but I beg you would mention these particulars only to Harry."* Adopting but a portion of Archdeacon Coxe's version of the story, it may not be improbable that Lord Chesterfield (who seems to have personally disliked Queen Caroline) induced Lady Suffolk to prefer some suit for him to the King, and that the Queen highly resented the interference of the mistress. It is further not improbable, that George the Second, angry at the political conduct of Lord Chesterfield, and weary of his old mistress, sided warmly with the Queen, and that the consequence of his displeasure should have been that " unkind treatment," to which the Duke of Newcastle refers as the cause of Lady Suffolk quitting the

court.

As Lady Suffolk, within a few months after her retirement, became a second time a wife, and as she could scarcely have taken that step while ostensibly living as the mistress of another man, we may presume that this was a principal inducement to her to resign her employments. In July, 1735, she gave her hand to George, fourth son of Charles, second Earl of Berkeley.† Though now in her forty-eighth year, she is said to have retained (and indeed to have preserved almost to the close of her long life) the peculiar charms for which she had been distinguished in her youth. *Henry Pelham, the Duke's brother.

He held the appointment of Master of St. Catherine's in the Tower, and was twice returned to Parliament as member for Dover. He died in 1746.

With her second husband, by whom she had no children, and whom she survived more than twenty years, she is said to have lived uninterruptedly on the most affectionate terms.

From the period of their separation, the King and Lady Suffolk appear to have encountered each other but once; and it is singular that their meeting should have occurred only fortyeight hours before the King's death. "Two days before he died," writes Horace Walpole, "she went to make a visit at Kensington, not knowing of the review; she found herself hemmed in by coaches, and was close to him, whom she had not seen for so many years, and to my Lady Yarmouth; but they did not know her: it struck her, and has made her very sensible to his death." *

The close of Lady Suffolk's life was passed at her favourite residence, Marble Hill, near Richmond, which had been built for her by her royal lover in the days of her splendour; and which must have been endeared to her by many flattering, as well as classical associations. Lords Burlington and Pembroke had designed the house; Bathurst and Pope laid out the gardens; and Swift, Gay, and Arbuthnot, are said to have constituted themselves superintendents of the household.

The death of Lady Suffolk took place at Marble Hill on the 24th of July, 1767, in her

*Letter to George Montagu, Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p.

108.

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eightieth year. Horace Walpole, who, in consequence of his neighbouring residence at Strawberry Hill, had been thrown much into her society in the autumn of her life, announces the event in an interesting letter to the Earl of Strafford, dated a few days after her loss. "I am very sorry," he writes, "that I must speak of a loss that will give you and Lady Strafford concern; an essential loss to me, who am deprived of a most agreeable friend, with whom I passed here many hours. I need not say I mean poor Lady Suffolk. I was with her two hours on Saturday night; and, indeed, found her much changed, though I did not apprehend her in danger. I was going to say she complained-but you know she never did complain of the gout and rheumatism all over her, particularly in her face. It was a cold night, and she sat below stairs when she should have been in bed; and I doubt this want of care was prejudicial. I sent next morning. She had a bad night; but grew much better in the evening. Lady Dalkeith came to her; and when she was gone Lady Suffolk said to Lord Chetwynd, She would eat her supper in her bed-chamber.' He went up with her, and thought the appearances promised a good night but she was scarce sat down in her chair, before she pressed her hand to her side, and died in half an hour. I believe your lordship, and Lady Strafford will be surprised to hear that she was by no means in the situation that most people thought. Lord Chetwynd and

myself were the only persons at all acquainted with her affairs; and they were far from being even easy to her. It is due to her memory to say, that I never saw more strict honour and justice. She bore, knowingly, the imputation of being covetous, at a time that the strictest economy could by no means prevent her exceeding her income considerably. The anguish of

the last years of her life, though concealed, flowed from the apprehension of not satisfying her few wishes, which were, not to be in debt, and to make a provision for Miss Hotham.* In truth," concludes Walpole, "I never knew a woman more respectable for her honour and principles, and have lost few persons in my life whom I shall miss so much." By her first husband Lady Suffolk had one son, who succeeded to his father's title, and who died in 1745, without issue, at the age of thirty-five.

* Her great-niece, who constantly resided with her.

420

AMELIA SOPHIA,

COUNTESS OF YARMOUTH.

Wife of the Hanoverian Baron de Walmoden. Becomes George the Second's mistress.-Created Countess of Yarmouth in 1740.-Her good sense and retired habits.—Extract from Archdeacon Coxe.- The Countess receives a bribe of 12,000l. from Sir Jacob Bouverie for procuring him a Peerage. And attends the King in his campaign of 1743. - Lines on the occasion by Sir C. H. Williams.— The Countess' death in 1765. Her illegitimate son by the King, known at Court as Master Louis.

AMELIA SOPHIA DE WALMODEN, the wife of the Baron de Walmoden, a Hanoverian nobleman, became the mistress of George the Second during one of his journeys to his German dominions. It was of this lady that he wrote to Queen Caroline from Hanover, "I know you

will love the Walmoden, for she loves me." The King sent for her to England as soon as a decent period had elapsed from the death of his Queen, and shortly afterwards, by letters patent, dated 4th of April, 1740, created her Baroness and Countess of Yarmouth.

The English, who remembered the voracity of the German favourites of their late sovereign, George the First, appear to have viewed with