532 Hannah Ligkffoot, the fair Quaker. [July 1, 



whicli is hurffiil, when placed before food, but iihove all things water should 

 theni) accompanietl by their customary never be neglected. J, N. 



RiiMlxNlSCENTlA 



OF REMARKABLE (UIARACTERS Ol'' TUli LAST AGE. 



HANNAH LKJHTFOOT, 



(the fair QUAKER.) 



[/« consequence of an enquiry relative to 

 this ccleljratcd Lady, in a late Number, 

 we have been favovrcd with the following 

 letter from a respectable yentleman at 

 IVarminster, and we are promised further 

 iriformation. On enquiring of the Axford 

 family, who still are respectable grocers 

 on Ludgate Hill, we traced a son of the 

 person alluded to in the letter, by his se- 

 cond wife. Miss Uartlett, and ascertained 

 that the information of our correspondent 

 is substantially correct. From him we learn 

 that the lady lived six weeks icithher hus- 

 band, who was fondly attached to her, but 

 one evening when he happened to be from 

 home, a coach and four came to the door, 

 when she ivas conveyed into it and carried 

 off at a gallop, no one knew whither. It 

 appears the husband was inconsolable at 

 first, and at different times applied for 

 satisfaction about his wife at Weymouth, 

 and other places, but died after sixty years 

 in total ignorance of her fate. It has, 

 however, been reported, that she had three 

 sons by her lover, since high in the army ; 

 that she was buried at Islington under 

 another name — and even that she is still 

 living.] 



YOUR correspondent enquires (in 

 your Magazine for April) ibr 

 some account of tiie Fair Quaker who 

 ouce engaged the affections of Prince 

 George. Her name was not Wheeler, 

 but Hannah Lightfoot, She lived 

 with her father and motlier at the cor- 

 ner of St. James's market, who kept a 

 shop there (I believe a linen-draper's). 

 The Prince had often noticed her in his 

 way from Leicester-house to St. James's, 

 ana was struck with her person. Miss 

 Chudleigh, late Duchess of Kingston, 

 became his agent. 



The Iloyal lover's relations took 

 alarm, and sent to enquire out a young 

 mau to marry her. Isaac Axford was 

 a shopman to Burton the grocer, on 

 Ludgate-hill, and used to chut with her 

 when she came to the shop to buy gro- 

 ceries. 



Perryn.of !vnightsbridge,it was said, 

 fiirnished a place of neeting for the 

 Royal lover. An agent of Miss Chud- 

 leigh's called on Axford, and proposed, 

 that on his manying Hannah, he should 

 have a considerable sum of money. 



Hannah staid a short time with her 



husband, wiien she was taken oft' in a 

 carriage, and Isaac never saw her more. 

 Axford learnt tliat she was gone with 

 Miss Chudleigh. Isaac was a poor- 

 hearted fellow, or, by making a bustle 

 about it, he might perhaps fiave secured 

 to himself a good provision. He told 

 me, when I last saw him, tliat he 

 presented a petition at St. James's, 

 which was not attended to ; also tliat 

 he had received some money from 

 Perryn's assignees on account of his 

 wife. 



Isaac lived many years as a I'espect- 

 able grocer at V/arminster, his native 

 place, but retired from business before 

 his death, which took place about five 

 years ago, in the Stith year of his age. 



Many years after Hannah was taken 

 away, her husband, believing her dead, 

 married again to a Miss Bartlett, of 

 Keevel (N. Wilts,) and by hersucceed(!d 

 to an estate at Chevrell, of about £150 

 a year. On the report reviving, a few 

 years' since, of his first wife's being 

 still living, a Mr. Bartlett (first cousin 

 to Isaac's second wife) claimed the 

 estate on a plea of the invalidity of this 

 second marriage. 



It was said, that the late Marquis of 

 Bath, a little before his death, reportej, 

 that she was then liviiig, and the same', 

 has been asserted by other gentlemen' 

 of this neighbourhood. 



Hannah was fair and pure, as far as 

 I ever heard; but report says " not the 

 purest of all purcs " in respect to the 

 house of Mr. Periyn, who left her an 

 annuity of £40. a year. She was in- 

 deed considered as one of the beautiful 

 women of her time, and rather disposed 

 to en ban point. 



M'^ARMINSTERIENSIS. 

 Warminster, 30th April, 1821. 



LADY READE of Shipton, in Oxford- 

 shire, and May Fair, London. 

 From the unpublished MS. of a Touri-tf. 

 The manor house in which Lady 

 Reade resided at Shipton, commanded 

 a delightful, though not a very exten- 

 sive woodland view. The gardens, 

 useful and ornamental, were of con- 

 siderable extent. There were forc- 

 ing houses for pine-apples,- vines, 

 orange and lime trees, and other exo- , 



ties ; 



