"I should not have selected, for so gentle and very amiable a man, a sister of the empress of fashion, nor a daughter of the goddess of wisdom."
-Horace Walpole, on Frederick Viscount Duncannon's marriage to Harriet Spencer
"I should not have selected, for so gentle and very amiable a man, a sister of the empress of fashion, nor a daughter of the goddess of wisdom."
Didn't he come on as being so sweet really early on but later people said he would lash out and say cruel things to Harriet? Or is this the later Harriet?
ReplyDeleteHow is he sweet? He was extremely abusive to Harriet to th epoint his own family sided with her against him.
ReplyDeleteI know, Tulip. My memory was that he was a jerk to her, so I'm trying to figure out the quote. Still, I remember when I read The Duchess, when he turned on Harriet the first time, I was kind of shocked because prior to that he was perceived as rather gentle. Am I remembering this correctly?
ReplyDeleteSigns point to yes. He came off as quiet at first but he was very abusive to Harriet and she grew to just about hate him. Although he did seem to "forgive" her for one affair, and remain totally ignorant of another.
ReplyDeleteIf Duncannon had come across as unpleasant from the start, good old Horace wouldn't have held his tongue. So there must have been something that turned him. It's been so many years now since I've read Georgiana (how tempus does fugit!) that I can't recall if he had any illness that would have made for erratic behavior, like syphilis.
ReplyDeleteI still have Harriet's book on my groaning and sagging to-be-read shelf. Guess I'd better get to it.
Ha! You are right, Horace wasn't one to hold back.
ReplyDeleteYou HAVE TO read her biography it was so good, you won't be able to put it down.