Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/382

 374

NO TES AND QUERIES. [U B. xn. NOV. is, 1915.

(near Winchester). " Thomas Heathcote and the Langford Lovells met us there."

25th January. " Dined at Mr. Penton's."

28th January. " Left Broadlands, dined Aires- ford, took post at Alton, and reached Weston a,t 8 ; found my uncle and William better than I expected."

4th February. "]Left Bath and dined at Salis- bury, reached Broadlands at 6, and found the children quite well. The country looked very sad, the weather very'cold, and the wind bitter."

5th February. " Messrs. Penton, Williams, and Warner called."*

In March they go to London, where various gaieties are chronicled, including the attendance at a Drawing - Room on 17 March.

20th April. " Harry f went to school."

8th June. " Harry ill. Went to Harrow for him ; he fainted on Sunday."

10th June. " Dined at home. Harry had a blister put on, 'and unluckily I had an Assembly, but we moved him into a quiet room. We had 139 people ; the house was much admired. It began at 9 o'clock, and all were gone by 1."

28th July. "Harry fainted away."

12th August. " Got to Broadlands for dinner ; left the children at Winchester."

13th August. " Very hot. My dear mother arrived at 6, not in the least fatigued, looking quite well, and walked round the place. It looks well, but not so beautiful as last year."

15th August. " Heard that Mrs. Penton is ill, and that it is doubtful if she can live. Being anxious for letters, I Went for them, and seeing my dear brother's seal, but not his hand, I carried it to my Lord Palmerston, who was in bed, for I dreaded the worst, and so it proved. A letter from a gentleman to say my brother had died on the 2nd. I fell on the floor, and my senses left me."

18th August. "Lily" ill; sent for Dr. Seward.'

Those were the days of frequent highway robberies between Romsey and South- ampton, even in broad daylight, so that the following entry is interesting :

19th August. " Went to Southampton in the phaeton."

A long account follows of the illness and death, at Broadlands, of Lady Palmerston's mother, Mrs. Mee, who was buried in Romsey Abbey" on 9 September. She appears to have lived at Bath, whither her daughter soon went " to look over papers." There are several portraits o: the Mee family at Broadlands.

20th October. ^Harry's birthday. He twelve years old to-day ! "

1st November. "The children acted 'King Alfred.' "

Space forbids further quotations from this interesting little book. Suffice it to

The Rev. Daniel Williams, 49 years Vicar o Romsey, who baptized the Premier, and died 18215
 * The Rev. Thomas Penton, Vicar of WelloW

t Afterwards Prime Minister.

ay that Lord Palmerston died on '.1 April, 1802, when his eldest son was [8 years of age, and that his widow was aid beside him in Romsey Abbey on 8 Feb., 1805.

The political career of their celebrated on began in 1806, when he entered Parliament as member for Bletchingley ; and ended by his holding the office of Prime Minister from June, 1859, until his death on 18 Oct., 1865. He married on 16 Dec., 1839, Amelia, daughter of that thel, Lady Melbourne, whom Lord Byron described as " the cleverest and most charming woman I know, and my best >iend." Mr. Hayward in his biographi- cal sketch of Lady Palmerston says :

" Coteries, cliques, and above all party ex- jlusiveness in politics, prevailed, but at Cam- mdge House there were no limitations. Alt lasses diplomatic, political, literary, scientific, artistic found a welcome. Her country house pore the same character for hospitality, and 'oreigners in particular were never tired of record- ing the delights of Broadlands."

F. H. S.

A DEAN'S ADVENTUROUS JOURNEY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

GEORGE HORNE (1730-92) was Chaplain-in- Ordinaryto the King from 1771 to 1781, m which year he was made Dean of Canter- bury.

When Bishop of Norwich he granted John Wesley permission to preach in his diocese, a concession much appreciated by Wesley.

In the following letter we have such a graphic and detailed account of the adven- tures which befell Dean Home on his way to take possession of the Deanery, that it does not tax the imagination much to picture the scene, though the brush of a Caldecote is required to immortalize it in* colour.

W.O. 1/1010.

Stoke Green, near Windsor,.

1 Oct. [17]81. DEAR SIR,

It is a matter of real concern to me, that I find myself under the disagreeable necessity of preferring a Complaint against some Gentlemen of a Profession, for which no person, I am sure, entertains an higher respect than myself.

On Monday, the 17th instant, in my way from this place to Canterbury, to take possession of the Deanry, between Uxbridge-