with the army in the Low Counties, 1794–5; he was knighted in 1796, and
became G.C.B. in 1831.
[131] John George Lambton (1792–1840), the first Baron (and afterwards
first Earl of) Durham, son-in-law of Lord Grey, had been Ambassador to
St. Petersburg, and was now Lord Privy Seal. Lord Melbourne sent him
subsequently to Canada at a critical juncture in the history of British
North America. The Ministry afterwards recalled him, but the report
which he presented on Canadian affairs is regarded as having laid the
foundations of all colonial self-government. He was a statesman of
noble, unstained character; but his high-strung temperament made life
difficult both for him and his colleagues.
[132] He was sixty-two years of age. See _ante_, p. 78.
[133] Vice-Admiral Sir Graham Moore (1764–1843), G.C.M.G., afterwards
Commander-in-Chief at Plymouth. He had been ordered in 1807–8 to escort
the Royal Family of Portugal to Brazil; he married Dora, daughter of
Thomas Eden.
[134] Rear-Admiral Sir Frederick Lewis Maitland (1776–1839). He
commanded the _Bellerophon_ when Napoleon surrendered after Waterloo.
[135] Richard (1764–1839), second Earl, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall.
[136] Sir William Hargood had commanded the _Belleisle_ under Nelson at
Trafalgar, becoming an Admiral and G.C.B. in 1831.
[137] Captain Charles Philip Yorke, R.N., then M.P. for Cambs.,
afterwards fourth Earl of Hardwicke.
[138] Sir John Cameron had had a distinguished record in the Peninsula.
From 1823 to 1833 he commanded the Western District.
[139] Adjutant-General, 1830–50.
[140] Donna Maria da Gloria, then aged about fourteen. She was the
daughter of Dom Pedro, who had been proclaimed Emperor of Brazil in the
lifetime of his father, John VI., and abdicated the throne of Portugal
in favour of Donna Maria. Dom Miguel, a younger brother of Pedro,
claimed the throne. Pedro had designed a marriage between Donna Maria
and Miguel, who in 1827 had been appointed Regent, but, having been
himself driven from Brazil by a revolution, Pedro endeavoured to gain
the throne decisively for his daughter. His second wife, now known as
Duchess of Braganza, was sister to Augustus, Duke of Leuchtenberg, who
at the age of twenty-five had married Donna Maria, then barely sixteen,
and died two months later. See p. 110.
[141] The death of Ferdinand without male issue caused a disputed
succession in Spain. His brother Don Carlos relied on the Salic Law
as established by the Pragmatic Sanction of 1711, which Ferdinand
had revoked. Don Carlos and Dom Miguel subsequently entered into an
alliance, while the young Queens Maria and Isabella mutually recognised
each other, and were supported by England and France.
[142] William Charles Macready (1793–1851), afterwards successively
manager of Covent Garden and Drury Lane Theatres.
[143] An actress, and mother of Helen Faucit.
[144] Benjamin Webster, an excellent and humorous comedian from about
1819 to 1874.
[145] Frances Maria Kelly (1790–1882), for many years a popular
favourite at Drury Lane, and a friend of Charles and Mary Lamb.
[146] This was the first of many Foreign Orders received by Queen
Victoria. They have been carefully collected and arranged by King
George and Queen Mary, and are displayed in Queen Mary’s audience room
in Windsor Castle.
[147] Lady Theresa Fox-Strangways, elder daughter of the third Earl of
Ilchester, afterwards wife of the ninth Lord Digby.
[148] Afterwards Lady Ebury. Sister of the first Earl Cowley. See p. 50.
[149] Giulia Grisi (1815–69) made her début at Florence, aged fourteen.
Théophile Gautier said of her that under her spell what was only an
opera became a tragedy and a poem. She first appeared in London in
1834. She was afterwards married to the Count of Candia (Mario).
[150] Henry Stephen, third Earl (1787–1812).
[151] Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg (1786–1851), uncle of the Prince
Consort.
[152] Charles Emich, Prince Leiningen, son of the Duchess of Kent by
her first husband, and half-brother of Princess Victoria.
[153] Emmanuel, Count Mensdorff-Pouilly (1777–1862), husband of
Princess Sophia, eldest sister of the Prince Consort’s father and of
the Duchess of Kent. An emigrant from France in 1793, he attained high
rank in the Austrian service. His sons were intimate companions of the
Prince Consort.
[154] Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg (1784–1844), father of the Prince
Consort.
[155] See _ante_, p. 49.
[156] Eldest daughter of Francis, first Marquess of Hastings, Lady of
the Bedchamber to the Duchess of Kent. This unfortunate lady died in
1839.
[157] Charles, fifth Duke (1791–1860). As Lord March he is often
mentioned in the Duke of Wellington’s correspondence. He was one of the
very few male human beings ever alluded to by the Iron Duke in terms
of affection. The Duchess was Caroline, daughter of the Marquess of
Anglesey.
[158] George Henry (1760–1844), fourth Duke. An obscure Whig potentate.
[159] Charles, fifth Duke, but fourteenth Earl of Dorset, K.G. Master
of the Horse in various Tory Administrations. On his death, unmarried,
in 1843, his honours (including the Earldom of Middlesex) became
extinct. A favourite of George IV. One of the first gentlemen jockeys.
He and his brother Germaine were famous at Newmarket as race riders.
He established Bibury races. He was of tiny physique, but smart, and a
great favourite with ladies.
[160] William Harry, first Duke of Cleveland, of a new creation, a
great-grandson in the male line of a daughter of Barbara Palmer,
Duchess of Cleveland. He died in 1842, and his income was computed at
£110,000 per annum. See _ante_, p. 68.
[161] Francis, second Marquess (1797–1876), who, three years later,
brought to the Princess at Kensington the news of her accession. Lady
Conyngham was a daughter of Lord Anglesey.
[162] Second son of William IV. and Mrs. Jordan. The eldest son was
created Earl of Munster, 1831; the younger children (except those who
had attained higher rank by marriage) were granted the style of younger
children of a marquess. Lady Frederick was a daughter of the Earl of
Glasgow.
[163] William Basil Percy (1796–1865), seventh Earl of Denbigh,
Chamberlain to Queen Adelaide.
[164] Lady Sophia Fitzclarence, daughter of William IV. She married
Sir Philip Sidney, afterwards created Lord De l’Isle and Dudley of
Penshurst.
[165] Emily, sister of the second Lord Auckland.
[166] See _ante_, p. 69.
[167] Edward, fourth son of the first Earl Beauchamp.
[168] Afterwards Sir Charles Wood (1800–85) and first Viscount
Halifax. Married the daughter of Charles, Earl Grey. He served in many
administrations; finally as Secretary of State for India and Lord Privy
Seal. A typical Whig statesman of high probity and wisdom.
[169] See _ante_, p. 86.
[170] Charlotte, daughter of Robert Adamson of Westmeath and wife of
Sir Godfrey Vassal Webster, of Battle Abbey, formerly M.P. for Sussex.
Sir Godfrey’s mother, Elizabeth Vassal, eloped from her husband with
Lord Holland, and was the famous “Old Madagascar” of Holland House
coteries.
[171] He was made a baronet in 1838 for this act. See _post_, p. 355.
[172] William Frederick (1776–1834), second Duke, was the son of
William Henry, first Duke, by Maria, Countess-Dowager Waldegrave,
illegitimate daughter of Edward Walpole, a younger son of the
great Minister. The Duke was an inoffensive man of quiet and mild
disposition, familiarly known as “Silly Billy.” He married his cousin,
Princess Mary, daughter of George III. He was proud of his rank, but of
little else. See _ante_, p. 65.
[173] Brother of the Duchess of Braganza. See _ante_, p. 86.
[174] Princess Elizabeth (1770–1840), daughter of George III., widow of
Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg. This Princess settled down into
an atmosphere of venerated old age at Homburg. A statue was recently
erected there and unveiled by the German Emperor to commemorate her
virtues.
[175] Emma Sophia, daughter of the second Earl of Mount Edgecumbe,
second wife of John, first Earl Brownlow.
[176] Daughter of William IV. Her husband had been raised to the
Peerage in Jan. 1835. See _ante_, p. 99.
[177] Another daughter of William IV., wife of Lucius, tenth Viscount
Falkland.
[178] Richard William Penn (1796–1870), first Earl Howe, Chamberlain to
Queen Adelaide. He was believed to have encouraged her in inciting the
King against the Ministry of Lord Grey.
[179] William Basil Percy, seventh Earl of Denbigh. See _ante_, p. 99.
[180] Adelaide Cottage, built for Queen Adelaide, but never occupied by
her except as a tea-house. It has been used ever since by successive
Sovereigns for a similar purpose. The Cottage stands surrounded by
charming gardens in the eastern corner of the private grounds of
Windsor Castle.
[181] Luigi Lablache (1794–1858), a first-rate comedian and the finest
bass singer of his time. He made his début in London in 1830, in
Cimarosa’s opera _Il Matrimonio Segreto_. He taught Princess Victoria
singing, and of all her teachers he was the favourite.
[182] Michael (afterwards Sir Michael) Costa, for many years the
conductor of the orchestra at Covent Garden. His musical taste was
considerable, but he was famous for his dominating personality, the
hauteur of his demeanour, and above all for the perfect fit of his
spotless white gloves.
[183] General Sir Frederick Trench had served in Sicily and in the
Walcheren expedition, and was afterwards Aide-de-Camp to George IV.
He was M.P. for Scarborough at this time. A man of discernment and
taste. He advocated a scheme for making an embankment along the Thames
from Charing Cross to Blackfriars. He was half a century ahead of his
contemporaries!
[184] Augusta, youngest daughter of the Landgrave Frederick of Hesse.
She was married to H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge in 1818. “I am the
happiest of men,” wrote the Duke to Lady Harcourt from Cassel, soon
after his engagement, and he added, “The Princess is really everything
both as to heart, mind and person that I could wish.” There never was
a happier marriage. This Princess was the mother of George, Duke of
Cambridge, Commander-in-Chief of the British Armies, of the Dowager
Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and of Princess Mary, Duchess
of Teck. She was the grandmother of Queen Mary, and died, regretted by
all, in 1889.
[185] Joseph Goodall (1760–1840), Provost of Eton for thirty-one years.
An excellent but obscure scholar. It was his misfortune to be the
nominal superior of Dr. Keate. He had the temerity on one occasion at
Windsor, in the presence of William IV., to tell Sir Henry Halford, who
was vain of his scholarship and fond of quoting Latin, that he ought to
be whipped for having made a false quantity.
[186] Dr. Hawtrey (1789–1862), Headmaster of Eton for 18 years, he then
presided over the college as Provost for another 10. A profound and
elegant scholar, a man of lofty ideals, intrepid soul and warm heart,
he raised the tone of masters and boys by sheer force of his delightful
personality. He doubled the numbers of the school as well as its
efficiency and influence.
[187] Countess Mensdorff was the sister of the Duchess of Kent, a
Princess of Saxe-Coburg. See _ante_, p. 95.
[188] Grand Duchess Marie, daughter of the Emperor Paul I. of Russia,
married Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, in 1804.
[189] Dr. Charles James Blomfield (1786–1857), a fine scholar, and a
Bishop of unusual administrative capacity. His influence in the Church
of England, both as Bishop of Chester and Bishop of London, was second
to none, until the day of his retirement in 1856. He died at Fulham
Palace in August 1857.
[190] She married in 1856 Duke Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein, and was
the mother of the present German Empress.
[191] Fanny Kemble, daughter of Charles Kemble, the actor, after
attaining considerable success on the stage in England, went to
America, and in 1834 married Pierce Butler. In 1835 she published an
indiscreet journal which had considerable success.
[192] Edward Vernon-Harcourt (1757–1847), Archbishop of York, was the
third son of the first Lord Vernon. He assumed his mother’s name of
Harcourt on succeeding to the family estates of Stanton Harcourt and
Nuneham Courtenay. He married Anne, third daughter of first Marquess
of Stafford. A most sumptuous prelate. He was the grandfather of Sir
William Vernon Harcourt, M.P.
[193] Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Granville Harcourt, and wife of Montagu,
Lord Norreys, M.P. for Oxfordshire, afterwards sixth Earl of Abingdon.
[194] Sir John, second Baronet (1799–1869), father of Lord Derwent. His
wife was Louise, second daughter of Archbishop Harcourt.
[195] George Granville Harcourt, M.P. for Oxfordshire and eldest son
of the Archbishop. His first wife was Elizabeth, daughter of the
second Earl of Lucan. She died in 1838, and in 1847 Mr. Harcourt
married Lady Waldegrave, the well-known and much-liked chatelaine of
Strawberry Hill. The last of the great Ladies (she was the daughter of
John Braham, the singer) who knew how to combine hospitality with fine
political and social discernment.
[196] See p. 135.
[197] Owner of Newstead Abbey, bought from Lord Byron in 1818.
[198] Matthew Camidge, organist at York Minster 1799–1842. For five
generations the family of Camidge supplied organists in the county of
York.
[199] She afterwards married Major-General George A. Malcolm, C.B.
[200] At Nuneham there is a snuff-box, inset with diamonds, given by
Queen Victoria to Col. Francis Harcourt, and engraved “for services
rendered to her while still at Kensington.”
[201] Rev. William Harcourt (1789–1871), Canon of York. He inherited
the Harcourt estates and was the father of Sir William Vernon Harcourt,
M.P. His wife was Matilda Mary, daughter of Col. W. Gooch.
[202] Rev. Charles Harcourt, Canon of Carlisle.
[203] Albert Joseph Goblet, Count d’Alviella, a Belgian officer of
distinction much esteemed by King Leopold. He was often a guest of
M. Van de Weyer, and was well known in London Society. When sent as
Belgian Minister to Berlin, the King of Prussia refused to receive him
on the ground that he had deserted the King of Holland.
[204] General Comte Baudrand (1774–1848). Originally intended for the
Bar, he became, by choice, a soldier, and served with distinction
in Italy under the Republic, and under Napoleon at Waterloo he was
Chief of Staff of the Army of the North. After the Restoration he was
appointed Governor of the Prince Royal, with whom he paid many visits
to England.
[205] Afterwards Sir James Clark (1788–1870). He was physician to
Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, and afterwards to
the Duchess of Kent and Princess Victoria. He was not only the Queen’s
most trusted physician, but an adviser and friend. He recommended
Balmoral to the Queen and the Prince as their Highland home. He
attended the Prince during his last hours.
[206] This room was in later years the room of Princess Mary, now H.M.
the Queen. It forms part of the Palace temporarily appropriated to
the London Museum, and is dedicated to the relics of Queen Victoria’s
childhood. In this room Queen Mary was born.
[207] The partitions were taken down after the accession of King
Edward, and the great gallery restored to the condition in which it was
left by William III.
[208] Now occupied as a sitting-room by Princess Henry of Battenberg.
[209] When King Louis Philippe was Duc d’Orléans his eldest son was Duc
de Chartres, and the earlier name survived. In later years the Comte de
Paris’ younger brother became Duc de Chartres. See p. 72.
[210] Prince Ferdinand was nephew of the Duchess of Kent (the son of
her brother Ferdinand), and was married to Maria da Gloria, Queen of
Portugal. Their sons Pedro V. and Luis both succeeded to the Throne.
Count Lavradio had been sent to Coburg to negotiate the alliance.
[211] Mrs. Anderson was Princess Victoria’s music-mistress. She was a
pupil of Felix Mendelssohn’s, and a most beautiful musician. She taught
music to all the Queen’s children and died between 1870 and 1880. Her
husband was for many years “Master of the Queen’s Musick,” _i.e._
Private Band.
[212] Fieschi had attempted to assassinate King Louis Philippe.
[213] Ernest (born 1789), brother of the reigning Landgrave.
[214] Son of Count Pozzo di Borgo, Russian Ambassador. This diplomatist
was born in Corsica in 1768, and he began life as a Corsican Deputy to
the National Assembly. Agent of the Holy Alliance in Europe, he was the
most ardent advocate of the Legitimist cause in France. His talents
were remarkable, and his causerie was much appreciated in London
society.
[215] Henry, Earl of Lincoln (1811–64), afterwards fifth Duke of
Newcastle, a Peelite and Secretary for War during the campaign in the
Crimea. He was a holder of other high posts in the Government. An
able man, but no one except Mr. Gladstone ever thought him capable of
holding the highest. His father returned Mr. Gladstone for his close
borough of Newark. Lady Lincoln was a daughter of the tenth Duke of
Hamilton, and was divorced in 1850.
[216] William Carr Beresford (1770–1854), better known as Marshal
Beresford, so called from his supreme command of Portuguese troops in
the Peninsula, the hero of Albuera, the bloodiest battle of the war.
Created Baron Beresford of Albuera and Dungarvan 1814, and Viscount in
1823. He married Louisa, widow of Thomas Hope of Deepdene.
[217] Daughter of third Earl of Dartmouth.
[218] Miss Joanna Baillie (1762–1851), a writer of many plays, now
forgotten. She is remembered as a lady to whom Sir Walter Scott wrote
freely. She resided at Hampstead, and was visited by many distinguished
men of letters. Sir Walter edited, and Kemble acted, one of her plays.
[219] Charles Kemble (1775–1854), the youngest of the family whose
chief ornament was Mrs. Siddons. A meritorious comedian.
[220] Helen Faucit was now nineteen, and had just made her debut as
Julia in _The Hunchback_. The “Margaret” of the present occasion was
her first original part. She married Mr. (afterwards Sir) Theodore
Martin in 1851, and was as much esteemed by Queen Victoria for her
womanly qualities as by the public for her impersonation of Rosalind.
She died in 1898.
[221] George John Bennett, an actor never in the front rank. He was
associated with Phelps throughout his long management of Sadler’s
Wells, and played respectable parts.
[222] When, as Lady Martin, forty years later, she appeared as
Rosalind on a special occasion, in the interests of charity, these
characteristics were found to be unimpaired.
[223] Madame Vestris (1797–1856), daughter of Bartolozzi the engraver.
She married at sixteen Armand Vestris, and secondly Charles Mathews.
Her histrionic powers were not remarkable, but her reputation as a
singer and producer of extravaganza stood high.
[224] Charles Mathews (1803–78), one of the most delightful comedians
of all time. Destined for the Church, educated as an architect, he did
not make his debut on the stage until he was thirty-two years old. He
married Madame Vestris, and his Autobiography and Letters were edited
by Charles Dickens.
[225] He was thirty-three years old.
[226] Priscilla, daughter of William, first Lord Maryborough and
afterwards third Earl of Mornington, was the Duke of Wellington’s
niece. Her husband, Lord Burghersh, was afterwards eleventh Earl of
Westmorland.
[227] This room is now known as “the State Drawing-room.”
[228] Prince Ernest of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeldt. See p. 145.
[229] Anna Maria, wife of second Marquess of Ely. She was the daughter
of Sir H. W. Dashwood, Bart. She died in 1857.
[230] See _post_, p. 297.
[231] A landscape painter.
[232] Olivia Cecilia, daughter of Charlotte, Baroness de Ros. She
married (1833) Henry Richard Wellesley, afterwards first Earl Cowley
and British Ambassador at Paris. She died in 1885.
[233] King Leopold used Stockmar for the purpose of educating Prince
Ferdinand very much as he used him to train Prince Albert and Princess
Victoria in the duties of a Sovereign. King Leopold believed that he
had reduced the rules of Sovereignty to a science. See p. 196.
[234] In later years Queen Victoria used similar language about
the Prince Consort. In her case it was not an altogether accurate
description of the facts. Her dominant character occasionally asserted
itself.
[235] His portrait by Winterhalter hangs among Queen Victoria’s
“friends” in the ante-room to the Corridor at Windsor. See p. 114.
[236] Madame Malibran. See _post_, p. 168.
[237] This is the first indication in the Journals that Princess
Victoria realised her future position. It is known that for many years
knowledge of her possible accession to the Throne was withheld from
her. When it was determined that she should be enlightened, a Family
Tree was inserted by her governess between the pages of an English
history. The child examined it minutely for some time, and turning to
Baroness Lehzen said, “Then I shall be Queen.”
[238] Daughter of Lieut.-General Francis Grant and widow of Lord George
Murray, Bishop of St. David’s and second son of the second Duke of
Atholl.
[239] The mutiny and riots in Portugal were, it was contended, the
outcome of the appointment of Prince Ferdinand as Commander-in-Chief.
This appointment had been made on the advice of the Duc de Terceira,
the Prime Minister. See _ante_, p. 144.
[240] See _ante_, p. 137.
[241] Madame Malibran (1808–36), daughter of Manuel Garcia. She was
a distinguished singer and a woman of considerable talent. Her first
husband was a French merchant, M. Malibran. At the time of her death
she was married to M. de Bériot.
[242] He was translated to Durham in 1856. In 1860 he became Archbishop
of York and in 1862 Primate of All England.
[243] Charlotte, daughter of the fifth Duke of Northumberland, widow of
the third Earl of Ashburnham.
[244] Afterwards wife of the Rev. Algernon Wodehouse.
[245] Granville George (1786–1857), second Lord Radstock, Vice-Admiral
of the Red.
[246] Charles Noel (1781–1866) had succeeded in his father’s lifetime
to his mother’s barony of Barham. He was created Earl of Gainsborough
in 1841. In 1833 he married his fourth wife, Frances, daughter of the
third Earl of Roden, afterwards a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen
Victoria.
[247] Hon. Edward Stopford, second son of third Earl of Courtown.
[248] Afterwards Napoleon III.
[249] The Queen had been led to believe that a counter-revolution would
be popular, but the movement was a failure.
[250] The Rt. Hon. John Wilson Croker (1780–1857), M.P. for Downpatrick
and Secretary to the Admiralty. Immortalised in _Coningsby_ as “Mr.
Rigby,” he has remained the type of malignant and meddling politician
that Disraeli desired to expose. His title to respect is that he was
one of the earliest contributors to _The Quarterly Review_, which was
founded by John Murray in 1809.
[251] William Wemyss, afterwards Lieut.-General and Equerry to Queen
Victoria.
[252] Second son of fifth Viscount Torrington, sometime a Commissioner
in the Colonial Audit Office.
[253] A gipsy encampment.
[254] One of the gipsies.
[255] Sir John Malcolm’s _Life of Clive_, a biography now unreadable,
but made famous by Macaulay, who took it as a peg upon which to hang
his Essay.
[256] Richard James Lane (1800–72) had in 1829 made a well-known
portrait of the Princess at ten years old. He was afterwards
distinguished for his skill in lithography, reproducing many works of
well-known artists. The portrait he was painting at this time now hangs
in the Corridor at Windsor.
[257] Lady Blessington (1789–1849) was at the zenith of her career,
editing Books of Beauty, writing novels, and entertaining celebrities
at Gore House, Kensington. She was married when young and beautiful to
Lord Blessington, an elderly and easy-going Peer, whose daughter by his
first wife was the wife of Count d’Orsay. This unfortunate young woman
was eclipsed in the affections of d’Orsay by her stepmother. After
Lord Blessington’s death, d’Orsay and Lady Blessington presided over a
brilliant salon at Kensington Gore, principally attended by the male
sex. Lady Blessington recorded in several volumes her conversations
with Byron. Disraeli, as a young man, flaunted his most elaborate
waistcoats at Gore House.
[258] See _ante_, p. 99.
[259] Eldest daughter of third Earl of Courtown.
[260] Philip Henry, fourth Earl, and Lucy Catherine, daughter of Robert
Low Carrington. Lady Wilhelmina married in 1843 Lord Dalmeny, by whom
she had a son (the present Lord Rosebery) and three other children.
After Lord Dalmeny’s death in 1851, she married in 1854 the fourth
Duke of Cleveland. She was one of the Queen’s train-bearers at her
Coronation. She died in May 1901.
[261] Daughter of the fifth Earl Cowper, and niece to Lord Melbourne.
She afterwards married Lord Jocelyn. She was a great favourite with
Queen Victoria. After the Queen’s marriage and her own marriage she
became one of the Queen’s Ladies of the Bedchamber, and held that post
till shortly before her (Lady Jocelyn’s) death.
[262] Third daughter of the first Earl of Verulam, and afterwards
wife of the fourth Earl of Radnor. The three young ladies mentioned
here were afterwards train-bearers elsewhere to Queen Victoria at her
coronation.
[263] Daughter of Vice-Admiral Josceline Percy, and afterwards wife of
Colonel Charles Bagot.
[264] Marie, Countess of Blebelsberg, born 1806, married Prince Charles
of Leiningen (see p. 95). She died 1880.
[265] Colonel Sibthorp, the eccentric member for Lincoln, whose
personal appearance was much satirised in _Punch_.
[266] Afterwards Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton and Lord Lytton of Knebworth.
He was distinguished as a writer of novels that enjoyed a great vogue,
and as a genuine man of letters. His abilities were of a far higher
order than his writing. His ability was his own, but he wrote for the
public. He earned a considerable fortune by his pen. For a time he
chose to be a politician, and was Secretary for the Colonies in Lord
Derby’s Government. His marriage was famous for its failure. His son
Robert was Viceroy of India, Ambassador in Paris, and a poet of more
than average merit.
[267] Grandson of the twelfth Duke of Norfolk who died in 1842. He
succeeded as fourteenth Duke and died in 1860.
[268] Son of Prince Paul Esterhazy, Austrian Ambassador. See p. 77.
[269] Charles (1815–88), afterwards sixth Duke of Rutland, K.G.; he
died unmarried. A man of grim manners but not unkindly heart.
[270] Arthur Richard (1807–84), afterwards second Duke of Wellington,
K.G. Almost better known by his courtesy title of Lord Douro. Had he
not been the son of the Great Duke, his uncommon talents might have
earned for him a career of distinction. In appearance he singularly
resembled his august father, and late in life he was addicted to a
style of costume which led people to say that he wore his father’s old
clothes. He, however, possessed a pretty wit.
[271] John William (1811–84), seventh Earl of Sandwich, afterwards
Master of the Buckhounds.
[272] Thomas Henry, fourth Lord Foley (1808–69).
[273] Louisa, a daughter of the sixth Duke of Bedford, married James,
second Marquess and first Duke of Abercorn. This Duke and his Duchess
are generally thought to have been meant by the “Duke” and “Duchess” in
Lord Beaconsfield’s novel _Lothair_.
[274] The three remarkable Sheridan sisters (granddaughters of R. B.
Sheridan, the dramatist) were Lady Seymour (afterwards Duchess of
Somerset and Queen of Beauty at the Eglinton Tournament), Lady Dufferin
(the Mrs. Blackwood mentioned above), and Mrs. Norton. They possessed
in an uncommon degree the gift of beauty inherited from Miss Linley,
their grandmother, and gifts of mind inherited from Sheridan. Not
only Mrs. Norton, but also Lady Dufferin, wrote verse and prose with
distinction. _Stuart of Dunleath_, a novel by Mrs. Norton, was much and
justly admired. She inspired George Meredith with the conception of
_Diana of the Crossways_.
[275] Baron Stockmar. See p. 196.
[276] Dr. Howley. See _ante_, p. 68.
[277] Second Marquess. See _ante_, p. 98.
[278] Baron Christian Stockmar (1787–1863), physician to Prince
Leopold, and subsequently his confidential agent. He abandoned medicine
for statecraft, in which he became an expert. He was entrusted by King
Leopold to superintend the education of Prince Albert and guide Queen
Victoria, both of which services he performed with consummate tact and
integrity. He was their devoted friend and counsellor to the end of his
life. See _ante_, p. 154.
[279] William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne (1779–1848), was at this time
Prime Minister and fifty-eight years old.
[280] Ernest Augustus (1771–1851), fifth son of George III. He was
considered unscrupulous, and was certainly most unpopular in this
country. He now succeeded William IV. as King of Hanover. Although
of autocratic temperament, he granted his subjects a democratic
constitution, much to their surprise.
[281] Augustus Frederick (1773–1843), sixth son of George III. His
marriage to Lady Augusta Murray was declared void under the Royal
Marriages Act. He had by her two children, Sir Augustus d’Este and
Mlle. d’Este (afterwards wife of Lord Chancellor Truro). He married,
secondly, Lady Cecilia Buggin (_née_ Gore, daughter of the Earl of
Arran), and to her was granted the title of Duchess of Inverness.
[282] Henry William Paget, first Marquess of Anglesey (1768–1854).
Commanded the Cavalry at Waterloo. When a round shot tore between
him and the Duke of Wellington, he turned to the Duke and said, “By
God! I have lost my leg,” and the Duke replied, “By God! I believe
you have.” This conversation sums up the two men. Lord Anglesey was a
Field-Marshal and Viceroy of Ireland, where he displayed a tendency
to liberal ideas that were not considered in accordance with his
profession or station. There was never a more gallant soldier, and he
“had not a fold in his character.”
[283] Chancellor of the Exchequer. An intelligent politician and
responsible for the adoption of the penny post. He was anxious for the
Speakership, but failed to win the fancy of the House of Commons. He
passed to the House of Lords as Lord Monteagle in 1839 and died in 1866.
[284] James, first Lord Wharncliffe. A Yorkshire magnate and Member of
Parliament. Created a Peer 1826. See _ante_, p. 54.
[285] Alexander Baring, first Lord Ashburton (1774–1848). President of
the Board of Trade in Lord Grey’s Administration.
[286] Sir William Draper Best (1767–1845), first Lord Wynford, formerly
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.
[287] A distinguished soldier, at this time Lieut.-General and Master
of the Ordnance. M.P. for Windsor. Afterwards created Lord Vivian
(1841).
[288] Charles Grant, first and only Lord Glenelg (1778–1866), at
this time Secretary for the Colonies. Three years before he had been
proposed as Governor-General of India, but his nomination was rejected
by the Board of Directors.
[289] Afterwards Lord Sydenham (1799–1841). At this time President
of the Board of Trade. In 1839 he was appointed Governor-General of
Canada. He died there, aged forty-one, from a fall from his horse.
[290] Henry George, afterwards third Earl Grey (1802–94), at this
time Secretary-at-War and Colonial Secretary. An honest and fearless
statesman, but a difficult colleague.
[291] Gilbert, second Earl of Minto (1782–1859), First Lord of the
Admiralty. In 1832 he had been sent on a special mission to Berlin “to
mollify the King of Prussia.” This type of mission has always been
popular with the Whigs.
[292] Daughter of George III. She lived at Frogmore and at Clarence
House. See _ante_, p. 61.
[293] Robert Cutlar Ferguson had been counsel for one of the defendants
in the trial of Arthur O’Connor and others for treason at Maidstone
in 1798. O’Connor was acquitted, but the presence in Court of Bow
Street runners to arrest him on a second charge caused a scene of
much confusion, one consequence being the prosecution of Cutlar
Ferguson, Lord Thanet, and others for an attempted rescue. Ferguson was
imprisoned for a year and fined £100. Upon his liberation he went to
Calcutta, where he established himself in large and lucrative practice.
He died in 1838.
[294] Lord John Russell (1792–1878) was at this time forty-five years
old. Home Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons. He was at the
height of his combative powers as a Parliamentarian, and his zeal for
Whig doctrine at home and Liberal statesmanship abroad was undiminished.
[295] Private Secretary to William IV.
[296] Lady C. Jenkinson, daughter of the Earl of Liverpool. See p. 46.
[297] Anna Maria, daughter of the third Earl of Harrington.
[298] Louisa Fox-Strangways, daughter of the second Earl of Ilchester.
[299] He had been executor to the Queen’s father. One of her first acts
was to discharge the debts contracted by the Duke of Kent, which the
Duchess had never been able to pay off. See _ante_, p. 69.
[300] Colonel the Hon. H. F. C. Cavendish (1789–1873), son of Lord
Burlington. Clerk-Marshal to the Queen. Married as his second wife
Frances Susan, sister of Lord Durham.
[301] Queen Adelaide, the Queen Dowager, a Princess of the House of
Saxe-Meiningen. Her attitude towards the young Queen was absolutely
perfect, in its simple dignity and freedom from every taint of envy.
[302] Georgina Howard, daughter of the sixth Earl of Carlisle.
[303] Anne, wife of Francis William, second Earl of Charlemont.
[304] Second son of the fourth Duke of Grafton.
[305] George Byng, afterwards second Earl of Strafford.
[306] Lord Durham, by his charming manners, had overcome certain
prejudice which had been felt in St. Petersburg on his appointment. He
was exceedingly popular with the Emperor. He returned to England, it
was said, “a greater aristocrat than ever.” See _ante_, p. 81.
[307] Lord Mulgrave was created Marquess of Normanby in 1838. A member
of Lord Melbourne’s Administration in 1834, he was sent to Ireland
as Viceroy, and then returned to the Cabinet as Secretary of State.
While the Whigs were in office he was never without a place. He was
subsequently Ambassador in Paris, and under Lord Palmerston supported
Napoleon III. through the stormy days of the _coup d’état_.
[308] Lady Mulgrave was Maria Liddell, eldest daughter of the first
Lord Ravensworth. She had married, in 1818, the second Earl of
Mulgrave, who was created Marquess of Normanby in 1838. See p. 205.
[309] Sarah, daughter of the second Earl Spencer and widow of the third
Lord Lyttelton. Afterwards Lady Superintendent to the Princess Royal
and the Prince of Wales and the other Princes and Princesses. A shrewd
observer and a woman of fine judgment and high ideals.
[310] There is no record of any previous Sovereign wearing the robes
of the Bath on such an occasion. Certainly they have never been worn
since. A little later in her reign the Queen was always reluctant to
exchange the red ribbon of the Bath for the blue ribbon of the Garter.
By the advice of Lord Melbourne, however, she was in the habit of
wearing the red ribbon when holding an investiture of the Order.
[311] He had just been created Earl of Yarborough. Lady Charlotte was
the wife of Sir Joseph Copley. He died in 1846.
[312] The Queen always retained a strong sentiment for Kensington
Palace. Part of the old building had been condemned by the Office of
Works to be pulled down, but the Queen refused her sanction. During
the last year of her reign the Queen made an arrangement with Lord
Salisbury and Sir M. Hicks-Beach that, in consideration of Her Majesty
giving up the use of Bushey House and the Ranger’s House at Greenwich,
the Government should purchase and place at her disposal Schomberg
House, and should restore Kensington Palace. Parliament voted £36,000
for this purpose, on the understanding that the State Rooms should be
opened to the public.
[313] Louisa, daughter of the thirteenth Viscount Dillon, afterwards
wife of Sir Spencer Ponsonby Fane.
[314] These are the rooms now occupied by Queen Mary. The “audience”
room opened out of the sitting-room.
[315] Hon. Harriet Elizabeth Pitt, younger daughter of the third Lord
Rivers. She married in 1841 Charles Dashwood Bruce, nephew of the Earl
of Elgin.
[316] Mary Alicia Spring Rice, eldest daughter of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer. She afterwards married James Garth Marshall of Headingley
and Monk Coniston.
[317] President of the Board of Control. He had enjoyed the friendship
of Byron, travelled with him, and was one of his executors. He was
created Lord Broughton in 1851. His _Recollections of a Long Life_,
edited by his daughter, Lady Dorchester, throw much light on the
political events of his time. He was so strong a partisan that his
judgments of statesmen and political events have to be treated
with reservations; but he was a type of politician, cultivated,
independent, conscientious, and high-minded, that is becoming rarer as
constituencies become less fastidious.
[318] The Queen invariably saw her Ministers in an “audience” room and
never in her private sitting-room. An exception was made in the case of
Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister.
[319] See _ante_, p. 53.
[320] George William, sixth Duke of Argyll, son of John fifth Duke, and
his wife, one of the beautiful Gunning sisters, Elizabeth, widow of the
sixth Duke of Hamilton. This lady was created Baroness Hamilton in her
own right, and her husband was also accorded a barony of Great Britain,
thus entitling him to a seat in Parliament.
[321] Fourth son of the fourth Duke of Marlborough; a Captain, R.N.
Died at Macao in 1840.
[322] Sigismund Thalberg (1812–71) was now in the full flood of
success. He wrote many fantasias on operatic themes, _e.g._ on _Robert
le Diable_, _Zampa_, etc. In 1845 he married a widow, the daughter of
Lablache. As a composer he never succeeded in emulating his success as
a pianist. Later in life he abandoned music, and became a professional
vine-grower.
[323] Edward Pery Buckley, afterwards General and M.P. See p. 327.
[324] Alexis, Count Orloff, famous both as general and diplomatist. He
had fought in the war of 1829 against Turkey, and signed the Treaty
of Adrianople in 1829. He had been sent to enlist English sympathies
for Holland as against Belgium in 1832. He also was a signatory of the
important treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, and represented Russia in the
Congress of Paris in 1856.
[325] Lady Salisbury was Frances Mary, daughter and heir of Bamber
Gascoyne, grandson of Sir Crisp Gascoyne, Lord Mayor of London 1752. He
was the first Lord Mayor who occupied the Mansion House.
[326] Afterwards an intimate counsellor of the Emperor of Austria,
Hereditary Great Chamberlain, and President of the Council.
[327] See _ante_, p. 192: note on the Sheridan sisters.
[328] Wife of Duke Bernard of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, younger brother of
Grand Duke Charles Frederick. See p. 125.
[329] At Marlborough House.
[330] Caroline Fanny, daughter of Colonel Cavendish. Maid-of-honour,
and Extra Woman of the Bedchamber.
[331] Caroline Margaret, Maid-of-honour, eldest daughter of John,
afterwards second Earl Somers. She subsequently married Canon
Courtenay, one of the Queen’s chaplains.
[332] Princess Cecile of Sweden, third wife of Grand Duke Augustus of
Oldenbourg.
[333] See _ante_, p. 69.
[334] See _ante_, p. 145.
[335] King William I., who succeeded his father, Frederic, in 1816.
[336] George, seventh Viscount, a Lord-in-waiting.
[337] Wife of M. de Mérode, who was First Minister in Belgium and a
faithful friend to King Leopold.
[338] Lord Broughton (Sir John Hobhouse), in his Reminiscences, refers
to this game of chess, and to the slight confusion there was between
“the two Queens on the board and the two Queens at the table.”
[339] Sir Jeffrey Wyatt (1766–1840), the architect, whose most
important work was the transformation of Windsor Castle, including the
addition of thirty feet to the height of the Round Tower. The principal
feature of this work is the solid and “fortress-like” appearance, which
is conspicuous in the Castle. His name had been originally Wyatt,
but George IV., after laying the foundation-stone of the new work,
sanctioned the curious addition of “ville” to the surname. Although
he was an architect of considerable technical skill, his powers of
destructiveness were quite remarkable. He hardly left a stone of
Windsor Castle unturned.
[340] Equerry to the Queen, son of the first Marquess of Anglesey by
his second marriage with Lady Charlotte Cadogan. Sometime M.P. for
Lichfield and Clerk-Marshal of the Royal Household. Lord Broughton
described him as “a handsome Calmuck-looking young fellow.”
[341] Prince Aloysius Joseph de Lichtenstein succeeded his father, Jean
Joseph, in 1836.
[342] George Villiers (1800–70), British Plenipotentiary at Madrid. In
1838 he became fourth Earl of Clarendon, was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
in critical times, 1847–52, and afterwards, with great distinction,
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in 1853, again in 1865 and
in 1868. He was not a statesman of very original mind, or of great
initiative, but he was honest and prudent and highly regardful of his
country’s interests. His manners were delightful and his conversation
varied with anecdotes and punctuated by wit. He was one of the
principal attractions in London society during the first half of the
nineteenth century.
[343] This picture hangs in the Corridor at Windsor Castle. The
likenesses are excellent, but the artist has painted the Queen in a
white dress, whereas she wore black. The actual dress worn by the Queen
is now exhibited in the London Museum at Kensington.
[344] Matilda Susannah, daughter of Hon. Berkeley Paget, fifth son of
the first Earl of Uxbridge. She was a Maid of Honour to the Queen, and
died in 1871.
[345] Princess Marie of Orleans, daughter of King Louis Philippe. See
_ante_, p. 78.
[346] These rooms, partly remodelled and redecorated, are now occupied
by Queen Mary. Up to the death of Queen Victoria no material change
was made in them. In 1901 they were much altered, although the main
features remain as before.
[347] Sir Moses Montefiore (1784–1885), created a baronet in 1846.
His life, prolonged for over a hundred years, was one of flawless
generosity and personal kindness to the poor and afflicted of his own
race, especially in the eastern provinces of Russia and in Turkey.
He obtained consideration for poor Jews from the Russian and Turkish
Governments, and his seven pilgrimages to Jerusalem were all undertaken
with a view to improving the questionable lot of the Chosen People.
[348] Princess Augusta of Cambridge. See Vol. II., p. 150.
[349] Princess Mary, afterwards Duchess of Teck.
[350] Henry, fourth Duke. He had been so strenuous an opponent of the
Reform Bill, that, after its rejection, a mob set fire to Nottingham
Castle, his property. Mr. Gladstone was M.P. for Newark owing to the
Duke’s influence, which was withdrawn in 1845 when Mr. Gladstone
supported Peel on the Corn Laws.
[351] Robert Edward, second son of the second Earl of Kingston, born
1773. He was a Lieut.-General and was created Viscount Lorton in the
Irish peerage in 1806. He was a Representative Peer.
[352] See _ante_, p. 188.
[353] Second daughter of Lord Ilchester, afterwards wife of Sir Edward
Clarence Kerrison.
[354] Lady Emily Cowper. She married Lord Ashley, afterwards Earl of
Shaftesbury. She, her sister Lady Fanny, and her brothers Spencer
Cowper and William Cowper (afterwards Cowper-Temple), were children of
the fifth Earl Cowper, whose wife, a sister of Lord Melbourne, married,
secondly, Lord Palmerston in 1839. Spencer Cowper married the widow of
Count d’Orsay, the step-daughter of Lady Blessington.
[355] Edward Sugden (1781–1875). Afterwards Lord St. Leonards, and Lord
Chancellor in the Derby Administration of 1852. A dry but efficient
lawyer, an excellent interpreter of any man’s Will but his own, which
was disputed.
[356] Henry Hunt had been a great agitator, notably in the years
1816–20. He was elected for Preston in 1830.
[357] Lord Brougham, not having been included in the second
Administration of Lord Melbourne, was unsparing in his criticisms of
his old colleagues. As Lord Melbourne once pointed out in reply to
one of Brougham’s brilliant attacks, the reasons for excluding Lord
Brougham from any Ministry must have been very grave, if measured by
the obvious reasons for including him.
[358] George, third Lord Boston (1777–1869).
[359] Frederick, second Lord Boston (1749–1825).
[360] Daughter of the second Earl of Chichester; married in October
1837 to the Rev. and Hon. L. J. Barrington.
[361] Lady Melbourne was a daughter of Sir Ralph Milbanke, and William
Lamb was her favourite son. When Peniston, her eldest son, died, she
encouraged William to devote himself to politics and to abandon the Bar.
[362] The Canadian question was one of the most difficult of the
early years of the Queen’s reign. Upper and Lower Canada were totally
dissimilar in race, tradition, and natural position. Lower Canada was
peopled mainly by French Roman Catholics, Upper Canada by Scottish
Protestants, and the mode of Government in both was as cumbrous and
inappropriate as it could well be, and afforded unquestionable ground
for grievance on the part of the inhabitants. In 1836 a rebellion broke
out in the Lower Province headed by Papineau, who had been Speaker
of the Assembly. This was followed by an insurrection in the Upper
Province, which was quelled in a striking and almost quixotic manner
by Sir Francis Head, the Governor, who, dismissing all his regular
troops to the Lower Province, trusted to the people to put down the
malcontents, and succeeded. Lord Durham was sent out in 1838 as High
Commissioner and Governor-General. His report on the proper method
of administering the Colony is historical, and ultimately formed the
basis of settlement. His acts were not approved by the Whig Government
and were annulled by them. He anticipated his recall by resigning and
coming home before the end of 1838.
[363] Charles, second son of Lord Grey, the ex-Premier. He was Equerry
to the Queen, and had a year or two earlier defeated Disraeli at the
High Wycombe election. He became Private Secretary to Prince Albert and
later to the Queen. He spent all the years of his life in the Queen’s
service, and was always helpful, wise, and unbiassed in the advice he
tendered her. The present Earl Grey, Lady Victoria Dawnay, Lady Antrim,
and Lady Minto are his surviving children. Many good judges considered
his abilities of a higher order than those of his father.
[364] Lady Caroline Ponsonby, daughter of the third Earl of
Bessborough, a lady of eccentric mind and habits. She was thrown off
her mental and moral balance by her acquaintance with Lord Byron, not
perhaps so surprising as the fact that she never recovered either even
after Byron’s death.
[365] Lord Melbourne’s brother, afterwards Lord Beauvale, Ambassador
Extraordinary at Vienna. As a diplomatist he was irreproachable,
handsome, agreeable, and adroit. In private life he was not altogether
_sans reproche_. Without his brother William’s literary acquirements,
and with less sarcasm and pungent wit, he yet had a vigorous
understanding, much information, and no little capacity for affairs. At
sixty years of age, and in broken health, he married a very young lady,
the daughter of Count Maltzahn, the Prussian Minister at Vienna.
[366] Henry Richard, third Lord Holland of the 1762 creation, was
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Under the auspices of his wife,
Holland House, Kensington, was for many years the Zoar of weary Whig
politicians. See _ante_, p. 101, note.
[367] Amelia, daughter of the Grand Duke of Oldenbourg, married to Otho
I., King of Greece.
[368] Uncle of the Emperor.
[369] Nicholas I., reigned 1826–55.
[370] Ferdinand I., born in 1793, succeeded his father, Francis I., in
1835. He was brother to Napoleon’s second wife, Marie Louise.
[371] Charles, fourth Earl of Harrington, married Maria, daughter of
Samuel Foote the actor.
[372] William, first Earl of Craven, married Louisa, an undistinguished
actress, daughter of John Brunton of Norwich.
[373] Edward, twelfth Earl of Derby, married Elizabeth Farren, a
Haymarket actress of considerable beauty and charm.
[374] Afterwards Field-Marshal and first Lord Seaton. He was one
of Wellington’s generals in the Peninsula and at Waterloo. He was
Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, and on Lord Durham’s recall was
nominated to succeed him.
[375] Lord Francis Egerton was the second son of George Granville,
first Duke of Sutherland. The immense fortune of Francis, third and
last Duke of Bridgewater (the father of English inland navigation and,
in conjunction with Brindley, constructor of the canal which bears
his name) was devised to the first Duke of Sutherland for life, and
thereafter to Lord Francis, who on attaining possession assumed the
surname of Egerton, in lieu of Leveson-Gower. A “condition subsequent”
tending to divest the property in a certain event was decided to be
opposed to “public policy.” Lord Francis was created Earl of Ellesmere
in 1846.
[376] Lady Falkland. Amelia Fitzclarence, daughter of William IV. See
_ante_, p. 113.
[377] Edward Berkeley Portman, representative of an old Dorsetshire and
Somersetshire family, was created Baron Portman in 1837. In 1827 he
married Emma, third daughter of the Earl of Harewood, who was at this
time one of the Ladies of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria.
[378] This high Constitutional doctrine was certain to meet with the
approval of a Whig like Lord Melbourne. It has been the secret of
ministerial responsibility and of executive power in the Constitution
of this country, and its working has been admired by many foreign
observers.
[379] Baron Alexander von Munchausen, a Hanoverian diplomatist, was
then about twenty-five. He was _not_ the hero of a celebrated romance.
[380] That the Queen always retained a sentiment for her dolls may
be realised from the care with which they were preserved. They are
exhibited in the London Museum at Kensington, arranged and ticketed
with the names given to them by Princess Victoria.
[381] Letitia, wife of Sir Hussey (afterwards Lord) Vivian. The child
Lalage married, in 1857, Henry Hyde Nugent Bankes, son of the Right
Hon. George Bankes.
[382] See _ante_, p. 73.
[383] Mr. (afterwards Rt. Hon.) John Arthur Roebuck. A Liberal “free
lance,” who earned the _sobriquet_ of “Tear-’em.” Lord John Russell had
brought in a Bill for suspending the Constitution of Canada, and Mr.
Roebuck, who was not at the time in Parliament, claimed to be heard at
the bar of both Houses as agent for the Lower Province. He made a very
able but bitter speech.
[384] Catherine, widow of the twelfth Earl of Desmond, died in 1604,
having survived her husband seventy years. There seems much doubt
about the principal dates of her life, _e.g._ those of her birth and
marriage, but she is _said_ to have attained the remarkable age of
140 years, and to have died by a fall from a cherry-tree. Sir Walter
Raleigh records that he knew her and that she “was married in Edward
IV.’s time.”
[385] Henry Brooke Parnell had been member for Maryborough in the
Irish House of Commons, and was now member for Dundee. He was made
Paymaster-General on that office being constituted in 1838. Afterwards
created Lord Congleton.
[386] The Duke never allowed political feeling to interfere with what
he considered public duty. As a politician he was a Tory; but as a
soldier he had no politics.
[387] Lord Ellenborough (1790–1871) was a son of the Chief Justice,
and sat in several Conservative Cabinets. He was Governor-General of
India in 1844, and recalled from his post by the directors of the East
India Company in opposition to the wish of the Cabinet, who at once
recommended him for an earldom. He was too imaginative and daring for
the post of Governor-General at this period of Indian administrative
history; but his memory was often revived in the person of a more
daring and more brilliant successor in that high office.
[388] Alexander, first Lord Ashburton, had been President of the Board
of Trade in the brief Peel Administration of 1834–5. He married Miss
Bingham of Philadelphia. See _ante_, p. 199.
[389] David William, third Earl of Mansfield (1777–1840).
[390] Charles William, fifth Earl (1786–1857).
[391] See _ante_, p. 261. Lady Francis was Harriet, eldest daughter of
Charles Greville, the father of the diarist.
[392] Stafford House was built by the Duke of York. It is Crown
property vested in the Commission of Woods and Forests. The present
(1912) Duke of Sutherland obtained an extension of the Crown lease a
few years ago.
[393] Charles Philip, fourth Earl of Hardwicke, had married Susan,
daughter of the first Lord Ravensworth. See _ante_, p. 84, n.
[394] _Tempora mutantur._
[395] At the opening of the Queen’s first Parliament in 1837 Lord
Leveson [afterwards Lord Granville and Foreign Secretary] had moved in
the House of Commons the address in reply to her speech, looking, wrote
Disraeli, himself also a new member, “like a child.” Lord Leveson was
twenty-two years old, and the Queen had met him a few years earlier
at Christ Church. See _ante_, p. 60. His mother, Lady Granville, was
Henrietta, daughter of the fifth Duke of Devonshire.
[396] Lady Lilford was a daughter of Lord and Lady Holland.
[397] Charles Christopher, first Lord Cottenham. On Lord Melbourne
forming his second Ministry, the Great Seal was not offered to
Brougham, but at first put into Commission. Pepys, Master of the Rolls,
was one of the Commissioners, and became a little later Chancellor.
[398] William Henry, second Earl of Dunraven (1782–1850).
[399] See _ante_, p. 278.
[400] She was Louisa Elizabeth, daughter of Lord Grey the ex-Premier,
mother of the “Master Lambton” of Lawrence’s portrait, who died, aged
fourteen, and grandmother of the present Earl of Durham, K.G.
[401] King Otho had accepted the throne of Greece in October 1832, and
ascended it three months later. This was done in virtue of a request
from Greece to Great Britain, France, and Russia.
[402] Mahmud II., Sultan (1808–39), succeeded in the latter year by
Abdul-Medjid.
[403] Of some fame, but little merit. He managed the stables of George
IV., when Prince of Wales.
[404] This rule was followed with invariable and prudent strictness
by the Queen throughout her reign. She was never swayed in action by
gossip, however subtle or ill-natured—she required proof; and this rule
governed her decision in regard to disputes as to the eligibility of
all persons to be invited to Court.
[405] Lord Howe’s attitude was one of hostility to the Government. See
_ante_, p. 113.
[406] George Bartley (died in 1858), a Shakespearean actor who could
play Orlando as well as Falstaff. For a time stage-manager at Covent
Garden.
[407] Drinkwater Meadows (1799–1869), an excellent performer in comedy
of the more eccentric type.
[408] Edgar William Elton (1794–1843) created this part of Beauséant;
he also played Romeo, and (with much success) Edgar in _Lear_.
[409] The disposal of these prisoners was a difficult matter which
became acute in the _interregnum_ between the departure of Lord Gosford
and the arrival of Lord Durham. Sir John Colborne postponed a decision
of the matter, and ultimately the prisoners were dealt with according
to the gravity of the case, some being merely bound over, others
deported to Bermuda.
[410] Great complaints were being made of the cruelty of the Jamaica
planters to their negro apprentices, and Brougham had put himself
at the head of an agitation in favour of immediate emancipation.
Accordingly the Government introduced a Bill regulating the hours
of labour, erecting arbitration tribunals for appraising the value
of apprentices desiring a discharge, and forbidding the whipping or
cutting the hair of female apprentices, or their being placed on a
treadmill, or in the chair of a penal gang.
[411] Street riots had broken out at Lisbon, but the Queen behaved
with great courage, and, after Costa Cabral had been installed as
Civil Governor of the city, the insurgent forces were dispersed. The
occurrence of Donna Maria’s nineteenth birthday on 4th April was marked
by an amnesty, purporting to blot out the revolutionary actions of the
last eighteen months.
[412] John, second Marquess and fifth Earl of Breadalbane, F.R.S.
(1796–1862).
[413] A distinguished Peninsular officer, who had commanded the
Portuguese division at Vittoria; Commander-in-chief at Bombay 1825–9.
[414] John, afterwards eleventh Earl of Westmorland, son of John, tenth
Earl and Sarah Anne his wife, only daughter and heir of Robert Child of
Osterley Park. His sister, Lady Jersey (who died in 1867), succeeded to
the banker’s great fortune. See _ante_, p. 149.
[415] Major-General Sir A. Dickson, R.A., had been Superintendent of
Artillery Operations in the Peninsula, and fought at Waterloo, and was
Director-General of the Field-train Department.
[416] Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy (1769–1839), Captain of the
_Victory_ at Trafalgar. In 1830 he was First Sea Lord, and, later,
Governor of Greenwich Hospital, a post he was holding at this time.
[417] Lord Minto. See _ante_, p. 200.
[418] Lord Howick. See _ante_, p. 200.
[419] “Your Majesty’s most affectionate Friend, Aunt, and Subject,
Adelaide.”
[420] Lord Melbourne’s sister, afterwards Lady Palmerston. See p. 242.
[421] Dietz had been Governor to Prince Ferdinand, and accompanied him
to Portugal, where he took a considerable part in political affairs.
[422] George, Lord Byron, succeeded his cousin the poet in 1824. He was
an extra Lord-in-waiting to the Queen.
[423] It was altered by King Edward in 1905, and the Prime Minister now
takes rank immediately after the Archbishop of York.
[424] Whig M.P. for West Riding of Yorkshire.
[425] Joseph Pease, M.P. for South Durham, had been a pioneer of
railway construction, and had assisted his father in forming (upon the
persuasion of George Stephenson) the Stockton and Darlington line.
[426] Sir George Grey of Falloden, Northumberland, second Baronet
(1799–1882), Under-Secretary for the Colonies. Appointed Judge
Advocate-General in 1839, and in 1846 Home Secretary under Lord John
Russell, an office which he held for nearly twenty years. He was a
man of fine presence and great social charm. His high moral qualities
and freedom from personal ambition gained for him the esteem of both
political parties and the confidence of his countrymen. He has been
worthily succeeded in his title and all else by his grandson, Sir
Edward Grey, K.G.
[427] This brilliant advocate, who died at the age of forty-seven, had
been Peel’s Solicitor-General, and became Attorney-General in 1841. He
appeared for Norton in his action for _crim. con._ against Melbourne,
without any success, for the charge was triumphantly refuted.
[428] See _ante_, p. 149.
[429] The Hon. F. G. Byng, sometime Gentleman Usher of the Privy
Chamber.
[430] He would have been 50 on January 22, 1838.
[431] She was an illegitimate daughter of Edward Walpole (second son
of Sir Robert) by Mary Clement, a sempstress in Pall Mall. Their two
other daughters became Countess of Albemarle and Countess of Dysart
respectively.
[432] Married her cousin George, seventh Earl Waldegrave.
[433] Wife of George, second Duke of Grafton.
[434] Father of the Admiral, Sir Beauchamp Seymour, Lord Alcester.
[435] To William, second Earl, when Lord Cavendish.
[436] Holland House was built by Sir Walter Cope in 1607. His daughter
and co-heiress married Henry Rich, first Earl of Holland.
[437] Wife of James Howard, afterwards third Earl of Malmesbury.
[438] Sir William Knighton had been physician to George IV., when
Prince of Wales, and was private secretary and Keeper of his Privy
Purse when King. The King employed him in various confidential matters.
[439] Queen Victoria in 1872 wrote of Louis as “the former faithful and
devoted friend of Princess Charlotte—beloved and respected by all who
knew her—and who doted on the little Princess who was too much an idol
in the House. This dear old lady was visited by every one, and was the
only really devoted attendant of the poor Princess, whose governesses
paid little real attention to her, and who never left her, and was with
her when she died.” See p. 62.
[440] Marshal Soult, Duke of Dalmatia, was appointed Ambassador of
the King of the French at Queen Victoria’s Coronation. He had been
Wellington’s antagonist in the Peninsula, and this added to his
popularity with the masses of the London streets.
[441] General Sir Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby, K.C.B., G.C.M.G.,
second son of the third Earl of Bessborough, and brother of Lady
Caroline Lamb. He was the father of the late Sir Henry Ponsonby, Queen
Victoria’s private secretary and Keeper of her Privy Purse.
[442] Lady Charlotte Campbell, daughter of the fifth Duke of Argyll,
married, first, Colonel Campbell, and second, Rev. E. J. Bury; was
Lady-in-Waiting to Caroline, Princess of Wales. She was a friend and
patroness of Sir W. Scott, and wrote several novels. In 1838 appeared
_A Diary illustrative of the Times of George IV._, which was attributed
to her by Lord Brougham—a charge which was never denied. The work was
severely criticised.
[443] Francis Charles, third Marquess (1777–1842), the “Lord Monmouth”
of _Coningsby_. His son, here called Lord Yarmouth, succeeded him and
died unmarried in 1870. The fourth Marquess was the founder of the
magnificent collections now the property of the nation at Hertford
House.
[444] Her paternity was in dispute between the Duke of Queensberry and
George Selwyn.
[445] Lord Yarmouth, afterwards fourth Marquess, and his brother Lord
Henry Seymour always lived in Paris. Lord Hertford possessed a fine
apartment at the corner of the Rue Lafite and a country place called
“Bagatelle” in the Bois de Boulogne. Subsequently they passed to Sir
R. Wallace and later to Sir John Murray Scott. Bagatelle is now the
property of the Municipality of Paris.
[446] Hortense Eugenie Claire, daughter of Duc de Bassano, Minister
of Napoleon I., married 1833 to Francis Baring, afterwards third Lord
Ashburton.
[447] Comte de Flahaut, son of Comtesse de Flahaut Adele, who was
afterwards Baronne de Souza, had once been French Ambassador in London,
as Sebastiani now was, but there was a competition between Flahaut and
Soult as to which should be specially appointed to represent the King
of the French at the Coronation. His likeness to Napoleon III. was
considered remarkable and significant.
[448] Wife of Major-General Sir Guy Campbell, Bart., and daughter of
Lord Edward Fitzgerald and his wife Pamela, daughter of Madame de
Genlis.
[449] Afterwards George IV.
[450] Garth was an eminent physician in the time of William III. and
Queen Anne. He wrote occasional verses fluently, and his poem “The
Dispensary” had a great vogue for fifty years.
[451] Elizabeth, wife of Peregrine, third Duke of Ancaster.
[452] Georgiana, daughter of the third Duke of Ancaster, and widow of
the first Marquess of Cholmondeley.
[453] Priscilla, also daughter of the third Duke of Ancaster. On the
death of their brother unmarried, the barony of Willoughby de Eresby
fell into abeyance between the sisters, which was terminated by the
Crown in favour of Priscilla, the elder, in 1780.
[454] The barony of Fauconberg, of an earlier creation, was revived in
1903 in favour of the present (1912) Countess of Yarborough, daughter
and co-heir of the twelfth Lord Conyers.
[455] Cromwell’s son-in-law was promoted from Viscount to be Earl
Fauconberg. He left no child. His great-nephew was again created Earl,
and married a sister of Peniston, first Viscount Melbourne. Their
daughters married as follows: Lady Charlotte Bellasyse to Thomas Edward
Wynn, Anne to Sir George Wombwell, Elizabeth successively to the Duke
of Norfolk and Lord Lucan.
[456] Henry Fox (afterwards fourth and last Lord Holland) married Lady
Augusta Coventry; at her death in 1889, Holland House, Kensington,
became the property of Lord Ilchester.
[457] 21st December, 1785.
[458] Daniel Maclise (1806–70). His first success was a sketch of Sir
Walter Scott drawn by him unobserved. His best-known works are the two
cartoons in the Royal Gallery of the House of Lords. He was elected to
the Royal Academy in 1840.
[459] John, sixteenth Earl of Shrewsbury, Premier Earl of England. This
question of the oath to be taken by Roman Catholic peers and members
had been repeatedly brought forward by the Bishop of Exeter. It pledged
the jurant to do nothing to “disturb or weaken the Protestant Religion
or Protestant Government, or to subvert the Church establishment.” A
gentleman wrote to the Bishop to say that he could not take the oath,
as his wish was to upset the Church establishment, and he was therefore
excluded from Parliament. See _ante_, p. 56.
[460] Prince George of Cambridge. See _ante_, p. 77.
[461] Eldest son of the third Earl of Roden, and died in his father’s
lifetime. In 1841 he married Lady Fanny Cowper. See _ante_, p. 188.
[462] Grandson of the Duke of Norfolk. See _ante_, p. 190.
[463] Afterwards fourth Earl of Radnor. See _ante_, p. 60.
[464] Edward Vernon, fourth Lord Suffield (1813–53).
[465] Georgiana, Lady Seymour, Queen of Beauty at the Eglinton
Tournament. One of the Sheridan sisters. See _ante_, p. 192.
[466] Daughter of Mr. Canning, the Prime Minister, and wife of the
first Marquess of Clanricarde. See Vol. II. pp. 75 and 261.
[467] Daughter of the second Earl de Grey, K.G., and sister of Lady
Cowper. She was married to Mr. Henry Vyner.
[468] Daughter of G. G. Vernon Harcourt, M.P. Lord Norreys succeeded in
1854 to the earldom of Abingdon. See _ante_, p. 132.
[469] Daughter of the eleventh Earl of Pembroke, afterwards wife of
Viscount de Vesci. See _ante_, p. 77.
[470] Sister of Lady Emma Herbert, and wife of the third Earl of
Clanwilliam.
[471] Daughter of the first Earl of Verulam. She married Lord
Folkestone (see preceding page) in 1840. See _ante_, p. 189.
[472] Sister of Lord Jocelyn (see preceding page) and wife of the sixth
Viscount Powerscourt.
[473] Daughter of the third Viscount Hawarden.
[474] Clementina, sister of the fourteenth Lord Elphinstone, afterwards
wife of the fourth Viscount Hawarden.
[475] Daughter of Lord Anglesey, and sister of Lord Uxbridge. She
married in 1851 Frederick, son of the third Earl Cadogan.
[476] Sir Thomas Acland, tenth Bart.
[477] Alexander, tenth Duke (1767–1852).
[478] Edward Adolphus, eleventh Duke. See _ante_, p. 68.
[479] James, sixth Duke (1816–1879).
[480] To rescind the Irish Church resolution of 1835.
[481] Charles William, third Marquess, half-brother of the eminent
statesman, better remembered as Lord Castlereagh. Lord Londonderry was
a soldier and diplomatist.
[482] George O’Brien, third Earl of Egremont, died unmarried in
November 1837, aged eighty-six. Lady Munster was his illegitimate
daughter, but his estates in Sussex and Cumberland were devised to
other adopted heirs.
[483] An extreme instance of this partiality is described in Warren’s
_Ten Thousand a Year_. In 1868 the jurisdiction to decide disputed
elections was transferred to the Court of Common Pleas.
[484] John Thomas, first and only Earl of Redesdale (1805–86), Chairman
of Committees in the House of Lords, 1851–86. Lord Redesdale was one
of the last men in England who wore habitually in the daytime the
old-fashioned “tail-coat.”
[485] Lady Catharine was daughter of the third Earl of Radnor, and
Victor was her fifth son. See _ante_, p. 219.
[486] There is a portrait of the Queen by John Partridge in King
George’s room at Buckingham Palace showing the hair done in this
fashion.
[487] Charles, second Viscount Townshend, K.G., married Dorothy, sister
of Sir Robert Walpole. Townshend was President of the Council 1720,
and afterwards Secretary of State. There was jealousy between the
brothers-in-law, and Horace Walpole sarcastically observed that things
went well or ill according as the style of the firm was _Townshend and
Walpole_ or _Walpole and Townshend_.
[488] Henry Francis, fourteenth Baron Teynham (1768–1842).
[489] At the festival of the 14th July, 1790, held in the Champ de Mars
he officiated at the altar. It was his last celebration of the Mass.
[490] Prince George of Cambridge.
[491] Sixth son of Lord Anglesey. He was second in command, to Lord
Cardigan, of the Light Cavalry Brigade in the Crimea; he subsequently
became Inspector of Cavalry, and later M.P. for Beaumaris.
[492] Eldest son of the fifth Earl de la Warr. See _ante_, p. 60.
[493] Afterwards sixth Earl Fitzwilliam, K.G., and A.D.C. to the Queen.
[494] She was younger daughter of the second Earl Talbot, and wife of
the seventh Marquess of Lothian.
[495] Prince George, born 1819, succeeded his father on the throne of
Hanover in 1851. He ultimately suffered from total blindness, caused by
swinging a bunch of keys attached to a chain, that struck accidentally
one of his eyes. He sided with Austria in 1866 against Prussia, and
after Sadowa his kingdom was annexed to Prussia by decree. King George
was a Knight of the Garter and Duke of Cumberland. He was a Prince of
amiable disposition and simple manners. At his death he was succeeded
in the dukedom by his eldest son, who married the younger sister of
Queen Alexandra.
[496] According to the Royal Marriages Act, none of the Royal Family
can marry without the Sovereign’s consent. See _post_, p. 390.
[497] Lord Mulgrave and Lord Dundas were created respectively Marquis
of Normanby and Earl of Zetland, but Lord Barham was not made Earl of
Gainsborough till 1841.
[498] Afterwards wife of the eighth Earl of Elgin, Viceroy of India.
[499] Son of Lord Duncannon, and grandson of the Earl of Bessborough.
[500] Hon. Charles Augustus Murray. See Vol. II., p. 94.
[501] _I.e._, Mutiny at the Nore, May 1797.
[502] This is now proved not to have been the case. He suffered from
infantile paralysis of one leg which was badly treated and developed
into permanent lameness. Miss Chaworth’s words, which were either
overheard by or repeated to Byron, were, “Do you think I could care
anything for that lame boy?” He did see her on more than one occasion
in later years.
[503] Her grand-uncle was killed as described by William, fifth Lord
Byron, in 1765.
[504] Dr. Goodall. See _ante_, p. 119.
[505] The Head Master. See _ante_, p. 119.
[506] She was Jane, daughter of the second Marquess Cornwallis and wife
of the third Lord Braybrooke.
[507] Son of Duke Charles Bernard and Duchess Ida (a sister of Queen
Adelaide). Prince Edward was A.D.C. to Lord Raglan in the Crimea, and
ultimately Commander of the Forces in Ireland.
[508] Charles Wood (afterwards Lord Halifax). At this time Secretary to
the Admiralty. See _ante_, p. 99.
[509] These portraits were among those which by custom were presented
to the Headmaster of Eton by certain distinguished Etonians on leaving
school. The gift of a portrait was usually made by request. A boy was
considered honoured by being asked to leave his portrait to the school.
The custom lapsed about forty years since. This collection was recently
overhauled by Mr. Lionel Cust. It is now in fine order, carefully
arranged in the Provost’s Lodge at Eton. The portraits have been
engraved and collected in the form of a sumptuous volume.
[510] This may be the portrait now in the Corridor at Windsor Castle.
[511] W. F. Chambers, Physician-in-Ordinary to King William and Queen
Adelaide, and afterwards to Queen Victoria and the Duchess of Kent.
[512] Sir Michael O’Loghlen did not, however, leave the Rolls. The new
Chief Baron was Mr. Stephen Woulfe, the Irish Attorney-General.
[513] She married Lord Sandwich (see p. 191) in the following September.
[514] Lady Adelaide Paget (afterwards Lady Adelaide Cadogan). See
_ante_, p. 319.
[515] The Marriage Act of 1835 made null and void all marriages within
the prohibited degrees of consanguinity or affinity. Before they had
only been voidable.
[516] In this case the two wives were _half_ sisters, daughters of the
Duke of Wellington’s sister by different husbands.
[517] The Prince Consort was strongly in favour of legalising these
marriages, and King Edward (then Prince of Wales) always voted in
favour of the Bills introduced for the purpose of amending the law.
[518] This custom has now unfortunately fallen into disuse.
[519] No one has a prescriptive or _ex officio_ right to wear the
“Windsor uniform.” It is an honour conferred personally by the
Sovereign. Of recent Prime Ministers, this privilege has been enjoyed
by Lord Salisbury, Lord Rosebery, and Mr. Balfour.
[520] Sunderland’s Ministry in 1718 introduced a measure to limit the
creation of peers, the object being to prevent the Prince of Wales
(when King) from swamping the Lords with his partisans. Walpole spoke
and wrote vigorously against the Bill, and organised the opposition
to it in anticipation of the time when it should reach the Commons.
He succeeded in altering the public attitude to the Bill, and it was
rejected by a large majority.
[521] After this date, that is to say, the early part of the Queen’s
reign, the Order of the Bath began to be somewhat neglected. It was
partly owing to the creation of new Orders, such as the Star of India
and the St. Michael and George. It has, however, recently been ordained
by King George V. that the annual service for the Order of the Bath in
Westminster Abbey shall be revived, and the banners and shields of the
Knights Grand Cross be affixed to their stalls in Henry VIIth.’s chapel.
[522] See _ante_, p. 205.
[523] Sir Peter King, who became Lord Chancellor, was created Lord
King of Ockham in 1725. The present baron (eighth holder of the title)
had married in 1835, Ada, the only child of Lord Byron. Lord King now
became Earl of Lovelace.
[524] Eldest son of the Duke of Leeds, who died in the following month.
[525] In 1847, when the offer was repeated, Lord Melbourne wrote to the
Queen that “for a long time he had found himself much straitened in his
circumstances” and that “he knows that the expense of accepting the
ribbon amounts to £1,000, and there has been of late years no period at
which it would not have been seriously inconvenient to him to pay down
such a sum.”
[526] With the exception of Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Palmerston, no
Prime Minister, as such, has accepted the Garter in recent times.
[527] Sir Sotherton Peckham-Micklethwait, of Iridge Place, Sussex.
Created a baronet “for a personal service rendered to Her Majesty and
the Duchess of Kent at St. Leonards in Nov. 1834.” See _ante_, p. 104.
[528] Clarenceux King-of-Arms, afterwards Garter.
[529] Edward Maltby (1770–1859), Bishop of Durham, to which he had been
recently translated from Chichester.
[530] The ceremonial as described by the Queen does not compare
favourably with those of King Edward or King George, when hardly
a mistake was made by any of those officiating. The ritual at the
Coronation of King Edward was especially difficult, owing to the age
and infirmities of Archbishop Temple.
[531] Lord Surrey was son and heir of the Earl Marshal, the twelfth
Duke of Norfolk, whom he succeeded in 1842. He married Charlotte
Sophia, daughter of the first Duke of Sutherland.
[532] The Litany was omitted at the Coronation of King Edward VII., and
reintroduced at the Coronation of King George V.
[533] The robe is exhibited in the London Museum at Kensington Palace.
[534] Second son of Louis Philippe. He was offered two thrones, Belgium
in 1831 and Greece in 1832, but declined both. See _ante_, p. 130.
[535] This has been remedied by the recent custom of giving a
Viscountcy to any Secretary of State who is raised to the Peerage.
[536] Nicholas, third Baron Audley by writ and tenth by tenure, fought
in the wars with France 1359 and 1372. His sister Joan married Sir John
Tuchet, killed at Rochelle, 1371, and her grandson succeeded to the
title. On the death, in 1872, of the twenty-first Baron (son of George
Edward Thicknesse Touchet, twentieth Baron, whom the Queen and Lord
Melbourne were discussing), the barony fell into abeyance between his
daughters.
[537] Eldest son of the Duke of Sutherland, and nine years old. He
succeeded his father as third Duke in 1861.
[538] Eldest son of Lord Conyngham, and thirteen years old. Succeeded
as third Marquess in 1876, and died in 1882.
[539] Eldest son of Lord Uxbridge, seventeen years old. Died in 1880.
[540] This was certainly an error of judgment on the part of Lord
Melbourne. The Queen’s appearance on horseback, in the uniform still to
be seen in the London Museum at Kensington Palace, was extraordinarily
fascinating, and added greatly to the interest of any Review at which
she appeared.
[541] The Queen evidently did not grasp a name unfamiliar to her.
The ratification of the Treaty of Amiens was sent over by Napoleon
in charge of Colonel Lauriston, his A.D.C. When this officer left
the house of M. Otto in London to deliver his credentials to Lord
Hawkesbury, the scene occurred which the Queen here describes. The
carriage was accompanied to Downing Street by a guard of honour of the
Household Cavalry.
[542] Afterwards first Baron Lyons of Christchurch (1790–1858). At
this time Minister Plenipotentiary at Athens. In 1853, war with Russia
being imminent, he was appointed second in command of the fleet in the
Mediterranean, and displayed boldness and initiative in the attack on
the sea defences of Sebastopol. He became Commander-in-Chief in 1855,
and, on the termination of the war, a Peer.
[543] The dukedom of Montagu, created in 1766, become extinct at the
death of the first Duke in 1790.
[544] In later years Edward Geoffrey, fourteenth Earl of Derby, three
times Prime Minister, was reported to have refused a dukedom, on the
ground that he would not exchange his Earl’s coronet, which dated from
the fifteenth century, for a set of new strawberry leaves.
[545] Lord Melbourne’s private secretary. He afterwards served Prince
Albert in a similar capacity. See Vol. II. p. 37.
[546] He was for a time _Attaché_ to the British Embassy in Paris, and
died in 1847.
[547] A lovely portrait of her by Gainsborough is the property of Lord
Rothschild at Tring Park.
[548] Lord Seymour bore, by courtesy, the only other title of his
father, the Duke of Somerset. So there was not a third title available
for the grandson, as is the case in other families of ducal rank.
[549] Thomas Sheridan, actor and lecturer on elocution. Published in
1780 a General Dictionary of the English Language with a special view
to teaching pronunciation. A work of phonetic rather than philological
value.
[550] Eldest surviving son of the third Marquess of Lansdowne, and
afterwards fourth Marquess. The elder brother (Lord Kerry) had died
without male issue.
[551] Aunt of Lord Shelburne. She was a daughter of the fourth Earl of
Bessborough.
[552] Lord Shelburne married in 1840 Lady Georgina Herbert, daughter
of the eleventh Earl of Pembroke. She died in the following year. In
1843 he married the Hon. Emily Elphinstone-de-Flahaut, in her own right
Baroness Nairne.
[553] Formerly Lady Cavendish. Her husband had succeeded as second Earl
of Burlington in 1834. See _ante_, p. 53. She died in 1840.
[554] George, fifth Earl of Essex (1757–1839).
[555] Ladies of unblemished character, retired from the stage, were
permitted to appear at Court.
[556] Charles, Earl Grey, the ex-Prime Minister, who rarely came to
town at this period of his life, and must have been a novelty for the
Queen.
[557] Count Stroganoff was the special representative of the Czar at
the Coronation.
[558] His son who died, aged four years, in 1783.
[559] Lady Sarah Lennox, who was a daughter of the second Duke of
Richmond, married first, Sir Thomas Charles Bunbury, secondly the Hon.
George Napier. George III. was undoubtedly much attracted by this
lady. By her second marriage she became the “Mother of the Napiers,” a
designation almost as famous in the British history of the Napoleonic
Wars as the “Mother of the Gracchi” in Republican Rome.
[560] Daughters of John Gunning, of Castle Coote. See _ante_, p. 215.
[561] Lord Alfred Paget. See _ante_, p. 226.
[562] See _ante_, p. 310.
[563] Mehemet Ali, the Pasha, having announced his intention to pay no
more tribute to the Porte (an action equivalent to a declaration of
independence), great efforts were made by the representatives of the
Powers to induce him to reconsider his decision.
[564] The French Ambassador in London.
[565] Baron Heinrich von Bülow, many years Prussian representative in
London, afterwards Prussian Minister for Foreign Affairs.
[566] The adjustment of the debt between Holland and Belgium.
[567] The equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington stood on the arch
at Hyde Park Corner from 1846 to 1883. It excited much ridicule at the
time of its erection. There was a question of its removal, but the Duke
of Wellington strongly opposed the suggestion. He said that he never
wished his statue to be put upon the Arch, but once there, there it
should remain. It was removed nearly forty years later to Aldershot.
Recently some prancing horses and a chariot have taken the place of old
Copenhagen and the Duke.
[568] As an illustration of the vagaries of “taste” in Art, it may be
mentioned that this statue is now considered one of the most successful
in London.
[569] This refers to the reading by the Queen of her “Speech.”
[570] All this paragraph refers to the disputes between Belgium and
Holland over their respective financial responsibilities.
[571] Afterwards Sir John MacNeill. He had been sent as Envoy to
Teheran to try to prevent the Shah attacking the Afghans.
[572] Lord Melbourne was a “low Churchman and an Erastian,” like so
many of the Whigs of that day.
[573] This love of straight dealing and dislike of flattery were
lifelong characteristics of the Queen.
[574] In 1815 Belgium and Holland were, by the action of the European
Powers at the Congress of Vienna, united into one Kingdom. This led to
constant friction and even to open hostilities between the two nations,
and in 1831 a Conference of the Powers decreed a dissolution of the
Union, and drew up a Treaty, but the division of territory again led
to a war which is chiefly notable for the siege of Antwerp in 1832. In
1838 Holland announced for the first time her readiness to accede to
the provisions of the Treaty of 1832. The Belgians claimed that this
acquiescence came too late, but under pressure of the Powers she had
in the end to give her assent. During this excitement the failure of
the Bank of Brussels produced a financial crisis which caused great
distress among the people.
[575] Count von Senfft Pilsach was Austrian Minister at The Hague, and
came to England in 1838 as Austrian Plenipotentiary at the Conference
which took place in London to settle the Separation of Holland and
Belgium. He signed the Treaty of 1839 on behalf of Austria.
[576] Member for Oxford University. He had displaced Sir Robert Peel at
the time of the Tory split on Catholic Emancipation.
[577] This was common Whig doctrine up to the Crimean War, when the
unreadiness of the Military Authorities caused a reaction, which
indirectly led to the fall of the Aberdeen Government.
[578] Wife of Warren Hastings.
[579] Melbourne House stood on the site of the Albany. See Vol. II., p.
96.
[580] In 1771 the Duke of Cumberland secretly married Anne, daughter
of Lord Irnham (afterwards Earl of Carhampton) and widow of Andrew
Horton. Her brother was Colonel Luttrell, the opponent of Wilkes. Not
long afterwards, the Duke of Gloucester made public the fact of his
marriage to the Dowager Countess Waldegrave. These two marriages led
to the passing of the Royal Marriage Act, which governs (with certain
exceptions) the marriages of all descendants of George II. See _ante_,
p. 333, and Vol. II., p. 43.
[581] Lord Melbourne modified this opinion next day.
[582] Partly in consequence of his intrigues with the Prince of Wales
against Pitt in the matter of the Regency Bill.
[583] Brownlow North, Bishop successively of Lichfield, Worcester, and
Winchester.
[584] See note, _post_, p. 397.
[585] Mary, daughter of the first Viscount Galway, married, as his
second wife, Edmund, seventh Earl of Cork. She died in 1840.
[586] _Remarks on an Article for the “Edinburgh Review” on the Times
of George III. and George IV._, by General Sir Herbert Taylor, who had
been Secretary successively to the Duke of York, George III., Queen
Charlotte, and William IV.
[587] _A Diary illustrative of the Times of George IV._, published in
1838. See _ante_, p. 310.
[588] Lady Anne Hamilton was a lady-in-waiting of Caroline, wife of
George IV., whom she accompanied to England in 1820. _The Secret
History of the Court_ was published without her name, but the
authorship was never disputed.
[589] Lord Guilford was the son of Lord North, George III.’s Minister,
and his sister, here mentioned, was Lady Charlotte Lindsay, wife of
Lieut.-Col. Hon. John Lindsay. See _ante_, p. 392.
[590] James Kenney (1780–1849), a successful dramatist. He was the
original Jeremy Diddler in his own _Raising the Wind_, when it was
acted by amateurs. The play was subsequently performed at Covent Garden.
[591] Granville Penn (1761–1844), grandson of William Penn, the founder
of Pennsylvania.
[592] Lady Emmeline Wortley, daughter of the fifth Duke of Rutland,
wife of Charles Stuart Wortley. Her daughter, Victoria, goddaughter
of the Duchess of Kent, afterwards Lady Welby-Gregory, was sometime a
maid-of-honour to the Queen.
[593] Granville, Earl Gower (1721–1803), had sat for Westminster before
his accession to the Peerage. Thereafter he was Lord Privy Seal, Lord
Chamberlain and President of the Council. He was created Marquess
of Stafford, and K.G. He married Lady Louisa Egerton, daughter and
co-heiress of Scrope, first Duke of Bridgwater.
Transcriber’s Notes:
• Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
• Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.