Read Courtiers: The Secret History of the Georgian Court Online
Authors: Lucy Worsley
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Courtiers: The Secret History of the Georgian Court (55 page)
Peter in later years looked ‘just like busts of Socrates’. No one knew how old he really was
Lodged with Farmer Fenn at Broadway Farm, he would exasperate his master by helpfully loading a cart with dung, then unloading it again for pleasure. He remained ‘exceedingly timid and gentle in his nature’ and ‘would suffer himself to be governed by a child’. He was fond of gin, and of onions, which he would eat raw like apples. In spring he would sing all day long, and if music were played he would dance and caper about ‘till he was almost quite exhausted with fatigue’. In the autumn he would still show ‘a strange fondness for stealing away into the woods, where he would feed eagerly’ upon acorns.
Only when bad weather approached would Peter begin ‘growling and howling, and showing great disorder’. He loved to watch a fire and sometimes stood with his face turned to the sun; he liked ‘to be out on a starry night’.
161
Nothing could have been further from life in the gloomy, glittering world of the Georgian court.
1
. Brooke (1985), Vol. 2, p. 3.
2
. TNA LS 9/177 (24 October 1760).
3
. Lewis (1937–83), Vol. 20, p. 88 (17 August 1749 OS); p. 89 (12 September 1749 OS).
4
. BL Add MS 20101, f. 49r (29 January 1759).
5
. Lewis (1937–83), Vol. 20, p. 438 (5 July 1754).
6
. Clark (1988), p. 147 (1758).
7
. Simond (1815), Vol. 1, p. 162.
8
. Mr Kendal of Lord Ashburnham’s Troop, writing in
The Gentleman’s
Magazine
, Vol. 13 (July 1743), p. 387.
9
. Kensington Public Library, ‘Extra illustrated’ edition of Thomas Faulkner,
History and Antiquities of Kensington
(London, 1820) (3-volume version), Vol. 3, item 205b (17 August 1743).
10
. HMC,
14th Report
, appendix 9, p. 523, ‘note on the rebellion of 1745’.
11
. Quoted in Black (2007), p. 197.
12
. Wraxall (1904), p. 257.
13
. Cannon (2004).
14
. Frank McLynn,
1759, The Year Britain Became Master of the World
(London, 2004), p. 233.
15
. Wraxall (1904), pp. 257–8.
16
. Cowper (1864), p. 143.
17
. John Wood,
An Essay towards a Description of Bath
(London, 1749), Vol. 2, preface.
18
. BL Add MS 20101, f. 36v (4 December, n.y.).
19
. Walpole,
Reminiscences
(1818 edn), p. 101.
20
. Halsband (1965–7), Vol. 2, p. 306 (29/18 June 1743).
21
. SRO 941/53/1, p. 210, William Hervey’s commonplace book.
22
. Quoted in Stuart (1936), p. 119.
23
. Mrs Russell to Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Russell (August 1743), quoted in Sydenham Hervey,
Journals of the Hon. William Hervey
(Bury St Edmunds, 1906), introduction, p. xxxix.
24
. SRO 941/48/1, p. 191, Mary Hervey to the Reverend Edmund Morris (18 November 1743).
25
.
Ibid.
, p. 377, Mary Hervey to the Reverend Edmund Morris (15 December 1760).
26
. Lewis (1937–83), Vol. 23, p. 78 (2 December 1768).
27
.
Ibid.
, Vol. 33, p. 37 (7 August 1778).
28
. Elizabeth Mavor,
The Virgin Duchess, A Study in Survival: The Life of the
Duchess of Kingston
(London, 1964), pp. 38–9.
29
. Augustus Hervey,
Augustus Hervey’s Journal
, Ed. David Erskine (Rochester, 2002), p. 77.
30
.
Ibid.
, p. xxx.
31
. Thomas Wright,
England under the House of Hanover
(London, 1848), Vol. 1, p. 343, note.
32
. Quoted in Mavor (1964), p. 57.
33
. Lewis (1937–83), Vol. 20, pp. 212–13 (22 December 1750 OS).
34
. SRO 941/21/2(ii), ‘A Character of Lady Mary Hervey’, f. 3.
35
. Lady Louisa Stuart to Lord Wharncliffe, quoted in Stuart (1936), p. 145.
36
. Lewis (1937–83), Vol. 37, p. 308 (14 July 1751).
37
. Hervey (1931), Vol. 2, p. 581.
38
.
The Walpole Society
, Vol. 22 (1933–4) (Vertue III), p. 140.
39
. Sir Thomas Robinson quoted in Jourdain (1948), p. 41.
40
. Anonymous satirical poem at Chatsworth, quoted in Wilson (1984), p. 250.
41
.
The Walpole Society
, Vol. 22 (1933–4) (Vertue III), p. 140.
42
. Will of William Kent (April 1748), quoted in Jourdain (1948), p. 89.
43
. Highfill, Burnim and Langhams (1973), Vol. 2, p. 451.
44
. I’m grateful to John Harris for suggesting this.
45
. Hervey (1931), Vol. 2, p. 539.
46
. Philip Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield,
Lord Chesterfield’s witticisms
(London,1775), p. 37.
47
. Alexander Fergusson (Ed.),
Letters and Journals of Mrs Calderwood of Polton
from England, Holland and the Low Countries in
1756
(Edinburgh, 1884), pp. 31–2.
48
. Walpole,
Reminiscences
(1818 edn), p. 97.
49
. Anon.,
George the Third
(1820), p. 100.
50
. SRO 941/48/1, p. 353, Mary Hervey to the Reverend Edmund Morris (21 November 1758).
51
. Fergusson (1884), p. 32.
52
. Hervey (1931), Vol. 1, p. 278.
53
. Yorke (1913), Vol. 3, pp. 110–11.
54
. J. A. Home (Ed.),
The letters and journals of Lady Mary Coke
(Edinburgh, 1889–96), Vol. 1, ‘Memoir by Lady Louisa Stuart’, p. lxxx.
55
. HMC, 12th Report, appendix, Part X,
The Manuscripts and Correspondence of
James, first earl of Charlemont
(London, 1891–4), Vol. 1, p. 14.
56
. Horace Walpole, ‘Horace Walpole’s Journals of Visits to Country Seats’, Ed. Paget Toynbee,
The Walpole Society
, Vol. 16 (Oxford, 1927–8), p. 16.
57
. Burford (1988), p. 31.
58
. Horace Walpole, ‘Horace Walpole’s Journals of Visits to Country Seats’, Ed. Paget Toynbee,
The Walpole Society
, Vol. 16 (Oxford, 1927–8), p. 16.
59
. Clark (1988), pp. 147–8 (1758).
60
. Yorke (1913), Vol. 3, p. 111.
61
. ‘Introductory anecdotes’, probably based on information from Lady Bute, in Wharncliffe (1837), p. 77.
62
. Brooke (1985), Vol. 1, p. 120.
63
.
Ibid.
, p. 152.
64
. Fergusson (1884), p. 31.
65
. Royal Archives, quoted in Edwards (1947), p. 164.
66
. Lord Berkeley of Stratton quoted in Aston (2008), p. 188.
67
. Anon.,
George the Third
(1820), p. 119.
68
. Rose (1831), Vol. 1, p. 187, diary of Hugh, Earl of Marchmont (1747).
69
.
The Gentleman’s Magazine
, Vol. 21 (March 1751), p. 140.
70
. Wraxall (1904), pp. 251–2.
71
. Anon.,
George the Third
(1820), p. 128.
72
. Holland (1846), Vol. 1, p. 83.
73
. Lady Firebrace to Lady Denbigh, quoted in Young (1937), p. 218.
74
. Holland (1846), Vol. 1, p. 87.
75
. John Carswell and Lewis Arnold Dralle (Eds),
The Political Journal of George
Bubb Dodington
(Oxford, 1965), pp. 112–13 (13 April 1751).
76
. Aston (2008), p. 187.
77
. Sedgwick (1939), pp. 40–1, the future George III to Lord Bute (winter 1759–60).
78
. Frankland-Russell-Astley MSS, 253, quoted in W. A. Speck, ‘William Augustus, Prince, duke of Cumberland (1721–1765)’,
Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography
(Oxford, 2004).
79
. Speck (2004).
80
. Staffordshire Record Office MS D/798/3/1/1, F. O. Eld to J. Eld (23 November 1745), quoted in Speck (2004).
81
. Brooke (1985), Vol. 1, p. 55.
82
.
Ibid.
, Vol. 2, p. 282.
83
. Yorke (1913), Vol. 3, p. 184.
84
. Lewis (1937–83) Vol. 20, p. 88 (17 August 1749 OS).
85
. Home, Vol. 1 (1889), ‘Memoir by Lady Louisa Stuart’, p. lxxix.
86
.
General Evening Post
, issue 5674 (22 February 1770), Baron Bielfield, ‘A Character of the celebrated Countess of Yarmouth’.
87
. BL Add MS 22629, f. 82v, A. Pitt to Henrietta Berkeley (10 November 1758).
88
. BL Add MS 32896, f. 136v, Newcastle to Lord Hardwicke (copy) (27 September 1759).
89
. Quoted in Alan Hardy,
The Kings’ Mistresses
(London, 1980), p. 91.
90
. Brooke (1985), Vol. 2, p. 183.
91
. BL Add MS 32904, f. 428, Lady Yarmouth to Newcastle (18 April 1760).
92
. HMC
Egmont
, Vol. 2 (1923), p. 459.
93
. Lewis (1937–83), Vol. 9, p. 51 (2 July 1747);
Public Advertiser
, issue 11715 (30 September 1772).
94
. Brooke (1985), Vol. 1, p. 119.
95
.
Ibid.
, Vol. 3, p. 49.
96
.
Ibid.
, Vol. 1, pp. 151–2.
97
.
Ibid.
, Vol. 2, p. 295; Hastings Wheler (1935), p. 153 Lady Catherine Jones (24 December 1737).
98
. Brooke (1985), Vol. 2, p. 295.
99
.
Ibid.
, p. 23.
100
. BL Egerton MS 1710, f. 27r, Princess Amelia to Princess Anne (19 July 1757).
101
. David Williamson, ‘Mary, Princess (1723–1772)’,
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography
(Oxford, 2004).
102
. Montagu (1864), Vol. 2, p. 335.
103
. Tillyard (2006), p. 31.
104
. Home, Vol. 1 (1889), ‘Memoir by Lady Louisa Stuart’, p. lxxxi.
105
. Yorke (1913), Vol. 3, p. 170.
106
. BL Add MS 22629, f. 39v, George Berkeley to Henrietta (1735?), f. 40v, Henrietta to George Berkeley (1735?).
107
. Borman (2007), p. 179.
108
. Miss Mary Laetitia Hawkins on Horace Walpole, quoted in Stuart (1936), p. 187.
109
. Lewis (1937–83), Vol. 33, p. 270 (8 June 1747).
110
.
Ibid.
, Vol. 9, p. 318 (4 November 1760).
111
. Kensington Public Library, ‘Extra illustrated’ edition of Thomas Faulkner,
History and Antiquities of Kensington
(London, 1820), 3-volume version, Vol. 3, item 328 (2 April 1759).