Kirjahaku

To Horace Walpole's house at Strawberry Hill, in Twickenham, came a remarkable assortment of poets and writers, artists and antiquaries, politicians and society figures. Among them were Thomas Gray, whose great 'Elegy' might never have been published without Walpole's encouragement; that 'laughter-loving dame' Kitty Clive, the greatest comic actress of her day; Lady Suffolk who entertained Walpole with stories of the days when she was George II's mistress; the epicene John Chute, whose architectural knowledge and enthusiasm helped to inspire Strawberry Hill; the gentle Berry sisters, who comforted Walpole's old age; George Selwyn, celebrated for his wit, languor, and necrophilia. 'If Mr Selwyn calls', said Mr Fox on his death-bed, 'show him up. If I'm still alive I'll be glad to see him and if I'm dead he'll be glad to see me.' The most fascinating member of this circle was Horace Walpole himself. Son of Sir Robert, Member of Parliament for many years, author of the first Gothic romance, The Castle of Otranto, passionate collector, influential amateur of architecture and, above all, prince of English letter-writers, he emerges gradually but clearly through the eyes of his friends. Brian Fothergill, always an accomplished biographer, perhaps found his most congenial subject in this book: the result is a work as entertaining as it is informative.

The eccentricities of the Hervey family in the eighteenth century caused it to be said that when God created the world he made men, women, and Herveys. By far the most eccentric of them all was Frederick Hervey (the subject of this biography), Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry. Traveller, politician, rabble-rouser, scholar, collector and the subject of a series of amorous adventures, his life was a continual source of amazement to his contemporaries. Horace Walpole condemned his profligate folly, John Wesley praised his plenteous good works, and George 111 denounced his as 'that wicked prelate'.As a patron of the arts he was responsible for building three great houses, of which Ickworth in Suffolk is now the only survivor. As a traveller he spent money lavishly and startled foreigners by his extraordinary dress (the many Bristol hotels in Europe are named after him). In politics he was a staunch Whig and though an Anglican Bishop he bravely defended the rights of Catholics and Presbyterians in Ireland, joining vigorously in the movement for emancipation and reform. His political intrigues in Europe at the time of the French Revolution landed him, for a brief spell, in prison but failed to suppress his irresistible zest for life and adventure.Frederick Hervey lived the sort of life that was well suited to Brian Fothergill's biographical penchants that always flourished on the more outré margins of eighteenth and early nineteenth century history.Faber Finds is reissuing four of Brian Fothergill's books: The Cardinal King, The Mitred Earl, Nicholas Wiseman and The Strawberry Hill Set.

When the last and the most significant of the Jacobite uprisings, that of 1745, ended in disaster Prince Henry, the younger brother of Bonnie Prince Charlie, was in his early twenties. Almost at once he exasperated his brother and antagonized his followers by accepting a cardinal's hat. For eighteen years the brothers never spoke to each other and were not reconciled until the Old Pretender's death in 1766. Then the Cardinal, who had become one of the richest and most splendid of the princes of the Church, a prelate famous for his love of art and for his lavish hospitality, once again took up the Jacobite cause. . Vainly he tried to obtain recognition for his brother as King of England; and he found himself involved, too, in a European scandal when Price Charles's wife ran off with the poet Alfieri. On his brother's death Henry Stuart was acknowledged by Jacobites as Henry IX. The outbreak of the French Revolution reduced him to sudden poverty; and when the mob looted his palace he was compelled to flee. In this distress the last of the Stuarts was rescued by George 111; a pension was offered and gratefully accepted; and with the Cardinal's death in 1807 the tragic history of his House came at last to an end.Brian Fothergill's metier was the byways of eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century history.It is eloquently demonstrated in all his books the following of which are being reissued in Faber Finds: The Strawberry Hill Set, Nicholas Wiseman, The Mitred Earl and The Cardinal King. 'Brian Fothergill has written a sympathetic study of this gallant old relic, the epitome of 18th century elegance, who came up smiling, and refused to abate a jot of his claims when the world he knew had fallen about his ears.' Daily Telegraph'As a portrait of Henry and as a picture of his age, Brian Fothergill's The Cardinal King based on new research, is both scholarly and vital, permeated with the quiet humour that makes for sound perspective.' Birmingham Post

Nicholas Wiseman was not yet 26 years of age when he became rector of the English College in Rome. Pope Leo XII then made him curator of Arabic manuscripts in the Vatican, and professor of Oriental languages at the Roman University. But in 1840 this brilliant scholar returned to England, where he did much to bridge the gap between the Oxford Movement and the English Catholic community.However in 1850 Wiseman found himself at the centre of a violent political storm when Pius IX named him first Archbishop of Westminster. Wiseman's coach was pelted with stones; the cry of 'Papal Aggression' was taken up in official circles; and it was only Wiseman's eloquent pamphlet Appeal to the English People which served to usher in a more tolerant attitude.

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