I must tell you an anecdote of Philip which I think will amuse you. At one of the Levées being left alone—(that is a bull tho')—with the Prince, the Duke of York and Lord Yarmouth, they wished to have some fun with him, and among other things asked him how he liked being at Court. But he, not being yet used to address Royalty, was at a loss in the selection of his words, till at last two very applicable terms presented themselves to him. But then he was again at a loss which was the most genteelerest. Finally he decided in favour of both— Toll-Loll and Pretty Bobbish, and so replied to the Royal inquiry—of course it set them in a roar!
[Illustration: SIR RICHARD CARR GLYN, BT.]
Southampton, whence this letter was written, owed its fame, as Charles Stanhope explains subsequently, to the fact of its being then a resort for all persons who had been bitten by mad dogs. The salt water was supposed to assist in warding off an attack of hydrophobia, and doubtless many suffering from terror of this complaint were saved by such a belief. But the very circumstances which rendered the town popular, contributed to make it expensive, and Charles gives an illustration of this. Once, when his sister Frances was staying there, she required some slight medical attendance for a cold. "She sent," he mentions, "for Dr Middleton, who is a very gentle, insinuating old gentleman. He has been here three times since Tuesday, three guineas a time, so it is rather dear being ill in this place."
Curiously enough, this extravagant medical attendance was not infrequently called into requisition by the marvellous acting of Mrs Siddons, the wife of a former theatrical wig-maker. Her superb impersonation of the characters she represented stirred her audience to an extent which appears incredible, and the hysterical condition of Mrs Fitzhugh, described by Charles Stanhope, was a more common result of her genius than he seems to have been aware of. It is on record that she constantly made men weep and women faint by the realism of her performance; while in 1783, when the Royal Family went in state to see her play Isabella in the Fatal Marriage, so extraordinary was her genius that the actors who took part with her were completely over-mastered by their emotion, and even the stolid King, in his richly-decorated box, sobbed unrestrainedly in sight of all present, till Queen Charlotte, annoyed at such weakness, turned her back upon the stage and loudly declared that such a lifelike exhibition was "too disagreeable to look at." Off the stage, however, the personality of Mrs Siddons was transformed. A handsome woman, though of ponderous build, her conversation was singularly dull, and she spoke in a slow, sententious manner as though declaiming a set speech, which peculiarity gave rise to many ludicrous stories respecting her.
Charles Spencer-Stanhope to John Spencer-Stanhope.
CHRIST CHURCH, November 1812.
I have bought a beautiful little wax medallion of Lord Chesterfield in
a frame which I wish I could show you.
I went out sky-larking with Elcho yesterday who asked much after you. Mr Belli went up for his degree yesterday, and was excessively annoyed at the examining masters calling him Mr Belly of Christ Church, till Lloyd set them right. We had a terrible row on Monday. It was a general illumination here with a bonfire, etc. The Gownsmen gave the first provocation and we had a most desperate battle-royal. Several men were hurt and about to have been rusticated, among which is Lord Kintore, an ex-college nobleman.
CANTLEY, Undated.
Col. Anson [5] was here on Saturday and I was surprised to see so unsmart a person turning out a-shooting from such a host of Dandies, so late in the day as two o'clock. He killed, however, more than had been killed by any individual hitherto, thirty-eight brace; but the keeper says he never saw a good shot shoot so abominably; he had two guns, and if he fired one off, he fired away one and a half lb. of powder. The keeper was knocked up in loading his gun and trotting after him.
I presented Lord Chesterfield with the medallion of his father that I bought at Cosway's sale, which was most thankfully received.