"Each morn reclined on many a rose,
Lavinia's pencil shall disclose
New forms of dignity and grace,
The expressive air, the impassioned face,
The curled smile, the bubbling tear,
The bloom of hope, the snow of fear,
To some poetic tale fresh beauty give,
And bid the starting tablet rise and live;
Or with swift fingers shall she touch the strings,
Notes of such wondrous texture weave
As lifts the soul on seraph wings."
He then proceeds to encourage Althorp to lead a strong, noble life,
devoting his great abilities to the state, though he laments the small
chances for genuine sterling worth to achieve eminence.
"In this voluptuous, this abandoned age,"
when the leaders of the country are
"Slaves of vice and slaves of gold."
There was much fitness in this poet essaying a homily for the groom's
benefit, for he had been the young man's tutor some years before. When
the first Earl--a man of most fascinating manners--placed his son in
the tutor's charge, he said, "Make him, if you can, like yourself and
I shall be satisfied." Johnson said of Sir William Jones, "The most
enlightened of the sons of men." He became a great Indian and Persian
scholar, and was ever an honored friend of his former pupil.
Previous to his marriage, Lord Althorp had entered Parliament, and, as
a Whig, was opposing Lord North. When the Marquess of Rockingham came
to power, he was made a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury. In 1783, he
succeeded to his father's earldom. The Dowager Countess lived on until
1814. Her character has been variously described. Mrs. Delany calls
her "an agreeable person, with a sensible, generous, and delicate
mind." She was termed vain. What woman would not be who was mother to
such beauties as Devonshire, Duncannon, and Lavinia. In an
autobiography by the third Earl, he naïvely remarks that his mother
never liked his grandmother. The pleasing picture of "Ruth and Naomi"
is the exception in families.
On the breaking out of the French Revolution, Earl Spencer gave his
support to Pitt, by whom he was appointed first lord of the admiralty,
in 1794. It was during the period of her husband's brilliant career in
this office that the Countess made her greatest success as a hostess
in ministerial society. She was a good conversationalist, and
especially attractive to men of individuality who admired her
sagacious, picturesque pungency of expression. The great naval
commanders, who frequented the admiralty, were impressed with the
frankness and force of her superior mind, Nelson and Collingwood
particularly. She is frequently mentioned in their letters as being
sure to have much sympathy in their work. A late biographer of the
Earl wrote: "She had the penetration to appreciate Nelson through the
cloud of personal vanity and silly conceit which caused him to be
lightly esteemed in London society." Her "bull-dog" she used playfully
to call him. She visited Gibbon at Lausanne, in 1795, and he writes:
"She is a charming woman who, with sense and spirit, has the
playfulness and simplicity of a child." By some she was accounted
haughty and exclusive. Perchance she was to those who were without the
breeding or the brains to commend them to her. Dignified she certainly
was, and her influence was wholly for good in the uplifting of
politics and the purifying of society. "I would not advise any one to
utter a word against any one she was attached to," once said her
father. She became the wise coadjutor of her husband in forming the
magnificent Althorp Library.
When the earl retired from the admiralty, in 1800, his entertaining
became less general. His hospitalities at Spencer House were
restricted to his more intimate friends. Here came Lord Grenville,
Earl Grey, chief of the Whigs, Brougham, Horner, and Lord John
Russell; the younger men to hold converse with her who had known
Burke, Pitt, Fox, and all the older time orators and statesmen.
In a series of boyish letters sent by the heir to the earldom to his
father the ending of all is in this quaint phrase: "My duty to Mama."
The youth did his duty by his mother. She directed his tastes and
studies, and when he was at college incited him to try for high
honors, and urged, again and yet again, application to study; and
through her persuasion he became a reading man. He entered Parliament
when of age, in 1803. During the Fox and Grenville administration he
held office as a lord of the treasury. When his mother was
congratulated on his appointment, she said: "Jack was always skilful
in figures, and his work is so much to his taste that I am sure he
will do himself credit." He did himself great credit. His career was
consistently courageous, honorable, and beneficent. He had character!
This is his mother's best eulogy. She died in 1831, shortly after her
son had become Chancellor of the Exchequer, in which office he earned
his greatest repute as a statesman.
[Illustration: ELIZABETH, DUCHESS OF HAMILTON by READ]