beauty and Philip an adept at _l'art militaire_. I am glad you
were so pleased with the young Beaumonts. Their sister rode here the
other day, she is a very nice girl and nearly pretty.

Mr and the Miss Abbotts left us yesterday, after a week's visit They
are very musical, but rather too Irish for our taste. To give you some
idea of them, they talk of people being _beasts and puking whelps,
and brutes_. They frequently _blest their souls and bodies_, and
"_talked their fill_" which was not a "_few_." Surely this cannot be
elegant, even in Ireland. Have you any Hibernian friends who could
inform you on this subject? Adieu, breakfast waits. All here send
their love.


These Hibernian friends were apparently not the only guests whose
peculiarities occasioned the Stanhope family some mild surprise. The
handsome Bishop of Carlisle [23] and his wife, Lady Anne Vernon, were at
this date frequently at Cannon Hall, and both of them and of their ten
sons various anecdotes are related. Mr Stanhope, indeed, as Member for
Carlisle, had long been intimate with the popular prelate, and used to
tell with what unstinted hospitality Dr Vernon was wont to receive his
countless visitors at the Palace on public days, also what a picturesque
sight he then invariably presented in his full-bottomed, snow-white wig
and bright, purple coat. But the good bishop, though extremely stately and
impressive of demeanour, was gifted with a keen sense of humour and could
enjoy a spice of frivolity when he could indulge in it without detracting
from his dignity. In 1807 he was appointed to the Archbishopric of York,
and was fond of retailing how a groom belonging to his old friend, Sir
James Graham, [24] got news of the event and rode hard to Netherby to take
his master the first tidings. Bursting into the dining-room where a large