave England – if possible I certainly will do it. I should have had great pleasure in joining you there _ but alass! _ you know [how] little I am master of my own time. Make haste to come to Town, my dear good friend, or you will not find me at the Royal Hotel, but at Bedlam, where you have often said I should finish my Career. I have called several times lately at your Sisters,⁴⁰³ who has a bad cold. Emma⁴⁰⁴ has likewise a cold but she goes gadding about to the opera and every where as if nothing was the matter with her. I wish you would scold her, for she dont mind what I say to her any more than Miss Whitworth used to do. I shall dine on Friday at M^rs. Boehm’s⁴⁰⁵ where I am to <meet> your sister and Emma. M^rs. B and little black eyes have been to see, __ or rather to see my room. My third Essay is not yet out.⁴⁰⁶ I am afraid you will say of my Essays as you did of the Brewers. D__n them all.

I am very ready to join with you I assure you, for they plague me to death. I am however, thank God very well, notwithstanding all my plagues.

Pray come back soon, for I really long to see you. My room is now quite enchanting – Every body is in love with it.__ But nobody alass! with the owner of it.

God bless you.

Address: The Right Hon^ble. | Lady Viscountess Palmerston | Bath

Letter 32: 25 February 1796

   Royal Hotel, Thursday | 25^th. Feb^y. 1796.

What amazing spirits you are in, my dear friend! The air of Bath, or something else you have found there has rendered you more charming if possible, than ever you were. _ But I know what it is _ you are happy, and I love you for being so. Pray make my best Respects to your dear good Mother⁴⁰⁷ _ and give my kindest love to Miss W.⁴⁰⁸ tell how I long to see her _ and I long to show her my room. I expect you will all come to see me, and very often too. I shall always be at home to my friends, _ and among those you have chosen to be ranked. _ But enough of a subject which I am sure has already tired you most heartily. You are mistaken in your suspicions of my living with my Hatt-on.⁴⁰⁹ Indeed I see her very seldome. But I love her for the concern she shows at the Death of her old friend.⁴¹⁰ I never saw a human being more completely miserable than she appears to be. She looks like a ghost, and is really very unwell. She has cried her Eyes quite out. The fire of them seems to be quite extinguished, and her wan cheek and melancholly air would move a heart of stone to Pity. She is now at Roehampton where her friend Lady B.⁴¹¹ has carried her by force. I really pity her, _ and respect her situation. Her Sister Lady Elizabeth⁴¹² is quite recovered._

Pray come to Town soon, if you wish to find me alive, for I have almost killed myself, and nothing but loosing my Senses can save my life. I swore not to dine any where, and I now have engagements for a month and instead of going out and taking exercise, I am night and day at my writing table – Pray come and burn all my Papers.

I must now leave you, my de{ar} friend to go to work. God knows when I shall get out of this scrape. | Adieu

Emma⁴¹³ and your Sister⁴¹⁴ are, I trust, both better _ I called yesterday to see them both, but they were out. We are to dine together at Mr. Boehm’s.⁴¹⁵ By the Bye M^rs. B⁴¹⁶ told me, in my Ear, when she came to see me, that you and I had a flirtation together _ How little she knows of the matter! n’est ce pas?

Pray send me the Receipt for making D__n’d Noodles._ I want to publish it in my Essay on food.⁴¹⁷

Send me likewise my Treatise on Tric-trac.⁴¹⁸ I want it for Emma, who I am determined to teach the game, tho’ you would never let me teach it you.

Address: The Right Hon^ble | Lady Viscountess Palmerston | at Mrs. Mee’s⁴¹⁹ | Bath

Letter 33: 17 March 1796⁴²⁰

   Thursday Morning 17^th. March

No language can describe the events of yesterday. I have found a being who, I am persuaded is destined by Heaven to reward me for all I have suffered in the storms to which I have been exposed during my whole life.

I have had the extreme delight of clasping to my fond Bosom a lost Child who I find worthy of all my Esteem, and of all my Affections. I have seen my Daughter⁴²¹ – Good heavens, - what an expression! when applied to a young Woman of twenty!

And my Daughter has found an affectionate Father. Notwithstanding all my fears of being blinded by paternal affection I cannot help thinking my Girl a charming Creature. Her Countenance is expressive of much good sense joined to all that goodness of heart which I so passionately love, and all the accounts I have received from my friends in America are very much in her favour indeed.

What gives me infinite pleasure to know is that she has left nothing behind her in America that she would prefer to me; - and if she should like me half as well as I think I shall like her nothing but Death shall ever part us.

Forgive these effusions of my extreme happiness _ I know you will share these with me my joy. I will endeavour to call on you about One O’Clock, and perhaps I may be accompanied by my wild one. But if you should not be alone I shall not come in.

Adieu | God bless you.

Address: The Right Hon^ble | Lady Palmerston | Hanover Square

Letter 34: 30 April 1796

   Dublin Castle Saturday | 30^th. April 1796

I arrived here last evening, or rather yesterday afternoon, (for it was only three O’Clock when we came into the Harbour,) after a pleasant passage of 13 hours from Holy-head. I went to an Inn, where M^r. Pelham came to me as soon as I had acquainted him by a note of my arrival. As I was much fatigued, not having had any sleep the preceeding night, and having been unwell though not absolutely Sea-sick on the Passage, I left the Inn by M^r. Pelham’s advice and went in his Carriage to his House in the Phoenix Park three miles from town where I took possession of an apartment destined for my use during my stay in Ireland.

M^r. Pelham who was engaged to dine out, and also to a Ball, slept in Town and came out and breakfasted with me this morning. After breakfast we came to Town together, and he presented me to the Lord Lieutenant,⁴²² who received me very politely indeed, and has ordered an appartment for me in the Castle which I can occupy occasionally when I come to Town. In short I should be a most unreasonable mortal indeed were I not satisfied with the attentions that are paid to me in this Country. And as to the principal object I had in view in coming here, I have well founded hopes of being successful. On Monday we shall begin our operations by visiting the House of Industry and the Foundling Hospital.

I am going to dine at a M^rs. Jones’s⁴²³ about 10 miles from Dublin where I am told I shall meet the whole world.

The Lord Lieutenant is to be there.

As we set out immediately I have only time to repeat what I have told you already a thousand times, that I am Your very affectionate and | devoted | R.

Address: Lady Palmerston | with a thousand Compliments | to Lord Palmerston⁴²⁴

Letter 35: 24 May 1796

   Phoenix Park, Dublin | Tuesday 24^th May 1796.

I thank you my dear friend for your kindness to me in letting me have the pleasure of hearing from you so often, and more especially for the truly friendly advice you give me. I wish I could follow it exactly, but my time is not at my disposal. The obligations I feel myself under to the Elector⁴²⁵ renders it quite impossible for me to do anything that could have the least appearance of any thing like neglecting him, as I know he expects my return to Munich, and have reason to think he wishes it, I must not delay my return much longer. I will not however leave this Country without having completed, as far as it is in my power, what I have begun. I will not only leave my opinion in writing, or rather in Print, with to respect to what ought to be done for the relief of the Poor in this Kingdom, but I will take care to leave complete models for imitation of all those mechanical improvements I recommend. More I cannot do. I am afraid I shall be obliged to postpone my departure from Dublin some days beyond the period I had fixed in my own mind for my return to England, but I hope to be in London by the 15^th. of June at farthest. Wherever I am, and whatever may happen to me I shall never cease to be with the most sincere and unalterable attachment

Most devotedly Yours. | R.

Pray do me the favor to scold my indolent Daughter⁴²⁶ when you see her, and make her feel how impossible it will be for me to take her with me to Bavaria if she does not take the trouble to learn french. She is certainly a very good humoured pleasing girl, but I am much she afraid she has been so long accustomed to doing only what she likes, that it will be very difficult to get her to apply in earnest to any thing that does not amuse her.

Address: The Right Honorable | Lady Palmerston | Hanover Square | London

Letter 36: 14 July 1796⁴²⁷

   Royal Hotel, Pall Mall | 14^th. July, Thursday | 1. O’Clock

So you come to Town and go out again without calling to ask whether I am alive or Dead. I wish I could come to you today but I do not think it will be possible. I am going to S^t. James’s and must go afterwards to the Foundling Hospital, where I have been obliged to undertake business for a month which I must finish in three days.

I thank you for your kind offer to my Daughter,⁴²⁸ and for all your goodness to her. I wish you would give her your friendly advice and assistance with regard to the things she ought to take with her to Munich, for though in the course of my life I have had some little experience in the domestic affairs of Ladies I do not find myself competent to the arrangement of the Trousseau of a Daughter.

Thank God I have put the finishing stroke (about an hour ago,) to my first Volume of Essays,⁴²⁹ and shall be no more tormented by Printers Devils.

God bless you.

Address: Lady Palmerston | East Shene | per Penny-Post

Letter 37: 23 July 1796

   Yarmo<u>th Saturday Morn^g. | 23^d. July 1796.

We arrived here safe last night at 10 O’Clock and shall sail tomorrow morning at 10, for Cuxhaven; and if the wind should stand as it now is we shall probably have a very fine Passage. My Companion⁴³⁰ who is still a sleep, bore her journey perfectly well, and was very entertaining. She behaved amiss only once, which was by laughing at the distresses of her father at an Inn where the scoundrel of a Post Master insisted on my taking eight Horses instead of four and on my refusing to be so shamefully imposed on, left me two hours in the street without Horses, with the carriages surrounded by a vast mob. I carried my point however at last, and I am not without hopes that this proof of my obstinacy and of my success in carrying a point may have a good effect on my naughty Daughter, who from the beginning was quite positive I should be obliged to submit at last, and never ceased urging me to do it at once, and with a good grace. I am by no means sure she was not, in her heart, a little sorry to find that her predictions were false.

I left the Vis-a-vis, and my Daughter in it to go and look for Horses at another House, and whether it was her laughing eyes or not, I know now that attracted the attention of some fine Gentlemen who were standing at the Inn Door, one of them, a Frenchman, who appeared to be vastly civil, came up to her and seemed extremely interested about her. He at last grew so familiar and made her so many fine speeches and fine compliments that she thought it necessary to stop him in his career, and request him to step down from the window of the Carriage, into which he had thrust his head and shoulders.

{I s}hall say nothing of the pain I felt at leaving my friends in England, nor of <my> obligations to them for their goodness to me. I know you do not love compliments and therefore shall make none.

I shall write to you again from the other side of the Water. In the mean time I am, my dear Lady Palmerston, with unfeigned Regard and attachment | Most faithfully Yours. R.

Address: The Right Honorable | Viscountess Palmerston | Hanover Square | London

Letter 38: 31 July 1796

   Brunswick, Sunday Morn^g. | 31^st. July 1796

The Progress of the french in Franconia has obliged me to alter my route, and to make a detour to my left. We arrived here last night at twelve O’Clock and are this moment setting off for Leipisck, where we hope to arrive in three days. I received at Hambourg a letter from Laura⁴³¹ written from Franconia and dated the 22^nd July, the day after I left London. In this letter she acquaints me with her being obliged to fly into Saxony to avoid falling into the hands of the french. She says that while she was writing to me her windows shook with the incessant Thunder of Canon which could not have been 8 leagues from her. She conjured me not to think of attempting to force my Passage to Munich by Franconia but to take the route by upper Saxony, where she might hope to see me on my way. I have adopted her plan, and shall probably be with her at the place of her present abode (Kalbsreid,⁴³² 6 leagues from Leipsick,) tomorrow night. I do not find that the French are yet advanced beyond Stutgard, but I should not be surprized to find them at Munich. They will soon be driven out of Lombardy – see if they are not. _

Adieu! My best Love to Butterfly⁴³³ &^c. &^c. and dont forget to remember me properly to Lord P.

Ever Yours most sincerely | R.

Address: The Right Honorable | Lady Palmerston | Hanover Square | London. | Angleterre

Letter 39: 6 August 1796

   Leipsic 6^th. August | 1796

As you think you have a right to know all my adventures, and as one I have lately met with may possibly amuse you I shall, without further preface relate it to you. I told you in my last from Brunswick that I had altered my proposed route by Franconia, and had determined to pass through Saxony and to call in my way on Laura,⁴³⁴ who had written me from Cobourg that she was flying before the French, and implored me to call and see her at Kalbsrieth, a Village belonging to her Husband, in Saxony, half way between Meresburg⁴³⁵ and Weimar, (both these places you will find in any map of Saxony). In compliance with this request when I got to Halberstadt I left the direct road to Leipsic, and inclining to my right endeavoured to approach Kalbsrieth. My first days journey from Halberstadt brought me, by most detestable cross-Country roads to Eislaben⁴³⁶ where we slept, and where I found myself within 15 English miles of Kalbsrieth, at which place we arrived the next day at two O’Clock in the afternoon[.]

I saw the Village at a great distance, situated in the midst of a vast plain, covered as far as the eye could reach with immense fields of waving Corn. The Village which is but small was partly hid by some scattering trees that surround it, but one House much larger than the rest, neatly painted, white and surrounded by many out-houses and large Barnes, announced afar off the residence of some Person of distinction, and this we were told by our Postilions was the Chateau of the Baron de Kalb.⁴³⁷

An hundred yards before we arrived at the house we passed a small elegant wooden bridge which was thrown over a little rivulet which seemed to run round the whole Village on that side, and the banks of this rivulet which were planted with Lombardy Poplars had a very pretty appearance, and seemed to make part of the pleasure grounds belonging to the House.

The road which lead from the bridge to the front of the house passed by the House, and as it was wide and well kept, the approach on the whole was fine, and announced the taste as well as the Rank and opulence of the Proprietor. An [illegible] elegant double stair-case of stone, on the outside of the House in front, gave [an] air of grandeur to the building, and seemed to announce the hospitality of the owner. The Postilions began to blow their Horns before we arrived at the bridge, and the whole House being alarmed with this noise, and with extraordinary appearance of two English Carriages driving up full speed to the house, when we stopped at the door we found it open, and the landing-place at the top of the stairs before the door full of People of all ages, sexes, and conditions,

You will easily imagine with what avidity and solicitude my eyes run [sic] through this crowd in search of my dear Laura._ You can likewise figure to yourself my disappointment at not being able to discover her. I saw a young well-dressed woman, but alass! she was not Laura, and when I fixed my wild, roving, impatient eyes upon her she shrunk back and retired. This scene lasted a minute, and as nobody seemed disposed to come down the steps to the door of the Carriage I began at last to feel myself in a very awkward situation. I had not yet spoken to any body, and nobody seemed disposed to speak to me. I took courage however and called out in German to the People on the landing-place to know if Madame la Baronne de Kalb was within a voice answered me – “she is not here.” – “I am quite astonished to hear it, for she wrote to me from Franconia that she was coming here, and desired me to meet her” – the voice answered again – “she is not here”. “What am I then to do? <I am the Count of Rumford,> I have brought with me from England many things for her and for her husband – what am I to do with them? – is she not expected here soon?[”] All the answer I could get was – “she is not here[”]. And by little and little those who had collected at the door to see us, retired; and I was left, with my two Carriages, to contemplate at my leisure the ridiculous figure I made. My Postillions growing <impatiently> to be discharged I asked if there was <no> Public House in the Village and was showed the most miserable dirty hovel I ever saw. We were driven into a filthy farm yard, where we were attacked by grunting hogs and barking curs, and where the mire was so deep that it was with the utmost difficulty that the Horses drew us along, and the Carriage sto[p]ed just in the midst of an immense dung-hill. The Postillions immediately took off their Horses and without seeming to be in the least moved with our deplorable situation, mounted them, and cracking their whips, rode off, leaving us to our fate. We hear’d them blowing their Horns as they rode through the Village, and they continued to amuse themselves with their music after they were a great way off.

Having recovered ourselves a little from the consternatnation consternation into which all these unfortunate events had thrown us, I put my head out of the Carriage and looked for Eichner,⁴³⁸ who I saw sitting with the utmost composure in the <Post> Chaise, which had stopped just behind my Carriage,. and We looked at each other for a moment, and at the various objects that surrounded us, and then both at the same time burst out into the most immoderate fit of laughter. My daughter⁴³⁹ immediately joined in the concert._ The Hogs, Dogs, and Hens whose anger and resentment at the violation of their Territories, and the insults offered them was <now> carried to the highest pitch, opened on us all together, and for a moment it would have been difficult to have determined which of the various and discordant sounds predominated.

This ridiculous concert was interrupted by the arrival of a Servant who saluted Eichner with an air of familiarity and who I saw was recognised by him as an acquaintance. This man I found was a Servant to the Baron de Kalb and was at Trabelsdorf last year when I was there on a visit to the family. From him I learnt that the Persons we had just seen at the House of the Baron, were Mons. and Madame de Lichenstein, who had hired the House,_ and, what was still more interesting to me to know that Laura was expected there that very evening from Weimar where she had been spending a few days with a friend (Madame de Luck, her husbands sister who I knew she always loved, - who ‘till within a few months had always been her companion _ and who was the only confidant of her love for me, and had always showed herself our sincere friend.).

Upon receiving this information I immediately resolved to wait her arrival, and Eichner was sent to reconnoitre the Inn, which to be sure had a most woefull appearance on the outside. He came back and told me there was one room in the House up stairs, or rather up the ladder, (for properly speaking there were no stairs to the house.) _ where we might make a shift to spend the day, but that it was so full of dirt and stunk to that degree that it would be quite impossible to go into it ‘till it was cleaned out. This operation was immediately begun under Eichners direction and in about an hour was completed, and we were ushered into our appartment, a road having been first made for us from our Carriage to the door of the house by laying down loose boards on the soft mud and mire with which the yard was quite filled. I will not tire you with a description of our Room _ its furniture _ our miserable fare, and still more wretched and uncomfortable accommodation at night. There was one miserable bed, which I of course resigned to my Daughter, but she was so tormented by voracious bugs almost as large as land Turtles, and millions of starved flea’s as small as mites that she could not sleep one moment, and found herself quite ill the next morning. As to myself I slept upon straw in a corner of the room; but I was <not> secure from the attacks of the Bugs and Flea’s and slept very little.

But as you have been informed that Laura was expected to arrive at Kalbsrieth in the Evening you will doubtless wonder how we came to be permitted to remain all night in this miserable hovel. To explain this mistery I must acquaint you that after having waited all day with much impatience for her arrival I had in the evening the mortification to learn from the Baron’s Servant that a messenger had just arrived with a letter from her to Madame de Lichenstein informing her that instead of coming that day to Kalbsrieth as she had intended she found herself obliged to alter her plan and go to Jena, and that she could not tell when she should be able to come to Kalbsrieth.

You may imagine the effect this news had on my mind _ as I learnt from the Servant that Lichenstein was a friend of Kalbs, I combined the brutal neglect or rather inattention I met with at his door, with other things and began to suspect that it was determined to prevent at all hazards my seeing my friend. I began even to think the story of the arrival of the messenger and of the letter fictions invented to deceive me, and I was far from being sure that Laura was not at that moment in the Chateau of Kalbsrieth, confined in some dismal Dungeon, and the idea more than once occurred to me of going and attempting to deliver her from her confinement by force of arms.

To find out whether a messenger had actually arrived I feigned a strong desire to send a letter by him to Weimar, to Madame de Lück and under that pretext desired to see him. Kalbs Servant went to look for him, and in a few minutes actually brought me a Person who said he had brought the letter in question that morning from Weimar, and farther he informed me that he had received the letter from the hands of Madame de Lück. Finding no good reason to doubt the truth of his story I found myself under a sort of necessity to write to Madame de Lück, which I accordingly did; and as my situation, and my disappointment at not meeting Laura at Kalbsrieth as I expected, after having come so many miles out of my way to see her were uppermost in my mind I expatiated, perhaps with some feeling on those subjects; informing her at the end of my letter that I should go the next day to Leipsic, and from thence make the best of my way to Munich. This was Tuesday last, the 2^nd. instant – (Today, when I am writing at the Inn at Leipsic is Saturday the 6^th.) I left Kalbsrieth accordingly on Wednesday morning at 4 O’Clock, but we did not reach Leipsic that day, but were stopped at Meresburg by a most violent Thunder Storm where we were detained ‘till Thursday morning. The Lightening struck in four places in as many minutes,_ once in an old Tower by the Inn where we stopped, and three Houses in three different Villages near the Town were set on fire and were seen burning at the same time. An old man who had taken refuge under the gate-way of the Tower was carried by [word missing] to his own house Dead,_ and the streets were all changed to impetuous torrents which bore down all before them.

We left Meresburg on Thursday Morning and arrived at the Gates of Leipsic, where the Post Office is kept, at 11 O’Clock. Leaving my Daughter at the Post House, engaged with her book, I went into the Town to get some ready money from a Banker, and having finished this business returned to the Post house and at 1 O’Clock set out on my journey towards Munich. I arrived at Altenburg two Post from Leipsic at nine O’Clock in the Evening [sic], and went to bed thinking to proceed early next morning on our journey. At two O’Clock in the morning I was waked by the arrival of an Estafette⁴⁴⁰ which brought me a short, but most affecting letter from Laura. She conjured me by all I hold dear or sacred not to leave the Country without seeing her. She said she would return instantly from Jena, and come to Kalbsrieth. That she would even follow me to Leipsic could she but be sure I would wait for her there. She had forgotten in her hurry to date her letter but I found by one I received at the same time from Mons^r. de Lichenstein dated Kalbsrieth, Thursday morning nine O’Clock, that it had been sent to Kalbsrieth on Wednesday night with a desire that it might be forwarded to me immediately by express in case I should be gone from Kalbsrieth on its arrival there. I did not hesitate one moment to comply with my dear Laura’s request. I immediately dispatch’d an answer to her by Express, inviting her to come to me at Leipsic, and telling her I would immediately return to that place and wait there for her arrival. My answer must have reached Kalbsrieth last night about midnight, and if she was arrived there, as I have reason to hope, and if she set out early this morning on her journey hither she may be here this evening by nine or ten O’Clock. When time appears to us to loitre we are apt to have recourse to agreeable occupations to cheat away the tedious hours.

I am your most affectionate R.

Letter 40: 19 and 20 August 1796

   Munich 19^th. August, 96.

We arrived here safe, three <six> days ago, after a journey of 23 days from London. My last letter, (which was a long one) was dated at Leipsic, where I was waiting for the arrival of my friend Laura.⁴⁴¹ She came there the same day I wrote to you, at four O’Clock in the afternoon, and surprized us most agreeably as we were setting [sic] at Table after we had just finished our dinner. She spent that afternoon with us, lodged at the same Inn with us that night, and next morning we at six O’Clock we left Leipsic at the same time, She to return to Kalbsrieth, and we to pursue our journey to this Place. Our first days journey from Leipsic brought is to Zwickau. _ the second to Plauen – the third to within four Leagues of Ager or Agra⁴⁴² in Bohemia. The fourth to Weiden in the upper Palatinate, in the Electors Dominions. The fifth to Ratisbonne ⁴⁴³_ the sixth to Landshut and the Seventh, Saturday the 13^th. to Munich. We arrived here at 3 O’Clock in the afternoon, and at four I saw the Elector,⁴⁴⁴ who received me in the kindest manner possible; as did also the Electrice⁴⁴⁵ whom he went and called into his Room to see me.

The young Countess of Rumford⁴⁴⁶ was presented to their Electoral Highnesses on Tuesday and was (really) most graciously received. We found their Electoral Highnesses on the eve of their departure for Saxony. The Austrians are retreating in all directions, and we expect the French here in a few days. I am determined to stay here and share the fate of a Country to which I feel myself attached by the strongest ties of Gratitude and Affection. Perhaps being present I ma{y} have it in my power to be of use, [MS torn] I certainly should not. My first visit to my Garden drew a flood of tears from my eyes. The monument the Public have erected to commemorate my services in the Country is such as I dare not describe; and the Inscriptions on it, which are engraved in Bavarian Marble, are such as I cannot read without blushing to think how little I have deserved them. I wish you could have seen my Daughter when they were translated to her, as she stood with her eyes swimming in Tears gazing on her fathers Bust.

Saturday 20^th. August. The Elector goes from hence on Monday. He intends to reside at Wittenberg in Saxony. The French are at Donawerth⁴⁴⁷ and at Amberg and it is said they are arrived at Augsburg. They will probably be here in a few days. I wish it was over. My best compliments to all my friends[;] Sally’s to you. She has the hooping Cough but not badly.

Address: The Right Honorable | Lady Palmerston | Hanover Square, | London | Par Prag, Dresde, | et Hambourg

Letter 41: 25 September 1796

   Munich 25^th. Sep^t. 1796

The retreat of the French, and the movements of the Austrians, who are pursuing them, having left the communication with the North of Germany open, I yesterday received letters from England. They were the first I have received from that Country since I left it. One from you, my dear Lady Palmerston, from Sheene⁴⁴⁸ of the 4^th. August. One from my Bookseller, _ one from Ireland containing a Diploma from the Royal Irish Academy _ one from my Banker, and one, which gave me infinite pain, from Miss Godfrey. Believe <me> my dear Lady Palmerston, I feel most sensibly your misfortune.⁴⁴⁹ You know me, and my affection for you. Would to God it were in my power to relieve in any degree your distress.

My last letter to <but one to> you was from Leipsic. I should have written <often since> on my [my] arrival here, but the French being in possession of Franconia, the Post was interrupted. It is now free and I flatter myself well remain so ‘till the end of the War, for I do not believe the French will be such fools as to penetrate again so far into the interior of Germany, unless it should be to support their good friend and ally, in case he should declare war against the Emperor.⁴⁵⁰

I arrived at Munich the 13^th of August and found every body here in the greatest consternation. The Elector⁴⁵¹ had packed up and sent off to Austria all his most valuable effects, and held himself in readiness to leave the Country himself at a moments warning, and to retire into Saxony. He actually left us on the morning of the 22^nd. upon the arrival of the French upon the Frontiers of Bavaria, and he is now at Lo[c]kwitz⁴⁵² a Country Seat belonging to Count Schall,⁴⁵³ his minister at the Court of Saxony, situated five English miles from Dresden. As to myself, according to my own proposal, it was settled that I should remain at Munich, and hold myself in readiness to act, in case an opportunity should offer where my active service should be wanted. In the mean time that I should have an eye to what should be going on _ that I should correspond constantly and confidentially with the Elector _ and that, in case the French should come to Munich, I should endeavour to display and make the most of my new Establishments, and try to interest the feelings of their Generals in their preservation, and in the preservation of the Town and the Country. I was however in the sequel called upon to act a more conspicuous and ostensible part. On the 23^d. of August the French crossed the Lech near Augsburg and attacked the Austrians at Friedberg under the command of General la Tour,⁴⁵⁴ and drove them from their positions and obliged them to fall back to Dachau, which is in sight of Munich, and only four Leagues distant from it. In consequence of these events the Army of Prince Condè⁴⁵⁵ which was posted on the Bavarian side of the Lech at Landsberg fell back towards Munich to cover the left of the Austrians in their new position and give time for the Baggage of both Armies, (the Austrians and that of Condé) to pass the Isar at Munich. This passage lasted two whole days, during which time all the roads in the neighbourhood of Munich were full of Waggons. On the 26^th. and 27^th. The Armies followed, and passing over the Bridge at Munich took Post of the bank of the River opposite the Town, where as you may remember, the ground is high, and commands most completely, not only the Bridge over the Isar, but also the whole City.

Upon this commanding eminence several Batteries were erected, the Bridge was Barricaded and and every measure taken, as well to defend the passage of the River, as to awe the Town. Some days before the arrival of the Austrians in our neighbourhood all the Bavarian Regiments which had been called in from their several Garrisons and cantonments in the different parts of the Country were assembled at Munich, so that the Garrison of the Town consisted of more than 10,000 Regular Troops, besides the Militia of the City which amounts to 2,000, Men.

This force had been collected in order to protect the Capital, and prevent its being occupied by either of the armies in its neighbourhood; and also to prevent our Troops being insulted, or disarmed, or forced to act contrary to the orders and intentions of the Elector. Some of our Batallions had been disarmed by the Austrians in the Palatinate, and we were determined that the same Insult should not be offered to the Bavarian Regiments, Consequently, when the Austrian Army approached Munich in their retreat from the Lech the Gates of the Town were shut, and the Garrison put under arms; and the Austrian General was told, (and unfortunately for us, in language rather too gross and insulting to be borne by with patience by the General of a formidable Army,) that he might pass round the Town, and over the Bridge, but that a passage through the Town would not be permitted, and if it should be attempted, force would be opposed by force.

It was certainly right not to permit the Austrian Army to pass through the Town. They had no right to do so; on the contrary by the Laws of the Empire, all Cities which are the Residence of the Sovereign of the Country have a right to refuse a passage to all foreign Troops, even to those of the Emperor, and added to this, as there was a good road round the Town, without the Walls,_ as the Austrians were not pursued in their retreat by the French, and as it was the side of the River opposite to the Town which they meant to defend, there was not even a pretext for their insisting on a passage through the Town. Politeness however, as well as prudence required that all offensive language, and unfriendly demonstrations should be avoided, which I am sorry to say was not the case.

Not contented with refusing a passage to <the> Troops, the Gates were shut against Officers who singly presented themselves and politely asked leave to go into the Town on their private affairs; and even the Prince of Condè and General la Tour were positively refused admittance, though they desired to stay in the Town but a few moments, and offered to leave their Escorts behind them at the Gates. This is not all. When General la Tour came before the Town at the head of his Army, (which he conducted in Person,) a Detachment of Bavarian Cavallry went out to meet him and with their Swords drawn, and conducted him, (I blush to say it,) like a prisoner, round the Town, to the schandal scandal of all those who were Witnesses to the Scene, and to the eternal shame of the Officers who Commanded in Munich at that time.

This treatment, as is easy to conceive, exasperated in the highest degree the Austrian General, and after he had crossed the River with his Army, and planted his Artillery and posted his Troops on the commanding height over against the Town, he lost no time in making us acquainted with his sentiments on the subject, and those whom the Elector had left at the head of the Affairs of the State (the Council of the Regency,) began to see the dangers into which the unaccountable conduct of the Officers at the head of the Troops had plunged them. Under these embarrassments they thought proper _ (in consequence, as I have reason to believe, of private Instructions left them by the Elector,) to call me to their Councils. Till this moment I was <had been> living at Munich as a Private Man, contenting myself with merely superintending the <several> various public Establishments that had been formed here under my direction, and amusing myself with directing the workmen employed in the Public Garden. I had not even put on my Regimentals since my return from England, except when I went to Court; and <as> I did not for[e]see any event that could render my active Services in the line of my profession of any public utility, much less that could afford a General Officer an opportunity of acquiring reputation, I studiously avoided taking part in what was going on, and kept myself as retired from the World and from all public business as possible.

What tended greatly to increase the alarms of the Regency was the consternation that reigned in the <Town> which was general among all classes of the Inhabitants, and was painted in every Countenance; and as the Public had never much confidence in the Officer who commanded the Troops, and soon perceived by his agitation, (which was so apparent as to be noticed by every body who saw him,) as well as by the confusion and uproar into which he had contrived to throw the Troops in the Garrison by his unmeaning and contradictory orders and Arrangements, that he had quite lost his head, every step he took was watched in anxious expectation of the dangers that might follow from it, and served to increase the apprehensions of the frightened Inhabitants.

The whole Garrison was under arms two whole days and nights._ Eight Regiments of Infantry – five Regiments of Cavalry, with above a thousand Horses, and a Complete Batallion of Artillery filled all the Streets and Public Squares __ Cannon were drawn out of the Arsenal and planted at all the Gates, and nothing was heard, night or day but the clashing of Arms, the clattering of the Horses upon the pavements, and the confused noise of a multitude of People moving in haste in all possible directions.

Other sounds still more alarming began at last to mix in this din. The murmerings of the Soldiers grew general and loud; and even the very Horses showed their impatience by snorting, moving about, and stamping on the ground. It had rained most violently all night, and both men and Horses had been exposed (unnecessarily) the whole time to the utmost violence of the storm. In short the situation of affairs within the Town began to be really critical and alarming, to say nothing of the hostile preparations of the Austrians on the Opposite Bank of the River. Though their Canon were pointed against the Town, and though I knew they were much exasperated against us, yet I did not imagine they would fire into it, _ at least not till the arrival of the French should give them a new <and better> pretext for doing so. I had not the smallest doubt however of their beating our houses about our ears the moment the Republicans <should make> made their appearance in the Town, and I was much afraid the proper measures would not be adopted and pursued with firmness for keeping them out of it.

This was the situation of affairs when I was called to assist at the deliberations of the Council of Regency. I will not add to the length of this long Epistle by giving you a history of all the measures that have since been adopted under my direction. I will only tell you shortly that the Town of Munich has been preserved, and the honor of our Troops has received no stain. I might add _ (to you) _ that from the moment I took the Command of the Army the apprehensions of the Inhabitants began to subside and that I never pass through the streets without receiving the most flattering proofs of the public gratitude, and affection. The first step I took after I took <had taken> the Command of the Army was to go myself to General la Tour to make our excuses for the improper manner in which he and his Army had been treated; and at the same time to assure him that the French Army should not be permitted to enter the Town, and if they should attempt it, such attempts would be opposed by force. _ But I must stop – my letter is already much too long. God bless you my dear friend.

Letter 42: 18 November 1796

   Munich 18^th. November 1796.

I am glad to find by your last letter that you were safely returned from your Tour in the West, and that Lord P.⁴⁵⁶ was better. I[t] gave me uncommon pleasure to receive a letter from you dated from my own room at Broadlands._ Pray write to me from thence often.

Was it to flatter me, my dear Lady P., that you desired to have a continuation of my History of our Military Transactions?__ or would those details really amuse you?_ I can treat with you with no battles of our own, though we were witnesses to several sharp engagements within Pistol shot of our Walls; and great numbers of Bullets of all dimensions whistled over our heads. Perhaps at some more leisure moment I may set down to write a detailed account of all that happened during the short time that the environs of Munich was <were> the Theatre of War. It will serve to fix in my own memory events that were peculiarly interesting to me, and it may perhaps at some future period afford amusement to a friend.

I received yesterday a most flattering compliment from the Duke of Berkenfeld,⁴⁵⁷ the next Heir to the Electors⁴⁵⁸ Dominions, after the Duke of Deux Ponts.⁴⁵⁹ He had been residing at Anspach,⁴⁶⁰ in the King of Prussia’s⁴⁶¹ Dominions during the time the French were in Bavaria, from whence he is just returned to Landshut, the p{lace} of his ordinary residence, - and is now here on a visit to the Elector.

He came up to me at the Levèe, and loud, so as to be hear’d by the whole Court returned me his thanks for the important Services I had rendered the Elector and the Country. He said that “not only Munich, but Bavaria, and The National honor, had been preserved by my Prudent and Spirited exertions.”

There is for you.__ And for you alone. __ I should be sorry to be thought vain and ostentatious; you I know, will not think me so.

Adieu! my dear friend. My Daughter⁴⁶² begs her best Compliments to you. She is indeed a dear good Girl, and is the delight of my life. She is a great favorite with every body – she is now quite a fine Lady, and is invited to all the Private Balls at Court. Adieu. God bless you.

Address: The Right Honorable | Lady Palmerston, | Hanover Square | London | Angleterre

Letter 43: 18 January 1797⁴⁶³

   Munich 18^th: January 1797

My dear Lady Palmerston,

I did not receive your letter of the 11^th. of last month ‘till the day before yesterday _ where it has been loitering so long I cannot imagine. It found me engaged most intensely in preparing my VI^th. Essay⁴⁶⁴ for the Press. It is now very nearly finished, and I hope and trust that I shall see it set off for the dark regions very soon. It is much more voluminous than I expected and even than I could have wished, but as you well know,__ when I take up my pen I dont know when to lay it down.

We are here all mad _ nothing is hear’d of but masquerades and Balls, and my house is filled all day with milliners, mantu[a]makers _ Hairdressers &c^a. If I am not ruined I shall be surprised. We have two <one> Masqued balls a week at Court, and two in the Town, and besides this we have every week two masked academies, _ an assembly and a Comedy._ La Comtesse Sarah⁴⁶⁵ trouve tont cela charmant,_ but old square-toes prefers going quietly to bed at Eleven, instead of racketing about with her till two or three O’Clock in the morning. She is however a very good Girl, and is not one whit mad[d]er than I could wish her to be. The Countess⁴⁶⁶ is her constant companion. She is extremely fond of her, and is of real use to her.

Your letter was received with much joy and satisfaction, but it came very near producing a family quarrel._ By accident I opened it! __ And I was caught by its right and lawful owner in the very act of reading it._ Judge of the scrape I was in. I could in one single line answer all your questions

I have sold myself _ not to the Devil, _ but to a monster equally vicious – the Public, and I have not a moment of leisure left to bestow on the Ladies. They are quite loud in their complaints as you may suppose, but I am deaf and perfectly insensible to their remonstrances. You may perhaps recollect a small picture in the Munich Gallery, in which there is a most surprizing effect of light. The sun is represented shining into a room in which a woman is sitting reading. As Lord Palmerston⁴⁶⁷ was much struck with it I have got it copied and mean to have the honor of making him a present of it. Its size is 29½ inches by 25, and I think the copy, which is of the full size and painted in oil, is by no means ill done.

Ask Lord P. whether he has any Correspondent at Hambourg to whose care I can address it. I intend to send your Ladyship two views of my Monument[.] (Figure 9)⁴⁶⁸ You must know it has two principal faces__ tho’ I have most certainly but one. The Inscriptions I shall leave you to get translated. The bust which is of Bavarian Marble is thought to be very like.

FIGURE 9 Monument to Rumford in the Englisher Garten, Munich. From Ellis, Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson, opposite p. 196.

My love to Butterfly and Miss W. the Children Miss Carter⁴⁶⁹ &c^a. Sarah sends her love to you all. She is quite a fine Lady and speaks french like any thing. Adieu! My very dear friend. Be assured I never shall cease to be Yours most sincerely.

Address: Angleterre | The Right Honorable | The Viscountess Palmerston | Hanover Square | London.

Letter 44: 25 February 1797

   Munich 25^th. February 1797.

You are very good, my dear Lady P. to put me in mind of my promise to pay you another visit soon. It really gives me the most sincere pleasure to think you will be glad to see me. When you tell me you will be so I shall always believe you. Every thing is so unset[t]led in this part of the World that it is impossible for any body who has anything to do with public affairs to be at all sure of being able to execute any scheme he may form, it is however my intention to visit East Shene⁴⁷⁰ in the spring of the next year, at farthest. If you can prevail on your friend Lord Malm[e]sbury⁴⁷¹ to give us a Peace sooner, you may expect to see me even before that time. When will this War end my dear Lady Palmerston? I am sure you could tell me if you would. By the Bye, _ I am quite delighted to find that my Countrymen have had the good sense to avoid the french infection. M^r. Adams,⁴⁷² the new President, is a prudent man, and a staunch friend to G.B. About a fortnight ago I received a letter from him, and another from M^r. Washington.⁴⁷³_ What the deuce could they have to write to you about?_ I am sure you long to know – why, to thank me for my “most interesting Essays”⁴⁷⁴ _ to be sure, _ and was it not their duty to do so? _ Sally⁴⁷⁵ was so delighted to see a letter from her God Washington that she kissed it for half an hour. She is perfectly well and charges me with a thousand compliments for her dear charming Lady Palmerston. She begins to speak both french and German, and she seems to be mightily pleased with her situation in this Country. The Elector⁴⁷⁶ has lately made me very happy by permitting me to resign to her two thousand florins a year of my Pensions. This sum which is equal to about 190£ Sterling a Y{ear} is secured to her for her life.

You will have heard of the death of the Electrice Dowager of Bavaria.⁴⁷⁷ She was buried three days ago. You must remember her. You saw her at Nymphenbourg.⁴⁷⁸

You will recollect the situation of Berg[,] the Chateau I have on the Banks of the lake of Staremberg.⁴⁷⁹ I am going to work early in the spring to make a fine place of it, not for myself, but for the Elector. My plan is for him to purchase the two Chateaux on the right and left of it, and to make of the whole one immense Park stocked with fallow Deer, and laid out in ridings, pleasure grounds &c it will, with no great expense make one of the very finest Places that ever was seen. As to myself, I am to be Ranger for life with unlimited powers to plant, build, and beautify. What do you think of this scheme. Ever Yours, R._

Address: Angleterre | The Right Honorable | Lady Palmerston | Hanover Square | London

Letter 45: 10 April 1797

   Munich 10^th. April 1797.

My dear Lady Palmerston,

I am seriously alarmed at not hearing from you. It is now near two months since I had a single <line> from you, and since that time I have written to you twice – If you had been ill I should have flattered myself that somebody about you, either Miss Godfrey or Miss Whitworth would have had the Charity to have written to me. Pray write me now and then, if it is literally but a single line.

We have lately been much alarmed here on account of the rapid advances of the French in the Tyrol, but we yesterday received accounts from that quarter which have in a great measure removed our apprehensions. The Austrians have contrived to get between the French who had advanced beyond Brixen,⁴⁸⁰ and Italy. General Laudon⁴⁸¹ is in possession of Botzen,⁴⁸² and the Army at Brixen have no way to save themselves <but> by striking off to their right and joining Buonaparte in Styria.

All our attention is at present fixed on what is going on in London, and we are the more interested in those events as we expect Peace will result from them. Pray let me know how the present fermentation is to subside, and what will be the consequence of it. Is Ireland to be free? _ Are the Catholics to be satisfied?_ Will Pelham be recalled? Are we to expect a change of Administration? _ and who will come in?_ I never felt so anxious about politics as at the present moment._ As to myself I am very agreeably employed with my philosophical pursuits_

I have just finished my VII Essay, and shall send it to the press in a few days. My sixth I now printing.⁴⁸³ My daughter⁴⁸⁴ is well and desires to be kindly remembered to you. She is at last grown industrious, and promises to become an accomplished Lady. She speaks french very tolerably well, and {has beg}un to learn German.

My health is good, and I am very happy –

I wish you would come and spend a Summer with us in our charming Mountains, and then go with us and spend a winter at Vienna. The Elector⁴⁸⁵ has given me leave to make a fine place for him on the banks of the Lake of Staremberg.⁴⁸⁶

Adieu! my dear Lady P._ Pray let me hear from you, and tell me if I may presume to send to Lord Palmerston⁴⁸⁷ the Picture I wrote to you about some time ago.

My love to the children⁴⁸⁸ and to all my friends.

If you should see Sir Charles⁴⁸⁹ give my Compliments to him. I am not sure that I shall not come to England in the Autumn _ I have some thoughts of publishing a large quarto Volume of Philosophical Papers chiefly those which have been published from time to time in the Philosophical Transactions, and to do this I must come to England. Will you be glad to see me?_

Address: Angleterre | The Right Honorable | Lady Palmerston, | Hanover Square | London

Letter 46: 30 July 1797

   Munich 30^th July 1797

My dear Lady Palmerston

My Daughter⁴⁹⁰ wrote you last week that we had made a little tour in the mountains, and had been at the Lake of Staremberg.⁴⁹¹ I intended to have returned to the Lake and have spent some weeks there during the fine Season, but I am detained here in Town by business, and shall probably be obliged to remain here the rest of the Summer. The Court is still here and I fancy will not go to Nymphenbourg⁴⁹² this Summer. I gave the Electrice⁴⁹³ a very pretty Ball last Monday in the Ball room in the English Garden with which she seemed to be much pleased. You will recollect the building – it is where you was placed when used to land from my Phaeton, when you went airing in the Garden. The Countess of N.⁴⁹⁴ thanks you for putting down her name to M^r. Gaitana’s subscription,⁴⁹⁵ and so does your humble servant, and “Sarah Countess of Rumford”. I heard from Dillis some days ago. He is very busy taking drawings of the beauties of Switzerland. There is a young man, here an engraver, who has wonderful talents.⁴⁹⁶ He immitates Dillis’s drawings so exactly. (Colouring them himself) that it is hardly possible to distinguish the copies from the originals. I intend that he shall enter into partnership with Dillis, and devote himself intirely to the publication of his works and as London is the only market for everything that is excellent, and as foreign Prints pay an enormous duty on importation, I intend to send my young engraver to England and make him work there. My intention is to take a small neat lodging for him in some proper situation in Westminster or in some of the skirts of London, and furnishing a room with drawings which are to be engraved and with specimens of the engravings exhibit them gratis to the Nobility and Gentry, and receive subscriptions for the Work. My Plan has already been approved by the Elector⁴⁹⁷ and by the Parties concerned, and Dillis is now preparing for its execution.

Tell me what you think of it, my dear Lady P. and ask Lord P^s.⁴⁹⁸ opinion of it. Apropos is the Picture I sent him not yet arrived? I had notice from Hamburgh that it was forwarded from thence some time ago.

Dont forget to let me know what People say of my Seventh Essay.⁴⁹⁹ Those who understand it must I think be struck with the extraordinary facts related in it. It has been translated into french by one of the most ingenious Philosophers of the age, Professor Pictet⁵⁰⁰ of Geneva. Pray contrive to get the “Biblioteque Britannique”,⁵⁰¹ it will amuse you. Any of your London Booksellers will procure it it for you, It is printed at Geneva, and comes out twice a month. Pray make my Compliments to Lord P. and <give> my love to the Children.⁵⁰² How is Butterfly, and Miss G.⁵⁰³ If you should see the Philosopher you will make my Compliments to him.⁵⁰⁴

Adieu my dear friend.

Address: Angleterre | The Right Honorable | Lady Palmerston | Hanover Square | London.

Letter 47: 13 August 1797

   Munich 13^th. August 1797

Today is just a year since I arrived at Munich from England. Where shall I be this day twelve months? Perhaps with you at Broadlands._ Perhaps in America. By the bye la Comtessina⁵⁰⁵ is continually teasing me to go with her to see her dear Country. She is now extremely busy learning Italian. She speaks french very tolerably well, and begins to understand Lord Palmerston’s⁵⁰⁶ favorite language, but her passion is the Italian language. I really believe that if she goes on to learn as she has begun she will speak the language very well in three months. I received a letter a few days ago from Dillis from Lausanne. He was in high spirits, and quite delighted with his travelling Companions. They were endeavouring to get french passes to go to the Valley of Shamounie.⁵⁰⁷ I shall follow your advice with respect to the publication of Dillis’s drawings. Apropos of Dillis’s drawing did the Countess of Nogarola never show you a drawing of me by Dillis? It has been engraved⁵⁰⁸ and you may now see my Phiz in every ale house in Munich. I will send you one of the Prints by the first opportunity. I have received your dispatch of the 21^st. July in which you do me the honor to call me very stupid and Deplomatic. If you had contented yourself with bestowing on me the first of these epithets I should have not taken it amiss but to be called “Deplomatic” _ it is not to be borne – And how in the name of wonder should we poor Germans know anything about what is going on in the World? _ about Peace and War? _ Are we consulted?_ Are we even allowed to have a voice in the business? We hear of negotiations for Peace on each side of us, but we are far from being at our ease in regard to the conditions on which we shall be allowed to live in Peace and quietness.

By the bye, you have not told me yet what is said of my seventh Essay in England. Philosophers, I much suspect will not approve of the concluding Sentence.⁵⁰⁹ _ but wise men certainly will. As to myself, were I really an Atheist,- which however I certainly am not, _ I never should think it right to appear to be so, on any occasion.

The Philosopher⁵¹⁰ has already given me a good slap in a letter I received from him a few days ago; about my final causes, _ “infinite Wisdom” _ and such such [sic] foolish things. While I sit at my table writing to you I receive a letter from my Princess.⁵¹¹ With your permission I will just run it over. She announced to me that she shall come to Munich in a few days incognito with a young Brother of hers,⁵¹² who is on his Travels. She wishes to show him (herself) the English Garden at Munich. That is all, we had laid a plan for going into the Mountains together, but we could not bring it to bear. Adieu.

Address: Angleterre | The Right Honorable | Lady Palmerston | Hanover Square | London

Letter 48: 28 August 1797

   Munich 28^th. Aug^t. 1797

My dear Lady Palmerston

I returned last evening from a tour of eight days to Berchtoldsgaden⁵¹³ and Saltzbourg where I accompanied the Princess of Taxis,⁵¹⁴ and her Brother the Hereditary Prince of Mecklenbourg Strelizt,⁵¹⁵ a very promising young man of 18 years of age. We had most delightful weather the whole journey, and my companions were quite enraptured with the beautiful scenes which that most interesting Country affords. Your friend the Bishop⁵¹⁶ was not at Berchtoldsgaden, but we were well accommodated at an Inn._ How often did I think of you during this journey!

A thousand different objects recalled to my mind the pleasure I formerly had in seeing you enjoy them. We had two Carriages, - a large travelling Coach and Six, in which went the Princess, and her female companion, - your humble servant, and two maids; and a Post Chaise, occupied by the Hereditary Prince and his Governor.

The Salt mines at Berchtoldsgaden, (which belong to the Elector) were most beautifully illuminated for us.

The Hereditary Prince and his Governor went over your Alp, (where you was drawn up on a sledge) to the Hallein, but I went with the Ladies directly to Saltzbourg, where we spent the greatest part of the finest day I ever saw in wandering at our leisure about that charming hill which overlooks the town, where I once lost you. I spent some time in silently contemplating the scene which presents itself from the old gate-way where you left me drawing when you lost yourself in the wood. How present to my recollection was the anxiety I felt on that occasion? We left Saltzbourg at 7 O’Clock in the evening, and travelling all night arrived at Munich at 5 O’Clock in the afternoon the next day. The Princess spent only a couple of hours at Munich as she was in a hurry to get home, but her Brother stays here a day or two.

The American⁵¹⁷ is perfectly well, and desires her love to you. She staid with the Countess⁵¹⁸ while I was gone to Saltzbourg. She is now very busy learning Italian. She speaks French fluently, and understands a good deal of German. She might have become a German a little while ago if she had chosen it,⁵¹⁹ but she prefers her dear America to every thing that has yet offered in this Country and probably that is to be found in it. Adieu!

Address: Angleterre | The Right Honorable | Lady Palmerston | Hanover Square | London

Letter 49: 20 September 1797

   Munich 20^th. Sep^t. 1797

My dear Lady Palmerston,

It is a great while since I hear’d from you but I dare not complain for I am myself not so exact in writing to you as I ought to be. Since my return from my excursion to Saltzbourg, of which I gave you an account,⁵²⁰ I have been constantly at Munich, and much employed in casting Cannon and preparing them to be able to give our enemies a warm reception should they pay us another visit, which, considering present appearances I do not think at all impossible. We are taught to expect that matters will soon be brought to a happy conclusion at Udine⁵²¹ and at Lisle,⁵²² but in the mean time the Jacobins are getting, or rather have gotten the upper hand, and with them it would be folly to expect that peace could exist. Their object is certainly nothing less than the destruction of all the governments of Europe.

We have just received accounts of the very serious squabble that has happened at Geneva in which much blood has been shed, and which unfortunately ended in a triumph of the Jacobins.⁵²³_ But I am sick of politics. Sarah,⁵²⁴ who is at my elbow desires her love to you. she is perfectly well, and is growing to be quite accomplished. She has translated the whole of an English Play into France [sic], and begins to understand German tolerably well. Though she likes Munich very well she cannot forget her dear America, and she teazes me every day to fix a time to go with her there. The Countess⁵²⁵ is at Ammerland – (her sisters⁵²⁶ Chateau of the banks of the Lake of Staremberg⁵²⁷) with her Children. The Court is at Nymphenbourg⁵²⁸ where we have Balls and Concerts twice a Week. You dont tell me what I often asked of you – that is how you like my 7^th. Essay.⁵²⁹ The City of Geneva has sent a Person to munich to examine our Institution for the Poor, and to study, to use their expression, in my School. The Person sent on this errand is a M^r. Joly,⁵³⁰ a very clever Man, who arrived here four days ago. He seems much satisfied with what I have showed him

Adieu! my dear friend

Address: Angleterre | The Right Honorable | Lady Palmerston | Hanover Square | London

Letter 50: 11 October 1797

   Munich 11^th. October | - 97.

I thank you my dear Lady Palmerston for your letter of the 18^th. Sep^r. from Broadlands, which I have just received. Though you frequently abuse me, and call me names, and use me ill in various ways in your letters yet you are really a charming Correspondant, and I receive no letters from any person that are half as agreeable as yours. As to my Princesses, Countesses Baronesses &c^a. I am almost tired of them and am seriously thinking of cutting them all. Were I but sure of a Viscountess I should not hesitate in sending them all about their business.

I wonder if there is nothing in the world of which one does not sooner or later grow tired. There is one thing of which I have long been most heartily tired and that is the french revolution. Pray tell me, my dear Lady Palmerston, is it never to have an end? We are at this moment in a state of the most anxious expectation of the result of the negotiations at Udine;⁵³¹ and at the same time in a state of the most perfect uncertainly as to the probability of peace. If the war should last much longer I am quite determined to leave Europe and go with my Daughter⁵³² and pay a visit to America. She, poor Soul, urges me to do so every day of her life. She is really a very good Girl and promises to be the comfort of my life. She is grown to be so very industrious and so anxious to inform herself and improve her mind that I am obliged to interpose my authority to prevent her making herself quite ill by intense application to her different studies. She has quite a decided Genius for drawing, and makes uncommon progress in learning the french, German and Italian languages. P{oor} thing, I shall be glad for her sake {whe}n her labours (literary) shall be at an end. Dillis is returned from Switzerland, and has brought with him a charming collection of original drawings and sketches. I often see you in idea, in your charming room at Broadlands, surrounded by all your tables and contrivances._ I most heartily wish I was with you, though we never should agree with regard to the comfort of confusion in the arrangement of a house.

Give my love to the Children⁵³³ _ and above all to my wild friend, whom I shall expect to find tamed when I come to England. Ask Butterfly why she never writes to me, nor sends her love to me, she has surely forgotten me, as has also Miss W.⁵³⁴ and all my friends. When you see the Right Honorable⁵³⁵ you may tell her that she does not deserve that I should break my heart for her. She never writes a line to me in a whole year. Adieu! my dear good, kind friend – You are not so hard hearted.

Address: Angleterre | The Right Honorable | Lady Palmerston | Hanover Square | London.

Letter 51: 13 February 1798

   Munich 13^th: February 1798.

Here I am once more involved in public business, and in business of <the> most disagreeable kind. On the 27^th: of last month we received alarming accounts of popular disturbances and other symptoms <of> revolutionary Phrenzy which had began [sic] to make their appearance at Mannheim and in several parts of Swabia, and private intelligence was received of Emmissaries being actually on their way to Munich with the friendly intention of opening our Eyes and preparing our minds for the new doctrines of Liberty and Equality, and all their attendant blessings. On this emergency I was sent for by the Elector⁵³⁶ and desired by him to take it upon myself to prepare for the reception of these Gentlemen, and have things in readiness to give them such a reception as they deserve.

H.M.S.⁵³⁷ Highness issued but one short order to the Council of the Supreme Regency just informing them of my being charged with the preservation of Peace, Order, and Tranquillity in the Country and directing them to cooperate with me in all cases where I should require their cooperation or assistance. I have put on my Uniform named my Aids de Camp, and taken the Command of the Troops; But the Military arrangements I am making are of little consequence, and require little labour, compared with those of another kind which I have undertaken to introduce and carry into execution. The Elector has charged me with Police of the Country in the most extended sense of that what expression, with ample powers to alter what I find amiss, and to do all that is necessary to be done to introduce order and regularity in every Department of the State, and secure the Peace, Confidence and Tranquil[l]ity of his Subjects.

You will doubtless wonder at my temerity in engaging in such an arduous undertaking, and at such a critical period. The fact is, I could not avoid it{.}

The proposal was made in so kind an{d} so flattering a manner _ The services I may perhaps render are so very important _ and the apparent necessity of the business being undertaken, and without any delay, rendered it impossible for me to refuse devoting myself once more for the Public good.

I have done so; and I have already had the satisfaction of receiving the most flattering proofs of the approbation of the Public, and the most touching marks of their Esteem and affectionate Regard. You will be able to form an idea of the confidence the Elector places in me when I tell you that with the almost unlimited Powers which he has given – he has not given me any instructions in writing.

I have lately received several letters from our friend Sir Charles.⁵³⁸ He seems to me to be in remarkable good spirits _ was Butterfly⁵³⁹ with him at Broadlands?_

Pray write me now and then, even though I should not be so agreeable a correspondant as you could wish. The Countess⁵⁴⁰ is gone to Verona.

Address: Angleterre | The Right Honorable | Lady Palmerston | Hanover Square | London.

Letter 52: 4 July 1798

   Munich 4^th. July 1798

I have just return[ed] to Munich from an excursion of 15 days, and had the pleasure to find your comfortable and kind letter waiting for me. If you could but know how much pleasure your letters give me, you would, I am sure write to me very often.

My late journey has been of much service to my health, and I intend in a few days to take another in an opposite direction. The principal object I had in view in that I have just finished was to show my Daughter⁵⁴¹ the beauties of Saltzbourg, and Berchtoldsgaden,⁵⁴² which I once had the happiness of showing to you. We left Munich in company with Mr. Quintyn⁵⁴³ and sailing down the Isar on a raft to its confluence with the Danube and from thence on the Danube we went to Passau by water, where M^r. Quintyn parted with us, pursuing his journey by Water to Vienna. We were three three days together between Munich and Passau sleeping on shore every night. I took a light carriage with me on the Raft, and hiring horses at Passau went with them in two days <to Saltzbourg> through that part of the Austrian Dominion which the Emperor Joseph the Second⁵⁴⁴ got from Bavaria at the Peace of Teschen.⁵⁴⁵ A very fine Country it is and it cost me many a sigh as I passed through it. After staying four days at Saltzbourg and visiting with great devotion the scenes on the Mountain above the Town which we formerly admired together we went to Berchtoldsgaden, where we staid five days and saw every thing you saw there except your friend the Bishop, who was not there. From Berchtoldsgaden we returned by Reichenhall, Traunstein and Chiemsee to Munich. You cannot imagine how forceably the various scenes I formerly saw with you recalled you to my recollection. When I came to the place on the top of the Mountain above the Town of Saltzbourg where I lost you the illusion was so strong as almost to overcome my reason. I was almost tempted to think you were still in the woods where you lost yourself, and was very near exposing myself by calling out to try if I could not make you hear me. My Daughter, who begs I would assure you of her unalterable respect and warmest affection was quite delighted with her journey, and has returned in high health. She has modestly proposed to accompany me in my next excursion, but I do not think that I shall be able to avail myself of her friendly offer.

The Cascade at the lake at Berchtoldsgaden was grand beyond all conception. As the Clouds happened to run low, it literally made its way through a thick cloud, and came thundering down into the Lake in a manner truly frightful.

If we should have peace you must come once more to admire the wonders of this Romantic Country; and You must bring with you all the Inhabitants of the Lavender farm. My compliments to them all, and to all you other friends who still remember me.

Adieu! Ever Yours. | .R.

Address: Angleterre | The Right Honorable | Lady Palmerston | Hanover Square | London

Letter 53: 23 September 1798

   Royal Hotel Pall Mall | Sunday Even^g, 23^d. Sep^t. | 1798

My dear Lady Palmerston

I came here on Wednesday last the 19^th. I should most undoubtedly have written to you in one hour after my arrival had not M^r. Canning⁵⁴⁶ done me the honor to wait upon me at the Hotel half an hour after my arrival to announce to me a most unexpected piece of news, and of such a nature as totally to unfit me for all correspondance except it be such as had occupied me ever since. You rem<em>ber my reception the last time I visited this Country. Fool that I was not to take the hint and never more set my foot on this ungrateful Island!__ If you knew with what delight I look forward to the comforts I thought to enjoy in the agreeable and honorable situation the Elector⁵⁴⁷ had given me in this Country⁵⁴⁸ you could then form some adequate idea of my disappointment and of my indignation at being refused. I am told that I am a subject of His Majesty,⁵⁴⁹ and therefore cannot be received [as] a Minister from a foreign Court. If I had not myself seen a subject of his Majesty – Count Jennison Walworth⁵⁵⁰ – received as Minister to of the Landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt⁵⁵¹ this reason might perhaps <have> appeared to me to have more weight.

But it seems that there is still another objection to my being received – some twenty years ago I was under Secretary of State and that circumstance it seems renders my reception doubly impossible.__

All my Baggage – all my Books – all I possess in the world is packed up and on its way to England, and I cannot stop it.__ And what is more provoking than all the rest is that I had taken the precaution long before I left Bavaria to sound the ground at the fountain head, and was encouraged to ask [for] the appointment and was promised the most gracious reception – Who then is to be believed if people dont know their own minds six months._ But no more on this subject _ I shall go to Bath in a day or two, and shall wait there in the most retired corner I can find, without seeing any body, till I get fresh instructions from Munich. I shall leave the Royal Hotel tomorrow having taken a private lodging in King Street N^o. 4 S^t. James’s Square where I shall leave the wife and Child of my Valet de Chambre,⁵⁵² and the Baggage I have with me. My Daughter⁵⁵³ desires me to present her love to you. She longs to see you, but she is outrageous at the People who have used her father so unkindly; and to tell the truth we are both too much agitated by anger and disappointment to be fit to be seen in decent quiet company. It is for that reason I think it necessary that we should hide ourselves.

Adieu! My dear friend. Your most sincerely.

Dillis was [MS torn] but I have written to M{annhei}m.___

He was appoint{ted} Chaplain to the mission.

Address: The Right Honorable | Lady Viscountess Palmerston | Broadlands | Romsey

Letter 54: Late September 1798⁵⁵⁴

   N^o. 4 King Street | S^t. James’s Square

I will most certainly come to you, my dear Lady P as soon as ever I can, but just now it is not possible. I have not yet seen Haslang,⁵⁵⁵ and I must see him _ I begin to think he too is in the plot and that he keeps himself out of my way on purpose to act the part assigned to him. My situation is most embarrassing, but I must not loose my head. You may easily imagine my anxiety to receive answers to my letters to Munich. I have written in a pressing manner to the Elector⁵⁵⁶ to permit me to resign my place on the pretext of bad health.__ This I thought it my duty to do to prevent all disagreeable altercation between the Elector and this Court. To this request to the Elector I have added another. I have asked his leave to visit America next spring, and to spend a year in that Country

In the mean time I foresee that I shall be much embarrassed when my baggage arrives from Germany, for I have literally brought away every thing I possessed there. Dillis too is perhaps on his way here, as he was appointed my Chaplain.

I shall now write you but a short letter as M^r. Bernard⁵⁵⁷ is waiting in my room, with his Carriage at my door to carry me to see the Kitchen of the foundling Hospital.

I beg my best compliments to Lord Palmerston⁵⁵⁸ _ tell him I am much obliged to him for his kind invitation to Broadlands.

I was sure he was too sincerely my friend _ and too independent _ and too proud of being so, to be shy of a Courtier apparently in Disgrace.

Adieu! ever Yours most | Sincerely R.

My daughter⁵⁵⁹ who will write to you, desires her love to you.

Letter 55: 6 October 1798

   N^o. 4 King Street | S^t. James’s | Saturday 6^th. October 1798

I am very grateful to you, my dear Lady Palmerston for the friendly manner in which you interest yourself in the provoking events that have happened to me in this Country and all you do to make me forget my misfortunes. I well know that there is no place on earth where I should be so likely to find quiet and happiness at this moment as at Broadlands, but there are several reasons that render it indispensably necessary for me to postpone my visit to you.

The truth is I am fit for no company, nor shall I be so till my fate is determined. All my ideas are afloat, and I have a new plan to form of future pursuits.

And this plan even I cannot form ‘till I get more information. Would to God I could sleep away the next four weeks. _ They will however soon be gone, and with them my anxious suspense.

If the scheme I have proposed at Munich and urged as much as was consistent with decency is adopted I shall have a pleasant prospect before me;_ But if I should be called back to my chains in Bavaria, and again put to the oar it will soon be all over with me, and I shall find rest indeed where there will be none to disturb my repose. I am infinitely obliged to you for your kind offer respecting the storage of my baggage at Shene.⁵⁶⁰ I was much distressed not knowing where to put it, or what to do with it, but your goodness has relieved me from this difficulty. I do not however know when my baggage will arrive, or whether it has left Munich. If my baggage should not have left Munich before the news of my reception here arrived there it is possible that it may not be sent off from thence, though I have given no orders for its being stopped._ I am in hopes that it is on the way now and that it will soon {be h}ere. I have a pleasant lodging {where} I now am, but am looking out for a small house in a retired situation within a mile or two of town where I can be quite quiet during the winter, and attend to the Publication of some new Essays.⁵⁶¹ Pray do you know of any such that would not cost more than 3 or 4 Guineas a Week furnished? What is become of M^r. Payne’s⁵⁶² house at Brompton?_ I go on Monday with a friend to see D^r. Herschel⁵⁶³ at Slough, but shall be back the next day. Sir Charles⁵⁶⁴ is gone somewhere I know not where, on a visit of 8 days, so that I am quite alone in Town. My Daughter⁵⁶⁵ is well, but finds our present situation not very amusing. She is anxious for the easterly winds that are to blow us to America.

My Compliments to Lord P⁵⁶⁶ and all friends. Lord Holland⁵⁶⁷ called on me the other day, and I returned the visit the day before yesterday. I found them driving around their grounds in a little Garden Chaise. Pray are the[y] very happy together?⁵⁶⁸ They invited me to come to them on Sunday, but I cannot have that honor.⁵⁶⁹

Adieu! Ever Yours. R.

Address: The Right Honorable | Lady Viscountess Palmerston | Broadlands near | Rumsey

Letter 56: 27 October 1798

   Brompton Row N^o. 51. | Saturday 27^th. October 1798

The letters I received from Munich of the 7^th. and 8^th. of this month by the last mail from Hamburgh has relieved my mind from a state of the most painful anxiety. I now know my fate, and am happy beyond any degree of happiness you can easily imagine. The scheme I proposed to the Elector⁵⁷⁰ in a private letter I wrote him immediately after my arrival in London has met with his approbation and has served as the foundation of an official arrangement that relieves me from a most awkward and painful situation and puts it in my power to indulge myself and my Daughter⁵⁷¹ in reallizing our favorite scheme of revisiting our native Country. I shall spend this winter in England but shall set out with the first easterly winds that blow after the beginning of March to cross the Atlantic. I ought perhaps to express my thanks for your letter of the 22^d. But if I may venture own to you the whole truth, that letter gave more pain than pleasure. I thought that it was not dictated by that indulgent kindness which makes the essence of your aimable character, and which I always admired, even to enthusiasm. I thought you might have recollected that you were writing to a friend whose mind was in a state of extreme ir[r]itation from unkind usage, and unmerited and cruel persecution;_ but knowing the innate goodness of your heart I am persuaded that you did not mean to reprove and chastize me with unreasonable severity. You ought to do me the justice to believe that I look forward with much impatience to the moment when it will be in my power to come to you at Broadlands, and when the state of my mind w{ill} be such as to render me capable and worthy of enjoying _ le delices de ce sejour de l’amitié et du bonheur._ My Daughter who sends a thousand loves to you,_ is almost as impatient as her father to be with you. When I shall be able to come to you I cannot exactly say, but it will most certainly be as soon as possible, for I really long to see you,

I have a thousand things to say to you, and schemes to communicate to you. In the mean time I will tell you a good deal in one sentence. I am, on the whole not sorry for all that has happened to me within the last two or three months. I am handsomely out of a bad scrape. All my private affairs are wound up, and I am now a free independent Citizen of the world, and your most attached friend and most devoted servant, | R.

Address: The Right Honorable | Lady Palmerston | Broadlands | Rumsey

Letter 57: 7 November 1798

   Brompton Row | Wednesday 7^th. Nov^r. 1798

You must not think me either a brute of a Graf, my dear aimable Lady P. for really I am not master of my own time. Though they will not receive me here as Minister for Bavaria, I have most undoubtedly had more business on my hands since I have been in London than the Hastings, father and Son have transacted in sixty years that they have resided here.⁵⁷² I had resolved to have called in upon you at Broadlands, by way of an agreeable surprize, the beginning of this week, but letters I got from Munich gave me more work to perform than would have been sufficient to give employment to two Secretaries for three days,_ and most unfortunately for me I have no Secretary but one who is so confoundedly idle that there is no kind of assistance to be expected from her.⁵⁷³

I am almost certain that I now know the secret reasons which induced Ministers in this Country to refuse to receive me as the Electors⁵⁷⁴ Envoy. I am assured this was done to oblige a certain great Personage⁵⁷⁵ at Munich, who it is said is not always of the same opinion with her husband, neither with regard to men nor things. It would be curious of our wise heads here should have contrived <to> offend the husband, (who is certainly master in his own house, whatever their spies may have told them to the contrary,) – to oblige the wife. But I am by no means curious to dive <into the> profound mysteries of our Politics, nor of yours. It is sufficient for me that I have lost my chains in the squabble, and if they can catch me again they may. They are now very busy at Munich, trying through M^r. Paget⁵⁷⁶ to set matters right, as they call it,_ I received a long letter the day before yesterday on the subject in which I am directed not to be idle {on} my part, _ the D – l take me if I stir an inch, or at least I will certainly do nothing to induce people here to change a resolution which has induced me to take one which all the powers of Earth and Hell shall not induce me to change. But we will converse cool[l]y on this subject when we meet,_ in the mean time do me the justice to believe, what is strictly true,_ that the disappointment I have had in my expectation of living near you is that which affects me most sensibly in my present Situation.

My Daughters best love._ She poor thing is quite dying to see you. You see that the disorder is hereditary. Adieu. Ever Yours. | R.

Address: The Right Honorable | Lady Palmerston | Broadlands | Rumsey

Letter 58: 2 February 1799⁵⁷⁷

   Brompton Row 2^d. Feb^y. | 1799.

It would be difficult for you to form any just idea, my dear friend, of the pleasure I should have to be able to put the affairs of your little but useful Institution on the most perfect footing immediately, but that alass! is not in my power.⁵⁷⁸ To its being the more extensively useful it must be so arranged in all its parts, and more especially in all its mechanical contrivances to serve as a model for your neighbourhood. But the model of that model is not yet quite finished,_ nor are all the moulds made that must serve for the castings at the founders. These things are however all in hand, and the moment they shall be finished and that I shall have instructed thoroughly any one workman so that I can be sure that he will be able to execute the job without committing any fault. To show you that I have not been inattentive to the business I send you a drawing for your new Kitchen which I made as soon as I got the plan of the buildings. I should have sent you the materials for it, and the workman to the [sic] put them up, had they been ready.

I think if you read my Second Essay you will see that something may be done en attendant. Your Housekeeper may open a day school for Children;- and with the information you will find in my third Essay and that published by the Society for bettering the condition of the Poor she may contrive to give them useful employment, and a good warm soup for dinner to encourage their Industry.⁵⁷⁹ I wish it were in my power to give you specific directions in writing for all the details of the management of your Establishments – But have I not already explained these matters in my writings?

I am just at this moment engaged in a business that may prevent my intended journey to America, or at least determine to postpone it. We are considering of a Scheme for forming in London a Public Institution for diffusing the knowledge and facilitating the introduction of useful Mechanical improvements, and for teaching by means of regular Courses of Philosophical Lectures and Experiments to the common purposes of life.⁵⁸⁰ I shall depend on you, and on Lord Palmerston⁵⁸¹ to give your support to this most useful and most interesting Scheme.⁵⁸²

It is proposed to put the execution of the Plan, and the sole management of all the affairs of the Institution, into the hands of seven Managers, one of whom to be – your most Obedient Servant. As soon as the scheme shall be digested and properly drawn up in writing I shall not fail to send it to you. It is proposed that subscribers of 50 Guineas <paid once for all> should possess forever all the Property belonging t{o} the Institution, and these shares to be transferable by sale, gift, Legacy &c^a. Each such subscriber to have two tickets, transferable of admission to every part of the Institution – and also two tickets likewise transferable of admission to all Public and Private lectures and Experiments. The choice of the Managers, and of a committee of Visitors to be exclusively vested in Subscribers of this first Class. Subscribers of the second class, at 10 Guineas, to be free of the Institution for life, - and the third Class, at 2 Guinea’s to have the entrès for one year. But the tickets of the second and third classes not to be transferable.

One very interesting part of the Institution will be a grand collection of useful Machines _ all at work, and a collection of Models of useful Mechanical Inventions, with Work-Shops for giving instructions to Tradesmen and Manufacturers; and a magnificent Laboratory for making Chemical and Philosophical Experiments.⁵⁸³

I shall be a subscriber of the first Class, and I am not sure but I shall make my Daughter⁵⁸⁴ Subscribe also.

Tell me what you think of this scheme.

I am ever, as you well know, Yours most | faithfully Rumford.

Address: For | Lady Palmerston

Letter 59: 7 October 1799

   Chester 7^th. October 1799

We left Buxton on Wednesday last, the 1^st: instant, and arrived at Manchester in time to dine. We remained there ‘till Saturday, when we went to Liverpool, and from Liverpool we came here last evening. We shall stay her ‘till tomorrow, and from hence shall go to Oulton to see M^r. Egerton,⁵⁸⁵ who is M^r. Bernards⁵⁸⁶ acquaintance, where we shall dine and sleep, and on Wednesday we shall return to Buxton, where we shall stay 8 or 10 days. On our way to Town we shall pay a visit to Lord Winchilsea at Burley.⁵⁸⁷

I was greatly delighted with what I saw at Manchester. The Cotton Mills are really wonderfull. We saw cotton spinning for Muzlins that was so very fine that a thread one hundred miles in length weighed no more than one pound! And yet fine as this thread was it broke so seldom in the spinning that one boy could manage 100 Spindles. This Mill when I saw it was actually spinning more in a day that could be spun by hand by ten thousand Persons. The machinery was kept in action by two Steam Engines, each of which was equal in power to 30 Horses.

I had the great satisfaction to find that many improvements in the management of fire and the economy of fuel have been made <at Manchester> in consequence of my recommendations, taken from my Essays.⁵⁸⁸

Liverpool, undoubtedly the most flourishing Commercial City in the World, is, in my opinion, (like all other Sea-Ports) most detestable. In the best Inn in the Place we were poisoned with dirt, filth, and bad smells of all kinds, and we were happy to get away from it a day sooner that we had intended. That day <so gained> we mean to spend here in a most excellent Hotel, for the weather is too bad to go much abroad. The wet-Docks at Liverpool are wonderful, and are so full of ships that there does not appear to be room for another. I found there a great number of American Vessels bound homewards, and I did not neglect to write to my impertinent Daughter.⁵⁸⁹

My health is certainly improved by my journey; but that it would be improved by it I never doubted. If I could follow D^r. Blanes⁵⁹⁰ advice in the most essential point by thinking less I have no doubt but that I should get quite well. You remember Lord Palmerstons⁵⁹¹ plan for the accomplishment of that desirable end._ but I will not however be so indelicate as to recall to your Ladyships recollection a subject which might be thought disagreeable.

With my best Compliments and love to all “enquiring friends,” I have the honor to be your Ladyships Most devotedly. R.

Address: Viscountess Palmerston.

Letter 60: 26 November 1799 (Figure 10)

   Brompton 26^th Nov^r. 1799

FIGURE 10 Rumford to Palmerston, 26 November 1799 (first page). Dartmouth College, Rauner Special Collections MS 793528.

You must own that you are a most ungrateful creature to tax me with not being disposed to write to you. Have your forgotten the Treatise I wrote expressly for your private use, and which, God knows whether you ever took the trouble to read!⁵⁹² Every day I find new reasons for adopting the vulgar opinion that too much indulgence spoils the best of People. You are a dear good Woman, but I am afraid your friends have indulged you too much. I will however do every thing in my power to assist you.

I have ordered for your kitchen, the grate &c^a. which you saw at Summers’s⁵⁹³ _ I will, if you approve of it, put up a most complete Roaster on one side of it, and as complete a family Boiler, with steam dishes &c^a. on the other side of it. In short to Copy Summers’s Kitchen exactly,_ not so much indeed for the use of it will be of to the Poor,_ but to the very great use it will be of to Rumsey and the neighbourhood, as a model. For the purpose of cooking for the Poor who frequent your school of Industry⁵⁹⁴ I have ordered a boiler which holds about 40 Gallons, and a nest of four small ovens, of sheet iron, all heated by the same fire.

This large boiler, and these four ovens will not cost more than five Guinea’s when finished and properly set in brick work. I am doing my utmost to get all these things made as soon as possible, and I think they will be finished by the end of this week. As soon as they are done I shall send them down by the wagon, and shall send down my Bricklayer by the Coach to put them up. As to spinning wheels and other impliments for setting the Children &c^a. to work, you must regulate their number by the number of Persons you expect to collect to use them. Your Rumsey friends will be best able t{o} give you advice in this bus{iness.}

Dont ask me for the particulars of what is doing at Munich. My Princess⁵⁹⁵ has written me the kindest, but most distressing letter on the subject. I cannot think of it without feeling a degree of grief that you may imagine, but which I cannot express.

You will love my Princess when you are informed that she offered to furnish me with any sum of money that might be necessary to keep up my establishments, but I declined of course accepting of her generous offer. Every thing at Munich indicates some great change, most probably a change of Residence, and perhaps of Government _ But this to yourself. _ Every thing that will fetch money is selling, even the Palaces, - farms – Brew Houses._ Houses of Industry &c^a._ &c^a. _

What a cruel situation would mine have been at this moment had I not published my first and Second Essays!_⁵⁹⁶

But my works will remain in spite of the fury of the Goths and Vandals.

I dont think I am yet much better as to my health

The Institu{ion} for the Poor is to be pre[MS torn] – But how can it exis{t wi}thout the House of Industry I know not.

This letter contains more than a score of the little dabs of notes you send me.

Address: Viscountess Palmerston | Broadlands, | Rumsey | Hants.

Letter 61: 15 August 1801

   Brompton, Saturday Morning | 15^th: Aug^t. 1801.

My dear friend,

You, surely, cannot with justice tax me with unkindness, or want of attention in not coming to dine with you at sheen.⁵⁹⁷ As often as I am persuaded to set down to table I am tempted to eat something or other, and as often as I do so I am made ill for three or four days. I find nothing will do but avoiding temptation. Had I a carriage at command I would certainly come out to you, very often, but the stage Coaches are a very tiresome mode of conveyance, _ and, in my present state of health, I cannot walk so far._ My last walk from sheen did me no good.

Besides all these reasons, I am really so very busy that I know not how to find one single moment of leisure in the 24 hours. I must in the five or six weeks I have remain[ing] in this Country do more work than I ought to permit myself to do in six months. With all this I am very far from being well. To this you may add, that I have a friend in my house,⁵⁹⁸ and cannot, with any kind of decency leave him alone.

You see, my dear Lady Palmerston, how I am circumstanced. I hope you will be less disposed to blame me, and to treat me with severity when you shall have maturely considered my situation,_ and the situation of my mind,_ which is by no means light and cheerful.__ The nearer the time of my departure approaches, the more I feel my spirits depressed, and my prospects gloomy. I am taking a step which may involve me in inextricable difficulties, but which I cannot avoid taking.

Adieu! My dear Lady P._ if we ever meet again, I hope it will be to congratulate each other on the fortunate events that may happen to us during our separation, and not to mourn our misfortunes. If we ever meet, may happiness attend you, and yours, and may you sometimes remember with affection him who will never forget you, or cease to love you.

Letter 62: 9 September 1801

   Brompton 9^th. Sep^t. 1801

You may believe me when I assure you that you have relieved my mind from much pain and distress. I was very uneasy and unhappy till your letter arrived, but I am now once more in a condition to command my attention to business, and to get on with my preparations for my journey. I expect to leave England in about ten day[s]. My Passport, signed by the King,⁵⁹⁹ is in my possession, and I have leave by it to pass either from Gravesend or Dover, and go either to France or to Holland. M. Otto⁶⁰⁰ promises me a passport from Paris in a few days. If I land in France I shall go strait from Calais, or from Ostend, to Frankfort, without going near Paris. Lord Pelham⁶⁰¹ was perfectly of your opinion respecting the passage by Paris, but my mind was made up on the subject before I spoke to him. Your reasons I found, on quiet examination to be founded on that wisdom and that friendship which form the essence of your most excellent character.

You will, I hope approve of an alteration I have made in the plan of my operations. I go now to Munich with the determination to <be> back in London by or before the middle of December. To make my permanent stay now impossible I take nothing with me but a small Portmanteau. I go to pay my Court to my new Sovereign,⁶⁰² and to settle with him, if possible, a reasonable plan for the rest of my life. I shall try hard to arrange matters so as to divide my time between England and Bavaria. My House at Brompton, and a Summer lodging at Munich, that is my scheme. In all events, I must get leave to return to England, and spend the winter in London, for the important purpose of finishing the Royal Institution, and settling my own private affairs. I have great hope of being able to carry that point, at least. Sir Joseph,⁶⁰³ and Lord Pelham approve much of this new plan,_ but Sir Charles⁶⁰⁴ is not quite sure it is right._ He never yet approved of any plan I communicated to him. Pray write me before I go. You shall hear from me again before I depart. My health has suffered a little from late storms and anxieties.

How well you judge of every thing and of every body! Who told you Scotch Ladies were interested?_ You are surely a witch. I lately received a long string of Commissions from the north, very few indeed of which I shall find time to execute. Adieu! Yours most Affectionately

Address: Viscountess Palmerston

Letter 63: 3 October 1801

   Munich 3^d. October 1801.

My dear Lady Palmerston,

I arrived here last evening, have seen the Elector,⁶⁰⁵ and have every reason to hope that every thing will be settled exactly as I could wish. Nothing could possibly be more friendly than the reception I met with from the Elector. He saw me this morning before nine O’Clock. My journey has been most prosperous. I left Dover on Tuesday morning the 22^d Octob September at 9 O’Clock and in three hours and a quarter was landed at Calais. Leaving Calais the next morning at Seven OClock, and passing by Douay⁶⁰⁶ – Cambray⁶⁰⁷ – Laon – Rheims – Chalons – Metz – Sarrbruck⁶⁰⁸ and Deux Ponts⁶⁰⁹ I arrived at Mannheim on Monday evening, having travelled in France 82 Posts, or 164 Leagues in six days. Leaving Mannheim the next morning (Tuesday, last) I arrived here yesterday, (Friday evening). The distance from Mannheim to Munich is 88 Leagues. I slept every night at least six or seven hours, at the Inns on the road. I arrived in perfect health, and am now in the highest spirts. I found all my friends here well, and every body glad to see me. My reception from every body has really been most flattering.

I saw my garden this afternoon, and found it in great beauty._ The little friend you saw on the Lake promises to be a charming creature, she is very clever and very accomplished for a child of her age.⁶¹⁰ She is grown very much since I saw her last. I fancy I shall be in London before the end of November. I have some thoughts of going down the Rhine, and embarking for England from Rotterdam. I met with no difficulties or incivilities in my passage through France. I found the Country well cultivated, but the Towns look very dismal. The roads in general much out of repair. The People every where are sighing for Peace. Adieu! my dear friend. I am just going to bed, at a very early hour, in the hope of getting a good nights sleep. My best compliments to Lord P.⁶¹¹ and to all my friends near you. I will write to you again soon.

Ever yours most sincerely R.

Address: Viscountess Palmerston | Hanover Square | London

Letter 64: 26 October 1801

   Paris, 26^th: October 1801.

You will perhaps be surprised at receiving a letter from me a letter dated from this place, but I hope you will not disapprove of the alteration I have been induced to make in my plans. Circumstances have greatly altered since I saw you,⁶¹² and I thought I might without any impropriety indulge my curiosity. Curiosity however was not the only motive which induced me to come here. The Elector⁶¹³ wished it, and charged me with dispatches of some importance for his Minister⁶¹⁴ here. My stay here is as yet uncertain, but I shall certainly be in England about the end of next Month, if not sooner. I arrived here last evening.

I left Munich on the 14^th: in company with Prince George of Mecklenbourg,⁶¹⁵ brother to the Princess of Taxis,⁶¹⁶ and went with him to his Sisters Country Residence (Dischingen) where I staid three day[s]. On the 18^th. I left Dischingen and arrived at Mannheim in the evening of the 19^th: where I staid one day, which I spent with the aimable Laura,⁶¹⁷ who has lived there these last two years. I found her inhabiting a very good house, pleasantly situated, and furnished, (by herself) with infinite taste, where she says she means to spend the rest of her life. She was quite alone, her husband,⁶¹⁸ who is seldom at home, being then absent on a journey. I found her favorite room, (where she spends the greatest part of her time) ornamented with a single Picture, which was placed to great advantage. She says she never feels herself to be alone when she is in that room. She is a most interesting creature, and it is perfectly impossible not to love her with most tender affection. She is innocence, candour, and sweetness personified. Her joy at seeing her beloved friend once more is not to be described. I thought the tears would never cease flowing down her lovely cheeks. Ah! my dear Lady Palmerston you were right!_ I ought never to have suffered this angel to be torn from me._ Her whole happiness is at this instant concentrated in the recollection of a few moments of enjoyment, and so far from repining at her fate, she says she thanks God every day with the warmest gratitude for having given her a friend “who is dearer to her than the whole world, and who is equally worthy of her love, and her admiration”._

Pardon me, my dear Lady P._ it is a great consolation, when ones heart overflows, to [illegible] <give a loose> ones sentiments. Heaven knows how far I am from feeling the smallest degree of vanity. On the contrary I am deeply sensible of my own inferiority. __ but I must proceed no farther._ the subject is not proper for an epistolatory correspondence.

My arrangements with the Elector are made, and they are such as will, I am confident, meet your approbation. I must join him in the Spring; but he allows me to visit England every year. He expects that I should assist him with my advise [sic], but he will not insist on my charging myself with more work than I can execute with ease and convenience. In short, he appears to be perfectly friendly, and desirous to do every thing in his power to make my situation agreeable and comfortable. The Electrice⁶¹⁹ is an aimable Princess, and the Court in all respects gay and pleasant. As soon as I am well settled I shall invite you and Lord P⁶²⁰ to come, with bag and baggage, and pay us a long visit. We have excellent masters, for the Education of young Ladies, and a thousand objects of curiosity in the neighbourhood. I can, as yet, say nothing of Paris, but I intend, as I am here, to see it well, and hope to be able to give you a satisfactory account of it when we meet. It will not be long after my arrival in England, before you will see me at Broadlands.

You will hardly know me when you see me, my health is so much improved by my journey. I am quite well; and live like other people; excepting only that I eat no butter, and drink no wine. It was you who forbid me the former article; and I never fail to think of you, and of your injunction, whenever I see butter on the table. Pray forbid me every thing that you think will injure me, for your commands have infinitely more power over me than my own resolutions.

Adieu! My very dear friend. If you should write to me, you will be so good as to direct to me, – à l’Hotel de Toscani – Rue de la Loi – Remember me kindly to Lord P. and the Philosophers.

Ever Yours most affectionately | R.

P.S. My faithful Aichner⁶²¹ is again with me. He could not see me leave munich without him; and his wife joining her solicitations to his, I could not help taking him again into my service.⁶²²

Address: Angleterre | Viscountess Palmerston | Hanover Square | London

Letter 65: 1 November 1801

   Paris, Sunday 1^st. Nov^r. | 1801.

My dear Lady Palmerston,

I find it quite impossible to leave Paris so soon as I intended._ there are a thousand things to see that are highly worthy of being seen, and as I am here I think it would be quite foolish not to take time enough to satisfy my curiosity. I left the Inn where I put up on my arrival, yesterday, and am now in a very pleasant and quiet appartment at the Hotel <de> Caraman, Rue Dominique, where your letters will find me for a month to come. M^r. Merry⁶²³ is lodged in the house, and also Madame Brigniola,⁶²⁴ an old Italian acquaintance. The Moranda, her friend, is also at Paris, and lodged in this neighbourhood. The Santa Croce⁶²⁵ is also here, and younger, and more beautiful than ever. I dined with them, all and forty other people yesterday at M. Talyrand’s⁶²⁶ Country seat. _ The amusement I find in this place has greatly exceeded my expectations. I am employed from morning to night in seeing curiosities, and there are enough still remaining to be seen to employ me for a month to come. I have made the acquaintance of several interesting Persons. I am to dine tomorrow with Senator Laplace at a dinner made for me, where I shall meet all the Philosophers of the first distinction now at Paris.⁶²⁷ It is quite impossible to be more civil than every body is to me in this place. I have seen all the Consuls but one, and him I shall see on friday next.⁶²⁸ I am told by the Bavarian Minister⁶²⁹ that it is not only right, but absolutely necessary. I shall leave Paris the beginning of next month, and shall be in London about the 6^th. or 7^th: I have been at only one play since I arrived here, but I mean to make a tour of the theatres and other places of amusement. The whole business of the Parisians is to amuse themselves. If you were here you would amuse yourself too, I am quite sure of it. The preparations for the fête de la paix are immense.⁶³⁰ Temporary temples are now building at the Place de la Revolution, which will vie with those of Greece and Rome in size and Grandeur. The whole of the Seine is to be illuminated, and all the Bridges. Pray write to me. I wish you were here. Adieu! My dear Lady P. believe me ever, yours most faithfully. I met an old Cavallo of yours the other day, in the street. He who lodged next room to me when I was very sick. He desires his compliments to you.

He is looking remarkably well. He dont write, for reasons you will easily divine. He has been here about a fortnight. I am in the most perfect health and spirits, and eat and drink like other People. This comes from Travelling.

Address: Angleterre | Viscountess Palmerston | Hanover Square | London

Letter 66: 10 November 1801

   Paris, 10^th. November 1801. | Hotel de Caraman, Rue Dominique

As I shall stay here three or four weeks longer I hope you will write to me. I pass my time most agreeably – my mornings in seeing sights, and my evenings in the first circles of genteel company. The Society here is charming, at least that is so which I frequent._ My health is as good as I could wish it to be. I am quite well, and very gay and happy. I am received every where with civility, and even with marked attentions, and never am in want of an invitation. I have yet found time to go but once to the Play, though I wish, and intend to see all the Theatres.

Both Gentlemen and Ladies are well dressed in all the first circles – and Democracy is quite out of fashion _ The word Citoyen is never heard in good company, and as to the word Libertè, it seems to have become quite obsolete.

I have been presented to the first Consul,⁶³¹ and was received by him with marked attention. _ Many foreigners were presented at the same [time], and some of them of high rank and distinction, but I was the only foreigner, except the foreign ministers, who was invited to dine with Bonaparte.⁶³² _

I met him the next evening at the National Institute,_ he came and seated himself in my near where I was sitting. There was but one person (Lagrange⁶³³) between us, and I had a fine opportunity of observing him for more than an hour. He made a speech of some length,- as a Member of the Institute,_ and acquitted himself very well indeed _ I was quite surprised at his knowledge in Science, and his eloquence.⁶³⁴

I am going this morning to pay my respects to Lord Cornwallis⁶³⁵ _ The fête of yesterday was very magnificent, and I saw it to great advantage _ I will not attempt to describe it in a letter _ When I return to England you shall see my journal, which I have kept regularly ever since I left London._ One reason among others for my taking the trouble to keep it was to be able to amuse you, on my return.⁶³⁶ Adieu! ever Yours. | R.

Lord Pelham will forward any letters for me which you may send to him.⁶³⁷

For news _ The Spaniards are alarmed _ and the Americans are outrageous.

Address: Viscountess Palmerston | Broadlands | near Rumsey | Hants.

Letter 67: 8 February 1804

   Paris 8 February 1804. | Rue de Clichy N^o. 356.

My dear Lady Palmerston,

Mons. De Cetto, the Bavarian Minister being about to send off a messenger to Munich I cannot neglect so good an opportunity of writing to you. My letter will be put into the Post Office at Munich, and I hope and trust that it will reach you in due time.

I can of course write you no public news, but I may with <out> exposing myself to danger give you an account of myself, and of the state of my private concerns. My grand concern seems to draw towards a conclusion, <and> I fancy that matters will be finally terminat[ed] by the month of May.⁶³⁸ The purchase of the Chateau of Passy has been delayed by some legal difficulties which it has required time and address to remove, but these obstacles are now removed, and the bargain will probably be concluded in a few days. This purchase will cost a good deal of money, but the situation is, quite delightful, and the Chateau spacious and magnificent, and well built of hewn stone. The Park contains several acres of fine woods, and can easily be transformed into a beautiful English Garden. How happy should I be to show it to you! how happy to see you occupy an appartment in my house!_ This beautiful Possession is purchased in both our names, and will be the sole property of the survivor; together with all the furniture, Books, Instruments &c^a. &c^a. All the personal property will also be the property of the survivor, and also the income during life of all the landed property. Each of the parties has a right to dispose by will of one half of the landed property after the death of both. If I die first I shall most certainly give my half to the person from whom I receive it, but I shall secure 5000 £ in the french funds for my Daughter,⁶³⁹ which will make her as rich as [I] should wish her to be. She will have 500£ sterling a year, and that is quite enough.

We shall have a clear income of 80,000 livres a year, (-about 3,250 £ Sterling) after the purchase money is paid for Passy. With that sum we can certainly contrive to live very comfortably. If I should be the survivor I shall enjoy that income during my life, and one half of the landed property will in that case fall to me and my heirs. We propose to keep the house at Brompton, and to reside in England occasionally. Brompton also is to be the sole property of the survivor. The Electors⁶⁴⁰ approves intirely of my intended connection, and has written to me a most flattering letter to invite us to come to Munich. In short, my dear friend, everything looks promising, and I may reasonably hope to be happy.⁶⁴¹ My health is uncommonly good, and all my clothes are growing too small for me. The disorder in my face is intirely gone. It is most certain that the air of Paris agrees with [me] exceedingly well. Pray write to me often and let me know how you all do. Give my love to all my young friends, and particularly to the wild one.⁶⁴² Tell her I disapprove very much of her growing taller than her mother. It is a want of respect which is unpardonable. How is Sir Charles going on? Has he yet found a wife to his liking?⁶⁴³ You may write to me directly and your letters will come safe, but you must not forget that they will be read twice at least before they reach me[.] How does the Royal Institution go on? What do the Philosophers in England say to my late experiments on heat? Do they yet continue to believe in caloric? I am quite sure that it has no real existence. I am now very busy in making preparations for a new set of experiments on the subject of heat. The french Philosophers begin to waver in their opinions upon that subject._ The Chemists still hold out, but the Natural Philosophers, (Physiciens) express their doubts freely. I think I shall live to dive drive caloric off the stage as the late M. Lavoisier⁶⁴⁴ (the author of caloric) drove away Phlogiston. What a singular destiny for the wife of two Philosophers!! Adieu! ever Yours.

Address: Lady Viscountess Palmerston | Hanover Square | London

Letter 68: 10 May 1804

   Paris 10 May 1804

My dear Lady Palmerston,

I have to thank you for a most comfortable letter of four pages, grand folio, which I received a few days ago. It gave me the most heart-felt pleasure. You know my attachment to you, and you can easily imagine how much pleasure it must afford me to receive such kind letters from you. If I have not written to[o] oftener of late, it has been because I have not dared to write to any body. Prudence requires that I should conduct myself with the utmost caution to avoid being exposed to suspicions which might easily prove fatal to all my views. You will naturally expect to be made acquainted with the state of my private, domestic concerns in this Capital.

They are not yet legally terminated, but several arrangements have been concluded, and others are on the point of being finished. I expected that we⁶⁴⁵ should have a house to go into long before this time. Our negotiations for the purchase of the Chateau of Passy lasted several months and after the bargain was finished, and the papers ready to be signed we found out that the titles which were offered us were not good; and that we should have a lawsuit for our money, instead of the peaceable possession of a beautiful Villa.

We are now in treaty for a very pritty small house, in a retired situation in Paris. It is situated, in the midst of a garden of near two acres, well furnished with trees in the Faubourg S^t. Honorè, Rue d’Anjou. It will cost about 6000 Guineas. As the Garden joins another still larger garden, laid out in the English sty[l]e, it is quite like being in the Country. My friend⁶⁴⁶ has already a very good, and a very valuable house in Paris, but as the situation, (in the heart of the City) does not please either of us, we shall never inhabit it. The house she occupies is not her own, and there is not room in it to lodge two persons comfortably.

We have had some thoughts of making an excursion this summer to the South of france, but our plans of operation are not yet finally settled. We shall most certainly come to England as soon as the passage by Calais and Dover shall be open. The voyage north about [sic] really appears too formidable to be undertaken. It is very uncertain whether I shall visit Bavaria, or not, this Summer. I had much rather remain where I am. My health is uncommonly good. The disorder in my face is intirely gone, and I am growing much fatter than I ever was in my life. This climate agrees with me perfectly, and I am very happy.

I must now enter upon business. I am charged with a commission, by my friend, which I must request your assistance to execute. She has been told that beautiful Schalls may be had in England and she wishes to procure one. She desire[s] to have an elegant Cashmir Schall,_ the ground white, with broad embroidery consisting of ten or eleven things which she calls feathers (plumes) She is informed that such an article may be had in London for 20, or 25 Guineas. Will you have the goodness to purchase one for her, and send it to me, by M^r. Livingston⁶⁴⁷ on his return to Paris, which he tells me will be in about a month. He is the American Minister at Paris, and will be the bearer of this letter. He is a very agreeable pleasant man, though he is a little deaf, and will beat you at Chess if you will give him an opportunity. I like him very much, and dont doubt but you will like him also. I hope and trust that you write to me by him.

I beg my love to all the Children,⁶⁴⁸ and to the inhabitants of the lavender house.⁶⁴⁹

Pray tell me how Sir Charles⁶⁵⁰ is going on. I am afraid he is a little displeased with a letter I wrote to him about three months ago. I have not heard from him since, but I am not sorry that he ceased writing. His letters were exceedingly imprudent, and might easily have exposed me to very disagreeable treatment. I could not possibly consent to expose myself by taking up the cudgels for him in this Country. His insatiable avidity for news while here, during a very critical period, and his ungovernable curiosity to pry into the secrets of his friends and acquaintances gave him the appearances of being more intimately connected with political affairs than he really was. I am perfectly persuaded that those who publickly taxed him with being a spy did him the greatest injustice, and I have declared that opinion very publickly since I have been at Paris, but I could not possibly venture to declare an open war with those who chose the persevere in maintaining a different opinion.

All his old friends here are as well persuaded as I am that he is perfectly innocent; and their esteem is undiminished, but they all say that he ought not to have staid so long at Paris; and none of them are bold enough to undertake to justify him publickly against the asperssions that have been thrown out against him by those who never were his friends. I certainly did every thing that prudence would allow, on my arrival at Paris, to remove the unfavorable impressions which had been made by the suspicions to which he had been exposed, but he was far from seeming to be at all satisfied with <my> zeal in his defence. He even expressed his dissatisfaction in strong terms, in a letter, which came to me by the post, and which was read, for ought I know, in every Country through which it passed. As the first Consul⁶⁵¹ was named in it, and several other persons of note I was certainly justified in complaining, of an imprudence which might easily <have> exposed me to danger, without serving him in the smallest degree. But I beg pardon for troubling you with these disagreeable details. It is probably because I wish to be justified in your opinion in case complaints should have been made to you against me that I have engaged in this tiresome subject.

God bless you, my dear Lady Palmerston. Never doubt of my being with unalterable attachment, your affectionate and devoted friend | R

Address: Viscountess Palmerston | Hanover Square | London

Letter 69: 5 July 1804

   Paris 5 July 1804

My dear Lady Palmerston,

I wrote to you a few days ago by the way of Germany. An opportunity now offers which seems to be safe of sending a letter directly to England. I am extremely anxious to hear from you. Knowing you to be ill, and not knowing what is the matter with you is a very painful situation for me. Pray write to me soon, and let [me] know how you are, and tell me how long you have been ill, and what the Doctor says of your complaint. I am really very anxious about you; and you must contrive to let me hear from you often. If better air than that of London should be thought good for you why should you not go out to Brompton? You must know how much it would delight delight me to know you were in my snug and comfortable little box. Pray make use of it if you should like it. You will really make me very happy by doing so.

I have no news relating to myself to communicate. Legal difficulties have long delayed the completion of our schemes,⁶⁵² and may perhaps delay them for some months longer. Almost the whole of the fortune of my friend is derived f by inheritance from Persons who perished in the revolution, and having been at one time confiscated was given back with certain restrictions which have hitherto render[ed] the making of settlements legally impossible. There is now the greatest probability that these restrictions will soon be removed. In the mean time my friend who considers our engagement a[s] sacred, has fulfilled one of the conditions of it, by enabling me to provide handsomely for my Daughter,⁶⁵³ and has, to prevent accidents, made a will in my favor. My Daughters Inheritance is already placed in the public funds, in my name, __ and having done my duty with respect to my child, my mind is at rest.

Our present plan is to go into Switzerland next month, and from thence to Munich to pay our respects to the Elector.⁶⁵⁴ From Munich we shall either come to England or go into Italy.

We have nearly finished the bargain for a very pretty house in Paris. It is situated in a very quiet situation, in the midst of a garden of two acres, well planted with Trees. We are likewise in treaty for a charming country house in the Valley of Montmorency five leagues from Paris; but I am afraid that we shall not get it, as the owner of it seems very loth to part with it. As the house we are about to purchase in Paris is let for a year yet to come, we shall have a year to spend in travelling about before we can get into it. The house is now occupied by the Princess of Vaudemont.⁶⁵⁵ The house is small, but it is charmingly fitted up, and allmost new. I shall be able to render it quite delightful.

Adieu! My dear friend. Pray write to me soon, and believe me ever, Yours most affectionately | R.

Address: Viscountess Palmerston | Hanover Square | London

Acknowledgements

Above all, I thank Dartmouth College, and especially Scout Noffke of their Rauner Special Collections department, for making available high-quality scans of the sixty-seven letters from Reichsgraf von Rumford to Viscountess Palmerston in their keeping. I also thank the Royal Institution and Southampton University for providing scans of the letter in each of their collections as well as other manuscript material which has been invaluable in editing these letters. To the other collections where I have consulted material namely the British Library, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, the Royal Society of London, The National Archives, the University of Birmingham Cadbury Research Library, the East Sussex Record Office, the Bodleian, the University of London Senate House Library, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the New Hampshire Historical Society, and the Wellcome Collection, my sincere thanks. Finally, I thank Bruce Moran for being such a meticulous editor with all of his invaluable suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Frank A. J. L. James

Frank James (corresponding author) is Professor of the History of Science at University College London and Chair of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry. His main research concentrates on the physical sciences in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and how they relate to other areas of society and culture, for example, art, literature, business, media, religion, engineering, and the military. He edited the Correspondence of Michael Faraday, published in six volumes between 1991 and 2012 and served as an advisory editor for the four volume Collected Letters of Humphry Davy (2020) and is currently serving in the same capacity on the projects to publish Thomas Beddoes’ letters and Tom Wedgwood’s writings. He is also a Co-I on the AHRC-funded Humphry Davy Notebooks Project which will make all of Davy’s notebooks freely available in 2024. His Michael Faraday: A Very Short Introduction was published in 2010 by OUP who the following year also published his sesquicentenary edition of Faraday’s Chemical History of a Candle. His current research is focused on writing a biographical study of Humphry Davy concentrating on his social and cultural relations, particularly his practical work, such as nitrous oxide, agricultural chemistry, mineralogy, the miners’ safety lamp, analysis of ancient Roman pigments, and his attempts to unroll chemically the papyri excavated from Herculaneum. He has been President of the British Society for the History of Science, the Newcomen Society for the History of Engineering and Technology, and the History of Science Section of the British Science Association. He was chair of the National Organising Committee for the XXIVth International Congress for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine held in Manchester in July 2013 and as a member of the Council of the European Society for the History of Science, he co-ordinated the programme of ESHS2018 held at UCL. He was elected a Member of the Academia Europaea in 2012; he is also a Membre Effectif of the Académie internationale d’histoire des sciences. Email: [email protected]

Notes

1 Viscount Palmerston, Diary, 22 June 1793, SU MS 62/BR/13/4, f.11r. (For abbreviations and contractions used in this paper, see the list following this introduction).

2 With Rumford’s changes of residence around Europe, it is likely that he discarded many of his papers. Following his death in Paris, some of his papers eventually found their way to his daughter in the United States. She made selective copies or extracts of some of this material, but not accurately, and then burnt the originals. For an account of this process, see Sanborn Brown, Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1979), viii–ix.

3 Viscountess Palmerston to Viscount Palmerston, 9 December 1794, SU MS 62/BR/11/22/1.

4 Such studies include Simon Werrett, Thrifty Science: Making the Most of Materials in the History of Experiment (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2019); Alan J. Rocke, “A Woman’s Life Alongside Chemistry: The Memoirs of Theresa Kopp Baumann,” Ambix 68 (2021): 1–27 (and the citations in notes 3 and 4); Sheila Haines, Leigh Lawson and Alison McCann, Elizabeth Ilive, Egremont’s Countess c.1769–1822 (Abertillery: Bakehouse Press, 2017); Harriet Olivia Lloyd, “Rulers of Opinion: Women at the Royal Institution of Great Britain” (University College London PhD thesis, 2018); Frank A. J. L. James, “The Subversive Humphry Davy: Aristocracy and Establishing Chemical Research Laboratories in Late Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century England,” in Compound Histories: Materials, Governance and Production, 1760–1840, eds. Lissa Roberts and Simon Werrett (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 269–88; Nathan Bossoh, “Science, Empire, and Polymathy in Victorian Society: George Douglas Campbell, The 8th Duke of Argyll” (PhD diss., University College London, 2022).

5 Morris Berman, Social Change and Scientific Organization: The Royal Institution, 1799–1844 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1978) in line with the then current historiography, took a highly negative view of aristocratic involvement in his framework stressing, instead, the rise of the middle class. He did not even acknowledge the crucial role played by women in the early Royal Institution. For a corrective, see Lloyd, “Rulers of Opinion.”

6 [Jane Austen], Northanger Abbey: and Persuasion, 4 vols. (London: John Murray, 1818 [published late 1817]), vol. 2, 87 [Chapter 20 of single-volume editions].

7 Individuals identified in the letters or biographical register are not further referenced in the introduction. The Rumford-Pictet letters are published in Marc-Auguste Pictet 1752–1825 correspondance sciences et techniques, eds., René Sigrist and David Bickerton, 4 vols. (Geneva: Slatkine, 1996–2004), vol. 3, 495–595.

8 Despite its faults, the best biography of Rumford remains Brown, Benjamin Thompson; George Ellis, Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, with Notices of his Daughter (Boston: American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1871) remains valuable as a source for primary material now lost; W. J. Sparrow, Knight of the White Eagle: A Biography of Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford (1753–1814) (London: Hutchinson, 1964) is still useful while Jane Merill, Sex and the Scientist: The Indecent Life of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford (1753–1814) (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2018) though having an arresting title, is riddled with journalistic simplifications and inaccuracies.

9 Benjamin Thompson, “New Experiments upon Gun-powder, with Occasional Observations and practical Inferences; to which are added, an Account of a new Method of determining the Velocities of all Kinds of Military Projectiles, and the Description of a very accurate Eprouvette for Gun-powder,” Philosophical Transactions, 71 (1781): 229–328 (on 229–30).

10 Thompson’s Election Certificate, RSL MS EC/1779/4.

11 Brown, Benjamin Thompson, 70–7.

12 See Benjamin Thompson to Charles Blagden, 29 January 1781, RSL MS CB/1/6/161 and Thompson, “New Experiments upon Gun-powder.”

13 Blagden, Diary, RSL MS CB/3/1–8. The entries for the year 1795 (CB/3/3) have been transcribed and annotated in Hannah Wills, “The Diary of Charles Blagden: Information Management and the Gentleman of Science in Eighteenth-Century Britain” (PhD diss., University College London, 2019). References in this paper to the Diary for 1795 will be to the manuscript.

14 Charles Blagden to Joseph Banks, 20 September 1783, The Scientific Correspondence of Joseph Banks, ed. Neil Chambers, 6 vols. (London: Pickering, 2007), vol. 2, 138–40.

15 Edward Gibbon to Lord Sheffield, 17 and 18 September 1783, in Edward Gibbon, The Autobiography and Correspondence (London: Alexander Murray, 1869), 301–2.

16 Marc-Auguste Pictet, Voyage de Trois Mois En Angleterre, en Ecosse, et en Irelande pendent l‘Eté de l’an IX (1801 v.st.) (Geneva: Bibliothèque Britannique, 1802): 259–60.

17 Anna Maerker, “Political Order and the Ambivalence of Expertise: Count Rumford and Welfare Reform in Late Eighteenth-Century Munich,” Osiris 25 (2010): 213–30 (on 215–16); Brown, Benjamin Thompson, 99–100.

18 Maerker, “Political Order,” 222–3.

19 Pictet, Voyage de Trois Mois, 260.

20 Benjamin Thompson to Charles Blagden, 2 December 1783, RSL MS CB/1/6/162.

21 Brown, Benjamin Thompson, 96.

22 London Gazette, 21–24 February 1784, no. 12521, 5.

23 He swore his oath on 5 June 1784, Brown, Benjamin Thompson, 101.

24 Maerker, “Political Order,” 220.

25 Brown, Benjamin Thompson, 118–23 drawing on Rumford, Vollständiger Bericht und Abrechnung über den Erfolg der neu eingeführten Einrichtungen bey dem churpfalzbaierischen Militär (Munich, 1792) and coded intelligence reports in TNA FO 9/5.

26 The Journal of Elizabeth Lady Holland (1791–1811), ed. The Earl of Ilchester, 2 vols. (London: Longman, 1908), entry for 18 December 1793, vol. 1, 108 (BL add MS 51927, f.116v).

27 Maerker, “Political Order,” 217.

28 Maerker, “Political Order,” 216.

29 He later described this process in Rumford, Essay I, 41–4. For further discussion, see Maerker, “Political Order,” 218–19.

30 Rumford, Essay I, 5. His use of the word citizen is curious and it would be interesting to know if he used this term at the time or whether it reflects some effect of the French Revolution on his thinking. See also letters 66 and 56; in the latter, he described himself as “a free independent Citizen of the world.”

31 Thomas Weidner, Rumford Rezepte für ein besseres Bayern (Munich: Hirmer, 2014), 97–141.

32 Brown, Benjamin Thompson, 137–40.

33 On this episode see Michael Eckert, “Inspired by British Inventions: Joseph von Baader (1783–1835) – a Bavarian Engineer Fighting a Losing Battle,” International Journal for the History of Engineering and Technology 89 (2019): 216–37 and Brown, Benjamin Thompson, 136–7.

34 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Loammi Baldwin, 15 February 1797, in Ellis, Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson, 281–2.

35 Brown, Benjamin Thompson, 140.

36 Brown, Benjamin Thompson, 141–2.

37 Thomas Walpole to Lord Grenville (Foreign Secretary), 10 March 1793, TNA FO 9/9, quoted in Brown, Benjamin Thompson, 144.

38 There is no biography of Palmerston, but see the discussion of her in the biography of her eldest son, David Brown, Palmerston: A Biography (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010), 11–12.

39 Ingamells, 733–5.

40 Blagden, Diary, RSL MS CB/3/2–3. The Swiss portion was published in Gavin de Beer, “The Diary of Sir Charles Blagden,” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 8 (1950): 65–89.

41 Reported in Charles Blagden to Joseph Banks, 11 May 1793, in Scientific Correspondence of Joseph Banks, vol. 4, 218–19.

42 Charles Blagden to Joseph Banks, 17 August 1793, in Scientific Correspondence of Joseph Banks, vol. 4, 242–4.

43 Viscountess Palmerston to Benjamin Mee, 28 June to 2 July 1793, SU MS 62/BR/11/19/12. Her letters to Mee, which continued until the beginning of 1794, formed a sort of epistolatory diary of her travels, usually with the precise dates of places and events recorded. Occasionally her dating was incorrect and it is sometimes not possible to determine it with certainty. This paragraph was dated 29 June 1793.

44 Henry John Temple to Viscountess Palmerston, 26 August 1793, SU MS 62/BR/22A/1/5.

45 First used in letters 4 and 38, respectively. It is not known which name applied to which child.

46 Letter 1; Viscountess Palmerston to Benjamin Mee, 21 September to 21 October 1793, SU MS 62/BR/11/20/6.

47 Viscountess Palmerston to Benjamin Mee, 21 September to 21 October 1793, SU MS 62/BR/11/20/6.

48 Mary Carter to Charlotte Nelthorpe, 17 October 1793, in Mrs. Mary Carter’s Letters ed. [Charlotte Johnston Anderson] (London: Clayton, [1860?]), 5–9.

49 Viscountess Palmerston to Benjamin Mee, 25 October to 25 November 1793, SU MS 62/BR/11/20/7; letter 2.

50 Viscountess Palmerston to Benjamin Mee, 10–28 December 1793, SU MS 62/BR/11/20/8.

51 Viscountess Palmerston to Benjamin Mee, 29 December 1793 to 7 January 1794, SU MS 62/BR/11/20/9; letter 3.

52 Viscount Palmerston, Diary, SU MS 62/BR/13/7 (unpaginated).

53 Peter Quintyn to Viscountess Palmerston, 1 April 1794, SU MS 62/BR/19/10/2.

54 Rumford, Essay I, 110–11 and VI, 148–50.

55 Letter 6 advised them on the best route to Munich.

56 Viscount Palmerston, Diary, July 1794, unpaginated, SU MS 62/BR/13/10.

57 For example, Lloyd’s Evening Post, 14–16 October 1795, 369c–370a and Kentish Chronicle, 16 October 1795, 3b, contained identically worded eulogies.

58 Letter 21. He even put an account of the robbery in a later paper to the Royal Society of London, Rumford, “Experiments to Determine the Force of Fired Gunpowder,” Philosophical Transactions 87 (1797): 222–92, 256.

59 Viscount Palmerston to Viscountess Palmerston, 3 November 1795, SU MS 62 BR/20/12/54.

60 Lloyd’s Evening Post, 14–16 October 1795, 370a; also mentioned in letter 21.

61 The first three quotations are taken from letter 24; the latter three from the letter he wrote to her the following day, letter 25.

62 Blagden, Diary, 5 November 1795, RSL MS CB/3/3, f.75r.

63 On the basis of these letters, apparently unaware of Blagden’s diary, Brown suggested that Rumford “discovered that he was a political outcast and was shunned by much of high society.” See Brown, Benjamin Thompson, 164.

64 Letter 22. For instance, Devonshire was a strong supporter of the Medical Pneumatic Institution established in Bristol by Thomas Beddoes (1760–1808). Frank A. J. L. James, “‘the first example … of an extensive scheme of pure scientific medical investigation’: Thomas Beddoes and the Medical Pneumatic Institution in Bristol, 1794–1799,” Royal Society of Chemistry Historical Group Occasional Papers, 8, 2016.

65 Viscount Palmerston to Viscountess Palmerston, 19? December 1795, SU MS 62/BR/20/11/3.

66 The dinner was described in Viscount Palmerston to Viscountess Palmerston, 3 November 1795, SU MS 62 BR/20/12/54.

67 RSL MS JB/35, f.523v.

68 RSL MS CM/8, p.77.

69 On 12 November and 24 December 1795, RSL MS RSC/2/1 (unpaginated) and Blagden, Diary, RSL MS CB/3/3, f.76v and f.83v, respectively.

70 Sarah Thompson wrote an autobiography “The History of my Life,” the manuscript of which has not been located. Ellis, Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson contains long extracts from Thompson’s “History of my Life” which she wrote in the early 1840s (on 221). That means for her first visit to Europe she was recollecting events of more than forty years previously. The reference to her staying with the Lackingtons is on 226.

71 Thompson, “The History of my Life,” 226–8.

72 Thompson, “The History of my Life,” 229–30.

73 Brown, Benjamin Thompson, 165.

74 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Andrew Strahan, 14 November 1795, Bodleian MS Montagu d.15/2, f.264.

75 St James’s Chronicle, 10–12 December 1795, 6d.

76 Sun, 24 December 1795, 1c.

77 “Marquis of Lansdowne to Jeremy Bentham, 4 April 1796,” in The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 5, ed. Alexander Milne (London: Athlone Press, 1981), 194–5.

78 Viscount Palmerston to Viscountess Palmerston, 19? December 1795, SU MS 62/BR/20/11/3.

79 Brown, Benjamin Thompson, 167.

80 Viscount Palmerston to Viscountess Palmerston, 9 February 1795, SU MS 62/BR/20/12/4.

81 Ellis, Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson, 234.

82 See Brown, Benjamin Thompson, 168, for the illustration of the principle.

83 Rumford, Essay IV, 308.

84 Charles Richard Weld, A History of the Royal Society [of London], with Memoirs of the Presidents, 2 vols. (London: Parker, 1848), vol. 2, 213.

85 Rumford, Essay IV, 308.

86 Maria Josepha Holroyd to Ann Firth, 10 June 1796 in The Girlhood of Maria Josepha Holroyd [Lady Stanley of Alderley]. Recorded in Letters of a Hundred Years Ago: From 1776 to 1796, ed. Jane H. Adeane (London: Longman, 1896), 390–1.

87 See also the 1801 etching by Charles Williams, “Luxury or the Comforts of a Rum p ford” showing a women warming her naked backside in front of a Rumford fireplace (British Museum number 1935,0522.7.12, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1935-0522-7-12 (accessed 26 June 2023)).

88 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Cadell and Davies, January or early February 1796, Dartmouth College MS 795940.

89 Oracle, 15 February 1796, 1d.

90 Rumford, Essay III.

91 Morning Chronicle, 19 March 1796, 2b.

92 John Sinclair to Reichsgraf von Rumford, 9 February 1796, in Rumford, Essay IV, 304.

93 St. James’s Chronicle, 14–16 April 1796, 3d.

94 Rumford, Essays, Political, Economical, and Philosophical, vol. 1 (London: Cadell and Davies, 1796).

95 Morning Chronicle, 21 July 1796, 1d.

96 Letter 43; Reichsgraf von Rumford to Cadell and Davies, 20 January 1797, RSL MS MM 9.5.

97 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Cadell and Davies, 10 May 1797, BL add MS 89061 (unfoliated) and 6 July 1797, RSL MS MM 9.6 (typescript only).

98 Oracle, 5 May 1797, 1b.

99 Star and Evening Advertiser, 29 June 1797, 1b.

100 For example, St. James’s Chronicle, 31 March – 2 April 1796, 2b–c.

101 Jeremy Bentham to Samuel Bentham, 20 February 1796, Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, vol.5, 186–7.

102 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Jeremy Bentham, 10 December 1795, Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 5, 166.

103 Maerker, “Political Order,” 224.

104 The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham: Writings on the Poor Laws, vol. 2, ed. Michael Quinn (Oxford: Clarendon, 2010), 377–9. See J. R. Poynter, Society and Pauperism: English Ideas on Poor Relief, 1795–1834 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969), 130–3 for details of Bentham’s plans.

105 Thompson, “The History of my Life,” 228–9.

106 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Lord Sheffield, 3 May 1796, PRONI MS T3465/55 (photocopy).

107 Rumford, Essay VI, 158.

108 Thomas Pelham to Lord Sheffield, 6 May 1796, PRONI MS T3465/56 (photocopy).

109 Oracle, 18 May 1796, 7c; Rumford, Essay VI, 166–7, 171.

110 John Foster to Lord Sheffield, 8 May 1796, PRONI MS T3725/8 (photocopy).

111 John Foster to Lord Sheffield, 21 June 1796, PRONI MS T3725/9 (photocopy).

112 Thomas Pelham to Lord Sheffield, 12 July 1796, East Sussex Record Office AMS 5440/283.

113 Walker’s Hibernian Magazine, 1796(2), 95; Morning Post, 29 July 1796, 3b.

114 James Watt sr to Joseph Black, 1 June 1796 in The Correspondence of Joseph Black, eds., Robert G.W. Anderson and Jean Jones, 2 vols. (Farnham: Ashgate, 2012), vol. 2, 1282–7.

115 Rumford, Essay VI, 150–1.

116 St James’s Chronicle, 10–12 May 1796, 4c.

117 Thomas Bernard, “Reminiscences of a Philanthropist” (1818) in Pleasure and Pain (1780–1818), ed. James Bernard Baker (London: John Murray, 1930), 49–80 (on 51).

118 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Jeremy Bentham, 10 July 1796, Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, vol.5, 227.

119 [Hannah Johnson], “Extract from an account of the kitchen, fitted up at the Foundling, under the direction of Count Rumford,” Reports SBCP 1 (1797): 89–97, p. 89. Rumford, Essay VI, 151–3, 157, 163. See Ruth McClure, Coram's Children: The London Foundling Hospital in the Eighteenth Century (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1981), 203.

120 Morning Chronicle, 14 July 1796, 3c.

121 Letter 43; Thompson, “The History of my Life,” 299–301.

122 Letter 42; Reichsgraf von Rumford to Lord Sheffield, 3 October 1796, University of London Senate House Library MS AL115; Brown, Benjamin Thompson, 179–82.

123 Thomas Bernard, “Account of the Society, Its Object, Subject of Inquiry, Regulations, &c,” Reports SBCP 1 (1798): 413–23 (on 413).

124 Bernard, “Account of the society,” 413–16.

125 Bernard, “Account of the society,” 415.

126 Bernard, “Account of the society,” 414.

127 Bernard, “Account of the society,” 418.

128 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Thomas Bernard, 28 April 1797, BL add MS 73733 (unfoliated copy). Published in Proposals for Forming by Subscription, in the Metropolis of the British Empire, a Public Institution for Diffusing the Knowledge and Facilitating the General Introduction of Useful Mechanical Inventions and Improvements, and for Teaching, By Courses of Philosophical Lectures and Experiments, the Application of Science to the Common Purposes of Life [London: 1799], 13–14 and Henry Bence Jones, The Royal Institution: Its Founders, and Its First Professors (London: Longman, 1871), 47.

129 Rumford, “Letter to Rev. Dr. Majendie,” Reports SBCP 2 (1800): appendix, 24–8.

130 Including Reports SBCP 1 (1798): 166–75, 226–37; 2 (1798): 68–76, (1799): 205–14, (1800): 343–62.

131 Reports SBCP 2 (1799): 196–204.

132 Reports SBCP 1 (1797): 28–30.

133 Reports SBCP 1 (1798): 205–12.

134 Shute Barrington, “Extract from an Account of the Management of the Poor at Hamburgh,” Reports SBCP 2 (1798): 32–53 (on 51–3).

135 Rumford, “Experiments to determine the Force of fired Gunpowder,” Philosophical Transactions 87 (1797): 222–92.

136 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Joseph Banks, 5 December 1796, BL add MS 8098, ff.379–80.

137 Letter 49. Rumford, “An Inquiry concerning the Source of Heat which is excited by Friction,” Philosophical Transactions 88 (1798): 80–102 (on 98–9). Also published as Rumford, Essay IX.

138 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Joseph Banks, 20 December 1797, BL add MS 8098, ff.478–81. This request suggests that Rumford was aware that there might be issues surrounding a British subject representing a foreign country at the Court of St James.

139 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Joseph Banks, 12 February 1798, BL add MS 8098, ff.471–2; letter 51. A copy of the Elector’s proclamation appointing Rumford and sent by him to Banks is in BL add MS 8098, f.473.

140 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Cadell and Davies, 12 April 1798, RI MS Rumford/1/1.

141 Letter 52, though after their return he claimed he was still working hard at public business. Reichsgraf von Rumford to Cadell and Davies, 29 July 1798, Wellcome Collection MS 7717/3.

142 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Joseph Banks, 12 August 1798, BL add MS 8098, ff.484–5.

143 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Joseph Banks, 20 December 1797, BL add MS 8098, ff.478–81.

144 Letter 53. For further details and correspondence on the matter, see Ellis, Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson, 335–9.

145 Lloyd’s Evening Post, 24–27 October 1800, 436a.

146 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Cadell and Davies, 22 October 1798, Wellcome Collection MS 7717/4.

147 Viscount Palmerston to Viscountess Palmerston, 6 December 1798, SU MS 62/BR/20/15/11; Reichsgraf von Rumford to Frances Elizabeth King, 29 December 1798, BL add MS 18204, f.415; Reichsgraf von Rumford to Arthur Young, 8 January 1799, BL add MS 35128, ff.65–6.

148 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Thomas Cadell, 26 January 1799, BL add MS 34045, ff.1–2.

149 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Thomas Cadell, 16 January 1799, BL add MS 34045, ff.3–4.

150 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Loammi Baldwin, 24 August 1799, Ellis, Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson, 363–4.

151 Including Bence Jones, The Royal Institution; Berman, Social Change and Scientific Organization; Lloyd, “Rulers of Opinion.”

152 Lloyd, “Rulers of Opinion.”

153 Viscountess Palmerston to Henry John Temple, 1 May 1799, SU MS 62/BR/21/5/2; Viscountess Palmerston to William Man Godschall, 7 March 1800, SU MS 62/BR/19/6/55.

154 James, “The Subversive Humphry Davy.”

155 Frank A. J. L. James and Anthony Peers, “Constructing Space for Science at the Royal Institution of Great Britain,” Physics in Perspective 9 (2007): 130–85

156 Letter 60; Reichsgraf von Rumford to Joseph Banks, 15 January 1800, Bence Jones, The Royal Institution, 151. On this project see Isobel Stark, “The Viscountess, the Scientific Philanthropist and the School of Industry,” Women’s History 10(2) (2018): 20–6 and, more generally, Isobel Stark, “‘In the way to do some good’: The Charitable Donations of Mary Mee, Viscountess Palmerston” (MA diss., University of Southampton, 2013).

157 Viscount Palmerston to Charles Blagden, 16 January 1801, RSL MS CB/1/5/147. Viscountess Palmerston to Mary Mee, 5 and 16 January 1801, SU MS 62/BR/21/7/1 and 2.

158 Reichsgraf von Rumford to William Savage, 16 July 1800, RI MS Rumford/1/4. Viscountess Palmerston to William Man Godschall, 18 August 1800, SU MS 62/BR/19/6/59.

159 Viscount Palmerston to Charles Blagden, 24 November 1800, RSL MS CB/1/5/146; Viscountess Palmerston to William Man Godschall, 2 November 1800, SU MS 62/BR/19/6/65. For Rumford’s other activities see Bence Jones, The Royal Institution, 161–2.

160 Viscount Palmerston, Diary, 11 October 1800, SU MS 62/BR/13/13 (unpaginated).

161 Viscount Palmerston, Diary, 10–20 November 1800, SU MS 62/BR/13/13 (unpaginated).

162 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Sarah Thompson, 2 March 1801, Bence Jones, The Royal Institution, 70–1 and Ellis, Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson, 535–6. Confirmed by Viscountess Palmerston to Henry John Temple, 28 February 1801, SU MS 62/BR/21/7/10.

163 Rumford, Diary, UBCRL MS 481 (unpaginated), quotation from front matter.

164 Rumford, Diary, UBCRL MS 481 (unpaginated), 19 November 1801.

165 Rumford, Diary, UBCRL MS 481 (unpaginated), 21 November and 2 December 1801. On their relationship, see Francesca Antonelli, “Madame Lavoisier and the Others: Women in Marie-Anne Paulze-Lavoisier’s Network (1771–1836),” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 77 (2023): 283–302.

166 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Thomas Pelham, 15 November 1801, BL add MS 33108, ff.287–8.

167 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Cadell and Davis, 22 February and 5 March 1802, BL add MS 34045, ff.17 and 18–19.

168 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Sarah Thompson, 6 May 1802, Bence Jones, The Royal Institution, 77 and Ellis, Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson, 540.

169 Viscountess Palmerston, Diary, SU MS 62/BR/18/1/5.

170 Bence Jones, The Royal Institution, 83.

171 Reichsgraf von Rumford to William Savage, 11 November 1803, Bence Jones, The Royal Institution, 222.

172 Reichsgraf von Rumford to Sarah Thompson, 22 January 1804, Bence Jones, The Royal Institution, 87–8.

173 Not found but noted in Viscountess Palmerston to Henry John Temple (now 3rd Viscount Palmerston), 26 May 1802, SU MS 62/BR/21/8/21.

174 See Rumford’s letters to Sarah Thompson between 1806 and 1809 in Bence Jones, The Royal Institution, 92–9.

175 Linda Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation 1707–1837 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992), 151.

176 From Philosophical Transactions 88 (1798): 80–102 with the word “Experimental” added to the title.

177 Published in the United States as Portrait of a Golden Age: Intimate Papers of the Second Viscount Palmerston, Courtier under George III (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1958). A summary of the family history at Broadlands is given on 11–12.

178 Frederick Bramwell to Evelyn Ashley, 7 June 1899, SU MS 62/BR/60/1/10.

179 “Dr. Sanborn C. Brown, Expert on Ionized Gas,” New York Times, 2 December 1981, Section D, 23f.

180 Brown, Benjamin Thompson, xii.

181 Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Manuscripts and Men: An Exhibition of Manuscripts, Portraits and Pictures held at the National Portrait Gallery, London, June – August 1969 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1969), 88–9.

182 Ellis, Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson, 530–1.

183 See Betty Rizzo, Companions Without Vows: Relationships Among Eighteenth-Century British Women (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1994), 267–94, esp. 292.

184 Reproduced in Christoph Heilmann, Johann Georg Dillis 1759–1841 Landschaft und Menschenbild (Munich: Prestel, 1991), 130 and plates 38 and 39.

185 According to Journal of Elizabeth Lady Holland, entry for November 1798, vol. 1, 207 (BL add MS 51928, f.45r) Rumford clashed with the new Electrice.

186 W. T. J. Gun, The Harrow School Register 1571–1800 (London: Longman, 1934), 18.

187 Noted in Journal of Elizabeth Lady Holland, entries for 1792/93 and February/March 1794, vol. 1, 16, 126 (BL add MS 51927, ff.19r, 131v).

188 The Palmerstons had spent the summer in Switzerland.

189 A resort at the Southern end of Lake Garda, on the road from Milan to Verona.

190 Samuel Hood (1724–1816, ODNB). Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean. The previous month French Royalists had voluntarily surrendered the city of Toulon to him with its naval base and about a third of the French fleet. In mid-December, following a siege by Revolutionary forces, Hood was forced to evacuate the city.

191 Last six words were written in smaller letters suggesting their later insertion.

192 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

193 Federico, Marchese Manfridini (1743–1829, LUI). Tuscan politician and diplomat.

194 Ferdinando III (1769–1824, DBI). Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1790 to 1801 and again 1814 to 1824. In 1790, he married Luisa of Naples and Sicily (1773–1802).

195 Rumford here provided a fairly accurate account of the destruction, the day before, of the French ship Le Scipio that had been captured by the Royal Navy. See The Annual Register 35 (1793): 54–5 for a fuller account.

196 Unidentified.

197 A French fort in northern Alsace that surrendered to the Austrian army on 17 November. See Annual Register 35 (1793): 282.

198 Phillips Cosby (1729/30–1808, ODNB). Third in command of the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean and commander of the squadron at Leghorn (modern Livorno).

199 Catherine Herries, olim Ross, née Foote (c.1758–1808, Ingamells, 487). Traveller.

200 John Augustus Hervey (1757–1796, Ingamells, 491–2). Royal Navy captain and British ambassador to Florence, 1787–1794. He was Lord by virtue of being the son of an Earl.

201 Charlotte St John, née Collins, Viscountess Bolingbroke (d.1803, Ingamells, 102–4). By now separated, owing to his incest, from her husband, George Richard St John, 3rd Viscount Bolingbroke (1761–1824, CP) whom she had married in 1783 and had three children.

202 Mariana Starke (1762–1838, ODNB, Ingamells, 890–1). Traveller and (later) author of travel guides. Rumford was incorrect in assuming her to be married.

203 Henry Ellis (1721–1806, ODNB, Ingamells, 336–7). Former governor of Georgia and Nova Scotia.

204 Thomas Collins (c.1729–1804, GM 74(2) (1804): 695). Anglican clergyman and sometime Second Master at Winchester College.

205 Presumably Bolingbroke’s sister and her children.

206 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

207 Temple children.

208 Edward, 2nd Earl Digby (1773–1856, Ingamells, 300). He had recently inherited the Earldom following the death of his father and would spend most of his life serving as Lord Lieutenant of Dorset.

209 News of the Royal Navy’s mid-December evacuation of Toulon had just reached Rome.

210 James Archibald Stuart, later Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie (1747–1818, Ingamells, 910–11) and his wife Margaret Stuart, née Cunynghame (1745–1800). Stuart had been an army officer.

211 One of the seven pilgrim churches of Rome and reputedly where Paul of Tarsus (c.5–c.64/65 CE) was buried.

212 The Vatican’s Basilica of St Peter, first Bishop of Rome, where he was buried between 64 and 68 CE.

213 An important eighteenth-century villa, just to the north of Rome (still standing).

214 A prominent noble Roman family with Buonapartist sympathies, one of whose members later married one of Buonaparte’s sisters.

215 “Always be well, - always be cheerful, and do not forget your devoted R.”

216 For Rumford’s later recollection of what he regarded as a very serious illness that he suffered while in Naples in early 1794 see Reichsgraf von Rumford to Edward Ash, 14 November 1798, UBCRL MS LAdd 1772.

217 Anne Wilkinson.

218 Contessa Nogarola.

219 That is the Locanda del Pellegrino in Florence.

220 A place in most towns where letters would be held until their recipients arrived.

221 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

222 Temple children.

223 George Howard, Viscount Morpeth (1773–1848, ODNB, Ingamells, 682). Later (1795–1820) MP and from 1825 6th Earl of Carlisle, holding various ministerial posts.

224 George Mason-Villiers, 2nd Earl Grandison (1751–1800, Ingamells, 418). MP for Ludlow, 1774–1780 who travelled extensively in Italy. He had been widowed the previous year.

225 Rumford, Essay I, 110–11 and VI, 148–50.

226 Karl Theodor.

227 Benjamin Mee.

228 Fought on 22 May 1794 between British, Hanoverian and Austrian forces on the one side and French on the other, the Battle of Tournai (now in Belgium near the French border) resulted in French defeat.

229 That is modern Belgium.

230 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

231 Gertrude Mason-Villiers (1778–1809, Ingamells, 418). Only child of Earl Grandison.

232 Temple children.

233 A Saturday, on the basis that Rumford was more liable to use the correct day than date.

234 Karl Theodor.

235 See Letter 47 for some details of this visit.

236 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

237 Unidentified.

238 Rumford seems to have confused Waller See, which is nearly 20 km north-east of Salzburg, with Walchensee which is on the road from Innsbruck to Munich via Benediktbeuern.

239 A mounted courier.

240 That is the Englisher Garten.

241 Amand Fritz (1731–1796). Penultimate Abbott of Benediktbeuern from 1784 until death. August Lindner, Die Schriftsteller und die um Wissenschaft und Kunst verdienten Mitglieder des Benediktiner-Ordens im heutigen Königreich Bayern vom Jahre 1750 bis zur Gegenwart, 2 volumes (Regensburg: Manz, 1880), vol. 1, 140.

242 Unidentified.

243 This would shortly become Rumford, Essay I.

244 Nymphenburg Palace then on the north-western outskirts of Munich.

245 Alleyne FitzHerbert, Baron St Helens (1753–1839, ODNB). Diplomat, then ambassador to the Netherlands.

246 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

247 Edward Poore (1743–1803, Ingamells, 782). An art collector and connoisseur who had met the Palmerstons in Naples in early 1793. Their connection was noted by Elizabeth Webster, née Vassall, later the prominent Whig hostess, Elizabeth Fox, Lady Holland (c.1771–1845, ODNB). In her diary she described Poore “as a very eccentric man,” Journal of Elizabeth Lady Holland, entry for 22 March 1793, vol. 1, 16 (BL add MS 51927, f.19r).

248 George James Cholmondeley, 4th Earl of Cholmondeley (1749–1827, Ingamells, 203–4). Minor politician. It is not clear why Rumford used him to send a letter to England, though they may have met the previous year when Cholmondeley had been in Italy.

249 Rumford, Essay I.

250 Temple children.

251 Elisabeth Auguste of Sulzbach (1721–1794, NDB). Became Electrice of Bavaria following her marriage to Karl Theodor on 17 January 1742. The marriage was unhappy producing no surviving heirs and they separated in the early 1760s. She died on 17 August 1794.

252 Rumford, Essay I.

253 Rumford, Essay VI.

254 Gaetano Ravizzotti (d.1821). He met the Palmerstons while in Italy and accompanied them on their return to England where he tutored their children. The family and others consistently referred to him by his forename. Brown, Palmerston, 13–14.

255 Karl Theodor.

256 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

257 Temple children.

258 Written upsidedown at top of second page.

259 Gorinchem, a town about forty miles south-east of The Hague.

260 Benjamin Mee.

261 Letter 9.

262 Karl Theodor.

263 Montagu Wilkinson and Anne Wilkinson.

264 Contessa Nogarola.

265 “dear husband.”

266 Maria Johanna, Gräfin Lerchenfeld, née von Haslang zu Haslangkreuth (1732–1819). Mother of Gräfin Paumgarten and Contessa Nogarola.

267 Unidentified.

268 Mainau, an island on Lake Constance.

269 Gräfin Paumgarten.

270 Lake Starnberg, to the south-west of Munich.

271 Sophia Paumgarten.

272 The Elector.

273 Montagu Wilkinson and Anne Wilkinson.

274 Brownlow North.

275 Henrietta Maria North, née Bannister (1750–1796, Ingamells, 711–12). Married North in 1771. Though a collector of minerals and crystals, Rumford here was probably being ironic as she was addicted to gambling and treated her husband and children badly.

276 Letter 10.

277 The chaldron was a measure by volume of coal, the value of which differed over time and geographical area, but in general usually contained somewhat in excess of a tonne of coal.

278 Matthew Boulton (1728–1809, ODNB). Birmingham based businessman and industrialist who, in partnership with the engineer James Watt (1736ns–1819, ODNB), manufactured steam engines using Watt’s separate condenser making them much more efficient and economical than the original Newcomen engine. Rumford here may again be writing ironically as in 1791 he had ordered a steam engine from Boulton and Watt to help supply water for Mannheim which he promptly cancelled, behaviour that greatly annoyed them. See Eckert, “Inspired by British inventions,” 221.

279 Andrew Douglas (c.1736–1806, ODNB, Ingamells, 308). Physician who married, as her second husband and his second wife, the heiress Mary Beauvoir, née Sharpe (c.1753–1807, ODNB).

280 Charles Talbot (1751–1812, Ingamells, 924). Later a Member of Parliament.

281 Anne Wilkinson.

282 Montagu Wilkinson.

283 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston, Mary Carter, Charles Blagden.

284 Temple children.

285 Much of this letter was summarised in Viscountess Palmerston to Viscount Palmerston, 9 December 1794, SU MS 62/BR/11/22/1.

286 That is the marriage on 15 February 1795 of Karl Theodor to Maria Leopoldine. As Rumford had not mentioned this development in previous letters, this suggests that at least one intermediate letter has not survived.

287 A French board game similar to backgammon.

288 Presumably Gräfin Paumgarten.

289 Unidentified. See letter 15.

290 Rumford seems here to avoid using a possible vulgarity, but presumably he believed that Palmerston would have understood the meaning.

291 Sophia Paumgarten.

292 Rumford.

293 Contessa Nogarola.

294 Gräfin Paumgarten.

295 Possibly Rumford might have been recalling the line “Remember me, but ah! Forget my fate” from Dido’s lament in Henry Purcell, “Dido and Aeneas” (late 1680s). I am grateful to Bruce Moran for this suggestion.

296 Temple children.

297 Unidentified.

298 Unidentified.

299 Montagu Wilkinson.

300 “To make fun of, to jest at; to ridicule, banter, or quiz (a person). Now archaic,” OED.

301 William Hotham (1736–1813, ODNB). Acting Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean. The battle occurred in mid-March.

302 Gilbert Elliot.

303 Charles Blagden, who never married.

304 A reference to the revolution in the Netherlands earlier in the year which saw the Stadtholder flee to England and the establishment of the pro-French Batavian Republic; it is not clear to what event in Ireland Rumford referred.

305 Probably Francis Willis (1718–1807, ODNB). Physician who treated George III during his first attack of insanity.

306 Rumford seems to have been slightly misinformed about Charles Lackington’s address since the Westminster Ratebooks record him paying rates for a property in Charles Street North between 1791 and 1802.

307 Horses.

308 Therese.

309 Queen Charlotte.

310 Karl Alexander (1770–1827, NDB). Later (1805) 5th Prince of Thurn and Taxis.

311 Almost certainly Godfrey Webster (bp.1749–1800, ODNB, Ingamells, 984–6). Sussex landowner.

312 Montagu Wilkinson.

313 Unidentified.

314 See letter 9 for Uriah’s travels.

315 Unidentified. See letter 13.

316 Unidentified.

317 Brownlow North and his wife whom he married in 1771, Henrietta Maria North, née Bannister (1750–1796, Ingamells, 711–12).

318 Charles Blagden.

319 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

320 Temple children.

321 Probably Sophia Paumgarten.

322 Maria Leopoldine.

323 Unidentified.

324 Gilbert Elliot.

325 Charles Brudenell-Bruce, Lord Bruce (1773–1856, HP, Ingamells, 143–5). Army officer and later MP. He bore this courtesy title as the son of an Earl. In 1793, he married, at Florence, Henrietta Hill (1769–1831).

326 Anna Hill, née Vernon, Lady Berwick (d.1797, Ingamells, 86–7). Widow of Noel Hill (1745–1789) created Baron Berwick, 1784, whom she married 1768. Mother of Lady Bruce.

327 Thomas Pakenham, 2nd Earl of Longford (1774–1835, Ingamells, 612). Later an Irish representative peer.

328 George Frederick Nott (1768–1841, ODNB). Longford’s tutor on the Grand Tour. An Anglican clergyman who held a number of livings, Nott spent much of the later part of his life in Italy.

329 James Archibald Stuart, later Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie (1747–1818, Ingamells, 910–11). Stuart had been an army officer.

330 Elizabeth Upton, Lady Templetown, née Boughton (1747–1823, Ingamells, 932–3). Sculptress and widow of the Irish landowner and peer Clotworthy Upton, 1st Baron Templetown (1721–1785, CP).

331 Brownlow North.

332 Karl Theodor.

333 Maria Leopoldine.

334 Lake Starnberg, to the south-west of Munich.

335 Sophia Paumgarten.

336 Gräfin Paumgarten.

337 Temple children.

338 Montagu Wilkinson and Anne Wilkinson.

339 Elizabeth Mee.

340 Benjamin Mee.

341 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

342 Lake Starnberg, to the south-west of Munich.

343 Sophia Paumgarten.

344 Karl Anselm (1733–1805, NDB). 4th Prince of Thurn and Taxis.

345 Therese.

346 Queen Charlotte.

347 Thomas Walpole (1755–1840, AC). British ambassador to Bavaria, 1783–1796.

348 Maria Leopoldine. The following text would seem to suggest that she had suffered a miscarriage.

349 Karl Theodor.

350 Karl Theodor.

351 George III.

352 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

353 Karl Theodor.

354 Nicholas Bond (c.1743–1807). Magistrate at Bow Street Court. Annual Register (1807), 579–80.

355 Noted in Lloyd’s Evening Post, 14–16 October 1795, p. 370a.

356 Queen Charlotte.

357 Charles Blagden, Diary, 17 October 1795, RSL MS CB/3/3, f.70v noted that Rumford had gone to Broadlands; six days later he was back in London, Charles Blagden, Diary, 23 October 1795, RSL MS CB/3/3, f.71v.

358 Charles Lackington. See letter 14.

359 Charles Lackington. See letter 14.

360 John Baker Holroyd, Baron Sheffield in the Irish peerage (1735–1821, ODNB). MP for Bristol.

361 That is Rumford’s series of pamphlets Experimental Essays, Political, Economical, and Philosophical.

362 Sheffield had published a number of pamphlets on various economic and political issues.

363 Lucy Holroyd, Lady Sheffield, née Pelham (1763–1797). Married Sheffield, as his second wife, the previous December.

364 Ralph Payne, Baron Lavington in the Irish peerage (1739–1807, ODNB). MP for New Woodstock who owned a plantation on Antigua where he was later Governor of the Leeward Islands. In 1767, he married Frances Lambertine Christiana Charlotte Harriet Theresa Kolbel (c.1750–1830).

365 Charles Blagden, Diary, 27 October 1795, RSL MS CB/3/3, f.73r–v.

366 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

367 Eleonore von Kalb.

368 Sarah Culverden.

369 Duchess of Devonshire.

370 No Lady John Cavendish has been identified which suggests that Rumford may have made a mistake here.

371 Ralph Payne, Baron Lavington in the Irish peerage (1739–1807, ODNB). MP for New Woodstock who owned a plantation on Antigua where he was later Governor of the Leeward Islands. In 1767, he married Frances Lambertine Christiana Charlotte Harriet Theresa Kolbel (c.1750–1830).

372 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

373 Rumford would dine with Viscount Palmerston that evening at the Lavingtons. Charles Blagden, Diary, 31 October 1795, RSL MS CB/3/3, f.74r. See also Viscount Palmerston to Viscountess Palmerston, 3 November 1795, SU MS 62/BR/20/12/54.

374 Modern Brighton.

375 A reference to the allegations of double dealing made against him when he was in North America.

376 Rumford, Essay I and Essay VII, the latter not published until 1797.

377 Aichner.

378 Henry Holland (1745–1806, ODNB). Prominent architect who had worked for Lord Palmerston on Broadlands and 20 Hanover Square.

379 Matthew Montagu (1762–1831, HP). MP for various Cornish seats.

380 Charles Blagden, Diary, 6 November 1795, RSL MS CB/3/3, f.75v where he noted Rumford ‘very much out of spirits’.

381 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

382 Date from postmark.

383 Whitworth.

384 Ferdinand Poole, 4th baronet (c.1730–1804). Brother of the first wife of Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston and racehorse owner.

385 Date from postmark.

386 Aichner.

387 Elizabeth Lamb, née Milbanke, Viscountess Melbourne (bp.1751, d.1818, ODNB). Whig political hostess and close friend of the Duchess of Devonshire.

388 Duchess of Devonshire.

389 For Rumford, Essay II.

390 The Palmerstons’ villa at East Sheen, about seven miles south-west of London.

391 A coaching inn at Farnham, which still exists, roughly half-way between East Sheen and Broadlands.

392 Rumford, Essay I received a very favourable review in Critical Review 16 (1796): 67–71.

393 Therese.

394 Queen Charlotte.

395 Karl Alexander (1770–1827, NDB). Later (1805) 5th Prince of Thurn and Taxis.

396 Date from postmark.

397 Whitworth.

398 William Wilberforce (1759–1833, ODNB). MP for various seats, 1780–1825. He was one of the leaders of the campaign to abolish the slave trade and slavery itself as well as being prominent in many other philanthropic causes.

399 William Pitt (1759–1806, ODNB). MP for Appleby and then Cambridge University, 1781–1806. Prime Minister, 1783–1801 and again 1804–1806.

400 Mary D’Arcy, née Doublet, Countess of Holdernesse (c.1721–1801). Widow of the politician Robert D’Arcy, 4th Earl of Holdernesse (1718–1778, ODNB).

401 Whitworth.

402 Elizabeth Mee.

403 Sarah Culverden.

404 Amelia Elizabeth Godfrey.

405 Dorothy Elizabeth Boehm, née Berney (1766–1842) wife of the banker and West India merchant Edmund Boehm (c.1740–1822): https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs (accessed 19 October 2022).

406 Rumford, Essay III.

407 Elizabeth Mee.

408 Whitworth.

409 Anne Jane Hatton, née Gore (1763–1827, Ingamells, 474). She was daughter of an Earl, hence the courtesy title of Lady; later (1800) Marchioness of Abercorn. Following the death of her first husband in 1793, she conducted a large number of affairs while staying in Naples, enumerated in Elizabeth Fox, Lady Holland, Diary, first quarter of 1800, BL add MS 51929, f.76. Apart from the reference in this letter, there is no evidence to suggest that Rumford was one of her lovers then or later. See Natalie Hanley-Smith, “Gossip and Sexual Transgression in ‘English Society’ in 1790s’ Naples,” Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 44 (2021): 59–75.

410 Unidentified.

411 Probably Henrietta Frances Ponsonby, née Spencer, Countess of Bessborough (1761–1821, ODNB). Sister of the Duchess of Devonshire and likewise a strong Whig politician, who possessed a villa at Roehampton.

412 Elizabeth Araminta Monck, née Gore (c.1764–1845, GM 24 (1845): 433). A sister of Lady Hatton.

413 Amelia Elizabeth Godfrey.

414 Sarah Culverden.

415 Edmund Boehm (c.1740–1822). Banker and West India merchant: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs (accessed 19 October 2022).

416 Dorothy Elizabeth Boehm, née Berney (1766–1842) wife of Edmund Boehm.

417 Rumford, Essay III. This may refer to the recipe for Tagliati published towards the end of the Essay on 273–4.

418 A French board game similar to backgammon. It is not clear what this treatise was but it is referred to in Viscountess Palmerston to Mary Mee, 28 January 1801, SU MS 62/BR/21/7/5. See also letter 13.

419 Elizabeth Mee.

420 Year established from the arrival of Rumford’s daughter in London.

421 Sarah Thompson.

422 John Jeffreys Pratt, 2nd Earl Camden (1759–1840, ODNB). English politician who served, fairly ineffectively, as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1795 to 1798.

423 Unidentified.

424 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

425 Karl Theodor.

426 Sarah Thompson.

427 Year from postmark.

428 Sarah Thompson.

429 Rumford, Essays, Political, Economical, and Philosophical, vol. 1 (London: Cadell and Davies, 1796).

430 Sarah Thompson.

431 Eleonore von Kalb.

432 Kalbsrieth.

433 Temple children.

434 Eleonore von Kalb.

435 Merseburg.

436 Eislaben.

437 Johann August Alexander von Kalb (1747–1814).

438 Aichner.

439 Sarah Thompson.

440 A mounted courier.

441 Eleonore von Kalb.

442 In German Eger, now Cheb.

443 Regensburg.

444 Karl Theodor.

445 Maria Leopoldine.

446 Sarah Thompson.

447 Donauwörth.

448 The Palmerstons’ villa at East Sheen, about seven miles south-west of London.

449 The death of Palmerston's mother, Elizabeth Mee, on 2 September 1796 a month after the death of her brother, Benjamin Mee, on 2 August.

450 Franz II (1768–1835, NDB). Holy Roman Emperor, 1792–1806.

451 Karl Theodor.

452 Lockwitz, now on the south-eastern edge of Dresden in Saxony.

453 Karl Theodor, Graf von Schall-Riaucour (1747–1832). Palatinate envoy to Saxony.

454 Anton Karl Maximilian Baillet von Latour (1737–1806, ADB). Austrian general.

455 Louis-Joseph, Prince de Condé (1736–1818, DBF). Commander of the French counter-revolutionary army.

456 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

457 Wilhelm, Graf Palatine of Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen (1752–1837), who married Maximilian Joseph’s sister.

458 Karl Theodor.

459 Maximilian Joseph.

460 Ansbach.

461 Friedrich Wilhelm II (1744–1797, NDB). King of Prussia, 1786 to 1797.

462 Sarah Thompson.

463 From SU MS 62/BR/11/24/2.

464 Rumford, Essay VI.

465 Sarah Thompson.

466 Contessa Nogarola who took Thompson under her wing. See Thompson, “The History of my Life,” 307–15.

467 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

468 This monument to Rumford was erected in the Englisher Garten while he was away and is still standing. The views that Rumford sent were probably those reproduced in Weidner, Rumford, 338–45.

469 Temple Children, Whitworth, Mary Carter.

470 The Palmerstons’ villa at East Sheen, about seven miles south-west of London.

471 James Harris, Baron and from 1800 1st Earl of Malmesbury (1746–1820, ODNB). Britain’s leading diplomat who at this point was undertaking various special missions relating to the conduct of the war.

472 John Adams (1735–1826, ANB). President of the United States, 1797–1801.

473 George Washington (1732ns–1799, ANB). Commander-in-Chief of the army of the thirteen rebel colonies in North America, 1775–1783, and first President of the United States, 1789–1797. See George Washington to Reichsgraf von Rumford, 22 December 1796, in The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, 22 September 1796–3 March 1797, vol. 21, ed. Adrina Garbooshian-Huggins (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2020), 414–16. The letter from Adams has not been found.

474 Rumford, Essays, Political, Economical, and Philosophical, vol. 1.

475 Sarah Thompson.

476 Karl Theodor.

477 Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony (1728–1797, NDB). Widow of the previous Elector, Maximillian III (1727–1777, NDB) who died 17 February 1797.

478 Nymphenburg Palace then on the north-western outskirts of Munich.

479 Lake Starnberg, to the south-west of Munich.

480 Bressanone.

481 Johann Ludwig Alexius von Laudon (1767–1822, ADB). Austrian general.

482 Bolzano.

483 Rumford, Essay VI and VII.

484 Sarah Thompson.

485 Karl Theodor.

486 Lake Starnberg, to the south-west of Munich.

487 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

488 Temple children.

489 Charles Blagden.

490 Sarah Thompson.

491 Lake Starnberg, to the south-west of Munich.

492 Nymphenburg Palace then on the north-western outskirts of Munich.

493 Maria Leopoldine.

494 Contessa Nogarola.

495 Gaetano Ravizzotti (d.1821). He met the Palmerstons while in Italy and accompanied them on their return to England where he tutored their children. The family and others consistently referred to him by his forename. Brown, Palmerston, 13–14.

496 Unidentified.

497 Karl Theodor.

498 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

499 Rumford, Essay VII.

500 Marc-Auguste Pictet (1752–1825, DHS), Swiss natural philosopher and journal editor.

501 The Bibliothèque Britannique that year contained various pieces by Rumford including translations of some of his Essays, so it is not clear what specifically he was referring to here.

502 Temple children.

503 Amelia Elizabeth Godfrey.

504 Unidentified.

505 Sarah Thompson.

506 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

507 Chamonix.

508 See Figure 1.

509 Rumford, Essay VII, 382–3 suggested that he had discovered the cause of winds and at the end hoped that if this produced further investigation by philosophers then his intention in publishing the essay would have been fully realised.

510 Unidentified.

511 Therese.

512 George Frederick Charles Joseph.

513 Berchtesgaden.

514 Therese.

515 George Frederick Charles Joseph.

516 Unidentified.

517 Sarah Thompson.

518 Gräfin Paumgarten.

519 Probably a reference to a mild flirtation that Thompson enjoyed with an officer on her father’s staff. Thompson, “The History of my Life,” 313–21.

520 Letter 49.

521 The Treaty of Campo Formio (near Udine), signed 17 October 1797, between the French and Austrian governments, ceded the Austrian Netherlands (modern-day Belgium) to France and brought to an end the Venetian Republic which was partitioned between the two powers. It marked the end of the War of the First Coalition, leaving Britain fighting alone against France.

522 Lille.

523 The beginnings of the invasion of Switzerland by the French army which took nearly a year and contributed to the formation of the Second Coalition against France.

524 Sarah Thompson.

525 Contessa Nogarola.

526 Gräfin Paumgarten.

527 Lake Starnberg, to the south-west of Munich.

528 Nymphenburg Palace then on the north-western outskirts of Munich.

529 Rumford, Essay VII. See letter 47.

530 Abraham Joly (1748–1812, DHS). Swiss physician. For details of the arrangements for this visit and the visit itself, see the Rumford Pictet letters in Pictet Correspondance, vol. 3, 495–595.

531 See note 521, letter 49.

532 Sarah Thompson.

533 Temple children.

534 Whitworth.

535 Unidentified.

536 Karl Theodor.

537 His Most Serene.

538 Charles Blagden.

539 Temple children.

540 Contessa Nogarola.

541 Sarah Thompson.

542 Berchtesgaden.

543 Unidentified.

544 Joseph II (1741–1790, NDB). Holy Roman Emperor, 1765–1790.

545 The Treaty of Teschen (now Cieszyn), signed 13 May 1779, ended the war of Bavarian Succession and included Bavaria ceding the lands East of the River Inn to Austria.

546 George Canning (1770–1827, ODNB). At this point, he was MP for Wendover and Under Secretary of State at the Foreign Office.

547 Karl Theodor.

548 That is Bavarian ambassador to London.

549 George III.

550 Francis Jenison, Graf von Jenison Walworth (1764–1824, ODNB). Born in County Durham, his family moved to Heidelberg in 1776. He served as the envoy of Hesse–Darmstadt to London between 1793 and 1797. The significant difference between his and Rumford’s positions was that Walworth was key figure in arranging for Hessian troops to serve with the British Army.

551 Ludwig X (1753–1830, NDB). Landgrave of Hesse–Darmstadt, 1790 to 1806, thereafter Grand Duke of Hesse until death.

552 Aichner.

553 Sarah Thompson.

554 Dated by reference to Rumford’s baggage, discussed in the previous letter.

555 Franz Sigismund, Graf von Haslang (1740–1804, GM 74(1) (1804), 374). Bavarian ambassador to London, 1783–1798. Klement Alois Baader, Das gelehrte Baiern oder Lexikon aller Schriftsteller, vol. 1 (Nürnberg: Seidel, 1804), col. 477.

556 Karl Theodor.

557 Thomas Bernard (1750–1818, ODNB). Treasurer of the Foundling Hospital.

558 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

559 Sarah Thompson.

560 The Palmerstons’ villa at East Sheen, about seven miles south-west of London.

561 Including Rumford, Essay X.

562 Unidentified.

563 Frederick William Herschel (1738–1822, ODNB). Astronomer, who in 1781 at Bath discovered what is now known as Uranus, but which he originally named Georgium Sidus in honour of the King whose patronage he obtained and consequently moved his observatory to Slough near Windsor.

564 Charles Blagden.

565 Sarah Thompson.

566 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

567 Henry Richard Fox, 3rd Baron Holland (1773–1840, ODNB). Whig politician and host of a major political salon at Holland House, Kensington, just to the west of London.

568 Following her divorce, Holland had married Elizabeth Webster, née Vassall (1771–1845, ODNB). She later possessed extensive plantations on Jamacia and became the leading figure of the Holland House salon. The implication of Rumford’s question is out of step with other commentators who noted the happiness of the marriage.

569 Rumford would dine at Holland House on 14 July 1799, Holland House dinner-book, BL add MS 51950, f.8v. The Hollands presumably chose the date as some sort of joke related to their support for the French Revolution. The dinner is described in Journal of Elizabeth Lady Holland, entry for 14 July 1799, vol. 1, 279 (BL add MS 51928, f.117v). Rumford was “entertaining” and gave an account of recent French tanning experiments.

570 Karl Theodor.

571 Sarah Thompson.

572 This is a peculiar reference and the comparison characteristic of Rumford’s sense of self-importance. Warren Hastings (1732–1818, ODNB) served as Governor General of Bengal from 1772 to 1785 when he returned to England. There in 1787, he was impeached for mis-administration, but acquitted in 1795 after a lengthy trial by the House of Lords. Hastings had spent most of his life in India and, furthermore, had no surviving children, though Rumford might have been referring to one of his two stepsons.

573 Possibly a reference to Sarah Thompson.

574 Karl Theodor.

575 Maria Leopoldine.

576 Arthur Paget(1771–1840, ODNB). British envoy to Munich from May 1798 to January 1800.

577 From RI MS Rumford/1, ff.3–5.

578 This referred to Palmerston’s plan to establish a school of industry, with a kitchen, in Romsey. Rumford did later help her directly (letter 60). It did not go to plan and two years later Palmerston had to take personal charge herself. Viscount Palmerston to Charles Blagden, 16 January 1801, RSL MS CB/1/5/147. See Stark, “The Viscountess.”

579 Rumford, Essay II, Essay III and [Johnson], “Extract from an Account of the Kitchen.”

580 That is the Royal Institution.

581 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

582 Viscountess Palmerston would become one of the “distinguished patronesses” of the Royal Institution, while her husband became a Proprietor or a subscriber of the first class as Rumford put it here. See Lloyd, “Rulers of Opinion.”

583 This letter was written the day after the committee of the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor had approved Proposals for forming in London, by Subscription, a Public Institution (later the Royal Institution) which Rumford summarised in these two paragraphs. Printed and dated 11 February 1799 a copy of Proposals is in RSL MS CB/4/11/1. See Bence Jones, The Royal Institution, 118–19.

584 Sarah Thompson.

585 John Egerton (1766–1825, HP). His seat at Oulton was about thirteen miles east of Chester, for which city he was later MP.

586 Thomas Bernard (1750–1818, ODNB). Treasurer of the Foundling Hospital.

587 George Finch, ninth earl of Winchilsea (1752–1826, ODNB). A Lord of the Bedchamber, he served as the first President of the Royal Institution until 1813. His seat was at Burley in Rutland of which county he was Lord Lieutenant.

588 Especially Rumford, Essay VI.

589 Sarah Thompson.

590 Gilbert Blane (1749–1834, ODNB). Scottish physician who served in the Royal Navy and later the royal household.

591 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

592 Possibly a manuscript version of Rumford, Essay X. The following month he gave her a printed copy inscribed “Presented to the Lady Viscountess Palmerston by her Ladyships most obedient | Humble Servant | the Author | Broadlands | 13th. December 1799” (Sold by Voewood Rare Books).

593 William Summers, ironmonger of 98 New Bond Street. Mentioned in Rumford, Essay X, 73–4, 90, 102, and 259.

594 See letter 58.

595 Friederike Karoline Wilhelmine von Baden (1776–1841). Married Maximilian Joseph as his second wife in 1795.

596 Rumford, Essay I and Essay II.

597 The Palmerstons’ villa at East Sheen, about seven miles south-west of London.

598 The Swiss natural philosopher and journal editor. Marc-Auguste Pictet (1752–1825, DHBS). See Pictet, Voyage de Trois Mois En Angleterre.

599 George III.

600 Louis-Guillaume Otto (1754–1817, BU). French diplomat in London who helped draft the Treaty of Amiens.

601 Thomas Pelham.

602 Maximilian Joseph.

603 Joseph Banks (1743ns–1820, ODNB). President of the Royal Society of London, 1778–1820.

604 Charles Blagden.

605 Maximilian Joseph.

606 Douai.

607 Cambrai

608 Saarbrücken.

609 Zweibrücken.

610 Sophia Paumgarten.

611 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

612 The Preliminaries of the Peace of Amiens between Britain and France had been signed on 30 September 1801.

613 Maximilian Joseph.

614 Anton Cetto.

615 George Frederick Charles Joseph.

616 Therese.

617 Eleonore von Kalb.

618 Johann August Alexander von Kalb (1747–1814).

619 Friederike Karoline Wilhelmine von Baden (1776–1841). Married Maximilian Joseph as his second wife in 1795.

620 Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston.

621 Aichner.

622 Palmerston described this and the next two letters as “delightful.” Viscountess Palmerston to Emma Godfrey, 17 November 1801, SU MS 62/BR/18/5/5/72-5 (photocopy).

623 Anthony Merry (1756–1835, ODNB). Diplomat who at this time was Secretary to the embassy that negotiated the peace Preliminaries. His wife disliked Rumford regarding him as an “absolute Renegade.” Elizabeth Merry to Charles Blagden, 28 June 1805, RSL MS CB/1/5/18.

624 Unidentified.

625 Unidentified.

626 Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand (1754–1838, BU). French foreign minister. For Rumford’s account of the dinner, see his Diary, 31 October 1801, UBCRL MS 481 (unpaginated).

627 Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827, DBF). Prominent French physicist and briefly at the end of 1799 a somewhat ineffective minister of the interior, but who remained a member of the French Senate. For Rumford’s account of the dinner, see his Diary, 2 November 1801, UBCRL MS 481 (unpaginated).

628 For his account of his seeing Napoleone Buonaparte, see Rumford, Diary, 6 November 1801, UBCRL MS 481 (unpaginated). The week before (Rumford, Diary, 30 October 1801, UBCRL MS 481 (unpaginated)), Rumford had met the other two Consuls, Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès (1753–1824, DBF) and Charles-François Lebrun (1739–1824, DBF). They possessed limited powers compared to Buonaparte.

629 Anton Cetto.

630 To mark the Peace.

631 Napoleone Buonaparte.

632 See Rumford, Diary, 6 November 1801, UBCRL MS 481 (unpaginated).

633 Joseph-Louis Lagrange (1736–1813, DBF). Italian-born, French mathematician.

634 Rumford, Diary, 7 November 1801, UBCRL MS 481 (unpaginated) described the scene of Buonaparte’s comments on the paper just delivered by the Italian natural philosopher Alessandro Volta (1745–1827, DBI) on the theory of galvanism. See Procès-verbaux des séances de l'Académie, 10 vols. (Hendaye: L’Observatoire D’Abbadia, 1910–1922), vol. 2, 425.

635 Charles, Marquess Cornwallis (1738–1805, ODNB). Formerly a senior commander in the war against the rebel North American colonies, he had just arrived in Paris to continue the peace negotiations following the signing of the peace Preliminaries. That morning Rumford tried to visit one of Cornwallis’s staff officers who was out, Rumford, Diary, 10 November 1801, UBCRL MS 481 (unpaginated).

636 Rumford, Diary, UBCRL MS 481. See Introduction.

637 The staff officer who Rumford missed, later delivered him a letter from Pelham. Rumford, Diary, 10 November 1801, UBCRL MS 481 (unpaginated).

638 This was his intended marriage to Marie-Anne Lavoisier.

639 Sarah Thompson.

640 Maximilian Joseph.

641 The marriage of Rumford and Lavoisier proved to be remarkably unhappy and they soon separated due to comments such as that made at the end of this letter and her refusing to stop using Lavoisier in her name. See Rumford’s increasingly distraught letters to Sarah Thompson between 1806 and 1809 in Bence Jones, The Royal Institution, 92–9.

642 Temple children.

643 Charles Blagden never married although he had expressed interest in Sarah Thompson (Thompson, “The History of my Life,” 332).

644 Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794, DBF). One of the founders of modern chemistry and a tax farmer under the ancien regime for which he was guillotined during the Revolution.

645 Rumford and Marie-Anne Lavoisier.

646 Marie-Anne Lavoisier.

647 Robert R. Livingston (1746–1813, ANB). American ambassador to France, 1801–1804.

648 Temple children.

649 Lavender House, Henley-on-Thames, the home of Palmerston’s sister Sarah Culverden and her husband.

650 Charles Blagden.

651 Napoleone Buonaparte.

652 That is the marriage of Rumford and Marie-Anne Lavoisier.

653 Sarah Thompson.

654 Maximilian Joseph.

655 Louise Auguste Elisabeth Marie Colette de Montmorency, Princess de Vaudémont (1763–1833). Wife of Joseph Marie de Lorraine, Prince of Vaudémont (1759–1812) whom she married in 1778.