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Page 14
Shortly after this he tells of rumors of the attachment of George
John, Lord Althorp, brother of Georgiana of Devonshire, to "that sweet
creature" Lavinia. At dinner at Lord Lucan's, Lord Althorp sat at a
side table with the girls and a Miss Shipley. "Pray, Lady Spencer,"
said Walpole, "is it owned that Lord Althorp is to marry--Miss
Shipley?" His next reference to the Lucans is in regard to the wedding
ode printed on the Strawberry Hill press. The poet therein invokes
blessings in this wise:--
"Shine forth, ye silver eyes of night,
And gaze on virtues crowned with treasures of delight.
* * * * *
"Flow smoothly, circling hours,--
And o'er their heads unblended pleasure pour;
Nor let your fleeting round
Their mortal transports bound,
But fill their cup of bliss, eternal powers,
Till time himself shall cease, and suns shall blaze no more."
He essays to eulogize the bride:--
"Each morn reclined on many a rose,
Lavinia's pencil shall disclose
New forms of dignity and grace,
The expressive air, the impassioned face,
The curled smile, the bubbling tear,
The bloom of hope, the snow of fear,
To some poetic tale fresh beauty give,
And bid the starting tablet rise and live;
Or with swift fingers shall she touch the strings,
Notes of such wondrous texture weave
As lifts the soul on seraph wings."
He then proceeds to encourage Althorp to lead a strong, noble life,
devoting his great abilities to the state, though he laments the small
chances for genuine sterling worth to achieve eminence.
"In this voluptuous, this abandoned age,"
when the leaders of the country are
"Slaves of vice and slaves of gold."
There was much fitness in this poet essaying a homily for the groom's
benefit, for he had been the young man's tutor some years before. When
the first Earl--a man of most fascinating manners--placed his son in
the tutor's charge, he said, "Make him, if you can, like yourself and
I shall be satisfied." Johnson said of Sir William Jones, "The most
enlightened of the sons of men." He became a great Indian and Persian
scholar, and was ever an honored friend of his former pupil.
Previous to his marriage, Lord Althorp had entered Parliament, and, as
a Whig, was opposing Lord North. When the Marquess of Rockingham came
to power, he was made a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury. In 1783, he
succeeded to his father's earldom. The Dowager Countess lived on until
1814. Her character has been variously described. Mrs. Delany calls
her "an agreeable person, with a sensible, generous, and delicate
mind." She was termed vain. What woman would not be who was mother to
such beauties as Devonshire, Duncannon, and Lavinia. In an
autobiography by the third Earl, he na�vely remarks that his mother
never liked his grandmother. The pleasing picture of "Ruth and Naomi"
is the exception in families.
On the breaking out of the French Revolution, Earl Spencer gave his
support to Pitt, by whom he was appointed first lord of the admiralty,
in 1794. It was during the period of her husband's brilliant career in
this office that the Countess made her greatest success as a hostess
in ministerial society. She was a good conversationalist, and
especially attractive to men of individuality who admired her
sagacious, picturesque pungency of expression. The great naval
commanders, who frequented the admiralty, were impressed with the
frankness and force of her superior mind, Nelson and Collingwood
particularly. She is frequently mentioned in their letters as being
sure to have much sympathy in their work. A late biographer of the
Earl wrote: "She had the penetration to appreciate Nelson through the
cloud of personal vanity and silly conceit which caused him to be
lightly esteemed in London society." Her "bull-dog" she used playfully
to call him. She visited Gibbon at Lausanne, in 1795, and he writes:
"She is a charming woman who, with sense and spirit, has the
playfulness and simplicity of a child." By some she was accounted
haughty and exclusive. Perchance she was to those who were without the
breeding or the brains to commend them to her. Dignified she certainly
was, and her influence was wholly for good in the uplifting of
politics and the purifying of society. "I would not advise any one to
utter a word against any one she was attached to," once said her
father. She became the wise coadjutor of her husband in forming the
magnificent Althorp Library.
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