The Letter-Bag of Lady Elizabeth Spencer-Stanhope Part 18

Sir F. Burdett is going to Law with the Speaker on the illegality of his Warrant. Thursday, the Foot Troops are all to be reviewed in the Park, the number about 17,000. Major Gibbs and his Regiment are on guard in the Square.... Since Sir F. Burdett was safe in the Tower the town has been perfectly quiet & all parties in the House join to condemn his conduct.

_May 10th._

This year there is quite a new Ball set. Mrs Beaumont's was the best of the year--a child's Ball from 8 to 10, and then a grown-up one, two suppers, magnificently done, never too full, nor too hot. I had a few people before, only 14 or 15 women and plenty of men. They danced to the Pianoforte.

I invited Lady Eleanora Dundas. [26] Our visiting arose from an odd mistake. She called here and believed herself at Lady Dalkeith's. I, somewhat surprised at her invasion, of course, as in politeness bound, returned her visit--at which _she_ must have been much astonished, being still unaware she had called on _me_. When she came to return my return-visit, she was not a little shocked and surprised to discover where she had actually been when she supposed herself to be calling upon Lady Dalkeith! Archy says La Belle [27] is to marry the son of Picture Davis, at whose house they are, and who has bought Lord Leicester's house.

London is very gay now. Mrs Knox has contributed more to its gaiety than anybody yet. Last night she had another excellent dance downstairs in two rooms. I was there till five, Esther (Acklom) with me, the little Lord still perseveres, but I am told it will not do.

Archy has got a capital house, elegantly furnished, in Connaught Place, close to Tyburn, with a fine view of the Park.

_May 22nd, 1810._

To-day all the world are wis.h.i.+ng it may continue fair, as Lady Buckinghams.h.i.+re gives a Venetian Breakfast. I scarcely expect she will find the world fools enough to mask by daylight.

The last week has not been gay, we have had nothing but dinners and a.s.semblies.

Lord James Murray was married on Sat.u.r.day, [28] and this day at twelve Miss Dashwood gives her hand to Lord Ely, [29] all her first cousins to attend to the amount of forty. I hope he will behave well to her for she is truly amiable.

To-day Esther goes to the Breakfast, to the Opera to-night with us, and then to sup at Devons.h.i.+re House with Lady Caroline Wortley. I see no beau likely to succeed at present.

Towards the close of 1810 the mental affliction under which George III.

had so long suffered became more p.r.o.nounced, and was declared by his physicians to be incurable. In the February following, the Bill was pa.s.sed by which the Prince of Wales became King in all but name; and forthwith, in the worst possible taste, he determined to celebrate the inauguration of his regency by a fete at Carlton House, which should surpa.s.s all previous entertainments given by him in its unrivalled magnificence. The selfishness which prompted such callous indifference to the condition of his father was accentuated by the fact that he fixed upon the date of the old King's birthday as an appropriate anniversary on which to hold this public rejoicing at the incapacity of the unfortunate monarch; while the occasion was rendered still more memorable by the fact that from this great festivity, not only was the Princess of Wales perforce excluded and Mrs Fitzherbert, by a studied slight on his part, prevented from attending, but even the unoffending Princess Charlotte, now verging on womanhood and panting to taste that gladness of youth of which she had known so little, was denied partic.i.p.ation in the gaiety for which she ardently longed.

None the less, all other members of the world of fas.h.i.+on went to the entertainment, which proved one of surpa.s.sing brilliancy. The night was fine, and the company, which began arriving soon after nine o'clock, stayed till the small hours of the following morning. The walks adjacent to the Palace were enclosed and converted into temporary rooms, glittering with lights and festooned with flowers. The supper took place at two o'clock in the morning in an exquisite grotto of rare exotics, and along the centre of the table, which was 200 feet long, a river of pure water flowed from a beautiful fountain at its head. Gold and silver fish disported themselves in its limpid waters, while along its banks were ranged cool green moss and aquatic flowers. In contrast with this scene of simulated sylvan beauty, the daily papers relate with awe, if with some lack of humour, that "the gold and silver plate used at the fete amounted to seven tons. _Nearly a wagon load of it belonged to the late Sir W.

Pulteney and was borrowed for the occasion._" In the midst of this astonis.h.i.+ng display, surrounded by his most favoured friends and waited on by sixty servitors, sat the Regent, resplendent in his finest clothes and swelling in the plenitude of his new importance. To him it mattered nothing that his daughter was breaking her heart in the dullness of Windsor, that his wife was chafing in her seclusion at Blackheath, or that the woman who loved him knew herself publicly humiliated by his att.i.tude towards her; yet the condemnation meted out freely to his conduct, even by those who accepted his hospitality, finds no echo in the correspondence of Mrs Stanhope, who with tireless energy attended the royal fete previous to starting on the long journey to Cannon Hall.

CANNON HALL, _July 1st, 1811._

The day before I left Town I attended the most magnificent fete I ever saw, given by the Prince Regent. It was to have been on the King's Birthday, but the preparations could not be ready in time. Three Thousand people were invited and there was room at supper for all, the tables were in the temporary rooms in the garden, and it was more like Vauxhall than anything I know to compare it to. All our princes, the Duke of York & Princess Sophia & the Duke of Gloucester were there.

We did not get home till 1/2 past 5 & started on our journey to Yorks.h.i.+re at 3. I hear the public are to be admitted to see the _Hebris_ of our feast.

Unfortunately, this well-intentioned decision on the part of the Prince Regent was attended with a dire result. "The condescension of the Prince,"

relate the papers, "in extending the permission to view, for three days longer, the arrangements for the late fete at Carlton House, has nearly been attended with fatal consequences. Wednesday being the last day of the public being admitted, many persons took their station at the gates so early as seven o'clock. By twelve the line of carriages reached down St James's Street, as far as Piccadilly, and the crowd of pedestrians halfway up the Haymarket. At three o'clock the crowd had so much increased, that the Guards were forced to give way; several ladies were unfortunately thrown down and trampled upon; and we regret to learn that some were seriously hurt, among whom were Miss Shum of Bedford Square, and a young lady, daughter of a gentleman at the British Museum. Another young lady presented a shocking spectacle; she had been trodden on till her face was quite black from strangulation, and every part of her body bruised to such a degree as to leave little hopes of her recovery."

"I hear," wrote Mrs Stanhope from her safe retreat in Yorks.h.i.+re, "that no one knew what to do nor how to disperse the people. At last, the Dukes of Kent and c.u.mberland ordered ladders to be brought, and, climbing up on to the wall of the court-yard, they personally announced loudly that the Prince Regent had given orders that the house should be shut up and no more people admitted. There were numbers wounded, however, before the immense crowd could get away. What a mercy Esther Acklom did not go, as I know that she intended doing!"

Esther Acklom, to whom constant reference is made in the correspondence of Mrs Stanhope, was the only daughter and heiress of Richard Acklom, Esq., of Wiseton Hall, Nottinghams.h.i.+re. She was much sought after in society on account of her reputed wealth; and although stout and somewhat plain in appearance, she was a decided flirt, and extremely fond of amus.e.m.e.nt.

Partly owing to the fact that her mother was in delicate health, partly to the proximity of her father's house in Lower Grosvenor Street to that of Mr Stanhope, she was the constant a.s.sociate of the young Stanhopes, and attended many b.a.l.l.s and routs chaperoned by their mother. There was, indeed, much to recommend her companions.h.i.+p. Clever, well-read, lively in manner and witty in conversation, she was invariably agreeable, despite the fact that her speech was apt to be too frank and her determination too unswerving to render her universally popular. Of her extraordinary decision of character, indeed, her life furnishes more than one striking instance, and an ill.u.s.tration of this may be given, which occurred when she was but fifteen years of age.

She was then journeying abroad with her parents, when, in common with some other English travellers, they were detained at Vienna on its capture by Napoleon. The danger was imminent. Once plunged into a foreign prison, it was impossible to say when or by what means they might escape thence. In such a dilemma none knew what to do or to advise; but Esther Acklom was equal to the occasion. Hearing that the military commandant was Marshal Mortier, who had been known to her family in England, she took her maid, and went off to interview him. She found the great man seated in the Hotel de Ville, surrounded by a large staff, listening to the complaints of the burghers and administering justice. She presented her pet.i.tion, but he scarcely glanced at it, and roughly bade her to stand aside till others had been attended to who were of more importance. Her maid, terrified at his manner, implored her young mistress to come away, but Esther, nothing daunted, stood her ground. She had shrewdly observed that an aide-de-camp of the Emperor was by the side of the marshal, and concluding that this fact might account for his manner, she patiently awaited the turn of events. Nor was she wrong. In course of time the aide-de-camp departed, and the commandant then politely inquired in what he could serve her. She explained, and, evidently struck by her courage, he further asked in the kindest manner how many pa.s.ses she required. Again she had presence of mind to perceive the drift of his question, and to see that he was anxious, if she so desired, to aid her friends as well as herself. She boldly answered, three, in the hope of serving two English families of her father's acquaintance. To her delight, the pa.s.ses were at once handed to her, and within a few hours the three carriages were hastening from Vienna.

Even then her adventures were not at an end. An English family, who had failed in securing a pa.s.s, decided, as a forlorn hope, to follow in the wake of the other carriages on the chance that, in the confusion of so many vehicles leaving the city, they might effect their departure under cover of the pa.s.sports of their friends. As was to be expected the attempt failed. The Official on guard allowed the three carriages with pa.s.ses to drive through the gates, but the fourth was at once arrested and ordered to return. Vainly did its frightened occupants entreat and expostulate, the man was obdurate, and they had given up all for lost, when the clever girl who had secured the safety of the rest of the party came to their rescue.

Thrusting her head out of the carriage in which she was seated, Esther looked back at them with well a.s.sumed anger. "Why on earth don't you go back to your hotel and fetch your pa.s.s," she cried impatiently, "instead of giving all this trouble? It is absurd! We will, of course, wait here till your return!" So convincing was her indignation, and so complete her a.s.surance, that the Official was deceived. The fourth carriage received permission to pa.s.s the barrier, and the fugitives hastened to make good their escape, showering blessings on the young girl whose coolness and presence of mind had saved them.

A character of so much individuality and resource doubtless appealed strongly to the young Stanhopes, and Esther, besides being their constant companion in London, was often their guest at Cannon Hall. Between the years 1810-1811, mention is made of an incident which occurred during one of these visits, and which in a striking manner serves to emphasise the gulf between a past and a present century.

An advertis.e.m.e.nt had been issued in Wakefield announcing that, on a given day, a man would fly from the Tower of the Parish Church to the Bowling- green in Southgate. Much local interest had been roused by this statement and wagers had been made upon the practicability or impracticability of the attempt. The Stanhopes had no thought of attending this performance, but they happened to be driving in the neighbourhood with Esther Acklom on the day appointed, and their lively guest, with her usual wilfulness, insisted that they should make their coach pause near the Church in order that she might witness the occurrence.

At the appointed time, accompanied by some other men, the adventurer appeared. He stood for a moment in view of the crowd, outlined darkly against the Tower of the Church, then, stepping cautiously off the roof, he apparently committed himself to s.p.a.ce, and was pushed off on his voyage by his companions. With his arms waving to and fro like wings he slid slowly towards a tall pole upon the bowling-green, while the vast mob below watched his flight with breathless anxiety. The fact was that a fine rope was attached from the Tower of the Church to the stake, and a piece of board with a deep grove underneath having been securely strapped to the "aviator," the groove was then balanced upon the rope, and the action of the man's arms sufficed to set it in motion. The venture, however, was sufficiently perilous to sustain the interest of a crowd who must presumably have been cognisant of the existence of the rope, and when the successful adventurer reached the ground in safety, he was greeted with heart-whole acclamations from an enchanted crowd, in which lively Esther Acklom joined.

A more important incident in the life of Miss Acklom was likewise due to her acquaintance with the Stanhopes. But we must first glance at the train of events which indirectly gave rise to it.

CHAPTER V

ANECDOTES FROM A PRISONER OF NAPOLEON

1810-1812

John Stanhope had early evinced a desire to travel. His most youthful venture had been a tour in Wales, whilst his next excursion, the tour to the Hebrides already referred to, had been of a more daring nature; indeed, a man, in those days, who had made such a journey, was looked upon as a traveller of some experience. Not content, however, with having acquired this reputation, young Stanhope, when not yet twenty-three years of age, determined to extend his researches further afield.

He was anxious to investigate the antiquities of Greece, about which little was then known, and having imbued his friend Tom Knox with his own enthusiasm the latter decided to accompany him. On the 29th of January 1810 the two young men therefore embarked on board the s.h.i.+p _Vestal_, which was carrying Mr, afterwards Sir Charles Stuart [1] as Minister, out to Lisbon.

It was a singularly exciting time to venture upon the continent. The very atmosphere seemed permeated with terror of Napoleon. Each country was on the defensive, struggling openly or surrept.i.tiously to preserve its threatened liberty; while the one topic of conversation was the defeat or the success of armies. Thus the correspondence of the young travellers, so eagerly awaited and devoured by the family in Grosvenor Square, serves to throw many interesting sidelights upon continental existence during a period of history with regard to which interest can never wax cold. [2]

John Stanhope and his friend for some time wrote from Lisbon, where, under the auspices of the new Minister, they mixed in the best society, and met the most prominent civil and military residents of the day. Among others, they saw a great deal of General, afterwards Lord, Beresford [3] and were much struck by the discipline of the Portuguese troops under his command.

A field-marshal in the British Army, William Carr Beresford, had, in 1807, been appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the island of Madeira.

Subsequent to the Battle of Corunna, at which he was present, he was sent back to Portugal to take command of the troops there, and at the head of 12,000 men he drove back the French. Of the difficulties, however, with which he had to contend in his stupendous task, John Stanhope gives a graphic description.

"At the time," he relates, "when Beresford was appointed to the command of the Portuguese army, it was conspicuous for a lack of discipline which in these days would hardly be credited. To say that it was the worst in Europe would hardly give any idea of its degradation. The Portuguese soldiers were a weak, worthless rabble, without pluck or organisation, and practically useless for the campaign. Nor was the Government of the country in a much better state; a long series of misgovernment had introduced every species of corruption and deteriorated the character of the people."

But the English general at once took a characteristic method of dealing with a complex situation, and produced order out of chaos in the following drastic manner.

"Lord John Russell," relates John Stanhope, "once told me an anecdote of Beresford's first advent in Portugal, which serves so well to ill.u.s.trate his character that I cannot do better than retail it.

"Upon one of the first occasions of his taking the field with the Portuguese troops, an officer, after having been despatched to a particular post, came galloping back to him.

"'Why are you come here?' asked the marshal, surprised.

"'The fire was so hot,' the man exclaimed, 'that if I had remained there a moment longer, I should certainly have been shot.'

"'_Shot_! but, to be sure, it was to be shot that I sent you there! Now, I will give you fresh directions. I advise you to give in your resignation, otherwise you must go back whence you came and be shot, or else be tried by court-martial, which will come to the same thing!'

"The officer, who was of high rank, took the hint; he gave in his resignation, and the other Portuguese officers learnt that under the English commander it was necessary to make up their minds to be shot."