■^^ 
 

 X) 
 

 DATE DUE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 J^-^ 
 
 .^r^ 
 
 " 
 
 
 wn\/ ■? 
 
 ) !Ae<J'E^ 
 
 IS 
 
 
 JtHJV^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CAVLORD 
 
 
 
 PRINTED INU.S. A. 
 
 COHNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 3 1924 088 008 572 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924088008572 
 
Jesupn^^rewn so' 
 
 
 ^- 
 
 A'h/^^U^ 
 
THE 
 
 JERNINGHAM LETTERS 
 
 (1780— 1843) 
 
 BEING EXCERPTS FROM THE CORRESPONDENCE AND 
 
 DIARIES OF THE HONOURABLE LADY JERNINGHAM 
 
 AND OF HER DAUGHTER LADY BEDINGFELD 
 
 ' ',/, ,/:fc,w V Jj7 JCn. -Vi//,,, fAn . 
 
 BY 
 
 EGERTON CASTLE 
 
 M.A., F.S.A. 
 WITH PORTRAITS 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES.— VOL. \. 
 
 LONDON 
 RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON 
 
 ^pxibUsIurs in fflrbmatB its ^it ^iajtatg tlu flUtteen 
 1896 
 (A 
 
A.I 170*?^ 
 
%o 
 
 MISS CAMILLA STANLEY GARY, 
 
 Grand-daughter of Lady Bedingfeld, 
 Great-grand-daughter of the Honourable Lady Jerningham, 
 
 THESE VOLUMES ARE INSCRIBED 
 
 BY 
 
 FGERTON CASTLE. 
 
PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. Mary, Lady Jerningham Frontispiece 
 
 From her portrait by Opie in the possession of the Right 
 Honble. Lord Stafford, and engraved on steel by Joseph 
 Brown. 
 
 II. Lucy de Rothes (Wife of General the 
 Hon. Arthur Dillon) Title-page 
 
 From a miniature. 
 
 III. George William, eldest Son of Sir William 
 
 Jerningham to face i 
 
 From a miniature at Cossey. 
 
 IV. William Charles, second Son of Sir 
 
 William Jerningham to face i6 
 
 From a tniniature at Cossey, 
 
 V. Edward, third Son of Sir William Jerning- 
 ham - to face 1 8 
 
 From a miniature at Cossey. 
 
 VI. At the Convent of the Dames Ursulines 
 
 at Paris in 1784 - to face 33 
 
 From a water-colour sketch. 
 
viii PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 VII. Charlotte Georgina Jerningham, jet. i6 
 
 to face 44 
 
 From a miniature painted at Paris. 
 
 VIII. Miss Jerningham, drawn by herself at 
 
 Brussels in 1792 to face 64 
 
 IX. Charlotte Jerningham to face 78 
 
 From a miniature at Cossey. 
 
 X. William, second Son of Sir William Jer- 
 ningham (in Austrian Uniform) to face 100 
 
 From a miniature. 
 
 XI. Mrs. Jerningham (Frances Sulyarde) /«i/a« 188 
 
 From an allegorical picture by John Hofpner, R.A. 
 
 XII. Sir William Jerningham to face 334 
 
 From, a miniature after a full-length painting by Opie. 
 
 XIII. A View of Cossey to face 362 
 
 From a pen-and-ink sketch by Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
INTRO D UCTION. 
 
 A COLLECTION of letters can offer so many, and such 
 widely different subjects of interest, their publication can 
 be undertaken from such various motives, that in intro- 
 ducing a book like the present to the reader, it is wise 
 from the outset to define its scope, to explain what it 
 professes, and especially what it does not profess to be. 
 
 The mass of published epistolary literature may be 
 broadly said to consist of two or three classes. The first 
 includes all letters that have been penned either openly 
 with a view to their ultimate publication, or, at least, 
 under the influence of a more or less well-founded idea 
 that they might some day be considered worthy of that 
 consecration to immortality. Letters of this kind derive 
 their interest from a number of sources : they are either 
 ' confessions ' or autobiographies ; records of ' life and 
 opinions,'' compilations of a corps de doctrine, or of 
 retrospective criticism ; or yet again, under the desultory 
 garb of a periodical feuilleton, convenient vehicles for 
 ephemeral creations. They are set forth in more or 
 less rhetorical attitudes and addressed in reality far less 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 to the immediate recipient than to an unknown future 
 public, posthumous or otherwise. Of such a nature, more 
 often than not, are the letters of men and women famous 
 ill art, literature, or public life, conscious of their fame 
 present or to come; the literary interest is often of the 
 highest order, but it is inevitable that such productions 
 should also convey a sense of having been aimed at the 
 public rather than written for the friend. 
 
 Another class can be said to consist of correspondence 
 which, at the time it was penned, was truly private, in- 
 tended merely for the eyes of the person to whom it was 
 posted, or at most for the immediate circle of friends at a 
 distance — chronicles of passing events of mutual interest, 
 without the shadow of an ulterior motive, records of genuine 
 impressions, equally free from premeditated qualification 
 and from afterthought correction. The reappearance of 
 letters of this kind has for all their ephemeral purpose an 
 interest of its own, one indeed that depends upon that very 
 ephemeral character. When they are tolerably regular, 
 when they cover anything like a definite period of national 
 life, and especially when they have passed between persons 
 of position, intellectual, social or otherwise, letters are 
 admirable touchstones of social history ; after a lapse of a 
 generation or two they become to us life-like illustrations 
 of events which are otherwise preserved only by cold official 
 annals. 
 
 It is often said that the art of letter-writing has 
 been killed by the modern development of postal facilities. 
 This is a point which may remain moot. It must at any 
 rate be admitted that the art has changed in character ; 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 its tendency (if one may so generalize) is now towards 
 epigrammatic condensation. For commentaries on pass- 
 ing events, for the trivial details which complete the 
 picture, the searcher of a generation or two hence will 
 turn rather to the files of the so-called Society Papers than 
 to later Victorian private letters. 
 
 Yet again there are accumulations of correspondence 
 which, however uninteresting to the public at large, and 
 although written without any view to their preservation, 
 have proved invaluable documents for such purposes as the 
 compilation of family history, or the elucidation of some 
 movement, some local interest, probably obscure enough at 
 the time, but destined to acquire by the revolution of days 
 a specific value sufficient to justify their resurrection. 
 
 Concerning the present letters, did not the position of 
 the writers sufficiently demonstrate it, the simple fact that 
 in these volumes they appear mainly under the guise of 
 excerpts, would show from the first that they belong in no 
 way to the category of correspondence originally intended 
 to bear the light of publicity. But, to a certain extent, 
 they partake of the character of the two other classes : they 
 record a long and almost uninterrupted exchange of news 
 and ideas between people of high social status (and there- 
 fore able to make their notes of impressions concerning 
 people and events of more than private interest) ; between 
 people, also, of a certain intellectual distinction, a fact 
 which gives a very definite value to their appreciation of 
 men and things, however colloquial the vehicle may be. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The period they cover is especially important in the 
 history of social life, both in England and abroad ; it is 
 exactly that of the transition between an old world and 
 a new — between the Georgian and the Victorian ages. 
 Separating the two there is a chasm far wider than can 
 be measured by the comparatively small number of years. 
 The actors that here live again moved and thought in the 
 sluggish, prejudiced, conservative and contented Old World 
 which now seems so distant / and yet many of their im- 
 mediate descendants are even now moving and thinking 
 in this age of scientific conquest with its ubiquitous influ- 
 ence ; this age of ever-extending freedom, economical, 
 political and religious, of vertiginous speed in communi- 
 cations, of intellectual fever , haste and restlessness. 
 
 But apart from hroad general considerations, the period 
 is of particular interest in itself, as seen in glimpses 
 through the items of letter-news : the wide-reaching tide 
 of the French Revolution and its endless wars, the ag- 
 gressive policy of the French Emperor and its influence 
 on this country, the American War, the Restoration 
 of the Bourbons, the Court scandals under the last 
 two Georges, the invasion panics, the long struggle for 
 religious emancipation, the working of ferocious laws, and 
 finally the dawn of the modern era of freedom. 
 
 From the more restricted point of view, purely as 
 materials — scattered it is true, but none the less valuable 
 —for the history of sundry great English families, and of 
 the efforts which brought about the restitution of the peerage 
 to which one of these laid claim after an attainder of nearly 
 two centuries' standing, for the history also of the movement 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 in favour of the repeal of Catholic disabilities, in which 
 it played a conspicuous part, the ponderous collection 
 from samples of which I have made the present volumes 
 is a mine of information. The connections and relations 
 traceable to a family like that of the Jerninghams may 
 truly be reckoned as enormous — ' I shall have a posterity 
 like Abraham, and numbered like the stars,'' says Lady 
 Jerningham somewhere in these letters. And indeed now, 
 in the third or fourth generation, the number of people who 
 should feel an interest in the doings and sayings of that 
 clever, loveable ancestress of theirs, of her children and of 
 the friends who surrounded her, must be very large. 
 
 Of course this kind of interest would attach to the epis- 
 tolatory records of many another family , if similarly pre- 
 served ; but, as a matter of fact, the cases are rare where 
 the collecting of family letters has been attended to with 
 such pious care. As far, moreover, as their gossip and 
 comments are concerned, it may be surmised that few collec- 
 tions of private correspondence would contain matter of 
 such general entertainment for the reader otherwise uninter- 
 ested in the family itself. This quality proceeds, as will 
 be seen later on, partly from the position, historical, social 
 and religious, of the three great houses, Jerningham, 
 Dillon, and Bedingfeld, to which the major part of the 
 writers and recipients belong, partly to the fact that, 
 although the heads of these houses have been British sub- 
 jects, many of their relations and connections who figure 
 here, were distributed pretty equally between England and 
 France, at a period when the relations of the two countries 
 were of a close and somewhat complicated character. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Such is the character of the excerpts to which, for want 
 of anything more definite or more descriptive, I have given 
 the title of JERNINGHAM LETTERS. The pre- 
 sent book, therefore, is not a mere contribution to family 
 history, nor a biography in epistolary form; it is not 
 ' Chronique Scandaleuse,' nor yet can it he said by any 
 means to be a ' chronicle of small beer '; it is not intended 
 to illustrate fully any definite national movement, although 
 the struggle for Catholic emancipation reappears like a 
 continuous thread throughout the canvas; it does not 
 profess to bring to light unknown treasures of literature, 
 although many of the letters, already clever and entertain- 
 ing to the utmost degree, might really have remained as 
 modeles du genre had they been revised with the con- 
 scious care that a prospect of publication cannot fail to 
 suggest ; nor again does it profess to throw any particu- 
 larly searching side-light upon any more or less well- 
 known political or social events — but, in a manner and in 
 varying degrees, it partakes of all these characteristics. 
 
 Next to the impossible evocation of voices that have 
 been long since hushed, there is nothing we can conceive 
 so capable of raising before our imagination a feeling of 
 the past, a perfume of old days, a living sympathy with 
 a forgotten world, as the perusal of old letters. For 
 when they are letters, pure and simple, and not self-con- 
 scious literary performances , as aforesaid, next to actual 
 conversation, they are the most natural, the most personal 
 communication of ideas. And this recall into being of a 
 mind-life now long since banished from the world is the 
 more impressive in exchanges of thoughts which have passed, 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 with all their natural abandon, between members of 
 the same family or between close friends. We find in 
 them the soul unveiled with an understood reckoning on 
 sympathy, and above all an absence of those euphuistic 
 conventions which obscure the writer's identity in corre- 
 sponding with comparative strangers. 
 
 It was while under the charm of some of these old-world 
 missives, dating from the eighties in the last century ; 
 while fingering the yellowed sheets with their cross fold- 
 ings and cross writings devised to leave room on the outer 
 page for the address, the 'frank ' and the seals ; while de- 
 ciphering, through the faded ink and the crabbed hand- 
 writing, some quaint or witty remark, some pregnant 
 allusion to passing matters that have since become History, 
 that the idea occurred to me of rescuing them from ob- 
 livion. 
 
 The letters in question belonged to my old friend. Miss 
 Camilla Stanley Cary, great-grand-daughter of the 
 Lady Jerningham who stands as the central figure 
 in this long panorama. They were of a miscellaneous 
 kind, but carefully arranged in chronological order, 
 securely bound in thick volumes and provided with 
 an (inaccurate) index. There were extant — so Miss 
 Cary informed me — some sixteen volumes of the kind, 
 collected and safeguarded by the pious care of Lady 
 Bedingfeld, her grandmother. The collection had passed 
 first as a bequest to Mrs. Stanley Cary, of Follaton (the 
 Matilda of whom we hear in the excerpts, the second child 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 born to Sir Richard Bedingfeld) ; then, in the due course 
 of nature, to the popular and amiable lady who placed 
 them at viy disposal. 
 
 Many of the volumes were at the time scattered among 
 various members of the family. When they were at last 
 brotight back to the fold of their owner, and opened to 
 systematic perusal, not only were they found to contain 
 within their boards an even richer vein of available 
 materials than I had expected, but they returned, accom- 
 panied by a small but precious contingent of notebooks, 
 diaries, sketches, letters from Royal Personages, and other 
 documents, which, to a certain extent, helped to round the 
 record of at least two lives : those, in fact, of the most 
 attractive members of this goodly company. 
 
 With regard to the adventitious books, however, the 
 few fragments of the diary kept by Lady Bedingfeld 
 during her widowhood (especially during her attendance 
 on Queen Adelaide) emphasised the regret that the whole 
 should not have been preserved by her children with the 
 care which she herself had bestowed on the letters of her 
 mother. I am informed by Sir Hubert Jerningham that 
 this journal was kept for a long series of years and in the 
 most systematic manner ; but the bulk of it — the books 
 having strayed from hand to hand — has now disappeared. 
 
 Incomplete as they were, these materials proved most 
 fascinating. But they also displayed conspicuously a 
 necessity for somewhat particular ' editing,' as the term 
 goes. In the first place, being strictly private correspond- 
 ence, they are burdened with matters, I shall not say 
 trivial, but quite too local to awaken the sympathy of 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 strangers ; in the second, they contain a quantity of toler- 
 ably severe appreciations concerning the doings and origin 
 of people who now rank among the ' ancestors ' of sundry 
 well-known families — little revelations, intended for the 
 private ear of a daughter or a cousin, obiter scripta, 
 which high-minded and charitable women like Lady 
 Jerningham and Lady Bedingfeld, thorough-paced gentle- 
 men like their sons and brothers, never would have penned 
 had they dreamt of the possibility of a reappearance in 
 print. The owner of this remarkable collection having 
 placed it unreservedly in my hands, I undertook the work 
 of sifting the grain available for reproduction from the 
 chaff of matter unutilisable for the above-mentioned 
 reasons. The task was not unfrequently tantalizing, es- 
 pecially in the case of Lady Jerningham's own letters ; 
 for without ever proving herself hard or ill-natured, she 
 often displays, through, her small, close hand-writing, a 
 mother-wit of lightning-flash directness — and wit, as we 
 know, mostly finds its exercise at the expense of our neigh- 
 bours' self-love. I trust it may be deemed by whomsoever 
 shall find his family concerned that I have dealt with 
 opportunities in a spirit of sufficient discretion, though it 
 has been, I own, sometimes to my regret. 
 
 The plan I have adopted is that of selecting, and re- 
 producing in their relative order of reception (within- the 
 lines of discrimination I have just drawn), all that 
 may be of interest either to that numerous company of 
 descendants and connections, or — for there are two publics 
 for volumes of letters — to the general reader who may 
 happen, as I do, to love old letters for their human quality, 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 their society gossip, and the occasional glimpse they afford 
 of the impressions created on contemporaries by events 
 now sunk into history. 
 
 A great many of the letters chosen do not, of course, 
 bear reproduction in full. In such cases mere extracts, 
 typographically bounded by rows of dots, are selected to 
 give the gist of the news, or the character of long effu- 
 sions. These epistles and extracts are occasionally ac- 
 companied by certain introductory or explanatory para- 
 graphs from the pen of the 'editor.' It has appeared to 
 me simpler to bring my comments pari passu, either at 
 head or tail of the excerpt to which they refer, rather 
 than as foot-notes or as appendices. For such, to my 
 mind, are tiring to the reader, and pages of this nature 
 should be of easy perusal. The notes do not profess to be 
 complete or to bring forward any novel information. 
 They must be looked upon merely as the running com- 
 ments, so to speak, of one who, knowing his way about 
 the letters, occasionally explains personal allusions that 
 may not be quite obvious, or recalls contemporary events 
 which have a bearing on the tenor of the text, or again 
 supplies a statement of facts which may or may not happen 
 at the moment to be precisely known to the reader. 
 
 The excerpts represent hardly more than the tenth part 
 of the original material. I have not attempted to correct 
 either spelling or punctuation (English or French), nor 
 the more obvious errors about proper names. 
 
 Concerning the actors who appear fitfully through 
 these pages, the two special tables which I am able to re- 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 produce here (on a much-reduced scale, but otherwise in 
 almost exact conformity with the original) furnish nearly 
 all genealogical particulars required. Therein will be 
 found recorded in their proper relation the names and 
 position of the majority of the people from whom, to whom^ 
 and to a certain extent about whom, the letters were 
 written. 
 
 These two tables, which in a way complete each other, 
 have very distinct origins as well as purposes. The 
 Note g6n6alogique sur la maison des Lord Dillon, 
 printed a Londres, de Timprimerie de Cox et Baylis, 
 No. 25, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, 
 1814, was compiled soon after the Restoration of the 
 Bourbons, most probably to establish, after twenty-two 
 years of exile and dispersion, the situation of certain mem- 
 bers of the Dillon and ferningham families, to whom, 
 both on the score of past services in France and of loyal 
 support in England during the days of Royal adversity, 
 Louis XVIII. was particularly beholden. We get sundry 
 insights into these relations through the letters between 
 1870 and 1824. Lord Dillon, who lent me this ad- 
 mirably drawn table, could tell me nothing absolutely 
 definite about its original purport ; but it could not have 
 been better fitted as a key to this correspondence if it had 
 been specially prepared to that end. 
 
 The same may be said of the table illustrating 'A 
 Descent from Three Martyrs.' This chart, which is 
 of mMch later date, was made by Father Morris, S.J., 
 with a view to displaying the descent of Sir William 
 Jerningham by several lines from three English ' martyrs ' 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 for the older Faith, viz., the Countess of Salisbury, niece 
 to Edward IV. ; Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel ; and 
 Viscount Stafford, the notable victim of the infamous 
 Titus Oates scheme. It claims for Sir William a de- 
 scendency from Margaret Plantagenet by three lines, but if 
 we take the genealogical situation of his children, we find 
 them actually connected by four such streams of descent 
 from that noble and admirable woman, for Lady Jerning- 
 ham, as will be seen on inspection, also brings one with 
 her — through her mother. Lady Charlotte Lee. 
 
 All this is, of course, of more special interest to the 
 numerous Catholic families that have proceeded from the 
 union, some hundred and thirty years ago, of Sir William 
 Jerningham and the Honorable Frances Dillon. The 
 table of their descendants, Staffords, Bedingfelds, 
 Petres, Erasers, Prestons, Blounts, Fitz - Herberts, 
 Deases, Carys, Mostyns, Seels, and numbers of other 
 Catholic houses, might with advantage have been ex- 
 panded. But such a continuation would in no way come 
 within the scope of this book. I prefer reproducing the 
 table originally drawn, as it displays with quite sufficient 
 completeness the three generations of Jerninghams and 
 Dillons, and the one generation of Bedingfelds concerned 
 in these volumes. 
 
 Without in any way purporting to write even a frag- 
 mentary chapter of family history, it occurs to me that a 
 slight account of some of the salient points in the life- 
 career of these three Houses, whose arms -occur on the two 
 escutcheons stamped, in super libros guise, upon the 
 covers of these two volumes, and some biographical details 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 concerning certain of its members, may add a preliminary 
 interest to the perusal of this collection.. It would be all 
 but a truism to point out that individuality _ is a product 
 of innate character and associations of surroundings. 
 When the dramatis personse on the stage of life awaken 
 our sympathies, we always want to know something of the. 
 atmosphere in which they have been reared, and of the 
 predecessors who, we doubt not, reappear in them, modified, 
 by new circumstances. Now, the descendants of Margaret 
 Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury, arrayed on Father 
 Morris' chart, all show rich record of ancestors. Of all, 
 however, who appear in the Jerningham Letters, the 
 most strongly marked personality is that of Lady Jerning- 
 ham herself. She was a Dillon. The history of that 
 race would prove an attractive task to undertake ; it is one 
 which might also occasionally throw some curious lights on 
 the relations of France and England with Catholic Ireland. 
 A certain amount of information may be found in 
 O'Callaghan's History of the Irish Brigades in the 
 Service of France, and of course in Burke's Peerage, 
 concerning the descent from the Sir Henry le Dillon (or 
 the Chevallier Henri Delion, of Acquitaine), whom 
 Henry II. sent with Prince John to Ireland, and who 
 ultimately obtained large territories in the counties of 
 Longford and Westmeath. This Sir Henry (known as 
 of Drumrany) was, O'Callaghan asseverates, progenitor 
 to all who bear the name of Dillon, a name of great note 
 in many parts of the kingdom.* From him at any rate 
 
 * And not only in Ireland, but also in Spain, in Austria, and 
 £specially in France. ' Billon,' says Voltaire, in his Sifecle de 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Sprang several great families, among others that of the 
 Viscounts Dillon, of Costello-Gallen, in County Mayo 
 They were a fighting race, and on the whole did well fo'i 
 themselves. What is of interest to the present work ii 
 more especially the connection of that branch of Dillom 
 to which Lady ferningham belonged, with the celebrated 
 Regiment de Dillon, and with the Catholic cause in the 
 days of persecution. Acquaintance with exile and foreign 
 service had already begun in the Parliamentary period, 
 when the house of Costello-Gallen naturally signalized itselj 
 in support of the Royal cause, and when, as a consequence 
 Thomas Dillon, fourth Viscount, found his estates seizec 
 and himself ultimately driven, with his four sons, to thi 
 Continent, there to achieve new military distinction. Bu 
 it is from the days of Theobald, seventh Viscount, tha 
 dates the long and glorious connection of the name q, 
 Dillon with the French service. This nobleman had 
 as a matter of course, attached himself to the falling for 
 tunes of James II., his legitimate, if not very creditabl 
 King, and was in consequence outlawed in 1690. Tk 
 outlawry was only reversed after his death, in favow, 
 of his successor. Theobald Dillon had been Lieutenant 
 Colonel in Lord Clanricarde's Irish regiment of guards 
 
 Louis XIV., ' nom cMibre dans les troupes IrlandoisesJ L 
 addition, however, to the many Dillons serving in the Iris. 
 Brigade, there was (and is still) an actual French house c 
 Comtes Dillons, founded early in the last century by Robet 
 Dillon, Seigneur de Terrafort, a descendant of the first Lord c 
 Drumrany. 
 
 The 7iame is to be found engraved on the stones of the Arc d 
 Triomphe among the '■glories of France! 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 md during the wars of the Revolution had himself raised 
 wo regiments of foot for King James. One of these he 
 ^ave to his son Henry, who was to be his successor as 
 '.ighth Viscount, and the other to his second son Arthur 
 "^ grandfather of Lady Jerningham), then twenty years of 
 ige, who took it over into the service of Louis XIV.,* 
 znd thus became the first Colonel Proprietaire du R6gi- 
 ment de Dillon. This corps, now extinct (unless we 
 choose to see in the 87th French and the 101st English 
 regiments anything approaching to legitimate historical 
 descent) has as famous a record as any in the French or 
 the British service. 
 
 The Honourable Arthur Dillon, its first Colonel, became 
 a. General at thirty-three, was Governor of Toulon, and 
 led his Irishmen with high distinction under Tesse, Ven- 
 dome, Villars, and Berwick. He died in 1733, a Com- 
 mander of St. Louis, full of honours, in the King's 
 palace of St. Germains. It was to him that all the 
 papers, letters and documents in possession of Queen Mary 
 
 * The legend is that Le Roy Soleil having one day, on the 
 terrace of St. Germains, adverted before his cousin Jacques II. 
 to the number of French regiments that were being carried to 
 Irish soil and of which nothing but fragments were likely to 
 return to France, the Royal Exile had expressed his readiness to 
 replace them within the briefest delay. In accordance with this 
 undertaking, the famous Mont Cashel Brigade, consisti7ig of 
 Mont Cashel, O'Brien, and one Dillon regiment, were embodied, 
 equipped and embarked on board the French ships. This was 
 the first nucleus of the celebrated ' Irish Brigade in the service 
 of France.' The second Dillon regiment, with many other 
 remnants of James II.'s Irish army, followed over seas after 
 Limerick. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 of Modena, widow of James II., were confided at k 
 death in 1718. He had married in exile Catherin 
 daughter of Ralph Sheldon, first Equerry to James II 
 and from her had five sons and five daughters. Amon 
 this superb row of children displayed in the Notes Gem 
 alogiques we meet several of Lady Jerningham's relc 
 lives, whom she had known in the flesh : her father, k 
 uncle, the Abbe (afterwards Archbishop) Dillon, thr 
 aunts en religion, and also another who became Comtes 
 de Blezelles. A II the others had quitted this world befo: 
 the date of her birth. 
 
 But to pursue the brief sketch of the Commanders 
 the great regiment, which was as much a family propert 
 and perhaps as valuable in some ways, as Costello-Gallen 
 on the death of General Arthur Dillon, the Coloneh 
 devolved on his eldest son, who from his tenderest yea 
 had been on the rolls of the corps, and who had alreai 
 served therein as a Captain more than twelve year 
 This was Charles, who became tenth Viscount; he cok 
 manded his Irishmen on the Rhine in 1730. In 17c 
 Charles Dillon married his first cousin, Frances Dillo 
 only child of the ninth Viscount ; returned the followii 
 year to Ireland in order to gather his property, and, su 
 ceeding to his uncle in 1737, did not go back to Frani 
 He died in 1741 withoiit issue. His successor, both as 
 the title in Ireland and to the Colonelcy of the fami 
 regiment in France, was his next brother, Henry. 
 
 Henry, eleventh Viscount and third Colonel, born 
 1705, had served in his father's regiment ever since t 
 age of ten. He was first ensign from 1716 to 17 c 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 when he received a company, with which he fought the 
 Germans from 1733 to 1735 ; three years later he ob- 
 tained his majority and a commission to hold rank as 
 Colonel, and in 1741 , at his brother's death, took up the 
 command. He was present as Brigadier at Dettingen. 
 After this battle, however, the English, from auxiliaries 
 which they had been, became principals in the war, and 
 as there was then a Bill before Parliament to prevent 
 British subjects from entering foreign service, the third 
 Colonel Proprietaire of Dillon's was brought face to 
 face with the possibility of confiscation if he remained 
 longer in the French King's service. With the consent, 
 and (it is said) by the advice, of Louis XV., he returned 
 to England in the spring of 1744, having resigned his com- 
 mand of the regiment to his brother James — the Chevalier 
 Jacques, as this latter was known in the service. He 
 arrived in London in May, and soon afterwards married 
 the Lady Charlotte Lee, eldest daughter of the second 
 Earl of Litchfield. With her came into the family the 
 superb estate of Ditchley, also the Plantagenet blood of 
 ihe martyred Countess of Salisbury, as well as another 
 Royal strain, though from less saintly source, for it will 
 be remembered that Henry Earl of Litchfield was a 
 o-randson of Charles II. by the ever beautiful Duchess of 
 Cleveland. From this marriage sprang seven children, 
 among whom was Lady Jerningham. 
 
 Meanwhile the command and the proprietorship of the 
 regiment experienced vicissitudes. James Dillon, the 
 fourth Colonel, fell at its head in the hour of victory, on 
 the evening of Fontenoy, during the celebrated .charge 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 ■pahich succeeded at last in breaking la fameuse colonr 
 Angloise that up to that moment had been found invii 
 cible. The regiment was given by Louis XV., on t) 
 field of battle, to Edward, the fourth son of its fir 
 Colonel. But, like his brother and immediate predecesso 
 Edward did not long survive his advancement : he fe 
 two years later, mortally wounded at the battle of Laufeld 
 where, even as at Fontenoy, the rush of the Irish mat 
 rially contributed to French victory. 
 
 At the death of Edward, the only remaining son < 
 General Arthur Dillon in France was Arthur Richarc 
 who, being already then in Holy Orders, was not aval 
 able for military employment. There was, of course, % 
 lack of candidates for the command of such a corps, an 
 Louis XV. was earnestly solicited to dispose of it, on tl 
 plea that there was no Dillon left to claim it. The Frenc 
 King, however, is reported to have said that ' Henrj 
 Lord Dillon etoit marie, et qu'il ne pouvoit consent] 
 k voir sortir de cette famille une propriete cimente 
 par d'aussi bons services et autant de sang, ausi 
 longtemps qu'il pourroit esperer de la voir se renoi 
 veller.' Be this as it may, the proprietorship was allowe 
 to revert to Lord Dillon, who, although resident in Eng 
 land, drew the profits of the appointment, took part in tl 
 affairs of the corps, and recommended those who were ! 
 be employed in it. For about twenty years, that is unt 
 1767, the actual service-duty was performed by a succe: 
 sion of foreign Lieutenant-Colonels; in that year tl 
 active command was once more confided to a descendat 
 of the first Colonel. By a brevet from Louis XV., date 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 b 
 
 August 25, 1767, and referring in glowing terms to the 
 military services of the Dillon family, Arthur Dillon, 
 second son of the eleventh Viscount, became, at the age of 
 seventeen, sixth Colonel of the R6giment de Dillon. 
 For more than one reason the eldest son, Charles, was 
 unfitted for the post. In the first place, as the heir, he 
 had to dread the working of the penal laws concerning 
 Catholics in general, and in particular concerning those 
 who took service in foreign armies. In the second, the 
 future heir of Lee and Dillon, with an eye to his 
 advancement in life, and wearied no doubt by the 
 trammels of Catholic disabilities, 'conformed,' as the 
 genealogical records tersely have it, ' to the Established 
 Church.' -In other words, he abandoned all the traditions 
 for which his forefathers had fought and suffered, and 
 been honoured. 
 
 This novel departure in the history of Dillon took place 
 in the same year that A rthur took up his command, and 
 his sister Frances left the paternal home as Lady Jerning- 
 ham. The schism was severely felt in the family. We 
 shall see in the letters that a similar one took place in that 
 of Sir William Jerningham ; but as in the latter case the 
 seceder, Edward Jerningham ' the poet,' was unmarried, 
 none of the permanent changes that established themselves 
 in the ancient house of Dillon were entailed by the seces- 
 sion. The estrangement between the Anglican son and 
 the Catholic father seems to have been severe.* 
 
 * In the light of what we know of the old penal laws concern- 
 ing the relations of Catholic parents with those of their children 
 who were prudent enough to ' cotiform; this entry in Burkis 
 Peerage would have a curious significance : 
 
xxviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 ■ Henceforth 'the fortunes of the Dillon regiment only 
 .concerned the Catholic and yotmger members of the house. 
 The record of Arthur Dillon, sixth and last Colonel 
 Proprietaire, the brother of whom Lady Jerningham 
 .writes with so vmch pride, is full and varied, and highly 
 creditable, albeit in orir modern eyes it may seem strange 
 to see a Dillon so persistently engaged on the side of 
 England's adversaries. With his old regiment he dis- 
 tinguished himself in the A merican War of Independence, 
 and in the West Indies played a conspicuous part in the 
 taking of Grenada, St. Eiistace, Tobago, and St. Chris- 
 topher. . He was subsequently appointed to the Governor- 
 
 ' Charles, bom 6th November, 1745, "who conformed to the Estab- 
 lished Church in 1767, and claimed and was allowed the Vis- 
 cotmty as twelfth Viscount by the House of Lords, Ireland, in 
 
 1778. . . : 
 
 for his father only died in 1787. But the dispossessing of his 
 
 father during the latter' s lifetime is not one of the things charge- 
 able to the mejnory of the twelfth Viscount : the entry is incor- 
 rect, and should stand as 1788. There are, in the letters, 
 
 . sundry allusions to what in the family it was the custom to 
 refer to as ' Dillon enigmas^ many of which do 7iot appear to have 
 been cleared to this day. The necessity for the heir to ' claim 
 and be allowed' the title as successor to his father would appear 
 to'have been one of these, especially if we take the fact in coiinec- 
 tion with the singular data which even now are allowed to 
 remain in the Peerage, namely, that the marriage of Henry, 
 eleventh Viscount, took place on October 26, 1745, whilst the 
 birth of Charles, twelfth Viscount, appears dated November 6 
 in the same year. 
 
 Debrett places the marriage in 1744; so does Kearsley. As 
 a matter of fact the ceremony of marriage was repeated, for 
 reasons not forthcoming, on December 26, 174^, at the Portuguese 
 
 lAmbassadot's c/fapel. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 ship of this latter possession, and acquitted himself of the 
 task in so admirable a manner that, upon the restoration 
 of the- island to Great Britain at the peace of Versailles 
 in 1783, all the regulations he had made for its better 
 government were approved and confirmed by the British 
 authorities. Indeed, when, some three years later,* he 
 visited England, he was presented at the English Court 
 and highly complimented for ' a display of administrative 
 ability, as remarkable as his well-known military talents.^ 
 At the age of thirty -four he had already been promoted to 
 ■the rank of major-general ; it was on the occasion of this 
 promotion that he handed over the command (but not the 
 proprietej of the regiment to a French relative of his, 
 the Comte Theobald de Dillon. Soon after his visit to 
 England he was made Governor of Tobago and retained 
 ■ the post until 1789, when he found himself elected a deputy 
 to the EtatsGeneraux, as the best representativeof Colonial 
 interests. When, at the outbreak of the first war of the 
 Revolution, France found herself invaded by the Imperials 
 and the Prussians, he continued to serve in the army of 
 which he had so long been a member, and, as General 
 of division under Dumouriez, successfully opposed the 
 invaders in Champagne and the Foret de I'Argonne. 
 But the inevitable rise of a new tyranny was at hand. 
 Men of the Dillon type, like those of the Lafayette 
 ,and Rochambeau stamp, were destined either to retire or 
 to be swept away from national life. Theobald Dillon, 
 .the last Lieutenant-Colonel of the whilom trustworthy regi- 
 
 * See Lady Jerninghaiiis letter, January 2, 1786. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 ment, returning wounded from the front, had been mas- 
 sacred by his own men at Lille — Les Aristocrates k la 
 lanterne. . . ! Soon afterwards, early in 1793, General 
 Dillon himself, fie beau Dillon] the successful leader of 
 men, the humane soldier, was also arrested as an aristocrat 
 on an order of the Comite du Salut Public. 
 
 He was incarcerated in the Luxembourg. No plausible 
 charge, on military ground, having been found to hold 
 against him, an accusation was got up of conspiring to 
 deliver Danton and his followers, who were then fellow 
 prisoners with him, and to proclaim King the unfortu- 
 nate little Louis, the boy Prince who might have been 
 Louis XVII. And on April 14 he mounted the scaffold 
 with the serenity of one conscious of having well lived his 
 life in the service of his adopted country, retaining to the 
 last his courtly bearing and his soldier-like firmness. 
 Among the party who were carted to the guillotine on 
 that day as martyrs to the new Liberty and Fraternity of 
 France, was a lady whom some assert to have been the 
 beautiful widow of Camille Desmoulins, whilst others 
 would have it that she was a Miss Browne, a relative of 
 Lord Kenmare's. Be this as it may, it is reported that 
 the terrified woman, shuddering on seeing herself beckoned 
 to by Sanson the executioner, turned to the General and 
 exclaimed: ' ]e vous en prie, M. de Dillon, passez 
 avant moi,' and that the General with his grave courtesy, 
 remarked, bowing : ' Je n'ai rien a refuser a une dame,' 
 mounted the steps, called out in his clear soldier's voice, 
 ' Vive le roy,' and thus went to his account. 
 
 General Arthur Dillon was twice married,, his first 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 wife being Lucy de Rothes (the name is variously spelt 
 Roth, Rothe or Rothes) a cousin of his, a grand-daughter 
 of Lord Faulkland's. The relationship is clearly shown 
 in the Notes Gen6alogiques. Her portrait, from a 
 miniature, lends beauty to the title-page of this volume. 
 She died in 1782. Two years later he married the widow 
 of the Comte de la Touche, n6e de Girardin, and cousin to 
 Madlle. de la Pagerie, who became better known later as 
 the Empress Josephine. From this second marriage were 
 born two daughters, one of whom,\Henriette, 'became 
 Comtesse de la Tour du Pin Gouvernet, while the other^ 
 Fanny, married Napoleon's General and staunch friend, 
 Comte Bertrand. These two ladies, whose lives were 
 naturally much separated by the opposed politics of 
 their respective husbands, appear frequently in the 
 Letters. 
 
 But once more to revert to Dillon's regiment and its 
 commanders. In 1793 the first battalion, quartered at 
 Lille, where, as I have said, it had disgraced itself by the 
 murder of Comte Theobald Dillon, became the French 
 87eme de ligne, and thus need no longer occupy us. The 
 second battalion was at that time in San Domingo. On 
 the 22nd of September in that year it capitulated to Com- 
 modore Ford, R.N., and on the 1st of October of the follow- 
 ing year, that is in 1794, was bodily taken on the strength 
 of the British Army. It is described in the Lists of the 
 time as ' a regiment of foot, part of the Irish Brigade.' 
 The command was given to the Honourable Henry Dillon, 
 brother of the General. But it is to be remarked that 
 this was no longer a proprietary regiment. It was dis- 
 
xxxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 banded in 1798, when one may say that the end came 
 at last of the famous Regiment de Dillon.* 
 
 The General Cointe Lally, the unlucky defender of 
 Pondicherry (he was a nephew of Theobald, seventh 
 Viscount Dillon) had risen in it. Wentworth Dillon, 
 Earl of Roscommon, Viscount Gormanston, and sundry 
 Jerninghams, had also in their days served with this fine 
 corps. To come to more modern associations, Marshal 
 Macdonald, and also Marshal McMahon's father, had 
 been once upon a time company officers of Dillon'' s. At 
 .the break-up of this grand old corps, the ensigns and 
 colours of the regiment were brought over to Ireland and 
 handed to the care of Charles, Viscount Dillon, elder 
 brother of its last Colonel. 
 
 There will be found in the Letters a most edifying ac- 
 . count of the death of one of Lady Jerningham's uncles, 
 the Archbishop of Narbonne, the high-placed prelate to 
 whom this charitable, but by no means blinded lady (who 
 knew, no doubt, many of the weak points in his ecclesiastical 
 character) generally refers as ' the poor Archbishop /' 
 He belonged to a class of grands seigneurs churchmen 
 
 * There were, however, two other corps raised and com- 
 manded by members of the family. One of these, embodied in 
 ijgS, was enlisted in Ireland by one Edward Dillon, and 
 actually named Dillon's Regiment. The men were all Irish, 
 but many of the officers were French ^migrh. This corps 
 served in Egypt and in the Peninsula; it was disbanded in 
 1 814. The other was raised on his own estates by Henry 
 Augustus, thirteenth Viscount, in 1806, nmnbered the loist, and 
 called ' the Duke of YorKs Regiment of Foot.' It was disbanded 
 'in 1817. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 who may be said to have died out with the old regime,. 
 witty, self-indulgent, inflexible on the matter of class pre- 
 judice, and probably a little sceptical at bottom. The 
 Dillons were too grateful persons at the Court of Ver- 
 sailles for an A bbe Dillon not to experience rapid promo- 
 tion in the Gallican Church. Born in 1721, between his 
 ordination and the Reign of Terror he became successively 
 Bishop of Evreux in 1753, Archbishop of Toulouse 1758, 
 then of Narbonne. He was a Commander of the St. 
 Esprit, a President of the States of Languedoc, twice. 
 President of the Clergy of France. ' To this Prelate,' 
 writes a contemporary of his, the Rev. Mervyn Archdall, 
 a Protestant Divine, ' the literati of this country confess 
 much obligation ; he has manifested a liberality ofprin^ 
 ciples hitherto unknown ; and through his enquiries and 
 exertions the antiquities of Ireland have lately been much 
 elucidated: The Abbe Dillon may have had a turn for 
 letters and antiquarian research, but at this distance of 
 titne he strikes the reader as a courtly prelate above all 
 things, with courtly readiness of tongue and a good deal 
 of insouciance : — ' / hear, M. VAbbe,' said Louis XV - 
 one day, in a moment of temper, with reference to 
 the quarrelsome Irishmen then quartered in Paris, ' I 
 hear that the men of your brother's regiment give a 
 good deal of trouble, sont bien batailleurs.'— ' 5o do 
 I Sire. I am told that your Majesty's enemies always 
 ■find them inconveniently so.' A reply which no doubt 
 evoked in the monarch a vision of Dillon's rushing with 
 a yell to victory under his eyes at Laufeldt. The follow- 
 ing anecdote may serve to paint the man when at the 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 height of his worldly greatness. It was in the reign of 
 Louis XVI. The King remarked to the Archbishop : 
 — 'It is said, Monseigneur, that you have great debts.' 
 — ' / shall direct my steward, your Majesty, to enquire into 
 the matter.' — 'But I am told, also, Monseigneur, that 
 you hunt a great deal. Is it not a bad example for your 
 Cures ?' — ' Well, Sire,' was the prelate's answer, as 
 haughty as the first, ^ for them it would undoubtedly be a 
 grave fault to go hunting, but for me it is only a taste I 
 have inherited from my ancestors' 
 
 This man was not likely to take the oath required of 
 priests by the Republique una et indivisible. He 
 emigrated in 1793, and died in London at the age of 
 ninety-two. 
 
 The last Dillon with whom the letters are much con- 
 cerned is Henry Augustus, thirteenth Viscount, nephew to 
 Lady Jerningham and grandfather to the present, or 
 seventeenth Lord Dillon. He it was who raised the regi- 
 ment which from 1806 to 1817 figures in our Army 
 Lists as the 101st — the last of the many corps raised on 
 the Dillon estates. He had a literary turn of mind. 
 The British Museum catalogue reveals under his name no 
 less than seven distinct printed works. Some are reli- 
 gious — ' Short View of the Catholic Question, in a Letter 
 to a Councillor-at-law in Dublin. London. 1801, 
 8vo.' ' Letters to the Noblemen and Gentlemen who 
 Composed the Deputation from the Catholics of Ireland, 
 on the Subject of their Mission. London, 1805, 8vo.' 
 Some are military — ' The Tactics of Mlian (^lianus 
 Tacticus). 1814, 4to.' Some economical — 'A Dis- 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 course upon the Theory of Legitimate Government. 1817, 
 12mo.' Some more purely literary — ' Eccelino da 
 Romano, Surnamed, The Tyrant of Padua ; a Poem in 
 Twelve Boohs. London. 1828, 8vo.' ' The Life and 
 Opinions of Sir R. Maltravers, etc. 1822, 8vo.' ' Rosa- 
 line de Vere. 1824, 12mo.' 
 
 He assumed the surname and arms of Lee. 
 
 Such were the ancestors and the immediate relatives of 
 Frances Dillon ; such was the atmosphere of Court,* camp 
 and religious life in which she had been brought up, and 
 in which she passed her whole existence. For when she 
 left Br ay wick, in 1767, to become the wife of Sir William 
 Jerningham, she entered a family whose traditions and 
 whose surroundings were curiously similar to those of her 
 own. 
 
 The authentic genealogical records of Jerningham start 
 
 * Another connection of the Dillon family about this period is 
 interesting enough to be specially pointed out : I mean that of 
 Lady Jerningham! s uncle, Charles, tenth Viscount, with Count 
 Hamilton. 
 
 Count George Hamilton was the second son of Sir George 
 Hamilton {fourth son of James, first Earl of Abercorn), a 
 captain, first in Charles H.'s Horse Guards, then in Louis XIV.'s 
 Gensdarmes Anglois ; he was brother to la Belle Hamilton, 
 Elizabeth, who became Comtesse de Grammont, and to the Count 
 Anthony Hamilton, of M€mo\r&5 de Graxamonifame; he married 
 Frances Jennings, eldest sister of the Sarah who became ' the 
 great Duchess' of Marlborough. From this tnarriage was born 
 one daughter, Frances, who married the eighth Lord Dillon. 
 
 This blood connection, however, very soon ended, as the Table 
 G^ndalogique shows, for Charles, tenth Viscount, who married 
 Frances, his cousin Richard's only child, died childless, and the 
 title devolved on his brother— Lady Jerningham' s father. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 from very nearly the same date in the twelfth century as, 
 those of Dillon. In later times the Jerninghains re-, 
 mained as firm Catholics, as staunch supporters of the 
 Stuarts, and suffered for their cause even more than the 
 Dillons. Later again the same working of the Penal 
 Laws, which precluded all hope of worldly advancement 
 at home, drove many of their sons to military service 
 abroad. It is true that there was no ' Jerningham Regi- 
 ment' among the Stuart corps maintained on the Continent,, 
 but the name occurs frequently on French and A ustrian 
 records of arms. Sir William Jerningham himself, 
 although heir to a noble estate in England, had served 
 first in the Chevau-legers de la maison de Louis XV., 
 and later on in Fitzjames-Cavalerie. His brother — 
 ' the Chevalier,' to use the term constantly recurring in 
 the letters — was Mar^chal de Camp, and had com- 
 manded the regiments of Buckley and of Navarre. 
 Another Jerningham, uncle to Sir William, held a high 
 military command at Vienna. 
 
 There had been intermarriages between Dillon and 
 Jerningham before — as Lady Jerningham discovers. Hot 
 without satisfaction, in one of her letters. She, however, 
 as I have said, brought into her new family a fourth line 
 of descent from Margaret Plantagenet, as well as a ' Fitz- 
 Roy ' Stuart connection. Truly, the alliance was a good 
 match even for her, since attached to Sir William's blood 
 was a potential peerage, one historically of the most inter- 
 esting kind, connected not only with the 'Martyrs ' of Father 
 Morris' table, but also with three holders of the fatal 
 Buckingham title. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The paternal, or Jerningham line of the present house 
 of Stafford (for the peerage came in, as is well known, 
 through women, and more immediately through the fine 
 old lady whose likeness forms the frontispiece of the first 
 of these volumes), the descent, I mean, from the Danish 
 Jernegans whose name ' had been of exemplary note before 
 the Conquest ' and who founded their house in Suffolk early 
 in the days of Henry II., as well as their alliances with 
 Fitzosbert, Dacre, Throckmorton, Bedingfelds and others, 
 may be followed through the pages of Bloomfield and of 
 Burke passim. And a very gallant line it will be found 
 to have been, through the many vicissitudes of a history 
 which covers five centuries. But the most interesting 
 turning-point in that history, certainly the most pertinent 
 to the subject-matter of these pages, was the marriage of 
 Sir George, fifth Baronet (the creation was of 1621) 
 with Mary Plowden, for it was that marriage which en- 
 grafted a branch of Stafford on the old stock of Jerningham 
 — the branch on which the long-attainted title blossomed 
 once more. 
 
 The general story of the Stafford peerage is of course 
 well known ; but the case in connection with the original 
 barony to which the Lords Stafford also laid claim is 
 somewhat complicated. 
 
 A glance at the ' Descent from Three Martyrs ' will 
 show the obvious connection of Sir William Jerningham 
 with the descendants of Viscount Stafford.. Sir William's 
 mother was Mary Lady Jerningham, daughter and 
 heiress to Francis Plowden, Esq. (a Catholic gentleman of 
 Shropshire, who had been Comptroller of the Household 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 to James II.) and to Mary, his wife, daughter of the 
 Honourable John Stafford Howard, younger son of Sir 
 William Howard, Baron and Viscount Stafford, who 
 was attainted and beheaded on Tower Hill in 1680. It 
 is through this unfortunate nobleman and through Mary 
 Stafford, his cousin and wife, that descended to the Jern- 
 inghams not only the right to the Barony which they 
 eventually recovered, but also, as will be seen anon, the 
 claim to the older Barony of Stafford dating from the 
 thirteenth century. 
 
 Sir William Howard, son of Thomas, twenty-third 
 Earl of Arundel, Surrey and Norfolk, was a staunch 
 Catholic who, during the Civil War, had strenuously 
 adhered to the Royal cause. In 1678 he found himself, 
 one of the numerous victims of the Titus Oates plot, com- 
 mitted to the Tower and retained there until November, 
 1680, when he was at last brought to the Bar of the House 
 of Lords on a charge of high treason. During the trial, 
 which lasted a week, he turned inside out every tittle of 
 the trumpery evidence urged against him; but the Lords, 
 by a majority of twenty four (among whom, to their dis- 
 grace, four Howards, his relatives, were actually reckoned) 
 found the gallant old Cavalier guilty. The King, on his 
 side, who had followed the trial, and therefore must have 
 been morally aware of its blatant injustice, found it equally 
 convenient to sign the death warrant ; and Sir William 
 Howard was executed on December 29. As there was 
 no male heir of his body living, on the stroke of the axe 
 the Viscounty became extinct. But there existed another 
 title in favour of his descendants, which, although tern- 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 porarily annulled by the attainder, remained potentially 
 in store for them, to reappear if ever the attainder was 
 reversed* 
 
 Sir William Howard had been, by a patent dated 
 September 12, 1640, created Baron Stafford; his wife, 
 sister and heiress of Henry Stafford, twelfth Baron Staf- 
 ford, had been created Baroness Stafford, with re- 
 mainder to their heirs male and female. Two months 
 later, that is on November 11, he was raised to a 
 Viscounty. This Viscounty could only descend to heirs 
 male, and therefore, as has been said, disappeared at his 
 death. The blood claim to the Barony, however, being 
 transmissible through female heirs, descended through 
 Mary Stafford Howard, his grand -daughter. The 
 original Barony of Stafford, dating from 1299, had 
 likewise experienced attainders and reversals before the 
 extinction of the male line of this fine old family in the 
 person of Roger, thirteenth Earl Stafford, in 1639, after 
 which date Charles I. was able, as pointed out above, to 
 confer the dignity afresh upon Sir William Howard. 
 The higher title died with the last heir male, but the 
 blood claim to the barony passed directly to Sir William 
 Jerningham, through his mother. 
 
 The founder of this most ancient and once powerful 
 
 * As a matter of fact, the title was restored in 182^ by such a 
 reversal, on the petition of Sir George Jerningham, seventh 
 Baronet, eldest son of the Hon. Lady Jerningham of these Letters, 
 and grandson of Mary Plowden. Owing, however, to the 
 Catholic disabilities, which persisted until iSsg, it was five 
 years before the new Lord Stafford was allowed to take his 
 seat among the Barons in the House of Peers. 
 
xl INTRODUCTION 
 
 home of Stafford was one of the Bagots, who owned great 
 lands in Staffordshire at the time of the Conquest. Many 
 of his descendants play conspicuous parts in English 
 history. We recall at once Humphrey Stafford, the 
 Red Rose partisan, created Duke of Buckingham in 
 1444, Lord High Constable of England, who fell, with 
 his eldest son, in the York and Lancaster Wars; we 
 think of his grandson, second Duke of that creation, also 
 High Constable of England, and of Cibber's words : 
 
 ' Off with his head, so much for Buckingham P 
 
 placed in the mouth of Shakespeare's Richard III. ; of 
 the third Duke, great-grandson of the first, for whom the 
 royal favour of Henry VHI. revived an attainted title, 
 and whom a quarrel with Wolsey brought to the block 
 on Tower Hill. With this last died the brief Ducal 
 honours of Stafford. Henry Stafford, his son and heir, 
 was, however, restored in blood during the first year of 
 Edward VI. by an Act of Parliament which enacted that 
 he, the said Henry ' and the heirs male of his body ' might 
 be ' taken and reputed as Lords Stafford.' He it was 
 who married Ursula Pole, daughter of Sir Richard Pole, 
 K.G., and of Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salis- 
 bury, and thus became great-grandfather of Sir William 
 Howard, as well as of the Mary Stafford who was the 
 latter' s wife. And thus it is that the present Lord Staf- 
 ford holds also the right to claim the revival in his favour 
 of the older Barony, that of 1299 — a Barony, be it noted, 
 which would place the name of Stafford fourth instead of 
 nineteenth on the Peerage roll of England. 
 
INTRODUCTION xli 
 
 To conclude this rapid sketch of the 'peerage question,'' 
 to which so many allusions will he found in the letters, I 
 may quote verbatim a passage from one of Mr. Walford's 
 Tales of our Great Families. This passage, which is 
 also pertinent to the ' Catholic business,' as Lady Jer- 
 ningham so often calls it, occurs in the admirably written 
 chapter entitled ' The Noble House of Stafford ': 
 
 ' A proof of the utter oblivion in which our Roman 
 Catholic Nobles had fallen during the continuation of the 
 Penal Laws, may be found in the title of Stafford, which 
 was granted in 1786 as a Marquisate to Earl Gower, 
 one of the leading members of the Bute Cabinet and father 
 of the first Duke of Sutherland. The fact, however, is 
 that the title was not dead, hut only dormant, and quite 
 within the power of any holder of the Crown to call back 
 into life in favour of the Staffords or their descendants, 
 even in the female line. 
 
 ' Within forty years the title was actually revived ; and 
 since that time there have been two Lord Staffords, just 
 as, during the temporary eclipse of the Courtenays, Earls 
 of Devonshire, that title was bestowed as a Dukedom on 
 the house of Cavendish.' 
 
 Concerning those Jerninghams about whose doings and 
 opinions the letters afford a posthumous insight, the 'Note 
 Genealogique de la maison des Lord Dillon ' actually 
 o-ives us, at the outset, a more complete account than the 
 ' Descent from three Martyrs,' which was worked out 
 for their more especial behest. I have already adverted 
 to the long connection of Sir William and of his brother. 
 
xlii INTRODUCTION 
 
 ' the Chevalier,' with foreign service. There was another 
 brother, possessed of a very different, rather amusing 
 personality, Edward Jerningham the elder, to whom 
 the family invariably refer as ' the poet.' He is described 
 in Burke as a ' man of letters and distinguished in litera- 
 ture.'' With regard to this qualification I will content 
 myself with quoting an entry in the diary of Henry Crabbe 
 Robinson, under date February 1, 1811 : 
 
 ' A visit to a most accomplished lady of the Old School, 
 Mrs. Buller. The poems of Southey and Scott she has 
 put into her index expurgatorius ; she cannot bear the 
 irregularity of their versification. 
 
 ' Mr. Jerningham was present, and she called him to 
 his face the last of the Old School. — He is already for- 
 gotten more completely than those will be whom his friend 
 and contemporary treated so contemptuously.'' 
 
 At any rate, as Sir Hubert Jerningham (the poet's 
 great-grand-nephew) has to admit when writing about 
 him,* ' His poetical vein was of very unequal temper, and 
 it must be allowed that much of what he wrote deserved the 
 stricture of Lord Macaulay, who, alluding to a Lady 
 Millar at Bath (who kept a vase wherein poets were wont 
 to put had verses) immediately mentions Mr. Jerningham 
 as writing verses fit to put into the vase of Lady Millar.' 
 
 Crabbe Robinson wrote in 1811, that is about one year 
 before the poet's death, and when the latter may be said 
 
 * ' The Siege of Berwick^ by Mr. Jerningham. Reprint 
 
INTRODUCTION xliii 
 
 to have already run his course, for he died the following 
 year. But Madame d'Arblay, who often met Mr. Jern- 
 ingham in his younger days, did not seem more favourably 
 impressed by his powers. Allusions to him are frequent 
 in her Diary. On one occasion she notes that : 
 
 ' Besides their own family ' (the Bowdlers. Diary. 
 Bath, 1780) ' we met Mr. Jerningham, the poet. I have 
 lately been reading his poems, if his they may be called. He 
 seems a mighty delicate gentleman, looks to be painted, 
 and is all daintification in manner, speech, and dress.' 
 
 And again a few days later : 
 
 ' Mrs. Thrale came in. . . . She is a woman of as 
 much real delicacy as Mr. Jerningham (whom Lord 
 Mulgrave calls a pink and white poet — for not only his 
 cheek but his coat is pink) is a man of affected delicacy.' 
 
 Like most Catholics of standing at that time he was 
 educated abroad, first at Douai, then at Paris. He had 
 a pretty gift for observation, and for wordy expression of 
 the same. To this his letters to Lady Bedingfeld, many 
 of which I have reproduced at somewhat greater length 
 than usual, still testify. There are extant several trage- 
 dies and other plays of his composition (some of which 
 were acted, among others ' Margaret of Anjou' and the 
 ' Siege of Berwick '); also several volumes of poetry of that 
 precious and old-fashioned kind admired by Mrs. Buller; 
 various essays, ' On the Dignity of Human Nature,' 
 'The Alexandrian School,' 'The Shakespeare Gallery' 
 
xliv. INTRODUCTION 
 
 (of which Burke had some kind things to say), ' The 
 Rise and Fall of Scandinavian Poetry '; there is one ' On 
 the Mild Tenor of Christianity .' Indeed, the poet piqued 
 himself on a gift of discrimination concerning matters 
 theological, and ended, to the dismay of his family, by 
 ' abjuring Popery ' — the most salient fact recorded in 
 Biographical Dictionaries. Be all this life's work worth 
 what it may, it has been considered sufficient to entitle 
 Edward Jerningham to a small niche in otir national 
 biography. At any rate the poet certainly enjoyed the 
 friendship of men of intellectual note, such as Horace 
 Walpole, Lord Chesterfield, Lord Carlisle (a poet of his 
 own kidney). Even Byron has words of affection for 
 him. In the postscript to the second edition of ' English 
 Bards and Scotch Reviewers,' ' I hear,' says he, ' that 
 Mr. Jerningham is about to take up the cudgels for his 
 Maecenas, Lord Carlisle. I hope not : he was one of the 
 few who treated me with kindness when a boy ; and what- 
 ever he may say or do, pour on, I will endure.' Edward 
 Jerningham had a very definite reputation as a wit, and 
 appears to have been a great personal friend of the Prince 
 of Wales. Such was Lady Jerningham' s English brother- 
 in-law, for the other, the Chevalier, remained quite French 
 to the end of his days. 
 
 The issue of the Dillon- Jerningham alliance were one 
 daughter, Charlotte, and three sons. 
 
 The eldest of these, George, was chiefly distinguished in 
 life for having married a great heiress, a beautiful girl 
 whom he continued to love and admire till the hour of her 
 
INTRODUCTION xlv 
 
 death (although that did not prevent his re-marriage, late 
 in life, with one of the four beautiful A merican heiresses 
 who were known in England as the ' four' Graces), of 
 whose money he made a wise use on his estate ; and also 
 in having been the first of the new generation to enjoy the 
 revived peerage. 
 
 The second, William, spent the early part of his life in 
 hard fighting on the Imperial side during the wars of the 
 Revolution; later on he entered a milder service, when 
 he donned the British red coat. In due time he also 
 married, twice, and left the goodly row of children who, 
 with their scattered cosmopolitan descendants, are displayed 
 in Father Morris' table. 
 
 The third, the Benjamin, the darling of Lady Jerning- 
 ham's heart, ' Edward the dear,' as she so often calls 
 him, would seem to have been not only a most lovable 
 character, for he was a favourite everywhere, but also a 
 man of considerable attainments, and of singular energy 
 as well. Among his descendants is numbered one of the 
 most distinguished present holders of the ancient name — 
 Sir Hubert Jerningham, whilom M.P. for Berwick, 
 now Governor of Mauritius, where he keeps up the best 
 family tradition as a strong and tactful administrator of 
 English rule over an almost entirely French population — 
 a man of letters and a notable linguist. 
 
 But of all Lady Jerningham's children, Charlotte, her 
 first-born, plays the most important role in this collection. 
 And the story which she tells is as apt an instance as may 
 be conceived of that trite expression of maternal experience : 
 ' My daughter is my daughter all the days of my life. . . .' 
 
xlvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 It is to her that the immense majority of the letters are 
 addressed. They breathe the spirit of an absorbing devo- 
 tion, from the first note penned by the young mother on the 
 evening of the separation from ' my poor little girl ' left at 
 fourteen in a Paris Convent, to the last and pathetic scrawl 
 sent from one sick room to another in a London house, 
 by the same to the same, one now a great-grandmother 
 of many, the other consequently a grandmother herself. 
 
 I have reproduced at some length a few of the very early 
 letters. They have, it may be said, little general interest, 
 they may even be found to display a certain monotony in 
 their expression of solicitude and of the longing of absence. 
 But they appear to me to delineate from the threshold of 
 the book the lovable character of Lady Jerningham and 
 to give the key and the mode of her dealings with her 
 daughter throughout a lifetime — at any rate they give the 
 human note — ' N'oubliez pas votre clavecin : ni que je 
 vous aime tendrement.' Did ever letter of Madame de 
 Sevigne herself end with a reiteration of prettier pathos 
 than this postscript of Lady Jerningham to the exiled 
 little pensionnaire ? 
 
 The young girl, and the still younger boys, may hardly 
 seem, at first flush, of sufficient importance to justify their 
 appearance in pages that will hereafter be constantly filled 
 with names of note. But they are destined to live, re- 
 joice and suffer, die and be remembered within the bounds 
 of these old leaves ; and if any sympathy is to be evoked 
 at all by the fleeting, evanescent pictures of some by -gone 
 lives, it will no doubt begin to be felt from the start. 
 
 The mother's letters to the child abroad may be con- 
 
INTRODUCTION xlvii 
 
 sidered as a prelude ; after Charlotte Jerningham's return 
 under the maternal wing, there begins an interval of years 
 annotated in the collection hut scantily by the epistles of 
 friends and more distant relatives. But from the day of 
 her marriage, of her entrance into another family, the 
 stream of letters flows afresh between mother and daughter. 
 
 This Bedingfeld marriage seems to have been a most 
 happy union, one, moreover, which for many years caused 
 no very distant separation in the united family. Just as 
 in the case of Dillon and Jerningham, there had been 
 previous connections between Jerningham and Bedingfeld, 
 whose chief family seats, Cossey and Oxburgh, are not 
 far distant from each other.* 
 
 In Bloomfield's Norfolk can be read the history of the 
 Bedingfelds from the days of the Conqueror ; and there 
 is no need of repeating here the descent, set forth in Burke's 
 Peerage, of the modern chefs du nom et des armes 
 from the Sir Edmund Bedingfeld, who died in the fifteenth 
 year of Edward IV. 's reign, having married the daughter 
 of Sir Robert Tuddenham, and thus secured for his de- 
 scendants further extensive estates, including the manor 
 
 * The Bedingfelds were originally seated at Bedingfeld, in 
 Suffolk. Oxburgh. in Norfolk, passed into the family by the 
 marriage of Sir Edmund Bedingfeld (who died 1446) with 
 Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of Robert de Tuddenham. The 
 arms of Tuddenham are quartered with Bedingfeld proper on the 
 stamp on the second volume of these letters. The escutcheon is 
 reproduced from a book-plate of Sir Richard Bedingfeld at 
 Oxburgh. I should rather have said: what stands/or the arms 
 of Tuddenham, for the engraver of the Oxburgh book-plate has 
 incorrectly drawn them as ' lozengy,' whereas the correct blazon 
 {in heraldic jargon) should be 'paly-bendy argent and gules? 
 
xlviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 of Oxburgh (and a connection with the barony of 
 Grandison) . It will be sufficient to point to the exist" 
 ence in their records of the same Catholic and ' legi- 
 timist ' traditions that prevailed in Charlotte J erningham's 
 family, both on the paternal and the maternal side. In 
 the case of Bedingfeld, however, there does not appear to 
 have arisen any necessity for the sacrifice of life in the cause. 
 The Sir Henry Bedingfeld, of Oxburgh, who, with Sir 
 Henry Jerningham, of Costessey, had been one of the first 
 gentlemen in the east country to declare for Mary on the 
 death of Edward VI., prospered sufficiently , was made 
 Knight-Marshal of her army, and Governor of the Tower. 
 It was during his governorship that the Princess Elizabeth 
 had her experience of prison life. But no evil conse- 
 quence was thereby entailed on his family in the following 
 reign ; we indeed may allow ourselves to surmise that, 
 as friend and neighbour, he was present and welcome, 
 some years later, at the festivities attendant on the occa- 
 sion of Queen Elizabeth' s sojourn at Costessey during 
 her progress through Norfolk. 
 
 Another Sir Henry, during the Civil War, lost the 
 great bulk of his estate in the support of the Royal side, 
 and after the Restoration had to be satisfied with the 
 thanks of King Charles and a baronetcy — somewhat barren 
 honours for an old house. Subsequent marriages with 
 heiresses, however, re-established to some extent the family 
 fortunes, which do not appear to have been in very bad 
 passes when Lady Jerningham's daughter was wooed and 
 wed by the sixth Baronet — the ' good Sir Richard ' of 
 these pages. 
 
INTRODUCTION xlix 
 
 Through the four-and-thirty years of Lady Bedingf eld's 
 married life, as seen by glimpses in the Letters, we find a 
 varied record of love and rejoicings, of marriages, child- 
 beds and death-beds, separations and reverses of fortune, 
 but withal nought but the most complete harmony between 
 mother, daughter and husband. The first great grief came 
 with the death of Sir William, in 1809, an event, more- 
 over, which, by driving Lady Jerningham from Cossey, 
 kept her more constantly separated from her daughter in 
 Norfolk. Seven years later, increase of family on one 
 side and diminution of income on the other, forced Lady 
 Bedingfeld and her husband to seek at Ghent a mode of 
 living more economical than was possible in the moated 
 mansion of Oxburgh, and the more distant separation 
 gave a new importance to the intercourse of mother and 
 daughter by post. Then came a black series of years, 
 from 1820 to 1825, marked by relentless strokes : first the 
 loss of her two brothers, William and Edward, with their 
 wives ; then of her favourite daughter, Lady Petre ; next 
 of another child, Edward, drowned at sea; and then, 
 greatest sorrow of her life, of her mother. 
 
 The last letter of the last volume in the collection con- 
 tains the last lines ever written by Lady Jerningham. 
 This would seem to show that, in preserving that enor- 
 mous accumulation of old leaves. Lady Bedingfeld' s sole 
 object was to treasure her mother's letters, and that all the 
 others she had botmd up in the volumes had in her eyes 
 nothing more than adventitious interest. 
 
 The ' good Sir Richard ' died of an apoplectic stroke at 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Windsor in 7829. Soon after his death his widow took 
 up her abode in the well-known convent at Hammer- 
 smith, which has hut a few months ago been condemned 
 to destruction. In this venerable building, however, she 
 was by no means ' cloistered,'' but lived as an independent 
 boarder, apparently not without comfort, and making fre- 
 quent excursions into the outer world. The few books 
 that have been saved of the Diary which she kept during 
 the twenty-three years of more or less constant residence 
 in that peaceful dwelling — she survived her husband 
 by that period — show her at times excessively busy on 
 various Court duties which, being now solitary and com- 
 pletely detached from other ties, she was able to undertake. 
 During the earlier days of her residence at Ghent 
 she had formed an intimacy with Ida, Duchess of 
 S axe-Weimar, and with her sister, who in 1818 became 
 Duchess of Clarence. This explains the high regard 
 which the latter, who, when she became the ' Good Queen 
 Adelaide,' made her promptly a Woman of the Bed- 
 chamber, retained for her old friend to the very last. 
 At the Queen's instance, William IV. gave Lady Beding- 
 feld the precedency of a Baron's daughter. When the 
 poor little crippled daughter of the Duchess of Saxe- 
 Weimar was brought over to England, her mother's 
 neighbour in the old Ghent days was specially selected 
 as a constant attendant, and in the Diary for 1833 we 
 obtain sundry brief insights into the little Princess's life 
 at Brighton. 
 
 After following Lady Bedingf eld's journey from happy 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 youth to anxious middle-age and desolate widowhood, 
 where, for want of further life-records, we have to leave 
 her, it is pleasing to hear from some of her descendants 
 that she reached in peace a remarkable length of days; 
 that she spent her last years under the roof of the old 
 convent at Hammersmith, surrounded by those relics of 
 the past with which she had covered every available space 
 on her walls, gladdened to the end by the visits of friends 
 and grandchildren; that, long before she finally laid 
 down the burden of her life, Time and practised resig- 
 nation had softened her keen feelings of sorrow and 
 loneliness into that serenity which seems the most beautiful 
 attribute of honoured old age. 
 
 E.C. 
 
 4g, Shane Gardens, S. W. 
 September, i8g6. 
 
>U,>-/-.:An cr-f 
 
 
JERNINGHAM LETTERS 
 
 Of Mary, Lady Jemingham {rUe Plowden) — an interesting 
 personality round whom hinged the rights and claims of Sir 
 William Jemingham's heir to the barony of Stafford— two letters 
 only exist in the collection. 
 
 The first is addressed from London to her grand-daughter, 
 Charlotte Jemingham. 
 
 It is a mere accident, no doubt, but it is nevertheless notable, 
 that the first of that long chain of letters, in which we find so 
 many allusions to the struggle for Catholic emancipation, should 
 have a reference to the critical period of the Gordon Riots ; for 
 this reason, in spite of its somewhat slender interest, it is in- 
 cluded here. 
 
 To Mis Jemingham, at Cossey Hall, near Norwich, 
 Norfolk. 
 
 July ye %th. 
 
 My Dear Charlotte, 
 
 Nothing but the terors and Consternations we 
 have been in could have prevented my writting 
 to you, tho' thank God we seem very quiet at 
 present my head is not quite settled yet however 
 I wont put off any longer to thank you for yf very 
 pretty letter. I am glad you like y"" Cap and if at 
 
 VOL. L I 
 
 to 
 
2 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1784 
 
 any time you would like to have any thing from 
 hence, I should send it you with great pleasure, so 
 pray let me hear from you, y"" Aunt Mrs. Brown, 
 and her little Girl are both very well I saw them 
 last night, pray present my best and kindest com- 
 pliments to yr Papa and Mama and B''=, and believe 
 me my Dear 
 
 Y^ most affectionate Grand Mama, 
 
 M. Jerningham. 
 
 Yr Uncle is much y^ humble Servant and much 
 flatered with y"" kind compliments. I beg you will 
 make myne to Mr. Buxton. 
 
 The second, written four years later (1784), is addressed to 
 her daughter-in-law, and refers to the great event which gave a 
 beginning to the correspondence of a lifetime between Lady 
 Jerningham and her daughter — namely, the establishment of 
 Charlotte, then aged thirteen, at the convent of the Ursulines in 
 Paris, where the little girl was to receive that education which the 
 working of the Penal Laws rendered .unobtainable for Catholics 
 in England. The quaint style of the epistle, in which the writer 
 is the ' humble servant ' of her son's wife, and refers to her own 
 grandchild as ' Mis Jerningham,' displays the manner and the 
 phraseology of an older, more formal age. 
 
 The Hon. Lady Jerningham, at Cossey, Norfolk. 
 
 A thousand thanks to you, my dear Madam, for 
 y"" letter, wch I this instant received. The good news 
 you tell me of the fever having left Sir William has 
 quite revived me, for I was quite uneasie for him, 
 and hope y^^ next will be as comfortable. I feel 
 much obliged to you for y^^ exactitude in writting, 
 and hope you continue in good health ; the weather 
 
1784] THE BLUE NUNS 
 
 here is so very uncertain y' numbers of people have 
 colds and Rhumatism. I have had a deffluxion on 
 my Eyes y' has been very troublesome, but is much 
 better, or I could not have thank't you my Self 
 for y- kind and obliging attention. Pray my kind 
 Love and complements to Sir William and the dear 
 little ones, and believe me most sincerely, my Dear 
 Madam, 
 
 Yr affection. Mother and humble Servant, 
 
 M. Jerningham. 
 
 I condole with you for parting with y'' two dear 
 boys. I am sure you will miss their Company and 
 Mis Jern. still more ; we have not heard from the 
 Chevalier since Edward wrote to you. 
 
 The two boys in question were George and William, who had 
 been sent Xajuilly. The ancient abbey of that name is situate 
 near Chelles, in what was then, under the ancien ri^ime, the 
 province of He de France, now the department of Seine-et- 
 Marnej founded in A.D. 1200, it was transformed about the 
 year 1639 into a college of Oratorians, and is still used as an 
 ecclesiastical school for boys. 
 
 ' The Chevalier ' is, of course, Charles, third son of Sir George 
 Jerningham, fifth Baronet, and of Mary Plowden. He was a 
 General in the French service, and, being a Knight of Malta, 
 was always alluded to as Chevalier Jerningham. 
 
 Allusions to the ' Blue Nuns ' are of such frequent occurrence 
 in the first part of the Letters that a short account of this cele- 
 brated educational house may be of interest here. As an 
 adjunct to the sixteen volumes of correspondence preserved by 
 Lady Bedingfeld, there exists a thick manuscript volume, copied 
 entirely in the hand of Lady Jerningham from the original 
 Book of Archives of the English Convent called the 
 Blue Nuns, Rue de Charenton, Faubourg Saint 
 
4 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1784 
 
 Antoine, at Paris. This volume, exceedingly interesting, but 
 far too bulky to find place among the present excerpts, recounts 
 ' The occasion and manner of the Beginning of the Monastery 
 of Bethelem, the first House of our Nation of the Holy Order 
 of the Immaculate Conception of Our Blessed Lady,' and con- 
 tinues its annals with great regularity until 1777. The record 
 begins in the year 1658, when this 'monastery of religious 
 women of the third Order of the Seraphical Father, St. Francis, 
 residing at Newport in Flanders, came forth by reason of con- 
 tinual wars that for divers years did oppress and afflict those 
 parts,' and, after some vicissitudes, settled in Paris, ' first at 
 Little Bethelem in Saint Jacques, and finally in the suburbs of 
 Saint Anthony.' The annals themselves cease, as stated above, 
 in 1777, but the account of Ladies Superior, Vicaresses, Mis- 
 tresses of Novices, and so forth, is carried down to the year 
 1794, when conventual hierarchy and discipline were temporarily 
 suppressed by the Revolutionary Government. 
 
 During the Reign of Terror, the Conceptionist nuns escaped 
 the wholesale slaughter which at one time appeared inevitable 
 to all inmates of religious houses who refused to renounce their 
 faith. Indeed, by some happy concatenation of circumstances, 
 they were spared any molestation worse than that of being 
 ' constituted prisoners in their own dwelling, and of being com- 
 pelled to convert their flowing robes into gowns and their veils 
 into bonnets.' In October, 1793, forty English ladies were 
 incarcerated in the ci-devant convent of the Conceptionists, 
 ' where the nuns were most kind to their distressed country- 
 women ' (Alger, ' Englishmen in the French Revolution '). 
 
 In 1800 the remaining members of the community, now much 
 dwindled and impoverished, came over (with the exception of 
 Lady Anastatia Stafford) to England, where they were received 
 and hospitably entertained by Lady Jerningham and her family, 
 and finally installed in a house of their own at Norwich. And 
 thus ' they finished,' says a preface to the copy of the annals, 
 ' their days full of piety and resignation in that city.' Such was 
 the peaceful and poetical end of an association that had a long 
 and honourable record, that had known days of high prosperity 
 and conventual grandeur, and, when misfortune fell upon it, 
 
1784] THE BLUE NUNS 5 
 
 had given an edifying example of simple pluck and serenity in 
 the midst of fevered and sanguinary surroundings. 
 
 For half a century before the outbreak of the Revolution the 
 convent of the 'Blew Nuns' had been for English Catholics 
 very much what the Abbaye-aux-Bois was for the French 
 nobility — the most fashionable as well as the best organized 
 place of education for girls. The house, however, was not 
 originally founded as a school. This new departure had been 
 agreed upon in the year 1731. 'June 6th. — Our numbers,' so 
 runs the entry in the Archives, ' having been much diminished, 
 and not having any prospect of increase, we were advised by all 
 our friends to build a place for a school, and to receive children 
 in it.' And, accordingly, in 1733, the following could be placed 
 on record in the annals : ' On the 29th of May our school begun, 
 by the Earl of Stafford's eldest daughter, who had been a 
 pensioner at the Poor Clares at Rouen, viz. : 
 
 ' Lady Mary Stafford 
 
 ' Honble. Miss Helene Browne, daughter to Lord Kenmare,' 
 and so forth. It may be noted here that among the lists of 
 inmates, nuns, abbesses, or scholars, occur repeatedly the 
 patronymics Jerningham, Stafford, and Lee. 
 
 The new venture was successful : the school rapidly acquired 
 a high reputation, and during the latter half of the last century 
 the greater number of the old English Catholic families sent 
 their daughters for a stage with the ' Blue Nuns ' in Paris. 
 
 A list of the pensioners, from 1733 to 1792, the date at which 
 the educational organization was broken up, is given in the 
 Appendix to the present book. Lady Jerningham herself, as 
 the Hon. Frances Dillon, had passed some time at the convent ; 
 the date of her entrance is given in the Archives, A.D. 1755. 
 For her daughter, however, she selected the ' Dames Ursulines,' 
 in the Rue St. Jacques, the reason being probably that, the 
 latter being French nuns, she would sooner acquire with them a 
 perfect knowledge of the indispensable French tongue. 
 
 To the 'Ursulines,' therefore, late in the month of November, 
 1784, Lady Jerningham, accompanied by Sir William— for such 
 a journey was in those days something of a serious undertaking 
 —conducted her darling Charlotte. 
 
6 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1784 
 
 I have included, almost at full length, several of the earliest 
 letters of the collection, written by the mother on her return 
 home to the child she left thus for the first time among 
 strangers ; they are touching and eloquent of love ; they seem 
 to me, moreover, not only to give a first pleasing insight into 
 the character of a sweet woman and an accomplished lady, but 
 also to bring back with them at this great distance something 
 of the atmosphere of the times. 
 
 The journey back to England through Gournay, Bapeaume, 
 Arras, Lille, and St. Omer, appears somewhat circuitous. The 
 itinerary was no doubt influenced by the state of the roads ; it 
 was at any rate leisurely, for it occupied over a fortnight. Each 
 halt on the way gave occasion for an epistle to the ' poor little 
 girl.' The first of these, judging by the superscription, was 
 sent by hand from Paris itself on the eve of the parents' depar- 
 ture. 
 
 A Mademoiselle, 
 
 Mademoiselle J-erningham. 
 
 Half an hour after six, in November. 
 How does my poor Dear Little Girl do to-day? 
 I have been awake all night thinking of you, and 
 regretting you. But I hope you will apply so well 
 to all your masters that I shall, next summer twelve 
 months, rejoice in the courage we have both had in 
 parting. I beg that you will always remember that 
 the Study of my Life has been to make you happy 
 and that you will therefore have some Regard for me 
 as your Best Friend; it must not be such as will 
 make you uneasy, but a Consolation to you in your 
 Retirement, to reflect that you have one you can 
 have recourse to at all times, and who will always 
 be occupied about you. I have told Simon to carry 
 you a Brioche and a pot of Sweet Meats to eat to your 
 
1784] THE FIRST PARTING 
 
 Gouter or desert. Papa is yet in bed. Write me 
 word what you have been doing and at what hours 
 your masters come. How are you dressed to-day ? 
 and how do the girls behave and dress ? My dear 
 Little girl, I miss you ! 
 
 A Mademoiselle, 
 Mademoiselle de jferningham, aux Dames Ursulines, 
 Rue St. Jacques, a Paris. 
 
 Bapeaume, Saturday night. 
 I gave my little girl an account of my self last 
 night from Gournay, and now I write to say that I 
 am 57 miles further; we dined to-day at Roye, in 
 the room where you lay down all the time of dinner 
 as we came to Paris, and got here to-night about 
 seven. This place you did not come thro, as we 
 came from Cambrai, which altered the route. To- 
 morrow we propose being at Lille, which is also a 
 post out pf the common Road, but it is so fine a 
 town that y"" M^ has a mind to see it. The weather 
 is very cold and the roads rather jolting, but, how- 
 ever, we get on pretty well. I think it may amuse 
 My Little Girl to hear of us, and that gives me 
 a pleasure in writing. We met yesterday Lord 
 Mountmorris, an Irishman going to Paris, whom we 
 spoke to at the Post, and that is all the adventures 
 that have happened to us. To-morrow we propose 
 hearing Mass at Arras, and then going on for Lille. 
 I think Michael will tumble out of the Ship for joy 
 when he sees old England again. You should write 
 a letter to Miss Petre, by the Little post. Some- 
 thing like this : 
 
JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1784 
 
 My dear Miss Petre, 
 
 You were so good as to desire to hear from 
 me, and it is with great pleasure I fullfil this request. 
 I am now immured, as you are. My Papa and 
 Mama have left Paris, but I endeavour to make 
 myself as easy as I can ; I must say it is them 
 I principally regret, for otherwise I do not dis- 
 like the life I lead; the mistresses are particularly 
 good to me and the Girls are very well. I wish so 
 many walls did not lye betwixt you and me ; but 
 you will soon come out of your Confinement, and 
 then you will return all my visits, and give me great 
 pleasure in seeing you. I hope you have got the 
 better of the cold you had when I saw you last. I 
 have had two letters from Mama since she left Paris, 
 and hope to hear again from her before she crosses 
 the sea. 
 
 You may after this put some Convent news, if you 
 like it, and so conclude : Y^ ever sincere friend, etc. 
 I shall send you in my next a letter for Mile. Dillon 
 at St. Germains, because, you know, you have not 
 yet answer'd hers. Adieu, My Little Girl. Papa 
 sends you a kiss, and so do I a thousand. My 
 Comp's allway to the Generall Lady. 
 
 Lille, Sunday night. 
 Another letter for My Poor Little Solitary Char- 
 lotte ! We set off this morning early, as we proposed, 
 from Bapeaume, heard Mass and dined at Arras, and 
 arrived here at 8 o'clock. It appears to be a very 
 large town. We are in a fine Hotel upon the Market- 
 
1784] MRS. ATKYNS OF KETTERINGHAM g 
 
 place; but as it is entirely dark I cannot describe 
 the buildings. A great many English People have 
 taken refuge here, to fly their Creditors in England ; 
 among the rest a Norwich family and a Mrs. Atkins 
 of Ketringham. She was a player, a friend of Miss 
 Younger. You may remember to have heard of her, 
 and he was always a great simpleton, or else he 
 would not have married her. 
 
 The Coaches make as much and as continued a 
 rumbling as they do in Paris or London ; there is 
 besides a large stand of Hackney Coaches for those 
 who have not their private Equipages — so I think 
 this place, in its magnificence and Riches, may 
 emulate our great City of Norwich ! Papa has an 
 old acquaintance here whom he intends visiting to- 
 morrow. Lady Charlotte Radcliffe, Daughter to the 
 late Earl of Derwentwater, who was beheaded in 
 1746, is in this Town ; there is also a French Convent, 
 where the young Lady's from Bruge generally come 
 to fashion themselves. The three Havers's received 
 their French and their gentility from hence ; and I 
 suppose Miss Norris, in due time, will come for the 
 same purpose. Apropos I must send you the Copy 
 of a letter for your Aunt at St. Germains, which I 
 beg you will write as soon as you have Leisure : 
 
 Dear Aunt, 
 
 I have to thank you for the obliging letter 
 I received from You and the pretty Box Mr. de 
 Lagny brought me from you. I deffer'd writing till 
 Mama was gone, because, when she was here, I 
 could have the pleasure of hearing what you did by 
 
lo JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1784 
 
 her, and that I wished to procure my self that satis- 
 faction after her departure. You are very good to 
 set any value upon my drawings : but since you are 
 so obliging as to wish to have some I shall certainly 
 do some Little Figures for you. I am as well satisfied 
 here and as happy as I can be, parted from Mama, 
 but she has wrote to me three times ; the last letter 
 was from Lille. I beg you will be so good as to 
 give my Respects to my Aunt du Blaisel, and Believe 
 me to be, Dear Aunt, 
 
 Your ever dutiful niece. 
 
 I think it will be proper to write this letter as 
 soon as possible as you have not yet taken any 
 notice of her present, nor her letter. Direct it as I 
 give you the direction. M"*- Dillon, au Chateau, a 
 St. Germain. I hope to know when I get to London 
 that you have Received these letters. Adieu My 
 Dear Little Girl. Papa sends his love and I join 
 mine also with. a thousand kisses. 
 
 The weather is intolerably cold and freezing. I 
 dread the Sea ! 
 
 Mrs. Atkyns, of Ketteringham, was long afterwards to figure in 
 history as one of the supporters of the sham Dauphin Bruneaux's 
 pretensions. Mr. Alger ('Englishmen in the French Revolu- 
 tion ') gives the following account of this lady : 
 
 ' Mrs. Atkyns— probably Charlotte Walpole, wife of Edward 
 Atkyns of Ketteringham, or possibly the wife of his brother 
 John, M.P. for Oxford, for she was described as the widow of 
 an M.P.— had been presented to Marie- Antoinette before the 
 Revolution, and, on the Queen becoming a prisoner, resolved 
 to save her. 
 
 'A Municipal Commissary promised her admission to the 
 Temple in the disguise of a National Guard on condition of 
 
1784] LORD DERWENT WATER 11 
 
 nothing secret being said or given to the Queen. Mrs. Atkyns 
 oifered this latter a bouquet, and her emotion made her drop 
 the note accompanying it. The Commissary was about to seize 
 the document, when Mrs. Atkyns snatched it up and swallowed 
 it, whereupon the man angrily drove her out. 
 
 ' She procured a second, and this time a private, interview, 
 when she expounded a plan of escape ; but the Queen refused 
 to abandon her children, professed resignation to her fate, and 
 begged Mrs. Atkyns to devote all her efforts to the deliverance 
 of the Dauphin. This deliverance she arranged for with 
 Madame de Beauharnais and the Comte de Frott6 ; then she 
 left for England. The Dauphin's escape was said to have been 
 effected, but he was not brought to her by Frottd, and she did 
 not see him till 1818, when he (Bruneaux, the alleged Dauphin), 
 was in prison as an impostor, she herself then living in Paris 
 on a small pension allowed her by Louis XVIII. She is said 
 to have died there in 1830.' 
 
 Concerning the Earl of Derwentwater, whom Lady Jerning- 
 ham mentions in connection with Lady Charlotte Ratcliffe, his 
 last letter, dated from the Tower, and docketed by the annalist 
 'To the Countess of Newburgh, his wife, and Lady Frances 
 Clifford,' is included among the Archives of the ' Blue Nuns,' 
 with whom these ladies had probably taken refuge at the time. 
 It is indited as follows : 
 
 From the Tower, 
 
 7. December 1746. 
 
 The best of Friends takes his Leave of you, He 
 has made His Will, He is Resigned, to-morrow is 
 the Day. 
 
 Love his Memory, Let his Friends join with you 
 in Prayers, it is no misfortune to dye, when pre- 
 pared. 
 
 Lets Love our Enemies, and pray for them. Let 
 rhy Sons be men Like me. Let my daughters, be 
 Virtuous Women Like you. My Blessing to them 
 
12 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1784 
 
 all. My kind Love to Fanny, that other Tender 
 Mother of my dear Children. 
 
 Adieu Dear Friend. 
 
 Derwentwater. 
 
 St. Omer 
 
 lO^er the Wh, 
 
 The last letter I wrote to my Little Girl was on 
 Sunday night from Lille : to night I am in the Great 
 Brown wainscoated Room at St. Omer, and I must: 
 equally give my self the pleasure of Conversing with 
 her. 
 
 I hope that you have received my three letters, 
 and that it has given you some pleasure to see that 
 I am always occupied about you. We remained all 
 Monday at Lille. Lady Charlotte Radcliffe came 
 and dined with us and I went to the play with her. 
 A tolerable theater, but as empty of Company as the 
 Norwich playhouse is of a Common night. The 
 Tuesday we set off rather late, and so only got to 
 Aire where we had a most intolerable Lodging. 
 This morning we arrived here and to morrow we 
 shall at last reach Calais and look at the sea. Mr. 
 Parton dined with us and we have had an assembly 
 of cats to gouter this afternoon, the SufRelds, 
 Dundas's and Pitchford, Accompany'd by the Master, 
 Mr. Wilkinson, and Dr. Howard, uncle to Miss 
 Howard at the Bleu Nuns, and late President of the 
 English Seminary at Paris. They have just taken 
 themselves away. I reckon that Monday or Tuesday 
 sevennight you will be going to the Bleu Nuns. I 
 
1784] MODEL LETTERS 13 
 
 wrote to Mr. Langton and to Lady Anastatia about 
 it before I left Paris. But I must beg My Dear 
 Little Girl that you will tell Lady Anastatia that it 
 is only for this Recreation that you can possibly 
 come to her, for in January Mrs. Rothes returns to 
 Paris. I should be sorry for to have it imagined 
 that you could, upon any account, be permitted to 
 leave your Station. 
 
 I long much to hear from you, it is a week to day 
 since I took leave of my poor Charlotte, and I cannot 
 yet accustom myself to restrain a thousand things I 
 have every moment to tell her. I beg you will keep 
 up a correspondence with your brothers at Juilly. I 
 wrote to George from Lille. Pray give my love to 
 the Chevalier when you see him, and if there is any- 
 thing that you dislike in your convent you must tell 
 it him and perhaps some remedy may be found. 
 You are so reasonable that I know when you com- 
 plain there is allways cause for it ; for which reason 
 I should wish an alteration should follow as you 
 direct. 
 
 If you have not yet wrote to Lady Anastatia I 
 think it would be proper to say a few words to her : 
 
 Dear Madam, 
 
 As Mama has been pleased to give me leave 
 to wait upon you at the Innocents Recreation, 
 I write to say with what pleasure I shall profit 
 of this p^mission. Mrs. Langton will be so good 
 as to convey me to you. I have heard from Mama 
 several times since she left Paris. She and Papa 
 are very well, the last letter was from St. Omer. I 
 
14 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1784 
 
 beg my best compliments to Mother Abbess, the 
 Community and all the Young Ladies and remaip 
 D"" Madam, your ever affectionate Cousen. 
 
 Good night my Dear Little Girl. Papa sends you 
 a kiss. 
 
 The ' Miss Howards,' who resided at that time with the ' Blue 
 Nuns' in Paris, were Juliana and Mary, sisters of Bernard, 
 twelfth Duke of Norfolk. They were afterwards married, 
 Juliana to the ninth Lord Petre (as second wife), and Mary to 
 his son, the tenth Baron. 
 
 Lady Anastatia Stafford, from whom several rather curious 
 letters occur in this collection, is thus adverted to in the 
 Biographical Annals of the convent : 
 
 ' Sister Mary Ursula, alias Anastatia Stafford, daughter of the 
 Right Honble. the Earl of Stafford, and Miss Anne Holeman 
 of Northamptonshire, born at Stafford House, in Westminster, 
 made her profession on the 19th of March, 1740, in the 
 eighteenth year of her age. Mother Louisa Stafford, Abbess. 
 She died at Paris on the 27th of April, 1807, in the eighty-fifth 
 year of her age.' 
 
 Lady Anastatia seems to have been the only one of the le- 
 maining ' Blue Nuns ' who did not come over to England when 
 Sir William and Lady Jerningham offered to see to their 
 establishment there. 
 
 Dover, \d>ir the \%th. 1784. 
 My Dear Little Girl will be glad to hear that we 
 are arrived safe at Dover. We were so lucky as to 
 meet with Captain Sayer at Calais and so made our 
 Voyage again with him. We sat off from Dessein's 
 yesterday at 3 in the afternoon and got here before 
 eight. I never was so sick in any passage as this. 
 Molly and the man were also very ill but Sir William 
 was only sick once. We are, upon the whole, very 
 
1784] LADY ANASTATIA STAFFORD 15 
 
 fortunate to be got here so safe, for this time of the 
 year is very hazardous for sea passages, let them be 
 ever so short, and there have been lately some very 
 disagreable accidents. 
 
 I write this from Mr. Payne's, York House, at 
 Dover, where you were enquired after, as well as on 
 board of the Ship and at Dessein's. This intelligence 
 will flatter you certainly ! However, the Remem- 
 brance of any honest person is acceptable to hear of. 
 Lady Pembroke and her niece. Miss Beauclerk, set 
 off at the same time as us, and got in also the 
 same time. They lodged with us at Dessein's, but 
 here they are at another Inn. We shall be to- 
 morrow night at London. My Little dear Ned will 
 not be sorry for it. 
 
 I see in the papers that Dr. Johnson (who wrote 
 the Dictionary, the Rambler, the Poets' Lives &c.) 
 is dead. They have translated the Marriage de 
 Figaro into English and it has been acted at London. 
 Adieu, My Dear, I am rather in a hurry at present, 
 so must take my leave of you with a kiss. Yours 
 most sincerely. My Compts to your Uncles. 
 
 'Your Uncles' were the French brothers of Charlotte's 
 parents, one Arthur Dillon, Colonel of the Regiment de 
 Dillon, and the other the Chevalier Jemingham, both residing 
 at that time in Paris. 
 
 Lothian's Hotel, 
 
 Albemarle Street, 
 
 io*«'' the i^th. 
 
 At my arrival in London, which was on Sunday last 
 the 19th, I found a charming pretty letter from my 
 
1 6 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1784 
 
 Dear Little Girl. I cannot enough praise you for it, 
 the Style is as good as the Sentiments for me are 
 Delightful, and I can assure you that you do not stand 
 in need of any body to Compose your letters, when 
 you are capable of writing so well for yourself. — I 
 have wished for to see my Little Girl again and have 
 Lamented, that whilst I was forming such a wish, 
 so many miles were between us ! But you are so 
 reasonable that I have a Comfort I would not have 
 had without the opportunity of such a trial. We 
 must keep up the intercourse we have been accus- 
 tomed to have together by writing often. I think you 
 may have found me already a pretty regular Corre- 
 spondant ; and, as you desire to know everything we 
 do, I will go on with my journal from Saturday last 
 that I wrote to you from Dover. . . . We went to 
 the Play with Miss Paston and Miss Clifford, to see 
 Mrs. Siddons who performed her grand part of 
 Isabella in the Fatal Marriage. We had the Stage 
 Box and it is I think allways disadvantageous to see 
 the actors so very near ; it destroys the Illusion. 
 However Mrs. Siddons is a very handsome Woman 
 and acts with a great deal of feeling. It did not 
 move me, however, in the same manner I had reason 
 to expect it would, from the exaggerated accounts 
 that every body gave of themselves. 
 
 Mr. Pitt, the prime Minister was in our box^ 
 which was a greater treat to my curiosity than the 
 actress. I was last night at the Opera, which was 
 very thin of Company. 
 
 The two Conways are come over, and were over- 
 turned on the sea shore before they could get out of 
 
Horn, a ryu/n4M>iitA€. a/- C oa^C'i/zO 
 
1784] MRS. SIDDONS 
 
 17 
 
 the Boat, so they arrived rather dirty at their Inn. 
 This day my Dearest Dear Little Boy Neddy came 
 here to lodge in Grosvenor Square, and looks most 
 beautifully, his hair quite long over his eyes and his 
 teeth very clean, with an immense colour in his 
 Cheeks. We both Cryed when we met, but he is 
 now again in good Spirits. On Monday next he is to 
 take a little trip with us down to Ditchley where my 
 Brother would have us come for three or four days, 
 to see his Children and his Mansion. At our return 
 we shall go down to Cossey, where poor Mr. Cham- 
 berlayne begins to be very impatient for our Return. 
 Old Nurse Carr is deceas'd, and poor Richard 
 Barker the Coachman is also dead after a month's 
 illness. Pitchford attended him and said to was a 
 fever on the Brain. Lord and Lady Petre are at 
 Thorndon. Master Henneage came up from school 
 with Ned and is gone down there this afternoon. I 
 cannot say a word more to My Little Girl for the 
 post is going out, so adieu my ever Dear Charlotte. 
 I love you most tenderly. Papa sends you a kiss 
 and so does little Neddy. I shall write to the 
 General very soon. 
 
 In Mamas Room at Cossey 3 o'clock. 
 
 January the 12th. 1785. 
 
 How sorry I am to hear that my poor Little Girl 
 has been ill and that it should just happen at the 
 time of the Innocents Recreation when I was in 
 hopes you would have diverted yourself so well. It 
 shows that we must never reckon too much upon 
 
 VOL. I. 2 
 
i8 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1785 
 
 any future amusement, but, like you, be Reasonable 
 enough to Relish the present and trust in providence 
 for to order the Morrow. This is a little Moral 
 Reflection I could not restrain, as my own Case 
 made me think of it ; for I had been pleasing my 
 self with the thoughts that you were so well amused 
 at the Bleu Nuns the 27th. 28th. and 29th. and 
 instead of that My Poor Little Girl was Laying in 
 Bed at the Ursulines, ill of a fever ! 
 
 I hope that it is now entirely removed. Pray 
 tell me what brought it on, if it was owing to cold. 
 Poor Lady Anastatia will have been very miserable 
 for she longed vastly to see you. I am glad the 
 Mere Gen6rale is so good : I shall write a few words 
 to her to thank her. Indeed she appear'd to me to 
 be a most sensible, worthy Woman, and I applaud 
 myself every day more and more for having entrusted 
 you to her Care, rather than to have put you in any 
 other Convent. If there is anything in Cloathes or 
 otherways that you want, you must ask her to get it 
 for you. I will not have my little girl deprived of 
 anything that can be comfortable. I hope you 
 received a letter I wrote from London. We staid 
 there a little above a fortnight, that is to say we did 
 not come down here till the 6th., but five of the days 
 were spent out of London as my Brother persuaded 
 us to go down with him to Ditchley. 
 
 Ditchley is a very fine place, the House is grand 
 and at the same time Comfortable. Mr. Le Texier 
 whom you have heard of (the man who Reads so 
 well) Came down to Ditchley, and so we had a play 
 Read every Night by him, and it is really delightful. 
 
London. Richard Bputlsv A5-L i ■ 
 
■/°5J M. LK TEXIER ig 
 
 I prefer his manner of delivering a play, by much, to 
 the Seeing it acted. He is besides a very inform'd 
 agreable Man. 
 
 Sunday the lyth. 
 
 I received My Little dear Girl's Good Friday 
 Letter, and am glad that you have got that serious 
 tho' salutary time so well over. I thought of my 
 poor G. every day in that week (indeed I do the 
 same every week) but however as I knew the sort of 
 solemnity with which it was kept in Convents, I was 
 a Little afraid you would be fatigued. 
 
 You make me very happy my dear Girl by speak- 
 ing so prettily to me. I am glad you liked my letter, 
 and I will say that if your Mama loves you beyond 
 what most Mothers love their Children, it is because 
 there are very few if any who have such a little Girl 
 to love as I have. Your little Uncle writes me word 
 that He has Received again a very pretty letter from 
 you, L^y Anastatia likewise, and that you had given 
 Jannet my old acquaintance, 24 Sols, which she says 
 was too Generous. I am going to send her over a 
 Nun with Mrs. Mottalini, one of the Miss Barry's 
 Catholick Young Women at Norwich who is protected 
 by the priests and the Suffields. She has very little 
 money, but is (they say) a very good creature and 
 thinks she has a great mind to be a Nun. She 
 is to make me a visit this week, that she may let 
 Lady Anastatia know how Cossey looks. 
 
 I have not had any pleasure in being busy without 
 my Little Girl for my aid de camp. I have not yet 
 
;o JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1785 
 
 been able to prevail upon myself to go to the Play, 
 but after various Embassy's from Mr. Marret, who 
 has this winter bought the theatre, and is sole 
 Manager of it, for to bespeak one, have at last Com- 
 plied and to-morrow is Performed by desire of S^ W" 
 and Lady Jerningham a Comic Opera, Called the 
 Duenna, with a Farce Called the Divorce, I am told 
 that it will be very full. 
 
 Mrs. Leigh is with Child, as also the two Mrs. 
 Wodehouse's and Lady Beauchamp, so the Country 
 goes on peopling ! Mrs. Constance had two Girls, 
 one was born after we went abroad. 
 
 I must now have an account of the second school. 
 Do the High Pensioners you mentioned to me in 
 your last, dine all together? They surely do not 
 dine with you. In Abbayes they are at the Abbess's 
 table. Good bye My Little Sweet Dear Girl. 
 
 COSSEY, 
 
 May the 12th. 
 
 Thursday. 
 My Dearest Little Girl, 
 
 I am most extreamly disappointed and angry 
 with Lady Petre, for not Carrying a parcel that I 
 had sent her for you : wherein was a letter also. 
 She set off from London on Monday last, and as 
 she had before wrote to me to offer to convey any 
 Letter or parcel to Paris, I sent her three, one for 
 my Little Girl, one for Juilly, and another for Lady 
 Belmore (some Books). All this she chose to leave 
 
1785] BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG PERSON 
 
 behind her, saying she had Refused every Body 
 else, but then I think she should not have wrote to 
 me. 
 
 Your pacquet Contains Robinson Crusoe, 2 Vols, 
 and a Vol., from Crocket's, of Dramatic pieces for 
 Young People, very pretty; another Little Blue 
 Book : the Female Guardian, 4 pencils, india Rubber, 
 2 pair of Scissors, 2 penknifes and a Httle Memoran- 
 dum Book. All this however will I hope soon 
 arrive, as I have desired your Uncle to send it 
 by the first opportunity, the parcel for Juilly like- 
 wise. 
 
 Lady Petre asked me leave for to go to see you 
 which you may be sure I Granted ; so I am rather 
 curious to hear the result of the Visit. You must 
 give me a whole account of it. Miss Petre will, I 
 suppose, be in great joy : but I think that it is a pity 
 she does not stay a year longer where she is ; tell me 
 everything about her, her Looks, her Dress, &c. I 
 dont know if Mr. Petre is of the party, or if he has 
 staid in England. M^^ Nagle writes word to the 
 Chevalier that she has been to see you, that you look 
 vastly well, and received her with amitie. I think it 
 was very good natured of her to call and I love her 
 for it. 
 
 As for M<le d'Haussonville you know she asked me 
 last year for to let you come to Montrouge (for a 
 Ball they give at the Boy's Birthday, I think) but I 
 told her that it would be impossible and my Little 
 Girl is so reasonable that she does not wish it ; 
 therefore if anything more is mentioned, the Mistress 
 must say that she has positive orders from me not to 
 
22 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1785 
 
 let you go out with any Body, and I shall write to 
 M^e d'Haussonville also. 
 
 Henriette was out of Order at Montpellier and the 
 whole House knew of it : a very pretty piece of 
 Intelligence ! M'^^ Nagle says that she is improved 
 in her figure. Her Mother-in-Law is with Child. 
 Perhaps Mrs. Rothe may soon take the trouble of 
 making you a Visit, as I wrote to her by Lady Petre, 
 and that may put her in a good Humour. She has 
 had a Mourning this Spring for her half Brother, 
 Lord Falkland, who died in England. He was 
 25 years older than Her, they were by the same 
 Father, but Her Mother was a Dillon, Sister to my 
 Father and to the Archbishop. Henriette would be in 
 Black for her Uncle : which I suppose, by way of 
 a Change, would please her. The Chevalier is still 
 here ; Neddy will be coming home soon. Adieu 
 My dearest Little Girl I write this rather in a 
 Hurry. Papa, and Your Uncle send their Love to 
 you and so do I with ten thousand kisses. If you 
 write to Juilly, tell your Brother that the parcel Lady 
 Petre refused to Convey will soon arrive by some other 
 opportunity, and that there is in it a Letter for him 
 and another for William. My Respects to the Mere 
 G6nerale. I suppose you begin to be able to write 
 French tolerably well, but the letters addressed to 
 me I have not the Courage to deprive myself of: 
 write in the Langage You write the easiest. Adieu 
 Little Girl. 
 
 Milly has made two of your jackets into Gowns, 
 the Grey Manchester, and the red flower'd Linnen ; 
 so you were beginning to grow of Consequence to 
 
1785] CONVENT MOURNING 23 
 
 your Maid when your Clothes could be made up for 
 her. M<ie Nagle says you are taller than you were. 
 
 ' Henriette,' Henrietta Dillon, who two years later became 
 Comtesse de la Tour du Pin Gouvernet. 
 
 My Poor Dear Little Girl, 
 
 I will not wait one minute writing to you. I 
 am quite vexed to think that I should let you grow 
 uneasy about me ; at the same time, I must own, 
 flatter'd and pleased to find you have so much sensi- 
 bility. I did not imagine that I had been longer 
 than usual without writing: but I suppose Provi- 
 dence kindly intended I should have an opportunity 
 of seeing your good and amiable disposition, thro' 
 the sweet Reproaches you make me on ray silence. 
 
 I am sorry you have had such dismal events to 
 afflict your School, I hope they are now over, and 
 that a little joy gleams there again. 
 
 Your brothers left Cossey on Monday morning. 
 Places are taken for them in the Dover Dilligence 
 for Saturday five o'clock in the Morning, therefore 
 they will most likely be at Paris near as soon as 
 this Letter. They look very pretty in their black 
 Coats, and I am sure by the description you give me 
 of your mourning jyoM must look Charmingly. If you 
 do not like to wear your Black Linnen at present, 
 keep it for second Mourning or at Christmas. You 
 shall have a Black silk, and it will be better to wear 
 that only on Sundays, and the Linnen every day. 
 
 I have just received a letter from S"" W" who tells 
 me that he has made up ye little Parcel Consisting 
 of four pretty housewifes, four knifes, four pair of 
 
24 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1785 
 
 Scissors and 5 Louis. I hope my Little Girl will be 
 happy in it. 
 
 The Chevalier left London the Friday before they 
 quitted Cossey, that is to say the 21st and you will be 
 surprised to hear that on Tuesday the 25th arrived 
 in London, my Brother Arthur and his Lady. I 
 hope they will come down here, I am very Curious 
 to see her and desirous from affection to see him. 
 He left England at ten years old and has never been 
 here since, it is exactly 25 years ago. 
 
 Miss Pitchford is come over, she is grown quite a 
 young woman, above a Head Taller than she was, 
 very slender and holds herself very straight, her hair 
 dress'd without Powder, and a Linnen gown with a 
 little Hoop, her face is very well, rather pretty than 
 otherwise. She says she does not like England at 
 all, but wishes to Return to be a Nun ! I think she 
 will not long continue in this mind. 
 
 Adieu My Little Girl. I am sorry I must leave 
 off, I will really write again soon, and in the mean 
 while kiss my pretty Girls fat cheek a thousand times. 
 I am quite dismal here, alone with Uncle Harry, 
 who sends his love to you. Adieu, Petite. I want 
 you Monsterously ! 
 
 ' My brother Arthur's lady ' : General Dillon's second wife, 
 widow of Comte de la Touche, n^e Girardin. 
 
 The following is from Edward Jerningham, generally referred 
 to in these letters as 'the Poet.' It is addressed : 
 
 'A Mademoiselle, 
 
 Mademoiselle de Jerningham, 
 
 Aux Dames Ursulines, 
 
 Rue St. Jacques, 
 
 Paris.' 
 
1785] A LETTER FROM THE POET 25 
 
 Compared with the lucubrations which this odd personage 
 wrote to his niece in later life, it is tolerably reasonable. The 
 Miss Petre referred to was Ann Catherine, daughter of the 
 ninth Lord Petre. 
 
 Grosvenor Square, 
 
 June 13M. 
 
 Dear Charlotte, 
 
 Yesterday I had the pleasure of receiving 
 your letter : I did reproach myself for not writing to 
 you at the time I sent you the print : — I have seen 
 Miss Petre, she Looks better than she did Before 
 but she is not yet arrived at Beauty ; she seems to 
 have plumpers in her mouth. I understand she was 
 willing to stay longer, if so I think they were much 
 to Blame of not to leave her a year longer. 
 
 My Mother bids me Thank you for your Letter 
 and I also Thank you for the one you sent me where 
 you described some of your companions. As for the 
 Large Girl that was staring upon the ground, I 
 think I see her from your Description, and if I am 
 not mistaken she would be glad if her School-Hfe 
 was expired. I would not marry her for the world : 
 I have taken an Antipathy to Her. — The Chevalier 
 is returned from Cossey and he talks of Paris. He 
 means to go the end of the month. I have not yet 
 made my intended visit to Cossey, but I hope to 
 steal down for a fortnight: My Mamma will not 
 allow little Neddy a longer Time. When I am 
 there I shall give you a full account of the village 
 and the children we were partial to. 
 
 There is a very pretty child two doors from this 
 house who was bit by a mad dog yesterday; the 
 remedy which was given him immediately will it is 
 
26 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1785 
 
 hoped prevent any bad consequences : I think in a 
 Convent you are in no danger of Mad Dogs, how- 
 ever Take care you are not bit by a Mad-Bug. 
 
 I write so large a scrawl that I have not room for 
 an Epitaph of half a dozen lines which I wrote 
 yesterday for my Bookseller upon Mr. Robson, a 
 very promising youth who was flung from his horse 
 and died almost immediately. 
 
 My Harp presents its best Tones to you — I prac- 
 tise and play upon it a good deal, as it entertains me. 
 
 Adieu — 
 
 Your very affectionate Uncle, 
 
 Ed. Jerningham. 
 
 I have selected the following prim little epistle among the 
 very few letters from Charlotte Jerningham herself that have 
 been preserved. It is penned in a close, regular ' copperplate ' 
 hand, which did credit to the 'finishing' course of the Dames 
 Ursulines, and addressed to her brother : 
 
 ' E'' Jerningham, Esq''^, 
 
 Lothian's Hotell, 
 
 Albermarl St., 
 
 St. James.' 
 
 Des Ursulines, 
 
 ce IS- Aout. 
 I received your charming letter, my dearest Ed- 
 ward, and should have answered it sooner if I had 
 followed my inclination ; but you know I am not 
 mistress of my time, and you are so reasonable that 
 I am sure you would not have me prefer the pleasure 
 I find in conversing with my dearest little Brother to 
 my duty. I anticipate allready the Satisfaction I 
 shall have in seeing you here, and I flatter myself 
 that you will not be very sorry. I beg you will be so 
 
1785] A LETTER FROM LES URSULINES 27 
 
 good as to give this paper, to Mr. Chamberlayne 
 with my Comp's. It is to desire his prayers for 
 Mother Anthony, who died last week at the blue 
 nun's. Mama will be sorry for her. I belive she 
 was her mistress when she was pensioner there. 
 
 To-day is the Assomption, which is the feast of the 
 great School ; we have recreation for three days, our 
 School room is ornamented with flowers, relicks & 
 all lighted up, we have a very fine alter at one end. 
 This is for a Salue that is : hymns, in honour of the 
 Blessed Virgin, which we sing in parts accompanied 
 by the Harp. All the nuns and the other Schools 
 are there. When we have finished, the Superior 
 makes us a little Sermon and then we go to dinner ; 
 then to the Garden, to the Church, to the garden, to 
 the School &c. till night. I hope you will excuse 
 this foolish letter, but I am surrounded by my Com- 
 panions who make such a noise that my pen scribbles 
 on without asking any council of my Head. It is 
 impossible to write to-day, so I must finish in assuring 
 of the Affection with which 
 
 I am Your affectionate Sister, 
 
 C. Jerningham. 
 
 My duty to Mama, Papa, Uncle, and the General, 
 and my kind love to Molly. 
 Mr. Chamberlayne was the chaplain at Cossey. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Charlotte Jerningham. 
 
 Sept. 15. 
 
 The pleasure I have in seeing George and William 
 again at Cossey does not make me forget my pretty 
 dear Girl at Paris ! 
 
28 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1785 
 
 Some days ago Mrs. Bagot, who has at present 
 three nieces of the Bishop with her, two Miss 
 Chesters and a Miss Sneyde, told S"^ W"" that she 
 wish'd the young Ladies could have a dance, as it 
 was impossible to give a ball at the Palace ; but she 
 owned that she was herself passionalty fond of 
 dancing. S"^ W™ very good-naturedly told her she 
 should have that pleasure at Cossey, accordingly a 
 party was made up. 
 
 The dance was in the parlour, which is now very 
 neat, new painted and the white paper in it with a 
 green border. One door to open in the hall, the 
 other facing the little house door, it is our old 
 project, and is much more convenient than that old 
 door at the bottom of the stairs. The supper was in 
 the Hall. 
 
 The whole number reckoned upon was 34, Cards 
 in the Library. Now I think I must name the 
 dancers : Miss Bagot (who danced like a fury), 
 two Miss Chesters, Miss Sneyde, Miss Wodehouse 
 (Powdered, with the most frightly shabby chip-hat, 
 staring perpendicularily up in the air, black gown 
 with a Little Cape — and, thank God, a handker- 
 chief!), Mrs. Branthwayte, Mrs. Fanshawe, Mrs. 
 Laton, Mrs. Norris, and Miss Buckle, who dances 
 very prettily and came for to be Ned's partner. For 
 since our expedition to Yarmouth he has become a 
 great dancer. The Gentlemen dancers were : Papa, 
 Uncle Harry, S^ John Wodehouse, Mr. W™ Hay, 
 Major Churchill, Major Money, two young officers, 
 Mr. Roper and Mr. Pocklington, Cap'" Majendie, 
 whom you saw last year with General Johnson, Mr. 
 
1785I A CHOICE OF 'TERROREMS' 
 
 39 
 
 Branthwayte, Mr. Layton. Sitters by were : Lady 
 Wodehouse, Mrs. Chester, Mrs. Majendie (with 
 child), Hopkinson — and Mama. 
 
 The supper was at 12 and the company parted 
 at 3. Miss Wodehouse dances very well, but is as 
 ugly as Sin. She professes an immense regard for 
 you, and told me she had again wrote. So pray 
 answer a few lines : for, as you must be acquainted 
 when you return, it will be better to be civil to her : 
 she has enough to be mortified about in her face ! I 
 forgot to name her brother who danced, as also 
 another great boy. Master Chester. 
 
 I was very much entertained with the account you 
 gave me of your Little Concert and succeeding Riot. 
 It puts me in mind of my Youth and I believe if you 
 were at Panthemont the nuns would think you were 
 gone back again to my days ! I am glad my little girl 
 is merry at all events. A Night Cap is a very Good 
 Terrorem. At Panthemont it was kissing the ground 
 in the middle of the Choir. I dreaded it more than 
 many people do hanging. I shall endeavour, my 
 Dearest Charlotte, to send you the little money you 
 have expended, and the other things you asked for. 
 Had you not a guinea pocket money extraordinary 
 when your account was paid ? I order'd it. Adieu, 
 my Dear Little Girl. I shall write again soon, and 
 in the mean while send a kiss to the two httle fat 
 Cheeks I have so often paid that homage too. 
 
 On the subject of the interior economy, the discipline and 
 amusements of a fashionable ladies' convent in Paris under the 
 ancien rdgime, many entertaining details will be found in the 
 ' Memoirs of the Princesse de Ligne,' who was educated at the 
 
30 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1786 
 
 Abbaye-aux-Bois, Rue de S^ves, very much about the same 
 time. There is no reason to beheve that the manners and 
 customs varied greatly at different institutions of the same 
 class. 
 
 COSSEY, 
 
 Janry. the 2nd. 1786. 
 
 My Dearest Charlotte, 
 
 We left London on Tuesday last 25th. and 
 arrived here, in the middle of snows, the day after. 
 Your uncle Arthur and his Lady who lodged with us 
 at Lothian's Hotel, left London about ten minutes 
 before we did. They proposed stopping a night or 
 two at S'^ Edward Hailes, near Canterbury ; and 
 then again some days at Cambray where Dillon's 
 regiment is quartered and where also are M.^^ Dillon's 
 mother (M'^^ de Girardin), her son and daughter 
 From thence they all proceed together to Paris, 
 where they both promised me they would call upon 
 you two days after their arrival. They have got for 
 you, five guineas in money, a letter from Mama with 
 a very pretty steel neck lace which I hope you will 
 like. Mrs. Dillon is a good Humour'd, well meaning 
 woman, much attach'd to my Brother, which gives 
 her great merit in my eyes, as he is really a most" 
 aimahU Man every way, the best of Hearts with 
 every other Good Quality. He succeeded very much 
 here. We were in London only three weeks ; but 
 during that time all the Great People seem'd to wish 
 to shew him how much he was esteem'd. Lord 
 Carmarthen said he had to thank him, as Secretary 
 of State, for his great Humanity and noble Behaviour 
 to the English in the Island ; and what was still 
 more flattering. Lord Thurloe, the Chancellor, desired 
 
1786] LORD THURLOE AND COLONEL DILLON 31 
 
 to be introduced to him, to say that not only he had 
 Respected him in Common with every Body as a 
 very Brave Officer, but that it was evident that he 
 was not a less good Civilian ; and so as he had been 
 very happy to put Thurloe, under my Brother's name, 
 to ratify all the decrees passed during the three years 
 of his governorship of St. Christopher's. On this 
 island being ceded again to the English, the Busi- 
 ness my Brother had done there had been revised 
 at home and approved of by the Chancellor. His 
 approbation, as he is in general a very Rough sort of 
 Gentleman, is extreamely flattering and raised my 
 Brother very much in the Opinion the people here. 
 In short I must own it gave me great pleasure to see 
 him thus Received. He was also taken great notice 
 of by the King, and Queen, and Prince of Wales ; 
 and there has been many flattering paragraphs about 
 him in the Papers. There appeared also Verses, 
 three weeks running, in the Norwich Mercury which 
 I will send you. 
 
 The manner in which my Brother has been treated 
 here, has greatly Reconciled me to the idea of WilHam 
 serving abroad, for which reason I have given 
 George an account about his Uncle. Lady Clifford's 
 third son, who is eighteen and was brought at Liege, 
 is entered into Dillon's regiment, and is to be this 
 winter at Paris with them in order to have Masters. 
 They say he is a very Handsome Young Man. He 
 will most likely call upon you ; and if he does, you 
 may say he is your Oncle a la mode de Bretagne ; being 
 my Cousin German he is what they call so in France. 
 
32 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1786 
 
 My Brother has reason to hope that he will be 
 made Governor of La Martinique ; and, if so, his 
 wife's daughter, M"^ de la Touche, who is ten years 
 old is to go to a Convent. My Brother wishes 
 for the Blue Nuns, his wife for the Ursulines, and the 
 Girl for Abbaye aux Bois. I recommended the first, 
 that she might learn to speak English ; but if not 
 that, certainly the Ursulines. She has been already 
 at the Abbaye de Montmartre, but did not hke it. 
 S'' W"" has received your pretty letter. The 
 Chevaher is certainly mad and Pere Arnout also. 
 I will tell you more about this in my next. Pray 
 My Dearest Little Girl, write soon. I love you 
 Dearly. 
 
 General Arthur Dillon had married en secondes noces the widow 
 of the Comte de la Touche {nde&B, Girardin) ; the Mademoiselle 
 de la Touche here referred to married later Edward, Duke of 
 Fitzjames. 
 
 About this time the question seems to have been first mooted 
 of William Jerningham taking, like his father before him, service 
 under the French King (Sir William had served in his youth 
 first in the Chevaux Ldgers de la Maison de Louis XV., then in 
 the Regiment Fitzjames). The corps selected for William 
 Jerningham was, naturally enough, considering his mother's 
 connection, Dillon's Regiment, in which he served for several 
 years before passing, at the outbreak of the Revolution, into the 
 Austrian service. 
 
 Pfere Arnout was tutor to the Jerningham boys. 
 
 COSSEY. 
 
 Mch. dth. 
 
 My Dearest Charlotte, 
 
 Enclosed is a letter for the Mere Generale to 
 say all that you desire. I have told her that my 
 

1786] MRS. FITZHERBERT 33 
 
 Pretty Girl's Menus Plaisirs must change into a 
 Guinea a Month and that augmentation to begin, if 
 she thinks proper, from last January. This will set 
 you a little at your ease, for I hope the 6£ you men- 
 tioned to me last year was employ'd in the same 
 manner this Shrovetide for dinners etc. and that 
 you amused yourself as well as before. I have, also 
 desired that Geography and Italian masters may be 
 employ'd, the dancing to be no more doubled, and 
 even I think that 2 lessons of dancing a week would 
 be sufficient at present. The dropping this lesson 
 would make you gain time for your other studies 
 and would also decrease the number of lessons to be 
 produced upon your memoire, which must be a pretty 
 strong orie. But I want my sweet Girl to acquire as 
 many talents as she has naturall Good Qualities. 
 Perhaps you could drop a lesson also of your music 
 master and so only take 2 singing lessons a week. 
 As you have Harp, and Harpsichord besides, I 
 think it would be sufficient. I am very glad you 
 are reading Rollin's Histoire Ancienne, it is per- 
 fectly well written and very Instructive. Is it 
 L' Abb6 Millotte's A brege de Vhistoire de France that 
 is recommended ? 
 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert has, I believe, been married to 
 the Prince. But it is a very hazardous undertaking, 
 as there are two acts of Parlement against the validity 
 of such an Alliance : concerning her being a subject, 
 and her being Catholick. God knows how it will 
 turn out — it may be to the Glory of our Belief, or it 
 may be to the Great dismay and destruction of it ! 
 
 VOL. I. 3 
 
34 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1786 
 
 She has taken a Box to herself at the Opera, a 
 thing which no Lady but the Dutchess of Cumber- 
 land ever did — a hundred guineas a year ! The 
 Prince is very assiduous in attending her in all publick 
 places, but she lives at her own House, and he at 
 his. Do you remember seeing her when she was 
 the widow Weld ? She came to see me one morning 
 in Charles Street and you found her face too fat. 
 Her sister, Miss Smith, is married to S"^ Carnaby 
 Haggerston. 
 
 COSSEY, 
 
 March the lyd. 
 
 I begin to think the time long since I had the 
 pleasure of hearing from my Dearest Girl, I hope 
 that you are quite well ; perhaps the Lent duties 
 which I recollect last year you said were double, 
 may have not allow'd you time to write, but I hope 
 that my Little Charlotte thinks of me : it is but a 
 justice due to the many hours I pass in occupying 
 my mind about her. 
 
 Since I wrote, my dear, to you and the Mere 
 Gen^rale, your account has again been transmitted 
 from Der6gaux. . . . Upon the whole I see that 
 your expence must be 200;f a year, and as I hope my 
 pretty Girl takes pains to improve, it is in my opinion 
 money excellently well laid out. However, sometimes, 
 as we are not yet very affluent. Sir W"" finds it a 
 good deal. I have therefore been a little uneasy 
 about this Italian Master, fearing that such a number 
 of different Lessons may only defeat the wish'd 
 for purpose of general Information : with the 
 
-1786] POCKET-MONEY 35 
 
 additional Geography, it will also swell the next 
 account Considerably. Pray my Sweet Girl, let 
 me know your opinion of all this, for you know 
 that I often abide by your advice, and you may 
 settle it with the Mere Gen^rale if you approve 
 of it. I read to Papa the little short account 
 of your 12th. and that you had nothing left for 
 the remainder of the month, and he said Poor 
 Girl, that's hard upon her, so the guinea was im- 
 mediately agreed to. . . . I would not have you 
 want for anything that is necessary to your comfort 
 or good appearance where you are, which I know is 
 nearly allied to comfort : but only one must not lose 
 sight of proper Economy. I can assure you that \ 
 am obliged to keep within very strict limits ; but I 
 do not mind myself, it is a real truth that I have 
 more gratification in knowing that all of you want 
 for nothing, than in anything which might be a 
 personal douceur. 
 
 Your old acquaintance Miss Eleanora Arundell, 
 who is just turn'd of 20, is going to be married to 
 Mr. Charles Clifford, Lord Clifford's Brother ; he or 
 his children will most likely have the Clifford Estate 
 and title, as his Elder Brother has now been 
 married 7 or 8 years and never had a Child. At 
 present his fortune is not considerable but he is a 
 very pleasing young man (26) and of a most un- 
 exceptionable character. Lord Arundell will, I 
 suppose, make up all defficiencys in point of money. 
 The Eldest Sister, who is called Mrs. Arundell, lay 
 in of a Son in the Winter. She usually resides in 
 Lincolnshire at her Mother's Estate. 
 
36 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1786 
 
 Ldy Clifford writes me word that the Petres are 
 quite charmed with their Daughter in Law ; that 
 they think her Beautiful, whilst others are divided 
 about her having any Beauty at all ! However she 
 is, at present, quite the thing. People imagined 
 that the other match of Mr. Howard and Miss Petre 
 must follow, but there is no appearance of it at 
 present and it is now imagined will not take place. 
 I suppose she goes out this Winter but I have not 
 heard a word about her. The Wodehouses have 
 been in London this long time. Miss Wodehouse 
 told Miss Sneyde (a niece of the Bishop's), that you 
 were the dearest friend she had in the world, that 
 you were the handsomest, most accomplished Charm- 
 ing girl, she could see. How one sometimes gains 
 by absenting oneself! However, seriously, I begin 
 to think she has persuaded herself that she is partial 
 to you. 
 
 Miss Arundell, who is going to be Mrs. Clifford, 
 is tall, and pretty, but has that same gawkey stoop 
 that she had when she was a Girl, and which, I am 
 afraid, proceeds in some measure from weakness, 
 as she looks very consumptive and was ill all the 
 winter. She enquired after you. Mrs. Arundell is 
 very little but has a pretty face, very quiet. ... I 
 think the match you have made a very good one, if 
 she is really to have so large a fortune, but Mr. 
 Hawkins has a Brother, a horrid man, a Renegade 
 Monk, who is married and has Children. I thought 
 Miss Hawkins was more than 13. Does she follow 
 you in your masters as she did at first ? I suppose 
 her Mother is got better. M^e Dillon is with Child. 
 
1786] SILVER GOWNS 
 
 2,7 
 
 What an affliction for Madame de L'Abbaye-aux- 
 Bois, to have her Brother detected in such a paltry 
 theft ! Who does the Little M<Je de Chabrillant live 
 with ? tis a great folly to put a Girl of her age in 
 menage. I suppose M.^^ de la Force does not yet think 
 of it. Adieu my dearest Charlotte, be well assured 
 of my sincere love and affection. • Poor Neddy is at 
 school and very well. 
 
 The daughter-in-law with whom, according to Lady Clifford's 
 account, the Petres were so much delighted, was the Mary 
 Howard mentioned above in connection with the ' Blue Nuns ' 
 (see p. 14). 
 
 Madame de r.\bbaye-aux-Bois no doubt refers to Madame 
 Marie Madeleine de Chabrillan, who had some ten or fifteen 
 years before succeeded Madame de Richelieu (sister of the 
 famous Mardchal) as the head of that Bernardine convent. 
 
 May nth. 
 
 My Pretty, Dear Charlotte, 
 
 I hope soon to have the pleasure of hearing 
 from you and in the meanwhile must entertain 
 myself by writing to you. Have you heard from 
 Lady Belmore about your muslin ? 
 
 I writ to her to get you one, because she always 
 asks as a favour to be employ'd about something for 
 you. The white dresses are certainly the prettyest 
 at your age and are wore entirely here by the young 
 people with sashes. I propose bringing you a very 
 fine silver Gown. It is a new Norwich manufactury. 
 Everybody is ordering them : the whole gown comes 
 to about 7 guineas and looks like a beautiful, magni- 
 ficent gold muslin. They make them also plain 
 
38 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1786 
 
 which are very pretty and cost but 2 guineas. I 
 wish I could send you one of the plain ones, but I 
 am told that they are become particularly strict at 
 the custom house about cloath's, so that I cannot 
 send it by the Dilligence, as one can a small parcel 
 of anything else. The plain Norwich cottons are 
 very like the Manchester, of which you once had a 
 gown, which Molly now wears. 
 
 Pray let Lady Anastatia know that Mrs. Barbauld 
 is a " Lady of Great Litterary merit and of parti- 
 cular good Character. That she was a Miss Aikin, 
 of York, and published several poems and a devo- 
 tional tract ; that she married Mr. Barbauld, a 
 dissenting minister, who kept a school at Diss in 
 Suffolk; that they were both very much esteemed, 
 and last year gave up their school, to the regrett of 
 several who had their children there ; that they are 
 friends of Miss Brand's, and that their own personal 
 merit entitles them to Respect and Notice." You 
 must, my Jewel, write this immediately to Lady 
 Anastatia, as she tells me that Mrs. Barbauld had 
 come to the Convent reccommended by Miss Brand 
 and that she did not know what to make of her, 
 but desire'd I would inform her, either by writing 
 myself or through you. Therefore I chose to write 
 to my Dear Little Girl. 
 
 Pray is Miss Chichester come to you ? I suppose 
 she is daughter to a Mr. Chichester of Devonshire, 
 a Chatholick Gentleman of very large fortune. Lady 
 Stourton lies in of a Son. You should institute an 
 Album at the UrsuUnes ; it would be very enter- 
 
1786] MRS. BARBAULD 39_ 
 
 taining for to look at in some years : every pensioner 
 to write a sentence in verse, or prose and in any 
 language v/ith their name and the date and month 
 and year. Adieu my Dearest dear Girl. 
 
 The following is one of the rare letters from Sir William 
 preserved in the collection ; it is characteristic as a specimen of 
 the rather formal correspondence of a father who but seldom 
 wrote to his daughter. 
 
 The ' German stomach ' of General Jerningham refers to the 
 digestive organs of another relation, probably one of Sir William's 
 numerous uncles, who had risen to high rank in the Austrian 
 service. 'Your Uncle Henry' is Colonel Henry Dillon, 
 and ' my brother Edward,' who plays his harp, is, of course, 
 ' the Poet.' 
 
 COSSEY, 
 
 Monday June \<^th. 
 
 Your Brother Edward, I found was appointed this 
 Post to be Secretary to your Mama, but I desired 
 him to give me up that office that I might have the 
 pleasure myself, my Dear Charlotte, of informing you 
 that your Mama is a great deal better and mends 
 every day. She has had an Intermitting fever these 
 eight days, which Complaints you know are very 
 troublesome but noways dangerous. She began the 
 Bark yesterday and agreed very well with her, which 
 it never did before ; I hope now in a few days she 
 will be quite well. I wish I had some news that I 
 could write to you, but there is none stirring here. 
 We have in the House General Jerningham, whose 
 German Stomach is as voracious as ever, and your 
 Unkle Henry, who is in very good spirits. I brought 
 
40 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1786 
 
 him back with me about a fortnight ago as I went 
 thro' Worcester to Stafford. My Brother Edward 
 who is also here, and plays his Harp every night, is 
 grown fat and is as lazy as you remember him. 
 To-morrow is the Norwich Guild, Mr. Jerry Ives 
 the Mayor. We are all invited and shall go, except 
 your poor Mama who is not able (and I believe not 
 sorry, for you know she does not much like those 
 kind of entertainments). I shall be very happy, 
 My Dear Charlotte, in the pleasure I shall 
 have in seeing you next August. Pray let me 
 know if I can bring you anything from London 
 that you wish to have, which I will do with great 
 pleasure, I assure you. I find you have seen 
 your Brothers lately. Pere Arnout did not much 
 approve of their stay at Paris so long, as he writes 
 word. For my part I like it very much and am 
 very much obliged to your Unkle Arthur for keeping 
 them (pray did Madame Dillon give you five guineas 
 I sent you by her when she returned to Paris, last 
 Xmas : I only ask the question as I dont remember 
 your Mama ever telling me you had received it.) 
 
 Please to present my respects to Madame La 
 Generale and 
 
 Believe me, most sincerely, 
 
 Your Affectionate Father 
 
 W. Jerningham. 
 
 When you write pray inform yourself particularly 
 about the Abbe Plowden, as I hear he is ill and 
 cannot live long. I shall not be sorry for him 
 upon two accounts : the first is that I shall have 
 a friend in Heaven to pray for us, and the Second 
 
1786] THE LAST OF FIGHTING FITZGERALD 41 
 
 is which is a more Worldly wish, that the annuity 
 I pay him of 3^300 per annum I shall give to your 
 Good Mama for Pin Money. Adieu, mon Cosur, 
 your Unkles and Cousin and Brother desire their 
 loves to you. 
 
 In Lady Jemingham's next letter of gossip we find a con- 
 temporary reference to the end of that notorious scamp, George 
 Robert Fitzgerald, one of the most prominent figures in the 
 annals of British duelling. The story of his 'election' at 
 Brookes', often related (and among others by John Timb in 
 ' Clubs and Club Life in London '), is too well known to need 
 repeating here. 
 
 COSSEY, 
 
 June the iZth. 
 
 My Dearest Charlotte, 
 
 I think you will be glad to see my Hand- 
 writing again, and therefore I make use of my 
 returning good Health to Converse with my poor 
 Little Girl. After I wrote last my fever was some- 
 thing worse, and I desired yi' Papa to let you know 
 how I was; but now thank God I am really quite 
 Recover'd and have only weakness left of my dis- 
 order, which is what will mend every day. I have 
 taken the Bark for the last week and yesterday went 
 down stairs to the Library, so that you see I am 
 now quite in the way of Health. 
 
 A sad affair has just happened In Ireland, a Mr. 
 Fitzgerald a gentleman of good fortune, (whose 
 Mother Lady Mary Fitzgerald is Sister to Lord 
 Bristol and to the late L'ly Mulgrave, Mrs. Dillon's 
 
42 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1786 
 
 Mother) after a very profligate Bad Course of Life 
 at length in the most audacious manner, caused and 
 was present at the Murder of a gentleman (Mr. 
 McDonald) in his own Park. This happened in 
 February last. He was immediately, with the two 
 other who were his dependants, taken into Custody ; 
 and on the 12th. of this month, was in consequence 
 of the Verdict against Him, Hanged with Brecknock 
 and Fulton, his two associates. I knew him formerly 
 in London. He was a very pretty young man, only 
 always fighting duels. He married L'^y Buckingham's 
 youngest sister. Miss Connolly, by whom he has one 
 Daughter a very handsome Girl, about 14. What a 
 dreadful thing ! and how much does this show the 
 want of good principles being sowed when young, 
 to Counteract the effects of ungoverned Passion. 
 Mr. Fitzgerald might now have been about 37 or 8. 
 His first Wife is dead. He behaved always very 
 well to her and was very fond of his daughter. His 
 second wife, who is living, he was parted from. 
 
 Two letters, written in November, forecast the end of 
 Charlotte's course of education with the Ursulines. Soon 
 after, early in December, Lady Jerningham started forth on her 
 journey of deliverance. 
 
 {November 1786) 
 I think with Pleasure that I shall soon take this 
 Little Solitary Hermit out of Confinement, and 
 enjoy the reward of my own Resolution in having 
 parted from her, by the talents and accomplish- 
 ments it has been the means of her acquiring. You 
 
43 
 
 1786] A CATHOLIC MARRIAGE 
 
 may be certain, My Dear, of being Indulged in every 
 thing that it is in my power to grant you ; and, there- 
 fore, Mdlle Dacier may, upon your Hking her and 
 giving her so good a Character, rest assured of 
 remaining with you. 
 
 Miss Barbara Webb (daughter to S"- John Webb, 
 and to a Pretty Lady Webb whom you may just 
 remember to have seen when you were very httle) 
 has married the Earl of Shaftesbury, a Protestant. 
 She is a Catholick, was brought up at the English 
 Nuns at Louvain, and afterwards at Port Royal in 
 Paris. She is 24, and reckoned pretty ; her Father 
 can give her a very large fortune if He choses it. 
 What has brought on this match I cant tell. I 
 think the Catholick Ladies seem to be in fashion ! 
 
 November 21. 
 
 CoNBURY House, 
 Kingstown. 
 My dearest Charlotte, 
 
 I am now at my Father's new house at 
 Kingstown, ten miles from London, and therefore 
 so far on my way to my sweet dear Girl at Paris ! 
 It will now be a very few days before we take 
 the absolute Dover Road and then I shall see 
 England no more without my Little Great Girl 
 being with me. 
 
 L<i and L<Jy Dillon desire their kind love to you ; 
 they are very good to Neddy, who is however a 
 
44 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1786 
 
 little in awe before them. Adieu encore une fois. I 
 had a very pretty, kind letter before I left Cossey. 
 Your Papa sends you a kiss and I every thing that 
 is tender and kind. I shall write again in a few 
 days. You might write to me directed, chez Mr. 
 Paston a St. Omer as we shall pass there, and I want 
 to hear from my Little Girl again. Adieu ma chere 
 petite. Lady Clifford has a house at Richmond, 3 
 miles from hence. Miss Clifford has had a fit of the 
 Gout and is yet lame. 
 
 On her arrival in Paris, Lady Jerningham finds a letter from 
 her French brother, General Arthur Dillon, then in command of 
 his regiment over the seas. 
 
 A Milady. 
 Milady Jerningham, a Paris. 
 
 De LA RivifeRE Monsieur 
 
 Ile Martinique. 
 
 le 12 V"-^ 1786. 
 
 J'espere my chere soeur que cette lettre vous 
 trouvera en bonne sant6 a Paris. Que j'ai de regrets 
 de ne pas y etre avec vous ! J'y ^i reuni a present 
 les personnes que j'aime le mieux au monde, mais 
 j'eprouve bien la verite du proverbe : — ' On n'est pas 
 en ce monde pour ses aises avoir.' Je suis au moins 
 destin6 a bien labourer avant d'en fetre la. J'espere 
 aussi que vous aurez conserve votre amiti6 a M<ie Dillon : 
 elle me rend le plus heureux des hommes, c'est un 
 titre aupres de vous et d'ailleurs elle a pour vous 
 I'amitie la plus Tendre. Vous n'aurez, je vous 
 promets, jamais a vous plaindre que de sa paresse, 
 

 -- a ymyyua^Ad^. 
 
 l,i,nd^r,-Ri,;LdidB n',. 
 
1786] LETTER FROM THE FRENCH BROTHER 45 
 
 qui a la verite est excessive : c'est un de mes vices 
 qu'elle s'est appropri6 et a meme perfection^ ! 
 
 J'ai fait un voyage aussi agr^able qu'il pouvait 
 etre une travers6e de trente deux jours par un beau 
 terns, et une relache a Madere, que j'ai ete enchante 
 de voir. Vous aurez eu un moment bien d^licieux — 
 celui d'embrasser votre enfant ! Trouvez-vous que 
 j'aie exagere sur Charlotte et sur les petits gar9ons ? 
 lis tourneront a bien si vous ne permettez pas qu'ils 
 soyent stupefies par trop de p6danterie : le charac- 
 tere de George ne s'y pretera jamais. Comment Sir 
 William trouve-t-il le s6jour de Paris ? Ne regrette- 
 t-il pas de perdre, dans l'oisivet6 des villes, le tems 
 ou I'on plante les Scotch Firs ? 
 
 II devrait bien m'6crire, mais il n'en fera rien. 
 Adieu ma chere sceur. Donnez moi de vos nouvelles, 
 et conservez toujours votre amitie pour un frere qui 
 vous aime bien tendrement. 
 J'ecris a mon frere. 
 
 During the period that elapsed between Charlotte Jerning- 
 ham's return home in 1787 and her marriage in 1795— years 
 which she naturally spent almost without intermission in her 
 mother's company— the letters preserved in the collection are 
 comparatively few, and of a more miscellaneous character. 
 
 One of the first is docketed : 
 
 'From Edward Jemingham (the Poet), from London, 1788, 
 with the note in Lady Bedingfeld's hand : Be/ore I had been 
 out in the world' 
 
 Dear, Dear Charlotte, 
 
 If I had wrote to you as often as I have 
 thought of you, I should have written at Least once 
 
46 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1788 
 
 a day. I have not forgot our walks, our poetical 
 conversations &c, and I hope my summers will be 
 brighten'd by your society : some part at least of 
 each summer at Cossey, or at the seat (wherever it 
 shall be) of which Providence shall appoint you to 
 be the Mistress. I now look forward to the seeing 
 you in Town. I flatter myself you will bring with 
 you your best looks : your fame is gone before you, 
 and I hear by other people singularly fine things ; 
 but partial as I am, I am cautious of saying much 
 to others for fear it shou'd appear like a Puff. 
 
 I suppose you have been reading, drawing, and 
 musiking : these employments have added wings to 
 the Time. I hope you have not meditated on The 
 grave subject : with added years Sec, but have rather, I 
 trust, enjoy'd the sunshine of the mind. This kind 
 of intellectual fine weather depends more than is 
 imagined upon the endeavours of the person who 
 wishes to secure it. 
 
 I have no particular news, or Novelty to fill my 
 paper with, so you must allow me to be stupid, and I 
 am entitled to the priviledge of stupidity by having a 
 bad cold. The Tragical fate of poor Wall has been 
 a Topic at the fire-side at Cossey. I am glad I did 
 not know Him. I have a print or Two for you. 
 The collars I promised, I cannot get. I have read 
 nothing very Interesting of late. The new play of 
 Julia I have not been to : I am more assiduous at 
 the opera than at the Play-house. 
 
 I Believe L'^y Belmore is not yet come to Town. 
 Mr. Edgcombe, whom I thought had conceived a 
 partiality for your Friend Sophia, I thought and 
 
1788] THE POET 47 
 
 wished might have continued so. But I find by 
 what he says that he has transfer'd all his views to 
 one of the Daughters at Blenheim where the family 
 are acting Plays and He is one of the performers : 
 I am sure however he will not meet with success in 
 That Quarter. I suppose you will see the Wode- 
 houses, they are gone to Kimberley : 
 
 My Love to your Mama and your little neighbour. 
 I hear L^y Dillon is pretty well, she complains of her 
 house, and wishes very much to get into another : I 
 am to see her next week and then I shall write to 
 L<iy Jerningham. 
 
 Adieu. 
 
 R. s. V. P. 
 Green street, Grosv'nor square. 
 
 Another, from the same writer, follows almost immediately 
 the foregoing in the order of the collection, but its date is three 
 years later (Charlotte Jerningham was then nearly twenty years 
 of age). It is addressed to : 
 
 ' Mademoiselle Jerningham, 
 
 ' Place Roialle, 
 
 ' Bruxelles.' 
 
 June 21. 1791. 
 Dear Charlotte, 
 
 I thought our correspondence had died of a 
 consumption in the flower of her youth. I had 
 frequently sighed over her grave. But your Infor- 
 mation has undeceived me and has exhibited the 
 departed Nymph in all the Lustre of Health. 
 
 I thank you particularly for the egotism-part of 
 
48 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1791 
 
 your letter; what relates to your Individuality is 
 peculiarly interesting to me and cannot be picked up 
 in the Brussels Gazette, tho' every thing else may. 
 I should Like to hear the sound of your harp on one 
 of the gray days ; if I could hover in spirit over you, I 
 would strike a most soothing melancholy Tone from 
 one of the strings. It would become me, at my Time 
 of Life, to enjoy (or rather to suffer) some gray days, but 
 I have seldom or never any : my Individuality is much 
 the same, I have a continuance of good health with 
 better spirits. I have renounced most public and 
 crowded Assemblies : my Assembly is the opera. I 
 live with the same set as I did, we all go gently down 
 the hill together, yet I think old Time has got upon 
 a race-horse. I have a little wax figure of you in my 
 Library which I treasured as one of my best orna- 
 ments. The head fell off the other day ! Had I not 
 heard from the chevalier since, I should have had 
 some ominous impression and grey sensation about 
 the original. My nurse is much flatter'd with all you 
 say about her, and will be happy to receive the 
 Cassandra — a large Picture in oil by Hamilton is at 
 Macklin's Exhibition, which is much liked by the 
 connoisseurs. 
 
 I hope this will reach you before you go to Spa ; 
 I wish you much entertainment there and every 
 where. And when you have played truant long 
 enough I hope you will return and root upon your 
 Mother-soil. I deliver'd your commission to Miss 
 Wodehouse : she says she forgives you, tho' it is 
 abominable in you ! She is much improved ; she is 
 all good humour, pleasantry, and vivacity. But I do 
 
I79I] TITTLE-TATTLE OF THE TOWN 49 
 
 not see any appearance of her changing her name. I 
 wish her well - established near Town within my 
 reach. Your old friend, L^y Valletort, is near her 
 Time, and the mountains are all in Expectation of 
 the mouse. She is upon the whole far from being 
 happy, she is undervalued in the family, her In- 
 feriority of mind is a pretence for neglecting her. She 
 is sensible of this neglect and is very warm and 
 passionate at Times, which makes her situation more 
 uncomfortable. — L'ly Ann Villars was married yester- 
 day to Mr. Lampton — L^y Jersey is overjoy'd at 
 this match — she has five more daughters to dispose 
 of. The Dormers seem perfectly pleased with the 
 marriage of Miss Dormer with Mr. Knight. It is 
 not an illustrious connection : he is the natural son 
 of L<i Luxborough, who was nobody, but who left 
 an immense fortune to his son. 
 
 The Tittle Tattle of the Town at present is the 
 separation of the P— and Mrs. F. It is founded 
 upon her bying a house near London and on her 
 not accompanying the P — to Brighton. I give no 
 credit to the separation, or at best think it an 
 artificial one to deceive the K— and Q— , whose 
 pecuniary assistance he wants so much. 
 
 Adieu, my clever niece — I have picked up 
 occasionally some intelligence about you from per- 
 sons who have been at Brussels — You are above 
 flattery, so I shall not repeat what they say. Your 
 riding in a masterly way is not what suits my idea of 
 female meekness, but I allow you to be amazon as 
 you have so many claims upon the arts which soften 
 down the Intrepidity of the amazon — Miss Petre is 
 VOL. I. 4 
 
So JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1791 
 
 not an Amazon, but she looks so cross, so forlorn ! as 
 if she was under some great misfortune. The men 
 do not like her and I am told she is very unpopular 
 at Balls. I never see the Petres, scarcely et le 
 n'est pas gigantesque. 
 
 My best remembrance to every body. 
 
 Yours sincerely and affectionately. 
 
 The following quaint letter from Lady Anastatia Stafford 
 (Sister Mary Ursula, at the ' Blue Nuns ' in Paris) is docketed 
 by Lady Bedingfeld : 
 
 ^ From Mary Ursula Stafford, to my father. Sir W"' Jerning- 
 ham.' The relationship of ' nephew and cousin ' stood, of course, 
 through Mary Plowden, whose mother was sister to the last 
 Earl of Stafford. 
 
 Paris. 
 
 ye i-^th. July 1791. 
 
 Well ! my Dear nephew and Cousin, To answer 
 your 4 kind Letres of ye 30th. Ult. article by article : 
 1° I received them with great pleasure, as you say 
 you did mine. 2° you say you shall take no sort of 
 Notice of what is passed: I don't know any thing 
 you have to take notice of, for I think, I have been a 
 very good relation to you, and so have you to m.e, 
 and I see no reason why you should change. 3° you 
 send me a Draft for w^^ I thank you kindly. 
 
 Last Sunday I gave a Little Feast to all our 
 Abbesses past, present and to come ; and this Day I 
 give another, composed of Pap, Pouding, and pease 
 for my Companion. We are 5 in number. As for a 
 general Feast, I don't know yet if I shall be able to 
 
1791] LETTER FROM LADY ANASTATIA 51 
 
 give it, for tho' the Mayor and municipalaty is kinder 
 to us than to their own, perhaps we shall at Last be 
 forced to seek a refuge in our own Country. In that 
 case, I think I shall do well to keep the rest of your 
 Bounty to pay our journey there, without you chuse 
 to send me another Draft for that purpose. But you 
 need not distress or hurry your self for that. No, 
 my Age gives me hopes : I shall go from hence to 
 heaven. I dont supose however, but I shall stop 
 some time in the way in an Auberge, called Pur- 
 gatory, from whence you must help me out, not so 
 much by money as prayers. You may give me some 
 of them, by way of prevention. 
 
 All my Mothers and Sisters here, desire their 
 Compliments to you and join me in the same to 
 your Lady and Family. But this is all her Lady^P 
 shall have from me, till she has paid me a Letter 
 she owes me, in answer to one I wrote her 2 Years 
 ago. I endeavour to follow the good example, given 
 me here, that is to say (and you will perceive it) to 
 bear our Crosses cheerfully. Adieu — that God may 
 Bless you and yours, is the daily prayer of 
 Dear Cousin 
 
 Your affectionate Cousin and 
 Servant, 
 
 Mary Ursula (Stafford). 
 
 The year 1792 saw the beginning of that general exodus of 
 ' aristocrats ' from revolutionized France which was to be known 
 under the broad term of Vdmigration. 
 
 In a letter, couched in his usual flirting style, addressed from 
 Paris early in this year to his niece at Cossey, the Poet 
 
52 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1792 
 
 announces his intention of departing for a land which was soon 
 to become a dangerous dwelling-place for all foreigners. 
 
 The account of the ruthless treatment of rioters by the King's 
 soldiers throws a curious side-light on the still uncertain state of 
 affairs in the capital : the abuse of authority still going on in face 
 of the growing tide of red revolt. 
 
 It is interesting to compare the opinion of Madame de 
 Cr^qui — that typical French patrician — on the merits of Madame 
 de Stael, with that of the Poet, who sees ' not the least pedantism 
 about her.' 
 
 If you could be informed by any fairy how often I 
 have thought of you, and talked of you, my silence 
 would assume the robe qf Innocence. I am upon 
 the Eve of my Departure and am resolved to get the 
 better of my Indolence for a few minutes and make 
 you a late but sincere Offering of my Remembrance 
 and best wishes : — my visit to Paris has been at- 
 tended with every circumstance to render it agree- 
 able, and I really feel uncomfortable at the thought 
 of leaving it : the Civilities and kindnesses I have 
 received impress themselves more forcibly upon me 
 when I am going to remove from the Persons from 
 whom they flowed. 
 
 The Impression you have made here is not yet 
 effaced : Madame Wall and the Crillons particularly 
 take a Delight in recalling you. I do not mean to 
 diminish your Excellence, but Beauty is not a general 
 Quality in Paris, and the few that are handsome 
 strike with more effect. 
 
 Of an event that happened the other night I was 
 an eye witness : the mob pass'd our window on their 
 way to the Hotel de Brienne, three doors off: there 
 they assembled with Flambeaus without appearing 
 
■1792] AN EMEUTE IN PARIS 53 
 
 to have any settled resolution about destroying the 
 house, for they stood at least a quarter of an hour 
 opposite the Hotel without committing any violence. 
 During this Suspence the French Gardes pass'd 
 our Door, and surprising the rioters, they fell upon 
 them in a most inhuman manner, Beating their 
 heads with the Musket and applying the point of the 
 Bayonet to several. One poor wretch, escaping the 
 tumult drop'd at our door. My Brother supplied 
 him with Linen and everything requisite for the 
 dressing of his wound, which, however, the Surgeon 
 declar'd to be Mortal; the bayonet had run so far 
 into his stomach. When the battle was over, Mons"" 
 de Brienne, (to remove a little the odium from his 
 name) order'd the man to be convey'd to his house, 
 where he died four hours after. By the means of the 
 flambeaux I saw the Military execution perfectly. 
 The poor rioters made very little resistance, and 
 they should have been taken prisoners and not 
 treated as if they had opposed Arms to Arms. 
 
 We have not heard the exact number of the men 
 who were slain ; I understand sixty were sent to the 
 hospital and four or five were killed upon the spot. — 
 
 The theatres are great resources for us foreigners : 
 Sacchini's music makes one bear French singers. 
 As for the French Tragedy it is so pompous and 
 stiff that I seldom visit Melpomene ; but for Thaha, 
 whenever Moliere takes her by the hand, I am 
 always of the party. The Varietes Amusantes I often 
 frequent. 
 
 The town is now in great joy at the return of Par- 
 liament, which assembled yesterday. 
 
54 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1792 
 
 I do not often see M^e de Sillery my neighbour, 
 she is so employ'd with her pupils — M^e. de Stael is 
 the literary Phenomenon here : she is not more than 
 twenty two and has not the least pedantism about 
 her — extremely cheerful, and has a rapidity of elo- 
 quence which surprises ; I have address'd some 
 verses to her which M'^^ de Bonileurs has trans- 
 lated. 
 
 The ladies here in general do not cultivate the 
 fine Arts ; but when they do apply I think they 
 surpass the nymphs of Albion. The daughter in law 
 of M<i« de Bonfleurs plays on the harp superior to 
 anything I have ever heard ; another lady plays 
 pianoforte beyond Miss Guest by many degrees ; 
 M<i^ de Valence draws inimitably; as for M^e de 
 Vence she wants no additional accomplishments : 
 she is a Being of another order. — Madame de 
 Gouvernet has a tincture of French and English 
 which gives her an original cast. — She wishes you 
 was settled here. 
 
 The lady to whom the Poet alludes as Madame de Gouvernet 
 is the Comtesse de la Tour du Pin Gouvernet, a daughter of 
 General Arthur Dillon. 
 
 During the summer of this year we again find Lady Jerning- 
 ham and her daughter in the Low Countries, first at Brussels, 
 then at Spa, partly for the sake of the waters and of the fashion- 
 able gathering which even during the progress of the war was 
 to be found throughout the summer at the latter place, but 
 principally for the sake of being near William, the second son 
 
1792] THE POET ON MDE. DE STAEL 55 
 
 who had entered the Austrian service, and was then serving, 
 under Clairfayt, in Bender's Regiment. 
 
 A letter from George Jerningham, who had remained at 
 home with Sir William, reaches Charlotte Jerningham at Spa. 
 
 COSSEY, 
 
 September loth. 
 
 Dont be angry, Dear Sister, at my not answer- 
 ing your letter sooner. I should have done it had I 
 found time before, but I have not been a week 
 together at Cossey, scarcely, since we came. We 
 returned last night from Felfrigg where we had been 
 for some days ; Mr. Windham is as gentle as ever, 
 warming his hands by the fire, but violent against the 
 Jacobins ; and so is every body, except some rascals 
 at Norwich. I am very glad to hear the Duke of 
 Brunswick getts on so well. I suppose William 
 will remain at the camp at Tournai and be obliged, 
 as the Chev. say's in his letter, de se contenter des 
 lauriers quHl a acquis a Orchies. I want very much 
 to hear from him. 
 
 Mr. Bedingfield has just been here, and will return 
 to-morrow to shoot, in his way to Oxburgh. Sir 
 Richard has been very ill, and probably will not 
 survive the winter. Mr. B. is grown very fat. Howard 
 of Corby is going to be married to a Miss Leneve, 
 a Niece of H. Hubbuds. I hope this will find Ned 
 quite recovered. We have now got through most 
 of our visits except Holkham and Oxburgh. We shall 
 go to Blickling for a day or 2 at the end of the 
 month, for the Aylsham ball. 
 
 We leave Cossey, I believe, about the end of 
 
56 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1792 
 
 October. When we shall meet again or where, God 
 knows. I see you are rather angry for my taking 
 up my quarters in your Room, but I think I did 
 very right, for more than once all the rooms have 
 been occupied so that if I had been in the Green 
 or blue room some one must have slept in yours, 
 and I flatter myself you had rather I should sleep in 
 it than a stranger who would have been pulHng all 
 your things about, perhaps. Every thing is just as 
 you left it, even the bats in the black closet where I 
 am now writing. I hope my Mother continues well, 
 pray thank her for the list of Spa which I received 
 last week. The Chev. will be here, I believe, before 
 the end of the month. Mr. Chamberlayne desires 
 his comps. I met Cosmo Gordon in Italy. Those 
 little trees, which were so very very small quite buried 
 in grass and ling, are still rather rather small. Those 
 going to Hudsons wood not much grown either; 
 all about where our horses used to be looks very 
 dismal, and so are all the old walks, and the old 
 tree by the Temple, where we used to churn. Adieu 
 Dear Sister, write to me soon and tell me all you 
 know of the armies. 
 
 I remain. 
 
 Yours &c. 
 
 G. Jerningham. 
 
 Sir William is very well he writes to, and hears 
 
 from Miss D every now and then, she has 
 
 taken Supretini's lodging for the winter ; she writes 
 word also that the Gardiners have not yet left 
 Brussels. Do you ever go to 'Theux on a 
 Sunday ? I suppose the Salms reckon themselves 
 
1792] WILLIAM IN THE AUSTRIAN SERVICE 57 
 
 the smartest people for horses and carriages. 
 Continue winning : you play, I dont doubt, at the 
 gold table. The kitchen garden is going to be 
 made from the old barns down to the bridge, and 
 a new bridge is to be built nearer the ford. The 
 Octagon barn has been whitened. Harvest is not 
 yet finished. The entrance is to be from the 
 Falcon with lodges, the road to the new bridge. 
 
 The combined Austro-Prussian army, during the first war of 
 the Revolution, achieved a very definite superiority : the French 
 had for a time to act chiefly on the defensive along their own 
 frontier, and the Netherlands were considered quite safe. Spa, 
 which was then an even more fashionable resort than now, 
 remained full of visitors during the autumn. 
 
 It is to be noted that two Dillons were at that time serving 
 on the French side, with whom it might have been William's 
 fate to cross swords. One was the Comte Theobald Dillon, 
 known as Le Beau Dillon, a collateral of Lady Jerningham's 
 family — some say illegitimately, but nevertheless connected 
 by /blood with the Lords Dillon. Of him Lally Tollendal, 
 writing to Lord Sheffield in May, 1792, speaks as 'my relative 
 a'.id friend.' Arthur Dillon, the proprietary Colonel, had handed 
 over to him the command of the Regiment de Dillon in 1780. 
 This Theobald Dillon was massacred for a ' traitorous aristocrat ' 
 by his own mutinous troops at Lille, after the failure of an attack 
 upon the Austrian position at Toumay on April 29. 
 
 The other was General Arthur Dillon himself, one of 
 Lafayette's Lieutenants in the Arm^e du Nord, Lady Jerning- 
 ham's brother. It must be remembered that — albeit that 
 Louis XVI. was a prisoner— an officer in the French army 
 could still, up to the end of 1792, consider himself as serving 
 under the King. 
 
 The engagement at Orchies, mentioned in George's letter, 
 can hardly rank as a battle : On the 14th of July the com- 
 mander of the Austrian Northern Army directed the Comte de 
 
58 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1792 
 
 Latour to seize the post of Orchies, held at the time by a 
 battalion of La Somme. After some severe fighting the French 
 were finally expelled from that advanced position. 
 
 George Jerningham's letter to his sister is dated after the 
 ' September Massacres,' the news of which was to modify 
 English opinion so strongly concerning the nature of the 
 Revolutionary movement in France. The report had, however, 
 not yet reached the writer. 
 
 Lady Jerningham's letter to her son George giving the ' account 
 of William,' has not been preserved in the collection. By the 
 time when the following was penned (November 13) the fortune 
 of war had changed sides : the French had resumed the offen- 
 sive, and achieved, only a week before (November 6), an un- 
 doubted victory at Jemmapes. This is the ' Battle off Mons ' to 
 which Lady Jerningham alludes. It had been a severe action, 
 and notwithstanding the hopeful tone of the letter, the Austrians 
 were in retreat along the whole line. Concerning the battle of 
 Jemmapes, however, Jomini could make the following com- 
 mentary : ' Le lecteur impartial conviendra, cependant, que 
 18,000 Autrichiens exposds sur une mauvaise ligne d' operations, 
 a 200 lieues de leur pays, acquirent plus de gloire en se tirant 
 de la avec perte de 2,000 homines seulement, que le g&niral 
 Franqais [Dumouriez] en les laissant Jchapper.' 
 
 General Dillon was with Dumouriez's staff. 
 
 Brussels, 
 
 N'"'- 13. Tuesday. 
 My dear George, 
 
 To go on with my account of William : on 
 Saturday I received the enclosed letter from him, 
 and as I understood from his Soldier that he was 
 marching to the Camp of this side of Hal, we dined 
 early and set off after Dinner to make him a visit. 
 There were such a number of waggons on the Road 
 
1792] RETREAT AFTER JEMMAPES 59 
 
 that it was quite dark when we got there : I would 
 not therefore let William be called and we returned 
 by flambeau light to Brussels. 
 
 The next morning, Sunday, I set off at ten, and 
 tho' still more impediments were upon the road, got 
 there about 12. The Austrians were encamped of 
 this side of Hal ; the French at Brains-Le-Comte. 
 Some Regiments had their tents, but Bender's were 
 in the open air, day and night, and had been so 
 for about a fortnight. Whilst I was waiting in my 
 Coach for WilHam, Major Pollonitz of the Housards 
 came to us. He seemed in the same spirits as when 
 he is at a Ball, said there were 50,000 men there, 
 (for they had all arrived from Tournai since the 
 Battle) and that they hoped to have the beating of 
 the French soon. 
 
 Whilst we were talking, some Regiments began 
 to defile, with General Beaulieu on horseback be- 
 tween the Columns. It was said to be 30,000 men 
 going round to secure Namur. William at last 
 arrived and made us a visit of about half an hour 
 in the coach, when suddenly a firing began at the 
 outposts, a great distance off, and William left us. 
 
 Our Return was very tedious, as we were obliged 
 to follow General Beaulieu's 10,000 men encom- 
 passed with all the apendages of an army, waggons, 
 carts, dragoons on horseback, detached soldiers on 
 foot, wounded people in carts, women and children 
 upon asses, in short stopping every 5 minutes. We 
 got back to Brussels at seven. However, as I had 
 found William in perfect Health, his spirits returned, 
 and the whole army joyous, I was in hopes that all 
 
6o JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1792 
 
 would yet turn out more favourably. But the fact 
 is that the troops are defiling, and that the French, 
 by Convention, are to have Brussels for some time. 
 
 William, (by his Colonels leave), as the Regiment 
 passed the town, came in to us last night and lay 
 in your bed. This morning at six he went to rejoin 
 the Regiment at Starbuck, but found that they are 
 to rest, at least this morning. So he is come back 
 again and is in this moment gone to make a visit 
 •to my Sister ; he will write to you, or to his Father, 
 as soon as he is arrived to the place of his destina- 
 tion, of which at present he has no idea. Hornstyne 
 is with him and lay last night in his Room. He has 
 lost all his baggage at Tournai, and a 100 Louis his 
 father had just sent him, which puts him rather out 
 of spirits, as he is litterally not in possession of a 
 shirt. However he has wrote for another supply. 
 
 You will see by William's letter how fond he is 
 of his Regiment ; he has good reason to be so. I 
 heard at the Camp that at that last affair. Bender's 
 was the last upon the field, and Kaim the last man 
 there. Pollonitz told me that Bender's infantry and 
 La Tour's Dragoons were famed for Bravery and 
 good Discipline. 20,000 men who came with us to 
 ■Brussels set off next morning on the Louvain Road. 
 Tell your Father that I beg he will not be uneasy 
 about us here, for that I shall take every necessary 
 precaution, and if I was now in England I should 
 die with Sollicitude. So pray give my Love to Him, 
 and entreat Him to leave me to my own Prudence. 
 
 I was happy in receiving your letter, and find that 
 you will be just arrived in London for my first 
 
1792] RETREAT AFTER JEMMAPES 6i 
 
 account of William. I shall write again very soohs 
 All that is kind to your Uncles. 
 
 Lord and Lady Kerry have flown to Aix-la- 
 Chapelle, they are the onl}' Emigrants among the 
 English this affair has occasioned. Mrs. Windham 
 had set off for England before, for to lay in, having 
 taken a sudden dislike to the operators of this 
 Country. Her Husband is here, and talks of going 
 to Paris. Adieu my dear George. Your Sister and 
 Brothers send their love and kind remembrances to 
 your Uncles. Believe me with the most tender 
 affection 
 
 Yours 
 
 F. Jerningham. 
 
 The iiring we heard that day at the Camp, was 
 between the advanced Picquets. The Austrians 
 got the better and the same sort of thing had 
 happened in the morning. At the Battle, off 
 Mons, on the 6th. the French Artillery, which is 
 immense, surrounded the Austrians in a half 
 moon, besides which they flung Bombs among 
 them, the same as is done in a town. 
 
 It will be remembered that William was then serving with 
 Bender's Regiment, the corps which Lady Jerningham mentions 
 with a certain pride. 
 
 The Latour here also mentioned was Baillet, Comte de la 
 Tour, Colonel of the regiment of dragoons bearing his name. 
 He was then Major-General. Notwithstanding his ultimate 
 want of success, during the Rhine campaign later on (where we 
 shall again find William Jerningham) he became President of 
 the Aulic Council of War in the Imperial Army. 
 
 Concerning Francis Thomas, third Earl of Kerry, the curious 
 may read in Alger's 'Englishmen in the French Revolution' an 
 
62 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1792 
 
 account of his flight from Paris after the storming of the 
 Tuileries, at the time of Lord Gower's recall. 
 
 A month after Jemmapes the French were quartered in 
 Brussels, from whence is dated a letter from Charlotte Jerning- 
 ham to her elder brother at home. 
 
 Dec. nth. 
 De la Ville Sotte de Bruxelle — 
 Derniere annie du bon sens. 
 
 I had intended writing to Papa this Post, but as I 
 have just received such a long letter from you, I 
 must thank you for it, and defer Epistolizing Papa 
 till next week. If you have thought your Exploits 
 too trifling to be related, I have thought ours so 
 terrible that I have not had courage to talk of them 
 and this has made me very silent of late. When I see 
 you, I shall talk all day long without Ceasing — I am 
 very glad that as all this has happened, that I was 
 here to see it, for it has been a very interesting 
 time. 
 
 The people of this Country are fell from their 
 fooHsh Joy into the greatest dispair and Consterna- 
 tion; they positively refuse to adopt the French 
 Government, and several who were violent 'patriots,' 
 are now wishing for the return of the Austrians. 
 The peasants say they lent their horses to bring the 
 French Artillery into the Country, but they will 
 never help to drag it out. You heard, I suppose, 
 that the French proposed taking down the Statue of 
 Prince Charles in the Place Royale, but the people 
 opposed it so violently that they did not dare 
 
1792] DUMOURIEZ AT BRUSSELS 63 
 
 attempt it ; the Capons in particular mount guard at 
 the foot of it all day and all night, and declare they 
 will kill anybody who comes to pull it down. 
 
 The Army is all quartered upon the Inhabitants of 
 the town : the Prs Holberg has got 28 Soldiers, 
 Mde. Patois 12, Mde. Lintelo 25, and 3 officers, the 
 Duke de Beauffort 60, the Cte. de Merode 80, &c. 
 &c. &c. We have but 3, but an Echevin came to 
 announce to us yesterday that Du Mouriez had fixed 
 upon our house to keep the Caisse Militaire in, with 
 all that accompanies it. He said there must be 
 three rooms : a bed chamber, another room to put 
 the tonneaux of Gold & Silver, and one to pay the 
 troops in. When I heard him talk of the tonneaux, 
 I thought of William and Fere Arnout : Je n'en ai 
 jamais vu. Another thing they insisted on, was that 
 it should be all upon the ground floor, so they 
 showed them William's room, and we expect the 
 paymaster to take possession of them to-day or to- 
 morrow. 
 
 Lady Wallace is here. She was a most Violent 
 aristocrate at Spa ; but then, going to Maestricht 
 and the Prince de Hesse not being polite enough to 
 her, she is turned into a furious Jacobin and wears 
 (it is said) the bonnet rouge ! She says Du Mouriez 
 is the sweetest man she ever saw, and she came back 
 with him from Liege to Brussels. — 
 
 The French have been well beaten and drove out 
 of Frankfort. On the Liege side they cannot pro- 
 ceed any further, from the total want of all sorts of 
 provisions. M. de Clairfayt's army is at Aix-la- 
 Chapelle, and Genl. Beaulieu's (with William) is at 
 
64 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1792 
 
 Marche, on the road to Luxembourg. We have 
 had no letter from him, but he sent us Jerome from 
 Huy, to tell us he was well and going on to the town 
 above mentioned. I believe he was not in the battle 
 near Liege, but in several other little ones.. 
 
 Speed remains under my protection, she is always 
 in my room and sleeps in Mile. Dossier's. — There 
 are regiments coming in here every day, amongst 
 the rest the Legion Americaine, raised by the Chev. 
 St. George, consisting of blacks and Mulattos : they 
 are Hussars and well mounted. Most of these forces 
 are sent towards Antwerp, which looks as if they 
 meant to attack Holland. The Dutch have pro- 
 claimed that they will not let any French ships 
 come up the Scheld. 
 
 Our reason for going to the Hague was no other 
 than amusement and the avoiding crossing the sea 
 in winter which Mama seems to dislike very much. 
 But as Papa does not chuse it, we shall endeavour to 
 amuse ourselves in the place which meets with his 
 approbation. 
 
 We know a great many people of the Hague, and 
 at the Hague, and the Account they gave of it made 
 us wish to see it before we left the Continent. Now 
 I am got into a sort of bad humour I must scold 
 about my drawings : — are they never to be done ? 
 Here I have promised the Engravings to I dont 
 know how many people, and they certainly think it 
 was fanfaronade on my part. — I have done several 
 new things and one that will amuse j/om. — 
 
 Adieu, my dear Brother. I think I have told you 
 all that is going on, except grief for the loss of 
 
To /ace p. 64, vol, i. 
 
1792] DUMOURIEZ AT BRUSSELS 65 
 
 Fidget, who went off in a fit some days ago. She 
 has kept his tail and few of his sweet curls as she 
 calls them. — I hear her husband is narrowly watched 
 in London. I believe he will not have time to die 
 of a fit. All the O'Grady's are here, with two Gentle- 
 men, who are (it is reported) to be shortly part of the 
 family. Sir Lionel Copley, a pretty odd young man, 
 is making his addresses to Fanny. And Helen is 
 making hers to Col. Owen, an ugly old gentleman 
 with no fortune. Pray give my Love and Duty to my 
 Uncle. I long much to be acquainted with his Lady, 
 and his pretty little children. Once more Adieu my 
 very dear Brother. Dont forget to give my Duty to 
 Papa and tell him we shall take great care of his 
 
 things. 
 
 C. Jerningham. 
 
 The casks of gold and silver which were to be installed in 
 the house actually occupied by Lady Jerningham and her 
 daughter contained the hundred thousand crowns which 
 Dumouriez, according to Jomini, 'found' in the house of a 
 patriate, and promptly utilized for the purpose of rehabilitating 
 the shaken credit of his administration. 
 
 The expulsion of the French under Custine from Frankfort, 
 after their short occupation of the town, took place on Novem- 
 ber 30. The war was now mainly carried on in the valley of 
 the Rhine. 
 
 It being by this time impossible to remain near William, whose 
 regiment had moved southwards with Clairfayt's corps, the 
 mother and her daughter returned to England, where they 
 arrived soon after Christmas. The following epistle from the 
 Poet reached Charlotte at Norwich some time in 1793. It is 
 the only one of interest in the collection belonging to that 
 year : 
 
 VOL. I. 5 
 
66 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1793 
 
 Dear Charlotte, 
 
 I Begin with Thanking you for your Letter — 
 the Impression tho' so long ago received remains — it 
 was worthy of the person it came from — I do not say 
 goose-quill. 
 
 I am happy to hear that George is well and is to 
 return before it be very long — Do you take your little 
 tripod and travel about with it ? when you sit upon 
 it you are the Inspired Pythoness Do you suf- 
 ficiently value the gifts of Nature ? She who deals 
 to the generality of persons with so reluctant and 
 sparing a hand, seems to have forgot her avaritious 
 disposition when she moulded you — Thompson, who 
 felt grateful for the favors he had received from this 
 Lady's hand, says in his Castle of Indolence — 
 
 ' I care not, Fortune, what you me Deny. 
 You cannot rob me of free Nature's grace, 
 You cannot shut the windows of the sky. 
 Thro' which Aurora shews her bright'ning face. 
 You cannot Bar my constant feet to Trace 
 The woods and Lawns, by Uving stream at Eve, 
 Of Fancy, season, virtue, naught can me bereave.' 
 
 I send by the Norwich-Coach UHomme de QualiU 
 which I understand you wish to read — I entrust the 
 charming little Edition to your care and Beg you 
 will bring the volumes with you to Town — I have 
 added to these Volumes a little Present to you of 
 Thompson's Seasons, of a portable and pocketable 
 size which you may occasionally take out of your 
 pocket and read a few lines — I will set you a poetical 
 
1793] LETTERS FROM THE POET 67 
 
 pennance : read, on some calm melancholy morning, 
 about a hundred Lines in his Autumn, it is in the 
 middle of the poem — The words beginning with 
 these words — 
 
 ' The pale descending year &c — 
 
 down to this line — 
 
 ' Or is this gloom too much — ' 
 
 The two young men in my Play are now saved ! 
 They are allied and are cousins to your friends 
 Rupert and Maurice, The Illness of their Mamma 
 prevents the Play from going on — I Think it will not 
 be of any Disservice to the Play, as so many of my 
 Acquaintance are out of Town, The Physicians will 
 not Let her Act these seven or Eight days at 
 soonest — she is still very hoarse. The Loyalty of 
 the Epilogue, which contains a compliment to the 
 Queen and the D. of York has called down the 
 Indignation of the opposition-papers, but that does 
 not Murder my sleep, as I have received so many 
 flattering Testimonials from Every other Quarter — 
 
 I saw Brydore three days ago. He says he shall 
 advertise the Print a few days before the Queen's 
 Birthday — Be so good as to inform the Chevalier 
 that Michaeli tells me he has not Montezuma, nor is 
 it in the Opera-Collection, for it was burnt with the 
 Pantheon. I went to- Broderick the great music 
 shop : he has no copy: left. He sent all the copies he 
 had to Naples— so the shortest way wou'd be for the 
 Chevalier to apply to his Friend L^y Clarges. 
 
 The report of the morning is that a Swedish ship 
 
68 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [r793 
 
 is arrived with the news of L^ Howe's having cap- 
 tured the French fleet — If it be true it will be detailed 
 in the Evening papers — if false you have it as cheap 
 as I bought it. 
 
 L^y Gormanston has committed a little Indulgence 
 — she appears to be within Three days of her Time, 
 and she chooses to Expose herself by going about. 
 She said some Evenings ago to Mrs. Hunter who 
 was surprised to see her matronlike Appearance : " / 
 am 7narried ! But I was obliged to conceal my marriage 
 for family reasons.' The Conquering Hero is a Mr. 
 Jepherson, whom I dont know. 
 
 Adieu, ma chere niece — say many kind things to 
 your Mama from me. I will write to her soon. I 
 visited the Tourneurs lately ; the youngest Daughter 
 asked me Question upon Question about you — 
 whether you rode — whether you play'd the Harp — 
 whether you designed, whether you was gay ? &c. 
 &c. — 
 
 Pray, how do all your female celestial oddities of 
 the Continent ? Is the one I wrote to married ? 
 
 Ever yrs, with a poetical flow. 
 
 Thank the Baronet for the Partridges. The Town 
 is Empty. I sup most every night at Mrs. Danvers 
 — The D^s of Richmond said last night that the 
 Prince Talmont was one of the chiefs of the Royalists 
 that the Government had just received a List of the 
 chiefs and Leaders in the Vendee and that about 
 twenty gentlemen of high rank had enter'd into an 
 association and had sign'd a paper a copy of which 
 was transmitted to England. 
 
 The pulse of my hope beats high. And I Augur 
 
1793] LADY MARIA STUART 69 
 
 well of this Enterprise of Ld. Moira's— Adieu for 
 the Third Time — You are so agreable I cannot leave 
 you. 
 
 In 1882 Mr. (now Sir Hubert) Jerningham, M.P. for Berwick, 
 published a reprint of ' The Siege of Berwick, a Tragedy, by 
 Mr. Jerningham, as petformed at the Theatre Royal, Covent 
 Garden, in 1794.' 
 
 The ' advertisement ' prefacing this somewhat dull play, which, 
 at the time when the letter was written, was just in process of 
 completion, runs thus : ' In the Reign of Edward the Third, Sir 
 Alexander Seaton refused to surrender the Town of Berwick, 
 even at the Peril of losing his two Sons ; who being taken 
 prisoners in a sally, were threatened with immediate death, 
 unless the town was delivered up.' See Abercombys ' Martial 
 Atchievements^ vol. ii.,p. 29. 
 
 A letter from Lady Maria Stuart, daughter of the first 
 Marquis of Bute, follows immediately in the collection upon that 
 of the Poet, and is one of the very few items bearing the date 
 1794. I give it here as a characteristic record of an odd, dis- 
 satisfied woman, who seems to have passed her whole existence 
 in lamentation and a chronic state of grievance. It is addressed 
 to Charlotte Jerningham, with whom she appears to have been 
 in frequent correspondence, and directed to No. 5, Upper Brook 
 Street. 
 
 Easter Sunday. 
 
 It is just ten years this Easter, my dearest Friend, 
 since I took the Sacrament for the first time : my 
 Father and my dearest Brother knelt opposite to me 
 at the Altar of our Country Parish : my poor 
 Brother now enjoys the fruits of this ordinance : I 
 wish my father took the Sacrament with me to-day 
 and still more earnestly do I wish that I had died 
 soon after I received my first Communion ! What 
 misery should I have escaped ! I hope, however, 
 
70 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [i794 
 
 the manner in which I have passed this week may 
 prepare me to endure with more resignation than the 
 past, the future various afflictions to which I seem 
 condemned. The first time my dear and excellent 
 Brother took the Sacrament was at the same altar 
 we always receive at in London : it renders it still 
 more sacred to me : if you knew the unhappy hours 
 I have gone through this week you would I am sure be 
 sorry for me — Will you forgive me if I ask whether I 
 may hope to see you this evening ? I have so much 
 to tell you ! I will wait on you, if you will give leave, 
 and stay only as long as it suits you or, if it is more 
 convenient to you, will you come to me ? Pray 
 pardon me for being so troublesome. 
 Believe me most truely, 
 
 Your very sincere friend, 
 M. S. 
 
 The last letter of this year is from Henry Dillon (Henry 
 Augustus, who was to be the thirteenth Viscount) to his cousin 
 Charlotte. He was then barely eighteen years of age, and 
 very anxious to see a little ' service ' in Holland. One of the 
 uncles whom the youth fancies he may never see again was 
 Lord Mulgrave (31st Foot), and the other, presumably, Henry 
 Dillon, commanding the battalion of the Dillon Regiment which 
 had recently been taken into the British service. — In 1793 the 
 first battalion of Dillotis was quartered at Lille, where, as stated 
 before, it had butchered its aristocrat Colonel, Comte Thdobald ; 
 the second was at San Domingo, where, on September 22, it 
 capitulated to Commodore Ford, R.N. On October i, 1794, this 
 battalion was formally taken on the strength of the British Army, 
 and described in the lists of the period as 'A Regiment of 
 Foot — Part of the Irish Brigade.' Its first Colonel, in these new 
 circumstances, was the Hon. Henry Dillon, the 'English brother' 
 of Lady Jerningham. The corps was disbanded in 1798. 
 
1794] LETTER FROM HENRY AUGUSTUS DILLON 71 
 
 MiTCHAM, 
 
 Sunday the loth. 1794. 
 I should not have troubled you, My Dear Char- 
 lotte, with this letter, had I known where Ned had 
 been, or if Fanny was not at Bodney. I confess I 
 am now greatly intruding on your time, but your 
 good nature I hope will excuse me — Ned I expect 
 will be here on the 30th. You will be so good as to 
 give me a line to let me know where he is — I have a 
 vast deal to do on that terrible day ; Imprimis a long 
 lecture on versification — item Cicero's oration against 
 Cataline in Latin — then a pathetic speech out of 
 Mason, or some such author, it is not yet determined 
 upon. I am very fond of pathetic speeches. I can 
 always do those the best, as Dryden says — 
 
 ' He chose a mournful muse, 
 Soft pity to infuse.' 
 
 My Uncle Mulgrave is immediately going to 
 Holland : his regiment is on the march. This week 
 I believe it comes to Maidenhead. I pray to God 
 that I may go with him : alas I cannot get rid of the 
 thought of the army ! But for my Father, I should 
 be so happy, which I am not at present. My Uncles 
 going abroad to be locked up in Dutch Garrisons, 
 the chance of never seeing them again, my remain- 
 ing here, hope and eager desire, all makes me seize 
 my pen to entreat him— Fear and despondency drops 
 it and blots out the words I had written. You may 
 judge of my situation. I have lost my companion 
 who was of my own age ; he is where I wish to be ; I 
 associate scarcely with nobody. The Dr, to be sure. 
 
72 JERNINGHAM LETTERS ['794 
 
 is better than he was. I have no fault to find in 
 him. I am going soon with Mr. Clay to Brighton 
 and Southampton. 
 
 What would I give to go to Holland ! I amuse 
 myself with hopes and speculations : they say if it 
 was not for hope the heart would break — O, that I 
 could speak my mind thus to my Father, but I am 
 afraid. He thwarts me in the very thing that I have 
 set my affections most — Enough then of my sorrow 
 and disappointments ! It only makes me hope and 
 despond more mentioning it. 
 
 Lady Young did me the honour of calling upon 
 me ; you did not know she was a relation ? She is 
 our cousin, she says. I think her very agreeable and 
 pretty — you will not fail to write soon. Pray give 
 my duty to my Uncle and Aunt. 
 
 My Dearest Charlotte, I ever remain. 
 
 Your most affectionate and very sincere Cousin, 
 
 H. Dillon — 
 
 P.S. My Uncle Mulgrave was going to be married 
 to Miss Scot. On account of going abroad the 
 marriage is put off — pray do you know Miss Scot ? 
 Tell me in yours. I hear she has 70,000 pounds 
 and is very handsome, which I am glad of. 
 
 Sir Henning Baily is just come here from 
 Ireland, he is to pass the shooting time with my 
 Father on his return. Sir William Young, the 
 secretary at War, is just gone : he assures me the 
 French have actualy sailed for Ireland, that all 
 the troops in the kingdom have marched for the 
 south ; the Mayo Militia, which My Father 
 comands, is there also. Lord Cornwallis goes as 
 
1795] PRINCE OF WALES'S MARRIAGE 73 
 
 Lord Lieftenant. French papers also mention 
 that Hamilton Rowan has given all instructions 
 possible to the Convention : how practible a desent 
 was, the state of the troops, the disaifection of the 
 people and the like ! 
 
 I believe, in a letter to Fanny, I told you how 
 near my father was of being assinated : Sir Hen- 
 ning was there and has given me a faithful 
 account. His tennants, to the number of five 
 hundred, rose in arms and declared they had no 
 right to pay their rent. He got a troop of horse to 
 bring them to reason, but first he went, attended 
 by one dragoon only, to speak to them. A man far 
 behind a wall fired upon him. The ball passed 
 thro' his hat, the dragon fired and killed the fellow, 
 and an affair ensued. 21 of the defenders were 
 killed, the rest surrendered and promised submis- 
 sion — Once more adieu. 
 
 I give here part of a long letter from Lady Maria Stuart to 
 Charlotte. It gives an eye-witness's account of the inauspicious 
 wedding of the Prince of Wales. The letter is not dated, but 
 it was evidently written on the night after the function, namely, 
 on April 17, I79S- 
 
 Miss Jerningkam, No. 5, Upper Brook Street. 
 
 Thursday night. 
 
 The foreign ministers are all going to give enter- 
 tainments on this wedding of which I will give you 
 as good an account as I can. 
 
74 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1795 
 
 I have not read the newspapers, therefore I may 
 tell you partly what you know allready, except what 
 concerns myself. 
 
 A little after 6 my S' and I (having previously 
 shown ourselves to my F. who seemed much pleased 
 with us) set out in chairs to Lady Ailesbury who 
 begged us to walk in, which we declined and sat for 
 a ^ of an hour in the street. At last we proceeded 
 to St. James, where we arrived a little before 7, having 
 passed between 2 hedges of persons who did nothing 
 but stair at us and make remarks. You probably saw 
 in the paper that, from the Chapel door to the first 
 outward room where the Canopy is, the way was 
 lined with Soldiers and Officers consisting of the 
 Foot Guards and the Household Troops. It seems 
 very extraordinary, almost incredible, the Company 
 being in a manner lessened with regard to numbers, 
 we should have been much more crowded than on a 
 Birthday. The Cloathes were all magnificent beyond 
 anything I could have an idea of, particularly those 
 of the men. 
 
 We (I mean Lady Ailesbury and ourselves) never 
 went into the inward Drawing Room. Lady Ailes- 
 bury and I stood from the time we arrived till eleven 
 without being able to obtain even a place to lean 
 against. At last Lady A. got a seat and I a door 
 place, just then they said the Royal Processions were 
 coming in, from which we all run to the middle of 
 the room, and formed two lines between which there 
 was not space enough for the Princesses to pass 
 without great inconvenience in their hoops. We 
 remained in this way for ^ an hour, when the foreign 
 
1795] PRINCE OF WALES'S MARRIAGE 75 
 
 Ministers, who were come from the Chapel said the 
 Prince and Princess were signing the Register. 
 
 One of them informed me that the Prince was 
 serious more than can be told ; indeed one of his 
 Equerries, told me to night that he was tres morne, 
 did not speak enough to his wife and twice spoke 
 crossly; he was so agitated during the ceremony 
 that it was expected he would have burst out in 
 tears. Her R. H. behaved gravely and decently 
 during the ceremony, as I was told, but was in the 
 greatest joy possible going to the Chapel and did 
 nothing but chatter with the Duke of Clarence while 
 she was waiting with him at the altar for the arrival 
 of the Prince. 
 
 After all the signing, etc, was over, all the Royal 
 family came with their different processions into the 
 Drawing Room, walked up between the lines we 
 formed to the end of it, and returned back im- 
 mediately in the same order to the Queen's apart- 
 ments in St. James', from whence the Royal Couple 
 went home privately to Carlton house. 
 
 They spoke to nobody as they passed by us, except 
 the K. and Q. to a few old men. The Prince looked 
 like Death and full of confusion, as if he wished to 
 hide himself from the looks of the whole world. I 
 think he is much to be pitied. The bride, on the 
 contrary, appeared in the highest spirits, when she 
 passed by us first, smiling and nodding to every one. 
 I thought she appeared more grave in going away, 
 but certainly not more reserved. 
 
 I told you I thought I should hear many things 
 trh instructives pour lajeunesse. I was not mistaken. 
 
76 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [i795 
 
 Most persons gave us to understand all the ceremony 
 was not over, accompanying their words, to those 
 who understood them, with very significant smiles. 
 I have no relish for a conversation so grossiere, 
 among persons who pass for decent. A thing still 
 more extraordinary was the going to-day to enquire 
 after the bride and have your name set down, a thing 
 one of the ladies of her bedchamber informed us 
 was expected from everyone who had been at the 
 Drawing room last night. 
 
 Of course we went, but we did not call at Carlton 
 House till the evening. Her R. H. was very well 
 and at dinner. I believe they had a great deal of 
 company. Lord Malmsbury dined with them ; we 
 supped after the drawing room at Mrs. Herbert's, 
 the bedchamber woman, and heard some more jokes 
 which I did not approve of. L'^ and Lady Carnarvon, 
 Lady Jane Herbert, L"^ Portchester, Mr. C. Herbert, 
 Lady Townsend, L.^ Malmesbury, Miss Bruhl, Lady 
 A, and us two formed the party. We got home 
 about one, more tired than I ever was in my life. 
 
 I will inform you whether I go to the ball. If I 
 go I will be probably in the Chaperon's box — the 
 most convenient for speaking to gentlemen. I hear 
 tag, rag and bobtail hire petticoats to set in the other 
 places. I have been eating some of the Prince's 
 wedding-cake at Mr. Tynt's to-night. They send a 
 large piece, with their R.H's comphments and 
 sealed with his seal, to all their attendants. A whole 
 coach full of cake was sent about from Charlton 
 
1795] ROYAL WEDDING-CAKE 77 
 
 House to-day. The Q. breakfasted with them. The 
 Prince took a solitary ride afterwards. What an odd 
 wedding ! They go to Windsor tomorrow or Satur- 
 day. As the piece of cake was not drawn through 
 the Bride's ring, it will not influence my dreams ! 
 Adieu. 
 
[78] 
 
 In 1795 is reached a turning-point in the lives of Lady 
 Jemingham and of her daughter — a complete change of scenery. 
 Charlotte married (June 17) Sir Richard Bedingfeld, fifth 
 Baronet, who had succeeded to the estate but a few months 
 before. Sir Richard was then about twenty-eight years of age, 
 and his bride four years younger. Their marriage was a happy 
 one. We hear much in subsequent letters of greetings to ' the 
 good Sir Richard.' Several allusions to the Bedingfeld family 
 occur in letters previous to this date, but none have been pre- 
 served which touch on the period of courtship or engagement, 
 neither is there in the collection any account of the marriage 
 itself. 
 
 The first reference to the new order of things in Charlotte's 
 existence announces a fait accompli. It is a letter of some 
 sixteen pages from Fanny Dillon (Frances, daughter of the 
 twelfth Viscount Dillon), dated from 5, Upper Brook Street, the 
 then residence of the Jerninghams in London, from which house 
 the bride had sallied forth into married life. 
 
 The epistle breathes the most extravagant girlish passion, 
 which (it is easy to read between the lines) was considered 
 exceedingly tiresome, not only by the direct object thereof, but 
 also by the rest of the family, among whom the word ' Fannyism ' 
 is much in use about that time to indicate unnecessary emotion 
 expressed in unmeasured language. 
 
 To Lady Bedingfeld, Oxburgh Hall, near Stoke, Norfolk. 
 Tuesday, you have been gone half an hour ! 
 O ! my Charlotte, are you gone ! — have you left 
 Yi^ poor Fanny — I have lost a most beloved cousin — 
 
•/l/h'lj(l Itl' '/<■ / II I /l/JIIII III . 
 
 r-,N, a ini ,ur,/:,;i ,(/ f-.-.l.lnp. 
 
1795] CHARLOTTE JERNINGHAM MARRIED 79 
 
 My dearest and best Friend — My All — my Every- 
 thing ! You that for these two Years past have 
 Shewed me Every mark of goodness Care and 
 Friend Ship — More than a Stranger could expect — 
 O ! My Dearest Cousin, notwithstanding the Cer- 
 tainty of Seeing you shortly at Bodney, I cannot 
 bear to think my Charlotte's gone. . . . 
 
 Good news, oh how happy I am, I was inter- 
 rupted just now by my Aunt's coming in to my 
 room — Oh what do you think she told me ? We are 
 to go to Oxburg before Bodney! — Perhaps stay 
 there a day or two — if our fair Hostess will allow it. 
 — How good is Providence. I was in one of my fits 
 of dispair — this news has been the greatest joy to 
 me — but I must not forget to tell you — Cousin when 
 you got into carriage my Aunt cryed — and who 
 would not ? but we were all amazingly provoked to 
 see little Saisseval should get into the Carriage and 
 crowd you up — when Mad^Ue Dossier was quite 
 Alone, — for my part I was vexed at it because it is 
 not comfortable for you two to talk — while that Brat 
 is there — but I hope she will have got out at the first 
 stage — 
 
 I have desired your two Parcels to be sent as soon 
 as possible— I have been into y^ Room— like that 
 Roman (I forget his name) sitting on the Ruins of 
 Carthage — Y^ Room was no less dear to me than 
 Carthage could be to him— (I suppose through for- 
 getfulness) you have left y^ Portfolio of Drawings 
 behind you— I have put it in my room— and when 
 the happy hour comes of my seeing you— you will see 
 It.—This Sheet of paper is out of y' Room— I have 
 
8o JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1795 
 
 seized upon all I could lay hands upon that you 
 have left — Primo — that Red bag you used to keep 
 letters, and write upon, and a blue piece of music 
 book cover, like that you used to have in it — I have 
 put in the bag (which I am writing upon at present) 
 then all y"^ letters I received at Bodney are likewise 
 in it — the little Steel Seal &c. — and it shall in future 
 accompany me every where — Y'^ long and constant 
 Use of it, has endeared it ten thousand times more 
 to me — than the finest presents I could receive — I 
 have also taken possession of a little saucer for paint 
 — I found in y^ Room — I w'^ not touch the wax 
 bougie — as I do not chuse to appear taking things 
 out of interest (like 5 years ago when you was going 
 abroad, in Prince's Street I seizing upon every thing 
 I saw) whilst it is Only out of affection for you I 
 love everything that has belonged to the dearest 
 of all creatures — I have barricaded both the doors — 
 which till now w^ have been the greatest Punishment 
 you could have inflicted upon me — and now Cousin 
 — that you are already so many miles from me and 
 every instant farther. 
 
 ! Cousin, if you knew how those five words you 
 left wrote on my table made me cry — the longest 
 letter could not have done more — I discovered in 
 them— affection, pity, regret — &c. and a thousand 
 other Sentiments which in you 
 
 1 fear every minute — but do I flatter myself too 
 much — No ! my Charlotte has all my affections and 
 I dare trust for a small return from her — You see I 
 do indeed — or I w"* never dare write this long letter 
 — but you know it is a relief to my regret and sorrow 
 
1795] EPISTLE FROM FANNY DILLON 8i 
 
 and therefore will Excuse it. I never before con- 
 ceived the intolerable grief Mad^^ de Sevigne 
 expresses at her daughters parting — now indeed do 
 I well conceive and feel it. But I must talk no 
 more of this nor embitter y' happiness by the recital 
 of my grief. My Aunt is very good. She does not 
 scold me a bit for crying — on the contrary says all 
 sort of kind things to me. She said it was one of 
 the reasons she sent off little Saisseval now — that 
 she might not be troublesome at Oxburg. I am sure 
 I am not sorry. I am certain I am not the least in 
 the humour to see that bore of an Italian master, 
 who however is coming soon — 
 
 I have been writing almost ever since you have been 
 gone, so you may conceive how long it is I was just 
 now interrupted by Mrs. MacCormack — and heard a 
 detail of the ceremony as much as she knew of it. She 
 has told me a long story of a Ghost or a fetch as she 
 called it that she saw once ; she begged I w'^ send 
 you her humble Duty — and all best wishes — and 
 that she w* Pray heartilly for y^ happiness &c &c. 
 every day of her life — I told her to do so in Particular 
 to-day and she promised me she would. You may 
 depend upon my doing the same indeed every day 
 these six months. I never miss in my Evening 
 Prayers saying a Prayer for y' Intentions. 
 
 3 clock. 
 
 My tiresome old Italian master is gone, thanks be 
 to God — I am far from beeing en train to take any 
 lesson or apply to anything to-day. All my thoughts 
 are fixed upon you my sweet Charlotte and my great 
 
 VOL. I. ^ 
 
82 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1795 
 
 Comfort is in communicating them to you by this 
 means — How good my Uncle is ! Do you know (but 
 how should you know) he has just brought me a 
 beautiful pair of purple Barings to match y'' d"" gift. 
 I am very pleased, as you may think, but should be 
 happier in seeing you an Instant than if I had all 
 Mad'"^ Bossier's Perou; and that you know must be 
 a very fine thing, since she always says, even of the 
 prettiest things: Ce n'est pas le Perou — Poor Mad^^I^ D. 
 I regret her too. Indeed I could cry to-day if a pin 
 was taken from me ! Y"" departure was a total boule- 
 versement of all my Spirits. My Aunt has brought 
 me a p"" of that little girl's stockings to mark' — which 
 I dojt't relish much, I own — but I will offer up to God 
 for you the dislike I have to them. George has just 
 been in my Room, making faces and talking such 
 things ! Enough to make one die of laughing. I 
 mean those that have not their dearest . . . gone 
 from them. Pointing to y"^ door — he said with his 
 sanctified face : Oh ! Oh ! I dwelleth in that Case- 
 ment. But his sayings are nothing to write — it is 
 his way of saying them. Do you remember, my 
 lovely Charlotte, last night ' Hands Across and back 
 again ?' 
 
 l^Here a sketch.] 
 
 GEORGE DANCING, SINGING ' PIG-BOW-WOW !' 
 
 I think instead of calling mine letters you had better 
 name them Journals, for the least little trivial Cir- 
 cumstances will not be omitted. You shall know 
 everything that happens, that is said &c. &c. just the 
 same as if you were here. I fear I shall not have 
 
1795] 'FANNYISMS' 83 
 
 ilace enough left to write to-night what will have oc- 
 curred at dinner &c. I am sure it wont be a merry 
 one, for me at least ... I could fill volumes with 
 telling you all my thoughts, but that vf^ be only tire- 
 some. 
 
 I have been looking in my last Year's almanack 
 what happened on the i6th of last June, but I find 
 nothing marked down, which I am sorry for as most 
 likely it was one of our odd suppers, and I should like 
 to know — As who would have thought you was to be 
 married that day twelvemonth ? Not but what it 
 w^ have been a very natural Idea, but One w<i have 
 thought it strange at the time — Apropos, I must tell 
 you (with y'' permission) I mean to put a letter in 
 the post for you every two days and which will be a 
 newspaper of the day before and the day it is sent — 
 Oh ! my Charlotte, if you -w^ find time to scrawl me 
 a. few lines, one of these days — oh how happy should I 
 be ! There, Cousin, only reflect — you like y'' little 
 Fanny, dont you ? Well, think how sorry she is y^ 
 gone and although she is so happy as to be certain 
 of seeing you in about 8 or ten days, yet those days 
 will appear months (quite alone and dismal, thinking 
 on you) and you that can alleiviate the Uncomfort- 
 ableness of y"^ long absence by so little a thing as 
 writing a few kind lines, think that what will take 
 you but 10 minutes to do will make me happy — till 
 I see you again. . . . Pray take this in consideration ; 
 a single Post when I think you know and feel well ; 
 all this will not pass unotic'd by y"^ more loving than 
 any body ever could or will comprehend. Dont think 
 I torment you, Cousin, that w^ make me too un- 
 
84 JERNWGHAM LETTERS [1795 
 
 happy. Adieu, though with Regret — till after dinner. 
 I suppose Miss Betham was ready to receive you at 
 Oxburg. Give my compliments to her — Happy 
 Girl! . . . 
 
 Half -past 8 o'clock. 
 
 I could remain no longer, my dearest dear Char- 
 lotte, without writing a little more to you. Well, I 
 must tell you about dinner : only the Chevalier and 
 Guiteri dined here, of strangers. Not a word was 
 spoke of you during dinner ; but afterwards, when my 
 Aunt and I came out of the Parlour, going up the 
 great stairs — (O ! my Charlotte so far off), she said 
 to me ' Yf Poor Cousin, how dismal it is without 
 her!' 'Yes indeed,' said I and more added to it as 
 you may think. We both cryed. My Aunt spoke 
 very kind indeed to me and said that I might come 
 down to her when / liked, not to be always alone, 
 and that She w'J take me out with her &c. I then 
 said I was so sorry for yi" sake, as you must find 
 yourself on such an Uncomfortable situation — quite 
 like with Strangers &c. Upon which She said the 
 same — and that She had been Very low on y^ account 
 all day. (Her Eyes are very red). I was sorry our 
 conversation was interrupted by the man whom the 
 house in Baker Street belonged to. We are to go 
 and See it to-morrow. 
 
 Well, presently your Uncle Edward Came, and, 
 wishing Joy, Said he did not know anything of the 
 Wedding till it was over, and that by Chance. He 
 staid but a minute and then set off for the Opera 
 with George and my Uncle. Presently another knock 
 and the Bishop of Troyes appears — again wishing joy 
 
1795] 'FANNYISMS' 85 
 
 — for my part I was so mad with all their fine Com- 
 pliments I could have beat them, for I was crying 
 most of the time. And Ned was tormenting my life 
 out — Oh ! Cousin (I can say like Betty) I have not 
 you to go to when I am teized and Unhappy ! 
 
 A Short time after that another knock was heard 
 and who should enter the room but that Ever tire- 
 some (to me) and detestable, old, ' Lorsqu'il fut a la 
 Porte.' This was past all bearing. Luckily it was 
 dark and the Candles were not there ; I profited of 
 it to Roar outrageously, but in Silence, Ned torment- 
 ing me all the time. How can he be so Ill'natur'd ! 
 Oh ! Cousin, if he knew what it is to love a person 
 as I do you and to have them gone from one, he 
 would not be so cruel ! 
 
 But to continue my story: M'" de Mention went 
 on as Usual with A Million Anecdotes. When I 
 could resist no longer my thoughts on you and Neds 
 tormenting, I flew up stairs. I had scarce been here 
 a quarter of an hour when I was sent down for my 
 tea. I descended and found Mention Cackling Away 
 as before. I am now come up again. It is half past 
 nine o'clock. I imagine you Arrived at Bourn-bridge, 
 drinking tea — O ! my own d^ Charlotte, I leave you 
 now, but to Occupy myself of you in a way which 
 will be more profitable to you at present. 
 
 How unhappy I am to be born with Such an un- 
 reasonable mind ! It seems now to me as if I never 
 will be able to live without you. O my Charlotte, 
 pity yr poor Fanny — no one ever felt anything more 
 bitterly than I do this Weeks absence of yours ! It 
 
86 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1795 
 
 frightens me to think what I shall do in future when 
 according to the Common Course of things my life 
 may be passed more without than with you. I suppose 
 by the time you get this you will be at Oxburg, and 
 so know by the papers the bad news we heard here 
 last night, that is that almost the whole Town of 
 Copenhagen has been destroyed by fire and it was 
 burning with great Rapidity when the news came 
 from it. — This mornings post brought me an Italian 
 letter from Moore and in it a few words from Miss 
 Barrett — who desires her Comp'^ to the future Lady 
 Bedingfield, not knowing it is no more now the future 
 but in the present Tense. If you by Chance go to 
 Bodney — (to carry the little Saisseval) you will not 
 obmit my Duty to my A unt. Respects to All the Ladies ; 
 you see in particular if the Agneau presents herself 
 to yf View (I mean S'^ Agnes, sweet creature) &c. 
 great desires and hopes &c. of seeing them All, with 
 love to all the Misses if you enter the School. 
 
 Pray, Charlotte, meditate a little upon the End of 
 the third Side of the Enclosed. But I am sure Cousin 
 will do it if she can. Remember me kindly to M^e 
 Dossier and tell her my Italian Master (who came 
 yesterday) Said he was Extremely sorry to find she 
 was gone and that he could see her no more; but dont 
 tell her the reason why, which was (as he told me) 
 that he could not now have the pleasure of hearing 
 her Scold, which was a great loss to him. . . . You will 
 give My Compliments to S"" Richard — but my letter 
 is only for jy'' dear Self as we agreed. — 
 
 Here I have been interrupted by my Drawing 
 Master — he brought me back my drawing of the 
 
I79S] THE MOTHER TO THE WIFE 87 
 
 woman with the fagots and y"' little girl mounted. I 
 shall put the latter in y'' port-folio. My Master told 
 me that the Year before last he did in all joo S- "jo 
 Drawings of different Sorts — Painted a Miniature a 
 day for a fortnight. 
 
 Here I had again another Interruption : my Aunt 
 came and told me I might come out with her. Of 
 course I accepted the Proposal. I am now come 
 back, we have been to see the House in Baker Street. 
 It is taken. I think it Very Pretty — we then went 
 to see Lord Howe's Victory at the Panorama. Have 
 you seen it ? There were a great many people from 
 thence back here, I must make haste and finish My 
 letter — as Sukey will carry it to the Post Office for me. 
 
 Now begins another series of letters from Lady Jerningham 
 to her daughter, the new Lady Bedingfeld— a series as closely 
 linked as that of the convent period, and destined to last, on 
 this great separation, until the mother's death in 1824. 
 
 The first is written from the Brook Street house, on the night 
 of the wedding. It crossed one from the bride herself. 
 
 To Lady Bedingfield, Oxburgh, Stoke, Norfolk. 
 
 June i-jth. 
 
 My dearest Charlotte, 
 
 How do you do ? I hope more Comfortable 
 than I am. First because you deserve to be so, and 
 secondly because you are so good that you will find 
 a pleasure in Complying with your duty. I Lose in 
 you the best of daughters, the most aimable Com- 
 panion, the friend I had the best placed Confidence 
 in. I want you every half hour to talk with, and it 
 is a fresh disappointment when I think you are not 
 
88 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1795 
 
 here. I have to-day a very bad headache, and to 
 Compleat my fatigu'd mind, M'^^ de Chatillon and 
 Livarot just arrived. She making all these false 
 elans, and he staring with Consternation. She Came 
 yesterday to see M^^ de Lion, ' et je retourne a 
 Hamstead.' I Cannot say any more at present, but 
 pray write. Your tall Cousin is just Come in. 
 Adieu my ever dear Charlotte. I say I have lost 
 my daughter, because you are now a Wife, but I 
 hope I have not quite lost her; at least I feel I 
 must always be your most affectionate Mother. 
 
 Dismal Wednesday. 
 
 It was a natural result of the extensive French connection of 
 the Jerninghams that they should reckon a great number of 
 imigrh in their society. 
 
 In fact, as the years rolled on after the Revolutionary out- 
 break, Lady Jerningham's salon became such a centre for the 
 gathering of the banished French nobility, as also for the 
 agitators in favour of Catholic emancipation, that she was 
 popularly known as ' Her Catholic Majesty.' 
 
 Many of them, however, although received with warm hospi- 
 tality, both in London and at Cossey, do not seem to have 
 always been personcB grata. 
 
 The following is the first letter from Lady Bedingfeld to her 
 mother. 
 
 Hon. Lady Jerningham, 5, Upper Brook Street, 
 London. 
 
 OXBURGH, 12 o'clock, 171 a room 
 smelling of paint. 
 
 i%.June. 
 My dear Mama, 
 
 The very date of this Letter seems so strange 
 
 to me, that if I gave way to my feelings I should 
 
1795] FIRST LETTER FROM A NEW HOME 89 
 
 begin an hour's meditation instead of an Epistle. I 
 find myself transported, from a Station of Obedience, 
 where I dared command, to a post of Authority 
 where I only just venture to make requests. The 
 housekeeper has been with me, crying with Sorrow 
 and joy, a bill of the dinner in her hand &c. &c. 
 &c. Sir Rich^ does all he can to make every thing 
 Comfortable and agreeable. He has truly been 
 Consideration and kindness itself ! 
 
 We arrived here about 8 in the Evening, and I 
 was surprised to find the road from Stoke quite 
 beautiful ! You will see when You come if there are 
 not a great many trees about — My little Companion 
 bore the journey extremely well, eat at every Inn, 
 and slept every Stage. I shall not dispatch her 
 'till the Weather is finer. It rains terribly this 
 morning, if it had been so Yesterday I should have 
 thought of the Archduchess' Entry into Brussels. 
 — Pray my dear Mama write to me soon, I feel my 
 absence from you more than I can express ; a 
 thousand regrets, a thousand questions, crowd into 
 my mind, but I will not give way to thoughts that 
 may give a Stamp to my Countenance ill beseeming 
 My Calling and the Endless Endeavours made to 
 please me — My duty to my Father and a large 
 packet of Love for George and D — not forgeting 
 the brat Fanny. 
 
 Sir R. returned me the White purse in the Chaise, 
 but it was so heavy, I begged him to put it in his 
 writing box, where it is Yet. I shall settle my 
 accompts in a few Days, 'till then. My dear Mama, 
 You must treat with my Creditors. I am now going 
 
90 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1795 
 
 to the turret with Sir R. so adieu for this time. I 
 remain, With the Sincerest affection, Your most 
 dutiful Daughter and devoted aide de Camp whenever 
 you are so good as to Employ me 
 The happy 
 
 Charlotte Bedingfield. 
 
 ChevaHer ! — ^je vous dis Mille chose Aimables : ecrivez 
 moi. I thought of Lady B's last Night. Were 
 you there, Mama ? — Ned ! if it rains in town as 
 it does here I beg you will sleep in Brook Street. 
 
 From the Chevalier Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 28, Park Street, 
 
 ce i?,Juin. 
 
 Ce seroit etre trop selfish, ma chere niece, que 
 de se livrer k des regrets, ou a d'autres sentiments 
 que ceux de la joie, lorsqu'on est presqu'assur6 
 de votre bonheur, et cependant je ne puis vous 
 cacher que la maison de Brook Street est plus 
 triste qu'un enterrement depuis votre depart ! Nous 
 aurons, je me flatte, aujourd'hui ou demain de vos 
 nouvelles pour nous tirer de notre r6verie et je 
 changerai aisement la mienne en pensees couleur de 
 rose sitot que je serai inform6 de votre satisfaction 
 dans votre nouvelle situation, et des succes de Sir 
 Richard pour vous rendre heureuse par tout ce qui 
 dependra de lui. 
 
 Je vous vols d6ja Dame de Chateau, et formant 
 votre etablissement a Oxburgh avec le discernement, 
 la sagesse, et le decorum convenable — votre pere 
 paroit decide k partir Lundi, et k s'arrfeter un jour 
 
1795] CONGRATULATIONS FROM THE CHEVALIER 91 
 
 ou deux avec vous, avant de se rendre k Cossey : 
 votre maman en fera autant surement, et ce n'est 
 pas un des moindre avantages dans le Mariage que 
 vous venez de faire, que celui de pouvoir ^tre 
 toujours si a port^e de votre famille, ou vous devez 
 etre bien certaine de toujours trouver toute la ten- 
 dresse, et I'int^ret que vous meritez. 
 
 Votre pauve amie, La Duchesse de Chatillon, est 
 venue hier matin voir votre maman ; et avec les 
 yeux au ciel, et son ton de doleance, elle n'a pas 
 egay6e la scene, qui 6toit assez orageuse au moment 
 de son arriv^e par la nouvelle que votre mere venoit 
 d'avoir de Mr. Crosby qu'il ne pouvait lui rendre 
 I'engagement qu'elle avoit fait pour la maison de 
 Wellbeck Street. Notez qu'elle venoit de donner 
 parole au proprietaire de celle de Baker Street, de 
 sorte qu'elle se voyoit engagee pour deux maisons, 
 ou peut-^tre forcee de prendre celle qui lui convenoit 
 le moins. J'ai 6crit aussitot a Parnell d'arriver k 
 toutes jambes, et malheureussement ce n'est pas la 
 sa partie brillante. Quoi qu'il en soit, il est arrive 
 avant la nuit, et ce matin il doit arranger cette 
 affaire vraiment importante; et j'espere que, n'ayant 
 pas eu d'^crit, il ne lui sera pas difficile de surmonter 
 les chicannes du Sieur Crosby. 
 
 II y a aujourd'hui M^e Wynne a diner avec I'archq. 
 de Narbonne et la Comtesse Proserpine; le piano 
 doit etre accord6 ce matin. Mais tout cela n'ira que 
 d'une aile sans vous. 
 
 Bonjour, ma tres chere niece, mille choses tendres 
 d mon nouveau neveu, mais pour qui mon amiti6 
 n'est pas nouvelle. Qu'il vous rendre heureuse, et 
 
92 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1795 
 
 elle sera eternelle. Recevez I'hommage de mon 
 tendre et inviolable attachement. 
 
 Vais m'occuper vivement de la lettre de recom- 
 mendation que William devoit avoir du due de York 
 pr le Gen' Clairfayt, et j'espere reussir. 
 
 Le mariage de Ldy C. Villiers avec U^ P. est 
 certain, (suivant ce que la mere a dit a mon frere) 
 aura lieu incessament. II ne va plus a I'armee. 
 Dans la monde on dit le contraire, mais le public 
 n'est pas initie dans le secret des families. 
 
 Je n'ai pas encore vu votre mariage dans aucune 
 gazette ; I'extreme modestie de votre train en partant 
 de Londres en est probablement la cause. 
 
 The Chevalier Jerningham, Sir William's ' French Brother,' 
 had by a timely flight (after the attack on the Tuileries) escaped 
 the fate which befell one at least of Lady Jerningham's French 
 relatives — General Dillon — whose end I related in the Intro- 
 duction. Although a frequent visitor at Cossey, the Chevalier 
 had his establishment in London. 
 
 The mention, in the last letter, of General Clairfayt brings 
 again to our notice William Jerningham, who for the last three 
 years had been engaged in that constant and ill-concerted war 
 in the Netherlands and on the lower Rhine. The young soldier 
 seems to have been pretty generally forgotten by all his family. 
 During the course of his foreign service, as some of the ex- 
 pressions made use of in his letter indicate (' dares not,' for 
 example, in the sense of 'must not'), he had become consider- 
 ably Germanized. 
 
 During the summer of 1795, the Austrians, after the surrender 
 of Luxemburg, having been thrown back on the other side of 
 the Rhine, there was a comparative lull in hostilities. The 
 campaign was to open afresh in September. William's present 
 
17951 NEWS FROM THE SEAT OF WAR 93 
 
 regiment (Saxe-Taschen) was part of Wiirmser's corps, and 
 quartered in the neighbourhood of Mannheim. 
 
 The letter he sends to his sister on hearing of her marriage is 
 dated : ' From the Camp by Swetzingen.' 
 
 August y 2yrd. 
 
 My dear Sister, 
 
 I received the day before yesterday your letter 
 begining "oh! Murry ! Murry!"* in which Sir 
 R^i Bedingfield was so good as to write a very kind 
 page ; pray thank him for me and present him my 
 CompHments. Another time pray date your letters : 
 for in this last one and others from you I have now 
 before me, there is neither the day of the month nor 
 the place you write from. 
 
 I am very glad indeed to see that you are married, 
 the idea that you are and will be happy certainly 
 contributes to my happiness. It must seem odd to 
 my Father and Mother, who were accostumed to 
 live with you and my Brothers so long, to be all of 
 a sudden alone, as Ned is at London and George at 
 the camp. But I hope that we shall all once meet 
 together at Cossey again. 
 
 Oxburgh seems to be a sort of a fort after your 
 description of it ; I should like very much to see it, 
 as also to renew acquaintance with Sir Richard B"* ; 
 it is now thirteen years since I have seen him. I 
 remember perfectly well how he looked then at Old 
 Hall Green — I suppose you know that General 
 Wiirmser is come down to take the Command of 
 seventy thousand men, and is marched in three 
 
 * This singular exclamation is not a misspelling— no doubt 
 some family expression, not to be appreciated by strangers. 
 
94 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1795 
 
 columns into Brisgau, facing Alsace. No one knows 
 what he will do there : very few think he will pass 
 the Rhein. The carabiniers are remained with G. 
 Clairfayt's army, which is very weak now. I wish 
 there was either peace or true war, for nothing can 
 be more disagreeable than to be in a situation of 
 Waiting for events, as we are now. 
 
 What does one say in England of the last attempt 
 by Quiberon ? and of the Vendee ? It makes us 
 think that there will be a general peace. In case 
 there is I will do all I can to come over to see you 
 in your place de guerre. I am sorry to hear that 
 there were riots in London on account of the dear- 
 ness of flower, but indeed I don't believe that any 
 country can be dearer than the Empire at this 
 moment, especially the palatinate. Si le pere Arnout 
 entendoit dire que le roi a deffendu touts mets 
 farineux, il diroit : ce n'est pas I'affaire de Monsieur 
 de Chamberlayne a qui j'ai vu manger dans mon 
 voiage a Cossey jusqu'a des trois ou quatre gros 
 boulets de pate pesante et indigeste (que les Anglais 
 nomment Dumplins) a un repas ! 
 
 I wrote to my father about a month ago and am 
 Waiting for an answer. When you go to him or 
 to my mother my duty to them. I shall write to 
 my Brother G. by this post. Adieu Dear Sister, 
 Look upon me always as your most affectionate 
 brother 
 
 William Jerningham. 
 
 Hornstein was taken at Luxemburg with the 3 
 bataillons of Bender, the regiment dares not [darf 
 nicht] serve against the French this war. I have 
 
1795] EMIGRE'S SOCIETY IN LONDON 95 
 
 not seen him since I left the regt, but I know he 
 is well, and in garrison now at Theresienstadt. 
 
 I am bringing up a grey hound to whom I have 
 given the name of Speed. 
 
 Old Hall Green was then a fashionable Catholic school ; it 
 is now a seminary for priests. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Monday, 
 
 (Slimmer^ 
 
 My dearest Charlotte, 
 
 I am very happy to hear that you are got 
 back safe to Oxburgh, and that you have been so 
 well amused with your tour. 
 
 Our Societe goes on very well, I like to have 
 several People in the House, and a multitude Cannot 
 be had Cheaper than with the unfortunate French : 
 no Servants, no Horses, no Drinkings. After 
 Breakfast the Duchess departs for her walk. M'*'^ 
 de Saiseval belongs to my Neighbourhood and we 
 Commune together occasionally. After dinner the 
 same repetition, the walk, and the Conversasione. 
 The Duchess has just left my Room, she says that 
 she has been proposing herself to you for Thursday, 
 if you Can send for Her. She is obhged to be in 
 London the 15th. 
 
 I have not time to say much to-day, but I think 
 I can now guess at her Caradere : A mild, ingenious 
 nothing. She is voracious after admiration, but I 
 do not think she will ever pass the Rubicon. I 
 
96 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1795 
 
 think that M*"'^ Grosman knew her perfectly and I 
 am afraid that the Horror she had of being settled 
 with the French, was like the instinct there is some- 
 times against what will be fatal to you, for the 
 society she has fell into, is particularly pernicious 
 to her : She has allready got such a degree of 
 Fannyism ! 
 
 Sir Richard's pet name for his wife was Corry. The follow- 
 ing is part of the first letter from him that I can find in the 
 collection. Lady Bedingfeld was on a visit to her mother at 
 Cossey. The pair had, it is true, only been married three 
 months ; but the vein of tenderness and admiration which this 
 first letter reveals was destined to run through his corre- 
 spondence with his wife to the end of the chapter, that was to 
 close in 1829. 
 
 (Remember Monday, Walton St. 3 d clock.) 
 I4tk. Sept. 
 Thursday morning. 
 
 Never my Dearest Corry, did a Man who had 
 mistaken his way on Clay Heath on a dark night, 
 feel more lost, that I did. Yesterday Evening in my 
 own house. I will not fill this paper, with En- 
 deavouring to Convince you of a thing, which I 
 hope, you are perfectly assured of, viz: that You 
 My Dear Corry are Every thing to me. I would not 
 change my Situation or be unmarried again, for all 
 this world contains. I have very often been alone 
 in this house before, but I never felt as I do this 
 time, perhaps you will say its fooHsh in me, when 
 you are only gone, for a few days, but I cant help 
 
1795] NEWS FROM LADY ANASTATIA 97 
 
 it. I have often thought since you are gone, what 
 would become of me if you was separated from me 
 for Months ! God forbid that, my Corry ! How 
 did you get to Cossey ? I am afraid you found it 
 very hot, being three in the Chaise. 
 
 A letter from Lady Anastatia Stafford, addressed from the 
 ' ci-devant couvent ' of the Blue Nuns in Paris to Lady Jeming- 
 ham at Cossey, brings back in the midst of the new atmosphere 
 a breath of the old convent days. 
 
 Paris rue Charenton, 
 
 3< Dec. 
 
 Well, my Dear Lady and Cousin, I wonder you 
 and y"^ husband are not ashamed of your Selves, 
 leaving an old Woman (whom once you have 
 Loved) in the Lurch in the great distress she has 
 been in (and indeed am still in). Are you affraid 
 that I should ask you for a Corner in Cossey-Hall to 
 breath out my Last ? In very deed I dont wish to 
 be troublesome to you, tho I should be tempted to 
 hide my Self in your House, if I knew that worthy 
 good Mr. Chamberlain was still with you. 
 
 What can be the reason that after 3 Letters that I 
 wrote I cannot have a word from you, tho your other 
 Friends as well as my Self, is particularly anxious to 
 know where our first acquaintance among your Chil- 
 dren, my D"" Cousin WiUiam, is now and how he 
 
 dos. 
 
 I am sure you have had my Letters, for I was told 
 by others that S' William had received what I sent 
 
 VOL. I. 7 
 
98 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [i79S 
 
 by Mr. Gawey ; and certainly Mrs. Blount took care 
 of that she charged herself with for you, the month 
 of June last. Again I have heard from her good 
 Sister Anna Maria that Chariot is Marry'd and I 
 think to ye very Man I had in my nodle picked out 
 for her. And you Leave me in the Dark ! What is 
 come to you ? Are you crackt like me and some of 
 ours ? (for example S'^ Laurence and Anne, who run 
 to England for a Bit of Bread, for my part I have 
 never wanted that yet, tho for a time I had much 
 Less than I could have eat). If I ever go, it will be 
 to get some Cloath, for my Shifts are allmost quite 
 gone ; every wash I am forced to put patch upon 
 patch, and the Coarse Cloath we make them of is 
 gf an Ell, and we must have 2 Ells for one Shift. 
 Had you invited me to your Daughter's weding, 
 perhaps she would have given me half a Dozen for 
 her weding present, for she did (or dos, may be, still) 
 Love me. 
 
 Mother Abbess lives now Comfortably w* her 9 
 Creazy Children in our own House. We are very 
 Regular and as devout as we can. The Nation has 
 restored our town House rents, and our old Rotten 
 Houses to us, so that if they would diminish the 
 price of things we might do very well, with Father 
 Shelley at our Head, even in our Refectory, as well 
 as Chapell. Indeed I never knew a more Patient, 
 Quiet Man than he is ; but he dont Love me, any 
 more than you. But, no matter, every body must 
 have some Cross. 
 
 And now I have vented my Spleen, I must suspend 
 my judgment a While. Are you at a Loss how to 
 
1795] NEWS FROM THE IMPERIAL CAMP 99 
 
 send me a Letter ? If that is the case you may send 
 it to M"^ Coghlan who will forward it as he dos our 
 others. "We often hear from S' Anne ; and, by this 
 same occasion that I send this, I have wrote to her 
 a good Long one and have Gerry-Mumbled her 
 comme il faut. I will allso write you a Long and 
 kind one, if I can receive one from you and you 
 prove to me that you deserve it. So now I shall 
 only add that M : Abbess and Vicare desires their 
 kind Compliments to your Lady^P and joins me in 
 the same to S"" William. May be, you will be a 
 granum before you let me hear from you ; if so I 
 shall bid you Adieu for this world, but hope you will 
 one day meet in Heaven 
 
 Poor Anastasia Mary Ursula. 
 
 And the next letter, dated from some battlefield on the Rhine, 
 seems to answer the query about the old lady's ' first acquaint- 
 ance ' among the Jerningham children. 
 
 From William Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 December 17 th. 
 
 Stromberg. 
 
 I hope, dear sister, that you have not been uneasy 
 about me during all this time. I have always been 
 well and have had the good luck not to receive a 
 scratch. We have had fighting enough for these 
 three months past, but the regiment I am in has 
 been very lucky : we have only two officers wounded 
 and none killed untill now. Perhaps later it will be 
 otherwise, for M. Clairfayt seems to be resolved to 
 drive the French over the Meuse. Gen : Wiirmser, 
 
loo JERNINGHAM LETTERS [i795 
 
 who has the strongest army, is remained in the 
 environs of Landau and on the borders of Alsace : 
 no one seems to know what his intentions are. 
 Gen : Clairfayt's head quarters are at Altzeys, and 
 his army, of which I am, is from Lautereck down to 
 Bacharach on the Rhine. 
 
 The French army, after 3 days fighting, retired in 
 the night from their position on the Nahe (a river 
 that runs into the Rhine at Bingen) two nights ago, 
 so that we all advanced. As between Bacharach and 
 Coblentz there are nothing but very high mountains, 
 if the French are not turned, or a body of ours does 
 not pass the Rhine by Coblentz, it will cost us a 
 good deal of time, and, I am afraid, a great number 
 of men. Two thirds of the army lay very thick in 
 Villages, and the other third part is encamped, but 
 releived every two days. 
 
 You can conceive how both men and horses must 
 suffer from the cold and wet weather. The English 
 news papers have, I dare say, given long details of 
 all our gained battels between Mentz and Mannheim. 
 That on the 15th of Novl'er ^vas the most terrible : 
 we attacked the French cavalry, which fought very 
 well, but was obliged at last to retire in the utmost 
 confusion ; we cut a great many to pieces and took 
 all their artillerie a cheval. Pray how do you do ? 
 Where are you, where is my Father, and Mother, 
 and Brokers ? I receive no letters from any one. 
 
 Pray write to me ; direct a I'armee de M'' Clairfayt, 
 division du Lt. Gen: Staader. I hope you will receive 
 this letter ; as I have forgot the name of the town 
 that Oxbourough is near I direct this letter to old 
 
.:l"'' . ffu c/rjfi /iiJ/^^r/n 'h'-/.nnuf/ia 
 
 dncmifvA fipn Irt-Jfi 
 
1795] WILLIAM THE FORGOTTEN 
 
 Cossey, so that my father and mother will in reading 
 it know that I am well. I hope that they are the 
 same. My happyness is the thought of seeing you 
 all after this dreadful war. I hope we shall all be 
 ahve and in good health. Adieu dear sister present 
 my Compliments to Sir R* Bedingfeld and believe 
 me to be your ever affectionate 
 
 Brother W^Jerningham. 
 
 Gott gebe Muth, in kunft 'gen Tagen 
 
 des Lebens Miihe z\i ertragen, 
 
 im Gliick und Leid vergniigt zu seyn. 
 
 The harassing campaign, undecisive and barren of any result 
 but hardships and destruction, which since the beginning of 
 September had been conducted on the banks of the Rhine by 
 the In;perials under Clairfayt, Wiirmser and Wartensleben 
 agains' the Republicans under Jourdan, Pichegru and Marceau, 
 was td end two days after the date of this letter (that is to say, on 
 December 19), in an armistice, wearily proposed by the Austrians 
 themselves, in spite of their last victories, and gladly accepted 
 by the French. 
 
 The terrible 'battel' on November 15, to which William 
 alludes, was that of Hochspeyer, which had followed hard upon 
 Wartensleben's victory over Marceau at Frankendal (on the 
 14th of the same month). ; 
 
 A singular change seems to have taken place in Lady 
 Jerningham since the days when she hung on the flanks of the 
 Austrian army in Flanders so as to remain near her son. No 
 one seems now to write from England to the young soldier, as 
 he remarks with pathetic simplicity ; nor, indeed, to judge by 
 the letters themselves, does any member of his family appear to 
 be in any way concerned about his hardships and daily 
 dangers. 
 
 A letter from Edward Jerningham, then a student at the 
 Temple, to Lady Bedingfeld at Oxburgh, points, by its. reference 
 
102 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1796 
 
 to certain ' advanced circumstances,' to the approaching birth 
 of Frances Charlotte — who, nineteen years later, was to marry 
 William, eleventh Lord Petre. 
 
 The daughter born unto Colonel Dillon was Maria, who 
 after the lapse of two decades was destined to espouse a Serene 
 Highness, Philip, Due de Croy Dulmen, to wit. 
 
 We have in this letter a curious instance of the greater 
 simplicity of thought observable a hundred years ago on the 
 subject of the natural events of life. I doubt whether nowadays 
 a young man would write to his sister about her approaching 
 confinement in these jocular terms. It may be mentioned that 
 Edward's first appearance among the pages of the Collection is 
 in a letter written when he was barely eleven, to his sister at the 
 convent in Paris, in which the chief item of news consisted in 
 an enumeration of all those among the neighbours' and farmers' 
 wives who were ' great with child.' 
 
 Lincoln's Inn, 
 
 {Holy week) 
 
 This being the season my dear Sister for making 
 good resolutions, I have formed one, which I hope I 
 shall keep more strictly too, than perhaps some 
 others I may make at this same season : I mean an 
 attempt at conquering my unaccountable Laziness 
 and writing to those for whom I have the greatest 
 regard, and affection. 
 
 I shall begin, (said I to myself this morning) by 
 writing to my Sister — I have already made advances 
 to Sir Richard (who shall next have an epistle from 
 me) by forwarding to him, by the Cook, a pair of 
 Black Buskins — Reading and Francfort must appear 
 on my two next addresses, not to mention my long 
 unanswered Correspondence at Ely — &c. &c 
 
 I hope you continue, my dear Sister, to be as per- 
 fectly well as ever, under the actual advanced state of 
 
1796] A BROTHERLY LETTER 103 
 
 your circumstances. I should be myself, however, 
 most extremely alarmed, if by any strange accident 
 I had got so far — and should certainly wait for the 
 critical moment, quivering with fear and expectation, 
 between two Sheets, and not run and skip about as 
 you do 
 
 This subject puts me in mind of a letter I had 
 yesterday from Colonel Dillon with the intelligence 
 of his wife's being safely delivered of a daughter ; 
 and that his regiment, now compleated by Drafts 
 from the vessel, is about sailing for Gibralter — the 
 usual Prelude I fear to the West Indies 
 
 The motions, marches, counter-marches &c. of our 
 home forces, appear not to fall far short of these 
 foreign expeditions of the others. My Brother's 
 Regiment, now stationed at Reading, from Devon- 
 shire and Cornwall, is upon the point of marching 
 into the Highlands of Scotland— Harry is in town, 
 in Jermyn S" with CoM Phips ; he is not quite well, 
 but is getting better, the last summers dose of 
 Bodney has certainly considerably improved his 
 Sister, She is quite well and am happy to be able to 
 say the same of the inhabitants in No. 18 Lincolns 
 Inn. 
 
 Your most sincere and affectionate Brother, 
 
 Edward Jerningham. 
 
 Tuesday, 12 d clock at night. 
 
 The birth of the future Lady Petre is recorded in a letter to 
 Sir Richard from Edward Bedingfeld, second son to Sir Henry 
 Arundell Bedingfeld, and brother to the fourth Baronet. 
 
 The person whom it is mysteriously suggested that the 
 
I04 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1796 
 
 Administration should have taken some measure to reward is no 
 less a one than ' our son John ' himself. In the second volume 
 of these excerpts will be found a letter from the Duke of Kent, 
 to whom, many years later, a direct application was actually 
 made with a view to some definite reward. The event to which 
 Mr. Bedingfeld alludes had occurred on October 29 in the 
 preceding year. It was simply this : As the King, on his way 
 to open Parliament, was passing through the park, ' His Majesty 
 found himself surrounded by a throng of persons of all rank, 
 but in which the mob element prevailed,' who clamorously 
 demanded peace, and the dismissal of Mr. Pitt. During the 
 royal progress one of the glass windows of the coach was 
 shattered by a bullet. On his return from the Houses, the King 
 was again treated with much indignity. Now, the tradition is 
 that, at a certain critical moment, when the guards had actually 
 been pushed back or disorganized for a while by a rush of the 
 rabble, a gentleman sprang forward in front of the carriage 
 door, drew on the assailants, threatening to kill forthwith any 
 one who approached nearer, and thus kept the mob at bay 
 sufficiently long to allow the guards to rally round the coach 
 and prevent any further assault. The King inquired about 
 ' the name of his rescuer,' and was informed that ' it was Mr. 
 Bedingfeld.' 
 
 The service, as will be seen, was simple enough in itself, and 
 one which it was the natural duty of any gentleman to render in 
 the circumstances. But the fact of its not having been 
 recognized by a substantial recompense seems to have rankled 
 considerably in the heart of Mr. Edward Bedingfeld and of 
 his son. 
 
 York, 
 
 Apn'l 29. 
 Dear Nephew, 
 
 Your kind information of Lady Bedingfeld's 
 safe Delivery, and of the child being well, gave us all 
 great satisfaction. You will convey our best and 
 sincere wishes for the continuance of her Recovery. 
 
1796] 'OUR SON JOHN' 105 
 
 I am much obliged to you for the desire you 
 express to hear a good account of my health : The 
 Water in my Stomach does not, I think, increase : 
 but occasions flatulence. My nights are truly bad, 
 and I am frequently obliged to sit up. The state of 
 my Legs, from the Scurvy, confines me as much as 
 ever. But I have always the consolation of my con- 
 fessarius bringing to me the Blessed Sacrament, at 
 every Indulgence. I am very sensible that this 
 Delay is granted me by a most merciful Providence, 
 that I may not be found quite unprepared. 
 
 We always thought (and our Son John knows we 
 thought so) that some of the Administration should 
 point out to His Majesty in what manner he might 
 most properly reward a Person who had thus stood 
 forth in defence of his Sovereign. We still hope 
 that something will be done : and whenever it is 
 mentioned here, we express the same opinion. But 
 we avoid making any complaint, as we think it would 
 answer no end. 
 
 I am sorry Mr. Wyndham is likely, as you mention 
 to meet with opposition at Norwich : the name of 
 his Employment should not operate, and we may be 
 confident he gave his approbation, as a Cabinet 
 Minister, to the late overtures of Peace : which 
 nothing but Infatuation could have prevailed with 
 Ihe French to receive as they did and to return an 
 unswer of imperiousness and alienation. 
 
 We have had the great satisfaction to hear of our 
 Son Peter's safe arrival at Malaga. We were par- 
 ticularly anxious about him, from an apprehension 
 of being met with and examined by a French ship. 
 
io6 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1796 
 
 I shall not fail to acquaint Mr. and Mrs. Waterton 
 with what you kindly mention relative to their 
 Daughter, on the supposition of her going to 
 Bodney. We desire to be affectionately remem- 
 bered to all our Friends. — Amidst all my sufferings, 
 an ill-grounded wish sometimes arises to be able 
 once more to pass some months with my Family at 
 Oxburgh : I call it ill-grounded ; because it is not a 
 hope, but a wish : it is however a soothing one. 
 I remain, 
 
 Your affectionate Uncle, 
 
 Edward Bedingfeld. 
 
 P.S. Our Daughter Nelly is now at Walton — Miss 
 Brown, at the Bar-School, desires her kind compli- 
 ments to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 In the intervals of his legal studies Edward Jerningham 
 seems to have been vastly engrossed in some genealogical 
 investigation concerning his family. Charlotte lent the aid of 
 her skill in drawing to the artistic furtherance of the documents. 
 Some years later it was mainly through Edward's exertions in 
 this direction that the task of obtaining a restoration of the 
 Stafford peerage was seriously undertaken by the Jerningham 
 family. 
 
 Saturday {June) 
 It is in human nature, my dearest Sister to be 
 unreasonable, and as I have not the Pretension of 
 being above its frailties, I must own that the Idea of 
 having a Pendant to the very beautiful exchange, for 
 my account of Poor L* Anastasia's death in your 
 Room at Oxburgh, struck me almost instantly on 
 untying the Pink Ribband — Not expecting any 
 
1796] JERNINGHAM ARMORY 107 
 
 thing, beyond a simple list of Female names, I 
 never was more agreeably surprised. 
 
 I only felt for the memory of Poor Mr. Norton 
 deceased in the East Indies, the last rejetton of his 
 family, and whose ancient Coat was wont formerly 
 to be Blazoned between the shields of Bacon and 
 Tuddenham — The names of Norton, Purcell &c. 
 bring into my remembrance, poor old Mr. Scott of 
 the Rue Verte : His Paternal and ancient coat, My 
 dear Sister, you have transformed I am affraid, from 
 3 Catherine wheels to 3 sheafs of corn gules, besides 
 making him an Irishman and calling him O, Scott ! 
 
 I have one more query to propose, and that is : of 
 which family of the Bacons, is the -fess between 
 3 escallops ? as the present Bacons bear gules, on 
 a chief arg 2 mullets sable — I have thought of 
 nothing since yesterday but of the Pendant I hinted 
 at on the other side of this Sheet, have patience — 
 
 1. Jernigan. 
 
 2. Jymingham : arg, on a bend betw. 2 bendlets 
 
 gules 3 buckles sable 
 
 3. Ingatdesthorpe : Gules, a cross ingrailed arg — 
 
 4. Fitzosbert : Barry of 6 gules and or, a canton 
 
 arg. 
 
 5. Hirling : arg, an unicorn salient sable. 
 
 6. Kelvedon : gule, a Pall reversed Ermine. 
 
 7. Vise de Lou 
 
 8. Appleyard : a chev. or, charged with a mullet 
 
 between 3 owles arg. 
 
 9. Barrel. 
 
 10. Clifton. 
 
 11. Scroop : Azure a bend or — 
 
io8 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1796 
 
 12. Baynham. 
 
 13. Dacres : gules, 3 escallops arg — 
 
 14. Throckmorton : gules, on a chev. arg, 3 bars 
 
 gemells sable. 
 
 15. Moore : arg, a moor cock sab. comb'd and 
 
 jollowped gules. 
 
 16. Hall. 
 
 17. Blount : Barry-Nebul6 of 6, or and sable. 
 
 18. Plowden 
 
 19. Dillon : arg, a lion pass, guard, gules btw. 
 
 3 half moons of y'same. 
 
 20. A plain Coat. 
 
 The yth. Vise de Lou, the (jth. Barrel, the T.oth. 
 Clifton, the 12th. Baynham, and the i^th. Moore — 
 Petition to be left Plain, not being as yet quite 
 perfect in their lessons 
 
 Plowden's chevron surpasses my Heraldic powers 
 to describe, it must be familiar to your eyes ; think 
 of the silver waiters at Cossey. I must search the 
 Heralds' Office to fill the 5 plain shields, as there 
 have been different families bearing different arms, 
 of those same names 
 
 (Apropos de Bottes) : Pray tell Sir Richard, I shall 
 not be able I believe to go by Bury — my present 
 Plan is as follows : on Wednesday Cambridge Ball, 
 Thursday or Friday one night at Oxburgh — passing 
 by Bodney, all the Matches except 5, beautifully 
 Blazoned; in London Saturday or Sunday — time 
 enough to keep term, some thought of passing by 
 Holt, not determined. Very angry with Mrs. Foun- 
 taine for making Miss Stourton have a mind to be a 
 Nun ; much too pretty. 
 
1796] MR. ONSLOW, OF HUNTS 
 
 109 
 
 The end of this full programme appears to have been dis- 
 astrous, as witnessed by the next letter from Lady Jerningham 
 to her daughter at Oxburgh. 
 
 Tuesday, 1 1 June. 
 
 My dear Charlotte, 
 
 I have been very uneasy about Ned, who 
 Came back on Saturday from his expedition, with 
 an ulcerated sore throat and a great deal of fever, a 
 rash upon his face ; in short quite ill. He returned 
 in the same miserable Little Chaise, where it seems 
 the day before they had had Rain for several hours. 
 Your Father luckily got nothing but an inflamation 
 in one of his eyes, but Edward has had a real little 
 illness. He is better to-day but yet very languid, 
 with head ache, no appetite, his throat yet unhealed, 
 and making me feel very uncomfortable. Jones, 
 however, says he is getting well, and he certainly 
 is a great deal better. I own I dread his journey to 
 Devonshire, for he never absents himself but some- 
 thing happens to him. I hope at the end of the 
 week to return you my thanks in a proper manner 
 for your attention. 
 
 Miss Petre is going to be married to a Mr. Onslow 
 of Hunts ; his Father has, they say, a tolerable 
 fortune but encumbered and she will have 20,000. 
 Lord Petre was very much against the match on 
 account of Religion, but has at length consented 
 and Mr. Butler is beginning the writings. What a 
 different Girl from you ! 20,000 she is obliged to 
 have, but it is thought that Lord Petre will not give 
 her any more. The young man is in the army, a 
 great acquaintance of Percy Howards — the eldest 
 Petre and all that click. 
 
no JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1796 
 
 Miss Mary Stourton, the Worker, is going to 
 Bodney and L^^ Stourton wishes that she may be 
 intimate with Fanny Dillon. I wish it also, but 
 from a different motive. Miss Stourton is very shy 
 and timid, particularly pious and even scruplous. 
 Lady Stourton wishes her to acquire Fanny's air du 
 monde, and I shall be glad if Fanny can get a Httle 
 of the others real sense and solidity. Lady Stourton 
 desired me to say to you, that she hopes you will 
 call upon them, when you are in Yorkshire, and that 
 she will expect you. I have no doubt but that Miss 
 M. Stourton will much sooner get a little assurance 
 and confidence in herself at Bodney than she would 
 at home; she is as tall as Fanny, and feels awk- 
 ward as a Child in the nursery coming down after 
 dinner &c. 
 
 I had a letter yesterday from my poor Sister. 
 She says that she is got much better, with taking 
 Chocolate. But I am afraid her case is a very 
 allarming one. Little Fanny the 2nd. begins to be 
 in desolation about the Convent, but it is highly 
 necessary she should go, and her Mother feels the 
 necessity of it. You Cannot Conceive how very 
 shamefully Mde. de Linery, her daughter, and all that 
 party have behaved, in order to get M™* de la Touche 
 for Am6d6e. The French are abominably meddling, 
 and M''^ Dillon has been obliged to forbid M"*' de 
 Levis her House. 
 
 Adieu My dear, dear Charlotte. Edward desires 
 his Love to you and is quite happy to find that you 
 were pleased with having Leonora. 
 
 gr "W™ Skeffington lives seven miles from Holt. 
 
1796] MISS MARY STOURTON, THE WORKER in 
 
 He sees Mr. Nevill's House, but the latter never 
 visits any Body. Lumley is to be in town positively 
 to-day or to-morrow. I dread the result of the Busi- 
 ness for Lady Maria: her head is montee beyond 
 Credibility. Considering the whole proceeding it 
 will however be better that the thing should be 
 finished with ; if he refuses her this year it will for 
 the Last. She hoped to succeed to his unsuccessful 
 Passion for Lady Temple. 
 
 The Reconciliation of the Princess remains sus- 
 pended, it is a dreadful Scandal, and would be very 
 much to be wish'd that it was over. Lady Anne 
 Lambton is going to Italy with her Husband for his 
 health. Lady Jersey's Children are at Hammersmith, 
 and she now ventures sometimes to visit them, but 
 she has sadly lost sight of her usual prudence in 
 managing her affairs. 
 
 Pray tell the Chevalier I beg he will write to me 
 in French, for I cannot Consent to give up his elo- 
 quence in French for an Italian lesson. A kiss to 
 the dear little girl, and many things to Sir Richard. 
 
 Yours as ever, 
 
 F. Jerningham. 
 
 The Miss Petre mentioned by Lady Jerningham as going to 
 be married was Ann Catherine, only daughter of Robert 
 Edward, ninth Baron. Her intended husband, Mr. Denzil 
 Onslow, rose to the rank of General. She was to die within 
 two years of this date. 
 
 Miss Mary Stourton, to whom Edward refers as being 
 'too pretty to be a nun,' and whom Lady Jerningham calls 
 'the worker,' was the daughter of Charles Philip, sixteenth 
 Baron. 
 
 ' Little Fanny the second' was the only daughter of General 
 
112 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1796 
 
 Arthur Dillon, by his second marriage with Madame de la 
 Touche. This little girl was to become the helpful and devoted 
 wife of ' that honest man,' Gfe^ral Comte Bertrand. 
 
 The last letter for this year, in my excerpts, shall be one from 
 the devoted Sir Richard in London, to his wife at Oxburgh. 
 
 Thursday night. 
 
 I shall be very glad my Dear Charlotte, when 
 to-morrow comes, as I am very impatient to receive 
 an other letter from You. 
 
 Thank God an other day is over, for tho' my 
 friends are very civil, I find there is a very material 
 comfort wanting, I mean the pleasure of talking 
 over with a confidential friend every thing that has 
 pass'd. You are, besides being the woman that suits 
 me in Every respect, that same confidential friend. 
 I assure you this absence from you, which has been 
 the longest since we married, has more than ever 
 convinced me that I could not enjoy life without 
 You. But I must check myself, or I shall tire you 
 with repeating what I have often told you and what 
 I trust and hope you are convinced of. 
 
 Your Commissions are all done. To-morrow to 
 Law and Lawyers again and I hope for the last 
 time. 
 
 Now for an account of myself. Yesterday I dined 
 at Mrs. Correys, who (as I find is her Custom) would 
 not let us go till one in Morning, tho' that, for 
 London, is not perhaps so late. We play'd a pool 
 at commerce, half Guineas ; the Winner to be en- 
 titled to a little Trinket ; the Money to go towards 
 
1796] A LETTER FROM TOWN 113 
 
 the Support of some Nuns whom Mr. Correy pro- 
 tects, but all Names were to be given in and then 
 pray'd for. I subscribed for you, we were altogether 
 13, I won nothing so am entitled as well as yourself 
 to their prayers. Your Uncle Henry ,was there, I 
 dine with him at his lodgings on Saturday; I like 
 him very much, a jovial good natur'd companion, 
 and he speaks of you with so much kindness, ex- 
 presses such an affection for you, that he cant fail to 
 be a favourite of mine. 
 
 Edward has just set me down, we dined at Mr. F. 
 Dillon's, a very good dinner a la Horrex. They seem 
 very happy indeed amongst themselves — there was a 
 great deal of Itahan Singing in the Evening and a 
 cold Supper to finish ; so you see I live upon my 
 friends. .But, as I said before, I feel all would not 
 do long without you, you dear, dear woman. Good 
 night. I wish it was morning, I'm tired, but not in 
 the least sleepy. 
 
 Friday, 3 o'clock. I breakfasted at Wright's and 
 not finding a letter I was really quite uneasy; Edward 
 who was also there, plainly saw it. But luckily it 
 struck me you might possibly have directed it to the 
 Hotel, so away I went there and was indeed quite 
 an other man after receiving it. We have had 
 another meeting, and every thing is settled except 
 my attendance at Westminster to-morrow morning. 
 The Money is paid. 
 
 You have not sent me word about the gownd, so 
 I shall take upon myself to bring you something that 
 is neat and knowing. I am engaged to dine with 
 old Horrex at 4. It's now half past 3 so must bid 
 
114 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [i797 
 
 you adieu, you dear good creature. Robert will be at 
 Cossey on Sunday ; pray desire him to meet me at 
 Attleburgh on Monday morning with Chesnut and 
 Black. Once more farewell. I long to see you 
 again. 
 
 D. D. D. L. 
 
 If the Stables at the house are full pray desire 
 Robert to get them a warm stable at the Falcon. 
 
 A letter from Lady Bedingfeld to her mother, the only one 
 dated 1797, gives an instance of the ruthless working of criminal 
 law and its hanging clauses a century ago. 
 
 Dear Mamma, 
 
 I waited two days with proper effects for the 
 visit you announced, but yesterday brought me a 
 very polite Letter signed C. Cornwallis to tell me 
 they had wished very much to come but that the 
 Cadogans would not permit them to absent them- 
 selves for a whole morning. 
 
 I have been rather en fair these two last days, 
 about a very melancholy business. On Thursday 
 last, towards 9 at night, we received an Express 
 from Wisbech. It was a letter to Sir Rich'^ From 
 the bailiff of the Hundred, to say that 4 Irish 
 Catholics had been Convicted of Murder that Morn- 
 ing, and they being desirous of seeing a Priest of 
 their own religion, he begged Sir R"* would Imme- 
 diately send his Chaplain, as they were, to be 
 Executed on Saturday Morning. Mr. Patterson 
 
1797] HANGING LAWS iiS 
 
 went, and returned yesterday evening very much 
 hurt at the dreadful Scene he had witnessed. Two 
 of the 4 died perfectly innocent ! The Sheriff and all 
 those present are now Convinced of it from their 
 behaviour on the Scaffold. 
 
 Their history was this : — They were in the 
 Custom of coming over from Ireland to the Isle of 
 Ely for the Harvest ; they lodged in the house of a 
 poor Shepherd, who was particularly jealous of his 
 Wife, and he imagined (with or without reason) 
 that she liked one of these Irishmen — One Evening 
 about ten o'clock he began to dispute with his Wife 
 and from Words, came to blows, which one of these 
 strangers hearing, he went down to part them. 
 They both fell upon him as soon as he enter'd and 
 he, being in liquor began to fight also, and gave the 
 Shepherd several mortal Wounds of which he died 
 3 weeks afterwards. In the meantime another of 
 the Irishmen came down and took his Companion's 
 part and wounded the Man and his Wife also. In 
 short it finished by the shepherd, the woman, and a 
 poor man (who also lodged in the house) being 
 stretched out on the floor to all appearance dead. 
 The two other Irishmen, who were the youngest of 
 the set, were all this time in bed ; but alarmed by 
 the noise, or called by their Companions, they came 
 down stairs and seeing what was done, were fright- 
 ened and fled with the guilty ones. 
 
 Being shortly taken, they were upon the oath of 
 the woman condemned to die also, she persisting in 
 saying that she saw them all 4 in the room. — They 
 died perfectly resigned, with every Sentiment of 
 
ii6 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [i797 
 
 Piety. The Guilty ones declared, the moment 
 before they were . turned off, that the two young 
 ones had nothing to do with the murder. — The 
 Sheriff, Clergyman &c. &c. were particularly Civil 
 to Mr. Patterson and Compassionate to the Unfor- 
 tunate prisoners. — They were all 4 Sensible Men, 
 well instructed in their religion, and felt the Com- 
 forts of it in their last Moments. 
 
 A letter from Eliza Jerningham, a cousin of Sir William's, 
 whilom ' a nun at the Aug. of Bruges, now refuged at Hengrave, 
 near Bury' (according to a note in Lady Bedingfeld's hand), 
 bears reference to the proposed Government scheme for trebling 
 the current assessed taxes as a means of providing part of the 
 twenty-five millions required for supplies. We get here a side- 
 glimpse of one of the invasion panics which followed on the 
 failure of the negotiations at Lille in the autumn of 1797. 
 
 Jan>' the y^. 
 Dear Cousin, 
 
 As Mr. Angier had made off to Oxburough, I 
 
 waited his return to seize him, which haveing happily 
 
 done, I can freely acknowledge and return you my 
 
 most sincere thanks. I am sensible the taxes must 
 
 bear hard on you (which mortifies me, you should 
 
 think on me). If the pig Tail Messrs. should come, 
 
 they will make us smart more severely and leave us, 
 
 at best, to run without a Shift. Ainsi we may be 
 
 glad to do what we can to save the Nation. 
 
 If you and the Cossey Family hire a Convoi and 
 
 Man of War to go over to America and take us with 
 
 you to found a Convent, little Mathilda may then 
 
1798] A NUN ON INVASION PANICS 117 
 
 indeed be our first Novice ; but I confide we shall 
 never be oblidged to leave good Old England vi^hich 
 I love with all my heart nonesuch. On the nth. 
 (instant) I had a Letter from my B' ; he tells me to 
 be in no pain about the French landing in England. 
 They may as well pretend to land with balloons in 
 the Moon : England is destined to humble those 
 plunderers and destroyers of humanity ; the All- 
 mighty will at last punish their depredations. 
 
 His greatest satisfaction is to learn you are all 
 well, and charges me with his sincerest wishes of 
 health and happiness the ensuing year and many 
 returns in which I unite and my Niece with Mr. 
 Oliver, Mrs. More and the whole Circle. Before the 
 Miss Bedingfields leave you it seems to me, as an 
 Old acquaintance of their Father's, you might bring 
 them to see Hengrave ; I wont make them Nuns ! 
 
 My B"^ is as fond of his two boys as you are of 
 your Eldest Girl, and of our D^ Novice Mathilda. 
 My Niece, y"^ wicked one, bids me tell you She is 
 at present very bussy Catching butterflies. You 
 may suppose we hope Lady Je.rningham dont take 
 it ill that we have Sincerely told her we cant keep 
 Saisvalle any longer than her half year. She is a 
 surpriseing oddity ; they have reason to think her 
 mind not right and the young Ladies are afraid of 
 her, so you see we can't expose ourselves to the 
 ruining of the School. When Cou : Will™ was with 
 you, why did you not send him to us ? In two long 
 Strides he might have made his way. 
 
 Yours most affectionately, 
 
 Eliza Jerningham. 
 
ii8 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1798 
 
 The little Saisseval girl seems to have been a protdgde of Lady 
 Jerningham, no doubt the daughter of some imigrd. Her name 
 occurs frequently in letters of this period. 
 
 Of Lady Bedingfeld's drawings and pictures, for all the liking 
 one cannot fail to feel for the limner herself, it is hardly possible 
 to speak, after due and critical inspection, with anything 
 approaching to praise. But they were much admired by con- 
 temporaries, and numerous are the allusions to these works of 
 art throughout the letters. Many were actually engraved ; the 
 copies were freely distributed and gratefully received, if not as 
 works of genius, at least as souvenirs of a most charming lady. 
 
 One of the recipients of such a gift was a Mr. Suffield, of 
 Catton ; his letter of acknowledgment was considered worthy 
 to find a place in the collection. It is characteristic enough, at 
 any rate, to be included among these excerpts. 
 
 From Mr. Thomas Suffield to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Catton, 
 
 2oiA. March. 
 
 Yesterday evening, as I was Sitting Solitary this 
 Cold Weather (when Specimens of Sleet and Snow 
 show themselves) over my fireside, and was warming, 
 as well as Moistening, my Clayey Texture with a 
 Bason of hot Tea, to which two or three tea spoon- 
 fuls of Brandy (by medical licence and authority) has 
 been added, when a long Paper Roll to which a String 
 and many Seals were subjoin'd Was brought to Me 
 by my Serv'. And on opening it I was agreably sur- 
 prised to find that it contained neither Politics nor 
 Law, but a beautiful Print, well Engraved from a 
 Drawing of y' Ladyship, of a handsome young 
 
1798] MR. SUFFIELD, OF CATTON 119 
 
 Damsel crying out in a Wilderness, or forest, that 
 she had lost her way ; which bro' immediately to my 
 Remembrance the Antient Tale of the Children of 
 the Wood, and D^ Parnell's Hermit, the Title of 
 which I remember'd tho' not the Particulars of the 
 Poem, not having Read it for many years. And I 
 would willingly have offer'd the lost Damsel, such fare 
 and hospitality as my hermitage could afford, had she 
 made her appearance in Person ; but I find I must 
 Content myself in having her Representation framed 
 and glazed. 
 
 I hope yf Ladyship will not call the first mentioned 
 Random thought, a Temptation, for otherwise I must 
 place it to your Charge. It however occasion'd me 
 to take a Book from my Shelf, and read what is 
 recommended to Hermits : the first and second verse 
 of the thirty first Chapter of p. Job, and also the 
 following lines from S. Chrysostom and S. Bernard, 
 viz : ' When you go to Church, lay y' hand upon 
 your Mouth, and say : Stay here at the Door, Ye bad 
 thoughts, ye Criminal Desires, ye Irregular affections 
 and Carnal Concupiscences, &c. &c. Superbe Raison- 
 neur, Voire Maladie (you would be apt to say to a 
 modern Esprit fort, tho' not to me who am the 
 Reverse) est I'Orgueil, Dieu a voulu faire des humbles, 
 Vhumilite doit etre votre veritable Sacrifice. Vous n'avez 
 pas assez d'Empressement pour la Communion des Saints 
 pour entrer en Societe de bonnes CEuvres avec Eux ; 
 
 &C. C§"C.' 
 
 Permit me to present my humble Respects to you 
 and S"" Richard, and my grateful thanks for the honour 
 of your Ladyship's friendly and obliging Letter, as 
 
I20 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1798 
 
 well as the Print ; which I shall not fail to hang up 
 in Respectful Remembrance of the Donor, in my 
 own house ; without my Niece, Mrs. Wm. Gregory, 
 who is now at Catton, should long and Petition for 
 it, which She may do to keep in her house, as a 
 Respectful Memorial of y'' Ladyship : for her Life 
 promises the Continuance of many more years than 
 mine. 
 
 I was much oblig'd to Lady Jerningham, before 
 her late Departure to London, for her polite Present 
 of some agreeable Poems dedicated to her Ladyship, 
 by the ingenious Author, a friend of yours, the same 
 friend I suppose you mention'd with so much praise 
 the last time I had the honour of being at Oxburgh ; 
 and you either read or gave me to read, one or two 
 philosophical and entertaining letters of her writing. 
 Of one of them, I remember, you asked my poor 
 Opinion, when I was desirous to hear your Lady- 
 ship's, as a pupil wou'd that of a Professor in Mathe- 
 matics, Chemistry, or the most Occult of Sciences. 
 It seemed to Me, in Respect to the Subject, as awful 
 and Portentious, as the fourth Chapter of the book 
 of Job, when a Spirit stood or passed before him. 
 
 I am now interrogated by y"^ Ladyship concerning 
 my health : my Doctor tells me that my Complaint, 
 tho' better, is not yet removed — Fellow sufferers who 
 live in this Neighbourhood and tell me they have 
 experienced the same, prescribe riding on horseback 
 as much as I am able. Others make use of Dr. 
 Cheyne's appellation of the Maladie An^loise. All 
 that I can say is, that whether the Complaint is 
 called Stomachick, Rheumatick, or any other name, 
 
1798] 'LA MA LA DIE ANGLOISE' 121 
 
 It has occasion'd me for a long time, to pass many 
 Uncomfortable Nights, as well as Days, with very 
 disagreeable Sensations or feelings in my Chest or 
 Stomach, so as sometimes to affect my Respiration, 
 and has been attended at times with a jarring Pain 
 elsewhere— These are the Particulars I have had to 
 mention to my Doctor, and am sorry to trouble y' 
 Ladyship and S"" Richti with a Repetition of them, 
 as I have had Reason to bewail them myself ; being 
 much more Mortifying to me than any Mortifications 
 prescrib'd for Lent, a Mortification of the Will and 
 Inclination to social Enjoym'. 
 
 I have the honour to subscribe myself with the 
 most sincere respect 
 Madam, 
 
 Your very humble, oblig'd and Obed' 
 Serv' 
 
 Tho. Suffield, of Catton. 
 
 Saunderson is at Oxburgh, or Mr. Patterson or any 
 other Acquaintance, be pleased to present them 
 my best Respects and best wishes — Robert my 
 Nephew, begs leave to present the same. 
 
 Catton, March 7.0th. 1798. 
 
 The peace concluded at Campo Formio between Bonaparte 
 and the Imperial Commissioners (October, 1797) put an end to 
 the long and mainly disastrous warring in which William's 
 regiment had been engaged, and the young officer was able to 
 enjoy a well-earned leave. We hear of him again in England. 
 
 At this time George Jemingham appears to have fallen 
 seriously ill. Several letters from his mother are dated from 
 
122 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1798 
 
 the sick-room in London. They express a state of anxiety for 
 his moral welfare which the life of the future Sir George and 
 Lord Stafford does not seem to justify. 
 Mr. Robinson was the Confessor. 
 
 Saturday, 31. March. 
 
 My dearest Charlotte, 
 
 I have, I hope, not anything but what is good 
 to say of your poor Brother. I say I hope, for too 
 frequently an appearance of quiet and ease, has been 
 succeeded by a Contrary effect, but I trust that he is 
 doing better and that God's mercy will be to restore 
 him. Since last Tuesday which was the day he. first 
 mentioned a Wish of speaking with Mr. Robinson, 
 he has been positively better and much more patient. 
 
 Mr. Robinson came to him on Thursday, returned 
 by his desire on Friday, and is to come again on 
 Monday. I am persuaded that he had had a great 
 Deal of uneasiness of Mind upon this score before 
 he took his resolution, and I hope that Almighty 
 God will give a Blessing to his good endeavour. 
 
 He now takes sufficient nourishment, and is chear- 
 fuller the Doctors find him better. I have my self 
 this day got rather a bad head ach, which must 
 apologise for my stupidity. I hardly see anybody. 
 W™ and Ed. are well. I sent them Last Night to 
 Mde. [illegible] assembly to make my apology, and 
 this evening Mrs. Bagot takes Miss Dillon to the 
 Opera. I thought it was better to Let her have to 
 say she has been there. How has every thing gone 
 on ? It is here as cold as Winter. Adieu my ever 
 dear Charlotte, yours always most entirely and affec- 
 tionately. 
 
1798] ILLNESS OF THE HEIR 123 
 
 Mr. Constable is in town, he has called here, but 
 I did not know it, and he was refused entrance. 
 
 Clery Cried at the sight of your Little picture of 
 the Dauphin hanging up at Mde. de Rothes. He is 
 returned from Edinburgh. 
 
 Clery had been the i/alei de chambre of Louis XVI. during 
 the latter's imprisonment. His ^Journal de ce qui s'est passS 
 d. la Tour du Temple pendant la CaptivM de Louis X VI. ' was 
 first published in London during this year. At that time 
 Monsieur {Monsieur, Fr ere du Roy), that is, the Comte d'Artois, 
 who since then became Charles X., was living at Holyrood, a 
 royal refuge against the legal pursuits of certain alleged creditors 
 of the Armde de Condd.* 
 
 Clery, who in 1794 had managed to rejoin the exiled Royal 
 Family, was continuously employed on various secret missions, 
 and it was no doubt when engaged on one of these, to Monsieur 
 in Scotland, that he found himself in the kingdom. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 London, 
 
 {Holy Week). 
 
 My Dearest Charlotte, 
 
 I wrote a few words to you yesterday, in a 
 parcel, and I find that it will only set off this day. 
 Your Father also wrote, and so you were not with- 
 out hearing from us. 
 
 Your Poor Brother is much the same, and by his 
 own appointment (for I did not know of it till this 
 moment) Mr. Robinson is again with him. He is 
 very easily fatigued and therefore I imagine makes 
 but a Little part of the business at a time. He has 
 
 * See the ' Mdmoires de Madame de Gontaut.' 
 
124 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1798 
 
 taken the asses milk again this morning, and I have 
 great hopes from it for strengthening him and as a 
 sweetener of the Blood. 
 
 It may be that Almighty God has granted him 
 this illness, thro' his mercy, to draw him back to his 
 Duty, in reward for the Piety of his early days. 
 
 Edward has this morning had a tooth pulled out 
 by Spinet and is eased from a pain he had had the 
 whole night. William is now at S^ James's (the 
 Levee) with M. de Startemberg. He look'd ex- 
 tremely well in his uniform, with a broad Gold Belt 
 to hold his sword. 
 
 M. de Startemberg is a very handsome man. We 
 have just heard by the postman, that Mr. John 
 Mellish was shot last Night Coming over Hounslow 
 Heath by a Highwayman. He is not dead, but 
 Bush is gone down to him as he is particularly 
 expert at gun-shot wounds. I suppose he must 
 have made some Resistance. 
 
 I have not heard any more of Puss ; she is to 
 Come to London soon to Mrs. Dillon's, who is got 
 into our old House in Portman Street No. 22. 
 Harry Called here twice, but as it was in a morning 
 and I am occupied about your Brother, I did not 
 see him. 
 
 Miss Wodehouse is entirely Recovered and I be- 
 lieve that Lady Wodehouse's fears had been greater 
 than there was foundation for, tho' it is said that she 
 did ask one day if the devil was yet Below ? 
 
 Poor Lady Maria I have been unfortunate about. 
 Her Mother Came one morning and was refused, 
 and I do not dare write to Her. But if you can 
 
■1798] ROYAL AMENITIES 125 
 
 find means to tell her I should be glad and am ever 
 desirous of seeing her, she may perhaps be made to 
 understand that if I am deny'd, it is because the 
 Servants are so foolish, they never understand the 
 difference to be made among visitors, and that she 
 may be sure I shall be glad to see Her. 
 
 William is this moment Returned, quite pleased. 
 When the Lord in waiting said : ' Mr. Jerningham, 
 in the Imperial Service,' the King thought that it 
 was poor George, and said He was grown stouter. 
 M. de Startemberg then said that he had not before 
 had the honor of being presented to His Majesty, 
 having been 9 years out of England, ' Que Von disait 
 beaucoup de bien de lui, d'ou il venait.' The Royal 
 Reply was : ' L'on dit du Bien de cette Famille de 
 partout. Son Pere, le cher Jerningham, est le plus 
 Honnete Homme que je Connaisse.' In short it all 
 passed off extremely well. 
 
 Adieu my ever dear Girl, yes nonobstant — we dine 
 early to go to tenebries. 
 
 Yours always most affectionately, 
 
 La Vieille. 
 
 William, being an Austrian Officer, did not kiss the 
 King's Hand. M. Startemberg said he must not. 
 
 Friday. 
 
 I hope that poor Little Fanny Continues well, 
 that her fever has not returned. She has Certainly 
 a right to be as cross as she pleases, poor Little Girl, 
 with such a dreadful disorder upon her ! 
 
 I must also enquire, My Dearest Charlotte, after 
 
126 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1798 
 
 you, for this sort of uneasiness, tho' not mentioned 
 in the abomination, is very prejudicial to the well 
 being of my Little Grandson and his Mama. But I 
 hope that all is now over, according to my way of 
 reckoning, this is the last day of dying off, and they 
 should be all turned by to-morrow. 
 
 Princess Charlotte has been extremely ill, she had 
 the Confluent kind, and was blind for some days, 
 but all now goes well again. 
 
 I went, as I told you, yesterday to Court. William 
 stood by me, and the King and Queen were par- 
 ticularly gracious : they both asked if I had not a 
 third son (they see Ed. at the ancient Musicks). 
 The King said, laughing, he believed W™ was the 
 stoutest of any. The Queen asked : ' Why do you not 
 bring your daughter ? I have not seen her since she 
 married.' I said you would not come to London ; 
 she then said to William : ' Cannot you prevail upon 
 your Sister to come ?' William made one of his 
 good foreign bows, and said he could not, and the 
 Queen laugh'd and Look'd particularly pleased with 
 him. She then said to me : ' Well but you have 
 another Son, have you not ? and I answered Oui, en 
 verite.' She then asked Fanny if she was glad to 
 come to London, and then our glories were over. 
 
 Lady Harberter (formerly O' Grady and Pomeroy) 
 was presented also. Mr. Stourton in the Room. I 
 stumbled also upon Mr. Constable, looking very 
 consequential, so that we were several Papists there. 
 
 I think Sir Richard's answer about serving a very 
 good one ; it is what Ed. wants every Catholick to 
 stick to. 
 
1798] MADAME DE LA TOUR DU PIN 127 
 
 Young Stourton is very Like the Princess Augusta ; 
 they have so much the same way of laughing and 
 speaking, that if they were Brother and Sister, it 
 would be noticed. Adieu my ever dear Charlotte. 
 Your Brother goes quickly advancing towards health, 
 he goes out every day and two muffins are his 
 quantum for Breakfast ! Always yours. 
 
 ' My little grandson,' as Lady Jemingham confidently ex- 
 presses it, turned out, as appears in subsequent letters, to be 
 another grand-daughter. 
 
 The following letter, not being signed, is docketed by Lady 
 Bedingfeld : ' From Henrietta Dillon, daughter to my unfor- 
 tunate uncle General Arthur Dillon, married to the Comte de la 
 Tour du Pin Gouvernet, now an emigrant in England {after- 
 wards Prifet de Bruxelles under Bonaparte, later on Ambassador 
 from Louis XVIII. to the King of the Netherlands, and then to 
 Turin): [This description does not, however, tally with that 
 given in the '■Note G^ndalogique sur la Maison des Lords 
 Dillon,' and is probably erroneous.J 
 
 The epistle itself would appear to be in answer to an offer on 
 the part of Lady Bedingfeld to take care of Madame de la Tour 
 du Pin's children. ' La petite Charlotte ' was destined to marry, 
 in 18 1 7, the Comte de Liederkerke, of the Low Countries. 
 
 Richmond, 
 
 Le Samedi, 
 
 27 Avril. 
 
 Vous m'avez ecrit une charmante lettre, ma chere 
 Cousine, et dont mon coeur vous gardera une eter- 
 nelle reconnaissance. Je suis si peu accoutumee 
 aux attentions et aux bontes que la v6tre m'a double- 
 ment p6n6tr6e. 
 
 II est bien vrai que je partois demain pour le 
 
128 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1798 
 
 Continent et, entre nous, pour la France ; je partois 
 le desespoir dans Fame de quitter mon mari et mes 
 enfans, et d'aller dans cet affreux pays traiter des 
 affaires si uncertaines, avec des gens dont I'atrocit^ 
 ne peut qu'augmenter par leurs d6faite. Mais un 
 nouveau reglement sur les passeports des gens qui 
 arrivent a Paris, m'arrfete et je vois qui ce seroit 
 courir a une mort certaine, que d'aller en France 
 dans ce moment. Je ne pars done plus, chere 
 Cousine, mais je n'en suis pas moins remplie de 
 reconnaissance de votre oifre pleine de bonte. 
 
 La petite Charlotte auroit 6te bien heureuse avec 
 vous, mais son pere etoit serieusement fach6 contre 
 moi de ce que je me decidois k vous la donner, et 
 vous avez excite la premiere querelle qu'il y ait eu 
 dans le menage depuis douze ans ! J'entends dire 
 que vous allez venir a Londres : assurement j'irai 
 vous y voir, mais ne viendrez vous pas aussi dans 
 ma maisonnette ? Vous y serez regue comme vous 
 y etes aimee et respectee par I'amie de votre jeunesse, 
 qui sera celle de toute votre vie. 
 
 Vous ne me parlez pas de vos cheres petites filles. 
 J'espere qu'elles se portent bien. Le Chevalier pre- 
 tend que la derniere sera la plus belle, mais j'ai peine 
 a croire qu'elle le soit jamais autant que Fanny. 
 Adieu, chere Cousine, j'ai I'esperance de vous voir, 
 et de vous parler de ma reconnaissance et de ma 
 tendre amitie. Mille Compliments de la part de 
 M. de Latourdupin et de la mienne a S^ Richard. 
 
 In the next and sundry subsequent letters we hear of the 
 preliminaries of the intended marriage between Sir Thomas 
 
1798] BIRTHS AND BETROTHALS 129 
 
 Webb and Fanny (the original example of ' Fannyism'), daughter 
 of Charles, twelfth Viscount Dillon. 
 
 The ' Little naughty Girl,' who caused Lady Jerningham's third 
 disappointment in her confident hopes of a son and heir to the 
 Bedingfeld family, was Agnes, who was destined to marry Mr. 
 Molyneux Seel. The birth of this infant took place on the 
 same day as that of Frederick Dillon, son of Colonel Henry 
 Dillon, whose regiment, by the way (formed from the battalion 
 of the old 'Dillon's' taken in 1794 under the British flag), was 
 to be disbanded before the end of the year. 
 
 Frederick Dillon was later on adopted^by Lady Jerningham. 
 
 COSSEY, 
 Saturday, i. September. 
 
 My Dearest Charlotte, 
 
 How are you ? After my Letter was yester- 
 day gone to the Post, I received Sir R''^ with the 
 welcome news of your being safe in your Bed, and a 
 Little naughty Girll crying in the next Room. 
 About an hour after Sir Richard's express arrived 
 the bag from Norwich, with a Letter from Datchet, 
 to say that Mrs. H. Dillon was brought to Bed on 
 the 28. at ten at night of a Boy after a Long Labour, 
 so these two Children enter the world nearly together. 
 
 I hope to be at Oxburgh on Monday, or Tuesday 
 at Latest. Our affairs go on swimingly. S"" Thomas 
 has told Mr. Darrel he intends to propose the affair 
 to me and to tell his estate exactly, which is now 
 said to be 4300; however that is very rich. He 
 appears, besides, to be an excellent good natured 
 young man and a very good Catholick,^ rather Clever 
 than otherways, and extremely well looking. In a 
 few years more he will be very like Mr. Laton, and 
 has a good deal of that Gentleman like manner. Mr. 
 
 9 
 
130 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1798 
 
 Barrel says S'' R. has been so good as to invite him, 
 so that he may go the next week, if S^ R"" Hkes of it. 
 What a weather-cock he is ! But however tant niieux. 
 God send things may always go as well as they do 
 now ! We have been shut up quite alone with this 
 good company. 
 
 My little disorder is past off, but how unhappy I 
 should have been at Oxburgh. As I was ill that 
 very evening, and had been all day in bed, it would 
 also have disturbed you, so Providence which always 
 orders things for the best, even for our Comfort, 
 disposed of this in its usual way. I expect Ed. this 
 evening. Adieu my dearest Charlotte. I must not 
 fatigue your eyes. 
 
 Yours most affectionately, 
 
 F. Jerningham. 
 
 Monday, 3. September. 
 
 My dearest Charlotte, 
 
 I am very very stupid this day, but you wish 
 me to write, and I have pleasure in obeying you. My 
 disorder, with an accompanyment of fever, makes 
 me sad and restless, but I hope it will soon get 
 better. I beg you will pay continued attention to 
 your Cough till it is gone, I should think that asses 
 milk would be restoring. 
 
 I am glad Little Agnes is better. 
 
 Yesterday's post brought me a letter from Dublin ! 
 L"* D. thinks the fortune small, but in Consideration 
 of his good character, and Fanny's approbation of 
 him, Consents to the union. He then puts down 
 on another Paper the settlements he demands for 
 
1798] LORD DILLON ON SETTLEMENTS 131 
 
 her, which I am afi;aid are too high in every way for 
 the Estate, and at present for her Head. 1200 a 
 year jointure and 30o£ in money, & other tyeings 
 up. I have not yet been well enough to convey 
 the intelligence further. 
 
 S»' Thomas writes very pretty Letters, neither ful- 
 some, nor cold, but of a Rational Being. 
 
 The Darells are here, with Lady Mary Eyre's 
 youngest Son. He interests me from having been 
 the particular favourite and Consolation of his 
 Mother. I see Ed. after my death — forgive me 
 this Lowness. Poor Ed. is, thank God, well ?nd 
 his Mother and yours not dyeing. One reviving 
 thought is the Hope of seeing you at the end of 
 your month, I would not have you come before. 
 
 A kiss to little naughty Fanny. 
 
 Do you not find George returned in a manner to 
 
 his old self ? God send he may remain so. Adieu 
 
 My Dear. 
 
 Yours most affectionately, 
 
 F- J- 
 I hope S'^ R"^ is without Rheumatism. 
 
 Fmn Chevalier Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 No. 3 Berkeley Street, 
 
 Piccadilly, 
 
 II me semble, ma chere niece, que j'ai eu un tres 
 joli songe, que j'ai passe 8 jours tres comfortably a 
 Oxborough, que je vous ai trouv6 belle, bien portante, 
 et excellente a I'ordinaire sous tous les rapports (ce 
 
132 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1798 
 
 qui n'est pas un songe), que S"' R** m'a regu avec 
 cette bonne humeur et cette cordialit6 qui sont ses 
 appanages. Et, quoique cela soit encore la une 
 realite, j'en ai joui si peu de terns, qu'il me semble 
 vraiment que c'est un songe, tant le bonheur est 
 rapide et passager. 
 
 Mais ce qui ne Test pas, c'est I'impression douce et 
 profonde que me fait chaque fois que je vous vois, le 
 spectacle de votre union, et du parfait accord de 
 votre interieur, I'esprit d'hospitalit6 et de noblesse 
 qui le caracterise, enfin la paix et I'egalite d'humeur 
 qui regnent dans votre bon vieux chateau, et qui 
 rependent un sentiment de contentement sur ses 
 habitants, comme sur le seigneur et la Dame du 
 Logis. 
 
 J'ai ete en, arrivant ici a Richmond ou j'ai trouve 
 la belle accouchee en tres bonne sante. Elle a eu 
 cependant de la fievre et des maux de tete, pour 
 s'etre levee trop tot ; mais elle 6toit infiniment mieux 
 hier, et j'ai dine avec elle, son mari et Humbert, 
 hier, septieme jour de ses couches, sans qu'il parut 
 qu'elle ait ete incommodee : elle espere se rendre a 
 Cossey dans les premiers jour d'Octobre, mais pour 
 24 heures seulement, et elle seroit fort aise de vous y 
 voir, car je doute qu'elle puisse passer par Oxborough, 
 son projet etant de prendre le Stage qui va directe- 
 ment a Norwich. 
 
 Je retournerai a Richmond dans un jour ou deux, 
 je suis occup€ dans ce moment-ci a me procurer un 
 bon voisin pour le premier et le red-chausee de ma 
 maison, et j'ai quelque esperance qu'un honnete 
 homme, dont j'oublie le nom, qui a ete consul 
 
1798] THE CHEVALIER'S 'LINGERIE' 133 
 
 d'Angleterre ^ Madrid, pourra bien s'en accommoder 
 pour un an, ce qui me conviendrait beaucoup, 
 n'ayant ni femme ni enfant. 
 
 La nouvelle des succ6s de Buonaparte en Egypte, 
 en est une bien ficheuse pour ce pays-ci ; il y a toute 
 apparence qu'il aura trouve peu de r6sistance de la 
 part des Mammelucks, et s'il rdussit a organiser ce 
 pays la et a en faire une province de France, il esf 
 impossible de dire le tort qu'a la longue un parei 
 etablissement apporteraau commerce de I'Angleterre 
 et a ses possessions aux grandes Indes. II y a 
 encore la possibility que cette entreprise puisse 
 echouer par la mine de I'armee de Buonaparte, et la 
 difficult^ de la recruter, mais c'est un terrible pas 
 que d'etre arriv6 a Alexandrie et de s'Stre rendu 
 maitre du Caire et de tons les ports. 
 
 L'incertitude du retour a Londres des habitans de 
 Buckland, a raison des couches de Mrs. Throck- 
 morton, m'en donne sur mon voyage de Berkshire, et 
 pourra bien accellerer mon retour en Norfolk, si Ton 
 n'est pas trop nombreuse compagnie a Cossey pour 
 rendre ma presence importune. 
 
 J'en etois a cet endroit de ma lettre quand le coup 
 du facteur de la porte m'a annonce quelque faveur 
 epistolaire, et jugez de ma satisfaction en reconnais- 
 saint votre ^criture. Je suis confus d'abord que vous 
 m'ayez pr^venu, mais bien plus de cette surabondante 
 G6n6rosit6 qui vous fait d^pouiller votre lingerie k 
 Oxburgh pour meubler ma petite habitation. Au 
 reste pour n'Stre pas rebelle a vos ordres, et vous 
 prouver combien je me soumets a ^tre accabl6 de vos 
 dons et faveurs, j'accepterai avec reconnaisance une 
 
134 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1798 
 
 partie de ce que vous avez la bont6 de vouloir 
 m'envoyer, mais point le tout. Oyez sur ce, je vous 
 prie, ma tres humble remontrance. — Deux nappes 
 sont tous ce qui peut m'etre n^cessaire, attendu que 
 pendant que I'une est en activit6, I'autre se blanchit; 
 six ou au plus huit serviettes avec ce que j'ai deja, 
 me feront un Service tres complet ; j'en dis autant 
 pour les towels, ou torchons. Ainsi, ma chere Niece, 
 bornez je vous prie votre envoi i cet 6tat, et croyez 
 que je ne bornerai ni nemesurerai ma reconnaissance 
 au nombre des pieces, mais i I'obligeant Souvenir, et 
 au bon coeur de I'aimable Donatrice. J'embrasse, 
 sur ce, votre brave Baronet, en depit de son vernis, 
 dont j'espere qu'il eprouvera bientot des effets plus 
 d6cisifs. Je suis parti sans settler le compte que 
 nous avons ensemble pour les chevaux de poste, 
 mais il faudra qu'il consente a ce que je m'acquitte 
 de cette dette quand nous nous reverrons. J'en 
 verrai approcher le moment avec plaisir, en ayant un 
 sensible a vous renouveller I'assurance da la tendre 
 et sincere amitie de votre oncle. 
 
 If there are any letters directed for me at Oxborough 
 from Yarmouth or elsewhere, I beg they may be 
 sent to No. 3 Berkeley St. Piccadilly. 
 
 ' La belle accouchde ' was the Comtesse de la Tour du Pin. 
 
 A note from Edward Jerningham to his sister at Oxburgh 
 contains the first mention (to be found in the collection) of 
 Frances Sulyarde, of Haughley Park, the heiress who was to 
 play so important a part in the fortunes of the Jerningham 
 family. ' Miss S.' was then (according to a note by Lady 
 Bedingfeld) stopping on a visit at Oxburgh. 
 
1798] A CURTAILED BILLET-DOUX 135 
 
 Temple Coffee House, 
 
 Novemb. 2&ik. 
 
 I took up Gary at Attleburgh, in most desperate 
 affliction, amidst the bustle of a Mail Coach, and 
 the darkness of the night. It was some time before 
 I comprehended the state he appeared to be in. I, 
 for one instant, thought that the whole had been 
 broke up, so incoherent was he in his distress — he 
 however gradually became more intelligible, and I 
 found that what had ruffled him so prodigiously at 
 his first entree into the Mail, was the impatience of 
 the Coachman, who actually drove off, before he 
 could finish 3 or 4 lines he had begun to write to 
 Oxburgh — he was consequently obliged to pocket 
 his unfinished billet doux — and overtake the coach 
 as well as he could by running 50 or 100 yards 
 in the mud — besides leaving his Portmanteau 
 behind ! 
 
 I shall send you, in a few days, the arms. Pray 
 paint them as expeditiously as possible that the Hall 
 may be compleat by Christmas in order that the 
 accustomed Revels may be carried on with suitable 
 decorum and dignity— Sir Thomas is a proper dis- 
 position : I think the approach of Lord Dillon had 
 its effect. I breakfast to-morrow with Sheldon, and 
 shall then be informed of the real state of things- 
 Pray write immediately and fully. 
 
 I dined yesterday with a creature calling herself a 
 Woman— but more like a Yahoo— very long grey 
 hair, an indescribable face, a small beever hat, a 
 cravatt, a waiscoat, a black riding habbit and a nose 
 so long and inflamed, that it will certainly one day 
 
136 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [179S 
 
 or other set fire to a beard the most flourishing I ever 
 
 saw upon a female countenance. 
 
 Adieu my dearest Sister, 
 
 I must finish in haste. 
 
 E. Jerningham. 
 
 P.S. The wrist has been plaistered and is better — 
 
 this for Miss S ! 
 
 Without a date, but traceable to this period by its insertion 
 in vol. ii. of the collection, is a letter of gossip from 'The 
 Poet ' to his sister. Lady Jerningham. 
 
 I Begin my chit-chattering with telling you an odd 
 incident respecting Miss Townshend 
 
 As Mrs. Cornwallis and her young Ladies were 
 Taking their slow progress to Town, at one of their 
 stations (I forget at whose House) a Ball was pro- 
 posed and some officers of the Scots Fencibles were 
 invited, among whom was a Captain Thomas who 
 danced with Miss Townshend — They had never seen 
 one another before, and between the first and 
 second Dance he proposed himself as a Husband, 
 and insisted upon an Immediate Answer, or at least 
 such a reply upon which he might Build the most 
 confident Hopes — She declined the latter and con- 
 sequently he explained her Answer into a refusal. 
 Nevertheless they completed their second Dance, and 
 then parted for good and All, for it seems Intelligence 
 was brought yesterday that this very Abrupt Lover 
 had proposed to a young Lady at Sudbury and has 
 been accepted. This Captain Thomas is a gentle- 
 man well-born with a small Estate in Scotland. 
 
1798] LADY JERSEY 137 
 
 To ascend a higher order of Amourship I think 
 U^ Jersey is now in the Transit of Venus — It was 
 very evident her reign was drawing to its Period. 
 I beheve I have mentioned this circumstancce before, 
 but the singularity attending the progression of this 
 affair is that the Lady will not acknowledge any 
 Difference or Diminution of Regard on his Side This 
 embarrasses the Pr. exceedingly, for he wishes to 
 let her down gently and to separate amicably, which 
 he thinks cannot be done if he should Dismiss her 
 in Town and unequivocally : I have given her In- 
 timations and broad suggestions which she will not 
 understand or at least does not seem to understand 
 
 This day sen'night The P. was confined with a 
 sprain and he sent me an order to be with him at 
 Ten o'clock in the Evening. He received me in his 
 Bed-Chamber and, talking over this Business, said 
 he would hobble to her the next day and Endeavour 
 to Bring her to a conference and would promise never 
 to withdraw from her and her family his protection. 
 But she has had Art enough to evade the Conference, 
 and after an Elapse of a week. Things remain in the 
 same uncertain undecided situation — The Delicacy, 
 the Reluctance, or call it what ever name you please, 
 which he shews upon this occasion is very extra- 
 ordinary. 
 
 I sent Lady Jersey word that I had been at 
 Carjton House and that the P. had spoken in the 
 highest Terms of her; that it was in her power to 
 secure his Friendship and that the P. had desired 
 me to say something to That Effect — She writes a 
 Note and Desires me never to mention his name to 
 
138 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1798 
 
 her, saying that I am under a mistake and That I 
 am an honest lago. I have declined calling upon her 
 since her note, for I am at a loss how to act 
 
 I have not seen the P. since last Saturday, But he 
 has sent a message to me, by Colonel M<=Mahon, to 
 continue my visits to her, but not to enter upon the 
 subject of separation unless she begins, and Then I 
 am to keep there the same Language. 
 
 The Agnes Jerningham who penned the following epistle, 
 shivering with cold on a bleak January evening of the year 
 1799, was one of Sir William's numerous cousins, many of 
 whom were scattered abroad in foreign service or had taken 
 refuge in convents. 
 
 From Agnes Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Hengrave, 
 
 Jan. 15. 1799. 
 
 My most Dear Couzine, 
 
 Thro' the dark mist of Owl light I am happy 
 to acknowledge your kind favour ; what consoles and 
 which I value above all is your friendship and confide 
 you will ever find in me a sensible return, tho' not in 
 my power to express as I wish. 
 
 The Cold Weather dont better agree with me than 
 with Sir Will™. I never was it's friend nor lik'd to 
 shake hands with it : it pinches me to hard and I 
 do not approve nor am I willing to encourage such 
 violence, I therefore defend myself against it the best 
 I can. And Self love I find ever ready to push me 
 forward, and good Mrs. More to prevent and consider 
 
1799] A LETTER FROM HENGRAVE 139 
 
 me : so she would not permit me to rise to Mattins, 
 which was happily for me (or I believe by this I should 
 have been a pillar of Ice). It was singularly sharp, 
 and from the time it grew moderate and that we 
 flatter'd ourselves with a thaw in the Mornings when 
 we rose, behold all the Windows deck'd in white 
 Damask ! 
 
 I am glad you had such a pleasant excursion. I 
 agree wholy with you that Miss Fanny H. is a 
 pleasing fine Girl. She has good sence, and a very 
 fine temper, which is not commonly found, and I 
 think preferable to bewty and Cash, tho' the latter, 
 by what I hear, is not wanting to her. 
 , I suppose a Vast rout at Miss Dillon's Wedding. 
 Do you propose pushing among the throng ? I dont 
 think it, as I know you are not fond of blusters. I 
 am very Angry at your Br Will™ for Grumbhng about 
 their being no War. Your account of the rest of my 
 Couzins is agreeable to me, being vastly glad the 
 Eldest is so well recover'd and that Couzin Edw'^ 
 will be more at his ease, being sad this weather to 
 have so far to walk. Kind Comp'^ when you write. 
 
 I embrace my little namesake D% Agnes, and wish 
 she was well recover'd of the small pox. I admire 
 the Spirit of Mathilda ; it will carry her courageously 
 thro' the difficult turnings and windings of her Novi- 
 tiate ; but your quiet mild ones must be wipped and 
 spurr'd or they can do nothing. So Chariot and 
 Agnes you may keep to yourselves. 
 
 I heard a great noise one day in the Novitiate, I 
 now suppose the Eccho of Mathilda's pranks. I hope 
 she dont beat her Sisters as that would be to much. 
 
I40 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1799' 
 
 My kind love to all of them and may allmighty-God^ 
 bless them, my sincere wish. If you dont own this a' 
 long one in return for your account, I pray Sir Rich^^ to 
 whom my best Compliments, to trim you well round 
 & round. I have not done yet : was you not vastly 
 shock'd at Sir Thom^ Death ? It was vastly affect- 
 ing to us all and was frequently calld up in the Night 
 to give from our Little Apothecary Shop what was 
 wanted for him. He suffer'd much, made a fine end. 
 in the best of dispositions and all is well that ends 
 well. 
 
 Pray do you know one in your Neighbourhood 
 whose Maiden name was Alexander ? Her youngest 
 Sister is frequently with us and vastly oblidging. 
 She is a great paintress and a very good fortune ; 
 which, it is Said, her Father consider'd her above the 
 rest as being more homely. She is vastly desireous 
 of being introduced to you. 
 
 My kind love and Respectfull Compliments to Sir 
 Will"! et le Chevalier. 
 
 What the young one will do I cant say, more than 
 that she unites me in all most kind to all. 
 
 Mrs. More and Mr. Ohver presents their kind 
 Compliments and I unalterably remain. 
 
 Yours for ever ever and Day 
 
 Agnes Jerningham. 
 
 A frost and I am in my room without fire, heu mihi ! 
 — Oh, but the Screen protects me ! 
 
 /an. 16. 1799. 
 
 ' The Lovers ' in Lady Jerningham's gossip to her daughtei" 
 are Fanny Dillon and Sir Thomas Webb. 
 
1799] COURTSHIP 141 
 
 Concerning ' Little James,' a note in Lady Bedingfeld's hand 
 refers to him as ' TAe Hon. James Dillon — afterwards went into 
 the guards, and died young! This was one of the then Lord 
 Dillon's children by the ' French lady ' whom he ultimately 
 married en secondes noces. 
 
 Wednesday, 13. February. 
 
 The Lovers have frequent Little tiffs, but I think, 
 upon the Whole, that there is a better understanding 
 between them. He is really so generous and atten- 
 tive to Her, every day bringing some Little trinket, 
 that war cannot subsist Long, with all these peace 
 offerings. He gives her in diamonds a very handsome 
 pair of earrings, and a Beautiful Diamond Cross 
 which, if I had had 150 Guineas to dispose of, I 
 would have bought for you. These diamonds were 
 the property of a deceased Saint, who was daughter 
 of the Due de Noailles, and Mde. de Saisseval told 
 me that she really beheved them to be Relicks. 
 
 I did not ask for any particular sum for her 
 Trousseau, as I thought it was better to order what 
 was proper, and have the Bills paid. I have not yet 
 Collected the whole, but as there is the Bill of her 
 past Court Dresses, I fancy it will amount to about 
 300. I went yesterday to Colnaghy in Pall Mall in 
 quest of two of your Prints, one for the Little 
 Cabinet here and one for Cavendish Square. The 
 man had not orie left but said he should get some 
 more in immediately that as soon as he put them in 
 the Windo\y they were Caught up, and I was very 
 glad to hear of the pubHck good taste. 
 
 We dined yesterday 16 in Cavendish Mews, the 
 Newburghs, us and Mesdames de Saisseval and 
 
142 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1799 
 
 Luitry, your Uncle Ed. and Kendall. Lord New- 
 burgh is become like every body else and I have no 
 doubt but that next year he will be handsome, as he 
 is in Continual progression. 
 
 Little James is a most sweet Boy dressed in a 
 little regimental, white hair Cropped, but very fine 
 Blue eyes with Black eye-lashes. Lady Newburgh 
 asked Him if he had been well since he had been in 
 
 London, he said : ' no, I have had a Cold.' The 
 
 answer is nothing but the little quick and yet mild 
 way in which he says it is pretty. The girls learn of 
 Cramer, and the Eldest has made very visible progress 
 in her Playing since her Residence in London. They 
 have begun also drawing with Ruypen. I wish I could 
 have La verteuse Athenienne with the best to it, in 
 short two of the naked arm Ladies, they would be 
 better here with a fire than in the passage. 
 
 Adieu my dear Girl Yours always most affection- 
 ately. 
 
 Your Brothers are well ; George in great Beauty, 
 the other has his usual patent. Pray beg your 
 Father to take a little Rhubarb at night in some 
 peppermint water, Mrs. Claxton knows the dose, 
 it always does him good. 
 
 London, 
 
 February 27. 
 
 We all went to town to dine at Lord Mulgrave's 
 where we met Colonel Phipps, Augustus and his 
 Wife, and Lord Dillon and Henry. 
 
1799] NEW HALL 143 
 
 We were in possession of Sir Thomas who was 
 also one of the Convives. There was a very fine 
 tyresome Dinner, with a profusion of different wines, 
 the tasting of which occupied most of the Conversa- 
 tion during our stay there ; and when we four miser- 
 able women went up to the Drawing Room, I hear 
 that Sir Thomas, who was beginning to be merry, 
 held forth and kept all the others in gaping silence, 
 he was at the Battle of Jemmapes, at Nerwinden, 
 at Paris the 10. of August, the 2. of September, he 
 saw the first execution at Paris : in short Rhodomontade, 
 which I think may have succeeded better there, than 
 any where else, and will I daresay give him a sort of 
 tyresome consequence, more than if he had had the 
 good sense to 'be silent. 
 
 He is really very good natured, but to us uncom- 
 monly fatiguing from his frothy volubility. The men 
 remained at dinner till 11 night. 
 
 Lord Dillon wishes the Archbishop of Narbonne 
 to perform the ceremony and I suppose it must 
 happen next week. She has besides her Diamonds 
 a profusion of Bijoux given by Sir Thomas, my 
 present will be some good Books relies en maroquin. 
 
 Lady Mulgrave's Little Boy is very stout and 
 healthy, but highly ugly at present. 
 
 Did I tell you that the Liege Nuns have got a 
 delightful old Mansion near Chelmesford ? New 
 Hall, an old Palace of Henry the 8th. and several 
 Rooms of very Considerable size. They bought it 
 for 6ooo£. Miss Charlotte Clifford lodged two Nights 
 
144 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1799 
 
 at Lady Clifford's, with Miss Fermer a nun of the 
 same age, and both handsome, in black gowns and 
 large Muslin caps. A little daughter of Lord Clifford 
 with them. 
 
 About the beginning of 1799 William Jerningham returned to 
 Austria for the purpose of taking the necessary steps to give 
 up his commission in the Imperial service. We hear of him 
 through General Charles Jerningham in Vienna — the same to 
 whose 'voracious German stomack' Sir William made some 
 allusion in a letter of the year 1786 (June 19). The good 
 General's English and his French appear to be as completely 
 Germanized as his digestion. The winter was one of extreme 
 severity. Almost immediately upon his arrival in Vienna the 
 young soldier fell seriously ill, and was treated with the usual 
 ' kill or cure ' veterinary remedies of the period. In spite of 
 all this, however, the news of his recovery arrived in time to 
 allow his mother in England to resume her interest in the 
 marriage of her niece, Fanny Dillon, and to place on record 
 her observations concerning the same. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Holy Saturday, 
 
 My dearest Charlotte, 
 
 Our poor William is ill ! very ill ! I am afraid, 
 as you will see by this Letter, but yet I trust in that 
 merciful Providence which permitted he should have 
 the visitation at Vienna, where all help is at Hand, 
 that He will be restored again. 
 
 Robinson, at Mr. "Wright's, had a Letter also of 
 the 2nd. from Mr. Plunket late of Brussels. He 
 mentions poor William's illness, and says that He 
 had been administered two days before, but was 
 
1799] TIDINGS OF SICKNESS 145 
 
 rather better that day. It is sad to be such a way 
 off and unable to do anything but tremble for so 
 valuable a Life ! 
 
 I have only known the distressing news since 
 yesterday, perhaps you may have heard it before, 
 and that it has prevented you from writing, for I 
 think it Long since I heard from you. 
 
 The Chevalier arrived on Thursday : he says your 
 Father's cold is much better. 
 
 The Webbs are yet at Ditchley, well and satisfied, 
 they go to Prayers at Heythorpe and Kiddington. 
 Sir Thomas has hired a House for a year in Sussex. 
 (Binderton) 
 
 Edward is, thank God, got pretty well. Young 
 Henry is going to Ireland with the Oxfordshire 
 Militia. The girls Henrietta and Charlotte went 
 with me to tenebries, their Mother being ill. Adieu, 
 my dear. Yours ever and always most affection- 
 ately. 
 
 How melancholy it is to be such a way from those 
 we are most interested in. The very day poor dear 
 William was administered I had Company at my 
 House ; it makes me shudder ! 
 
 I hope your Health is good and the Little 
 ones'. 
 
 My Brother Henry thinks it will be Cheaper for 
 them to Live entirely in London than to be at 
 Datchet. 
 
 Miss Browne has refused young , and her 
 
 Father for Her young Gold. 
 
 (Note in Lady Bedingfeld's hand : ' Whom she afterwards 
 married, with her father's consent') 
 
 10 
 
146 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1799 
 
 Enclosed letter from General C. Jerningham to 
 Sir W. Jerningham. 
 
 ViENNE, 
 
 2yi Feby. 
 Dear Sir W" 
 
 Yr son W™ arrived here the 14th. inst. The 
 
 15th. he came and found me confined to my room 
 
 with the gout, but the surprise and pleasure I had to 
 
 see him soon diminished my pains. 
 
 He dined with us the same day and the day 
 following. The i8th. he promised to come again ; 
 but on the 17th. at night, going home from the 
 Comedy, he was seized with a violent chillness and 
 pain in his right side which has confined him to 
 his room ever since. He is in the hands of Prince 
 de Croui's doctor, to whom I was desirous to speake, 
 so took my resolution to be carried to yr sons who I 
 found much better than I expected. His Doctor 
 calls it un fluxion de poitrine, but as it was taken in 
 time no danger is to be apprehended. 
 
 He has been three times blooded and we hope in 
 a few days he will be quite rid of it. I got myself 
 carried to him yesterday ; he is in good spirits and 
 hope to have a good account of him this evening. 
 Cette un contre-tems p'' moi to be laid up with the 
 gout ; the weather is so bad, that I dare not venture 
 out, for my trip yesterday has renewd my pains, 
 but I hope in 3 or 4 days to be better and see him 
 again. 
 
 12 o'clock. My man Leopold is just come from 
 y' sons he did not sleep well, was very uneasy and 
 his Doctor, according to my desire if he was not 
 
1799] AN AUSTRIAN COUSIN 147 
 
 better, went this morning to take council with one I 
 nominated, who is our best and most intelHgent man 
 here. And in consequence thereof they are to meet 
 at y"" son this evening, which is a consolation to me 
 as I cannot goe out, my foot is so painfull. Yr son 
 was blooded again this morning for ye 4th time. 
 Everybody is ill here, one hears nothing but com- 
 plaints from every corner, if I am not too late for 
 the post you shall know le rSsultat du conseil this 
 evening. My kindest respects to Lady Jer™ : tell her 
 to be easy about her son for he has not been, nor 
 shall not be, neglected in any respect whatsoever. 
 Every help and assistance he shall have that is to be 
 had ; my wife joins in all that kind to you and Lady 
 Jer™. She went to see Will" as I coud not, tho' she 
 was herself much out of order with a violent cold. 
 All my acquaintance are confined : such a winter I 
 never knew. 
 
 I was much rejoyced when yr son told me he had 
 quitted the service. Factions of all kinds were forming 
 against him. M : Therese is dead, foreigners have 
 no support nor nothing to hope for. Adieu, Dear 
 Sir W™ and be assured of my sincere attachment. 
 
 Charles Jerningham. 
 
 I hope to see yr son Will flourish in a red coat ; he is 
 a good and brave off"' and doubt not but, fighting 
 for his Country, he'll meet with recompense 
 
 5 heure du soir. Le Prince de Crouis vient 
 de sortir de chez moi : he says the Doctors have 
 decided he is to be blooded again this night and if 
 not better to-morrow morning to apply a blistering 
 
JERNINGHAM LETTERS [i799 
 
 plaster. They agreed he is not in imminent danger 
 but his disorder is treacherous. They'll meet 
 again to-morrow at g o'clock in the morning. 
 I will write to you if necessary next post again. 
 
 From Sir William Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 March 22. 
 
 My last letter to you, my dear Charlotte, must, 
 I fear, have allarmed you much about your brother 
 William ; but, I thank God, yesterday I received an 
 account of his beeing quit well again. The under- 
 written is the Bulletin the good old general sends 
 me. His first letter was dated the 23d — 
 
 Vienna, 
 
 Feb. 2^th. 
 
 I wrote to you yesterday and gave you an account 
 of your Son William. My doctor attended him this 
 morning to be consulted, and I am much easyer 
 than I was since they two Doctors have agreed to 
 Blister him this evening. As the both agreed it 
 would be prudent to have him receive the rites of 
 the Church, so he was administerd this Morning. 
 
 I beg'd the Prince de Crouis to propose it to him, 
 from my not being able to quit my Room, which 
 your Son immediately acquiesced to. I have great 
 hopes, his pulse beeing very regular and not agitated, 
 that the Blisters will Change Matters. He was 
 blooded this morning, the Vein is again to be opened 
 this Evening. 
 
1799] TREATMENT FOR PNEUMONIA 149 
 
 February 26. 
 Your Son reposed in the night and was very quiet, 
 he finds himself much better, the Pain in his Side 
 and breast are greatly Diminished, the blistering 
 plaisters have drawn plentifully, and I look on him 
 now to be out of danger, as this change for the 
 better happened on the gth. day of his Illness. 
 
 February ijih. 
 "William has had a quiet night, his pains 
 diminishd, and begins to look pale for he was 
 very Red in the face before. His blisters continue 
 to draw and he finds himself weak, but much easyier. 
 Unless some unforeseen accident should happen, t'is 
 probable he will get perfectly well again. 
 
 February lith. 
 
 I am just come from your Son, he is as well as 
 one can possibly wish he could be. I stayed with 
 him two hours and, as I am myself better, shall goe 
 to him again to-morrow — I am in great Spirits at his 
 having got over so severe an attack. He looks well 
 and is in good Spirits ; all Danger is over. In a 
 short time I hope he will be able to get out again, 
 but as yet he keeps his bed. I shall not so soon 
 write again, which will be a proof of your son's 
 recovery. 
 
 The Danube makes sad Ravages : here and the 
 adjacent countries all is under water. Adieu 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 Charles Jerningham. 
 
ISO JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1799 
 
 From Lady jferningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 COSSEY, 
 
 Good Friday night. 
 
 I don't think I have ever had so Severe a Cold, it 
 is now near 12 days I have been confined and cannot 
 with all the care get quite well of it as yet. My 
 hopes are now in change of air with your good and 
 kind nursing I have no doubt of being well soon. 
 My plan is still to come to you on Monday, but do 
 not rely upon it, but Tuesday for certain. As I 
 have not been out So Long I should wish to have 
 one day before I leave Cossey to give orders to my 
 Workmen &c. an take an airing before I take my 
 journey. 
 
 I expect to-morrow Mr. and Mrs. Barrel for a 
 couple of nights. She comes to make her Easter ; I 
 hope I shall find her better Looking than when I 
 saw her last. I am told that Mrs. Norris favors 
 her with a Dining Visit on Sunday to eat Pascal 
 Lamb ; I shall pay her your small debt. Freeman 
 has sent me Sir Thomas Moore and Family and 
 two other frames, which I shall bring with me. I 
 hear Sir Richard did not attend at Thetford, I hope 
 it was not any Rheumatism or other Complaints. 
 My best Love to him and compliments to Mr. 
 Sanderson. 
 
 Abbe Le Sage is here and has been all this week 
 to help Mr. Eustace as Diacre. The Chevalier left 
 me on Thursday : I fear the fasting and praying this 
 week was too much for him. 
 
 Adieu, My dear Charlotte, jusqu'au plaisir de vqus 
 
1799] A WEDDING 151 
 
 Embrasser, ce qui, j'espere, sera Lundi on plus tard 
 Mardi. 
 
 My Love to the three Loves. 
 
 Out of four half tickets in this Lottery, I got one 
 twenty pounds ; but beeing intitled to half I get a 
 miserable ten pound — I hope Sir Richard has had 
 better fortune. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Thursday, 24. March. 
 
 My dearest Charlotte, 
 
 The wedding is really over and all went off 
 well. Sir Thomas had called yesterday morning at 
 St. George's to desire the Clergyman in waiting 
 should be in Boulton Row at ten o'clock this morn- 
 ing. Accordingly, at that Hour arrived the Clerk, 
 enquiring for a room for the Bishop of Exeter to put 
 his dress on, as he was coming. I was surprised, 
 but the Clerk said the Bishop wish'd to show that 
 Politeness Himself. He arrived accordingly and 
 married them in the Dining Room. It is Dr. 
 Courtney who is Bishop of Exeter, and Rector of 
 St. Georges, and was formerly Rector of Spelsbury 
 by the Gift of Lord Litchfield. 
 
 At eleven arrived the Archbishop of Narbonne 
 and he performed with great dignity below in the 
 Parlour, made a most moving and eloquent dis- 
 course, and the Abbe Sauvage said Mass. We then 
 all went up again, and there was a large table with 
 tea. Coffee and Chocolate. 
 
 About two, the Company filed oif, and the new 
 married Couple mounted a Chaise and four with 
 
152 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [l799 
 
 Cockades, &c. &c. and are gone to Henley. The 
 Company were : Lord Dillon, his son and two 
 daughters, little Fanny, Mde. Lorraine, Due and 
 Marquis of Fitzjames, Lord and Lady Newburgh, 
 Lord and Lady Mulgrave, Colonel Phipps, Mde de 
 Rothe, Gen. Kendall, Count Walsh Terrant, Mr. 
 Constable, W» Sheldon, Robert Clifford, Pere 
 Mandar, Mr. Chamberlayne, Mde de Saisseval & 
 Luitry, Cur6 de Hautefontaine, John Dillon, Mr. Ed. 
 Jerningham. 
 
 Fanny was all over Lace and then put on a plain 
 gown, and a silver Redingotte for her journey. She 
 went thro' it extremely well, every way properly, 
 and with more appearance of Health than I had 
 dared to expect. 
 
 Sir Thomas is an excellent good young man and 
 very generous. She may be very happy, I hope she 
 will be so. The Mulgraves and all seemed pleased. 
 Edward looks fatigued and I am a little so, but I 
 thought you would like the detail. 
 Adieu, my dearest girl. 
 
 Your old affectionate mother. 
 
 The two following letters, the dates of which show an interval 
 of more than four months, occur in immediate sequence in the 
 collection. 
 
 The first, from George Jerningham to his sister, records in 
 glowing terms the beginning of his engagement — which was 
 destined to be rather protracted, for the marriage only took 
 place at Christmas — with a beautiful girl — Frances Henrietta, 
 youngest daughter and co- heiress of Edward Sulyard, of 
 Haughley Park, Suffolk. 
 
 The second is from the young lady herself, announcing the 
 death of her father. 
 
1799] BETROTHAL OF THE HEIR 153 
 
 Haughley, 
 
 May bth. 
 
 I was exceedingly sorry to hear, My Dear Sister, 
 that you have been so ill, and am equally dis- 
 apointed in the pleasure I proposed to myself in 
 meeting you and Sir Richard here. I got to this 
 Mansion on Wednesday and met with a most friendly 
 reception. It is impossible for me to say how much I 
 was struck with my Lady's appearance, she so infinitely 
 surpasses in every way all I had figured to myself, 
 from the few times I had seen her, and (as I wrote 
 my Mother word the other day) when I look at her 
 I can scarcely believe I had had the happiness to 
 please so Beautiful and charming a woman. My fears 
 before I came were, that her good opinion of me, 
 might be lessen'd by further acquaintance, but I 
 have every reason to hope that is not the case. 
 Receive my most grateful thanks, for the very kind 
 part you have acted throughout this business, and 
 also for the good character you give me in your letters 
 to her, which she shew'd me. It also gives me great 
 satisfaction to find that her conduct is approved of by 
 almost every one, even intimate friends, who all agree 
 it was absurd to expect so handsome a young woman 
 to throw away any more of her time in useless waiting 
 &c. I think if possible, she is still more handsome 
 in the morning, than by candle light, which is rather 
 uncommon with the modern belles. 
 
 Pray thank Sir Richard for his letter. I should 
 be exceedingly happy in paying you a visit at 
 Oxburgh before your journey, but as I shall so soon 
 see you in town, I will delay doing myself that 
 
154 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1799 
 
 pleasure till you return. I cannot say exactly what 
 stay I shall make here at present, as that must 
 depend upon different circumstances. I think how- 
 ever I shall be in town the latter end of next week, 
 and soon afterwards go down and see what state the 
 old Mansion at Shifnall is in. 
 
 Adieu My Dear Sister say every thing that is kind 
 to Sir Richard from me. I shall ever retain the 
 most grateful recollection of what I owe to the D — s 
 and beg you will say so when you write. My 
 Dearest F. desires to be kindly remembered to you 
 as also the remainder of the Family and Believe me, 
 My Ever dear Sister, 
 
 Your affectionate and happy B"^ 
 
 G. Jerningham. 
 
 From Frances Sulyard to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 October 28. 
 My dearest Lady B. 
 
 After the kindness wherewith you have long 
 
 interested yourself for this family, I cannot altho' in 
 
 the deepest affliction remain a day longer without 
 
 giving you information of an events having taken 
 
 place so long dreaded by us all. On Thursday at 
 
 the half after 2 our dear and respected Father 
 
 render'd his soul into the hands of his Creator — We 
 
 were witnesses of his last dear Moments. They 
 
 were those of a just man. He expired without a 
 
 groan and with a countenance brighten'd with an 
 
 almost heavenly smile. 
 
 He only kept his bed 2 days and was very sensible 
 
1799] DEATH OF THE HEIRESS'S FATHER 155 
 
 the last 12 hours — He said he was quite happy, and 
 indeed he appear'd to have placed so much confi- 
 dence in the Almighty as to have lost all apprehen- 
 sion of Death — it appear'd to him almost without a 
 sting. 
 
 My Mother's fortitude in supporting the trying 
 scene I could not render justice to, was I to 
 endeavour it. She is as well as the Violence of 
 Grief will permit her to be. I recommend to your 
 and Sir Richard's prayers the dear departed soul of 
 my Father, and I trust Mr. Sanderson will beg the 
 prayers of the congregation to the same end — We 
 doubt not but that he is receiving or about to receive 
 the reward of a well spent life and of the patient 
 and edifying manner with which he bore the Afflic- 
 tion it pleased Almighty God to send Him. 
 
 Yours, my dearest Lady Bedingfield, with the 
 affection which my sad and sorrowing heart is 
 
 capable of. 
 
 Frances Sulyard. 
 Saturday. 
 
 The last epistle bearing the date of this year is from the 
 Poet. It is addressed, from London, to his niece at Oxburgh. 
 
 Here we have this singular personage in his oddest mood. 
 It is possible that Lady Bedingfeld understood the whole drift 
 of his communication, but the special interpretation of the alle- 
 gorical New Year's greeting can now only be left to the taste 
 and fancy of the reader. 
 
 Dear Lady Bedingfeld, 
 
 A gentleman who is just Touching the period 
 of his existence, and whom every person about him 
 is of opinion that He cannot survive to-morrow, has 
 
156 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1799 
 
 earnestly entreated me to acquaint you with his 
 situation, and hopes you will not resent his omission 
 of a Legacy. He makes no Will, But He thinks 
 his Eldest Son who is to Inherit every Thing will 
 occasionally be very generous to you : in consequence 
 of this suggestion of the Father I immediately waited 
 upon the son, and entreated him to patronise the 
 female genius of Oxburgh. He began with shedding 
 a shower of snow-white tears at the thought of his 
 Father's Dissolution and then replied to this effect : 
 ' That he would be very partial and attentive to you : 
 and the motive of his partiality (He said) arose from 
 a prophetic intelligence or participation That one of 
 his remote descendants would put an end to your 
 existence. In consequence of this future extinction 
 of so much excellence, He would order Hygeia to 
 attend you, and not to quit you except for a few 
 hours when he will give Directions to Lucina to 
 wait upon you — He added that he would order In- 
 vention to present you with a pencil, and a pen. But 
 at the same time He foresaw that Indolence would 
 often snatch the pen from your hand. That He 
 would command a Fairy, or a particular Oberon who 
 was born on a Christmas Hearth in a Gothic Castle, 
 to administer to you a mysterious Beverage which 
 the Etherial Being will convey to your Lips when 
 you are asleep, the mystic goblet will contain several 
 glistering Drops of the purest Benevolence, some 
 grains of Eccentricity — some gay-coloured seeds of 
 satire ; a quantity of Diamond dust a sovereign 
 Remedy for Dulness. 
 
[ 157] 
 
 In the early part of the last year of the eighteenth centuiy we 
 find William Jerningham returned from his foreign service, and 
 seeking a commission in the English Army. 
 
 George is now married, and, from all the evidence afforded by 
 the collection, most happy in his circumstances, albeit that Lady 
 Jerningham appears somewhat afraid of her wealthy daughter- 
 in-law. 
 
 Edward, in the Temple, is beginning to busy himself seriously 
 about ' the peerage question,' a matter which, however, he was 
 not destined to see settled, and which, indeed, was not to be 
 brought to a satisfactory conclusion before another quarter- 
 century. 
 
 The ' Blue Nuns ' are now migrating to England, and negotia- 
 tions are being carried out, chiefly by members of the Jerning- 
 ham family, for their proper establishment in this country. 
 
 Lady Jerningham is in London, and entertains her daughter 
 in the country with town and other news. 
 
 Monday, 17. March. 
 
 I have got up, my dear Charlotte, at 8 o'clock, that 
 I might be able to write at Least a few Coherent 
 Lines, for I never Can afterwards feel quiet. 
 
 I am particularly anxious to hear that you are 
 better, and I Can assure you, that I could not express 
 what I felt at parting from you, the wish I should 
 have had of staying, and the sad necessity that tore 
 me away. But I find that every one who knows me 
 or Edward, were desirous of my Coming to Him, as 
 he was supposed to be in very great danger, (it 
 
158 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1800 
 
 frightens me now to say it) and alone (the not un- 
 friended) in those chambers at Lincoln's Inn, so far 
 from all immediate enquirey. He is now, thank God, 
 well, but yet very much altered and weak. He dos 
 not Come down to Dinner, but keeps salon in the 
 evening with the Nuns, who have hitherto passed 
 their Recreation with me. One is always dressed 
 in the habit with the Blue mantle, as a sample of 
 how they used to be, and an apology for their present 
 appearance, which is that of Goody Moore. 
 
 Yesterday I had M''^ de Saisseval (Looking un- 
 commonly pretty in her Weeds) and M'^^ de Listry 
 with tall Henry,* who was quite struck at seeing the 
 dress : a very pretty young Nun had it on and she 
 Looked so quiet and civil that He was really half 
 moved, at he knew not well what. The abbess went 
 with me to high mass in Golden square : there we 
 met Lord and Lady Petre and all the Beau monde 
 who behaved really with Respect to her. One Bench 
 at .the Chapel Contained all the Petre Faction, 
 Mrs. George Petre with them, grown very ugly, and 
 a tall daughter not pretty, with a sort of young 
 Governess, a Miss Firman, she was formerly at the 
 Blue Nuns, and quite overjoyed to meet Mother 
 abbess, who is very Little taller than Fanny, the 
 Little pretty Girl of Oxburgh. 
 
 The Bishop has given the abbess a general Leave 
 to dispense, to those she chuses to give it to, of 
 going to any Chapel ; and, about their affairs, leave 
 to visit any Body. The permission must be particu- 
 larised, as formerly at Paris to enter the Convent. 
 * Afterw'i'i Lord Dillon. 
 
i8oo] THE 'BLUE NUNS' IN ENGLAND 159 
 
 They are as quiet in the House, as if they did not 
 inhabit it. Mrs. Green lays in Sir R"*^ Room, better. 
 She gets up early, the Bed is turned up, the Room 
 cleared, mass is said there, then their Breakfast at 
 Nine, dinner there also at one, and Collation at 6. 
 M.^^ Edwards is a remarkable well behaved, sensible 
 woman, but extremely delicate, and has now a very 
 bad Cough upon Her. The two young Nuns, (who 
 made their Profession the day after the Bastille was 
 taken) are very well behaved young women, and one 
 of them Pretty, at Least very pleasing. They are 
 altogether about 30. I wish Some body who did not 
 inhabit their Country House would Lend, or Let it 
 to them for a trifle. What becomes of Coldham ? 
 I am afraid that in Norwich, it may be too Confined 
 for the young ones, who will then most Likely not go 
 out. 
 
 M'^ Henry D. is a most unpleasant Subject of 
 Reflexion ; she has taken a Lodging at four guineas 
 and a half a week, and has not litterally one Six- 
 pence. Her Brother will not see her, but Lady 
 Kenmare appears to protect her, and brought her 
 here. She had her on Saturday in her Box at the 
 opera. I went there yesterday, and was Let in by a 
 great dirty footman, I believe a foreigner. She will 
 really be arrested. Pretty Little Maria is very well, 
 and more recovered from her small-pox. 
 
 The Nuns finances are thus: 800^ in the funds, 
 and another 100 due to them by Bernard Howard as 
 remains of money belonging to his aunt Mother 
 Agnes. 5^ a year subscribed for them by Mrs. 
 Porter, 5^ by Lady Mostyn, and I have reason to 
 
i6o JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1800 
 
 reckon upon 5 from Lady Kenmare on account of 
 her Mother, who was brought up with them. 
 
 The affair of Mrs. Fitzherbert and the Prince, 
 becomes very incomprehensible, it is a fact that He 
 meets her whenever he Can, and a Conversation 
 ensues that takes them both out of the Company. 
 On Saturday, Lady Kenmare tells me, that Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert, Mrs. Butler, and the Prince were in a 
 high Box all Night in Conversation, the Princess at 
 the opera and also Lady Jersey. I Comprehend it 
 no longer, for I had thought Mrs. Fitzherbert a 
 woman of Principle. 
 
 Wednesday. 
 
 William has. been with Mr. Windham, and it was 
 to know of himself what he wished for. W" said 
 that if He Could have the Permanent Rank of Cap'" 
 in the English army, that He would be employed in 
 any manner that Could be supposed most useful to 
 the Service. Mr. Windham said he should report 
 his answer to the Duke of York, and we hope for 
 some favor. W™ begs me to say that he shall write 
 to Sir Richard in a very few days, and that you will 
 Receive by same coach, a Box of tamarinds. Mrs. D. 
 made her appearance, I hear, again at the opera Last 
 Night in Lady Kenmare's Box, all over Pink Ribbons. 
 It Costs her nothing, but how she has the Courage 
 to go ! 
 
 Madame de Fitzjames has a very fine fat Little 
 Girl, but it has a horrid humor about the Head, 
 
i8oo] SOME CONVERSIONS i6i 
 
 almost la Teigne. Mrs. Moon is tossing it about and 
 she calls it Mam'sel. 
 
 The Duke of Fitzjames is become a Saint. His 
 Daughter was assisted by the abbe Carin, and died 
 in a very edifying manner. She entreated of her 
 Father that He would have a Conversation with the 
 abb6 Carin. He promised her that He would. The 
 Consequence of it was a general Confession, a very 
 exemplary Communion, and the most edifying adop- 
 tion of Sentiment. He is himself in a very bad way, 
 having had a paralitick attack, which he has never 
 Recovered. 
 
 An English Conversion, is Mr. Townley's the 
 owner of the Fine House at Westminster. He has 
 been for many years, a bel esprit : had too much wit to 
 Pray. His mind now is reformed and He is become 
 particularly Regular. The Last event is the Cheva- 
 lier's news : your Cousin Lloyd's Grandmother was 
 Bedingfeld of Chesterford ; she married a Mr. 
 Wharton and her Sister married a Bedingfeld of 
 Biningfeld, in Suffolk, where good old Mother Austin 
 has often been, and says it was a very fine old House. 
 
 London, 
 March 28. 
 
 My dearest Charlotte, 
 
 How do you do ? Sir Richards Visit to 
 Cossey was very acceptable as your Father informed 
 me, ' it was well timed philantrophy ' etc. (vide M's 
 Goodalls poor Last effusion in the album) I hope 
 that at his Return to Oxburgh, He was rewarded for 
 his Charity, by finding his own Home in order. 
 My convent goes on as usual, and I beg you will 
 
 II 
 
162 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [i8cx) 
 
 endeavour to put your Father in a good mind about 
 them, about their being in Norwich if necessary ; in 
 short you understand the bias it must take. 
 
 I was Last Night at M"^* de Montesquieu's (ahas 
 MI'S Northay) : she had a grand assembly in Com- 
 memoration of the happiest day of her Life, that is 
 her own expression, and under the idea of nursing a 
 Cold she had, appeared in a very fine Lace night cap, 
 which was supposed to have been made 5 years ago. 
 M'^ Cary and Miss Lucy Sulyard arrived there. 
 There is a match plotted for Lucy S. with the Eldest 
 Canning, who is a well Looking young Man, and 
 very good Natured. He was introduced to her Last 
 Night, but I am not sure that he was very much in 
 earnest. He thought Miss Browne Looked very 
 Handsome, and so she did, but that is not so suit- 
 able for Him, or rather He is not for Her, except 
 every other Resource failed. Her fair hair becomes 
 her very much. I was very sorry to hear yesterday 
 from Altona, that Lady Webb had miscarried, she 
 was very ill for 11 days, and then it arrived. She 
 writes to me herself, and I have an account also from 
 the abb6, a very pleasing detail of her having behaved 
 with Rehgion on the occasion, for it seems that she 
 was a good deal allarmed. M"*^ de La Tour du Pin 
 was brought to Bed on the 13'h of February of a 
 Girl, at a small village in Hanover, not far from 
 Bremen. It was before her time and the Child is 
 very delicate, but it was Likely to do well, the 
 Mother also. Edward (the dear) and Miss Browne 
 are the Sponsors. 
 
i8oo] DUELLING DAYS 163 
 
 The malheur to which the Chevalier Jemingham refers, in this 
 letter to his niece, Lady Bedingfeld, was the death of M. de 
 Lupp^'s infant daughter, to whom a careless nurse had ad- 
 ministered a spoonful of laudanum by mistake. 
 
 The Lupp^s were French imigrds, great friends of Lady 
 Jemingham, who took especial interest in their children. 
 
 From the Chevalier Jemingham to Lady Bedingfeld, 
 
 3 Berkeley Street, W. 
 
 ce 30 mars. 
 
 J'ai dine avec M. de Luppe hier chez L"* Kenmare 
 et il avoit les yeux baignes de larmes tout le diner. 
 C'est mardi qu'il a eprouv6 ce malheur. Celui de 
 notre cousin F. Plowden est bien plus a plaindre 
 encore, et j'ai pass6 deux heures avec lui, il y a 
 quelques jours, a entendre le r6cit du duel (ou plutot 
 de I'assassinat) de Son malheureux fils, jusqu'a etre 
 accabl^ de I'affliction de ce bon pere : ce jeune 
 homme, aussi aimable .de caractere que de figure, 
 etoit aide de camp du Genl Churchill a La Jamaique, 
 et rien ne pouvoit Surpasser les temoignage de satis- 
 faction que le Genl Churchil donnoit de sa conduite, 
 de Son application, et de ses bonnes qualit^s. On 
 propose un bal de souscription a Portroyal, ou a 
 Spanish Town ; le jeune Plowden nomme steward, est 
 oblig6 pour soutenir les reglements etablis, de priei 
 un officier d'une autre garnison qui etoit entre sans 
 etre souscripteur, de sortir du bal par le d^sir de 
 toute rassembl6e. Cet officier dont le nom est Fitz 
 Maurice cherche sur cela querelle k Plowden, et 
 demande rendez-vous sur I'esplanade le lendemain. 
 Arriv6 sur le terrain, il fait en presence des t6moins 
 toutes les excuses possibles k Plowden, reconnoit 
 
i64 jfERNINGHAM LETTERS [1800 
 
 qu'il I'a provoque etant ivre, et ainsi finit La scene 
 ce jour La : elle recommenca peu de jour apres, sans 
 la moindre provocation de P. et finit encore sur le 
 terrain, par de nouveaux pardons que demanda Fitz 
 Maurice — le General Churchil decouvrit en m6me 
 temps que ce Fitz Maurice 6toit un sujet ex6crable et 
 qu'il y avoit des charges Si graves contre lui qu'il fit 
 assembler un conseil de Guerre, qui le condamna, 
 apres I'avoir Cass6, a quitter le pays — II engagea 
 alors un artisan de la ville, sc6l6rat comme lui, 
 a repandre les calomnies les plus atroces contre le 
 jeune Plowden et k le provoquer a sortir de la ville 
 pour se battre. Plowden au lieu de mepriser ces 
 propos et de prendre I'avis du Genl ou de quelqu' 
 ofiicier de poids, se laisse entrainer par sa valeur, et 
 accompagne d'un de ses camarades plus jeune que 
 lui, il se rendit au rendez vous indiqud. Le temoin 
 de son adversaire fait promettre aux combattants 
 qu'ils ne tireront qu'a un signal convenu. Plowden 
 souscrit a la condition proposee et aussitdt re9oit la 
 balle dans le coeur, avant d'avoir eu le terns de lever 
 son pistolet. 
 
 Le scelerat qui a commis cet assassinat, ainsi que 
 Ses complices, seront juges et executes suivant 
 I'atrocite de leur delit. Mais c'est une foible com- 
 pensation pour une famille qui perd un enfant aussi 
 interessant. 
 
 Les presentiments de Madme. Plowden sur un 
 evenement aussi peu vraisemblable sont v^ritable- 
 ment surprenants, et s'ils n'etoient attest^s par son 
 mari et plusieurs personnes de leurs amis, j'aurais 
 peine a les croire : Elle revolt continuellement qu'une 
 
i8oo] A CASE OF PRESENTIMENT 165 
 
 miniature qu'elle a de son fils s'effacoit de plus en 
 plus ; una nuit elle crut qu'elle etoit totalement sans 
 couleurs, une autre que ce portrait lui 6toit enleve, et 
 aussitot reveillfee elle se leva pour verifier s'il etoit 
 dans son secretaire. Ces songes lui donnoient de 
 I'inqui^tude et elle ne cessoit de dire qu'elle ^toit 
 sure qu'elle ne reverroit jamais son fils. Son mari 
 pour d^tourner cette idee engageoit son fils a leur 
 ecrire le plus souvant qu'il lui etoit possible : la der- 
 ni^re lettre qu'il 6crivit portoit entre autres choses, 
 qu'il jouissoit de la meilleure Sante, que le climat lui 
 etoit tr^s favorable, qu'il 6toit tres content du Gen' 
 Churchil qui le traitoit avec toute sorte de bonte et 
 d'amiti^ ; en un mot cette lettre 6toit faite pour 
 tranquilliser tons ses amis sur son compte. Mais sa 
 mere en la lisant fondit en larmes, ne put continuer 
 la lecture de longtems, et persista i dire qu'elle etoit 
 certaine qu'elle ne reverroit jamais son fils. A peu 
 de jour de la elle fut engagee a aller diner en ville ; 
 les personnes chez qui elle dinoit, en la voyant entrer 
 la trouverent si chang6e et troubl6e qu'elles lui 
 demanderent si elle etoit incommod^e. Elle lui dit 
 alors qu'elle avoit eu un songe qu'elle avoit cach6 
 a son mari, mais qui, comme Athalie entretenoit dans 
 son coeur un chagrin qui le ronge : elle avoit vu son 
 fils un pistolet a la main droite, tomber mort sur le 
 terrain, portant un habit qui n'etoit pas son uniforme, 
 en un mot tel que depuis on a vu que ce jeune homme 
 6toit v^tu le jour de son assassinat, et qui par les 
 dattes paroit ^tre celui meme ou la mere a et ce 
 Songe allarmant. 
 
 Je m'appesantis sur ces malheurs reels, pour 6tre 
 
i66 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1800 
 
 moins sensible a une perte d'un autre genre, et qui 
 sera surement sentie par Sir Richard, c'est celle de 
 mon bon Rover qui est sorti de La maison hier a 8 h. 
 du matin, du matin, d'onques depuis je n'en ai de 
 nouvelle ; je continuirai mes recherches aujourd'hui, 
 mais je crains beaucoup qu'elles ne soient pas 
 heureuses. — II n'y a rien de nouveau, si vous excepted 
 la gaiete qui prend au Roi d'honorer de sa presence 
 les assemblees et les routs : il a 6t6 Lundi, avec la 
 reine et toute la famille royale (j^ en nombre) chez 
 L'^y Cardigan, a joue au reversi, la reine au Casino, 
 les princesses a une table ronde ; on assure qu'il 
 accordera la meme faveur k L,^^ Harcourt, a L"'' 
 Salisbury, a L*^ Hertford etc. II doit recevoir 
 demain dans son interieur la visite des princess 
 d'Orleans. 
 
 J'ai lequ enfin une lettre de George, qui dit comme 
 Buonaparte de la Guerre. Notre silence n'aurait-il 
 done point de terme ? Je lui ai r6pondu, et vous 
 voila au courant : il me mande qu'ils viendront 
 a Londres apres Paques. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Tuesday, April 8. 
 
 The good Nuns get on in their Finances : Lord 
 Shrewsbury has this morning sent me a 50^ note for 
 them. They have had also 26^ a year subscribed 
 allready, so that I think they will be able to do. I 
 have written, by their desire, this day to Mr. Darell 
 
i8oo] FINANCES OF THE 'BLUE NUNS' 167 
 
 for him to take the House in Norwich, and they have 
 above 100^ owing to them with which they mean to 
 furnish it. ■ 
 
 It is now necessary that I should get them Con- 
 vey'd into Norfolk, and I have taken the Liberty 
 (tho' unknown to them) of forming this plan, as your 
 poor Father has been a little impatient about them, 
 and that yet I should Like their first residence in 
 Norfolk to be at Cossey, while their House could be 
 getting ready. I wish that you and Sir Richard would 
 give the good example of inviting your poor old 
 Cousin, with a Companion to make you a visit at 
 Oxburgh. She must travel in a Chaise, as she has 
 a Rhumatick Pain in her neck which would destroy 
 her in the stage. I mean her to set off Monday, or 
 Tuesday in Easter week, remain one week with you, 
 and then go on to Cossey. It will put her in fashion 
 with your Father to have her invited to Oxburgh ; 
 she will I think be pleased with it, and they have 
 money sufficient at present not to be troublesome to 
 any Body. Would you have any objection to have 
 S*"^ Edwards with her ? You must tell me exactly, 
 my dear, your wish. 
 
 My favourite nun is a young one of 30 years of 
 age, extremely sensible and pious, and particularly 
 pleasing in her Looks and well behaved ; but Sister 
 Edwards is Sickly and knows the world, so that she 
 would be eased by the chaise and understand how 
 to pay the post Boys. The old one has always 
 another in her Room, but is with care quite hearty, 
 with an immense memory and a fund of private 
 anecdote. I will enclose the Talisman with which 
 
i68 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1800 
 
 I draw subscriptions, accompanying it with an 
 epistle. 
 
 There was a Service on Saturday at the French 
 Chapel, for M«''^ Adelaide. The poor Archbishop of 
 Narbonne officiated, and made a very eloquent dis- 
 course, the whole chapel was hung with Black, and 
 Fleurs de Lys. On one side of the altar were 12 
 French Bishops ; on the other, facing the Bishops, 
 Monsieur, the Duke of Orleans and his Brothers, and 
 the Due de Bourbon ; all the French nobility in the 
 Chapel. Every Body in Black. It was a very moving 
 spectacle : the present, the past, the future, all was 
 melancholy! — and formidable. The Orleans trio 
 edified me, they never Looked off their Books. 
 
 We have a Pope, whom every one seems to approve 
 of, he is 58 years of age, a Benedictine Monk, and 
 Related to the Late good Pontif. 
 
 Adieu my ever dear good Charlotte. This is a sad 
 rainy day, and I am afraid you are not well. If you 
 have a Son, he must be Christened Austin, Yours 
 most affectionately. 
 
 Mademoiselle Adelaide was Madame, aunt of Louis XVI. ; 
 she died at Trieste, in the sixty-eighth year of her age. 
 
 Monsieur (short for Monsieur Frfere du Roy) was, of course, 
 the Comte d'Artois, who became Charles X. 
 
 The new Pope was Barnabo Chiaramonte, consecrated as 
 Pius VII., who was to crown Napoleon Emperor, and after- 
 wards to excommunicate, and be imprisoned by, his anointed. 
 His election had taken place on March 13. 
 
i8cx)] LADY MARY HOWE 169 
 
 London, Boulton Row. 
 
 April 15. 
 
 This Little Convent must Remain at Cossey, till 
 all is ready for them at Norwich. Since I have been 
 at London, I have, as their almoner, had to give 
 them £^6.16.0. Their journey to Cossey will be about 
 12^. The committee money is not yet settled. Lord 
 Clifford has at last deigned an answer, and a gracious 
 one, enclosing a note of five guineas. But the most 
 essential is to get the Committee money, which for 
 the 8 with Mr. Shelly would be exactly 15 guineas 
 per month. 
 
 Did I tell you that Lady Mary Howe who died last 
 week, was to have been married this, to Lord Morton? 
 that she had Liked Him for 15 years, and said, a few 
 days before she fell ill, that tho' every thing was 
 settled for her union, she did not think it Could take 
 place, as she should be too Happy ? (Think of the 
 poker !) Accordingly, poor thing, the only Regard 
 she Could shew Him was dyeing in her destined 
 wedding night cap, and Leaving Him 20000!- by will. 
 She has also left 2000 to M^Ue de Mortemar, and 2000 
 to her Sister, the Princess de Beauveau, which is a 
 very good natured Remembrance of them. She was 
 Lord Howe's youngest daughter and very plain. 
 
 f Carriages are this year so Low, that it is almost 
 ridiculous ; and when, in my old fashioned Coach, I 
 go by a fine Lady, it is exactly the first story Looking 
 into the parlour. 
 
lyo JERNINGHAM LETTERS [180Q 
 
 There are two Miss Wyns going about, very young, 
 Catholicks, brought up in Italy, excellent Musicians, 
 very fine voices, not ugly, but Low of stature, above 
 10,000^ a piece. Taltoni wants to have one, but I 
 am not sure, / shall not take them both. Adieu my 
 dear. I beg you will pray for me. 
 
 Yours most entirely. 
 
 The Chevalier de Craig is just come over. 
 
 DANS BOULTON 
 
 Afiril 25. 
 
 You will have seen my good Nuns at Cossey, and 
 you can I am sure, but be satisfied with them. Pray 
 tell me about them. 
 
 Their Scriptural Quotation to me were the words 
 of Tobias to his Father. — ' What Reward shall we 
 give to the Angel ? what can be worthy of his Benefits ? 
 He Conducted me out, and brought me back again 
 in safety. He Received the money of Gabelous, He 
 Deliverd me from being Devoured, He made thee 
 to see the Light of Heaven, and we are filled with 
 all good things thro Him.' This text they para- 
 phrased in the most affecting manner, alluding to 
 their situation with Regard to mine. I am very glad 
 to have so excellent a sample of them, as it has had 
 a great effect, and I do not put their Light under a 
 Bushel. I hear that they are particularly pleased 
 with their House at Norwich. Fox writes word, that 
 if it had been built on purpose, it could not have been 
 better. 
 
 Did I tell you that Mr. Eyre of Warkworth wrote 
 
i8oo] BIRTH OF AN HEIR 171 
 
 me a most obliging letter about them ? agreeing to 
 give 10^ annually during his life. May the King Live 
 for ever ! 
 
 Your Brother sets off on Monday, as has been fixed 
 with him these four months, he Comes with his own 
 Horses, and arrives on Thursday, I shall give them 
 up (tho I do not like it) my Room and George will 
 dress below. I hope, my belle fille and me, we shall 
 be agreable together. I feel half frightened at the 
 novelty of the affair. 
 
 On May 8 Lady Bedingfeld gave birth to her first son, the 
 fourth child. 
 
 Monday, May 12. 
 
 Pray for the sake of all those who Love you, take 
 great care, to be very quiet. I yet feel the hurt 
 I did you, or was the occasion of, when you were 
 last confin'd and it seems to me, as if I was now in 
 Pennance for it. I must hear every day, and as it 
 would be being too troublesome to Sir Richard to 
 expect Him to write. Miss Bedingfeld will I hope 
 take pity on me. We go on here pretty well. 
 
 Mrs. J. is perfectly well behaved both to me, and 
 to every one else, seems fond of her Husband and 
 desirous of doing all that is Right. She is to be 
 presented on Thursday, Mrs. Pearce makes her dress. 
 Lucy Sulyard is quite giddy with her emancipation, 
 and I shall be glad when she has tyed herself to a 
 
172 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1800 
 
 proper choice ; she puts on as much Rouge as a 
 French Dame mariee and her eyes are quite elated 
 with the project of Conquest. The other two, have 
 a much more matronly tranquillity about them. 
 
 Friday, 16. 
 
 You will see by the papers what a horrid attempt 
 was twice made upon our poor Good King yesterday, 
 it is really dreadful to think of ! He behaved with 
 his usual courage, and disregard of his personal 
 safety, but the poor Queen, and Princesses sufferd 
 much. 
 
 I left you to go to the Drawing Room, where 
 all went off extremely well. I remember Mde de 
 Grignan's account of her Belle fille, which I can 
 exactly apply to mine, ' vous Connoisez son air sage 
 et noble, son air assure et modeste, ne s'embarrassant 
 d'aucune nouveaute ; elle a paru dans ce Caractere, 
 et en a ete fort louee.' They all asked me who she 
 was, I said : Miss Sulyard, of Suffolk, of an ancient 
 family. The Queen said : ' But I want to see your 
 own daughter, what can she be doing always in the 
 Country ?' I said that in this moment you were 
 Lying in of a Son. — ' Well, that is very well, but I 
 want to see her here.' 
 
 Princess Elizabeth also enquired after you, and 
 Lady Webb. In short, all went off very graciously. 
 I shall hope to have a few lines from you on Tuesday, 
 and that you will not then have touched a needle. 
 My Dress yesterday was at Golliards as usual : a 
 
t8oo] attempt on THE KING'S LIFE 173 
 
 Brown Crape Gown and train trimmed with Large 
 white Beads, white Crape Petticoat with drapery of 
 Brown Crape and Beads, white sarcenet Cap with 
 silver. Mrs. J. all white and Silver of course, by 
 Mrs. Pearce and very pretty. 
 
 Lady Stourton was there with her Eldest and third 
 daughter. Miss Mary, the second, has been ill ever 
 since her presentation, she sufferd so much interiorly 
 that she has had a sort of nervous fever — she is really 
 a very pretty Girl. 
 
 Little tall Fanny is arrangde by Mrs. Lancaster (the 
 famous milliner that came from Paris last summer) 
 and Looks very genteel. This is the accoutrement : 
 Linnen drawers, a white sarcenet petticoat and a 
 muslin frock, without starch hanging lank, no pockets ; 
 she really Looks very genteel so. Adieu my dear. 
 I must not fatigue your eyes. 
 
 The attempt on the life of George III. was made on the night 
 of May 15, at Drury Lane Theatre, by one Hadfield, who was 
 subsequently proved to be a lunatic. The event gave rise to 
 warm demonstrations of loyalty from all classes. The crowded 
 state of the next levies and drawing-rooms is described in 
 subsequent letters to Lady Bedingfeld, both by Lady Jerning- 
 ham and the Chevalier. 
 
 ' Little tall Fanny' was Miss Dillon, who afterwards became 
 Madame Bertrand. 
 
 Monday, 18. 
 
 This being your tenth day I am afraid working is 
 going on ; but pray do bestow upon yourself half the 
 care you would give to any other Person. 
 
174 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1800 
 
 Mrs. Jerningham appears to have a very good 
 Constitution ; she is hardly out of order at any time 
 and walks every morning about the streets with her 
 Husband. 
 
 The Trafford Family have been in town a month, 
 at the Royal Hotel, Pall Mall. They go in a few 
 days. The eldest daughter is fat, Low and plain, 
 but I hear there is a younger one of 16, very hand- 
 some. The Father is a good Honest Country gentle- 
 man, and the Son you know. Mr. Trafford built the 
 Mansion He resides in, and has two other very good 
 Houses on his Lands in Lancashire. I wish the 
 Son would marry Miss Browne. Lady Kenmare has 
 an assembly every Sunday, but there must be a 
 more particular attack upon the individual whom 
 one wishes to Capture. 
 
 On Thursday we return to the Drawing Room, 
 and it is supposed that it will be Like unto that 
 after the King's recovery. Adieu, My ever dear 
 Charlotte. My Love to dear little Fanny, and the 
 three marmots ; she must always be the Little Queen. 
 Can you say : my Son ? 
 
 Lucy Sulyard is quite wild, as her eyes discover, 
 for her motions are demure. She has an immense 
 quantity of Rouge, and is so eager in her looks that 
 I am afraid she will some day blow up. Mrs. Cary 
 is very proper and right and appear'd yesterday 
 without rouge which was much more becoming to 
 Her. Many proper and affectionate things to Sir 
 Richard and Miss Bedingfeld. 
 
 Yours most extremely. 
 
i8oo] A VISIT TO BODNEY 175 
 
 Tuesday, May 19. 
 
 I have had a Letter from Ireland, from Lord 
 Dillon, desiring that I will put Him down as an 
 annual subscriber to the Nuns for whatever I please, 
 as he says that he will always Remember with grati- 
 tude their kindness to Him and his Connections. I 
 have thus put him down as an annual of 10^ and they 
 have 55^ annual subscriptions. 
 
 The Duchess of Devonshire, Lady Georgina Caven- 
 dish and Lady Besborough have been at Lord Cler- 
 mont's. They went to Bodney, and saw Mrs. Nevill 
 whom they were quite pleased with, but did not 
 name themselves, so that Bodney does not perhaps 
 yet know the ilhistrissime nature of their Guests. 
 Lord Besborough had a Relation, a Little Irish Girl 
 of 8 years of age, whom the parents wishd to put in 
 a Convent for a year or so ; I recommended Bodney, 
 but Mr. Nevill said they could not take Protestants. 
 I am sorry they should Reject this Infant. The 
 visit to Bodney was in Consequence of this project, 
 and they Liked all they saw. 
 
 I intended writing this day to Miss Bedingfeld, 
 but have not time. I have two articles to answer in 
 her Correspondence, in the one I agree, the other I 
 am in total dissonance with. 
 
 No man ever showed so much courage as our 
 good King disregard of his person, and Confidence 
 in the overshadowing Providence on the pistol being 
 fired. He went one step back and whispered to 
 
176 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1800 
 
 Lord Salisbury : it is now known that it was to 
 endeavour to stop the Queen, for that it was likely 
 another Shot would be fired, he himself remaining 
 at his post. The Queen however arrived a moment 
 after, and he then said they had fired a squib. Adieu 
 my dear. 
 
 From the Chevalier Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 No. 3 Berkeley St., 
 
 21. May 1800. 
 
 La tranquillit6 et le calme de votre interieur k 
 Oxburgh reposent ma tete du broiias et de la cohiie 
 ou j'ai ete hier toute la journee : un grand diner 
 chez L"* Shaftesbury, une foule et une chaleur k n'y 
 pas b6nir No. 13 Bolton Row. Au sortir de la, 
 m6me broiias et immensity de monde, quoiqu'avec 
 plus d'espace, chez Mde. Wheler done je suis revenu 
 a 3 heure du matin. Mrs. Jerningham a dans6 deux 
 ou trois contre-danses (ce qui pent etre n'6toit pas 
 fort prudent, vu son etat et la fatigue qu'elle aura 
 aujourd'hui en allant a la cour ce matin et i un 
 autre bal chez Ld. Hardwick ce soir). 
 
 Le lever du roi hier a et6 le plus nombreux que se 
 soit jamais via ; le drawing room aujourd'hui le sera 
 autant, et pendant qu'on sera a presser, a se cou- 
 doyer, a se culbuter pour arriver et pour s'en aller, 
 je dois aller paisiblement diner en petit comit6 chez 
 la bonne Mrs. Gary, Ormond Street — et je suis sur 
 que vous pr6fereriez cette partie k I'autre. 
 
 Le roi regoit avec raison des congratulations de 
 toutes parts sur le danger auquel il vient d'echapper ; 
 
i8oo] THE CHEVALIER'S TOWN NEWS 177 
 
 il s'est attendri en repondant hier a la deputation du 
 parlement lorsqu'il a parle de I'affection et de I'inter^t 
 qu'il 6prouvoit a cette occasion de la part de tous ses 
 sujets. M. Sheridan, au lever, a ete tres distingue, 
 et le roi lui a parle plus qu'a personne, et toujours 
 sur I'evenement du 15. Ld. Hampden qui etoit a 
 port6e d'entendre leur conversation m'a dit qu'entre 
 autres choses Sheridan avoit dit au roi, que Sa 
 Majest6 avoit certainement donne au public de 
 grandes marques de courage et de fermete, et qu'il 
 auroit desire qu'il ne se ftit pas tant expose, en se 
 tenant plus en arriere dans sa loge, au lieu de 
 s'avancer au risque de recevoir un autre coup de 
 pistolet. Sur quoi le roi a r6pondu en riant : 0, I 
 should have been quite ashamed of myself, if I had 
 remained behind. 
 
 II est malheureux que M. Sheridan ait ete inter- 
 rompu dans I'examen qu'il faisoit du criminel par 
 I'arrivee de Sir W. Addington qui, etant ivre, n'a 
 fait que des sottises. On fait mille histoires a pre- 
 sent sur tet homme ; il paroit qu'il n'est fol que par 
 ivresse, et qu'il ne I'^toit pas au moment de son 
 attentat. La lettre trouvee sous la voiture de Ly 
 Albemarle de Lundi precedent, addressee au prince, 
 et qu'elle a envoyee au Due de Portland, annoncoit 
 cet infernal projet, et d'autres lettres {dit on) d'Irlande 
 et du Continent font mention de la mfeme chose 
 quoiqu' 6crites bien ant^rieurement, ce qui fait 
 craindre que ce ne soit pas Taction d'on insens6, 
 et d'on seul individu. 
 
 VOL. I. 12 
 
178 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1800 
 
 From Lady J-emingham. 
 
 Saturday, May 24. 
 
 I am very glad, my dearest Charlotte, that you 
 are so well. Henry Richard is this day a fortnight 
 old, and his Mama according to my Rule, would for 
 the first time eat her dinner up, and put on a Corset, 
 not having yet walked more than from the Bed to 
 the chimney, but on the strength of this Corset walk 
 a Little about the Room. 
 
 On Wednesday I had my third Rout : 96 visitants, 
 and to entertain them, the two Damianis, Miss 
 Wynne who has a very fine voice and sings in the 
 best style, and Miss le Tourneur on the Harp. It 
 all went off very well. Mrs. Jerningham at about 
 eleven went to Mrs. Wheeler's Ball and danced. 
 
 On Thursday we went to the Drawing Room at 
 three o'clock, and remained standing till six, in the 
 most violent Crowd I ever yet saw : the three Rooms 
 filled with hoops, and swords, and each step thro 
 the Crowd bringing danger of suffocation. Every 
 body had made it a point to go there. Mrs. J. was 
 much approved of, and Look'd in great Beauty. 
 
 My dress is not at all dismal and very fashionable ; 
 the petticoat is white Crape, and a drapery up and 
 down, one of white satin, the other of drab Crape 
 like the Gown, and tassels of large white Beads, but 
 not looking so close and heavy as my drawing. 
 What hangs down is Like a Bell of Beads. The 
 Lady Somersets had Gown and Petticoat of my 
 Colour, train sarcenet, petticoat crape, and trimmed 
 with yellow ribbons and jonquilles. I thought every 
 
iScxj] A MEETING OF 'CATS' 
 
 179 
 
 Body very fine, but the newspaper says they were 
 not so. 
 
 The Queen was in very great spirits, laughing 
 about the Crowd. Lady Georgina Cavendish had 
 been presented. I came back very much tyred 
 indeed, but in the evening we went to a Ball at Lady 
 Hardwick's, and Mrs. J. danced again ; she does not 
 appear to be at all the worse for it. This day there 
 is a meeting of cats to Consider upon the propriety 
 of making an address to the King, there are good 
 arguments for and against the motion. For it : that, 
 as the Legislature will Consider us as a Band apart, 
 we should in this moment profit of the distinction 
 to present our Loyal good wishes to the Throne. 
 Against it, that our friends among the Protestants 
 think the most effectual means of serving us is 
 individually, by being mixed up with the Crowd, 
 and that proffessing ourselves unnecessarily to be of 
 the unpopular side is courting disapprobation, and 
 may point out to notice those who are engaged in 
 the army &c. by acquiescence. In that Number is 
 poor William, whom you will soon see Gazetted as 
 ensign in the 57. Regiment of foot. He is immediately 
 to pass to a Lieutenancy in Lord Mulgrave's Regi- 
 ment, and to be his aide de camp ; a Little favor 
 may then get him Leave to purchase a Company, 
 and he will then be as advanced as his age would 
 demand. He appears to be happy in this arrange- 
 ment. I long to see the Bury paper ; you ought to 
 send me the paragraph. Dear little Fanny's Grand- 
 mama is proud of the title. 
 
i8o JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1800 
 
 I heard the Duke of Clarence saying in the Draw- 
 ing Room, that He wonderd the Bishop of London 
 did not forbid the Ladies taking up their Hoops. 
 There was not any place to take them up on 
 Thursday. 
 
 For the behoof of the non-initiate, and as the expression 
 ' cats,' which frequently occurs in the letters, appears here for the 
 first time in these excerpts, it may be stated that this familiar 
 term is used by Roman Catholics to refer to members of their 
 own religious circle. 
 
 From Sir William Jerninghmn to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 London, 
 
 Monday, May 26. 
 
 I am much obliged to you, my Dear Charlotte, for 
 your kind and very obliging enquiries after me. I 
 am sorry I cannot give you a very good answer to 
 them, this place never Long agrees with me, I 
 hardly ever go out of an Evening and within these 
 last three days I am confined with a bad cold, 
 Rhumatism &c. I most certainly shall leave Town 
 the moment my Petition is presented to his Majesty 
 about this attainder. 
 
 I am in hopes the Duke of Norfolk will favor me in 
 presenting it to the King, when this affair is over I 
 shall with great pleasure then make you a Visit at 
 Oxburgh, where I hope to get cured of all my in- 
 firmities by your society and good air. 
 
 Every year I feel more disgusted of this Town, 
 and I am inclined to Think I shall not come 
 up any more except upon some pressing business — 
 
i8oo] SIR WILLIAM'S TOWN NEWS i8i 
 
 Seeing your Mother in a very pretty gown the other 
 day, which she tells me is of a new manufactory, I 
 cut a piece out which I enclose ; you may have them 
 of any colour with those spots or strip'd. Let me 
 know if you like it and what colours you would 
 preffer and what quantity of yards you desire of 
 each, for I shall send you enough for Two Gowns. 
 I have also Two Muslin Cloaks that the Baron de 
 Kendal insisted on my purchasing of a French Lady. 
 I had no objection when I thought they would be 
 usefull to you, my dear Charlotte. I shall send 
 them with the gowns when I receive your orders. 
 
 I feel quite ashamed that I never wrote to Sir 
 Richard upon the Birth of ye young Henry. Pray 
 make my excuses to him and any reparation I can 
 make for my neglect I leave you to condemn me to. 
 Your Sister-in-Law is very much approved of by 
 every body and they do her but Justice. The Queen 
 told me, as well as to your Mother, how much she 
 wanted to see you. She told me also it was too much 
 to have two such handsome Daughters — I am quite 
 happy to hear you are so well after bringing forth an 
 Heir to The Bedingfeld Family : receive my best 
 wishes and Congratulations on the Event. 
 
 My Love &c. to Sir Richard and Comp'^ to Miss 
 Bedingfeld. If you approve of my Sending a Gown 
 or any thing Else to Miss B. for her kind atten- 
 tion and care of you in your confinement, pray 
 inform me. 
 
 Adieu, my Dear, continue to restore yourself and 
 believe me sincerely your affectionate Father 
 
 Wm. Jerningham. 
 
1 82 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1800 
 
 We had on Saturday a Meeting of our Body, which 
 was unanimous, to address the King. Lord 
 Stourton carries up the address on Wednesday, 
 I fear I shall not be able to attend. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 May 27. 
 
 There are now extremely pretty ball dresses, which 
 consists of a drapery over a Common muslin gown : 
 pray tell me if you know what it is, they are some- 
 times in Coloured muslin or silk, trimmed with 
 silver, and sometimes still more elegant in spangled 
 muslin. At Lady Hardwick's all the dancers were 
 so dressed and last Night I saw the same at Lady 
 Kenmare's, where there was a most violent Ball, 
 that is between four and five hundred people, all over 
 the House. Half of them were in masks ; but as 
 there were a very great assemblage of Cats that all 
 knew one another intimately, it was really very 
 pleasant, the masks took off the form, and every one 
 appeared diverted and pleased. 
 
 Mrs. J. was really Beautiful, she had one of these 
 draperies, in pink sattin trimmed with silver her head 
 dressed in a silver net with flowers and feathers. 
 She danced a great deal, which always frightens me 
 for her, but she does not appear to be at all the 
 worse for it to - day. Miss Browne look'd very 
 pretty, and danced a much with the Eldest Huddle- 
 stone. There were also a great many French : S'^ 
 Hermines, Le Tourneurs, Due de Bourbon, Serrant 
 
i8(X)] LADY CHARLOTTE PRIMROSE 183 
 
 &c. I am obliged to Leave off this moment, as 
 I fear the Coach will set off, so adieu. My Dearest 
 Charlotte, Yours at all times. 
 
 / 29- 
 
 Lady Charlotte Primrose's match was not sanc- 
 tioned by her Parents' Consent. He is a near Rela- 
 tion of Lady Roseberys, and may become Earl of 
 Effingham, but has at present only his pay, as 
 Colonel in the Guards. Her Bands were mutter'd 
 over in the Parish Church, and she walkd out at the 
 Hall Door, and met Col. Howard at the end of the 
 street, from whence they proceeded to the altar of 
 Hymen. Lady Mary will perhaps do the same, with 
 some presbiterian preacher, but she is a sensible girl, 
 and has very good taste. I had a visit a few morn- 
 ings since from Lady Rosebery and her three 
 daughters ; we were all seated, when a pretty young 
 man enterd. Lady Mary Coloured as red as fire 
 and I have ever since felt a partiality for her. 
 
 Saturday, 31. 
 
 It is only three weeks this day since you pro- 
 duced my Grandson, Consequently a Reasonable 
 Being of former times, would this day have perhaps 
 walked a Little in the Gallery, from one Room to 
 another, and Saturday, 7. of June, would be Churched, 
 not sooner. 
 
 Your Father is better but not well. Doctor Nikol 
 has prescribed for Him this morning. Edward (the 
 
1 84 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1800 
 
 dear) has been busy about the Peerage to try to 
 make you Honorable. He had yesterday a Long 
 conversation with the Duke of Norfolk, and the 
 immediate resuUat is an invitation to your Father 
 and Ed. to Dine with Him on Tuesday next. Har- 
 grave's opinion is, that the attainder on Lord Staf- 
 ford must be taken off and that then the Peerage 
 Descends of Course ; it must however be taken off 
 by the Parhament and the King must be petitioned 
 for Leave to treat upon it. The Duke of Norfolk 
 says it will pass thro' both Houses as easily as a 
 turnpike Bill. 
 
 The Mr. Hargrave mentioned with reference to the attainder 
 must have been Francis Hargrave, the learned Q.C., Recorder 
 of Liverpool, who published many authoritative legal works, 
 amongst others a 'Collection of State Trials' (11 vols., folio, 
 1781). He died in 1821. 
 
 yuue 6. 
 
 We went, as the newspapers will have informed 
 you, on Wednesday to the Drawing Room, and at 
 Night to the Ball. Mrs. J. was very desirous of it, 
 and hurried off her Cold, which has obey'd her 
 wishes. The Crowd was, if possible, still more 
 immense than that of the Drawing Room we were at 
 before ; that is, it began from nearly the top of the 
 stairs. Spangles, gauze, and Crape marked the way. 
 
 At the Ball, M. de Circello, the Neapolitan 
 Minister, fainted, and his poor Wife, (you may 
 Remember her at Brussels), who married Him par 
 
l8oo] A FAINTING MINISTER 185 
 
 inclination, and who retains her first doting kindness 
 was frantic. I cannot now think of her without 
 pity, she gave two violent screams, supposing Him 
 fatally attack'd, and then finding it was a fainting 
 fit, she called aloud with Clasped Hands ' Pour 
 Vamour de Dieu, un verre d'eau !' During this time 
 notwithstanding the Confusion of the moment, the 
 Minuet went on, and the King and Queen were to be 
 supposed not attending to any thing else. Lord 
 Grenville, as minister to the foreign department went 
 to him, and after a Little while, he was Conveyd 
 out of the Room, looking like death. Lord Grenville 
 and Mde. de Circello following. Her distress 
 affected me as it was evident that what she held to 
 most upon Earth appeared to be slipping from Her. 
 It is very natural, that no human etiquette could, in 
 such a moment, awe her from expressing her misery. 
 I had sufferd in the morning a good deal of 
 uneasiness : Edward, as a Lincoln's Inn volunteer, 
 was to be in the parade of the Park, and, tho' it 
 rained pouring from 7 o'clock, I knew that nothing 
 would prevent his going there. He was accordingly 
 up at five ; they Breakfasted all together in the Hall, 
 set off from Lincolns Inn on foot, marching, got 
 to the Park before seVen, and stood in the rain till 
 past twelve, then marched back in the wet. But, 
 thank God, he is not the worse for it. I, obhged 
 to go to Court, you may Conceive in what a trouble ! 
 But I sent Mde. le Loire in a fiacre to enquire after 
 Him & she brought me back the enclosed Bulletin. 
 He gave a Little Dinner that day at his Chambers, 
 eat fish for the quatre terns, and went at Night to 
 
i86 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1800 
 
 Dignum's* Benefit. He is however, thank God, 
 well. 
 
 The poor Archbishop of Narbonne was taken sud- 
 denly very ill with the gout in his stomach on Mon- 
 day, but He was Recovered with Usquebaugh, and 
 is now as usual. 
 
 Lord Bradford is dead, so that Lady Torrington's 
 Eldest daughter, Lucie, whom Mde. de Rodoan 
 Corresponded with, is now Lady Bradford, late 
 Mrs. Bridgeman. I have not place or rather the 
 time to answer the sphynx to-day, but shall solve 
 the questions next time I write. 
 
 Adieu my dear. 
 
 Yours always, 
 
 F. Jerningham. 
 
 Your Father has been this morning to Roberts & 
 Plowman and to Gedge, from whom He is returned 
 with most Beautiful Gowns. He is a great deal 
 Better in Health, but not quite well. 
 
 Thursday, June 12. 
 
 (fir, as the old Letters would have 
 
 said, Corpus Christi Day.) 
 
 William was in the Gazette on Tuesday, as Ensign 
 in the 57* Regiment. He is now going to be Lieu- 
 tenant in the 31st. (Lord Mulgrave's) and will be, I 
 believe, aide de Camp to Lord Mulgrave. This will 
 be agreable to him, as it will Carry him to Mulgrave 
 this summer, and give him an opportunity of seeing 
 
 * Charles Dignum, a celebrated tenor of those days. 
 
i8oo] DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE'S BALL 187 
 
 something of the EngHsh world. The favor must 
 then Come for to be a Captain, without waiting the 
 regulated time. 
 
 Last night the Duchess of Devonshire had an 
 immense Ball and did not give us signe de vie. As 
 to my own private Liking I infinitely prefered staying 
 away, but it would have pleased Mrs. J. to go and 
 to say she had been. About 800 were invited, a 
 great many French, and it will Cost it is said near 
 1000^- It was Computed at that if the garden was 
 illuminated, but I am not sure that it was so. Lady 
 Georgina is a tall, fair Girl, not ugly, but not hand- 
 some either. The second is said to be very stout ; 
 but it seems that Little Caroline is very pretty. She 
 dos not yet appear. — Poor Lady Bagot ! (Miss Emily 
 Fitzroy). She was so happy at being married to a 
 handsome young man that she Liked, with a good 
 fortune, at Liberty to do her own will after having 
 lived with her mother in the utmost Constraint ! In 
 fine she used to say, Last autumn, to Mrs. Corn- 
 wallis, who went with her nieces to Blithfield, that she 
 felt too happy, that it Could not Last ! She was too 
 Prophetick : she died of a Galloping Consumption. 
 
 The Ceremonial of the Birth-night Ball did not 
 order Humanity to be set aside, it only required a 
 degree of Rule in the administration of it. Thus, 
 instead of the whole room suffocating this poor 
 fainting ambassadour, those alone who could assist 
 him went ; and the placidity of the King and Queen 
 kept an equal equanimity with those who would only 
 have encreased the inconvenience. In the same 
 manner, and much more difficult it was, the Queen 
 
JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1800 
 
 and Princesses orderd their fears under, so as not to 
 encourage tumult and confusion, on that fatal night 
 at the play House. Had they followd their first 
 impression, sad might have been the Consequence ! 
 All would have been Riot, and perhaps manslaughter ! 
 
 June the 16. the day I made my 
 first Communion, that I was 
 married, that 7ny dear daughter 
 was 7narried. 
 
 Yesterday I was dreadfully ill all day, a had Cold 
 and I believe a storm in the air. It has dispensed 
 me with going to Mrs. Fitzherbert's Breakfast this 
 morning. George and his Wife are gone, with the 
 Chevalier and the Kenmares. William is constituted 
 Lord Mulgrave's aide de Camp and is going to be 
 immediately a Lieutenant in his Regiment. He has 
 been gazetted Ensign, , in another Regiment, for 
 form's sake. 
 
 'The poor fainting Ambassador' was M. de Circello, the 
 NeapoHtan Minister, who had fainted at the Drawing-room 
 described by Lady Jerningham in her letter of June 6. 
 
 George Jerningham, during all this time, appears to be more 
 in love than ever with his handsome young wife. In a note 
 sent during this month to his sister at Oxburgh he informs her 
 that : 
 
 Fanny is setting for her Picture to Hoppner for 
 my Father, a half length, 30 Guineas. Wood the 
 Miniature Painter has done her also for me, tolerably 
 
Lonlan Richard BeutleyEkSoo 183G, 
 
i8oo] AN ENAMOURED HUSBAND 189 
 
 well, but it is very difficult to make a good Picture of 
 so handsome a Person. There is certainly at present 
 no Woman in town as handsome as she is, Miss 
 Jennings, the celebrated Beauty, not excepted. She 
 has enjoyed her health much better since she has 
 been in town and will return here in the Autumn to 
 lye in. We shall then come to Haughley, which we 
 have agreed to take for 7 years. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Vendredi, 10 Juin. 
 My dearest Charlotte, 
 
 I have not time to say much, but I must 
 endeavour, without Letting you see my Stupidity, to 
 say something. My Embassy to Lord Kenmare had 
 the fate I rather expected, and that the poor young 
 man and his family did also. Lord Kenmare called 
 upon me and said that, as Charlotte was 20 years of 
 age, he thought her the properest Judge of what 
 sacrifices she chose to make to fortune, that He 
 therefore gave her my letter, and that (after some 
 Little emotion at the idea of giving up thoughts of 
 a Handsome young man who expressed Himself to 
 be pleased with her) she had declared that she feard 
 the difference of fortune, would make an unpleasant 
 change which might not enable her to supply to her 
 future Husband the chearful activity which would be 
 expected from Her; in fact that she was not in Love 
 with Him and nothing else could have brought the 
 affair about. 
 
190 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1800 
 
 I regret sincerely that it Cannot be, for I think 
 Him a most excellent young man, in every way 
 deserving of all good, if she had been set upon it. 
 He told me (Lord Kenmare) that he should not have 
 opposed it, but that He should prefer placing her in 
 an equality of situation. They would like Trafford 
 and I am sure He could not do better. Lord Ken- 
 mare told me He should pay her ^loooo down, and 
 had Left her £2,000 more in his Will, so that she is 
 certainly a very good Match. He is also sure of 
 being an Earl, whenever the Irish Peers are made. 
 
 It is truly hard that those who have not fortune, 
 are Cut out from every thing ! 
 
 Your tall Cousin, has fell desperately in Love with 
 a Miss, whom he thinks will have a good fortune ; 
 but I have advised Him to be very sure of it before 
 he declares his passion in form. 
 
 Lady Charlotte Howard is with her Husband at 
 Norfolk House. Lord Rosebery has not yet seen 
 Her. 
 
 Charlotte in this letter is Lady Charlotte Browne, daughter to 
 the first Earl of Kenmare by his first wife, the Hon. Charlotte 
 Dillon, and consequently niece to Lady Jerningham. The 
 engagement now sur le tapis is with George Goold, nephew 
 and heir-presumptive to Sir Francis Goold, Bart. 
 
 ' Your tall cousin ' is presumably John Bedingfeld. 
 
 Saturday July ^th. 
 Plaignez moi Milady ! for I am going this day to 
 the Duchess of Devonshire's Breakfast. And a more 
 
i8oo] HAVOC AT STONOR 
 
 191 
 
 unworthy guest she will not have, but an invitation 
 being arrived, and of Course my Belle fille wishing to 
 go, it is impossible any way to avoid it. I am other- 
 ways grown so old, that I have Lost all taste for 
 fetes of this sort. 
 
 The Duchess has sent me excuses by Henry, and 
 Livarot. She went out so Little in the world, she 
 said, she had not known I was in town, &c., when 
 she gave her Ball. I so entirely enjoyed not going, 
 that I was far from acquainting her with it. How- 
 ever, every Body was invited for to-day, and so we 
 are going, at two o'clock to Chiswick. We are to 
 Convey your tall Cousin there, who is desperately in 
 Love and says that he never knew what it was to be 
 so before. I do not even know the name of his 
 dulcinea, but she has only 7000 — not enough for 
 such violent Regard ! He really appears to be half 
 in earnest. 
 
 I have had a Letter dated Stonor, Wednesday. 
 My Child had arrived there, safe with his Cargo, the 
 day before for dinner, and they were to Leave Stonor 
 that evening. He says that the Brown shades, 
 celebrated in Pope's Letter, are terribly devasted. 
 That the venerable House is deposed and that a 
 Roomy but modernised fabric has taken its place ; 
 in short it appears that the present owner is so 
 different in taste from his ancestors that he has 
 overthrown Litterally the Household Gods in 16 
 generation of Pictures. Mrs. Cary even accuses 
 Him, of having dug up the dead, for she pretends to 
 have found, some time since, when he was fumbling 
 
192 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1800. 
 
 about the tombs and monuments, a piece of Skull 
 and auburn Hair which she knew (by the Parlor 
 Picture) to have belonged to her great Grandfather ! 
 She is in real affliction about it. Such a descendant 
 is Like an irruption of the Vandals ! How I should 
 delight to Run up 16 generations of the Jerningham 
 face ! 
 
 Monday, 7. 
 
 My Dearest Charlotte, 
 
 I am returned Living from the Breakfast. I 
 must even own that I found it extremely pleasant 
 and was very much amused. 
 
 We got there a Little after three, and were told 
 the Duchess was in the Pleasure Ground. We 
 accordingly found her setting with Mrs. Fitzherbert 
 by an urn. Several Bands of Musick were very well 
 placed in the garden, so that as soon as you were 
 out of the hearing of one Band, you began to Catch 
 the notes of another ; thus Harmony always met 
 your ears. This sort of Continued Concert has 
 always a most pleasant effect upon my nerves. 
 There is a Temple which was destin'd to the Princes 
 Entertainment and was very prettily decorated with 
 flowers. 
 
 There were about 20 Covers, and when we under- 
 stood that the Duchess and all these fine People 
 were in their Temple, we Goths we took possession 
 of the House, where we found in every room a table 
 spread, with cold meat, fruit, ice, and all sorts of 
 Wine. It is a fine House, and there are most 
 delightful pictures in it. After the eating and 
 quaffing was over, the young Ladies danced on the 
 
i8oo] THE DUCHESS'S BREAKFAST .193 
 
 Green. Lady Georgina Cavendish (a tall Gawkey, 
 fair Girl, with her head poked out and her mouth 
 open) dances however very well, she has Learned of 
 Hillisbery. Lord Hartington (Like the Duke) danced 
 also. There were several other young girls so that I 
 never knew which was Lady Harriet or Caroline. 
 There were a great many French, both men and 
 women, among the Number, Mde. de Boele, your 
 old acquaintance, the Vicountess de Vaudreuil, 
 Victor's Sister, Mde. de Boulli^ (Miss Walsh), Mde. 
 de Belsunce &c. &c. Mrs. J. danced with Eugene 
 Montmorency. We left Chiswick between seven 
 and eight. People returned for the Opera, and I to 
 go to Bed, for it was a fatiguing day, tho' a very 
 pleasant one. 
 
 The Prince was en Polisson, a Brown Dress, round 
 Hat and a Brown wig. He stood almost the whole 
 time by his Band, with Dr. Burney, ordering dif- 
 ferent pieces of Musick. Lady Jersey was Coasting 
 round the spot where he stood, with her daughters, 
 Lady Ann Lambton and Lady Elizabeth Villiers 
 (who has not yet been presented and appears to be 
 quite a girl). The Prince was quite annoyed with 
 her and eyed her askance ; but she is resolved to 
 plague Him ; she professes it to be her Resolution. 
 
 Sunday morning, 8 o'clock. 
 {September.) 
 
 I had a pretty letter of thanks etc. yesterday from 
 the accouchee. The child is named Charlotte in 
 VOL. I. 13 
 
194 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1800 
 
 Honor of you, Dolly for Mrs. Sulyard, and Georgina, 
 as you may suppose. She wishes her to resemble 
 her Aunt in mental accomplishments as well as in 
 name. The infant has already, towards the outward 
 resemblance, dark hair and Blue eyes. 
 
 I sat yesterday for the fourth time to Opie, I am 
 dressed, d'apres le Breste, in Black velvet and gold 
 fringe, my French veil over my hair leaving out the 
 Cap underneath. Every body finds it very like, and 
 I believe it is so — only with 10 or 13 years taken off, 
 so that it will do for Posterity. I don't dislike the 
 flattery, as it makes a decent Picture. 
 
 The accouMe this time is Mrs. Jerningham, whose first child, 
 recently born, had made Lady Jerningham a grandmother for 
 the fifth time. 
 
 The description of the portrait by Opie applies to the picture 
 of which I am able to give in this volume a much reduced 
 photogravure. 
 
 Saturday Morning. 
 
 Your letter, my dear, arrived Last night about 9 
 o'clock, in the Library. The description of Little 
 Fan, given by my own primitive daughter, made me 
 cry. Miss Betham appeared to be rather snuffing, 
 and Ed. sayd : ' pretty Little Girl !' You were not 
 worse, and that was a good deal, but I hope soon to 
 hear that you are better, for it is too uncomfortable 
 to Lose your Company, and be in the utmost uneasi- 
 ness for your Health. ... 
 
 Yesterday, about two o'clock going by Miss 
 Betham's door, I looked in, and seeing her Bed 
 
i8oo] A PORTRAIT BY OPIE 155 
 
 Curtains half drawn and the Cloathes all rumpled^ 
 the Room otherwaya* in disorder & nobody in it, I 
 Came forth in anger and meeting the Housemaid 
 told her it was shameful to neglect People in that 
 manner, and to Leave Miss Betham's Room unmade 
 at two o'clock. She declared she had done it before 
 12, but that Miss Betham often laid down on her 
 Bed, which turned out to have been the Case. How 
 very odd ! 
 
 Adieu, my dear. All that is kind to Sir Richard ! 
 You and he should be multiplied a Vinfini, for the 
 attonement of the general world who Resemble you 
 so Little in anything. Your Brother Comes on 
 Tuesday. Love from all, 
 
 Your old affectionate Maman. 
 
 From Helen Bedingfeld to Lady Bedingfeld, at Cossey. 
 
 September. 
 My dearest friend. 
 
 You will think me long in welcoming you 
 back to Norfolk, and of congratulating you that you 
 are alive and well after having mounted the Skies. 
 
 York is now so dull, that going to a Sale is looked 
 upon as an amusement. There is a spirit in an 
 Auction which is certainly entertaining, and I am 
 ashamed to say it has enticed me to spend 5 hours 
 each morning for this week past. There was some 
 curious old China Vases and Pictures, that had you 
 been there, you would have hid for — One Picture 
 the Auctioneer told us was painted by an ancient 
 
ig6 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1800 
 
 Roman ! A great deal of Company is expected here 
 this Winter, so hope it will not be quite a desert when 
 you come, how impatient I am to see you ! I keep 
 grumbling at the Months for rolling so slowly on. 
 Mrs. Salvin, the Widow, is coming to live here, her 
 husband left her a thousand a year, in addition to 
 her jointure, and left all his personal Estate to his 
 youngest Son, which makes him richer than the 
 elder. Nothing could equal the hoards of money 
 that were found after his death. A pair of old 
 inexpressibles were sent up to the Bank : they con- 
 tained seven thousand Guineas ! I should have 
 liked such a Legacy notwithstanding it was de- 
 posited in so vulgar a Garment. Lady Stourton 
 introduced her fourth daughter here at the Races — 
 Miss Charlotte, a tall elegant girl, with a very hand- 
 some face, who made her Sisters look very ordinary 
 indeed. Miss Haggerston was with them. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 COSSEY, 
 
 January 8. 1801. 
 
 I must make use of my frank, to enquire after my 
 own Dear Daughter. How are all your Rhumaticks ? 
 well, I hope, and not ending in a Benedict, it is too 
 soon. 
 
 Your Father went out yesterday in the Chairs, and 
 would positively go this Day on Horseback, but I 
 dread it may be Likely to renew his Cold. 
 
 The Family (three Sons and the two Ladies) dine 
 
i8oi] LORD ST. VINCENT 
 
 197 
 
 this day with good Mr. Suffield in S' Giles's. I 
 remain with your Father. 
 
 I had two days since, a Letter from Lord Kenmare 
 to announce his having Received an official notice of 
 his Earldom, so they are to be in town for to go to 
 S' James's on the 25th. He says that He Likes 
 this Honor because it gives a title to his dear 
 Charlotte, but that she is of that happy disposition 
 that whatever affects herself dos not appear to 
 make any difference. There is a good deal more to 
 the same purpose, in short He Dotes upon Her, 
 which I never knew till Lately. 
 
 From Chevalier J-erningham to Lady Jerningham. 
 
 Tor Abbey, 
 
 ce 23. yan. 
 
 Je veux vous payer en partie, ma chere Soeur, 
 de votre extreme bontd de m'avoir donne de vos 
 nouvelles et de celles de toute la famille dont j'6tois 
 tres impatient, en vous communiquant celles que je 
 viens de recevoir de Mde. de la Tour du Pin (datee 
 du 8). Vous voudrez bien faire passer sa lettre el 
 Ldy Bedingfeld qui pourra me la renvoyer sous 
 convert de Lord St. Vincent, qui m'autorise k prier 
 tons mes correspondants de m'6crire ici sous son 
 adresse. 
 
 Ce Respectable Guerrier me repr^sente exactement 
 Godefroi de Bouillon, tel que le Tasse nous depeint 
 cet habile g6n6ral : son kge, sa figure, son maintien, 
 sa modestie, c'est lui m^me enfin. 
 
198 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1801 
 
 Je suis arriv6 ici a tems de voir sortir la Flotte'de 
 la baye, ce qui 6toit un tres beau spectacle ; La Ville 
 dc Paris nous reste et Lord Nelson est attendu sous 
 peu de jours de Plymouth avec le St. Joseph, qu'il 
 mande a L'' St. Vincent etre le plus beau vaisseau 
 qu'il ait jamais monte. 
 
 Rien n'6gale I'interet et ractivit6 de la scene que 
 Ton a ici constament sous les yeux, Tor Abbey est 
 absolument un quartier general, et rien n'est oublie 
 ni omis de la part de la Dame du Chateau pour en 
 rendre le s6jour agreable a ses habitans et a son 
 voisinage — La semaine prochaine doit etre une suite 
 de f^tes en honneur de L"^ St. Vincent ; les pr6pa- 
 ratifs sont immenses ; les dragons d'ordonnance ne 
 font qu'aller et venir d'ici a Exeter, et d'Exeter ici. 
 L'on a bati une salle hors du chateau, pour un bal 
 pare qui sera suivi de deux autres et termini par une 
 masquarade. II y a plus de 150 personnes de prices, 
 tout Devonshire enfin. Les decorations exterieures 
 et interieures, les surtouts du dessert, doivent repre- 
 senter les victoires et les actions les plus brillantes 
 du h6ros qu'on veut feter : je vous dis d'avance le 
 secret de la comedie, et cette anticipation n'est que 
 I'annonce des details que vous aurez par la suite. 
 
 J'ai quitt6 Bath avec regret. J'y ai trouve tres 
 bonne compagnie, les premieres artistes de Londres, 
 et une occasion continuelle de faire et d'entendre 
 d'excellente musique — Lord Clifford m'a envoye sa 
 voiture a Exeter, et j'ai passe deux jours a Ugbrooke 
 avant de venir i Tor Abbey— Robert Clifford est 
 parti hier pour Londres apres un sejour de pres de 
 6 mois en Devonshire. 
 
i8oi] LADY WALLACE AND THE BISHOP 199 
 
 J'ai ete chercher Mrs. Porter deux fois pendant 
 
 mon S6jour k Bath; elle a une habitation dans les 
 
 nues, mais elle est toujours aimable, et quand on la 
 
 trouve on est dedommage de ce qu'il coute pour 
 
 grimper jusqu'^ sa hauteur. La D^^e de Gordon 
 
 habite le crescent inferieur et m'a paru beaucoup 
 
 plus gratieuse qu'i Londres. Savez vous I'histoire 
 
 de sa soeur, Ldy Wallace ? — En courant le monde 
 
 elle s'est trouvee quelque part avec I'eveque de 
 
 Derry, et ayant su qu'il avoit tenu de mauvais 
 
 propos sur son compte, elle se rendit chez lui et 
 
 demanda i le voir. Sur le refus du portier de la 
 
 laisser entrer, elle se presenta une seconde fois, sans 
 
 plus de succes ; enfin a la 3'™' elle tire un pistolet 
 
 de sa poche, et se fait jour jusqu'a la piece ou elle 
 
 trouve le pr6lat : elle commence par mettre le verou 
 
 a la porte, et ensuite tirant deux pistolets de sa 
 
 poche, elle dit a son Lordship qu'il eut a se de- 
 
 fendre, ou qu'elle alloit lui bruler la cervelle : I'eveque 
 
 tout ebahi, sonna toutes les sonnettes, mais per- 
 
 sonne n'osa enfoncer La porte. Ses gens s'atten- 
 
 doient ^ entendre d'un moment a I'autre une violente 
 
 Explosion ; mais, a leur grande surprise, apres 
 
 quelques moments d'attente, ils virent leur maitre 
 
 ouvrir la porte, conduisant par la main L'^i' W. 
 
 a sa voiture, ou il est monte avec elle — Ici finit ma 
 
 naration, mais mon historien ajoute, que L^y W. 
 
 n'en demeurera pas Ik, et qu'a I'aide de son pistolet 
 
 et de ses charmes, elle reviendra surement dans ce 
 
 pais ci, Comtesse de Bristol ! 
 
 Ce r^cit m'a conduit si loin, que je ne puis vous 
 dire aujourd'hui la reception de L"^ Nelson, a Font 
 
20O JERNINGHAM LETTERS [i8or 
 
 Hill, qui a et6 tres curieuse ; c'est la qu'il s'est 
 separt^ de sa Circe, qui a et6 bien trompe dans 
 I'espoir qu'elle avoit de reussir par lui i etre pre- 
 sent6e a la cour. Elle a completement echou6 dans 
 tous ses plans a ce sujet. 
 
 Mde. Cary me prie de vous faire mille complimens. 
 Si Edward est encore avec vous, dites lui que je suis 
 loge dans ce qu'il a baptise le George Inn. Tout 
 jusqu'aux murs retentit ici de son nom, de ses faits 
 et gestes, et de I'impression favourable qu'il laisse 
 de lui partout. Mille amities a Sir W. d qui j'^crirai 
 incessament. L'example de Sir R. Burton devroit 
 bien I'encourager a aller i Bath. Quand vous dis- 
 poser vous i vous rendre k la capitale, et k quitter 
 les neiges de Norfolk? Agr6ez, ma chere soeur, 
 I'hommage de mon tendre attachment. 
 
 C.J. 
 
 Si le jeune manage est encore d Cossey, veuillez me 
 rapeller A son souvenir, ainsi qu'i William. II y 
 a plus de deux mois que je sais I'histoire du 
 Revenant de Witton, dont je n'ai jamais parle pas 
 raison de son absurdity. C'6toit Mr. Fouquaire 
 qui un jour, chez Ld. Wodehouse, nous en fit le 
 recit et nous lut les depositions des domestiques, 
 &c. Le revenant de Warwickshire est bien 
 autrement interessant : c'est un pr6tre frangois, 
 dans le voisinage de Sir Walter Blount, qui a vu 
 un cerceuil, porte par deux femmes, 6tabli dans sa 
 chambre au milieu de la nuit. Cette vision a paru 
 trois fois. Sur le cercueil 6tait un numero et le 
 nom d'une rue dans Londres. Apres plusieurs 
 
i8oi] CLAIRVOYANCE 
 
 invitations surnaturelles, ce pretre s'est rendu a 
 Londres au numero indiqu6, a trouve dans une 
 chambre une femme eplor6e assise sur un cercueil 
 avec une autre femme qui 6toit sa belle soeur ; la 
 cadavre 6toit le mari ; la mission du pretre portoit 
 de detourner La veuve des dessins de sa belle 
 soeur qui etoient d'un genre a lui fetre funestes, il 
 a r^usi k brouiller les deux femmes, et le frere de 
 I'accusee attaque le pretre en justice pour I'avoir 
 diffamee. 
 
 Voild, en gros et bien a la haste, tout ce que je 
 sais de I'histoire, qui est fort extraordinaire, et 
 dont on parloit beaucoup d Bath. 
 
 ' La Dame du Chateau ' at Tor Abbey was Mrs. Gary. 
 
 From Lady jFerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Summer 1801. 
 
 For heaven sake take care of your Leg. I will 
 not hear any joking about it. 
 
 MuUaloch gave a magnificent strawbery Breakfast 
 on Monday to the Kenmare Family and ours. Mrs. 
 Blount and daughters, two Miss Stourtons, Mrs. 
 Trevor, Lord Onslow and the Duke of Orleans and 
 his Brothers. The Breakfast was in the Garden, 
 under a tent. We then went to Hampton Court 
 and returned to Dinner, 19, to the ' Star and Garter.' 
 
 The Comte de Beaujolois din'd with us. He is a 
 very pretty, lively, pleasant young man. After dinner, 
 we went in Boats on the Thames ; the Comte de 
 Beaujolois and Henry ran a race each alone in their 
 
202 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1801 
 
 Boat and en chemise. Monsieur and his societ6, who 
 had dined that day at the Duke of Buccleugh's on 
 the River, came down to view our navigade and was 
 much diverted at finding that the Comte de Beau- 
 jolois was one of the Champions en Chemise. These 
 three Princes speak EngHsh as if they had been born 
 here ; they were five years in Prison at Marseilles, 
 and 18 months of the time in a dungeon on Bread 
 and water ; then they were shipped off for America. 
 Mr. de Beaujolois was only 13 when first imprisoned. 
 You may Remember how well he answered, when 
 interrogated by the Assembly The two eldest were 
 not so good, but all is now right. 
 
 The Comte de Beaujolais, the second brother of the Due 
 d'Orldans, who became Louis Philippe I., was then twenty-two 
 years of age. He died at Malta in 1808. 
 
 COSSEY, 
 
 January 20. 1802. 
 My dearest Charlotte. 
 
 Great was my pleasure to see your Hand 
 writing again, and it was not diminished in Reading 
 your Kind and entertaining Letter. I can assure 
 you, that it Hurt me very much to Leave you ; for, 
 independently of my anxiety for your Health, I have 
 a great Relish for your Society, and (Like Mde. de 
 Sevigne) je me sais hien bon gre de vous avoir mis au 
 inonde. May you long Continue to Bless your Little 
 new Creation, with Precept and Example ! 
 
 I beg my Love to the Chevalier, and that you will 
 tell Him, I shall answer his obliging epistle to- 
 morrow. On Monday we had the tenant's uproar. 
 
.i803] THE COMTE DE BEAUJOLAIS EN CHEMISE 203 
 
 — The Miss Taylors, quite fine young ladies in deep 
 mourning, no Cap, no Handkerchief, Long train, in 
 short might have been at any London assembly ; the 
 Mother in a good old fashioned mob, relating to me 
 how she went out to service at Norwich at eleven 
 years. 
 
 The Mayors Ball was very splendid as to Numbers, 
 the dancing very much Crowded in the tea Room, 
 and a Cold supper with Hot Soups in the Great 
 Room, three Tables from top to bottom, and above 
 50 people not sitting. Mrs. Laton was the whole 
 night Mrs. Ives's Dame d'honneur and set by her at 
 Supper, on the other side Miss Drake and by her 
 that Handsome Fair Quaker Gurney from Earlham. 
 
 The ' Handsome Fair Quaker ' was a daughter of the philan- 
 thropist, Joseph John Gurney, banker at Norwich, author of 
 several excellent works on religious subjects. 
 
 London, 
 
 March i. 
 
 Mrs. Skully is, I hear (but not from Him), on a 
 very agreable footing in Dublin ; Lady Hardwick 
 has put her in fashion with the nobles, and Lady 
 Moira, (Sister to the late Earl of Huntingdon, a very 
 high lady) says the Huddlestons are her Relations, 
 ■so this has given a high idea of Mrs. Skullys nobility ! 
 What a fortunate ending she has made, after being 
 so violently threatened, with Leading apes ! On 
 Saturday arrived on a morning visit. Lady Maria 
 
204 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1802 
 
 Pinfold, and her Husband with Her, whom she in- 
 troduced with great glee. She looks very well, and 
 very Happy, enquired most tenderly after you. She 
 Lodges at Chelsea. Her Sister and her Husband 
 are in Ireland, and Henry says They are called. Lath 
 and Plaster, S"^ Wm. Homan being very thin, and 
 
 she as is usual bedaubed with Paint. 
 
 • •••.. 
 
 Several letters from, and many allusions to, Lady Maria 
 Stuart (now married to Mr. Pinfold) occur in these excerpts. 
 
 From Chevalier J-erningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 No. 28, Park Street, 
 
 Grosvk Square, 
 
 ce 9 Mars. 
 
 Une aussi jolie lettre que la derniere dont vous 
 m'avez favorise, ma chere et tres chere niece, m^rite- 
 roit une douzaine des miennes qui n'en feroient pas 
 la monnoye, quoiqu'il en sorte. 
 
 Je commence celle-ci pas vous rendre compte du 
 Sig'' Colnaghi chez qui je me suis transporte nombre 
 de fois sans pouvoir obtenir d'autre rdponse sinon 
 qu'il m'enveroit celle que vous desirez de lui avant la 
 fin de la journee. Enfin ce matin, il m'a fait dire 
 qu'il vous avoit ecrit Samedi dernier. Ainsi, comme 
 il me paroissoit dispose a se charger du d^bit de 
 votre Gravure, j'espere qu'il vous aura offert des con- 
 ditions raisonnables, et que cette affaire sera moins 
 longtems a terminer que le congres d' Amiens, dont 
 on attend cependant la fin de maniere ou d'autre 
 vers la fin de cette semaine. 
 
 L'armement que Ld St. Vincent prepare si ri- 
 
i8o2] THE CHEVALIER ON THE USURPER 205 
 
 goureusement mettra, je suis persuad6, fin aux ddais 
 de la n6gociation que Buonaparte trouvoit son compte 
 k prolonger et la Paix se r6alisera. Mais ces nou- 
 velles usurpations sur I'ltalie pourront bien ne la pas 
 rendre tres durable ; I'ambition de faire le Second 
 Charlemagne, pourra bien renverser le trone sur 
 lequel il commen9oit i s'aifermir. II a 6t6 i la 
 seconde ou ^^^me representation de la piece intitulee 
 le Prince Edward ou I'histoire du Pretendant. Les 
 allusions a la maison de Bourbon ont 6te saisies avec 
 tant de chaleur, qu'il a d6fendu en sortant de Con- 
 tinuer les representations de ce drame, et le public 
 lui en salt mauvais gre. 
 
 En tout, il est revenu de Lyon moins popular qu'il 
 n'6toit. L'acceptation de cette Providence de la 
 nouvelle r6publique, en mepris de la loi etabliee par 
 lui mfeme et qui prive tout citoyen fran9ois du droit 
 de Citoyen du moment qu'il accepte une place et 
 une pension d'une puissance dtrangdre, cette accepta- 
 tion lui a fait un tort G6n6ral et dont il eprouvera 
 des suites tres graves. Sa conduite a I'egard des 
 eveques rappelles par le Legat du Pape et qui ont 
 donn6 leurs d6missions est au moins fort legere. 
 Ceux qui sont partis d'ici ont 6te obliges de se rendre 
 de Calais a Bruxelles et d'y attendre des ordres avant 
 de pouvoir continuer leur route i Paris ; I'arch. de 
 Bordeaux a 6t6 detenu k Boulogne, et Ton n'a pas 
 certitude encore de son arrivee a Paris : celui d'Aix 
 qui I'a precede ecrit ici que le concordat paroitra 
 avant la fin de la d6cade. 
 
 En attendant Mrs. Damer and Miss Berry sont 
 partir hier matin pour Paris. 
 
2o6 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1802 
 
 Je n'ai pas le meme empressement mais je me suis 
 abouche plusieurs fois avec Lord Whitworth, Tam- 
 bassadeur design^, et je crois que lorsqu'il sera a 
 Paris, Je pourrai compter sur ses bons offices, s'ils 
 peuvent m'^tre utiles. 
 
 March 27 was the date on which the Peace of Amiens was 
 actually signed ; but during the course of the prolonged negotia- 
 tions which were to lead to it, a general return of Smigrh, and 
 of English people having interests in France, had already 
 begun. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 London, 
 March 13. 
 
 Lord Bute's new Little Girl goes out an airing 
 with three nurses, and two footmen behind the coach. 
 
 Everybody is surprised at your Father's good 
 looks, and indeed I the first. He has in this 
 moment got a Little Cold, but it has not altered 
 Him. 
 
 I have been but at one assembly ; it was on 
 Thursday last, at Lady Harewood's, Hanover 
 Square. All Yorkshire were there, and Lady 
 Boston (a Miss Methuen I suppose) was creeping 
 about followed by her daughters ; I looked for the 
 other, but they are not in London. She is with 
 Child, and has been very sick. 
 
 Poor Miss Wilks died suddenly yesterday morning 
 about 2 o'clock. She had invited Company to dine 
 with her yesterda}', and had an assembly for the even- 
 
i8o2] LADY CHARLOTTE BROWNE 207 
 
 ing, she was ill about an hour and a half, her voice 
 was so Choaked up for these last five years that one 
 could hardly hear her, it was I suppose real destruc- 
 tion coming on. 
 
 Wednesday 17. 
 
 Poor, good, Lord Kenmare has just made me a 
 visit. He permits me to tell you a secret, which must 
 soon be known of but is not yet publick, and that is 
 that, on finding that Lady Charlotte's Inclination 
 was totally settled on Mr. Goold, who has everything 
 for Him but birth, (on the Paternal side, for his 
 Mother is of a very ancient Family) he has con- 
 sented to their union. Mr. Goold is expected in 
 town, where He will find Lady Charlotte Looking 
 very happy, and much handsomer than usual from 
 the satisfaction she now feels. 
 
 Lord Kenmare told me, that on finding his 
 daughters happiness was fixed on this marriage, he 
 would not any longer oppose it, tho' he feared that 
 she would feel an unpleasant change of Situation, 
 from the difference there must be in Mr. Goold's 
 Style of Living. Unfortunately his fortune is not 
 so Considerable as was reported ; it is however 
 Clear, 3000^ a year and there are expectations of 
 more, from his Uncles. The interest of her fortune 
 is 500 and Lord Kenmare means to continue the pin 
 money she now has of 200^ for her private expense. 
 At his death she is to have the additional 1000^ per 
 annum, and Mr. Goold gives her 1000^ jointure, so 
 
2o8 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1802 
 
 that all together it is not a splendid establishment, 
 but, with the mutual inclination they have for one 
 another, I think it may be very comfortable. 
 
 Lord Kenmare is certainly every thing that is 
 good. He told me that he never could Like any of 
 his Children so much as he Loved Lady Charlotte, 
 and that in this affair He considered her Happiness 
 before the opinion of the world. I endeavoured to 
 Comfort Him, by saying that his character was such 
 that no one would doubt of the motive for his con- 
 sent, and that Mr. Goold's personal Qualities must 
 prejudice every Body in his favor: he is remark- 
 ably well Looking, genteel and well Behaved. He 
 had proposed when she was 17. and been refused, 
 but nothing more eligible offering it now becomes 
 under a very different aspect. 
 
 Poor Miss Wilkes died suddenly on Friday last. 
 She had invited Company to dine with Her, and an 
 assembly for the evening ; among the guests pries 
 were some of the Bishops (at the Archbishop of 
 Narbonne's) so that her Butler thought it necessary 
 to acquaint the Archbishop with the melancholy 
 disaster, and this is the extraordinary Composition 
 He sent : 
 
 ' Most Venerable Lord, 
 
 ' The excellent Miss Wilkes became Immortal 
 this morning at two o'clock. This happy change 
 took place, after having been ill about an hour and a 
 half. I have the honour to be &c. 
 
 ' (Signed) Joseph Price.' 
 
i8o2] PRIVATE THEATRICALS 209 
 
 The Duke of Bedford was positively engaged to 
 marry Lady Georgina Gordon, she is to wear mourn- 
 ing for Him, and indeed it must be a dreadful dis- 
 appointment. 
 
 George Goold, who succeeded to his uncle, Sir Francis Goold, 
 as second Baronet in 1 8 10, was the son of Henry Michael Goold 
 and Catherine, daughter of Donatt O'Callaghan, Esq., of 
 Kilgory, Co. Clare. 
 
 Thursday, March 18. 
 
 My dear Charlotte, 
 
 Here is an entertaining odd novel, and a most 
 excellent Funeral Oration : Mr. Darcy is thought to 
 be the most eloquent Catholick Preacher we have. 
 He was invited over by good Father O'Leary, a 
 short time before his decease, and belongs to Saint 
 Patrick's Chapel, where he preaches the last Sunday 
 of every month, so that I have not yet heard Him. 
 
 You will have seen perhaps in the paper, that 
 Sir William and Miss Jerningham were among the 
 Fashionables at the Pic nic. The Chevalier and I 
 were there but neither of us subscribers, so I suppose 
 they made a Confusion on hearing the Coaches 
 called. This same pic nic is promoted by our old 
 acquaintance Harry Greville, who has always Liked 
 the Theatre, and French and English mm act ; for 
 the women are done by men in female Cloaths, 
 which Looks very Ridiculous. The Chevalier de 
 Montmorency is a very good actor, Greville tolerable, 
 and so on. Two Proverbs were jouis ; and, after, 
 there was a Supper very prettyly arranged, in the 
 
 VOL. I. 14 
 
JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1802 
 
 pit, in the Boxes all about. The Gentlemen who 
 acted, supped on the stage, and entertained the 
 Company with Catches, a Frenchman accompanying 
 on the Piano. 
 
 Friday, 26. 
 
 The Cow Pox appears to be in universal Practice, 
 and I believe that Doctor Jenner is going to have a 
 premium from Parliament for having Discovered so 
 useful a muzzle for the dreadful disorder all men are 
 sentenced to have in the small Pox. Doctor Nikol 
 advises it, and so dos Pritchard, so that I give up 
 my first prejudice against it and hope that it is a 
 Blessing almighty God has permitted shall be now 
 discovered. 
 
 Maundy Thursday, 
 
 April \si/i. 
 
 Lady Dillon's Confessor being gone to France, she 
 has desired me to get Her one. I recommended she 
 should have one from Saint Patrick's Chapel, and 
 named Mr. Darcy, or Mr. Plunket, both excellent 
 Preachers, and speaking French perfectly. She left 
 it to me and so I have written a note which is now in 
 Antonio's Hands to carry towards Soho, to Mr. 
 Darcy, to enquire by Lady Dillon's desire, if He 
 will have the Charity to assist her and her daughters 
 
i8o2] A MOTHER'S FAVOURITE 211 
 
 to prepare for their Easter duty ; also to desire 
 He will name a day for to go to Fitzroy Square, 
 about nine o'clock in the morning. She said there 
 was not any hour they were so sure of being quiet. 
 
 William has got his Leave of Absence prolonged, 
 He is good Humoured, and occasionally cheerful, 
 but his usual tenour is profound gravity. It is very 
 Singular, and must Look odd to Strangers. He is 
 very handsome, and looks in Health, is well pleased 
 with Lancashire, says most of his Regiment are 
 Catholicks and that on St. Patrick's Day Mass 
 was positively said in the Barracks by Mr. Kenyon, 
 an Irish Priest, residing in the neighbourhood. 
 
 Edward was at Lady Kenmare's on Sunday, and a 
 veil was playd for, by ten People. Edward playd 
 for Lady Kenmare, and, among the intimate Cats, 
 such as Mrs. Keating, Lady Newburgh, the Aylmers, 
 Goold &c., were Lady Clarges and Lady Louisa 
 Hervey of Chigwell. Edward, not 'noticing them, 
 was quite merry and frolicksome about the veil, and 
 Lady Clarges told the Chevalier that She never saw 
 a young man so handsome and pleasing. He Looks 
 well but has too much feeling ! for to Steer safely 
 thro' the World ; at least I fear so. Dear thing ! I 
 am not yet tired of Him ! Adieu, my most dear 
 Charlotte, your active and elegant talents are 
 Edwards type of Perfection in a woman, jom, have 
 now a Likeness in his mind, and He is not quite out, 
 but there are other things wanting. 
 
212 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1802 
 
 The second Lady Dillon, the ' French lady,' whose maiden 
 name does not appear in the pedigree of the family, was a 
 Catholic. 
 
 TUNBRIDGE, 
 
 Friday, 11. June. 
 
 Miss O'Reilly is a mes ordres, whenever I wish for 
 Petticoats and she is a good sensible Potatoe Girl. 
 We have been this morning to see the great House 
 of Penshurst, five miles from Tunbridge, the Road 
 most Beautiful the whole way, the Park, up and 
 down, as are all the Grounds about Here, with Large 
 fine Timber trees, the House immense, and full of 
 Curious Portraits, and antique magnificence. The 
 whole of the outside is ancient but Mr. Sidney has 
 fitted up a wing within in the modern style, where 
 they live. Mrs. Sidney is with Lady Hunloke in 
 London, and he is at Penshurst. 
 
 The place was granted to the Sidney Family by 
 Edward 6. Sir Philip Sidney was grandson to the 
 first Sidney who had it, and a Tree that was planted 
 at his Birth, 1554, is yet there. There are three 
 Pictures of Him in the House— very fair, with a 
 Large Ruff. Lady Dorothy Sidney, whom Waller 
 has Sung as Sacharissa, is in Several Places — a 
 Beauty with Drawn eyes ; then Algernon Sidney, 
 three Pictures of Him at different ages — a Handsome 
 Man, but Looking violent within, and Sarcastick. 
 There are the old Children's playthings, alabaster 
 little tea cups like the Tunbridge ware, beautiful 
 large alabaster Plates, and vases, most Curious 
 tables, inlaid marble and ivory ; in short it is a most 
 
i8o2] PENSHURST 213 
 
 magnificent memento of former days. Mr. Sidney's 
 fortune is not equal to the keeping of it up, which I 
 regret. 
 
 Friday, June 18. 
 
 On Tuesday, the day of your Guild at Norwich, 
 begins the first Ball of the Season at Tunbridge ; and 
 if you were yet with me, I should immediately become 
 a person of Consequence, as Mother to the best Dancer 
 (as said the Prince of Wales) that ever was in exist- 
 ence. But, alas, I am here without Children ! 
 
 What is called the season here began yesterday, 
 and makes the place pleasanter. It Consists in 
 having musick for an Hour, three times a day, on 
 the Pantiles to facilitate the digestion of the water ; 
 from nine till ten in the morning, one till two, and 
 seven till 8. There is a Harp and several wind 
 Instruments. The place begins to look Like a 
 public Lounge, and Company is daily arriving. I 
 believe our Sunday congregation will be augmented, 
 as the Abb6 Guivard tells me He has been again 
 enquired for and refer'd the people here. We 
 suspect the O'Reillys and an Irish Family of 
 Macnamaras Lately arrived enclude some Catholick 
 People ; for many are of that persuasion and many of 
 the name have been such Brutes as to give their 
 Faith up. Before next Sunday they will, I hope, 
 declare themselves. 
 
214 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1802 
 
 Sunday after Mass. 
 
 My dear Charlotte, 
 
 I must have the pleasure of directing to you 
 at Cossey, from whence I hope you will set off in a 
 magnificent morning attire, enlivened with diamonds, 
 to partake of the Mayor's grand Dinner. For many 
 years I was a Constant attendant, and Remember it 
 always seemed to be a particular joyous day, always 
 very hot and sultry, but the whole affair was pleasant. 
 Who is your dame d'honneur ? 
 
 I walked yesterday with Miss O'Reilly to Lady 
 Suffield's and a few minutes after arrived the 
 Dow"' Lady Lucan — a Bel esprit. Lady Caroline and 
 the Miss Harbords made up the Company, and we 
 Commenced Scandal. It was really Like in a Play, 
 various topicks were effleures, among others the hope 
 that Lady Hamilton has been invited to Norwich as 
 well as Lord Nelson, if they really wished for to see 
 Him. 
 
 Our Sunday Congregation is augmented, Mrs. and 
 Miss Ferguson and a Miss with them, all from the 
 West Indies, the Mother is yellow as saffron, and 
 drinking the Tunbridge water to Cleanse the yellow 
 disorder ; they arrived for Prayers, with a Black 
 footman, who is quite a Saint. 
 
 The Chevalier is now once more in Paris, where he re- 
 established his residence and settled down. His first letters 
 
i8o2] THE CHEVALIER IN PARIS 215 
 
 from abroad give a picture of the dismal impressions of an 
 Smigrd on his return to France after nine years' exile. 
 
 It would appear from the text of this epistle that Lady 
 Bedingfeld herself contemplated a journey across the Channel. 
 On this occasion we hear again of the good old ' Blue Nun,' 
 Lady Anastatia Stafford, the last of her house. 
 
 From Chevalier Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Paris, 
 Hotel D'ORLi;ANS, 
 
 Rue des petits August: ns, 
 
 ce iZ.Juin. 
 
 II y a aujourd'hui 8 jours, ma ch^re niece, que je 
 suis arriv6 a ce sejour de regrets, que je trouve non 
 seulement change, mais dans un etat de metamor- 
 phose si grand, que je puis a peine croire a mes 
 propres yeux. 
 
 Je n'ai fait jusqu'a present que des reconnaissances 
 penibles et arrosees de Larmes, par le resouvenir de 
 ceux qui ne sont plus, et par la situation de ceux qui 
 leur survivent. Je vais ddsormais m'occuper unique- 
 ment de mes affaires personnelles. Le P. Emanuel 
 de Salm, m'a recommand6 un homme d'affaires qu'on 
 dit parfaitement honnMe et intelligent j'ai deji eu 
 une entrevue avec lui, et je suis a chercher le plus de 
 papiers qu'il m'est possible de ramasser, concernant 
 mes proprietes mobiliaires et autres, pour voir ce 
 qu'il y aura moyen de sauver du naufrage. Les 
 objets que je reclame, quoique bien importants pour 
 moi, sont de si peu de valeur pour le Gouvernement, 
 que, ne demandant rien que de juste, j'ose me flatter 
 que je retirerai quelqu' avantage de mon voyage, par 
 
2i6 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1802 
 
 la lev6e de ce qui est en sequestre. Je me suis 
 arrete, chemin faisant, a Crillon, la terre de M. de 
 Crillon, pres Beauvais. 
 
 Youz serez un peu vexee a Douvres, par de 
 nouveaux droits sur les voitures et le bagage, qui 
 cependant seront peut-dtre leves avant que vous 
 partiez. Vouz trouverez aussi de rudes taxes a 
 Calais et bien des Lenteurs dans I'exp^dition des 
 passeports. II faut que vous n'oubliez pas de vous en 
 pourvoir d'un du ministre de France a Londres : il 
 vous est absolument necessaire pour n'etre pas retenue 
 a Calais — Ld and Ldy. Kenmare sont loges au re de 
 chaussee de la maison de M. de la Borde, aujourd'hui 
 hotel garni ; ils payent 60 Louis d'or, par mois. 
 L'appartement est magnifique, mais on ne peut pas 
 aj outer ' et pas cher.' Le Gen^^ Andreossi qui va en 
 Angleterre, jouit d'une bonne reputation et a, dit on, 
 infiniment d'esprit et de connoissances — je tiens ceci 
 d'une personne non suspecte, et qui le connoit par- 
 faitement. 
 
 Notre bonne Lady Anastatia est en enfance ; elle 
 m'a reconnu a peine ; elle vouloit que Lord Kenmare 
 fut son cousin, son neveu, son fils, et puis elle rit 
 elle mfeme de ses extravagances. Sa sante est bonne, 
 et on a grand soin d'elle a la Communaute des 
 Orphelines, ou elle, reside. Rue des Postes. 
 
 Que puis-je vous rapporter d'ici — una perruque a 
 la Titus ou a la Marc Aurele ? 
 
i8o2] SIR FRANCIS BURDETT 217 
 
 One of the characteristics of Edward 'the Dear' (to jud^e 
 from frequent allusions in these letters to his energetic doings), 
 was a tendency to busy himself with enthusiasm in the interest 
 of other people's affairs. We shall find him, further on, em- 
 ploying all his efforts in an electoral contest on behalf of 
 Sheridan, in Staffordshire ; a little later bestirring himself 
 lustily for the French Royal cause ; and so forth. This year, 
 during the course of the Middlesex elections, notorious for the 
 riots that they caused in London, Edward apparently risked his 
 life amidst the mob to go and record a vote in favour of Sir 
 Francis Burdett's opponent. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 London, 
 July 30. 
 
 Lady Kenmare is returned in great Spirits Looking 
 remarkably well, with Little twisted curls all round 
 her face, and a blue Turban. Lady Charlotte is 
 become quite Wild with Spirits She attempted to 
 jump over a ha ha with palling at the bottom, fell 
 into it, scraped all her Leg, hurt her side, in short 
 was Laid up for several days. She is upon the 
 Leads, in the Gutters, in short cannot contain her 
 spirits. Her father, wrote word that she was better 
 of her fall, and so perfectly happy, that he was 
 rejoiced at every Look she gave, and happy at the 
 deed He had done in consenting to this union. 
 
 London, has been all in an uproar, about the 
 Middlesex election, the mob violent for Sir Francis 
 Burdett, who has carried the day. Edward went off 
 in his gig, three days since, (when no one dared 
 appear with the Manwaring Cockade, but voted for 
 
2i8 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1802 
 
 him with the Burdett Colors) with a large Manwaring 
 Blue Cockade, his man the same. And he with diffi- 
 culty got back, being pursued by the mob, to Hyde 
 Park which he enter'd, and got safe to this door 
 au galop. But some came on, to the ale-house, and 
 said they would pull all the Houses down in Boulton 
 Row to find Him, that He was a Papist, had no 
 right to vote &c. Thank God he is safe, but Care- 
 less and Rash where spirit can be shown. 
 
 COSSEY, 
 
 Madame de Tott is at Cossey. She is very Clever, 
 and particularly Religious, going every week to the 
 Sacraments, but she puts on white and red, Lames 
 herself with small Shoes, and wears a Corset that 
 tortures her from its Length and tightness. What 
 an odd Patchwork ! She tells me, with the most 
 Dissipated Face and appearance, that she is always 
 thinking of death and preparing for it ! 
 
 Mrs. Talbot's daughter, Maria, who was at the 
 Blues in Paris with her two elder Sisters, is going to 
 be married to Mr. Wheeble, Son to the Catholick 
 merchant who died last year worth upwards of 
 100,000^- The family are quite happy about it. 
 Miss Talbot wrote word of it to Mrs. Green at 
 Norwich. The Bride is 22 and said to be pretty. 
 He is a very handsome young man and very highly 
 
r8o2] A NEW CATHOLIC HOUSE 219 
 
 spoken of; it will set up a Catholick Family. He 
 has a house in Berkshire. 
 
 COSSEY, 
 
 September 2. 
 
 Edward has been carried off by Lady Charlotte 
 Goold, in her Sociable, from Tixall, where they all 
 were at Mr. Gillibrands, to Porton, where Mrs. Gilli- 
 brand the Mother, has a House. The Guild began 
 last Monday, and lasts a fortnight, it consists in 
 Races, Balls, Plays, Processions of the Mayor and 
 Mayoress and finishes by a Masquerade. Edward 
 says that Lancashire is Like a Catholick Country and 
 Classical Ground for a Jacobite. 
 
 Madame de Tott continues wishing to be intime 
 with you. She is a pleasant woman, but laughs too 
 loud for a Saint, she is however a woman of strict 
 Principle, and has lived with Demons. 
 
 She was in the Chateau of Versailles, the miser- 
 able 5. of October, when the Sovereigns were taken 
 prisoners by the Rabble. She lived then with 
 Madame la Comtesse de Tepe, Sister to the Due de 
 Noailles a Bel Esprit and an unbeliever. 
 
 From Chevalier Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Hotel d'Orl^jans, 
 
 ce 8. Ociobre. 
 
 Le Jardin des Plantes, qui est fort augments, et, 
 entre autres embellissements, contient, dans une 
 
220 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1802 
 
 extremite du c6te de la riviere une menagerie 
 d'animaux tres considerable. On est dans I'inten- 
 tion de les loger avec recherche, c'est a dire chaque 
 animal aura une loge ou convert construit dans le 
 genre d'architecture de pays dont il sera ; les plantes 
 qui I'entoureront seront celles de son pays. Ainsi 
 le tigre, le Lion, se croiront dans leurs for^ts. 
 D'autres seront dans des rochers. 
 
 Cette idee feroit croire qu'on est plus occupe ici des 
 b^tes que des hommes. Ne concluez pas cependant 
 que ces hommes sont des b^tes : tout est ici donn^ a la 
 representation, et la charlatanerie s'etendra surtout 
 — J'ai €t€ ce matin voir notre bonne Lady Anastatia, 
 que j'ai trouvee, a 11 heure et demie, a son diner 
 qu'elle mangeoit de tres bon appetit — un ragout de 
 veau a la bourgeoise qui avoit bonne mine et excel- 
 lente fum6e. De la en revenant je me suis par6 du 
 titre d'oncle de Mdlle de Jerningham pour obtenir 
 entree aux Dames Ursulines de la Rue St. Jacques. 
 Mde. de S"^ Agatha est la premiere qui sont pre- 
 sentees, et puis une douzaine d'autres dont les noms 
 m'^chappent (mais je dois les avoir par ecrit, et 
 vous les enverrai. Mde. de S'^ Gertrude est encore 
 en vie et doit retourner incessament au convent, qui, 
 a reglise pres, est telle absolument que vous I'avez 
 laissee, le jardin dans le mfeme ordre, refectoires, 
 dortoirs, pallages, degres etc. On m'a montre 
 jusqu'a la place ou etoit votre lit ; ensuite La classe ; 
 il y a 50 pensionnaires et 15 religieuses. Elles sont 
 rentrees depuis 7 a 8 ans. 
 
 Comme I'app^tit vient en mangeant, des Ursulines 
 j'ai ete la curiosite d'aller voir le Val de Grace, le 
 
i8o2] ENGLISH FOLK IN PARIS 221 
 
 plus beau couvent de Paris, la retraite cherie d'Anne 
 d'Autriche, et le plus magnifique jardin possible — 
 C'est aujourd'hui un hospital militaire, L'apparte- 
 ment de L'abbesse est convert! en salles pour les 
 blesses ; celui de la reine, est habite par la Pharmacia ; 
 le jardin est dans le plus grand desordre ; I'eglise un 
 magasin, et le magnifique choeur des religeuses une 
 salle de dissection. 
 
 J'en suis sorti le coeur attrist6 d'un pareil culbutit, 
 et benissant les auteurs de celle cruelle revolution ! 
 J'ai toujours la m^me complainte d faire sur I'inter- 
 minabilite de mes affaires : je ne puis obtenir la 
 levee de mon sequestre, parcequ'on veut que cela ne 
 soit pas une mesure g^nerale, que le ministre des 
 iinances promet et remet de publier de jour en jour ; 
 mes preuves d'etranger, ne souffrent aucune replique, 
 mais beaucoup d'autres n'ont pas de declarations a 
 produire, et les etrangers v6ritables souffrent par la 
 crainte que Ton a d'etre trompe par ceux qui ne le 
 sont pas. Les delais d'ailleurs arrangent les em- 
 ployes, autant qu'ils harrassent les reclamants. 
 Lally n'est pas plus avance que moi, et peut-6tre 
 moins, attendu le lieu de sa naissance. 
 
 Les Anglois ici sont, dit-on, au nombre de 15 i 
 16 mille. J'ai dine hier chez le due de Cumberland 
 avec Lady Donnegal. Mde Butler vient d'arriver 
 avec ses filles ; son mari, le Lavi^yer, doit la venir 
 trouver. Je croyois qu'ils etoient i la chasse de 
 Robert Clifford, mais la brouillerie est complette, et 
 il ne leur parle m6me pas. 
 
222 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1802 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 COSSEY, 
 
 Saturday, 27. Nov. 
 
 I am very glad that Edward appeared to be well. 
 He writes me word that He dined Sunday and 
 Tuesday last at Lord Trimlestown; that in the 
 evening the Corps Diplomatique arrived, and that we 
 might have judged of the state of Europe by the 
 Behaviour of the four ambassadors. The Portu- 
 guese humble, the Prussian paying servile Court, 
 and the poor Sardinian La mart sur le visage. 
 Andriosi vulgar, fierce, in a Round Hat, and a tail 
 tied up to the Roots of his Hair, Blue Coat, Black 
 waistcoat and fine Shoe and knee Buckles. He 
 playd at Casino, M. de Bertrand teaching him the 
 game, and also paying Court to Maman. 
 
 COSSEY, 
 
 Jour de Noel. 
 
 Christmass has to me so many Bouts de Vans, that 
 I am always in the Past, afflicting myself with your 
 Little angel Sister, attending my poor dear Edward 
 just returned from Juilly, dining in London with 
 my unfortunate and dear deceased Brother Arthur, 
 in 1785, with my dear Father and Mother, once 
 many years before, going to St. Germains for the 
 first time when 14, and in great Happiness, and six 
 years before the joy of being dressed in a Nun. And 
 I must not forget in 1787 returning dismal from 
 
i8o2] CHRISTMAS RETROSPECTS 223 
 
 Paris, without you, and Little Ned Coming up to 
 London to comfort me, and crying with sensibility 
 at meeting. 
 
 Wednesday, December 29. 
 
 My dearest Charlotte, 
 
 After I had written to you yesterday, I had 
 a Letter from Lady Clifford at Ugbrooke, announc- 
 ing to me from her Lord, the decease of his Good 
 Mother at Altona, on the gth. inst. There is no 
 further detail, but I have no doubt but that she 
 ended a Pious life, by a Quiet and desirable death. 
 It is a mourning of six weeks for us, and I feel an 
 additional Regret in Losing this last Sister of my 
 Mother's, who closes up the Lee Family and seems 
 to Recall back the Remembrance of all my past 
 Connexions who are gone ! 
 
 Her Decease will be a great Loss to Miss Cliiford, 
 and to her son Thomas who Lived always with her. 
 I should suppose He will Continue living abroad, 
 and Miss Cliiford be an old Maid, in a Lodging in 
 London — a situation my poor Grandmother Lady 
 Litchfield had a particular horror of. 
 
 My dear Edward is safe in the Blue Room, I hope 
 asleep, tho' it is ten o'clock. He really looks in 
 good Health, and was very agreable yesterday at 
 dinner, making all merry by his account of the 
 Secretary Portalis and his Wife, the man having no 
 mouth at all, only a slit, and the Woman's whole 
 face being mouth and Lips. She is a Comtesse de 
 Hulite, a Dane. 
 
224 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1803 
 
 1803. 
 
 A New Year's greeting from Edward Jerningham (the Poet) 
 to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Tho' I am not rarefied I take this opportunity, 
 offered me by the rarefied Sophia, to send you a line 
 pregnant of good wishes which I hope will not 
 miscarry : and I Trust that every little Desire that 
 was not accomplished last year, may be completed 
 in the new — I don't think that you and I know one 
 another ; or rather I think we should suit one 
 another, if we were to associate often, because in 
 peculiarity, oddity, rarefication. Taste, study, we are 
 not old or young, and those Attributes, when mutual, 
 have nothing to do with difference of Age, or the 
 
 Rank of Relativeness Adieu, and sometimes 
 
 admit me into that wild Hall of genius, your mind. 
 
 The Chevaher, writing from Paris, gives a tolerably connected 
 account of the reopening, in the spring of this year, of hostilities 
 between England and France. We hear of the historic ' scene,' 
 dramatically prepared by Bonaparte, and successfully played 
 on the occasion of his last interview with Lord Whitworth, then 
 British Ambassador ; and also of the working of that iniquitous 
 decree which constituted ' prisoners of war ' all British subjects 
 between eighteen and sixty years of age who happened to be on 
 French soil at the time of the rupture. 
 
 To Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Paris. 
 1803. 
 
 L'orage qui gronde depuis quelques jours se 
 dissipera, a ce que font esperer les meilleurs politiques. 
 
i803] THE DUCHESS OF GORDON 225 
 
 La Guerre Seroit une si grande calamity pour les 
 deux nations, que surement, de part et d'autre on 
 fera ce qu'il sera possible pour r6viter. Je touche 
 enfin au moment d'obteinir la levee de mon Sequestre : 
 mon interet particulier se joint au gen6ral pour faire 
 des voeux pour la paix. Je regrette sincerement le 
 pauvre Constable ; c'6toit un excellent homme ; il 
 est heureux d'avoir €t€ assiste dans ses derniers 
 moment par un homme du meritte de L'abb6 Caron, 
 qui n'a d'effrayant que le nom. 
 
 Le due de Fitzjames est toujours dans le mSme 
 etat, sa belle fille est au moment d'accoucher. Madame 
 de Chatillon est i Paris, j'ai 6te la chercher et j'ai eu 
 I'honneur de la rencontrer quelques fois ; mais ne 
 vivant pas dans les m^mes Societ6s, je n'ai pas cet 
 avantage souvent : je crois le jeune D'Oudenarde en 
 disgrace ; le Regnant paroit Stre Mr. de Mun. II y 
 a eti un beau bal chez M'^' Amelia de Boufflers ; un, 
 avant hier, chez M"^^ Corionnon ; un hier chez M''^ de 
 Luynes. Je n'ai 6te i aucun, le car^me ressemble 
 beaucoup a ce qu'etoit jadis le carnival. La d^== de 
 Gordon donne aussi a danser et joue partout au 
 hazard, tenant les des, et criant a tue tete God D . . . 
 quand elle perd — Une jeune femme qui I'entendoit 
 m'a dit un jour : — ' n'est ce pas comme si on juroit 
 par B et par F en francais ?' Ld. et Ldy. Yarmouth 
 sont encore ici, quoique ' old quiz ' soit mourant a 
 Londres. 
 
 Lord Yarmouth, afterwards Marquess of Hertford, is generally- 
 supposed to have been the prototype of Lord Monmouth in 
 ' Coningsby,' and of the Lord Steyne in ' Vanity Fair.' His 
 wife was Maria Fagniani (whose paternity, says Mr. Alger, 
 
 VOL. I. 15 
 
226 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1803 
 
 was disputed between George Selwyn and the Duke of 
 Queensberry). Lord Yarmouth's son, the notorious Lord 
 Henry Seymour, was born in France during the period of the 
 captivity. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 COSSEY. 
 
 The Chevalier writes me word from Paris thus : 
 
 14. Mars. 
 
 Je viens du Cerde de M"^= Bonaparte. Les 
 Feuilles du matin avaient rapporte La Demarche 
 du Roi d'Angleterre au Parlement, annoncant un 
 armement extraordinaire dans Les Ports de France. 
 Le Premier Consul est arrive, et devant toute 
 I'audience a eu une Conversation de plusieurs 
 minutes avec Lord Whitworth, dans Laquelle il a 
 montre autant de vivacite, et presque d'emporte- 
 ment que L'ambassadeur de Prudence, de Calme, et 
 de sagesse. Les derniers mots du Consul en s'en 
 allant ont ete ceux-ci : 
 
 ' La Vengeance de Dieu, et de 1' Europe tombera 
 sur celle des deux Nations qui rompera La premiere 
 Le traite.' 
 
 Bonaparte is too good a Politician to be in a 
 publick passion except He chose to be seen in one ; 
 and therefore this only means, that if there is a war 
 England must have the odium of beginning it, tho' 
 we should perhaps be trampled upon if found un- 
 resentable. 
 
i8o3] ARREST OF ENGLISHMEN IN FRANCE 227 
 
 From the Chevalier Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Paris. 
 
 J'etois au moment de vous apporter de mes 
 nouvelles en personne mais la mesure du Gouvern- 
 ment ici d'arreter tons les Anglais qui sont en France, 
 comme prisonniers de Guerre, derange mes projects 
 de depart, jusqu'a ce qu'on puisse obtenir quelqu'ex- 
 ception ou quelqu'adoucissement el cet arrete : Je 
 suis sur ma parole k Paris, mais je crois que la 
 majeure partie de mes compatriotes qui etaient ici, 
 ont eti I'ordre de se rendre k Fontainebleau. 
 
 J'ai 6t6 assez heureux pour obtenir la retraction 
 de cet ordre pour quelques uns de ceux qui 
 d6siroient le plus rester a Paris. Lord Elgin qui 
 passoit ici en revenant de son ambassade, se trouve 
 arrete comme les autres, ainsi que Ld. Yarmouth qui 
 est revenu d'Angleterre depuis trois jours, pour venir 
 chercher sa Cara Sposa. Nous eprouvons d^ja les 
 inconv^nients de la Guerre : Dieu veuille que nous 
 n'en connoissions par les malheurs et quelle Soit 
 courte, Si elle doit avoir lieu, car les derni^res lignes 
 du manifeste du Roi, respirent une disposition 
 pacifique qui me fait encore Esperer qu'une nouvelle 
 n6gociation, sur de meilleures bases et conduite par 
 d'autres n^gociateurs, pourra nous d6livrer du fleau 
 dont nous sommes si vivement menaces. 
 
228 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1803 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 TuNBRiDGE Wells. 
 
 My dearest Charlotte. 
 
 Here I am again on this pleasant Mount, in 
 a very tolerable House, tho' not quite so pretty as 
 that of Last year, nor so high up the Hill. I got 
 here on Monday evening, and found your Father 
 well and at the Sussex Hotel (tho' in possession of a 
 House), for which they made Him pay accordingly. 
 But He had forgot all Hotel keepers are audacious 
 thieves. I brought Little Prissy with me for change 
 of air, as she really looked ill in London, and was so. 
 At the same time it is a Little Companion, whom I 
 Can dispose of in any Closet when I want her Room. 
 
 We have on the first floor four good Bedchambers, 
 and two Closets with Beds in them, two Bedchambers 
 below Stairs, and two Parlours, besides a House- 
 keeper's Room, Garrets, and offices Sufficient. The 
 Price 7 guineas a week ; I think this very reason- 
 able. Lord and Lady Dynevor, and Children are in 
 the House we had Last year. 
 
 Lady Nelson has made me a visit, and I am going 
 to Return it this morning ; I have not yet seen her 
 nor any Body, for it has rained almost incessantly, 
 and the season not being begun there is no Musick on 
 the Parade, and Consequently no Hour of assembHng 
 nor opportunity of knowing who is Here. The 
 Houses are Said to be all taken, for People who are 
 to arrive ; the Kenmares are of that number. If Sir 
 Richard had drove his Carriole here you need not 
 have paid more than at Yarmouth for a better House, 
 
i8o3] THE DUCHESS OF RUTLAND 229 
 
 and I should have had the great pleasure of enjoying 
 your Company. 
 
 TuNBRiDGE Wells. 
 
 Pray go to Cossey, and when you are there visit 
 the Cottage Library, for I desired to have a Catalogue 
 of the Books, and ordered all the Bad ones to be 
 expunged and put in my Room, sending down 
 Butlers Lives of Saints to fill up Gaps. I Look 
 upon it as more than ever my duty not to Let this 
 young Woman be Spoilt. If you see any Repre- 
 hensible ones remaining pray take them away. 
 
 The Duke and Duchess of Rutland are here, with 
 two Little Girls. They are not happy together, 
 tho' hoping to have a Son. I have heard the Duke 
 Blamed; but Latterly the fault seems to rest with 
 the Duchess. She is said to be Childish and pro- 
 voking, and He is not very sensible, and Passionate, 
 il n'en faut pas plus, pour fairs mauvais menage. 
 
 The precaution concerning the possible presence in the 
 cottage of any Hterature unsuited to the 'young person' is 
 apparently taken with a view to the proximate arrival of 
 William's bride, Ann, daughter of Thomas Wright, of Fitz- 
 walters, Essex. 
 
 The Duchess of Rutland's Confident, the Abbe 
 Trehern, is become Sociable and glad to be noticed 
 
230 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1803 
 
 since her departure. He knows a great many People, 
 was intimate with Lady Winifred Constable, where 
 He has often admired Mademoiselle Jerningham. He 
 is too much of a petit maitre but appears to be a 
 Sensible Man, and at the Door of Goodness, a Little 
 out of practice from the Revolution, but Right in 
 Theory. 
 
 • ••••• 
 
 Did I tell you that the Eldest Miss Dormer, now 
 Mrs. Gould, was here with her Husband who is 
 Colonel of the Nottinghamshire Militia? She is 
 grown very fat, but is handsome. He has a Son 
 and Daughter by a first Wife. (Lady Barbara 
 Yelverton) whom He ran away with. The Son is 
 23, in the Guards, and became at the death of his 
 Grandfather (Lord Sussex) Lord Grey of Ruthyn, 
 the 4th. English Baron. The daughter is a very 
 Little Woman, plain, but pleasing. The present 
 Mrs. Gould has Children but I know not the number. 
 
 The O'Gradys are here with Pink Stockings. It 
 is said that they have now lowered all their preten- 
 sions to their ankle, it is Certain that it appears to 
 be their Cheval de Bataille in view on all occasions. 
 There is a sort of a Wit here, who has Reccomended 
 a novel Called ' The infidel Father ' (a shocking title) 
 the Booksellers here have it not at present, perhaps 
 you may be able to get it at Yarmouth. 
 
 COSSEY. 
 
 If you never Read Henry in four volumes by the 
 author of Arundel, pray begin it immediately. We 
 
i8o3] NOVELS IN 1803 231 
 
 have had it here these seven years and I never had 
 patience to get further than the four first Leaves, 
 but, having heard that it was written by Mr. Cumber- 
 land, I was Certain there must be good Sense in it, 
 if not Entertainment ; I therefore resolved to get 
 further than the disgusting account of the Cawdle 
 Family and I am now in the third volume, and 
 delighted with it. Henry's is a most interesting 
 Character. In short one feels there is more Body 
 in it than in the Common flimflam novel. Since 
 my two journeys to Tunbridge I am particularly 
 acquainted with Mr. Cumberland who Lives entirely 
 there. 
 
 It would appear that neither Lady Jerningham nor Lady 
 Bedingfeld were present at William Jerningham's wedding. 
 The following is the only record of the event in the whole 
 collection. 
 
 In after-life, however, the little bride proved herself the most 
 staid and devoted of wives and mothers, and won all her new 
 relatives' love. Her premature death from decline was un- 
 doubtedly the cause of general grief in the family. 
 
 October. 
 
 • ••".• 
 
 I was much pleased and interested by an account 
 
 Mrs. Norris gave me of the Wedding at Fitzwalter. 
 
 William went the evening before to Mr. Clifton at 
 
 New Hall and was that morning the first in the 
 
 Chapel, went to Communion and edified every Body 
 
 by the Religious Seriousness of his manner. I hope 
 
 hey will be very Happy. She is young, and has the 
 
232 jfERNINGHAM LETTERS [1803 
 
 Spirits of her age ; but as she is fond of Her Husband, 
 his gravity and usage du Monde will temperate what 
 might, without this Help, Degenerate perhaps into 
 the appearance of Levity. 
 
 What a Situation we are in for the futur tense ! 
 The Chief Baron's Speech to the Lord Mayor is 
 really alarming, tho' it Contains not anything new : 
 but frightful Ideas Slip so naturally out of the mind, 
 that, when presented again, they Strike as new dis- 
 coverys. 
 
 Bonaparte's Invasion must, I am afraid, take Place; 
 and what a Scene of Danger ! I do not fear for my 
 own personal Security, nor for Sir William's : but 
 for the younger People who may find it necessary to 
 defend themselves. I Cannot think of it without 
 great terror. For quiet Housekeepers, the troop will 
 (I Suppose) be under too good a Command for to 
 have reason to fear private Riot, but what a State 
 of Suspended Misery it would be. However I yet 
 trust with a Confident Hope, that Providence will 
 deliver us. 
 
 This last passage gives a picture of the state of real alarm 
 which prevailed in England during the latter part of the year 
 1803 concerning the threatened invasion by Bonaparte. 
 
 From Mr. Edward Jerningham {the Poet) to Lady 
 Bedingfeld. 
 
 Dear Lost Companion of my tuneful Art, (I allude 
 to the Lyre of Congeniality) I Beg Leave to be stir'd 
 
j8o4] AN ODD ADVENTURE 233 
 
 up in your memory in order to make a little Blaze in 
 it. You are only an Episode in the long epic of my 
 existence, but then you are a delightful Incident, and 
 the general Texture has nothing more Interesting. 
 
 I understand, by L'^^ Jerningham, that you are still 
 at Cossey : and the Prince and Princess of Cossey, 
 who now Inhabit Bolton Row, I met at Dinner in 
 Henrietta Street on Wednesday. Have not seen 
 them since. The Careys were of the party, Mrs. 
 Carey Exhibits such strong marks of Infantism that 
 one is almost apprehensive that a little pack of Careys 
 were coming. The play succeeded to the Dinner, 
 But I did not attend them. I shall, however, dine 
 with Them to-morrow. 
 
 Mrs. Lee Inhabits the House just opposite S"^ 
 William's ; she appears sometimes at the window : 
 George expected to Take a good view of her yesterday 
 in case she was to quit her house to attend the Ex- 
 amination in Bond Street. It is an odd Adventure, 
 and how it will Terminate is not yet foreseen. The 
 maid at Bolton Row says Mrs. Lee screamed in the 
 most vehement manner when the Gordons carried 
 her off. Nothing nothing else is Talked of but This 
 perplexed unaccountable story — Buonoparte will be 
 jealous of Mrs. Lee 
 
 I dined in a French set yesterday and their obser- 
 vations upon This romance of the Day, were Enter- 
 taining. The Dinner was at Mr. Colemore : it was 
 intended as a little fete in honor of Mons'^ Bourbon's 
 Daughter who not long ago married a French gentle- 
 man,* but the Bride and Bridegroom were not well 
 * M. le Comte de Chaumont-Quitry. 
 
234 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1804 
 
 and of the Ten virgins we had only two, The Duchesse 
 de Pierre and Cary Verron, whose Lamps are not 
 very bright. The rest of the Company consisted of 
 the Due de Bourbon, the Due de Castres Baron de 
 Rolle, Rivaro, the Count de Truchess, the Dean of 
 Strasburg, and Emigre Gould. The Tenor of the 
 Conversation Took its course from Mrs. Lee and, as 
 it flowed, it Imbibed a Tincture from every person's 
 remarks, till it sparkled with wit and gayety. Mad. 
 de Pierre was the most brilliant, she ran along the 
 precipice sometimes. But never fell in (But it was 
 very near it once) — Cary fell in Twice but it was 
 owing to her not being able to hold the reins of her 
 French Poney. 
 
 To pass to another subject, I have been to pay 
 my Homage to your Picture. I think it Like. It is 
 the continuation of your story which Begins with 
 Shee ; on his Canvass you express (with your soul 
 Beaming from your Eye) the candour of a youthful 
 mind, coloured with gaudy hopes but subdued with 
 the hue of reflective Doubt. On the canvass of the 
 other your mind has lost its gaudy colouring and is 
 succeeded by a glow of sensibility which diffuses over 
 your countenance an assimilation of thought,* Dis- 
 appointment, Energy, satisfaction, solicitude and the 
 confidence of virtue. This may appear the flight of 
 a poetic conception, but to me it appears reality ; 
 and, if my paper would allow me and your patience 
 
 (* My uncle made a mistake here, as well as in his comments 
 on the first portrait, I never entertained ' gaudy hopes,' nor ever 
 experienced 'disappointment.' 
 
 Charlotte Bedingfeld ) 
 
i8o4] FAMILY PORTRAITS 235 
 
 would Indulge, I feel I could write four more pages 
 upon your two Pictures — But it is time to make my 
 Bow — so adieu — 
 
 N.B. One of these Portraits is a Copy, the other by Opie at 
 Oxburgh. 
 
 From Chevalier Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Paris, 
 
 ce 23. _/««''. 
 le 23. mat's mise d lafoste le 24. 
 
 Je vous fdicite de votre acquisition a Yarmouth. 
 C'est une ville de Bagni qui vous rendra votre sejour 
 \k plus comfortable pour I'avenir, et vos cinq ou six 
 premieres couches pouront se faire dans cette retraite 
 fort tranquillement, avec la facilite de plonger le 
 nouveau nt dans la mer aussitot sa naissance, et de 
 le rendre ainsi un vrai enfant de Neptune. 
 
 Vous avez de la marge pour I'execution de ce 
 projet, si vous voulez suivre I'exemple d'une dame 
 dont nous parlent ce matin tous les papiers publics. 
 Voici I'article, tire fidellement du publiciste : ' Mme 
 Henriette Taillard, demeurant rue Negros, No. 2, 
 ag6e de 61 ans et deux mois, est accouch6e le 
 18 nivose, de deux enfans males bien portant, et 
 qu'elle nourrit elle mSme.' 
 
 Tout Paris a 6t6 entretenu depuis quelques jours 
 d'un vol de diamants qui s'est fait dernierement chez 
 une dame Russe, Mde de Demidoff. Elle a demande, 
 k un bal qu'elle donnoit, une garniture nouvelle de 
 diamants de la valeur de 60,000 frcs qu'une dame de 
 
236 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1804 
 
 ses amies avoit envie de voir ; sa femme, en allant 
 chercher ces diamants, se trouva mal en trouvant le 
 tiroir ou ils etoient enferm^s, vuide, et les diamants 
 partis. Grande rumeur, corame vous croyez bien, 
 en consequence dans tout la maison. La police en 
 est informee, et avec son habilete ordinaire d6couvre 
 I'auteur du vol. Voici comment. — Une grande dame 
 Hanoverienne, dont j'estropierai le nom si je tentois 
 de r^crire, etoit intimement li6e depuis du terns, avec 
 Mde. de Demidoff ; elle vint la voir le lendemain de 
 ce vol, en parla avec beaucoup d'inter^t, insista sur 
 ce que la femme de chambre pouvoit seule ^tre coup- 
 able de ce delit, lui conseilla de s'en defaire au plutot 
 et de lui faire une pension de 1200^ La dame Russe, 
 ne pouvant se resoudre se separer d'une femme qu'elle 
 avoit depuis longtems, en parla au ministre de la 
 police qui trouva la proposition de renvoyer cette 
 femme avec une pension fort etrange, et en conse- 
 quence il pria Mr. de Demidoff de trouver bon qu'il lui 
 envoya un exempt de police, bien mis et d'une tour- 
 nure fort decente, pour diner chez lui un jour que la 
 dame Hanov6rienne y serait. Cela fut convenu. 
 L'exempt, presente comme un jeune stranger, ne 
 parla peu ou point, se plafa en face de la dame soup- 
 9onnee, et pendant que Ton discourroit sur le vol, il 
 la fixa et remarqua de I'embarras et de I'impatience 
 dans ses yeux pour faire changer la conversation. Le 
 lendemain matin deux prepos^s de la police arriverent 
 chez cette dame, feignant un ordre du Gouverne- 
 ment pour examiner ses papiers. Elle fit beaucoup 
 de difficult6s pour donner la clef d'un second secre- 
 taire ; il fallut cependant la produire. En I'ouvrant 
 
i8o4] THE DEM I DOFF DIAMONDS 237 
 
 elle voulut couvrir un vase de son mouchoir, le ren- 
 versa, se brula par I'eau forte qu'il contenoit et 
 d6couvrit enfin les diamants en question qu'elle y 
 avoit mis. On trouva en sus beaucoup d'autres 
 diamants, dont plusieurs k la Princesse de Rohan, 
 nee Courlande, qui s'etoit brouill6e et retiree de sa 
 soci^te, sur quelque soupgon de son talent de s'appro- 
 prier les bijoux d'autrui mais dont elle n'avoit jamais 
 fait mention. 
 
 From Lady jferningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 COSSEY, 
 
 March 7. 
 
 My dear Charlotte, 
 
 You are in the full vigour of an enlightened 
 active mind, and Can raise more ideas in solitude 
 than society could multiply for you. Dans la jfeunesse 
 V imagination peuple tout, says Mde. Necker. I am 
 happy to think of your being in such good Company, 
 tho' it must not last too long ; in musick a Chord is 
 easily strung too high and, the finer the Sound, the 
 nearer its want of being relax'd. I therefore hope 
 that you are by nov^f Come down more to market 
 level, and that Sir Richard and other Company are 
 with you. 
 
 April 3. 
 My dear Charlotte, 
 
 I beg to be Mother and not Madam. I used 
 to put Madam because it expressed both the distance 
 
238 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1804 
 
 and Respect I had ever been taught to behave with. 
 But, as I have always wished that no distance should 
 subsist between us, I must desire that (Like your 
 Brother) you will call me Mother. It is true that 
 my eyes prefer'd the Look of Mama, but I feel I have 
 the happiness of being Mother Grandmother, and 
 may perhaps be great grandmother, so this is settled. 
 
 London. 
 13- 
 
 The due d'Enghien's tragedy is sad and dreadful. 
 I think it the most atrocious act that has been 
 Committed. His Father and Grandfather are Lit- 
 terally inconsolable, and all the French in Conster- 
 nation. 
 
 27. 
 
 There was yesterday a very Solemn Service given 
 at St. Patrick's Chapel for the Due d'Enghien by 
 all the French. It is said that about 1400 People 
 were present ; the whole Square in an embarras of 
 Coaches, for the Protestants, I believe, exceeded the 
 Catholicks. 
 
 The whole Chapel was Hung in Black, with 
 escutcheons of Fleurs de Lys, no Light but from 
 Wax Tapers, an immense Catafalque in the middle, 
 supposed to Contain the Corpse, with all the insignia 
 of his orders, his Coronet, and naked Sword Laid on 
 
i8o4] ASSASSINATION OF THE DUG D'ENGHIEN 239 
 
 the Top. Mrs. J. went with me, and we were well 
 pleased for Seeing all I wanted to examine : primo, 
 we were near the altar (the Bishop of Montpellier 
 officiated) facing the Princes whom I could examine 
 without being observed, the first Row being occupied 
 by three Cordon Bleus, and all the Red Ribbons, 
 Monsieur, the Due of Berry, and the three Princes 
 of Orl6ans, in Black with their Blue Ribbons, at a 
 Long prie-Dieu behind Monsieur. Marquis de St. 
 Hermine, Comte Francois d'Escars, and Mr. le 
 Tourneur, on his Right his Aumonier, I'Abbe de la 
 Teille, (who has made Monsieur quite a Saint and 
 gave him his Book yesterday). He is a little man, 
 Like Mr. Walker at Norwich, but has been the 
 means, thro' God's mercy, of making Mde. de Guiche, 
 at Edinburgh dye with great Sentiments of Piety, 
 Madame de Polastron Lately the same ; and Mon- 
 sieur's entire Regularity has followed. 
 
 I am particularly partial to Monsieur ; nothing can 
 look more good natured and at the same time dig- 
 nified. His Son has a Species of little tyger face, 
 but is well thought of; the Duke of Orleans well 
 looking ; Duke of Montpensier frightful and the 
 Comte de Beaujolais very pretty and pleasing. 
 L'Abbe de Bouvan preached, and extremely well. 
 It was a sort of Oraison funebre, accompanied with 
 very Religious Sentiments. He ended by Calling 
 upon the Spirit in the Catafalque to Come forth and 
 vouch for the necessities He had pointed out, of 
 obtaining God's mercy (to withdraw his wrath from 
 France) by great Reformation of Manners, in all that 
 belonged to that unhappy Soil. A Ridiculous little 
 
240 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1804 
 
 French Woman (Madame de Wilfort) was or pre- 
 tended to be frightened at the Summons, and had an 
 hysteric fit, to the annoyance of her neighbours for 
 she screamed out, and as some French novel men- 
 tions, se permit toutes les simagrees d'une frayeur 
 Ridicule. 
 
 8 Mai 1804. 
 
 The news Paper will inform you of the general 
 Petition Bustle, if every Body could be in place, a 
 moments Contest might ensue, but far is the goddess 
 of Peace from us. I think Mr. Addington goes out 
 like a gentleman, accepting of no place, Title, nor 
 Pension, the King regrets Him as an agreable 
 Friend, and has insisted on his keeping a small 
 House near the Royal Domain. 
 
 I have always liked Cambridge, and indeed am 
 partial to every Regular Establishment, either Con- 
 ventual or CoUegial but I do not think Cambridge a 
 place for a Catholick Priest, it is sitting too near the 
 fire. 
 
 Edward carried me off this morning at nine o'clock 
 to drink of the Islington spa water, it is of the nature 
 of the Tunbridge Spring, but not so clear, the foun- 
 tain is in a garden, and there is a Room to Break- 
 fast in. 
 
i8o4] MATERNAL PRESENTIMENTS 241 
 
 Mount Pleasant, 
 
 TuNBRiDGE Wells, 
 
 /une 27. 
 
 There is Company expected here, but not a great 
 deal at present, the Kenmares come next week, and 
 Mr. and Mrs. Henry Baring are arrived. She has 
 had 200,000^" for her fortune, her Sister (married to a 
 Baring) and little Brother the Same. The Father 
 Mr. Bingham died last Winter at Bath. He was 
 called from the World at the moment He was 
 planning to enjoy his magnificent fortune. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Wheble and Miss Talbot are here. Mrs. Wheble 
 is in a weak state of health since the Birth of her 
 Child, a Little Girl of a year old, she is a pretty 
 Little woman and Mr. Wheble a sensible, well 
 behaved, well Looking young man, it was a most 
 proper match of both sides. He furnished money 
 and she, a Line of Ancestry. Miss Talbot is pleasing, 
 but plain. 
 
 Edward says that Miss Middleton is the reality of 
 which Henrietta was only the Counterfeit, and is a 
 great admirer of her Supereminence in every excel- 
 lence. But this troublesome Counterfeit is just 
 arrived in London, and tho Ed. says He looks at 
 Her, as He dos at a Chair, I wish she was again at 
 Ditchley. 
 
 I think that Mrs. William should not fatigue her- 
 self so much. In her place, I should have produced 
 prematurely long ago, but Constitutions seem in some 
 measure to follow the fashion of the times, perhaps 
 
 VOL. I. 16 
 
242 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1804 
 
 however that a Little regard to original nature may 
 be prudent. 
 
 Lady Jerningham's maternal instinct did not deceive iier. 
 Emily Middleton (eldest daughter of Nathaniel Middleton, of 
 Townhill, Hants), a young convert to Rome, and in consequence 
 much taken up by the Catholic families, was destined within 
 four months to become ' Mrs. Edward.' 
 
 Shortly after this we hear of the birth of William's second 
 child. This was Lady Jerningham's eighth grandchild ; she 
 was then only fifty-seven years of age. After a circumstantial 
 account of the confinement, she writes from Cossey on August 1 1 
 to her daughter : 
 
 I shall have a posterity Like that of Abrahams, 
 reckoned by the Stars in the firmament, the number 
 
 is now 12. 
 
 Yours ever most affectionately. 
 
 Edward ('the Dear') was married on October 15 to Emily 
 Middleton. He was then thirty years old. The collection 
 contains a copy, in the hand of Lady Jerningham, of one of the 
 letters penned by the young lady, which tells the reader a good 
 deal of the bride's character. At this distance of time it may 
 appear a little too sweetly honeyed in sanctity, perhaps also a 
 trifle too homiletic for so young a person, but this extreme 
 fervour belongs generally to young converts. One cannot help, 
 however, fancying that her persecution by benighted parents, 
 who would have preferred their daughter not to be estranged 
 from the mode of thought in which they had brought her up, 
 could not have been very cruel and relentless, after all. The 
 marriage proved a most happy one, at any rate. 
 
 As to the inclusion of such a letter in the collection, there 
 would appear to have been some little irregularity, both on the 
 part of the bridegroom, and on that of Lady Jerningham herself, 
 
i8o4] 'MRS. EDWARD' 243 
 
 who cheerfully records that she made a copy of a letter osten- 
 sibly not intended for her perusal. All this, however, was 
 evidently done with the best of motives, and with every appear- 
 ance of a clear conscience. The satirical, indeed, might even 
 surmise that the edifying letter which Miss Harriet 'could not' 
 burn would have failed in its purpose had it been allowed to 
 repose for ever untouched in ' my child's ' chambers. 
 
 Lady Jemingham's covering letter belongs to another month, 
 but for the purpose of chronological sequence had better find 
 its place here. 
 
 Saturday, 16. 
 
 How are you my dear Charlotte ? I am not easy 
 at these returns of disorder, and beg you will give 
 me more detail of yourself. 
 
 I enclose for your perusal a most extraordinary 
 letter from this Little Saintlike Emily, to her Sister. 
 
 The Sister has hitherto burnt the Letters she 
 received from Emily lest* they should be found, but 
 not being ahU (as she says) to destroy this, she sent 
 it back for Emily to keep for her. She gave it in 
 this form, to be preserved at my Child's chambers, 
 and sent it to me. I Copied it as a most singular 
 and edifying Composition, and returned it. 
 
 I like also the mention she makes of her dear 
 Husband. Edward's affair goes on now to a finishing 
 period, but I am afraid all these money Projectors 
 are uncertain in their funds : it is a sort of hazard 
 table. Fortune depends on the moment you Leave 
 off and I wish Mr. M. had been Satisfied with the 
 million he was supposed to bring from India, without 
 engaging in a Paltry Banking House. 
 
 I intend going to London for the Ceremony, which 
 Ed. talks of, for the Second week in October. I 
 
244 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1804 
 
 have always set my heart upon being mistress on 
 this occasion, your brothers were not on their own 
 domains, but I am at Liberty to visit the great town 
 of London, and I may also be of use for the Catholick 
 Ceremony. Pray tell Lady Charlotte of this Busi- 
 ness of Edwards from me, as I have not time to day 
 to write and if you please you may read her the 
 Letter, as it is quite a memoir of her proceeding, 
 and she may not have heard much of Miss M. if at all. 
 My Love to Her, and hope She is in better Health; 
 
 I was really very Sorry to hear of poor Betty's ill 
 fortune in meeting with such treatment. I hope she 
 Continues Coming regularly to Prayers. I mean, 
 being at Liberty so to do, for I know she is in that 
 respect very Steady. 
 
 Old Barolz is an indelicate Composition of a man. 
 But the Galileans mean Less than they Say in every- 
 thing. He told me, he Loved you as his Daughter — 
 not me I hope, however, as his Wife ! 
 
 Mr. Saunderson is raving after Gill, and will not 
 allow me any time to replace Her. I am afraid her 
 Return Cannot have a good appearance, and I could 
 have resolved to have kept her, as she is got more 
 used to take some authority over Fred which is 
 necessary. 
 
 Adieu my dear. Your ever attached mother, to 
 borrow a word from the Sisters Dictionary, which I 
 find myself entitled to adopt. 
 
 Your Father gave a Barrel of Beer in your Ball 
 Room to the village, and danced himself till near 
 ten, without suffering from it. 
 
i8o4] AN EDIFYING COMPOSITION 245 
 
 [Copy.] 
 
 From Miss Emily Middleton to her sister Harriet 
 Middleton. 
 
 Tower Hill. 
 
 August 24. 1804. 
 
 My darling and most beloved Sister, 
 
 Finding it impossible at present to see you, 
 and having particularly to speak to you on a subject 
 of the greatest importance to me, and Consequently 
 most interesting to you, I have determined to write 
 by our usual Conveyance, and by the assistance of 
 our heavenly Protector, I trust my dearest Harriet 
 will safely receive the Letter now traced by her 
 agitated, but ever fondly attached Mother. 
 
 Oh, Harriet, I never deserved the name you gave 
 me. Unworthy to be Called your Sister, I was still 
 less capable of performing towards you, the doubly 
 dear and tender duties your filial attachment required 
 of me. Let me then, my dearly beloved Child, begin 
 now, before I enter on the subject so near to my 
 Heart and which I so much wish you to be acquainted 
 with & entreat your forgiveness for all you may have 
 found wanting in me during the several years of our 
 existence which we passed together and which you 
 made so happy by your affection, your confidence, 
 and the docility with which you Listened to the 
 feeble Councils, which your too partial fondness 
 demanded of your unworthy Sister. I then indeed 
 Little thought that the precious Hours we passed 
 together, in which we innocently talked of Virtue 
 and Religion, would be of such short duration, and 
 
246 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1804 
 
 that ere I attained the age of 17, a Cruel tempest 
 would Come on to separate those which nature had 
 so strongly united, and cast wretchedness and misery 
 into the Hearts of Harriet and Emily, by separating 
 them from one another. 
 
 You have often, sweetest Love, declared that afflic- 
 tion Could be nothing to you as Long as it was in 
 Company with me. I ever found it so with regard 
 to you. You then alone, my beloved friend, Can 
 know the extent of my grief at a separation which, 
 tearing me from the dearest object I have in the 
 world, rendered unhappy Emily the most miserable 
 of Creatures. — Yet were all these trials sent to us to 
 test whether or not we were true Christians, and 
 really felt within us the Love of God. 
 
 I know your Resignation and doubt not but you 
 made a profitable use of those dreadful moments, 
 which by experience I know were so truly distressing. 
 — But now, my Sister, all is Changed ! By the 
 merciful interposition of that Providence which never 
 forsakes those that do not abandon Him, we have 
 now a prospect of being again united at a happier 
 Period than that we have just passed. 
 
 This Life is indeed of short duration, and it is 
 foolish in us to fix ourselves too much upon any of 
 its attractions. We have too severely felt what it is 
 to suffer ever to forget we owe all to God. He per- 
 mitted the Burden of the Cross to be laid upon his 
 dear and only Son ; Let us also have a share in it. 
 But He is too Bountiful, too good, and much too 
 generous to permit his unworthy Creatures to Con- 
 tinue Long in a state of wretchedness, without send- 
 
i8o4] AN EDIFYING COMPOSITION 247 
 
 ing them some Consolation in their misery. This I 
 Can with Truth assert, as during my Long and painful 
 exile from my Paternal Home I was always, by the 
 Sweet Comforts of my Redeemer, encouraged to 
 support with fortitude my cruel affliction, and I never 
 experienced so much quiet and peace of mind than I 
 did at a time when I seemed to be forsaken by all 
 but those kind Friends whom almighty God gave me 
 to supply the place of my ever dear and much 
 Lamented Parents. 
 
 But, my Harriet, I need not any further prolong 
 this melancholy subject which can but wound both 
 our hearts. I did not intend to speak a word about 
 it, as we must now Both forget the sad and unfor- 
 tunate moments we have had, to Rejoice at the new, 
 and (you will think) surprising Change, that is shortly 
 going to take Place in your Emily's state of Life. — 
 A few more weeks, my Harriet, and my home will 
 no Longer be the same as yours. I shall still I hope 
 preserve in your Regard the name you have given 
 me, and which I so much delight in, but I shall 
 have another Home, other Parents, in short become 
 a Wife. 
 
 I see from hence your astonishment ; but I know 
 Likewise how great is your joy. — But (you will ask) 
 how is it possible, that Emily, who seemed to have 
 so great an aversion to any state, but that of a 
 Religious, can have determined to enter into that of 
 marriage, which must put an end to all her views as 
 to being a Nun ? 
 
 To all this, dearest Harriet, which I have asked 
 myself a number of times, I will answer you. Ask 
 
248 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1804 
 
 the Secret Searcher of Hearts what it is that has 
 made me alter my sentiments as to my being irre- 
 vocably decided, as I thought I was when I used to 
 talk to you, to take the veil. — You know me too well, 
 darling Harriet, to suppose I could have made up 
 my mind so easily to give up my favourite plan of 
 retiring into a Convent for Life ere I could think of 
 adopting another mind. Long has been my Con- 
 sultation with my Heavenly Inspirer, and many have 
 been the tears that I have shed in my private medita- 
 tions, as I found my Vocation diminish. But, as I 
 have ever been determined to follow the inspiration 
 of God, and have never pray'd, but to accomplish his 
 Divine Will, I have every Reason to think I do so in 
 becoming the Wife of the most Virtuous, the most 
 generous and most amiable of men. 
 
 You know, Harriet, how much in general I have 
 despised the absurd Conversation of some parts of 
 our Family, whose minds being totally taken yp with 
 novels, could think or talk or nothing else. — 
 
 You Remember your Promise to me, of never 
 reading any. You may judge then my Sister, by 
 all you know of me, that nothing but the most soHd 
 Piety and Virtue Could ever have fixed the affections 
 of my Heart. 
 
 These I have found in the Person who is so soon 
 to be your Brother; and, having Long Consulted 
 with God, I find my Heart too deeply attached not 
 to make myself Certain that my Heavenly Father 
 intended me to be Emily jferningham, which is my 
 future Name. I Cannot now explain to you the 
 whole of my acquaintance nor all the Circumstances 
 
i8o4] AN EDIFYING COMPOSITION 249 
 
 which make Mr. Edward Jerningham's proposal to 
 me so generous, and promises me so much Happi- 
 ness, in becoming his Wife. 
 
 You know how unfortunately situated I was, when, 
 under the disgrace of my Parents, and (as we thought) 
 disinherited as well as discarded by them : this did 
 not prevent my dearest and Virtuous Friend, Mr. 
 Jerningham, from Loving me and Looking upon me 
 with the same Consideration as if I had been the 
 acknowledged daughter of my Father and under his 
 Roof at Tower Hill- — Were I to dwell upon the in- 
 numerable obligations I am under to my future 
 Husband, it would take up the whole of my Letter. 
 I will therefore only tell you, my Harriet, that no 
 one had ever so just a claim to your gratitude, (as 
 you feel as much to those who are good to your 
 Emily and take notice of Her) as Him, whom you 
 will find every way much more deserving of the 
 endearing title of Brother, than your unworthy 
 Emily of that of Sister. 
 
 Do you remember at our Last mournful meeting 
 in Piccadilly, how you fondly wished to be your own 
 mistress, to Receive me in your Home ? I can now 
 make you the same proposal you did me, and I need 
 not say, darling Harriet, how Happy I shall be when 
 you look upon my future dwelling as your own. I 
 can now flatter myself one day to be useful to you, 
 when, like me, you will want an assylum, at the dis- 
 covery of your Religion. It is unnecessary to tell 
 you that my House will ever be at your disposal ; a 
 mother cannot fail of making a good Protectress, 
 and you know I am yours. 
 
250 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1804 
 
 Do not be afraid that my new Protector should 
 not approve of what I say here. Being perfectly 
 acquainted with every particular relating to myself, 
 and Consequently to you, He desires much to see you 
 and wishes for the acquaintance of a Person so 
 nearly related to his future Bride and of whom he 
 has heard her speak so much. 
 
 I have now been some weeks at Tower Hill, where 
 my Cloaths are getting ready ; if you can write to 
 me, direct to Sutton Place, Ripley, Surrey, as I am 
 going there now for a few days. Then I shall be in 
 London, and again return for a Little time to Tower 
 Hill. 
 
 I know not exactly the time when I shall be 
 married, but I will Let you know it. Oh ! what 
 would I give for you to be present at the Ceremony, 
 that is ever to engage me in so sacred a tye — Papa 
 and Mama entirely approve of my union although it 
 is of Course to a Person of a different Religion from 
 their own ; but they are both equally delighted with 
 it, and have compleatly forgiven what they unfor- 
 tunately call my disobedience and Error. 
 
 As for me, I should be Completely happy. Could 
 I but see you, who are ever present to my imagina- 
 tion. A hundred times a day your dear name is in 
 my mouth and I foolishly repeat : Harriet, darling 
 Harriet, as if you could hear me. 
 
 Tower Hill seems to me the dullest Place in the 
 world, without you, and yet I cannot help liking it. 
 I think I see you in every Corner of the House. 
 
 Louisa sleeps in your Bed. She often Calls 
 me in a morning. Ah, what a difference do I 
 
I804j A HAPPY COUPLE 251 
 
 feel when waking from a pretty dream, where I 
 can forget I am far from you and see you all the 
 time. I hear her voice so little resembling yours. 
 I must confess I do not Rise with the same alacrity 
 to answer Louisa's Call, as I did when you, darling 
 Harriet, used to rouse me with your sweet and 
 endearing voice which so forcibly always struck my 
 ear. . . . &c. 
 
 I must now darling and best beloved Harriet 
 Conclude with entreating you to write to me, and 
 embracing you a million of times in Heart and 
 desire. 
 
 Your fondly attached Sister, and most affectionate 
 Friend and Mother. 
 
 your Emily. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 COSSEY, 
 
 Thursday, 18. October. 
 
 I am this moment interrupted by the agreable 
 sight of a Letter from the Stray'd Bridegroom, asking 
 for the Horses to Attelburgh to bring Him this 
 evening to Cossey. The Monday evening was 
 passed at Chesterford ; the day after they arrived 
 at Cambridge from whence he writes and finishes 
 thus, ' If you wish to know how we do I can tell you 
 that we are already Like a Couple of a Twelve- 
 month Standing at Least.' Thank God for this 
 happy event, and may his Blessings be deserved and 
 continued. 
 
252 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1804 
 
 Friday, 19. 
 
 My dearest Charlotte, 
 
 I must tell you that the happy couple arrived 
 Last night, about eight o'clock, with satisfaction on 
 both their countenances ; and joy appears to be so 
 salutary to Emily that she is even since Monday 
 altered to her advantage. She was in a neat silk 
 Pelisse, with the tippet and muff that they unpacked 
 on the Road. She was this morning with her Dear 
 Husband at Prayers and is now writing in my Room 
 to her Father a Letter which I could not read (as 
 ]y];dme (jg Sevigne says) lans que mes yeux se fussent 
 mouilles. 
 
[ 253 ] 
 
 The Archbishop of Narbonne, Abb^ Dillon, another of Lady 
 Jemingham's French uncles, comes from London to stop 
 a while with his sister at Cossey. ' Your uncle ' to whom she 
 alludes is, of course, the irrepressible Poet, who at that time, 
 it seems, abandoned the Muse for religious controversy, greatly 
 to the distress of his family. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Cossey, 
 
 Tuesday, il. December. 
 
 1 1 o^ clock. 
 
 Yesterday about one o'clock Came our good Uncle, 
 the Archbishop, with his vaUt de Chambre, and the 
 Abb6 Racquin. He came from Thetford to Norwich 
 and on here, arrived in amazing good spirits, extremely 
 pleased with the entry, the House, his Room, and 
 every one here, was uncommonly pleasant the whole 
 day, and till past eleven at Night, after Supper 
 repeated some Harangues of his Composition — one 
 in particular on the abuse of what is called Liberty, 
 in which He gives a Character of Cromwell which 
 could I think stand in strong Competition with that 
 given of the same Personage by Bossuet. 
 
 I have not seen Him this morning and I am afraid 
 He begins to feel a Little the Coming 114 miles. 
 However I understand He is well, but not got up. 
 
254 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1804 
 
 He is in the Chintz Room, his man next door, and 
 the Abbe in Mr. Porton's apartment. He ran away 
 from London unknown to his Society and says He 
 was tyred of the Remonstrances He knew his project 
 would draw upon Him. 
 
 We are all as usual, and I suppose you are in a 
 great maternal Bustle. The Archbishop was talking 
 last Night of my dancing, which had also its fame 
 (near Louis 14's time). My fort was the minuet and 
 slow figured dances. 
 
 The Archbishop finds Edward like Monsieur. I 
 believe that is why I am so partial to Monsieur. He 
 says it is not so much his exact features as his 
 tournure and manner — I Like the Resemblance. 
 Mrs. Jerningham said she had often thought so 
 before. 
 
 14. 
 
 I am going this morning with the Archbishop and 
 his Abbe to Horingham ; the Lord thereof came in 
 form to visit our Prelate. The Archbishop is wonder- 
 fully well and Edward wants to draw all the anecdote 
 information He can of former times. He knew an 
 old Man who rememberd Cromwell. 
 
 I intend to write down some particular points 
 which I wish to have more ample information upon, 
 principally owing to my own Family. My Grand- 
 father was born in Ireland in 1670, and was Conse- 
 quently 18 at the Revolution when He carried over 
 the family Regiment. He died in 1733 of a Palsy 
 on the Bladder (exactly what my Father had). When 
 
i8o5l THE POET TURNS THEOLOGIAN 255 
 
 my Grandfather died He was on the List for the 
 next promotion of Marechaux of France. The Arch- 
 bishop had his Education at Plessis College, which 
 was then un Seminaire de St. Sulpice, and afterwards 
 Lodged at the Missions Etrangeres. I mean that it 
 Brought him from Good Clerical Company and 
 mixed him more with the idle part of the World. 
 The Abbe Racquin who is with Him is a clever, 
 pleasing and good Priest. He was aumonier to the 
 Mesdames, was with him 6 years at Rome, then at 
 Naples, and accompanied them in their last dismal 
 flight to Trieste, where they died within six months 
 of one another. He has resided since in London. 
 He is very useful to the Archbishop who is all morn- 
 ing studying and writing in his Room. 
 
 Your Uncle has written a pamphlet to prove that 
 we are not born in Sin. He has a mind to attack all 
 Christendom at once. If we were not Stained with 
 our first progenitors' ill doing there was no Call for a 
 Redeemer and all the Mysteries belonging or rather 
 proceeding from the Incarnation of the Son of God, 
 Baptism is unnecessary; in short he wishes to lay 
 the Foundation of Belief. I am very sorry that He 
 will not Remain with his poetical Muse, from whence 
 many pretty things have come forth. Adieu my 
 dear. 
 
 All creeps on much the same, but I dread that 
 time will Carry Edward to London with his holy 
 Child, and that she will be very helpless, but one 
 cannot have everything. 
 
256 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1805 
 
 ' The Poet ' gives an account of the debate in the House of 
 Lords concerning national defences. The subject was at that 
 time of overwhelming interest : Bonaparte had now become 
 Emperor of the French, war had just been declared against 
 Spain, and England was in a state of anxiety from which it 
 was only, but finally, relieved some eight months later when the 
 news arrived of the battle of Trafalgar. 
 
 London, 
 
 March 9. 1805. 
 
 In fulfilling my promise of sending you the other 
 half of my letter I am afraid I may be like the 
 Witches in Mackbeth who * keep the word of promise 
 to the ear but break it to your hope,' because I do 
 not feel particularly rarefied to-day — owing probably 
 to my having assisted at the debates last night in 
 the House of Lords, where I was on my legs leaning 
 against the Bar from Four till half past one. 
 
 The Inclination I had, or rather the strong Desire 
 of hearing L^ Granville who was expected to be par- 
 ticularly great. Induced me to attend the contest on 
 the Military state of Defence. The House was not 
 crowded, either with Members or Company. The 
 House is altered for the better ; there are now three 
 large magnificent Fire Grates, and six gorgeous 
 Lustres which cast a Cheerful Brightness over the 
 room, so that any person at the greatest distance 
 can be easily Discerned. 
 
 L* King made his intended motion. He spoke 
 with Labour, and much Hesitation, but his youth 
 and beautiful Figure and his modesty partly atoned 
 for his Defect. He was answered by L"* Cawdor, 
 who spoke worse, without the excuse of youth or 
 
i8o5] SPEAKERS IN THE LORDS 257 
 
 Modesty. L** Stanhope replied, and ran into Digres- 
 sions which were very entertaining and with whose 
 Discourse upon the whole I was much pleased. 
 
 L"^ Suffolk carries weight from his Age and Ex- 
 perience, and the conviction, with which both sides 
 of the House are impressed, of his Integrity. L"* 
 Hawkesbury was, I think, the next person on his 
 legs, and he charmed me with his loud and clear 
 voice, with his Energy, and with the beautiful Images 
 with which He occasionally decorated his speech. 
 
 L"* Carlisle made a short reply. I was anxious for 
 my friend, coming after so splendid a speaker, but 
 there was no occasion for my Anxiety, for He ac- 
 quitted Himself with distinguished credit, and very 
 happily Introduced the Lines recorded by Cibber. — 
 L*^ Hawkesbury vaunted of the well-regulated Army 
 Defence, tho' he allowed the number of the troops 
 had rather Decreased ; ' then,' says Lord Carlisle, 
 ' Your Lordship reminds me of Dryden's line in one 
 of his Bombast plays : 
 
 ' My wound is great, because it is so small,' 
 
 which the Duke of Buckingham was said to have 
 answered from his Box : 
 
 ' Then t'would be greater were it none at all,' 
 
 This allusion created loud applauding Laugh. 
 
 After Lord Carlisle a succession of very indifferent 
 Ciceros arose. But at Length Lord Granville got 
 up, and then every noise and every whisper died 
 away. He said He should feel himself contemptible 
 if He should stop in his way to L** Hawkesbury's 
 
 VOL. I. 17 
 
2S8 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1805 
 
 speech to notice what had fallen from Lord West- 
 moreland, who appeared to him to have alarmed his 
 friends the ministers all the time he was endeavour- 
 ing at an Argument, but He hastened to combat the 
 speech of L'' Hawkesbury, which he did in the most 
 dignified, most convincing, most enlighten'd and 
 eloquent Discourse I ever heard. And he gradually 
 effaced all the gaudy Picture of his opponent's Argu- 
 ment. He spoke Two Hours and nine minutes, and 
 I was sorry when he sat down. U Mulgrave rose 
 to reply, but it had the appearance of a Dwarf con- 
 tending with a Giant, and was so unsatisfactory that 
 I came away. 
 
 I was Thinking, when I got into my Hackney 
 Coach, and debated with myself whether or no I 
 had received more pleasure from L'' Granville that 
 evening or from Roscius the evening before. The 
 result of my Judgment, or rather perhaps of my 
 feeling, was in favour of the orator. Little Roscius, 
 I only saw for the second Time on Thursday perform 
 Romeo. I had the luck of being very near Him ; 
 the Prince had given his Box to Lady Cawdor and 
 she allowed me to be of her party. He is a subhme 
 little creature, and he sometimes deludes you into a 
 Belief of being the very person he represents. But 
 in general (for I studied Him as He spoke) he excites 
 oftener wonder than he stimulates sensibility. 
 
 To talk on less general subjects, I dined with 
 Edward and his Saint Cecilia on Thursday before I 
 went to the Play. She was better, and was going 
 that evening to a private Party at the Marchioness 
 of Buckingham. 
 
i8o5] A STRIKE OF PRINTER'S DEVILS 259 
 
 The Kenmares are at last arrived, which I am glad 
 of — Lady Kenmare is one of the few with whom I 
 talk and converse at full length and not in Bust, If I 
 may use the Expression. L" Fingal, I believe, has 
 not yet had his conference with Mr. Pitt. If L^ Fingal 
 and his Associates are come with discretionary powers, 
 Mr. Pitt will delude and Bully the Irish Delegates. 
 There will never be a Time more favourable to the 
 Catholic Demand : a much greater resistance would 
 be made to the Catholic acquisition in another Reign. 
 L"* Kenmare is strongly of the opinion of Entire 
 
 Acceptance or open Refusal at this moment. 
 
 Procrastination and distant promises will be the 
 Death of the present claim. 
 
 I hope this will find you, and your last little 
 Elegant Extract, in perfect health. I have been 
 also brought to Bed of a little Mental Child which is 
 now Two months old. Some may say that it is an 
 Illegitimate Bantling, I entertain a very different 
 Idea of it : a Lily would not change its nature in 
 being called a Thistle ! 
 
 Speaking of Literature, the English Press is at 
 this moment barren, in an unmetaphoric sense. The 
 gentlemen who are denominated Devils demand equal 
 wages with the Compositors, who are a People of an 
 Higher order and of some education. The Book- 
 sellers have entered into a strict compact to refuse 
 the Demand, so that when the Devils have expended 
 their money and are without Fire and Food they will 
 give up the contest. 
 
 A gentleman of my Acquaintance, lately returned 
 from Germany, passed some Days with the renowned 
 
26d JERNINGHAM letters [1805 
 
 Wieland. Wieland is 79 years of Age, not worn 
 down with study, his body naturally enfeebled from 
 years, but his Intellect preserving all its accustomed 
 Effulgence, like a bright Diamond set in a dim metal. 
 He Dines once or Twice a week at the Margrave of 
 Baden, or some such name ; his name is established 
 so high that the German Booksellers in all the Capital 
 Towns published at the same Time 4 editions in 
 different forms, which amounted to Twenty Editions 
 on the same Day. He said at diner that, as He had 
 not long to live. He thanked God He had met with 
 the Disappointment once of residing two years at 
 Paris, ' where,' he said, ' perhaps they would have 
 made a Deist of me.' 
 
 Adieu, Thou portion of Celestial Promethean Fire 
 — I trust, as I grow older that I myself shall preserve, 
 thro' the Benevolence of Providence, the few particles 
 of the Promethean flame that have been accorded to 
 me. I am glad I never was Opulent, for then I never 
 perhaps had trod the little path that has made and 
 still constitutes my occupation and happiness. 
 
 I beg you will scatter with a wanton hand my 
 Best and Affectionate wishes on my Brother and U^ 
 Jerningham. Select among them one very glowing 
 wish and present it to S'^ Richard. 
 
 L"^ Harcourt, whose signature is to this cover, has 
 received a valuable Present from the King. It is a 
 piece of large Tapestry worked by Mary Queen of 
 Scotland : the gold that is inwoven with the Tapestry 
 is worn ; the figures (for it is a group of figures) are 
 her own Invention or a copy of a picture, but L'* 
 Harcourt thinks that she Invented the whole. It is 
 
'8o5] A ROYAL PRESENT 261 
 
 supposed to be the Virgin Mary giving her Blessing 
 to a little Boy which is supposed to be James I, and 
 that Idea corresponds with the Tradition of its being 
 brought from Scotland by James I 
 
 Once more, Farewell. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 COSSEY, 
 
 March 22. 
 
 I had some hopes, my dearest Charlotte, to find 
 you in the neighbourhood, or even at Cossey, on 
 Wednesday, when I returned at five o'clock for 
 dinner, from Hauleigh. But all was gone, to my 
 Regret, and your Little note alone spoke your having 
 been Here. — How did the old Towers receive you ? 
 and your two pretty Children must have rejoiced to 
 meet two more. I hope that poor Little Edward 
 bore his journey well. I think that by the Circum- 
 stance of their first view of this World, Charles, 
 should be a Seaman, and Edward a negociant. In 
 five years hence, you may have a Priest. 
 
 I got to Hauleigh on Monday for dinner, found 
 George and his Spouse in good Spirits and Little 
 Charlotte quite well ; but George has had for a 
 Long time a Bad Cold, which occasionally encreases 
 or diminishes but never goes quite off. I wish it 
 would. The Eldest Boy is in a Nankeen vest, and 
 an uncommon fine Boy, very Lively, fine Black eyes, 
 very white teeth, and a flat Back. I think Him now, 
 handsomer than his Sister. She is a pretty Girl and 
 very Lively also, but I am afraid her Chin will grow 
 
362 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1805 
 
 too Long for perfection. The poor Little twins want 
 to be ameliorated ; and the youngest Boy has at 
 present a Gourme, that Covers both face and head. 
 He would otherways I believe be pretty. 
 
 M"'^ Sulyard was to arrive on Wednesday, and the 
 Smythes were expected for thursday. 
 
 You will be surprised to hear that on Tuesday we 
 went to a Play at Woolpit, and that I was never 
 better entertained. Four young Gentlemen who are 
 with a Mr. Cobbould, a Clergyman, painted Some 
 Scenes which they put up in an alehouse, made out ' 
 tickets at half a Crown for the Benefit of the poor, 
 and themselves performed Douglas and the Farce of 
 Raising the Wind. They all got thro with their 
 parts very well ; but one, a Mr. Athill, whose friends 
 are Said to Live at Yarmouth, is (especially in 
 Comedy) a most Superior Actor. Every muscle of 
 his Face contributes, as Edwin's used, to give 
 animation to his Part, and we were near enough "to 
 enjoy it. He also Sung a Comic Song with great 
 Humour. I went there out of Complaisance, not to 
 prevent your Brother and Mrs. J. from attending, 
 but was really much entertained. 
 
 When you go to Yarmouth, I beg you will enquire 
 after Mr. Athill. 
 
 Mr. Lawless returned here yesterday for dinner, 
 and is so much improved, since my Reprimand 
 (which He has recorded in the album) that you 
 would have approved of Him most if He had first 
 been so. I believe Him to be a Clever — a good 
 young Man. 
 
 The Chaise is arrived and your Father in the Hall, 
 
i8o5] LADY BUCKINGHAM 263 
 
 so I must Leave off. I am going to visit Lady 
 Bradford and Carry back her four volumes. 
 
 April I. 
 
 I had a long letter yesterday from Edward vi^ho is 
 in good spirits, thank God, and occupied with his 
 future Settlement in Lincoln's Inn Square. The 
 House will be 130^ a year : three Rooms on a floor, 
 with windows down to the Bottom. He reckons that 
 his Chambers will sell for a looo'^ or Let for 100'- per 
 annum and so on makes it out very well. 
 
 Lady Buckingham takes very great notice of 
 Emily. She has taken Her once to the opera, to 
 hear Grossini, and Lately they all went en Famille 
 (Pall Mall and Boulton Row) to see young Rosieres 
 in Douglas. Lord, Buckingham had not been to the 
 Play for 20 years. They drive in Pall Mall very 
 frequently. The Connexion may be of great use to 
 Ed. in^ his Law Business, and perhaps to the general 
 Catholick Cause, for I trust that where ever Edward 
 is known He will be Liked, and the Greville Party is 
 a very Considerable one. 
 
 12 o'clock at noon, 
 Wednesday, 21. 
 
 I am but this moment Risen from the fatigue of 
 Last Nights assembly. Many Regretted your not 
 being present, and I think I can dispute the pre- 
 eminence of Sentiment with them. The Ball was 
 fuller than the Subscriptions usually are, so it was 
 said ; Lady Bradford all agreable meekness as usual. 
 
264 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1805 
 
 and Lord Bradford with a Cold. Emily began the 
 dance with Mr. Foster, the Steward. She had her 
 best Lace gown, diamond aigrette and Paradise 
 feathers, looked really very pretty, her Hair went 
 closer and diminished the Breadth of Face. It is 
 wonderful the crowd that passed on to Look at Her, 
 as a thing never having been seen, but she, unconscious 
 of exciting any idea in any Person, was with the same 
 equal modest look and no embarrassment. 
 
 25. 
 
 What an eloquent Speech Mr. Hardinge made to 
 that poor unhappy Girl of 16 for destroying her 
 Bastard Child ! I hope you have seen it in the 
 Globe of this week. The Circumstance of preparing 
 the Knife, and the Cruel perpetration of the murder 
 by nearly Cutting the Childs head off, makes one 
 fear that She would never have been under the 
 Chastised restraint of Virtue : or must have been 
 miserable in proportion to the sincerity of her return 
 to it. Therefore perhaps, in this Case, her being 
 removed out of the World was mercy to all ; it may 
 deter some, and may have prevented bad Seed from 
 budding forth in Her. 
 
 But a sad Circumstance is that the Speech (which 
 made me suppose Mr. Hardinge a most excellent as 
 well as eloquent man), dos not Become the mouth 
 of the Speaker — He has Himself been very irregular ; 
 so much so that his Wife parted from Him . . . and 
 in Short, I am afraid it is something of Mrs. Inch- 
 bald's affecting Novel, where the poor girl Calls out 
 
i8o5] LADY BUCKINGHAM 265 
 
 to the Judge who is going to Condemn Her — ' Not 
 you /' 
 
 Lady Buckingham has been in the Country since 
 I came to town, but She is most intimate with Emily 
 and very fond of Edward also. She is, by Emily's 
 account, quite a Saint in the Belief and practice of 
 every Little act of Piety that is Cherished in Con- 
 vents. She walks every morning to Kensington to 
 hear Prayers, at Mr. Eyre's Widow's (who was a friend 
 of hers before she married) and is totally taken up 
 with acts of devotion. Her very extensive Charity 
 has Long been my admiration. She is extremely 
 Chearful and has strong Health, so that She walks 
 about to Succour distress, fasts to Subdue herself, 
 and the whole is to be (by Lord Buckingham's desire) 
 Conducted with Secrecy, but it is really the Secret de 
 La Comedie that every Person is acquainted with. 
 Lady Mary is to have a very Large fortune ; Lady 
 Buckingham Longs for a CathoUck suitor for Her. 
 She says She would not want fortune, but on account 
 of Lord Buckingham is afraid She must find an 
 estate with the Catholicity. 
 
 A petition from the Roman Catholics of Ireland to be re- 
 lieved from the civil disabilities under which they laboured, was 
 in May introduced into the House of Lords by Lord Grenville, 
 and into the House of Commons by Mr. Fox. The petition 
 was rejected ; in the Lords by 178 votes against 49 ; in the 
 Commons by 336 against 124. Mr. Pitt, who had in 1801 
 quitted the Ministry professedly on account of his inability to 
 carry such a measure, found reason on this occasion to oppose 
 the motion. 
 
266 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1805 
 
 May 5. 
 
 I have intended, my dear, writing before and, in 
 the Continued Hurry of this Place, have been pre- 
 vented, not by the town amusements, but by the 
 Decousu of Hours and unexpected Calls of visitants — 
 the Bane of all Settled Comfort. 
 
 The Catholics are en I' air and in a ferment about 
 the Irish Petition which is to be Cast on Friday in 
 the House of Lords, and on Monday in the House 
 of Commons. No one expectes it to pass, but, if a 
 tolerable show of Friends Can be produced, our 
 present ambition will be satisfied. Our Norfolk 
 Lords are our known Enemies : poor Lord Wode- 
 house, naughty Lord Bayning, and mad Lord^ 
 Townshend, the Duke of Grafton (God Bless our 
 Cousin) violent for the Catholick Cause, also Fox; 
 Bishop Horsley of St. Asaph, Llandaff and Bangor 
 Bishops ; the Smiling Canterbury of Course against 
 the Cause ; Lord Carlisle Strenuous for it, but the 
 King (poor man) Centre; and the Courtiers arid 
 placemen follow the Royal Nod. 
 
 Mr. Grattan, it is Supposed, will make a most 
 eloquent Speech for the Cause. He has been 
 brought in by Lord Fitzwilliam for the occasion, 
 and is of Long date our Staunch Friend. 
 
 Bishop Milner is in London, in frequent Con- 
 ference with Fox and the Party, and has written an 
 excellent pamphlet which I will Send you. 
 
 A private grievance He has mentioned to me 
 which I hope the Dames Benedictines at Bodney will 
 not draw upon themselves the weight of. A Miss 
 
i8o5] BODNEY 267 
 
 Blackburn is in their noviceship, daughter to a Rich 
 City man, (a Protestant with a Catholick wife). 
 They are both of them extremely displeased at her 
 positive Refusal of Returning to her Paternal Resi- 
 dence and the Bishop dreads the Father's making a 
 formal Complaint against the Convent at the Alien 
 Office, where Mr. Reeve, who is no friend to the 
 Catholick Belief, might be glad to issue an order for 
 the Nuns Leaving England. 
 
 At Bishop Milner's request, I have written to 
 Mde. de Levis, and I really hope they will send this 
 young woman back rather than endanger the Salva- 
 tion of their House, especially in this moment when 
 it is Said that the Princess Louise de Conde a 
 professed Nun, in Poland, is Coming to Reside at 
 Bodney. Her being there will be of great advantage 
 to the Pensioners, by the excellence of her Ton, and 
 her Talents for Musick, Drawing, &c. which M. de 
 Bazolz (who had seen a great deal of Her at 
 Chantilly) tells me are very great. 
 
 Miss Petre's affair is more incomprehensible than 
 ever. I have heard from what appears to be good 
 authority, (Lady Throcmorton to Miss Wright, the 
 Cousin) that Mr'. Berrington, the Priest, was sent 
 down to Oxfordshire to Her, that Phillips said he 
 would Leave the Room so that Miss Petre might be 
 at entire Liberty to do what she best Liked of, that 
 on their being thus alone Mr. Berrington spoke very 
 plainly what he had to say, which was I believe 
 offering her to return and an enquirey if She Could 
 make up her mind definitely to give her Parents that 
 Comfort. Her answer is said to have been with an 
 
268 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1805 
 
 air of Levity that she was tyred of PhiUips, but that 
 she prefer'd being away from her Family, and should 
 therefore marry Phillips, in short talked in such a 
 sad way that Mr. Berrington has told Lord Petre 
 that all that Can be wished is, that Mr. Phillips 
 should in future prevail upon his Wife to Live quietly 
 and decently and not make any further esclandre. 
 
 It is supposed by all that every advance was made 
 on her side, and Phillips begins to be the interesting 
 Personage instead of the Seducer. I do really think 
 it makes one tremble for degraded Human Nature, 
 and the watchful care that some dispositions require. 
 
 The Miss Petre here mentioned was Mary Juliana, eldest 
 daughter to the tenth Baron. She had been married (after 
 some scandal) on April 30 preceding, to a Mr. Stephen Phillips, 
 her drawing-master. 
 
 15. Wednesday. 
 
 We have been here quite occupied with the 
 Catholick Business. George and Edward were in 
 the House of Peers, both times, till four and six in 
 the morning. It is avowed that the most splendid 
 Eloquence and high Birth were, in Both Houses, 
 employed in promoting the Catholick Cause ; but 
 the silly majority of Numbers carried the Day, and 
 I am surprised and sorry to find that Lord Bradford 
 was of the prejudiced Majority. 
 
 Bishop Milner is in London, and very much in- 
 terested as you may well imagine. He dined here 
 yesterday with Lord Clifford and they were really 
 
i8o6] CATHOLIC AGITATION 269 
 
 Hand and G^we, which I enjoyed. The Bishop 
 says that Lord Grenville and Mr. Grattan have 
 immortalized their oratorical Powers. Mr. Grattan 
 particularly is said to have surpassed every high 
 expectation that had been formed of him — You have 
 heard me of old Cite Him as a great and powerfully 
 Eloquent Speaker. 
 
 Good Lord Wodehouse Called here on Sunday — 
 fell upon this subject. Edwards eyes flashed fire 
 upon him, but so well tempered by good reasoning 
 that He prevailed upon Lord Wodehouse to Carry 
 away a Little Pamphlet. He has been here again, 
 full of the Common prejudices, and I have given 
 Him Bishop Milner's Pamphlet. He could be con- 
 verted if alone, but returning to that fountain of 
 Protestantism, Lady Wodehouse, he takes back his 
 original blindness. 
 
 Pray read the debates. Fox's Speech is very good : 
 it will be History, so you must not overlook it, even 
 in the Gossiping Leaf of a Daily Paper, The Morn- 
 ing Chronicle is supposed to give a good account of 
 the Debates. 
 
 The Duchess of Devonshire, Georgiana, daughter of John, 
 Earl Spencer, died on March 30, 1806. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 COSSEY, 
 
 Tuesday April 8. 1806. 
 
 Young Norris writes his Mother word, that the 
 real Cause of the Duchess of Devonshire's decease 
 
270 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1806 
 
 will never be known, that the Physicians entirely 
 mistook her Case — It is very singular and would 
 almost make one adopt Dr. Girdlestone's opinion ! 
 
 Mrs. Baker (young Mrs. Norris's Mother) saw Her 
 the whole time, and to her Daughters Enquiries 
 always said that there was not any danger, that the 
 Duchess was in good Spirits, but most extremely 
 yellow, and that it was only quite at last that alarm 
 was taken. I think her whole existence and exit, a 
 melancholy and interesting subject of meditation. 
 The Duke is said to be very much affected. 
 
 20. 
 
 I had a letter yesterday from Bodney, mentioning 
 that the dear Little Girls were well and particularly 
 good, si bien elevees ! As if they had owned their 
 Birth to the Benedictines de Montargis. ' La 
 Princesse me verra avec Plaisir.' That is very 
 benevolent of Her ! 
 
 Edward says that He heard in London, that the 
 poor Duchess of Devonshire had applied to the Duke 
 for Succour in her Pecuniary State of Affairs, and 
 that the Duke told her in so positive a manner that 
 He had engaged himself never to do more in the 
 Business, having paid enormous sums, that the 
 Duchess in despair of ever prevailing in this her last 
 and only Ressource fell ill ; that the first days the 
 Duke supposed the illness a Little put on, but when 
 He understood that She was so bad and in danger of 
 her life, He entreated the Doctor who sat up with 
 her, if She had a lucid interval to assure Her that 
 
i8o6] DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE 271 
 
 every wish she had should be complied with, and that 
 He would purchase her Health with any thing she 
 could command. But, poor thing, I suppose it was 
 then too Late. I pity the Duke who, they say, is 
 very much affected. And well He may ! 
 
 London, 
 
 May 2. 
 
 Lord Dillon has persuaded and over ruled my 
 opinion, and in short sent Pere Elis6e to me. His 
 prescription is {du tents d'Adam) to take Petit Lait for 
 three days, then un Bain of his Composition, re- 
 sembling Les eaux de Plombieres. After I have 
 sojourned some days there I am to Remove to 
 Barege, and, with Patience and 70 or 80 Baths, I 
 am to be entirely Renovated, I am to walk as I did 
 30 years ago, and to feel as if I Came from the 
 Fontaine de Jouvence. I think I will try the nasty- 
 ness of his Petit Lait, but the Baths I must invent an 
 excuse against. 
 
 I told him that some Physicians thought mercury 
 necessary in my Case. He said ' Gardez vous en 
 Bien. Les medecins de ce pays ci en font un grand 
 abus ' He says the Duchess of Devonshire had two 
 large gall stones and ought to have been bled several 
 times, to have swallowed oily medecine, and have 
 been constantly in a Bath. I am however a great 
 deal Better since my removal here, and I think that 
 the very journey, down to Buxton would Cure me. 
 
 Edward and Emily are gone to-day to Westminster 
 
272 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1806 
 
 Hall, to see poor Lord Melville. It is a thing to be 
 made acquainted with, when the Country has such 
 an unfortunate Business going on as the great 
 Legislative Power of the Kingdom in Exertion. 
 
 Lord Melville : Henry Dundas, a distinguished statesman, 
 created Viscount Melville in 1802. He had been impeached in 
 the previous year (1805) in the Commons, for alleged malversa- 
 tions as Treasurer of the Navy. He was tried by his peers in 
 Westminster Hall and found not guilty. 
 
 June 4. 
 
 This is the important anniversary of our Good 
 King's Birth and the usual uproar is going on, tho' I 
 understand that the King will not be at the Drawing 
 Room ; the Manner of Receiving is too fatiguing for 
 Him — and indeed for every Body else. 
 
 I went (upon Mrs. John Gary's great entreaty) this 
 morning to her Villa at Hampstead. The Spurious 
 Mrs. Gary is Staying with her, and She said that all 
 she wished was that I should see Her. John and his 
 Wife appear to be much pleased with Her Hitherto ; 
 she expresses the utmost wish of obtaining the good 
 opinion of Her Husband's family and is actually 
 under instruction to be a Gatholick. 
 
 Mrs. J. Gary promised that she would not mention 
 she expected my visit, as I have too many young 
 people belonging to me to make a formal acquaint- 
 ance with the new Thais but as by chance. I found 
 the two Sisters together, Mrs. John presented Her, 
 and we sat down. Thais wishes to look modest and 
 
i8o6] THE NEW THAIS 273 
 
 will, I hope, attain to it in time : at present there 
 is a downcast Leer which. Looking over very red 
 Cheeks, has not the appearance of a primitive 
 Catechumen. She was reading, when we entered, 
 the Duchess of York's Letter to Lord Clarendon, 
 in the ' Elegant Extracts,' and Looked a little em- 
 barrassed on saying so in answer to your Father's 
 enquiry about her Lecture. I said it was a very 
 Clever Composition and she replied ' yes, I think an 
 unanswerable one.' I do not think her pretty. She 
 seems passee ; she has an elegant Shape and pretty 
 Size but is evidently now Rowing up tide, and if (as 
 I hope) she Perseveres in all her good Resolutions, 
 she will, I have not a Doubt, be a very different sort 
 of Person in two or three years hence — when more 
 accustomed to be Limited to good Habits. 
 
 You put me into so good a temper with Mrs. 
 Manners' Little round Head that a Card Coming 
 that same day to invite your Father and I to dine at 
 Lambeth, we accepted of it. I also like much to be 
 in that venerable old Palace. I have never dined 
 there since the days of Archbishop Cornwallis. 
 
 i-^th. 
 
 Lady Lansdowne gave last Night a Masked Ball, 
 the whole Garden and House illuminated. From 
 our Windows we partook of the Musick, and the 
 beautiful illumination of the Garden. 
 
 Poor Lord Melville is out of hot water, and every 
 one but Lord EUenborough seems to be rejoiced at it. 
 
 VOL. I. 18 
 
274 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1806 
 
 From Edward Jerningham {the Poet) to Lady 
 
 Bedingfeld. 
 
 June 18. 
 
 The Jerninghams went to Tunbridge yesterday. 
 
 This new Arrangement of things overthrows my 
 dear httle favourite project of passing a month with 
 you near the ocean : But now that Project is meta- 
 morphosed into a pleasing chimera ! I think Distance 
 an odious appendage to mortahty. 
 
 The news of the moment is the Acquittal of Ld. 
 Melville. I was four times at the Trial. The Speech 
 of Sir T. Romily, had I been a Peer, would have 
 obliged me to have pronounced him guilty upon two 
 charges. There was however a mixture of party in 
 all that Business — which operated on both sides — 
 
 This Trial is already giving place to the Trial of 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert, relative to the little girl — I am 
 perfectly glad the Lords have check'd the literal 
 application of the Law to this cause : It would have 
 been the actual Death of the child, she is so fervently 
 and exclusively attached to Mrs. Fitzherbert. And 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert, having manifested her unequivocal 
 Intention of rearing her little orphan in the Estab- 
 lished Doctrine, it would have been a cruel persecu- 
 tion for the Lords to have acted otherwise. 
 
 I have read this Winter scarce any thing new ; 
 but yet I have read a good deal, and have lived much 
 with the Authors of the last century — particularly 
 English writers. Lately I ran over Moore's new 
 Poems which Ld. CarHsle sent me (they cost a guinea 
 and a half). They are Elegant — a monotony of ex- 
 
i8o6] THE JEFFRIES PAMPHLET 27; 
 
 pression and of thought frequently occurs — but I 
 think in time He will do great things. The Lay of 
 the last Minstrel which I had the high gratification 
 of reading to you remains on my mind. It was a 
 mental feast to which we sat down by ourselves, like 
 two angelic gluttons — What now particularly occupies 
 your bright Intellection ? 
 
 I have passed thro' the winter with much sick- 
 ness encircling me on all sides without receiving any 
 wound or Inconvenience : I was another Daniel in 
 the Furnace — Plays I have seldom attended. They 
 had so little Attraction — The Opera I have frequented, 
 for it is every Thing : company, the place of Intelli- 
 gence and the best assembly in Town. The Prince 
 continues to favor me with his Ticket which saves 
 me a good many half-guineas ! The pamphlet by 
 Jeffries, the Jeweller, is a Libel and can make no 
 Impression but upon minds that are actuated by a 
 malignant Disposition. The facts are distorted, and 
 Interspers'd with falsehoods. The Introducing Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert into This Pamphlet is illiberal. The 
 Booksellers refuse admitting it into their Shops, But 
 curiosity and malevolence excited numbers to pur- 
 chase the Trash of the person by whom it is printed. 
 It will occasion a few hours Talk and then drop into 
 the vortex of oblivion, which happens to every trans- 
 action in this busy overgrown Metropolis. . 
 
 I was Looking over, the other day, Dryden's Pre- 
 face to his Fables. He says : Before the reader 
 censures this work I must tell him a story I saw the 
 other Day — An old Gentleman getting up on his 
 
276 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1806 
 
 horse, some young women who were near smiled. 
 The old Gentleman said to them : ' Ladies, before 
 you Laugh I wish you to count ninety eight ' — Now, 
 continues Dryden, I would have the reader count 
 sixty eight before He criticises me, not (says the old 
 Bard) that I find my faculties the least Impaired, or my 
 Health, meaning to Translate the Iliad, old as I am. 
 
 Now as I was reading these lines of Dryden it 
 forcibly struck me that I was just at that period of 
 life, and tho' not gifted with such eminent powers, 
 yet enjoying unimpaired all my Inferior Facilities. 
 In one respect I have the Advantage over my great 
 Predecessor, He Complains of a total Disabihty of 
 Legs ! He lived I think only three years after. 
 
 Lord and L^^ Wodehouse return to - day from 
 Kimberley. They Left the girls behind them. Miss 
 Wodehouse, having obtained the Chariot for a week, 
 she set the Town on fire for she Lived a very gay 
 Life was out all day long, dined out &c. &c. 
 
 Tell me, I Entreat, Dear Extraordinary creature, 
 what are your projects, and let me know something 
 about you. Direct me under a cover to Ld. Bayning. 
 Say a thousand kind Things to S"" Richard and let 
 me add that I am your Affectionate Friend and 
 Relation. 
 
 From Lady Jemingham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 TuNBRiDGE Wells 
 
 June 27. 
 
 The Princess's Business is Like a Cover'd volcano; 
 every one wishes to talk, but it is generally under- 
 
i8o6] REJOICINGS AT TIXHALL 277 
 
 stood that it is a dangerous subject of Conversation. 
 Captain Manby is the Paramour named, and some 
 have whispered Sir Sidney Smythe, but the Morning 
 Post and Morning Chronicle talk of the Scandal of 
 Defamation and seem resolved to white-wash this 
 poor unfortunate Creature. 
 
 yufy I. 
 
 Edward is now I reckon at Shiffnal since Last 
 Sunday. He passed some days at Tixhall, where 
 immense Rejoicings were going forward for the Birth 
 of a Son and Heir — a whole ox Roasted, dancing, 
 Fireworks, everthing that is noisy and jolly to usher 
 this Little man into the vale of tears ! But I hope 
 He may resemble his Father, and He had the 
 Reputation of wiping away those of many. Edward 
 says He is an excellent man and I think Ed. should 
 know what goodness is. 
 
 William and his Anne were to have driven over 
 here to-day but he has hurt his Leg in getting off a 
 Coach Box, and so his journey is postponed. 
 
 We are not full of fine company here, but there is 
 perhaps more Sociability than usual, so that every 
 evening there are meetings at the Rooms or in private 
 Houses. And the Hours are delightful : Dinner at 4, 
 meeting a Little after seven, and parting before 
 eleven, so that Tunbridge is Like a Large Convent, 
 every one asleep in their beds before 12. 
 
 A Widow, Mrs. Eden, whose Husband was a 
 Brother of Lord Auckland's, is an interesting Woman . 
 She lost her Husband above a year ago and has been 
 ever since in a miserable state of health. She has 
 
278 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1806 
 
 two tall daughters, very good Girls, who are out, the 
 eldest ig, and seven Children younger. The Widow, 
 tall, very thin, and Looking ill, but Calmly Cheerful. 
 She told me that She was married above 20 years 
 but that she had lost a Lover as well as a Husband, 
 one whose sole occupation was the promoting of her 
 Comfort, and that she was so unused to think about 
 herself that she often forgot to take her meals. She 
 praised her daughters, said she had always prevented 
 their mixing with other Girls, but was delighted they 
 should be with Emily as she appeared to be every- 
 thing that was most modest and sensible. I en- 
 couraged her idea from a knowledge of the truth of 
 her observation ; so Emily walks about on the 
 Pantiles with them and the Mother converses with 
 me in the Library. She has a House at Wimbledon 
 but the Girls have not resided at London. 
 
 Mrs. Heneage and Miss Ainslie do not go out at 
 all, except to the Well. Mr. Heneage also keeps 
 quiet and has called I believe only upon us. 
 
 To night is the first regular Ball. On Thursday 
 there was a hop at the Rooms, begun by your Father 
 and Lady Boyne. He is quite well and in great 
 spirits ; this place and the Company of this year 
 particularly suits him. 
 
 Adieu my ever dear Charlotte, 
 
 Your entirely aifectionate 
 Mother. 
 
 In the Gentleinaris Magazine (vol. Ixxvi., part ii.) under date 
 July 5, 1806, can be read this notice : 
 
 ' At his house in George - street, Portman - square, Arthur-' 
 Richard Dillon, Archbishop and Duke of Narbonne, Primate of 
 
i8o6] " ARCHBISHOP DILLON 279 
 
 the Gauls, President of the States of Languedoc, and Com- 
 mander of the Order of the Holy Ghost. This venerable Pre- 
 late, who was eminently distinguished for his knowledge, talents, 
 and eloquence, was the youngest brother of Henry the eleventh 
 Lord Viscount Dillon, of Ireland, and son of the Hon. Arthur 
 Dillon (third son of Theobald seventh Viscount Dillon), a 
 marshal-de-camp and lieutenant-general in the French service. 
 He was born at St. Germain-en-Laye, 1721 ; ordained Bishop 
 of Evreux, Oct. 28, 1753; Archbishop of Thoulouse, 1758; 
 Archbishop of Narbonne, 1762 ; and Commander of the Order 
 of the Holy Ghost, 1776. When the Revolution took place in 
 France, which was a total subversion of every principle that all 
 good men hold dear and sacred, he retired to this country, where 
 he has since constantly resided, preferring the sacrifice of his 
 high rank and situation to a dereliction of those principles of 
 duty and honour which uniformly guided his conduct thi-ough a 
 long and meritorious life. At half after 9 in the morning of the 
 nth, all that remains in England of the antient Royal Family 
 and Nobility of France began to assemble at the French 
 Catholic chapel in Little George street, King-street, Portman- 
 square, to do honour to his obsequies. The chapel had a truly 
 solemn and dignified appearance ; and an additional degree of 
 respect was excited by the appearance of the many illustrious 
 personages who have taken up their residence in this country in 
 consequence of the revolution of affairs in France. The 
 deceased was related to some of the most distinguished persons 
 under the ancient Government of France ; he was also nearly 
 a-kin to a noble family in this country ; and, besides this, was a 
 person of considerable rank as a man of letters. Consequently, 
 every professor of the Catholic faith, every friend of the late 
 Establishment of France, and several distinguished literary 
 characters, were present. The chapel was hung with black, 
 decorated with lozenges and escocheons of the deceased's arms. 
 M. M. Colbert, Bishop of Rhodes, performed the service, in his 
 full pontificals, in the presence of all the other emigrant French 
 Bishops now in London, and a great number of the most dis- 
 " tinguished of the French Nobility, with the crosses and ribbons 
 of the different orders to which they belong. After the usual 
 
28o JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1806 
 
 prayers and anthems, the body was removed in a hearse and 
 six, followed by four mourning-coaches, Lord Dillon's, Lord 
 Trimblestown's, and a private gentleman's carriage, to St, 
 Pancras church-yard, where prayers were again read by the 
 Bishop of Rhodes. In the carriages were several Bishops and 
 other Ecclesiasticks, as well as his relations and friends.' 
 
 On the 6th we begin to find varioiis references to the event in 
 the family letters. 
 
 July 5. 
 
 My dearest Charlotte, 
 
 You have lost your poor Great Uncle, the 
 Archbishop of Narbonne, and I trust in Almighty 
 God's Mercy that He has received Him to a Place 
 of Rest. I had a Letter yesterday morning from the 
 Abb6 Raquin, at which I was much alarmed, saying 
 that the Archbishop had been very ill for two days 
 with Gout in the Stomach ; that Doctor Saunders, 
 whom Lord Dillon sent, thought Him in very great 
 danger, and that, a favourable moment having pre- 
 sented itself to speak of Religion, He had shewn 
 every desirable sentiment and had received the 
 Sacraments in presence of some of his Confreres. 
 
 This morning I had the melancholy Confirmation 
 of what yesterday's letter made me fear. The poor 
 man died at 8 o'clock yesterday, s''' July, in the 
 morning, and (the Abbe says) with a Christian 
 Fortitude and Resignation that was very affecting. 
 I am glad to repeat his words and hope to have more 
 Comforting details. The Gout turned upon the 
 Bladder, exactly what my dear good Father had and 
 the same, as I have heard their Father died of. 
 
 I am glad that my Brother is in Town, to order 
 
l8o6] DEATH OF THE ARCHBISHOP 281 
 
 the Last Tribute to this Long-known Relation who 
 had Certainly great talents, Eloquence, and a pleasing 
 temper. I beg you will Recommend Him to the 
 Prayers of the Little Innocent Congregation at 
 which you Preside. There are no frankers here, 
 and yet I wish to Send you the Abbe Bourret's 
 letter. It would be a pity to have an Abbe who 
 could neither teach, nor Converse without hurting 
 your ears, and I am sorry the Saint should have 
 pointed out so nugatory a Being. 
 
 15- 
 
 This is the letter that Dumot, the Archbishop's 
 man, wrote to Mde. Chevassut who had enquired 
 after Him — 
 
 'J'ai Perdu un Maitre que j'aimois et Regardois 
 comme mon P6re. 
 
 ' R6jouissez vous, Monseigneur est mort Confessant 
 hautement sa Foi en presence de plusieurs de ses 
 Confreres Evfeques et de plusieurs ecclesiastiques. 
 II a demands hautement i Dieu le pardon de ses 
 P6ch6s ; il a declar6 n'avoir rien a se Reprocher ; il 
 a re9u par son aumonier Le Sacrement de Penitence. 
 Le Pretre qui disoit La Messe pour Lui a 6t6 Peine 
 de ne pouvoir Lui donner Le Saint Viatique, vu une 
 inflammation de Poitrine qui exposoit a La pro- 
 fanation. 
 
 ' Le 4 Juillet, a midi, il a Re9u Le Sacrement 
 d'extr^me unction, moi present et les Personnes y 
 dessus nomm^es. C'est alors surtout qu'il a demande 
 
282 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1866 
 
 hautement le pardon de ses fautes, de tout son coeur ; 
 il a declar6 n'avoir rien omis. II a R6pondu, toujours 
 avec onction et Contrition, aux interrogations du 
 Pretre qui Lui Parloit. Enfin Samedi 5 du mois, i 
 huit heures precise du Matin, j'ai vu son dernier 
 soupir. II est mort comme un agneau et nous a 
 edifi6 par sa foi vive et sa Resignation a La volont6 
 divine. 
 
 ' Vendredi, a dix heures, on Rendra a La Chapelle 
 Fran9oise les derniers devoirs d ses obseques. De ce 
 7 Juillet, 41 George Street, Portman Square.' 
 
 From Chevalier Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Paris Rue de Faubourg St Honore 
 ce 1^ Juillet. 
 
 J'ai lu, avec une emotion dont je n'ai pas 6te le 
 maitre, dans les feuilles publiques la mort de I'arch. 
 de N. 4 I'age de 85 ans — Votre Mere aura-t'elle 6t6 a 
 portee de lui reiidre ses derniers soins ? Serait-il 
 mort subitement, ou de la suite de la Goute et de ses 
 infirmit6s ? Je vous prie de me mander ces details, 
 et s'il a et6 sensible que sa fin approchait. J'ai trop 
 vecu dans sa societe pour ne pas avoir conserve, 
 malgre son egoisme et son indifference pour moi, le 
 souvenir de ses agr^ments dans sa vie priv6e et de 
 ses talents dans les affaires d' administration et sur- 
 tout de representation. 
 
 Assurez, je vous prie instament, ma belle soeur de 
 la part que je prends a ce triste ^v^neraent, et dites- 
 lui que je ne lui 6cris pas pour lui 6viter une 
 
i8o6] THE CHEVALIER'S PARIS NEWS 283 
 
 importunit6. Lady Shaftesbury, que viens d'obtenir 
 que son mari puisse venir la rejoindre d Paris, me dit 
 qu'elle imagine que Sir Thos. Webb et sa femme en 
 feront autant des qu'ils le pourront. Mde. de la 
 Tour du Pin sollicite vivement que le Colonel Henri 
 puisse quitter Bordeaux, ou ses dettes lui font craindre 
 qu'il ne soit arrete d'un jour i I'autre; il lui en arrivera 
 autant s'il vient a Paris. Je ne sais comment sa 
 femme s'en tire, je ne la vois jamais. Sa Soci^t^ 
 principale est, je crois, Ldy Clavering (n6e mar- 
 chande de modes frangaise) et dont la reputation 
 n'est pas brillante. 
 
 La fille de Ld. Shaftesbury m'est paru jolie ; elle 
 est petite pour son age mais n'a cependant pas une 
 figure d'heritiere. Sa mere redoute les preventions 
 qu'elle aura a son retour, elle ne voudroit pas la 
 marrier si Jeune, et ne pent pourtant pas refuser un 
 bon parti. II faudroit, il me Semble, qu'elle epousa 
 le Jeune Howard, le fils de Barney. Vous aurez 
 I'hiver prochain d I'opera la Celebre Catalani. C'est 
 la plue belle voix, pour I'etendue, la justesse, et la 
 quality des sons, qui ait peut-^tre Jamais existee. 
 Son style de chant est celui de Marchesi : elle y est 
 attach6e parcequ'elle y Excelle. Je desirerais qu'elle 
 chantat le Cantabile parceque Sa Voix est tres Sus- 
 ceptible d'expression, mais elle est emport^e par les 
 succes qu'elle a du Grand nombre, — toujours plus 
 Sensible aux diificultes d'ex6cution qu'a celles d'emou- 
 voir. Sa figure est noble et agreable, son age 26 ans ; 
 sur le theatre elle doit etre Superbe, elle est grande 
 et a tres bonne grace. Son mari, M. Vallabregue, 
 est un fran9ais qui etait officier avant La r6volution ; 
 
284 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1806 
 
 il a passe long tems k Vienne en Autriche ou il vivait 
 dans la meilleure societe. De Id son 6toile I'a conduit 
 a Lisbonne ou il a epous6 d'amour et d'admiration 
 ]y[dme Catalani. II est plus jeune qu'elle. Elle avait 
 looooo francs de fixe par an k Lisbonne : elle est 
 assuree du double en Angleterre, et S'y achemine. 
 En attendant, pour payer les frais de Ses couches 
 ici, elle a donne un concert qui lui a rapport6 au 
 moins 2 mille pieces, et L'empereur lui a donne la 
 Salle de L'op^ra pour une autre Soir6e dont elle ne 
 fera pas moins bon usage. Je Suis charm6 que votre 
 petit Henri, a I'instar de Son Grand pere, apprenne 
 a Jouer du Violon : nous Jouerons un duo ensemble 
 un de ces jours. Ce sera reunir les deux extr6mit6s ! 
 
 Ce que vous me dites si plaisamment Sur la possi- 
 bilite du retour des aventures chevaleresques et 
 heroiques, se realise deja trop severement sur les 
 pauvres Croy. Le due de ce nom vient de perdre sa 
 femme (fille du due de Mortemart) et en mSme tems 
 Sa Souverainete en Wesphalie, ce qui le reduit avec 
 Ses 4 Enfans k presque la mendicite. He may sit 
 down on the Grass and begin. . . . Je Suis au reste 
 tr6s afflige de ce que lui arrive de facheux, Je Suis 
 attache de tous tems a sa mere, Soeur de la feue 
 D^^" de la Tremouille, et Le d6pouillement qu'ils 
 eprouvent est d'autant plus picquant que c'est pour 
 Les d'Arenberg et les Hohenzolern, leurs plus proches 
 parents. 
 
 II vient de Se passer a Verdun un duel tr6s grave 
 entre le Capt. Walpole et le lieut. Miles, tous les 
 deux of the navy. Le dernier est reste sur la place ; 
 ils se sont tires cinq fois k 10 pas de distance. 
 
i8o6] BUSTLING BRIGHTON 285 
 
 II n'a rien paru ici de curieux en livres depuis les 
 memoires de Louis 14 et M"** de Maintenon, ce qui 
 est le meilleur ouvrage de M"*^ de Genlis. Les 
 mem"^ de M. le Cte de . . . (Vauban) sont une 
 critique bien cruelle dans ce moment ci, de M. le 
 Cte d'A : et dont tout le monde est indigne — mais 
 ils sont curieux a lire — 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 5, Pavilion Parade, 
 
 Brighton. 
 
 _/uly 26. 
 My dear Charlotte. 
 
 I had the pleasure of a Letter from you 
 yesterday, sent from Tunbridge (that Elisium of 
 quiet, pleasant. Sociable Intercourse) and it is a week 
 to day Since we have inhabited this great Staring, 
 Bustling, Unsocial Brighton, where a tree is not to 
 be perceived, and where (as Wilkes says of Scotland) 
 Judas must have survived his desperate Intention. 
 
 On Tuesday arrived Mrs. Fitzherbert, and on 
 Wednesday the Prince. His Pavilion is facing our 
 Windows, and upon the Lawn before the House I 
 hear that there is usually Musick Playing whilst He 
 is at Dinner, but there has not been any yet. 
 
 On Thursday there were two Horses Ran on the 
 Lewes Course, 6 miles from here. We went there, 
 and the immense Show of Carriages of all kinds, 
 with the Concourse of Company, was a very Chearful 
 Sight. I thought of you \as I often do) but more 
 particularly of Sir Richard, for I think He would 
 
286 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1806 
 
 have Liked the various display of new - invented 
 Vehicles. 
 
 The Race Horses were belonging to Lord Darling- 
 ton, and Mr. Mellish. The Latter Lost 10,000^ as 
 his Horse, unexpectedly and in Sight of the Haven, 
 snapped some Nerve in his ankle and became Lame. 
 
 Yesterday Morning was ushered in by a duel be- 
 tween Lord Barrymore and a Mr. Howard, formerly 
 a Surgeon, or rather bred up to be one, but now a 
 fine gentleman and honord with the Prince's Protec- 
 tion. They Quarelled at Whist about Setting up 
 Honors, between 12 and one, and at five in the 
 morning went off to Settle Matters, provided with 
 Seconds (S'' John Shelley, and Mr. Mellish) and 
 after a mutual exchange of fire, became renovated 
 Friends. 
 
 The Brighton Races were yesterday and will Last 
 four days. The Course is about a mile from the 
 Town. A Great Number of Gentlemen are arrived 
 to Pay Court to the Prince, who particularly protects 
 these Races and has always Horses that Run Here. 
 He was on the Course, on the Box of his Barouche ; 
 Sir John Lade as Coachman by Him, s Horses ; Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert, in another Carriage and four, with her 
 Brothers and other Gentlemen — the two Barouches 
 Standing by each other, and the Prince frequently 
 in Conversation with Her from his Box. 
 
 Lady Berkeley and Mrs. Walpole, of Dover Street, 
 paraded together. Lord Berkeley is the great man 
 here. His Gloucestershire Militia is a very fine 
 Regiment, has an excellent Band of Musicians, and, 
 by the Prince's desire, is alw:ays quartered at Brighton. 
 
r8o6] LADY BERKELEY 287 
 
 Lady Berkeley was a Housemaid, but always a 
 Virtuous Woman. Lord Berkeleys Fancy for Her 
 was so Imperious that He resolved upon regular 
 Matrimony. After a time, Repenting of this measure, 
 he prevailed on the Clergyman to tear the Leaf out 
 of the Register that witnessed his being a married 
 man. But then again Regret Came, as a Child had 
 arrived every year, so He married the said Maid 
 again ; and the fourth Son was Supposed to be the 
 inheritor of his title. But soon after, the Clergyman 
 who had first tied Him in Wedlock dyeing. He then 
 declared the date of his previous Marriage and pro- 
 claimed that his first Born Son was Lord Dursley — 
 He Could not Say this during the Clergyman's Life, 
 as the tearing the Register is Felony. So all this 
 made a sad work, but Lord Thurlow declared there 
 is not a doubt but that the first marriage was Legal, 
 and the Eldest Son is accordingly Stiled Lord 
 Dursley. There are nine Sons, and two daughters. 
 
 August 3. 
 Since I wrote Last we have been invited to a Little 
 Party at Mrs. Fitzherbert's who has a Beautiful Little 
 Residence here, near the Pavihon. All the best Com- 
 pany were there, and a few minutes after our arrival, 
 the Servant announced His Royal Highness the Prince, 
 This Royal Gentleman was only distinguished from 
 others by his great affability and Good Humour. 
 Your Father sat by Him some time on a Couch and 
 They were making Jokes and Laughing most heartily. 
 At Last He said, Looking at Emily and I, who were 
 
288 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1806 
 
 of the other Side of the Room in Black : ' So we 
 have Lost our poor old Friend the archbishop !' — 
 Then He Came to me, was very gracious and Reccol- 
 lected hearing Emily play at Stow. He insisted 
 upon Handing her to the Piano, where She played, 
 if anything, beyond her usual Style ; for, the more 
 Splendid the audience, the more brilliant is her 
 exertion. 
 
 The Prince was really delighted, for I perceive 
 He Likes Instrumental Musick. Grassini afterwards 
 Sung and had not with the Prince the Success She 
 is accustomed to. He does not Like her voice, which 
 is very Low and to my taste. But that evening She 
 was not in fashion. She is also very handsome and 
 a most Superior actress at the opera. 
 
 On Monday Last, it being the Race Ball, The 
 Prince, Mrs. Fitzherbert, and all the fine Company 
 attended the Rooms — Otherways People of Distinc- 
 tion never go there in Summer. We followed the 
 Fashion. The Room is magnificent, with Sophas 
 Like at Almacks. 
 
 The Sneyds have a very good House at Brighton 
 and it is their Constant Residence. He is one of 
 the Prince's Chaplains ; we have dined there and 
 met Lord Thurlow, who is here with his eldest 
 daughter, Mrs. Brown. He is in a most uncomfort- 
 able, unwieldy, debilitated State of Health, but his 
 mind as vigorous as ever. 
 
 Mrs. Brown married against his Wishes, and He 
 has only Seen her within two years. The Husband 
 He will not admit of — He is a Major in the army 
 
i«o6] THE PRINCE AND MRS. FITZHERBERT 289 
 
 and is well spoken of, but Lord Thurlow will not 
 hear of Him. She was his favourite daughter and 
 appears to be very aimiable. 
 
 On Sunday Last, after I had Closed my Letter to 
 you, arrived (on foot) Mrs, Fitzherbert, & Little Miss 
 Seymour, a pretty Child not quite 8 years old and a 
 Little taller than Agnes. Mrs. Fitzherbert was very 
 pleasing and Conversible, said She imputed her Late 
 ill Health to the uneasiness She had undergone for 
 this Little Girl ; that She was particularly fond of 
 Children, and Should have Liked to have had a 
 dozen of her own. 
 
 About 8 o'clock I had a note from her, Saying that 
 She was ordered by the Prince to desire we would 
 go that evening to the Pavilion. So we put ourselves 
 immediately in proper attire and went at 10 oclock, 
 the usual Hour. But the Prince having dined at 
 Lord Berkeleys with all his Set, we found Him alone 
 Returned, with a Major Bloomfeld who is always in 
 attendance upon Him. 
 
 When the door of the Long Chinese Room opened, 
 and I saw Him and the Major Solus at the other 
 End, I stopped a minute uncertain whether to enter. 
 He called out Come in and then Ran down the Room 
 to make excuses for the peremptory order, saying 
 He did not know who was at the door. He then 
 welcomed us all four, and it is really not to be 
 described how aimably Polite and facinating his 
 manners are, on his own ground. — The most finished 
 
 VOL. I. 19 
 
290 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1806 
 
 Civility, joined to the utmost degree of good natured 
 affability. 
 
 He was sitting by a Piano when we first entered, 
 which He said was Lately arrived, and wanted to 
 know if it was a good one ; Desired Emily would try 
 it, then brought me a chair, insisted on my sitting 
 down, and not to mind his moving about. Emily 
 played, and He was much pleased. We were above 
 a quarter of an Hour thus, en Societe, and then arrived 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert who told me she had written the 
 note at Lord Berkeley's, during Dinner, by the 
 Prince's order. Before She arrived He said to me, 
 ' so you had old Gruffy at Dinner, How is he ?' (Lord 
 Thurlow — I had mentioned to Mrs. Fitzherbert that 
 we expected Him). He then entered into Conversa- 
 tion Like any one else, excepting with infinitely more 
 fascinating ease about Him. We have been at the 
 Pavilion again twice, and on Friday the Prince went 
 to London. 
 
 On the Pavilion Nights two Rooms are open ; 
 there are Card tables in the Long Room, and the 
 Prince's Band of German Musicians playing in the 
 next. He is uncommonly fond of Musick. Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert usually is at Cards, Mrs. Walpole also ; 
 the other Ladies walk about or Converse softly, for 
 there Reigns a proper Subordination in the appart- 
 ment, and his affability is not abused of. There are 
 perhaps rather too few People there, but more Com- 
 pany is expected. Lady Downshire, Lady Barry- 
 more, the Duchess de Castries, Lady Emily Best, 
 Lady Charlotte Lenox, Mrs. Browne (Lord Thurlow's 
 daughter) Mrs. Musters, are the Ladies I have hitherto 
 
i8o6] 'OLD GRUFFY' 
 
 291 
 
 seen there, with various Men, also the Sneyd Family. 
 On Tuesday, the Prince's Birthday, there will be a 
 Ball and Supper at the Rooms in Compliment to the 
 occasion. All the good Company go there, otherways 
 the Rooms are quite mauvais ton. The Prince Him- 
 self will go on Tuesday. We Shall Leave Brighton 
 this week, so pray direct your next letter to Bolton 
 Row. 
 
 I believe the Dinner by the Sea side, must have 
 been at Lord Thurlow's, who has a House on the 
 Cliff. 
 
 14. 
 
 On Monday last all the Royal Brothers, except 
 the Duke of Cumberland, arrived at the Pavilion, 
 also the three Orleans Princes. In the evening we 
 were Summoned and found there the usual private 
 Party of Ladies, with the addition of Royalties, and 
 numerous gentlemen. The Concert and Cards in 
 two Rooms, and the middle magnificent Octagon 
 Room open. 
 
 The R. Brothers were all in great Spirits, and 
 particularly Polite to everyone there. The Tuesday, 
 the Prince's Birth Day, the Band were all ,morning 
 Playing upon the Lawn, before our Window, the 
 Prince and all his Royal Guests walking about, and 
 the two Little Fitz Clarences and Miss Seymour, 
 Running. There was a grand Review by the Duke 
 of York, and in the evening an assembly at the 
 Rooms where every Body attended to pay their 
 Compliments. 
 
292 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1806 
 
 Last Night there was a magnificent Ball — the 
 whole neighbourhood invited, all the Pavihon illu- 
 minated, and a very fine supper. We Came home 
 this morning at three o'clock. 
 
 London 
 
 Saturday. i6. 
 
 I left Brighton, my dear, a few Minutes after 
 writing to you, and nothing entertaining has hap- 
 pened since to Relate. We Stopped to dine about 
 6 o'clock at Crawley, and, as we were yet in the 
 scent of Royalty, the Duke of Sussex arrived a few 
 minutes after, in a Landau with three other gentle- 
 men, foreigners. They dined at the same Inn and 
 the Duke marched out to Look at the arms of our 
 equipage. He is grown to be of an immense size, 
 but has extremely bad Health, violent fits of astma— 
 He had two during the short time He was at the 
 Pavilion. At the Post after, where we were obliged 
 to Stop, were the three Orleans Princes. Yesterday 
 morning we reached London and I had the pleasure 
 of your Letter. John Joseph, overflowing with 
 hideousness. Came for dinner. 
 
 19- 
 
 John Manners has made a great match. The 
 Duchess of Roxburgh and He had a passion for one 
 another, before the Duke intervened his opacity 
 between them. Now, vogue La GaUre ! 
 
i8o6] THE ARCHBISHOP'S LAST MOMENTS 293 
 
 I think myself obliged to Say that the account I 
 receive from the Abbe is really Satisfactory, and that 
 Dumont's Evidence Corroborates the other. In short 
 I find that the Archbishop's Last moments have 
 given Edification, and that it pleased Almighty God 
 that His all powerful Grace should Cover the Sinner. 
 This is the Abba's Narrative : 
 
 A good pious Priest, the Sunday before his Decease 
 (tho' quite as well as usual) remarked that His manner 
 of attending Prayers was different. He had no 
 Reading occupation and appeared to be Listening 
 with the decorum that such an occasion Requires. 
 After Mass was over He said to the Baron de Pujols 
 (an elderly Friend of his, who usually Came there on 
 Sundays) and to the abb6 Raquin : — ' Allons, Mes- 
 sieurs, nous avons rempli notre devoir de Chretiens, 
 allez faire une promenade, et moi je vais m'occuper 
 dans mon Cabinet.' 
 
 Monday and Tuesday passed as usual, Wednesday 
 He Complained of feeling une Goute vague, but had 
 his Little Party as usual. On the Thursday morning, 
 at iive o'clock. He sent for the Abbe Raquin, said 
 He had not Slept but was putting his feet in a Bain 
 de foin to draw the gout out of the Stomach. He 
 then returned to Bed, and fell asleep. When He 
 rose He Looked very ill, said he felt so. Lord Dillon 
 then arrived, persuaded Him to go to Bed, and said 
 that He would Send Doctor Saunders to Consult with 
 the French Doctor. After Lord D. was gone He 
 
294 JERNJNGHAM LETTERS [1806 
 
 had a strong frisson, Looked alarmed, and mentioned 
 an idea of dyeing. When He was undressed and in 
 Bed, He got better ; the Doctors Came, and some- 
 thing was ordered for Him. From that moment the 
 Abbe says He Became as a Lamb, not a word of 
 Complaint or an uneasy Look, said : ' La volonte de 
 Dieu soit faite, il m'a donne une Longue vie, et il est 
 Le maitre de La faire finir.' 
 
 That Night the Abbe Clement and a Nurse set up 
 with Him. In the morning the abb6 Clement told 
 Raquin that, about 4 o'clock. He had thought the 
 Archbishop so ill that He had assisted Him, in the 
 most unctious manner He Could, for the next World; 
 that the agonisant had expressed the greatest Con- 
 trition for his Sins, joined to an Humble Confession 
 in the Boundless Mercy of Almighty God, and that 
 He had pronounced the Solemn absolution upon 
 Him. Some of the Bishops then arrived and Came 
 into his Room. He spoke to them all, but desired 
 the Bishop of Rodez to Stay behind. The Abbe of 
 Course Left the Room, and the Bishop of Rodez 
 Came out to desire the Holy oils might be brought, 
 as the dying man had a Continued want of bringing 
 something off his Stomach and He Could not receive 
 the Viaticum. The Abbe Clement gave Him the 
 extreme unction and He desired Raquin to bring a 
 Latin Bible and a Breviary, to read diiferent passages 
 to Him. Thus He was employed the whole evening 
 and said several times to Raquin, ' Tu me rends un 
 grand Service.' The abbe presented the Crucifix to 
 Him, and he joined his Hands saying ' mon Dieu 
 ayez Pitie de moi.' In a word, thus was he occupied 
 
295 
 
 i8o6] FROM THE POET 
 
 and Sensible to his Last moment, which was on the 
 Saturday at 8 o'clock in the morning. 
 
 From Edward Jerningham {the Poet) to Lady 
 Bedingfeld. 
 
 My beloved excentricity, 
 
 I am just come from a Dinner that was re- 
 markable only for being an assembly of virgins —The 
 Dinner was at the House of Mr. Baber, who is 
 unmarried, with his Two virgin sisters. To whom 
 were added Mr. Meade (just arrived from Paris with 
 his Two maiden sisters) and your humble servant, 
 who has a presumptive claim to that Appellation. 
 Another Dramatis persona was a favourite Tom Cat, 
 whom they assured me had never been out of the 
 cloister and consequently was one of the order of 
 celibacy — 
 
 I have seen Two persons who have assisted at the 
 play when the young Roscius performed at Liver- 
 pool — And no words, nor even Imagination, they 
 pretend, can arise to the wonderful professions of 
 this genius — He is to Exhibit six Times before 
 Christmas at Covent Garden — I have seen the Pro- 
 logue written by a friend of mine, to be spoken by 
 Kemble. I Think I could have written a better, but 
 it is not devoid of merit on that account. The Idea 
 of Minerva rushing from the mind of Jove He has 
 happily chosen. 
 
296 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1806 
 
 The news of the moment is That L** Grosvnor 
 has purchased The Queen's house for one hundred 
 Thousand Pound. — 
 
 I saw the Harcourts yesterday evening. They 
 told me That the King really Intends going to the 
 Play at Covent Garden en gargon, and That the 
 Prince has resigned his private Box to his Majesty 
 for that purpose. He means to go with one or Two 
 attendants — I do not seethe object of this singularity 
 — It is letting Down Royalty and nothing in my 
 mind can sanction This unprecedented Act but an 
 invincible reason — But all the reason I can collect 
 is to deversify to the Evening and to promote 
 his sleeping, which his going out is calculated to 
 promote. I still hope He will be persuaded to 
 decline This Intention which appears to be so un- 
 popular. 
 
 The Town has resumed something of its winter 
 Bustle, But next week it will relapse into Quiet! 
 The month of November is gloomy but warm, and 
 towards the middle it affords me a peculiar Enter- 
 tainment at the close of Day — which is the going to 
 Westminster Abbey at the half Hour past Three 
 during the service : The last glimmer of the Light, 
 and sometimes the faint ray which hovers over the 
 summit of the monuments, the chant, the organ, the 
 growing darkness, the whole scene diffuses an 
 Enchantment, and I retain all the rest of the Day a 
 certain pleasingly meditative, poetic. Cathedral 
 sensibility which I cannot describe. 
 
i8o6] THE KING EN GARCON 297 
 
 December 27. 
 
 Lord Dillon was in town a few days, and in- 
 advertently got himself into a scrape. Supposing 
 that perhaps you have not heard the account of it, I 
 will briefly say that, previous to a Dinner at Sir 
 William Moseley, Ld. Dillon was asked how his son's 
 election in Ireland was going on. He replied That 
 Tyranley has used the most unjustifiable means of 
 opposing his son &c. &c. 
 
 This excited the Indignation of Mr. Cuff, who, in 
 Terms Equally provoking, endeavoured to vindicate 
 his Father. The Two opponents however remained 
 Dinner : and an awkward Dinner it must have been 
 — Mr. Hutchinson, who was to have been Mr. Cuffs 
 second, proposed himself as peacemaker and the 
 business was amicably settled. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 COSSEY. 
 
 27. December. 
 
 I had yesterday a Letter Franked — H. A. Dillon 
 and dated Clare, 19. December; the inside was, 
 Castle M'Garrett, and to Let me know that He was 
 there and going to be married to the young Lady of 
 the House, Miss Browne, daughter to Mr. Browne of 
 the said Castle, ' one of the most ancient Families in 
 the Province and a great Conexion.' He adds : ' all 
 I shall say at present is, that Miss Browne is every 
 thing that you Could wish Her to be.' (I am in 
 hopes she may be a Catholick) His Father however 
 
298 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1806 
 
 has not answered the overture made to Him ; but He 
 says He is quite resolved upon it, and I do suppose 
 the owners of Castle M 'Garrett will not easily let 
 Him off. 
 
 He says again thus : ' pray give my Love to my 
 dear Cousin, Lady Bedingfeld, and tell Her of this. 
 I Cannot make Miss Browne's Elogium more, than 
 to say in the Irish way, that they will be dear 
 Friends.' He tells me to direct a Letter to him, 
 Hollymount Ireland. What will be the result of all 
 this I cannot in my own mind determine, but I am glad 
 to see that He is Constant in his Regard and opinion 
 of you. The poor Little Agnes Matilda, Fanny 
 Charlotte will, I hope, be well brought up by her 
 poor Mother, and have some Little provision made 
 for Both ; the Mother is a Catholick. He has 
 sealed this Famous Epistle with 4 quarterings, 
 Dillon, Lee, the Royal arms with the Baton 
 (Fitzroy) and the Fourth is a Chevron and a Little 
 thing in the Corner — I cannot guess what Arms 
 they are. 
 
 Adieu My Dear, I have began a Cold and my 
 Head announces Snow, but I hope I am mistaken. 
 Ever your affectionate Mother. 
 
 From Edward jferningham {the Poet) to Lady 
 
 jferningham. 
 
 Feb. 7. 1807. 
 
 London is said to be very dull but I find it much as 
 usual : The great Assemblies I no longer frequent but 
 
i8o7] MADAME CATALAN I 299 
 
 the places I haunt wear much the same complexion. 
 The Theatres are seldom favoured with my visits, 
 tho' I have free access to them. Dinners I perceive 
 are creeping more into the Evening which excludes 
 almost any Theatrical amusements. I have however 
 frequently attended the vocal Prodigy — Catalani. 
 
 In a long course of operas I do not recollect a 
 voice of such Power and Extent — and of such 
 volubility. I have not yet been pleasingly affected 
 by her ; The music she has sung hitherto has been 
 chiefly Adapted to Astonish. I had the unexpected 
 pleasure of hearing her in a private Room last night, 
 It was at Ldy Stafford. The card only said a very 
 early and small party. There was only, as a musical 
 Performer, Ferrari who accompanied her upon an 
 indifferent Instrument. She Executed three or four 
 difficult Airs ; her voice, to use her own word {voce 
 gigantesca), is too loud for a chamber and she does 
 not appear wiUing to withold or restrain it. She is 
 rather pretty, a very fair skin, beautiful shape and 
 the best temper'd and chearful creature to ap- 
 pearence. 
 
 Somebody— I think it was Mr. Knight, the Author, 
 who was one of the party — said that her voice was 
 like a great Picture by a great Master that required 
 Height, space, and distance; with which she was 
 pleased. She had with her a large red-morocco case 
 to carry her songs, upon which were written in gold 
 letters Angelica Catalani. I told her that was not 
 her name (I was holding the case while she took out 
 a song) ; she said ' Comment done ?' I said the first 
 word was certainly hers in every signification, but 
 
30O JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1807 
 
 that Catalan! was not her name, as she was married. 
 This nonsense which I thought and Intended only 
 for her ear, so deHghted her that she repeated it to 
 every body who was near the Piano forte — There 
 were not above Twenty persons present. Among 
 whom was the Prince who requested her to sing a 
 pathetic slow song which she ornamented too 
 much. 
 
 I had not seen the Prince to speak to but at the 
 Opera, and en passant, but the full and long view I 
 had of Him last night gave me pain. I find his 
 countenance altered, not so much from the reduction 
 of his enbonpoint, as from a sallowness and an ex- 
 pression in his eye as if he suffered mental and 
 corporeal pain. He assumed a chearfulness but it 
 was visibly put on from his good humour and a wish 
 to please. He did not stay supper — at least I heard 
 Him say He would not. I had an offer of a carriage 
 and so I did not remain for the supper, to which all 
 were asked and which was to take place at Twelve. 
 
 From Lady J-erningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 London, 
 
 May 22. 
 
 We have received by Lady Shaftesbury various 
 papers Relating to dates &c. belonging to the Family, 
 and now the grand affair of the Title must be com- 
 menced. The Dear Lawyer in our Family says that 
 it turns solely upon one question : the Viscount 
 Stafford and the Heiress having been first created 
 
i8o7] THE STAFFORD PEERAGE 301 
 
 Baron and Baroness Stafford for them and their 
 Heirs. There is not a doubt of its having Com- 
 prehended the Female Line and that Conveys the 
 Honor directly to your Father. But Lord Stafford's 
 Blood was Contaminated by the attainder — Query : 
 Could his Wife solely convey the Peerage — when 
 the Creation was to Both and their posterity? It 
 must be now decided upon, tho' it is a bad moment 
 for to Revert to Popery and to the injustice that has 
 been done in former Reigns from that foolish cry. 
 
 The Miss Le Tourneurs have again this year their 
 subscription Concerts ; on Wednesday it was here, 
 on Thursday next it is to be in Hanover Square at 
 Mr. Warre's House (He is brother to Mrs. Hardy) 
 and the third will be, at Mrs. Baldwin's in Grosvenor 
 Square. It is quite the fashionable way of having 
 Musick and gives very Little trouble. 
 
 25. 
 
 I am afraid I am getting into Mr. Hargrave's 
 style, alembique and unintelligible. You will see a 
 Learned note de sa fagon in the paper, following all 
 the Heirs Lawfully begotten on the ancient Bodies 
 of Stafford Ladies, from the time that Millicent 
 married the Bagot. Hargrave says that your Father 
 is Earl of Hereford, Essex, Stafford, &c. &c. If we 
 get the Barony it will do very well for the present. 
 Lady Stafford was a whole Peeress, but the question 
 in Law is, whether she could Convey singly the 
 title, the words being their Heirs. 
 
302 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1807 
 
 I went a few nights since to Cramers benefit, and 
 heard Naldi Sing ; he has a delightful voice. 
 
 The poor Due de Monpensier died at Salt Hill on 
 his Road to Bristol or Dawlish. In the Morning 
 He felt a Little Better, and wished to take a walk 
 in the Inn Garden ; the Due of Orleans, who was 
 dotingly fond of Him, and another French gentle- 
 man supported him, when suddenly He sat down, 
 Leaning upon his Brother, and said ' Je me meurs, 
 Dieu ayez pitie de mon ante ' and expired. The 
 Duke of Orleans was quite raving with distress. He 
 was convey'd to Lord Bute's House at Luton where 
 He is yet. The Body will be brought this evening 
 privately to town and deposited in the French 
 Chapel. Priests will attend all Night, to-morrow 
 the Burial Service will be performed, and, by the 
 King's order. He will be conveyed to a vault in 
 Westminster Abbey. He was supposed to have the 
 most Charactere of any of them, and had a talent for 
 Painting equal to an Artist's. 
 
 From Edward Jerningham {the Poet) to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Dear Divinity, 
 
 I must have recourse to you in all my 
 Difficulties — I left a pair of shoes at your House — 
 and I am now a slip-shod old sybil instead of a 
 veteran Bard — I should be much obliged if you could 
 contrive to convey the children of Crispin to me. 
 Y"'^ in great haste, 
 
 Y" DEVOTED Bare-footed Bard. 
 
i8o7] MADAME DE LA FAYETTE 303 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 CossEY, OR Lapland. 
 
 Friday, 12 February. 
 
 Your tall Cousen has sent me, an extrait of a 
 Letter from Paris which is interesting. 
 
 1807. 
 
 Madame de La Fayette est morte a Paris, Hier 
 Le 24 d6cembre a minuit. Elle 6toit Fille du 
 Cidevant due d'Agen (fils du Mar6chal de Noailles) 
 et Femme du G6n6ral La Fayette. 
 
 Elle doit ^tre Longtems et g6neralement regret^e. 
 Fidelle ^ tous Les devoirs, ils furent toujours ses 
 Seuls Plaisirs, ornees de toutes Les Vertues, Pieuse, 
 Modeste, Charitable, S6vere pour elle-meme, in- 
 dulgente pour Les autres, elle fut du petit nombres 
 des Personnes dont La Reputation pure et intacte 
 a Regu un nouvel eclat par Les malheurs de notre 
 Revolution. Ruin6s par nos orages, i peine par- 
 raissait-elle se rappeller quelle avoit joui d'une 
 grande et Brillante Fortune. 
 
 Les Malheureux et Les indigens seuls la regret- 
 terent ; C'6tait Leur Patrimoine quelle avait Perdu. 
 
 A peine delivre des Prisons de Robespierre, ou elle 
 avoit montr6 une fermete inalterable et d'oii Sa Mere 
 et sa Soeur n'6toient Sorties que pour monter k 
 L'6chafaud: elle Courut avec Ses Filles se jetter 
 dans Les Cachots d'Olmuts en Moravie, pour y par- 
 tager Le sort, et Le Sort affreux de Son Epoux. 
 Son Courage H6roique, Ses Soins tendres et Con- 
 tinuels, y soutinrent Son existence : mais Son Sang 
 
304 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [i8o8 
 
 Re9ut dans L'air infecte de ces Souterains Le poison, 
 qui apres des Souffrances Longues et douleureuse 
 vient de terminer Sa vie. 
 
 Elle est morte entour6e d'une Famille nombreuse, 
 qui adressoient au Ciel des voeux ardens pour sa 
 Conservation. Les devoirs Saints de La Religion 
 Remplis, elle Cessoit de Parler, mais Sa Bouche 
 exprimoit encore un Sourire Reconnoissant i I'aspect 
 de son Epoux, et de Ses Enfans, qui arrosoient de 
 Leurs Larmes son Lit, ses mains, et Son visage. 
 
 Tout Le monde doit pleurer Madame de La 
 Fayette, elle fut Le Bonheur de sa Famille, L'appui 
 des Pauvres, La Consolation des affliges, L'ornement 
 de sa Patrie, et L'honneur de Son Sexe. 
 
 She was really I have always heard a most truly 
 Virtuous Woman ! 
 
 Bolton M£me. 
 March 24. 
 
 The House Looks quite Comfortable, and Clean, 
 bright yellow. Antonio is gone out, so I Cannot 
 yet give an account of the man in Charles Street. I 
 hope that Mr. Vansittart Came to you, when one 
 Considers what Sums people pay for Houses in 
 London the Rent for enjoying so noble a House and 
 game Land is nothing. Lord Kenmare paid annually 
 Soo'" for his House in Portman Square and Lady 
 Clonmell was very glad to take it off his Hands at 
 the same Rate; some Houses are 1000^ a year. 
 
i8o8] AN ODD BOOK 305 
 
 Lord Shaftesbury's in Portland Place is Let at that 
 Rate, and then to think of poor dear Oxburgh having 
 Bogglers about the Price ! it is odious. 
 
 Your tall Cousin has just been here. As you will 
 perceive his Subscription is got up to 1800^; the 
 Duke of Devonshire gave his 500^, very quietly. He 
 met Bedingfeld in Piccadilly and asked him to Come 
 in to Devonshire House. They went into the Duke's 
 Room which He says was a very modest one, and 
 the Duke taking the Candlestick said : ' If I Can get 
 a Light, I will give you a draft for 500^" for I have 
 read your Papers and highly approve of them.' 
 
 April 4. 
 
 Mr. Lawless has published his Life, in two volumes, 
 which I shall Send you. He mentions his visit to 
 Sir William Jennington at C, four miles from N., 
 where He found Sir Richard and Lady Bedingrove^ 
 Talks of the Last Locks, your genius gave to His, 
 on the N. turnpike. Your Uncle thought it an 
 impertinent performance, and gave it me to Read as 
 Such, but I do not dislike it at all. He mentions 
 my having even in declining years Intelligence and 
 Spirit. In short it is an odd Book. 
 
 It was early in this year that the Comte de Provence, or, 
 rather, King Louis XVIII., as it was the ion ton to call the heir 
 VOL. I. 20 
 
3o6 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1808 
 
 to the throne of France, begged the British Government to 
 receive him in England. He had spent several years at 
 Mittau, the guest of the Tsar, and some time in Sweden, but 
 was now desirous of drawing nearer to Monsieur. Some 
 opposition, however, being made to his being received as King, 
 he came to England as Comte de Lille. The landing only took 
 place in August, but the Due d'Angoul6me, his nephew, left 
 England early in the spring to go and meet him. 
 
 If you had been at Yarmouth you would have 
 Seen the due d'Angoul^me, who goes there from 
 Gosfield to a frigate the government have ordered 
 for Him, to bring over his Wife and the Queen. 
 The Piety of the Due and Duchess d'Angoul^me is 
 said by the Worldly part of the emigration to be 
 extreme, but I believe it is only Super-eminently 
 Perfect and Innocent. She saw early the sad 
 miseries of this World and imbibed from her aunt, 
 Madame Elizabeth, the knowledge of the Cross of 
 Christ as the only Source of Consolation. The due 
 himself was always pious, but is become infinitely 
 more so since his marriage. In short the French 
 Princes are eminent examples ; that is Monsieur and 
 Louis XVIII. 
 
 The Comte de Beaujolais is in a Consumption 
 and his Brother is gone with Him for change of air 
 to Malta. 
 
 Lady Shrewsbury is at home every Monday, to 
 Cats ; and Lady Buckingham every Wednesday, to 
 all her Acquaintance. I have Cards from Both, but 
 Cannot even make a morning visit, to be Let in, 
 much Less an evening excursion. 
 
i8o8] THE FRENCH PRINCES 307 
 
 Lady Mary Primrose walked out of her Mother's 
 House to meet a Mr. Shepherd, a young Lawyer of 
 24, and they were married. She is 30. Lord Rose- 
 berry is in Scotland and They dread his premier move- 
 ment ! Mr. Shepherd is Son to a Considerable 
 Lawyer and is himself very Clever. 
 
 May 21. 
 
 Yesterday I went to See Mr. Lancaster's School 
 in Southwark, and a most wonderful Sight it is. In 
 a very Large Room that He Has partly Built are 
 Rows of Desks, and five hundred Boys are taught 
 Reading, writing, orthography, and areithmetic, at 
 the rate of about 7 shillings per year. Lancaster is the 
 only master over these Children : and they are all in 
 the strictest Military order. Boys, whom He Calls 
 Monitors, overlook those Less advanced than them- 
 selves, and the whole goes on Like Clock work. He 
 teaches writing, reading, and spelling together. A 
 great many School Masters from the Country were 
 walking about to examine the method of it. He is 
 a quaker, and has the most good natured Coun- 
 tenance and manner that Can be. I do not myself 
 yet Comprehend why the Children Learn reading 
 sooner there, but He says that six months is Suf- 
 ficient for a Common knowledge of Reading ; and I 
 saw Slates of Boys about 10 years old written in a 
 Master's Hand. 
 
 Flogging is unknown of; there are various other 
 marks of disgrace which have a great effect. The 
 
3o8 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1808 
 
 little Boys are put into a wooden Cradle ; and if the 
 Cradle is ordered to be rocked the Obloquy is 
 dreadful. Others are Sentenced to keep their Finger 
 in their mouth, and this has the double effect of 
 making that Habit, which many Children have 
 naturally, be felt as disgraceful. The bigger Boys 
 have wooden Collars and some are drawn up in a 
 Cage, but all goes on without manual infliction. 
 There is a great Party against Him, but, I trust, a 
 Still more Powerful one for Him. He gets no 
 pecuniary emolument, the Subscriptions go for the 
 Charity. 
 
 You will have read in the Paper that Lady Boving- 
 don has Left her Husband and three Children, and 
 has eloped with S"' Arthur Paget. She was Lady 
 Augusta Fane, and is very pretty. Lord Bovingdon 
 is a very handsome Man also, but had the indelible 
 Stain of being her Husband. Sir Arthur Paget is 
 reckoned particularly ill tempered and has already 
 treated several Ladies very improperly. 
 
 24. 
 
 Lord Bovingdon is now greatly Blamed. He had 
 kept up an intimacy, formed before his marriage, 
 with Lady Elizabeth Monk, and the Knowledge of 
 it had Caused a great deal of uneasiness to Lady 
 Bovingdon. But the fatality is that she has flung 
 herself for Protection on the man Least Likely to 
 behave decently towards Her, Sir Arthur Paget 
 being notoriously ill tempered and having made a 
 
i8o8] SIR ARTHUR PAGET 309 
 
 Practice of Playing with the feehngs of the miserable 
 women He Could engage to notice Him. 
 
 The Marchioness of Buckingham has taken poor 
 Lady Kenmare's Place, for receiving all Cats at her 
 assembly. . . . And I am afraid Emily will hurt 
 herself by sitting up too Late : three and four in the 
 morning she has lately undergone, and with the per- 
 mission and Company of her dear Sposo. 
 
 Miss Jones is become the most famous Minature 
 Paintress in London, her price 30 guineas and 25. 
 She says that, had she to begin the world again, she 
 would not Learn of any Body, but Continually Copy 
 from the best Masters. 
 
 3°- 
 
 What a dear delightful Man the Bishop of Norwich 
 is ! He dared in his Bench declare his upright and 
 Liberal Sentiment ; and what is more his Speech is 
 said to have been the most eloquent of any made 
 that Night. Indeed He spoke the Honest dictates 
 of his Heart ; all the others, pro and con, were from 
 Political motives. Edward was there the whole 
 Night; also Lord Fingall, Robert Clifford, Bishop 
 Milner and many other Cats. Bishop Milner's Book 
 was often quoted, but a mistake was made about 
 the Irish proposal ; one name is to be presented to 
 the King ; and if He rejects it, another ; and so on 
 till there is approbation, but not three at a time, as 
 it might then degenerate into ambitious Contention, 
 
3IO JERNINGHAM LETTERS [i8o8 
 
 and not so well bespeake the Humble episcopacy, 
 that is to be named to. 
 
 The Stafford Petition has been ordered by the 
 Lords to be printed for their table, and I hope 
 there will be time for it to be heard. Banbury and 
 Roxburgh go first. 
 
 London is now at its fullest Period, but it is not a 
 Place for invalids, as people are too fond of a Crowd 
 to make evening visits. 
 
 Lady Bovingdon always Liked this S"" Arthur 
 Paget, had even talked of the matter to Her Hus- 
 band and Father. It is said that she went to the 
 nursery and kissed her Children before she walked 
 away. What a dreadful thing ! 
 
 London Hotel, Ramsgate, 
 /une 2. 
 
 The evening before I left London I was agreably 
 surprised with a visit from the Popes Nuncio, Mon- 
 signor Cappelli Archbishop of Nisibio. He was 
 Nuncio at Lisbon, and is here on his way to the 
 Brazils, to be with the same Sovereigns. He and 
 Bishop Milner had dined at Sir John Hippessleys, 
 and they all three adjourned to Bolton Row wishing 
 to visit where they would give Pleasure. 
 
 The Nuncio is a very tall. Elderly Handsome 
 Man, the Countenance I should have given to S' 
 John Chrisostom. He speaks French perfectly. He 
 expressed his gratitude and partiality for the English 
 
i8o8] HON SIGN OR CAPELLI 311 
 
 Nation. Government gives him a Frigate for America ; 
 and at Plymouth a great Dinner was given Him 
 where the Pope's Health was drank standing, and 
 He could not help shedding tears of gratitude and 
 attendrissement. He says the whole Continent is a 
 Prison. What wonderful Changes are permitted to 
 take place ! 
 
 Sir John Hippsley is a most strenuous friend of 
 the Catholicks. 
 
 Sir John Cox Hippesley, Bart., F.R.S., F.S.A., one of the 
 managers of the Royal Institution. He was engaged in various 
 diplomatic negotiations. From having been employed in 
 arranging the marriage between the Princess Royal of England 
 and the King of WUrtemberg, Sir John obtained letters patent 
 from that Prince, granting to himself and descendants the right 
 to bear the arms of the House of WUrtemberg. He died in 
 1 82 5". — -Journal of Mary Frampton. 
 
 My dearest Charlotte, 
 
 I write to you from Lapland, there never was 
 a Colder Place than this has been ever since the Day 
 we arrived. The Sea our only companion — not a 
 Single Being here but Lady. Edward Bentinck, who 
 is Such very Mauvaise Compagnie that she Cannot be 
 recognised, and Lady Dunmore and two Daughters 
 who are reigning upon another Cliff with their String 
 of Peccadillos round them. This account gives an 
 idea of great Prudery on my Side ; but I should 
 really be disposed to be otherways, for Society Sake, 
 if it were possible. 
 
312 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1808 
 
 TuNBRiDGE Wells, 
 
 Sunday, /ufy 2. 
 
 We dined and slept on Wednesday at Hales Place, 
 where we met with the most Friendly Reception. 
 Lady Hales is, as you know, a most pleasing Woman, 
 and Sir Edward an excellent poor good man. I 
 Can now really see a Likeness in Him to my Grand- 
 mother, Lady Litchfield, when she was past 50. 
 She was his great aunt, so there may be family 
 Likeness. 
 
 The whole Darell Family were there : the Father, 
 whose manners and Looks are pleasing, the Son, 
 a chearfiil pleasant young man, two unmarried 
 daughters, and Mrs. French, a Widow with five 
 Children. She is very much alter'd but agreable. 
 The eldest Miss Darell is, I think, on a visit at Fitz- 
 walters. Part of the House at Hales Place is taken 
 down, and the distant Wings hold to the Body of 
 the Mansion by a Colonade, but it is yet a very noble 
 dwelling and the State apartment that I Lay in are 
 very magnificent — Light Green Damask Hangings 
 and Bed with a great deal of Gilding, Beautiful 
 French Comodes & Glasses ; and a most Valuable 
 Family Picture by Sir Peter Lely, in the best pre- 
 servation. It is of Sir Edward Hales, in James II 
 Reign, with his Wife, daughter of Sir Francis Winde- 
 bank, and 4 sons, Children — The Second, a very hand- 
 some Boy with a mantle flung over His Shoulders, 
 became Sir John Hales and my great Grandfather. 
 I never saw a Family Picture so pleasing, but no 
 
i8o8] A VISIT TO THE BISHOP 313 
 
 Portrait Painter was ever better to my taste than 
 Sir Peter Lely. 
 
 COSSEY, 28. August. 
 
 Jour de S^ Augustin. 
 
 I had not yet made my ReconciUation visit, we 
 found the Lord, and Lady Wodehouse, two daughters, 
 Mrs. William Wodehouse, Mr, Wayland and his 
 daughter, and were graciously Received. 
 
 But our visit the day before to the good Bishop 
 was the most Cordial. From the Castle Medow 
 (where Lord Kenmare was quite pleased to find you 
 so well) we went to the Palace. The Servants gave 
 us what the French Call a not at home, and we pro- 
 ceeded to the Cathedral, having given in the parcel 
 of Cards written on your table. After a few minutes 
 Looking about at the tombs (Edward making the 
 Man stare at his abuse of the Ceiling white washing 
 etc) I perceived the good Bishop walking in haste 
 up the Isle towards us. He said He had just then 
 heard of our visit, that Mrs. Bathurst and his Eldest 
 daughter were out, but that He entreated we would 
 Come and stop a Little while at the Palace and take 
 something. When He first arrived Lord Kenmare 
 was with Lady Mary Ann, and his Son in the Cloister ; 
 so I took that opportunity of saying that Lord Ken- 
 mare had a particular wish of paying his Respects 
 to Him, as indeed every Catholick must have, for 
 his great goodness and Liberality, and for the Benefit 
 his enlightened way of deffending the Cause must 
 produce. 
 
314 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1808 
 
 He replied that He had had it for a Long time at 
 Heart to Speak his Sentiments on the occasion, and 
 should never repent what He had done ; that He 
 had the Pleasure of knowing many Catholicks and 
 had ever had reason to know them. In fine we went 
 by his short way to the Palace and talked of Ireland, 
 Killarney, Ditchley; and soon Lord Kenmare was 
 much Satisfied with Him. He knows all the Cootes 
 and it Seems that Mrs. Bathurst before her Marriage 
 was several times at Killarney. 
 
 From Edward Jerningham {the Poet) to Lady 
 Bedingfeld. 
 
 Dear Congeliaty, (sic) 
 
 I have Taken a very long draught of silence. 
 But I can assure you that in the large leaden goblet 
 there was not one drop of oblivion, you have been 
 frequently present to my best Eye of the Three — I 
 mean the mental one. Meeting Sr. Richard so un- 
 expectedly yesterday at Dinner stirr'd you up in my 
 Recollection, and I woke this morning with a deter- 
 mined intent of writing a few Lines. 
 
 The Length of Time That has passed (hke an 
 ocean rolling between us) has, by the favor of 
 Heaven, been calmed and soothed by the halycon 
 wings of Health and content : some finalcian (sic) 
 difficulties have occur'd, but the dear Halycon Bird 
 still perched on my shoulder — I have pursued my In- 
 clination, or rather Appetite, for reading ; and if I 
 have not extended the Limits of my Intellect I have 
 
i8o8] COLERIDGE'S LECTURES 315 
 
 kept up my mind to a certain elevation : and Tho' I 
 cannot Boast of the caducity of Age, yet the old 
 cottage, a little Batter'd and Decay'd— 
 
 Lets in new Light thro' Chinks which Time has made ? 
 
 Scot's Last Poem, has not been read with the 
 same Avidity as the Lay's last Minstrel : I must own 
 the Length, and the Ballad mould in which it is cast, 
 deterred me from perusing it : The same objection 
 adhered to the first Poem, but some interesting pas- 
 sages and The additional Inducement of being your 
 Lecturer was irresistible. 
 
 I attended at the Royal Institution the Lectures 
 of Colleridge upon Shakespear and Milton : I need 
 not observe to you that He is Southey's Friend — My 
 opinion as to the Lecturer is that He possesses a 
 great reach of mind ; That He is a wild Enthusiast 
 respecting the objects of his Elogium ; That He is 
 sometimes very eloquent, sometimes paradoxical, 
 sometimes absurd. His voice has something in it 
 particularly plaintive and interesting. His person is 
 short, Thick, his countenance not inspirited with any 
 Animation. He spoke without any Assistance from 
 a manuscript, and Therefore said several Things 
 suddenly, struck off from the Anvil, some of which 
 were entitled to high Applause and others Incurred 
 mental disapprobation. He too often Interwove 
 Himself into the Texture of his Lecture. I formed 
 an Acquaintance with Him : that is, I generally 
 spoke to Him at the End of the Lecture — with 
 which He appeared much pleased. He was in some 
 respect, I told Him one day, like Abelard : His 
 
3i6 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1808 
 
 Lectures were attended by Ladies of the first 
 fashion, by Judges, and Bishops ; and I could have 
 added since another Resemblance to Abelard, by the 
 Disgrace his course of Lectures concluded with. In 
 one of his Lectures upon Milton, who wrote a short 
 Treatise upon Education, He Abandoned the Treatise 
 of Milton to abuse the plan of Education Instituted 
 by Lancaster, of which plan He spoke in Terms of 
 the utmost Asperity. 
 
 Being Ignorant of Lancaster's mode of Education 
 I went along with the Lecturer and silently Ap- 
 proved. On the day, however, of the next Lecture 
 He appeared much dejected ; his voice assumed a 
 more plaintive sound while he told us That his last 
 had given great offence in speaking Truth. He cou'd 
 hardly at Times refrain from Tears : long pauses 
 sometimes Intervened — and he seemed as if He did 
 not well know how to proceed. 
 
 I hastened to him immediately after the Lecture. 
 He said that some of the proprietors of the Institu- 
 tion were much Displeased with his previous dis- 
 course ; That Sir Henry Englefield had made an 
 attack upon. Him in company, without any prepara- 
 tion, and had said so many harsh Things, That He 
 was obliged to Leave the room. Great Expectations 
 were raised for the Day of the next Lecture and a 
 crowd attended ; but He had sent a Letter to the 
 secretary to Inform him That coming out a Boat the 
 Day before He fell back and hurt his head, and the 
 Continuance of the Pain obliged Him to defer his 
 Lecture. A common personage would have been 
 satisfied with this Information that He had convey'd 
 
i8o8] COLERIDGE AND THE INSTITUTION 317 
 
 to the Secretary ; But Mr. Colleridge goes on in this 
 manner (I read the Letter — and These are the very 
 words) : 
 
 ' The pain however will soon subside, for it does 
 not rise from so recent an Event as yesterday, but 
 from a more distant period. It was when I was at 
 Malta, Two years ago : a person rushed into my 
 Apartment and abruptly announced to me the Death 
 of a dear Friend, this occasioned my falling back- 
 wards and gave a contusion on my head which 
 Brings back the pain occasionally upon any Exertion 
 or Accident.' 
 
 To continue the History of this Lecturer : He 
 appeared among us again in about three weeks after 
 — He looked sullen and told us that He previously 
 had prepared and written down Quotations from 
 different Authors to illustrate the present Lecture. 
 These Quotations he had put among the Leaves of 
 his Pocket Book which was stol'n as He was coming 
 to the Institution. This narrative was not indul- 
 gently received, and He went thro' his Lecture 
 heavily and without advancing any Thing that was 
 spirited and animated — The next Day He received 
 an Intimation from the Managers that his Lectures 
 were no longer Expected — 
 
 I did not Think the royal Institution would have 
 Taken up so much of my Paper — S' Richard yester- 
 day said that I must contrive to come to Yarmouth 
 which would make me quite happy — nous verrons. 
 My old friend L^ Carlisle has been for three months 
 in a return of his odious complaint and which almost 
 reduced Him to invisibility: I had a Letter from 
 
3i8 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1808 
 
 Castle Howard yesterday in a state of serenity if not 
 of chearfulness. I have a copy for you {from Him) 
 one of his Httle poems. 
 
 ' Poor Mrs. Dillon' is the almost invariable formula when any 
 mention of Colonel Henry Dillon's wife is made in the letters. 
 She generally comes forth as an object of wonder to her indul- 
 gent, but decidedly disapproving, relative. She seems to have 
 been extravagant and foolhardy, but what other causes she gave 
 for the universal family disapproval do not appear. 
 
 The account of the treatment she professed to have actually 
 experienced at the hands of British sailors is no doubt extra- 
 ordinary, if quite veracious. Possibly the ungallant tars looked 
 upon her as a ' mere Frenchwoman,' and the decree of Berlin 
 concerning British vessels being at the time in full force, were 
 above all anxious to sheer oiif as soon as possible from the 
 enemy's coast. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 COSSEY. 
 Monday, 14. November. 
 
 Poor Mrs. Dillon is arrived in Holland, but with 
 most shocking disasters. She wrote to Mr. Palmer, 
 her Brother's friend, desiring Him to Let Trant 
 know her situation, and also to tell me she was 
 arrived on the other Coast. But it is dreadful ! As 
 her Letter was to be returned I took down this 
 note: 
 
 ' Peut ttxe aurez vu deji dans Les papiers, Car j'ai 
 Lu moi meme L'article a Amsterdam, que j'ai €t€ 
 jettee k La mer, par des indignes matelots qui m'ont 
 debarquee, que deux fois j'ai touche Le fond et que 
 
i8o8] SHOCKING ADVENTURE 319 
 
 sans ma femme de Chambre, qui fit voir ^ un 
 Homme du Rivage mes pieds audessus des vagues, 
 j'6tois morte. II a expose ses propres jours et en a 
 regu une m6daille d'or, du Roi d'Hollande. 
 
 ' Point de details Car il serait trop Long et trop 
 p6nible a repeter: j'existe et mon Enfant se fait 
 sentir aussi d6ja quatre jours, ainsi c'est plus que je 
 n'avois droit d'esp6rer. Ajoutez a cela que toutes 
 mes malles, ou plutot tons mes effets ont €t€ voles, 
 pill6s. Je n'ai pas sauve une Chemise ni ma femme 
 de Chambre non plus, je ne sais ce que je deviendrai. 
 Me voila sans un sols, ayant emprunte de tout le 
 monde, Linge, et argent. Le Roi, des qu'il a appris 
 mon malheur a envoye un Chambellan avec un 
 Yacht et des ordres de tout faire pour me tirer de 
 La. Mais je n'en ai pas moins souffert, gardee a 
 vue trois jours par les Gendarms et sans plumes ni 
 encre. Pas La permission d'avoir recours i Per- 
 sonne ! Quel malheur ! Quel voiage ! 
 
 ' Je vous en prie, que mon Frere Sache que je n'ai 
 plus une harde. Je suisnue et denuee de tout argent, 
 ayant mis quelque guineas dans ma malle. C'est une 
 Cote de Brigands. Je ferai ce que je pourrai pour 
 Continuer samedi ma route. Le Roi m'a envoye 
 un Yacht pour aller a moitier Chemin d'Anvers. 
 
 ' Nous avons et6 huit jours sur La mer par des 
 temp^tes Eternelles et ce joli petit 6venement a eu 
 Lieu jeudi 20 entre dix et trois heures. Les Dames 
 ont et6 port^es souvent par des Hommes. Mais Les 
 gendarmes arrivant, Ces sailors prennent mes pieds 
 et me jettent pardessus le bord k 300 pas du Rivage 
 et me disent: "make the best of your way, good 
 
320 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1808 
 
 Woman ! and now row off." Moi, tombant au fends, 
 par des vagues affreuses qui par trois fois rendirent 
 mes efforts pour revenir inutiles.' 
 
 It is a dismal Romance ! 
 
 London. 
 Noi^'^ 26. 
 
 I have just been reading in a Magazine that Sheri- 
 dan and his Brother, when very young, appeared to 
 their Mother remarkably dull ; and, when they were 
 sent to a School in Dublin, she tells the Master that 
 She fears her Sons will make a trial of his Patience : 
 ' These Boys will be your tutors in that Virtue. I 
 have hitherto been their only instructor and they 
 have sufficiently exercised mine : for two such im- 
 penetrable dunces I never met with !' At eleven 
 years old Sheridan went to Harrow, and then began 
 to Show Genius. 
 
 On his arrival in England Louis XVIIL declined to proceed 
 to Holyrood — the only place of residence offered him by the 
 Government — but accepted the offer of the Marquess of Bucking- 
 ham's seat at Gosfield. A few months later the French King, 
 with the Duchesse d'AngouMme, moved first to Wanstead, then 
 to Hartwell, where the Court remained established until the 
 first restoration in 18 14. 
 
 London. 
 30- 
 
 I have had great accounts from the French who 
 go to Gosfield, and of the Court there. The Queen's 
 
i8o8] THE FRENCH COURT AT GOSFIELD 321 
 
 Rapetissement seems to Cause universal astonish- 
 ment : it Seems that she is no longer of a Common 
 Stature, walks about half doubled, with her arms 
 akimbo, Elbows out, and when sitting is doubled 
 in two, with her hands holding her knees, a tabouret 
 under her feet. Thus she is placed, working at 
 something, by the King. 
 
 On the other side is the interesting Duchess 
 d'Angouleme, tall, well made, but not handsome ; 
 not seeking to talk mats ne s'y refusant pas, and 
 always something pleasing to address to every one ; 
 naturally disposed to be Chearful but visibly checked 
 by melancholy images from memory ; most extremely 
 Pious, and every one Looking up to her. For a 
 year and half that She was Confined in the Temple 
 she never saw a human Being ; her victuals were put 
 in a turn. Like at a Convent, and she swept her own 
 room and made Her Bed. She has now two Ladies, 
 the Duchess de Lorrant and her daughter, Madame 
 de Narbonne, to accompany Her. But what a 
 destiny her most early years were to go thro ! I 
 should Like very much to See the Court. The 
 Queen is said to have beaucoup d'esprit and the King 
 is uncommonly agreable. They are soon to Remove 
 to Heartwell, Sir. W"" Lees House in Buckingham- 
 shire. The King is allowed 20,000^ a year. 
 
 John Joseph dined with us yesterday. He is 
 now quite important, Lives with Princes, Compas- 
 sionating their foibles, yet feels their good Quality. 
 The Duke of Sussex is his Patron, but He is partial 
 also to the Duke of Kent. 
 
 Charles Dillon dined with us a few days since, 
 
 VOL. I. 21 
 
322 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1808 
 
 and talked to me a good deal of his deceased Patron, 
 Mr. Pitt. He has many Letters from Him. For 
 they were a whole winter Ute a tete at Dover, with 
 the volunteers. Mr. Pitt had proposed giving Him 
 a Place when He re-entered the ministry, but in- 
 exorable Death Called Him away. He says that 
 nobody Could be more easy and Chearful than Mr. 
 Pitt was, alone with Him, but that his Sister-in-Law, 
 Lady Chatham, Could not bear Him. I suppose 
 she wanted more from Him as minister than He 
 thought Honest to grant, for Lord Chatham has 
 totally ruined Himself by Play. 
 
 Charles Dillon was the son of Charles, twelfth Viscount, by 
 his second wife. 
 
[ 323 ] 
 
 At this period of the excerpts, for the sake of chronological 
 sequence, must be inserted a part of Lady Bedingfeld's Diary 
 concerning her father's last illness. Sir William's death 
 occurred in August of the following year. The account which 
 I now select was written a considerable time afterwards ; but it 
 was added by Lady Bedingfeld, as a kind of preface, to the 
 notebooks which she filled during this period. 
 
 My dear Father's death was the r^' loss by death 
 that I experienced. I had lost some other relations 
 before but I knew them very little. My Grand Mother 
 Lady Jerningham died when I was 15, but I saw her 
 very little after she left Cossey, when I was only 4. 
 
 My dear Father was always delicate and subject 
 to a Cough, though with a fresh Colour that looked 
 like health — He had been the handsomest man of 
 his day, and was handsome to the last moment of 
 his Life. In the Autumn of 1808, being at Cossey, 
 he was seized with a considerable Spitting of Blood 
 just before dinner. 
 
 I had been recently confined at Norwich with my 
 8th. Child (Felix) and was just arrived at CosSey 
 and Shared in the general alarm this accident gave 
 rise to. However, the Symptoms Subsided and in 
 a few days we had the Comfort of seeing him again 
 in the drawing room, and looking over his Prints in 
 the Library. The Physicians were of Opinion that 
 
324 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1808 
 
 he should not pass the Winter at Cossey. It was 
 therefore determined that he should go to Bath and 
 the house in Bolton Row was let for a Year to Lord 
 Rob' Fitzgerald. It was settled that my B' William 
 and his wife should accompany My Father and 
 Mother to Bath, and that, when they came away, 
 Sir Richard and I should replace them. It was 
 done accordingly. Putting our 3 little Girls to the 
 Convent at Bodney, we went to Bath, taking with 
 us our 2^^ Son, Charles who was then a beautiful 
 and engaging Boy about 5 years Old. 
 
 My Father had a house in Pulteney Street and 
 gave us rooms. I found him weak ; but he dined at 
 table and walked out a little. He had Mass said 
 in his house by the Abbe Dourlians, a Worthy 
 Emigrant Priest, who after Mass on a Sunday used 
 to give us an excellent little discourse in French. 
 Several Cathohcs then at Bath used to come, 
 among others the C" and Com'"'= Etienne de Damas. 
 The C'= was taking the Waters. They belonged to 
 the Household of the Duchesse D'Angouleme — I 
 made several new acquaintances, whom I enumerated 
 at the time in this book. I was then in good Spirits 
 about my father ! and was pleased with Bath. — in 
 the Spring he was ordered to Clifton, and we accom- 
 panied him thither, his weakness increased and he 
 wished to return to Cossey. — We set off first, and 
 Stopt a few days in town as may be seen in the 
 following pages. 
 
 Portions of these diaries will appear at the proper dates in 
 this volume. Meanwhile I may reproduce an account of the 
 
i8o8] BATH ACQUAINTANCES 325 
 
 'Acquaintances made at Bath 1808 (when on a visit to my 
 dear father),' which Lady Bedingfeld, in her methodical way, 
 entered in one of her notebooks. 
 
 CoMMANDEUR DE Thuisy. 64. grave, sensible, 
 slow. 
 
 (Cte Etienne de Damas. — 50. Very agreable well 
 looking. 
 
 (Ctesse Etienne de Damas. 34, daughter to the 
 Due De Cerant. Small lively, clever. The couple 
 belong to the Due D'Angoul^me's Household. 
 He is here for his Health. 
 
 Chevalier de Boisgelin. 51, uncommonly hand- 
 some head. Lame from a broken leg, and one 
 hand rather paralised. Agreable and clever but 
 rather overbearing in Conversation ; an Author. 
 
 Mad'-^ de Sommerie. and her Sister, a pretty 
 pleasing Girl of 20. Her parents I knew before. 
 Her Sister Puleherie is 11, a little red haired 
 Brat of 8. 
 
 M°= DE Beaurepaire. a Miniature paintress, her 
 family in France. She came over with M"*' le Brun, 
 since the Revolution. A good sort of woman, 
 Comely, looking, about 45. 
 
 Cte de Nantouillet, came down to see his 
 Cousin M. de Damas. About 45, tall. Ugly just 
 pleasing enough and not conceited. 
 
 Cte de Narbonne Pelet. the Husband of M<'= de 
 Damas's Sister, but not living with her. A Strange 
 looking man more the tournure of an Organ grinder 
 than of a gentleman. His age 39. 
 
 The Due d'Harcourt, a little erect man about 55, 
 quite French. 
 
326 JERNINQHAM LETTERS [1808 
 
 L'Abb6 Dourlians says prayers for my Father. A 
 clever and Pious Priest, with the Gout. 
 
 CATHOLICS. 
 
 Bishop Sharrock, 70, in a very declining State, 
 
 with a Paralytic affection on his tongue, and a 
 
 sore Leg. 
 Rev" Mr. Ainsworth 44 \ good and pious and very 
 Rev° Mr. Birdsall 38 J pleasing. 
 Rev° Mr. Coombes, 70, a large Wig and Spectacles. 
 
 Seemingly a plain good man ; moreover a very 
 
 learned one. A great Grecian, 
 Doctor Coombes, nephew to the former, about 39. 
 
 A good Grecian and clever, agreable also and 
 
 pious. Not conceited: always wears spectacles. 
 The Webb Weston family, two Younger Daughters, 
 
 pretty Girls, well drest but not Smart. About 18 
 
 and 19. 
 Lady Theresa Dease Sister to L<^ Fingall, about 44. 
 
 A most pleasing woman, with 4 good humoured 
 
 daughters, 2 only come out. 
 Mr. Dease, her Son, 22, looks older. Clever and 
 
 very agreable — with excellent Principles and a 
 
 delicate mind. I hope he will find a Wife that 
 
 deserves him. 
 Mr. Plunket, his Uncle, little Short man between 
 
 40 and 50, plain, and seems simple but good 
 
 natured. 
 M^^ Butler, niece to Lady E. Butler. Very lively 
 
 and pleasant, but something thick and uncomfort- 
 able in her articulation ; about 40. 
 Mr. B., her Husband, nothing — old. 
 
i8o8] BATH ACQUAINTANCES 327 
 
 Miss Cavanagh, her Sister, 39. Fair, quiet and 
 pleasing. 
 
 Mr. Archbold, a well looking Youth in some regi- 
 ment, nephew to Mrs. Butler. 
 
 Mrs. Trapps, past 60, a worthy delicate looking old 
 Lady. 
 
 Mrs. Sunstatt, her daughter, a tall Stout well 
 looking person, past 40 ; a great talker. Her 
 Husband in America. She hopes to join him, 
 they have been Unfortunate in Speculations. 
 
 Two Mr. Trapps, the Sons, both in the Army. 
 Good natured but neither well looking or Smart. 
 
 The Miss Trapps', two laughing fair Girls, Stout 
 and tall. The Eldest going to be married to a 
 Mr. Tunstall, Nephew to Mrs. Messenger and her 
 heir. 
 
 Mr. Eyre, very infirm. Mrs. Eyre looking very ill, 
 a protestant. Two Miss Eyres, the Eldest shewy 
 and good humoured on a large Clumbsy Scale, the 
 other with a dreadful sore eye. 
 
 Mrs. Taylor, a well looking old Lady, daughter to 
 Sir — Tancred, a Widow living with her Son and 
 two Daughters. The Girls very weakly, the Son 
 grave but not ill looking. Her Eldest Son is a 
 Priest, their usual residence is Durham. Mrs. 
 Taylor has been very Unfortunate in losing her 
 Children by accidents. 
 
 Miss HuDDLESTON the translator of M**' Cottin's 
 novel of Elizabeth, niece to the House of 
 Tavistock, a pleasing young woman of about 24. 
 She lodges and boards with a Mrs. Hyde and two 
 Miss Hydes, persons of family but poor. 
 
328 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1808 
 
 Lady Blount, the Widow, by birth Biddell ; very 
 much out of health and spirits. Miss Lacon is 
 staying with her: a sensible good humoured 
 Squinting Girl, whom I formerly knew at Liege. 
 
 Mrs. Metcalfe, sister to Sir John Throckmorton, 
 a widow. A very sensible, independent Woman, 
 who has brought up her daughters with great care 
 in the midst of the frivolity and nonsense of Bath. 
 
 Miss Metcalfe is about 20, a most pleasing modest 
 looking Girl, and at present a very Elegant figure. 
 
 The 3 Miss Frenchs, not Young; Neices to Mr. 
 Nagle, the Eldest fat ; seem good humoured. All 
 three very negligent of their Dress. 
 
 Miss Talbot, Sister to Lord Shrewsbury, uncom- 
 monly ugly, chearful. 
 
 Mrs. Ferrars, a good and pleasing Old Lady living 
 since her Widowhood at Bath with Several of her 
 Children. 
 
 Misses Ferrars; the Eldest not Young, very 
 sensible and pleasing ; another cracked. Another 
 the Widow of Mr. Willoughby with her child, 
 pretty little Madeline, aged 7. Miss Anne Ferrars 
 a fine Girl of 20. Mrs. Court Dews another 
 Daughter married to a liberal protestant. She 
 was only on a Visit. 
 
 Mr. Dews, The Husband, is good natured but looks 
 foolish. 
 
 Mr. Howard of Corby, a fine Old Man of 80. 
 Staying with his Daughter, Mrs. Gartrick, who 
 seems a pleasing, plain looking woman. Her 
 Husband also. He is infirm, and a Protestant. 
 
 Mr. Clifford and family I knew before. 
 
i8o8] BATH ACQUAINTANCES 329 
 
 Lady Fitzgerald introduced her daughter to me. 
 A capricious girl, well looking. 
 
 Mr. Amherst, a Youth of 19 brought up a Catholic 
 by his Mother with some difficulty, on account of 
 the Guardian ; very pleasing and Well looking, 
 delicate Health. Doctor Coombes is with him at 
 present. 
 
 Mr. Flinigan, a gay good humoured Young Man 
 with a handsome person ; his Sister a pretty Girl 
 with a bad Voice. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Conolly. He is agent to Lord 
 Shrewsbury ; a pleasing well-bred Man ; his Wife 
 clever and quick ; one daughter grown up nothing 
 particular. They have a pretty House near Bath 
 like a Castle. 
 
 Mr. Mervin Dillon, a worthy good man. Slow. 
 His Wife tiresome but clever, always ill ; the 
 Daughter extremely Clever and pleasing, singing 
 delightfully. 
 
 Mr. Knapp, a Handsome man (married), nephew to 
 the Priest. 
 
 M"" Catalani, the Singer, A most interesting 
 Woman, pensive and naive. Her Husband an 
 ugly Frenchman, vulgar. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Weld, afterwards Cardinal, 
 from Clifton. Most agreable and pious people; 
 he very well looking, she also if more upright and 
 better drest. They have one little girl about 10, a 
 healthy Strong child with fine black Eyes. 
 
 Mr. O'Brien, an old officer of the Irish brigade in 
 France, retired at the beginning of the revolution 
 and married Mrs. Weld of Lulworth's Sister. He 
 
330 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1808 
 
 is the most pleasing Elegant old man I ever met 
 with ; people find him too Slow and formal ; I 
 think him quite fascinating. His Wife pleasing 
 and infirm. 
 
 Miss O'Brien, about 20; a Clever, excellent Girl; 
 a good Musician. 
 
 Mr. George Blount, Uncle to the Young Baronet ; 
 a handsome well-bred man, but I fancy his out- 
 ward appearance is what he has best. His Wife 
 a little fair, crooked, lively creature, Sister to 
 Mrs. Clifford, much beloved by her family ; of 
 course amiable. 
 
 Lady Blount, Mother to the ■ Baronet, plain and 
 dreadfully ailing; liked by those who know her, 
 but not pleasing. 
 
 Lady Charlotte Denys, extremely singular in her 
 person and manners, does not seem happy. 
 
 Mr. Denys, her Husband, was formerly her drawing 
 Master ; a grave looking Man in Spectacles, fond 
 of music and of his Children. 
 
 Two Miss Denys's, one 16 or more, the other 
 about 8. Not pretty but looking clever. A Son, 
 a tall well looking Young man, at Cambridge. 
 
 Lady Dalrymple Hamilton. I knew her formerly 
 as Miss Duncan. Very beautiful and uncommonly 
 pleasing ; in a bad State of Health, one little Girl 
 of 6 with fine eyes. 
 
 Miss Duncan and Miss D. Hamilton, fine look- 
 ing Girls enough but not prepossessing in their 
 manners. 
 
 Lady Cull, a very imperious looking old lady; 
 Sharp but Civil, neat in her Dress. 
 
i8o8] CATALAN I AND HER HUSBAND 331 
 
 Miss Wroughton, the famous Evergreen of Bath ; 
 not at all pleasing but certainly wonderfully well 
 looking for her age. 
 
 Mr. Burgess and his Lady, Irish. Well-bred people 
 of the World. 
 
 Mrs. Browne of Castle M'Garret, a buxom 
 Lady with all her Worldly wits about her. Her 
 Husband a plain Excellent Country Gentleman. 
 
 Georgina, Mary Ann, Louiba, 3 good humoured 
 awkward Girls. Charlotte an overgrown Child of 
 10 years Old. — Dominic, the Eldest Son, a good 
 humoured clumsy Cambridge Student. Two fine 
 Boys of 14 and 12. Eaton Students, and the 
 Governess, a Melancholy, pleasing English 
 woman. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham {at Bath) to Lady 
 Bedingfeld {at Oxburgh). 
 
 13. PuLTENEY Street, Bath. 
 
 December 24. 
 
 Christmas Day. 
 
 We have had Prayers at home, for it is impossible 
 to get into the Chapel. I was Last Sunday the 
 whole time on the Stairs. I offered Madame 
 Catalani to Come to Mass here ; which she 
 accepted; and she arrived with Monsieur de Vala- 
 bregue. Her Husband. She was brought up in a 
 Convent and is very devout : he appears to be a 
 vulgar Bon Enfant. She is with Child and was near 
 
332 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1809 
 
 fainting during Mass. She has a Little Boy of two 
 years old with Her. 
 
 January 19. 1809. 
 
 I Let Williams Letter go unnoticed by my 
 doleances yesterday, and to-day I must ressume my 
 own right of Correspondence. 
 
 I hope they will amuse themselves well here, for 
 the dissipation of Bath is Continued and extreme ; 
 and, as the poor little Woman is in general so 
 retired and reasonable, I am quite glad She should 
 have an opportunity of enjoying her years. The 
 fact is that every Night there are two or three 
 private Balls, besides the Rooms, frequently private 
 Concerts ; in short an increased London for dissipa- 
 tion, and tho the public amusements are yet re- 
 strained to good Hours, the private meetings Last 
 till five and six in the morning. 
 
 Mrs. Metcalf, (S'^ John Throcmorton's Sister) 
 gave a Ball on Tuesday, at which People were 
 Stifled from numbers. William and his Wife re- 
 turned at five and Left Company dancing at the 
 Master of Ceremonies' Ball ; there were igoo People 
 in the Room. The morning Running about in 
 different Color'd Pelisses Looks very Picturesque, 
 but Bath is so encreased in Size that most People 
 have Coaches who formerly only went in Chairs. I 
 have not yet had Spirits to go out, in an evening. I 
 have felt myself so entirely under Lady Mary 
 Duncan's exclusion, of being neither useful nor 
 ornamental, that Home seems the welcomest Place. 
 
i809] THE DUCHESS OF PORTSMOUTH 333 
 
 Sunday being an idle day I Can have a few evening 
 visitors ; but no one has time for a stupid fireside 
 in the week. 
 
 • ••••■ 
 
 I have at Last been able to get Fox's History,* 
 and am really so out of patience with it that I feel 
 quite disturbed. Cromwell and the Duke of Mon- 
 mouth are his Heroes, and he appears to write to 
 defame the Stewarts. His own Character will Suffer 
 by this Publication ; the Style is weak. Common 
 Place, not a Syllable of any thing that was not 
 before known of, and Shows Him to be what the 
 King said Lately (on his being mentioned) ' a Rebel.' 
 The notes, or rather extracts from the foreign office, 
 are very Curious, and I admire with you the Duchess 
 of Portsmouth's SoUicitude for the poor King's Salva- 
 tion, which Showd her real Regard for Him. She 
 was Great Grandmother to Fox, of his Mother's 
 side. My Father Rememberd her very well, and 
 used to go to Her, from Plessis College, to dine 
 there on the Jours de Conges. 
 
 Sunday, February 5. 
 
 You will Certainly See a town more filled with 
 People than is usual, that is with idle people who 
 are all day about, filling up every visible vacant 
 Place, 14 or 1500 Persons always at the Room, 
 32 Private Balls in one week, and what not ! 
 
 * History of James II. 
 
334 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1809 
 
 Madame Catalani generally dines with us on 
 Sundays, and is very Complaisant in Singing. 
 
 Lady Waldegrave is overwhelmed with affliction, 
 Miss Diana Langley who is her intimate Friend is 
 gone to Her. This is the Second Son she Loses by 
 water ; for her eldest, Lord Waldegrave, was drowned 
 at Eaton, or Westminster. 
 
 Cap'° Ferrars, of the gth., of a very old Catholick 
 Family is just Returned to his Mother, who Lives in 
 the Town, from Spain. He is Litterally half dead 
 with fatigue. What the troops suffered is beyond 
 the usual tribulations of War. Mrs. Ferrars is an 
 old Blue Nun Pensioner (Miss Bird). She has six 
 daughters, three married and three unmarried ones, 
 and is the emblem of a Patriarchal Happy Mother, 
 all her Children seeming to pay Her a tribute of 
 affectionate Respect. 
 
 The Browne Family dined with us yesterday, and 
 Lady Teresa Dease and her daughter. Lady Teresa 
 is Sister to Lord Fingall, a Widow with four daughters 
 and two Sons, the eldest now of age and the other 
 at Old Hall Green. She is, without having ever been 
 handsome, the most genteel pleasing Woman that 
 Can be imagined. She was brought up at the A bbaye 
 aux Bois. The match the most proper that Could 
 take Place would be Lady Teresa and Lord Ken- 
 mare : Birth, age, everything Suitable. I wish some 
 entremetteuse would arrange it. 
 
'.7a i" flu. iu/7 rn /i' j // /,/■/ /^/i /(■/»_ 
 
i809] TYLNEY HOUSE 335 
 
 The ' tribulations of War ' to which Lady Jerningham alludes 
 were those experienced by Sir John Moore's army during the 
 retreat of Corufia. The British troops embarked on January 
 17, 1809. 
 
 In a previous letter (November 30, 1808) Lady Jerningham 
 has given some account of the exiled French Court during its 
 stay at Gosfield. Edward, writing to his mother, now depicts 
 the Royal circle at Tylney House, Wanstead. This mansion 
 (originally built for the first Earl Tylney, hence its name) had 
 been rented by the Prince de Cond^, and offered to the King as 
 a temporary residence, pending the final move to Hartwell. 
 
 Thomas Hood lived some time at Wanstead, and there wrote 
 a novel, which he called ' Tylney Hall,' where he describes the 
 house and the parks in great detail. 
 
 Louis XVIII. stopped but a very short time in this place. 
 
 Edward's letter is addressed : 
 
 ' To the Hon'''' Lady Jerningham, 
 
 13, Pulteney Street, Bath.' 
 
 London, 
 
 March i^ih. 
 
 My dearest Mother, 
 
 On Saturday last, having heard that the King 
 left Wanstead this week, I ordered a pair of post 
 horses to my chaise, and reached Tilney House at 
 twelve o'clock — I immediately saw the Prince of 
 Cond6 who said that the King was gone out, but 
 desired I would stay for dinner, and be presented to 
 the Queen. 
 
 I accordingly remained, and about ten minutes 
 before five (having previously been presented to M"^ 
 de Narbonne, the Queen's Lady), I went up into an 
 anteroom where I found Monsieur de Barantin and 
 several other French gentlemen from London, wait- 
 ing to pay their court — Suddenly a folding door was 
 
336 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1809 
 
 opened by Madame da Narbonne and a large bed- 
 room appeared, at the door of which stood . . . Sister 
 Agnes . . . She came so near the door that we could 
 only just get into the room. Nothing could be more 
 gracious, more pleasing, and even more facetiously 
 agreeable than she was during about ten minutes 
 audience. — A long pale face with uncommon clever 
 black eyes, no shape whatever before and a very 
 crooked one behind — bending and bowing forward, 
 a httle little old Nun. 
 
 Having retired, we met the King coming out of 
 his apartment and going thro' the great salloons to 
 dinner, just as I remember Him going through the 
 Galerie at Versailles. We first assembled in the 
 Drawing room. The King was most gracious, in- 
 quired after all my family &c. and then added: — 
 ' Mais, Monsieur Jerningham, vous avez surement grandi 
 depuis Vete !' — He then enquired after news and spoke 
 indignantly of Mrs. Clarke &c. &c. 
 
 At dinner I sat facing the King and Queen. He 
 mentioned the Stafford Barony, said to the Queen 
 that it was one of the most ancient Baronies in 
 England and then added (to the Queen) : ' C'est la 
 mere de Monsieur Jerningham qui a eu tant de bontes 
 pour la soeur de Madame de Narbonne a Bath.'' 
 
 The Queen ate meagre, the King grds. After 
 dinner, coffee in the drawing room, and immediately 
 after most of the men went into the adjoining room 
 for billiards, leaving the King, Queen, Prince du 
 Conde, Duke de Bourbon, Madame de Narbonne, 
 j^g^dme (jg Reuilly, Monsieur de Barantin and myself 
 in a circle. Here we sat half an hour, the King 
 
iSog] THE FRENCH COURT AT WANSTEAD 337 
 
 reading aloud the English papers in French, as if it 
 had been in the latter language. At eight o'clock 
 the King looked at his watch and said : — ' II est huit 
 heures,' upon which the whole party retired upstairs 
 to their respective apartments. 
 
 The Princesse de Conde, you must know, was 
 confined to her room with the gout ; and during this 
 interval, therefore, she sent a message to desire I 
 would pay her" a visit. I was told that this was a 
 favour no person had yet had since her confinement, 
 so I marched on, very proud, and was ushered into 
 one of the five State bedchambers, very dark, where 
 I found the Princesse in a low armchair by the fire, 
 and the Prince of Cond6 upon a stool still lower and 
 close to her side. I stood before her about ten minutes 
 and she was most gracious, thanking me particularly 
 pour toutes mes bontes pour Monsieur de Grimaldi. I 
 then retired and remained alone in the drawing room 
 until nine o'clock, at which hour the King came into 
 the room, followed by all the rest. A whist and a 
 Loo party were formed. At the former table the 
 King, Prince de Cond6, Due de Bourbon, Due de 
 Cogn6e. 
 
 The Queen sat by and talked very agreeably with 
 all near her. At ten o'clock the door opened and 
 entered the Duchesse d'Angoulgme with the Duke. 
 They had dined in London with Monsieur. Every- 
 body got up, the King kissed her hand as did the 
 other princes and the Queen reached up and kissed 
 
 her forehead. 
 
 The Dutchess instantly sat down by the King (who 
 continued his game) and pulled out her work bag and 
 
 VOL. I. 22 
 
338 JERNJNGHAM LETTERS [1809 
 
 began working tapestry. In the mean time a lady 
 said something in her ear, upon which she got up and 
 approached me and said : — ' je connais bien le nom de 
 Jerningham, c'est une des families catholiques d'Angle- 
 terre ' — and then (coming nearer to me) : — ' Etes vous 
 catholique ?' To which I said : Oui Madame. She 
 then talked of several things and said she had been 
 in the morning to see the ruins of Drury Lane 
 Theatre. 
 
 I was then presented to the Duke, who said : — 
 ' Vous etes parent de Sir Richard Bedingfeld.' — ' Oui, 
 Monseigneiir, c'est mon beaii-frere.' — ' II a une charmante 
 petite maison a Yarmouth ; j'ai entendu la messe chez 
 lui, dite par I'abbe Pureville.' 
 
 He then talked of a variety of matters. At eleven 
 the King retired, and at twelve I was in Lincoln's 
 Inn Fields. 
 
 The Dutchess is uncommonly like the poor Queen, 
 with a fine colour, and excessively pleasing and in- 
 teresting; she neglects her dress, and her eyes are 
 swelled and red as if from recent affliction. 
 
 I am happy to hear from Sir Richard a good 
 account of my father. 
 
 Adieu my dear mother, 
 
 E. Jerningham. 
 
 About the middle of May, Sir William's health taking a tuiti 
 for the worse, the family at his desire made preparations for 
 bringing him back to Cossey, where three months later he was 
 to breathe his last. In June Lady Bedingfeld began the diary of 
 which the following pages contain a large portion. 
 
i8o9] IN WIMPOLE STREET 
 
 339 
 
 DIARY. 
 
 Written during the last illness of My Dear Father, 
 who died the i^. of August i8og. 
 
 R. I. p. 
 
 i*'^ Part. 
 
 1809. 
 
 We arrived in London on Thursday June i^' and 
 took possession of a small House which Miss Betham 
 had taken for Us in Wimpole St. n. 70 — After 
 Speaking to a Char Woman to come to Us by the 
 day, I prepared to go to Mrs. Compton's Who had 
 invited us to dine. Sir Rich"^ preferred seeking his 
 fortune elsewhere. — It rained and I had no carriage 
 and I felt alone and helpless, but at last set off in a 
 Chair. — Mrs. Compton was a Miss Gobbet of Nor- 
 wich, a former protegee of my Mother. She used to 
 have me on her knee when I was a Child and tell 
 me Stories, and I have retained a kind of regard 
 towards her, tho' we have Seldom met since. 
 
 Mr. Compton, who is a Doctor of Laws, wears 
 long ruffles, a Wig with a queue, and has such 
 strange features and odd manners (the Old beau 
 Stile) that I could hardly help Smiling. I had never 
 seen him before. He received me with a Gallant 
 Speech, introducing me to the Company which con- 
 sisted of my friend Miss Betham and her Sister Mary, 
 Miss Jane Martinez a Niece of Mrs. Compton's, Mr. 
 Burney of Norfolk, a very gentlemanly Young man 
 & another, less so. Who turned out to be an Apothi- 
 
340 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1809 
 
 cary. The Dinner was Coarse but good, and. about 
 9 o'clock I came away, having passed rather a pleasant 
 day. — To be anywhere out of our own empty un- 
 settled home was an Object. 
 
 Friday. I set forth about 3 in our chaise with Job 
 Horses to visit my relations. Thomas had a very 
 shabby hat, and I wished him a better, but I no 
 longer suffer from such calamities as I used to do. 
 I found Lord Dillon, Lord Kenmare, Lady M. A. 
 Gage out. Mr. E. Jerningham, the Poet, at home. 
 I had never been in his House before. It is dirty, 
 but well filled with Books, & contains some interest- 
 ing pictures and drawings — One of himself, a Small 
 full length in pencil ; and, as a Companion, one of 
 the late Miss Brereton, daughter to the drawing 
 Master and a long time so great a favourite of my 
 Uncle's that it was Suspected they were married — I 
 saw there a drawing I did many Years ago, which I 
 entitled ' Night prayers in a Convent.' A number of 
 Children are praying, by Moonlight round a large 
 Cross raised Upon Steps in the Convent Garden. I 
 was surprised at its merit. The smoke and Dirt had 
 harmonised it into looking like an Old Sketch of a 
 much superior pencil to mine — I found my Uncle 
 grown fat and Sleek and could not help wishing that 
 some part of his Superabundancy in health and 
 Spirits could be bestowed upon my poor Father. 
 
 Sunday ^.th. I walked in Kensington Gardens 
 with Miss Wodehouse after hearing high Mass in 
 Warwick St and a good sermon by Mr. Wilde. — The 
 Gardens were much more crowded than they used to 
 be in my time, but Miss W. hardly knew anybody. 
 
i8o9] BADISH COMPANY 341 
 
 SO I Suppose the Company was chiefly from the 
 City. Dined at Lord Kenmare's the company con- 
 sisted of his Daughter Lady M. Ann Gage, Sir 
 Thomas, Mr. John Gage his Brother, Lord Car- 
 thrope, Mr., Mrs. and Miss Renting and old Mrs. 
 Aylmer, My Uncle Edward J., John Bedingfeld, and 
 the good Abbe Griffin. Lady Mary Anne looked very 
 handsome and pleasing. Sir Thomas put me out of 
 patience by talking of pulling down H engrave Hall 
 to Sell the Materials. Neither his Wife or Brother 
 seemed to like it. In the Even^ I went to a small 
 party at Mrs. Compton's : badish Company, Miss 
 Ducass the actress, Miss Guilette the Singer, (the 
 Miss Betham good but not high) Mr. Beney and 
 the family. I heard a few ballads prettily sung and 
 then went home to Bed. 
 
 Monday. The king's birthday kept. 
 
 Yarmouth. 1809. 
 
 Saturday Night 2^ of July. I received a Letter 
 from my Mother with so uncomfortable an account 
 of my Father, that I resolved to Set off next morn- 
 ing for Cossey. — I sat up late, making my arrange- 
 ments. 
 
 Sunday. At a quarter past 6, I set off in a hack 
 Chaise quite alone without a Servant. I might have 
 taken Burgess, but I wished her to stay and look 
 ^fter Fanny who had been very unwell for some days 
 past. I got to Acle at half past seven, took another 
 Chaise and proceeded. I did not hurry the Driver 
 or express in any way Why I travelled so alone and 
 so early, but the Man seemed to guess it all, and the 
 
342 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1809 
 
 attentions I received from him Without interchang- 
 ing a Word gave me an Opinion of his heart that 
 affected me. — How Susceptible we are of kindness 
 when we are unhappy ! 
 
 This Post Lord drove thro' all the Turnpikes 
 without stopping, looking back at me every now and 
 then as if he wished to Say we shall soon be there. 
 At last I began to fancy that he might know worse 
 news of my Father than I did myself but I dared 
 not question him. — Driving thro' Norwich I saw the 
 Abbe D'Eterville, overtook him, the Post boy looked 
 back : I Made him a sign and we stopt. ' Allez 
 Vous i Cossey ?' ' Oui, Milady ' — ' Montez done 
 dans la Voiture.' He did as I bid him and we pro- 
 ceeded rapidly to Cossey. It was half past 9 when 
 I got there. 
 
 My Mother had not breakfasted — I went to my 
 Father's bedside, he said chearfully, ' Oh Lady B. 
 are you there ?' — My heart was at ease in a moment ; 
 surely nobody's feelings are so foolishly biassed as 
 mine, a look, a word, a nothing depresses me for a 
 Whole day, and a triile in the same way raises me 
 up again to hope and animation. 
 
 Poor Michette pleased me by his attachment to 
 My Father, which he evinced very clearly that 
 Evening, — He was kneeling in a corner praying and 
 Crying most bitterly. — 
 
 Tuesday 4.. My Father was much better. Mr. F. 
 went in the morning at seven, and administered 
 him ; he was perfectly composed and easy. When 
 My Mother went to him he made no allusion to it 
 whatever.— George was present and when the Cere- 
 
t8o9] AT COSSEY 345 
 
 monies were over My Father took his hand and 
 said, ' What a good man You are.' He seems all 
 day quite placid and easy. 
 
 Wednesday 5. I am surprised at my tranquility : 
 My Father has been administered and I can talk, 
 and read, and feel quiet. Am I without feeling or 
 do I not believe in his danger ? He is so free from 
 pain, and Speaks so quietly, that I cannot imagine 
 it. — I believe what the Doctor says, but I cannot 
 image it in my Mind — My Mother is perhaps in the 
 same State ; she seems at times chearful and full of 
 hopes and Yet compares his Symtoms to those of 
 persons She has lost, which proves she sees his 
 Danger. — Her attention is unceasing, — her Legs 
 swell at night and I dread her having the Gout. 
 
 The change his Death will make in My Mother's 
 mode of living, is what hurts me most, — I hinted at 
 something of the Sort the other day to George, My 
 Father not being able to make a Will. He said im- 
 mediately : ' Oh Edward will manage about My 
 Mother ; he understands best what ought to be done.' 
 I felt as if a Load was taken off my mind. 
 
 Generous and careless as she is, what will she do, 
 even with a handsome income ? 
 
 Friday 7. In the course of the Morning I went to 
 his bed side and gave him a Rose and a little Sprig 
 of Thyme. He sraeU at it with pleasure but afterw**" 
 returned saying, ' It is lost upon me.' It hurt me to 
 hear him say so, but I believe he only meant that 
 they were scarce, for on my saying there were 
 thousands, he kept it. He asked me if the Lawn was 
 mowed. 
 
344 JERNINGHAM LETTERS ['809 
 
 Saturday 8th. My Father had a better night, that 
 is he took more nourishment for he is always quiet. 
 George told me after Breakfast that Mr. Fountain, at 
 the instigation of Abb6 Fleuri, had spoken to my 
 Father about making a Will. George did not 
 approve of this Step, and I also felt most excessively 
 hurt about it : — My Father cannot make a Will, 
 according to the Strictness of the Law, because his 
 debts exceed his personal Estate. It is therefore 
 dreadful to torment him with the prospect of Death 
 when it can be of no use. George is good and Just, 
 and will take proper care to Supply what is wanting 
 in my Mother's settlement. — I expect and wish for 
 nothing, William and Edward neither ; and for 
 Servants my Brother knows best what they ought to 
 have. — What a pity it is that these good Priests can- 
 not confine themselves to Spiritual Matters ! And, 
 in this instance, when they see my Father Sur- 
 rounded by his children, they might suppose that we 
 should look to what was necessary in temporal 
 affairs. G., at my entreaty, desired Mr. F. to men- 
 tion the matter no more. — My poor Father said that 
 he would make his Will when Edward came. — 
 
 Letters came while we were at dinner, Mother 
 received one which I saw was from Emily, she read 
 a few lines looked much Struck and left the room. 
 My Heart sunk within me, for I felt that if Emily 
 wrote instead of Edward, it must be to say he was 
 ill. — We all remained in a Consternation, at last I got 
 up and with hesitating step went in search of her, I 
 looked into the Library, my Father's room, her own 
 room, the Chapel, nobody had seen her. I returned 
 
345 
 
 i8o9] MORE SICKNESS 
 
 to the Hall, Frederick came running in a Minute and 
 said she was in the Armor closet reading a letter, I 
 went up again, and found her gone into my Father's 
 room, she gave me immediately the Letter to read, it 
 was worded in a foolish way, with a long melancholy 
 preface about afflicting her, but She thought it her 
 duty to acquaint &c. in short that Edward was laid 
 up at Stafford and could not travel. 
 
 I was happy to get her into a placid state before 
 she saw my Brothers, for I am always afraid of her 
 Shewing too much the great partiality She has had 
 for Edw. ever since his Birth. — There cannot be 3 
 better Young men each in their way than my 3 
 Brothers, or more united. I am as the only daughter 
 a thing by myself, and the whole business of my life, 
 has been by prudence and Silence to soften off every 
 little Edge that might endanger the general Harmony, 
 a little address sometimes on these occasions is I 
 think allowable. 
 
 Ttiesday nth. A little before 8, I set off with Sir 
 Richard in his Gig for Yarmouth. Left my Father 
 in a deep Sleep — We arrived about one. I found 
 the children untidy in their dress which did not 
 please me, but what gave me much more serious 
 concern was to learn that Fanny had been out with 
 Mrs. East, whose husband is Major of the Berk. 
 Militia, quartered at Yarmouth. I watch over my 
 dear girls with such jealous care, least anything 
 should injure their young minds, that I actually shed 
 tears when I heard this, Mrs. East is of all persons 
 the most unfit to have very Young people with her. 
 She is well bred, certainly and well born, but I fancy 
 
346 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1809 
 
 a lurking Coquetry about her, with an affectation of 
 SimpHcity which in my opinion renders her bad 
 Company for an Artless, tall, pretty girl of 13. — I 
 entreated they might all 3 be sent again to Bodney, 
 to which my kind husband consented and the rest of 
 the day, was spent in preparing their Clothes for re- 
 moving them to the convent, which I let the Children 
 Suppose was on account of the continued illness of 
 my father, which prevented my attending to their 
 Education — Next morning I set off to return to 
 Cossey, with a bad headache having had a very rest- 
 less night — I could not help thinking of that provoking 
 Mrs. East, Surrounded by the Officers of the Regi- 
 ment and my blooming, artless Girl there ! I am never 
 quite at ease with Mrs. J.* there is a little Coldness 
 about her that awes me, and yet she pays me great 
 court — I prefer Mrs. William and Mrs. Edward also. 
 
 Monday lyth. My father was up -| of an hour, he 
 desired to be wheeled to the window to see the 
 Chapel he seemed upon the whole a little better. 
 
 George, Mrs. J. and I, walked in the Evening to 
 Wm's Cottage, drank tea there, and looked at a 
 little walk they have cut along the Hill behind the 
 House among the trees, everything in this pretty 
 dwelling is pleasant and comfortable — the sweet 
 temper of its Mistress would render any place so. 
 Mrs. J. praised all she saw, but her approbation 
 never seems to come from the Heart, she is resolved 
 from principle to do what is right on all occasions, 
 she cannot help feeling cold. I love warm-hearted 
 
 * Some years after writing this I was surprised to read it for 
 when this Lady came into Power, she was all right. — Note in 
 Lady Bedingfeld's hand. 
 
i8o9] ALTERATIONS AT COSSEY 347 
 
 rash people with a thousand fauhs better than this 
 kind of character perhaps because I am too much 
 so myself. Another kind letter from Sir Rich*, the 
 4th. since we parted. Few hearts are like his. My 
 friend, Miss Betham, is going down to visit the Poet 
 Southey by the Lake of Windermere, I envy her the 
 visit and the tranquility of Mind that allows her to 
 enjoy it. 
 
 Wednesday, ipth. George and Mrs. J. were con- 
 sulting with the Workmen how to terminate the 
 glass passage leading to the new Chapel (That end 
 joining to the House), she called to me to give my 
 opinion. I said I thought a square Gothic tower 
 would look best, with a Gothic arch from it into the 
 passage, and an arched doorway to the Lawn, the 
 roof might have a skylight (which would be hidden 
 behind the Battlements) to give Hght to the Hall. 
 George seemed inclined to have it all glass like the 
 rest of the passage, or higher on account of the 
 Steps. Mrs. J. did not seem to like delivering her 
 opinions, and was silent. I gave mine in a careless 
 manner and then left them. My Uncle's Leg is 
 not well, the original hurt is healed, but I under- 
 stand there are two other places broke out. I fear 
 this is the Avenue through which Death sooner or 
 later will destroy his hitherto invulnerable constitu- 
 tion — he seems at times to be a little uncomfortable 
 about it. 
 
 Thursday 20th. Mrs. Jerningham came to me in 
 the morning with my plans of the Tower cut out in 
 paper and asked if it was as I meant. I said : Yes, 
 and that I thought looking thro' a Gothic Arch into 
 
348 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1809 
 
 the greenhouse (passage) would have a much prettier 
 effect, than seeing the shape of the Glass frames like 
 a Cucumber bed. She agreed quite with me and I 
 guess it will be done. 
 
 Monday, 2^th July. Yarmouth. Took Charlotte, 
 Charles and Edward with me, into the town at an 
 early hour to buy them Shoes — Miss Mayes called 
 upon me and I let her in, she talked of Mrs. East's 
 taking Fanny out, and said how surprised she was 
 about it, and that she suspected and told her she 
 did not think it would meet with my approbation. 
 In the Evening Miss Sewell came by appointment 
 and brought me Miss Harriet Howell a Young 
 Quaker who is going all over the Kingdom setting 
 up schools upon Lancaster's and Dr. Bells method 
 combined. The prejudices of the established Church 
 have opposed her in some places, but in general they 
 have given way to her enlightened Plans, and she 
 has succeeded in organising a School for 104 Girls 
 at Norwich ; also one at Lynn, and I hope we shall 
 have one at Yarmouth. Our Committee of Ladies 
 for the School of Industry were not so unanimous 
 in wishing her success as I could have wished ; but 
 we (her friends) have carried the point, and if we 
 can find a proper room, we shall have 60 Girls 
 instead of 30 taught according to this new method. 
 Miss Harriet Howell is 24, very pleasing in her 
 appearance particularly when she smiles, which she 
 often does with much meaning. I understand she 
 was not always a Quaker but have not learnt any 
 particulars of her embracing this Religion. She is 
 Welsh. Upon the whole I was much pleased with 
 
i8o9] MISS HARRIET HOWELL 349 
 
 her, though in delivering her sentiments there is a 
 slowness of pronunciation, and a clear steadiness 
 of Voice, that in another sort of person might appear 
 rather pedantic. She expressed herself much grati- 
 fied in making acquaintance with me. I felt as if 
 it was flattery, though I doubt not but Miss Sewell's 
 partiality for me has set me off in very prepossessing 
 Colours. 
 
 Wednesday, 26th. My Father certainly better, he 
 did not get up but he appeared more awake and 
 stronger. I wrote letters in the Morning then took 
 a little walk with Mde de Sevign6. At Dinner Mrs. 
 J. was alarmingly grave and disappeared the moment 
 we left the dining room. Sir Richard and I set off 
 for the Cottage meaning to drink tea with Mrs. 
 William, but we met her at the head of the River, 
 and so returned to the House with her. We com- 
 pared notes about Mrs. J. but could not make out 
 what occasioned her change of humor. Anne said 
 that on Sunday at Dinner she cried and left the 
 room, but nobody knew why — what a pity it is she 
 should be subject to these changes, she has every- 
 thing to make her happy. Beauty, Youth, an excel- 
 lent Husband, pretty Children, and every prospect 
 of becoming in time [illegible'] . 
 
 Thursday, 2ph. My Uncle Edw*" came to my 
 room, and talked to me a great deal about the 
 Poetical beauties of the Scriptures and said that 
 independent of the Inspirations, Isiah's book was 
 the finest poem that could be read. I do not like 
 to touch upon any Subject with him leading to 
 Religion. At Dinner I found he had never read 
 
350 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1809 
 
 Mrs. Grant's delightful Letters from the Mountains, 
 and he seemed resolved not to do it, but at last I 
 talked him into wishing to see them, and I am to 
 write for them to Yarmouth that we may read them 
 together. My Mother neither, has, or will read 
 them, how much pleasure we sometimes lose by this 
 sort of prejudice — if my Mother once entered into 
 this Work, she would be quite delighted. My Uncle 
 told us a good bon mot of Sheridan's. Kelly the 
 Musician, who is supposed to steal a great deal from 
 other authors, told Sheridan that he was going to 
 commence wine merchant as well as Music seller, 
 but was at a loss for a proper Inscription to put 
 over his door. "Why " says Sheridan, "nothing is 
 so easy — put Kelly importer of music and composer 
 of wine." 
 
 In the Evening I talked with my Uncle of his 
 Boyish days. He remembers very accurately the 
 life he led at Cossey with his Father and Mother 
 previous to his going to Douay College at ten years 
 old. He told me the Neighbourhood was then 
 much better than at present and that Norwich fur- 
 nished a great many Visitors so that hardly a day 
 passed without Company. What a difference now, 
 for if it were not for my Brothers and Myself, My 
 Father and Mother would be totally alone, though 
 probably in that case they would seek and encourage 
 many People to come, who are now not thought of. 
 
 I took a walk with my Uncle E. in the Morning 
 he talked a good deal of Pulpit Eloquence and 
 says, he will read me an essay he has written upon 
 it, he seemed much elated with Mr. Fountaine's 
 
i809] THE POET'S CHARACTER 351 
 
 approbation of it — poor Man ! he cannot help harp- 
 ing upon Religion, and tho' he has left us appears 
 always particularly flattered by the approbation of 
 our Clergy- — he never talks to me of the particular 
 dogmas of Religion, but in general terms as if we 
 were both of the same — I wonder what a Sharp 
 illness would produce in him. I doubt much, if he 
 would think his Protestant Buckler a sufficient guard 
 against the Arch-fiend. He has many amiable points 
 about him, is good-natured in the extreme, but so 
 thoughtless in Conversation, that he often makes as 
 much mischief as an ill-natured Man — unsteady in 
 his resolutions, or rather making none but acting 
 according to the impulse of the moment — By this 
 he is for ever drawn into pecuniary difficulties, from 
 which he expects my Father to Extricate him, with- 
 out reflecting how many Children and grandchildren 
 my Father has who would be glad of assistance if 
 there was any to be had — He has had his share of 
 the family property over and over again, but he has 
 never made this Calculation and if he were rich 
 he would be very generous to us all — No Man in 
 Society is so pleasant ; he has a playfulness of Mind 
 that is delightful. Mirth is his Element, and he 
 avoids any scene or any thought that can molest it. 
 We walked to the Church-Yard to see if the Epitaph 
 he made was put on poor Mrs. Claxton's gravestone. 
 It is not — she lies buried next her Husband, and 
 several other old Servants of the Family lie near— 
 My Uncle talked to all the People he met parti- 
 cularly the Children and gave them halfpence, this 
 is the Jerningham way. I have it quite. Now Sir 
 
352 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1809 
 
 Richard will walk twenty times thro' his own or 
 another Village and never speak a word, not from 
 Pride, but he does not observe the People : while a 
 little Curled head with a fat face and innocent Eyes 
 staring at me is quite irresistable to me ; so are grey 
 Hairs or pale faces, in short all faces peeping out of 
 Cottages — The Bedingfields have a kind of reserve 
 about them originating in Shyness but they have 
 excellent hearts — and no man is so Universally 
 beloved as Sir Rich"*. 
 
 Lord and Lady Primrose called in the Morning 
 but were not let in. 
 
 Saturday jth. In the morning before breakfast 
 I went into the new Chapel, and there I found 
 4 persons 2 men and 2 women, with old Lilly the 
 Shoemaker they looked like small farmers and had 
 flaming Cockades of ribbon pinned at their breasts. 
 I went up to the fattest of the Group and asked him 
 how he liked the building he answered ' its very neat 
 indeed Miss.' To call our fine Gothic Magnificence 
 neat, and the Mother of eight Children Miss, made 
 me laugh and look if the Man's Eyes were in his 
 head. After a few more words, I left them, but 
 soon perceived my fat friend running and puffing to 
 overtake me. I immediately stopped, and he now 
 accosted me with many bows, and many Your Lady- 
 ships, enquiring after Sir Richard &c. In short it 
 turned out to be a Miller who lives near Oxburgh and 
 who is returning from Norwich, in all the Exultation 
 of Triumph at having gained his cause against a man 
 who had brought an action against him for beating 
 him — the flaming Cockades were his Laurels ! 
 
i809] THE POET IN HYSTERICS 353 
 
 r2th. Last Thursday, My Uncle E"* who appears 
 very Hght and thoughtless, considering the present 
 circumstances of things, went up to my Father's 
 room after Dinner (he appeared a little elevated) 
 but when he saw my Mother sitting by the bed side 
 suffering with the gout, and his Brother lying as he 
 does, silent and weak — he was suddenly so struck 
 with the melancholy of the scene, that he burst into 
 violent and loud weeping. Edward who was in the 
 outward room with Frederic, rushed in dreadfully 
 alarmed supposing my Father was gone and that the 
 screams came from my Mother. He dragged my 
 Uncle out, who was in a perfect hysteric, but after 
 a few minutes, and drinking a glass of Water he 
 returned to the Library quite recovered, nor should 
 I ever have guessed it by his manner. Edward told 
 it us, and my Mother says she was in terror least he 
 should alarm my Father, for it seems he made a 
 dreadful noise. However my Father did not appear 
 to notice it at all. 
 
 Oh, how shall I trace the rapid progress of those 
 Symptoms that brought on the sad Event which has 
 plunged us into the deepest Affliction — how shall I 
 record the many many bitter tears I have shed since 
 I last wrote in this Book ! My dear, my good my 
 kind Father is no more ! In this Moment were I to 
 open my door I should hear the knocking of his 
 Coffin ! Can I sit down under such circumstances 
 and write ? Am I callous ? — God knows I am not, 
 but I feel a melancholy comfort in marking down 
 the circumstances as they arise, in the hope that 
 
 VOL. I. 23 
 
354 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1809 
 
 they may recal Us to the minds of those who may 
 read these Lines when I am mingled with the dust. 
 
 My Father had been ill so long that I thought I 
 had got accustomed to being without him, and that 
 I could see the rooms below, the Plantations and 
 Surrounding Woods with calmness, as I had begun 
 to do so during his confinement — But, alas ! now 
 that he is quite gone, his long tedious illness seems 
 like a dream, and when I think of him it is as he 
 was in health, cheerful, gay, delighting in all that 
 was elegant, kind and generous, with a heart that 
 knew not how to refuse, his fine countenance beam- 
 ing with benevolence ! — And now ! Oh, Religion, 
 religion, without thee what are we ? 
 
 Monday 14th. The fatal day ! Mrs. Bonus when 
 she opened my shutters, said my Father seemed 
 rather more cheerful, when I went to him he was 
 sleeping, breathing loud, after Prayers I went to my 
 Mother, and found her better in health, but appearing 
 very low, and not wishing for my Company, so I 
 went down to Breakfast. 
 
 I determined to avail myself of the opportunity of 
 the Chaise's going to Norwich, to go to Confession, 
 thinking if I put it off later, I might not be able to 
 go. I went and said my prayers in my Father's out- 
 ward room about 12 o'clock, and he was in a deep 
 sleep breathing so hard that I became alarmed, and 
 asked Mrs. Beck if he were not worse, she said 
 nothing but shook her head— I was undetermined 
 whether to go to Norwich or not — at last resolved to 
 act by Paul's opinion, he came about one o'clock 
 and told me I might safely absent myself for a few 
 
i8o9] DEATH OF SIR WILLIAM 
 
 355 
 
 hours, that he did not find the Pulse worse &c. 
 according I set off for Norwich with Frederic, we 
 drove first into the Swan Yard, where we found 
 the Expedition Coach quite ready to set off, poor 
 Frederic got into it, in tears— he is ignorant poor 
 child how much cause he has to weep ; tho' going to 
 School, appeared to him I suppose a great Evil — 
 from the Swan I went to Mr. Beaumont's who heard 
 my Confession and then I hastened home, my heart 
 misgave me all the way I went, but on approaching 
 the Lodge, I felt revived at the sight of the Abbe 
 Fleuri ; walking along the Drive in the Park, for 
 tho' he was not my Father's confessor, I thought he 
 would not be walking about if my Father was much 
 worse — this comfort was soon taken from me, for 
 when I approached the House, I saw the House- 
 keeper and several other Servants standing in the 
 Porch seemingly waiting my arrival, I heard from 
 them that my Father was much worse — I was up 
 stairs in a moment, in passing Sir Rich'*' dressing 
 room (the Porch closet) he came out and said my 
 Father was then getting better, I rushed on into the 
 outward room, where I found my Brothers their 
 Wives and my Uncle — I leaned against the wall 
 quite breathless and stunned. 
 
 When Dinner was served we went down, I hastily 
 swallowed something and returned quite overcome 
 with sorrow. I dreaded entering the Room, and 
 sat down on the passage window — the Housekeeper 
 (Clarke) came to me good-naturedly but I could not 
 speak to her, a minute after my Mother was wheeled 
 out of the room down the other passage to her own 
 
356 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1809 
 
 Apartments she took no notice of me — I entered my 
 Father's Chamber, and she soon returned also, my 
 Father saw me in the Room, and held out his hand, 
 I took hold of it, but turned away my head to hide 
 my tears, he held my hand tighl — I thought my 
 heart would have broken. 
 
 Just as I got down the two steps in the Passage 
 Paul came out of the outward room, and rushing 
 by me exclaimed — ' Go and take leave of your poor 
 Father !' — I set down the tea cup and entered the 
 apartment I know not how — the whole seems to me 
 now like a shocking dream, on entering the room, I 
 fell on my knees the bed seemed a blaze of light, 
 because my Br. G. was kneeling on a chair at the 
 feet, holding the blest Candle, in the Bed. My poor 
 Father seemed sitting straight up, breathing very 
 loud, or rather groaning, Mr. Fountaine was holding 
 the Crucifix and repeating very loud, ' Jesus ! Mary ! 
 Joseph !' My Mother sat within one Chair of the 
 Bed, and now and then pulled back the Curtain, 
 then let it fall again. I dragged myself on my knees 
 from the door where I had first knelt till close to the 
 side of the Bed near the feet — I looked round at 
 every body, as if somebody could administer relief I 
 gazed on the altered countenance of my Father, then 
 at my Mother to see if she was aware of it, I saw my 
 sisters and Sir Rich"^ kneeling at the door Michette 
 and Le Loire, behind George. My Father said not 
 a word, he strained his Eyes to fix them on the 
 Crucifix, once he opened his mouth wide and shut it 
 again but I saw no Convulsion, in a few minutes he 
 dropt his head on his chest breathed once or twice, 
 
i8o9] DEATH-BED SCENES 357 
 
 and expired, I know not the Moment. Paul was 
 kneeling in tears by me, I heard him say, ' He is 
 gone !' or I should not have known it. My Mother 
 heard the words also, and flung herself out of her 
 Wheeling chair into that next the Bed, and now a 
 most aweful pause succeeded. My Mother being 
 assured that all was over, which assertion she could 
 not at first believe, held her tongue and holding my 
 Father's left hand wept in agony upon it. I remained 
 with my head resting on the bed, my Brothers on 
 their knees on the opposite side. After some time 
 during which not a word was uttered, I felt impelled 
 to go to the Chapel, I rushed out of the room up the 
 Chapel Stairs but was stopped by seeing lights and 
 hearing the Servants answering the Litanies, I knelt 
 down in the dark on the stairs, soon after Mrs. 
 Jerningham came and knelt by me and said pray go 
 to your poor Mother — My first feeling prompted me 
 to answer no I cannot ! but I did go, and found her 
 still by the Body. I again knelt down, then held 
 his left hand, kissed it again, again, his countenance 
 was no ways altered, and my Mother desired he 
 might not be moved before morning. 
 
 As soon as I was up I visited the chamber of 
 death : the Body remained in the same position ac- 
 cording to My Mother's orders, I knelt and prayed 
 by the side of the Bed next the wall, but I began to 
 feel a secret horror within me, I saw no alteration in 
 the Countenance, but the same expression of extreme 
 Gravity, the Head leaning forw'^ a little upon the 
 Breast, the outside Curtains towards the Window 
 were closed which cast a Shade upon the Bed and 
 
358 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1809 
 
 prevented my Seeing the change of Complexion. 
 Edward came while I was looking, and on my ob- 
 serving there was no change, he pulled back the 
 Curtain, and exclaimed ' Oh, you may see that this 
 is not Sleep !' these words made me shudder — I 
 returned to the outward room and began my Prayers 
 for Communion — George came in, and thought I 
 had better receive then, as waiting till Mass was said 
 might be too much for me. 
 
 I felt he was right and went up to the Chapel, and 
 my Brother with that plain unaffected Goodness so 
 peculiar to him, laid the Communion Cloth after 
 going down stairs for a Light, called Mr. Fleuri, him- 
 self saying the Confiteor, I felt a kind of comfort in all 
 this, tho' I could not see to read through my tears. 
 
 I hoped in the midst of all my affliction that he 
 poor Man, my uncle, might be touched by the Awe- 
 fulness of the event and return to the Ancient faith 
 — but he did not. 
 
 Wednesday past much as Tuesday, in much sorrow, 
 and in much conversation about the Virtues of the 
 Object of our deep regret. 
 
 Thursday, lyth. The Bishop (Milner) arrived. 
 Edward had written ten days before to hasten his 
 coming to dedicate the Chapel, and it was now deter- 
 mined that he should Perform this ceremony on the 
 Tuesday following and that of the Funeral on the 
 day after. My Mother could not prevail upon her- 
 self to see him — he called G's wife Your Ladyship 
 twice during Dinner. The sound hurt me exceed- 
 ingly, every Body appeared to feel it. I saw William 
 Colour very much ; she looked uncomfortable herself. 
 
i8o9] A TACTLESS BISHOP 
 
 359 
 
 and I believe she told him that it was not customary 
 to assume a title while the late possessor was still on 
 Earth, for he never called her so again while he staid. 
 The dinner hour was always to me the time most 
 sorrowful, My Brother and his Wife presiding while 
 my Poor Father lay a breathless corpse in one room, 
 and my Mother a Solitary heart-broken Widow in 
 another. Not but my Brother is most dear to me, 
 and his Wife has my warmest approbation, but the 
 contrast always overcame me^ — I should indeed have 
 remained up stairs but as we had all sustained the 
 same loss I did not like to seem particular. 
 
 Friday, passed much in the same way as Saturday. 
 
 Yet every Day from the Death to the Funeral 
 was marked by some mournful Circumstance that 
 shewed the Loss we had sustained in a still plainer 
 View — first, the removal of the Bedding, and the 
 laying out the Body on the Bedstead with a Sheet 
 flung over it, covering the face, and shewing that air 
 was no longer necessary ! then the removal of the 
 body into the Shell, then the knocking and soldering 
 of the Leaden Coffin, its removal down stairs, and 
 then the final ceremony of placing it in the Vault ! 
 
 The whole of that Day they had shut the bed- 
 room door, and were busy sorting flowers in the 
 outward room, Mrs. Beck said she had had them 
 gathered by poor Downes the under - Gardener, 
 because he was the Oldest Servant in the Family, 
 she seemed poor Woman to attach much importance 
 to strewing these flowers in the Coffin, and in the 
 particular sorts she should chuse. I liked the Senti- 
 ment that dictated this, and listened to her with 
 
36o JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1809 
 
 Melancholy pleasure. When I saw my Father in his 
 Coffin he looked so white so diminished, that I should 
 not have known him, his Mouth was much altered — 
 and nothing remained of his former Countenance but 
 his dark eyebrows, tho' 73, he was to the Moment 
 of his death surprisingly handsome, his features so 
 noble and regular, and his colour so brilliant, his eyes 
 beautiful. The change I now beheld pierced me to 
 the Heart, and is still continually before my Eyes. 
 
 As we sat at Dinner Michette came (outside) to 
 the glass door leading to the Chapel, and tapped 
 against it, upon which one of the footmen immedi- 
 ately drew the Curtain close. I sat facing the door 
 and immediately judged that something they wished 
 to conceal was going to pass by — George did not 
 perceive Michette's signal, and though the servant 
 had shut the Curtain against the Sun, he asked twice 
 why he had done so — not a word was answered, and 
 looking at me, and those who sat next me, he saw 
 by my tears and their countenances what was going 
 on- — the truth struck in the same Moment on every 
 body at table, and a most mournful, aweful silence 
 ensued, in a moment we heard the Leaden Coffin 
 pass up the Stairs, its ponderous weight required 12 
 men to carry it, the noise of which both upon the 
 Stairs and along the passage directly over our heads, 
 was more shocking than I can describe — I felt my 
 Blood chilled in my veins, I wished to fly to my 
 Mother, I dared not leave the room, after some time 
 my Brothers returned, nobody said a word, at last I 
 forced myself to say to Edward, ' Can I go up stairs 
 to My Mother ?'— ' You can ' he repHed, significantly. 
 
i8o9] 
 
 NEW MISTRESS AT COSSEY 
 
 361 
 
 I immediately left the room, and ascended the stair- 
 case, the dust still hung on the carpet, which had 
 fallen from the feet of those that had carried my 
 Father's Coffin ! 
 
 My Father was 72 when he died, the ages of his 
 family were then as follows. 
 
 My Mother. 
 
 Myself. 
 
 My eldest B"- Geo. 
 
 My Br. WiUiam. 
 
 My Br. Edward. 
 
 My Eld. Girl Fanny. 
 
 My Young' Ch. FeHx. 
 
 Mrs. Jerningham. 
 
 Mrs. W™ Jerningham. 
 
 Mrs. Edw. Jerningham. 
 
 Frederic Dillon. 
 
 61 
 
 39 
 38 
 36 
 35 
 13 
 I 
 
 31 
 29 
 21 
 10 
 
 Three months later we hear of the Dowager Lady Jerning- 
 ham's departure from the family seat, where the unavoidable 
 result of primogeniture had established a new mistress in the 
 person of her daughter-in-law. 
 
 The widow set up her lonely penates in London, from whence 
 for a long period she dates her letters to her daughter. 
 
 This letter from the Poet to his niece is docketed m Lady 
 Bedingfeld's hand : 'My mother's departure from Cossey, three 
 months after my father's death.-C. B! Its date would there- 
 fore be some time in November, 1809. 
 
 Dear Lady B. 
 
 You will not be incurious or uninterested m 
 the Annals of yesterday, and of this morning : 
 
 Lady Jerningham fatigued herself so much yester- 
 
362 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1809 
 
 day that she was apprehensive of the gout : But the 
 symptoms diminished in the Evening — I dined in the 
 Hall yesterday ; I was particularly desirous of sitting 
 down at Table with her, the last Time she was to 
 grace it with her presence as the Mistress of it. 
 She was silent, and had a difficulty, or rather a 
 Disinclination, to speak Till she was relieved by a 
 Flood of Tears. She kept however at Table and 
 Gradually grew better even up to chearfulness : I 
 had some conversation alone with her in the Evening 
 in which she said a number of amiable Things that 
 overpower'd me. 
 
 I write in a great Hurry but I must not omit 
 saying That \Jy J — n after Breakfast went to Her 
 room where she remained a long Time, she Then 
 came down and went to the Chapel — She came from 
 Thence softened but not subdued and went into the 
 carriage with a calm, Edifying and religious com- 
 posure. 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Hawleigh Park. 
 
 November 29. 
 My dearest Charlotte. 
 
 I took Leave yesterday of my Long known 
 dweUing ! and Came with Edward and Emily to 
 Hawleigh where, if I did not endeavour to See only 
 the present moment and feel your Good Brothers 
 attention and Kindness, I should be bewildered in 
 Melancholy Reccollection of the Past. 
 

 >< 
 
 < 
 
 w 
 
 l-I 
 
 tn 
 
 * 
 
 c/; 
 
 P 
 
 ^ 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 
 fc, 
 
 ■^ 
 
 o 
 
 ■«. 
 
 ^ 
 
 3" 
 
 u 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 'S 
 
 > 
 
 
 
 
 < 
 
 '? 
 
 ' sA ',* 
 
i8io] CATHOLIC AGITATION 363 
 
 I paid my Last visit to the Chapel, and felt that it 
 was only upon a furlough (perhaps a very short one) 
 that I absented myself from Him who had given me 
 the Right of Residence at Cossey. 
 
 February 2, 18 10. 
 All the Catholics are Let Loose in London, and I 
 hope they will do as much good as Satan is expected 
 to do mischief when He will be unchained at the 
 Last day. Yesterday all these good People met at 
 S' Alban's Tavern and then dined at the Clarendon 
 Hotel in Bond Street. Your Brother arrived on 
 Wednesday, and seems pleased with meeting His 
 Brethren : Lord Clifford, the Welds, etc., etc. I 
 wish Sir Richard had been of the Party. George tells 
 me that thanks were voted yesterday to the dear 
 Secretary for the Conciliatory Pains He had taken 
 and to Such good effect. 
 
 The ' dear Secretary ' of this association for the promotion of 
 Catholic interests was, of course, Edward Jerningham. 
 
 In the following letter the ' Cavalier ' in the silver lace and 
 Spanish cloak was Henry Augustus, son of Charles, twelfth 
 Viscount Dillon. His regiment was the loist, which he ulti- 
 mately commanded. 
 
 February 24. 
 
 On Thursday, about ten o'clock, after a wearysome 
 Lonely Sitting I was preparing to Leave the Room 
 
364 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1810 
 
 when the door opened and two Cavahers enter'd. 
 The first a tall very handsome Man, with Curled 
 Hair, forward over his face, and a fair Beard meeting 
 the Hair and going round the Chin, poUaca Trousers, 
 (Blue Cloth, with Broad Silver Lace from the Hip 
 to the ankle) a Spanish Cloak, very ample and 
 muffling. Lined with Crimson velvet. The Second 
 Gentleman had a more humble appearance and be- 
 spoke his half plebeian origin, whilst the first made 
 full use of his Legitimate aristocracy. In a word, 
 Henry is returned from Spain, delighted with his 
 excursion extolling the fine Spirit of the Spaniards, 
 the pleasantness' of their women. The Charm of 
 Living in Andalusia, and the impossibility to 
 Suppose Such a Nation Can ever be Crushed. He 
 talked so much and so fast that I am not yet Sure 
 what He has been about all these past months, but 
 He received an order from this government to 
 return. His regiment is in Jamaica, and his wife at 
 Castle M'^Garret. 
 
 The arrest, on April 6, of Sir Francis Burdett at his house in 
 Piccadilly, upon a warrant signed by the Speaker, was the cause 
 of serious rioting in the neighbourhood of Mayfair. Hence Sir 
 George Jerningham's anxiety about his mother, who lived in 
 Bolton Row (now Bolton Street). 
 
 Sir Francis Burdett's crime was an alleged violation of the 
 privileges of the House of Commons by the publication of a 
 letter entitled : ' Sir F. Burdett to his constituents, denying the 
 power of the House of Commons to emprison the people of 
 England.' It was on the occasion of these emeuies that the 
 
i8io] RIOTS IN PICCADILLY 365 
 
 Horse Guards acquired the opprobrious nickname of ' Piccadilly 
 Butchers ' ; this preposterous sobriquet was only forgotten after 
 the splendid services of the corps in the Waterloo campaign. 
 
 Friday, April 13. 
 
 My Good Son George thinks we have been in 
 danger of our Lives, from the Rabble, and, from the 
 fear vi^e must have been in, wonders I did not go off 
 to Lincoln's Inn. It shows how differently Matters 
 are, to those present, and those afar off. All now 
 Continues quiet and Sir Francis Burdetts Letter 
 appears to have made his Friends ashamed of the 
 Cause. 
 
 . ■ • • ■ • 
 
 Yesterday Morning I saw a Baron's Carriage at 
 Mrs. Grattans and the footman Crossing the way to 
 my door. The Lady in the Coach following proved 
 to be Lady Bradford, who had Called upon her 
 East-Bourn acquaintance. She says that Mr. 
 Grattan is a very odd Man, so absent in Common 
 Conversation that words are not at his Command, 
 and in short, that no Person ever disappointed Her 
 so much. 
 
 Lord Dillon has just Left us. He showed me a 
 Letter from Lord Westmoreland in 1793 (then Lord 
 Lieutenant in Ireland) offering Him to be an Earl 
 and enquiring if He choses to have it annexed to 
 Dillon, or take another appellation. Lord D. 
 answered that being at the Head of the Viscounts 
 (L"* Gormanston was not then Restored) He should 
 only take Place of Himself, and be the Last of many 
 
366 jfERNINGHAM LETTERS [1810 
 
 whom He had Seen before they were even reputed 
 Gentlemen. 
 
 Good Friday, 
 
 Edward is in a dreadful Warfare with Bishop 
 Milner, whom I am quite vexed about, as He 
 (Milner) is writing violent Letters to Lord Grey and 
 Mr. Grattan. The Latter I hope soon to have a 
 near view of. He Called upon Edward, who re- 
 turned his visit Yesterday & was most graciously 
 received. Ed. told Him that I had for many years 
 felt the obligation the Catholick Body had to his 
 sympathy and admired the Elogium with which He 
 had defended an unpopular Cause, and that, having so 
 Long thought of Him, I was particularly desirous of 
 profiting by the Chance of Neighbourhood we were 
 now in. 
 
 He said that He should have the Honor of waiting 
 upon me and that He intends to be zealous and 
 eloquent when the Catholick Petition is Presented. 
 Both He and Lord Grey are quite reasonable 
 about the Veto. It is to be given up ; but some 
 other method is to be prepared, such as chusing 
 among themselves their own Prelates. It is singular 
 that all should be reasonable except our good 
 Mauvaise tete. 
 
 Lady Charlotte Nelson is going to be married to 
 a younger Son of Lord Hood's, and the old Vulgar 
 Peer proposes giving Her 20,000!-. This is Mrs. 
 Compton's news. 
 
i8io] BISHOP MILNER 367 
 
 John Milner, D.D., F.S.A., Bishop of Castabala in partibus, 
 whose name occurs frequently in these letters, was an uncom- 
 promising champion of the Roman Catholic claim. What the 
 ' dreadful Warfare ' was about, does not quite clearly appear, 
 unless it be that the learned antiquary and theologian was then 
 endeavouring to push the cause forward faster than Mr. Edward 
 Jerningham, in his younger wisdom, thought advisable. 
 
 May 21. 
 
 The Catholics are all assembled to day at Lord 
 Clifford's, and the Peers are to attend Lord Grey 
 about the Catholick Business. 
 
 The poor Princess Amelia is Reprieved, by the 
 Abscess on her Back discharging its Contents. She 
 was before hourly expected to go off and her 
 Sufferings were extreme. The Prince having asked 
 the Quaker Physician (Pope) how She was. Pope 
 answered " I will tell thee in thy Room, how thy 
 Sister is." 
 
 June 2. 
 
 The Chevalier d'Eon (for it is now positively de- 
 clared to have been a Man) had a femme de chambre 
 who had Lived with Him 25 years and supposed the 
 iking always to be an old Woman, as did Pere Elise 
 who attended upon Her Likewise. 
 
 A Large parcel of Papers were found, tied up and 
 sealed, in her Bureau, and wrote upon them : Fouy 
 Le Roi Louis 18. Seul. So they were delivered 
 up to the Comte de La Chatre who immediately 
 
368 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1810 
 
 Carried them to Hartwell ; I have not yet heard 
 that what they Contained has transpired. 
 
 It is a most extraordinary event. Pdre EHs6, who 
 Called upon her every day during her illness, made 
 his visit, about 2 hours after She had expired, and, 
 going up to the Bed to Look at Her, and reflecting 
 upon all the past Historys about Her, Lifted up the 
 Sheet Machinalement and Screamed out to the dismay 
 of the Femme de Chambre : C'est un Homme ! 
 
 6. 
 
 On the 4 June the Catholics had a great Dinner 
 at Griffon's Hotel. George and Edward were Called 
 out a few minutes before they sat down at table by 
 the waiter, saying that a Lady up-stairs wished to 
 speak to them. This Lady was my poor Sister in 
 Law, Mrs. Dillon, who had arrived the night before 
 with her Daughters, and Little Boy Charles, 18 
 months old. George Came yesterday morning to 
 tell me of it and I am, as you may Conceive, much 
 distressed about it. I sent however immediately 
 Le Loire to Her with a note, to say I had a bad 
 head ach but wished she would Let her daughters 
 Come back with Le Loire to make a visit. 
 
 Maria is tall, tho' not so much so as Fanny, has 
 a very modest pretty maintien, but is not at all hand- 
 some. She is Like Frederick, but not so well for a 
 girl as He is as a Boy ; a good deal freckeled. The 
 second, Charlotte, is very pretty, darker Hair and 
 eyes, a pretty mouth, and Like her poor Father but 
 with darker eyes. 
 
i8io] DEATH OF LORD BERKELEY 369 
 
 They were to have made their first Communion 
 on Corpus Christi Day. "What . a Pity They are 
 thus disturbed ! But I hope that Mrs. Butler will 
 now write to Mr. Trant to entreat of Him that He 
 will have them placed in a Convent here. New 
 Hall is I believe very expensive, but the Convent 
 at Hammersmith is very good ; so is Taunton, or 
 Winchester. . . . Pray acquaint Mrs. Butler as soon 
 as you Can with this Contretems. I have asked Her 
 to dine with me to day, but I do not dare have her 
 in the House as I never should again be quiet ; and 
 her Mother, Brother, and Sister Mrs. Hill being 
 here, they must determine upon helping Her, if I 
 do not take the trouble off their Hands. 
 
 Mr. Windham had Called upon me once since I 
 Came to London, and was saying that He had 
 understood Long before the sad 14 August that there 
 was no hope Left. Poor Man, He did not then 
 think his own Lease would be so soon at a stand. 
 What a Melancholy desolation of Norfolk Families ; 
 the under Generation has rushed in, upon its ante- 
 cedant Inhabitants ! Lord Bayning has Left an 
 encumbered Patrimony ; the younger Children will 
 have very Little and it is said that Lady Baynings 
 Jointure is 900^ a year. Adieu my dear. Always 
 your affectionate Mother. 
 
 Worthing. 
 Sussex. 
 
 August 12. 
 
 Lord Berkeley's death will I think Cast a Gloom, 
 on Brighton. He was much attached to the Prince, 
 VOL. I. 24 
 
370 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1810 
 
 and was there all Summer, generally with the 
 Gloucestershire Militia who have a fine band of 
 Musick. There will be a sad and difficult Business 
 in the House of Lords, about the primogeniture of 
 His Sons. 
 
 September 6. 
 
 Madame Bertrand and Her Mother, are residing 
 in a pretty villa, given to M"^ Bertrand du terns de 
 Josephine, very near Malmaison, as it is the Husband 
 who is Bonaparte's favourite. I hope things will 
 go on agreably for Her, notwithstanding the change 
 of Empress. 
 
 It will be remembered that the maiden name of Madame 
 Bertrand was Fanny Dillon. Her mother was Marie de 
 Girardin, a cousin of Josephine de la Pagerie, the late Empress. 
 
 As frequent mentions of this remarkable man, General Ber- 
 trand, occur in these letters, a few short biographical notes may 
 not be out of place here. — Henry Gratien Bertrand was born in 
 1773 3.t Chateauroux, where his father was Maistre des Eaux et 
 ForHs. He served in the Engineers, went through the Egyptian 
 campaign, and played a conspicuous part at the Battle of 
 Aboukir, after which Bonaparte selected him as Aide-de-camp. 
 He came back to Europe with the rank of Brigadier ; was 
 present at Austerlitz, Friedland and Wagram, after which 
 victory he was raised to the rank of General of Division, and 
 created Comte de VEmpire by Napoleon. In 1813 he was 
 appointed Mardchal du Palais. He fought during the whole of 
 the ' Campaign of France,' and with his wife followed the Em- 
 peror to Elba, as also, later on, after the Hundred Days, to 
 St. Helena. He only returned to Europe after the death of 
 
■i8io] GENERAL BERTRAND 371 
 
 Napoleon, that is, in 182 1. He had been condemned to death 
 in 1 8 16 by the Royalist Government, but on his return 
 Louis XVIII. annulled the decree, and restored him to his rank 
 in the army. In 1830 he was elected deputy for his native town. 
 Chateauroux. Ten years later he accompanied the Prince de 
 Joinville to St. Helena, and .brought back the remains of 'his 
 Emperor ' to Paris. 
 
 At Bertrand's death, in 1844, his own remains were buried in 
 the Hotel des Invalides, by the side of his beloved master and 
 friend. 
 
 From Lady jFerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 Portsmouth. 
 
 September 20. 
 
 My dearest Charlotte. 
 
 I Left Worthing with my Bon Genie, Edward, 
 on Tuesday Last. Dined at Arundel, and slept at 
 Chichester. Yesterday saw the Cathedral there and 
 the Bishops Palace below stairs, and then proceeded 
 thro Havant (where dwell Mr. Southworth, the Vice 
 president of Douay, who has a Congregation of about 
 150 Catholics, and Mr. Knop, formerly of Old Hall 
 Green, who now Lives as a Retired Abbot on his 
 own fortune) to Portsmouth, where we arrived for 
 dinner and propose staying till tomorrow morning. 
 I have made two agreable discoverys, viz. that my 
 own Horses Can travel 20 miles a day without detri- 
 ment, and that I Can walk about on the trottoirs 
 (which I think is owing to the warm Baths at 
 Worthing) and thus this Little tour will not be 
 more expensive than remaining at Home. I have 
 only the Coachman and Le Loire with me and have 
 got here by putting an interval of two Hours between 
 
372 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1810 
 
 the days 20 miles. Portsmouth is Curious from 
 being fortified on the Land Side, Like the Towns 
 abroad. The Fountain Inn, where I am, is facing 
 Dister Street, and I Could Suppose my self in an 
 Hotel Garni at Paris : a very Lofty Room with three 
 Windows, the Wainscot Colord in panels and three 
 good Glasses. It is a very Large House, I made 
 use of my new privilege of walking Last night and 
 went Close by, on the ramparts, where the Guns are 
 pointed. General Fox is Governor of Portsmouth 
 and Lord and Lady Holland are now with Him. 
 
 There is but one Church, belonging to the estab- 
 lishment, it is an ancient Edifice but not a Large 
 one. There is a monument behind the Communion 
 table, to the memory of the Duke of Buckingham, 
 who was stabbed in this Town by Felton, and it is 
 Supposed that His Heart is kept here (tho I Cannot 
 Conceive why). His Body was Convey'd to a Bury- 
 ing Place of His ancestors in Leicestershire. 
 
 I have not yet seen Portsea nor the dock-yard, as 
 Edward is walking about : but I shall write again on 
 the Road from Arundel to Chichester. SHndon Looks 
 Beautiful, a fine white mansion. Surrounded by 
 Wood. The Newburghs, are from Home. 
 
 Southampton. 
 
 Sunday, 23. 
 
 I have reason to think that traveling agreably is 
 Conducive to Health, for I have been really well 
 since my excursion. We left Portsmouth on Friday 
 
i8io] PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR 373 
 
 after having been above two Hours in a Boat, 
 Rovi^ing round Tremendous Men of War. Ships 
 full of French Prisoners, Convicts in Prison Vessels 
 with the Windows, grated with Iron, and a most 
 noble Spanish Man of War, who was at Portsmouth 
 to get new stores and where every individual was 
 Spanish, and understanding no other Language. 
 Edward had been on Board the day before, and 
 talked Latin, with the Chaplain, a Spanish Priest. 
 Mass is said in the ship every day, and it is really 
 singular to english .eyes and ears to See and hear 
 them. They appeared to be numerous on Board, 
 and in good spirits. The French Prisoners were all 
 speaking French in their Ships, and the whole was a 
 representation of the Confusion of Babel. From Sea 
 we had tjie best view of the position of the dock- 
 yards, as I was not Curious of the detail of the stores 
 kept there but wished to view the outside Buildings, 
 which are fine. From Portsmouth 19 miles brought 
 us to Southampton which appeared Magnificent ; a 
 very wide. Long Street, Shops the whole way Light 
 up, and a fine Inn, where the usual assembly Room, 
 cut in three, Received us and two other Companys ; 
 in one part was Lady Mary and Mr. Singleton, 
 returning to Worthing. 
 
 Reading. 
 Sunday 30. 
 
 I forgot to Say that I was much pleased and 
 interested at Winchester by seeing the good Bene- 
 dictine Convent from Brussels so well established 
 
374 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [i8lo 
 
 there. They are very near the Chapel, but have a 
 French Priest residing at their House, whom they 
 are much pleased with, a Chanoine from Paris. They 
 have a very Convenient Conventual House, a Con- 
 siderable Community, and 40 Pensioners. 
 
 From Salisbury we reached Amesbury, a retired 
 Pleasant Inn in a Village ; this Village belongs to 
 a Place I have Long wished to visit, it was the 
 Residence of the former Duke and Duchess of 
 Queensbury, where she Received Gay and all the 
 Wits of that time, and from whence most of her 
 Letters are dated. The present horrible duke has 
 unfurnished the mansion. Cut down a great deal of 
 Timber, and not even a maid resides in the House ; 
 nor is there one Chair. The Nuns from Louvain 
 were there g years and are much regretted at 
 Amesbury, where They would have Converted the 
 Village. Many have been to Spetisbury to visit 
 them. 
 
 London. 
 October 12. 
 
 Did I tell you, that Edward went down on 
 Sunday with Emily to Stowe, and that Little Mary 
 Clementina* Came to me ? They arrived there on 
 Monday morning and were received as angels of 
 Peace : the Ladies were in the most anxious distress 
 for Edward's arrival, and Lord Buckingham's Im- 
 portance was glad to Lean upon a Lighter versatility 
 of Manner. After a Conversation of above two 
 
 * Who became Marquise de Ripert Monclar. 
 
i8io] A VISIT TO STOWE 375 
 
 Hours Edward got Him into a reasonable train 
 (for all was nearly broken off, and Lady Mary is 
 desperately attached to the idea of having Mr. 
 Arundel). Lord Buckingham wrote a Conciliatory 
 Letter and Edward set off on Tuesday with it for 
 Wardour, with Powers of Negotiation, and I have a 
 full Confidence of his Success. Lord Buckingham 
 has all Reliance upon Edward's every excellence and 
 the Ladies have a real affection for Him. Emily 
 staid at Stowe and returns to London on Monday 
 with Lady Buckingham; Edward hopes to arrive, 
 de son C6te, with the Arundel Family. 
 
 I think I did not mention to you when on my 
 travels, that from Salisbury we visited Wilton, which 
 I found quite different from that I had seen in 'pj. 
 There is no antique hall ; you enter a small Place, 
 and immediately a Cloister, where Edward says they 
 have confounded together all modes of architecture — 
 Centurys are Crumpled together, and the Grecian 
 and Gothic ornament the same wall. The Rooms 
 are several of them different, but the Magnificent 
 Gallery, with the Pembroke Family by Vandyke, is 
 the same. 
 
 The present Earl married Miss Woronzow, the 
 Russian Ambassador's daughter. He bewailed his 
 first wife 15 years, and then took this young Lady, 
 who is quite an EngHsh Woman by Education. 
 
 17- 
 Yesterday morning Lord Buckingham Saw Mr. 
 Arundel, as His future Son-in-Law, and sent for 
 
376 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1810 
 
 Lady Mary to come down to them. She was so 
 oppressed with her feelings that she dissolved in 
 tears, and Lord Buckingham put her hand into her 
 future Husband's and Blessed them ; so all is now 
 happiness. Lady Mary is extremely attached to 
 Him, has been a Catholic these two years, and that 
 makes Lord Buckingham rejoice in this union. 
 
 From Edward Jerningham to Sir George Jerningham. 
 
 GOSFIELD. 
 
 Nov. (jth. 
 
 My dear Brother, 
 
 I left Yarmouth yesterday, at two o'clock, in 
 the Bury Coach, where I arrived at twelve and slept 
 until seven this morning, when I embarked again in 
 another coach, which brought me to Gosfield lodges 
 at eleven. I found Arundell looks wonderfully im- 
 proved, for which the whole credit is given to you 
 and my Sister — He is really getting quite well, and 
 his chains at length hang lightly upon him — indeed 
 he has owned to me that he begins to have the usual 
 and proper feelings of a lover — 
 
 I had some pleasant companions yesterday in the 
 coach, among others an old clergyman of the name 
 of Reeve, the rector of Bungay. He had no guess 
 who I was and I easily therefore pumped him upon 
 several topics — He is a very liberal, sensible man — 
 we talked of Catholics and he approves entirely of 
 the Bishop of Norwich's sentiments — He advised me 
 strongly to go and see a magnificent Roman Chapel 
 
i8io] COACH TALK 
 
 377 
 
 at Cossey, saying that he had not seen it himself 
 but that his son, who Hves in the neighbourhood, 
 wrote him word that it was the precise model of 
 King's College Chapel — Upon this I expressed some 
 doubts, but He immediately replied that the size was 
 certainly greatly reduced from the model, yet that 
 all the parts were exg.ctly copied and that he has 
 authentic information that it has cost Sir George 
 Jerningham twenty five thousand pounds — ' Won- 
 derful,' added he, 'are the numbers that flock to 
 this chapel every Sunday ' — The whole coach was 
 in amazement and I promised faithfully to go and 
 see it the next time I should travel into these 
 parts. 
 
 He spoke a good deal of the Jerninghams and 
 Bedingfelds as the most ancient families in Norfolk, 
 ' necessarily Bigotted altho' in their religion highly 
 respectable and charitable '; and that Sir George's 
 reputation was already established, as to the latter 
 quality, by his disinterested and noble opposition to 
 the inclosing of six or eight large commons round 
 his family mansion, — for which he had been publickly 
 thanked — The old Gentleman, he said died last year 
 highly respected — the Jerninghams were extremely 
 rich, but the Bedingfelds had run out their fortune 
 and were retiring to Yarmouth. ' They keep up 
 appearances however,' cried out a woman in the 
 corner, ' for Sir Richard drives four in hand, and 
 sees the first company ' — Then began a chorus 
 about Lady Bedingfeld — supposed to be the most 
 clever woman in England, educates all her children 
 herself until 13 and then sends them to a nunnery — 
 
\ 
 
 378 JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1810 
 
 children delightful, with Nuns names, Agnes, Victor 
 &c. ' Every night,' said the above mentioned Lady, 
 ' does Lady Bedingfeld prostrate herself before a 
 crucifixion, monstrously bigotted, but will walk arm 
 in arm with her inferiors and affable and charitable 
 to a degree ' ! 
 
 From Lady Jerningham to Lady Bedingfeld. 
 
 London, 
 
 November 13. 
 
 Some more Catholic News is that Mr. Blundel of 
 Ince, the old Man, is dead and leaves 7000^ a year 
 to his Eldest Son ; 3000^ a year to each of his 
 daughters (Mrs. Stonor, and Mrs. Tempest) to go at 
 their decease to their second Sons ; a Little Estate 
 of 500^ a year to young Talbot, Lord Shrewsburys 
 Heir ; and various Legacys to other Talbots, and to 
 Mostyn, whom he was related to. John Bedingfeld 
 has now been here. He has shewn to me the poor 
 King's Signature, and it would be impossible to Read 
 in it George Rex if the paper did not announce it had 
 that official signature. This is a most momentous 
 time ; people hardly know what to wish for. The 
 Prince declared some days ago that it would be very 
 unpleasant to Him in this moment to have regal 
 Power. I suppose He is hamperd with the Promises 
 he has made. 
 
i8io] LADY PAGET AND THE DUKE OF ARGYLE 379 
 
 You will perhaps have heard that Lady Paget is 
 positively to be married to the Duke of Argyle. 
 She was to set off yesterday for Scotland with Lady 
 Charlotte Campbell, and the Duke will receive them. 
 It is a very odd affair and Lord Paget will not admire 
 meeting his Quondam Wife with the higher Rank 
 of Duchess and an obsequious Husband, for He has 
 always treated her with the most shameful Contempt, 
 and now He must be a Little more Careful in his 
 expressions. At the same time it is in fact a most 
 irregular proceeding. 
 
 The ' French Queen,' who never sat on the throne, was 
 Maria Josepha of Savoy. She died without issue at Hartwell. 
 
 London, 
 
 22, fog-. 
 
 My dearest Charlotte. 
 
 As I cannot suppose you at poor dear Cossey ! 
 without wanting to Converse with you, this Letter, 
 written in the dark (tho at three in the afternoon) 
 must endeavour to find the way I am doomed not to 
 Seek, till I travel as the poor Queen of France is 
 Coming from Hartwell. This Melancholy Reflection 
 is perhaps too much, forgive me for it ! But I cannot 
 help sometimes going back to the Past, and then on 
 to the future, tho very thankful for my present portion 
 of good, which is great when I look towards my four 
 excellent Children. 
 
 The French are all much occupied about this poor 
 
38o JERNINGHAM LETTERS [1810 
 
 said Queen, and the funeial is put off till Monday. 
 Government is at the exptmce of it, and I hear that 
 15 mourning Coaches will go from King Street to 
 Westminster Abbey. The nobility are variously 
 Marshalled. The, Last order seems to be : four 
 Cordons Bleus, two Duchesses (Coigny and Pienne) 
 the Comtesses de Narbonne and Mesnars for to Stand 
 immediately by the Coffin. Madame de Narbonne 
 and the archbishop of Rheims attend the Corpse to 
 London, and ever since her decease, a Priest has 
 Constantly been in prayer by Her both Night and 
 Day. Masses are said in King Street Chapel all 
 Morning, and, at the half hour after eleven, by a 
 Bishop every day since her decease. I went yester- 
 day to the Bishop of Angouleme's, as I wished to 
 Show my Respect for the memory of so great a 
 Personage whose death marked the Comfort of the 
 Catholick Faith — for she spoke to every one in the 
 most edifying manner, and particularly to Monsieur 
 on the most Pious and happy Change He had 
 adopted. 
 
 26. 
 
 The poor Queen of France has within a few 
 minutes passed before my eyes to her Lonely habita- 
 tion in Westminster Abbey. The Service was this 
 morning performed in the French Chapel, where she 
 arrived yesterday. Government defrays all the Ex- 
 pence. From the Chapel she came by South Audley 
 Street into Curzon Street, and turned into Half Moon 
 Street to gain Piccadilly. I saw the whole without 
 
i8io] DEATH OF THE QUEEN OF FRANCE 381 
 
 moving from my Chair. The Melancholy Hearse 
 went first with six or eight Horses (I am not sure 
 which), then 15 Mourning Coaches and four, the 
 English Royal Coaches and six, Marquis of Bucking- 
 ham's ditto and six, various others with four; and, 
 when it Came down to two, mine with Antonio 
 behind. — I had not courage to go to the Chapel but 
 was informed it was a mark of respect to send a 
 Carriage. 
 
 This poor Queen's death has given great Edifica- 
 tion ; her Calmness and piety in her Last moments 
 was very great. She had, it seems, always had a 
 great fear of death ; but, on being informed by her 
 Physician that it would be Right to see her Confessor, 
 she desired immediately to do so, and a Grand Vicaire 
 of the Bishop of Boulogne Came to Her with whom 
 she had a Conference of two Hours. In Coming 
 from her Room he said ' La Reine demande a etre 
 administree,' and the Archbishop of Rheims' Grand 
 Aumonier performed the Ceremony. She asked for- 
 giveness of all whom she might have offended, and 
 after the Ceremony was over again spoke to all the 
 Royal Family and to her private attendants. She 
 said to Madame de Narbonne who was Crying by 
 her Bedside : ' Ne m'aimez pas tant ;' and to La 
 Duchesse d'Angoul^me ' Qu'elle esperoit se Retrouver 
 unjour aupres d'elle, dans le del.' 
 
 Your Hero, the King of Sweden, interests and 
 surprises People by his unaffected manner. He went 
 on Saturday by appointment to the Prince Condi's 
 
382 JERNINchAM LETTERS [1810 
 
 at Wimbledon, where the King of France has been 
 staying since the Queen's (fecease. He arrived alone 
 in a hack-Chaise, and an (hour after came his only 
 attendant, a Swede of 18, in another hack Chaise. 
 Your hero went up to Lcuis XVIII Closet (the two 
 Kings are very intimate together) and soon after they 
 were informed that the Duke of Kent and Duke of 
 Sussex were in the Salon ; so the French Monarch 
 Came forth, holding the other by the Hand, and 
 named Him. The English Dukes were very polite, 
 and the Duke of Sussex in particular was tres aimable. 
 This account I had from an eye witness of the inter- 
 view, the Chevalier de Grimaldi. 
 
 December 6. 
 
 Edward and Emily dined at Wimbledon on Friday 
 at the Prince Cond6's with two Kings France and 
 Sweden. Due and Duchesse D'Angoul^me, and all 
 that set. Your Uncle is better in this moment, but 
 very stedfast in His erroneous opinions — thinking 
 He shall be of Service if He Can persuade People 
 out of the Belief of original Sin. Nothing Can be 
 more Severe than the mention made of his Alex- 
 andrian School, in the 4 Number of the Quarterly 
 Review. 
 
 The reigning King of Sweden was then Charles, Duke of 
 Sudermania (son of Alphonse-Frdd^ric), who had been elected, 
 in 1809, under the name of Charles XIII., in the place of his own 
 nephew, Gustayus IV. Having no children, and being advanced 
 in years, he had adopted as his successor, first the Prince of 
 Holstein Augustenburg, then (on the death of this young man), 
 
■*/■ - 
 
 i8io] THE KING OF SWEDEN 383 
 
 the French General, Bernadotte. Bernadotte's election as 
 Prince Royal of Sweden had taken place on August 20 of this 
 year. 
 
 ' Your hero ' and ' the King,' to whom Lady Jerningham 
 refers, must, of course, be Gustavus IV. (a very poor Prince, by 
 the way), who had been exiled for life from Sweden. At that 
 time the Swedish Government, entirely under French influence, 
 had issued a decree of non-intercourse with Great Britain. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD. 
 
 /. D. &= Co. 
 
f '^^•^i^^.l.i