The Lovely Lady Salisbury

The Duchess of Gordon was a notorious rival of Georgiana's.  However, she wasn't the only Tory hostess Georgiana had to contend with.  Lady Salisbury may not have made it personal with Georgiana like her fellow Tory society hostess, but she packed a few punches.

Mary Amelia (sometimes written as Emily) was a dashing Irish rose.  Reynolds painted her in 1781 seductively slipping on her gloves while on a walk with her hyperactive spaniel (Walkies, walkies?! Let's go, let's go!).  It wasn't only a love for pups that Georgiana had in common with Lady Salisbury, they were both big gamblers and consequently both in large amounts of debt.  Lady Salisbury led the Tory women in canvassing during the 1784 Westminster election, but didn't receive nearly as much press as Georgiana's campaign. In fact, after reading about Lady Salisbury canvassing in March of that year Lady Spencer sent her daughters on mission to outdo the countess.  This would be the same Lady Spencer who begged her two daughters to stop their canvassing a mere two months later.

Unlike Georgiana, Lady Salisbury lived to a ripe old age.  Madame Guillotine has a fabulous post on her life which you should most certainly check out here.

Whiggery in the Hunt

Hunting was quite the popular sport among the gentry in 18th century. There was nothing the boys loved more than racing around on horses in the woods with a pack of hounds. Then of course you could have a party afterward. There was also the hunting lodge which would allow for a more masculine decor to counter-balance the main house's feminine interiors. See, there was just so many fun aspects of the sport! France preferred the stag hunt, but England was becoming quite enamored with something that would come to be quintessentially English, the fox hunt.

As you probably well know, the fox hunt wasn't merely going out in the woods with a gun, oh no. You got all dressed up in your riding gear, got a bunch of buddies together with suitable mounts, collected your multitudes of baying dogs, and set out into the woods. Once the dogs caught the scent of a fox, or quarry, the hunt was on its way.

The people who became the most fond of foxhunting tended to be the more conservative crowd. The Whig party was quick to point this out, painting fox hunters as stuffy Tories who amused themselves with these trivial activities because they were rich men with nothing constructive to do. As historian Jane Ridley puts it, "The Whig caricature stuck. Country gentleman equals Tory equals fox hunting equals stupid is an association of ideas which still persists." Well, as with the typical Whig-Tory fight, the Tories had their own spunky comeback. They began referring to the quarry as "Charlie," named after the one any only, Charles James Fox. Fitting, no?

The Tories got the last laugh, though. To this day in English fox hunting, the fox is referred to as "Charlie."

The Results are In!

Last month I began a poll to see if my blog readership mostly consisted of Tories or Whigs. Well the results are overwhelming Whig (84% in fact). It seems most favor the same political party our beloved duchess subscribed to.

Which makes me feel a bit like the Morning Chronicle.

The 18th century saw the birth of the press as we know it and, more importantly, freedom of press. Because of these two aspects, newspapers tended to lean toward certain political opinions, just as certain television networks do now. The Morning Post favoured the Tories whilst the Morning Chronicle favoured the Whigs. While Georgiana was canvassing in the 1784 election, the Morning Post was notoriously badmouthing her every move and making up scathing falsities. But of course the Morning Chronicle was not without its own faults; no newspaper was truly innocent.

I guess my humble blog is also just as guilty for favouring the Whigs, so I apologize to my 17 beloved Tory readers. Don't worry though...I sense more Tory-ish posts in the future.

Voting Registry

I was thinking on this fine, sunny day how it was perfect weather for a good canvass. Then I remembered, why this was canvassing season after all! When Georgiana infamously canvassed for Charles James Fox in the 1784 Westminster election, she began in April and went into May. So my faithful citizens of the blogosphere, it is time for you to do your duty and register in your political party of choice. And no, Independent is not an option! We're talking serious politics here! Everyone knows the only two real parties are Tory and Whig. So which one are you?

You might be a Tory if:

• You support the King's right to the direction of state
• You support or attended Oxford
• You would rather have a mad king on the throne than a party-animal prince
• You are not totally opposed to slavery...the prices of massages these day, sheesh!
• You tend to be a bit conservative
  
• You think religion is very important, and by religion I mean the only religion, Anglican!
• You are a fan of William Pitt, even if he won't admit he's really a Tory
• You wouldn't mind kidnapping someone in the name of getting the right person elected.
  
• You think of yourself as old-fashioned, because some values should never go extinct
  

You might be a Whig if:

• You constantly find yourself out with the lads at the local Gentlemen's Club
• You support or attended Cambridge
• You think the King is great and all but...Parliament should have more say than one guy!
• Any religion is good with you, pass the wine!
• You are from a great aristocratic family
• You like free trade
• You think slavery is abominable
• You think a good old-fashioned revolution is good for a country
• You think the colour combination of blue and buff could just never go out of style
  

You can "register" in the sidebar. Now get out there and canvass for your favorite candidate! Bonus: Show your patriotism with these political party buttons!