A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Suffolk, Henrietta, Countess of
SUFFOLK, HENRIETTA, COUNTESS OF.
Henrietta Hobart was the eldest daughter of Sir Henry Hobart She was born about 1688, and was left an orphan at quite an early age. Her eldest brother being but fifteen, she was in a very unprotected situation, and, as a matter rather of expediency than of prudence or affection, married Charles Howard, who subsequently, by the deaths of his two elder brothers and their sons, became Earl of Suffolk. Mr. Howard is spoken of, by Horace Walpole, as everything that was worthless and contemptible; and he appears to have tormented his wife to the utmost of his ability as long as he lived, although a formal separation between them took place long before that event occurred. At the accession of George the First, Mr. Howard was appointed groom of the chamber to the king, and Mrs. Howard named one of the bed-chamber women to the Princess of Wales, Caroline of Anspach. In this situation she obtained the highest favour with the princess, who appeared to value her .society and her many estimable qualities. Unfortunately she attracted the admiration of the prince, and has been "damned to everlasting fame" by the disgraceful ambition of possessing what was called the heart of a stupid and licentious monarch.
Here may be recalled an anecdote Lord Hervey relates: that the daughters of George the Second, expressing their gratification, when Lady Suffolk was dismissed from court, that their mother's rival was abandoned, qualified their triumph by lamenting that "Poor mamma would have to endure so many more hours of his Majesty's tediousness." The decorum and propriety of Lady Suffolk's conduct, in this unworthy situation, it must be allowed, were great, since some memoir writers are yet found who would vindicate her from more than a Platonic attachment to the king. This all the best contemporary authorities disprove; and yet, as the shadow of virtue is better than the ostentation of vice, we must grant it as much favour as it deserves. That Lady Suffolk formed friendships with all the most remarkable characters of her circle, is not to be wondered at, during the period that she possessed court favour; but that she retained these friends after her retirement, must be ascribed to her own merits. The happiest period of her life must have been after she left the slavery of the court and established herself at Marble Hill, an estate which she derived from the gift of the king. Lord Suffolk died in 1733; and in 1734 she resigned her office and formally retired from court, fully understanding that it was a measure desired by both the king and queen.
In 1735, the Countess of Suffolk married the Hon. George Berkley, youngest son of the Earl of Berkley, in which union, which was entirely one of inclination, she appears to have enjoyed the utmost domestic happiness. By her first husband, the Earl of Suffolk, she had one son, who succeeded his father as tenth earl, and was the last of his branch. Lady Suffolk died in 1767, surviving both her son and Mr. Berkley. Her sweetness of disposition and equanimity of mind appear to have furnished her with a cheerful and pleasant existence, though she was afflicted with many constitutional infirmities. She had been troubled with deafness at the most brilliant period of her life. Living in the neighbourhood of Twickenham, she saw a great deal of Pope; and in her latter years maintained a close intimacy with Horace Walpole. Her correspondence, published in 1824, shows the very high estimation in which she was held by all the illustrious, the noble, and the literary characters of consequence who lived at that time. Swift, Chesterfield, the great Lord Chatham, Gay; in short, a list of her friends would be but a list of the great men of England in the reign of George the Second.
Horace Walpole, in his reminiscences, speaks of her remarkable beauty, which never entirely deserted her, even in old age showing its traces; he commends her amiable disposition and prudence in the same work.