The Letter-Bag of Lady Elizabeth Spencer-Stanhope — Volume 1
History
The Letter-Bag of Lady Elizabeth Spencer-Stanhope — Volume 1
Great Britain -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; Spencer-Stanhope, Elizabeth Wilhelmina Coke, Lady, 1795-1873
When the news of Lord Milton's success became known in London on Sunday,
all the Whig families caused their horses to be adorned with large orange
favours, while the ladies at the fashionable promenade in Kensington
Gardens made a lavish display of his colours. In Yorkshire, the event was
celebrated by the victorious party with mad rejoicings, not the least
remarkable being the behaviour of the people of Wakefield who, unable to
do honour in person to the successful candidate, seized upon an old woman
who lived on Clayton Hill and "chaired" her all round the town with wild
enthusiasm. She was ever afterwards known by the nickname of "Lady
Milton," and the street where she lived bore the name of Milton Street.
But even the successful candidate must have found his triumph tempered by
the fabulous cost of the election. The unusual size of the county, and the
fact that voters had to be brought from and returned to such distant
localities, while the cost of their transit and their keep was meanwhile
defrayed by the candidates without stint, brought out the electioneering
expenses at the enormous sum of £100,000 for each candidate. Lord
Harewood, to whose outlay was added the mortification of its uselessness,
is said to have kept a card in his pocket from that day forward with the
ominous figures £100,000 inscribed on it, and whenever he was asked again
to contest the county, he would produce this as an unanswerable argument
against his doing so.
Meanwhile, at Ramsgate, Mrs Stanhope and her party were contenting
themselves with whatever gaieties the place afforded, and on May 31st,
1807, Marianne Stanhope sent her brother an interesting account of the
conditions prevailing there at that date.
NELSON'S CRESCENT.
Just now I think you would be very miserable here, for the wind is
very high and whistles at every corner, the sea is rough and
everything looks blowing. The night before last was dreadfully
tempestuous, & all yesterday morning was very stormy, but it cleared
out, happily for us, in the evening, so that we were able to take a
turn on the pier.
That famous pier! The only thing worth seeing, I think, either in or
out of Ramsgate, for you must know I have now seen almost all the
lions:--that miserable forlorn Mansion, East Cliff, _ci-devant_
Lord Keith's; the elegant little cake house of Mr Warne, who is going
to Russia; the soi-disant cottage of Mr Yarrow, in the romantic
vicinity of Pegwell Bay, celebrated, I am told for its fisheries; and
last, though certainly not least, the splendid and deserted King's
Gate. The building is very classic and elegant, but surely Tully's
Villa must be a very different thing in the sweet Campagna of Italy,
than placed on such a barren cliff. Poor fellow! Could he look out of
the Elysian fields (for there, I suppose, we must place him) I think
he would not admire the change of situation!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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