Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1881-01-07
A Royal Romance.

Royal Romance.
| From the Early History of Charles James Fox, by
George Otto Trevelyan.l
Lady Sarah Lennox, as the sweetest of
little children, had been the pet of old
George the Second. Her mother died
before she had left the nursery, and she
was thenceforward brought up, rather as
q daughter than sister, by the Duchess
OF Leinster and Lady Carolina Fox. She
was not likely long to be burden on her
chaperons. "Her great beauty" said
Henry Fox, Twas q peculiarity of coun-
tenance that made her at the same time
different from, and prettier than any
other girl l ever saw" In January, 1761, =,
Horace Walpole gives an enthusiastic ac-
count of some private theatricals per-
formed at Holland House, in which she
played Jane Shore, of all parts to be Sc
lected for a young lady who still was, or
ought to have been, in the schoolroom.
Lady Sarah," writes Walpole, Twas
more beautiful than you can conceive
No Magdalene by Correggio was half 30
lovely and expressive" So thought the
king, who. in the first hush Of his royal
ty, imagined that his mother and his
groom of the stole would allow him to
choose wife for himself He sent his
proposal, oouched in terms somewhat un-
usual, but quite unnistakable, through
Lady Susan Strangways, who, as he well
knew, was in the habit of spending half
her days at Holland House. The next
time that Lady Sarah Lennox appeared at
court, the king took her aside into bow
window, and asked whether she had got
his message, and what she thought of it.
"Tell me-" he pleaded. for my hap
piness depends on it " Nothing, sir"
replied the lady, who, to say the truth,
had Just then some one else in her head.
Nothing come of nothing" said his Ma
jesty and he turned away in manifest
vexation, having done his duty under
difficulties to which q monarch has
right to anticipate that he Will never find
himself exposed.
Lady Sarah, while spending her Easter
in the country, had the misfortune to fall
with her horse and break her leg The
king questioned Henry Fox closely and
anxiously about her state, with signs OF
de Up feeling which were meant to be OBJ
served. The evidences of his devotion
were duly conveyed to the right quarter
by means of o minute report from the
paymaster to his wife, who was nursing
her sister down in Somersetshire. Six
weeks of unwelcome leisure enabled Lady
Sarah to reconsider the whole matter
and, before the summer had set in she
was back in London, knowing her own
mind, and looking more beautiful than
ever. Tho town began to talk. "The
town began to talk. 'The birthday"
wrote Walpole on the thirteenth of June,
exceeded the splendor of the Arabian
Nights Do you remember one of those
stories whore prince has eight statues
Of diamonds, which he overlooks because
he fancies he wants n ninth and the
ninth proves to be pure flesh and blood?
Somehow or other, Lady Sarah Is the
ninth statue" witty lacy of rank. who
had reason to be proud OF her figure,
caught Lady Sarah by the skirt as she
was entering the presence chamber IN the
order of precedence. DO" she said,
''let me go in before you this once. for
you never will have another opportunity
Of seeing my beautiful back. June was
passed in flutter of hope and agitation;
but the princess royal had no mind to be
mother-in-law even to SO bewitchlnS L
Cinderella. The letter in which Lady
Sarah announces to her friend Lady Su-
san that her hopes were at an cnd-a
letter the spelling and punctuation oil
which prove that the writer was worthy
to occupy the throne of Anne and Mary
of Orange-is the most charming OF all
the documents which bear upon English
history. His Majesty treated her with
marked distinction both then and alter
ward but it was cruel courtesy TO
name her as bridesmaid. Lady Sarah,
however, had her revenge. Walpole, IN
the narrative Of the royal wedding which
he sent to General Conway, tells us that,
with neither features nor mir, she WAS 10y
far the chief angel :" and it WAS al easy
triumph to outshine n bride whose looks
never earned her compliment until,
after the lapse of many years, her own
chamberlain ventured to express his be-
lief that 1.-The bloom of her ugliness WAS
going off," Time, which WAS kind to
Queen Charlotte, bore lightly ON her IL
val. In 1881 the Prince of Wales de-
clared that Lady Sarah could not have
been more lovely in the days when his
father WAS at her feet. She became the
mother of the most illustrious family of
heroes that ever graced the roll of the
British army. Twice on the evening OF n
hard fought battle Lord Wellington
snatched moment to let her know that
two Napiers had been gloriously wound
ed. Within few hours after he had been
helped down the breach OF Cindad Rod
rigo, the second of the three. Writing
with his left hand, told her that he had
lost his best arm at the head OF the storm
ing party. With SONS as good ~ they
were brave aud gifted, every one of whom
loved her as she deserved, she had little
reason to envy her old admirer, the moral
reputation, the martial exploits. or the
flial affection of the Prince OF Wales and
the Duke of York.