Because wheat is so dear . . .

“. . . His person was tall and thin, his countenance expressive of ardour and impetuosity, as were all of his movements. Over his whole figure, and even his dress, an air of puritanism reminded the beholder of the secretaries under Cromwell, rather than a young man of quality in an age of refinement and elegance. He possessed stentorian lungs and a powerful voice always accompanied by violent gesticulation.” [from The Historical and the Posthumous Memoirs of Sir N.W. Wraxall (1772-1784) v. iii.]

This picturesqueness of appearance is corroborated by another hand. Writing from Strawberry Hill, September 7, 1774, to Hon. H.S. Conway, Horace Walpole says: “Apropos, Lord Mahon, whom Lord Stanhope, his father will not suffer to wear powder because wheat is so dear, was presented t’ other day, in coal black hair, and a white feather: they said he had been tarred and feathered.”

From Charles Earl Stanhope and the Oxford University Press by Horace Hart (1966 reprint edition of 1896 original)

November 4, 2005 3:38 PM