LINKS WITH THE PAST.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.")
am the grandson of the witty and the warm-hearted Lady Aldborough of whom mention is made in your last number. She was original as well as clever, but I do not think she should be called "eccentric." There are one or two incidents in her career not given in the letter you have published whioh are characteristic and worth recording. Lady Aldborough was living in Dublin in a rather high social position, when a young man was appointed aide-de-camp to
the Lord-Lieutenant, and was soon introduced to Lady Aldborough. This young man was Arthur Wellesley. Wish- ing to show him some civility, Lady Aldborough offered him a seat in her carriage on the occasion of a fête some miles out of Dublin. She found him a silent, dull young man, " put- ting nothing into the pool," as she expressed it, and
she decided to give him the slip coming back. Wel- lesley waited in vain to be picked up till all the
carriages were gone, and the only means of getting back to Dublin was to take a seat in the van of the band. Many years afterwards she reminded the great Duke of this
occurrence, saying, "I little thought, when I left you to find
your way back with the fiddlers, that you were going to play first fiddle yourself." Lady Aldborough knew the Duke of Wellington well, but she must have known Nelson better, for she was the niece of Sir William Hamilton, antiquarian and Ambassador, and had often seen her celebrated Aunt Emma dance the famous shawl dance for the benefit of our naval hero.
My grandmother lived a great deal in Paris. She told me she went there on one occasion for six weeks, and stayed sixteen years. She was certainly there during the "Hundred Days" with her two granddaughters, The late Lady Cardigan and Lady George Lennox, then
both unmarried. Remembering the fate of the daenus
in 1803—the English were all in full flight from Paris— the Emperor sent one of his generals, whom Lady Ald- borough had known and assisted in England, to assure her of their perfect freedom and safety. She, however, passed into Switzerland before Waterloo. Late in life she again re- turned to Paris, and was warmly received by Louis Philippe.
The King had lately had one of his escapes from the hands of an assassin, and was soon after attacked with dropsical
symptoms of a serious character. These, however, completely passed away, and the King held a reception at the Tuileries to prove his convalescence. When, in making the circle., he came to Lady Aldborough, she said, "I congratulate your Majesty on being waterproof as well as fireproof (a repreuve du feu et de l'eau)." It is said that she gave him a little tap with her fan to make her meaning quite clear. The King was so much amused that he led her up to the Queen, and made her repeat her pleasantry. Lady Aldborough died in the Place Vendome in 1845. I do not know the exact date of her birth. She married my grandfather in 1777. Some few survive who can bear witness to her kind and generous nature.
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