Georgiana had certainly kept in contact with her, as well as with Calonne and many other French émigrés, but such letters were dangerous to keep and they were always burnt. Occasional references to “letters of great consequence” only hint at her activities. One which has survived concerns the plight of the French émigrés residing in Italy, many of whom were destitute. Georgiana and Bess organized a network of friends to help to raise money for the poorest of them. Madame de Fitzjames, once a darling of the court, was a typical refugee: reduced to a miserable existence in a dirty pension, she lived off charity; when it was not forthcoming she starved.
London heard about Louis XVI’s execution on January 23, 1793. The government immediately expelled the Marquis de Chauvlin, the French ambassador. In retaliation, the French declared war on Britain and urged all British patriots to rise up in favour of the ideals of the revolution. Georgiana’s friends in London insisted she should come home. “I wish most sincerely that you were in England,” wrote Lady Sutherland. “The Duke of Dorset often talks of you con amore as do many other people. . . . The best thing I can say of [London] is that the Dss of Gordon is cut almost generally.”47 Lady Jersey had reverted to her old self and was spreading tales about Georgiana, but she was the only one as far as Lady Sutherland was aware. Bess’s brother Lord Hervey sweetly forwarded a letter from the Duke, saying in a postscript that he wished its contents contained the news that will “pour balm into your heart and soothe away anxious feel with the hopes of speedy return and the calm prospect of future comfort and tranquillity.”48 But the Duke could only bring himself to write short, curt notes to Georgiana about nothing in particular. Devonshire House was reported to be “dismal and dirty” without her, which at least showed that he was not cheerful at her absence. James Hare had been writing faithfully to Georgiana with social and political news from home but, disappointingly, he could no better determine the Duke’s intentions than she could. “I have seen the Duke very frequently,” he wrote, “and often dine with him tête-à-tête; he is not (as you know) very communicative . . . so that I learn nothing from him.”49
Lord Bessborough died on March 11, 1793, aged eighty-nine. As soon as he heard, Lord Duncannon, now the third Earl of Bessborough, set off for London, leaving the exiles to make themselves at home in Naples. The city and its environs was a favourite tourist spot for English travellers. It was one of the highlights of the Grand Tour, and a place which invited extravagant descriptions. One traveller writing home in the second half of the eighteenth century praised its
olive groves and well-tilled fields of corn, intermixed with ranks of elms, every one of which has its vine twining about it, and hanging in festoons between rows from one tree to another. The great old fig-trees, the oranges in full bloom, and myrtles in every hedge, make one of the delightfullest scenes you can conceive; besides that, the roads are wide, well-kept, and full of passengers. . . . the number of people outdoes both Paris and London. The streets are one continued market, and thronged with populace so much that a coach can hardly pass. . . . it is on the most lovely bay in the world, and one of the calmest seas. . . .50
The King and Queen of Naples and the ubiquitous Hamiltons—Sir William and Lady Hamilton—made the group extremely welcome and they were frequent guests at court. An eminent group of scientists, which included Sir Joseph Banks and Sir Charles Blagden, had gathered to study such phenomena as the volcanic Mount Vesuvius and they graciously made room for Georgiana at their meetings. These months were some of the happiest and most fulfilled of her life. She climbed up to the top of Mount Vesuvius to watch smoke billowing from the crater, took boat trips around the islands, and investigated the ancient ruins with her new companions.
However, she had no money or jewellery left and Coutts’s patience was at an end. He had endured her pleadings and excesses for almost two years, and urged her to return some of the £20,000 she owed him. On several occasions he had even approached the Duke, who refused to talk to him. The new Lord Bessborough reached London just in time to prevent Georgiana’s name from appearing on a list of defaulting debtors. He and Harriet were enjoying one of their brief periods of rapprochement; he managed to control his irritation on discovering that she too was on the list: “for God’s sake tell me all your debts, there is no use in concealing them. I don’t say I can pay them, but we might make some arrangement of them to make them less ruinous. . . . I can think of nothing but you.”51
Georgiana was beginning to give up hope when a letter from the Duke arrived on May 18.
Oh my G [she wrote immediately], how can I express my happyness to you. We were dining today at the Arca Felice—or rather under it—it is the most picturesque situation in the world—when the post arrived and your dear dearest Papa’s letter telling me to return to you in the middle of the summer. God of heaven bless him for his kindness to me—in three months at the latest I shall be with you my Dearest children and this cruel absence will be amply made up by the delight of seeing you. Oh my dearest love what joy it will be and how very good your dear Papa is to me.52
The party hastily decamped and began the long journey home. They got no farther than Rome when Harriet suffered a relapse. Lady Palmerston saw her:
We dined at the Websters and went together to the Borghese Villa. We met there the Duchess of D. and in the evening went to see Lady Bessborough who makes my heart ache. She looks and is so ill. She coughs and spits blood again. She was quite free from either complaint at Naples, but the travelling has brought it on. She is so excessively interesting that one cannot bear to see her in so precarious a state. They will, I fancy pass the winter at Naples. The Duchess is as enchanting as ever. We looked over drawings of the doings, Lady Elizabeth draws in a most capital style. The Duchess certainly returns to England this summer. The Duke has written a most affectionate letter to desire her to return.53
Harriet was not fit to travel, and Lady Spencer elected to stay behind with her in Italy. Harriet was distraught at the idea of being separated from Georgiana: “This dreaded and horrible day has passed my Dearest Georgiana far better than I expected,” Lady Spencer reported after Georgiana and Bess had set off alone. “Your sister cried violently when she first got into the chaise,” but after several hours her tears subsided and, exhausted, she fell into a deep sleep.54
Georgiana was equally affected, but she had Bess to comfort her. However, as they neared Ostend both became oppressed by fears of what the future held for them in England. Georgiana in particular felt burdened by worries and regrets. Forgetting her science lessons and how much she had taught herself, she confessed to Lady Spencer:
I condemn myself as much almost for the misuse of time in my bannishment, as anything else. I think I ought to have done so much better and the worst is that I have often given you cause of uneasiness and complaint, tho’ I would have sacrificed my life for your care and to do a little away the cruel blows I have given you. My mind and my heart always wish’d to do well, but despair at myself and my situation often depriv’d me of all energy, and drew me into errors. Sometimes it was better, when I had hope I then could rouse myself, but at times I have sunk to a situation of despair that made me fly to anything for resource.55
What sort of things Georgiana had resorted to she did not say, but she swore that her life would be different. She would never disobey the Duke in anything ever again: “I return impressed with [a] very deep humility, and the wish of atonement, by doing more for another, and by perfect acquiescence in all his intentions and wishes. I hope likewise to make use of the very great good fortune that has attended me by increas’d prudence and care. I fear and tremble, but my only dependence is on my penitence and gratitude to God and on my adoration to my children.”56
They arrived at Ostend just as the French were forcing the Duke of York’s army to retreat. Having escaped from besieged Maastricht, risking the bombardment as they crept through its streets, Georgiana and Bess ignored warnings to turn back. “We came on against all advice and heard of
the English disasters. . . . between Bruges and Ostend some soldiers stopped to ask us if we had seen any French etc.,—At Ostend everybody advised us to get off as fast as possible.”57 There was not a single space on any of the boats leaving the port. Fortunately, in the midst of the general panic Georgiana came across a friend, Lord Wicklow, just as he was heading for his pleasure boat. Eyeing their baggage and servants rather doubtfully he nevertheless squeezed them on to his little yacht. As the men cut the moorings some English refugees rushed up and begged to be allowed on. Georgiana was distraught at being forced to leave them behind but there was nothing they could do. The boat pulled away from the stragglers, and she watched them standing forlornly on the quayside as the city burned behind them.58
CHAPTER 17
RETURN
1794–1796
Lord Egremont’s superb mansion in Piccadilly. . .is sold to Mr. Mills, of Yorkshire for the sum as is said, of £16,000. The tenanting of this mansion and of Devonshire House, with the completion of Mr. Drummond’s and Mr. Crauford’s [sic], will restore, in the ensuing spring, some of the former splendour of Piccadilly.
London Chronicle, January 2–4, 1794
The Duke was waiting at Dartford with the children to greet Georgiana and Bess. “I have seen them, I have seen them,” Georgiana wrote to Lady Spencer after the reunion. “Georgiana is very handsome. . . . Harryo is still fat, but with the whitest complexion. . . . Hartington is very pretty, but very cruel to me. He will not look at me or speak to me, tho’ he kiss’d me a little at night. . . . The Duke has the gout but looks pretty well. There was never anything equal to the attention I have met with from him—to the generosity and kindness.”1 He had surprised her with a welcome-home present: a smart new carriage with light blue panels and silver springs. They travelled back in it to London, reaching Devonshire House on September 18, 1793. The entire household was waiting in the courtyard as the carriage drove through the gates. “I never knew anything so touching as the reception of the servants,” Georgiana recorded. As for herself, she admitted she was “so happy and so anxious.”
The certainty that she would find many unpleasant changes made Georgiana unwilling to venture from Devonshire House. “I have been in town 4 days and have been too agitated to look about me or do anything,” she wrote on September 23; “too happy, too agitated and perhaps after so long a journey, too idle. I get up early to see the children sooner, I sit by the fire, and the litter in my room wd make you bless yrself.”2 Even within the safe confines of Devonshire House she could not avoid some upsetting discoveries. The only good piece of news seemed to be that Charlotte Williams was at last off their hands, having married Heaton’s nephew.3 For the rest, there was only regret and disappointment.
Georgiana’s two-year separation from the children had affected them badly. She was heartbroken to find that ten-year-old Little G had no self-confidence. She had become “the most interesting dr child I ever saw and very pretty,” Georgiana wrote. However, “she never would let me out of her sight could she help it and today she told me I did not know all her faults.”4 Little G had developed a morbid religious sensibility which made her dwell relentlessly on her sins, real and imagined.5 Fortunately, eight-year-old Harryo did not share Little G’s religious terrors. On the other hand she had become reserved and prickly towards other people. She was also less pretty than her sister, being rather short and plump.
Yet Harryo seemed to have suffered the least, while Hart, now three and a half, had suffered the most. He did not recognize his mother—indeed he screamed whenever Georgiana tried to hold him. He had been so deprived of maternal affection that he associated physical contact with nasty sensations such as smacks and cold baths. For months he resisted all Georgiana’s entreaties to let her touch him. The full reason for his behaviour did not emerge until later: he was almost deaf—an infection had destroyed most of his hearing. The sweet-natured infant of Georgiana’s memory had turned into a furious toddler who kicked and bit anyone who came near. Georgiana always blamed herself for his condition and she spoilt him by way of compensation, which further deformed Hart’s character. The fact that he had caught the infection while under Selina’s care added to the tensions between the two women. Georgiana’s relationship with the governess on her return was fraught. Selina had grown used to caring for the children on her own and she resented Georgiana’s interference. They argued constantly over how the children should be disciplined. It was three years before they ceased to be suspicious of each other.* In the meantime Georgiana had to fight to regain control of the nursery.
The Duke was also marked by the past two years; the pain from his gout, added to a natural tendency to hypochondria, had reduced him to an invalid. “As soon as he can move we shall go to Hardwick, certainly till after Xmas and probably for all the years,” Georgiana wrote on September 30 to Lady Spencer. She had made a conscious decision regarding the Duke, and he was pleased to see that he was now her first priority. “As it is I never go out,” she continued in her letter, “but receive 3 or 4 men of the Duke’s acquaintance who sit with him and when he is tired come into my room; these are generally Craufurd, Hare, Mr James and Mr Grenville. . . . I am impatient to be with the children whom I scarcely leave all day.”6
Georgiana kept to her resolution even though neither time nor distance had diminished her love for Grey. “Don’t imagine by this that the Duchess of Devon is supposed to have changed her Ideas; they still appear to remain Grey,” Lady Stafford wrote after seeing her at a dinner in February 1794.7 Initially at least, Grey was keen for them to resume their relationship. Lady Webster, who later eloped with Fox’s nephew Lord Holland, watched them together and recorded her observations in her diary. In December 1793 she wrote: “Mr Grey is le bien aimé of the Dss, he is a fractious, exigeant lover,” and added, he is a “man of violent temper and unbounded ambition.”8 But Georgiana not only made strenuous efforts to hide her feelings, she also refused to bend to Grey’s demands. Her sacrifice helped to smooth away any lingering bitterness in the Duke, who, for his part, remained angry with Bess for leaving him and taking Caroline St. Jules. She continued to be his mistress, but he no longer loved her with the same ardour, nor did he trust her. There was, however, no question of Bess moving out of Devonshire House: Georgiana would never have allowed it. Bess was more important to her than any other human being. When confronted by the choice of celebrating Little Georgiana’s birthday or nursing Bess, who had a high fever, Georgiana chose the latter, “for I dare not leave my poor friend,” she explained.9 Still, Bess left nothing to chance, and she sought out the Duke of Richmond, just in case.
When Georgiana finally ventured into society her reentry was quiet and subdued. The Morning Post reported that Lady Melbourne had held a dinner in her honour; after that there was little about Georgiana in the press.10 Her first presentation at court confirmed the change. This time, she deliberately wore something sober and unremarkable. She knew it would be foolish to pretend she was still the leader of the ton, although Lady Spencer couldn’t help writing to remind her “Let [the dress] be simple and noble, but pray do not let it be singular. . . . The credit such a conduct would be to your character would far outweigh the trivial and really false idea of your looking more shewy. There must be some period for taking up a different character of dress, and when can you find a better than now at your return after so considerable an Absence. . . .”11
Lady Spencer was right to point out that Georgiana’s two-year absence made it easier for her to retire gracefully. She also had little choice—in addition to the rumours about her exile, she was known to be bankrupt, and her banishment had only added to her debts. The Duke was helping to clear some of them, but as usual he could never be brought to sign anything and Georgiana was too frightened to remind him. A return to her old way of life would also expose her to the temptation of gambling. Paradoxically, Georgiana had been free of the urge to gamble during her exile; she had been so preoccupied by other interests, especially her scien
tific studies, that the problem had never arisen. Even at Naples, where the opportunity to gamble was everywhere, Georgiana preferred to spend her time at Father Patrini’s house, the gathering place for visiting scientists, talking to Sir Charles Blagden about his work.12 On her return to London she continued to pursue her new interests and filled her days with lectures at the Royal Academy, conducting chemistry experiments in a back room at Devonshire House, and studying mineralogy. The fossils and minerals she had acquired while abroad formed the core of a collection to which she was continually adding.13 On October 23 Lady Sutherland described Georgiana’s routine to Lady Stafford as being quite reformed and sensible: “the Duke has got the gout, & the Dss is ‘at home’ every night at 12 o’clock, afterwards she sits with him till 3. She is busy studying Chemistry, and goes out little, she is going this morning to a chemical lecture.”14
Politics was now a source of much grief to her; the Whigs were hated by the King, despised by the government, and mistrusted by the whole country. The press labelled them “the French Faction,” James Hare complained to her, because of their supposed sympathies with the revolution, when ironically they were “completely divided and disagreeing amongst themselves.”15 Grey, Sheridan, and some of the younger Foxites had set up a radical political reform group called “The Association of the Friends of the People,” which called for annual elections and greater democracy. The Association’s anti-aristocratic stance sharply divided the party.
Pitt naturally capitalized on the party’s troubles. He began a successful campaign to poach the most talented of the disaffected Whigs. Georgiana spent her first few months trying to heal the rifts in the party by bringing members together at small dinners at Devonshire House. “I have continued receiving all the world without any attention to what has passed in my absence,” she told her brother.16 But two obstacles handicapped her efforts to reunite the party: her own guilt at her disgrace, which made her unwilling to be seen too much in public, and the promise extracted by her mother while they were abroad never to meddle in politics again. In Lady Spencer’s opinion Georgiana’s political power had given her too much freedom. Writing from Florence where Harriet was convalescing, she warned Georgiana of the “serious consequences of your interesting yourself in this subject.”17 Georgiana’s reply reveals the confusion she felt after her return: “I never talk politics, not only from hating them but from every person one speaks to having 7 different opinions.”