Talk:Topham Beauclerk

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Unclear[edit]

Is this part of the article a joke? "He was an intimate friend also of Horace Walpole. The artist Joseph Farington records Walpole's description of him:

Lord Orford mentioned many particulars relative to the late Mr. Topham Beauclerc. He said He was the worst tempered man He ever knew. Lady Di passed a most miserable life with him. Lord O, out of regard to her invited them occasionally to pass a few days at Strawberry Hill. They slept in separate beds. Beauclerc was remarkably filthy in his person which generated vermin. He took Laudanum regularly in vast quantities. He seldom rose before one or two o'clock. His principal delight was in disputing on subjects that occurred, this He did accutely. Before He died He asked pardon of Lady Di, for his ill usage of her. He had one son and two daughters by Lady Di. One married Lord Herbert, the second went abroad with her Brother, Lord Bolingbroke [i.e. George St John, 3rd Viscount Bolingbroke]."

Quite how the ghastly description given can be considered in any way whatever to tally with the notion that Beauclerk and Walpole shared an "intimate friend"ship is beyond my ken!