Elite women, social politics, and the political world of late eighteenth-century England

Historical Journal

Volumn 43, Issue 3, 2000, Pages 669-697

  Chalus, Elaine ^a  

^a BATH SPA UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 33646910600     PISSN: 0018246X     EISSN: 14695103     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0018246X99001314     Document Type: Article

References (134)

1. Newcastle to Grafton, 6 Nov. 1765, British Library (BL) Add. MS 32, 971, fo. 290;
2. Newcastle to Featherstonhaugh, 30 Nov. 1765, BL Add. MS 32, 972, fos. 78-9. For an earlier interpretation of this episode, see Paul Langford, The first Rockingham administration, 1765-1766 (Oxford, 1973), pp. 104-5.
3. Rockingham to Newcastle, 6 Nov. 1765, BL, Add. MS 32, 971, fo. 287;
4. George III to Bute [10 Jan. 1766], in Letters from George III to Lord Bute, 1765-1766, ed. Romney Sedwick (London, 1939), pp. 241-6.
5. For an example of Lady Rockingham's political acumen, see her pointed advice to Rockingham on the death of Cumberland: Lady Rockingham to Rockingham [Bath, Nov. 1765], Wentworth Woodhouse Muniments (WWM), R168-177-1-2. Her political involvement did not stop with the fall of the Rockingham administration. In March 1767, for instance, when she was once again in Bath and forced to discuss politics with Rockingham by post, he lamented the absence of his'Minerva' but made use of her letters:' Your Political letters are well timed & I make use of them-I won't tell you how-but write on-': Rockingham to Lady Rockingham, Grosvenor Square, 31 Mar. 1767, WWM, R156-9; 30 Mar. 1767, R156-8.
6. See also my "'My Minerva at my elbow": the political roles of women in eighteenth-century England', in Stephen Taylor, Richard Connors, and Clyve Jones, eds., Hanoverian Britain and empire: essays in memory of Philip Lawson (Woodbridge, 1998).
7. Rockingham to Lady Rockingham, Grosvenor Square, 28 Nov. 1765, WWM, R156-6. The process whereby Lady Rockingham secures a visit from Pitt and, in return, pays a visit to Lady Chatham and Pitt, is a model of exquisite politeness and flattery: Pitt to Lady Rockingham [Bath, Nov.-Dec. 1765], WWM, R151-1;
8. Lady Rockingham to Wm. Pitt [Bath, Dec. 1765], PRO, Chatham papers, 1st ser., 30/8/54, fos. 230-1, 232-3.
9. Lady Rockingham to Wm Pitt [Bath, Dec. 1765], PRO, 30/8/54, fos. 230-1;
10. see also their correspondence in WWM, R151-1-4.
11. Lady Rockingham to Pitt [Bath, Dec. 1765], PRO, 30/8/54, fos. 234-5.
12. Lady Rockingham to Rockingham [Bath, 1765], WWM, RI68-80.
13. See, for instance, Linda Colley, Britons: forging a nation, 1707-1737 (London, 1992);
14. Eckhart Hellmuth, ed., The transformation of political culture: England and Germany in the late eighteenth century (Oxford, 1990);
15. Paul Langford, A polite and commercial people: England, 1727-1783 (Oxford, 1989);
16. also his Public life and the propertied Englishman, 1689-1708 (Oxford, 1991); and, especially, his 'British politeness and the progress of Western manners: an eighteenth-century enigma', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 6th ser., 7 (1997), pp. 53-72.
17. John Brewer, Party ideology and popular politics at the accession of George III (Cambridge, 1976). For recent work on the press, see Hannah Barker, Newspapers, politics and public opinion in late eighteenthcentury England (Oxford, 1998).
18. Frank O'Gorman, 'Campaign rituals and ceremonies: the social meaning of elections in England, 1780-1860', Past and Present, 135 (May 1992), pp. 79-115.
19. See, for example, Colley, Britons;
20. Elaine Chalus, '"That epidemical madness": women and electoral politics in the late eighteenth century', in Hannah Barker and Elaine Chalus, eds., Gender in eighteenth-century England: roles, representations and responsibilities (Harlow, 1997);
21. also my '"My Minerva at my elbow"'; and my '"To serve my friends": women and political patronage in mideighteenth-century England', in Amanda Vickery, ed., Women, privilege and power (Stanford, forthcoming);
22. P. J. Jupp, 'The roles of royal and aristocratic women in British politics, c. 1782-1832', in Mary O'Dowd and Sabine Wichert, eds., Chattel, servant or citizen: women's status in church, state and society (Belfast, 1995);
23. Nicholas Rogers, Crowds, culture and politics in Georgian Britain (Oxford, 1998);
24. Kathleen Wilson, The sense of the people: politics, culture and imperialism in England, 1715-1785 (Cambridge, 1995).
25. See, for instance, Donna Andrew, '"The passion for public speaking": women's debating societies', in Valerie Frith, ed., Women and history: voices of early modern England (Toronto, 1995);
26. Amanda Foreman, Georgiana: duchess of Devonshire (London, 1998);
27. Sara Mendelson and Patricia Crawford, Women in early modem England, 1550-1720 (Oxford, 1998);
28. K. D. Reynolds, Aristocratic women and political society in Victorian Britain (Oxford, 1998);
29. Sarah Richardson, 'The role of women in electoral politics in Yorkshire during the eighteen-thirties', Northern History, 32 (1996), pp. 60-84;
30. Hilda L. Smith, ed., Women writers and the early modern British political tradition (Cambridge, 1998);
31. Anne Stott, '"Female patriotism": Georgiana, duchess of Devonshire, and the Westminster election of 1784', Eighteenth-Century Life, 17 (1993), pp. 60-84.
32. For further information, see my'Women in English political life, 1754-1790' (D. Phil, thesis, University of Oxford, 1997).
33. See, for instance, the literature around the best known of all eighteenth-century political women, Georgiana, duchess of Devonshire. Until recently, academic interest in the duchess focused on her electoral activities during the Westminster election of 1784. Even Amanda Foreman's admirable biography of the duchess, while clearly demonstrating the full range of the duchess's political activities, still implicitly privileges this hierarchical notion of politics: Foreman, Georgiana.
34. This duality is recognized in the OED's definition of'polities'.
35. Literature on politeness has proliferated in recent years. See, especially, Lawrence E. Klein, Shaftesbury and the culture of politeness: moral discourse and cultural politics in early eighteenth-century England (Cambridge, 1994); Langford, Polite and commercial people.
36. Sir Lewis Namier, The structure of politics at the accession of George III (2nd edn, London, 1960), p. a.
37. Anna Clark, 'Gender and politics in the long eighteenth century', History Workshop Journal, 18 (1999). PP. 252-7.
38. For further details, see my '"That epidemical madness"', and my '"My Minerva at my elbow"'.
39. Journal, London, 26 May 1767, in The litters and journals of Lady Mary Coke (4 vols., Edinburgh, 1889-96), n, p. 6; duchess of Devonshire to Lady Spencer [London, 19 Dec. 1788], Chatsworth MSS (Devonshirepapers) 934. During the marathon debateof 17-18 Feb. 1783, Lady Spencer's network of male family members, friends, and political supporters kept her very well informed. She received notes from parliament detailing the latest developments in the debate from, in turn, Lord Althorp, Lord Jersey, Lord John Cavendish, Lord Lucan, Henry Minchin, Lord Althorp again, and Richard Rigby, at 8 p. m., 10 p. m., 10.30 p. m., 'past 12 o'clock', 3 a.m., 8 a.m., and 8.05 a.m., respectively.
40. See BL MS Coll. (Althorp papers), F. 120 [unfoliated].
41. Journal, London, 27 Feb. 1767, 30 Nov. 1774, Letters and journals of Lady Mary Coke, 1, pp. 158-9, III, p. 437.
42. Journal, London, 6 Feb. 1769, ibid., III, p. 19.
43. Hon. Mrs Martha Harcourt to Lady Harcourt [London], 16 Jan. 1789, in The Harcourl papers, ed. E. W. Harcourt (14 vols., Oxford, 1876-1905), IV, pt 1, p. 178.
44. Breadalbane to Lady Grey, Edinburgh, 10 Nov. 1767, Bedfordshire Record Office, Wrest Park (Lucas papers) (BRO, \VP), L30/9/17/125. For the political charge generated by electioneering, see my '"That epidemical madness"'.
45. 'Lady Spencer to Nuneham, Rome, 13 Apr. 1764', in Harcourt papers, ed. Harcourt, VIII, P. 75.
46. Lady Hervey to [Mr Morris], Ickworth, 7 Apr. 1744, in Letters, with a memoir and illustrative notes (London, 1821), no. xv, p. 57.
47. Lady Spencer to the duchess of Devonshire [London], 8 Dec. 1782, Chatsworth MSS 472.
48. Agneta Yorke to Philip Yorke, Sydney Farm [18 Jan. 1789], BL, Add. MS 35, 386, (Hardwicke papers), fo. 435V.
49. General Cunningham to Lady Spencer, St James's Place, 17 Nov. 1772, BL, MS Coll. Althorp, F. 119.
50. I plan to address the political uses of gossip and rumour in the eighteenth century at greater length elsewhere. As a subject, gossip is gradually starting to attract attention. For a general study, see Patricia Meyer Spacks, Gossip (New York, 1985).
51. Lady Grey to Royston [Wrest Park, Jan. 1760], BL, Add. MS 35, 376, fo. 40V.
52. Duchess of Devonshire to Lady Spencer, London, 24 Mar. 1784, Chatsworth MSS 610.
53. Mrs Harris to James Harris, Whitehall, 15 Nov. 1763, in A series of letters of the first earl of Malmesbury his family and friends from 1745 to 1820, ed. earl of Malmesbury (2 vols., London, 1870), 1, p. 99. Lady Stafford's political grooming of her son, Granville Leveson Gower, began yet earlier. By the time that he was twelve (in 1787), she had already set up William Pitt as his model politician and was regularly including an assortment of political information in her letters to him. See Lord Granville Leveson Gower (first Earl Granville) private correspondence, 1781 to 1821, ed. Castalia Countess Granville (2 vols., London, 1916), 1, pp. 5ff.
54. Louisa Verney to Guilford, London, 8 Nov. 1775, Bodleian Library (Bodl.), MSS North d. 16 (correspondence of the earl of Guilford), vol. XIII, fos. 61-2.
55. Duchess of Devonshire to Lady Spencer [London], 17 Mar. 1784, in Georgiana: extracts from the correspondence of Georgiana, duchess of Devonshire, ed. Lady Bessborough (London, 1955), p. 77. For the most thorough examination of the duchess, see Foreman, Georgiana.
56. Mrs A. Brompton to Charlotte Addington [n. p.], May 1782, Gloucestershire Record Office (GRO), D421 C8.
57. For a discussion of women's involvement in the social aspects of the electoral process, see my '"That epidemical madness"'.
58. For a careful examination of the ritual of visiting at the turn of the eighteenth century, see Susan Whyman, Sociability and power in late Stuart England: the cultural worlds of the Verneys, 1660-1720 (Oxford, 1999). I would like to thank Susan Whyman for letting me consult her manuscript prior to publication.
59. See, for example, the diary of Sir Roger Newdigate for 1754: Warwick County Record Office, CR 136 A (585).
60. Journal, 30 Dec. 1762, in Boswell's London journal, 1762-1763, ed. Frederick A. Pottle (London, 1950), p. III.
61. Sir Gilbert to Lady Elliot, Pall Mall Court, 20 Jan. 1789, in Life and letters of Sir Gilbert Elliot first earl of Minto from 1751 to 1806, ed. Lady Minto (3 vols., London, 1874), 1, p. 267.
62. See, for example, Elizabeth Appleton, Private education: or, a practical plan for the studies of young ladies: with an address to parents, private governesses and young ladies (2nd edn, London, 1816), pp. 292-3.
63. Miss Hamilton, diary, Clarges Street, 22 Dec. 1783, in The autobiography and correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs. Delany: with interesting reminiscences of King George the third and Queen Charlotte, ed. Lady Llanover (3 vols., 2nd ser., London, 1862), III, p. 187.
64. Lady Mount Edgcumbe to Lady Harcourt, Mount-Edgcumbe, 2 Aug. 1778, in Harcourt Papers, ed. Harcourt, VIII, pp. 274-5.
65. Mr Whistler to William Shenstone [London], 13 Apr. [n. d.], in Frances Seymour, Select letters between the late duchess of Somerset... and others (2 vols., London, 1778), II, p. 31.
66. Lady Frances Scott to duchess of Portland, Downing Street, Dec. [1766-7?], Portland papers, University of Nottingham (PP), PwG 169.
67. Lady Anson to Lady Grey, Admiralty, 24 Oct. [1758], BRO, WP, L30/9/3/83.
68. Louisa Macdonald to Lady Gower, Adelphi (London), 14 Nov. [1783], PRO (Granville papers), 30/29/4/5/47. fos. 719v-20.
69. Mrs Boothby Skrymsher to Charles Jenkinson, Tooly Park, 20 Sept. 1763, BL, Add. MS 38, 201 (Liverpool papers), fo. 91.
70. Duchess of Portland to Portland, Burlington House, 14 Nov. 1774, PP, PwF 10661.
71. 'Mrs Grenville's narrative of events from November 1763-January 1764', in The Grenville papers: being the correspondence of Richard Grenville, earl Temple, K. G., and the Right Hon. George Grenville, their friends and contemporaries, ed. William James Smith (4 vols., London, 1852-3), II, p. 243.
72. See my 'Women in English political life', pt 3.
73. For the duchess of Northumberland, see Lady Irwin to Lady Gower, Templenewsham, 2 Mar. 1770, PRO, 30/29/4/2/32, fo. 170V.
74. Lady Irwin to Lady Gower, Templenewsham, 2 Apr. 1770, PRO, 30/29/4/2/33, fo. 173.
75. Duchess of Devonshire to Lady Spencer [Chatsworth], 16 Aug. 1784, Chatsworth MSS, 639A.
76. Political diary of George Grenville, 1761-8 (by Elizabeth Grenville), BL, Add. MS 42, 083, fo. II6r-v.
77. Mrs Howe to Lady Spencer, Grafton Street, 22 Feb. [1773], BL, MS Coll. Althorp, F. 43. A similar use of visiting by opposition women as a statement of political support can be found during the Queen Caroline Affair in 1820. See E. A. Smith, A queen on trial: the affair of Queen Caroline (Stroud, 1993).
78. Diary of George Grenville, 20 May 1765, BL, Add. MS 42, 083, fos. 172V-3.
79. Anne Brudenell to Guilford, London, 4 Dec. 1760, Bodl., MS North d.8, fo. 28V.
80. Journal, 10 Dec. 1762, in Boswell's London journal, ed. Pottle, p. 73.
81. Lady Waldegrave to Lady Gower, Whitehall, 30 Oct. 1780, PRO, 30/29/5/2/55, fo. 205.
82. Tracing the activities of the administration hostesses is difficult because they have left fewer caches of relevant documents. See David Cecil, The Cecils of Hatfield House: a portrait of an English ruling family (London, 1975), pp. 188-91;
83. Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope, as related by herself in conversations with her physician, ed. Charles Meryon (3 vols., London, 1845), 11, p. 105. The duchess of Gordon's flair for entertaining seems to have been passed on to at least some of her daughters. Lady Shelley recounts in amazement a visit to Woburn in 1812 that saw the duchess of Bedford start a pillow fight in the card-room after dinner that ended in 'a regular battle... with cushions, oranges, and apples'. The ball hosted by another daughter, the duchess of Richmond, on the eve of the battle of Waterloo, has become legendary. Lady Shelley to Lady Spencer, Woburn, Dec. 1812, in The diary of Frances Lady Shelley, 1818-1873, ed. Richard Edgcumbe (2 vols., London, 1912-13), 1, pp. 49-50.
84. Memoirs of Lady Hester Stanhope, ed. Meryon, II, pp. 52-3.
85. Ibid., pp. 105-6.
86. Elizabeth Lady Harcourt, 'Memoirs of the years 1788-1789', in Harcourt papers, ed. Harcourt, IV, pt 1, p. 41.
87. Scottish National Register of Archives, Douglas-Home MSS D95/54: diary of Lady Mary Coke, 12 Sept. 1787, as quoted in Foreman, Georgiana, p. 174. My thanks to Amanda Foreman for making me aware of this.
88. This practice did not disappear in the nineteenth century. Lady Shelley records being the only woman present at a dinner of politicians at Robert Peel's on 23 Nov. 1819:' Of course politics were much discussed, though we are all on the same side - against the Radicals', in Diary of Frances Lady Shelley, ed. Edgcumbe, II, p. 90.
89. When Therese Parker's MP husband held 'a Man dinner which she did not like', she simply went and dined with her sister: Anne Robinson to Frederick Robinson, Whitehall, 1 Mar. 1773, BL, Add. MS 48, 218, fo. 37V.
90. Henry Mackenzie to [unknown], London, 26 Mar. 1792, in Historical Manuscripts Commission (HMC), Home, pp. 137-8.
91. See my 'Women in English political life', pt 3.
92. Lady Shelley's description of her efforts to make the duke of Wellington's first visit to their estate in Sussex a success illustrates the amount of work even a' private' visit could entail. Not only did she work with her steward to ensure that the tenants knew about the visit and gave the duke a rapturous welcome, but she was careful to invite dinner guests who she knew would be congenial to him: Diary of Frances Lady Shelley, ed. Edgcumbe, II, pp. 66-7.
93. See, for example, Newcastle's use of an invitation to dine with his wife: Newcastle to Henry Bilson Legge, Newcastle House, 13 Jan. 1762, BL, Add. MS 32, 933, fo. 269.
94. Lady Kildare to Henry Fox, Kildare House, 5 Mar. 1757, BL, Add. MS 51, 426, fo. 119V.
95. Lady Kildare to Henry Fox [Carton?], 19 Aug. [1756?], ibid., fos. 76V-7.
96. Diary of Frances Lady Shelley, ed. Edgcumbe, 1, p. 78.
97. See, for instance, Dartmouth to Guilford, Sandal, 7 Oct. 1767, Bodl., MS North d.11, fos. 68-9.
98. Journal, London, 16 Mar. 1767, in Letters and journals of Lady Mary Coke, 1, p. 178.
99. Lady Bessborough to Lady Harriet Leveson Gower, 5 Feb. 1811, in The letters of Lord Granville Leveson Gower, ed. Castalia Countess Granville (London, 1916), p. 381.
100. Hester Chapone to [unnamed], Chelsea, 28 July 1768, in The works of Hester Chapone (4 vols., London, 1807), 11, p. 166.
101. Ilchester to Holland [London, 3 May 1763], BL, Add. MS 51, 421, fo. 42.
102. Sir William Musgrave to Lord Carlisle, London, 29 Oct. 1767, in HMC, Carlisle, p. 218.
103. See, for instance, BL, Add. MS 51, 416, fos. 19, 57, 67, 90.
104. Henry Fox to Lady Caroline Fox, Pay Office, 28 Nov. 1758, BL, Add. MS 51, 416, fo. 57.
105. HMC, Ckarlemont, I, pp. 15-17;
106. Memoirs of the political and private life of James Caulfield, earl of Charlemont, ed. Francis Hardy (London, 1810), p. 64.
107. Edmund Burke to Richard Burke Jr [n. p.], 19 June 1787, in The correspondence of Edmund Burke, ed. T. W. Copeland et al. (10 vols., Cambridge, 1958-78), v, p. 340.
108. Journal, London, 8 July 1767, in Letters and journals of Lady Mary Coke, II, pp. 45-6.
109. Mrs Scott to Mr. Robinson [n. p.], Sept. 1762, in A lady of the last century, ed. John Doran (London, 1873), pp. 125-6.
110. Journal, London, 29 Mar. 1768, in Letters and journals of Lady Mary Coke, II, p. 226.
111. Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann, Arlington Street, 31 Mar.-i Apr., 1768, in The Yale edition of Horace Walpole's correspondence, ed. W. S. Lewis (48 vols., London, 1937-83), XXIII, p. 6.
112. Ibid., pp. 6-7.
113. Mrs Howe to Lady Spencer [n. p.], 17 Apr. [1784], BL, MS Coll. Althorp, F. 53.
114. John Derry's high political monograph on the regency crisis remains unrivalled. John W. Derry, The regency crisis and the whigs, 1788-1789 (Cambridge, 1963). Most recently, Amanda Foreman has touched on the socio-political aspects of the crisis in exploring the involvement of the duchess of Devonshire. She also reveals the rivalry between the women of the opposing factions and marks the triumph of the administration political hostess, the duchess Gordon, at the end of the crisis. See Foreman, Georgiana, ch. 13.
115. For instance, the duke and duchess of Devonshire and Elizabeth Foster were still at Chatsworth when the king became ill. They left for London on 18 November, arriving at Devonshire House at 5 a.m. on 20 November. Charles James Fox undoubtedly had the longest and most exhausting trip, tearing across Italy and France to arrive in London on 24 November. See Elizabeth Foster, 'Journal of events of my own times, 1788', BL, Add. MS 41, 579;
116. Derry, Regency crisis and the whigs.
117. Jersey to Lady Spencer, London [31 Dec. 1788], BL, MS Coll. Althorp, F. 112.
118. Sydney to Cornwallis, London, 21 Feb. 1789, in Correspondence of Charles, first Atarquis Cornwallis, ed. Charles Ross (3 vols., London, 1835), II, p. 406.
119. Miss Sayer to Madame Huber. Audley Street, 27 Jan. [1789], in The journal and correspondence of William, Lord Auckland, ed. Robert J. Eden (2 vols., London, 1861), 11, p. 281.
120. Journal, London, 2-3 Mar. [1789], in Betsy Sheridan's Journal, ed. William Lefanu (Oxford, 1986), p. 153. I would like to thank Susan Skedd for this reference.
121. Hon. Mrs Martha Harcourt to Lady Harcourt [London], 16 Jan. 1789, in Harcourt papers, ed. Harcourt, IV, pt 1, p. 180. The reference to Constitutional Coats is to the 'Constitutional uniform' adopted by the members of the Constitutional Club. These men who supported the king used fashion in the same way that the supporters of the prince used blue and buff. Their uniform, as described proudly by James Bland Burges, would have been striking: 'a dark blue frock, with a broad orange velvet cape and large yellow buttons round each of which is the inscription, "Constitutional Club". The waistcoat is white kerseymere, with yellow buttons bordered round with orange-coloured silk. The breeches are white kerseymere with yellow buttons. In point of taste we certainly beat the Blue and Buff of our opponents.' Moreover, as Sir James makes clear in a letter of 11 Jan. 1789, they wore the' uniform' in the Commons as well as at social events:' Our uniform goes well. Several people told me they will put it on. To-day in the House we were a pretty knot of orange capes, Pitt, Lord Mornington, Lord Bayham, Lord Belgrave, Villiers, Addington, and myself. I never saw Mr. Lamb so pleased with anything as with this dress, which he says is a wise and manly thing. I have been endeavouring to make Hasting's party assume it, and I believe I shall be successful, for two have promised to do so.' As quoted in Selections from the letters and correspondence of Sir James Bland Burges, Bart., ed. James Hutton (London, 1885), p. 126.
122. Lady Stafford to Granville Leveson Gower [London], 12 Feb. 1789, in Lord Granville Leveson Gower, ed. Granville, 1, pp. 14-15.
123. See my 'Women in English political life', pt 3. During the brouhaha prior to the repeal of the Jewish Naturalization Act, opposing political factions appear to have vied to 'out-Christian' each other. The Connoisseur satirized women's use of Christian symbols, especially the cross, to decorate their clothing and themselves: 'I observed the other Night at the Assembly, that the Ladies seemed to vie with each other in Hanging out the Ensigns of their Faith in orthodox Ribands, bearing the Inscription on No JEWS, CHRISTIANITY FOR EVER. They likewise wore little Crosses at their Breasts; their Pompons were formed into Crucifixes, their Knots disposed in the same Angles, and so many Parts of their Habits moulded into that Shape, that the whole Assembly looked like the Court on St. Andrew's Day': The Connoisseur, no. 13 (25 Apr. 1754), 1, p. 77. Interestingly, this piece was quoted in Jackson's Oxford Journal, where the battle to spearhead the repeal was most heated: Jackson's Oxford Journal, 18 May 1754.
124. Harcourt to Lady Harcourt, London, 25 Jan. 1789, in Harcourt papers, IV, pt 1, p. 200. Madame Huber claims that the caps cost at least seven guineas: Madame Huber to Mrs Eden [London], 21 Feb. [1789], in Journal and correspondence of Lord Auckland, ed. Eden, II, p. 292.
125. Lady Louisa Stuart to Lady Portarlington, South Audley Street, [post-26 Mar.] 1789, in A prime minister and his son, ed. E. Stuart Wortley (London, 1925), p. 217.
126. Jersey to Lady Spencer [London, 27 Mar. 1789], BL, MS Coll. Althorp, F. 112.
127. Lady Louisa Stuart to Lady Portarlington [London], 30 Mar. 1789, in Lady Louisa Stuart, Gleanings from an old portfolio, ed. Mrs. Godfrey Clark (3 vols., Edinburgh, 1895-8), II, p. 119.
128. A. Storer to William Eden, London, 21 Apr. 1789, in Journal and correspondence of Lord Auckland, ed. Eden, II, p. 315.
129. Margaret Grenville to Lady Camelford [London, 3 Apr. 1789], BL, Add. MS 69, 292 [unfoliated].
130. Lady Louisa Stuart to Lady Portarlington [London], 30 Mar. 1789, in her Gleanings from an old portfolio, ed. Clark, II, p. 119. Lady Louisa's detailed description of the 'uniform' itself in this letter emphasizes its splendour. The visual impact in the ballroom must have been dazzling.
131. Ibid..
132. Lt-Gen. Grant to Lord Cornwallis, London, 18 Mar. 1789, in Correspondence of Cornwallis, 11, PP- 434-5-
133. Sir Gilbert to Lady Elliot, London, 2 Apr. 1789, Life and letters of Sir Gilbert Elliot, ed. Minto, 1, p. 294.
134. A. Storer to William Eden, London, 21 Apr. 1789, in Journal and correspondence of Lord Auckland, ed. Eden, 11, p. 315.