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We RESORT A E. Chalon,RA JI. Hinchliff Marguerite, Counteb of Blefarington, THE TTM LIIV LITERARY LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON. BY Richard potest R. R: MADDEN, M.R.I.A. AUTHOR OF « TRAVELS IN THE EAST," “ INFIRMITIES OF GENIUS,” “THE MUSSULMAN," " SHRINES AND SEPULCHRES," " THE LIFE OF SAVONAROLA," ETC. " L'homme marche vers le tombeau, trainant apres lui, la chaine de ses expèriences trompées." SECOND EDITION. VOL. I. LONDON: T. C. NEWBY, PUBLISHER, 30, WELBECK STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE. 1855. 828 B 6470 M18 1855a J. BILLING, PRINTER, WOKING, SURREY. 3 Valke CONTENTS OF VOL. I. INTRODUCTION. PAGK Early origin-Pedigree of the Sheehy family-Notice of maternal grandfather--Career of Edmond Power—Marriage of Marguerite Power-Captain Farmer's death-Coroner's inquest, and ver- dict of the Jury CHAPTER 1. Notice of the Earl of Blessington-His origin, early career-First and second marriage, &c. . . . . . 44 CHAPTER II. Departure of the Blessingtons from London, on a Continental tour, September, 1822 . . . . . 74 CHAPTER III. Byron and the Blessingtons at Genoa . . . . . 82 - CHAPTER IV. The City and Bay of Naples-The Blessingtons, and their society in Naples, June, 1823, to February, 1826 . . . 92 CHAPTER V. Departure from Naples -- Sojourn in Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice, and Genoa-Return to Paris–February, 1826, to June, 1829. · · · · · 112 CONTENTS, PAGRI CHAPTER VI. Return to Paris, in June, 1828–Residence there-Death of Lord Blessington--Departure of Lady Blessington for England, in November, 1830 . . . . . 133 CHAPTER VII. Conversational powers of distinguished persons-Seamore Place and Gore House-Literary circles-Rival salons of Holland House, and Réunions at the Countess of Charleville's—Residence of Lady Blessington at Seamore Place, from 1832 to 1836; and at Gore House, Kensington Gore, from 1836 to April, 1849 · 150 CHAPTER VIII, The Break-up at Gore House . . . . . 191 CHAPTER IX. Arrival of Lady Blessington in Paris, the middle of April, 1849 Her last illness and death, on the 4th of June following-No- tice of her decease CHAPTER X. Notice of the career, literary tastes, and talents of Lady Blessington 225 CHAPTER XI. Notice of the writings of Lady Blessington-Connection with the Annuals—Results of her literary pursuits . 250 CHAPTER XII. Lines addressed to Lady Blessington by various persons · 292 CHAPTER XIII. Notice of Count Alfred D'Orsay His origin, some account of his early life-The close of his career, and observations on his talents, and the application of them . . . 315 CONTENTS, APPENDIX. No. I. PAGI Correspondence of Count D'Orsay 373 No. II. Notice of Lord and Lady Canterbury and of Mrs. Fairlie • 440 No. III. Copy of marriage certificate of Lady Blessington with Captain Maurice Farmer · · · · · 455 No. IV. Captain Maurice Farmer-Letter of his Brother . . 456 No. V. Certificate of Burial of members of the Blessington family . 459 No. VI. Account of the Incumbrances on the Blessington Estates, and Rental of ditto . . . . . . 159 No. VII. Gore House . . . . . . 462 No. VIII. Count D'Orsay and the Prince Louis Napoleon . . . 464 No. IX. Proceedings on Inquest on the Body of Joseph Lonnergan, shot by Edmond Power--Evidence and finding of Jury, sworn in- formation, &c. . . . . No. X. The fate of the Sheehys in 1765 and 1766 . . . 484 · 476 THE LITERARY LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON. INTRODUCTION. The task of Biography is not comprised in a mere attempt to make a word-picture of a person that can be identified by its resemblance to the original; to narrate a series of striking passages in the life of an individual, whose career it is intended to illustrate; to record dates of remarkable events, and particulars of important occurrences; to give a faithful account even of signal failures and successes; to de- lineate the features of the person described, and to make peculiarities of mind or form clearly perceptible to those for whom we write or paint in words. These are essential things to be done, but they are not all that are essential in human life-history, which should be descriptive not only of external appearances, and accidental circumstances, but of the interior being, and actual peace of mind of those of whom it treats. The great aim to be accomplished is to make the truthful VOL. I. INTRODUCTION. portraiture of the person we describe and present to the public, stand out in a distinct shape and form, distinguish- able from all other surrounding objects, an instructive, en- couraging, or admonitory representation of a character and career, as the case may be. The legitimate aim and end of that representation of a life will be gained, if the biographer, in accomplishing his task, makes the portraiture of the in- dividual described advantageous to the public; renews old recollections agreeably, as well as usefully ; looks to the fu- 1 ) CD 11 from the predominant materialism of the present time; vio- lates no duty to the dead, of whom he treats; no obligation to the living, for whose benefit he is supposed to write; if, without prejudice to truth or morals, he indulges his own feel- ings of kindness, and tenderness of regard for the memory of those who may have been his friends, and who have become the subjects of his inquiries and researches ; if he turn his theme to the account of society at large, of literature also and of its living votaries ; if he places worth and genius in their true position, and, when the occasion calls for it, if he manfully puts forward his strength to pull down unworthy and ignoble pretensions, to unmask selfishness, to give all due honour to noble deeds and generous aims and efforts ; if he sympathises sincerely with struggling merit, and seeks ear- nestly for truth, and speaks it boldly. And if he has to deal with the career of one who has played an important part in public life, or in an exalted station, and would obtain the ob- ject I have referred to, he will have to speak freely and fear- lessly of the miseries and vexations of a false position, how- ever splendid it may be ; miseries which may not be escaped from, by any efforts to keep them out of sight or hearing, either in the turmoil of a fashionable life, in the tumult of its pleasures, or in the solitude of the dressing-room, the stillness of which is often more intolerable than the desert G INTRODUCTION. gloom and desolation of Mar Saba, or the silence of La Trappe. All this can be done without composing homilies on the chequered life of man, or pouring forth lamentations on its vicissitudes, and pronouncing anathemas on the failings of those, on whose conduct we may perhaps be wholly in- competent or unqualified to sit in judgment. There is often matter for deep reflection, though requiring no comment from the biographer, to be found in a single fact seasonably noticed, in a passage of a letter, a sentence in conversation, nay, even at times in a gesture, indicative of weariness of mind in the midst of pomp and pleasure, of sickness of spirit at the real aspect of society, wreathed though it may be with smiles the futility of all efforts to secure happiness by dependence on · them. I am much mistaken if this work can be perused of luxury, no entourage of wit and learning, no distinction in fashionable or literary life, no absorbing pursuits of author- ship, or ephemeral enjoyments in exclusive circles of haut ton, constitute happiness, or afford a substitute for it, on which any reliance can be placed, for the peace and quiet of one's life. An intimate acquaintance and uninterrupted friendship with the late Countess of Blessington during a period of twenty-seven years, and the advantage of possessing the entire confidence of that lady, are the circumstances which induced the friends of Lady Blessington to commit to me the task of editing an account of her Literary Life and Correspond- ence. To many other persons familiarly acquainted with her Ladyship, eminent in different walks of literature and art, distinguished for abilities and acquirements, and well known in the world of letters, this task might have been confided with far more service to the execution of it in every 11 . B 2 INTRODUCTIONI . C DI . YTY literary point of view. But, in other respects, it was considered I might bring some advantages to this undertaking, one of no ordinary difficulty, and requiring no common care and circumspection to surmount. The facilities I refer to, are those arising from peculiar opportunities of knowing Lady Blessington at an early period of that literary career which it is intended to illustrate, and becoming acquainted with the antecedents of that position in literature which she occupied in London. The correspondence and other papers of Lady Blessington that have been made use of in these volumes, are connected by a slender thread of biographical illustration, which may serve to give some idea of the characters and position, and prominent traits or peculiarities of those who are addressed, or referred to in this correspondence, or by whom letters were written which are noticed in it. In doing this, I trust it will be found I am not unmindful of the obligations I am under to truth and charity, as well as to friendship, obligations to the living as well as to the dead; but, on the contrary, that I am very sensible, that literature is never more profaned, than when such claims being forgotten, sentiments expressed in confidence to private persons that are calculated to hurt the feelings, or to injure the character of individuals, are wantonly, malevolently, or inconsiderately dis- closed. Such opinions seem to have been acted on by a late emi- nent statesman, and were well expressed, in a codicil to his will, wherein he bequeathed to Lord Mahon and E. Cardwell, Esq., M.P., “all the unpublished papers and documents of a public or a private nature, whether in print or in manuscript, of which he should, at the time of his decease, be possessed, &c.” “Considering that the collection of letters and papers, referred to in this codicil, included the whole of his confidential correspondence for a period extending from the V S IA INTRODUCTION. year 1817 to the time of his decease, that during a con- siderable portion of that period he was employed in the service of the crown, and that when not so employed, he had taken an active part in parliamentary business, it was highly probable that much of that correspondence would be interest- ing, and calculated to throw light upon the conduct and cha- racter of public men, and upon the political events of the times.” This was done in the full assurance that his trustees would so exercise the discretion given to them, that no honourable confidence should be betrayed, no private feelings be un- necessarily wounded, and no public interests injuriously affected. I think it is Sir Egerton Brydges who observes—“ It is not possible to love literature and to be uncharitable or un- kind to those who follow its pursuits." Nothing would cer- tainly be more uncharitable and unkind to literary people than to publish what they may occasionally say in private of one another in the way of raillery, banter, or persiflage, as if such badinage on paper, and escapades of sarcastic drollery in conversation, were deliberate expressions of opinion; and not the smartness of the sayings, but the sharpness of the sting in them, was to be taken into account in judging of the motives of those who gave utterance to things spoken in levity and not in malice. There is no necessity, indeed, with such materials as I have in my hands, to encumber my pages with any trivialities of this kind, or the mere worthless tittle-tattle of epistolary con- versation. There is an abundance of thought-treasure in letters of people of exalted intellect, in this collection; ample merits in their accounts of passing events, their references to current literature--the works of art of the day, the chances and changes of political life, the caprices of fashion of the time, and the vicissitudes in the fortune of the celebrities of all INTRODUCTION. grades in a great city-to furnish matter well worthy of selection and preservation; matter that would perish if not thus collected, and published in some such form as the present. I have no sympathies with the tastes and pursuits of the hangers-on of men of genius in literary society, who crawl into the confidence of people of exalted intellect, to turn their acquaintance with it to a profitable account; to drag into notice failings that may have hitherto escaped attention, or were only suspected to exist, and to immortalize the errors of gifted individuals, whose credulity has been taken advan- tage of, with a deliberate purpose of speculating on those fail- ings that have been diligently observed and drawn out. Censure, it is said, is the tax which eminence of every kind pays for distinction. The tendency of our times especially, is to pander to a morbid taste, that craves continually for signal spectacles of failings and imperfections of persons in exalted stations, for exhibitions of eminent people depreciated or defamed. The readiness of men to minister to the pre- vailing appetite for literary gossip, by violating the sanctity of private life, and even the sacred ties of friendship, is not only to be lamented, but the crime is to be denounced. I have given expressions to such opinions on those subjects at the onset of my career in literature, and they have undergone no change since the publication of them, upwards of twenty years ago.* We naturally desire to know every thing that concerns the character, or the general conduct of those, whose productions have entertained or instructed us; and we gratify a laudable curiosity, when, for purposes of good, we inquire into their history, and seek to illustrate their writings, by the general tenor of their lives and actions. But when biography is made the vehicle of private scandal, the means of promoting * The Infirmities of Genius, &c., in 2 vols. 8vo., London, 1833. INTRODUCTION. n sordid interests, when it looks into every infirmity of human na- ture through a medium, which magnifies small imperfections, and exaggerates large ones ;-it ceases to be a legitimate inquiry into private character or conduct, and no infamy is greater than the baseness of revealing faults that possibly had never been discovered, had no friendship been violated, and no confidence abused. "Consider," says a learned German, “under how many aspects greatness is scrutinized ; in how many categories curiosity may be traced, from the highest grade of inquisi- tiveness down to the most impertinent, concerning great men! How the world never wearies striving to represent to itself their whole structure, conformation outward and inward. Blame not the world for such curiosity about its great ones : this comes of the world's old-established necessity to worship. Blame it not, pity it rather with a certain loving respect. Nevertheless, the last stage of human perversion, it has been said, is, when sympathy corrupts itself into envy, and the in- destructible interest we take in men's doings has become a joy over their faults and misfortunes; this is the last and lowest stage--lower than this we cannot go." “Lower than this we cannot go!” says the German mo- ralist. But suppose we do more than exult in these failings and misfortunes; that we not only sit in judgment on them, but judge not justly, using false weights and measures of justice, having one scale and standard of judicial opinion for the strong and the unscrupulous, in evil doing, and another for the weak and ill-directed and unfortunately circumstanced; lower then I say men can go in the downward path of hypo- crisy, when those most deserving of pity have more to fear from pretenders to virtue, than from religion itself. We are told by a great writer, that at the tribunal of public opinion, there are some failings for which there must be an acquittal on every count of the indictment, or a condemnation on all. INTRODUCTION. It is not for the world to make any inquiries into the ante- cedents of such failings, whether they included the results of an unhappy home, the tyranny, profligacy, profusion and embarrassments of an unworthy father, the constant spectacle of the griefs and wrongs of an injured mother, mournful scenes of domestic strife, of violence and outrage, riotous displays of revelry and carousing in the same abode ; every- day morning gloom and wrangling, temporary shifts to meet inordinate expenses, tending to eventual ruin; meannesses to be witnessed to postpone an inevitable catastrophe, and miserable shifts to be had recourse to in order to provide for the carousing of another night; the feasting of military friends, of condescending lords and squireen gentlemen of high rank and influence, justices of the peace of fiery zeal in provincial politics, men of mark in a country town, ever ready to par- take of hospitality, and to enjoy society, set off with such advantages as beauty, and mirth, and gaiety unrestricted can lend to it. It is not for the world to inquire into the circumstance that may have led to an unhappy union, or its unfortunate result; whether the home was happy, the society that fre. quented the parental abode was safe and suitable for its young inmates; whether the father's example was edifying in his family—the care of his children was sufficient for their security-whether he watched over his daughters, as an anxious father should do, and treated them with kind- ness and affection, bearing himself quietly and amiably towards their mother and themselves; whether their youth and innocence were surrounded with religious influences, and the moral atmosphere in which they lived from child- hood and grew up to womanhood, was pure and wholesome ? It matters not, in such a worldly point of view, in the con- sideration of such results, whether their peace and happiness were made things of sale and barter by a worthless father! 17w Ul. INTRODUCTION. Whether in forcing them to give their hands where they could not give their hearts, they had been sold for a price, and purchased for a consideration in which they had no share or interest. But there are persons whose opinions are of the first importance, who will think the interests of religion, of truth and morality, do not require that we should throw aside all considerations of this sort, and come to a conclusion on a single fact, without any reference to the influences of surrounding circumstances. The grave has never long closed over those who have been much admired and highly extolled, in their day, who have been in society formidable competitors for distinction, or in common opinion very fortunate in life and successful in society, or some particular pursuit, before the ashes of those dead celebrities are raked for error. Such tombs, indeed, are sel- dom ransacked unsuccessfully; but those who sit in judgment on the failings of their fellow-creatures, are never more likely to be erroneous in their opinions, than when they are most harsh and uncharitable in their judgments. Those persons who stand highest in the opinion of their fellow-men, may rank very low in the estimation of the Supreme Judge of all; and those for whose errors there is here no mercy, may have fewer advantages of instruction and example, of position, and of favourable circumstances that have been thrown away, to account for, than the most spiritually proud of the complacent self-satisfied, self-constituted judges and arraigners of their fellow-creatures. It has been said, that “ a great deal has been told of Gold- smith (in the early and incidental notices of his career), which a friendly biographer would have concealed, or at least silently passed over ; that he would have felt bound in duty to respect the character which he took on himself to delineate ; and while he withheld nothing that could have enabled the public to form 10 INTRODUCTION. a right estimate of the subject, he would not have drawn aside the curtain that concealed the privacy of domestic intercourse, and exposed to view the weakness and inconsistency of the thoughtless and confidential hours of a chequered and too fortuitous life. The skilful painter can preserve the fidelity of the resemblance, while he knows how to develop all becoming embellishments. In heightening what is naturally beautiful, in throwing a shade over the less attractive parts, he presents us with a work that is at once pleasing and instruc- tive. The biographer must form his narrative by selection. All things belonging to a subject are not worth the telling; when the circle of information is once completed, it is often the wisest part to rest satisfied with the effect produced. Such, evidently, was the rule which guided Mason in the very elegant and judicious account which he gave of his illustrious friend Gray; and though later inquirers have explored and unlocked some channels which he did not wish to open, they have left the original sketch very little altered, and hardly at all improved. In this he followed, though with a more liberal allowance to rational curiosity than had before been granted, the general practice of all biographers ; but Boswell's Life of Johnson opened at once the floodgates of public desire on this subject, and set up an example, too faithfully imitated, of an indiscriminate development of facts, gratifying a not very honourable or healthy curiosity, with the minutest details of personal history, the eccentricities of social intercourse, and all the singularities of private life. The original work, however defective we may think it in its plan, derived a lustre from the greatness of its subject : but it has been the cause of overwhelming literature with a mass of the most heavy and tiresome biographies of very moderate and obscure men; with cumbersome details of a life without interest, and cha- racter without talent, and a correspondence neither illuminated with spirit nor enriched with fact. Vous me parlez,' says INTRODUCTION. ll D’Olivet, "d'un homme de lettres ; parlez moi donc de ses talens, parlez moi de ses ouvrages, mais laissez moi ignorer ses foiblesses, et à plus forte raison ses vices.” * Those who are desirous to be acquainted with the parentage, education, and incidents in the early career of the subject of this memoir, will find the information they require, gracefully given, and with a tender feeling of affectionate regard for the memory of the deceased lady, of whom this work treats, in a Memoir, written by her niece, Miss Power. Extracts from that Memoir, by the kind permission of Miss Power, I have been allowed to avail myself of, and they will be found subjoined to this Introduction, with such additional matter of mine appended to them, as Lady Blessington's communications to me, both oral and written, and my own researches enable me to offer. The task I have undertaken, is to illustrate the literary life of Lady Blessington. Her acquaintance with the literary men and artists of England, and foreign countries, dates from the period of her marriage with Lord Blessington; and her application to literature, as a pursuit and an employment, from the time of the first continental tour, on which she set out in 1822. It is not necessary for me, here at least, to enter at large into her early history--though, with one exception, I am pro- bably better acquainted with it than any other person living. The whole of that history was communicated to me by Lady Blessington, I believe with a conviction, that it might be confided to me with safety, and perhaps with advantage at some future time to her memory. A * Gent. Mag. March, 1837. Notice of Prior's Life of Goldsmith, p. 229. 12 INTRODUCTION. EXTRACTS FROM A MEMOIR OF THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON BY Miss POWER, WITH ADDITIONAL MATTER IN BRACKETS INSERTED BY THE EDITOR OF THIS WORK. “ Marguerite Blessington was the third child and second daughter of Edmond Power, Esq., of Knockbrit, near Clon- mel, in the county of Tipperary, and was born on the 1st of September, 1790. Her father, who was then a country gentleman, occupied with field sports and agricultural pursuits, was the only son of Michael Power, Esq., of Curragheen eight miles from Dungarvan), and descended from an ancient family in the county of Waterford. Her mother also be- longed to a very old Roman Catholic family, a fact of which she was not a little proud, and her genealogical tree was pre- served with a religious veneration, and studied until all its branches were as familiar as the names of her children :- • My ancestors, the Desmonds,' were her household gods, and their deeds and prowess her favourite theme." [Mr. Edmond Power, the father of Lady Blessington, married, at an early age, a daughter of an ill-fated gentleman, Mr. Edmond Sheehy, descended from one of the most re- spectable Roman Catholic families in the county Tipperary. In 1843 Lady Blessington presented me with an account of the Sheehy family, drawn up with great care; and from that document, in the handwriting of Lady Blessington, which is in my possession, the following notice is taken verbatim.] PEDIGREE OF THE SHEEHY FAMILY. “ This ancient family possessed a large estate on the banks of the river Deel, in the county of Limerick, from the time that Maurice, the first Earl of Desmond's daughter, was married to Morgan Sheehy, who got the said estate from the Earl as a portion with his wife. INTRODUCTION. 13 « From the above Morgan Sheehy, was lineally descended Morgan Sheehy, of Ballyallenane. The said Morgan married Ellen Butler, daughter of Pierce, Earl of Ormond, and the widow of Connor O'Brien, Earl of Thomond, and had issue, Morgan Sheehy. The said Morgan Sheehy married Catherine Mac Carthy, daughter to Donnough Mac Carthy-More, of Dunhallow, in the county of Cork; and had issue, Morgan Sheehy, who married Joan, daughter of David, Earl of Barry- more, in the county of Cork, and Lady Alice Boyle, eldest daughter of Richard, Earl of Cork; and had issue, Morgan Sheehy, and Meanus, from whom the Sheehys of Imokilly, and county of Waterford, are descended. The said Morgan married Catherine, the eldest of the five daughters of Teige O'Brien, of Ballycorrig, and of Elizabeth, daughter of Maurice, Earl of Desmond. He had issue, three sons, John, Edmond, and Roger, and five daughters. Of the daughters, Joan married Thomas Lord Southwell; Ellen married Philip Magrath, of Sleady Castle, in the county of Waterford, Esq. ; Mary married Eustace, son of Sir John Brown, of Cammus, Bart. ; and Anne married Colonel Gilbrern, of Kilmallock. “Of the five daughters of the above Teige O'Brien, Cathe- rine married the above Morgan Sheehy, Esq. ; Honoria married Sir John FitzGerald, of Cloyne, Bart. ; Maudin mar- ried O'Shaughnessy, of Gort; Julia married Mac Namara of Cratala ; and Mary married Sir Turlough Mac Mahon, of Cleana, in the county of Clare, Bart. “Of the three sons of Morgan Sheehy, Esq., and Cathe- rine O'Brien, John, the eldest, married Mary, daughter of James Casey, of Rathcannon, in the county of Limerick, Esq. (It was in this John's time, about 1650, that Cromwell dis- possessed the family of their estates.) The said John had issue John Sheehy, who married Catherine, daughter of Donough O'Brien, of Dungillane, Esq. He had issue, Charles Sheehy, who married Catherine Ryan, daughter of Matthew Ryan, 14 INTRODUCTION. 4 Esq., and of Catherine FitzGerald, daughter of Sir John Fitz- Gerald, of Clonglish, Bart., and had issue John and William Sheehy, Esqs. of Spittal. The said John married Honoria O'Sullivan, maternal grand-daughter to MacBrien, of Bally Sheehan, and had issue one son and two daughters, viz. William Sheehy, Esq., of Bawnfowne, County Waterford, and Eleanor and Ellen. (Here there is an omission of any mention of William Sheehy's marriage.) The said Eleanor married William Cranick, of Galbally, Esq., and had issue, Ellen, who married Timothy Quinlan, Esq., of Tipperary. Edmund Sheehy, * Esq., son of the above-named William Sheehy, and brother to Eleanor and Ellen, married Margaret O'Sullivan, of Ballylegate, and had issue Robert and James Sheehy, and two daughters, Ellen and Mary. The said Ellen married Edmond Power, Esq., of Curragheen, in the County of Waterford ; and had issue, Anne, who died in her tenth year; Michael, who died a Captain in the 2nd West India Regiment at St. Lucia, in the West Indies; Marguerite, who married, firstly, Captain St. Leger Farmer, of the 47th Regiment, who died in 1817, and secondly, the Earl of Blessington ; Ellen, who married John Home Purves, Esq., son of Sir Alexander Purves, Bart., of Purves Hall, in the County of Berwick, and secondly, to Viscount Canterbury; Robert, who entered the army young, and left it a Captain in the 30th Regiment of Foot, in 1823. The said Robert married Agnes Brooke, daughter of Thomas Brooke, Esq., first member of council at St. Helena; and Mary Anne, married in 1831, to Count de St. Marsault.”+ [In the Appendix will be found a detailed account of the persecutions of several members of the Sheeh y family in 1765 * Executed in 1766 for alleged rebellion. Edmund Sheehy was called Buck Sheehy, and lived at Bawnfowne,, County Waterford. † Here ends the genealogical account of the Sheehy family, given me by Lady Blessington.-R. R. M. INTRODUCTION. 15 TOU and 1766. It commenced with the prosecution, conviction, and execution of a priest, Father Nicholas Sheehy, who was a cousin of Edmond Sheehy, the grandfather of Lady Bless- ington. If ever affrighted justice might be said to “swing from her moorings,” and, passion-driven, to be left at the mercy of the winds and waves of party violence, it surely was in the iniquitous proceedings against the Sheehys; for innocence, it might indeed be affirmed, there was no anchorage in the breast of a jury, in those times packed as it usually was for the purpose of conviction, or in the sanctuary of a court, surrounded by a military force to overawe its functionaries, and to intimidate the advocates and witnesses of the accused. The unfortunate Father Sheehy was found guilty of the murder of a man named John Bridge, and sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, and the sentence was carried into execution at Clonmel. The head of the judicially mur- dered priest was stuck on a spike, and placed over the porch of the old gaol, and there it was allowed to remain for up- wards of twenty years, till at length his sister was allowed to remove it. The next victim of the Sheehy family was the cousin of the priest, Edmond Sheehy, the grandfather of Lady Bless- ington; and he, equally innocent, and far less obnoxious to suspicion of any misprision of agragrian outrage, was put to death a little later than his relative. Edmond Sheehy, the maternal grandfather of Lady Bless- ington, who perished on the scaffold in May, 1766, and was buried in Kilronan church-yard, left four children, Robert. James, Ellen, and Mary. His eldest son Robert was mur- dered on his own property in 1831, at Bawnfowne, in the parish of Kilronan; his eldest daughter, Ellen, married Ed- mond Power, Esq. of Curragheen, in the county of Water- ford. This lady was not in anywise remarkable for her intel- 16 INTRODUCTION. lectual qualities. She was a plain, simple woman, of no pretensions to elegance of manners, refinement or graceful- ness. She died in Dublin, upwards of twenty years ago. The second son, James, went to America at an early age, and was never afterwards heard of. The youngest daughter, Mary, married a Mr. John Colins, the proprietor of a newspaper in Clonmel. Robert Sheehy, who was murdered in 1831, left a son (Mr. John Sheehy, first cousin of Lady Blessington), whom I knew about two years ago in Clonmel, filling the situation of Master of Work house, (named Keyward Auxiliary Work- house). Shortly after his marriage, Mr. Power removed to Knockbrit, a place about two miles from Cashel ; and there, where he resided for many years, all his children, with the exception of the youngest, were born.] “ Beauty, the heritage of the family, was, in her early youth, denied to Marguerite; her eldest brother and sister, Michael and Anne, as well as Ellen and Robert, were singularly hand- some and healthy children, while she, pale, weakly, and ailing, was for years regarded as little likely ever to grow to woman- hood; the precocity of her intellect, the keenness of her perceptions, and her extreme sensitiveness, all of which are so often regarded, more especially among the Irish, as the precursive symptoms of an early death, confirmed this belief, and the poor, pale, reflective child was long looked upon as doomed to a premature grave. “The atmosphere in which she lived was but little con- genial to such a nature. Her father, a man of violent tem- per, and little given to study the characters of his children, intimidated and shook the delicate nerves of the sickly child, though there were moments—rare ones, it is true—when the sparkles of her early genius for an instant dazzled and grati- fied him. Her mother, though she failed not to bestow the tenderest maternal care on the health of the little sufferer, INTRODUCTION. 17 was not capable of appreciating her fine and subtle qualities, and her brothers and sisters, fond as they were of her, were not, in their high health and boisterous gaiety, companions suited to such a child. “During her earliest years, therefore, she lived in a world of dreams and fancies, sufficient, at first, to satisfy her infant mind, but soon all too vague and incomplete to fill the blank within. Perpetual speculations, restless inquiries, to which she could find no satisfactory solutions, continually occupied her dawning intellect; and, until at last accident happily threw in her way an intelligence capable of comprehending the workings of the infant spirit, it was at once a torment and a blessing to her. “ This person, a Miss Anne Dwyer, a friend of her mother's, was herself possessed of talents and information far above the standard of other country women in those days. “ Miss Dwyer was surprised, and soon interested by the re- flective air and strange questions which had excited only ridi- cule among those who had hitherto been around the child. The development of this fine organization, and the aiding it to comprehend what had so long been a sealed book, formed a study fraught with pleasure to her; and while Marguerite was yet an infant, this worthy woman began to undertake the task of her education. “At a very early age, the powers of her imagination had already begun to develop themselves. She would entertain her brothers and sisters for hours with tales invented as she proceeded; and at last so remarkable did this talent become, that her parents, astonished at the interest and coherence of her narrations, constantly called upon her to improviser for the entertainment of their friends and neighbours, a task always easy to her fertile brain ; and, in a short time, the little neglected child became the wonder of the neighbour- hood. VOL. I. 18 INTRODUCTION. TO “ The increasing ages of their children, and the difficulty of obtaining the means of instruction for them at Knockbrit, induced Mr. and Mrs. Power to put into practice a design long formed, of removing to Clonmel, the county town of Tipperary. This change, which was looked upon by her brothers and sisters as a source of infinite satisfaction, was to Marguerite one of almost unmingled regret. To leave the place of her birth, the scenes which her passionate love of nature had so deeply endeared to her, was one of the severest trials she had ever experienced, and was looked forward to with sorrow and dread. At last, the day arrived, when she was to leave the home of her childhood; and sad and lonely, she stole forth to the garden, to bid farewell to each beloved spot. “ Gathering a handful of flowers to keep in memory of the place, yet fearing the ridicule of the other members of the family, she carefully concealed them in her pocket; and with many tears and bitter regrets, was at last driven from Knock- brit, where, as it seemed to her, she left all happiness behind her." [The removal of the Powers from Knockbrit to Clonmel must have been previously to the year 1796 or 1797. Their house in Clonmel, which I lately visited, is a small incom- modious dwelling, near the bridge leading to the adjoining county of Waterford, at a place called Suir Island. “ At Clonmel the improving health of Marguerite, and the society of children of her own age, gradually produced their effect on her spirits; and though her love of reading and study continued rather to increase than abate, she became more able to join in the amusements of her brothers and sisters, who, delighted at the change, gladly welcomed her into their society, and manifested the affection which hitherto they had little opportunity of displaying. “ But soon it seemed as if the violent grief she had expe- INTRODUCTION. 19 UU rienced at quitting the place of her birth, was prophetic of the misfortunes which, one by one, followed the removal to Clonmel. “ Her father, with recklessness too prevalent in his day, commenced a mode of living, and indulged in pleasures and hospitality, which his means, though amply sufficient to supply necessary expenses, were wholly inadequate to support. “In an evil hour he was tempted by the representations of a certain nobleman, more anxious to promote his own interest and influence than scrupulous as to the consequences which might result to others, to accept the situation of magistrate for the counties of Tipperary and Waterford ; a position from which no pecuniary advantage was to be obtained, and which, in those times of trouble and terror, was fraught with difficulty and danger. “ Led on by promises of a lucrative situation and hints at the probability of a baronetcy, as well as by his own fearless and reckless disposition, Mr. Power performed the painful and onerous duties of his situation with a zeal which procured for him the animosity of the friends and relatives in the re- motest degree of those whom it was his fate, in the discharge of the duties of his office, to bring to punishment, and entirely precluded his giving the slightest attention to the business which had bid so fair to re-establish the fortunes of his family. His nights were spent in hunting down, with troops of Dragoons, the unfortunate and misguided rebels, whose connections, in turn, burned his store-houses, destroyed his plantations, and killed his cattle; while for all of these losses he was repaid by the most flattering encomiums from his noble friend, letters of thanks from the Secretary for Ireland, ac- knowledging his services, and by the most gratifying and marked attention at the Castle, when he visited Dublin. “He was too proud to remind the nobleman he believed to be his friend, of his often-repeated promises; whilst the latter, LL c2 20 INTRODUCTION. only too glad not to be pressed for their performance, con- tinued to lead on his dupe, and, instead of the valuable official appointment, &c. &c., proposed to him to set up a newspaper, in which his Lordship was to procure for him the publication of the government proclamations, a source of no only his Lordship’s political views; so that by way of serving his friend, he found a cheap and easy method of furthering his own plans. The result may be guessed; Mr. Power, utterly unsuited in every respect to the conduct of such an undertaking, only became more and more deeply involved, and year by year added to his difficulties.” A school-fellow of one of the sons of Mr. Power, and well acquainted with the latter, informs me, “ When Mr. Power came to Clonmel, he was about thirty years of age, a good- looking man, of gentlemanly appearance and manners. He engaged in the business of a corn-merchant and butter buyer.* Subsequently he became proprietor of the Clonmel well-known Bernard Wright. The politics of the paper were liberal - Catholic politics-Power was a Catholic, though not . a very strict or observant one. The paper advocated the electioneering interests of the Landaff or Matthew family. Bernard Wright was the guardian of my informant. He was a man of wit, a poet, and an accomplished gentleman. He had been educated for the church in France. He was the only member of his family who was a member of the Roman Catholic religion. He had to fly from Paris at the time of the French revolution. In the Irish rebellion of 1798, he was one of the victims of the savagery of Sir Thomas Judkin * It has been stated, very erroneously, that Mr. Power kept an inn in Clonmel; and no less inaccurately has he been designated “ an obscure tradesman” of that town. INTRODUCTION. 21 reel Fitzgerald, and the only one of those victims who made that ferocious man pay for his inhumanity after 1798. In January, 1844, when residing in Portugal, Mr. Jeremiah Meagher, a native of Clonmel, intimately acquainted with all the parties referred to in the preceding account, and the events of a later period in the career of Lady Blessington's father, informed me of many particulars relating to Wright, and also Mr. Edmond Power and his family, of much interest; which account Lady Blessington subsequently confirmed when I visited her in London, and spoke of her early friend, the Vice-Consul, in the warmest terms of affectionate regard. Mr. Meagher, in reference to Bernard Wright, said: “ He used to furnish articles of a literary kind for Power's paper, and assisted in the management, but he had no political opi- nions of any kind. Of that fact he, Mr. Meagher, was quite certain.” The newspaper concern was a ruinous affair to Mr. Power. Mr. Meagher says, “ It was badly conducted, Mr. Power was a very illiterate man, of no business habits, of no fixed prin- ciples.” Lady Blessington informed me, that “ Her father's pursuits in carrying out the views of his patron, Lord Donoughmore, caused him to neglect his business. His affairs became de- ranged. To retrieve them, he entered into partnership, in a general mercantile way, with Messrs. Hunt and O'Brien, of Waterford. He expended a great deal of money there, in building stores and warehouses. Those buildings, however, were burned by the people (it was imagined), in revenge for the cruelties he had practised on them. “ His violence," continued her Ladyship, “ which had for- merly been of a political kind only, now became a sort of con- stitutional irascibility, his temper more and more irritable, his habits irregular and disorderly; he was eventually a terror to his wife and children. He treated his wife with brutality, INTRODUCTION. S he upbraided her frequently with her father's fate, and would often say to her, 'What more could be expected from the daughter of a convicted rebel ? “ His mercantile career was unfortunate, his partners got rid of him after many fruitless remonstrances. He had over- drawn the capital he had put into the house, by several thou- sand pounds. His next speculation was a newspaper, called the Clonmel Gazette, which was set up by him at the instance of Lord Donoughmore, for the support of his Lordship's electioneering interests in the county, and of his political opinions. Bernard Wright, the person who was. flogged, in 1798, by Sir John Judkin Fitzgerald, for having a French letter in his pocket, was for some time the manager and editor of that paper. The paper was at length prosecuted for a libel written by Lord Donoughmore. But his Lordship left her father to bear the brunt of the action, and to pay the expense of the suit and the damages. The paper then went to ruin. Mr. Power for some years previously had given him- self up to dissipation, and his affairs had become involved in difficulties, even before the period of his setting up the paper, so much so, that she (Lady Blessington) and her sister Ellen, while at school, had often felt the humiliation of being de- barred from learning certain kinds of work, tambour em- broidery, &c., on account of the irregularity of the payment of their school charges.” Mr. Power was a fair, though not a very favourable spe- cimen of the Irish country gentleman of some sixty years ago ; fond of dogs, horses, wine, and revelry, and very impro- vident and inattentive to all affairs of business. He was a good-looking man, of a lively, thoughtless aspect, showy in his appearance, and with something of an aristocratic air; very demonstative of frills and ruffles, much given to white cravats,. and the wearing of leather breeches and top boots. He was known to the Tipperary bloods as “ a Buck," as “ Shiver the An INTRODUCTION. 23 ( Frills,” “ Beau Power," and other appellations complimentary to his sporting character, rollicking disposition, and remark- able costume. When the times were out of joint, and preparations were making for rebellion, in the latter part of 1797, Mr. Power was one of those Catholic gentlemen who had been “overtaken with vehement suspicion of sundry misprisions of treason.” He certainly was supposed to have sympathy with the dis- affected, and to be no stranger to their counsels. But a sudden and a happy change came over the spirit of his political opinions. For some years succeeding the disastrous epoch of 1798, Mr. Power, having thrown himself into local politics, and becoming deeply engaged in public affairs, ac- quired the character of a terrorist, in the district that was the sphere of his magisterial duties. The hunting of suspected rebels, of persons thought to be disloyal in the late rebellion, even so long as eight and nine years after its complete sup- pression, became a favourite pursuit of Mr. Power. At length, the energy of his loyalty went beyond the law. In scouring the country in pursuit of suspected rebels, he made an at- tempt to arrest a young man whoin he met on his route. The unfortunate man fled at the approach of the armed gentleman with his pistol levelled at him. Mr. Power shot the flying peasant, seized the wounded man, set him on a horse, and carried his dying prisoner first to his own house, and from thence to the gaol at Clonmel. The unfortunate man died. Mr. Power was tried for the murder, and acquitted. The particulars of this frightful affair were given me in 1843, by Lady Blessington, and more recently by other parties, having a very intimate knowledge of the circum- stances referred to. The account given me by Lady Blessington in some re- spects differs from the others; but though it contradicts them in some minor details, it must be borne in mind, her 24 INTRODUCTION. ward by her father in his defence. Though at the risk of being somewhat prolix, it seems best, in a matter of this kind, to give the several statements which seem deserving of attention separately. Lady Blessington, in speaking to me of this catastrophe, said: “ On one occasion (when her father went out scouring the seem W him. After riding along the road for some time, he informed his son, he was going to apprehend a very desperate fellow in the neighbourhood, whom none of the constables dare lay hands on. Michael Power, whose principles were altogether opposed to the father's, was reluctant to go on this mission, but dared not refuse. The father, approaching the cabin of a suspected peasant, saw a person at work in an adjoining field. Mr. Power galloped into the field, attended by his son and a servant, and levelling a pistol at the man's head, called on him to surrender (but ex- hibited no warrant for his apprehension). The man (a tenant of Mr. Bagwell) flung a stone at his assailant, where- upon Mr. Power, taking deliberate aim, mortally wounded the man in the body. This was not sufficient; he placed the wounded man on horseback behind his servant, had him bound to the servant, and thus conveyed him to town, and in the first instance to his own place of abode, and then to gaol.” Lady Blessington added, that “she remembered with horror the sight of the wounded man mounted behind the servant, as the party entered the stable-yard of her father's house; pale and ghastly, his head sunk on his breast, his strength apparently exhausted, his clothes steeped with blood, when in this condition he was brought into the court yard bound to the servant. The horror of this deed never left the mind of Michael Power; it haunted him during his short career-he · INTRODUCTION. 25 11 died at an early age in St. Lucia, one of the most noble- minded and tender-hearted of human beings. Such was the influence of his amiable character over the unfortunate wounded man, that when he was dying, he besought his family to take no steps against Mr. Power; and this was solely in considera- · tion of the humanity exhibited by the son.* The man died, and Bagwell, from animosity to her father, on account of his alliance with the Donoughmore interest, persuaded the family to prosecute Mr. Power. Proceedings were commenced against him, but the grand jury threw out the bills. A second bill was sent up subsequently, and found; but Power fled to England, and returned in time to take his trial for murder. He was acquitted, but the judge, even in those unhappy times it was in 1807 the act was committed), thought this was going a little too far with the system of terror; he reprobated the conduct of Power, and had his name expunged from the ma- gistracy." Alderman HM, of Clonmel, adverting to this act, ob- serves, that Mr. Power was what was called an “ active ma- gistrate,” and when patrolling the country, he shot a young man named Lonnergan, the son of a widow, a peasant. This poor fellow Power called a rebel, and had his dead body brought into town and hung out of a window of the old court- house, or, as the place was called long subsequently, the main guard." man * In “ The Dublin Evening Post,” 23d September, 1806, we find he following account of a duel between Michael Power, Esq., and Lieutenant (now Colonel) Kettlewell:- « On the 19th September, 1806, a duel was fought near Two Mile Bridge, in the vicinity of Clonmel, between a Lieutenant Kettlewell (now Colonel Kettlewell), and Michael Power, Esq., the eldest son of Edmond Power ; when, after the discharge of two shots each, the affair was amicably settled by the interference of the seconds. Captain Armstrong, of the Artillery, was friend to Lieutenant Kettlewell; and Mr. O'Connell, of Clonmel, was the second of Mr. Power.” 26 INTRODUCTION. This gentleman adds, “ There the body was first seen by his mother after the boy's death ; and after she had gazed on the body for a few instants, she knelt down and cursed her son's murderer.” A lady, upon whose accuracy every dependence can be placed, Mrs. R—-, a native of Tipperary (and nearly con- nected by marriage with Mr. J. O'C—--), who remembered Lady Blessington when a child, (her father and Mr. Power being near neighbours,) states that Mr. Power sought to obtain local influence and distinction, by hunting down the peasantry at the head of a troop of mounted yeomanry, succeeded in being made a magistrate, and was in the habit of scouring the country for suspected parties around his residence. At a period when martial law was in full force throughout the country, Mr. Power, in one of those scouring expeditions in his district, saw a young lad as he was going along the road, with a pitchfork in his hand, the son of an old widow woman, living on the property of Colonel Bagwell. Mr. Power, on seeing the lad, at once decided that he was a rebel, and his pitchfork was an evidence of treasonable intentions. The sight of the well-known terrorist and his troopers was sufficient to put the lad to flight—he ran into a field. Mr. Power fired at him as he was running; the shot took effect, and death shortly afterwards was the result. Mrs. R states, the widow and her son were very quiet, harmless, honest, well-disposed people, much liked in the neighbourhood. The lad having broken the prong of his fork, was proceeding to the smith's forge, in the evening of the day referred to, to get it mended, when he had the misfortune to fall in with Mr. Power, at an angle of a road, and was shot by him. Before the poor lad had left the cabin, his mother subse- quently stated, that she had said to him, “ Joe, dear, it's too late to go, maybe Mr. Power and the yeomen are out.” The lad said, “ Never mind, mother, I'll only leave the fork and INTRODUCTION. 27 come back immediately, you know I can't do without it to morrow.” The widow watched for her son all night long, in vain. He returned to her no more. She made fruitless inquiries at the smith's. She went into Clonmel in the morning, and there she learned her son had been shot by Mr Power. The usual brutality of hanging up the mutilated body of a presumed traitor in front of the guard-house was gone through in this case. The widow recognized the remains of her only child. Her piercing shrieks attracted attention. They soon ceased; some of the bystanders carried away the old creature, senseless and speechless. She had no one now of kith or kin living with her to help her, no one at home to mind her, and she was unable to mind herself. Mrs.R—'s father, a humane, good-hearted man, took pity on the poor old forlorn creature ; he had her brought to his own home, and she remained an inmate of it to the day of her death. The children of this good man have a rich inheritance in his memory to be proud of and thankful to God for. The old woman never wholly recovered the shock she had sustained ; she moped and pined away in a state of listless apathy, that merged eventually into a state of hypochondria, and in a paroxysm of despondency she attempted to put an end to her existence by cutting her throat. Strange to say, although the windpipe was severed, and she lost a great deal of blood, the principal vessels being unin- jured, with timely assistance, she partially recovered, and was restored, not only to tolerable bodily health, but to a com- paratively sound state of mind also. She died after a year or two. Scarcely any one out of R—~'s house, with one ex- ception, another son, living apart from her, cared for her, or spoke about her; nothing more was heard of her or hers; but the voice of her innocent son's blood went up to heaven.] “ About this time,” says Miss Power, “ Anne, the eldest of the family, was attacked by a nervous fever, partly the result 28 INTRODUCTION. le m of the terror and anxiety into which the whole of the family were plunged by the misfortunes which gathered round them, aggravated by the frequent and terrible outbreaks of rage to which their father, always passionate, now became more than ever subject. In spite of every effort, this lovely child, whose affectionate disposition and endearing qualities entirely pre- cluded any feeling of jealousy which the constant praises of her extreme beauty, to the disparagement of Marguerite, might have excited in the breast of the latter, fell a victim to the disease, and not long after, Edmond, the second son, also died. “ These successive misfortunes so impaired the health and depressed the spirits of the mother, that the gloom continued to fall deeper and deeper over the house. “ Thus matters continued for some years, though there were moments when the natural buoyancy of childhood caused the younger members of the family to find relief from the cloud of sorrow and anxiety that hung over their home. The love of society still entertained by their father, brought not unfrequent guests to his board, and enabled his children to mix with the families around. Among those who visited at his house, were some whose names have been honourably known to their country. Lord Hutchinson and his brothers, Curran, the brilliant and witty Lysaght, Generals Sir Robert Mac Farlane, and Sir Colquhoun Grant-then Lieutenant-Colonels, officers of various ranks, and other men of talent and merit, were among these visitors; and their society and conversation were the greatest delight of Marguerite, who, child as she was, was perfectly capable of understanding and appreciating their superiority.” [Among those also, in 1804, who were intimately ac- quainted with the Powers, were Captain Henry Hardinge, of the 47th Regiment of Foot, Captain Archibald Campbell, TU INTRODUCTION. 29 1 Major Edward Blakeney, and Captain James Murray of the same Regiment.] “At fourteen, Marguerite began to enter into the society of grown-up persons; an event which afforded her no small satis- faction, as that of children, with the exception of her brothers and sisters, especially Ellen, from whom she was almost insepar- able, had but little charm for her. Ellen, who was somewhat more than a year her junior, shared the beauty of her family, a fact of which Marguerite, instead of being jealous, was proud, and the greatest affection subsisted between the sisters, though there was but little similarity in their dispositions or pursuits. In order that they might not be separated, Ellen, notwithstanding her extreme youth, was permitted to accom- pany her sister into the society of Tipperary, that is to say, to assemblies held there once a week, called Coteries. These, though music and dancing were the principal amusements, were not considered as balls, to which only girls of riper years were admitted. Here, though Ellen's beauty at first procured her much more notice and admiration than fell to the lot of her sister, the latter, ere long, began to attract no inconsiderable degree of attention. Her dancing was singularly graceful, and the intelligence of her conversation produced more lasting impressions than mere physical beauty could have won. “ About this period the 47th Regiment arrived, and was stationed at Clonmel, and, according to the custom of country towns, particularly in Ireland, all the houses of the leading gentry were thrown open to receive the officers with due attention. "At a dinner given to them by her father, Marguerite was. treated with marked attention by two of them, Captain Mur- ray and Captain Farmer, and this attention was renewed at a juvenile ball given shortly after. “The admiration of Captain Murray, although it failed to win so very youthful a heart, pleased and flattered her, while EU 30 INTRODUCTION. cre der Wa that of Captain Farmer excited nothing but mingled fear and distaste. She hardly knew why; for young, good-looking, and with much to win the good graces of her sex, he was generally considered as more than equal to Captain Murray in the power of pleasing. “An instinct, however, which she could neither define nor control, increased her dislike to such a degree at every succeed- ing interview, that Captain Farmer, perceiving it was in vain to address her personally, applied to her parents, unknown to her, offering his hand, with the most liberal proposals which a good fortune enabled him to make. In ignorance of an event which was destined to work so important' a change in her destiny, Marguerite received a similar proposal from Captain Murray, who at the same time informed her of the course adopted by his brother officer, and revealed a fact which per- haps accounted for the instinctive dread she felt for him.” [Captain Farmer was subject t , fits of ungovernable passion, at times so violent as to endanger the safety of himself and those around him; and at all times there was about him a certain wildness and abruptness of speech and gesture, which left the impression on her mind that he was insane.] “Astonishment, embarrassment, and incredulity, were the feelings uppermost in the girl's mind at a communication so every way strange and unexpected. “ A few days proved to her that the information of Captain Farmer's having addressed himself to her parents was but too true; and the further discovery that these addresses were sanctioned by them, filled her with anxiety and dismay. She knew the embarrassed circumstances of her father, the desire he would naturally feel to secure a union so advantageous in a worldly point of view for one of his children, and she knew, too, his fiery temper, his violent resistance of any attempt at opposition, and the little respect, or consideration, he enter- tained for the wishes of any of his family when contrary to INTRODUCTION. 31 DO his own. Her mother, too, gaye but little heed to what she considered as the foolish and romantic notions of a child, who was much too young to be consulted in the matter. Despite of tears, prayers, and entreaties, the unfortunate girl was com- pelled to yield to the commands of her inexorable parents ; and at fourteen and a half, she was united to a man who in- spired her wich nothing but feelings of terror and detesta- tion."* Captain Maurice St. Leger Farmer entered the army in February, 1795; he had been on half pay in 1802, and ob- tained his company the 9th of July. 1803, in the 47th Regiment of Foot. In 1805 he continued in the same regi- ment, but in 1806 his name is not to be found in the Army List, neither of officers on full, or on half pay.]t " The result of such a union may be guessed. Her hus. band could not but be conscious of the sentiment she enter- tained towards him, though she endeavoured to conceal the extent of her aversion; and this conviction, acting upon his peculiarly excitable temperament, produced such frequent and terrible paroxysms of rage and jealousy, that his victim trem- bled in his presence. It were needless to relate the details of the period of misery, distress, and harrowing fear, through which Marguerite, a child in years, though old in suffering, passed. Denied in her entreaties to be permitted to return to the house of her parents, she at last, in positive terror for her personal safety, fled from the roof of her husband to return no more.” There is a slight mistake in the passage above referred to. On Lady Blessington's own authority, I am able to state, that she did return to her father's house, though she was very A I * The groomsman of Captain Farmer was a Captain Hardinge, of the 47th Regiment. The Captain became a General, and is now · Commander in Chief. † Vide Army. Lists for 1804, 5, 6. 32 INTRODUCTION. 1 reluctantly received there. The particulars of this unhappy marriage had best be given in the words of Lady Blessington, and the following is an account of it furnished me by her “Her father was in a ruined position at the time she was brought home from school, a mere child, and treated as such. Among his military friends, she then saw a Captain Farmer for the first time; he appeared on very intimate terms with her father, but when she first met him, her father did not introduce her to him ; in fact, she was looked on then as a mere school-girl, whom it was not necessary to introduce to any stranger. Her father told her, after some time, she was not to return to school-he had decided that she was to marry out crying, and a scene ensued in which his menaces and her protestations against his determination terminated violently. Her mother unfortunately sided with her father, and even- tually, by caresses, entreaties, and representations of the ad- vantages her father looked forward to from this match with a man of Captain Farmer's affluence, she was persuaded to sacrifice herself, and to marry a man for whom she felt the utmost repugnance. She had not been long under her hus- band's roof when it became evident to her that her husband was subject to fits of insanity, and his own relatives informed her that her father had been acquainted by them, that Captain Farmer had been insane; but this information had been con- cealed from her by her father. She lived with him about three months, and during this time he frequently treated her with personal violence; he used to strike her on the face, pinch her till her arms were black and blue, lock her up whenever he went abroad, and often had left her without food till she felt almost famished. He was ordered at length to join his regi- ment, which was encamped on the Curragh of Kildare. Lady Blessington refused to accompany him there, and was even- INTRODUCTION. 33 tually permitted to return to her father's house, to remain there during his absence. Captain Farmer joined his regiment, and had not been many days with it, when in a quarrel with a brother officer, he drew his sword on the former (who was his superior), and the result of this insane act (for such it was allowed to be) was, that he was obliged to quit the service, being permitted to sell his commission. The friends of Captain Farmer then prevailed on him to go to India (I think Lady Blessington said in the Company's service); she, however, refused to go with him, and remained at her father's.” Such is the account given to me by Lady Blessington, and for the accuracy of the above report of that account I can vouch ; though, of course, I can offer no opinion as to the justice of her conclusions in regard to the insanity of Captain Farmer. But it must be stated, fully and unreservedly, that the account given by her Ladyship of the causes of the separa- tion, and those set forth in a recent communication of a brother of Captain Farmer, to the editor of a Dublin evening paper, are in several respects at variance. * Mr. John Sheehy, now residing in Clonmel, a cousin of Lady Blessington, informs me that “ he has a perfect recol- lection of the marriage of Marguerite Power with Captain Farmer. His father considered it a forced marriage, and used to speak of the violence done to the poor girl by her father, as an act of tyranny. It was an unfortunate marriage,” says Mr. Sheehy, “ and it led to great misfortunes. It was impossible for her to live with Captain Farmer. She fled from him, and sought refuge in her father's house. “She refused to return to her husband, and a separation was agreed on by the parties. Mrs. Farmer found herself very unhappily circumstanced in her former home. Her father was unkind, and sometimes more than unkind to her. She was looked on as an interloper in the house, as one who * See Appendix for Report of Inquest. VOL. I. D 1 34 INTRODUCTION. interfere with the prospects, and advancement in life, of her sisters. It was supposed that one of the military friends of Mr. Power, and a frequent visitor at his house, Captain Jenkins, then stationed at Tullow, had been disposed to pay his addresses to Miss Ellen Power, and to have married her, and was prevented by other stronger impressions, made on him by one then wholly unconscious of the influence exerted by her.”* The supposition, however, as far as Miss Eller Power was concerned, was an erroneous one. Captain Jenkins was brought up in the expectation of in- heriting a large fortune in Hampshire, and was ultimately disappointed in that expectation. For several years he had a large income, and having expended a great deal of money, upwards of £100,000, previously to his marriage, had been for many years greatly embarrassed. His embarrass- ments, however, did not prevent him from retaining the esteem and regard of all who had known him in his more prosperous circumstances; and amongst the rest, the Earl of Blessington, to whom he was indebted for assistance on a single occasion, and in one sum at that time, to the amount of £10,000. Captain Jenkins was a generous man, an amiable (1 nh * The officer above referred to, was a Captain Thomas Jenkins, of the 11th Light Dragoons; a gentleman of a good family in Hampshire, and of very large expectations of fortune. He had a brother in the same regiment with him, who remained in Ireland some years subse- quently to his departure for England. By the Army List we find this gentleman entered the army in De- cember, 1801. He held the rank of Lieutenant in the 11th Light Dra- goons in January, 1802. In December, 1806, he obtained a Captaincy, and continued to hold the same rank in that regiment till after the peace in 1815. In 1809 he was domiciled in Dublin, in Holles Street, and Mrs. Farmer was then also residing in Dublin. In 1816 his name disappears from the Army Lists. He had an establishment at Sid- manton, in Hampshire, for three or four years previously to 1814. He served with his regiment in the latter part of the Peninsular cam- paign, and was absent from Sidmanton nearly two years.-R. R. M. INTRODUCTION. 35 ess and kindly-disposed person, of very prepossessing appearance, elegant manners, and pleasing address. He married, when rather advanced in years, the Baroness Calabrella—a sister of a gentleman of some notoriety in his day, Mr. Ball Hughes the widow first of a Mr. Lee, and secondly of a Mr. De Blaquiere. This lady, who was possessed of considerable means, purchased a small property on the continent, with some rights of Seigniorage appertaining to it, from which the title is derived which she now bears. She resided for some years in Abbeville, up to a short period, I believe, of her second husband's death, which took place in Paris. This lady is the talented authoress of several remarkable productions, was long intimately acquainted with Lady Bless- ington, and held in very high estimation by her Ladyship. “The house of Mr. Power,” Mr. Sheehy states, “was made so disagreeable to Mrs. Farmer, that she might be said to have been driven to the necessity of seeking shelter else- where. “He remembers Mrs. Farmer residing at Tullow, in the county of Waterford, four miles from Lismore. His own family was then living at Cappoquin, within seven miles of Tullow. Mrs. Farmer wrote to her uncle and his daughters ; but he disapproved of her separation from Captain Farmer, and refused, on that account, to allow his daughters to visit her." “Previously to her marriage with Captain Farmer,” he adds, “ idle persons gossiped about her alleged love of ball- room distinction, and intimacy with persons remarkable for gaiety and pleasure. But there was no ground for the rumour." Another gentleman, well acquainted with the family, Alder- man H -, says : “ Mrs Farmer lived for nearly three years with her husband at different places. After the separation, D 2 36 INTRODUCTION. TY 1 le". she sojourned for some time with her aunt, Mrs. Gleeson, the wife of Dr. Gleeson, and sister of her father, who lived at Ringville, near Dungarvan (and is still living there). She re- sided also occasionally at her father's with her sister Ellen, sans reproche (but not without great trials); her husband treated her badly.” Mr. Jeremiah Meagher, British Vice-Consul at Lisbon, in- formed me that he was in the employment of Mr. Power, in connection with the Clonmel Gazette, in 1804, at the period of the marriage of Marguerite Power with Captain Farmer. That subsequently to it, he knew her when she was residing at Cahir. Another acquaintance of Lady Blessington in early life, remembers her and her sister Ellen residing, at the period referred to, in Felhard, and has a recollection of meet- ing them at the shop of a Mr. Byrne, in that town. Mr. Meagher speaks in terms of the strongest regard for her. “He never knew a person so inclined to act kindly to- wards others, to do anything that lay in her power to serve others; he never knew a person naturally better disposed; or one possessing so much goodness of heart. He knew her from childhood, to the period of her marriage, and some years subsequently to it; and of all the children of Mr. Power, Marguerite was his favourite." This is the testimony of a very honest and upright man Mr. Meagher says— " She resided at Cahir so late as 1807. He thinks Captain Jenkins' intimacy with the Power family commenced in 1807.” And another informant, Mr. Wright, son of Bernard Wright, states that Mrs. Farmer, while re- siding at Cahir, visited frequently at Lord Glengall’s. Other persons have a recollection of Colonel Stewart, of Killymoon, being a favourite guest at the house of Mr. Power, at many entertainments, between 1805 and 1807, and a supposed admirer of Miss Ellen Power. The Tyrone militia was stationed at Clonmel, or in its vici- INTRODUCTION. 37 nity, about the period of Captain Farmer's marriage with Miss Power, or not long after that event. The Colonel of this regiment was the Earl of Caledon (date of appointment, 11th of August, 1804). The Lieutenant- Colonel, Lord Mountjoy (date of appointment, 28th of Sep- tember, 1804). His lordship was succeeded in the Lieutenant- Colonelcy by William Stewart, Esq., son of Sir J. Stewart, of Killymoon (date of appointment, 16th of April, 1805), and continued to hold that rank from 1805 to 1812. As an in- timate friend of Miss Ellen Power and her sister, a few words of Colonel Stewart may not be out of place. He was a descendant of the junior branch of the Stewarts of Ochiltree, who were related to the royal line, and who re- ceived large grants from James I., after his accession to the British throne. Colonel Stewart's splendid mansion (built by Nash), and magnificent demesne of Killymoon, were hardly equalled, for elegant taste and beauty of situation and scenery, in the county of Tyrone. The library, the remains of which I saw immediately after the sale of the property in 1850, was one of the richest in Ireland, in Italian literature. The Colonel had been much in Italy, and had carried back with him the tastes and habits of an accomplished traveller, and a lover of Italian lore. His personal appearance and manners were remarkable for elegance, and were no less prepossessing and attractive than his mental qualities and accomplishments. Sir John Stewart, the father of the late Colonel Stewart, died in October, 1825, at his seat, Killymoon. He had been a distinguished member of the Dungannon volunteer con- vention. “Sir John had been returned six times for the county Tyrone, and had been a member of the Irish and Im- perial Parliament for forty years, during which time he was a steady, uniform, and zealous supporter of the constitution in church and state. He filled the offices of counsel to the Re- venue Board, Solicitor-General, and Attorney-General; and S as a 38 INTRODUCTION. of him it was truly observed, by an aged statesman, 'that he was one of the few men who grew more humble the higher he advanced in political station.' Sir John was married in the year 1790, to Miss Archdale, sister of General Archdale, M.P. for the county of Fermanagh, by whom he had two sons and a daughter.”* In the several notices of Lady Blessington that have been published, there is a hiatus in the account given, that leaves a period of about nine years unnoticed. In 1807 she was living at Cahir, in the county Tipperary, separated from her husband ; in 1809 she was sojourning in Dublin; a little later, she was residing in Hampshire ; in 1816, we find her established in Manchester Square, London ; and at the commencement of 1818, on the point of marriage with an Irish nobleman. The task I have proposed to myself does not render it ne- cessary for me to do more than glance at the fact, and to cite a few passages more from the Memoir of Miss Power. 7 “Circumstances having at last induced Mrs. Farmer to fix upon London as a residence, she established herself in a house in Manchester Square, where, with her brother, Robert (Michael had died some years previously), she remained for a considerable period. “Notwithstanding the troublous scenes through which she had passed, the beauty denied in her childhood had gradually budded and blossomed into a degree of loveliness which many now living can attest, and which Lawrence painted, and Byron sung.” [Among the visitors at her house, we are told by Miss Power, was the Earl of Blessington, then a widower. And on the occurrence of an event in 1817, which placed the des- tiny of Mrs. Farmer in her own hands, his Lordship’s ad- . In * Annual Register, Appendix to Chronicle, 1825, p. 286. INTRODUCTION. 39 miration was soon made known, and proposals of marriage were offered to her, and accepted by her in 1818. The event above referred to, was the death of Captain Farmer. Captain Farmer, subsequently to the separation about 1807, having left his regiment, still serving in Ireland, went to the East Indies, obtained employment, and remained there a few years. He returned to England about 1816, and being acquainted with persons involved in pecuniary embar- rassments, who had been thrown into prison, during their confinement within the rules of the Fleet, he visited them frequently, lived freely, and, I believe it may be added, riot- ously, with his imprisoned friends. On one occasion, of a festive nature, after having been regaled by them, and indulging in excess, in the act of en- deavouring to sally forth from the room where the entertain- ment had been given, he rushed out of the room, placed himself on the ledge of the window, to escape the importu- nities of his associates, fell to the ground in the court yard, and died of the wounds he received, a little later. From the “Morning Herald” of October 28th, 1817, the following account is taken of the inquest on Captain Maurice Farmer:- “An inquisition has been taken at the Bear and Rummer, Wells Street, Middlesex Hospital, on the body of Captain Maurice Farmer, who was killed by falling from a window, in the King's Bench Prison. The deceased was a captain in the army, upon half-pay; and having received an appointment in the service of the Spanish Patriots, went, on Thursday week, to take leave of some friends, confined in the King's Bench Prison. The party drank four quarts of rum, and were all intoxicated. When the deceased rose to go home, his friends locked the door of the room to prevent him. Apprehensive that they meant to detain him all night, as they had done twice before, he threw up the window, and threatened to jump INTRODUCTION. out if they did not release him. Finding this of no avail, he got upon the ledge, and, whilst expostulating with them, lost his balance. He hung on for some minutes by his hands, hut his friends were too much intoxicated to be able to relieve him. He consequently fell from the two pair, and had one thigh and one arm broken, and the violence with which his head came in contact with the ground, produced an effusion of blood on the brain. He was taken up in a state of in- sensibility, and conveyed to the Middlesex Hospital, where he died on Tuesday last. The deputy-marshal of the King's Bench Prison attended the inquest. He stated that the friends of the deceased had no intention of injuring him; but, from the gross impropriety of their conduct, the marshal had committed them to Horsemonger Lane Gaol, to one month's solitary confinement. "The jury came to the following verdict :- The deceased came to his death by accidentally falling from a window in the King's Bench Prison, when in a state of intoxication.” In the statement made to me by Lady Blessington in 1843, to which I have previously referred, I was informed, “In a few days after Captain Farmer's death, Perry, of the 'Morning Chronicle' (then unknown to Lord Blessington), addressed a note to Lord Blessington, enclosing a statement, purporting to be an account of the death of Captain Farmer, sent to him for insertion in his paper, throwing an air of mystery over the recent catastrophe, asserting things that were utterly un- founded, and entering into many particulars in connection with his marriage, and its antecedents. The simple state- ment of the facts on the part of Lord Blessington to Perry, sufficed to prevent the insertion of this infamous slander, and jaid the foundation of a lasting friendship between Lord and Lady Blessington, and the worthy man who was then editor of the 'Morning Chronicle.' Mr. Edmond Power, of Clonmel, in the meantime, had TYI O 1 SIL ver Tu OTO INTRODUCTION. 41 become a ruined man, broken down in fortune, and at a low ebb in domestic happiness. He removed with his wife to Dublin, and there, in Clarendon Street, Mrs. Power died, far advanced in years. Her husband married a second time, upwards of twenty years ago, a Mrs. Hymes, widow of a brewer of Limerick. This lady, whose maiden name was Vize, was a native of Clonmel. He . had been supported for a great many years previously to his death by his two daughters, Lady Blessington and Lady Canterbury, who jointly contributed towards his maintenance. He possessed no other means of subsistence, having disposed of his interest in a small farm, called Stanley Lodge, in the vicinity of Cashel, at the time the arrangement was entered into by his daughters to contribute to his maintenance. The claims on Lady Blessington were more extensive than can be well conceived. One member of her family had an annual stipend paid monthly, from the year 1836 to 1839 inclusive, of five pounds a month. In 1840 it was increased to eight pounds a month. From 1841 to 1847, inclusive, it was seven pounds a month. These payments, for which I have seen vouchers, amounted, in all, to the sum of seven hundred and eighty-four pounds. I have reason to believe the stipend was continued to be paid in 1848, which addi. tional sum would make the amount eight hundred and sixty- eight pounds devoted to the assistance of one relative alone, exclusive of other occasional contributions on particular oc- casions. Miss Mary Anne Power, the youngest sister of Lady Blessington, married in 1831, an old French nobleman of ancient family, the Count Saint Marsault. The disparity of years in this alliance was too great to afford much expectation of felicity. The Count returned to his own country, and his wife returned to her native land, preserving there, as else- 42 INTRODUCTION. . where, a character for some eccentricity, but one uniformly irreproachable. : Mrs. Dogherty, to whom allusion is made in the letters of Lady Blessington, was a relative of Mr. Edward Quinlan, of Clonmel, an old gentleman of considerable means, who had been connected by marriage with Lady Blessington's mother (vide genealogical account of the Sheehy family). Mr. Quinlan died in November, 1836, leaving large fortunes to his daughters. On the occasion of the trial of Edmond Power for the murder of the boy Lonergan, till Mr. Quinlan came forward with a sum of fifty pounds as a loan to Power, the latter was actually unable at the time to engage counsel for his defence. ya on her arrival in Ireland, first at Arklow, afterwards in lodg- ings at No. 18, Camden Street, Dublin, and next at 5, Lower Dorset Street, where, in the latter part of October, 1836, Mr. Power was reduced to such a helpless state of bodily debility and suffering, that he was unable to make the slightest movement without the greatest agony. He was attended in Dublin by a relative of his, a Dr. Kirwan, a first- cousin. He appears to have died in the early part of 1837. On the 30th of January, 1837, the Countess of St. Marsault was no longer residing in Dublin, but was then domesticated at the abode of an old lady of the name of Dogherty, a rela- tive of hers, at Mont Bruis, near Cashel, in the county of an absence of thirty years, she visited Clonmel.” The date of this visit was April, 1837. She must then have quitted Clonmel in 1807, in very early childhood. In 1839, she re- turned to England, and as she had previously done, declined, on more than one occasion, pressing invitations to take up her abode again with her sister, Lady Blessington. Mr. Power, at the time of his decease, was seventy years INTRODUCTION. 43 of age. A youth passed without the benefit of experience, had merged into manhood without the restraints of religion or the influences of kindly home affections, and terminated in age without wisdom or respect, and death without solemnity, or the semblance of much becoming fitness for its encounter. This brief outline brings us to the period of the marriage of Lord and Lady Blessington, at which it will be my pro- vince to commence the history of the literary career of her Ladyship. Of Lockhart's “Life of Scott,” it has been observed, “there we have the author and the man in every stage of his career, and in every capacity of his existence, Scott in his study and in courtmin his family and in society in his favourite haunts and lightest amusements. There he is to be seen in the exact relation in which he stood to his children, his intimates, his acquaintances, and dependants,—the central figure, and the circle which surrounded it (Constable, the Bal- lantynes, Erskine, Terry, and a score or two besides), all drawn with such individuality of feature, and all painted in such vivid colours, that we seem not to be moving among the shadows of the dead, but to live with the men them- selves."* I hope, at least in one particular, it will be found I have endeavoured to follow, even at an humble distance, the ex- ample of Scott's biographer, in placing before my readers the subject of my work in a life-like truthful manner, as she was before the public, in her works and in her saloons, and also in her private relations towards her friends and relatives.] * Literary Gazette, February 15, 1851. CHAPTER I. NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON---HIS ORIGIN, EARLY CAREER, FIRST AND SECOND MARRIAGE, ETC. LU The first Earl of Blessington was a descendant of the Walter Stewart, or Steward, who, “ on account of his high descent, and being the nearest branch of the royal family of Scotland,” we are told by Lodge, * “ was created Seneschal, or Lord High Stuart of Scotland, or Receiver of the Royal Revenues, from which office his family afterwards took and retained their surname of Stewart.” This office and dignity were created by Malcolm the Third, of Scotland, after the death of Macduffe, in 1057. The descendants of the Lord High Con- stable became the founders of the house of Lenox, and one of them, by intermarriage with the daughter of King Robert Bruce, the founder of many noble families in England and Ireland. The first Stewart of this race who settled in Ire- land, was Sir William Stewart, of Aughentean and of Newtown Stewart, in the county of Tyrone, and his brother, Sir Robert Stewart, of Culmore, knights, “ both very active and able gentlemen, in the distracted times of King Charles the First.” Sir Robert came into Ireland in the reign of James the First. He received from that monarch, for his Irish services, various grants of rectories and other church property in Leitrim, Cavan, and Fermanagh, and subsequently a large tract of country of the confiscated lands of Ulster were obtained by his brother William. In 1641, he raised and com- LOUIS * Irish Peerage, vol. ii. p. 196, ed. 8vo. 1754. NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. 45 manded a troop of horse and a regiment of foot of one thousand men. He was made Governor of Derry in 1643, and in that year totally routed the Irish under Owen O'Neill, at Clones. He and his brother having refused to take the covenant, were deprived of their command, and sent by Monck's orders prisoners to London. After many vicissi- tudes, Sir Robert returned to Ireland, and was appointed Governor of the city and county of Derry in 1660. Sir William “ being in great favour with James the First, became an undertaker for the plantation of escheated lands in Ulster.” He was created a baronet in 1623. He assisted largely in the plantation of Ulster, and profited extensively by it. He was a member of the Privy Council in the time of King James the First and Charles the First. At the head of his regiment, he, with his brother's aid, -routed Sir Phelim O'Neill at Strabane. He left many children; his eldest son, Sir Alexander Stewart, sided with the Covenanters, in 1648. He was killed at the battle of Dunbar, in Scotland, in 1653. By his marriage with a daughter of Sir Robert Newcomen, he had issue Sir William Stewart, who was made Custos Rotulorum of the county of Donegal, in 1678, and was ad- vanced to the dignity of Baron Stewart of Ramaltan, and Viscount Mountjoy, in 1682, being constituted at the same time Master-General of the Ordnance, and Colonel of a regi- ment of horse. William Stewart, first Viscount Mountjoy, was slain at the battle of Steinkirk, in Flanders, in 1692. He was suc- ceeded by his son, William, Viscount Mountjoy, who died in Bourdeaux, without issue. * Alexander, brother of the preceding William, died during the lifetime of his brother, leaving an only daughter. The Right Honourable Luke Gardiner, Member of Parlia- ment and Privy Councillor, married, in 1711, Anne, sole . * Exshaw's London Magazine, 1754, p. 259. VU 46 NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. daughter and heiress of the Honourable Alexander Stewart, second son of William, first Viscount Mountjoy. * Lord Primate Boulter recommended Mr. Luke Gardiner as a fit and proper person to be made a Privy Councillor. His views of fitness for that high office led him to look out for a sturdy parvenu of Irish descent, without regard to an- cestry, who was capable of curbing the degenerate lords of the English pale, and gentlemen in Parliament descended from English undertakers, too influential to be easily managed, who had become “ Hiberniores quam Hibernis Ipsis ;” in a few words, “such a one as Mr. Gardiner, to help to keep others in order," in the Privy Council. Primate Boulter, in a communication to the English minister, recommending Mr. Gardiner, said: “There is another affair which I troubled the Duke of Dorset about, and which I beg leave to lay before your Grace which is the making Mr. Gardiner a Privy Councillor. He is deputy to the Vice-Treasurer of this kingdom, and one of the most useful of his Majesty's servants here, as your Grace, will be fully satisfied when you do us the honour to be with us. There is nobody here more against increasing the number of Privy Councillors than I am, who think they are by much too numerous; but it is because many have been brought in without any knowledge of business, or particular attachment RCE * Luke Gardiner's generally supposed origin and rise in the world from a menial station in the service of Mr. White, of Leixlip Castle, a descendant of Sir Nicholas White, the owner and occupier of the castle in 1666, were subjects of some satirical pasquinades and witti- cisms in the early part of the last century. In reference to his alleged former servile situation, it was said that a noble friend of his in em- barrassed circumstances, once observed to him, on seeing him enter his carriage, “ How does it happen, Gardiner, you never make a mis. take, and get up behind ?" To which Gardiner replied, “ Some people, my lord, who have been long accustomed to going in, remain at last on the outside, and can neither get in, nor up again." NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. 47 to his Majesty's service, merely for being members of either house of Parliament, that we want such a one as Mr. Gar- diner to help to keep others in order, as he is most zealously attached to his Majesty by affection as well as by interest, and is a thorough man of business, and of great weight in the country."* The practice of making Jews officers of the Inquisition, was thought to have worked well in Spain, and to have served to keep the grandees in order. Luke Gardiner died at Bath in 1753, and was succeeded in his estates by his son, Charles Gardiner, who, on the demise of his maternal grandfather (when the male line of the Stewart family ceased), succeeded to all the property of the late lord. He married in 1741, and at his death left several children. His eldest son, the Right Honourable Luke Gardiner, in- herited the Mountjoy estates. He was born in 1745, re- presented the city of Dublin in Parliament, was made a Privy Councillor, and held the rank of Colonel in the Dublin Volun- teers, and subsequently in the Dublin Militia. He held a command also in a volunteer corps in his native county. The Mountjoy title was renewed in his person. In 1789, he was created a baron, and in 1795 was advanced to the dig- nity of Viscount Mountjoy. He married, in 1773, the eldest daughter of a Scotch baronet, Sir William Montgomery, and sister of Anne, Marchioness of Townsend, by whom he had issue two sons, Luke and Charles John, and several daughters. lst. Luke, who died in 1781, in infancy. 2nd. Charles John, who succeeded his father, second Viscount Mountjoy, the late Earl of Blessington, born the 19th July, 1782. 3rd. Florinda, who died in 1786, aged twelve years. * Boulter's Letters. 48 EARL OF BLESSINGTON. T NOTICE OF ! THE ni 1 4th. Louisa, born in 1775, who married the Right Reve- rend Robert Fowler, D.D., Bishop of Dromore, and died in 1848, aged seventy-three years. 5th. Harriet, born in 1776, died in 1849, aged seventy- three years. 6th. Emily, who died in 1788. 7th. Caroline, who died in 1782. 8th. Elizabeth, who died in 1791, aged eight years. His Lordship married, secondly, in 1793, Margaret, the eldest daughter of Hector Wallis, by whom he had issue, 9th. Margaret, born in 1796, married the Honourable Hely Hutchinson, died in 1825. The father of the late Earl of Blessington, the Right Honourable Luke Gardiner, Viscount Mountjoy, was an able and energetic man. In his zeal for the public weal, he was by no means unmindful of his own interests. He advocated warmly the claims of the Roman Catholics, he was one of the earliest and most zealous champions of their cause in the Irish par- liament. He took a very active and prominent part in the suppression of the rebellion of 1798 ; and on the 5th of June of that disastrous year, fell at the head of his regiment at the battle of New Ross. Mr. John Graham, a small farmer, still living on the Mountjoy Forest estate, in the county of Mountjoy, now in his eighty-sixth year, informs me the first Lord Mountjoy, in the year 1798, induced him to join his lordship's regiment, and to accompany him to Wexford. He was close to his lordship at Three Bullet Gate, at the battle of New Ross, when the king's troops were attacked by a party of rebels, who lay in wait for them in the ditches on either side of the road, and commenced a heavy fire, which threw the troops into complete disorder. The General who was there in command ordered the troops to retreat; and they did retreat, with the exception of Lord Mountjoy and a few soldiers of his regiment. Graham NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. 19 . saw his lordship fall from his horse mortally wounded, and when he next saw him he was dead, pierced by several balls, and with many pike wounds also. Lord Mountjoy enjoyed several sinecures of considerable emolument. The two principal ones were hereditary. The caricaturists of his day devoted their sarcastic talents to the illustration of his supposed sinecurist propensities. * The Right Honourable Charles John Gardiner, second Viscount and Baron Mountjoy, in the County of Tyrone, at the time of his father's death, in 1798, was in his seventeenth year. He was educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Ox- ford, where he obtained the honorary degree of Master of Arts. In 1803 he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Tyrone Militia ; and in 1807 a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Tyrone ; in 1809, he was elected a representative peer for Ireland, and advanced to the Earldom of Blessington June 22nd, 1816. The origin of this latter title dates from 1673. Michael, Archbishop of Armagh (of the family of Boyle, Earl of Cork and Orrery), in 1665 was constituted Lord High Chancellor of Ireland, and in 1671 was sworn one of the Lords Justices. In 1689 his house at Blessington was plundered by the Irish. * In one of these productions inquiry is made, “ Why a Gardener is the most extraordinary man in the world ?" and the following reasons are assigned in reply to the query : “ Because no man has more business upon earth, and he always chooses good grounds for what he does. He turns his thyme to the best account. He is master of the mint, and fingers penny royal; he raises his celery every year, and it is a bad year indeed that does not bring him in a plum; he has more boughs than a minister of state, does not want London pride, rakes a little under the rose, but would be more sage to keep the Fox from his enclosures, to destroy the rotten' Burroghs, and to avoid the blasts from the North, and not to Foster corruption, lest a Flood should follow.” † Among Lord Blessington's cotemporaries at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1798, were the late Lord Dudley, Lord Ebrington, Bishop Heber, &c. VOL. I. 50 NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. He died in 1702, and was buried in St. Patrick's church. His eldest son, Murrough, by his second marriage with a daughter of Dermod, Earl of Inchiquin, was created Lord Viscount Blessington, in the County of Wicklow, by patent, in 1673. He died in 1718, and was succeeded by his son Charles. One of the daughters of the preceding Viscount, Anne, in 1696, married Sir Williamn Stewart, third Viscount Mountjoy, born in 1709. Charles, the second Viscount Blessington, was Member of Parliament for Blessington in the reigns of Queen Anne and George the First. The title became extinct by his Lordship's death near Paris, without issue, in 1733. The Sir William Stewart, third Viscount Mountjoy above mentioned, who married a daughter of Murrough, Viscount Blessington, had been advanced to the dignity of an earl by the title of Earl of Blessington, in 1745.* Few young noblemen ever entered life with greater advan- tages than the young Viscount Mountjoy ; he was possessed of a fine fortune at the time of his coming of age; he had received an excellent education, was possessed of some talents, and a great deal of shrewdness of observation, and quickness of perception in the discernment of talents, and ability of any intellectual kind. He had a refined taste for literature and arts. In politics, he was a faithful representative of his father's principles. From the commencement of his career to the close of it, he supported the cause of the Roman Catholics. The first time that Viscount Mountjoy spoke in the House of Lords, after having been elected a representative peer for Ireland in 1809, was in favour of a motion for the thanks of the House to Lord Viscount Wellington, and the army under his command, for the victory of Talavera ; when Lord Mount- joy, in reply to the Earl of Grosvenor's opposition to the * Archdall's Peerage, vol. vi. p. 256. NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. 51 ter motion, said that “no General was better skilled in war, none more enlightened than Lord Viscount Wellington. The choice of a position at Talavera reflected lustre on his talents; the victory was as brilliant and glorious as any on record. It was entitled to the unanimous approbation of their lordships, and the eternal gratitude of Spain and of this country.” His Lordship seldom attended his Parliamentary duties, and very seldom spoke. On the Queen's trial, in 1820, in opposing the bill of pains and penalties, Lord Blessington spoke in vindication of the character of Mr. Powell, (who had been engaged in the Milan commission, and was assistant solicitor for the bill), “and expressed much regret that that person had anything to do with the Milan commission." John Allan Powell, Esq., was an intimate acquaintance of the Blessingtons. The young lord's manners and deportment were all in keeping with the qualities of his mind, and the amiability of his disposition. That calamity was his, than which few greater misfortunes can befall a young man of large expec- tations-prided, courted, flattered and beset by evil influences, the loss of a father's care, his counsel and control at the very age when these advantages are most needful to youth and inexperience. The taste of all others which the young nobleman on coming into his ample fortune gave himself up to, was for the drama. He patronized it liberally, and was allured into all the pleasures of its society. The green-room and its affairs—the interests, and rivalries, and intrigues of favourite actors and actresses, the business of private theatricals, the providing of costly dresses for them, the study of leading parts for their performance (for his Lordship was led to believe his talents were of the first order for the stage), engaged the attention of E 2 52 11 NOTICE OF TTTT EARL OF BLESSINGTON. THE Y the young nobleman too much, and gave a turn in the direc- tion of self-indulgence, to talents originally good, and tastes naturally inclined to elegance and refinement. In 1822, Byron thus spoke of Lord Blessington as he re- membered him in early life :-“ Mountjoy (for the Gardiners are the lineal race of the famous Irish Viceroy* of that Ilk) seems very good-natured, but is much tamed since I recollect him in all the glory of gems and snuff-boxes, and uniforms and theatricals, sitting to Stroelling, the painter, to be depicted as one of the heroes of Agincourt.” · His father's great fondness for him had contributed in some manner to the taste he had acquired in very early life for gorgeous ornaments, gaudy dresses, theatrical costumes and military uniforms. At the period of the volunteering move- ment in Ireland, about 1788 or 1789, when the boy was not above six or seven years of age, his father had him equipped in a complete suit of volunteer uniform, and presented him thus to a great concourse of people with a diminutive sword in the poor child's hand, on the occasion of a grand review at Newtownstewart, at the head of the corps that was com- manded by his Lordship Lord Blessington's passion for theatricals was an hereditary one. His father had his private theatricals in the Phønix Park, when he filled the office of Ranger. “ The Right Honourable Luke Gardiner, Member for the County of Dub- lin, and Keeper of the Phænix Park, had a great love for the stage, and had erected a most elegant theatre in the Park. * The famous Lord Deputy to whom Byron alludes, was a fierce marauder and conquistador, in the good old times of raid and of rapine of Queen Bess. Morrison, an English writer on Irish affairs (fol. 43), says, “ Lord Mountjoy (the Deputy) never received any to mercy but such as had drawn blood upon their fellow rebels. Thus McMahon and McArt both offered to submit, but neither would be received with. out the other's head." NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTONN 53 ON. . 53 i 111 Captain Jephson's tragedy of Macbeth,' and the farce of “The Citizen,' were thrice performed there, to a most brilliant audience, in January, 1778, and the character of Macbeth was brilliantly supported by Captain Jephson.” The Captain died in 1803; he was the author of “ The Count of Narbonne,” “Braganza," “ The Campaign," an opera ; “Love and War," “ The Conspiracy,” “ The Servant with Two Mas- ters," “ Two Strings to your Bow.” Lord Blessington had been unfortunately allowed to think, almost from his boyhood, that no obstacle stood between him and the gratification of his desires that could not be removed; and the result was what might be expected. This evil tendency to self-indulgence impeded the growth of all powers of self-control, and nourished a disposition to unrestrained profusion and extravagance, whenever the gra- tification of the senses, or allurements of pleasure were in question His Lordship, in the latter part of 1808, or the beginning of 1809, made the acquaintance of a lady of the name of Browne (née Campbell), remarkable for her attractions, and indebted to them chiefly, if not solely, for her distinction. The young lord found some difficulties in the way of the resolution he had formed of marrying this lady, but the ob- stacles were removed; and while means were being taken for their removal, and the marriage that was to follow it, War- wick House, in Worthing, was taken by his Lordship for her abode, and there she resided for several months. Mrs. Browne belonged to a Scotch family of respectability, of the name of Campbell, and, as I am informed, a brother of hers represented in parliament the borough in which his native place was situated, and was connected with a baronet of the same name. While the residence was kept up at Worthing, another place of abode was occasionally occupied in Portman Square ; 54 UNN NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. 17 where his son, Charles John, was born. In 1811, his Lord- ship took a house in Manchester Square, and there his daughter, Emilie Rosalie, was born. The following year he removed to Seymour Place, where he resided till the latter part of 1813. In 1812, the long expected death of Major Browne hav- ing taken place, Lord Mountjoy married “ Mary Camp- bell, widow of Major Browne,” as we are informed by the Peerage. Lord Mountjoy had not long resided in Seymour Place, when he determined on going on the continent. The health of Lady Mountjoy must have been at that period seriously im- paired. His Lordship's friend and medical attendant, Mr. Tegart, of Pall Mall, recommended a young physician of high character to accompany the tourists; and accordingly, Dr. Richardson (an old and valued friend of the author's, and subsequently the travelling physician of Lord Belmore), pro- ceeded to France with them. The circumstances are to be kept in mind of this marriage, the impediment to it, the waiting for the removal of it, the accomplishment of an object ardently desired, without refer- ence to future consequences, without any regard for public opinion, or care for the feelings of relatives ; the restlessness abode, the sudden abandonment of his residence in London for the Continent, soon after he had married, and had gone to considerable expense in fitting up that place of abode, all his acts and peculiarities not only on that occasion, but another similar one, are worthy of notice. Lady Mountjoy did not long enjoy the honours of her ele- vated rank and new position. She died at St. Germains, in France, the 9th of September, 1814. The legitimate issue of this marriage, was, first, Lady Harriet Anne Frances Gar- diner, born the 5th of August, 1812 (who married the Count Alfred D'Orsay, the 1st of December, 1829, and NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. 55 1 secondly, the Hon. Charles Spencer Cowper, third son of the late Earl Cowper, the 4th of January, 1853, the Count D'Orsay having died the 4th of August, 1852 :* second, the Right Hon. Luke Wellington, Viscount Mountjoy, born in 1814, who died in 1823, at the age of nine years and six months. The children by this marriage, of whom mention is not made in the Peerage, were- First, Charles John, born in Portman Square, London, the 3rd of February, 1810, now surviving, who retains a small portion of the Mountjoy Forest estate (the income from which is about £600 a year); all that remains, with a trifling ex- ception, of the wreck of that once vast property of the Earl of Blessington. Secondly, Emily Rosalie, commonly called Lady Mary Gar- diner, born in Manchester Square, London, on the 24th of June, 1811 (who married C. White, Esq., and died in Paris, without issue, about 1848). Lord Mountjoy’s grief at the loss of his lady was mani- fested in a funeral pageant of extraordinary magnificence, on the occasion of the removal of her remains to England, and from thence to Ireland. One of the principal rooms in his Lordship’s Dublin residence, in Henrietta Street, was fitted up for the mournful occasion at an enormous cost. The body placed in a coffin, sumptuously decorated, had been conveyed to Dublin by a London undertaker of eminence in the per- formance of state funerals, attended by six professional female * The Honourable Charles Spencer Cowper is the youngest son of the late Earl Cowper, who married in 1850 the Honourable Emily Mary Lamb, eldest daughter of Penniston, first Viscount Melbourne. Lord Cowper died at Putney, in June, 1837. His widow married se- condly, Lord Palmerston, in 1839. The Honourable Charles Spencer Cowper, born in 1816, filled the office of Secretary of Legation in Florence. 56 NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. mourners, suitably attired in mourning garments, and was laid out in a spacious room hung with black cloth, on an elevated catafalque covered with a velvet pall of the finest texture, embroidered in gold and silver, which had been pur- chased in France for the occasion, and had recently been used at a public funeral in Paris of great pomp and splendour, that of Marshal Duroc. A large number of wax tapers were ranged round the catafalque, and the six professional female mutes, during the time the body lay in state, remained in attendance in the chamber in becoming attitudes, admirably regulated ; while the London undertaker, attired in deep mourning, went through the dismal formality of conducting the friends of Lord Blessington who presented themselves, to the place where the body was laid out, and as each person walked round the catafalque, and then retired, this official, having performed the lugubrious duties of master of the funeral solemnities, in a low tone, expressed a hope that the arrangements were to the satisfaction of the visitor. They ought to have been satisfactory--the cost of them (on the authority of the late Lady Blessington) was between £3000 and £4000. The remains of the deceased lady were conveyed with great pomp to St. Thomas's Church, Marlborough Street, Dublin, and were deposited in the family vault of Lord Blessington, and are now mingled with the dust of the latest descendants of the illustrious Lord President Mountjoy. One of the friends of Lord Blessington, who witnessed the gorgeous funeral spectacle, well acquainted with such pageants, informs me the magnificence of it was greater than that of any similar performance of private obsequies he ever saw. But this great exhibition of extravagant grief, and the enormous outlay made for its manifestation, was in the bright and palmy days of Irish landlordism, when potatoes flourished, and people who had land in Ireland lived like princes. The UT eno NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. 57 Scotch haberdasher who now lords it over a portion of the · broad lands of the Mountjoys, will live, however, and bury his dead after a very different fashion. The once gorgeous coffin, covered with rich silk velvet and adorned with gilt mounting, in which the remains of the “Right Honourable Mary Campbell, Viscountess Mountjoy,” were deposited, is still recognizable, by its foreign shape, from the other surrounding receptacles of noble remains, above it and beneath it. But the fine silk velvet of France, and the gilt mountings of the coffin of the Viscountess Mountjoy, have lost their lustre. Forty years of sepulchral damp and darkness have proved too much for the costly efforts of the noble Earl of Blessington, to distinguish the remains of his much-loved lady from those of the adjacent dead. About the latter part of 1815, Lord Blessington was in Ireland. He gave a dinner party at his house in Henrietta Street, which was attended by several gentlemen, amongst whom were the Knight of Kerry, A. Hume, Esq., Thomas Moore, Sir P. C., Bart., James Corry, Esq., * Captain Thomas Jenkins, of the 11th Light Dragoons, and one or two ladies. His Lordship on that occasion seemed to have entirely re- covered his spirits; and to one of the guests, who had not been in the house or the room, then the scene of great festi- vity, since the funeral solemnities, which have been referred to, had been witnessed by him there, less than two years pre- viously, the change seemed a very remarkable one. Captain hno * James Corry, Esq., who figures a good deal in Moore's Journals, was a barrister, whose bag had never been encumbered with many, I believe I might say with any, briefs. He was admitted to the bar in 1796. For many years he filled the office of Secretary to the Trustees of the Linen Manufacture, in their offices in Lurgan Street. He was a man of wit and humour, assisted in all the private theatricals of his time, not only in Dublin but in the provinces, and particularly those at the abode of Lord Mountjoy at Rash, near Omagh. 58 NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. Y 1 Jenkins left the company at an early hour, to proceed that evening to England, and parted with his friends not without very apparent feelings of emotion. Lord Mountjoy did not long remain a widower. His lady died in September, 1814, and on the 16th of February, 1818, his Lordship was united to a lady of the name of Farmer, who had become a widow four months previously--in 1817. The marriage of Lord and Lady Blessington took place by special license, at the church in Bryanston Square. There were present Sir W. P. Campbell, Baronet, òf Marchmont, William Purves, Esq., Robert Power, Esq., and F. S. Pole, Esq. This work is not intended to be a biography of Lady Blessington, but to present a faithful account of her literary life and correspondence. From the period of her marriage with the Earl of Blessing- ton, that intercourse with eminent men and distinguished per- sons of various pursuits may be said to date; and from that period I profess to deal with it, so far as the information I have obtained, and the original letters and manuscripts of her Ladyship, in my hands, will enable me to do. Mrs. Farmer had been separated from her husband, Captain Maurice St. Leger Farmer, of Poplar Hall, County Kildare, for upwards of twelve years, resided much in England, at Sidmanton, in Hampshire, for several years previously to the termination of the war, and in the latter part of 1815 had made London her place of residence, and had a house taken for her in Manchester Square in 1816.* * There, in 1816, I am informed by one of the most eminent medical men in London, he had met Lord Blessington at dinner. I have likewise been informed by the late Mr. Arthur Tegart, of Pall Mall, then intimately acquainted with the parties, that he also had fre- quently met Lord Blessington at Mrs. Farmer's, but never unaccompa- nied by some mutual friend or acquaintance. Mr. Tegart, the intimate NOTICE OF AU 59 THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. Lord Mountjoy's second marriage was entered into after an acquaintance that had commenced many years previously in Ireland, and had been long interrupted. The lady of his love was then twenty-eight years of age, in the perfection of matured beauty—that bright and radiant beauty which derives its power not so much from harmony of features and symmetry of form, as from the animating influences of intelligence beaming forth from a mind full of joyous and of kindly feelings, and of brilliant fancies—that kind of vivid loveliness which is never found where some degree of genius is not. Her form was exquisitely moulded, with an inclination, to fulness; but no finer proportions could be imagined; her movements were graceful and na- tural at all times – in her merriest as well as in her gravest moods. The peculiar character of Lady Blessington's beauty seemed to be the entire, exact, and instantaneous correspondence of every feature, and each separate trait of her countenance, with the emotion of her mind, which any particular subject of conversation or object of attention might excite. The in- stant a joyous thought took possession of her fancy, you saw it transmitted, as if by electrical agency, to her glowing features; you read it in her sparkling eyes, her laughing lips, her cheerful looks; you heard it expressed in her ringing laugh, clear and sweet as the gay, joy-bell sounds of childhood's merriest tones. There was a geniality in the warmth of her Irish feelings, an abandonment of all care, of all apparent consciousness of her powers of attraction, a glowing sunshine of good humour, and of good nature in the smiles and laughter, and the sallies of the wit of this lovely woman in her early and her happy days and medical attendant of Curran, Grattan, and Ponsonby, a gentleman most highly respected by all who knew him, and by none more than the writer of these lines, died in 1829, in his sixty-ninth year. 60 NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. (those of her Italian life, especially from 1823 to 1826), such as have been seldom surpassed in the looks, gesture, or expression of any other person, however beautiful. The influence of her attraction was of that kind described by the poet: “When the loveliest expression to features are joined, By nature's most delicate pencil designed, And blushes unbidden, and smiles without art, Speak the softness and feeling that dwell in the heart." Her voice was ever sweetly modulated and low—“ an ex- cellent thing in woman !" Its tones were always in har- monious concord with the traits of her expressive features. There was a cordiality, a clear silver-toned hilarity, a cor- respondence in them, apparently with all her sensations, that made her hearers feel " she spoke to them with every part of her being," and that their communication was with a kindly-hearted, genial person, of womanly feelings and sentiments. The girlish-like joyousness of her laugh, the genuine gaiety of her heart, of her“ petit ris follatre,” the éclats of those Jordan-like outbursts of exuberant mirthfulness which she was wont to indulge in --- contributed not a little to her power of fascination. All the beauty of Lady Blessington, without the exquisite sweetness of her voice, and the witchery of its tones in pleasing or expressing pleasure, would have been only a secondary attraction. Mirabeau, in one of his letters, descants on the perfections of a French lady-une dame spirituelle, of great powers of attraction :- " When she talks, she is the art of pleasing personified. Her eyes, her lips, her words, her gestures, are all prepossess- ing; her language is the language of amiableness ; her accents are the accents of grace; she embellishes a trifle ; interests upon nothing; she softens a contradiction; she takes I NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. 61 U CD off the insipidity of a compliment, by turning it ele- gantly; and when she has a mind, she sharpens and polishes the point of an epigram better than all the women in the world. “Her eyes sparkle with pleasure; the most delightful sallies flash from her fancy; in telling a story she is inimit- able-the motions of her body and the accents of her tongue are equally genteel and easy; an equable flow of sprightliness keeps her constantly good-humoured and cheerful, and the only objects of her life are to please and be pleased. Her vivacity may sometimes approach to folly, but perhaps it is not in her moments of folly she is least interesting and agreeable.” Mirabeau goes on enlarging on one particular faculty which she possessed, and for which she was remarkable, beyond all comparison with other women-a power of intellectual ex- citation which roused up any spark of talent in the minds of those around her :-- “She will draw out wit from a fool; she strikes with such address the chords of self-love, that she gives unexpected vigour and agility to fancy, and electrifies a body that appears non-electric." * Lady Blessington might have sat for the portrait of the spiritual French-woman that Mirabeau has sketched with so much animation ! Soon after their marriage, Lord Blessington took his bride over to Ireland, to visit his Tyrone estates ; but that was not the first occasion of the lady's visit to Mountjoy Forest. The union had been so far kept a secret, that many of Lord Blessington's friends were not aware of it at the time of his arrival in Dublin. He invited some of those with whom * Mirabeau's Letters during his Residence in England, translated, in 2 vols. London, 1832. CD 62 NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. he was most intimately acquainted, to a dinner at his house in Henrietta Street. * Some of those friends of his were only made acquainted with the recent marriage, when Lord Blessington entered the drawing-room with a lady of extraordinary beauty, dressed in bridal costume, leaning on his arm, whom he introduced as Lady Blessington. Among the guests, there was one gentleman who had been in that room only a few years before, when the walls were hung in black, and in the centre, on an elevated platform, was placed a coffin, with a gorgeous velvet pall, with the remains in it, of a woman,-once scarcely surpassed in loveliness by the lady then present—radiant in beauty, and decked out in rich attire. Stranger events and more striking con- trasts are often to be encountered in brilliant circles, and in noble mansions too, than are to be met with in books of fiction. The Blessingtons proceeded from Dublin to the county of Tyrone. But preparations were previously made by his Lord- ship for the reception of his bride at Mountjoy Forest, of a most costly description. Speaking of these extravagant arrangements of her husband, * The Gardiner family owned the fee simple of the whole street, nearly, and the house No. 10 at the west end, and north side of Hen- rietta Street, which now constitutes the Queen's Inns Chambers, for- merly held by the Right Honourable Luke Gardiner, Lord Mountjoy, and subsequently in the possession of the late Right Honourable Charles John, Earl of Blessington. The house was sold in 1837 to Tristram Kennedy, Esq., for £1700. Immediately in front of Lord Blessington's abode, the noted Primate Boulter erected his palace, which he makes mention of in his letters. The worthy primate wanted only the scholar- ship and munificence of Wolsey, and the great intellectual powers and political wisdom of Richelieu, to have been a very distinguished tem- porally-minded churchman, a most astute and unspiritualized sacer- dotal statesman. NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. 63 Lady Blessington has observed, in one of her works, “The only complaint I ever have to make of his taste, is its too great splendour; a proof of which he gave me when I went to Mountjoy Forest on my marriage, and found my private sitting-room hung with crimson Genoa silk velvet, trimmed with gold bullion fringe, and all the furniture of equal rich- ness—a richness that was only suited to a state-room in a palace.”* Some of the frieze-coated peasantry of the Mountjoy Forest estate, still surviving on the wrecked property (that has lately been sold to pay off the incumbrances), but now living in penury, in wretched hovels, who remember the great doings in the house of their lord on the occasion of the visit above referred to speak of “the wonderful doings” of his Lordship, and of “the terrible waste of money,” and “ the great folly of it,” that was witnessed by them. Folly, indeed, there was abundant proofs of, in the lavish expenditure, which Lady Blessington attributed to rather too great a taste for splendour. I consider these things as evidences of a state of insanity of Lord Blessington, par- tially developed, even at that early period, manifested sub- sequently on different occasions, but always pointing in one direction. The acts of Lord Blessington, on several occasions, in matters connected with both his marriages, it always appeared, were the acts of a man of an unsound judgment, that is to say, of a man insane on subjects which he had al- lowed to obtain entire possession of his mind, and with respect to objects which he had devoted all his energies to attain, wholly irrespective of future consequences. At the time of Lord Blessington's marriage, his fortune was embarrassed to some extent, as he imagined, through the mismanagement of his agents, but, in point of fact, by his UU * The Idler in France, vol. i. p. 117. 64 NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. Lordship's own extravagances, and the numerous incumbrances with which he had already charged his estates. It was owing, in no small degree, to Lady Blessington's advice, and the active steps she had caused his Lordship to take for the retrieval of his affairs, that his difficulties were to some extent diminished. From £30,000 a year his rental had decreased to £23,000 or £24,000; but for two years previously to his departure from England, it rather exceeded the latter amount. I visited several of the surviving tenants of Lord Blessing- ton, still living on the Mountjoy estate, near Omagh, in March, 1854. All concurred in one statement, that a better landlord, a kinder man to the poor, never existed than the late Lord Blessington. A tenant never was evicted by him, he never suffered the tenants to be distressed by an agent, however much in need he might stand of money; he would not suffer them to be pressed for rent, to be proceeded against or ejected. Graham, one of the oldest and most respectable tenants on the estate, says, he is aware, of his Lordship, at a period when he was in great want of money, having written to the agent not to press the tenants too much, even for arrears that had been long due; that rather than they should be dealt harshly with, he would endeavour to obtain money on mortgage in London ; and Graham adds, the money his Lordship then re- quired was thus obtained by him. “He took after his father in this respect. He looked on his tenants as if he was bound to see they suffered no injury at the hands of any person acting for him on his estate.” The residence of the father of the late Lord Blessington, on the Mountjoy Forest Estate in Tyrone, was on the town land of Rash, near “the Church of Cappagh ;" on the op- posite side of the river, about a quarter of a mile from the cottage residence to which Lord Blessington subsequently removed. NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. 65 11 The Dowager Lady Mountjoy resided at Rash for some years after the death of her husband, in 1798. And here, also, prior to 1814, the late Lord Blessington resided when he visited his Tyrone estates; and about 1807, expended a great deal of money in enlarging the offices, building an extensive kitchen and wine cellars, and erecting a spacious and elegantly decorated theatre, and providing “ properties," and a suitable wardrobe of magnificent theatrical dresses for it. The professional actors and actresses were brought down by his Lordship, for the private theatricals at Mountjoy Forest, from Dublin, and some even from London. But there were amateur performers also, and two of the old tenants remember seeing his Lordship act "some great parts;" but what they were, or whether of a tragic or a comic nature, they cannot say, they only know “he was thought a fine actor, and the dresses he wore were very grand and fine.” The ladies who acted were always actresses from the Dublin theatres ; and during the performances at Rash, his Lordship had them lodged at the house of the school-mistress, in the demesne near the avenue leading to the house. The “Quality" who came down and remained at Rash during the performances, which generally lasted for three or four weeks each year, were entertained with great hospitality by his Lordship. The expenditure was profuse in the extreme for their en- tertainment, and the fitting up and furnishing of places of temporary accommodation for them during their brief sojourn. The dwelling-house of Rash was more a large cottage, with some remains of an older structure than a nobleman's mansion. Moore, in his Diary, September llth, 1832, alludes to the theatricals of Lord Blessington, but without specifying time or place. He refers to a conversation with Corry about the VOL. I. Y 66 THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. Ty NOTICE OF theatricals of his Lordship. “A set of mock resolutions, one of which was the following, chiefly levelled at Crampton, who was always imperfect in his part-—' That every gentleman shall be at liberty to avail himself of the words of the author, in case his own invention fails him.'” These theatricals were at Rash, on the Mountjoy Estate, To an inquiry addressed to Sir P. C- , on the subject of these theatricals, I received a note informing me he had never heard of any theatricals in Dublin, got up by the Blessingtons, and that if there had been any such there he must have heard of them, nor was he the person alluded to in the mock reso- lutions ; "he had neither hand, act, nor part in theatricals of any description." The observation might possibly allude, for any thing he knew to the contrary, to a brother, who had been dead many years. The taste for theatricals survived the theatre in Mountjoy Forest. In June, 1817, Lord Blessington took a leading part in the public entertainment and testimonial given to John Philip Kemble, on his retirement from the stage. At the meeting, which took place at the Freemasons' Tavern, when a piece of plate was presented to Kemble, Lord Holland presided ; on his right hand sat Mr. Kemble, and on his left , the Duke of Bedford. Lords Blessington, Erskine, Mulgrave, Aberdeen, Essex, and many other noblemen were present; and among the literary and artistic celebrities, were Moore, Campbell, Rogers, Croker, and the great French Tragedian Talma. Lord Blessington assisted also in the well-known Kilkenny theatricals. He took parts which required to be gorgeously apparelled; on one occasion, he played the part of the Green Knight, in “Valentine and Orson.” The theatricals at Rash lasted from 1808 to 1812. The first Lady Blessington was there during one season, and re- mained for several months. The period selected for the theatricals at Rash was usually NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. 67 2 the shooting season. But the guests were not confined to sportsmen ; the latter came occasionally accompanied by their ladies; and what with their field sports and the stage amuse- ments, there was no dearth of enjoyments and gaiety for a few weeks, in a place that all the rest of the year was a dull, solitary, lifeless locality, in the midst of a forest, some four- score miles from the metropolis. The second Lady Blessington did not visit Mountjoy Forest during the period of the theatricals. It was the peculiarity of Lord Blessington to throw himself with complete abandon into any passion or pursuit that came in his way, and to spare no expense or sacrifice of any kind, to obtain, as soon as possible, the fullest enjoyment that could possibly be derived from it; and no sooner was the object so ardently desired accomplished, the expense encountered, and the sacrifice made for its attainment, than the zest for its delight was gone; other phantoms of pleasure were to be pursued, and no sooner 7 grasped than relinquished for some newer objects of desire. The delights of the chase in Mountjoy Forest, and of the theatre at Rash, after a few years, became dull, tame, and tire- some amusements to the young lord. He went to England, contracted engagements there, which led to his making London principally his place of abode, and Mountjoy Forest and the theatre at Rash were allowed to go to ruin. The Dowager Lady Mountjoy had left Rash, and fixed her abode in Dublin prior to 1807. The house became in a short time so dilapidated, as to be unfit to live in. His Lord- ship gave directions to have extensive repairs and `additions made to a thatched house of middle size, about a quarter of a mile distant from Rash. The furniture was removed to this place, which Lord Blessington called “the Cottage,” and the old residence at Rash was abandoned. When I visited the place recently, nothing remained but some vestiges of the kitchen and the cellars. The theatre F 2 68 NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. a had utterly disappeared, and nothing could be more desolate than the site of it. The grounds and garden had been broken up, the trees had been all cut down in the vicinity. Here and there, trunks and branches, yet unremoved, were lying on the ground. The stumps of the felled trees, in the midst of the debris of scattered timber, gave an unpleasant and uncouth aspect to a scene, that had some melancholy interest in it for one who had known the noble owner of this vast property. The extent of the estate appears almost incredible; I am told its extreme length exceeded ten miles. But though the theatre erected by Lord Blessington on his estate has wholly disappeared, one structure on it exists: a vault beneath the chancel of the church of Cappagh, on the estate, which he intended for his tomb, and which in several notices of his Lordship’s death, and some memoirs of Lady Blessington, is erroneously stated to have been the place of sepulture of his remains. I was misled by those accounts, and visited the vault, in the expectation of finding his remains there. But no interment had ever taken place in that vault, although at his death orders had been sent down from Dublin to have the place prepared for his interment: these orders, however, had been countermanded, for what reason I know not, and th remains of his Lordship were deposited in St. Thomas's church, in Marlborough Street, Dublin, along with the remains of his father. It has been also erroneously stated, that the remains of his Lordship's first wife were deposited in the vault beneath the chancel of Cappagh church; such, however, is not the 1 7 fact. In September, 1816, Lord Blessington visited his estate of Mountjoy Forest. His first wife had been then dead nearly two years. He brought down some friends of his from Dublin, and invited others from the neighbourhood of his estate, to come on a visit to “ the Cottage.” NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. 69 Among the guests, I was informed by tenant farmers on the estates, who have a recollection of these circumstances, were Mr. Corry, Major and Mrs. Purves, Colonel Stewart of Killymoon, Mrs. Farmer, and also Captain Jenkins.* The most extravagant expense was gone into, in fitting up and decorating the Cottage, for some weeks previously to the arrival of his Lordship and his guests. The walls were hung with costly drapery; the stairs and passages were covered with fine baize. Nothing could exceed the elegance of the decorations, and furnishing of an abode that was destined only for a residence of a few weeks. During the sojourn of Lord Blessington and his friends at the Cottage, several gentlemen of the neighbourhood were entertained. Among the visitors was an old clergyman, Father O'Flag- herty, parish priest of Cappagh, a simple-minded good man, who was the dispenser of the bounty of Lord Blessington among the poor of the estate, lony subsequently to this visit. Lord Blessington had no sectarian feelings—it never entered his mind what the religion of a man was, by whom assistance was needed; and his worthy Roman Catholic almoner, although a man by no means highly cultivated, polished in his manners, or peculiarly happy in his style of epistolary correspondence, enjoyed the full confidence and strong regard of Lord Bless- ington, and also of his lady. Lady Blessington, on her subsequent visit, was the means of procuring for her great favourite, Father O'Flagherty, a dona- tion from his Lordship, that enabled the good priest either to repair or rebuild the Catholic place of worship of his parish. He continued to correspond with the Blessingtons when they * A Captain Montgomery, of the Navy, a very intimate friend of the Blessingtons, at some period was on a visit to the Cottage ; but the precise date I do not know. 7 0 NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. IT resided in London, and for some time while they were on the Continent. In 1823 Lord Blessington, unaccompanied by Lady Blessington, visited his Tyrone estates; he came to the cottage accompanied by Colonel Stewart of Killymoon. In 1825 his Lordship again, and for the last time, visited his Tyrone estates. He was accompanied then by General Count D'Orsay, the father of the Count Alfred D'Orsay, and also by a young French nobleman, the Count Leon. From some cause or other, Lady Blessington appeared to have formed a strong antipathy, on the occasion of her last visit, to Mountjoy Forest, as a place of residence even for a few weeks. She prevailed on Lord Blessington to return to London, perhaps earlier than he had intended, and expressed her determination never again to return to Mountjoy Forest, if she could help it. After a few weeks spent in Tyrone, the Blessingtons re- turned to London. The new-married lady having exchanged her abode in Manchester Square for the noble mansion in St. James's Square, found herself suddenly, as if by the magic wand of an enchanter, surrounded by luxuries, gorgeous fur- niture, glittering ornaments, and pomp and state almost regal. The transition was at once from seclusion and privacy, a moderate establishment and inexpensive mode of life, into brilliant society, magnificence and splendour--to a condition, in short, little inferior to that of any lady in the land. The éclat of the beauty of Lady Blessington, her remark- able mental qualities, and the rare gifts and graces with which she was so richly endowed, was soon extensively diffused over the metropolis. Moore, in his Diary of April, 1822, mentions visiting the Blessingtons in London, at their mansion in St. James's Square. The fifth of the month following, he says he called, with Washington Irving, at Lady Blessington's, “who is ew-n U NOTICE OF THE EARL 71 N1 OF BLESSINGTON. . -- -- -- --. growing very absurd ! 'I have felt very melancholy and ill all this day,' she said. "Why is that ?' I asked. “Don't you know ?''No.' 'It is the anniversary of my poor Napoleon's death."" Any one acquainted with Lady Blessington will perceive in this remark a great want of knowledge of her character and opinions, and will not fail to discover in her observation, evidences of that peculiar turn for grave irony, which was one of her characteristics. I have seldom met a literary person so entirely free from all affectation of sentimentality as Lady Blessington. In the new scenes of splendour and brilliancy which her Ladyship had been introduced into, on her marriage with Lord Blessington, she seemed as if it was her own proper atmosphere, to which she had been accustomed from infancy, in which she now lived and moved. Greatness and magnificence were not thrust upon her-- she seemed born to them. In all positions, she had the great art of being ever perfectly at home. There was a naturalness in her demeanour, a grace and gentleness in her mind and manner-a certain kindliness of disposition, and absence of all affectation-a noble frankness about her, which left her in all circles at her ease--sure of pleasing, and easily amused by agreeable and clever people. In 1818, then, Lady Blessington was launched into fashion able life, and all at once took her place, if not at the head of it, at least among the foremost people in it. For three years, her mansion in St. James's Square, nightly thronged by men of distinction, was the centre of social and literary enjoyments of the highest order in London. Holland House had its attractions for the graver spirits of the times, but there was no lack of statesmen, sages, scholars, and poli- ticians, at the conversaziones of Lady Blessington. Charleville House, too, had its charms for well-established L . , 72 NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. authors—for blue-stocking ladies especially—for distinguished artists and noble amateurs—for foreign ministers and their attachés. . But Lady Blessington had certain sovereign advantages over all Aspasian competitors in society-she was young and beautiful, witty, graceful, and good-humoured; and these ad- vantages told with singular effect in the salon; they tended largely to establish her influence in society, and to acquire for her conversation in it, a character it might never otherwise have obtained The Blessingtons' splendid mansion in St. James's Square in a short time became the rendezvous of the elite of London celebrities of all kinds of distinction; the first literati, states- men, artists, eminent men of all professions, in a short time became habitual visitors at the abode of the new-married Lord and Lady. Among the distinguished foreigners who visited the Bless- ingtons in St. James's Square, in the latter part of 1821, or the commencement of 1822, were the Count de Grammont (the present Duc de Guiche) and his brother-in-law, a young Frenchman of remarkable symmetry of form, and comeliness of face, and of address and manners singularly prepossessing, the Count Alfred D’Orsay, then in the prime of life, highly gifted, and of varied accomplishments, truly answering Byron's designation of him, a “ cupidon dechainè.” The Count's sojourn in London at that time was short; but the knowledge he seems to have gained of its society, if the account given of his diary be true, must have been considerable. This was the beginning of an intimate acquaintance with the Blessingtons, one in many respects of great moment to them and to others connected with them ; an intimacy which terminated only in death.* * This acquaintance did not commence, as it has been generally as- serted, by accident, in a French hotel, when the Blessingtons were on their way to Italy. NOTICE OF THE EARL OF BLESSINGTON. 73 LA Two royal English Dukes condescended, not unfrequently, to do homage at the new shrine of Irish beauty and intellect in St. James's Square. Canning, Lord Castlereagh, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Lords Palmerston and Russell, Burdet and Brougham, Scarlett and Jekyll, Erskine and Curran, and many other celebrities, paid their devoirs there. Whig and Tory politicians and lawyers, forgetful of their party feuds, and professional rivalries for the nonce, came there as gentle pilgrims. Kemble, Mathews, Lawrence, Wilkie, Parr, Rogers, Moore, and Luttrell, were among the votaries who paid their vows, in visits there, not angel-like, for theirs were neither “ few nor far between.” But among all the distin- guished persons who visited Lady Blessington, none were more devoted in their attachment to her, or ardent in their admi- ration of the talents and traits, intellectual and personal, of the fair lady, than the late Earl Grey. - 74 CHAPTER II. DEPARTURE OF THE BLESSINGTONS FROM LONDON ON A CONTINENTAL TOUR, SEPTEMBER, 1822. The love of change and excitement, the necessity for dis- traction, novelty, and new effects not only in scenery, but in society-seem to have occasioned Lord Blessington's deter- mination to visit the continent, and to abandon his magnifi- cent abode in St. James's Square, at a time when nothing appeared wanting that wealth, beauty, and brilliant society could supply, to render that abode everything that could be desired by those who think such necessaries all that can be desirable to make homes happy. But Lord Blessington, although yet a young man, had drained his cup of pleasure and enjoyments of every kind to the dregs; and the taste of the draught that remained on his palate required new cordials, and stimulants of increasing strength continually, to keep down the loathing he already felt for all the allurements of fashion, the follies of the day, the foil and tinsel glories of the green room, and the life behind the scenes of the drama, and of that other theatre of society, with its tableaux vivants, and its varied performances by the real actors on the stage of aristocratic life. Lord Blessington was palled and satiated with pleasure, and no kind of éclat or of distinction in English society had now any charm for him. And yet this young nobleman, thus early blazé and exhausted, prematurely impaired in mental en- DEPARTURE OF THE BLESSINGTONS FROM LONDON. 75 ergies, was fitted for better things, and was naturally amiable, and possessed many excellent qualities which might have rendered him, under other circumstances of education and position, a most estimable and a very useful man to his country and to society. The 22d of August, 1822, the Blessingtons, accompanied by Miss Mary Ann Power, the youngest sister of Lady Blessington, set out on a continental tour, and made their arrangements for an intended sojourn of some years in the south of Europe. Miss Mary Ann Power was then about one-and-twenty, bearing no resemblance to her sister in face or form ; but, nevertheless, far from unattractive. She was remarkably slight, rather of low stature, of small, regular features, good complexion, light-brown hair, always tastefully arranged,-an extremely pretty and girlish-looking young lady, with blueish laughing eyes, and altogether a piquant expression of coun- tenance, une petite mignon, pleasingly original and naïve in her modes of thinking and acting, always courted and complimented in society, and coquetted with by gentlemen of a certain age, by humourists, in a state of single blessed- ness, like Gell, and by old married bachelors like Landor and the Duke Laval de Montmorency. Charles James Mathews, the son of the eminent comedian, it had been arranged should join the. Blessingtons in Italy. Young Mathews could hardly then have been twenty years of age. He had been intended for the profession of an archi- tect, and was articled to a person of eminence in London, in that profession. Lord Blessington had kindly offered his father to take charge of the young man, and to afford him every facility of pursuing his professional studies in Italy. That offer was accepted, and for upwards of two years, young Mathews remained with the Blessingtons on the con- tinent, and was no slight acquisition to their party. A 76 DEPARTURE OF THE BLESSINGTONS FROM LONDON. merrier man, within the limits of becoming mirth, it would be difficult to find. He was an admirable mimic, had a mar- vellous facility in catching peculiarities of manners, picking up the different dialects of the several parts of Italy he passed through. But with all his comic talents, love of fun and frolic, ludicrous fancies, and overflowing gaiety of heart, he never ceased to be a gentleman, and to act and feel like one. The writer's reminiscences of Charles Mathews are of an old date-upwards of thirty years; but they are of too pleasurable a kind to be easily effaced. In her continental journals, Lady Blessington makes fre- quent allusions to her “ happy home” in St. James's Square, and at the moment of departure, of “ the almost wish” she was not going from it; and some dismal forebodings take the form of exclamations—“What changes ! what dangers may come, before I again sleep beneath its roof !” Many changes, indeed, came before she returned from the continent. She never beheld her husband beneath that roof again! Lord Blessington's preparations in Paris, for the approach- ing touring campaign in Italy, were of a very formidable description. The commissariat department (including the culinary) was amply provided for; it could boast of a batterie de cuisine on a most extensive scale, which had served an entire club, and a cook who had stood fire in the kitchen of an emperor. No Irish nobleman, probably, and certainly no Irish king, ever set out on his travels with such a retinue of servants, with so many vehicles and appliances of all kinds, to ease, comfort, and luxurious enjoyment in travel. Byron's travelling equipage, according to Medwin, when he arrived in Florence, accompanied by Rogers, consisted of seven servants, five carriages, five horses, a monkey, a bull- dog, and a mastiff, nine live cats, three pea-fowls, and some hens; his luggage, or what Cæsar would call his “ impe- DEPARTURE OF THE BLESSINGTONS FROM LONDON. 77 TY dimenta," consisted of “a very large library of modern books, a vast quantity of furniture,” with trunks and portmanteaus of apparel-of course to correspond to the other parts of the equipage. Lord Blessington set out with an abundance of “ impedi- menta ;" but in his live stock, he had no bull-dogs, mastiffs, monkeys, cats, pea-fowls, or hens. On her arrival in Paris, Lady Blessington mentions in her diary, receiving a visit from her old friend, the Baron Denon, and finding "all her French acquaintances charmed to see her.” Mention is made of two previous visits of hers to Paris. Her former sojourn there must have been of some duration, and previously to her second marriage; in her letters of this period we find a familiarity with French idiom, and the conversational terms of French society, which could only have been acquired by a good deal of intercourse with French people in their own country. In her Italian journal, of the 31st of August, 1822, she speaks of her “old friend, the baron;" "a most amusing man;" a "compound of savant and petit maitre; one mo- ment descanting on Egyptian antiquities, and the next passing eulogiums on the joli chapeau, or robe of his female visitors, who seems equally at home in detailing the perfections of a mummy, or in describing ' le mignon pied d'une charmante femme;' and not unfrequently turns from exhibiting some morceau d' antiquitè bien remarquable, to display a cast of the exquisite head of Pauline Borghese."* September 1st, the diary opens with the words“ my birth- day.” Her Ladyship feels disposed to be melancholy, but is obliged to smile and seem joyful, at receiving the congratu- lations of her friends, that she had added another year to her age-and at a period of woman's life too—when one had passed thirty * The Idler in Italy, Par. ed. 1839, p. 8. 0 ) seems 78 DEPARTURE OF THE BLESSINGTONS FROM LONDON. Sourc Y During the short sojourn of the Blessingtons in Paris, Tom Moore was frequently with them at a restaurateur's : Lady Blessington descended “ La Montagne Russe;" but then Tom Moore often visited the spot, and greatly enjoyed her descent; and it was pleasant to observe with what a true zest he entered into every scheme of amusement, though the buoyancy of his spirits and resources of his mind rendered him so independent of such means of passing time. * Lady Blessington descants on the agreeable excitement of the ex- treme velocity of this locomotive amusement; but we need not marvel at Tom Moore's true zest in entering into it, accompanied by her Ladyship, when we find Dr. Johnson dwelling on the enjoyment of travelling fast in a post-chaise, with a pretty woman, amongst the great pleasures of life. Perhaps it was in one of those rapid journeys on the “Montagne Russe," that Moore's conversation reminded her Ladyship “ of the evolutions of some bird of gorgeous plu- mage, each varied hue of which becomes visible as he carelessly sports in the air.” In her observations on art, literature, and society, there are ample evidences of originality of mind, of true feeling, of re- fined taste and an intimate acquaintance with the light litera- ture of France and Italy. Many of her passing remarks have the merit of those short and memorable sayings, which get the name of maxims and apothegms. Speaking of the Louvre, which she had visited “at least thirty times," and that was her third visit to Paris, she found, “ like fine music, fine sculptures, and fine pictures, gain by long acquaintance." “There is something that stirs the soul, and elevates the feelings, in gazing on those glorious productions of master- minds, where genius has left its ineffaceable impress to bear witness to posterity of its achievements.” The excellence of art, like every thing that is exquisite in * The Idler in Italy, vol. i. p. 28. VI DEPARTURE OF THE BLESSINGTONS FROM LONDON. 79 11 71 workmanship, and spiritual in conception, is to be appreciated by an intuitive sense, that gives a true perception of the sub- lime and beautiful; “it is to be felt, and not reasoned upon." In the galleries of the Louvre, she sickens of the “cant of criticism,” she turns away from the connoisseurs, “ to meditate in silence on what others can talk about, but cannot compre- hend." “Here Claude Lorraine seems to have imprisoned on can- vas the golden sunshine in which he bathes his landscapes. There Raphael makes us, though stern Protestants, worship a Madonna and child, such is the innocence, sweetness, and. beauty with which he has imbued his subjects.” Poor Lady Blessington's "stern Protestantism” is lugged in head and shoulders, into a criticism which really stood in no need of the intrusion of any religious opinions. Her faith in Raphael's perfections required no apology. In qualifying her admiration of the exquisite portraiture of innocence, sweet- ness, and beauty of the Virgin and child, it must have been rather painful to her (not a Protestant) to have to descend to the cant of criticism, which was so justly odious to her. . While the fair Countess was absorbed in art, and occupied with the sublime and beautiful, in the most glorious works of the ancient masters, in the Louvre, and the gallery of Ver. sailles, my Lord was securing the services of the culinary artist of great celebrity, already referred to, who had been the cook of an Emperor, and providing a complete equipage of a cooking kind, en ambulance, for their Italian tour. After a sojourn of twelve days in Paris, the Blessingtons and their party set out for Switzerland. The customary pilgrimages were made to Ferney, the many shrines at the base of Mount Jura, on the borders of the lake of Geneva, the birthplace and haunts of Rousseau, the homes for a time of Gibbon, Shelley, Byron, and de Stäel, then the place of abode of John Philip Kemble, and a little later-his - -.. - . . 80 DEPARTURE OF THE BLESSINGTONS FROM LONDON. place of burial, in the cemetery of Lausanne. Several days were spent in visiting monuments and other marvels of Lyons, Vienne, Grenoble, Valence, Orange, and on the 20th of November they arrived at Avignon. Here they remained till the 12th of February, 1823, mixing a good deal in the fashionable circles of the town and its environs, making frequent excursions to the celebrated fountain of Vaucluse, the site of the Chateau of Laura, and visiting that of her tomb, in the ruins of the Church of the Cordeliers, those of the Palace of the Popes, and the Inquisition with all its horrors. Lady Blessington speaks of the repugnance, the feelings of “a native of dear, free, happy England," at the sight of such a place, and in the heat of her abhorrence of the crimes committed in it, fancies herself a native of England. In her diary of the 20th of December, Lady Blessington says, “ Spent last evening at Madame de C.'s; met there the Duc and Duchesse de C---G- Madame was dame d'honneur to Marie Louise, and has all the air and manner of one accustomed to find herself at home in a court.” The persons indicated by the initials C- G-- were the Duc and Duchesse de Caderousse Grammont, who then resided in their chateau in the vicinity of Avignon. But no mention is made of any other member of their family in the Avignon society of the Blessingtons, yet there was one who was an object of some interest to the party. After a prolonged stay of two months and upwards, at Avignon, Lady Blessington says in her diary, “It is strange how soon one becomes habituated to a place. I really feel as much at home at Avignon, as if I had spent years there." On the 12th of February, 1823, Lady Blessington and her party, increased by a young Frenchman of a noble family, previously known in England, lately met with in Paris, and subsequently at Valence and Avignon, now a compagnon de DEPARTURE OF THE BLESSINGTONS FROM LONDON. 31 nh 21 voyage, set out for Italy, via Marseilles, Toulon, and Nice; and on the 31st of March, they arrived at Genoa. In the diary of that day, the uppermost thought in Lady Blessington's mind, is thus recorded :—“And am I indeed in the same town with Byron! And to-morrow I may perhaps behold him!” There are two works of Lady Blessington's," the Idler in Italy,”* and "the Idler in France,” + in which an account is given of her tours, and her observations on the society, man- ners, scenery, and marvels of all kinds of the several places she visited and sojourned in. * The Idler in Italy, in 3 vols. 8vo., was published in 1839, and is descriptive of her visit to Paris, and sojourn there from the Ist of September to the 12th of the same month, 1822; her route through Switzerland, and tour in Italy, extended over a period of five years, the greater portion of which was spent in Naples. † The Idler in France, subsequently published, is descriptive of her residence in Paris for a period of two years and a half, from the autumn of 1828 to the end of November, 1830, when she returned to England. In her manuscript memoranda and commonplace-books, there are also frequent references to persons whom she had met with in her travels, and observations on places she had visited, several of which are almost identical with passages in “ the Idlers." VOL. I CHAPTER III. BYRON AND THE BLESSINGTONS AT GENOA. THE 1st of April, 1823, Lady Blessington's strong desire was gratified-she saw Byron. But the lady was disappointed, and there is reason to believe that the lord, always indisposed abroad to make new acquaintances with his countrymen or women, was, on the occasion of this interview, taken by sur- prise, and not so highly gratified by it as might have been expected, when the agremens and personal attractions of the lady are taken into consideration. Lady Blessington's expression of disappointment has a tincture of asperity in it, which is seldom indeed to be found in her observations. There are very evident appearances of annoyance of some kind or another in the account given by her of this interview, occasioned either by the reception given her by Byron, or at some eccentricity, or absence of mind, that was unexpected, or apparent want of homage on his part, to her beauty or talents on this occasion, to which custom had habituated her. It must also be observed, that the interview with her Lady- ship is described as having been sought by Lord Byron. It is more than probable, however, a little ruse was practised on his Lordship to obtain it. Lord Blessington having been admitted at once, on presenting himself at Byron's door, was on the point of taking his departure, apologizing for the briefness of the visit, on account of Lady Blessington being BYRON AND THE BLESSINGTONS 1 83 AT GENOA, Y hu left in an open carriage in the court-yard, the rain then falling, when Byron immediately insisted on descending with Lord Blessington, and conducting her Ladyship into his house, “ When we arrived,” says Lady Blessington, “at the gate of the court-yard of the Casa Saluzzo, in the village a Albano,* where he resides, Lord Blessington and a gentle- man of our party left the carriage, and sent in theịr names.to They were admitted immediately, and experienced a very cordial reception from Lord Byron, who expressed himself delighted to see his old acquaintance. Byron requested to be presented to me; which led to Lord Blessington's avow- ing that I was in the carriage at the gate, with my sister, Byron immediately hurried out into the court, and I, who heard the sound of steps, looked through the gate, and be held him approaching quickly towards the carriage without his hat, and considerably in advance of the other two gentlemen." The visit was a long one ; and many questions were asked about old friends and acquaintances. Lady Blessington says, Byron expressed warmly, at their departure, the pleasure which the visit had afforded him--and she doubted not his sịncerity; not that she would arrogate any merit in her party, to account for his satisfaction ; but simply because she could perceive that Byron liked to hear news of his old associates, and to pass them en repue, pronouncing sarcasms on each as he turned up in conversation, In a previous notice of this interview, which bears some internal evidence of having been written long after the period it refers to--lamenting over the disappointment she felt at finding her beau ideal of a poet by no means realized, her About a mile and a half from Genoa.-R. R. M. † The gentleman's name will be found in a letter of Byron to Moore, dated 2nd April, 1823, 84 AT GENOA. NT BYRON AND THE BLESSINGTONS yes Ladyship observes : “Well, I never will allow myself to form an ideal of any person I desire to see; for disappointment never fails to ensue.” Byron, she admits, had more thanusual personal attractions: “but his appearance nevertheless had fallen short of her ex- pectations.” There is no commendation, however, without a concomitant effort at depreciation. For example, her Lady- ship observes—"His laugh is musical, but he rarely indulged in it during our interview ; and when he did, it was quickly followed by a graver aspect, as if he liked not this exhibition of hilarity. Were I asked to point out the prominent defect of Byron's manner, I should pronounce it to be a flippancy incompatible with the notion we attach to the author of Childe Harold and Manfred; and a want of self-possession and dig- nity, that ought to characterise a man of birth and genius. Notwithstanding this defect, his manners are very fascinating ---more so, perhaps, than if they were dignified: but he is too gay, too flippant for a poet."* Lady Blessington was accompanied on this occasion by her sister, Miss Mary Anne Power, now Comtesse de St. Marsault. Byron, in a letter to Moore, dated April 2nd, 1823, thus refers to this interview: “Your other allies, whom I have found very agreeable per- sonages, are Milor Blessington and èpouse, travelling with a very handsome companion, in the shape of a French Count' (to use Farquhar's phrase in the Beaux Stratagem), who has all the air of a Cupidon déchaine, and is one of the few specimens I have seen of our ideal of a Frenchman before the Revolution, an old friend with a new face, upon whose like I never thought that we should look again. Miladi seems highly literary, to which, and your honour's acquaintance with the family, I attribute the pleasure of having seen them. She is also very pretty, even in a morning,-a species of beauty * Idler in Italy, p. 392. BYRON AND THE BLESSINGTONS AT GENOA. 85 on which the sun of Italy does not shine so frequently as the chandelier. Certainly English women wear better than their continental neighbours of the same sex. Mountjoy seems very good-natured, but is much tamed since I recollect him in all the glory of gems and snuff-boxes, and uniform, and theatricals, and speeches in our house'I mean of peers,'- I must refer you to Pope, whom you don't read, and won't appreciate--for that quotation (which you must allow to be poetical), and sitting to Stroelling, the painter, (do you re- member our visit, with Leckie, to the German ?) to be de- picted as one of the heroes of Agincourt, with his long sword, saddle, bridle, Whack fal de, &c. &c." We thus find, from the letter of Byron to his friend Moore, that the Blessingtons were accompanied by the Count Alfred D’Orsay, in their visit to his Lordship, and that he was one of the party on their arrival, and at their departure from Genoa. It is probable that the arrangements for the Count's jour- ney to Italy with the Blessingtons had been made in Paris, though he did not accompany them from that city, but joined them first at Valence on the Rhone, and subsequently at Avignon. D'Orsay, who had been attached to the French army of the pretended expedition against Spain, abandoned his profession, in an evil hour, for the career of a mere man of pleasure and of fashion. Byron and the Blessingtons continued to live on the most intimate terms, we are told by Lady Blessington, during the stay of the latter at Genoa; and that intimacy had such a happy influence on the author of Childe Harold, that he began to abandon his misanthropy. On the other hand, I am assured by the Marquise de Boissy, formerly Countess of Guiccioli, that the number of visits of Byron to Lady Blessington during the entire period of her sojourn in Genoa, 86 BYRON AND THE BLESSINGTONS AT GENOA. O did not exceed five or six at the utmost; and that Byron was by no means disposed to afford the opportunities that he believed were sought, to enable a lady of a literary turn to write about him. But D'Orsay, she adds, at the first inter- view, had struck Byron as a person of considerable talents and wonderful acquirements for a man of his age and former pursuits. “ Byron from the first liked D'Orsay; he was clever, original, unpretending; he affected to be nothing that he was not." Byron sat for his portrait to D'Orsay, that portrait which subsequently appeared in the New Monthly Magazine, and afterwards as a frontispiece of her Ladyship's work, “ Con- versations with Lord Byron." His Lordship suffered Lady Blessington to lecture him in prose, and what was worse-in verse. He endeavoured to persuade Lord Blessington to prolong his stay in Genoa, and to take a residence adjoining his own, named “Il Paradiso." And a rumour of his intention to take the place for himself, and some good-naturned friend observing “Il diavolo è ancora entrato in Paradiso,” his Lordship wrote the following lines : Beneath Blessington's eyes The reclaimed Paradise Should be free as the former from evil ; But if the new Eve For an apple should grieve, What mortal would not play the devil ? But the original conceit was not in poetry. Lady Blessington informed me, that on the occasion of a masked ball, to be given in Genoa, Byron stated his intention of going there, and asked her Ladyship to accompany him: en badinant about the character she was to go in, some one had suggested that of Evem Byron said, “As some one must play the devil, I will do it." BYRON AND THE LESSINGTONS AT GENOA. 87 Shortly before her departure from Genoa, Lady Blessington requested Byron to write some lines in her album, and ac- cordingly, he composed the five stanzas for her, which will be found elsewhere. Moore speaks of the happy influence of Lady Blessington's society over the mind of Byron: “One of the most important services conferred upon Lord Byron by Lady Blessington during this intimacy, was that half reviving of his old regard for his wife, and the check which she contrived to place upon the composition of Don Juan, and upon the continuation of its most glaring immoralities. He spoke of Ada; her mother, he said, 'has feasted on the smiles of her infancy and growth, but the tears of her ma- turity shall be mine.' Lady Blessington told him, that if he so loved his child, he should never write a line that could bring a blush of shame to her cheek, or a sorrowing tear to her eye ; and he said :-- You are right, I never recollected this. I am jealously tenacious of the undivided sympathy of my daughter; and that work (Don Juan), written to beguile hours of tristesse and wretchedness, is well calculated to loosen. my hold on her affections. I will write no more of it,- would that I had never written a line. In this gentler mind, with old loves, old times, and the tenderest love that human heart can know, all conducing to soothe his pride and his dis- like of Lady Byron, he learned that a near friend of her Ladyship was in Genoa, and he requested Lady Blessington to procure for him, through this friend, a portrait of his wife. He had heard that Lady Byron feared he was about to come to England for the purpose of claiming his child. In re- questing the portrait, and in refuting the report, he addressed the following letter to Lady Blessington “6 May 3, 1823., "'DEAR LADY BLESSINGTON, “My request would be for a copy of the miniature of DAY 88 BYRON AND THE BLESSINGTONS AT GENOA. Lady B. which I have seen in possession of the late Lady Noel, as I have no picture, or indeed memorial of any kind of Lady B., as all her letters were in her own possession before I left England—and we have had no correspondence since—at least on her part. My message with regard to the infant, is simply to this effect, that in the event of any accident occurring to the mother, and my remaining the survivor, it would be my wish to have her plans carried into effect, both with regard to the education of the child, and the person or persons under whose care Lady B. might be desirous that she should be placed. It is not my intention to interfere with her in any way on the subject during her life; and I presume that it would be some consolation to her to know, (if she is in ill health, as I am given to understand, that in no case would anything be done, as far as I am concerned, but in strict conformity with Lady B.'s own wishes and intentions left in what manner she thought proper. Believe me, dear Lady B., your obliged, &c.'" . At length, in the early part of June, 1823, the Blessing- tons took their departure from Genoa, and Moore tells us how the separation affected Byron : “On the evening before the departure of his friends, Lord and Lady Blessington, from Genoa, he called upon them for the purpose of taking leave, and sat conversing for some time. He was evidently in low spirits, and after expressing his regret that they should leave Genoa before his time of sailing, proceeded to speak of his own intended voyage in a tone full of despondence. “Here,' said he, we are all now together —but when, and where, shall we meet again ? I have a sort of boding that we see each other for the last time; as some- thing tells me I shall never again return from Greece.' Having continued a little longer in this melancholy strain, he leaned his head upon the arm of the sofa on which they were seated, and, hursting into tears, wept for some minutes with uncon- trollable feeling. Though he had been talking only with Lady Blessington, all who were present in the room observed, and were affected by his emotion, while he himself, apparently BYRON AND 11 89 THE BLESSINGTONS AT GENOA. ashamed of his weakness, endeavoured to turn off attention from it by some ironical remark, spoken with a sort of hys- terical laugh, upon the effects of nervousness. He had, pre- vious to this conversation, presented to each of the party some little farewell gift—a book to one, a print from his bust . by Bartolini to another, and to Lady Blessington a copy of his Armenian Grammar, which had some manuscript remarks of his own on the leaves. In now parting with her, having begged, as a memorial, some trifle which she had worn, the lady gave him one of her rings; in return for which, he took a pin from his breast, containing a small cameo of Napoleon, which he said had long been his companion, and presented it to her Ladyship. The next, day Lady Blessington received from him the following note:- S “* Albaro, June 2, 1823. "MY DEAR LADY BLESSINGTON, “I am superstitious, and have recollected that memorials with a point are of less fortunate augury: I will, therefore, re- quest you to accept, instead of the pin, the enclosed chain, which is of so slight a value that you need not hesitate. As you wished for something worn, I can only say that it has been worn oftener and longer than the other. It is of Venetian manufacture, and the only peculiarity about it is, that it could only be obtained at or from Venice. At Genoa, they have none of the same kind. I also enclose a ring, which I would wish Alfred to keep; it is too large to wear ; but it is formed of lava, and so far adapted to the fire of his years and character. You will perhaps have the goodness to acknowledge the receipt of this note, and send back the pin (for good luck's sake), which I shall value much more, for having been a night in your custody. «« Ever faithfully your obliged, &c. G.P.S.--I hope your nerves are well to-day, and will con- tinue to flourish.'" Some fourteen years only had elapsed since that criticism appeared in the Edinburgh Review, on his (Byron’s) juvenile 90 BYRON AND THE BLESSINGTONS AT GENOA. san poems, which began with these words—“The poesy of this young Lord belongs to the class which neither gods nor men are said to tolerate." And in the interval between the date of the publication of “ English Bards and Scotch Reviewers,” in 1809, and that of the visit of the Blessingtons to Genoa in June 1823, and his departure for Greece a little later, the poesy of the young Lord manifested to the world that it belonged to a class, which all the powers of criticism could not decry or crush. A few months only had elapsed since Byron parted with Lady Bless- ington, and bade adieu to Italy and the career of the poet was near its close in Greece. · Lady Blessington's feelings of regard for Byron's memory, were by no means such as might have been expected. Perhaps the same observation might be made with respect to Moore's. Campbell's sentiments in relation to the fame of a brother bard, who had only recently been a living rival, were those, which some who knewhim well, always feared they would prove; they were something more than merely cold and unkindly- they were passionately inimical. At a period when most other literary men, who ever had any acquaintance with Byron, or sympathy with his literary pursuits, would have avoided en- tering into a controversy, and espousing the views of his opponents, Campbell with avidity seized an opportunity of rushing into print to wound the memory of one whose reputation fame during his life-time he might not with im- punity have assailed. Lord Byron's yacht, “the Bolivar," was purchased by Lord Blessington, previously to his departure from Genoa, and it was subsequently considered by Lady Blessington that the poet drove a hard bargain with her husband. Medwin, however, as a proof of Byron's lavish and inconside- BYRON AND THE BLESSINGTONS. AT GENOA. 91 rate expenditure, and his incongruity of action in regard to money matters, states that he gave £1000 for a yacht, which he sold for £300, and yet refused to give the sailors their jackets. The 2nd of June, 1823, the Blessingtons set out from Genoa for Naples, via Lucca, Florence, Vienna, and Rome; took their departure from the Eternal City the 13th of the same month, and arrived at Naples on the 17th. 92 . CHAPTER IV. THE CITY AND BAY OF NAPLES. THE BLESSINGTONS AND THEIR SOCIETY IN NAPLES. JUNE, 1823, TO FEBRUARY, 1826. JUNE 2nd (1823), the Blessingtons left Genoa, and passed through Lucca, where they stayed a few days, and arrived in Florence on the 8th of the same month. Here they remained till the 1st of July. Lady Blessington spent her whole time visiting monuments of antiquity, churches, galleries, villas, and palaces, associated with great names and memories. In no city of Italy did she find her thoughts carried back to the past so forcibly as at Florence. A thousand recollections of the olden time of the merchant princes, the Medici, and the Pazzi, of all the factions of the republio, the Neri and Bianchi, the Guelphs and Ghibellines, recurred to memory in her various visits to the different localities of celebrity in the noble city, the grandeur and beauty of which far surpassed her ex- pectations. After a sojourn of about three weeks in Florence, the party set out for Rome. On the 5th of July, the first view of the Eternal City burst on the pilgrims from St. James's Square. As they entered the city, the lone mother of dead empires, all appeared wrapt in silent solemnity, not wanting, however, in sublimity. “ Even the distant solitude of the Campagna," says Lady Blessington, “ was not divested of the latter. But in the evening the Corso was crowded with showy equipages, Y THE CITY AND BAY OF NAPLES. 93 renor Inc occupied by gaily dressed ladies, and thronged with cavaliers on prancing steeds riding past them. Nothing could surpass the gaiety of the evening scene, or contrast more strangely with the gloom of the morning aspect of the sombre suburbs.” The mournful contemplations awakened by the ruins of ancient Rome, are frequently spoken of by Lady Blessington. I cannot help thinking they were of too mournful a cha- racter for her Ladyship to make that city of the dead, of shat- tered thrones and temples, of shrines and sepulchres, a place of abode congenial to her feelings, tastes, and predilections. The Eternal City and its everlasting monuments appear to have made less impression on the mind of Lady Blessing- ton, than might have been expected by those acquainted with · her refined tastes and literary acquirements. The gloom of the sombre monumental city seemed oppres- sive to her spirits; the solemn aspect of the sites of places renowned of old, and those sermons in stones, of crumbling monuments, and all the remaining vestiges of a people, and their idols of long past ages, speaking to the inmost soul of decay and destructibility, were not in accordance with her turn of mind, and her natural taste for objects and scenery that exhilarated the senses, and communicated joyousness to every faculty. Naples, in Lady Blessington's opinion, and not Rome, was the appropriate locality for an elysium that was to last for ever, and for any sojourn of English tourists of haut ton, that was intended to be prolonged for the enjoyment of Italian skies and sunshine, scenery, and society. On the 14th of July, nine days after her arrival in Rome, Lady Blessington writes in her diary, “Left Rome yesterday, driven from it by oppressive heat, and the evil prophecies dinned into my ears of the malaria. I have no fears of the effect of either for myself, but I dare not risk them for others." There were other circumstances besides those referred to, ID 94 THE CITY AND BAY OF NAPLES. ST 1729 in all probability, which determined the precipitate departure from Rome. All the appliances to comfort, or rather to lux- ury, which had become necessary to Lady Blessington, had not been found in Rome. Her Ladyship had become exceedingly fastidious in her tastes. The difficulties of pleasing her in house accommodation, in dress, in cookery especially, had be. come so formidable, and occasioned so many inconveniences, that the solicitude spoken of, for the safety of others, was only one of the reasons for the abrupt departure referred to. With the strongest regard for Lady Blessington, and the fullest appreciation of the many good qualities that belonged to her, it cannot be denied that whether discoursing in her salons, or talking with pen in hand on paper in her journals, she occasionally aimed at something like stage effects in her diaries, as well as in society, and at times assumed opinions, which she abandoned a little later, or passed off appearances for realities. This was done with the view of acquiring esteem ---strengthening her position in the opinion of persons of ex- alted intellect or station, and directing attention to the side of it that was brilliant and apparently enviable, not for any unworthy purpose, but from a desire to please, and perhaps from a feeling of uncertainty in the possession of present advantages. The first impressions of Lady Blessington of the beauty of the environs of Naples, the matchless site of the city, its glorious bay, its celebrated garden--the Villa Reale, its de- lightful climate, and exquisite tints of sea and sky, and varied aspect of shore and mountain--of isles and promontories, are described by her, in her diaries, in very glowing terms. Her hotel, the Gran Bretagna, fronted the sea, and was only divided from it by the garden of the Villa Reale, filled with plants and flowers, and adorned with statues and vases. The sea was seen sparkling through the opening of the trees, with numbers of boats gliding along the shore. In the THE CITY AND BAY OF NAPLES. 95 nan “Idler in Italy," Lady Blessington thus speaks of the delight- ful climate and its cheering influences. “How light and elastic is the air! Respiration is carried on unconsciously, and existence becomes a positive pleasure in such a climate. Who that has seen Naples, can wonder that her children are idle, and luxuriously disposed ? To gaze on the cloudless sky and blue Mediterranean, in an atmosphere so pure and balmy, is enough to make the veriest plodder who ever courted Plutus, abandon his toil, and enjoy the delicious dolce far niente of the Neapolitans."* A few words of this epitome of paradise, may be permitted to one who enjoyed its felicity of clime and site and scenery, for upwards of three years. The city of Naples retains no vestiges of Greek or Roman antiquity. It occupies the site of two ancient Greek towns, Palæopolis founded by Parthenope, and Neapolis or the New Town. Eventually they merged into one city, which became a portion of the Roman Empire, and obtained the name of Neapolis. The bay of Naples, for the matchless beauty of its situation, and its surrounding scenery, is unrivalled. Its circling beach extends from the promontory of Pausilippo to Sorento, a line of more than thirty miles of varied beauty and magnificence. This city, with its churches, palaces, villas, and houses, luxuriant gardens and vineyards, with the sur- rounding hills and grounds thickly planted in the vicinity, backed by the Apennines, well deserves its poetical designa. tion, “ Un pezzo di cielo caduto in terra." Naples, it is truly said, “viewed by moonlight is enchanting. The moon pour- ing out an effulgence of silvery light, from a sky of the deepest azure, through a pure and transparent atmosphere, places all the prominent buildings in strong relief; and whilst it makes every object distinctly visible, it mellows each tint, and blends the innumerable details into one vast harmonious : * The Idler in Italy, p. 244. Ed. Par. 1839. 1 96 THE CITY AND BAY OF NAPLES. whole, throwing a bewitching and indescribable softness and repose on the scene. From the time that this city and territory fell under the power of the Romans, to the period of the destruction of Pompeii, in the year of our Lord 79, Neapolis, on account of the beauty of its situation, and excellence of its climate, became the favourite place of residence in the winter season, and the chosen sojourn for a continuance of several of the magnates of the Eternal City, of the Emperor Tiberius, for the last years of his iniquitous reign-of many of the most illustrious sages and philosophers of Rome. For some cen- turies subsequently to the destruction of Pompeii, Naples shared the calamitous fate of the other Italian cities--it was ruled, harassed, pillaged, and devastated, successively by Goths, Vandals, Saracens, Lombards, and Parmans, and ultimately by Germans, French, and Spaniards. The flight of the King of Naples in 1799—the short reign of Joseph Bonaparte- the rule of Murat—his deposition, execution, and other modern vicissitudes, it is hardly necessary to refer to. The Castello del 'Ovo, standing on a projecting insulated rock, commands the entire of the two semicircular bays on which the city stands. In one direction extends the long line of shore on which are the Chiatamone, the Marino and Chiaja, with numerous ascending terraces of streets behind them, crowned by Fort St. Elmo and Castello Nuovo, the convent of Camaldole, the Palazzo Belvidere, and the hill of the Vomero: and still farther westward, the promontory of Pau- silippo terminates the land view, and in this vicinity lie the beautiful little islands of Ischia and Procida. In the other direction, to the eastward of the Castello del 'Ovo, are semi- circular clusters of houses, convents, and churches, with the mole, the lighthouse and harbour, the quay of Santa Lucia, surmounted by the Palace of Capo di Monte, and the emi- nence of Capo di Chino, and in the distant back-ground the THE CITY AND BAY OF NAPLES. 97 bold outlines of the Apennines, with their tints of purple, vary- ing with the atmosphere, and presenting a different aspect with the several changes of the setting sun. Still further, by the eastern shore, is the Ponte Madelena, leading to Portici and Torro del Græco, the sites and ruins of Pompeia and Hercu- laneum, and rising up in the vicinity, in the plains of the Campagna Felice, Vesuvius of portentous aspect, sombre and majestic, with all its associations of terror and destruction, and the traditionary horrors of its history, from those of 79 A.D. to the latest eruptions of signal violence in 1821, are recalled as we approach its base, or ascend the dreary foot-path in the ravines of molten lava, or ragged scoriæ and masses of huge rock that have been torn from the sides of the crater in some past eruptions. Still further along the shore, to the south-east, stands Cas- tellamare, a place of resort noted for its coolness and refresh- ing sea breezes, the site of the ancient Stabia, the summer retreat of the elite of Naples. A little further is the delightful scenery of Monte S. Michel, Sorrento, the birth-place of Tasso; and the Cape Campanello, the ancient Athenæus, or promon- tory of Minerva, terminates the land view to the eastward. At the entrance to the bay, where the expanse is greatest between the eastern and western shore, in a southern direction, is the island of Capri, the ancient Capreæ, eighteen miles distant from the opposite extremity of the bay of Portici, about four miles from the nearest shore. The extreme length of the island is about four miles, its breadth two miles. The peak of the southern mountain of the island is about 2000 feet high. Several ruins, supposed to be of palaces of the imperial monster Tiberius, exist on this island. The extreme length of Naples is from the Ponte Madelena to Pausilipo, along the sea shore, a distance of about four miles. The breadth is unequal; at the west end it is con- tracted between the hills of the Vomero and the Belvidere and VOL. 1. 98 THE CITY AND BAY OF NAPLES. the sea side, and in the interval there are only three or four streets. Towards the centre it extends from the Castello del 'Ovo northward to the Capo di Monte and Monte di Chino, and in this direction the breadth of this most ancient part of the city, and most densely populated, from the quay of St. Lucia to the eminences of Capo di Monte and Capo di Chino, is about two miles. The main street, Strada del Toledo, runs nearly parallel with the shore. It is broad, and fronted with large houses, five or six stories high, in which are the prin- cipal shops of the city. The population amounts to about 380,000 inhabitants; there are upwards of 300 churches; the lazzaroni are estimated at 40,000, the clergy, monks, and nuns, at 7800. The Castello del 'Ovo is built on a rock, which projects into the sea from the Chiatamone, which separates it from Pizzo Falcone. It was formerly called Megera, then Lucullanum. The last of the Roman Emperors, Romulus Augustulanus, is said to have been imprisoned here in 476. The fortress con- sists now of a confused mass of buildings, ancient and modern. In one of the old gloomy apartments, the Queen Joanna was for some time confined. Its venerable commandant in 1822–4, and for many years previously, was a brave old Irish officer, General Wade. The bay of Naples, long after the departure of Lady Bless- ington from its shores, ceased not to be a favourite theme both in conversation and composition with her Ladyship. The sketch of its beauties appeared in the “ Book of Beauty” for 1834, and again came out, retouched, in one of her later publications, “ The Lottery of Life.” . THE BAY OF NAPLES, In the Summer of 1824. “It is evening, and scarcely a breeze ruffles the calm bosom THE CITY AND BAY OF NAPLES. 99 A of the beautiful bay, which resembles a vast lake, reflecting on its glassy surface the bright sky above, and the thousand stars with which it is studded. Naples, with its white colonnades seen amidst the dark foliage of its terraced gardens, rises like an amphitheatre : lights stream from the windows, and fall on the sea beneath like columns of gold. The castle of St. Elmo crowning the centre; Vesuvius, like a sleeping giant in grim repose, whose awakening all dread, is to the left, and on the right are the vine-crowned heights of the beautiful Vomero, with their palaces and villas peeping forth from the groves that surround them ; while rising above it the convent of Camaldoli lifts its head to the skies. Resina, Portici, Castelamare, and the lonely shores of Sorrento, reach out from Vesuvius as if they tried to embrace the isle of Capri, which forms the central object; and Pausilipo and Misenum, which, in the distance, seemed joined to Procida and Ischia, advance to meet the beautiful island on the right. The air, as it leaves the shore, is laden with fragrance from the orange trees and jasmine, so abundant round Naples, and the soft music of the guitar, or lively sound of the tambourine, marking the brisk movements of the tarantella, steals on the ear. But, hark ! a rich stream of music, silencing all other, is heard, and a golden barge ad- vances; the oars keep time to the music, and each stroke of them sends forth a silvery light; numerous lamps attached to the boat, give it, at a little distance, the appearance of a vast shell of topaz, floating on a sea of sapphire. Nearer and nearer draws this splendid pageant; the music falls more dis- tinctly on the charmed ear, and one sees that its dulcet sounds are produced by a band of glittering musicians, clothed in royal liveries. This illuminated barge is followed by another, with silken canopy overhead, and the curtains drawn back to admit the balmy air. Cleopatra, when she sailed down the Cydnus, boasted not a more beautiful vessel ; and, as it glides over the sea, it seems impelled by the music that precedes it, Imera H 2 100 THE CITY AND BAY OF NAPLES. so perfectly does it keep time to its enchanting sounds, leaving a bright trace behind, like the memory of departed happiness. But who is he that guides this beauteous bark ? His tall and slight figure is curved, and his snowy locks, falling over ruddy cheeks, show that age has bent, but not broken him; he looks like one born to command—a hoary Neptune, steering over his native element;-all eyes are fixed, but his follow the glittering barge that precedes him. And who is she that has the seat of honour at his side ? Her fair, large, and unmeaning face wears a placid smile ; and those light blue eyes and fair ringlets, speak her of another land; her lips, too, want the fine chiselling which marks those of the sunny clime of Italy; and the expression of her countenance has in it more of earth than heaven. Innumerable boats filled with lords and ladies follow, but intrude not on the privacy of this royal bark, which passes before us like a vision in a dream. He who steered was Ferdinand, King of the Sicilies, and she who was beside him, Maria Louisa, Ex-Empress of France." Many a glorious evening have I passed with the Blessing- tons, in 1823 and in the early part of 1824, sailing in the bay of Naples, in their yacht, the Bolivar, which had be- longed to Lord Byron ; and not unfrequently, when the weather was particularly fine, and the moonlight gave additional beauty to the shores of Portici and Castelamare, Sorrento, and Pausi- lipo, the night has been far advanced before we returned to the Mole. The furniture of the cabin of the Bolivar reminded one of its former owner. The table at which he wrote, the sofa on which he reclined, were in the places in which they stood when he owned the yacht. Byron was very partial to this vessel. It had been built for him expressly at Leghorn. On one occasion I was of the party, when having dined on board, and skirted along the shores of Castelamare and Sorrento, the wind fell about dusk, and we lay becalmed in the bay till two THE CITY AND BAY OF NAPLES. 101 WA or three o'clock in the morning, some six or eight miles from the shore. The bay was never more beautiful than on that delightful night; the moonlight could not be more brilliant. The pale blue sky was without a cloud, the sea smooth and shining as a mirror, and at every plash of an oar glittered with phosphorescent flashes of vivid light. But all the beau- ties of the bay on that occasion wasted their loveliness on the weary eyes of Lady Blessington in vain. “ Captain Smith,” capitaine par complaisance, a lieutenant of the navy, who had the command of the Bolivar, was a very great original; on that, as well as many other occasions, he served to relieve the tedium of those aquatic excursions, which were sometimes more prolonged than pleased Lady Blessington. Her Ladyship had a great turn, and a particular talent for grave banter, for solemn irony, verging on the very borders of obvious hoaxing. It was a great delight to her to discover a prevailing weakness, vanity, absurdity, prejudice, or an antipathy, in an extravagant or eccentric person, and then to draw out that individual, throwing out catch words and half sentences to suggest the kind of expression she desired, or expected to elicit, and then leading the party into some ridiculous display of oddity, vanity, or absurdity. But this was done with such singular tact, finesse, and de- licacy of humour, that pain never was inflicted by the mysti- fication, for the simple reason that the badinage was never suspected by the party on whom it was practised, even when carried to the very utmost limit of discretion. This taste for drawing out odd people, and making them believe absurd things, or express ridiculous ones, was certainly indulged in, not in a vulgar or coarse manner, but it became too much a habit, and tended perhaps to create a penchant for acting in society, and playing off opinions, as other persons do jokes and jests, for the sake of the fun of the performance. The Count D'Orsay, who was a man of genuine wit, and no 102 THE CITY AND BAY OF NAPLES. wonderful quickness of perception of the ridiculous, wherever it existed, also possessed this taste for mystifying and eliciting absurdity to a very great extent, and rendered no little aid to Lady Blessington in these exhibitions of talent for grave irony and refined banter, which ever and anon, of an evening, she was wont to indulge in. In Naples, poor “ Captain Smith’s” anxiety for promotion, and his high sense of fitness for the most exalted position in his profession, furnished the principal subjects for a display of this kind of talent. The poor Captain was “ fooled to the very top of his bent.” He was drawn out in all companies, in season and out of season, on the subject of posting. The Admiralty were regularly lugged into every argument, and it invariably ended with an inquiry~" Why he was not posted ?" The same observations in reply were always produced, by an allusion to the Lords of the Admiralty; and the same replies, with unerring precision, were sure to follow the inquiry about post rank. “ There was no patronage for merit.” “ He ought to have been posted fifteen years ago." “ Half the post-cap- tains in the navy were his juniors, though all got posted, because they had patrons.” “ But the Lords of the Admiralty never posted a man for his service, and "-- The dis- concerted lieutenant would then be interrupted by D'Orsay, with some such good-natured suggestion as the following, in his broken English:-“ Ah, my poor Smid, tell Miladi over again, my good fellow, once more explain for Mademoiselle Power too, how it happens Milords of the Admirals never posted you." Then would the lieutenant go over the old formula in a querulous tone, without the slightest change of voice or look. In July, 1823, the Blessingtons established themselves at the Palace or Villa Belvidere, on the Vomero, one of the most beautiful residences in Naples, surrounded by gardens over- looking the bay, and commanding a most enchanting view of nh THE CITY AND BAY OF NAPLES. 103 its exquisite features. Though the palace was furnished suit- ably for a Neapolitan prince, Lady Blessington found it re- quired a vast number of comforts, the absence of which could not be compensated by beautifully decorated walls and ceilings, marble floors, pictures and statues, and an abundance of an- tiquated sofas, and chairs of gigantic dimensions, carved and gilt. The Prince and Princess Belvidere marvelled when they were informed an upholsterer's services would be re- quired, and a variety of articles of furniture would have to be procured for the wants of the sojourners, who were about to occupy their mansion for a few months. The rent of this palace was extravagantly high ; but nothing was considered too dear for the advantage of its site and scenery. Lady Blessington thus describes her new abode : “ A long avenue entered by an old-fashioned archway, which forms part of the dwelling of the intendente of the Prince di Bel- videre, leads through a pleasure ground, filled with the rarest trees, shrubs, and plants, to the Palazzo, which forms three sides of a square, the fourth being an arcade, that connects one portion of the building with the other. There is a court- yard, and fountain in the centre. A colonnade extends from each side of the front of the palace, supporting a terrace covered with flowers. The windows of the principal salons open on a garden, formed on an elevated terrace, surrounded on three sides by a marble balustrade, and enclosed on the fourth by a long gallery, filled with pictures, statues, and alti and bassi-relievi. On the top of this gallery, which is of considerable length, is a terrace, at the extreme end of which is a pavilion, with open arcades, and paved with marble. This pavilion commands a most enchanting prospect of the bay, with the coast of Sorrento on the left; Capri in the centre, with Nisida, Procida, Ischia, and the promontory of Misenium to the right; the fore-ground filled up by gardens and vine- yards. The odour of the flowers in the grounds around this 1 104 TU SOCIETY OF THE BLESSINGTONS AT NAPLES. pavilion, and the Spanish jasmine and tuberoses that cover the walls, render it one of the most delicious retreats in the world. The walls of all the rooms are literally covered with pictures; the architraves of the doors of the principal rooms are oriental alabaster and the rarest marbles; the tables and consoles are composed of the same costly materials; and the furniture, though in decadence, bears the traces of its pris- tine splendour. Besides five salons de réception on the prin- cipal floor, the palace contains a richly decorated chapel and sacristy, a large salle de billiard, and several suites of bed and dressing rooms."* Never did English lady of refined tastes make a sojourn in the neighbourhood of Pompeii and Herculaneum, visit the various localities of Naples and its vicinity, carry out re- searches of antiquarian interest, and inquire into the past amid the ruins of Pæstum and Beneventum, Sorrento, Amalfi, Salerno, Ischia, and Proscida, and Capri, under such advan- tageous circumstances as Lady Blessington. When she visited Herculaneum, she was accompanied by Sir William Gell; when she examined museums, and galleries devoted to objects of art, ancient or modern, she was accom- panied by Mr. Uwins, the painter, or Mr. Richard Westma- cott, the sculptor, or Mr. Millengen, the antiquarian, who “ initiated her into the mysteries of numismatics.” If she made an excursion to Pæstum, it was with the same erudite cicerone, or the present Lord Carlisle ; or when she had an evening visit to the Observatory, it was in the company of Mr. Herschel (now Sir John), or the famous Italian astro- nomer, Piazzi. Or if she went to Beneventum, or the Torre di Patria, the sight of the ancient Liternum, it was in the agreeable society of some celebrated savant. The visit to Pompeii, with Sir William Gell as cicerone, has been memorialized by Lady Blessington, in some well- * The Idler in Italy, p. 247, Par. Ed. 1839. SOCIETY OF THE BLESSINGTONS AT NAPLES. 105 written stanzas, the first and last of which I present to my readers : “ Lonely city of the dead ! Body whence the soul has fled, Leaving still upon thy face Such a mild and pensive grace As the lately dead display, While yet stamped upon frail clay, Rests the impress of the mind, That the fragile earth refined. Farewell, city of the dead ! O’er whom centuries have fled, Leaving on your buried face Not one mark time loves to trace ! Dumb as Egypt corpses, you Strangely meet our anxious view, Shewing to the eager gaze, But cold still shades of ancient days.” 1 Among the papers of Lady Blessington, I found some beautifully written verses on the ruins of Pæstum, a prize poem, written by the present Earl of Carlisle. Her Ladyship visited Pæstum in May 1824, accompanied by Mr. Millengen, Mr. C. Mathews, and his Lordship (then the Hon. George Howard, those lines were given to her, by the latter, on that occasion. PÆSTUM. " 'Mid the deep silence of the pathless wild, Where kindlier nature once profusely smiled, Th' eternal Temples stand ; unknown their age, Untold their annals in historic page! All that around them stood, now far away, Single in ruin, mighty in decay! Between the mountains and the neighb'ring main, They claim the empire of the lonely plain. 106 SOCIETY OF THE BLESSINGTONS AT NAPLES. In solemn beauty, through the clear blue light, The Doric columns rear their awful height! Emblems of strength untamed! yet conquering time Has mellowed half the sternness of their prime; And bade the richer, mid their ruins grown, Imbrown with darker hues the vivid stone. Each channelled pillar of the fane appears Unspoiled, yet softened by consuming years. So calmly awful! so serenely fair! The gazers wrapt still mutely worship there. Not always thus, when full beneath the day, No fairer scene than Pæstum's lovely bay; When her light soil bore plants of every hue, And twice each year her beauteous roses blew; While bards her blooming honours loved to sing, And Tuscan zephyrs fanned th' eternal spring. When in her port the Syrian moored his fleet, And wealth and commerce filled the peopled street; While here the trembling mariner adored The seas' dread sovereign, Posidonia's lord ; With native tablets decked yon hallowed walls, Or sued for justice in her crowded halls; There stood on high the white-robed Flamen, there The opening portal poured the choral prayer ; While to the searching heaven swelled loud the sound, And incense blazed, and myriads knelt around. 'Tis past! the actors of the plain are mute, E’en to the herdsman's call, or shepherd's flute ! The toils of art, the charms of nature fail, And death triumphant rules the tainted gale. From the lone spot, the affrighted peasants haste, A wild the garden, and the town a waste. But they are still the same, alike they mock The invader's menace, and the tempest's shock; And ere the world had bowed at Cæsar's throne, Ere yet proud Rome's all-conquering name was known, SOCIETY WI 107 OF THE BLESSINGTONS AT NAPLES. They stood, and fleeting centuries in vain Have poured their fury o’er the enduring fane. Such long shall stand, proud relics of a clime Where man was glorious, and his works sublime; While in the progress of their long decay, Thrones sink to dust, and nations pass away."* I accompanied Lady Blessington and her party on the oc- casion, I think, of their first visit to Mount Vesuvius. The account in the “Idler in Italy," of the ascent, is given with great liveliness and humour ; but the wit and drollery of some of the persons who were of this party, contributed to render the visit one of the merriest, perhaps, that ever was made to a volcano; and to the joyousness of the expedition altogether, I think her Ladyship has hardly done justice. I had previously made an excursion to Vesuvius, accom- panied by a blind gentleman, Lieutenant Holman, the cele- brated traveller, who used to boast of his having come from * “ On entering the walls of Pæstum (says Forsyth), I felt all the religion of the place. I trod as on sacred ground. I stood amazed at the long obscurity of its mighty ruins. They can be descried with a glass from Salerno, the high road of Calabria commands a distant view, the city of Capaccio looks down upon them, and a few wretches have always lived on the spot; yet they remain unnoticed by the best Nea- politan antiquaries. Pelegrino, Capaccio, and Sanfelice, wrote volumes on the beaten tracks of topography, but they never travelled. “I will not disturb the dreams of Paoli, who can see nothing here but the work of Tuscans and the Tuscan order ; nor would I, with other antiquaries, remount to the Sybarites, and ascribe these monu- ments, monuments the most simple, sage, austere, energetic, to a race the most opposite in character. Because the Pæstan Doric differs in all its proportions from that of the exaggeration of mass which awes every eye, and a stability which, from time unknown, has sustained in the air these ponderous entablatures. The walls are fallen, and the columns stand; the solid has failed, and the open resists.” Things were in this state when I visited Pæstum in 1823, accompanied by Mr. Greenough, one of the Vice Presidents of the Geographical Society, and Mr. Burton, the architect. 108 SOCIETY OF THE BLESSINGTONS AT NAPLES. ni .. UI England expressly to see an eruption. He was certainly recompensed for his pains, by having an opportunity afforded him, during his sojourn in Naples, of hearing the bellowing of a volcano, of the greatest violence that had occurred in recent times, that of June, 1821. We ascended Vesuvius the evening on which the violence of the eruption was at its greatest height. Lieut. Holman has given an account of our night ascent, and adventures by no means free from peril, in his “ Narrative of a Journey in France, Italy, Savoy, &c., in the years 1819, 1820, and 1821,” page 234. We set off from Naples about five o'clock in the afternoon, as my blind companion says in his work, “ with the view of seeing the mountain by moonlight." Passing through Portici, we reached Resina about seven o'clock, and at the base of the mountain took a conductor from the house of Salvatori. Visitants usually ascend on asses, two-thirds of the way towards the summit, but my blind friend preferred walking, “ to see things better with his feet.” We reached the hermitage by eight or nine o'clock, where we supped, and did great justice to the hermit's fare. The eruption was chiefly of light ashes, when we proceeded upwards from the hermitage, and the road or path, at all times difficult, was now doubly so from the heavy dust and scoriæ, interspersed with fragments of stone, which lay all along it. The shower of ashes was succeeded, as we ascended, by torrents of red-hot lava, that streamed over the edge of the crater in the direction of the wind, and like a river of molten lead, as it descended, and lost its bright red heat, flowed down not impetuously, but slowly and gradually, in a great broad stream, perhaps sixty or eighty feet wide, towards the sea to the east of Resina. We proceeded along the edge of this stream for some distance, and my blind friend formed his notions of its consistence, rate of flowing, and temperature, by poking his staff in this stream of lava, and feeling the SOCIETY OF THE BLESSINGTONS AT NAPLES. 109 charred stick when he removed it. The great crater was then in repose. At length we reached the spot where a vast fissure, somewhat lower than the crater, was emitting torrents of lava and sulphureous vapours. My blind friend would not be persuaded to remain behind, when the guide conducted us to any spot particularly perilous, and especially to one where fire and ashes were issuing from clefts in the rock on which we walked. He insisted on walking over places where we could hear the crackling effects of the fire on the lava beneath our feet, and on a level with the brim of the new crater, which was then pouring forth showers of fire and smoke, and lava, and occasionally masses of rock of amazing dimensions, to an enor- mous height in the air. A change of wind must inevitably have buried us, either beneath the ashes, or the molten lava. The huge rocks generally fell back into the crater from which they issued. The ground was glowing with heat under our feet, which often obliged us to shift our position. Our guide conducted us to the edge of a crater, where a French gentle- man had thrown himself in, about two months previously. He had written some lines in the travellers' book at the her- mitage on his ascent, indicative of the old fact, that “the course of true love never did run smooth.” The view of the bay of Naples, and of the distant city, from the summit of Vesuvius on a beautiful moonlight night, with- out a cloud in the sky, such as we had the good fortune to enjoy, was almost magic in its effect; such serenity and repose and beauty in perfect stillness, formed a striking contrast with the lurid glare of the red-hot masses that were emitted from the volcano, and the frightful bellowings of the burning moun- tain on which we stood. I should have observed, there are, properly speaking, two summits, one westward, called Somma, the other south, Ve- suvius. In 1667, an eruption had added two hundred feet to the crater's elevation. But in the present eruption a very large portion of this crater had fallen in. 110 SOCIETY OF THE BLESSINGTONS AT NAPLES. We got back to Portici at three o'clock in the morning, and to Naples at four. Lady Blessington has given some account of her “ descents into the graves of buried cities.” In one of those visits to the remains of Herculaneum, I had the pleasure of accom- panying her, when the admirable and erudite cicerone of her Ladyship was Sir William Gell.* Among the English who frequented the Palazzo Belvidere, the following may be enumerated as the elite, or most highly esteemed of the visitors there :-Sir William Drummond, Sir William Gell, the Honourable Keppel Craven, Mr. William Hamilton, the British minister to the Neapolitan court; Colonel Chaloner Bisse, the Honourable R. Grosvenor, Captain Gordon, brother of Lord Aberdeen ; Mr. Matthias, the author of “The Pursuits of Literature;" Lord Guilford, Count (now Prince) Paul Lieven, Lord Ashley, Mr. Evelyn Denison, Mr. Richard Williams, Signor Salvaggi, a distinguished littérateur; the Duc de Rocco Romano, Marchese Guiliano, Duc de Ca- zarano, Lords Dudley and Ward, Lord Howden, and his son Mr. Cradock; later, if I mistake not, Colonel Caradoc, the Honourable George Howard, the present Lord Carlisle, Mr. Millengen, the eminent antiquarian ; Mr. Charles Mathews, the son of the celebrated comedian ; Lord Ponsonby, Prince Ischitelli, Mr. J. Strangways, the brother of Lord Ilchester; Mr. H. Baillie, Mr. Herschel, the present Sir John Herschel, the astronomer; Mr. Henry Fox (now Lord Holland), Mr. J. 1 zari vupeil. * Herculaneum was founded A.M. 2757, sixty years before the siege of Troy, about 3092 years ago. It was destroyed by the same eruption of Vesuvius, in the year 79 A.D., which buried Pompeii. The buried cities remained undiscovered till 1641 years after their destruction. Herculaneum had been successively ruled by the Etruscans, Oscians, Samnites, Greeks, and, when destroyed, by the Romans. The original founder was said to be the Theban Hercules. Portici and Resina are built over the buried city. SOCIETY OF THE BLESSINGTONS AT NAPLES. 111 Townsend (now Lord Sydney), Count de Camaldole, General Church, General Florestan Pepe, Mr. Richard Westmacott, the Duc de Fitz-James, Cassimir Delavigne, Filangiere (Prince Satriani), son of the well-known writer on jurispru- dence ; Mr. Bootle Wilbraham, jun., the Abbé Monticelli, an eminent geologist; the Archbishop of Tarento, Sir Andrew Barnard, Signor Piazzi, a celebrated astronomer, the discoverer of the planet Ceres. The situation of the villa Belvidere--the lovely prospect from the terrace that communicated with the principal saloon-the classic beauty of the house, the effect of the tasteful laying out of the grounds—the elegance of the establishment, and the precious objects of modern art, of an ornamental kind, of bijouterie, porcelain, ivory, gems of great rarity, and vases of exquisite form and workmanship, and relics too of antiquity, of great value, collected by Lady Blessington throughout Italy, or presented to her by connoisseurs and dilettanti like Gell, Millengen, Dodswell, and Drummond-it would be difficult to exaggerate the merits of, or to describe adequately the effects of ; so many excellences were combined in the ad- mirable tout ensemble of that villa, when it was the abode of the Countess of Blessington. Who ever enjoyed the pleasures of her elegant hospitality, in that delightful abode, and the brilliant society of the eminent persons by whom she was habitually surrounded there, and can forget the scene, the hostess and the circle, that imparted to the villa Belvidere some of the Elysian characteristics that poetry has ascribed to a neighbouring locality ? Difficulties with the proprietor of this mansion obliged the Blessingtons to quit their Neapolitan paradise on the Vomero, for the Villa Gallo, situated on another eminence, that of Capo di Monte, the end of March, 1825; and there they remained till February the following year. 11 na 11 112 CHAPTER V. DEPARTURE FROM NAPLES. SOJOURN IN ROME, FLORENCE, MILAN, VENICE, AND GENOA. RETURN TO PARIS. FEBRU- ARY 1826 TO JUNE 1829. ! The Blessingtons and their party having made Naples their head-quarters for upwards of two years and a half, took their departure the end of February, 1826, and arrived at Rome the beginning of March following The departure for Naples was sudden, and the cause for that suddenness is not explained in the journals of Lady Blessington. The Blessingtons arrived in Rome from Naples the begin- ning of March. They remained in Rome till about the middle of the month, and then set out for Florence.. We find them in the month of April in that city, where Lord and Lady Normanby were then entertaining the inha- bitants with theatricals. They remained in Florence nearly nine months. In December they were once more at Genoa, but he who had made their previous sojourn there so agree- · able, was then numbered with the dead. Before the close of the month, we find them established at Pisa, where they had the pleasure of meeting the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche. Lady Blessington had met Lord John Russell in Genoa. She had known his lordship in England, and thought very highly both of his intellectual powers and the amiability of his disposition. With the exception of the Duke of York, who SOJOURN IN ROME! 113 . U was an especial favourite of her Ladyship-Lord Grey, and perhaps Lord Durham, none of the persons who frequented the abode of the Blessingtons in St. James's Square, were spoken of in such warm terms of regard and esteem by Lady Blessington, as Lord John Russell. She thus speaks of him in her Naples diary :* " He came and dined with us, and was in better health and spirits than I remember him when in England. He is ex- ceedingly well read, and has a quiet dash of humour, that renders his observations very amusing. When the reserve peculiar to him is thawed, he can be very agreeable; and the society of his Genoese friends having had this effect, he ap- pears here to much more advantage than in London. Good sense, a considerable power of discrimination, a highly culti- vated mind, and great equality of temper, are the characteris- tics of Lord John Russell ; and these peculiarly fit him for taking a distinguished part in public life. The only obstacle to his success, seems to me to be the natural reserve of his manners, which, by leading people to think him cold and proud, may preclude him from exciting that warm sentiment of personal attachment, rarely accorded, except to those whose uniform friendly demeanour excites and strengthens it; and without this attraction, it is difficult, if not impossible, for a statesman, whatever may be the degree of esteem enter- tained for his character, to have devoted friends and par- tisans, accessories so indispensable for one who would fill a distinguished róle in public life. . "Lord John Russell dined with us again yesterday, and nobody could be more agreeable. He should stay two or three years among his Italian friends, to wear off for ever the reserve that shrouds so many good qualities, and conceals so. many agreeable ones; and he would then become as popular ma (D * The Idler in Italy, Par. Ed. 1839, p. 370. VOL. 1. 114 SOJOURN IN FLORENCE. as he deserves to be. But he will return to England, be again thrown into the clique, which political differences keep apart from that of their opponents, become as cold and distant as formerly; and people will exclaim at his want of cordiality, and draw back from what they consider to be his haughty reserve.” The Blessingtons remained in Pisa till the latter part of June, 1827. We find them again in Florence, from July to the November following. At Florence, in 1826 and 1827, Lady Blessington was ac- quainted with Demidoff, “ the Russian Cræsus,” with Lord Dillon, the author of an epic poem, "Eccelino, the Tyrant of Padua," a production more complacently read aloud by his lordship on various occasions, than often patiently listened to by his hearers; the Prince Borghese, a “noble Roman,” remarkable for his obesity, the number and size of his gold rings, and the circumstance of his being the husband of the sister of Napoleon-" La petite et Mignonne Pauline;" La- martine, “ very good-looking and distinguished in his appear- ance, who dressed so perfectly like a gentleman, that one never would suspect him to be a poet;" Comte Alexandre de la Borde, and his son M. Leon de la Borde ; Mr. Jerningham, the son of Lord Stafford; Henry Anson, "a fine young man, on his way to the East” (and never destined to return from it); Mr. Strangways, in the absence of Lord Burghersh, offi- ciating as Chargé d'Affaires ; Mr. Francis Hare, “gay, clever, and amusing ;" and, in May, 1827, Walter Savage Landor, “one of the most remarkable writers of his day, as well as one of the most remarkable and original of men.” This was the first time of meeting with Mr. Landor, and during the sojourn of the Blessingtons in Florence, there were few days they did not see him. The strongest attach- ment that comes within the legitimate limits and bonds of SOJOURN IN FLORENCE. 115 literary friendships, was soon formed between Lady Blessington and the celebrated author of “Imaginary Conversations.” In the Athenæum of the 17th of February, 1855, Mr. Landor makes the following reference to his first acquaintance with Lady Blessington: “I will now state my first acquaint- ance with her Ladyship. Residing in the Palazzo Medici at Florence, the quinsey, my annual visitant for fifty seasons, confined me to my room. At that time my old friend, Francis Hare, who had been at Pisa on a visit to Lord and Lady Bless- ington, said at breakfast that he must return instantly to Florence. Lord and Lady B. joked with him on so sudden a move, and insisted on knowing the true reason for it. When he mentioned my name and my sickness, Lord Bless- ington said, 'You don't mean Walter Landor ! 'The very man,' replied Hare. His Lordship rang the bell, and ordered his horses to be put instantly to his carriage. He had gone to Pisa for his health, and had rented a house on a term of six months, of which only four had expired. The next morning my servant entered my inner drawing-room, where I was lying on a sofa, and announced Lord Blessington. I said I knew no such person. He immediately entered, and said, “Come, come, Landor! I never thought you would re- fuse to see an old friend. If you don't know Blessington, you may remember Mountjoy.' Twenty years before, when Lord Mountjoy was under the tuition of Dr. Randolph, he was always at the parties of Lady Belmore, at whose house I visited, more particularly when there were few besides her own family. I should not have remembered Lord Mountjoy. In those days he was somewhat fat for so young a man; he had now become emaciated. In a few days he brought his lady 'to see me and make me well again. They remained at Florence all that year, and nearly all the next. In the spring, and until the end of autumn, I went every evening from my villa and spent it in their society. Among the celebrities I I 2 116 SOJOURN IN FLORENCE. met there was Pocrio, and, for several weeks, the Count di Camaldoli, who had been Prime Minister of Naples, the Duke de Richelieu too, and D'Orsay's sister, the Duchess de Guiche, beside a few of the distinguished Florentines. When I re- turned to England, soon after Lord Blessington's death, my first visit was to the Countess. Never was man treated with more cordiality. Her parties contained more of remarkable personages than ever were assembled in any other house, ex- cepting, perhaps, Madame de Stäel's. In the month of the coronation, more men illustrious in rank, in genius, and in science, met at Gore House, either at dinner or after, than ever were assembled in any palace." Hallam, the historian, the young Lord Lifford, “ formed for the dolce far niente of Italian life," with his imploring expres- sion of—Laissez moi tranquille-in his good-natured face, were then likewise residing at Florence ; and Lord and Lady Normanby also were sojourning there in 1827. Lord Nor- manby was a frequent visitor at the Blessingtons. His taste for theatricals was quite in unison with Lord Blessington's, while his taste for literature, his polished and fascinating manners, his desire to please, and disposition to oblige, and most agreeable conversation, furnished peculiar attractions for Lady Blessington. Lord Normanby was then thirty years of age, in the incipient stage of fashionable authorship, beginning to write novels, in the habit of contributing to al- bums, ambitious of politics, and exhibiting his turn for them by occasional prose articles for reviews and magazines. The Blessingtons, though they had retraced their steps towards the North, were now veering between Florence, Genoa, and Pisa, and seem to have seldom turned their thoughts homewards. St. James's Square was beginning to disappear from their recollections. Those connected with Lord Bless- ington by the ties of blood, residing in his own country, were SOJOURN IN GENOA. 117 seldom thought of; new scenes and new acquaintances appear to have taken fast hold of his tastes and feelings. When Lord Blessington quitted England, in September, 1822, he had four children ; his eldest son, Charles John Gardiner, born in Portman Square, London, the 3rd of Fe- bruary, 1810, was then twelve years of age. His eldest daughter, Emily Rosalie Hamilton, commonly called Lady Mary Gardiner, born in Manchester Square, the 24th June, 1811, was then (in 1822) eleven years of age. His legitimate daughter, the Hon. Harriet Anne Jane Frances, com- monly called Lady Harriet Gardiner, born in Seymour Place, the 5th of August, 1812, was then ten years of age: and his legitimate son, the Hon. Luke Gardiner, commonly called Lord Mountjoy, born in 1813, was then nine years of age. The eldest son, Charles John Gardiner, had been placed at school; the two daughters, and the young Lord Mountjoy, had been left under the care of Lady Harriet Gardiner, the sister of Lord Blessington, who was then residing in Dublin, at the house of the Bishop of Ossory, the brother-in-law of Lord Blessington, in Merrion Square South. The Dowager Lady Mountjoy (the second wife of the first Lord Mountjoy) was then also living in Dublin.* The 6th of April, 1923, Lady Blessington mentions in her diary at Genoa, the news having just reached Lord Blessington, by courier from London, of the death of his son and heir, the young Lord Mountjoy, on the 26th of March preceding. The boy was only in his tenth year. He was the only legitimate son of Lord Blessington, and by his death his * In August, 1839, the Right Hon. Margaret Viscountess Mount. joy died in Dublin, at an advanced age. She was the second wife of the Right Hon. Luke Gardiner, Lord Viscount Molintjoy, father of the late Earl of Blessington, by a former marriage. She married Viscount Mountjoy in 1793, and became a widow in 1798. She re- sided chiefly in Dublin for many years previous to her decease. 118 SOJOURN IN GENOA. Lordship was enabled to make a disposition of his property, of a very strange nature-a disposition of it, which it is impossible to speak of in any terms except those of repre- hension, and of astonishment at the fatuity manifested in the arrangements made by his Lordship--and in the con- templated disposal of a daughter's hand without reference to her inclinations or wishes, or the feelings of any member of her family. Within a period of three months from the time of the death of his only son, on the 22nd of June, 1823, Lord Bless- ington signed a document purporting to be a codicil to a former will; making a disposition of his property, and a disposal of the happiness of one or other of his then two living daughters--an arrangement at once imprudent, unnatural, and wanting in all the consideration that ought to have been expected at the hand of a father for the children of a deceased wife. Partial insanity might explain the anomalies that present themselves in the course taken by Lord Blessington in regard to those children ; and my firm conviction is, that at the period in question, when this will was made, Lord Blessington could not be said to be in a state of perfect sanity of mind; but, on the contrary, was labouring under a parti- cular kind of insanity, manifested by an infatuation, and in- firmity of mind in his conduct with respect to his family affairs, though quite sane on every other subject —which un- fitted him to dispose of his children at that juncture, and had assumed a more decided appearance of monomania after that disposal was made. At Genoa, June the 22nd, 1823, Lord Blessington made a codicil to his will, wherein it is set forth that General Albert D'Orsay (the father of the Count Alfred) had given his consent to the union of his son with a daughter of his Lordship. But it is evident, from the terms of this docu- LORD BLESSINGTON'S WILL. : 119 ment, that it was then optionary with the Count to select either of the daughters of his Lordship. CODICIL. - GENOA, June 2nd, 1823. “ Having had the misfortune to lose my beloved son, Luke Wellington, and having entered into engagements with Alfred, Comte D'Orsay, that an alliance should take place between him and my daughter, which engagement has been sanctioned by Albert, Comte D'Orsay, General, &c. in the service of France, this is to declare and publish my desire to leave to the said Alfred D’Orsay my estates in the city and county of Dublin, (subject, however, to the annuity of three thousand per annum, which sum is to include the settlement of one thousand per annum to my wife, Margaret, Countess of Blessington, subject also to that portion of debt, whether by annuity or mortgage, to which my executor and trustee, Luke Norman, shall consider them to be subjected), for his and her use, whether it be Mary (baptized Emily), Rosalie Hamilton, or Harriet Ann Jane Frances, and to their heirs, male, the said Alfred and said Mary, or Harriet, for ever in default of issue, male, to follow the provisions of the will and testament. “I make also the said Alfred D’Orsay sole guardian of my son Charles John, and my sister, Harriet Gardiner, guardian of my daughters, until they, the daughters, arrive at the age of sixteen, at which age I consider that they will be marriage- able. .“ I also bequeath to Luke Norman my estates in the county of Tyrone, &c., in trust for my son, Charles John, who I desire to take the name of Stewart Gardiner, until he shall arrive at the age of twenty-five, allowing for his education such sums as Alfred D’Orsay may think necessary, and one thousand per annum from twenty-one to twenty-five. “Done at Genoa, life being uncertain, at eight o'clock, on the morning of Monday, June the second, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three. 6 BLESSINGTON." w 120 LORD BLESSINGTON'S WILL. I find in the papers of Lady Blessington, a letter of a noble Lord, a great legal functionary, dated September 20th, 1836, enclosing a copy of the codicil above-mentioned, sent to him for an opinion, and the following reference to it: “En- closed is the opinion. I regret that it is not, and cannot be more favourable:"- “I have read the statement, will, and codicil, and am of opinion that the legatee is liable for the rent and taxes, and subject to all the covenants of the lease.” At the date of this letter Lord Blessington had been dead about six years. On the 31st of August, 1823, Lord Blessington executed his last will and testament, formally carrying out the inten- tions, in respect to the marriage of one of his daughters, briefly expressed in the preceding codicil. This will was executed only two months later than the document above referred to; and it merits attention, that the provision made for the Countess of Blessington, in the former codicil, of an annuity of £3000, inclusive of a preceding marriage settle- ment of £1000 a year, is reduced in the will of the 31st of August, to £2000 a year, including the marriage settle- ment of £1000 per annum ; so that in after years, when it was generally believed that Lady Blessington had an income of £3000 a year, she in reality had only £2000.* EXTRACTED FROM THE REGISTRY OF HER MAJESTY'S COURT OF PREROGATIVE, IN IRELAND. OF PREROGA IRELAND. “ This is the last will and testament of me, Charles John, Earl of Blessington, of that part of the united kingdom called Ireland. I give Luke Norman, Esquire, for and during the * Landor in his Letter, published in “ The Athenæum,” of the 17th of February, 1855, says: “Lord Blessington told me that he offered her an addition of a thousand pounds to her jointure of three, and could not prevail on her to accept the addition." LORD BLESSINGTON'S WILL, 121 time he shall continue agent of my estates, in the county and city of Dublin, and in the county of Tyrone, twelve hundred pounds per annum, in lieu of receivers' fees. I appoint Alfred D'Orsay, Count of [ ], in France, Luke Norman, Esquire, and Alexander Worthington, Esquire, my executors; and I give unto each of them one thousand pounds. I give to Isa- bella Birnly, Michael McDonough, and John Bullock, one hundred pounds each. I give and devise my real and personal estate to said Alfred D’Orsay, Luke Norman, and Alexander Worthington, for the following purposes. First for the pay- ment of two thousand pounds, British, per annum, (inclusive of one thousand pounds settled on her at the time of my mar- riage), to my wife, Margarette, or Margaret, Countess of Bless- ington; and I give to her all her own jewels, requesting that she may divide my late wife's jewels between my two daughters at the time of her decease. I give to Robert Power and Mary Anne Power one thousand pounds each. I give to my daughter, Harriet Anne Jane Frances, commonly called Lady Harriet, born at my house at Seymour Place, London, on or about the 3rd day of August, 1812, all my estates in the county and city of Dublin, subject to the following charge. Provided she in- termarry with my friend, and intended son-in-law, Alfred D'Orsay, I bequeath her the sum of ten thousand pounds only. I give to my daughter, Emily Rosalie Hamilton, generally called Lady Mary Gardiner, born in Manchester Square, on the 24th June, 1811, whom I now acknowledge and adopt as my daugh- ter, the sum of twenty thousand pounds. « In case the said Alfred D'Orsay intermarries with the said Emily, otherwise Mary Gardiner, I bequeath to her my estates in the county and city of Dublin. The annuity of two thou- sand pounds per annum, British, to be paid to my beloved wife, out of the said estates. I give to my son, Charles John, who I desire may take the name of Stuart Gardiner, born in Portman Square on the 3rd day of February, 1810, all my estates in the county of Tyrone, subject to the following charges ; also the reversion of my Dublin estates in case of male issue of said daughters. In case of male issue, lawfully begotten, I leave these estates to the second son of Alfred D’Orsay and my 122 LORD BLESSINGTON'S WILL. w daughter ; or if only one son, to him in case of failure to male issue, to go to the male issue of my other daughter. My estates are to be subject, in the first instance, to the payment of my debts. I give to my wife the lease of my house in London, at the expiration of which the furniture, books, &c. &c., are to be removed to the intended residence at Mountjoy Forest; and I direct that the said house be built according to the plan now for the said purpose. I give to my wife all my carriages, para- phernalia, and plate. I give to my son, Charles John, my plate, wardrobe, swords, &c., &c., &c. I appoint Alfred D’Orsay guardian of my son, Charles John, until he arrives at the age of twenty-five years, the settlement of twelve thousand pounds to be null and void on his obtaining the Tyrone estates. I ap- point my beloved wife guardian of my daughter, Harriet Anne; and I appoint my sister Harriet, guardian of my daughter, commonly called Lady Mary. I give to Isabella McDougal, of Perth, one hundred pounds per annum for her life, it being bequeathed her by my first wife, Mary Campbell, Viscountess Mountjoy. I give to the National Gallery, intended to be formed in London, under royal protection, my picture of the * Three Graces,' by Sir Joshua Reynolds, with a desire that *the gift of Charles John, Earl of Blessington,' may be affixed to the said picture, as an encouragement to others to contribute to the said collection. I give to my sister, Harriet Gardiner, five hundred pounds per annum for her natural life. I revoke all other wills, by me made, and declare this to be my last will and testament; In witness whereof, I have to this my last will, con- tained in five sheets of paper, set to the first four my hand, and to this, the fifth and last, my hand and seal, this 31st day of August, 1823. Blessington seal.” S The marriage, then, of Count D'Orsay with a daughter of Lord Blessington, we find determined on at Genoa, so early as the 2nd of June, 1823, and it was not till the 1st of December, 1827, four years and a half subsequently to that determination, that the long-contemplated event took place. WY RETURN TO ROME. 123 In December, 1827, the Blessingtons returned to Rome from Florence, after a sojourn there of upwards of four months. They engaged the two principal floors of the Palazzo Ne- groni, for six months certain, at the rent of 100 guineas a month (at the rate of 1200 guineas a year).* This abode, though nominally furnished, had to be further provided with hired “ meubles," the cost of which was about twenty pounds a month. The seeds of the Encumbered Estates Court were being sown in Italy, as well as in other Continental countries, pretty extensively some thirty years ago, by our Irish landed proprietors. In the month of March, 1828, on my return from the East, I visited the Blessingtons at the Palazzo Negroni, and there, for the first time, I beheld the recently married daughter of the Earl of Blessington. Had I been a member of their family, I could not have been received with greater kindness and warmth of feeling. During my stay in Rome, I dined with them most days, and passed every evening at their conversationes. Their salons, as at Naples, were regularly filled every even- ing with the elite of the distinguished foreigners and natives, artists and literati of the Eternal City. The Count D'Orsay had been married the 1st of December, 1827, to-Lady Harriet Frances Gardiner, who was then fifteen years of age and four months. It was an unhappy marriage, and nothing to any useful purpose can be said of it except that Lord Blessington sacri- ficed his child's happiness, by causing her to marry, without consulting her inclinations or her interests. Taken from school without any knowledge of the world, * While this enormous expenditure for house accommodation was going on in Italy, the noble mansion in St. James's Square, in London, was still kept up by his Lordship. 124 SOJOURN IN ROME. M acquaintance with society, or its usages and forms, wholly in- experienced, transferred to the care of strangers, and naturally indisposed to any exertion that might lead to efforts to con- ciliate them; she was brought from her own country to a distant land, to wed a man she had never seen, up to the period of her arrival in Italy, where, within a few weeks of her first meeting with that foreign gentleman, she was des- tined to become his bride. Lady Harriet was exceedingly girlish-looking, pale and rather inanimate in expression, silent and reserved; there was no appearance of familiarity with any one around her ; no air or look of womanhood, no semblance of satisfaction in her new position were to be observed in her demeanour or deportment. She seldom or ever spoke, she was little noticed, she was looked on as a mere school-girl ; I think her feelings were crushed, repressed, and her emotions driven inwards, by a sense of slight and indifference, and by the strangeness and coldness of everything around her; and she became indifferent, and strange and cold, and apparently devoid of all vivacity and interest in society, or in the company of any person in it. People were mistaken in her, and she perhaps was also mis- taken in others. Her father's act had led to all these miscon. ceptions and misconstructions, ending in suspicions, ani- mosities, aversions, and total estrangements. In the course of a few years, the girl of childish mien and listless looks, who was so silent and apparently inanimate, be- came a person of remarkable beauty, spirituelle, and intelli- gent, the reverse in all respects of what she was considered, where she was misplaced and misunderstood.* * Lady Harriet D'Orsay and her aunt, Miss Gardiner, visited the Continent in the latter part of 1833, or beginning of 1834. In Sep. tember, 1835, Lady Harriet and her sister, Miss Emily Gardiner, were in Dublin, residing with their aunt. Shortly after, the latter was married to a Mr. Charles White, who had travelled a good deal, prin- cipally in the East, written some works of light literature, and an SOJOURN IN ROME. 125 A few days before I quitted Rome for England, I received a kind letter from Lord Blessington to his friend John Galt, which I never had an opportunity of delivering. This letter of his Lordship was dated Rome, March 6, 1828. “Rome, March 6, 1828. “ The bearer of this letter, Mr. Madden, is a gentleman of literary acquirement and talent. He has lately returned from the East, and besides an account of deserts and Arabs, Turks and Greeks, he will be able to give you an account of your old friends at Rome. “ John Galt, Esq.” " BLESSINGTON." May the 7th, 1828, Mr. Mills gave a farewell dinner to the Blessingtons at his villa Palatina, a day or two before their departure from Rome. A party of the friends of the Bless- ingtons were invited to meet them, and the final meeting and separation were anything but joyous. “Schemes of future meeting, too faintly spoken to cheat into hope of their speedy fulfilment, furnished the general topic; and some were there already stricken with maladies, the harbingers of death-and they, too, spoke of again meet- ing! Yet who can say whether the young and the healthy may not be summoned from life before those whose infirmities alarm us for their long continuance in it? " And there were with me two persons, to whom every ruin and every spot in view were 'familiar as household words;' men who had explored them all, with the feelings of the his- torian, the research of the antiquarian, and the reflections of account of his travels. As a gentleman of good education, agreeable manners and conversation, he was known to the frequenters of Gore House many years ago. He had resided in many parts of the Conti- nent, and latterly altogether in Belgium. Mrs. White died in Paris about ten years ago. 126 DEPARTURE FROM ROME. 32 the philosopher-Sir William Gell and Mr. Dodwell; both advanced towards the downward path of life, every step of which rapidly abridges the journey, and consequently reminds parting friends of the probability that each farewell may be the last. There was our host, seated in a paradise of his own creation, based on the ruins of the palace of the Cæsars, yet forgetful for the moment of the mutability of fortune, of which such striking memorials were before his eyes, thinking only that we were on the eve of parting. Mrs. Dodwell was there, her lustrous eyes often dimmed by a tear of regret at our separation, but her rare beauty in no way diminished by the sadness that clouded a face always lovely.” Sir William Gell and Count Paul Esterhazy came to the Palazzo Negroni to see the Blessingtons take their departure. “ Poor Gell !" says Lady Blessington in her diary, “I still ever COI dewed mine, as he pressed it to his lips, and murmured his fears that we should meet no more, “You have been visiting our friend Drummond's grave to-day,' said he, and if you ever come to Italy again, you will find me in mine."" This was in the early part of May, 1828, and in the month of April, 1836, the accomplished, witty, ever jocund and facetious Sir William Gell was in his grave. Lady Blessington, quitting Rome, speaks of her sad pre- ld see the Eternal City no more. She descants in her diary on the uncertainty of life, and especially in the case of those older or more infirm than ourselves, as if 0 m “Strange delusion ! that while we tremble for those dear to us, the conviction of the irrevocable certainty of our own dissolution is less vividly felt ! we picture our own death as remote, and consequently less to be dreaded ; and even when most impressed with the awful conviction that we, like all DEPARTURE FROM ROME. 127 other mortals, must pass away, though our reason acknow- ledges the truth, our hearts refuse to believe that the event may be near.” The “ event” was then twenty-one years distant from her own door of life. From Rome, the Blessingtons proceeded to Loretto, ? where they visited the shrine of the Santa Casa. “ The pious votaries of superstition, the folly of their munificence, wasting jewels “ to decorate an idol,” the tawdry appearance of “ the glittering toy-shop,” “ the heterogeneous mixture of saints and sybils,” of pagan rites and superstitious practices, came in for a pretty large share of the customary reprehension of English travellers, from Lady Blessington, the value of which, of course, mainly depends on the sincerity of the reprover. In the present instance, however, Lady Blessington, was certainly not so much proclaiming her own sentiments, as writing up to the readable mark of those who were to be her public. From Loretto, the travellers proceeded to Ancona and Ravenna, and in the latter place a spectacle was witnessed which Lady Blessington has described in her published diary; but one very striking circumstance connected with it, is not mentioned in the diary, but was told to me by her ladyship. “ Various were the conjectures we formed as to the probable cause of the desertion of the silent and solitary city through which we were pacing, and vainly did we look around in search of some one of whom to demand an explanation of it; when on turning the corner of a larger street or place than we had hitherto passed, the mystery was solved in a manner that shocked our feelings not a little ; for we suddenly came al- most in personal contact with the bodies of three men hang- ing from bars erected for the purpose of suspending them. Never did I behold so fearful a sight! The ghastly faces were rendered still more appalling by the floating matted locks ty in a man 128 VISIT TO PADUA. > and long beards; which, as the bodies were agitated into movement by the wind, moved backward and forward. The eyes seemed starting from their sockets, and the tongues pro- truded from the distended lips, as if in horrid mockery. I felt transfixed by the terrible sight, from which I could not avert my gaze; and each movement of the bodies seemed to invest them with some new features of horror. A party of soldiers of the Pope guarded the place of execution, and paced up and down with gloomy looks, in which fear was more evident than disgust. Within view of the spot stood the tomb of Dante, whose · Inferno' offers scarcely a more hideous picture than the one presented to our contemplation. The papal uniform, too, proclaiming that the deaths of these unfortunate men had been inflicted by order of him who pro- fessed to be the vicar of the Father of Mercy on earth, added to the horror of the sight."* Lady Blessington informed me there was another person who witnessed this horrid spectacle, and who was more strongly affected by it than any of the party. That person was a noble Marquis, of some celebrity in Ireland, who, travelling the same route as the Blessingtons, had left his own caleche, and entered that of Lord and Lady Blessington; and beholding the dead bodies suspended from the gallows, became deadly pale, and almost insensible. Ferrara and Padua were next visited by the Blessingtons, on their route to Venice. In the latter city they fixed their residence for several weeks ; and the journals of Lady Blessington abound with evidence of the excellent use she made of her time and talents, in visiting remarkable monu- ments, and recording her observations. At Venice, the Blessingtons again made the acquaintance of their old friend, Walter Savage Landor. Verona was next visited by them, on their route to Milan. * The Idler in Italy, vol. iii. p. 33. LI THE 18 189 BLESSINGTONS AT VENICE. In her diary, she speaks of having spent several hours in the Ambrosian library, conducted through it by the Abbé Bentivoglio, a man of great erudition, whom Lady Bless- ington had known in Naples, a friend of the good Arch- bishop of Tarento. The library contains 50,000 volumes, and 10,000 manuscripts; and among its treasures, the “ Vir- gil” that had belonged to Petrarch, in which is his note to Laura. The next object that excited Lady Blessington's at- tention, was a lock of the golden hair of Lucretia Borgia, the daughter of Alexander the Sixth. Once before, she saw a lock of that same golden hair on the breast of Byron, consist- ing of about twenty fair hairs, resembling fine threads of gold, which he had obtained from the ringlet at the Ambrosian library, and always wore. Nine or ten letters from Lucretia Borgia to the Cardinal Bembo are placed in a casket, with the lock of hair she sent to him. Lady Blessington makes no mention in her journal of having been given a small tress of this golden hair of the too celebrated Lucretia, by the Abbé Bentivoglio, of the Ambrosian library, a descendant of the Bembo family. There is a remarkable reference to the hair of Lucretia Borgia in the “ New Monthly Magazine :”— “ Auburn is a rare and glorious colour, and I suspect will always be more admired by us of the North, where the fair complexions that recommend golden hair, are as easy to be met with as they are difficult in the South. Ovid and Anacreon, the two greatest masters of the ancient world in painting external beauty, both seem to have preferred it to golden, notwithstanding the popular cry in the other's favour: unless indeed the hair they speak of is too dark in its ground for auburn. “ Perhaps the true auburn is something more lustrous throughout, and more metallic than this. The cedar, with the bark stripped, looks more like it. At all events, that it is VOL. I. 130 THE BLESSINGTONS AT MILAN. not the golden hair of the ancients, has been proved to me beyond a doubt, by a memorandum in my possession, worth a thousand treatises of the learned. This is a solitary hair of the famous Lucretia Borgia, whom Ariosto has so praised for her virtues, and whom the rest of the world is so con- tented to call a wretch. It was given me by a wild ac- quaintance, who stole it from a lock of her hair preserved in the Ambrosian library at Milan. On the envelope he put a happy motto,- “ • And beauty draws us with a single hair.' “If ever hair was golden, it is this. It is not red, it is not yellow, it is not auburn; it is golden, and nothing else; and though natural-looking too, must have had a surprising ap- pearance in the mass. Lucretia, beautiful in every respect, must have looked like a vision in a picture-an angel from the sun."* As an example of the happy style, and just views, and correct judgment of Lady Blessington, I may cite the follow- ing passage, from her Italian Diary, in reference to a visit to the subterranean shrine of St. Carlo Borromeo, in the Duomo, the sarcophagus of rock crystal which preserves the mortal remains of the renowned prelate in pontifical attire: “Carlo Borromeo was one of the most remarkable men to whom Italy has ever given birth; and those who might be disposed to undervalue the canonized saint, must feel a reverence for the memory of the man, whose patriotism, courage, and charity, entitle his name to the esteem of pos- terity. Elevated to the rank of Cardinal at the early age of twenty-two, his conduct justified the partiality of his uncle, Pope Pius IV., who conferred this dignity on him. As a scholar, no less than as a divine, was this excellent man an * New Monthly Magazine, part iii. 1825. ON THEIR WAY HOMEWARDS. 131 distinguished ; but his courageous and unceasing exertions during the plague that ravaged his country in 1576, are beyond all praise. These are remembered with a feeling of lively admiration, that the costly trappings and brilliant dia- monds which decorate his remains might fail to awaken for the saint; and we turned from the crystal sarcophagus, and its glittering ornaments, to reflect on the more imperishable monument of his virtues—the fame they have left behind. “I could not contemplate the crucifix, borne by this good and great man in the procession during the fearful plague, without a sentiment of profound reverence. It is carefully preserved under a glass case; and, I confess, appears to me to be a far more befitting monument than the costly sarco- phagus of rock crystal, to the glory of him, who, actuated by his deep faith in it, was enabled to fulfil duties from which the less pious and charitable shrank back in terror.” From Milan the Blessingtons turned their steps at length in a homeward direction, at least, towards Paris, and at the close of 1828, once more found themselves in their old quarters at Genoa. Five years previously, Byron often stood conversing with Lady Blessington on the balcony of her hotel, or walked about the gardens of it with her. The several spots where she remembered to have seen him, dis- tinctly recalled him to her memory. She again seemed to look upon him, to see his features, to perceive his form, “to hear the sound of that clear, low, and musical voice, never more to be heard on earth.” "I sat on the chair,” she observes, “ where I had formerly been seated next him; looked from the window whence he had pointed out a beautiful view, and listened to Mr. Barry's graphic description of the scene when, becalmed in the gulf of Genoa, the day he sailed for Greece, he returned and walked through the rooms of his deserted dwelling, filled with me- lancholy forebodings. He had hoped to have found in it her K 2 132 ON THEIR WAY HOMEWARDS. YT whom he was destined never more to behold, that fair young Italian lady, the Contessa Guiccioli; whose attachment to him had triumphed over every sentiment of prudence and interest, and by its devotion and constancy half redeemed its sin. But she, overwhelmed by grief at the sad parting, had been placed in a travelling carriage, while almost in a state of insensibility, and was journeying towards Bologna, little con- scious that he whom she would have given all that she pos- sessed to see once more, was looking on the chamber she had left, and the flowers she had loved ; his mind filled with a presentiment that they should never meet again. “Such is one of the bitter consequences resulting from the violation of ties, never severed without retribution."* But, one day, while these sweet and bitter fancies were presenting themselves to her imagination, she saw a young lady, an English girl, who resembled, in an extraordinary de- gree, Byron, accompanied by an elderly lady. That English girl was “ Ada, sole daughter of my house and heart ;” and the elderly lady was her mother, the widow of Lord Byron. The City of Palaces had few attractions on this last visit for Lady Blessington. One episode more in the Italian journals is narrated, and we come to the concluding line;"We have bidden farewell to our old and well-remembered haunts at Genoa ; and to- morrow we leave it, and perhaps for ever!" Here ends the second phase in the career I have before referred to-the Italian life of Lady Blessington. * The Idler in Italy, vol. iii. p. 365. 133 CHAPTER VI. RETURN TO PARIS, IN JUNE, 1828_RESIDENCE THERE DEATH OF LORD BLESSINGTON--DEPARTURE OF LADY BLESSINGTON FOR ENGLAND, IN NOVEMBER, 1830. In June, 1828, the Blessingtons arrived in Paris, at the expiration of six years from the period of their former sojourn there. Their first visitors were the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche; the latter “radiant in health and beauty,” the Duc looking, as he always did, “more distinguè than any one else—the perfect beau ideal of a gentleman.” The Blessingtons took up their abode in the Hotel de Terasse, Rue de Rivoli. After some time, they rented the splendid mansion of the Marechal Ney, in the Rue de Bourbon, the principal apartments of which looked on the Seine, and commanded a delightful view of the Tuillerie Gardens. This hotel was a type of the splendour that marked the dwellings of the Imperial Noblesse. The rent of this hotel was enormously high, and the expense which the new inmates went to, in adding to the splendour of its decorations and furniture, was on a scale of magni- ficence more commensurate with the income of a prince, of some vielle cour, than with that of an Irish landlord. With the aid of “those magicians,” the French uphol- sterers, the Hotel Ney soon assumed a wonderful aspect of renewed splendour. The principal drawing-room had a carpet of dark crimson, with a gold-coloured border, with wreaths of flowers of brightest hues. The curtains were of crimson IUL 134 RESIDENCE IN PARIS. satin, with embossed borders of gold-colour, and the sofas, bergeres, fauteuils, and chairs, were richly carved and gilt, and covered with satin, to correspond with the curtains. Gilt consoles, and chiffonieres, on which marble tops were placed wherever they could be disposed ; large mirrors, gor- geous buhl cabinets, costly pendules of bronze, magnificent candelabras, abounded in the long suite of salons, boudoirs, and sitting-rooms. The furniture of the bed-room was kept a secret by Lord Blessington till quite completed, in order to give a surprise to her Ladyship—when its surpassing splendour was to burst upon her all at once-at the first view of this apartment. “The only complaint I ever have to make of his taste," observes her Ladyship, “is its too great splendour.......... We feel like children with a new plaything in our beautiful house; but how, after it, shall we ever be able to reconcile ourselves to the comparatively dingy rooms in St. James's Square ? which no furniture or decoration could render anything like the Hotel Ney."* At length, “the scheme laid by Lord Blessington” to surprise his Lady—" for he delighted in such plans”-was revealed, on the doors of the chambre a coucher and dressing- room being thrown open. “The whole fitting up,” says Lady Blessington," is in exquisite taste ; and, as usual, when my most gallant of all gallant husbands, that it ever fell to the happy lot of woman to possess, interferes, no expense has been spared. The bed, which is silvered instead of gilt, rests on the backs of two large silver swans, so exquisitely sculp- tured that every feather is in alto-relievo, and looks as fleecy as those of the living bird. The recess in which it is placed is lined with white-fluted silk, bordered with blue embossed lace; and from the columns that support the frieze of the recess, pale blue silk curtains, lined with white, are hung, which, when drawn, conceal the recess altogether." * The Idler in France, vol. i. p. 117. TOON RESIDENCE IN PARIS. 135 In one of her letters she enlarges on this subject. “A silvered sofa has been made, to fit the side of the room opposite the fire-place, near to which stands a most inviting bergere. An escritoire occupies one panel, a book- stand the other, and a rich coffer for jewels forms a pendant to a similar one for lace or India shawls. A carpet of uncut pile, of a pale blue, a silver lamp, and a Psyche glass; the ornaments, silvered, to correspond with the decorations of the chamber, complete the furniture. The hangings of the dressing-room are of blue silk, covered with lace, and trimmed with rich frills of the same material, as are also the dressing stands and chaire longue, and the carpet and lamp are similar to those of the bed. A toilette-table stands before the win- dow, and small jardinieres are placed in front of each panel of looking-glass, but so low, as not to impede a full view of the person dressing, in this beautiful little sanctuary. The salle de bain is draped with white muslin, trimmed with lace; and the sofa and the bergere are covered with the same. The bath is of marble, inserted in the floor, with which its surface is level. On the ceiling over is a painting of Flora, scat- tering flowers with one hand, while from the other is sus- pended an alabaster lamp, in the form of a lotus." Poor Lady Blessington, summing up the wonderful effects of the various embellishments and decorations, the sensations produced by such luxuriant furniture, coffers for jewels and India shawls, gorgeous hangings, and glittering ornaments of every kind, observes : “The effect of the whole is chastely beautiful, and a queen could desire nothing better for her own private apartments.” The gilt frame-work of the bed, resting on the backs of the large silver swans, it does not do to think of, when visiting the Mountjoy Forest Estate, in Tyrone, that did belong to the late Earl of Blessington, when one enters the cabin of one of the now indigent peasantry, from the sweat of whose brow 136 RESIDENCE IN PARIS. He the means were derived, that were squandered in luxury in foreign lands, luxury on a par with any oriental voluptuous- ness of which we read, in the adornment of palaces. Lord Blessington, when fitting up the Hotel Ney in this sumptuous manner, was co-operating very largely indeed with others of his order“equally improvident and profuse-in laying the foundation of the Encumbered Estates' Court Jurisdiction, in Ireland. We are reminded, by the preceding account of the fitting up of the Hotel Ney for the Blessingtons, of the Imperial pomp of one of the palaces of Napoleon, a short time only before his downfall. At Fontainbleau, soon after the abdi- cation of the Emperor, Haydon visited the palace, and thus describes the magnificence which was exhibited in the deco- ration and furniture of that recent sojourn of imperial great- ness :- “The château I found superb, beyond any palace near Paris. It was furnished with fine taste. Napoleon's bed hung with the richest Lyons green velvet, with painted roses, golden fringe a foot deep; a footstool of white satin, with golden stars; the top of the bed gilt, with casque and ostrich plumes, and a golden eagle in the centre grappling laurel. Inside the bed was a magnificent mirror, and the room and ceiling were one mass of golden splendour. The panels of the sides were decorated in chiaroscuro with the heads of the greatest men. “No palace of any Sultan of Bagdad or monarch of India ever exceeded the voluptuous magnificence of these apart- ments.” Shortly after the arrival of the Blessingtons in Paris, a letter was received from Lord Rosslyn, urging the attendance of Lord Blessington in his place in parliament, and his sup- port of the Emancipation Act. Lord Blessington, on receipt of Lord Rosslyn's letter, im- LORD BLESSINGTON SUPPORTS THE EMANCIPATION ACT. 137 mediately proceeded from Paris to London, expressly to give his vote in favour of the great measure of Emancipation. “His going to England," observes Lady Blessington,"at this moment, when he is far from well, is no little sacrifice of personal comfort; but never did he consider self when a duty was to be performed. I wish the question was carried, and he safely back again. What would our political friends say, if they knew how strongly I urged him not to go, but to send his proxy to Lord Rosslyn ?''* While Lord Blessington remained in London, I had the pleasure of seeing him on several occasions. A day or two before his departure from London, I breakfasted with him at his residence at St. James's Square. I never saw him to more advantage, or more deeply inte- rested on any public matter, than he seemed to be in the measure he had come over to support, and which he deemed of the highest importance to the true interests of Ireland. Whatever the defects may have been in his character, in one respect he was certainly faultless; he had a sincere love for his country, and for his countrymen. The following statement of his opinions on the means of bettering the condition of the country, was made to me at Naples, four years previously to the period above-mentioned, in a postscript to a letter dated the 15th of August, 1824, accompanying one of introduction to Lord Strangford, the British Minister at Constantinople. However impracticable some of his proposed remedial measures may have been, the honesty of purpose in which they originated was beyond all doubt. “I wish you would, at Constantinople or Smyrna, turn your thoughts to the subject of Ireland; but it is a difficult task to encounter, as you say, for an Irishman indignant at many acts of former oppression and injustice. Upon the subject of Repeal of the Union, I fear it would be worse than a negative measure. We are impoverished in money * The Idler in France, vol. ij. p. 6. 138 VIEWS ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND. TEL and talent. England has a superabundancy of the one, and a sufficiency of the other, if she will apply her materials to our good. Send the Parliament back to Dublin, and that city will, perhaps, flourish again; but I fear the same effect could not be produced through the kingdom ; and if, to forward the views which I think absolutely necessary for Ireland, the Commons imposed heavy taxes, being refused aid from Eng- land, the people would have cause for dissatisfaction ; and an Irishman's mode of expressing it, is, blows, and not words. Let the Roman Catholic Church of Ireland separate itself in toto from the Pope, and receive from the British Parliament a respectable revenue. Establish a better mode of educating the priesthood, take away the tithes, and pay the reformed church out of the public purse. Admit Catholics to the houses of parliament, and the bench, at the same time establishing throughout Ireland an extensive gendarmerie, not for political, but policial purposes. Make the nobility and gentry live on their estates, or sell them. Give a grant sufficient to cut canals in all directions. Establish colonies of industrious citizens in what are now barren districts. Let there be neither ribbonmen, freemasons, or orangemen. Let the offenders against the public peace, of whatever party, be sent to the colonies. Let the middling classes be taught that public money is levied for the public good, and not for individual advantage-and then Ireland will be what it should be from its situation, and with its natural advantages—a gem in the ocean.” His Lordship had returned from London only a few days, when one forenoon, feeling himself slightly indisposed, he took some spoonfuls of eau de Melisse in water, and rode out, accompanied by his servant, in the heat of the day, along the Champs Elysées. He had not proceeded far, when he was suddenly at- tacked by apoplexy, was carried home in a state of insensibi- lity, and all remedial means were resorted to in vain. LORD BLESSINGTON'S DEATH. 139 On the 23d of May, 1829, thus suddenly died Charles James Gardiner, second Lord Blessington, in his forty-sixth year. He was the only surviving son by the first marriage of Viscount Mountjoy. At the age of sixteen he succeeded his father, who was slain at New Ross, June 5, 1798. He was elected a representative Peer for Ireland about 1809, and was advanced to his Earl- dom June 22, 1816. Lord Blessington's remains were conveyed to Ireland, and deposited in the family vault, in St. Thomas's Church, Marlborough Street, where his father's were buried; those also of his first wife, of his son and heir, the Hon. Luke William Gardiner, of his sister Margaret, wife of the Hon. John Hely Hutchinson ; of his sister Louisa, wife of the Right Rev. Dr. Fowler, Lord Bishop of Ossory; and of his sister the Hon. Harriet Gardiner. In the church there is only one mural tablet, bearing an inscription, in memory of any member of the Blessington family. To the loved Memory Of the HONOURABLE MARGARET, Wife of JOHN HELY HUTCHINSON, Esq., Daughter of Luke Gardiner, Viscount Mountjoy, Who fell at New Ross, in 1798, At the head of his Regiment: She died October 13, 1825, aged 29 years. Daughter oth fell at Nr his Regim, 29 years. The remains of the husband of this lady, the Right Hon. John Hely Hutchinson, third Earl of Donoughmore, were deposited in the same vault, September 17, 1851. The Earl died in his sixty-fourth year. In one of Mr. Landor's unpublished “ Imaginary Conver- sations,” in which the discoursers are Lord Mountjoy, the father of the Earl of Blessington, and Lord Edward Fitz- gerald, there are two notes written in 1829, immediately after 140 LORD BLESSINGTON'S DEATH. the death of Lord Blessington. In the first note Mr. Landor observes " Lord Mountjoy was killed in the beginning of the in- surrection of 1798; he left an only son, the Earl of Bless- ington, who voted for the Union, in the hope that it would be beneficial to Ireland,* though the project had suspended the erection of several streets and squares on his estate in Dublin, and it was proved to him, that he must lose by it two-thirds of his rent roll; he voted likewise in defence of Queen Caroline, seeing the insufficiency of the evidence against her, and the villany of the law officers of the Crown: he esteemed her little, and was personally attached to the King. For these votes, and for all he ever gave, he deserves a place, as well as his father, in the memory of both nations." The second note thus refers to the recent death of Lord Blessington. “Scarcely is the ink yet dry upon my paper, when in- telligence reaches me of the sudden death of Lord Bless- ington. “ Adieu, most pleasant companion! Adieu, most warm- hearted friend! Often and long, and never with slight emo- tion, shall I think of the many hours we have spent toge- ther; the light seldom ending gravely; the graver always lightly. “ It will be well, and more than I can promise to myself, if my regret at your loss shall hereafter be quieted by the as- surance which she, who best knew your sentiments, has given me, that by you, among the many, I was esteemed, and be- loved among the few.” * The young Lord's name does not appear in the list of Peers who voted for the Union, either in Barrington's work, or the Reports of the Debates in Parliament of the time. Lord Mountjoy was then only eighteen years of age. LETTERS OF MR. LANDOR. 141 On the news of the death of Lord Blessington reach- ing Mr. Landor, he addressed the following lines to the Countess :- “ Baths of Lucca, June 6. “ DEAR Lady BLESSINGTON, “ If I defer it any longer, I know not how or when I shall be able to fulfil so melancholy a duty. The whole of this day I have spent in that torpid depression, which you may feel without a great calamity, and which others can never feel at all. Every one that knows me, knows the sentiments I bore towards that disinterested, and upright, and kind-hearted man, than whom none was ever dearer, or more delightful to his friends. If to be condoled with by many, if to be esteemed and beloved by all whom you have admitted to your society is any comfort, that comfort at least is yours. I know how inadequate it must be at such a moment, but I know too that the sentiment will survive when the bitterness of sorrow shall have passed away. “ Yours very faithfully, “W. S. LANDOR." In another letter to Lady Blessington, Mr. Landor thus expressed himself on the same subject. “ July 21, 1829. “ DEAR LADY BLESSINGTON, “ Too well was I aware how great my pain must be in reading your letter. So many hopes are thrown away from us by this cruel and unexpected blow. I cannot part with the one of which the greatness and the justness of your grief almost deprives me, that you will recover your health and spirits. If they could return at once, or very soon, you would be un- worthy of that love which the kindest and best of human beings lavished on you. Longer life was not necessary for him to es- timate your affection for him, and those graces of soul which your beauty in its brightest day but faintly shadowed. He told me that you were requisite to his happiness, and that he could not live without you. Suppose then he had survived 112 LETTER OF DR. RICHARDSON. you, his departure in that case could not have been so easy as it was, unconscious of pain, of giving it, or leaving it behind. I am comforted at the reflection that so gentle a heart re- ceived no affliction from the anguish and despair of those he loved. “ You have often brought me over to your opinion after an obstinate rather than a powerful contest; let me, now I am more in the right, bring you over by degrees to mine, “ And believe me, “Dear Lady Blessington, “ Your ever devoted Servant, “ W. S. LANDOR." Dr. Richardson, the Eastern traveller, and former tra- velling physician of Lord Blessington, in writing to Lady Blessington from Ramsgate, the 25th of April, 1832, on the death of her husband, says “Your late Lord is never absent to my mind ; during life he occupied the largest share of my affections, his friendship was my greatest honour and pride, and his memory is the dearest of all in the keeping of my heart. I feel his loss every day of my life, and shall never cease to feel it till my eyes close on all this scene of earthly things-till we meet again in another and a better world. .“ Yours, my dear Lady Blessington, " Very sincerely, “ R. RICHARDSON." At the time of the decease of Lord Blessington, his affairs were greatly embarrassed. The enormous expenditure in France and Italy, and in London also, previously to his de- parture for the Continent in 1822, was not met by the rental of his vast estates. It will be seen by the schedules appended to the act of par- liament for the sale of the Blessington estates (to be found in the Appendix), that the rental of the properties referred to in THE BLESSINGTON ESTATES. · 143 0 the act was estimated, in 1846, at £22,718 14s. 7d. But when his Lordship succeeded to the title and estates, the rental was about £30,000 a year. In 1814, he sold a valuable property, in the barony of Strabane, in the County of Tyrone, the rental of which was very considerable. The remaining estates, by mismanage- ment, constant changes of agents, the pressure of mortgages, and other causes of ruin, arising out of absenteeism, impro- vidence, and embarrassments, became much reduced. The extent of the Mountjoy territory in Tyrone and Do- negal, into which Lord Blessington came to possession, may be imagined, when the extreme length of one of the Tyrone properties could be described as “ a ride of several miles.” The three estates of Lord Blessington, in Tyrone, were the following :- Ist. The Newtown Stewart estate, called Mountjoy Forest, on which property the residence of Lord Blessington, “ the Cottage,” was situated, which was sold in 1846 or 1847. 2d. The Mountjoy estate, near Killymoon, produced £5000 or £6000 a year. The demesne, comprising one thousand nine hundred acres, according to Mr. Graham's account, “ the largest demesne in Europe, of any private gentleman's pro- perty," was sold four or five years ago. 3rd. Aughertain estate, near Clogher, the first portion of the estreated Ulster lands which came into the possession of one of the earliest adventurers in Ireland of the Stewart family, comprised fourteen town lands; it was sold for £98,000. The produce of the sale of a large portion of the territory of the O'Neil, of the red hand, went to pay the debts of a French Count to the Jews and money-lenders of London. In the County of Donegal, there was another estate of the Mountjoy family, named “ Conroy ;” but this valuable pro- 144 LORD BLESSINGTON'S PECUNIARY ACCOMMODATIONS. perty had been sold long previously to the death of Lord Blessington. In 1813, Lord Blessington obtained advances of money from the Globe Insurance Company, for which he gave them an annuity of £526 for one young life. In 1813, he got money again from the same Company, for which he gave an annuity of £520 for the life of A. Mocatta, a youth. In 1813, he got money from the Company, for which he gave an annuity of £510 for the life of William Coles. In 1813, he obtained money from the same Company, for which he gave an annuity of £527 for the life of A. Angelo Tremonando. In 1814, he obtained money from A. Tremonando and gave a life annuity for the same of £880. In 1814, for other pecuniary accommodation, he gave an annuity to Alexander Nowell, for the lives of Frances and Henry Josias Stracy, and Rev. T. Whittaker, of £1000. In 1816, he obtained money advances from Henry Faunt- leroy, for which he gave an annuity for the lives of John Fauntleroy, and William James Watson, of £500. In 1817, he borrowed largely money on mortgages, and in that year he raised on mortgage to Conyngham M'Alpine, Esq., £11,076. . In 1921, he borrowed from the Westminster Insurance Company, on mortgage, £25,000. In 1825, he borrowed from the same Company, on mort- gage, £5000. In 1823, he borrowed from Thomas Tatham, Esq., on mortgage, £4000. The following items give the principal amounts of an- nuities, mortgages, judgments, and other debts, legacies, sums of money, and incumbrances charged upon, or affecting the CHARGES ON THE ESTATES. 143 estates of Charles John, Earl of Blessington, at the time of his decease. Mortgages from 1783 to 1823 inclusive, £47,846. Legacies of the late Earl, £23,353. Legacy to the Honourable Harriet Gardiner, to be raised only on certain contingencies set forth in the will, £9230. Settlement on marriage of Lady Harriet with Count D'Orsay, £40,000. Judgments, £13,268. Bond debts, £10,357. Promissory notes, letters of acknowledgments and I. O. Ui's, from 1808 to 1828, £10,122. Simple contract debts due, or claimed to be due, to parties by the Earl of Blessington, £6878. Total of debts, incumbrances, and legacies of the Earl of Blessington, set forth in the fourth schedule, £161,044. But to this sum there is to be added, that of annuities given by Lord Blessington to various parties, bankers, Jews, and others, to the amount of £7887. By the fifth schedule appended to the act, it appears the mortgages and sums of money which had been charged by the Count D'Orsay on the estates of Lord Blessington from 1837 to 1845, amounted to £20,184. An act of Parliament (Vict. 9, cap. 1) was passed the 18th of June, 1846, “ for vesting the real estates of the Earl of Blessington in Trustees for sale, for the payment of his debts, and for other purposes." The act sets out with reciting a deed of settlement, dated 3rd of August, 1814, made shortly after the first marriage of the Ear). By this deed, Josias Henry Stracey, Esq., of Berners Street, a partner of Fauntleroy, the banker, was appointed a trustee over all the Tyrone estates, for the purpose of securing to Lord Blessington's son, Charles John Gardiner, a sum of £12,000 VOL. 1. 146 DEEDS OF SETTLEMENT. on his coming of age, and the interest of that sum till he had obtained the age of twenty-one. The next deed recited is one of lease and release, dated 16th February, 1818, on the occasion of the intended marriage of the Earl with Margaret Farmer, of " Manchester Square, widow," settling one thousand a year on that lady in the event of that marriage taking place; which marriage even- tually took place the 16th February, 1818. The will of the Earl, dated 31st August, 1823, is next recited, bequeathing “ £2000 British per annum to Lady Blessington (inclusive of £1000 settled on her at the time of his marriage), to Robert Power £1000, and to Mary Anne Power £1000; to his daughter, Lady Harriet, all his estates in the county of Dublin, subjected to certain charges," provided she inter-married with his “ friend and intended son- in-law, Alfred D'Orsay ;" and in the event of her refusal, he bequeathed to her only the sum of £10,000. To his daughter Emily Rosalie Gardiner, commonly called Lady Mary Gardiner, whom he hereby acknowledged and adopted as his daughter, he left the sum of £20,000; but in case she married Alfred D’Orsay, he bequeathed all his Dublin estates to her, chargeable, however, with the payment of the annuity before-mentioned to Lady Blessington. To his son Charles John Gardiner, he left all his estates in Tyrone, subject to certain charges, also the reversion of his Dublin estates, in case of failure of male issue, lawfully begotten, of said daughters. [It is to be borne in mind, when this will was made, the 31st August, 1923, his Lordship's daughter Harriet, whose marriage he provided for, being born the 3rd August, 1812, was just eleven years of age.] The act then goes on to recite a deed of settlement made in contemplation of the marriage between Count and Countess D'Orsay, dated 2nd November, 1827. The parties to this DEEDS OF SETTLEMENT. 147 10 deed being Lord Blessington of the first part, Count D'Orsay of the second part, Lady Harriet Gardiner of the third part, the Duc de Guiche, Lieutenant-General and Premier (ecuyer) of his Royal Highness the Dauphin, and Robert Power, for- merly Captain of the 2nd Regiment of Foot, then residing at Mountjoy Forest, of the fourth part. The deed is stated to be for the purpose of making a pro- vision for the said Alfred, Count D'Orsay, and Lady Harriet Gardiner, who is described as “ then an infant of the age of fifteen years, or thereabouts.” Lord Blessington bound himself by this deed to pay, within twelve months after the solemnization of this marriage, the sum of £20,000 British to the trustees, the Duc de Guiche and Robert Power; and bound his executors, within twelve months after his decease, to pay said trustees £20,000 more, to be invested in the funds, and the interest thereof to be paid to Count D'Orsay, and after his decease, to the said Lady Harriet during his life; the principal at her death to go to any issue by that marriage, and in the event of failure of issue, to be held in trust for the executor and administrator of the said Alfred, Count D'Orsay. Then the act recites the marriage of the Count D’Orsay with Lady Harriet, during the life-time of the said Earl, of there being no issue by that marriage, and of their being se- parated in the year 1831, and having lived wholly separate from that time.* The death of the Earl is then mentioned, having occurred on the 25th May, 1829, and the fact of the will being duly proved in the Prerogative Court; and it is also stated that his Lordship was possessed of estates in Kilkenny, which were not devised by his will: that his Lordship's son, Charles John Gardiner, had filed a bill against Lady Blessington, Count * The date of the deed of separation between the Count and Coun- tess D'Orsay, is the 15th and 16th February, 1838. L 2 1-18 BEQUESTS OF LORD BLESSINGTON. and Countess D'Orsay, in 1831; that the will was declared by a decree in Chancery, well proven, and that the trusts therein specified should be carried into execution, that receivers should be appointed, that Luke Norman should continue agent of the estates, and that an account should be taken of all debts and incumbrances on the same; that the 18th June, 1834, the Master in Chancery reported on the charges and debts on the estates, and on the 14th of July, 1834, an order was made directing a sum of £500 to be paid yearly to the Count D'Orsay, and £450 to the Countess D'Orsay, for their main- tenance. Various bequests of his Lordship are recited in this docu- ment: to Lady Blessington he bequeathed the lease of his house in London (in St. James's Square); at the expiration of the lease, the furniture, books, &c., were to be removed to Mount- joy Forest Estate in Tyrone, where a house was to be built according to plans then laid down, empowering executors to borrow money for the purpose.“ All his carriages, her para- phernalia and plate," he left also to his wife ; to his son John “his plate, wardrobe, swords, &c. &c.” He appointed Alfred D'Orsay guardian of his son Charles John Gardiner, till he came of age, the previous settlement of £12,000 to be null and void on his obtaining the Tyrone estates. “He appointed his beloved wife guardian of his daughter, Harriet Anne, and appointed his sister Harriet guardian of his daughter, com- monly called Lady Mary.” To his sister, Miss Harriet Gar- diner, he left an annuity for life of £500. A deed of separation between the Count and Countess D'Orsay is referred to, setting forth that Count D'Orsay had granted several annuities for his life to his creditors, with power to repurchase the same, and had charged the interest on the two sums of £20,000 settled on him, at the period of his marriage, by Lord Blessington, and that he required a sum to redeem the same, amounting to about £23,500. t ACT FOR SALE OF BLESSINGTON ESTATES. 149 That Countess D'Orsay had also incurred some debts, and required a sum of £10,000, or thereabouts, to discharge the same; that Charles John Gardiner had incurred some debts, secured by judgments on the Tyrone estates, amounting to £10,000; and that Countess D'Orsay had entered into an agreement to purchase all the interests and claims of the several parties to whom bequests were made, and debts were due, and that to pay off said incumbrances and liabilities, a sum of £120,500, applicable to the purchase of Count D'Orsay's annuities, and some other purposes, would be re- quired. By a subsequent agreement the latter sum was raised to £180,000, “ and such other sums as might be found ne- cessary,” among other objects for securing to Count D'Orsay, within a period of ten years, a sum of £42,000. Eventually, by two orders of the Court of Chancery, one of the 6th February, 1845, and another the 13th February, 1846, it was decreed, the trustees, when the sanction of an ne several estates to the amount of £350,000, to pay off all in- cumbrances and claims. The act for the sale of the Blessington estates was passed in 1846. Its provisions have been duly carried into execution. Of the vast estates of the Mountjoys there remains a small remnant of landed property in Tyrone, to be still disposed of. Lord Blessington by his will put an end to the wealth, honour, and territorial greatness of the ancient race of the Mountjoys. Thus passes away the glory of “ the English Pale” in Ireland. . 1 150 CHAPTER VII. 12 CONVERSATIONAL POWERS OF DISTINGUISHED PERSONS- SEAMORE PLACE AND GORE HOUSE LITERARY CIRCLES — RIVAL SALONS OF HOLLAND HOUSE, AND REUNIONS AT THE COUNTESS OF CHARLEVILLE'S RESIDENCE OF LADY BLESSINGTON AT SEAMORE PLACE FROM 1832 ro 1836, AND AT GORE HOUSE, KENSINGTON GORE, FROM 1836 TO APRIL, 1849. 19 ABOUT twenty years ago there were three circles of fashionable society in London, wherein the intellectual celebrities of the time did chiefly congregate. Three very remarkable women presided over them; the Countess of Blessington, the Coun- tess of Charleville, and Lady Holland. The qualities, mental and personal, of the ladies, differed very much: but their tastes concurred in one particular ; each of them sought to make society in her house as agreeable as possible, to bring together as much ability, wit, and intellectual acquirements, as could be assembled and associated advantageously--and en- deavoured, in her circle, to make men of letters, art, or science, who had been previously unacquainted, or estranged, or dis- posed to stand aloof from their fellows, think kindly and favourably of one another. I am not quite sure, however, that a very kindly feeling towards each other prevailed among the rival queens of London literary society. The power and influence of Lady Blessington's intellectual qualities consisted chiefly in her conversational talents. It would be difficult to point out any particular excellence, and LADY BLESSINGTON'S INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. 151 OK TO 11 to say that one constituted the peculiar charm of her con- versation. It was something of frankness and archness, without the least mixture of ill nature, in everything she said, of enjoue- ment in every thought she uttered, of fullness of confidence in the outspeaking of her sentiments, and the apparent absence of every arriere pensée in her mind, while she laughed out unpremeditated ideas, and bon mots spontaneously elicited, in such joyous tones, that it might be said she seldom talked without a smile at least on her lips; it was something of felicity in her mode of expression, and freedom in it from all reserve, superadded to the effect produced by singular loveliness of face, expressiveness of look and gesture, and gracefulness of form and manner, that constituted the peculiar charm of the conversation of Lady Blessington. She seldom spoke at any length, never bored her hearers with disquisitions, nor dogmatized on any subject, and very rarely played the learned lady in her discourse. She con- versed with all around her in "a give and take” mode of interchange of sentiments, that reminded one of Luttrell's description of the talk of his hero, Charles, in “Advice to Julia :" “ Seldom embarrassed, never slow, His maxim always 'touch and go ;' From grave to gay, he ran with ease, Secure alike, in both to please.” She expressed her opinions in short, smart, and telling sen- tences; brilliant things were thrown off with the utmost ease; one bon mot followed another, without pause or effort, for a minute or two, and then, while her wit and humour were producing their desired effect, she would take care, by an apt word or gesture, provocative of mirth and communicativeness, to draw out the persons who were best fitted to shine in 152 LADY BLESSINGTON'S INTELLECTUAL UU QUALITIES. 'YA company, and leave no intelligence, however humble, without affording it an opportunity and an encouragement to make some display, even in a single trite remark, or telling obser- vation, in the course of conversation. How well Lady Blessington understood the excellencies and art of brilliant and effective conversation, may be noticed in the following observation :- “The conversation of Lamartine," says Lady Blessington, “ is lively and brilliant. He is, I am persuaded, as amiable as he is clever, with great sensibility, which is indicated in his countenance, as well as it is proved in his works ; he possesses sufficient tact to conceal, in general society, every attribute peculiar to the poetical temperament, and to appear only as a well-informed, well-bred, sensible man of the world. This tact is probably the result of his diplomatic career, which, compelling a constant friction with society, has induced the adoption of its usages.'* We are told that “ books which make one think," are most valued by people of high intelligence; but conversation which makes one think, I do not imagine was the description of discourse which would tell best in the salons, even of Gore House, when it was most frequented by eminent literary men, artists, and state politicians. Conversation, which makes one laugh, which tickles the imagination, which drives rapidly, pleasantly, and lightly over the mind, and makes no deep im- pression on the road of the understanding which produces oblivion of passing cares, and amuses for the time being—is the enjoyment in reality that is sought in what is called the brilliant circles of literature and of art-à-la-mode: “Where—while men sneered, or quizzed, or flirted, The world—half angry, was diverted.” How does the conversation of such circles tally with the taste for reading referred to in the following passage? * The Idler in Italy, Par. ed. p. 372, 1839. 0 LADY BLESSINGTON'S INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. 153 “ I, for my own part," says Archdeacon Ilare," have ever gained the most profit, and the most pleasure also, from the books which have made me think the most; and when the difficulties have once been overcome, these are the books which have struck the deepest root, not only in my memory and understanding, but likewise in my affections. If you would fertilize the mind, the plough must be driven over and through it. The gliding of wheels is easier and rapider, but only makes it harder and more barren. Above all, in the present age of light reading, that is, of reading hastily, thoughtlessly, indiscriminately, unfruitfully, when most books are forgotten as soon as they are finished, and very many sooner, it is well if something heavier is cast now and then into the midst of the literary public. This may scare and repel the weak, it will arouse and attract the stronger, and increase their strength by making them exert it. In the sweat of the brow is the mind as well as the body to eat its bread. Are writers, then, to be studiously difficult, and to tie knots for the mere purpose of compelling their readers to untie them? Not so. Let them follow the bent of their own minds. Let their style be the faithful mirror of their thoughts. Some minds are too rapid and vehement, and redundant, to flow along in lucid transparence; some have to break over rocks, and to force their way through obstacles which would have dammed them in. Tacitus could not write like Cæsar. Niebuhr could not write like Gold- smith.”* Goldsmith's conversation, however, was not calculated to make men in society either think or laugh much. “Mr. Fox," we are told, in a recent biography, “ declared that he learnt more from conversation than all the books he had ever read. It often happens, indeed, that a short renark in conversation contains the essence of a quarto volume." + * Guesses at Truth. + Moore's Memoirs. 11 15-1 LADY BLESSINGTON'S INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. Lady Blessington had a particular turn for cramming a vast deal of meaning into an exceeding small number of words. She not only had a natural talent for condensing thoughts, and producing them in terse, vigorous, and happily- selected terms, but she made a study of saying memorable things in short smart sentences, of conveying in a remark some idea of the import, essence, and merits of an entire book. Lord John Russell, in his Preface to the fifth volume of Moore's “ Memoirs,” makes an observation, very just and sin- gularly felicitous in its expression, in reference to the conver- sational powers of Sir James Mackintosh and Sidney Smith: “ There are two kinds of colloquial wit which equally con- tribute to fame, though not equally to agreeable conversation. The one is like a rocket in a dark air, which shoots at once into the sky, and is the more surprising from the previous silence and gloom; the other is like that kind of fire-work which blazes and bursts out in every direction, exploding at one moment, and shining brightly in its course, and changing its shape and colour to many forms and many hues. “The great delight of Sidney Smith was to produce a succession of ludicrous images; these followed each other with a rapidity that scarcely left time to laugh ; he himself laughing louder and with more enjoyment than any one. This electric contact of mirth came and went with the occa- sion; it cannot be repeated or reproduced ; anything would give occasion to it... “Of all those whose conversation is referred to by Moore, Sir James Mackintosh was the ablest, the most brilliant, and the best informed. A most competent judge in this matter has said, 'Till subdued by age and illness, his conversation was more brilliant and instructive than that of any human being I ever had the good fortune to be acquainted with.' His stores of learning were vast, and of those kinds which, both in serious and in light conversation, are most available.” LADY BLESSINGTON'S INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. 155 It would be idle to compare the conversational talents of Lady Blessington with those of Sidney Smith or Sir Jame Mackintosh, in any respect but one, namely, the power of making light matters appear of moment in society, and dull things brilliant. The perfection of conversational talent is said “to be able to say something on any subject that may be started, without betraying any anxiety or impatience to say it." The Prince de Ligne, a great authority in conversational matters, said, “ Ce qui coute le plus pour plaire, c'est de cacher que l'on s'ennuie. Ce n'est pas en amusant qu'on plait. On n'amuse pas même si l'on s'amuse; c'est en faisant croire que l'on s'amuse.” Madame de Stäel spoke of conversation emphatically as an art:- “To succeed in conversation, we must possess the tact of perceiving clearly, and at every instant, the impression made on those with whom we converse; that which they would fain conceal, as well as that which they would willingly ex- aggerate-the inward satisfaction of some, the forced smiles of others. We must be able to note and to arrest half- formed censures as they pass over the countenance of the listeners, by hastening to dissipate them before self-love be engaged against us. There is no arena in which vanity displays itself under such a variety of forms as in conversa- tion."* Of all the women of our age, Madame de Stäel was the most eminently intellectual. With genius, and judgment, and powers of mental application of the highest order, she was imbued with poetry and enthusiasm, she was of a sanguine, impulsive nature, wonderfully eloquent, chivalrous, patriotic, a lover of liberty and glory, and withal womanly in her feel- * L'Allemagne. 156 BYRON'S OPINION OF MADAME DE STAEL. ings and affections. She delighted in society; with her large heart and well-stored head, and remarkable powers of conver- sation, it is no wonder the circles of a metropolis that was in that day the great centre of civilization, should have peculiar attractions for her; Paris, with its brilliant society, where her literary reputation had its birth, became her world. She exulted in its society, and was the chief grace, glory, and ornament of it. Byron said to Lady Blessington, that “Madame de Stäel was certainly the cleverest, though not the most agreeable woman he had ever known; she declaimed to you instead of conversing with you, never pausing except to take breath ; and if during that interval a rejoinder was put in, it was evident that she did not attend to it, as she resumed the thread of her discourse, as though it had not been interrupted.” His Lordship went on to say, that she was in the habit of losing herself in philosophical disquisitions; and although very eloquent and fluent, when excited in conversation, her lan- guage was sometimes obscure, and her plıraseology florid and redundant. Lady Blessington's love for London and its celebrities was of the same all-absorbing nature as that of Madame de Stäel for Parisian society. The exile of the illustrious Baroness from the French capital, was “a second death” to her, we are told in a recent admirable memoir. “It appears strange that banishment from Paris should thus have been looked upon by Madame de Stäel as an evil, and cause of suffering, almost beyond her endurance. With her great intellectual resources, her fine heart capable of attaching itself to whatever was loveable or excellent, and the power she possessed of interesting others, and of giving the tone to whatever society she entered ; one would have supposed that she, of all people, ought not to have depended for her happi- MADAME DE STAEL. 157 ness upon any clique or association, however brilliant. But though she viewed with deep interest and philosophical curi- osity every form of human society, she only seems to have loved that to which she had been accustomed, and to have felt herself at home only in the midst of the bustle and ex- citements among which her life had begun. She was not yet she preferred the 'sweet security of streets,' to the most magnificent scenery the world contained, and thought with Dr. Johnson, that there was no scene equal to the high tide of human existence in the heart of a populous city. When guests who came to visit her at Geneva were in ecstasies with its lovely scenes - Give me the Rue de Bac,' she said; “I would rather live in Paris in a fourth story, and with a hun- dred a year. I do not dissemble: a residence in Paris has always appeared to me, under any circumstances, the most desirable of all others. French conversation excels nowhere except in Paris, and conversation has been, since my infancy, my greatest pleasure.'” One who knew her peculiar talents and characteristics well, has observed of her in her later years: “An overstimulated youth acting on a temperament naturally ardent and im- passioned, had probably aggravated these tendencies to a mor- bid extent; for in the very prime of her life, and strength of her intellect, it would have seemed to her almost as impossible to dispense with the luxury of deep and strong emotions, as with the air which sustained her existence.” Madame de Stäel had this advantage over all the learned and literary women of her time; she was born and bred in the midst of intellectual excitement, conversational exhibitions, triumphs of imagination, and all the stirring scenes of a grand newed vigour and vitality for the human race, though it ter- 158 HOLLAND HOUSE. minated in a terrible denouement of revolution, and widely extended frenzy. Madame de Stäel lacked one great source of influence and power in conversation, namely, beauty. Her features were Alexible, but strongly marked, and somewhat masculine ; but her eyes were full of animation, vivacity, and expression, and her voice was finely modulated and harmonious, peculiarly touching and pleasing to the ear ; while her movements were graceful and dignified. She entered on life at the beginning of a mighty revolution, with lofty aspirations, and glorious in- spirations, animated by enthusiastic feelings of love, of liberty, of humanity, of glory, and exalted virtue. There was no affectation in these heroic sentiments and chivalrousimaginings: they were born with her, they were fostered in her, the times in which her lot was cast developed them most fully. It would be vain to look for intellectual power in the literary women of other lands, of our time, that could have produced “ Thoughts on the French Revolution,” “Ten Years of Exile,” “ Sophia, or Secret Sentiments,” “ On the Influence of Passions in Individuals and National Happiness," " Literature, considered in its connection with Social Institu- tions,” “ Delphine," “Corinne," “ Germany,” &c. &c. &c. The labour of her great works on the French Revolution, after her return to her beloved Paris, at the period of the res- toration of Louis the Eighteenth, contributed, it is supposed, to the breaking down of her health, after a short but memo- rable career of wonderful literary toil, and application of the mental faculties; she died in 1817, at the age of fifty-one years. Of Holland House society, Mr. Macauley, in an article in the “Edinburgh Review," has commemorated the brilliancies; and Lord John Russell has likewise recorded its attractions in terms worthy of a man of letters, and a lover of the amenities of literature. In a prefatory notice to one of the HOLLAND HOUSE. 159 volumes of “ Moore's Memoirs," he seems to revel in the short snatches of literary occupation which he has indulged in, at the expense of politics and affairs of state, when he describes the conversational powers of Lord Holland, and the display of them, in those circles which his Lordship and his friend Moore were in the habit of frequenting. He characterises the charms of Lord Holland's conversation, as combining a variety of excellencies of disposition, as well as of mental en- dowments, generous sentiments and principles, kindliness of nature, warmth of feeling, remarkable cheerfulness of dispo- sition, toleration for all opinions, a keen sense of the ridiculous, good memory, an admirable talent for mimicry—a refined taste, an absence of all formality, a genial warmth and friend- liness of intercourse in society. “He won," says Lord John, “ without seeming to court, he instructed without seeming to teach, and he amused without labouring to be witty. But of the charm which belonged to Lord Holland's conversation, future times can form no adequate conception : " " The pliant muscles of the varying face, The mien that gave each sentence strength and grace, The tuneful voice, the eye that spoke the mind, Are gone, nor leave a single trace behind.'"* Holland House was the well-known place of réunion of the most eminent men of the time, for nearly a century; the scene of innumerable wit combats, and keen encounters of intelligence and talent. The late Lord Holland's reputation for classical attain- ments and high intelligence, fine tastes and cultivated mind, his encouragement of art and literature, conversational talents, and elegant hospitality, are not better known than his ami- ability of disposition, kindness of heart, and genial, noble- loving nature, prompting him ever to generous conduct, and liberal, and sometimes even heroic acts of benevolence. * Moore's Memoirs, vol. v. 160 HOLLAND HOUSE. Scien One evidently well acquainted with Lady Holland, thus speaks of the brilliant circles over which she so long pre- sided, and of the qualities of heart and mind which enabled her to give to the réunions of men of letters, wit, art, and science, the attractions which characterized them. “ Beyond any other hostess we ever knew, and very far be- yond any host, she possessed the tact of perceiving, and the power of evoking the various capacities which lurked in every part of the brilliant circles she drew around her. To enkindle the enthusiasm of an artist on the theme over which he had achieved the most facile mastery ; to set loose the heart of the rustic poet, and imbue his speech with the freedom of his native hills; to draw from the adventurous traveller a breathing picture of his most imminent danger, or to embolden the bashful soldier to disclose his own share in the perils and glories of some famous battle-field; to encourage the generous praise of friendship, when the speaker and the subject re- flected interest on each other, or win the secret history of some effort which had astonished the world, or shed new lights on science; to conduct those brilliant developments to the height of satisfaction, and then to shift the scene by the magic of a word, were among her daily successes. And if this extraordinary power over the elements of social enjoy- ments was sometimes wielded without the entire concealment of its despotism; if a decisive check sometimes rebuked a speaker who might intercept the variegated beauty of Jeffrey's indulgent criticism, or the jest announced and self-rewarded in Sidney Smith's delighted and delighting chuckle, the authority was too clearly exerted for the evening's prosperity, and too manifestly impelled by an urgent consciousness of the value of those golden hours which were fleeting within its confines, to sadden the enforced silence with more than a momentary re- gret. If ever her prohibition, clear, abrupt, and decisive, indicated more than a preferable regard for livelier discourse, HOLLAND HOUSE. 161 it was when a depreciatory tone was adopted towards genius or goodness, or honest endeavour, or when some friend, per- sonal or intellectual, was mentioned in slighting phrase. “Habituated to a generous partizanship by strong sympathy with a great political cause, she carried the fidelity of her de- votion to that cause into her social relations, and was ever the truest and fastest of friends. The tendency, often more idle than malicious, to soften down the intellectual claims of the absent, which so insidiously besets literary conversation, and teaches a superficial insincerity even to substantial esteem and regard, found no favour in her presence; and hence the con- versations over which she presided, perhaps beyond all that ever flashed with a kindred splendour, were marked by that integrity of good nature, which might admit of their exact repetition to every living individual, whose merits were dis- cussed, without the danger of inflicting pain. “Under her auspices not only all critical, but all personal talk was tinged with kindness ; the strong interest which she took in the happiness of her friends, shed a peculiar sunniness over the aspects of life presented by the common topics of alliances, and marriages, and promotions; and not a promising engagement or a wedding, or a promotion of a friend's son, or a new intellectual triumph of any youth with whose name and history she was familiar, but became an event on which she expected and required congratulation as on a part of her own fortune. “Although there was naturally a preponderance in her society, of the sentiment of popular progress, which once was cherished almost exclusively by the party to whom Lord Holland was united by sacred ties, no expression of triumph in success, no virulence in sudden disappointment was ever permitted to wound the most sensitive ear of her conservative PL with former time spoke a sense of peaceful victory; or that VOL. 1. 162 CHARLEVILLE HOUSE. on the giddy edge of some great party struggle, the festivities of the evening might take a more serious cast, as news ar- rived from the scene of contest, and the pleasure be deepened with the peril; but the feeling was always restrained by the present evidence of permanent solaces for the mind which no political changes could disturb. If to hail and welcome genius, or even talent, which revered and imitated genius, was one of the greatest pleasures of Lord Holland's life, to search it out and bring it within the sphere of his noble sym- pathy, was the delightful study of hers. How often, during the last half century, has the steep ascent of fame been brightened by the genial appreciation she bestowed, and the festal light she cast on its solitude! How often has the assurance of success received its crowning delight amid the genial luxury of her circle, where renown itself has been realized in all its sweetness !"* O CHARLEVILLE HOUSE, CAVENDISH SQUARE. The late Dowager Lady Charleville was a very remarkable person, intellectual, and highly accomplished. The author had the honour of knowing her ladyship intimately, about twenty years ago. Few women possessed sounder judgment, or were more capable of forming just opinions on most subjects. Dublin and its society at the time of the Union, and for some years before, as well as after that measure, was a frequent subject of conversation with her. All the Irish celebrities of those times were intimately known by her; Clare and Castle. reagh, young Wellesly, and Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Lord Moira, and the Beresfords, cum multis aliis, of most dis- similar political elements. Throughout her whole career, it seemed to be a settled plan of hers, to bring persons of worth, of opposite opinions, together, and to endeavour to get them * Remarks on the character of Lady Holland, in the Morning Chronicle.” CHARLEVILLE TU. T I 103 TYYTT HOUSE. to think justly and favourably of one another, as if she con- animosities that exist, was the groundless misapprehensions of unacquainted people of the same class, pursuits in life, or position in society. * * The late Dowager Lady Charleville was the daughter of Thomas Tomlins Dawson, Esq., a member of the family ennobled in the person of the first Lord Cremorne. She was educated chiefly in France, and, though a Protestant, received the best part of her education in a French convent, previously to the French revolution. Soon after her return to Ireland, she was married to James Tisdale, Esq., of the county Louth. He died in 1797, and one daughter by this marriage, Maria her husband also. In 1798, she married Charles William, Lord Tul- lamore, who, in 1800, was created Viscount Tullamore, and, in 1806, her name was disagreeably connected with a translation of Voltaire's “ Pucelle D'Orleans,” made and printed for private circulation some time previously to her second marriage, by Lord Tullamore. Her co-operation in the translation was intimated in a satirical poem, published in 1804, entitled, “A Familiar Epistle to Frederick Jones, barrister, briefless, but not brainless, now a Privy Councillor, an Admiralty official, a renowned and a redoubtable Quarterly Reviewer.” In a recent number of “ The Gentleman's Magazine,” it is stated- that in a note to the satire above referred to, Lord Tullamore’s En- glish version of the “ Pucelle," was said to be indebted to “ lawn sleeves and gauze petticoats.” The lawn sleeves being understood to belong to the late Bishop Marlay, and the petticoats to Lady Charle- ville. Lady Charleville invariably denied having had anything what- ever to do with the work referred to. She had lost the use of her lower extremities for a great many years before her death; and though she went into society, and frequently rude out, she had to be carried to her chair or carriage, or moved about her apartment in a sort of Bath chair at her soirées and conver- zationes ; which, at the period I had the honour of her acquaintance, from 1833 to 1835, were hardly exceeded by any in London, for their agreeableness and the brilliancy of intellectual enjoyments that were found in them. She died in London in 1851. The Earl of Charleville died in October, 1835, reduced to a state of M 2 164 CITARLEVILLE HOUSE. The Countess Dowager of Cork, at the same period that Ladies Blessington, Holland, and Charleville collected round them their several celebrities of fashion and literary eminence, was the centre of a brilliant circle of London celebrities. From 1820 to 1840, was frequently to be seen at the London theatres this genuine representative, in all but one respect, of the celebrated Ninon D'Enclos. The Right Hon. Mary, Countess Dowager of Cork and Derry, resided for a great many years in New Burlington Street. Her Ladyship's soirées were not on so extensive a scale as those of Lady Blessington and Lady Holland, but still they were crowded with fashionable and distinguished people. Lady Cork, when Miss Monckton, was one of Dr. Johnson's favourites. “Her vivacity,” we are told, “ exhi- larated the sage;" and they used to talk together with all imaginable ease. Frequent mention of her is made by Boswell. She was born in 1746; her father was John Monckton, first Viscount Galway. In 1784 she married the Earl of Cork. For a large portion of her life, she occupied à conspicuous place in London society. Her residence in New Burlington Street was a rendezvous of wits, scholars, sages, and politicians, and bas bleux of celebrity. “ Her social reputation dates from her attempts, the first of the kind (in England), to introduce into the routine and formation of our high life, something of the wit and energy which characterized the society of Paris in the last century. While still young, she made the house of her mother, Lady Galway, the point of rendezvous, where talent and genius might mingle with rank and fashion, and the ad- helplessness, by disease of a paralytic nature, for many years before his death. He was a generous and a kind-hearted man, addicted to literature, and partial to the society of literary men.Vide “ Gentle- man's Magazine,” Part i. p. 429. SEAMORE PLACE. 165 vantages of intellectual endowments be mutually inter- changed.” The endeavours of Miss Monckton to give a higher tone to the society in which she found herself in the latter part of the last century, had the beneficial effect of thinning the crowds round the faro-tables, then the nightly excitement of both sexes. Her Sunday parties were the first that were attempted without this accompaniment. Her ladyship to the last enjoying society, wrapt up in its enjoyments and the phi- losophy that finds all its comforts in them; “ready for death, but not wishing to see him coming ;" — died at the age of ninety-four, in her house in Burlington Street, the 20th of May, 1840. 1 SEAMORE PLACE. Lady Blessington, in one of her novels, “The Victims of Society," wherein abundance of sarcasm was bestowed on the lionizing tendencies of English fashionable society, refers to “the modern Mecænases of May Fair," (in which locality her Ladyship resided when this novel was written by her,) “ who patronize poets and philosophers, from association with whom, they expect to derive distinction...... A few of the houses, with the most pretensions to literary taste, have their tame poets and petits littérateurs, who run about as docile and more parasitical than lap-dogs; and like them, are equally well fed, ay, and certainly equally spoiled. The dull plea- santries, thrice-told anecdotes, and resumes of the scandal of each week, served-up rechauffès by these pigmies of literature, are received most graciously by their patrons, who agree in opinion with the French writer . “Nul n'aura de l'esprit, Hors nous et nos amis.” Not even, we may add, in Seamore Place or Kensington Gore, 166 SEAMORE PLACE. where the experience was chiefly gained, which enabled poor Lady Blessington to delineate “ The Victims of Society," was that opinion held heretical. Lady Blessington returned to London from the continent in November, 1830. In the latter part of 1831, she took up her abode in Seamore Place, May Fair. The mansion in St. James's Square, which had been bequeathed to her by Lord Blessington, was far too expensive an establishment to be kept up by her on an income of two thousand a year. Having disposed of her interest in it, she rented the house in Seamore Place from Lord Mountford, and fitted it up in a style of the greatest magnificence and luxury.* Here, in the month of March, 1832, I found her Ladyship established. The Count and Countess D'Orsay were then residing with her. The salons of Lady Blessington were opened nightly to. men of genius and learning, to celebrities of all climes, to travellers of every European country. Her abode be- came a centre of attraction for the beau monde of the in- tellectual classes, a place of réunion for remarkable persons of talent or eminence of some sort or another; and cer- tainly the most agreeable resort of men of literature, art, and science, people of distinction, and public characters of various pursuits, that ever existed in this country. Perhaps the agrémens of the Seamore Place society sur- * The house in St. James's Square, which had been bequeathed to Lady Blessington by her husband, it was expected would have added £500 a-year to her income for the few years of the unexpired term of the lease. The head rent, however, was very high, £840 a year. It had been let to the Windham club, furnished, for £1350 a-year; but the mode in which the property in the furniture had been left by Lord Blessington, and the conditions imposed by the will with respect to its ultimate transfer to Ireland, and the fault, moreover, found with the bad state of it, bad led to such difficulties, that eventually she relin- quished her right and interest in the house to the executors, Messrs. Norman and Worthington. SCAMORE PLACE. 167 CO passed those of the Gore House soirées. Lady Blessington, when residing in the former street, had not then long com- menced the career of authorship as a pursuit and a speculation. In the twelfth letter of “the Pencillings,” dated 1834, Mr. Willis gives an account of his first visit to Lady Bless- ington, in London, then residing in Seamore Place, certainly more graphic than any other description of her réunions that has been given :- “A friend in Italy had kindly given me a letter to Lady Blessington; and with a strong curiosity to see this celebrated authoress, I called on her the second day after my arrival in London. It was deep i’ the afternoon,' but I had not yet learned the full meaning of town hours. 'Her Ladyship had not come down to breakfast.' I gave the letter and my address to the powdered footman, and had scarce reached home, when a note arrived, inviting me to call the same evening at ten. “In a long library, lined alternately with splendidly-bound books and mirrors, and with a deep window of the breadth of the room, opening upon Hyde Park, I found Lady Bless- ington alone. The picture to my eye, as the door opened, was a very lovely one; a woman of remarkable beauty, half buried, in a fauteuil of yellow satin, reading by a magnificent lamp suspended from the centre of the arched ceiling; sofas, couches, ottomans, and busts arranged in rather a crowded sumptuousness through the room; enamel tables, covered with expensive and elegant trifles, in every corner; and a delicate white hand relieved on the back of a book, to which the eye was attracted by the blaze of its diamond rings. As the servant mentioned my name, she rose, and gave me her hand very cordially; and a gentleman entering immediately after, she presented me to Count D'Orsay, the well-known Pelham of London, and certainly the most splendid specimen of a man, and a well-dressed one, that I had ever seen. Tea 168 SEAMORE PLACE. 11 was brought in immediately, and conversation went swim- mingly on. “Her Ladyship's inquiries were principally about America, of which, from long absence, I knew very little. She was extremely curious to know the degrees of reputation the present popular authors of England enjoy among us, parti- cularly Bulwer, and D’Israeli (the author of Vivian Grey'). • If you will come to-morrow night,' she said, "you will see Bulwer. I am delighted that he is popular in America. He is envied and abused for nothing, I believe, except for the superiority of his genius, and the brilliant literary success it commands; and knowing this, he chooses to assume a pride which is only the armour of a sensitive mind afraid of a wound. He is to his friends the most frank and noble creature in the world, and open to boyishness with those whom he thinks understand and value him. He has a brother, Henry, who also is very clever in a different vein, and is just now publishing a book on the present state of France.' "Do they like the D'Israelis in America ?' “ I assured her Ladyship that the Curiosities of Litera- ture,' by the father, and Vivian Grey' and Contarini Fleming,' by the son, were universally known. “ I am pleased at that, for I like them both. D’Israeli the elder came here with his son the other night. It would have delighted you to see the old man's pride in him, and the son's respect and affection for his father. D’Israeli the elder lives in the country, about twenty miles from town; seldom comes up to London, and leads a life of learned leisure, each day hoarding up and dispensing forth treasures of literature. He is courtly, yet urbane, and impresses one at once with confidence in his goodness. In his manners, D’Israeli the younger is quite his own character of Vivian Grey ;' full of genius and eloquence, with extreme good nature, and a perfect frankness of character.' SEAMORE PLACE. 169 “I asked if the account I had seen in some American paper of a literary celebration at Canandaigua, and the en- graving of her Ladyship's name with some others upon a rock, was not a quiz? “Oh, by no means. I was much amused by the whole affair. I have a great idea of taking a trip to America to see it. Then the letter, commencing, 'Most charming Countess—for charming you must be, since you have written the Conversations of Lord Byron''-oh, it was quite de- lightful. I have shown it to everybody. By the way, I receive a great many letters from America, from people I never heard of, written in the most extraordinary style of compliment, apparently in perfect good faith. I hardly know what to make of them.' "I accounted for it by the perfect seclusion in which great numbers of cultivated people live in our country, who, having neither intrigue, nor fashion, nor twenty other things to occupy their minds, as in England, depend entirely upon books, and consider an author who has given them pleasure as a friend. ‘America,' I said, 'has probably more literary enthusiasts than any country in the world; and there are thousands of romantic minds in the interior of New England, who know perfectly every writer on this side of the water, and hold them all in affectionate veneration, scarcely conceivable by a sophisticated European. If it were not for such readers, literature would be the most thankless of vocations ; I, for one, would never write another line.' “And do you think these are the people which write to me? If I could think so, I should be exceedingly happy. A great proportion of the people in England are refined down to such heartlessness; criticism, private and public, is so much influenced by politics; that it is really delightful to know there is a more generous tribunal. Indeed, I think many of our authors now are beginning to write for Ame- de 170 SEAMORE PLACE. rica. We think already a great deal of your praise or censure.' “I asked if her Ladyship had known many Americans ? “Not in London, but a great many abroad. I was with Lord Blessington in his yacht at Naples when the American fleet was lying there, ten or eleven years ago, and we were constantly on board your ships. I knew Commodore Creigh- ton and Captain Deacon extremely well, and liked them par- ticularly. They were with us frequently of an evening on board the yacht or the frigate, and I remember very well the bands playing always 'God save the King,' as we went up the side. Count D'Orsay here, who spoke very little English at the time, had a great passion for “Yankee Doodle,' and it was always played at his request.' “The Count, who still speaks the language with a very slight accent, but with a choice of words that shows him to be a man of uncommon tact and elegance of mind, inquired after several of the officers, whom I have not the pleasure of knowing. He seems to remember his visits to the frigate with great pleasure. The conversation, after running upon a variety of topics, turned very naturally upon Byron. I had frequently seen the Countess Guiccioli on the Continent, and I asked Lady Blessington if she knew her ? “Yes, very well. We were at Genoa when they were living there, but we never saw her. It was at Rome, in the year 1828, that I first knew her, having formed her ac- quaintance at Count Funchal's, the Portuguese Ambassador's. “ It would be impossible, of course, to make a full and fair record of a conversation of some hours. I have only noted one or two topics which I thought most likely to interest an American reader. During all this long visit, however, my eyes were very busy, in finishing for memory a portrait of the celebrated and beautiful woman before me. “The portrait of Lady Blessington in the Book of Beauty' (111 eem. K one SEAMORE PLACE. . 171 is not unlike her, but it is still an unfavourable likeness. A picture by Sir Thomas Lawrence hung opposite me, taken, perhaps, at the age of eighteen, which is more like her, and as captivating a representation of a just matured woman, full of loveliness and love, the kind of creature with whose divine sweetness the gazer's heart aches, as ever was drawn in the painter's most inspired hour. The original is no longer dans sa première jeunesse. Still she looks something on the sunny side of thirty. Her person is full, but preserves all the fineness of an admirable shape; her foot is not pressed in a satin slipper, for which a Cinderella might long be sought in vain; and her complexion (an unusually fair skin, with very dark hair and evebrows) is of even a girlish delicacy and freshness. Her dress, of blue satin (if I am describing her like a milliner, it is because I have here and there a reader in my eye who will be amused by it,) was cut low, and folded across her bosom, in a way to show to advantage the round and sculpture-like curve and whiteness of a pair of exquisite shoulders, while her hair, dressed close to her head, and parted simply on her forehead with a rich feronier of turquoise, enveloped in clear outline a head with which it would be difficult to find a fault. Her features are regular, and her mouth, the most expressive of them, has a ripe fullness and freedom of play peculiar to the Irish physiognomy, and expressive of the most unsuspicious good- lumour. Add to all this, a voice merry and sad by turns, but always musical, and manners of the most unpretending elegance, yet even more remarkable for their winning kindness, and you have the prominent traits of one of the most lovely and fascinating women I have ever seen. Remembering her talents and her rank, and the unenvying admiration she re- ceives from the world of fashion and genius, it would be difficult to reconcile her lot to the doctrine of compensation.""* ... * Pencillings by the Way, pp. 355, 356. e Seen. 172 SEAMORE PLACE. “In the evening I kept my appointment with Lady Bless- ington. She had deserted her exquisite library for the drawing- room, and sat, in full dress, with six or seven gentlemen about her. I was presented immediately to all; and when the con- versation was resumed, I took the opportunity to remark the distinguished coterie with which she was surrounded. “ Nearest me sat Smith, the author of ' Rejected Ad- dresses'-a hale, handsome man, apparently fifty, with white hair, and a very nobly-formed head and physiognomy. His eye alone-small, and with lids contracted into an habitual look of drollery-betrayed the bent of his genius. He held a cripple's crutch in his hand, and, though otherwise rather par- ticularly well-dressed, wore a pair of large India-rubber shoes -the penalty he was paying, doubtless, for the many good dinners he had eaten. He played rather an aside in the con- versation, whipping in with a quiz or witticism whenever he could get an opportunity, but more a li.tener than a talker. “ On the opposite side of Lady Blessington, stood Henry Bulwer, the brother of the novelist, very earnestly engaged in a discussion of some speech of O'Connell's. He is said by many to be as talented as his brother, and has lately published a book on the present state of France. He is a small man ; very slight and gentleman-like; a little pitted with the small- pox, and of very winning and persuasive manners. I liked him at the first glance. “A German prince, with a star on his breast, trying with all his might-but, from his embarrassed look, quite unsuc- cessfully—to comprehend the drift of the argument; the Duke de Richelieu ; a famous traveller just returned from Con- stantinople, and the splendid person of Count D'Orsay in a careless attitude upon the ottoman, completed the cordon. “ I fell into conversation after a while with Smith, who, supposing I might not have heard the names of the others, in the hurry of an introduction, kindly took the trouble to play SEAMORE PLACE. 173 the dictionary, and added a graphic character of each as he named him. Among other things, he talked a great deal of America, and asked me if I knew our distinguished country- man, Washington Irving. I had never been so fortunate as to meet him. "You have lost a great deal,' he said, for never was so delightful a fellow. I was once taken down with him into the country by a merchant to dinner. Our friend stopped his carriage at the gate of his park, and asked us if we would walk through his grounds to the house. Irving refused, and held me down by the coat, so that we drove on to the house together, leaving our host to follow on foot.' 'I make it a principle,' said Irving, 'never to walk with a man through his own grounds. I have no idea of praising a thing whether I like it or not. You and I will do them to-morrow morning by ourselves. The rest of the company had turned their attention to Smith as he began • his story, and there was an universal inquiry after Mr. Irving. Indeed, the first question on the lips of every one to whom I am introduced as an American, is of him and Cooper. The latter seems to me to be admired as much here as abroad, in spite of a common impression that he dislikes the nation. No man's works could have higher praise in the general con- versation that followed, though several instances were men- tioned of his having shown an unconquerable aversion to the English when in England. Lady Blessington mentioned Mr. Bryant, and I was pleasd at the immediate tribute paid to his delightful poetry by the talented circle around her. “ Toward twelve o'clock, Mr. Lytton Bulwer was an- nounced, and enter the author of 'Pelham. I had made up my mind how he should look, and, between prints and de- scriptions, thought I could scarcely be mistaken in my idea of his person. No two things could be more unlike, however, than the ideal of Mr. Bulwer in my mind, and the real Mr. Bulwer who followed the announcement. I liked his manners 174 SEAMORE PLACE. extremely. He ran up to Lady Blessington with the joyous heartiness of a boy let out of school; and the “how d’ye, Bulwer ?' went round, as he shook hands with every body, in the style of welcome usually given to the best fellow in the world.' As I had brought a letter of introduction to him from a friend in Italy, Lady Blessington introduced me particularly, and we had a long conversation about Naples and its pleasant society. “ Bulwer's head is phrenologically a fine one. His forehead retreats very much, but is very broad and well masked, and the whole air is that of decided mental superiority. His nose is aquiline. His complexion is fair, his hair profuse, curly, and of a light auburn. A more good-natured, habitually- smiling expression could hardly be imagined. Perhaps my impression is an imperfect one, as he was in the highest spirits, and was not serious the whole evening for a minute but it is strictly and faithfully my impression. “ I can imagine no style of conversation calculated to be more agreeable than Bulwer's. Gay, quick, various, half-sa- tirical, and always fresh and different from every body else, he seemed to talk because he could not help it, and infected every body with his spirits. I cannot give even the substance of it in a letter, for it was in a great measure local or personal. “ Bulwer's voice, like his brother's, is exceedingly lover-like and sweet. His playful tones are quite delicious, and his clear laugh is the soul of sincere and careless merriment. “ It is quite impossible to convey in a letter scrawled lite- rally between the end of a late visit and a tempting pillow, the evanescent and pure spirit of a conversation of wits. I must confine myself, of course, in such sketches, to the mere senti- ment of things that concern general literature and ourselves. " The Rejected Addresses' got upon his crutches about three o'clock in the morning, and I made my exit with the rest, thanking Heaven, that, though in a strange country, my mother tongue was the language of its men of genius. SEAMORE PLACE. 175 “ Letter June 14,1834. I was at Lady Blessington's at eight. Moore had not arrived, but the other persons of the party- a Russian count, who spoke all the languages of Europe, as well as his own; a Roman banker, whose dynasty is more powerful than the pope's; a clever English nobleman, and the 'observed of all observers,' Count D'Orsay, stood in the window upon the park, killing, as they might, the melancholy twilight half-hour preceding dinner. “Dinner was announced, the Russian handed down 'mi- ladi,' and I found myself seated opposite Moore, with a blaze of light on his Bacchus head, and the mirrors with which the superb octagonal room is panelled reflecting every motion.... The soup vanished in the busy silence that beseems it, and as the courses commenced their procession, Lady Blessington led the conversation with the brilliancy and ease for which she is remarkable over all the women I ever met.... “O'Connell was mentioned. “«He is a powerful creature,' said Moore; but his elo- quence has done great harm both to England and Ireland. There is nothing so powerful as oratory. The faculty of ' thinking on his legs,' is a tremendous engine in the hands of any man. There is an undue admiration for this faculty, and a sway permitted to it, which was always more dan- gerous to a country than any thing else. Lord A- -- is a wonderful instance of what a man may do without talking. There is a general confidence in him-a universal belief in his honesty, which serves him instead. Peel is a fine speaker, but, admirable as he had been as an Oppositionist, he failed when he came to lead the House. O'Connell would be irre- sistible, were it not for the two blots on his character--the contributions in Ireland for his support, and his refusal to give satisfaction to the man he is still willing to attack. They may say what they will of duelling: it is the great preserver of the decencies of society. The old school, which made a or 176 SEAMORE PLACE. man responsible for his words, was the better. I must confess I think so. Then, in O'Connell's case, he had not made his vow against duelling when Peel challenged him. He accepted the challenge, and Peel went to Dover on his way to France, where they were to meet ; and O'Connell pleaded his wife's illness, and delayed till the law interfered.* Some other Irish patriot, about the same time, refused a challenge on account of the illness of his daughter, and one of the Dublin wits made a good epigram on the two :- “Some men, with a horror of slaughter, • Improve on the Scripture command, And 'honour their'.-wife and their daughter- • That their days may be long in the land.' The great period of Ireland's glory,' continued Moore, 'was between '82 and '98, and it was a time when a man almost lived with a pistol in his hand.' Grattan's dying advice to his son was, ‘Be always ready with the pistol !' He himself never hesitated a moment.... “Talking of Grattan, is it not wonderful, with all the agita- tion in Ireland, we have had no such man since his time? You can scarcely reckon Shiel of the calibre of her spirits of old, and O'Connell, with all his faults, stands alone in his glory. “The conversation I have given is a mere skeleton, of course.... “ This discussion may be supposed to have occupied the hour after Lady Blessington retired from the table ; for, with her, vanished Moore's excitement, and every body else seemed to feel that light had gone out of the room. Her excessive beauty is less an inspiration than the wondrous talent with which she draws, from every person around her, his peculiar excellence. Talking better than any body else, and narrating, * There are many statements made, and opinions expressed by Mr. Willis in the extracts above given, with regard to which, silence it is hoped, will not be taken for acquiescence in their justice.-R. R. M. SEAMORE PLACE. 177 particularly, with a graphic power that I never saw excelled, this distinguished woman seems striving only to make others unfold themselves; and never had diffidence a more appre- hensive and encouraging listener. But this is a subject with which I should never be done. “We went up to coffee, and Moore brightened again over his chasse-café, and went glittering on with criticisms on Grisi, the delicious songstress now ravishing the world, whom he placed above all but Pasta ; and whom he thought, with the exception that her legs were too short, an incomparable crea- ture. This introduced music very naturally, and with a great deal of difficulty he was taken to the piano. My letter is getting long, and I have no time to describe his singing. It is well known, however, that its effect is only equalled by the beauty of his own words ; and, for one, I could have taken him into my heart with my delight. He makes no attempt at music. It is a kind of admirable recitative, in which every shade of thought is syllabled and dwelt upon, and the senti- ment of the song goes through your blood, warming you to the very eyelids, and starting your tears, if you have a soul or sense in you. I have heard of women's fainting at a song of Moore's; and if the burden of it answered by chance to a secret in the bosom of the listener, I should think, from its comparative effect upon so old a stager as myself, that the heart would break with it. “We all sat round the piano, and after two or three songs of Lady Blessington's choice, he rambled over the keys awhile, and sang 'When first I met thee, with a pathos that beg- gars description. When the last word had faltered out, he rose and took Lady Blessington's hand, said good-night, and was gone before a word was uttered."* In a former edition of “ the Pencillings,” there are some re- ferences to one of the literary men of distinction he met on * Pencillings by the Way, pp. 360 to 367. VOL. I. ULI 178 SEAMORE PLACE. the occasion above referred to, which do not exist in the later to be smart sayings, exceedingly superficial and severe, as well as unjust; but there are other observations which are no. less true than happily expressed, especially with regard to the descriptive and conversational powers of one of the most highly gifted of all the celebrities of Gore House society. “Disraeli had arrived before me at Lady Blessington's, and sat in the deep window, looking out upon Hyde Park, with the last rays of day-light reflected from the gorgeous gold flowers of a splendidly embroidered waistcoat. Patent leather pumps, a white stick, with a black cord and tassel, and a quantity of chains about his neck and pockets, served to make him, even in the dim light, rather a conspicuous object. Disraeli has one of the most remarkable faces I ever saw. He is lividly pale, and, but for the energy of his action and the strength of his lungs, would seem a victim to consumption. His eye is black as Erebus, and has the most mocking and lying-in-wait sort of expression conceivable.... “His hair is as extraordinary as his taste in waistcoats. A thick heavy mass of jet black ringlets falls over his left cheek almost to his collarless stock; while on the right it is parted and put away with the smooth carefulness of a girl's, and shines most unctuously, “With thy incomparable oil, Macassar.' Disraeli was the only one at table who knew Beckford, and .the style in which he gave a sketch of his habits and manners the foam of the sea, as to convey an idea of the extraordinary language in which he clothed his description. There were, at least, five words in every sentence that must have been very much astonished at the use they were put to, and yet no others apparently could so well have conveyed his idea. He SEAMORE PLACE. 179 2 talked like a race-horse approaching the winning post, every muscle in action, and the utmost energy of expression flung out in every burst. Victor Hugo and his extraordinary novels came next under discussion; and Disraeli, who was fired with his own eloquence, started off, apropos des bottes, with a long story of impalement he had seen in Upper Egypt. It was as good, and perhaps as authentic, as the description of the chow-chow-tow in “Vivian Grey. The circumstantiality of the account was equally horrible and amusing. Then fol- lowed the sufferer's history, with a score of murders and barbarities heaped together like Martin's feast of Belshazzar, with a mixture of horror and splendour that was unparalleled in my experience of improvisation. No mystic priest of the corybantes could have worked himself up into a finer frenzy of language.” My recollection of the scene to which I think Mr. Willis alludes, is of a very different kind so far as relates to the im- pression of horror supposed to be made by the truly extra- ordinary powers of description of Mr. Disraeli. Haydon, in his diary, 27th February, 1835, writes, “ Went to Lady Blessington's in the evening; everybody goes to Lady Blessington. She has the first news of everything, and everybody seems delighted to tell her. No woman will be more missed. She is the centre of more talent and gaiety: than any other woman of fashion in London."* In the summer of 1833, Lady Blessington met with a severe loss. Her house in Seamore Place was broken into at night by thieves, and plate and jewellery to the value of about £1000, were carried off, and never afterwards recovered. This was the first disaster, in the way of loss of property, that occurred to her. A few years later, she was destined to see everything swept away she was accustomed to set å store on, every object of luxury that had become a neces- * Memoirs of B. R. Haydon, vol. iii. p. 12. N 2 180 GORE HOUSE. sity to the splendid misery of her mode of life ; costly furni- ture, magnificent mirrors, adornments of salons, valuable pictures, portraits by the first masters, all the literary baubles of the boudoir, and precious ornaments of the person, rarities from every land, books elegantly bound, and perhaps more prized than all her other treasures. Lady Blessington removed from Seamore Place to the more spacious and elegant mansion of Gore House, Kensington Gore, the former abode of William Wilberforce, in the early part of 1836. And here her Ladyship remained till the 14th of April, 1849. GORE HOUSE. Any person acquainted with Lady Blessington, when re- siding at the Villa Belvidere at Naples, the Palazzo Negrone at Rome, her delightful residence at Seamore Place in London, and her latest English place of abode, in Gore House, must have observed the remarkable changes that had come over her mind at the different epochs of her career in intellectual society and in fashionable life, from 1823 to 1849. In Naples, the charm of Lady Blessington's conversation and society was indescribably effective. The genial air, the beautiful scenery of the place, and all the “influences of the sweet south,” seemed to have delighted, soothed, and spirit- ualized her feelings. A strong tendency to fastidiousness of taste, to weariness of mind in the enjoyment of any long continued entertainment or amusement, to sudden impulses of hastiness of temper (as distinguished from habitual ill-humour), had been subdued and softened by those changes of scenery and “skiey influences ;” and above all, there was observable in her animal spirits a flow of hilarity, a natural vivacity, such as those who knew her in early life, were well aware had belonged to her childhood, and which having been restrained and checked to some extent, had resumed, in the south of GORE HOUSE. 181 Italy, its original character of out-bursting gaité du caur. The ringing laugh of joyous girlhood, which a celebrated actress used to act to such perfection, was a reality with Lady Blessington, in those merry moods of hers in Naples, which were indeed neither“ few nor far between.” In society Lady Blessington was then supremely attractive; she was natural and sprightly, and spirituelle in proportion to her naturalness, and utter absence of all appearance of an effort to be effective in conversation. · At the distance of a period of three years from the time of my departure from Naples, when I next met Lady Blessington at Rome, that vivacity to which I have referred, seemed to me to have been considerably impaired. She had become more of a learned lady, a queen regnant in literary circles, expected to speak with authority on subjects of art and literature, and less of the agreeable woman, eminently graceful, and full of gaiety, whom I had parted with in Naples in 1824. But she was at all times attractive and triumphant in her efforts to reign in the society she moved in; and she was, moreover, at all times kindly disposed and faithful in her friendships. After an interval of nearly five years, I renewed my acquaint- ance with Lady Blessington in Seamore Place. It was evident that another great "change had come over the spirit of her dream” of life since I had last seen her. Cares and troubles, and trials of various kinds, had befallen her, and left, if not visible external traces, at least perceptible internal evidence of their effects. After a lapse of two or three years, my acquaintance with Lady Blessington was renewed at Gore House. The new establishment was on a scale of magnificence exceeding even that of Seamore Place. The brilliant society by which she was surrounded, did not seem to have contributed much to her felicity. There was no happiness in the circles of Gore House, comparable to 182 GORE HOUSE. lo re that of the Palazzo Belvidere in Naples. There was manifestly a great intellectual effort made to keep up the charm of that society, and no less manifest was it that a great pecuniary effort was making to meet the large expenditure of her new establishment. That society was felt by her to be a neces- sity in England. It had been a luxury in Italy, and had been enjoyed there without anxiety for cost, or any experience of the wear and tear of life that is connected with arduous ex- ertions to maintain a position in London haut ton society, acquired with difficulty, and often supported under continually increasing embarrassments. But notwithstanding the symptoms of care and anxiety that were noticeable in Lady Blessington's appearance and conversation, at that period of her Gore House celebrity, her powers of attraction and of pleasing had lost none of their influences. There were a higher class of men of great in- tellect at her soirées, than were formerly wont to congregate about her. Lady Blessington no longer spoke of books and bookish men with diffidence, or any marked deference for the opinions of other persons : she laid down the law of her own sentiments in conversation rather dogmatically, she aimed more at saying smart things than heretofore, and seemed more desirous of congregating celebrities of distinction in her salons, than of gathering round her people solely for the agrèmens of their society or any peculiarities in their characters or acquire- ments. There was more of gravity and formality in her converza- tionès than there had been wont to be, and the conversation generally was no longer of that peculiarly gay, enlivening, cheerful character, abounding in drollery and humour, which made the great charm of her réunions in the Villa Belvidere, and in a minor degree in Seamore Place. In Gore House society, Lady Blessington had given herself a mission, in whieh she laboured certainly with great assiduity GORE HOUSE. 183 mo and wonderful success—that of bringing together people of the same pursuits, who were rivals in them, for professional dis- tinction ; and inclining competitors for fame in politics, art, and literature, to tolerant, just, and charitable opinions of one another. This most assuredly was a very good and noble object, and in her efforts to attain it she was well seconded by Count D'Orsay. The Count, indeed, not only devoted his talents to this ob- ject, but extended his aims to the accomplishment of a pur- pose calculated to do a great deal of good; to remove the groundless misapprehensions of unacquainted intellectual people of neighbouring countries, the fruitful cause of national jealousies and antipathies; to remove the prejudices which had raised barriers even in the best societies between English people and foreigners, to level distinctions on account of difference of country, and to unite the high intelligences of various nations in bonds of social intercourse. The party warfare that is waged in art, literature, and politics, it seemed to be the main object of the mistress of Gore House, in the high sphere in which she moved, to assuage, to put an end to, and when interrupted, to prevent the recurrence of. It was astonishing with what tact that object was pursued; and those only who have seen much of the correspondence of Lady Blessington, can form any idea of the labour she im- posed on herself in removing unfavourable impressions, ex- plaining away differences, inducing estranged people to make approaches to an accommodation, to meet and to be reconciled. These labours were not confined to people of the studio, or of literary pursuits; grave politicians, and solemn statesmen, great legal functionaries, and even divines, have been largely indebted to them. She threw herself into those labours with an earnestness which seemed almost incredible to those who were accustomed to the reserve and absence of all demonstra- .184 GORE HOUSE. tiveness of feeling that is supposed to characterize the haut ton of English society. Mackintosh, in his beautiful “Life of Sir Thomas More,” enforcing the virtue of moderation and tolerance of opinion, and reprobating the vulgar brutality of “hating men for their opinions,” said, “ All men, in the fierce contests of contending factions, should, from such an example, learn the wisdom to fear, lest in their most hated antagonist they may strike down a Sir Thomas More; for assuredly virtue is not so narrowed as to be confined to any party, and we have in the case of More a signal example, that the nearest approach to perfect excellence, does not exempt men from mistakes which we may justly deem mischievous. It is a pregnant proof that we should beware of hating men for their opinions, or of adopting their doctrines because we love and venerate their virtues.” But the high purposes to which I have referred, as actuat- iny Lady Blessington and the Count D'Orsay, namely, of bring- ing together eminent and estimable people of similar pursuits, who had been estranged from one another, at variance, or on bad terms, did not interfere occasionally with the exercise of the peculiar talents and inclinations of both, for drawing out absurd or eccentric people for the amusement of their visitors. One of the visitors who had frequented Seamore Place, and continued to visit Gore House, about 1837 and 1838, was a very remarkable old French gentleman, then upwards of seventy years of age, whom I had known intimately both in France and England. « Monsieur Julien le Jeune de Paris," as he styled himself. He had figured in the great French Revolution — had been patronised by Robespierre, and employed by him in Paris and in the south of France in the reign of terror. It was generally asserted and believed, that he had voted for the death of Louis the Sixteenth. That, however, was not the fact. It GORE HOUSE. 185 was Monsieur Julien l'ainè who gave his voice for the execution of his sovereign. I believe, moreover, that Monsieur Julien le Jeune, though employed under Robespierre, and at one time even acting as his secretary, was not a man of blood de son grè, though a very ardent republican at the period of the regime of terror. If my poor friend, Monsieur Julien le Jeune, was for some time a minister of that system, he certainly repented of it, and made all the atonement, as he thought, that could be made by him, by his connection with a number of philanthropical societies, and the advocacy of the abolition of the punishment of death, the slave trade, and slavery; and also by the com- position of various works of a half moral, part political and polemical kind, and a considerable quantity of lachrymose poetry, chiefly devoted to the illustration of the wrongs and persecutions he had suffered for his country and his opinions. His pieces on this subject, which were extremely lengthy and doleful, he called “Mes Chagrins Politiques.” Julien had commenced “patriotic declamation” at a very carly period of his career, on the great stage of the Revolution of 1789. Tvuchard La Fosse, in his “ Souvenirs d'un demi siecle,” makes mention of him at Bordeaux, at the time that Tallien, one of the leading terrorists, was there on his mission of extermination, seeking out the last remains of the fugitive Girondists. The future Madame Tallien, an enchantress of the Corinne school, daughter of the Spanish banker, Monsieur Cabarrus, then bearing the name of Madame Fontenay, was also at Bordeaux, at that time " in the dawn of her celebrity.” “ It was one day announced," says Touchard La Fosse, " that a beautiful citizeness had composed a wonderfully patriotic oration, which would be delivered at the club by a young patriot named Julien, (who subsequently, during the Enpire, held several important posts in the military adminis- tration, and who since the restoration is better known as Julien 17 186 GORE HOUSE. . de Paris, was in conjunction with the estimable Amaury Duval, the founder of the 'Revue Encyclopedique.') “ The following decade was the time fixed for the delivery of his discourse. The club was full. All eyes were bent upon a young woman dressed in a riding habit of dark blue kerseymere, faced and trimmed with red velvet. Upon her beautiful black hair, cropped à la Titus, then a perfectly new fashion, was lightly set, on one side, a scarlet cap trimmed with fur. Madame Fontenay is said to have been most beau- tiful in this attire. “The oration, admirably well read by citizen Julien, ex- cited wonderful admiration. Its common-place patriotic de- clamation, lighted up by a reflection of the admiration felt for the author, gained it the utmost praise. Unanimous applause, a flattering address of the President, honours of the sitting, in short, all the remunerations of popular assemblies were launched upon this beautiful patriot.” " Julien le Jeune” thus, we find, had commenced his metier of patriotic recitations some forty-three or four years pre- viously to his exhibitions in Seamore Place. The first per- formance was in the presence of a very celebrated French enchantress, who reigned in revolutionary circles, and the latest was in the presence of an Irish enchantress, who reigned over literary fashionable society in London. At the period of his sojourn in London his head was filled with these “ Chagrins.” As regularly as he presented him- self in the evenings at the salons of Lady Blessington, he brought with him, on each occasion, a roll of paper in his side pocket, consisting of some sheets of foolscap filled with his " Chagrins,” which would be seen projecting from the breast of his coat, when, on entering the room, he would stoop to kiss the hand of Lady Blessington, after the manner of the polished courtiers of la Vielle Cour; for Monsieur Julien le Jeune, in his old age at least, was a perfect specimen of French GORE HOUSE. 187 courtesy, and preserved very little of the burly bearing, or the sturdy manners or opinions of a Republican. Poor Julien le Jeune, like D'Alembert, had the gift of shed- ding tears at pleasure, to which don le larmes that belonged to D'Alembert, La Harpe was indebted for the success of one of his dramatic pieces. “ C'est à ce don de larmes que La Harpe dut le succès de sa Melanie. L'etiquette voulait qu'on eut pleuré à ce drame. D'Alembert ne manquait jamais d'accompagner La Harpe. Il prenait un air sérieux et composé, qui fixait d'abord l'at- tention. Au premier acte il faisait remarquer les apercues philosophiques de l'ouvrage; en suite profitant du talent qu'il avait pour la pantomine, il pleurait toujours aux mêmes en- droits, ce qui imposait aux femmes la nécessité, de s'attendrir et comment auraient elles eu les yeux secs lorsqu'un phi- losophe fondait en larmes ?” — Tom. ii. 10. It used to be a scene, that it was most difficult to witness with due restraint, and certainly not without great efforts at external composure—when Monsieur Julien le Jeune, all radiant with smiles and overflowing with urbanity, having paid his devoirs to her Ladyship, would be approached by Count D'Orsay, and with the eyes of the whole circle fixed on him (duly prepared to expect amusement), the poor old man would be entreated to favour Lady Blessington with the recital of another canto of his political afflictions. Then Julien would protest he had read all that was worth reading to her Ladyship, but at length would yield to the persuasions of Lady Blessington, with looks and gestures which plainly said, “ Infandum Regina jubas renovare dolorem.” On the first occasion of my witnessing this scene, Julien had just gone through the usual formula of praying to be excused, and had made the protestation above referred to, when D'Orsay, with a gravity that was truly admirable, and surprising how it could be maintained, overcame all the re- 188 GORE HOUSE. UTI luctance assumed by poor old Julien, to produce the poem expressly brought for recital, by renewed supplications, and on a novel plea for the reading of it. There was one present the Count observed, who had never heard the “ Chagrins," long and earnestly as he desired that gratification--" N'est ce pas Madden, vous n'avez jamais entendu les Chagrins politiques de notre cher ami Monsieur Julien ?” All the reply that could be given to the inquiry was — “ Jamais." “ Allons mon ami," continued D'Orsay. “ Ce pauvre Madden a bien besoin d'entendre vos chagrins politiquesil a les siens aussi—(I had recently, suffered at the hands of some reviewers)—Il à souffert-lui-il a des sympathies pour les blessés, il faut le donner cette triste plaisir-N'est ce pas Madden ?” Another dire effort to respond in the affirmative_." Oui, Monsieur le Comte." Mons. Julien, after playing off for some minutes all the diffident airs of a bashful young lady dying to sing and pro- testing she cannot, placed himself at the upper end of the room, near a table with wax lights, pulled the roll of paper. from his breast pocket, and began to recite his “Chagrins Politiques” in a most lugubrious tone, like Mademoiselle Duchesnois—avec des pleurs dans sa voix. The saloon was crowded with distinguished guests. On the left hand of the tender-hearted poet and most doleful reciter of his own sorrows-this quondam secretary of Robespierre--was Lady Blessington in her well-known fauteuil, looking most in- tently, and with apparent anxious solicitude, full in the face of the dolorous reciter. But it would not do for one listen- ing to the “Chagrins,” to look too curiously into the eyes of that lady, lest he might perceive any twinkling there indica- tive of internal hilarity of a communicative kind. On the GORE HOUSE. 189 other side of Mons. Julien, but somewhat in front of him, sat Count D'Orsay, with a handkerchief occasionally lifted to his eyes; and ever and anon, a plaudit or an exclamation of pain was uttered by him at the recital of some particular “ Cha- grin.” At the very instant when the accents of the reciter were becoming most exceedingly lugubrious and ludicrous, and the difficulty of refraining from laughter was at its height, D'Orsay was heard to whisper in a sotto voce, as he leaned his head over the back of the chair I sat on—"Pleurez donc !” Doctor Quin, who was present at this scene, one of the richest, certainly, I ever witnessed, during the recital, contri- buted largely to its effect. Whenever D'Orsay would seize on some particular passage, and exclaim, “ Ah que c'est beau !" then would Quin's “ magnifique !" " superbe !" “ vraiement beau !” be intonated with all due solemnity, and a call for that moving passage over again would be preferred, and kindly complied with, so that there was not one of Mons. Julien's “ Chagrins Politiques” which was not received with the most marked attention and applause. At the conclusion of each “ Chagrin,” poor Julien's eyes were always sure to be bathed with tears, and as much so, at the latest recital of his oft-repeated griefs, as at the earliest delivery of them. It was always in this melting mood, at the conclusion of a recital, he was again conducted by the hand to the fauteuil of Lady Blessington by D’Orsay, and there bending low, as the noble lady of the mansion graciously smiled on him, he re- ceived compliments and consolations, most literally bestowed on his “ Chagrins Politiques.” Of one of those displays of D’Orsay's peculiar power in drawing out absurd, eccentric, or outré people, of a similar kind, one of the most distinguished writers of his time thus writes, in April, 1838 : S 190 GORE HOUSE. “ Count D'Orsay may well speak of an evening being a happy one, to whose happiness he contributed so largely. It would be absurd if one did not know it to be true, to hear Dickens tell, as he has done ever since, of Count D'Orsay's power of drawing out always the best elements of the society around him, and of miraculously putting out the worst. Cer- tainly I never saw it so marvellously exhibited as on the night in question. I shall think of him hereafter unceasingly, with the two guests that sat on either side of him that night. But it has been impossible for me to think of him at any time, since I have known him, but with the utmost admiration, affection, and respect, which genius and kindness can suggest to every one." The last time I met Monsieur Julien was at a breakfast given by Colonel Leicester Stanhope, on which occasion many remarkable persons were assembled. Julien, at that pe- riod, had abandoned his “ Chagrins Politiques," and adopted a new plan of attracting attention. He exhibited a small dial, on the circumference of which, in opposite directions, moral and evil tendencies were marked, and to these a mor- able index pointed, shewing the virtue to be cultivated when any particular defect in character was referred to. This in- strument Monsieur Julien called his “Horloge Moral” The old man was lapsing fast into second childhood, but with his senility, a large dash of charlatanerie was very obviously com- bined. On the occasion I allude to, a brother of Napoleon, one of the Ex-Kings of the Buonaparte family, was present for a short time, but on seeing Monsieur Julien he imme- diately departed. On the same occasion, L. E. L., who was one of the guests, was singled out by Julien for special in- struction in the use of the “ Horloge Moral," and she allowed herself to be victimized with most exemplary patience and good humour, while Monsieur Julien was shewing off the latest product of his ethical and inventive faculties. ne vas 191 CHAPTER VIII. THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. Poor Lady Blessington, when she launched into the enormous expenditure of her magnificent establishments, first in Seamore Place, next in Kensington Gore, had little idea of the diffi- culties of her position in the fashionable world, with a jointure of £2000 a year, to meet all the extensive and incessant claims on her resources, and those claims on them also of at least seven or eight persons, members of her family, who were mainly de- pendent on her. Little was she aware of the nature of those literary pursuits, and the precariousness of their remuneration, from which she imagined she could derive secure and perma- nent emolument, that would make such an addition to her ordinary income as would enable her to make head against the vast expenditure of her mode of life; an expenditure which the most constant anxiety to reduce within reasonable limits, by an economy of the most rigid kind in small household matters, was wholly inadequate to accomplish.* A lady of quality, who sits down in fashionable life to get a livelihood by literature, or a large portion of the means ne- cessary to sustain her in that position, at the hands of pub- * Lady Blessington's punctuality and strictness in examining ac- counts, at regular periods, inquiring into expenditure by servants, orders given to tradesmen, and the use made of ordinary articles of consumption, were remarkable. She kept a book of dinners, in which the names of all persons at each entertainment were set down; this register of guests served a double purpose, as a reference for dates, and a check on the accounts of her maitre d'hotel. 192 THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. lishers, had better build any other description of castles in the air, or if she must dream of “chateaus en Espagne,” let it be of fabrics somewhat less visionary as to the foundations. Charles Lamb, the inimitable quaint teller of solemn truths, in amusing terms, in a letter to Bernard Barton, the Quaker poet, in 1823, thus speaks of “literature as a calling to get a livelihood.” “What! throw yourself on the world without any rational plan of support, beyond what the chance of employment of booksellers would afford you? Throw yourself rather, my dear Sir, from the steep Tarpeian rock, slap-dash, headlong down upon iron spikes. “I have known many authors want bread; some repining, others enjoying the sweet security of a spunging house; all agreeing they had rather have been tailors, weavers, what not ! rather than the things they were. I have known some starved—some go mad—one dear friend literally dying in a workhouse. “O! you know not, may you never know the miseries of subsisting by authorship! 'Tis a pretty appendage to situations like yours or mine, but a slavery worse than all slavery, to be a bookseller's dependant: to drudge your brains for pots of ale and breasts of mutton; to change your free thoughts and voluntary numbers, for ungracious taskwork ! The booksellers hate us” If Lamb had been an Irishman, one might imagine that the “h” in the penultimate word was an interpolation of some sarcastic copyist, who had been infelicitous in authorship, and that we should read-ate, and not hate. Emolument from literature must have been looked to by Lady Blessington, not in the sense of Lamb's pretty appendage to his situation, but as a main resource, to meet an expenditure which her ordinary income could not half suffice for. The establishment of Gore House, and the incidental ex- THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. 193 1 penditure of its noble mistress, could not have been less than £4000 a year. Lady Blessington's jointure was only £2000. But then it must be borne in mind, a very large portion of that expenditure was incurred for aid and assistance given to members of her family; and that she frequently stated in her letters, particularly in those to Mr. Landor, that nothing would induce her to continue her literary labours, but to be enabled to provide for those who were dependent on her. There is a passage in a letter of Sir Walter Scott, in re- ference to the costly efforts made by a lady of bookish tastes to maintain a position in intellectual society, or rather to be the centre of a literary circle, which well deserves attention. In his diary while in Italy, Sir Walter makes mention of “Lydia White.” “Went to poor Lydia White's, and found her extended on a couch, frightfully swelled, unable to stir, rouged, jesting, and dying. She has a good heart, and is really a clever creature; but, unhappily, or rather, happily, she has set the whole staff of her life in keeping literary society about her. The world has not neglected her; it is not always so bad as it is called. She can always make up her circle, and generally has some people of real talent and distinction. She is wealthy, to be sure, and gives petits diners, but not in a style to carry the point à force d'argent. In her case the world is good-natured, and perhaps it is more frequently so than is generally supposed."* Of the false position of distinguished women in society, it has been very justly observed, in a notice of the life of Madame de Stäel : “The aspect of ill-will makes women tremble, however distinguished they may be. Courageous in misfortune, they are timid against enmity. Thought exalts them, yet their character remains feeble and timid. Most of the women in * Lockhart's Life of Sir W. Scott. VOL. I. · 194 THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. whom the possession of high faculties has awakened the desire of fame, are like Erminia in her warlike accoutrements. The warriors see the casque, the lance, the shining plume; they expect to meet force, they attack with violence, and with the first stroke reach the heart." Troubles and afflictions of various kinds had fallen on Lady Blessington, in quick succession, from the year 1843. The loss of fortune, and the loss of friends, trials of different kinds, pecuniary difficulties, and humiliations, had followed each other with little intermission of late years. In the latter part of 1845, the effects of the potato blight, and the famine in Ireland, made themselves felt in the magnificent salons in London and on the continent, in all the highest places of sojourn of the Irish aristocracy. The sumptuous apartments of Gore House were made intimately acquainted with them. By the robbery of plate, jewellery, and other valuables, that was committed in Lady Blessington's house, in Seamore Place, a loss of upwards of £1000 had been sustained. By the failure of Charles Heath, the engraver, she incurred a loss of £700. The difficulties of Count D'Orsay had contributed also not in a small degree to the derangement of her affairs; and those difficulties had commenced at a very early period of his career in London, while Lady Blessington was residing in Seamore Place, and the Count in a small house in Curzon Street, nearly opposite Lord Chesterfield's. The Count was arrested, soon after his arrival in England, for a debt of £300 to his boot-maker in Paris, Mr. M'Henry, and was only saved from imprisonment by the acceptance, on the part of his creditor, of bail on that occasion.* * I have been informed by Mr. M`Henry, that he had allowed that debt to remain unsettled for many years, and had consented to accept the security finally offered to him, on account of the very large THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. 195 In October, 1846, when difficulties were pressing heavily on Lady Blessington, she received a letter in the hand- writing of a lady, who signs herself M. A.), from which the following extract is taken :- “ Well may it be said, 'Sweet are the uses of adversity,' which like the toad, ugly and venomous, bears yet a precious jewel in its head!!-and its chief advantage is, that it enables us to judge our real friends from false ones. Rowland Hill, on one occasion (preaching to a large congregation on men's trust in the friendship of the world) observed, that his own acquaintances would probably fill the church ; and he was quite certain that his friends, at the most, would only fill the pulpit. Thus many may say, and those too who may have expended thousands in entertaining selfish and cold-hearted men, who would not render them a real service, if they wanted one, or give a sigh to their memory on hearing of their decease.” Poor Lady Blessington's mind was ill at ease when she set down the following observations in her common-place book :- “ Great trials demand great courage, and all our energy is called up to enable us to bear them. But it is the minor cares of life that wear out the body, because singly, and in detail, they do not appear sufficiently important to engage us to rally our force and spirits to support them...... Many minds that have withstood the most severe trials, have been broken drown by a succession of ignoble cares." r commo obligations he felt under to the Count; moreover it was acknowledged that the mere fact of its being known in Paris, that Count D'Orsay's boots were made by M Henry, had procured for him the custom of all the tip-top exquisites of Paris. Similar obligations existed in London, with similar relations between the debtors and the indebted; and similar results in London between the Count and his tradesmen, but some- times not of a nature so agreeable, frequently took place. 0 2 196 THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. How much bitter experience must it have required to say so much, in so few words? “When the sun shines on you, you see your friends. It requires sunshine to be seen by them to advantage. While it lasts, we are visible to them; when it is gone, and our horizon is overcast, they are in- visible to us.” And elsewhere, another “ Night Thought” is to a similar effect:- “Friends are the thermometers by which we may judge the temperature of our fortunes.” “ There is no knowledge for which so great a price is paid as a knowledge of the world ; and no one ever became an adept in it, except at the expense of a hardened or a wounded heart." “ M. B.” * . .- - - - Lady Blessington makes reference to " a friend of long standing, and deeply interested in her welfare," who had been consulted by her at the period of her most serious embar- rassments, and who had addressed the following letter to her Ladyship, without date or name, but probably written in 1848:- “ MY DEAREST FRIEND, “ You do not do me more than justice in the belief, that I most fully sympathize with all your troubles, and I shall be only too happy if my advice can in any way assist you. “ First. As to your jointure, nothing in law is so indis- putable,-as that a widow's jointure takes precedence of every other claim on an estate. The very first money the agent or steward receives from the property, should go to the discharge of this claim. No subsequent mortgages, annuities, encum- brances, law-suits, expenses of management, &c., can be per- mitted to interfere with the payment of jointure; and as, whaterer the distress of the tenants, or the embarrassments THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. 197 of the estate, it is clear that some rents must have come in half- yearly; so, on those rents you have an indisputable right; and, I think, on consulting your lawyer, he will put you in a way, either by a memorial to chancery, or otherwise, to secure in future the regular payment of this life-charge. Indeed, on property charged with a jointure, although the rents are not paid for months after the proper dates, the jointure must be paid on the regular days; and if not, the proprietor would bc- come liable to immediate litigation. I am here presuming that you but ask for the jointure, due quarterly or half-yearly, and not in advance, which, if the affairs are in chancery, it would be illegal to grant. " Secondly. With respect to the diamonds, would it be pos- sible or expedient, to select a certain portion (say half) which you least value on their own account; and if a jeweller him- self falls too short in his offer, to get him to sell them on com- mission? You must remember, that every year, by paying interest on them, you are losing money on them : so that in a few years you may thus lose more than by taking at once less than their true value. There are diamond merchants, who, I believe, give more for those articles than jewellers; and if you know Anthony Rothschild, and would not object to speak to him, he might help you. “ Thirdly. With respect to an illustrated work, I like your plan much; and I think any falling off is to be attributed to a relaxation in Heath himself—of proper attention to the in- terests of the illustrations. You have apparently some idea as to the plan and conception. I fancy that illustrations of our most popular writers might be a novelty. Illustrations from Shakespeare not the female characters only, but scenes from the Plays themselves-by good artists; and the letter-press bearing upon the subject, might make a very saleable and standard work. Again (and I think better), in this day, illus- trations from English scenery, ruins, and buildings, might be very popular; in fact, if you could create a national interest in the subject in the plates, your sale and profit would be both larger and more permanent on the first demand, and become a source of yearly income. 198 THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. .." You do perfectly right not to diminish your income by loans ; — will wait your time; and I am sure, that with proper legal advice, you can ensure the regular payments of your jointure in future. “ I think I have thus given you the best hints I can on the different points on which you have so kindly consulted me. I know well how, to those accustomed to punctual payments, and with a horror of debt, pecuniary embarrassments prey upon the mind. But I think they may be borne, not only with ease, but some degree of complacency, when connected with such generous devotion and affectionate services as those which must console you amidst all your cares. In emptying your purse you have at least filled your heart with consolations, which will long outlast what I trust will be but the troubles of a season." In April, 1849, the clamours and importunate demands of Lady Blessington's creditors harassed her, and made it evident that an inevitable crash was coming. She had given bills to her bankers, and her bond likewise, for various advances, in anticipation of her jointure, to an amount ap- proaching to £1500. Immediately after the sale, the bankers acknowledged having received from Mr. Phillips, the auc- tioneer, by her order, the sum of £1500, leaving a balance only, in their hands, to her credit, of £ll. She had the necessity of renewing bills frequently as they became due, and on the 24th of April, 1849, she had to renew a bill of hers, to a Mr. M---, for a very large amount, which would fall due on the 30th of the following month of May; four days only before “ the great debt of all debts” was to be paid by lier. In the spring of 1849, the long-menaced break-up of the establishment of Gore House took place. Numerous cre- ditors, bill discounters, money lenders, jewellers, lace venders, tax collectors, gas company agents, all persons having claims THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. 199 to urge, pressed them at this period simultaneously. An execution for a debt of £4000 was at length put in by a house largely engaged in the silk, lace, India shawls and fancy jewellery business. Some arrangements were made, a life insurance was effected, but it became necessary to determine on a sale of the whole of the effects for the interest of all the creditors.* Several of the friends of Lady Blessington urged on her pe- cuniary assistance, which would have prevented the necessity of breaking up the establishment. But she declined all offers of this kind. The fact was, that Lady Blessington was sick at heart, worn down with cares and anxieties, wearied out with difficulties and embarrassments daily augmenting, worried with incessant claims, and tired to death with demands she * For about two years previous to the break-up at Gore House Lady Blessington lived in the constant apprehension of executions being put in, and unceasing precautions in the admission of persons had to be taken both at the outer gate and hall-door entrance. For a con- siderable period too, Count D'Orsay had been in continual danger of arrest, and was obliged to confine himself to the house and grounds, except on Sundays, and in the dusk of the evening on other days. All those precautions were, however, at length baffled by the ingenuity of a sheriff's officer, who effected an entrance in a disguise, the ludi- crousness of which had some of the characteristics of farce, which con- trasted strangely and painfully with the denouement of a very serious drama. Lady Blessington was no sooner informed, by a confidential servant, of the fact of the entrance of a sheriff's officer, and an execution being laid on her property, than she immediately desired the mes- senger to proceed to the Count's room, and tell him that he must im- mediately prepare to leave England, as there would be no safety for him, once the fact was known of the execution having been levied. The Count was at first incredulous-bah ! after bah! followed each sen- tence of the account given him of the entrance of the sheriff's officer. At length, after seeing Lady Blessington, the necessity for his imme- diate departure became apparent. The following morning, with a single portmanteau, attended by his valet, he set out for Paris; and thus ended the London life of Count D'Orsay, 100 THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. 11 could not meet. For years previously, if the truth was known, she was sick at the heart's core, of the splendid misery of her position-of the false appearances of enjoyment in it—of the hollow smiles hy which it was surrounded—of the struggle for celebrity in that vortex of fashionable life and luxury in which she had been plunged, whirling round and round in a species of continuous delirious excitement, sensible of the madness of remaining in the glare and turmoil of such an existence, and yet unable to stir hand or foot to extricate her- self from its obvious dangers and distresses. The public sale of the precious articles of a boudoir, of the bijouterie and beautiful objects of art of the salons of a lady of fashion, awakens many reminiscences identified with the vicissitudes in the fortunes of the late owners, and the fate of those to whom these precious things had belonged. Lady Blessington, in her “Idler in France," alludes to the influence of such painful feelings, when she went the round of the curiosity shops on the Quai D'Orsay, and made a purchase of an amber vase of rare beauty, said to have belonged to the Empress Josephine. “When I see the beautiful objects collected together in these shops, I often think of their probable histories, and of those to whom they belonged. Each seems to identify itself with the former owner, and conjures up in my mind a little romance." " Vases of exquisite workmanship, chased gold etuis, enriched with oriental agate and brilliants that had once probably belonged to some grandes dames of the Court: pendules of gilded bronze, one with a motto in diamonds on the back- vous me faites oublier les heures'-a nuptial gift : a flagon of most delicate workmanship, and other articles of bijouterie bright and beautiful as when they left the hands of the jeweller ; the gages d'amour are scattered all around. But the givers and receivers, where are they? Mouldering in the grare, long years ago. seen THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. 201 “ Through how many hands may these objects have passed since death snatched away the persons for whom they were originally designed. And here they are, in the ignoble cus- tody of some avaricious vender, who having obtained them at the sale of some departed amateur for less than their first cost, now expects to extort more than double the value of them ... And so will it be when I am gone,' as Moore's beautiful song says; the rare and beautiful bijouteries which I have collected with such pains, and looked on with such plea- sure, will probably be scattered abroad, and find their resting- places not in gilded salons, but in the dingy coffers of the wily brocanteurs, whose exorbitant demands will preclude their finding purchasers."* The property of Lady Blessington offered for sale was thus eloquently described in the catalogue, composed by that eminent author of auctioneering advertisements, Mr. Phillips. “ Costly and elegant effects, comprising all the magnificent furniture, rare porcelain, sculpture in marble, bronzes, and an assemblage of objects of art and decoration, a casket of valuable jewellery and bijouterie, services of rich chased silver and silver-gilt plate, a superbly fitted silver dressing-case; col- lection of ancient and modern pictures, including many por. traits of distinguished persons ; valuable original drawings and fine engravings, framed and in the portfolio; the extensive and interesting library of books, comprising upwards of 5000 volumes; expensive table services of china and rich cut glass, and an infinity of valuable and useful effects; the property of the Right Hon. the Countess of Blessington, retiring to the Continent.” On the 10th of May, 1849, I visited Gore House for the last time. The auction was going on. There was a large assemblage of people of fashion. Every room was thronged; the well-known library saloon, in which the conversazioncs took place, was * The Idler in France, vol. ii. p. 53. UO Dom un 202 THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. TITO 12 crowded, but not with guests. The arm-chair in which the lady of the mansion was wont to sit, was occupied by a stout, coarse gentleman of the Jewish persuasion, busily engaged in examining a marble hand extended on a book--the fingers of which were modelled from a cast of those of the absent mistress of the establishment. People as they passed through the room poked the fur- niture, pulled about the precious objects of art, and ornaments of various kinds, that lay on the table. And some made jests and ribald jokes on the scene they witnessed. It was a relief to leave that room: I went into another, the dining-room, where I had frequently enjoyed, “in goodly com- pany,” the elegant hospitality of one who was indeed a “ most kind hostess." I saw an individual among the crowd of gazers there, who looked thoughtful, and even sad. I remembered his features. I had dined with the gentleman more than once in that room. He was a humourist, a facetious man-one of the editors of “ Punch ;” but he had a heart, with all his customary drol- lery and penchant for fun and raillery. I accosted him, and said, “We have met here under different circumstances.” Some observations were made by the gentleman, which shewed he felt how very different indeed they were. I took my leave of Mr. Albert Smith, thinking better of the class of facetious persons who are expected to amuse society on set occasions, as well as to make sport in print for the public at fixed periods, than ever I did before. In another apartment, where the pictures were being sold, portraits by Lawrence, sketches by Landseer and Maclise, innumerable likenesses of Lady Blessington, by various artists; several of the Count D'Orsay, representing him driving, riding out on horseback, sporting, and at work in his studio; his own collection of portraits of all the frequenters of note or mark in society of the Villa Belvidere, the Palazza Negrone, the Hotel Ney, Seamore Place, and Gore House, in quick suc- THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. 203 cession, were brought to the hammer. One whom I had known in most of those mansions, my old friend, Dr. Quin, I met in this apartment. This was the most signal ruin of an establishment of a person of high rank I ever witnessed. Nothing of value was saved from the wreck, with the exception of the portrait of Lady Blessington, by Chalon, and one or two other pictures. Here was a total smash, a crash on a grand scale of ruin, a compulsory sale in the house of a noble lady, a sweeping clearance of all its treasures. To the honour of Lady Bless- ington be it mentioned, she saved nothing, with the few exceptions I have referred to, from the wreck. She might have preserved her pictures, objects of virtù, bijouterie, &c. of considerable value; but she said all she possessed should go to her creditors. There have been very exaggerated accounts of the produce of the sale of the effects and furniture of Lady Blessington at Gore House. I am able to state, on authority, that the gross amount of the sale was £13,385, and the net sum realized was £11,985 4s. When it is considered that the furniture of this splendid mansion was of the most costly description, that the effects comprised a very valuable library consisting of several thou- sand volumes, bijouterie, ormolu candelabras and chandeliers, porcelain and china ornaments, vases of exquisite workman- ship, a number of pictures by first-rate modern artists, the amount produced by the sale will appear by no means large. The portrait of Lady Blessington, by Lawrence, which cost originally only £80, I saw sold for £336. It was pur- chased for the Marquis of Hertford. The portrait of Lord Blessington, by the same artist, was purchased by Mr. Fuller for £68 5s. The admirable portrait of the Duke of Wellington, by n 204 THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. Count D'Orsay, was purchased for £189, for the Marquis of Hertford. * Landseer's celebrated picture of a spaniel sold for £150 10s. Landseer's sketch of Miss Power was sold for £57 10s. Lawrence's pictures of Mrs. Inchbald were sold for £48 6s. The following letter from the French valet of Lady Bless- ington, giving an account of the sale at Gore House, contains some passages for those who make a study of human nature, of some interest: “Gore House, Kensington, May 8th, 1849. “ My Lady, « J'ai reçu votre lettre hier, et je me serais empressé d'y repondre le même jour, mais j'ai eté si occupé etant le premier de la vente qu'il m'a eté impossible de le faire. J'ai vu Mr. Per dans l'après midi. Il avait un commis ici pour prendre le prix des differents objets vendu le 7 Mai, et que vous avez sans doute recu maintenant, au dire des gens qui ont assisté a la vente. Les choses se sont vendus avantageusement, et je dois ajouter que Mr. Phillips n'a rien negligé pour rendre la vente interessante a toute la noblesse d'ici. “Lord Hertford a acheté plusieurs choses, et ce n'est que di- manche dernier fort tard dans l'après midi, qu'il est venu voir la maison, en un mot je pense sans exageration, que le nombre de personnes qui sont venus a la maison pendant les 5 jours quelle a eté en vue, que plus de 20,000 personnes y sont entrées * This picture was D'Orsay's chef-d'ouvre. The Duke, I was in- formed by the Count, spoke of this portrait as the one he would wish to be remembered by in future years. He used frequently, when it was in progress, to come of a morning, in full dress, to Gore House, to give the artist a sitting. If there was a crease or a fold in any part of the dress which he did not like, he would insist on its being altered. To use D'Orsay's words, the Duke was so hard to be pleased, it was most difficult to make a good portrait of him. When he con- sented to have any thing done for him, he would have it done in the best way possible. THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. 205 une tres grande quantité de Catalogues ont eté vendu, et nous en vendons encore tous les jours, car vous le savez, personnes n'est admis sans cela. Plusieurs des personnes qui frequentent la maison sout venus les deux premiers jours. “ Je vous parle de cela my Lady parceque j'ai su que Mr. Dick avait dit a un de ses amis dans le salon qu'il y avait dans la maison une quantité d'articles envoyé par Mr. Phillips, et com- me j'etais certain du contraire, je me suis addressé a Mr. Guthrie, qui etait en ce moment dans le salon, et qui lui meme s'en est plaint a Mr. Dick. Il a nié le fait, mais depuis j'ai acquit la certitude qu'il avait avancé ce que je viens de vous dire. Je n'ai pas hesité a parler tres haut dans le salon, persuadé que je désabuserait la foule qui s'y trouvait. “ Le Dr. Quin est venu plusieurs fois et a paru prendre le plus grande interet a ce qui se passait ici. M. Thackeray est venu aussi, et avait les larmes aux yeux en partant. C'est peut etre la seule personne que jai vu réellement affectè en votre départ. “ J'ai l'honneur d'etre, My Lady, « Votre très humble serviteur, “ F. AVILLON.” One of Lady Blessington's most intimate friends, in a note to her Ladyship, dated May 19, 1849, (after the break-up at Gore House, and departure from London), writes, “I have not been without an instinct or an impression for some time, that you were disturbed by those pre-occupying anxieties which make the presence of casual visitors irksome. .., “But now that the change is once made, may it yield you all that I hope it will. I trust now, that what there is of pain, will remain for those who lose you. You cannot but be en- livened by those new objects and scenes of your new place of abode, turbulent as it is. When that charm is done, you will come back to us again. Meanwhile what a time to be looking forward to! One becomes absolutely sick, wondering what is to be the end of it all. I could fill books with tales which one 206 THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. . new courier after another brings of dismay and misery, and of breaking-up abroad.” On the same sad subject came two letters, worthy of the From Mrs. T- « Chesham Place, Friday, April, 1849. DEAREST - ... SU “ Is it true that you are going to Paris? If so, I hope I shall see you before you go, for it would grieve me very much not to bid you good-bye by word of mouth, for who can tell when we may meet again! Dearest — I hardly like to say it, because you may think it intrusive, but M- told me some time ago that you were in difficulties, owing to the Irish estates not paying, and told me to-day, that a rumour had reached her to this effect. If it be true, I need not say how it grieves me. You have so often come forward in our poor dearest mother's difficulties, so often befriended her, and us through her, that it goes to my heart to think you are harassed as she was, and that I am so poor that I cannot act the same generous part you did by her. But, dearest , I am at this moment in communication with Mr. P- through another lawyer, on the subject of the money left me by my mother, * * * Dearest — , do not be offended with me, but in case I re- ceive my money (£1600) down, do make use of me. Remember I am your own--, and believe me, I am not ungrateful, but love you dearly, and cannot bear to think of your being in trouble. I am offering what, alas ! Mr. P. may create a difficulty about, but I trust he will not, and that you will not be angry or mistrust me, and consider me intrusive. Probably there is no truth in the rumour. If so, forget that I have ever seemed in- trusive, and only rest assured of my affection. May God bless you, my dearest -- " Ever your most affectionate -- " MARGUERITE THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. 207 From Mrs. T- “ April 28, 1849. “I was very glad to receive your affectionate note, my dearest - , and to know you are not offended with mine to you. I wrote to you from my heart, and one is seldom misin- terpreted at those times. Whilst I live, dearest , I shall have a heart to care for you, and feel a warm interest in your happiness; you must never let any thing create a doubt of this. Will you promise me this ? “ I doubt not you will be happier in Paris. It saddens me, however, to feel that, perhaps, we shall never meet again ; and I am very, very sorry not to have seen you, and bade you at least good-bye. - I cannot say how much I have thought of you, and felt for you, dearest , breaking up your old house. I know how poor dearest mamma felt it, when such was her lot; and you resemble each other in so many things. Every one says you have acted most admirably, in not any longer continuing to run the chance of not receiving your annuity duly, but selling off, so as to pay all you owe, and injure no one. I think there is some little comfort in feeling that good acts are appreciated, so I tell you this. I am half ashamed of my little paltry offer. Dearest ---, I am so glad you were not affronted with me, for I know you would have done the same over and over again for me; but then you always confer, and never accept; and I have much to thank you for, as well as my sisters, for you have been a most unselfish friend to each and all of us. “ I should so like to know what is become of poor old Comte S-- I wrote to him at the beginning of the year, but have never had an answer. If you meet him, do be kind to him, poor old man, in spite of his deafness and blindness, which make him neglected by others, for he is a very old friend of ours, and I feel an interest in the poor old man, knowing so many good and kind acts of his. “ Ever, dearest, “ Yours most affectionately, " MARGUERITE." 203 THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. Lady Blessington and the two Miss Powers left Gore House on the 14th of April, 1849, for Paris. Count D'Orsay had set out for Paris a fortnight previously. For nineteen years Lady Blessington had maintained a position almost queenlike in the world of intellectual distinc- tion, in fashionable literary society, reigning over the best circles of London celebrities; and reckoning among her ad- miring friends, and the frequenters of her salons, the most eminent men in England, in every walk of literature, art, and science, in statesmanship, in the military profession, and every learned pursuit. For nineteen years she had maintained es- tablishments in London seldom surpassed, and still more rarely equalled, in all the appliances to a state of society, brilliant in the highest degree, but, alas ! it must be acknow- ledged at the same time, a state of splendid misery, for a great portion of that time, to the mistress of those elegant and luxurious establishments. And now, at the expiration of those nineteen years, we find her forced to abandon that position, to relinquish all those elegancies and luxuries by which she had been so long sur- rounded, to leave her magnificent abode, and all the cherished works of art and precious objects in it, to become the property of strangers, and, in fact, to make a departure from the scene of all her former triumphs, which it is in vain to deny, was a flight effected with privacy, most painful and humiliating to this poor lady to be compelled to have recourse to. Lady Blessington began her literary career in London, in 1822, with a small work, in one vol. 8vo., entitled, “ Sketches of Scenes in the Metropolis.” It commences with the account of the ruin of a large establishment in one of the fashionable squares of the metropolis, and of an auction in the house of the late proprietor, a person of quality, the sale of all the magnificent furniture and effects, costly ornaments, precious objects of art, and valuable pictures. THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. 209 And strange to say, as if there was in the mind of the writer a sort of prevision of events of a similar nature occur- ring in her own home at some future period, she informs us the name of the ruined proprietor of the elegant mansion in the fashionable square, the effects of which were under sale, was B. The authoress says, sauntering through the gilded salons crowded with fashionables, brokers, and dealers in bijouterie, exquisites of insipid countenances and starched neckcloths, elderly ladies of sour aspects, and simpering dam- sels, all at intervals in the sale, occupied with comments, jocose, censorious, sagacious, or bitterly sarcastic, on the misfortunes and extravagance of the poor B.'s; she heard on every side flippant and unfeeling observations of this kind : “ Poor Mrs. B. will give no more balls;" “ I always thought how it would end ;” “The B.'s gave devilish good dinners though ;" “Capital feeds indeed ;” “You could rely on a perfect suprême de volaille” (at their table); “ Where could you get such cotellettes des pigeons à la champagne ?” “Have you any idea of what has become of B.?” “ In the Bench, or gone to France, but (yawning) I really forget all about it;" “I will buy his Vandyke picture;” “It is a pity that people who give such good dinners should be ruined ;” “A short cam- paign and a brisk one for me;" “ Believe me there is nothing like a fresh start: and no man, at least no dinner-giving man, should last more than two seasons, unless he would change his cook every month, to prevent repetition of the same dishes, and keep a regular roaster of his invitations, with a mark to each name, to prevent people meeting twice at his house the same season.” The elderly ladies were all haranguing on “The follies, errors, and extravagancies of Mrs. B.” “Mr. B., though foolish and extravagant in some things, had consider- able taste and judgment in some others; for instance, his books were excellent, well chosen, and well bought;" “His busts, too, are very fine;” “Give me B.'s pictures, for they VOL. I. IN VIL 210 THE BREAK-UP AT GORE HOUSE. are exquisite;" “ That group, su exquisitely coloured and so true to nature, could only be produced by the inimitable pencil of a Lawrence.” "And this is an auction!” says the authoress at the end of the first sketch in her first work. “A scene," she continues, “that has been so often the resort of the young, the grave, and the gay, is now one where those who have partaken of the hospitality of the once opulent owner of the mansion, now come to witness his downfall, regardless of his misfortune, or else to exult in their own contrasted prosperity.” * This sketch would indeed have answered for the auction scene at Gore House in 1849, seven-and-twenty years after it had been penned by Lady Blessington. Her Ladyship thus commenced her literary career in 1822, with a description of the ruin of an extravagant person of quality in one of our fashionable squares in London, with an account of the break-up of his establishment, and the auction of his effects; and a similar career terminates in the utter smash and the sale at Gore House in 1849. There are many stranger things 'twixt heaven and earth than are dreamt of in the philosophy of our Horatios of fashionable - society. * The "Magic Lantern,” &c. pp. 1, 2, 3. London, Longman, 1822. CHAPTER IX. ARRIVAL OF LADY BLESSINGTON IN PARIS, THE MIDDLE OF APRIL, 1849—HER LAST ILLNESS, AND DEATH, ON THE 4TH OF JUNE FOLLOWING-NOTICE OF HER DECEASE. ER LAS ILLI N N THE LADY BLESSINGTON and her nieces arrived in Paris in the middle of April, 1849. She had a suite of rooms taken for her in the Hotel de la Ville d'Eveque, and there she remained till the 3rd of June. The jointure of £2000 a-year was now the sole dependence of her Ladyship, and the small residue of the produce of the sale of her effects at Gore House, after paying the many large claims of her creditors and those of Count D’Orsay. . Soon after her arrival in Paris, she took a moderate-sized but handsome appartement in the Rue du Cirque, close to the Champs Elysées, which she commenced furnishing with much taste and elegance; her preparations were at length completed—but they were destined to be in vain. In the brief interval between her arrival in Paris and her taking pos- session of her new apartment on the 3rd of June, she received the visits of many of her former acquaintances, and seemed in better spirits than she had been for a long time previously to her departure from London. The kindness she met with in some quarters, and especially at the hands of several members of the Grammont family, was at once agreeable and encouraging. But the coolness of the accueil of other persons who had been deeply in- P 2 212 ARRIVAL OF LADY BLESSINGTON IN PARIS. 71 debted to her hospitality in former times, was somewhat more chilling than she had expected to find, and the warm feelings of her generous heart and noble nature revolted at it. Prince Louis Napoleon, on Lady Blessington's arrival in Paris, requested her to come to the palace of the Elysée, where he then resided; she went, accompanied by Count D'Orsay and the two Miss Powers. He subsequently invited them to dinner. He had been one of the most constant and intimate guests at Gore House, both before and after his imprisonment at Ham. He used to dine there whenever there were any distinguished persons, whether English or foreign. He was on the most familiar and intimate terms with Lady Blessington and her circle, joining them in parties to Greenwich, Richmond, &c.; all his friends, as well as himself, were made welcome, and on his escape from Ham, he came to Gore House straight on his arrival in London, giving Lady Blessington the first intimation of his escape. On that occasion, at Count D'Orsay's advice, he wrote at once to Monsieur St. Aulaire, then ambassador in London, stating that he had no intention of creating any ferment or disturbance, but meant to reside quietly as a private individual in London. Lady Blessington proffered some pecuniary as- sistance to the Prince, and both Lady Blessington and Count D'Orsay manifested their earnest desire and willingness to aid him in any way they could be made serviceable to him. While he needed their services, and influence, and hospitality, the Prince expressed himself always most grateful for their kindness. But with the need—the sense of the obligations ceased. There is no doubt on the minds of some of the friends even, of Prince Louis Napoleon, but that the active and unceasing exertions and influence of Count D'Orsay and his friends and connections in Paris, went far to aid his election as President. D'Orsay rallied to his party Emile de Girardin, ARRIVAL OF LADY BLESSINGTON IN PARIS. 213 1 one of the ablest and boldest jcurnalists of the day, but who subsequently for a time became a formidable opponent. The chief cause of his ingratitude to Count D'Orsay was believed to have been his apprehension of being supposed to be advised or influenced by any one who had been formerly intimate with him ; a fear which has induced him to surround his person with men of mean intellect and of servile dispositions, pliant, indigent, and unscrupulous followers, of no station in society, or character for independence or integrity of principle. Lady Blessington began to form plans for a new literary career-she engaged her thoughts in projecting future works, in making new arrangements for the reception of the beau- monde. She employed a great deal of her time daily, in superintending the furnishing of her new apartment; in the way of embellishments or luxuries, or comforts, some new wants had to be supplied every day. The old story of un- satisfied desires ever seeking fulfilment and never contented with the fruition of present enjoyments, applies to every phase in life, even the most chequered : “ Like our shadows, Our wishes lengthen, as our sun declines." The sun of Lady Blessington's life was now declining fast; and even when it had reached the verge of the horizon, its going down was unnoticed by those around her, and the suddenness of its disappearance occasioned no little surprize, and gave rise to many vague surmises and idle rumours. There were some striking coincidences in the circumstances attending the deaths of Lord and Lady Blessington. In May, 1829, Lord Blessington returned to Paris from England, purposing to fix his abode there for some months at least; and on the 23rd of the same month, a few weeks after his arrival, without previous warning or indisposition, " appearing to be in good health,” he was suddenly attacked ces 214 LAST ILLNESS AND DEATII. by apoplexy, while riding on the Champs Elysée, and died the same day, in a state of insensibility. Twenty years from that date, Lady Blessington arrived in Paris, from London, purposing to fix her abode there; and, on the 4th of June, having made all suitable preparations for a long residence in Paris, and after a sojourn there of about five weeks, without previous warning or indisposition, she was suddenly attacked by an apoplectic malady, complicated with disease of the heart, and was carried off by that seizure, at her abode adjoining the Champs Elysée, being quite uncon- scious, during the brief period of the struggle, of the fatal issue that was about to take place. A few weeks before that event, a British peeress, whom I have had the pleasure of meeting at Gore House in former days, wrote to Lady Blessington at Paris, reminding her of a promise, that had been extorted from her, and entreating of her to remember her religious duties, and to attend to them. Poor Lady Blessington always received any communication made to her on this subject with respect, and even with a feeling of gratitude for the advice given by her. She acted on it solely on one or two occasions, in Paris, when she accompanied the Duchess de Grammont to the church of the Madeleine on the Sabbath. But no serious idea of abandoning the mode of life she led had been entertained by her. Yet she had a great fear of death, and sometimes spoke of a vague determination, whenever she should be released from the chief cares of her career-the toils and anxieties of authorship, the turmoil of her life in salons and intellectual circles--that she would turn to religion, and make amends for her long neglect of its duties, by an old age of retirement from society, and the withdrawal of her thoughts and affections from the vanities of the world. But the pro- posed time for that change was a future which was not to come; and the present time was ever to her a period in ST 2 1 LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 215 which all thoughts of death were to be precluded, and every amusing and exciting topic was to be entertained which was capable of absorbing attention for the passing hour. An extract of a letter from Miss Power, to the author, on the death of Lady Blessington, will give a very accurate and detailed account of her last illness and death :- “Rue de la Ville, l'Eveque, No. 38. “February 18, 1850. “On arriving in Paris, my aunt adopted a mode of life differing considerably from the sedentary one she had for such a length of time pursued; she rose earlier, took much exercise, and, in consequence, lived somewhat higher than was her wont, for she was habitually a remarkably small eater; this appeared to agree with her general health, for she looked well, and was cheerful; but she began to suffer occasionally (espe- cially in the morning) from oppression and difficulty of breath- ing. These symptoms, slight at first, she carefully concealed from our knowledge, having always a great objection to medical treatment; but as they increased in force and fre- quency, she was obliged to reveal them, and medical aid was immediately called in. Dr. Léon Simon pronounced there was ' energie du cæur,' but that the symptoins in question pro- ceeded probably from bronchitis-a disease then very prevalent in Paris—that they were nervous, and entailed no danger, and as, after the remedies he prescribed, the attacks diminished perceptibly in violence, and that her general health seemed little affected by them, he entertained no serious alarm. “On the 3rd of June, she removed from the hotel we had occupied during the seven weeks we had passed in Paris, and entered the residence which my poor aunt had devoted so much pains and attention to the selecting and furnishing of, and that same day dined en fanille with the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche (Count D'Orsay's nephew). On that occasion, my aunt seemed particularly well in health and spirits, and it being a lovely night, and our residences lying contiguous, we walked home by moonlight. As usual, I aided my aunt to undress, 216 LAST ILLNESS Y AND DEATH. -she never allowed her maid to sit up for her--and left her a little after midnight. She passed, it seems, some most restless hours (she was habitually a bad sleeper), and early in the morning, feeling the commencement of one of the attacks, she called for assistance, and Dr. Simon was immediately sent for, the symptoms manifesting themselves with considerable violence, and in the mean time, the remedies he had ordered --sitting upright, rubbing the chest and upper stomach with ether, ad- ministering ether internally, &c.—were all resorted to without effect; the difficulty of breathing became so excessive, that the whole of the chest heaved upwards at each inspiration, which was inhaled with a loud whooping noise, the faee was swollen and purple, the eyeballs distended, and utterance almost wholly denied, while the extremities gradually became cold and livid, in spite of every attempt to restore the vital heat. By degrees, the violence of the symptoms abated; she uttered a few words; the first, · The violence is over, I can breathe freer;' and soon after, 'Qu'elle heure est il ?' Thus encouraged, we deemed the danger past; but, alas ! how bitterly were we deceived; she gradually sunk from that moment, and when Dr. Simon who had been delayed by another patient, arrived, he saw that hope was gone; and, indeed, she expired so easily, so tranquilly, that it was impossible to perceive the moment when her spirit passed away. “ The day but one following, the autopsy took place, when it was discovered that enlargement of the heart to nearly double the natural size, which enlargement must have been progressing for a period of at least twenty-five years, was the cause of dissolution, though incipient disease of the stomach and liver had complicated the symptoms. The body was then embalmed by Dr. Ganal, and deposited in the vaults of the Madeleine, while the monument was being constructed a task to which Count D’Orsay devoted the whole of his time and attention. He bids me to say that he is about to have a daguerreotype taken of the place, a drawing of which we shall have forwarded to you. “ The mausoleum is a pyramid of granite, standing on a square platform, on a level with the surrounding ground, but divided MONUMENT TO HER MEMORY. 217 from it by a deep fosse, whose sloping sides are covered with green turf and Irish ivy-transplanted from the garden of the house where she was born. It stands on a hill-side, just above the village cemetery, and overlooks a view of exquisite beauty and immense extent, taking in the Seine winding through the fertile valley, and the forest of St. Germain; plains, villages, and far distant hills; and at the back and side it is sheltered by chestnut-trees of large size and great age ;-a more picturesque spot it is difficult to imagine. “M. A. Power.” From Mrs. Romer's account of this monument, the follow- ing passages are taken :- “Solid, simple, and severe, it combines every requisite in harmony with its solemn destination; no meretricious orna- ments, no false sentiment, mar the purity of its design. The genius which devised it has succeeded in cheating the tomb of its horrors, without depriving it of its imposing gravity. The simple portal is surmounted by a plain massive cross of stone, and a door, secured by an open-work of bronze, leads into a sepulchral chamber, the key of which has been confided to me. All within breathes the holy calm of eternal repose ; no gloom, no mouldering damp, nothing to recall the dreadful images of decay. An atmosphere of peace appears to pervade the place, and I could almost fancy that a voice from the tomb whispered, in the words of Dante's Beatrice :- « Io sono in pace! “ The light of the sun, streaming through a glazed aper- ture above the door, fell like a ray of heavenly hope upon the symbol of man's redemption--a beautiful copy, in bronze, of Michael Angelo's crucified Saviour—which is affixed to the wall facing the entrance. A simple stone sarcophagus is placed on either side of the chamber, each one surmounted by two white marble tablets, encrusted in the sloping walls." 218 NOTICE OF HER DECEASE. The monument was visited by me a few weeks before the death of Count D'Orsay. It stands on a platform, or mound, carefully trenched, adjoining the church-yard, and approached from it. The sepulchral chamber is on a level with the platform from which you enter. Within are two stone sar- cophagi (side by side), and in one of these is deposited the coffin, containing the remains of Lady Blessington, covered with a large block of granite. On the wall above (on the left-hand side of the vault), are the two inscriptions; one by Barry Corn- wall, the other—that which has led to a correspondence. The first inscription, above referred to, is in the following terms: “ IN MEMORY OF MARGUERITE, COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON, WHO DIED ON THE 4TH OF JUNE, 1849. In her lifetime She was loved and admired, For her many graceful writings, Her gentle manners, her kind and generous heart. Men, famous for art and science, In distant lands, Sought her friendship: And the historians and scholars, the poets, and wits, and painters, Of her own country, Found an unfailing welcome In her ever hospitable home. She gave, cheerfully, to all who were in need, Help, and sympathy, and useful counsel; And she died Lamented by her friends. They who loved her best in life, and now lament her most, Have raised this tributary marble Over the place of her rest.” BARRY CORNWALL. Tamant INSCRIPTIONS TO HER MEMORY. 219 The other inscription, altered from one written by Walter Savage Landor, is as follows:- “Hic est depositum Quod superest mulieris Quondam pulcherrimæ Benefacta celare potuit Ingenium suum non potuit Perigrinos quoslibet Gratâ hospitalitate convocabut Lutetiæ Parisiorum Ad meliorum vitam abiit Die iv mensis Junii MDCCCXLIX.” The original inscription, by W. S. Landor, is certainly, in all respects but one, preferable to the substituted : and that one is the absence of all reference to a future state :- “ Infra sepvltvm est id omne qvod sepeliri potest mvlieris qvondam pvlcherrimæ. Ingenivm svym symmo stvdio colvit, aliorvm pari adjvvit. Benefacta sva celare novit ; ingenivm non ita. Erga omnis erat largâ bonitate peregrinis eleganter hospitalis. Venit Lutetiam Parisiorym Aprili mense : qvarto Jvnii dic svpremym syvm obiit." 1 The following English version of the above inscription has been given by Mr. Landor :- . TO THE MEMORY OF MARGUERITE, COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON. “ Underneath is buried all that could be buried of a woman once most beautiful. She cultivated her genius with the greatest zeal, and fostered it in others with equal as- siduity. The benefits she conferred she could conceal,--her INSCRIPTIONS TO HER MEMORY. talents not. Elegant in her hospitality to strangers, charitable to all, she retired to Paris in April, and there she breathed . There is an epitaph on the tomb of a daughter-in-law of Dryden, who died in 1712, and was buried in Kiel church, in Staffordshire—(see “Monumenta Anglicana," p. 154)- where some expressions occur, somewhat similar to those which Mr. Landor has taken exception to, in the substituted inscription. It runs thus :- “ Hæc quo erat, forma et genere illustrior, eo se humiliorem præbuit maritum honorando familiam præcipue Liberos fovendo pauperes sublevando, peregrinos omnes decorè proximosque et vecinos humaniter excipiendo, ut neminem reperisses decidentum: non prius devinctum, mira hujus et honesta morum suavitate." The age of Lady Blessington has been a subject of some controversy. She was born, we are informed by her niece (on the authority, I have reason to believe, of her aunt), the * On the subject of this inscription, Mr. Landor addressed a long letter to the “ Athenæum," complaining of the alterations which had been made in the Latin lines he had written, from which I will only extract the concluding paragraphs. " It may be thought superfluous to remark, that epitaphs have certain qualities in common; for instance, all are encomiastic. The main difference and the main difficulty lie in the expression, since nearly all people are placed on the same level in the epitaph as in the grave. Hence, out of eleven or twelve thousand Latin ones, ancient and modern, I find scarcely threescore in which there is originality or elegance. Pure latinity is not uncommon, and is perhaps as little uncommon in the modern as in the ancient, where certain forms ex- clude it, to make room for what appeared more venerable. Nothing is now left to be done but to bring forward in due order and just pro- portions the better peculiarities of character composing the features of the dead, and modulating the tones of grief. • WALTER SAVAGE LANDUR." HER AGE. 221 1 1st of September, 1790. She died the 4th of June, 1849 ; hence it would appear her age was fifty-eight years and nine months. From inquiries that were made by me in Clonmel, and examination of the marriage registry, it was ascertained that Lady Blessington had been married the 7th of March, 1804. She must then have been about fifteen years of age; but, according to the former account, she would have been only fourteen years of age the 1st of September, 1804.* Lady Blessington stated to me that when she was married in 1804, she was then under fifteen years of age. Had she been born on the 1st of September, 1789, she would not have been fifteen years of age till the 1st of September, 1804. The probability then, is, that she was born in 1789, and not in 1790; and was therefore sixty years of age, less by two months, when she died. Ellen, Lady Canterbury (her younger sister), in the account of her death, in “the Annual Register," is stated to have died in her fifty-fourth year, the 16th of November, 1845. From this, it would appear that she was born in the latter part of 1791. Mary Ann, Countess St. Marsault, the youngest of all the children of Edmond Power, I am informed was fifteen years younger than Lady Blessington. If this be the case, and Lady Blessington was born in 1789, the Countess of St. Marsault must have been born in 1804, and would be now fifty-one years of age. But if I might hazard an opinion on so delicate a subject * A person intimately acquainted with Lady Blessington's family is the editor of a Clonmel paper, in which the following paragraph appeared :- “A Dublin solicitor has just been in Clonmel, for the purpose of exactly ascertaining the age of the late Countess of Blessington, in reference to an insurance claim. She was not so old at her death as the newspapers said, having been married in 1804, at the early age of fifteen years, so that she was only sixty years old at her decease.” was 222 COUNT D'ORSAY'S GRIEF. e answ as a lady's age, I would venture to set down the date of that event as 1801, and not 1804. In a letter from Miss Power, dated 12th of July, 1849, then residing at Chambourcy Près de St. Germain-en-Laye (the seat of the Duchess de Grammont, the sister of Count D'Orsay), the loss of Lady Blessington is thus referred to:- “ Count D'Orsay would himself have answered your letter, but had not the nerve or the heart to do so; although the subject occupies his mind night and day, he cannot speak of it but to those who have been his fellow-sufferers; it is like an image ever floating before his eyes, which he has got, as it were, used to look upon, but which he cannot yet bear to grasp and feel that it is real : much that she was to us, we cannot but feel that to him she was all; the centre of his existence, round which his recollections, thoughts, hopes, and plans turned ; and just at the moment she was about to commence a new mode of life, one that promised a rest from the occupation and anxieties that had for some years fallen to her share, death deprived us of her.” On D'Orsay's first visit to the tomb where the remains of Lady Blessington had been deposited, his anguish is said to have been most poignant and heart-rending. He seemed almost frenzied at times, bewildered and stupified; and when awakened to a full consciousness of the great cala- mity that had taken place, he would lament the loss he. had sustained as if it occurred only the day before. His state of mind might be described in the words of an Arabic poem : “ Torn from lov'd friends, in Death's cold caverns laid, I sought their haunts with shrieks that pierced the air ;- • Where are they hid ? oh! where ?' I wildly said ; And Fate, with sullen echo, mocked—'Oh where?" "* * Translation from an Arabic poet, by the late Sir William Jones. NOTICE OF HER DEATH. 223 La A notice of the death of Lady Blessington appeared in " the Athenæum," of June 9th, 1849, written by one who appears to have known her well, and to have appreciated fully her many excellent qualities :- “Only a fortnight since, the journals of London were laying open to public gaze the relics of a house which for some dozen years past has been an object of curiosity, and a centre of pleasurable recollection to many persons distinguished in lite- rature and art, abroad and at home. “The Countess of Blessington, it appears, lived just long enough to see her gates closed and her treasures dispersed; for on Tuesday arrived from Paris, tidings, that within a few hours after establishing herself in her new mansion there, she died suddenly of apoplexy, on Monday last. “ Few departures have been attended by more regrets than will be that of this brilliant and beautiful woman, in the circle to which her influences have been restricted. It is unneces- sary to sum up the writings published by Lady Blessington within the last eighteen years, commencing by her ' Conver- sations with Lord Byron, including her lively and natural French and Italian journals, half a score of novels, the most powerful among which is “The Victims of Society,' detached thoughts, and fugitive verses,-since these are too recent to call for enumeration. “As all who knew the writer will bear us out in saying, they faintly represent her gifts and graces-her command over anecdote, her vivacity of fancy, her cordiality of manner, and her kindness of heart. They were hastily and slightly thrown off by one with whom authorship was a pursuit assumed rather than instinctive in the intervals snatched from a life of unselfish good offices and lively social intercourse. “From each one of the vast variety of men of all classes, all creeds, all manner of acquirements, and all colour of political opinions whom Lady Blessington delighted to draw 221 NOTICE OF HER DEATH. around her, she had skill to gather the characteristic trait, the favourite object of interest, with a fineness of appreciation, to be exceeded only by the retentiveness of her memory. “ Thus until a long series of family bereavements, and the pressure of uncertain health had somewhat dimmed the gaiety of her spirits, her conversation had a variety of reminiscence, a felicity of apropos, and a fascination of which her writings offer faint traces. In one respect, moreover, her talk did not resemble the talk of other beaux esprits. With the eager- ness of a child she could amuse and persuade herself as en- tirely as she amused and persuaded others. Among all the brilliant women we have known, she was one of the most earnest-earnest in defence of the absent, in protection of the unpopular, in advocacy of the unknown : and many are those who can tell how generously and actively Lady Blessington availed herself of her widely extended connections throughout the world to further their success, or to promote their pleasures. In her own family she was warmly beloved as an indefatigable friend, and eagerly resorted to as an unwearied counsellor. How largely she was trusted by some of the most distinguished men of the time, her extensive and varied correspondence will show, should it ever be given to the world. Into the causes which limited her gifts and graces within a narrower sphere than they might have otherwise commanded, we have no commission to enter."* * The Athenæum, June 9th, 1849. 225 CHAPTER X. NOTICE OF THE CAREER, LITERARY TASTES, AND TALENTS OF LADY BLESSINGTON. With respect to the influence exercised in society over persons of exalted intellect, by fascinating manners, personal attrac- tions, liveliness of fancy, quickness of apprehension, closeness of observation, and smartness of repartee, among the literary ladies of England, of the present or past century, it would be difficult to find one, with whom Lady Blessington can be fitly compared. The power of pleasing, of engaging attention, of winning not only admiration, but regard and friendship, which the latter lady possessed, and long and successfully exerted over men of genius and talents of the highest order, and of every profession and pursuit, has been seldom surpassed in any country. It would not be difficult to point out ladies of celebrity as bas bleus of far superior abilities as authoresses, of imagina. tions with richer stores of wit and poetry, of more erudition, and better cultivated talents. But we shall find none, who, for an equal length of time, maintained an influence of fasci- nation in literary and fashionable society, over the highest in- tellects, and exercised dominion over the feelings, as well as over the faculties of those who frequented her abode. Grimm, in his “ Mémoires Littéraires et Anecdotaires,” makes mention of a Madame Geoffrin, the friend of D'Alem- bert, Marmontel, Condorcet, Morellet, and many other illus- VOL. I. 226 LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. trious littéraires, whose character and mental qualities, agré- ments, esprit, finesse de l'art, bonté de cour, et habitudes de bienfaisance, would appear, from his account of them, very remarkably en rapport with the qualities of mind and natural dispositions of Lady Blessington. Those of Lady Mary Wortley, Lady Craven, Lady Holland, and Lady Morgan, present no such traits of resemblance, fitly to be compared with the peculiar graces, attractions, and kindly feelings of Lady Blessington. D'Alembert has consecrated some lines of homage to his friend and benefactress, in a letter published in the “Mémoires Littéraires et Historiques." We learn from it that Madame Geoffrin's salons were open nightly to the artists, literati, mi- nisters of state, grandees, and courtiers. Authors were not assured of the success of their new works, till they had been to Madame Geoffrin's soirées, and a smile and an encouraging expression of the sovereign of the salons set their hearts at ease on the subject of their productions. Helvetius, when he published his book “De l'Esprit,” felt no confidence in its reception by the public till he had con- sulted Madame : ce thermomètre de l'opinion. “Madame Geoffrin n'avoit guerre des ennemis que parmi les femmes.” She had all the tastes, we are told, of a sensi- tive gentle creature, of a noble and a loving nature. “La passion de donner qui fut le besoin de sa vie, etoit née avec elle et la tourmenta pour ainsi dire de ses premières années." She had aptly taken for her device, the words “Donner et pardonner.” There was nothing brilliant in her talents, but she was an excellent sayer of good things in short sentences. She gave dinners, and there was a great éclat in her entertainments- “ Mais il faut autres choses que des diners pour occuper dans le monde la place que cette femme estimable s'y etait faite.” Monsieur Malesherbes was happily characterised by her LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. 227 me “ l'hoinme du monde le plus simplement simple." She said, among the weaknesses of people, their vanity must be en- dured, and their talk even when there was nothing in it. “I accommodate myself,” she said, “tolerably well to eternal talkers, provided they are chatterers and that only, who have no idea of any thing but talking, and do not expect to be re- plied to. My friend, Fontenelle, who bears with them as I do, says they give his lungs repose. I derive another advan- tage from them ; their insignificant gabble is to me like the tolling of bells, which does not hinder one from thinking, but often rather invites thought.” When her friends spoke of the enmity to her of some persons, and made some allusion to her many generous acts, she turned to D'Alembert, and said, “ When you find people have feelings of hatred to me, take good care not to say anything to them of the little good you know of me. They will hate me for it all the more. It will be a torment to them, and I have no wish to pain them.” When this amiable and lovely woman died, D'Alembert uttered words very similar to those which D’Orsay addressed to me on the first occasion of my meeting him after the recent loss of that friend, who had so many qualities of a kindred nature to those of Madame Geoffrin. “Her friendship,” said D'Alembert, “ was my consolation in all troubles. The treasure which was so necessary and precious to me has been taken away, and in the midst of people in society, and the filling up of the void of life in its circles, I can speak to none who will understand me. I spent my evenings with the dear friend I have lost, and my mornings also. I no longer have that friend, for me there is no longer evening or morning."* It has been truly said of Lady Blessington's uniform kind- ness and generosity, in all circumstances :- “In the midst of her triumphs, the goodness of her heart, * Mémoires Lit. et Anecdotes, vol. ii. p. 64. Q 2 228 LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. and the fine qualities that had ever distinguished her, re- mained wholly unimpaired. Generous to lavishness, charitable, compassionate, delicately considerate of the feelings of others; sincere, forgiving, devoted to those she loved, and with a warmth of heart rarely equalled, her change of fortune was immediately felt by every member of her family. The parents whose cruel obstinacy had involved her in so much misery, but whose ruined circumstances now placed them in need of her aid, were comfortably supported by her up to the period of their deaths. Her brothers and sisters (the youngest of whom, Marianne, she adopted and educated), and even the more dis- tant of her relatives, all profited by her benefits, assistance, and interest.” A lady of very distinguished literary talents, and highly esteemed by Lady Blessington, well acquainted too with many of her benevolent acts, Mrs. A. M. Hall, thus wrote of her recently, in answer to some inquiries of the Editor. “Firfield, Addlestone, Surrey, June 7, 1854. “I never had occasion to appeal to Lady Blessington for aid for any kind or charitable purpose, that she did not at once, with a grace peculiarly her own, come forward cheerfully, and 'help' to the extent of her power. “I remember one particular instance of a poor man, who desired a particular situation, which I thought Lady Blessington could obtain. All the circumstances I have forgotten, but the chief point was, that he entreated employment, and had some right to it, in one department. Lady Blessington made the re- quest I entreated, and was refused; her Ladyship sent me the refusal to read, and, of course, I gave up all idea of the matter, and only felt sorry that I had troubled her; but she remem- bered it, and, in a month, accomplished the poor man's object; her letter was indeed a sun-beam in his poor home, and he in time became prosperous and happy.” In a subsequent communication of the 3rd of August, Mrs. Hall adds : LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. 229 S “When Lady Blessington left London, she did not forget the necessities of several of her poor dependents, who received regular aid from her after her arrival, and while she resided in Paris. She found time, despite her literary labours, her anxieties, and the claims which she permitted society to make upon her time, not only to do acts of kindness now and then for those in whom she felt an interest, but to give what seemed perpetual thought to their well-doing: and she never missed an oppor- tunity of doing a gracious act or saying a gracious word. My acquaintance with Lady Blessington was merely a literary one, commencing when, at my husband's suggestion, she published much about Lord Byron in the pages of the “New Monthly Magazine,' which at that time he edited. That acquaintance continuing till her death, I wrote regularly for her Annuals, and she contributed to those under our care. “I have no means of knowing whether what the world said of this beautiful woman was true or false, but I am sure God in- tended her to be good, and there was a deep-seated good intent in whatever she did that came under my observation. * Her sympathies were quick and cordial, and independent of worldliness; her taste in art and literature womanly and refined ; I say 'womanly,' because she had a perfectly feminine appre- ciation of whatever was delicate and beautiful; there was great satisfaction in writing for her whatever she required; labours became pleasures, from the importance she attached to every little attention paid to requests, which, as an editor, she had a right to command. Her manners were singularly simple and graceful; it was to me an intense delight to look at beauty, which though I never saw in its full bloom, was charming in its autumn time; and the Irish accent, and soft sweet Irish laugh, used to make my heart beat with the pleasures of memory. I always left her with an intense sense of enjoyment, and a perfect dis- belief in every thing I ever heard to her discredit. Her con- versation was not witty nor wise, but it was in good tune and good taste, mingled with a great deal of humour, which escaped every thing bordering on vulgarity. It was surprising how a tale of distress, or a touching anecdote, would at once suffuse her clear intelligent eyes with tears, and her beautiful mouth would break into smiles and dimples at even the echo of wit or jest. LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. “ The influence she exercised over her circle was unbounded, and it became a pleasure of the most exquisite kind to give her pleasure. “I think it ought to be remembered to her honour, that with all her foreign associations and habits, she never wrote a line that might not be placed on the book-shelves of any English lady. “A. M. HALL." From Mr. Hall I have received the following account of an act of kindness and beneficence of Lady Blessington, which fell under his own observation. “I once chanced to encounter a young man of good educa- tion and some literary taste, who with his wife and two children were in a state of absolute want. After some thought as to what had best be done for him, I suggested a situation in the Post Office as a letter-carrier. He seized at the idea ; but being better aware than I was, of the difficulty of obtaining it, ex- pressed himself to that effect. “I wrote to Lady Blessington, telling her the young man's story, and asking if she could get him the appointment: next day I received a letter from her, enclosing one from the secretary, regretting his utter inability to meet her wishes, such appoint- ments, although so comparatively insignificant, resting with the Postmaster-General. I handed this communication to the young man, who was by no means disappointed, for he had not hoped for success. What was my surprise and his delight, however, when the very next day there came to me another letter from Lady Blessington, enclosing one from the Postmaster-General, con- ferring the appointment on the young man. This appointment I believe he still holds—at least, he did so a year or two ago. “S. C. HALL.” Lady Blessington was quick to discover talent or worth of any kind in others, sure to appreciate merit, and generous in her sentiments, and ardent in the expression of approbation in regard to it. LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. 231 1 DI the class whose judgment is to be distrusted on account of the lavish bestowal of encomium :-“Défiez vous de ces gens qui sont à tout le monde et ne sont à personne." Nor, on the other hand, did she belong to that most despicable of all cliques, the sneering, depreciatory would-be aristocratic clique, of small intellectual celebrities in literature and art, whose members are niggards in acknowledgment of all worth and merit, which do not emanate from their own little circle of pretentious cleverness. There is a sentiment of envy discoverable in the constrained reluctant recognition of the intellectual advantages of others in such circles, not confined to low or vulgar people, a sense of something burdensome in the claims to commendation, of other people, which seems to oppress the organs pulmonary, sangui- neous and cerebral of that class of small celebrities, be they ar- tists, authors, savans, antiquarians, doctors, or divines, or when merit that has any affinity with the worth supposed or self- estimated of the parties present, is brought to the notice of that clique. There is a "je ne sais quoi” of sneering, self- complacent superciliousness : a sense of superiority in their dealings with other's merits, or a conviction of their own in- feriority on such occasions that begets an indisposition to let it be perceived that they admit the existence of any ability which is not admired in themselves. The most narrow-minded, the least highly gifted, in such circumstances, are those who ever find it most necessary to be on their guard not to be betrayed into any terms of commendation of an enthusiastic kind, that might lead people to suppose they acknowledged any excellence in others they were incapable of manifesting in their own words or works. A member of this clique, of a waspish mind, and an aspish tongue, is never more at home in it, than when he is most sneering and depreciatory in his remarks, and churlish of praise in regard to the intellectual advantages of his fellows. 232 LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. He is unaccustomed to think favourably, or to speak well of his absent literary neighbours. He is afraid of affording them a good word; he would be ashamed to be thought easily pleased with his fellow-men- having any bookish tastes; he cannot hear them eulogised without feeling his own merits are overlooked. Or if he does chime in with any current praise, the curt commendation and scanty ap- plause are coupled with a scoff, some ribald jest, or ridiculing look, or gesture, intended to depreciate or to give a ludicrous aspect, to a subject that might possibly turn to the advantage of another, if it had been gravely treated. In fine, it is not in his nature to be just or generous to any man behind his back, who has any kindred tastes or talents with his own. The subject of this memoir was not of the clique in question, or of their way of dealing with literary competitors—in the acknowledgment of worth or merit in other people of literary pursuits. Lady Blessington was naturally lively, good-humoured, mirthful, full of drollery, and easily amused. Her perception of the ridiculous was quick and keen. If there was any- thing absurd in a subject presented to her, she was sure to seize on it, and to represent the idea to others, in the most ridiculous light possible. This turn of mind was not ex- hibited in society alone; in private it was equally manifested : one of the class proverbially given to judge severely of those they come most closely into contact with, aſter a service of fifteen years, thus speaks of the temper and disposition of her former mistress, Lady Blessington :- "Every one knew the cleverness of this literary lady ; but few, very few, knew all the kindness of heart of the generous, affectionate woman, but those who were indebted to her goodness, and those who were constantly about her, as I was; who saw her acts and knew her thoughts and feelings. “My lady's spirits were naturally good : before she was Was LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON10 . 233 overpowered with difficulties, and troubles on account of them, she was very cheerful, droll, and particularly amusing This was natural to her. Her general health was usually good ; she often told me she had never been confined to her bed one whole day in her life. And her spirits would have con- tinued good, but that she got so overwhelmed with care and expenses of all kinds. T'he calls on her for assistance were from all quarters. Some depended wholly on her (and had a regular pension quarterly paid)— her father and mother for many years before they died; the education of children of friends fell upon her. Now one had to be fitted out for India; now another to be provided for. Constant assistance had to be given to others—(to the family, in particular, of one poor lady, now dead some years, whom she loved very dearly). She did a great many charities ; for instance, she gave very largely to poor literary people, poor artists; some- thing yearly to old servants ; she contributed thus also to Miss Landon's mother ; in fact, to several, too many to mention ; --and from some, whom she served, to add to all her other miseries, she met with shameful ingratitude. “ Labouring night and day at literary work, all her anxiety was to be clear of debt. She was latterly constantly trying to curtail all her expenses in her own establishment, and con- stantly toiling to get money. Worried and harassed at not being able to pay bills when they were sent in; at seeing large expenses still going on, and knowing the want of means to meet them, she got no sleep at night. She long wished to give up Gore House, to have a sale of her furniture, and to pay off her debts. She wished this for two years before she left England; but when the famine in Ireland rendered the payment of her jointure irregular, and every succeeding year more and more so, her difficulties increased, and, at last, H-- and J- put an execution in the house, which 234 LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. proved the immediate cause of her departure from England in 1849. "Poor soul! her heart was too large for her means. Oh! the generosity of that woman was unbounded! I could never tell you the number of persons she used her influence with her friends to procure situations for great people as well as small. I cannot withhold my knowledge of these things from you, one of Lady Blessington's particular friends ; nor would I say so much, but knowing that her Ladyship esteemed you so highly, she would not have scrupled to have told you all that I have done, and a great deal more.” Queen Catherine's language to her attendant, might have been applied by Lady Blessington, to the person from whom I have received the preceding communication :- t “ After my death, I wish no other herald, No other speaker of my living actions, To kecp mine honour from corruption, But such an honest chronicler as Griffith."* TOUS- It would occupy a considerable portion of this volume were all the charitable acts, the untiring efforts, of this truly gene- rous-minded woman recorded, to bring her influence to bear on friends in exalted station, in behalf of people in unfortunate circumstances, and of persons more happily situated, yet needing her services—seeking employment or appointments of some kind or another for them. There was this peculiarity, too, in the active benevolence of Lady Blessington ; --whether the person for whom she inte- rested herself was of the upper or the humbler class of so- ciety, her exertions in his behalf were equally strenuous and unremitting till they were successful. I have, on many occa- sions, seen her, after receiving a letter from some important personage in parliament, or perhaps some friend of hers in * Henry the Eighth, act iv. sc. 2. LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. 235 power, intimating the inability of the party to render the service required by her for a protege of hers, when, for a few moments, she would seem greatly disappointed and dis- couraged. Then there would be a little explosion of anger, on account of the refusal or non-compliance with her application. But this was invariably followed by a brightening up of her looks, a little additional vehemence of tone and gesture, but accompanied with some gleams of returning good-humour and gaiety of manner, mingled at the same time with an air of resolution, and then throwing herself back in her fauteuil, and planting her foot rather firmly on the foot-stool, still holding the letter that annoyed her rolled up tightly, she would declare her firm determination, in spite of the refusal she had met with, that her application should be successful were counting on her efforts, and they should not be dis- appointed. The subject from that time would be uppermost in her mind, whoever the people were, who were about her. But when any influential person entered the salon, many minutes would not elapse before he would be put in possession of all the worth of the individual to be served, and all the wants of the poor family dependent on him; and this would be done with such genuine eloquence of feelings strongly excited, finding expression in glowing words, spoken with such pathos, and in accents of such sweetness, that an impression was generally sure to be made, and the object she had in view was either directly or indirectly attained. The embarrassments of Lady Blessington for some years before her departure from England had made her life a OSSI maintenance of her position, it was necessary to conceal, and to make a perpetual study of concealing. The cares, anxiety, and secret sorrows of such a situation it is casier to conceive 236 LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. than to describe. Suffice it to say, they served to embitter her career, and latterly, to give a cynical turn to her thoughts in relation to society, and a taste for the writings of those who have dealt with its follies, as philosophers, without faith in God or man, which tended by no means to her peace of mind, though she attached great importance to that sort of worldly wisdom which teaches us how to lay bare the heart of man, but leaves us in utter ignorance of all things appertaining to his immortal spirit. It is in vain to seek, in the worldly wisdom of Roche- foucault, for remedies for the wear and tear of literary life; the weariness of mind, depression of physical energies, occa- sioned by long-continued literary labours, and the anxieties, cares, and contentions of authorship. The depression of spirits consequent on disappointments in the struggle for dis- tinction, the sinking of the heart at the failure of arduous efforts to obtain success, the blankness of life's aim after the cooling down of early enthusiasm ; for these ills, the remedies that will soothe the sick at heart are not to be found in the phi- losophy of moralists, who are materialists, professing Christi- anity. There is a small book, ascribed to a religious-minded man, named Thomas à Kempis, which, in all probability, Lady Blessington never saw, in which there are germs of greater thoughts, and fraught with more consoling influences, than are to be discovered in the writings of Rochefoucault or Montaigne, and from which better comfort and more abun. dant consolation are to be derived, than from any of the most successful efforts of the latter in laying bare the surface and sounding the depths of the selfishness of the human heart. Rochefoucault deems selfishness the primum mobile of all humane and generous actions. Humanity, in the opinion of this philosopher, is like physic in the practice of empirics. Thev admit of no idiosyncrasies; no controlling influence in LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. 237 nature; no varieties of character determined by temperament, fortuitous circumstances, external impressions, alteration or diversity of organization. Yet the knowledge of human nature is a science to which no general rules can be applied. There is no certainty in regard to the law that is laid down for its government, no uniformity of action arising from its operation, no equality of intellect, passion, disposition, in in- dividuals, to make its general application just or possible. But, granting that all men feel only for the distresses of others from selfish motives— from a sense of the pain they would feel if they suffered like those with whom they sym- pathize---still their sympathy with misfortune or misery is beneficial to others and themselves. It is exceedingly painful to observe the undue importance that Lady Blessington attached to the writings of Roche foucault, and the grievous error she fell into of regarding them as fountains of truth and wisdom--of deep philosophy, which were to be resorted to with advantage on all occasions necessitating reflection and inquiry. Satiated with luxuries, weary with the eternal round of visits and receptions, and entertainments of intellectual celebrities, fatigued and worn out with the frivolous pursuits of fashionable literary life, and fully sensible of the worthlessness of the blandishments of society and the splendour of its salons, she stood in need of some higher philosophy than ever emanated from mere worldly wisdom. Literature and art have their victims, as well as their votaries, and those who cater for the enjoyments of their society, and aspire to the honour (ever dearly purchased by women) of reigning over it, must count on many sacrifices, and expect to have to deal with a world of importunate pre- tensions, of small ambitions, of large exigencies, of unbounded vanity, of unceasing flatteries, of many attachments, and of few friendships. 238 LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. The sick at heart, and stricken in spirit, the jaded and the palled in this society, have need of other philosophy than that which the works of Rochefoucault can supply. The dreariness of mind, of those over-worked, thought-wearied, intellectual celebrities is manifest enough to the observant, in their works and in their conversation, even when they ap- pear in the midst of the highest enjoyments, with bright thoughts flashing from their eyes, with laughter on their lips, and with sallies of wit, sarcasm, or drollery coming from their tongues. It has been observed of Rochefoucault, by a French writer, Monsieur de Sacy, in a review of that author's works :- “ His moral has every thing in it that can humble and de- press the heart of man, that is to be found in the rigorous doctrine of the gospel, with the exception of that which exalts man's nature, and uplifts his spirit. It is the destruction of all the illusions, without the hopes which should replace them. Rochefoucault, in a word, has only taken from Christianity the fall of man ; he left there the dogma of the Redemption ..Rochefoucault believes no more in piety than he does in wisdom; no more in God than he does in man. A penitent is not more absurd in his eyes than a philosopher. Every where pride-every where self, under the hair shirt of the monk of La Trappe, as well as under the mantle of the cynic philosopher. Rochefoucault permits himself to be a Christian, only in order to pursue the emotions of the heart into their last intrenchments. He condescends to seem to be a Christian only to poison our joys, and cast a deadly shade on the most cherished illusions of life's dreams. What remains for man then? For those resolute minds, there remains nothing but a cold and daring contempt of all things human and divine—an arid and stoical contentment in con- fronting — annihilation : for others differently constituted, there remains despair or abandonment to the enjoyment of LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. 239 brutalizing pleasures, as the only aim and ultimate object of life.” There remains for women of cultivated minds, and of ele- vated notions of a literary kind, women who are the disciples of Rochefoucault, a middle course to pursue, which Monsieur de Sacy has not noticed: and that course is to shine in the society of intellectual people. The pursuit indeed is a soul- wearying one, but there is a kind of glory in it that dazzles people, and makes them exceedingly eager for it. Those to whom amusement becomes a business, the art of pleasing-a drudgery that is daily to be performed, pass from the excitement of society, its labours and its toils, into the re- tirement and privacy of domestic life, in exhaustion, languor, irksomeness, and ennui : and from this state they are roused to new efforts in the salons, by a craving appetite for notice and for praise. “ Their breath is admiration, and their life, A storm whereon they ride." IC 0 'n Lady Blessington had that fatal gift of pre-eminent attrac- tiveness in society, which has rendered so.many clever women distinguished and unhappy. The power of pleasing people indiscriminately, in large circles, is never long exercised by women with advantage to the feminine character of their fas- cinations. The facility of making one's self so universally agreeable in literary salons, as to be there “the observed of all observers,” " the admired of all admirers, “ the pink and rose” of the fair state-of literature, à la mode, “ the glass of fashion and the mould of form,” becomes in time fatal to naturalness of character, singleness and sincerity of mind. Friendship, that becomes so diffusive as to admit of as many ties as there are claims of literary talents to notice in society, and to be con- sidered available for all intimacies with remarkable persons and relations with intellectual celebrities must be kept up by 240 LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. constant administrations of cordial professions of kindness and affection, epistolary and conversational; and frequent inter- change of compliments and encomiums, that tend to invigo- rate sentiments of regard, that would fade away without such restoratives. « On ne loue d'ordinaire que pour etre louè.” The praiser and the praised have a nervous apprehension of depreciation ; and those who live before the public, in litera- ture or society, get not unfrequently into the habit of lavishing eulogies, less with reference to the deserts of those who are commended, than with a view to the object to be gained by flattery, namely, the payment in its own coin, and with good interest, of the adulation that has been bestowed on others. Lady Blessington exercised the double influence of beauty and intellectuality in society, in attracting attention, to win admiration, and to gain dominion over admirers. In effecting this object, it was the triumph of her heart to render all around, not only pleased with her, but pleased with themselves. She lived, in fact, for distinction on the stage of literary society before the foot-lights, and always en scene. Lady Blessington was very conscious of possessing the hearts of her audience. She had become accustomed to an atmo- sphere of adulation, and the plaudits of those friends which were never out of her ears, at last became a necessity to her. Her abode was a temple, and she—the Minerva of the shrine, whom all the votaries of literature and art worshipped. The swinging of the censer before her fair face never ceased in those salons; the soft accents of homage to her beauty and her talents seldom failed to be whispered in her ear, while she sat enthroned in that well-known fauteuil of hers, holding high court, in queen-like state“ the most gorgeous Lady Blessington."* The desire for this sort of distinction of a * Dr. Parr was introduced to Lady Blessington by Mr. Pettigrew, and shortly after that introduction, the Doctor, writing to Mr. Petti. grew, spoke of her Ladyship as “the most gorgeous Lady Bless- ington." LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. Y beautiful woman, bookishly given-in other words, “ the co- quetterie d'un dame des salons littéraires," - in many respects is similar to that common sort of female ambition, of gaining the admiration of many, without any design of forming an attachment for one, which Madame de Genlis characterizes-- “ Cé que les hommes méprisent et qui les attire." But in one respect, the intellectual species of coquetry is of a higher order than the other; it makes the power of beauty, of fascination, of pleasing manners, auxiliary only to the in- fluence of intellect, and seeks for conquests over the mind, even while it aims at gaining an ascendancy over the feelings of the heart. The chief aim of it, however, is to achieve triumphs over all within its circle, and for this end, the lady ambitious of reigning in literary society, must live to be courted, admired, homaged by its celebrities. The queen- regnant in its salons must at length cease to confide in the natural gifts and graces which belong to her--the original simplicity of her character, or swcetness of her disposition. She must become an actress there, she must adapt her manners, fashion her ideas, accommodate her conversation to the taste, tone of thought, and turn of mind, of every individual around her. She must be perpetually demonstrating her own attractions or attainments, or calling forth any peculiarities in others, calculated to draw momentary attention to them. She must become a slave to the caprices, envious feelings, contentions, rivalries, selfish aims, ignoble artifices, and exigeants preten- sions of literati, artists, and all the notabilities of fashionable circles, les amis des hommes des lettres, ou les amants ima- ginaires des dames d'esprit. In a word, she must part with all that is calculated to make a woman in this world happy ; peace of mind, the society of true friends, and pursuits which tend to make women loved and cherished; the language of sincerity, the simplicity and TOL. 1. AT I . 12 II 212 LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. OS cadearing satisfaction of home enjoyments. And what does she gain when she has parted with all these advantages, and has attained the summit of her ambition ?-a name in the world of fashion ; some distinction in literary circles ; homage and admiration, so long as prosperity endures, and while means are to be found for keeping up the splendour of a vast establishment and its brilliant circles. And when the end of all the illusion of this state of splendid misery comes at last, the poor lady who has lived in it so long, awakens from it as from a dream, and the long delirium of it becomes manifest to her. She has thrown away fortune, time, and talents, in obtaining distinction, in surrounding herself with clever people, in patronizing and en- tertaining artists and literati. She has sacrificed health and spirits in this pursuit. Her establishment is broken up, nothing remains to her of all its treasures-she has to fly to another country, and, after a few weeks, she is suddenly car- ried off, leaving sɔme persons, who knew her well and long, to lament that one so generous, kindly disposed, naturally amiable and noble minded so highly gifted, clever, and ta- lented, should have been so unfortunately circumstanced in early life, in more advanced years, as well as at the close of her existence, so little at her ease; that she should have been placed so long in a false position; in a few words, that the whole course of her life should have been infelicitous. The wear and tear of literary life, leave very unmistakeable evidence of their operation, on the traits, thoughts, and energies of bookish people. Like the eternal rolling of the stone of Sisyphus, the fruitless toiling up the hill, and the conscious failure of each attempt, at coming down, are the ceaseless struggles for eminence, of authors, artists, and those who would be surrounded by them in society as their patrons or admirers, and would obtain their homage for so being. Like those unceasing and unavailing efforts, are the tiring LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. 243 pursuits of literati, treading on the heels of one another day after day, tugging with unremitting toil at one uniform task --to obtain notoriety, to overcome competition, to supplant others in public favour, and having met with some success, to maintain a position in intellectual society at any cost, with the eminence of which, perhaps, some freak of fortune may have had more to do, than any intrinsic worth, or superior merit of their own. And then at last, they must end the labours which have consumed their health and strength, without deriving from them any solid advantage, in the way of an addition to their happiness, a security to their peace of mind, or a conviction that those labours have tended materially to the real good of mankind, or the promotion of the interests of truth, justice, and humanity. In no spirit of unkindness towards the memory of Lady Blessington, or forgetfulness of the many estimable qualities and excellent talents which she possessed, let us ask, did her literary career, and position in literary society, secure for her any of those advantages which have been just referred to, or were they attended with any real benefits to those high interests which transcend all others in this world in importance ? And most assuredly, if the question be asked, was her life happy ? the answer to that inquiry must be, it was not happy. In the height of her success, in the most brilliant period of her London life, in St. James's Square, in Seamore Place, in · Gore House, in the midst of the luxuries by which she was surrounded, even at the period of her fewest cares-- in Italy and France, the present enjoyments were never unaccom- panied with reminiscences of the past that were painful. But who could imagine that such was the case, who knew her only in crowded salons, so apparently joyous, animated and exhilarated by the smiling looks and soft accents of those R 2 214 LITERARY CAREER OF LADY ELESSIXGTON. who paid such flattering homage to her beauty and her talent, fully conscious as she was of the admiration she excited, and so accustomed to it, that it seemed to have become essential to her being ? Ample evidence of those facts is to be found in the detached thoughts of Lady Blessington, scattered through her papers or among those records of reflection to which she gave the appropriate name of “Night Thought Books.” The following extracts from them may serve to show the truth of the preceding observations. WRONGS AND WOES OF WOMEN. "Men can pity the wrongs inflicted by other men on the gentler sex, but never those which they themselves inflict (on women).” “Quelle destinée que cette de la femme! A l'etre le plus foible le plus entouré des seductions, le plus mal elevè, pour les resister, les juges les plus severes, les peines les plus, dures la vengeance la plus inflexible. Quand le ciel chassa de son Paradis notre pere et notre mere coupables, la glaive de l'ange les frappa tous deux : pour tous deux son feu impitoyable brula devant la porte du lieu des delices, sans que la femme fut plus puni, plus malheureux que l'homme. Si elle eut les douleurs de la maternité, son compagnon d'infortune eut les sueurs du travail et les horribles angoisses qui accompagnent le spectacle des souffrances de celle qu'on aime. Il n'y eut point entre eux un inegal partage de punition, et Adam ne put pas à l'ex- clusion d'Eve rentrer dans ce jardin qui lui fermait la colère du ciel ! Hommes vous vous etes faits pour nous plus in- flexible que Dieu, et quand nous sommes tombècs par vous, a cause de vous, pour vous seules brille l'epèe qui met hors du monde, hors de l'honneur, hors de l'estime et qui nous em- peche a jamais d'y rentrer.”!!! Brisset. The whole system of female education is to teach women LITERARY 1 245 CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. to allure and not to repel, yet how much more essential is the latter." “England is the only country in Europe where the loss of one's virtue superinduces the loss of all. I refer to chastity. A woman known to have violated this virtue, though she possess all the other virtues, is driven with ignominy from society, into a solitude, rendered insupportable by a sense of the injustice by which she is made a victim to solitude, which often becomes the grave of the virtues she brought to it.” "Passion! Possession ! Indifference! What a history is comprised in these three words! What hopes and fears succeeded by a felicity as brief as intoxicating---followed in its turn by the old consequence of possession--indifference ! What burning tears, what bitter pangs, rending the very heart- strings—what sleepless nights and watchful days form part of this every-day story of life, whose termination leaves the actors to search again for new illusions to finish like the last !" "A woman who exposes, even to a friend, her domestic un- happiness, has violated the sanctity of home, and the delicacy of affection, and placed an enduring obstacle to the restoration of interrupted domestic peace and happiness. “The youth of women is entitled to the affectionate in- terest of the aged of their own sex.” "Women who have reached old age should look with affectionate interest on those of their own sex, who are still travelling the road scattered with flowers and thorns, over which they have already passed themselves ; as wanderers who have journeyed on through many dangers, should regard those who are still toiling over the same route." IS BEAUTY WITHOUT THE SECURITY OF FIXED PRINCIPLE. “ A beautiful woman without fixed principles, may be likened Iut 11 2 IUL 246 LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. to those fair but rootless flowers which float in streams, driven by every breeze." “Whenever we make a false step in life, we take more pains to justify it, than would have saved us from its commission; and yet we never succeed in convincing others, nay more, ourselves, that we have acted rightly.” "The happiness of a woman is lost for ever, when her hus- band ceases to be its faithful guardian. To whom else can she confide the treasure of her peace, who will not betray the trust? and it is so precious, that unless carefully guarded it is son lost." “Love-matches are made by people who are content for a month of honey, to condemn themselves to a life of vinegar.” “There are some chagrins of the heart which a friend ought to try to console, without betraying a knowledge of their existence : as there are physical maladies which a physician ought to seek to heal, without letting the sufferer know that he has discovered their extent.” " In some women modesty has been known to survive chas- tity, and in others, chastity to survive modesty. The last example is the most injurious to the interests of society, be- cause they who believe, while they preserve chastity inviolate, th'y may throw aside the feminine reserve and delicacy which ought to be its outward sign and token, give cause for sus- picions, and offend the purity of others of their sex with whom they are brought in contact, much more than those who, fail- ing in chastity, preserve its decency and decorum.” “The want of chastity is a crime against one's self, but the want of modesty is a crime against society.” “ A chaste woman may yield to the passion of her lover, hut an unchaste woman gives way to her own."* * Some of the sentiments expressed in these observations, I do not think true or just, in a moral or religious point of view. LITERARY CAREER LITERARY Career or LADY BLESSINGTON. INGTOV. 2.47 Lines on various subjects, from the “ Night Thought Book” of Lady Blessington. NIGHT. “ Yes, Night! I love thy silence and thy calm, That o'er my spirits sheds a soothing balm, Lifting my soul to brighter, purer spheres, Far, far removed from this dark vale of tears. 2. “ There is a holiness, a blessed peace In thy repose, that bids our sorrow cease; That stills the passions in the hallowed breast, And lulls the tortured feelings into rest.” FLOWERS. “ Flowers are the bright remembrances of youth ; They waft back, with their bland and odorous breath, The joyous hours that only young life knows, Ere we have learned that this fair earth hides graves. They bring the cheek that's mouldering in the dust Again before us, tinged with health's own rose- They bring the voices we shall hear no more, Whose tones were sweetest music to our ears ; They bring the hopes that faded one by one, 'Till nought was left to light our path but faith, That we, too, like the flowers, should spring to life, But not, like them, again e'er fade or die.” Lines of Lady Blessington unfinished : written on the back of a letter of Lord Durham, very much injured and defaced, dated July 28, 1837. “ At midnight's silent hour, when hushed in sleep, They who have laboured or have sorrowed lie, Learning from slumber how 'tis sweet to die- I love my vigils of the heart to keep; 248 LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. For then fond Memory unlocks her store, Which in the garish, noisy ... Then comes reflection musing on the lore And precepts of pure mild philosophy. Sweet voices-silent now . . . . Bless my charmed ear, sweet smiles are seen, Tho' they who wore them long now dwell on high ; Where I shall meet thein but with chastened mien, To tell how dull was life where they were not, And that they never, never were forgot." Unfinished lines in pencil, with numerous corrections and alterations, in the hand-writing of Lady Blessington, appa- rently of a recent date. “And years, long weary years, have rolled away, Since youth with all its sunny smiles has fled, And hope within this saddened breast is dead, To gloomy doubts and dark despair a prey, Turning from pleasure's flow'ry path astray, To haunts where melancholy thoughts are bred, And meditation broods with inward dread, Amidst the shades of pensive twilight gray. Yet has this heart not ceased to thrill with pain, Tho' joy can make its pulses beat no more; Its wish to reach indifference is vain, And will be, till life's fitful fever's o'er, And it has reached the dim and silent shore, Where sorrow it shall never know again. Like to a stream whose current's frozen o'er, Yet still flows on beneath its icy . .. ." 3 On the same sheet of paper as that on which the preced- ing lines are written, there are the following fragments of verse, evidently composed in the same thoughtful mood as the previous lines of a retrospective character. “ But tho' the lily root in earth, Lies an unsightly thing, LITERARY CAREER OF LADY BLESSINGTON. 249 Yet thence the flow'rct hath its birth, And into light will spring. So when this form is in the dust, * Of mortals all, the lot, Oh may my soul its prison burst, Its errors all forgot !" Other lines unfinished, in a MS. book of Lady Blessington, in her hand-writing. “ The smile that plays around the lips When sorrow preys upon our hearts, Is like the flowers with which we deck The youthful corpse, ere it departs For ever, to the silent grave, From those who would have died to save." A fragment in pencilling, in another common-place book of Lady Blessington, in her Ladyship’s hand-writing, but no date or signature. “ Pardon, oh Lord ! if this too sinful heart, Ingrate to thee, didst for a mortal feel Love all too pure for earth to have a part. Pardon-for lowly at thy feet I kneel : Bowed to the dust, my heart, like a crushed flower, Yields all remaining sweetness at thy shrine. Thou only, Lord of mercy, now hath power To bid rcpose and hope again be inine. Chase from this fond and too long tortured breast, Thoughts that intrude to steal my soul from thee; Aid me within a cloister to find rest, When I from sin and passion shall be free." No one who ever knew Lady Blessington would, and perhaps few persons who may chance to read those pages, will refuse to say, " Amen, to that sweet prayer.” * A line has here been erased. 250 CHAPTER XI. NOTICES OF THE WRITINGS OF LADY BLESSINGTON, ETC. It would be absurd to lay claim for Lady Blessington, to the great attributes of first-rate intellectual excellence, original, creative, and inventive genius of a high order, combining vigour of mind, strength of imagination, and depth of feeling, and displaying its mastery in graphic powers of delineation and description ; giving a vivid look and life-like appearance to every thing it paints in words. It would be a folly to seek in the mental gifts and graces of Lady Blessington, for evidences of the divine inspirations of exalted genius endowed with all its instincts and ideality, favoured with bright visions of the upper regions of poetry and fiction, with glimpses of ethereal realms, peopled with shadowy forms and spiritualized beings with glorious attri- butes and perfections, or to imagine we are to discover in her writings sublime conceptions of the grand, the beautiful, the chivalrous, or supernatural. The realization of great ideas, without encumbering the representation of ideal objects with material images and earthly associations, belongs only to genius of the first order; and between that power and mere graceful talent, fine taste, shrewdness of mind, and quickness of ap- prehension, there is a great difference, and there are many degrees of intellectual excellence. It is very questionable if any of the works of Lady Bless- ington, with the exception of the “ Conversations with Lord Byron," and perhaps the “ Idler in Italy;" will maintain TO NOTICES OF THE WRITINGS OF LADY BLESSINGTON. 251 a permanent position in English miscellaneous literature. The interest taken in the writer was the main source of the temporary interest that was felt in her literary performances. The master-thinker of the last century has truly observed -“ An author bustling in the world, shewing himself in public, and emerging occasionally from time to time into notice, might keep his works alive by his personal influence ; but that which conveys little information, and gives no great pleasure, must soon give way, as the succession of things produces new topics of conversation, and other modes of amusement."* Lady Blessington commenced her career of authorship in 1822. Her first work, entitled, “ The Magic Lantern ; or Sketches of Scenes in the Metropolis," was published by Longman in that year, in one volume 8vo. The work was written evidently by one wholly inexperi- enced in the ways of authorship. There were obvious marks in it, however, of cleverness, quickness of perception, shrewd- ness of observation, and of kindly feelings, though occasion- ally sarcastic tendencies prevailed over them. There were evidences in that production, moreover, of a natural turn for humour and drollery, strong sensibility also, and some gra- phic powers of description in her accounts of affecting in- cidents. The sketches in the “ Magic Lantern,” are the Auction, the Park, the Tomb, the Italian Opera. A second edition of the “ Magic Lantern” was published soon after the first. There is a draft of a preface in her Lady- ship's hand-writing, intended for this edition, among her papers, with the following lines :- IT ACTIO L3 “ If some my Magic Lantern should offend, The fault's not mine, for scandal's not my end; * Dr. Johnson. Life of Mallet. 25:2 NOTICES OF TIIE WRITINGS OF LADY BLESSINGTON. 'Tis vice and folly that I hold in view, Your friends--not I-find likenesses to you." It is very questionable if more indications of talent are not to be found in the first work written by Lady Blessington, “ The Magic Lantern,” than in the next production, or indeed in any succeeding performance of hers, though she looked so unfavourably on “ The Magic Lantern” in her latter years, as seldom or ever to make any reference to it. “ Sketches and Fragments,” the second work by Lady Blessington, was also published by Longman in 1822, in one small 12mo. volume. The preface to it is dated June 12, 1822. The contents of this volume are the following :- Blighted Hopes-Marriage—the Ring Journal of a week of a Lady of Fashion-an Allegory-Fastidiousness of Taste Coquetry-Egotism-Reflections-Sensibility-Friendship -Wentworth Fragments. In the “ Sketches and Fragments,” Lady Blessington began to be somewhat affected and conventional, to assume a cha- racter of strait-laced propriety and purism, that made it in- cumbent on her to restrain her natural thoughts and feelings, and to adopt certain formulas in phraseology expressive of very exalted sentiments, and of a high sense of the duties she had imposed on herself as a censor of society, its manners, morals, and all externals affecting the decorum of its character. The fact is, Lady Blessington was never less effective in her wri- tings than when she ceased to be natural. And with respect to her second production, though in point of style and skill in composition it was an improvement on her former work, in other respects it was hardly equal to it. Lady Blessington received no remuneration from either of the works just mentioned. From the produce of the sale of the second work, after defraying all the expenses of publica- tion, there was a small sum of £20 or £30 available, which NOTICES OF THE YYCA WRITINGS OF LADY BLESSINGTON. 253 LT а IT was applied, by her Ladyship's directions, to a charitable purpose. The necessity of augmenting her income by turning her literary talents to a profitable account, brought Lady Blessing- ton before the public as a writer of fashionable novels. The peculiar talent she exhibited in this style of composition was in lively description of persons in high life, in some respect or other outrè or ridiculous, in a vein of quiet humour, which ran throughout her writings; a common-sense, and ge- nerally an amiable way of viewing most subjects; a pleasant mode of effecting an entente cordiale with her readers, an air of good-nature in her observations, and an apparent absence of malice or malignity in the smart sayings, sharp and sati- rical, which she delighted in giving utterance to. The great defect of her novels was want of creative power, and constructive skill in devising a plot, and carrying on any regularly planned action from the beginning of a work to its : close, and making the dénouement the result that ought to be expected from the incidents of the story throughout its progress. The characters of her mere mon of fashion are generally well drawn. Many of her sketches of scènes (in one of the French acceptations of the word) in society, not of scenes in nature, are admirably drawn. Lady Blessington, in novel-writing, discarded the services of “gorgons, hydras, and chimæras dire." She had no taste for horrors of that kind; and if she had ventured into the delineation of them, the materiel of her imagination would not have enabled her to deal with them sucessfully. The characters of her women are generally naturally deline- ated, except when in waging war with the follies or vices of fashionable society. She portrayed its female members in colours rather too dark to be true to nature, or even just to her own sex. But she always professed to have a great - TIT 254 NOTICES TA OF THE WRITINGS OF LADY BLESSINGTON. it dislike to works of fiction in which humanity was depicted in a revolting aspect, and individuals were represented without any redeeming trait in their characters. We find in several of her novels, in the character of the personages, a mixture of good and evil, and seldom, except in “ the Victims of Society," evidence of unmitigated, unredeemable baseness and villany in the character of any person she writes of. Books that give pain, and are disagreeable to think of after they have been read, she had a strong objection to. One of her literary cor- respondents, in 1845, writing to her, referring to a recent work, which gave a painful and disagreeable portraiture of several characters, said, “It is a sin against art, which is de- signed to please even in the terrors which it evokes. But the highest artists, Sophocles, Shakspeare, and Goethe, have de- parted from that general rule on certain occasions, and for certain ends. I should have compromised with the guilt depicted, if I had abated the pain the contemplation of such guilt should occasion. It is in showing by what process the three orders of mind, which, rightly trained and regulated, produce the fairest results of humanity, may be depraved, to its scourge and pestilence, that I have sought the analysis of truths, which, sooner or later, will vindicate their own moral utilities. The calculating intellect of --, which should have explored science, the sensual luxuriance and versatility of M., which should have enriched art; the conjunction of earnest passion, with masculine understanding, in - which should have triumphed for good and high ends in active practical life, are all hurled down into the same abyss of irre- trievable guilt—from want of the one supporting principle- brotherhood and sympathy with others. They are incarna- tions of egotism pushed to the extreme. And I suspect those most indignant at the exposition, are those who have been startled with the likeness of their own hearts. They may not have the guilt of the hateful three, but they wince from the NOTICES OF TIIE WRITINGS OF LADY BLESSINGTON. 255 lesson that guilt inculcates. The earnestness of the author's own views can alone console him in the indiscriminate and lavish abuse, with all its foul misrepresentations, which greets his return to literature, and, unless he is greatly mistaken, the true moral of his book will be yet recognized, though the vin- dication may be deferred till it can only be rendered to dust- a stone and a name.” In 1832, in “Colburn's New Monthly Magazine," Lady Blessington's “ Journal of Conversations with Lord Byron” made their first appearance. The Journal contains matter certainly of the highest and most varied interest, and would convey as just an account of Byron's character, and as unex- aggerated a sketch as any that has been ever published-if a secret feeling of pique, and, perlaps, the recollection of some slight, had not stolen into her “ Conversations." The “ Journal” was published in one vol. 8vo., a little later, and had a very extensive sale. “Grace Cassidy, or the Repealers,” in three vols., the first and worst novel of Lady Blessington, was published by Bentley, in 1833. From all Irish political novels, including “ The Repealers,” the English public may pray most earnestly to be delivered. “The ingenious device” of representing real living cele- brities under names and titles that only differ from their own by a single letter, or the substitution of the designation of an estate, or a family name for a title, has been adopted in this work. Thus we find Earl Grey disguised as Lord Rey ; Lord Meath, as Lord Leath; Mr. Shiel, as Mr. Thiel; Hon. Mrs. Anson, as Mrs. Pranson. “Meredyth," a novel, in 3 vols., was published by Long. man, 1833. In October, 1833, Mr. William Longman wrote to Lady Blessington, stating that “Meredyth” had not hitherto had the success that had been anticipated. £45 had been spent CD 236 NOTICES OF THE WPITINGS INTY nas OF LADY BLESSINGTON. in advertising, and only 380 copies sold, 300 of which had been subscribed. "The Follies of Fashion, or the Beau Monde of London, in 1835," -appeared in one of the periodicals of the time. “ The Belle of the Season," a much later production, was a lively sketch of an episode in fashionable society. “The Two Friends,” a novel, in 3 vols., was published by Saunders and Ottley, in 1835. “ The Victims of Society," a novel, in 3 vols., Saunders and Ottley, appeared in 1835. If the delineation of high life given in this work be correct, the experience which qualified the author to produce such a performance was very terrible. If it be not true, the wholesale pulling down process, the utter demolition of the reputation of people in fashionable society, of women as well as men, in this work, is to be regretted. “ The Confessions of an Elderly Lady,” came out in one vol., 1838.—“The Guverness," a novel, in 3 vols., followed in 1839.—“Desultory Thoughts and Reflections,” in one thin 16mo. vol., appeared in 1839.*__“The Idler in Italy” was published in 2 vols. 8vo., Colburn, in 1839; the most successful and interesting of all the works of Lady Blessing- ton.-" The Idler in France" appeared in 2 vols. 8vo., Long- man, in 1841.-" The Lottery of Life, and other Tales," in 3 vols., appeared in 1842. “Strathern, or Life at Home and Abroad," a story of the present day. This novel appeared first in “The Sunday Times ;” afterwards, it was published by Colburn, in 1845 in 4 vols. Between the two publications, Lady Blessington is said to have realized nearly £600. It was the most read of all her novels, as she imagined ; yet the publisher, in a letter to Lady Blessington, several months after publica- ion, complained that he only sold 400 copies, and had lost * To the liberality of the publishers, Messrs. Longman, I am in. debted for the use I have made of this work. NOTICES OF THE WRITINGS OF LADY BLESSINGTON. 257 £40 by the publication, and that he must decline a new work proposed by her. In this work, the writer drew, as in her other novels, her illustrations of society from her own times ; and her opportunities of studying human nature in a great variety of its phases, but particularly in what is called “the fashionable world,” enabled her to give faithful pictures of a large portion of its society. These portraitures in “Strath- ern" are graphic, vivid, and not without a dash of humour and sarcastic drollery in her delineation especially of fashion- able life abroad. But the representation is certain'y not only exceedingly unfavourable to the class she puts en scene in Rome, Naples, Paris, and London, but very unpleasing on the whole, though often amusing, and sometimes instructive. In the “Memoirs of a Femme de Chambre," a novel, in 3 vols., published by Colburn and Bentley, in 1846, Lady Blessington availed herself of the privileges of an imaginary servant maid, to penetrate the inner chambers of temples of fashion, to discover and disclose the arena of aristocratic life. The follies and foibles of persons in high life, the trials and heart-sicknesses of unfortunate governesses, and the vi- cissitudes in the career of ladies'-maids, and in particular in that of one femme de chambre, who became the lady of a bilious nabob, are the subjects of this novel, written with great animation, and the usual piquancy and liveliness of style of the writer. “Lionel Deerhurst, or Fashionable Life under the Regency,” was published by Bentley, 1846. “Marmaduke Herbert,” a novel, was published in 1847. Of this work, a very eminent literati wrote in the following terms to Lady Blessington, May 22d, 1847 :- “It seems to me, in many respects, the best book you have written. I object to some of the details connected with the 'fatal error,' but the management of its effects is marked by VOL. I. 258 NOTICES OF THE WRITINGS OF LADY BLESSINGTON. ans TY a very high degree of power ; and the analytical subtlety and skill displayed throughout the book struck me very much. “I sincerely and warmly congratulate you on what must certainly extend your reputation as a writer.” “Country Quarters," a novel, first appeared in the columns of a London Sunday paper, in 1848, and was published separately, and edited by Lady Blessington's niece, Miss Power, after her Ladyslip's death, in 3 vols. 8vo., Shoberl, 1850. “ Country Quarters,” the last production of Lady Bless- ington, is illustrative of a state of society, and of scenes in real life, in provincial towns, in which young English military Lotharios, and tender-hearted Irish heroines, speculative and sentimental, are the chief performers; for the delineation of which Lady Blessington was far more indebted to her recol- lection than to her imagination. There is no evidence of exhausted intellect in this last work of Lady Blessington's. But the drollery is not the fun that oozed out from exube- rant vivacity in the early days of her authorship; it is forced, strained, “written up,” for the occasion; and yet there is an air of cheerfulness about it, which, to one knowing the state of mind in which that work was written, would be very strange, almost incredible, if we did not recol- lect the frame of mind in which the poem of John Gilpin was written by Cowper. The literary friends of Lady Blessington were in the habit of expressing to her Ladyship their opinions of her perform- ances as they appeared, and of sometimes making very useful suggestions to her. The general tone of opinions addressed to authors by their friends must, of course, be expected to be laudatory; and those, it must be admitted, of many of Lady Blessington's friends were no exception to the rule. NOTICES OF THE WRITINGS OF LADY BLESSINGTON. 239 Of“ The Repealers," a very distinguished writer thus wrote to the authoress. “My dear Lady Blessington, I have read your 'Repealers ;' you must be prepared for some censure of its politics. I have been too warm a foe to the Coercive Bill, to suffer so formidable a combatant as you to possess the field without challenge. I like many parts of your book much, but, will you forgive me? you have not done yourself justice. Your haste is not evident in style, which is pure, fluent, and remark- ably elegant, but in the slightness of the story. You have praised great ladies and small authurs too much ; but that is the fault of good nature. Let your next book, I implore you, be more of passion, of sentiment, and of high character. You are capable of great things, of beating many of the female writers of the day in prose, and you ought to task your powers to the utmost ; your genius is worthy of appli- cation. “Forgive all this frankness; it is from one who admires you too much not to be sincere, and esteems you too highly to fear that you will be offended at it.” Another eminent literary writer writes to her on the subject of a more recent production of hers :, “You have only to write passions instead of thoughts, in order to excel in novel writing. But you fear too much; you have the prudes before you, you do not like to paint the pas- sions of love, you prefer painting its sentiment. The awe of the world chills you. But perhaps I am wrong, and in 'The Two Friends,'I shall find you giving us another · Corinne' or a better ' Admiral's Daughter;' both being works that depend solely on passion for their charm. You have all the tact, truth, and grace of De Stäel, and have only to recollect that while she wrote for the world, the world vanished from her closet. In writing, we should see nothing before us but our 111 6 2 260 NOTICES OF THE WRITINGS TTT OF LADY BLESSINGTON. own wild hearts, our own experience, and not till we correct proofs should we remember that we are to have readers.” One fully authorized to speak on the subject of authorship, thus writes to her Ladyship on the appearance of a recent novel of hers: “People often say to me, I shall write a novel : if I ques- tion them, on what rule?' they state they know of no rules. They write history, epic, the drama, criticism, by rules; and for the novel, which comprises all four, they have no rules : no wonder there is so much of talent manqué in half the books we read. In fact, we ought to do as the sculptors do; gaze upon all the great masterpieces, till they sink into us, till their secrets penetrate us, and then we write according to rules without being quite aware of it. “I have been trying to read some fashionable French books. Sue and Balzac seem most in vogue, but the task is too heavy. Rant run mad, and called, God-wot, philosophy! I feel as if these writers had taken an unfair advantage of us, and their glittering trash makes common sense too plain and siinple to be true.” Of “The Victims of Society," a friendly critic writes : “I have finished the whole of 'The Victims of Society.' The characters are drawn with admirable tact and precision, and a knowledge of human nature, that is only too fine for the obtuse. You are, indeed, very severe in the second volume, more so than I had anticipated; but it is severe truth, finely conceived, boldly attempted, and consummately exe- cuted. You have greatly retrieved and fined down Miss Montresor's character, by her touches of penitence and remorse. Lord C. is perfect. W-, an English dandy throughout. I cannot conceive that you have anything to dread. You have attacked only persons whom the general world like to hear attacked; the few who wince, will pretend not to understand the application.” L U I i TYA NOTICES OF THE WRITINGS OF LADY BLESSINGTON. 261 IUL Of “ The Idler in Italy," one of her most distinguished friends says :-- “I have already nearly finished the two volumes of "The Idler in Italy,' and am delighted with the sparkling and grace- ful ease. You interest us in every thing, even in the bed resting on pillar swans, and the 'terrace that is to be turned into a garden :' your observations on men and things are, as usual, excellent. All the account of the Revolution is highly animated and original; I am sure the work will be' univer- sally liked.” On the appearance of “ The Two Friends,” Lady Blessing- ton received the following notice of it from one of her lite- rary acquaintance:-