The Letter-Bag of Lady Elizabeth Spencer-Stanhope Part 34

"Undoubtedly, as a diversion, Sir John Moore's advance into Spain fully succeeded and probably saved the Peninsula; but as that was not a result upon which he calculated, I doubt whether it can be adduced as a justification for a measure undertaken against his own judgment; subsequent events have shewn how much higher his reputation would have stood had he persevered in his original intentions. What the Duke of Wellington now is, Sir John Moore would almost inevitably have been."

[11] Henrietta Maria, eldest daughter and co-heir of Robert Vernon Atherton, Esq., of Atherton Hall, Co. Lancaster, married, 1797, Thomas, Baron Lilford, and had six sons and six daughters.

[12] Charles Bankes, Major in the Army, second son of Philip, 2nd Earl Stanhope, born 1785, killed at the Battle of Corunna, January 16th, 1809.

[13] Lord James Murray, son of the 4th Duke of Athol, a Major-General in the Army, who in 1821 became Lord Glenlyon. He then resided in c.u.mberland Place. He died in 1837, and his son succeeded as 6th Duke of Athol in 1846.

[14] _Reminiscences of Michael Kelly_, vol. ii., pages 281-284.

[15] Julia, only child and heiress of Sir George Augustus William Shuckburgh, Bart., and Julia Annabella, d. and sole heiress of James Evelyn of Felbridge, Co. Surrey. Married 1810, the Hon. Charles Cope Jenkinson and died in 1814.

[16] The Colonel was addicted to drink.

[17] Katherine, d.u.c.h.ess of Bolton (see _ante_, page 18), died March 21st, 1809, at 32 Grosvenor Square.

[18] Not only shoes were often home-made, but at a later date Mrs Stanhope had a maid who could make her gloves. The latter articles of attire, moveover, were more elaborate than those of to-day. The long gloves of the days of the Empire had a piece inserted at the elbow which made them sit without creasing to the shape of the arm, so that they had none of the untidy appearance which modern long gloves are apt to present, and the term "to fit like a glove" was then singularly appropriate.

[19] John Russell, Earl Russell, K.G., 1792-1878, the third son of the 6th Duke of Bedford, studied at the University of Edinburgh, and in 1813 was returned for Tavistock. He became a prominent politician. In 1830 he was Paymaster of the Forces; he was one of the four Members of the Government entrusted with the task of framing the first Reform Bill, and on him devolved the honour of proposing it. In 1846 he became Prime Minister till 1852, and again in 1865 on the death of Lord Palmerston, but was defeated in the following June on his new Reform Bill, and resigned.

[20] Sir William Henry Douglas, Bart, Vice-Admiral of the Blue, died unmarried, May 1809. The t.i.tle devolved upon his brother, Sir Howard who had married, in July 1799, Anne, eldest daughter of James Dundas, Esq.

[21] The story which Lord Houghton used to tell on the subject was that after his father had refused the place in the Ministry pressed upon him by Mr Perceval, he sent to the friend with whom he had made the bet (whose name had never transpired) a copy of Mr Perceval's letter, and a cheque for 100. See _The Life, Letters and Friends.h.i.+ps of Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton_, by T. Wemyss Reid (1890), vol. i., page 2.

[22] The Hon. Mr Eden, eldest son of Lord Auckland, a fine sensible youth of five-and-twenty. He left his parents' house about 9.30 in the evening, saying he would be home in half an hour. A month later his body was found in the Thames, and was identified by his watch and seals.

[23] On February 11th, 1910, Sir Thomas Gascoigne Bt. of Parlington Hall, Co. York, died of grief for the loss of his son who had been killed by a fall from his horse a short time previously.

[24] Of Kirkleatham, Yorks.h.i.+re.

[25] Sir Francis Burdett, M.P., for Westminster supported Gale Jones, a Radical Orator in the seditious speech. He was accused of breach of privilege and a warrant issued for his arrest. The Westminster mob rose on his behalf, and he barricaded his house in Piccadilly in order to defy the warrant, but was ultimately arrested and confined in the Tower. Riots ensued, and the town was guarded by thousands of soldiers.

[26] Thomas Dundas, Esq., of Fingask Hall, Co. Stirling, M.P., married, 1784, Lady Elizabeth Eleanora Home, daughter of Alexander, 9th Earl of Home.

[27] Their daughter Charlotte, called by Mrs Stanhope La Belle, was extremely handsome, and at one time considered the belle of Edinburgh.

[28] Lord James Murray, second son of the 4th Duke of Athol, married, May 19th, 1810, Emily Frances, second daughter of Hugh, 2nd Duke of Northumberland.

[29] Anne Maria, daughter of Sir H. W. Dashwood, Bt., married, 1810, John, 2nd Marquis of Ely, K.P.P.C., died 1857.

CHAPTER V

[1] Charles (Sir) Stuart, G.C.B., born 1779, afterwards Amba.s.sador at the Court of France; grandson of John, 3rd Earl of Bute. He was created Baron Stuart de Rothesay in Jan. 1828. He married, 1816, Elizabeth Margaret, 3rd daughter of Philip, third Earl of Hardwick, and died in 1845.

[2] A portion of the Journals of John Spencer-Stanhope, relating to this period, has been edited (see Memoirs of A. M. W. Pickering, 1903), but all the following anecdotes collected from his letters and notes at that date are here published for the first time.

[3] William Carr Beresford (1768-1854). After a brilliant military service he was, in 1814, elevated to the Peerage as Lord Beresford and advanced to the Viscounty in 1823. In 1832 he married his cousin, the widow of Thomas Hope, Esq., of Deepdene, Surrey. See ante, page 49.

[4] James, Viscount Macduff, afterwards 4th Earl of Fife, K.T., G.C.B., Knight of the Order of St Ferdinand of Spain and of the Sword of Sweden, obtained a Barony of the United Kingdom as Baron Fife in 1827. Born 1776, married, 1799, Mary Caroline, second daughter of the late John Manners, Esq., and Louisa, Countess of Dysart; she died Dec. 20th, 1805, without issue. The Earl greatly distinguished himself during the Peninsular War, having volunteered his services, and obtained the rank of major-general in the Spanish patriotic army. He was wounded at the battle of Talavera, and again at the storming of Fort Matagorda, near Cadiz, of which he was one of the most celebrated defenders. He died in 1857, and was succeeded by his nephew.

[5] Aloys von Reding (1765-1818), as Captain General of his own canton, repulsed the French at Morgarten in 1808.

[6] Jose de Palafox y Melzi, Duke of Saragossa, born in 1780, made the heroic defence of Saragossa, from July 1808 to February 1809; was carried prisoner to France and not released till 1813. He was made Duke of Saragossa in 1836 and grandee of Spain 1837 and died in 1847.

[7] Andrew Thomas, Lord Blayney, born, 30th Nov. 1770, died, April 1838.

In 1794 he became major of the 89th foot, having raised part of that regiment. He served in Holland, Malta, Minorca, and the Cape, and after the expedition to Buenos Ayres was sent to Cadiz in July 1810, as major- general. He was, however, taken prisoner on making an attack with a small mixed force on Malaga, and was not released until 1814.

[8] John, Viscount Kelburne and Lord Boyle, eldest son of George, 4th Earl of Glasgow, by his first wife Augusta, daughter of James, 14th Earl of Erroll, born 12th August 1779, served in R.N.; taken prisoner by the French and sent to Verdun, where he was detained till July 1814; died at Tunbridge Wells, 1818.

[9] Christopher, eldest son of the Ven. John Strachey, Archdeacon of Suffolk, and Chaplain in Ordinary to George III., by his wife Anne, only daughter of George Wombwell, Esqre., consul at Alicant and head of the eldest branch of the family of Wombwell, of Yorks.h.i.+re. Born 1778, Christopher became rear-Admiral in the Royal Navy, and Knight of the Russian order of St Vladimir. He married Mlle. Marguerite, only daughter of Col. de la Roche of Verdun-sur-Meuse, France, Knight of St Louis, etc., and died in 1855, having had a family of nine children, six of whom survived him.

[10] A lady who collects for some charitable purpose.

[11] _Extracts from the Journals of John Spencer Stanhope_, 1810-1813.

Published, 1903. Page 452.

CHAPTER VI

[1] Walter Boyd, born in 1745; of the firm of Boyd, Benfield, & Co; an intimate friend of Pitt and Melville. He is supposed to have been saved from bankruptcy by a loan which Lord Melville advanced to him out of the public funds, and on account of which the latter was afterwards impeached.

See _Annals of a Yorks.h.i.+re House_, vol. ii., pages 287-291.

[2] With reference to this episode at the Inst.i.tute Stanhope adds: "I find that the learned Editor of the _Quarterly Review_ has been as much taken in as were the savants of whom he speaks. One of his articles states that the late President of the Cour of Ca.s.sation--the Magistrate, according to M. Roger Collard, of whom regenerated France has most reason to be proud-- expressed himself as follows to three of the most distinguished men of science of the day: 'I regard the discovery of a dish as a more interesting event than the discovery of a star, for we have always stars enough, but we never have too many dishes; and I shall not regard the Sciences as sufficiently honoured or adequately represented among us, until I see a cook in the first cla.s.s of the Inst.i.tute.'

"It is quite evident from this that the Editor supposes that M. de Baure was quite serious in making that observation, and no less so that the distinguished literary men, from some of whom he must have derived his information, must have been equally convinced of the fact. I was present, however, on the occasion, and can a.s.sert that nothing could be more contrary to the real state of the case."

[3] _Olympia or Topography ill.u.s.trative of the actual state of the Plain of Olympia and of the Ruins of the City of Elis_, published by John Murray in 1817. It was re-published in 1824 and 1835, and again, with the addition of many engravings, in 1865, under the t.i.tle of _Plataea, Olympia, Elis_.

[4] Joachim Murat, an inn-keeper's son, born in 1771, at the Revolution entered the army and soon rose to be Colonel. He served under Bonaparte in Italy and Egypt, became General of Division, and in command of the Cavalry at Marengo he covered himself with glory. Bonaparte gave him his sister, Caroline, in marriage. In 1806 the grandduchy of Berg was bestowed upon him; in 1808 he was proclaimed King of the Two Sicilies, as Joachim 1st, and took possession of Naples. After Napoleon's final overthrow he proceeded with a few followers to the coast of Calabria, and proclaimed himself King; but being taken, he was tried by Court-martial, and shot on October 15th, 1815. His widow subsequently a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of Countess of Lipona and lived near Trieste. He left two sons, the elder of whom married a niece of Was.h.i.+ngton.

[5] Frederick Douglas, 1791-1819, M.P. for Banbury, a son of Lord Glenbervie.

[6] John Stanhope subsequently wrote: "I know the existence of the conspiracy is denied, but how account for the conduct of Napoleon after his return save from the supposition that he was fettered by the engagements he had made in his exile?... He threw himself entirely into the arms of that party to which he had hitherto evinced the greatest hostility, and which, upon principle, were opposed to his system of Government. He appointed Fouche, whom he had offended and disgraced, and Carnot, the most unbending republican in France, to be Ministers instead of resuming the Empire just as he had left it. He did not establish himself in the Palace of the Tuileries, by which he showed his weakness without gaining a single partisan.... He should either at once have entered upon the Imperial Government, prorogued the Chamber till the fate of France was decided by arms, or he should have adopted the Const.i.tution which he found actually existing, pledging himself to make, subsequently, such modifications as the country might desire; but, in fact, _till he found himself at the head of his army he was not his own master, he was bound by the chains he himself had forged_, and which he, no doubt, would have immediately broken had he been successful at Waterloo.... The legislative body were undoubtedly prepared to adopt any expedient for limiting the Imperial or Royal Prerogatives, and it was a great oversight on his part to leave them sitting. He should not have remained in Paris at all, but to have put himself immediately at the head of the army and to have given the Government of Paris to a General in whom he could implicitly confide. His only chance was to have been able to say, 'L'Empire--c'est moi!'"

CHAPTER VII

[1] Alderman Richard Carr-Glyn, an eminent banker of London, born 1755, eldest son of Sir Richard Glyn, 1st Bart, of Ewell, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Robert Carr, Esq., served as Lord Mayor in 1798 and was created a baronet in 1800. He married Mary, daughter of John Plumtre, Esq., M.P. for Nottingham. Died in 1838.

[2] Thomas Christopher, 1789-1827, 3rd son of the above, afterwards a barrister-at-law. Married Grace Julia, daughter of Thomas Charles Bigge, Esq.

[3] William Fitzhugh, Esq., lived at Bannister Lodge, near Southampton, and represented Tiverton in five Parliaments. His wife was celebrated for her infatuation for Mrs Siddons, whom she entertained constantly at Bannister Lodge, and whom she followed to London, for years attending on the celebrated actress all day and spending the evening in her dressing- room at the theatre. In 1803 Mrs Siddons wrote, "My dear Mrs Fitzhugh grudges every moment that I am not by her side."

[4] Joseph Jekyll, 1754-1837. Celebrated wit, raconteur, and diner-out.

Jerder speaks of him as having a somewhat Voltaire-like countenance, a flexible person and agreeable voice.

[5] He was second son of George Adams, afterwards Anson, who inherited the fortune of his uncle, Admiral Lord Anson; and he was brother to Thomas, afterwards Viscount Anson of Shugborough, who married Anne Margaret, second daughter of Thomas William c.o.ke, Esq., afterwards 1st Earl of Leicester.