Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/69

 12 8. III. JAN. 27, 1917.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

63

Kelly,' ii. 207). On Dec. 21, 1809, this daughter (by Esten) Harriet Hunter Wild- man Esten was married at St. George's, Hanover Square, to Thomas Darby Coventry, Esq., of Henley-on-Thames (Gentleman's Magazine, 1809, p. 1174); and on Oct. 15, 1812, Mrs. Esten became the third wife of Major John Scott-Waring, the indiscreet agent of Warren Hastings (Gentleman's Magazine, 1812, p. 390). Soon after the marriage, Major Scott- Waring moved from his former residence, Peterborough House, Parsons Green, Fulham, to the house in Half Moon Street, Piccadilly, where Mrs. Esten had been living for many years. The marriage of the famous couple elicited " the epigram of doubtful taste " :

Although well known for ages past, She's not the worse for Waring.

Except for her connexion with the Duke of Hamilton, to whom she was a faithful wife in all but name for many years, nothing appears to be known against her reputa- tion. The spiteful account of her career in ' The Fashionable Cypriad ' (1799), i. 234- 248, is wholly plagiarized from ' The Secret History of the Green- Room.' She outlived Major Scott-Waring, who died at Half Moon Street on May 5, 1819, by nearly forty -six years, surviving until April 29, 1865 (see MB. GORDON GOODWIN, 10 S. iv. 296). It is amazing that a lady whose grandfather was born in the reign of Charles II. should be alive two years after the marriage of Queen Alexandra ! The announcement of her death appeared in The Times on May 2 : " On April 29, at 36 Queen's Gate Terrace, Kensington, at a very advanced age, Harriet, widow of the late Major Scott-Waring, E.I.C.S." She is reputed to have been a hundred years old.

Mrs. Esten was beautiful, talented, and successful, and her career is surely one of the most marvellous in theatrical annals. When she was born George III. was a young man ; at the time of her death Queen Victoria was a middle-aged lady. When she was a girl the stage coach occupied twelve days in travelling from London to Edinburgh ; the railway train did the jour- ney in as many hours when she was an old woman. She was alive when Napoleon was born ; before she died she may have shaken hands with Major Roberts. It is probable that she saw Garrick act ; it is possible that she may have seen Henry Irving. It is only fifty-one years since she died. Surely there are persons still alive who knew this wonder- ful old lady. HORACE BLEACKLEY.

19 Cornwall Terrace, N.W.

FROM LIVERPOOL TO WORCESTER A CENTURY AND A HALF AGO.

(See ante, p. 21.)

Thursday 17th. It rained very hard howv e after Breakfast we went to the Cathedral Church an antique, plain Building without, but the Gothic carved Work over the Seats is neat and being painted yellow gives it a rich Look. In the Ailes is a Tomb and the Remains of a Leaden. Coffin which they say is the Burial Place of Henry IV. Emperor of Germany. In the Even- ing Prayer Chapel is a peculiar Inscription con- sidering it was no longer ago than 1748. The Beginning runs thus :

" The Jew and Heathen divided : the Papist

abased : But be not thou ashamed of the Cross of Christ."

It is not for me to glory save in the Cross of Christ.

" By Baptism entered under the Standard of the Captain of our Salvation, etc., etc."

The Chapter House is a very neat habitable Boom containing a Library. Under here lie the

Remains of Richard Lupus * to William the

Conqueror. This was formerly a Parliament House under the Jurisdiction of the Earls of Chester. This Church was built in. . . . * We walked round the Lines f which enclose the Town, they are extremely pleasant being sufficiently broad for 3 to walk abreast, well paved and com- manding a beautiful Prospect of the Country and Places around which afford great Variety. From some Parts rich Orchards with Meadows and the River Dee from others Houses, Churches, and the Falls of Water, in some to regale Smell are Paper Mills and Manufa. of Horn (?), in others to please both the Eye and Ear at the same time are Cow's calving and Xlonoem Chif.J There are two high Turrets and a small .... * of the Embrasures otherwise the Rest of the Walls are quite plain low parapet. The Walk goes entirely round clear of them and is about 2,800 Paces.

It has lately been repaired and is in good Order. .

Chester. . . .About. . . .o'clock we set out from Chester and hearing that the Welch Road was as good as that thro' Whitchurch, and the same Distance I preferred it and we accordingly beat our March thro' Wrexham for Shrewsbury. Entered Flintshire in Wales about 5 M. f. Chester passed thro' the small village of Merford. Entered Denbighshire when 8 Miles f. Chester. The-

Omitted. f (?).

Illegible, but apparently foreign.