The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-02-01
SOME NEW BOOKS.
Lady Heater stan hope.


q more or less Vague notion Of the
eccentric personality and erratic career
q Lady Hester Stanhopc, who spent
tho first part VI her life as a spoiled
darling OF society In London. and tho
latter part az u female hermit on the
slopes Of Mount Lebanon. as the apostle
TO those Oriental gentiles of nothing in
particular, unlesN 1t were tho right of u
wilful woman to have her own way,
which is the least oriental OF PROPOSE
tons. In her old age, her hermitage on
Mount Lebanon was u necessary resort
Of the British tourist proposing to him
self book of travel in what was then
called the Orient" and In now known
as the near East" All such tourists
made point of seeing her. OF of trying
TO- for she by no means compiled with
casual curiosity, and held herself
haughtily aloof from travellers unsup-
Piled with credentials. Two famous
travellers who were thus supplied. and
whom she accordingly saw, during the
last decade Of her life, and the thirties
Of the nineteenth century, were Lamar
tine and Kinglakc, and both left records
Of the impression she made upon them.
She told Lamartine that she had never
heard his name before, which was an
incofnprehensible blow to that monster
Of vanity, conscious. AZ he says In his
Souvenirs pendant un Voyage en-
Orient" that his name had ''been re-
peated million times by all the literary
echoes OF Europe" and almost incredu-
lous that II had never reached her
mountain home" This was in 1881.
Three years later. Kinglake visited her.
Shc received him not In his character
OF literary man. for II was out Of these
travels that he made the "Eothcn"
which was one of the most brilliant OF
literary promises. and which was so
imperfectly sustained by any subsequent
performance. but in the character Of
the son Of his mother. one OF her girl
hood friends in England. All the same,
no reader of "Eothen" can have for
gotten the pictures OF the "gaunt
prophecies" "a good. buslnesslike. prac-
teal prophecies, long used to the exer-
else Of her sacred calling" and Of the
travellers bewiderment as for hours
and hours this wondrous white woman
poured forth her speech, for the most
part concerning sacred and profane
mysteries, but every now and then she
would stay her lofty flight and swoop
down upon the world again: whenever
conversation" This last is n charac-
teristicaliy kinglaklan touch. and upon
the whole It seems that "Eothen" is
still the main source OF knowledge OF
the Orientalized Englishwoman for most
: English readers.
However that may be. from one source
or another most English readers have
Derived curiosity about Lady Hester
Stanhope that they would DE glad to
have authenticity asSuaged. and that IL
10 rather remarkable should not have
been so assuaged before. 1t is SO as
suaged now. in the volume Lazy Hester
Lucy StdnhOpe: q NeW Light on her
Life ana Lore Affairs, by FRANK HAMEL
(Cassell and Company. 1t is an ex-
haustive monograph" Every avail
able source Of Information appears to
have been ransacked. including ponder
Gus British biographies tina, contained
little moro than illusions to the subject,
rs we'll as old magazine articles and
other reconcile repositories. II II really
an exemplary piece az conscientious
look making. 1; IS even more than that
for the authors own reflections upon
his remarkable subject are almost al
ways worth attention. a good life OF
Lady Hester will never hereafter I've
"a long felt want
And surely II IS an Interesting sub
tect. Lady Hester Stanhope u176.
1887 was. as shown 10y the pedigree
inserted here. the eldest daughter OF
Charles. the third Earl Stanhupe. anc
Lady Hester Pitt. daughter Of William
Pitt, Earl of Chatham. and by consc.
quence sister of the second William
Pitt. Prime Minister OF England during
tho Sapoleonlc days. You could not
reasonably prefigur. n commonplace.
scion OF this hercdity. According to ar
anecdote here preserved. somebody sale
about some relative of the BRIDEGROOM
OF this marriage that he was tolcrably
sane--for Il Stanhopc. And az to III,
PITTS. they We're ali we'll known TO be
Is Sam johnson said about himself
mad. or at least not sober" TIL,
heredity of the great Earl Of Chatham
himself was set forth In these column.
not long ago. in "a review of the recen
Biography OF Mr.. Basil Williams, an,
would account for even more than tn,
personal eccentricity the great man ex
hb!ted during his private life and pub
lie career. OF the immediate ancestr,
OF the Great Commoner." afterwar,
the Great Earl. enough has doubles
Life and Connections" of Lord Chatham
by Lord Rosebcry: himself, BY the way
us appears from the above said pedigree
descendant both Of the Stanhopes AM
the Pitts and doubtless one OF the mos
appreciative and critical readers Of tn
volume now under notice. II may hav
been from her virtual adoption by tn
second William Pitt, or it may hav
been from natural affinity. but Lad
Hester. as she grew old. was incline
to lay stress upon the maternal rathe
than the paternal strain In her ances
try, and to describe herself not as
Stanhope but as Pitt. In her las
years. resent!ng the stoppage OF he
pension from the Crown. which she a,
tributed. apparently without any caus,
to the young Queen Victoria. who ha
just come to the throne. Lady Heste
wrote to the Duke Of Wellington
"There is nobody more capable Of max
Ing the Queen understand that a Phi
is unique race than your Grace
there is no tr!fiing with them" An
again. also in 1888. to Lord Palmerstol
who apparently had done nothing this
he WAS not officially bound TO do, sl
in, hn ne t,,<a