LADY HESTER LAMENTS THE LOSS OF HER LAST LOVE

STANHOPE (Lady HESTER LUCY, 1776-1839, eccentric) FINE AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED ('Hester Lucy Stanhope'), in French, to Mons. le Doux, Consul at Rhodes, informing him of the death of Captain Loustenau, the last love of her life, who had spoken highly of the Consul and had intended to come to see him to discuss some very interesting confidential matters of which she is apprised and one day will relate to him, and that Loustenau's father, a religious fanatic who thought himself a prophet ('...His insensibility, his apathy is one of the most extraordinary things in the world...') and has stayed in her house for many years was a deep embarrassment to his son; stating that she has power of attorney for the Loustenau family and that she fully intends to pay off the Captain's debt to Mr Espagnet who is 'either very thoughtless, unscrupulous or else very self-seeking' in that he pursued the infirm Captain probably because he feared the worst from 'the visit of the famous rabies' and wanted to be sure of his money; asking the Consul to placate Espagnet; expressing her fondness for the Loustenau family and her determination to sort out their affairs to ensure that there is no stain on the memory of the Captain and also her intention to visit Rhodes if the Consul does not first come to stay in her house; praising Mlle Espagnet who watches over the conduct of the young Loustenau ladies, whom she suspects are not very good at keeping house for themselves; asking le Doux to intervene on her behalf with the Espagnets to persuade them to be patient and confidential about the matter; giving her opinion of some of those whom they might meet ('...Mr Aubin, who is a great rogue, uncaring, a self-interested liar, and heartless, and the nosiest person there can be. That is his reputation throughout Syria. Mr Martin in Sidon...is a good man, calm and prudent, but all the other half French in Sidon are riffraff...'); and finally releasing her passionate feelings about the Captain ('...So many years devoted to la Gloire, a belle France, which became a prison, the loss of health, distress, death!!!! This being so carried away at times, one would have to have been a monster not to have appreciated his worth or grieved as I have grieved over his too cruel fate...'), 6 pages, quarto, gilt edges, short tears at folds, trace of former guard, Mount Lebanon, 2 October 1820

Having kept house for her uncle William Pitt, and been his confidante, Hester Stanhope retired to Wales, but disenchanted with the restrictions placed on her in Britain, she left for the Levant in 1810, and never returned. In 1814 she settled on the slopes of Mount Lebanon, built a group of houses like a medieval fortress, and spent her time exercising despotic rule over the neighbourhood and intriguing against British officials and the authority of the Sultan. At the time of the Battle of Navarino, Europeans fled to her from all sides for protection. She surrounded herself with thirty servants whom she controlled with a mace, large numbers of cats and other animals, was one of the boldest of horse-riders, adopted Eastern manners and customs, believed in the transmigration of souls and practised judicial astrology. She thought herself an Eastern princess.

In 1820 Captain Loustenau, a tall well-built ex-officer of Napoleon's Imperial Guard, arrived in Syria in search of his father, who was known to have been ship-wrecked off the coast seven years earlier. The elder Loustenau, who called himself General, claiming to have served in the native Indian armies, was a half-crazed, self-styled prophet who produced a number of biblical texts to prove that Lady Hester's coming had been announced in the Scriptures and that she was 'the only true Queen.' He lived on Lady Hester's charity for over twenty years. They never met, for they could never agree, he being dogmatic and choleric, she intolerant of contradiction. She financed his family in France and finally buried him in the vault she had constructed in the garden for her own burial.

The younger Loustenau closely resembled Lady Hester's earlier love and one chance of happiness, General Sir John Moore, and had astrological stars that were favourable to her own. She immediately appointed him stud groom to her sacred mares, and in memory of General Moore she attempted to bind his destiny to her own. He gained complete domination over her, but suddenly succumbed to acute gastritis, dying in the middle of August. Inconsolable, Lady Hester buried him in her own garden, and when she moved to Djoun, his bones were transferred as well. One of her last wishes was to be buried beside him.

Substantial letters by Lady Hester are rare.

£1,500