good after our night's raking.


The Duchess of Bolton, [17] who was a cousin of Walter Stanhope, had been
a widow since 1794, when the dukedom became extinct on the death of her
husband. The latter, well known during the lifetime of his elder brother
as the eccentric Lord Henry Paulet, was believed to have supplied Smollet
with his character of Captain Whiffle in _Roderick Random_. For many years
he had resided at Bolton--formerly Baltimore--House, a quaintly
constructed, solitary mansion, standing on the outskirts of London amid
rural scenery, and encircled by a fine garden. Celebrated for its
hospitality in those the last days of its splendour, Bolton House had
opened its portals nightly to the guests who drove down from town to take
part in the festivities there, amongst the most frequent of whom had been
Walter Stanhope and his young wife. The duchess, however, subsequent to
her husband's death, had heard with dismay of a projected transformation
in her surroundings. The erection of new buildings in the neighbourhood
was predicted--houses which would blot out the rural scenery and for ever
destroy the privacy of her country home. And although this dreaded
innovation did not actually come to pass till 1801, long before the first
stone of Russell Square had been laid, the duchess had sold her threatened
mansion to Lord Loughborough, a friend of Walter Stanhope, and had
established herself in a new home but four doors from the house of the
latter, No. 32 Grosvenor Square.

Settled thus in the heart of London, her love of entertaining remained
undiminished, and beneath her hospitable roof the House of Stanhope, in
its various branches, continued to assemble as of yore. There Lady
Harrington still figured as one of the most constant guests, ever ready to
do a kindly action to any of her young relations whom she encountered. Mr