Biography of William Cavendish 6th Duke Devonshire 1790-1858

Letters of Harriet, Countess Granville. To the Marquis of Hartington (age 19). London. April 12, 1810.

Dearest Hartington, — You must think me a brute for having been so long without writing to you, but I have been for some time the idlest of human beings. We keep terrible late hours, and I do nothing from morning till night but think what an angel my husband is, which is more pleasant than profitable. Your absence furnishes me with conversation wherever I go. I really cannot explain your leaving London just now, your thinking Bath the best place for mathematics or Doctor Randolph's attractions. Poor worn-out Lady Warwick rien peut plus with it, but with a tremulous voice, like cowards just before they dip into the sea, follows me about — 'Where is he gone, my dear Lady Harriet, what can he be gone about?' There are shoals of Miss Mildmays, and the good-natured Dowager quite like a hen. Sir Henry and his wife go about in attitudes, but they match so well and look so handsome that one forgives them for it.

You will have seen in the papers all that has been going on about Sir Francis Burdett (age 40). London is quiet and dull again. The mob entirely dispersed and nothing but soldiers to be seen. These riots have been very animating to different people in different ways. Lord Carlisle (age 61)¹ - got well pelted with mud and dirt. Think of the nose of nice nobility. Little 0². was obliged to explain his politics to the mob, who were going to swallow him, I believe. He is so factious that if he was not so small and inarticulate he might some day or other get into mischief. As it is he is never heard and scarcely seen. So passe, passe, petit bonhomme, very harmless and very ridiculous.

We all go to Court the day after to-morrow. Lady Stafford (age 44)³ presents me, Lady Liverpool (age 43) the [his step-mother] Duchess (age 52)⁴.

Note 1. He married Lady Caroline Leveson Gower, a daughter of the first Marquis of Stafford and half-sister to Lord Granville (age 36). He was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1780 to 1782. He wrote indifferent poetry, and was sneered at in English Bards amd Scotch Beviewers by his relative and ward, Lord Byron (age 22).

Note 2. Lord Ossulston (age 33), who succeeded his father, Lord Tankerville (age 66), in 1822,. He married in 1806 Mlle. Corisande de Gramont (age 27), of whom there is frequent mention in these letters.

Note 3. Countess of Sutherland, married in 1785 to the second Marquis of Stafford (age 52), half-brother to Lord Granville. He was Ambassador in Paris from 1790 to 1792. She did what she could for Marie Antoinette when in prison.

Note 4. Elizabeth.Duchess of Devonshire.

Letters of Harriet, Countess Granville. To [his sister] Lady G. Morpeth (age 28). Trentham. September 18, 1811.

Hartington (age 21) goes to-morrow, in an agony lest I should spoil the pleasure he has of telling things by writing them to you first. I am therefore tongue-tied on many subjects.

Is it possible that the Duchess has written to you in her own name to ask you to lie in at Chiswick? It is too hard, as that dear angel Hart, says, to rob him of the pleasure of doing those things himself. I may boast to you of his affection for us; we really are at present his great objects. It is in everything, and a wish to be with us beyond all others. He is to be at Tixal the end of October again, and I will, if I possibly can, keep him there for you.

We go to Tixal the day after to-morrow. I must take Mr. Vernon (age 26)¹ away to flirt with my beauties there. It will not be dangerous for Lady Harriet, and Corise (age 28) bears a charmed life. He will be proud beyond measure and fancy both are in love with him.

I have had a very affectionate letter from [his illegitimate half-sister] Caroline² since the one I mentioned to you, and a very odd one from her namesake, Caroline William (age 25)³, wishing the learned could explain the incongruity of her behaviour. They would be put to it indeed.

Note 1. Eldest son of the Archbishop of York (age 53). Assumed the name of Harcourt at the same time as his father.

Note 2. Caroline St Jules, illegitimate daughter of [his father] William Cavendish 5th Duke Devonshire and [his step-mother] Elizabeth Christiana Hervey Duchess Devonshire (age 53) born before her parents married, i.e. Mrs. George Lamb (age 27)

Note 3. Lady Caroline Lamb, daughter of Lord Bessborough (age 53) and wife of Lord Melbourne (age 32).

Letters of Harriet, Countess Granville. To the Duke of Devonshire (age 21). London: May 10, 1812.

Granville is gone to vote against Reform¹, and G. is at Spencer House. I am quite alone, very tired, have seen nobody, heard nothing, and it is therefore only upon the score of brotherly love that you can be glad to hear from me. My last gaiety was at Lady Essex's on Sunday, where Lady Hamilton (age 47) did attitudes in a shawl of Lady Essex's (age 52), who looked inspired and will I hope shortly take to doing them herself.

I was at Mrs. Gordon's on Monday. It was very pleasant. She did the honours so sturdily and goodhumouredly, that it made everything go off well. I saw my Aunt Spencer, grunting and elbowing through the crowd and afterwards squatting down with a bevy of respectable women about her. It must be dull for Georgiana², who seems to have no acquaintance but Lady Cork, the Dowager Lady Pembroke (age 75), and Mrs. Howe.

Dear Rawdon was pushing about in a fury, her shawl upon her arm and in her countenance 'I will endure it no longer.' The daughter very pretty, but her blooming little face quite lost in curls and nosegays. Lady Sandon, with her eyes shut, steered about between them.

Lord Byron (age 24) is still upon a pedestal and Caroline William (age 26) doing homage. I have made acquaintance with him. He is agreeable, but I feel no wish for any further intimacy. His countenance is fine when it is in repose, but the moment it is in play, suspicious, malignant, and consequently repulsive. His manner is either remarkably gracious and conciliatory, with a tinge of affectation, or irritable and impetuous, and then I am afraid perfectly natural.

Note 1. Mr. Canning and his Mends had gradually adopted Liberal opinions on most questions except Beform. After his death they most of them supported, Lord Grey in his Reform policy.

Note 2. Her daughter.