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Letters to Charlotte, Lady Sundon
Creator
Title
Letters to Charlotte, Lady Sundon, 1730-1734.
Physical Description
1 v. (52 leaves) ; 24 cm.
Language
English
Notes
Pasted onto back pastedown: dealer's description of manuscript.
Phillipps 18548.
Binding: full calf. In gilt on spine: Clarke Sundon Letters.
In English.
Provenance
Purchased from Quaritch, June 1946.
Access and use
This material is available for research.
Biographical / Historical Note
Charlotte Clayton, Lady Sundon (c.1679-1742), courtier, married William Clayton (baptised. 1671, died 1752) of Sundon Hall in Bedfordshire before 1714. With the help of the Duchess of Marlborough, Charlotte Clayton was appointed a woman of the bedchamber to Caroline, princess of Wales in 1714. Her considerable influence over Caroline was distressing to Robert Walpole, who accused Clayton of procuring various political favors for her friends.
Alured Clarke (1696-1742), was a Church of England clergyman. Ordained by his uncle Bishop Trimnell in 1720, in 1723 he became rector of Chilbolton in Hampshire and a prebendary of Winchester. He was a chaplain-in-ordinary to both George I and George II; in 1731, he became a prebendary of Westminster. Later he became deputy clerk of the closet to George II. Clarke was also a patron; he founded a county hospital at Winchester in 1736 and was a champion of the poet Stephen Duck.
John Hervey, second Baron Hervey of Ickworth (1696-1743), was a courtier and writer. On 2 April 1725 he was elected MP for Bury St Edmunds, and entered the Commons as a supporter of Sir Robert Walpole. In 1730, he became vice-chamberlain to the king's household and, consequently, a member of the privy council; and, in 1740, lord privy seal. However, in 1742 Walpole resigned, and that same year Hervey also left public office. He wrote numerous tracts, including Ancient and Modern Liberty Stated and Compared (1734); The Conduct of the Opposition and the Tendency of Modern Patriotism (1734); and Miscellaneous Thoughts (1742). Hervey's Memoirs were published, with some material suppressed, in 1848, and a more complete version was published in 1931.
Summary
Manuscript on paper, in a single hand, of copies of 20 letters from Alured Clarke to Charlotte, Lady Sundon, followed by copies of 4 letters to her from Lord John Hervey and one letter from an unsigned hand. Many of the letters from Clarke concern his patronage of the poet Stephen Duck, in which he discusses his anxiety about exposing Duck to the cruelty of Alexander Pope and "the Dunciad Club," his negotiations with various booksellers and publishers on Duck's behalf, and his high hopes for Duck's poetry after the death of Duck's wife. He also describes books on religion, history, and moral philosophy that he has read; witnesses a presentation of "Indians" to the Queen; and imparts various religious and political news, including Quaker activities. The letters from Hervey consist primarily of descriptions of his own routine social activities as well as those of such notables as the King, Queen, and Duke of Grafton, though he also writes with surprise that Stanislaus has been chosen King of Poland and reports that Benjamin Hoadly, Bishop of Salisbury, is on the brink of being promoted to the bishopric of Winchester, despite his disagreements with Sir Robert Walpole. An unsigned letter dated 1734, sent "by a private hand," discusses the controversial nomination of Thomas Rundle to the see of Gloucester.
Format
Archives or Manuscripts
Added to Catalog
March 25, 2008
References
Alured Clarke, Collection of Letters. The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University.
Cite as
Alured Clarke, Collection of Letters. The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University.
Subjects
Genre/Form
Correspondence.
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