[165] Margaret Georgina, eldest daughter of the Right Hon. Stephen Poyntz. She married John, first Earl Spencer, in 1755, and died in 1814.
[166] This is not true. E.V.H., November 1801.
[167] Grey’s wife was George Ponsonby’s niece. Ponsonby was the leader of the Whigs in the House of Commons from 1808 till 1817.
[168] Sir Walter Farquhar (1738–1819), the well-known doctor: physician in ordinary to the Prince of Wales, and created a Baronet in 1796.
[169] Deaf and Dumb, first acted on February 24. It was a free translation of a play of Kotzebue.
[170] See ante, ii. 74. The general impression in the minds of Fox’s followers all through this vexed question of secession appears to have been that those who did attend, and especially Tierney, were not really anxious for Fox’s return to active political life, and preferred to make the most of their own opportunities. Hence the somewhat biassed feelings with which Lady Holland approaches the subject. Fox himself was perfectly ready and willing that anyone should attend who wished to do so, but there was an uneasy feeling which rankled in the hearts of his friends, that interested and insidious motives underlay the professions of goodwill towards him in certain quarters.
[171] The letter is printed in the Memorials and Correspondence of C. J. Fox, iii. 189. In it he states that he thinks he will go to town no more that year. If he can be of service to the public or the party he would do so, but he can see no chance of doing any good.
[172] This was a second protest against the Bill. Lord Clare moved on March 31 to have it expunged, and carried his point by ninety-two votes to twenty. The first protest remains on the Journals. It was signed by the same four Lords, and in addition by Lord Ponsonby.
[173] The attempt to blow up Bonaparte on December 24 (3 Nivôse) 1800, referred to previously, ii. 127.
[174] The first performance in Paris of Haydn’s Creation.