Hannah Lightfoot
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
HANNAH LIGHTFOOT. D’ N THE CHEVALIER EO . DR WILMOT’S POLISH O TH M P . J. A S . S , . n WI TH SOM E A DDI TI ON S F R OM ‘ E ’ , N OT S A N D Q UER IES LON DON W . G . SM ITH 32 WELLIN G TON STREET STRAN D W C , , , . 1 6 8 7 . E P R E FA C . THESE N o tes on the st o ry of Hannah Lightfoot have been re print e d in compliance with suggestions from a several quarters, that the proofs which they cont in of the utter groundlessness o f the scandal should be pre served in a more convenient form than the pages of N ot s and ueries ll . e Q , in which they origina y appeared A who v n writer, has ob iously paid much attentio e l n a t he e o f to the subj ct, whi e admitti g th t evid nce a o f u in t he the w nt tr th story, which is here adduced , l t wo is conc usive , thinks there are statements respect ing it which require further canvassing . One is Mr . ’ N . 2md . 222 Ste inman Steinman s ( Q S i . ) state M A ment that a portrait of iss xford , the Fair Quaker, n R n l l pai ted by Sir Joshua ey o ds, exists at Kno e , and f . a n E N . 1 o . st . & . the other, the st teme t D ( Q S l o f 430 . ) that Dr James Da ton, the Madras Medical H n ah Service , married a daughter of a n Lightfoot by Ge orge III . ‘ Ho w le M the portraits at Kno , said to represent iss ’ Ax t o b e ford, the Fair Quaker, came so designated I no t l m r know , but I wou d re a k that that mythic per ‘ ’ sona e e n g , the Fair Quaker, has never b e described PREF E iv AC . M iss A . as a xford I may add , on the authority of i M r . my fr end Scharf, that the picture does not e n repr se t a Quakeress, for the lady is dressed in white satin with pink bows ; like the portraits of La Bac elli Schinderlin n l c , and the , also at K o e , and a b v painted by Sir Joshu , it is elie ed to have been added to the collection by the third Duke of Dorset o f and like those portraits, is probably that of one his mistresses . With reference to the Dalton descendants from the supposed connection , I would remind the reader, that another family residi ng at the Cape of Good Hope . 82 . claim the same origin ( 2 S N . 62 and I may add l o f that, whi e these papers were in course publication N otes and ueries an in Q , no less th three other families, do no t whose names I think it right to publish , have been mentioned to me as the undoubted descendants Bu t o f the King and the Fair Quaker . as the five families which claim such descent have no connection i w th each other, the reader will probably concur with me in the conviction that they have just as little con ne c t io n with George III . and his supposed Quaker mistress . Whether the King has or has not been a s made the scapegoat for his father, has been sug an o f gested , or y his brothers, is not the question which I undertook to investigate . ’ G W . G EOR E s S. 40 ST. Q S UARE, M a 1 867 y . C O N T E N T S . HAN N AH LI GHTFOOT and Queries Of b r 2 9 1 6 and Fe rua y , , , M arch 1 6 , ’ Q UEEN CHARLOTTE AN D THE CHEV ALIER D EON e t d fr m N otes and ue r ies Of M 1 6 (R prin e o Q arch , ’ DR . WILN OT s POLISH PRIN CESS e i te d f m N o tes and Que ries Of J l 7 (R pr n ro u y , LORD CHATHAM AN D THE PRI N CESS O LI V E N o w fi l e d ( rst pub i sh . ) A PPEN DI& . ‘ ’ ‘ ’ THE A UTHEN TIC RECORDs AN D SECRET HISTORY R e d f o m N otes and ueries of M a c 9 ( printe r Q r h , H A N N A H LI H T T G FOO . WHEN looking into that barefaced and impudent Dr . l fiction, the pretended marriage of Wi mot to the ni t a Princess Po atowski, o which I c lled the attention of the readers o f N otes and Queries in July 1 866 ( 3rd S . x . p . I found the nam e of Hannah Light foot so mixed up with the affair that I could scarcely ’& resist the conviction that the Fair Quake r was as l mythica a personage as the Polish Prince ss . T M ’ he publication of r. Jesse s amusing M em oirs o the Li e and R ei n o eor &I & f f g f G ge . has brought before the public once more the alleged connection and marriage between George III . and Hannah Lightfoot . e t o Mr Jess , however, gives some of the authorities which he uses an amount o f weight and credit which a little consideration will show they by no means de . o ut t serve I propose, therefore, to point upon wha a mass of contradictory statements the scandal is n in fir m n n fou ded, the co victio that if my readers do no t l go the ength of rejecting the story altogether, they will pause before they even believe that George ‘ ’ F m air Quaker, not Quakeress, was the na e by which the young a lady was generally design ted . N I 4 HAN AH L G HTFOOT . H L il III . intrigued with annah ightfoot ; and w l feel thoroughly convinced that there is not a shadow of truth in this alleged marriage, in which Mr . Jesse seems disposed to believe . The first t hing that strikes one as remarkable with regard to this piece Of scandal is that no allusion to it is to be found (at least as far as I am able to trace) l in any historical , political, or satirical work pub ished l m G . during the ifeti e of eorge III Walpole, whose industry in collecting gossip equalled the delight with no which he disseminated it, has allusion to a story which he never could have know n and kept secret ; G but, on the contrary, speaks of Prince eorge at the liais on very time when this must have existed , if it ‘ ’ n B haste . u t ever did exist, as bigoted , you g, and c G . from the year after that in which eorge III died , the story has been continually reappearing in one o r other of the many varied forms which it has assumed . The subject is probably of su ffi c ie n t interest to justify m y reprinting such notices on the subject as have no t already appeared in the column s o f N otes and ueries . The M onthl M a a Q In the first , from y g zine fo r A 1 82 1 pril , it will be observed the lady is spoken Of as a M iss Wheeler All the world is acquainted with the attachment Of the late King to o the nam e o W H L R d dis a ea e d a beautiful Quakeress f f EE E . The la y pp r on the royal m arriage in a way that has always been interesting b ecause nd u a s . I l or nexplained mysteriou have been told she is sti l alive , was . Of lately As connected with the life the late sovereign , the subject is curious ; and any information through your pages would doubtless be f d o r . agreeable to many your rea e s B . M ont/11 a I 1 M . 1 82 l vo . 52 . 3 . g g April , , li p . In ' the reply which this inquiry brought forth in A LI HANN H G HTFOOT . 5 z the July number of the maga ine, the lady becomes a M iss Lightfoot ; and the story is se t forth with some incidents which I here content myself with printing in italics R e m im sc entia of r e m arkable Characte rs of the last Age HAN N AH LI G H TFOOT F (The air Quaker) . I o f l i &n consequence the enquiry re ative to th s celebrated lady, in a m b late nu er, we have been favoured with the following letter from a re s e c t ab l e and p gentleman at Warminster, we are promised further info r On mation . enquiring Of the Axford family, who still are respectable o n son grocers Ludgate Hill , we traced a of the person alluded to in the n inf letter, by his second wife, Miss Bartlett, and ascertai ed that the or mation Of our correspondent is substantially correct .