Page:Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope.djvu/91

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Lady Hester Stanhope.
77

of women, who will perhaps think differently of him from what he thinks of himself: but with James the case is otherwise. He is a young man you must keep under; else you will always see him trying to be a joli garçon. For Charles's steadiness, I do not fear; but the little one will one day or other fall into the hands of men who will gain over and unsettle his political principles. You can guide him, and, so long as he is under your care, he is safe:' and," added Lady Hester, "Mr. Pitt was right, doctor; for the moment I quitted England he fell into the snares of Lord B. and his party, and instead of being in Mr. Canning's place, which he might have been, he became nothing."

Lady Hester went on: "When Charles and James left Chevening,[1] Mr. Pitt said to Mahon (the present Earl Stanhope), 'You know that, when your father dies, you will he heir to a large property—whether £15,000 a-year or £25,000 it does not much signify.

  1. Lady Hester, soon after she went to live with Mr. Pitt was anxious that her three half-brothers should be removed from their father's roof, to be under her own guidance: fearing that the line of politics which Earl Stanhope then followed might be injurious to their future welfare and prospects. To this end, Mr. Rice, a trusty person, of whom mention is incidentally made elsewhere, brought them furtively to town in a post-chaise, and they afterwards remained under Mr. Pitt's protection until his death.