[193] Wraxall relates of O’Byrne that he was an Irish adventurer who amassed a considerable fortune at the gaming tables. He was intimate with the Prince, who often dined at his house.
[194] Gilbert Wakefield (1756–1801) was son of a Nottinghamshire clergyman. He took the highest possible classical honours at Cambridge, and was intended for the Church. He developed, however, leanings towards Arian doctrines, which precluded him from taking orders. He published a number of works on the classics, and his correspondence with Fox on those subjects appeared in Lord Russell’s work. His political opinions became very advanced as years went on, and brought trouble upon him on this occasion. He was convicted, with his printer and publisher, of seditious libel, and was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in Dorchester gaol. He died soon after his release.
[195] Richard Watson, Bishop of Llandaff (1737–1816). His pamphlet, Address to the People of Great Britain, was published in January, and Wakefield’s Reply was issued with such speed that it was finished for the press in the compass of a single day. Wakefield’s Reply stated ‘that the poor and the labouring classes would lose nothing by a French invasion, and declared that if the French came they would find him at his post among the illustrious dead. It also contained charges of corruption against the civil and ecclesiastical system of the day, and detailed numerous accusations against the Bishop of Llandaff as an absentee and a pluralist’ (Dictionary of National Biography). The Bishop never obtained the See he coveted.
[196] Hugh, second Duke of Northumberland, of the third creation (1742–1817), who succeeded to the titles in 1786. He was originally a follower of Pitt, but complained of neglect and went over to the Opposition.
[197] Holland House.
[198] William Robert, second Duke of Leinster (1749–1804), married, in 1775, Emilia Olivia, only daughter of Lord St. George. She died on June 23. The Duke’s mother, the Dowager Duchess, was a daughter of Charles, second Duke of Richmond, and Lord Holland’s great-aunt.
[199] Lord Fitzwilliam accepted the Lord-Lieutenancy of the North Riding in succession to the Duke of Norfolk.
[200] His wife, whose origin is shrouded in mystery. The probability is that she was a daughter of Madame de Genlis and Philippe Egalité, Duke of Orleans. Madame de Genlis, however, always declared that when she adopted her in order to assist the Orleans children, whose governess she was at the time, to learn English, she was the five-year-old daughter of Nancy Sims, living at Christchurch; that she had been born in Newfoundland, and that her father was one Guillaume de Brixey. Lord Edward first met her in Paris in 1792, and married her within a month. After her husband’s death she went to Hamburg, where she married, in 1800, Mr. Pitcairn, the United States Consul. The marriage, however, was not a happy one, and they were soon separated. After leaving Hamburg, she went to Vienna, and finally settled near Montauban, in Chambord.
[201] A warrant had been issued on March 12 against Lord Edward on the information given to Government by Thomas Reynolds, a man intimately acquainted with the revolutionary counsels in Ireland. He gave notice that a meeting of the conspirators would be held at the house of a well-to-do merchant in Dublin, and important arrests were made in consequence. Several of the leaders were not present, but were taken soon after, and Lord Edward alone succeeded in eluding the close search. He remained the whole time hidden in Dublin or the neighbourhood, notwithstanding the rumours to the contrary, and most of his relations had no certain knowledge of his whereabouts. In the meantime preparations for a rising continued under his supervision, and the intelligence that May 23 was fixed for the outbreak increased the desire of Government to secure his person. A further act of treachery brought about his arrest, which took place on May 19.
[202] The Duke of Portland was at the Home Office from 1794 until 1801.