But the general infatuation of the day is a
plea for it, so that men are not now blamed on that account. South
Sea was a general possession, and if my Lord Castlemain was wounded
by that arrow shot in the dark it was a misfortune. But it is so
much a happiness that it was not a mortal wound, as it was to some
men who once seemed as much out of the reach of it. And that blow,
be it what it will, is not remembered for joy of the escape, for we
see this noble family, by prudence and management, rise out of all
that cloud, if it may be allowed such a name, and shining in the
same full lustre as before.
This cannot be said of some other families in this county, whose
fine parks and new-built palaces are fallen under forfeitures and
alienations by the misfortunes of the times and by the ruin of
their masters' fortunes in that South Sea deluge.
But I desire to throw a veil over these things as they come in my
way; it is enough that we write upon them, as was written upon King
Harold's tomb at Waltham Abbey, Infelix, and let all the rest sleep
among things that are the fittest to be forgotten.
From my Lord Castlemain's, house and the rest of the fine dwellings
on that side of the forest, for there are several very good houses
at Wanstead, only that they seem all swallowed up in the lustre of
his lordship's palace, I say, from thence, I went south, towards
the great road over that part of the forest called the Flats, where
we see a very beautiful but retired and rural seat of Mr.
Lethulier's, eldest son of the late Sir John Lethulier, of Lusum,
in Kent, of whose family I shall speak when I come on that side.
By this turn I came necessarily on to Stratford, where I set out.
And thus having finished my first circuit, I conclude my first
letter, and am,
Sir, your most humble and obedient servant.
APPENDIX
Whoever travels, as I do, over England, and writes the account of
his observations, will, as I noted before, always leave something,
altering or undertaking by such a growing improving nation as this,
or something to discover in a nation where so much is hid,
sufficient to employ the pens of those that come after him, or to
add by way of appendix to what he has already observed.
This is my case with respect to the particulars which follow: (1)
Since these sheets were in the press, a noble palace of Mr.
Walpole's, at present First Commissioner of the Treasury, Privy-
counsellor, etc., to King George, is, as it were, risen out of the
ruins of the ancient seat of the family of Walpole, at Houghton,
about eight miles distant from Lynn, and on the north coast of
Norfolk, near the sea.
As the house is not yet finished, and when I passed by it was but
newly designed, it cannot be expected that I should be able to give
a particular description of what it will be. I can do little more
than mention that it appears already to be exceedingly magnificent,
and suitable to the genius of the great founder.
But a friend of mine, who lives in that county, has sent me the
following lines, which, as he says, are to be placed upon the
building, whether on the frieze of the cornice, or over the
portico, or on what part of the building, of that I am not as yet
certain. The inscription is as follows, viz.:-
"H. M. F.
"Fundamen ut essem Domus
In Agro Natali Extruendae,
Robertus ille Walpole
Quem nulla nesciet Posteritas:
Faxit Dues.
"Postquam Maturus Annis Dominus.
Diu Laetatus fuerit absoluta
Incolumem tueantur Incolames.
Ad Summam omnium Diem
Et nati natorum et qui nascentur ab illis.
Hic me Posuit."
A second thing proper to be added here, by way of appendix, relates
to what I have mentioned of the Port of London, being bounded by
the Naze on the Essex shore, and the North Foreland on the Kentish
shore, which some people, guided by the present usage of the Custom
House, may pretend is not so, to answer such objectors. The true
state of that case stands thus:
"(1) The clause taken from the Act of Parliament establishing the
extent of the Port of London, and published in some of the books of
rates, is this:
"'To prevent all future differences and disputes touching the
extent and limits of the Port of London, the said port is declared
to extend, and be accounted from the promontory or point called the
North Foreland in the Isle of Thanet, and from thence northward in
a right line to the point called the Naze, beyond the Gunfleet upon
the coast of Essex, and so continued westward throughout the river
Thames, and the several channels, streams, and rivers falling into
it, to London Bridge, saving the usual and known rights, liberties,
and privileges of the ports of Sandwich and Ipswich, and either of
them, and the known members thereof, and of the customers,
comptrollers, searchers, and their deputies, of and within the said
ports of Sandwich and Ipswich and the several creeks, harbours, and
havens to them, or either of them, respectively belonging, within
the counties of Kent and Essex.'
"II. Notwithstanding what is above written, the Port of London, as
in use since the said order, is understood to reach no farther than
Gravesend in Kent and Tilbury Point in Essex, and the ports of
Rochester, Milton, and Faversham belong to the port of Sandwich.
