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LADY HESTER STANHOPE. 229
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
— — Much Has Been Said And Written Latel...
A love of management was one of her earliest characteristics . Her sisters and the servants of the house were accustomed to ask
her opinion from a child , whilst the indirect influence of her powerful will would often change the foibles of her mother , and
alter the sterner resolutions of her father . In one of his fits of political enthusiasmthe Earl of Stanhope put down his carriages and
horses . Poor Lady , Stanhope looked sulky without complaining , and a miserable despondency settled over the household . Hester
determined to set it all to rights . She borrowed a pair of stilts and 6 stumped C Wh gravel irl" he y down cried a out dirty on her lane return in front " of what her horrible father _' s machines window .
y , g , , have you been using ? " " , " said the child , " it was nothing at all ; I only put on my stilts to walk through the mud . It is poor
Mamma who feels these things ; she has been used to her carriage , and her health is weak . " A few days after , Lady Stanhope had a
new carriage from London , but with no armorial bearings . " Nature" said Lady Hester" always fashions us in her own
way , but men , take infinite pains , to alter her intentions . We had a governess who thought to improve our figures by squeezing them
between hard planks of wood . It was just the same with our mindsthat they thought to improve by confining under the most
, ridiculous prejudices . " As a child , she was remarkable for that curiosity which , is always so fatiguing to ill-informed persons . Her
questions were invariably answered by , " That is not proper for you to know" or " You must not talk till you grow older , " and the
like . But , this state of things was not destined to last for ever . Hester was growing into womanhood . The democratic opinions of
her father were sometimes so expressed that they could not fail to be displeasing to persons in high places . The ties of family were *
not likely to purchase immunity for the brother-in-law of Pitt . Several political friends of Lord Stanhope had already been
imprisoned , and the peril which threatened him was imminent . At this crisisa way of escape was opened for our heroine from the wearying
artificial , culture which she had so long impatiently endured ; she determined at once to emancipate herself from this terrible thraldom ,
and to fulfil tlie duties of filial affection by moderating the anger of her uncle and going to reside under his roof . Mr . Pitt , who in the
loneliness of his bachelor life was not always free from weariness and ennui , was not sorry to have his home brightened by the
presence of his young and beautiful niece . _* ' Hester seems always to his * life Xet by it thus must ensuring be remembered the happ th iness at Pitt and was safety risking of his tlie niece future and comfort affording of
her taking a delicat step e likel and generous to interfere protection with the . That quiet his routine friends of his considered bachelor , he exist was
a y of ence Pitt ma to y b tak e i e nferred compassion from on Lord Mu Lad lgrave Hester ' s remar and k , — that " How in ami a able which it is
poor y , way must " Life break of Ri in ht upon Hon . his William habits Pitt of life . " B y Earl is as Stanhope good as . he is great ! " See g
Lady Hester Stanhope. 229
LADY HESTER STANHOPE . 229
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1862, page 229, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061862/page/13/
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