To a woman of the temperament that distinguished the Duchess of Dorset the acme of human bliss was the impersonation of royalty. She revelled in the rites attendant upon the state the viceroy maintained, and as the haughty duchess she was known throughout the country. Lord Whitworth, past sixty and somewhat bored, was a tool in the hands of his wife, who never forgot the fact that he was her late husband's protege and, therefore, to some extent hers also. She personally supervised the list of those who had the _entree_ to the Castle, and her censorship of her predecessor's list caused a vast amount of ill-feeling. Wives of respectable professional men found themselves relegated to the position occupied by their prototypes fifty years before, while {218} the intrepid duchess even attacked those who had married into plebeian families, and, therefore, forfeited her regard. It was due to her efforts that her relative, Lord Liverpool, conferred an earldom on Whitworth, though she retained her ducal title throughout her life. The viceregal pair were not unpopular, but Whitworth was scarcely the man to understand Irish affairs. To a large extent the ruler of the country was Sir Robert Peel, the chief Secretary until 1818. The Duchess of Dorset did not always approve of Peel, but, recognizing that he saved her husband a considerable amount of work, she delegated the task of maintaining the usual official correspondence with the ministry in London to him. Peel was a strong--soon to become the strongest--opponent of the Catholic claims. The viceroy was of the same opinion on this important matter, and, backed by an enormous English army, they defied public opinion. [Illustration: Earl Talbot] In the autumn of 1817 it was decided to replace Whitworth by Lord Talbot, and accordingly, on October 9, the new viceroy was sworn in, Peel taking a prominent part in the ceremony. Talbot and Whitworth were old friends, having first met during the latter's embassy in Russia, when the younger nobleman was an attache in the diplomatic service, and he owed his selection to the good offices of the outgoing viceroy and his wife. That he was opposed to Catholic Emancipation was another point in his favour, while the Government were not unimpressed by the fact that Lady {219} Talbot was an Irish lady, the daughter of a County Meath gentleman. [Sidenote: Visit of George IV.]