Volume 1

Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope, as related by herself in conversations with her physician : comprising her opinions and anecdotes of some of the most remarkable persons of her time.

  • Meryon, Charles Lewis, 1783-1877.
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope, as related by herself in conversations with her physician : comprising her opinions and anecdotes of some of the most remarkable persons of her time. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    Hester Stanhope’s conversations. In the thousand and one nights that 1 have sat and listened to them, I have heard enough to compile an uninterrupted history of her life from her infancy to her death ; but, of course, much has been necessarily suppressed, and much more forgotten : the reader, therefore, must con- tent himself with a less continuous narrative, which, it is hoped, will not prove uninstructive, and is, at all events, strictly true. The phraseology of the speaker is religiously preserved, as will be readily acknow- ledged by those who have known her. In many instances it is but little conformable with the present style of English conversation: but any alterations made in it, to suit the fastidiousness of some tastes, would, by destroying the fidelity of the picture, shake the authenticity of what remains. I have touched slightly on Lady Hester Stanhope’s religious opinions ; and although I am quite sure that a traveller was seldom, if ever, allowed to depart from her presence without an insight into her sentiments on these points, even from the little I have said, it will be plain that not one has done her justice in speaking of them. I sincerely trust that nothing will be found in the following pages which can with just cause wound the feelings of any living person : and it is to be borne in mind that chagrin and disappointment had soured Lady Hester’s temper, and put her out of humour