SPELTHORNE HUNDRED 



taire wrote verses in her honour. She married 

 Lord Hervey in 1720."* Lord Chesterfield ad- 

 mired her good breeding, and said that ' she knew 

 more than was necessary for any woman, but had 

 the wit to conceal it.' A letter she wrote to 

 Mrs. Howard (Lady Suffolk) twelve years later 

 draws a pleasant picture of the gaiety and lightness 

 of heart that existed at Hampton Court in those 

 early days. 744 



Mary Bellenden was another charming maid of 

 honour, of whom Horace Walpole wrote that 

 ' she was never mentioned by her contemporaries 

 but as the most perfect creature they had ever 

 known.' 766 She married Colonel John Campbell, 



HAMPTON 



one of the Grooms of the Bedchamber, long after- 

 wards fourth Duke of Argyll. The 'giddy and 

 unfortunate ' Sophia Howe, who died in 1726, 

 was another of the maids of honour who amusei 

 herself mightily at the palace. 78 * 



Lady Bristol, mother of the two Herveys, was 

 also among the wits, 767 and Sir Robert's first wife, 

 Lady Walpole, was one of the ladies of the court. 758 

 Among others were Mrs. Clayton, afterwards 

 Viscountess Sundon, the Princess of Wales's inti- 

 mate friend ; Mrs. Selwyn, mother of the well- 

 known George Augustus Selwyn, 7 * 9 and the 

 notorious Mrs. Howard, afterwards Countess of 

 Suffolk, 760 a woman of some ability and beauty, 



HAMPTON COURT PALACE : FROG WALK 



" 8 John, Lord Hervey of Ickworth 

 (1696-1743), second son of John firt 

 Earl of Bristol. He was distinguished in 

 the world of politics, but only received 

 office after the death of Queen Caro- 

 line, whose vice-chamberlain he was. 

 Sir Robert Walpole for many years 

 ruled the queen through him and the 

 king through the queen. His ex- 

 treme delicacy and effeminacy are often 

 mentioned by his contemporaries. 

 Sarah Duchess of Marlborough de- 

 scribed him as having ' a painted face 

 and not a tooth in his head.' Pope 

 called him ' Lord Fanny." Diet. Nat. 

 Biog. ; Hervey, Memoirs. 



7" Lady Suffilk's Lttan (ed. 1824), 

 i, 320(31 Aug. 1728). 



'" Walpole, Reminiscences and Me- 

 moirs of Geo. II, 153; Gay, Poems, 

 ' Welcome to Pope from Greece ' ; Lady 

 Siijvlk't Letters, i, 62. There is a story. 



connected with Hampton Court, that 

 she suffered from the unwelcome 

 attentions of the Prince of Wales, 

 who seems to have attempted to excite 

 her avarice by constantly following her 

 about counting his money, and refusing 

 to accept her most pointed rebuffs, 

 until one day at Hampton Court she 

 sent his guineas rolling on the floor and 

 ran out of the room, leaving him to 

 pick them up. Lady Sundon' s Memoirs, 

 i, 97 i Lady Suffolk's Letters, i, 62 ; 

 Walpole, op. cit. 153. 



? H Hervey, Memoirs, p. xxx ; Lady 

 Suffolk's Letters, i, 41 ; Pope, Poems, 

 'Lines in answer to the question '* What 

 is Prudery > " ' Lady Hervey described 

 the six maids of honour as 'six volumes 

 originally bound in calf.' Lady Suf- 

 folk's Letters, i, IO. 



7*7 Hervey, Memoirs, i, p. xxi. 



7" Catherine Shorter, daughter of a 



timber merchant, son of the then Lord 

 Mayor of London. She appears to have 

 been an extravagant woman of fashion 

 who ' wasted large sums ' ; Dict.Nat.Biog. 



7" George Augustus Selwyn (1719- 

 91), wit and politician, son of Colonel 

 John Selwyn ; his mother was a daugh- 

 ter of General Farrington, ' a vivacious 

 beauty ' and woman of the bedchamber 

 to Queen Caroline ; Diet. Nat. Biog. 



1 Henrietta, daughter of Sir Henry 

 Hobart, bart., married Charles Howard, 

 afterwards sixth Earl of Suffolk. Pope, 

 Gay, and Swift frequented their house. 

 She built herself a villa at Marble Hill, 

 Twickenham, towards which the Prince 

 of Wales contributed 12,000. Her 

 first husband died in 1733, and in 

 1735 she married George Berkeley son 

 of the fifth Earl of Berkeley, who died 

 in 1747; Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Henrey, 

 Memoirs ; Lady Sundon' s Mtmoirs. 



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