Page:The Wentworth Papers 1715-1739.djvu/45

 Henrietta, Lady Wentvvorth, is said to have lived with the Duke of Monmouth, came ultimately into the possession of Lord Strafford. Swift says that Lord Strafford received a fortune of 60,000/. with his wife ; she certainly brought him, on her father's death, some valuable estates, including Freston, Suffolk, and the borough of Aldborough, in that county, which had been represented in Parliament by the Johnsons for many years. Of Strafford's own pecuniary position at this time we are made aware by a paper drawn up by himself evidently at the time of his marriage. His estates at Wake- field and Stainborough in Yorkshire and at Ashby Puerorum, Greetham, Wainfleet, &c. in Lincolnshire, and the house at Twickenham, are put down at 1,500/. a year; the post fines granted to him by King William, 2,000/. a year ; " in the fund of the 99 years" 500/. a year; ready money 14,700/.; his colonelcy of Dragoons is valued at 10,000/., and certain in- vestments at about as much more ; 12,000/. in plate and jewels, " besides pictures, very rich furniture, and equipage in Holland to a considerable value."

It is curious to notice that although many letters of his mother and of other relatives and friends, some of them here- after quoted, are filled with schemes for an advantageous marriage of Lord Strafford, no reference is found in any of them to the particular match he made. So quietly was the matter settled that his sister, Lady Bellew, writing her con- gratulations on his earldom on July 16, adds, " I hear you are going to be married to Lady Betty Hastings, a great fortune. I wish it true, and all the happiness this world can afford." Of Lady Strafford's amiable and engaging qualities few could doubt who had the opportunity to read through her numerous letters to her husband, which have been so carefully preserved ; for, fortunately for the interest of this work. Lord Strafford's diplomatic labours compelled him and his wife to be much apart in the early years of married life, and a regular correspondence between them was a necessary consequence. These letters would of themselves fill a volume, if printed at length ; but, naturally, the subjects of many of them are of too trivial and every-day a character

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