PRINT OF GEORGE III. WHEN MAD
THE MARCHIONESS CONYNGHAM
QUEEN CAROLINE, BY HARLOWE
WALTER SPENCER-STANHOPE, AETAT. 70 From an ivory bust
"In town what numbers into fame advance,
Conscious of merit in the coxcombs' dance,
The Op'ra, Almack's, park, assembly, play,
Those dear destroyers of the tedious day,
That wheel of fops, that saunter of the town,
Call it diversion, and the pill goes down."
Young
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
For the enlightenment of those readers who have not read the previous volumes of which the present is the continuation, it may be well to recapitulate briefly the material with which these dealt.
In 1565 a branch of the Stanhopes came from Lancashire into Yorkshire, and eventually settled at Horsforth, Low Hall, near Calverley Bridge, in the latter county. During the period of the Civil Wars, a branch of the family of Spencer migrated from the borders of Wales into Yorkshire, and in the reign of Charles II. one of them purchased the house and land at that date constituting the estate of Cannon Hall. In 1748 Walter Stanhope of Horsforth united the two families by his marriage with Ann Spencer of Cannon Hall, and their son Walter, eventually inheriting both properties from his respective uncles, bore the name of Spencer-Stanhope.
Walter Spencer-Stanhope was for thirty-nine years a member of the House of Commons, during which time he represented respectively Haslemere, Carlisle, and Hull. In 1787 he married Mary Winifred Pulleine, who inherited the estates of Roddam and Dissington in Northumberland, in trust for her third and fourth sons. By her he had fifteen children, but his eldest son and first-born child, owing to an accident at birth, was rendered non compos, and his second son, John, was therefore in the position of his heir.
Mrs Stanhope, an exemplary and affectionate mother, appears occasionally to have become confused with the number of her progeny and to have been fearful of forgetting the order of their rapid entrance into the world or of certain events which formed a sequel to their arrival. She therefore compiled a list of such incidents, which is here subjoined, since the reader may find it useful for occasional reference.