Add MS 89382/3/4

Letters from Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806), to her daughter Harriet (Harryo) Cavendish, later Leveson-Gower, Countess Granville (1785-1862), 3 other letters, and papers, including a diary notebook for Nov-Dec 1795.

Contents

ff. 1-23: 12 letters from Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806), to her daughter Harriet (Harryo) Cavendish, later Leveson-Gower, Countess Granville (1785-1862), a poem, and 2 packages with locks of hair, all stored in a satin purse at the time of accession (now Add MS 89382/3/7).

• Letter to Harryo, from Switzerland. Undated. Headed ‘Guerdon (?), the 13’.
• Letter to Harryo, probably also from Switzerland. Undated. Headed ‘August the 9th’. Pen and ink wash sketch of a small dog leaping at a cup and saucer.
• Letter to Harryo. Undated.
• Letter to ‘Ma chere chere Henriette’, signed GD. Undated. Concerning Telemaque and other French books.
• Letter to Harriet from her mother ‘G Devonshire’, said to be written in blood. 18 March 1789. Begins: ‘Dear Harriet, I leave you and give you the only valuable gift in my power – wrote in my blood; My Blessing’. With a postscript renewing her blessing and enclosing a chain to wear (not present), dated 1792. Enclosed is a torn sheet from Infants Letter Box (printed item; ESTC T86034), folded to enclose a lock of fair hair. ff. 5-6.
• Letter to Lady Harriet Cavendish. Dated in pencil by Castalia Leveson-Gower ‘1792’. Begins: ‘If I die without again having the happiness of seeing you, and your Dear Brother and Sister, I leave you the Legacy of my blessing and advice’, and enclosing a ‘blessing written in my blood which was wrote just before your Dear brothers birth and which I renew now’.
• Letter to ‘my own dearest Harryo’. 7 January 1792.
• Letter to Harryo. 5 April [1792]. Sending some asbestos for her cabinet, promising sea weeds to follow, and looking forward to seeing her.
• Letter to Lady Harriet Cavendish. Undated. Referring to a paragraph in the papers, and including an old poem written by herself, entitled ‘A Ball. A Rhapsody!’
• Letter to ‘My dearest dr Harriet’ [addressed to Lady Harriet on the reverse]. Undated.
• Letter to ‘My dearest dr Harriet’ [addressed to Lady Harriet Cavendish on the reverse]. Undated.
• Letter to ‘Dearest Harriet’. Undated.
• Poem ‘Dear to my bosom, child, companion friend’. Undated.
• Lock of fair hair in a folded package made from black bordered paper, inscribed ‘Harriet’ (not in Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire’s hand). Undated. f. 23.

ff. 24-27: Letters to others.

• ‘To Lady Duncannon In case of my death’. Letter from Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, to her sister Harriet, Lady Duncannon, later known as Lady Bessborough, confessing her affair with Charles Grey (looks like 'M.S.'), and pleading with her to be good to her children, and to ‘never abandon Bess & Caroline’ (Lady Elizabeth Foster and her daughter Caroline St Jules). Late 1791- early 1792 (before the birth of her illegitimate daughter Eliza Courtney, 20 February 1792).
• Part of a letter from Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, to an unidentified correspondent. Mentions Lord Granville. Undated.
• Letter to Lady Stafford from Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire,. [1802]. Thanking her for her and her husband’s approbation of her daughter Georgiana’s marriage to Lord Morpeth. Dated by Castalia Leveson-Gower in pencil 1802.

ff. 28-39: Other papers, stored in the satin purse at the time of accession (now Add MS 89382/3/7).

• Poem on a fragment of paper: ‘To my own M. 4 minutes after she went’. Undated.
• ‘Examination for any Sunday’. In the hand of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Undated.
• Short prayer for her children. In the hand of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Undated.
• Diary of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, (or Harriet Lady Bessborough?) Nov-Dec 1795. 8 folios, single section booklet (8 folios).