A. M. W. Stirling

Quotes and related history from a selection of letters written by Elizabeth Spencer Stanhope and family of Cannon Hall, South Yorkshire, 1805-1821. Compiled in 1913 by Anna M Stirling, the text can be rather dense in places and I would have preferred to read the letters in full, especially those written by the wonderfully frank and occasionally catty Marianne S-S, rather than an opening quote and a lot of background exposition. Also, in the Kindle version, the letters and text flow together and there are no illustrations, only captions. Very frustrating!

I would love to read more about some interesting acquaintances of the family, including 'Madame' Diana Beaumont, who lived in the neighbouring estate of Bretton Hall, and family friend Esther Acklom, who proposed marriage to Viscount Althorp and won him over with her dowry before dying in childbirth and leaving him bereft for the rest of his life. Marianne, daughter of the eponymous Elizabeth, is the star of the show, however - 'Your sisters danced a good deal, and both of them with a Bond Street lounger whose name was Carey. I believed he was rouged', she comments, 'Her daughter, Miss Burton, is 6 ft. 4 in. in height & ugly in proportion, but very agreeable', and 'He spent three months there this autumn, and certainly as far as a pale cheek, sunk eyes, and slender form can prove anything, he is either hopelessly consumptive or in love.' Definitely a contemporary of Jane Austen!

I must admit to skimming through the more 'historical' sections, such as family friend Admiral Collingwood at Trafalgar and John Spencer Stanhope taken prisoner of war in France during the Napoleonic Wars, being far more concerned with the society gossip of the ladies at home! Alarming deaths - 'Mrs Fawkes, Mother to Mrs Wentworth, went to an unfinished window, fell out & was killed on the spot' - elopements and the quirkiest personalities of the ton made me forget that I was reading actual correspondence and not a novel! I also love the Regency terms, like 'London was very thin', which clearly inspired Georgette Heyer.… (més)