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Devonshire House in Regency Days
READERS of Lord David Cecil's The Young Melbourne will remember his brilliant portrait of the Whig society which centred
upon Devonshire House. Very rarely, perhaps never, in English life has there been a society which fulfilled more gracefully all the functions implied by that term. There was the interest in politics which bound it together : they had their hero, their Sir Galahad—a very tarnished Sir Galahad—in Charles James Fox ; their philosopher in Paley ; their great beauty in Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. They had their comics and ogres and frights : there were the three Misses Berry (Elderberry, Black- berry and Gooseberry) to whom Horace Walpole lost his aged heart and left Strawberry Hill, and whom in turn he bequeathed to this society, a link between the Regency and Queen Caroline. And for a great part of the time there was Buonaparte in the background ; Lady Jones was convinced that if five cannons were shot into his body "it would do him no harm, not even give him a moment's pain." The war abroad went on for twenty
years, except for a short interval, the truce of Amiens, when society took the opportunity to flock to Paris and be presented to Buonaparte. Little Mrs. Husidsson, on the other hand, declared, "I should like to go to Paris merely to pique Buona- parte by not being presented to him." But intending readers need not fear another kind of war literature about another war in this book : almost the only notice dear Lady Harriet gives to it is an occasional, "It seems to me that no one can hear of what is going on on the Continent unmoved."
It is a precise and faithful portrait of a world that the reader will get—and what a world it was that revolved round Devonshire House, Holland House and Melbourne House, Chiswick and Brocket, Althorp, Chatsworth and Castle Howard! It had its own subtleties and strains : there was the contrast between the soft, sibilant enchantments of Devonshire House and the noisy vivacity of Melbourne House and the Lambs : the one so established, so secure and aristocratic ; the other new and loud and pushing. Lady Harriet heartily disliked the Lambs at first and could not bear their noise, their over-emphasis ; but in course of time she grew to appreciate their talents and qualities, and even to like them. And, after all, the worst tantrums and eccentricities of that set were provided by one of her own cousins, Lady Caroline Lamb.
Not that the situation within majestic Devonshire House was so very secure either ; indeed, it was a delicate, and became a difficult, one. The lovely Georgiana had made a manage de convenance and found it impossible to love her, husband' it is difficult to see how anybody could : he was a cold fish, heartless and numb : all the dullness of all the Cavendishes was con- centrated in him. So the Duchess brought in her friend, Lady Elizabeth Foster, to share the burden, and consoled herself with Lord Grey. The Duke's family by Lady Elizabeth was brought up along with his Duchess's. All went well enough until Georgiana's death—she left her papers to Lady Elizabeth as a proof of her trust in her, or perhaps rather of her gratitude ; but it left an awkward situation for her unmarried daughter, Harriet. How it developed and how eventually it was solved, by the Duke marrying Lady Elizabeth and by Harriet's own marriage, is the main theme, which gives the book the psycho- logical interest and unity of a novel.
In that care-free, aristocratic society everybody was somebody else's child. It is well known that Melbourne, the Whig Prime Minister, was not Lord Melbourne's but Lord Egremones, while Harriet's famous and accomplished. aunt, Lady Bessborough- almost the best of our women letter-writers--had two children by Lord Granville Leveson-Gower, whom Harriet later married ; and a blissful marriage it was—Harriet brought her aunt's children up with her own. It is this situation which is the background to the later letters and provides the secondary theme. Harriet, who was a straightforward, virtuous, good creature herself, dis- trusted her aunt's part in such a complex pattern of relations ; but, in fact, Lady Bessborough played the part of a fairy god- mother, all ended well, and Harriet and Lord Granville lived happy ever after.
Harriet's letters well express her character and personality from first to last: from her "I am so fond of the last new step in the hornpipe that I go all over the house dancing it," to her sophisticated : "A frivolous woman is a bad thing ; but if there is one thing more contemptible than another, it is a frivolous man. And the great advantage of the contrary experience is that with a good foundation of principle and knowledge, arch-
bishops may -dance hornpipes fo- any reflections I may make upon them in consequence." Intelligence counted in the Devon- shire House circle, and we find Harriet getting up early to read Bossuet and Madame de Sevigne and learn German. It is amusing to think of that exquisite sinner, the Duchess, proposing to read Paley ; whether she got any further we do not hear. Harriet was no blue-stocking ; she was always the same good, kind-hearted, sensible creature with a keen eye to everything passing in the world and a ready pen. It is interesting -that this type, in women, makes the best letter-writers. She reminds one of Fanny I3oscawen : what better recommendation could there be?
The letters have been well and skilfully edited by her descendants, though we could have done with a little Who's Who" to guide us through the maze of families and relations. The genealogical table helps. It may be said that Harriet's letters are worthy of her more famous aunt, Lady Bessborough: good letter-writing, like good sense, ran in the family.
A. L. ROWSE.
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