George Selwyn : $b His letters and his lifeSelwyn, George Augustus
History
George Selwyn : $b His letters and his life
Selwyn, George Augustus
Selwyn, George Augustus, 1719-1791; Selwyn, George Augustus, 1719-1791 -- Correspondence
(92) James Hare (1749-1804); son of Richard Hare, apothecary, of
Limestone; grandson of Bishop Francis Hare; at Eton with Fox and
Carlisle, and afterwards entered Balliol College, Oxford. As a young
man he was considered more brilliant than Fox, and more was expected
of his future. He sat for Stockbridge from 1772-1774, and for
Knaresborough from 1781 to his death. Like all of the fashionable
men of his day, he played heavily. In 1779 he had become deeply
involved in debt, but obtained the post of Minister Plenipotentiary
to Poland, which he held until 1782; in 1802 he was very ill at
Paris, where Fox made him frequent visits. He died at Bath. Lady
Ossory described his wit as "perhaps of a more lively kind than
Selwyn's." Storer left him a legacy of 1,000 pounds.
(93) Fox's debt to Carlisle.
(94) Henry Thomas, afterwards second Earl of Ilchester (1747-1802);
the cousin and companion of Fox, and as great a gambler. "Lord
Stavordale, not one-and-twenty, lost eleven thousand last Tuesday,
but recovered by one great hand at hazard."
(95) Lord Holland had amassed a large fortune when Paymaster-General,
and on this account his unpopularity was so great as to amount to
public detestation.
(96) Frederick North, second Earl of Guildford, known in history as
Lord North (1732-1792); Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1767; First
Lord of the Treasury, 1770 to 1782; Secretary of State, 1783 (March
to December); succeeded to Earldom of Guildford, 1790.
(1774,) January 18, Tuesday, Chesterfield Street.--I received
yesterday your extreme kind letter, while I was at Lord Gower's at
dinner; which dinner, by the way, or the supplement to it, lasted so
long, that I have increased my cough by it greatly, and am so unable
to go this morning to Court, that I think now of putting on my
clothes in the evening only, and so going, as I did last year, to
the King's side, to make her Majesty my bow as she passes from that
apartment to the ball-room. We had yesterday at dinner Dick Vernon
and Keith Stewart only, besides Lord Gower's family.
I was going home to dine by myself tres sagement et tres
tranquillement, dans le dessein de me menager, when Lord G. was so
good as to propose my going home with him; and thinking that to be
an opportunity of talking more with him upon you and your affairs,
as we did, I could not resist it. I do assure you, my dear Lord, it
is a great pleasure to me to see the zeal with which he speaks of
you, and your interests, which is not, to be sure, surprising,
considering your connection, but it makes me happy that my former
intimacy with him begins to revive, which it has gradually done,
from the time that you have belonged to him.
Miss Pelham(97) came to Lady Gower after dinner, and I think intends
to go to-day to the Birthday, but such a hag you have no conception
of; and a patch which she is obliged to wear upon the lower eyelid,
improves the horror of her appearance. She will kill herself, I make
no doubt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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