"effeminate speech", 1801

[FRITZ JUENGLING]

   > The cartoonists and other humrorists had a field day with the dudes.  Typical speech >mannerisms included "Strike me with a feather" and  "Don't be wude" (spelling with w-: sic). I >don't have my notes handy, but the list could be easily extended.

This reminds me of a claim in Byron Farwell's book _Queen Victoria's Little Wars_ that 'w' was often substituted for 'r'.  Farwell was a historian, not a linguist, and I wondered how he knew about this. He also claimed that the father of the Boy Scouts, Baden-Powell pronounced his name to rhyme with 'Noel.'  Can anyone provide any sources for these claims?
Fritz