“This,” concluded Lady Hester, “was the only quarrel I ever had with Charles and James. James often used to look very black, but he never said anything.
“When Mr. Pitt was going to Bath, in his last illness, he told me he had just seen Arthur Wellesley. He spoke of him with the greatest commendation, and said the more he saw of him, the more he admired him. ‘Yes,’ he added, ‘the more I hear of his exploits in India, the more I admire the modesty with which he receives the praises he merits from them. He is the only man I ever saw that was not vain of what he had done, and had so much reason to be so.’
“This eulogium,” Lady Hester said, “Mr. Pitt pronounced in his fine mellow tone of voice, and this was the last speech I heard him make in that voice; for, on his return from Bath, it was cracked for ever.” Then she observed, “My own opinion of the duke is, that he is a blunt soldier, who pleases women because he is gallant and has some remains of beauty: but,” she added, “he has none of the dignity of courts about him.”
FOOTNOTES:
[4] This of course refers to the late Duke.
[5] “I dislike ——, both as to his principles and the turn of his understanding: he wants to make money by this peace.”—Diaries and Correspondence, &c.
[6] “Mr. Pitt has always been held up to the present generation as fond of war; but the Harris papers could furnish the most continued and certain evidence of the contrary, and that he often suffered all the agony of a pious man who is forced to fight a duel. The cold and haughty temper of Lord Grenville was less sensitive. Our overtures to France were synonymous with degradation, and he could not brook the delays of the directory.”—Diaries and Correspondence, v. iii., p. 516.
CHAPTER III.
Duchess of Gontaut—Duc de Berry—Anecdotes of Lord H.—Sir Gore Ouseley—Prince of Wales—The other princes—The Queen’s severity—Men and women of George the Third’s time—The Herveys—Lady Liverpool’s high breeding—Lady Hester’s declining health.
“One of Mr. Pitt’s last conversations, whilst on his death-bed, was about Charles and James. Mr. Pitt had called me in, and told me, in a low, feeble voice—‘You must not talk to me to-day on any business: when I get down to Lord Camden’s, and am better, it will be time enough then.’ He seemed to know he was dying, but only said this to console me. ‘But now, my dear Hester,’ he continued, ‘I wish to say a few words about James and Charles. As for Charles, he is such an excellent young man that one cannot wish him to be otherwise than he is; and Moore is such a perfect officer, that he will give him every information in his profession that he can possibly require. The only apprehension I have is on the score of women, who will perhaps think differently of him from what he thinks of himself: but with James the case is otherwise. He is a young man you must keep under; else you will always see him trying to be a joli garçon. For Charles’s steadiness, I do not fear; but the little one will one day or other fall into the hands of men who will gain him over and unsettle his political principles. You can guide him, and, so long as he is under your care, he is safe:’ and,” added Lady Hester, “Mr. Pitt was right, doctor; for the moment I quitted England he fell into the snares of Lord B. and his party, and instead of being in Mr. Canning’s place, which he might have been, he became nothing.”