The Letter-Bag of Lady Elizabeth Spencer-Stanhope Part 12

The Duke of Norfolk, Papa has heard, just after accepting the Lord Lieutenancy of Surrey, at the Whig Club gave his old toasts--"The Sovereignty of the People." We have seen the youngest Prince of Holstein [14] & the tutor, as agreeable as usual. They heard of you at Inverary, the bad news arrived while they were in Ireland, they immediately set off for London, expecting to be ordered back to Holstein; on the contrary, they found a letter recommending them to stay quietly here. Papa means to give them a dinner. He dined the other day at his College Club himself & Lord Moira who has promised to meet the Princes here.

Papa is highly delighted with Mr Wilberforce's letter on the Slave Trade; Ld. Grenville's speech on that subject, he says, was the finest thing he ever heard.

Your love, Mrs Cator, [15] came to town for Court last Thursday. Miss Glyn saw her, and informed her how you were smitten. She laughed very hard and was much amused. She gives a curious account of the Cators & of the people she lives with at Beckenham, she says, she never was used to such people, at her uncle Sligo's; [16] but that Mr Cator [17]

has known them all his life & likes them. He proposed in a curious manner. One day Miss Mahon said she must go & pack up her jewels. He asked her how many she had. She said, "About twenty pounds' worth." He said, "Well, I have about as many, suppose we club & put them together." Which they forthwith decided to do!

Our Sunday dish, Frank Primrose, is here.... I suppose we shall have him every Sunday till the family come to town. The d.u.c.h.ess of Gordon has taken a house in this Square, opposite the Law's in Duke St. I saw Kinnoull in the Pitt at the Opera last night. Our visitors were, the Prince Auguste for about two hours, & Jack Smyth. [18] Young Prince Estahazy [19] is one of the greatest beaux in town--he is of the first family in Hungary. The Princess of Wales not going to the Drawing-room was a sad disappointment. Some attribute it to the Prince, others _hope_ it is her health. _Dieu Sait_.

_Mrs Spencer-Stanhope._ _February 12th, 1807._

All the world is going to Court to-day, except us--& many hope to see the Princess there. I believe they will be disappointed, as there is some difficulty about her dressing in Carlton House & I suppose it is thought proper she should not go from any other.

Lady Chesterfield is to be the new Lady of the Bedchamber in the room of Lady Cardigan who declines on account of the age of her Lord, that she may dedicate more time to him.

The story of the unhappy marriage of Caroline of Brunswick with the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV., is too well known to need repet.i.tion.

Since 1796 she had lived apart from the Prince at Shooter's Hill or Blackheath, and was the object of much sympathy among a large section of the public. In 1806 reports respecting her conduct had led to there being inst.i.tuted against her what was subsequently known as the _delicate investigation_, proceedings in which the prosecution relied princ.i.p.ally on evidence supplied by Sir J. Douglas. The verdict was that her conduct had been imprudent but not criminal, and the populace, ever ready to take up the cause of one whom they considered unjustly treated, sang about the streets and under the windows of Carlton House, a refrain far from complimentary to H.R.H:--

"I married you 'tis true Not knowing what to do, My affairs at the time were So bad, bad, bad; But now my debts are paid And my fortune it is made, You may go home again to Your dad, dad, dad!" */

Great excitement naturally prevailed as to whether the Princess would or would not make her re-appearance at Court, but it was not till May 22nd, 1807, that she succeeded in a.s.serting her right to do so, and on this occasion she seems to have enjoyed one of the few triumphs achieved in her unfortunate career.

_Mrs Spencer-Stanhope to John Spencer-Stanhope._ _May 22nd, 1807._

The appearance of the Princess of Wales, both at Court and at the Opera you would read with pleasure. At the former place Sir J. Douglas was in the outer room, and a lady near who knew him by sight said something handsome of the Princess and that she hoped her Calumniators would be brought to justice. All around joined in cordially, and he slunk away.

The following year Mrs Stanhope wrote:--

Lady Hertford [20] is very busy trying to bring about a reconciliation between the Prince and Princess, and I hear she has made some progress.

Lady Hertford, who was long known by her nickname of the "Sultana," had become celebrated for her liaison with the Prince of Wales, which was destined to continue for some years till she was superseded in favour by Lady Conyngham. She was described as shy and insipid, her manners were stately and formal, and the impression which she conveyed was that of a person rigidly correct in comportment and morals. But if, indeed, she ever attempted to reunite the husband and wife whom her conduct had a.s.sisted to alienate, it was scarcely to be expected that such a mediator would meet with success in such a task. Of the luckless Princess, however, Mrs Stanhope was for long a distinct partisan; and on March 19th of that same year she wrote a description of the tactless Caroline which shows that, on occasions, the Princess could a.s.sume a dignity foreign to the usual tenor of her conduct.

Thursday, we attended the Drawingroom; most brilliant. The Princess of Wales looked extremely well & _her manners are the most graceful and Royal of any I ever saw_.

Ere that date, however, London had been plunged into confusion by the sudden fall of Lord Grenville's Ministry.

_Marianne Spencer-Stanhope to John Spencer-Stanhope._ _April 27th, 1807_, GROSVENOR SQUARE.

As Parliament is to be dissolved to-morrow or Tuesday, conceive the bustle which prevails thro'out this great town. The gentlemen are in agonies for their purses, and the ladies for their parties, which must either be postponed or dest.i.tute of beaux.... This last week we have been very gay--that is, we have been almost squeezed to death at sundry grand crowds, and knocked up with b.a.l.l.s. Mrs Robinson's was good in everything but dancing, and Lady Scott's [21] was good in everything but company. The latter was nothing but a little dance, a rehearsal to a magnificent ball she means to give in May, in which she has asked us to dance in the French country dances--but helas! all that will now be at an end.... You would have been charmed with Lady Scott. I know how much you admire her, and to increase your delight, I will tell you what she eats for supper. After having already been at one table, she came to ours when everybody had done eating. _She had first half a breast of mutton, then half a chicken, then a whole lobster, a blanc-manger & a mixed salad._

The Election of 1807 was one long celebrated in the history of Yorks.h.i.+re, being unprecedented in the fierceness of the struggle it provoked. As is well known, there were in those days but two representatives for the entire county, and there was but one polling booth, which was in the castle yard at York. The retiring members on this occasion were Mr Walter Fawkes and William Wilberforce. The former did not seek re-election, for he took the dissolution so much to heart that he declared he should withdraw for ever from public life, but the latter speedily made good his right to represent the county once more. There remained, therefore, but one seat to be contested, and great was the excitement when it was found that the candidates were to be chosen from the two great Yorks.h.i.+re houses of rival politics--Lord Milton, the son of Earl Fitzwilliam, in the Whig interest, and the Hon. Henry Lascelles, son of the Earl of Harewood, for the Tory party. Mr Stanhope, having secured his own election for his old seat of Carlisle, hastened back to Yorks.h.i.+re to take part in the contest in favour of the Tory member there, whose chances of success he hoped would be enhanced by the youthfulness of Lord Milton, which gave his opponents a valuable handle for satire. As already pointed out, precocious in every role of life, Lord Milton had married at the age of nineteen, and having just attained his majority, was now anxious to represent the county.

_Walter Spencer-Stanhope to John Spencer-Stanhope._ CANNON HALL, _May 18th, 1807._

I had no time to write to you this Day Se'nnight from Carlisle after my Election. I got to York on Tuesday night, attended the Nomination at York the next day, which was carried almost unanimously in Favour of Wilberforce, and by a great Majority in favour of Lascelles over Lord Milton, but nevertheless, this young Lordling, who was only of age the third of this month, told us he would demand a Poll on Wednesday next. My Canva.s.s against him has been very successful and I mean, having concluded all my arrangements, both here and at Horsforth, to give my Vote on Thursday or Friday.

There has been a flood at Silkstone more tremendous than ever was known by the bursting of a cloud on the Hill to the West of the Village. An old woman and two children were drowned in one of the cottages near the Vicarage, and much damage was done all along the Course of the Brook. Strange Events seem becoming frequent in this Neighbourhood, for last year, you may have heard, during a violent storm a cottage was struck, an old woman and her two sons knocked out of the chairs in which they were seated at the table, and the soles of one of the Boys' shoes ripped from off his feet, although the entire party suffered no other damage.

To York, consequently, Stanhope repaired, where he found Lord Milton prepared to hold his own with spirit. On being taunted with his youth, he replied in the well-known words of Lord Chatham that it was a fault he would remedy every day, while a still more brilliant rejoinder to the attacks of his opponent gained him many votes. Mr Lascelles, determined to make a _coup_, on the Nomination day stepped across the hustings, and referring contemptuously to the age and short stature of his rival, offered him a whip and a top. Lord Milton took both with unruffled composure, and throwing the top into the crowd, he handed the whip back to his adversary with the remark that he thought Mr Lascelles' father might find greater use for it to flog his slaves in Jamaica. As the most vexed question at the election was the emanc.i.p.ation of the slaves, this sally provoked great enthusiasm. None the less, on the first day Mr Lascelles headed the poll.

_Walter Spencer-Stanhope to John Spencer-Stanhope._ YORK, _May 22nd, 1807._

MY DEAR JOHN,

I have but a moment to tell you I am engaged in the severest contest that ever was known. On Wednesday the Poll began, and closed leaving Milton in a Minority, but yesterday we got near three hundred ahead, by getting early possession of the advances to the Polling Booths. To- day, Wilberforce, who was last yesterday, is regaining his lost ground fast, and I fully expect Lascelles will beat the young Lord, but the contest will be dreadful and the cost enormous. I like your eagerness, but you are full as well where you are. Were you here, you would have a fair chance of a Fever. I am a good deal heated, but not ill. We poll 2 or 3,000 a day.

What a charming account we have of William. We are all in high spirits this day. Wilberforce is the head of the Poll and Lascelles has gained upwards of fifty upon Milton.

_May 27th._--Hoping that Lascelles is above 300 ahead, I left York this morning. I send you an Electioneering song I wrote, but you must not let anyone have a copy of it.

SONG.

Wave the flag, hoist the pennant, Hear our great Lord Lieutenant Who would save us the trouble of choice.

"Let not Lascelles content you, Milton _shall_ represent you, And I'll in the House guide his voice!"

Wise in speech, look, and act (I appeal to the fact), At nineteen he determined to marry, And all I could say, Till his twentieth birthday, Would hardly persuade him to tarry.

Ere at years of discretion, He sat a whole Session, E'en Grantham made way for the boy.

Who's the fittest law-maker?

He that's first a law-breaker; To catch thieves you a thief should employ.

What a lordling it is, With his carrotty phiz, So cried up, so flattered, so built on.

You may oft take a rule From a nickname at School, And the boys named him _old Lady Milton_.

Oh patriot revered Go shave for a beard!

Hie to Wentworth and finish this strife, York, Malton, the county, Disdained to be bound t'ye, Go and cherish your nice little wife,

Oh! soon may she bear You a fine son and heir; Then ten oxen whole you may roast; May Fitzwilliam carouse With _two boys_ in the house Nor bewail _Milton's Paradise Lost_!

The contest lasted three weeks, while the actual polling occupied fifteen days, during which 25,120 votes were tendered. It is thus described in the _Annals of Yorks.h.i.+re_:--

The county was in a state of the most violent agitation, party spirit being wound up to the highest pitch by the friends of the two n.o.ble families, and everything being done that money or personal exertion could accomplish; the roads in all directions were covered night and day with coaches, barouches, curricles, gigs, fly-waggons, and military cars with eight horses, conveying voters from the most remote parts of the county.... On the fifth day Lascelles pa.s.sed his opponent and kept the lead till the 13th day, at the close of which the numbers stood,--_Milton_, 10,313; _Lascelles_, 10,255. Now the efforts were prodigious and the excitement maddening.