Note 46 — Chapter VII

Henrietta, Countess of Suffolk, sister to the first Earl of Buckinghamshire, a few years after the death of Lord Suffolk, married the Hon. George Berkeley, a son of the second Earl Berkeley, whom she survived more than twenty years. She had been a widow only a short time, and had lately lost her only son, Lord Suffolk, when she was invited to Lady Huntingdon’s to hear Mr. Whitefield. She lived principally at Marble-hill, Twickenham, and was a well-known acquaintance of Pope, the poet, under the name of “Mrs. Howard.” She was in much favour with George II., an influence which is supposed to have contributed to the grant of her mother’s peerage. Having ingratiated herself into the favour of Queen Caroline, then Electoral Princess, she accompanied her to England, and became her bedchamber-woman. If we were to draw an estimate of the understanding and character of Lady Suffolk from the representations of Pope, Swift, and Gay, during the time of her favour, we might suppose that she possessed every accomplishment and good quality which were ever the lot of a woman. The real truth is, she was more remarkable for beauty than for understanding, and the passion which the King entertained for her was rather derived from chance, than from any combination of those transcendant qualities which Pope and Swift ascribed to their court-divinity. She lived to an advanced age, not dying till 1767. During her last illness Lady Huntingdon made some efforts to see her, but the mortified Lady Suffolk carried her resentment to the grave, and would never admit her Ladyship.