The following year Mrs Stanhope wrote:—
Lady Hertford [20] is very busy trying to bring about a reconciliation between the Prince and Princess, and I hear she has made some progress.
Lady Hertford, who was long known by her nickname of the "Sultana," had become celebrated for her liaison with the Prince of Wales, which was destined to continue for some years till she was superseded in favour by Lady Conyngham. She was described as shy and insipid, her manners were stately and formal, and the impression which she conveyed was that of a person rigidly correct in comportment and morals. But if, indeed, she ever attempted to reunite the husband and wife whom her conduct had assisted to alienate, it was scarcely to be expected that such a mediator would meet with success in such a task. Of the luckless Princess, however, Mrs Stanhope was for long a distinct partisan; and on March 19th of that same year she wrote a description of the tactless Caroline which shows that, on occasions, the Princess could assume a dignity foreign to the usual tenor of her conduct.
Thursday, we attended the Drawingroom; most brilliant. The Princess of
Wales looked extremely well & her manners are the most graceful and
Royal of any I ever saw.
Ere that date, however, London had been plunged into confusion by the sudden fall of Lord Grenville's Ministry.
Marianne Spencer-Stanhope to John Spencer-Stanhope. April 27th, 1807, GROSVENOR SQUARE.
As Parliament is to be dissolved to-morrow or Tuesday, conceive the bustle which prevails thro'out this great town. The gentlemen are in agonies for their purses, and the ladies for their parties, which must either be postponed or destitute of beaux…. This last week we have been very gay—that is, we have been almost squeezed to death at sundry grand crowds, and knocked up with balls. Mrs Robinson's was good in everything but dancing, and Lady Scott's [21] was good in everything but company. The latter was nothing but a little dance, a rehearsal to a magnificent ball she means to give in May, in which she has asked us to dance in the French country dances—but hélas! all that will now be at an end…. You would have been charmed with Lady Scott. I know how much you admire her, and to increase your delight, I will tell you what she eats for supper. After having already been at one table, she came to ours when everybody had done eating. She had first half a breast of mutton, then half a chicken, then a whole lobster, a blanc-manger & a mixed salad.
The Election of 1807 was one long celebrated in the history of Yorkshire, being unprecedented in the fierceness of the struggle it provoked. As is well known, there were in those days but two representatives for the entire county, and there was but one polling booth, which was in the castle yard at York. The retiring members on this occasion were Mr Walter Fawkes and William Wilberforce. The former did not seek re-election, for he took the dissolution so much to heart that he declared he should withdraw for ever from public life, but the latter speedily made good his right to represent the county once more. There remained, therefore, but one seat to be contested, and great was the excitement when it was found that the candidates were to be chosen from the two great Yorkshire houses of rival politics—Lord Milton, the son of Earl Fitzwilliam, in the Whig interest, and the Hon. Henry Lascelles, son of the Earl of Harewood, for the Tory party. Mr Stanhope, having secured his own election for his old seat of Carlisle, hastened back to Yorkshire to take part in the contest in favour of the Tory member there, whose chances of success he hoped would be enhanced by the youthfulness of Lord Milton, which gave his opponents a valuable handle for satire. As already pointed out, precocious in every rôle of life, Lord Milton had married at the age of nineteen, and having just attained his majority, was now anxious to represent the county.
Walter Spencer-Stanhope to John Spencer-Stanhope. CANNON HALL, May 18th, 1807.
I had no time to write to you this Day Se'nnight from Carlisle after my Election. I got to York on Tuesday night, attended the Nomination at York the next day, which was carried almost unanimously in Favour of Wilberforce, and by a great Majority in favour of Lascelles over Lord Milton, but nevertheless, this young Lordling, who was only of age the third of this month, told us he would demand a Poll on Wednesday next. My Canvass against him has been very successful and I mean, having concluded all my arrangements, both here and at Horsforth, to give my Vote on Thursday or Friday.