Eliza Stephens: Difference between revisions
In July 1776, Bowes dismissed Elizabeth Planta from service with generous payment of {{Inflation|UK|2,000|1776|fmt=eq|r=-3|orig=yes|cursign=£}},{{Inflation/fn|UK}} possibly to stop her from discussing the affair and the resulting pregnancies and abortions with Bowes’s mother or with the Lyon family.{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=103–104}}{{sfn|Arnold|1987|p=45}}{{efn|According to Moore, this payment of £2,000 was an “irresistible payoff” constituting “sufficient funds to keep her comfortable for life.”{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=104}}|group=”Notes”}} Elizabeth’s younger sister Eliza Planta was then hired as the new governess for the children of Mary Eleanor Bowes, and she quickly became an important and trusted companion to her mistress.{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=107}} When Bowes and Gray became formally engaged in [[St Paul’s Cathedral]] in August or September 1776, Planta served as one of the witnesses.{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=112}}
In July 1776, Bowes dismissed Elizabeth Planta from service with generous payment of {{Inflation|UK|2,000|1776|fmt=eq|r=-3|orig=yes|cursign=£}},{{Inflation/fn|UK}} possibly to stop her from discussing the affair and the resulting pregnancies and abortions with Bowes’s mother or with the Lyon family.{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=103–104}}{{sfn|Arnold|1987|p=45}}{{efn|According to Moore, this payment of £2,000 was an “irresistible payoff” constituting “sufficient funds to keep her comfortable for life.”{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=104}}|group=”Notes”}} Elizabeth’s younger sister Eliza Planta was then hired as the new governess for the children of Mary Eleanor Bowes, and she quickly became an important and trusted companion to her mistress.{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=107}} When Bowes and Gray became formally engaged in [[St Paul’s Cathedral]] in August or September 1776, Planta served as one of the witnesses.{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=112}}
[[File:Andrew Robinson Bowes (from Jesse Foot).jpg|thumb|right|upright|alt=Left profile of a man in a uniform wearing a tricorne hat|Andrew Robinson Stoney]]
[[File:Andrew Robinson Bowes (from Jesse Foot).jpg|thumb|right|upright|alt=Left profile of a man in a uniform wearing a tricorne hat|Andrew Robinson Stoney]]
In the second half of 1776, [[Andrew Robinson Stoney]] arrived in London.{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=108}} Stoney was a Protestant from a prosperous English family settled in Ireland and was an officer in the British Army.{{sfn|Moore|2009|pp=46–47}} His first wife had died in March 1776, and Stoney had inherited £5,000 and taken control of her estate in County Durham.{{sfn|Arnold|1987|pp=50–51}}{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=65}} Stoney’s life story was later adapted by [[William Makepeace Thackeray]] as that of the anti-hero in ”[[The Luck of Barry Lyndon]]”. He was later described as a “schemer” who had come to London with the purpose to seduce and marry the wealthy Bowes.{{sfn|Moore|2009|pp=46,110}}{{sfn|Waller|2010|p=200}}{{sfn|Arnold|1987|p=49}} Stoney was probably introduced to Bowes’s social circle by his friend, Perkins Magra.{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=113}} He soon turned Planta into an ally, and according to Bowes’s biographer [[Wendy Moore]] may also have been her lover.{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=111}} Planta was expected to inform Stoney of Bowes’s interests and undertakings, to uncover her weaknesses and generally further his cause,{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=111}} in order to make Bowes end her relationship with Gray.{{sfn|Foot|1812|p=24}} One of Stoney’s ploys included a visit to a fortune-teller that Planta proposed to Bowes, who reacted with enthusiasm.{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=113}} According to Jesse Foot, who was Stoney’s surgeon, friend, and later his biographer,{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=54}} the fortune-teller had been “tutored to his wishes”.{{sfn|Foot|1812|p=22}} Searching for advice about her own romantic situation, Bowes pretended to be a grocer’s widow and asked whether she “should marry a brewer or a sugar-boiler”.{{sfn|Bowes|1793|p=42}}{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=113}} The fortune-teller’s response to this question has not been recorded, but likely indicated the advantages of Stoney over Gray.{{sfn|Arnold|1987|p=54}}{{sfn|Moore|2009|pp=113–114}}
In the second half of 1776, [[Andrew Robinson Stoney]] arrived in London.{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=108}} Stoney was a Protestant from a prosperous English family settled in Ireland and was an officer in the British Army.{{sfn|Moore|2009|pp=46–47}} His first wife had died in March 1776, and Stoney had inherited £5,000 and taken control of her estate in County Durham.{{sfn|Arnold|1987|pp=50–51}}{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=65}} Stoney’s life story was later adapted by [[William Makepeace Thackeray]] as that of the anti-hero in ”[[The Luck of Barry Lyndon]]”. He was later described as a “schemer” who had come to London with the purpose to seduce and marry the wealthy Bowes.{{sfn|Moore|2009|pp=46,110}}{{sfn|Waller|2010|p=200}}{{sfn|Arnold|1987|p=49}} Stoney was probably introduced to…
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