The Pocket Venus
SIR,—In his review (SPECTATOR, May 27) of The Pocket Venus: A Victorian Scandal, Mr Robert Blake, before proceeding to reprimand the author for being 'not always accurate' in minor details, himself observes that on July 16, 1864—the day of the elopement—`Lord Hastings was only twenty-two (the same age as the bride and her jilted fiancé): Had he read Mr Blyth's book more carefully, he would have discovered that in fact not one of the three was aged twenty-two. Lord Hastings, having been born on July 22, 1842, was only twenty-one (op. cit., p. 25); 'it was his birthday on the follow- ing Friday, when he would be twenty-two' (p. 120). Lady Florence Paget, born on August 18, 1842, was also only twenty-one (p. 9); and Henry Chaplin, if he was born on December 22, 1840, was cer- tainly a year senior to Lord Hastings at Oxford (pp. 35, 41). The point is not in itself of great im- portance; but those who throw stones should not live in glass houses.
CHARLES SMYTH Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Previous page
