CHAPTER XII THE SORROWS AND LAST YEARS OF ETHELREDA TOWNSHEND Her two sons in Canada with General Wolfe: letters to wife of George Townshend: unkind conduct of Charles Townshend's wife, Lady Dalkeith: Walpole's sneers at her sorrows: Lady Townshend's notes to Walpole: sympathy of Mrs. Montagu and other friends: indifference of her husband: elopement of her daughter Audrey with Robert Orme: Roger killed at the battle of Ticonderoga: death of her second son Charles: death of Lady Townshend in 1788: her devotion to her children: the good traits of her character. THE LIFE OF MY LADY TOWNSHEND was not without its darker moments of sorrow and trouble. In the early years of her married life her children were ill of smallpox, a much more serious matter in those days than it has been since the discovery of vaccination-and one boy died. Her husband left her in 1741, after eighteen years of married life, and lived chiefly on his country estates more or less openly with one of her servants, though he appears to have sometimes come to town and lodged in St. James's Street while his beautiful wife had her own establishment in the Privy Garden. In the year 1759 her two sons, George and Roger, were in Canada with the British army. On July 7 of that year Roger fell at the battle of Ticonderoga, and his mother was expecting every moment to hear similar news of her eldest son, 292 who was fighting with Wolfe before Quebec. Moreover, her only daughter, Audrey, had left home with a Mr. Orme, and but for her son Charles and her daughter-in-law she was practically left alone. Some letters to Lady Ferrers,1 wife of George Townshend, written about this time, show an aspect of her character quite unlike that of the gay woman of fashion, and one perhaps hardly suspected by even her most intimate friends. She is revealed as a tender, affectionate mother, torn by anxiety over the fate of her eldest son and overwhelmed with grief at the death of her youngest. September 1759. DEAR LADY FERRERS-I take the benefit of being a little better in my health today to thank you for your kind letter, sometimes being very incapable of writing a single line. I hope Charles's last letter to you afforded you a relief to your spirits. I trust in God we shall all be in a much happier situation, by receiving the good news we most ardently wished for. My compliments to Lady Elizabeth Compton, and affectionate love to the children. 2 A few days later she writes again : MY DEAR LADY FERRERS-Believe me nothing but the being incapable of writing a single line should have prevented me thanking you for your tender concern for me. I trust in God that he will preserve the most dear thing to us in life, and from that dependance am still able to support myself enough to be in hopes to exist to receive the greatest of blessings. E. TOWNSHEND. P.S. Charles is with me and writes to you by this post. 1 Charlotte Compton, Baroness Ferrers of Chartley, wife of George Townshend, only surviving child and heiress of James, Fifth Earl of Northampton. She brought into the family of the Townshends the Barony of Ferrers of Chartley, inherited from her mother, and that of Compton, inherited from her father, and two hundred and fifty quarterings, including the Royal one of Plantaganet. Lady Elizabeth Compton, daughter of seventh Earl of Northampton, and therefore first cousin to Lady Ferrers. About this time it became known that George Townshend was safe but that his brother Roger had been killed. Four days subsequent to the date of the above letter, Lady Townshend writes again : September 17, 1759. MY DEAR LADY FERRERS-No situation of my mind or health can ever prevent me from thinking and being anxious for you and your Dear Children. Charles writes by this post to you. I trust in the Almighty God that he will soon bless us with the safe return of our most dear George.-Yours ever Affect., E. TOWNSHEND. These letters show that however worldly, frivolous and eccentric my Lady Townshend had been throughout her life-and she was all these to the nth powershe was yet capable of strong affection for her children and those who were dear to her. She was in constant correspondence with the wife of her eldest son, and her second son was with her as much as possible, but she complained bitterly that Lady Dalkeith, Charles's wife, would neither allow her husband to remain with her to await his brother's arrival, nor come up herself. There was evidently not much love lost between my Lady Townshend and my Lady Dalkeith, and, remembering what a flow of language was ever at the command of the older lady, one cannot but admire the restraint with which she expresses herself in the following letter: 3 Lady Caroline Campbell, eldest daughter of John, Duke of Argyll. She married, firstly, Francis, Earl of Dalkeith, eldest son of the second Duke of Buccleuch; and, secondly, Charles Townshend. She was created Baroness of Greenwich in her own right, but the title died with her. By Charles Townshend she had three children, two sons, both in the army, who died unmarried (one was found shot in his tent), and one daughter, Anne, a very beautiful girl who eloped with a Mr. Wilson, of Tyrone, and has descendants living at the present day, who have assumed the name of Townshend before that of Wilson. September 29, 1759. DEAR LADY FERRERS-I can say nothing at present in the least favourable in respect to my health therefore will avoid dwelling upon so uncomfortable a subject. Mr. Charles Townshend set out on Thursday night for Adderbury: he entreated Lady Dalkeith to be in town herself or to consent to his staying here with me to await Mr Townshend's arrival: but she would not hear of his proposal, persisting still that she should not be in London for an hour or at Sudbrook, nor should he remain here from Adderbury even untill fryday morning, by this fatality, for I can call it by no other name, I am now deprived of Comfort and Support of his Assistance and Company who never left me till twelve o'clock at night. The North East wind continues and is directly contrary for having any News from Quebec when it changes I sometimes think of setting out for Portsmouth: here I shall not remain. My best wishes and Compliments attend Lady Elizabeth Compton. My affectionate love to the children. E. TOWNSHEND. The poor Lady was in an unenviable position as mother-in-law to Lady Dalkeith, who must have been of a particularly selfish disposition to refuse her any consolation she could have experienced from the presence of her son Charles. The other daughter-inlaw, Lady Ferrers, was of a different nature and was genuinely fond of her husband's mother. She asked. her to visit them at Tunbridge, and my Lady Townshend writes quite gratefully in return: LONDON, October 2, 1759. DEAR I ADY FERRERS-Nothing but the apprehension that the seeing me would agitate your spirits too much and consequently be prejudicial to your health could prevent me from coming to Tunbridge. Everybody agrees that the first time the wind changes from the North-East we must hear from Mr. Townshend, but as yet it is full East. The poor Norfolk Militia, by being pent up so long in the barracks at Portsmouth, are all dying of the bloody flux. Sir Armand Woodhouse is come to town to see Lord Barrington to endeavour to get them relieved, but Mr Pitt's being out of town makes it impossible for their having any immediate redress, by being removed from that duty. My health is so affected for the last three days that I can with difficulty write this. E. TOWNSHEND. A little later she received news of the surrender of Quebec and of the safety of her son George, who had succeeded to the command of the British troops after the death of Wolfe on the Heights of Montcalm. She communicates the intelligence to Walpole in a rather formal note which has been preserved in the Waller Collection, and is quoted in the Supplement to Walpole's Letters edited by Toynbee. The wording sounds odd when one considers the terms of extreme intimacy on which Lady Townshend and Walpole had lived all their lives; but the stilted customs of the time may account for what otherwise might appear to be due to some estrangement the lady was trying to make up! Lady Townshend's compliments to Mr. Walpole, and begs he will believe that it is from the knowledge she has of his goodness to her and of his humanity in general that she is very sure he will now share in her joy when she acquaints him that Mr Townshend is safe and well, and has most miraculously been preserved in the midst of the most desperate enterprise in the taking of Quebeck in which he has made a glorious figure. WHITEHALL, October 17, 1759. Horace Walpole, who was by way of being one of Lady Townshend's most intimate friends, but who cared for no one but himself, except so far as they could amuse him, could not resist a sneer over what he supposed to be an affectation of grief on her part when she heard of the death of her son Roger. Writing to Lord Stafford at that time, he says: My Lady Townshend, who has not learning enough to copy a Spartan mother, has lost her youngest son. I saw her this |