Forever Remain
Roxton Letters Volume Two
Lucinda Brant
License & Copyright
A Sprigleaf ebook
Published by Sprigleaf Pty Ltd
ISBN 978-0-9870738-6-0
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This is a work of fiction; names, characters, places, and incidents are from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Resemblance to persons, businesses, companies, events, or locales, past or present, is entirely coincidental.
Forever Remain: Roxton Letters Volume One
Copyright © 2018 Lucinda Brant
Editing & proofing: Martha Stites
Art, Design, and formatting: Sprigleaf
All rights reserved
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Except for brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews, no part of this ebook may be reproduced in any printed or electronic form without prior permission from the publisher.
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Contents
Also by Lucinda Brant
Foreword
From the Editors
Dair Devil Letters
1. The Earl of Strathsay to Major Lord Fitzstuart
2. Antonia, Duchess of Kinross, to Charlotte, Countess of Strathsay
3. Mr. Radcliffe Plume, Esq., to Major Lord Fitzstuart
4. Jonathon, Duke of Kinross, to the Hon. Mrs. Charles Fitzstuart
5. Major Lord Fitzstuart to Lady Fitzstuart
6. Jonathon, Duke of Kinross, to Antonia, Duchess of Kinross
Dair Devil Family tree
Proud Mary Letters
7. Kate, Lady Paget, to the [Fifth] Duke of Roxton
8. Kate, Lady Paget, to the [Fifth] Duke of Roxton
9. The [Fifth] Duke of Roxton to Kate, Lady Paget
10. Charlotte, Countess of Strathsay, to the Lady Mary Cavendish
11. The [Sixth] Duke of Roxton to Mr. Martin Ellicott, Esq.
12. Evelyn Gaius Ffolkes, Earl of Streatham Ely, to the Lady Mary Cavendish
13. Mr. Christopher Bryce to the [Sixth] Duke of Roxton
Proud Mary Family tree
Satyr’s Son Letters
14. The [Fifth] Duke of Roxton to Lord Henri-Antoine Hesham
15. The [Fifth] Duke of Roxton to Lord Henri-Antoine Hesham
16. Martin Ellicott, Esq., to Lord Henri-Antoine Hesham
17. Miss Theodora Cavendish to Miss Lisa Crisp
18. Lord Henri-Antoine Hesham Diary Entry
19. Miss Theodora Cavendish to Miss Lisa Crisp
20. Deborah, Duchess of Roxton, to Sir John Cavendish
21. The [Fifth] Duke of Roxton to Lord Henri-Antoine Hesham
22. Sir John Cavendish to Miss Theodora Cavendish
23. Antonia, Duchess of Kinross, Diary Entry
24. Miss Lisa Crisp to Dr. and Mrs. Robert Warner
25. Lord Henri-Antoine Hesham, Diary Entry
26. Antonia, Duchess of Kinross, Diary Entry
27. Lady Henri-Antoine Hesham to Mrs. Harold Humphreys
28. Lady Henri-Antoine Hesham to Antonia, Duchess of Kinross
Satyr’s Son Family tree
Behind-The-Scenes
Preview
About the Author
Also by Lucinda Brant
—The Roxton Family Saga —
NOBLE SATYR series prequel
MIDNIGHT MARRIAGE free series starter
AUTUMN DUCHESS
DAIR DEVIL
PROUD MARY
SATYR’S SON
ETERNALLY YOURS: Roxton Letters Vol. 1
FOREVER REMAIN: Roxton Letters Vol. 2
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— Alec Halsey Mysteries —
DEADLY ENGAGEMENT
DEADLY AFFAIR
DEADLY PERIL
ALEC HALSEY MYSTERIES: Books 1–3
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— Salt Hendon Books —
SALT BRIDE
SALT REDUX
SALT HENDON COLLECTION includes bonus novella
Foreword
It is with great pleasure that His Grace and I offer this the second in the two-volume set of letters, being a selection of correspondence authored by my esteemed forebears, and persons important in their daily lives.
We were overjoyed with the reception the first volume received from academicians just over two years ago, and we hope this selection will be of equal interest, and provide further illumination into lives lived in the reign of His Majesty King George the Third.
The letters selected here are weighted heavily in favor of those pieces of correspondence that discuss family and family matters. For it is births, deaths, and marriages which occupy the Roxton extended family during the second half of the eighteenth century. And so it is to family my husband and I wish to focus, taking the reader on a journey into the domestic heart of the dukedom, when the sixth duke and his duchess were laying the foundation of a dynasty. This not only included the raising of eight children to adulthood, but also managing the wider family association of marriages and births that would consolidate their position, and those of their inner family circle, at the very apex of their class in their own time, and which has continued to have ramifications to this day, as we are on the cusp of entering a new century.
Readers seeking to gain insight into the political views of the various correspondents, hoping to read letters filled with the governmental machinations and manoeuvrings of members of both houses of Parliament, as well as to glean comments on political events, and the political climate in this kingdom and in far-off kingdoms, will be disappointed. As will those seeking insight into the religious and philosophical beliefs of family members. Such topics may be touched on briefly, and no doubt can be discerned from remarks made in passing in the letters selected here, but in general, any letters of a political or religious or fractious nature have been set aside as not fitting the purview of what we set out to achieve with this collection of correspondence. No apologies are made for these omissions.
By purposely selecting only those letters which concentrate on the day-to-day social interactions and domestic details of family members, the Duke and I wish the reader to gain a greater understanding of the true character and nature of the correspondents. For it is only through the expression of feelings and the revelation of our innermost thoughts that a person can truly be known.
It must be reiterated that this publication and its companion are published in a private capacity, and are not for public consumption. They are meant for the shelves of select persons with an academic interest in the Roxton lineage who wish to gain a deeper insight into their lives and motivations.
Again, His Grace and I wish to acknowledge the tireless efforts of the Treat Librarian, Sir Elliott Fortescue, Bt., and his assistant, Mr. Percival Mandrake, and also Professor Sir Marcus West-Hamilton, and the eminent French linguist Mr. Auguste Martin. Particular to this volume is the scholarship of the distinguished diplo
mat Sir Bipin Narendra Deb, who kindly translated His Grace of Kinross’s letter written in Hindi to his natural daughter, Mrs. Charles Fitzstuart, both father and daughter being capable linguists in that language of the subcontinent. Without the dedication of these gentlemen, this volume of letters, like its companion, would not have seen the light of day.
This second volume is dedicated to our children: Henry, Christopher, Deborah, Evelyn, and Lisa-Antonia.
Alice-Victoria Hesham
Her Grace the Most Noble Duchess of Roxton
May, 1898
From the Editors
The letters and diary entries in this the second of the two volumes follows the same chronology as set out in the first volume. The volume opens with correspondence from the early 1770s, and with a letter thought lost to the pages of history and discovered by chance in the Roxton archive—one of the great discoveries of this publication, for it is thought to be the only surviving letter in the hand of the second Earl of Strathsay, grandson of King Charles the Second. The second chapter contains letters from Kate, Lady Paget, to the fifth Duke, written in the 1760s, of relevance because of Her Ladyship’s unique friendship with that Duke, and her particular relationship to the Lady Mary Fitzstuart Cavendish Bryce’s second husband, the influential wool and cloth merchant Sir Christopher Bryce. Amongst the letters offered in the third chapter are ones penned by the fifth Duke, writing as a parent to his second son when he knew he was dying and yet determined to leave behind words of wisdom and of love for this young man whom, it is evident from his correspondence, he loved immeasurably. These letters exemplify what Her Grace eloquently explains in her foreword, and which is worth repeating here: It is only through the expression of feelings and the revelation of our inner most thoughts that a person can truly be known.
Readers are to note that certain names, words, phrases, and sentences have been suppressed in particular letters and are indicated thus [suppressed], on the instructions of Their Graces, for which they, and we, make no apologies.
All translations from the French were meticulously carried out by Mr. Auguste Martin, and the translation from the Hindi by Sir Bipin Narendra Deb, G.C.I.E. The editors are most grateful to Mr. Percival Mandrake for his tireless work in collation and transcription of the originals of various correspondence, in this volume and the first (an omission of thanks from that volume rectified here with sincere apologies).
Sir Elliot Fortescue Bt., C.B.E.
Professor Sir Marcus West-Hamilton, G.C.M.G., O.B.E.
June, 1898
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Note
Throughout this volume, where necessary, [5th] and [6th] has been inserted before ‘Duke of Roxton’ to distinguish father from son, lest the reader be confused as to which title holder is being addressed.
Dair Devil Letters
1. The Earl of Strathsay to Major Lord Fitzstuart
The Right Honorable Earl of Strathsay, Charles House, Barbados, to Major Lord Fitzstuart, 17th Light Dragoons c/o Sir John Becher, Hollybrook House, County Cork, Ireland
[Letter sent while the Major was stationed with his regiment in Ireland, then forwarded and received by him while on active duty in the American Colonies during the American Revolutionary War. It has gone into family anecdote that upon reading his father’s letter, the Major set the pages alight with his cheroot and tossed them onto the campfire. This then is a copy of that same letter, discovered by Mr. Percival Mandrake while cataloguing the Roxton archives. It is quite a discovery, for this is the only letter known to exist in the hand of Theophilus Fitzstuart, the second Earl of Strathsay. A handwritten note (by another hand) on the obverse of the letter states that this letter is a copy sent by Lord Strathsay to the sixth Duke for safe keeping in the event his son Major Lord Fitzstuart did not receive the original.]
Charles House, Barbados
December 1774
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Dear Major,
Alisdair, I trust this letter finds you well and enjoying life in the service of our king. As you have been made aware by others, because you have not bothered to read any of my correspondence, I was and am against your commission. I wrote my opposition to His Grace of Roxton (the fifth duke not the present holder of the title) in the strongest possible language. Though this was after I learned of the fact and you were already on your way to join your regiment in Ireland. And now I am informed that regiment is off to fight the traitorous rebels in the American Colonies. So let me wish you well, and I pray you stay out of harm’s way and return alive from the venture and in one piece. You cannot blame me for thanking providence that I have a second son, and that Charles is of a staid nature and thus would never risk his neck in such a wantonly foolish gesture.
While I am all admiration for your willingness to fight for King and Country against the rebellious colonials who dared to take up arms against his most sovereign Majesty, you would have been better placed learning how to manage your inheritance, marrying early, and producing an heir to follow on after you. You know that were you to marry, I would hand over the estate to you, and not leave it in the present Duke of Roxton’s hands to manage. That admirable young man is a worthy successor to his father. I would dare to say worthier, and he does not need the added burden of looking after my affairs in England, but he will do so because his mother is my niece, and because you are his closest cousin. He at least knows what is due his name, and is prepared to shoulder the great burden of responsibility a great name requires. I live in hope that one day you will do the same.
No doubt you scoff because your father lives thousands of miles away from his responsibilities. But may I remind you that it was not by choice that I came out here to the Caribbean, though I now remain here of my own free will. That I ended up on a sugar plantation far from England, I now put down to providence. And if you will give me five more minutes of your time to read on you will see that your father does indeed have a conscience.
I do not seek your forgiveness, though I would like it. And while Charles and Mary are more inclined to allow me some latitude with the passing of time, I know you will not. I cannot blame you. I did not treat you, your mother, your brother, and your dear sister at all well. And with distance and time to reflect on my past, I am willing to admit I was a poor parent and an even worse husband. The breakdown of my marriage was my fault almost entirely. And because my eyes have been open to it, and also my heart, I ask that you take good care of your mother, to not blame her for her coldness and lack of feeling where her children are concerned. I do not doubt her lack of affection is due to the nature of your conception. She endured the marital bed out of a sense of wifely and dynastic duty, not because [suppressed]. She made no effort to please me or be pleased, [suppressed] could not hide her horror [suppressed] found me repulsive. In my ignorance, shame and anger, I [suppressed] and [suppressed] but she [suppressed]. In short, it was a degrading experience for us both [suppressed] and I failed [suppressed] the defect in her was not something which she was capable of correcting. She will never be warm-hearted. She is devoid of [suppressed] and is a creature who finds that aspect of life repugnant, and unnecessary to her existence.
A more experienced man would have seen her nature for what it was before we married. But as a callow young man I mistook coldness for shyness, frigidness for ignorance. His Grace the fifth Duke of Roxton tried to warn me. I should have listened, for His Grace had a vast experience of women and no doubt he saw, as I did not, that Charlotte possessed a temperament unsuited to physical intimacy. But it was the very fact the Old Duke had a libertine past before he married my niece that I foolishly mistook his wise counsel for one who was dismissive of your mother because he himself did not find her physically appealing. What a stupid ass I was!
You must be wondering where I am taking this discussion, and why I am confiding such intimate details to you and focusing on my past sins. It is because of my present situation that I now realise I was never in love with your mother, nor do I think she was ever in love with me.
We were both enamoured of the idea of being married, and independent, and no doubt this drew us together. She wished to escape a life as a dependant of her brother, and forever a spinster. I wished to be out from under my mother’s malevolent and wanton selfishness. Neither of us was prepared for the intimacy marriage brings.
Does it surprise you to learn your father was just as ignorant as his bride on his wedding night? And therein was my first of many mistakes. I was determined to remain chaste all because I had a mother who was a [suppressed]. Had she been a man she would have been celebrated as a great rake. But being female, she will forever be known as a [suppressed]. She was very beautiful, all her portraits attest to this and thus it is small wonder she had a legion of men courting her from a young age. She lacked the moral fiber and judgment to resist their [suppressed] overtures. And once corrupted, she became the corruptor, and was not above seducing any young man who took her fancy, where and when she pleased, and without any thought given for the persons living under her roof, namely her son. Because I was disgusted by her behavior, I was determined to remain a monk until I married.
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