The scandolous Earl of Stair in Paris to his Steward in Scotland 1831

 

 

In 1804 the author of this letter John Dalrymple, born in 1784, married Johanna Gordon in Edinburgh and in 1808 married Laura Manners, daughter of a Member of Parliament related to the Duke of Rutland. In 1811 a Scottish court annulled the second marriage on the grounds that Dalrymple already had a wife who was living and he was therefore a bigamist.  The first marriage was eventually dissolved in 1820; John Dalrymple inherited the Earldom of Stair in 1821 and the recipient of this 1831 letter William Legatt was agent or steward for the Earl; Stair’s ample income derived from his Scottish estates administered from Culhorn House in the address line.

The Earl appears to have done nothing to rehabilitate his character and lived most of his later life in Paris, dying there in 1840 and leaving no children or, at least, no children who could claim the Earldom. No internet source elaborates on his life after 1821.

In 1825 the Earl featured at the head of the cast list in the 1825 roman à clef Paris Lions and London Tigers published under the courtesan Harriette Wilson’s name but possibly written at least in part by other hands who encouraged her to cash in on her wildly successful Memoirs of 1825. In comparison to the Memoirs, which have considerable merit, the novel strikes me as poorly conceived and written – at one point the author claims it to be the work of eight days. The text is written in an almost randomised mixture of English and untranslated French;  Harriette Wilson was fluent in French.

In the novel, the Earl of Stair appears as the Duke of Lerma (an actual but defunct Spanish title) and is fully (indeed, over-) characterised inside a letter written to a friend by Mary Callam who comes closest to being the heroine of the novel. Nothing is later made of the description which I quote in full since it would appear to be the only extant character assassination of the Earl of Stair:

“We meet the Spanish Duke de Lerma almost daily, either at the soirées, the opera, or somewhere or other; but neither myself nor Eliza can endure him, and no wonder, for we have heard a most shocking description of him, from the Count del Rio, who is his country-man. He is afraid of ghosts, and says he cannot and dare not remain alone an instant, particularly in the dark. His Grace has, more than once, refused to fight. He is a most profligate, disgusting man, and keeps an old duenna, in his employ, to hunt about for young, innocent girls to be debauched by him. This, however, sounds too abominable to be believed, and so, I must conclude that our gay Spaniard was jealous of the common civility Eliza showed him. That the Duke de Lerma is a great gambler, I cannot doubt, having seen him handle the dice-box, in private parties, with such zeal, and deep interest, that one would almost swear it must have been the business of his whole life; and he has such a comical mode of scraping up the money with the tips of his fingers!! His laugh, too, is absolutely expressive of idiotism.

Enough of this vile subject. The Duke de Lerma has inspired me with the strongest sensation of disgust I ever experienced in my whole life. Added to all these previous stories, is one of his having been so nicely flogged!! Jemima, could you ever, in the course of all your born days, forgive a man for having been flogged?”

This account, supposedly written by a young unworldly woman very recently arrived in Paris, is replete with details  and the only person likely to have assembled such detail would be Harriette Wilson, living in Paris with her new Irish adventurer husband William Henry Rochfort (1795-1852) and connected through him to a circle which included some very dubious characters, notably the con man  General Gregor MacGregor who appears fleetingly in the novel as “MacGriffin”  and ”MacGruffin” and who in the key to the novel’s characters is identified as “Prince Mac Gregor”, a title which Gregor MacGregor claimed; he did have a legitimate claim to the title of “General” from service in Latin American wars of independence.

And so to the letter which indicates that the Earl is drawing on the Estate for £500, roughly £45 000 in today’s money according to the Bank of England inflation calculator.

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Transcription

Addressed to:  William Leggat Esqr   Culhorn House   Stranraer    Angleterre

Datelined:  Paris. January first. 1831

My dear Sir

I have the pleasure of your letter yesterday There is here a crisis in the commerce as Laffitte   …….. to the …..  than in London in 1825, four days since no man could obtain money either for bills at any date or even for Bank of England notes. Bankers could not place them at any rate of Exchange. I have been obliged to draw upon you at thirty days date for five hundred pounds …..  I beg you to have the goodness to write to London in time, they say that it is now passed over, and the usual accommodation of three months allowed.

I believe it is a plot to drive out the ministry who are all more or less bankers, and it had so far succeeded that not one bill of any French Banking house could have passed the day before yesterday, excepting as having a signature of some house unconnected with the [Government] funds or Government. It was flattering to me that the only person to whom the house made an exception was myself and I believe it inconvenienced them.

I will reply to all you say to me on other subjects tomorrow, to day our post leaves six hours earlier than usual. I well know the obligations I am under to you and whatever may be the engagements you are under for me you may depend upon my … having a chance however remote of any aid yourself. I shall write on Monday fully on everything in your letter. I wish you the compliments of the season now …. good health and ……

Sincerely yours

Stair

Reference

Wikipedia: John Dalrymple, 7th Earl of Stair