Note 650 — Chapter XVII · THE REGENCY—STRUGGLE BETWEEN WHIG AND TORY CAMPS—O'LEARY AND THE PRINCE OF WALES
Reading edition
O'Leary does not tell this anecdote correctly. It was not of two ladies named Devereux, but of a famous beauty, Miss Ambrose, that Chesterfield made this joke; and it was told, not to George II., but to Lord North. Chesterfield addressed the following impromptu to Miss Ambrose at a viceregal ball:—
'Pretty Tory, where's the jest Of wearing orange on a breast Which, in whiteness, doth disclose The beauty of the rebel rose?'