Chris Stephens’ study of the building of Mendip Lodge and the social life of Georgian England that was hosted there has culminated in this eminently readable book. The remarkable Rev. Whalley was poet, pamphleteer, traveller and horticulturist.  His life (1746 – 1828) was one of extravagance, generosity and intellectual activity, spent among some of the most influential people of the time.  The book details his life on Mendip, in Bath and in the France of Marie Antoinette and Napoleon.  It describes his association with William Wilberforce and Hannah More and figures such as Fanny Burney.  In particular, it relates his devotion to his beautiful, vivacious and gifted niece, Frances Sage, the ‘Queen of Bath’.

Copies may be ordered from:  http://www.candy-jar.co.uk/books/dr-thomas-sedgwick-whalley.html.