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tenr was the FBBB^kwrl7, 1855.] ' WimM l...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Lady Blessington. The- Literary Iitfe An...
^ i fuuV concealed . This-new nt by _ nobks «<« WMiieHv of Intellectual isocieties of select worshippers . The French reeded us in this , and brilliant coteries existed in France from the KU Ikmu * XEtf . dawn to tbecJEmpiw & v presided < mr by captivating w £ Lm , # ^< aKftW- <* e &'< E ^ ^ awd 3 ^ e S % f cek C 5 ^ ffl ¥ ta'a ! rose' in Ereri & ad ' the great aristocrat Whig coterie of HbllaTvd & otise it glatrce at . the biographies of nearly all our literary celebrities o £ the earl ^ 'fiart of ' tliis century , not irredeemably Tory , will show how- in , SiaBen sable-adniissicmvinto this coterie either was , or was thought to be ^ a aSer search- willr show bow little patronage bad mended in spirit by its ^ v ^ rX liii ifaKBfcr wiit » shew hem- m « ch dirt » n aspiring moft . of letters had to enttokeep tfa £ » V 4 ^ iM . feie , > a « . X'iMary , this : 'd « ager » tts foej on bis side . Asflfii . 9 « ma WriJ « waned , iarose » 4 fae : assemblies'of Lady dhatieviUe and Lady Blessitt
Saettfn *—ii * 4 at * c «! tfc ^ Bwreiinflwewfcia ^—aod « ontimred Seaittor e ^ p laceawcl 4 §< ire House , w ^ fe J-e w 6 < ato & Bill Discou nt ers- permitted , to the threshold tfffthe ^ mediate present : Wite & Grdre Hbuse cfosed , therefore , an ancient institution- in its' latest modffieatron ceased to be ; the last poor swaddling cloth was taken off " thegiantlfrerature . We shall never see another Lady Blessington nor another Gore House , but we shall see literature proceed to . fresh . strength and new powers , with , more stalwart men of the press than ^ r forcedeKOtics of the salon * . # It is 'only in . this light , as the biography of L « dy Blessington asreine < de salon , that the publication of these massivevolumes oa » be justified . A * s- * literary « ha » acter ^ Lady ^ BlessragifcanJdid net excel , and swely could not claim the ttostfeunwas uapoittanoe of throe large volumes . Bttt as the reported in « sVbtilfiawt woman of her age , as-tfee friend * of weariyevery celebrity of this century , beginning with Byron and -endtrrg with Dickens , Thackeray , attdOatiyfei € h « -public had an expectation of some such work as this , and it not
though we are disposed to think that two volumes , one judiciously laanaged , would have been sufficient , we will not quarrel with Dr . Maddes fik . what he has given us , but proceed to make- the best of it . To do thisj however , is no easy matter-, for a more entangled book it is aa «> oss 3 | bfcito'oqaoMve . Ifour information lies < here , there , aadeverywhere } ia * e & ta , Jmea : ** aets , in notes * in letters , in appendices , in every volume . 14 < K > es t & tim & bber . whether you .: begia with VbiuB * e IH . a » d work backward , wrtThi Volume I-and go «* waseds-or wi A the BWddte of Vo & Haae H . andw ^ rk ttotfo ways ? 5 * will be equally imtelKgible to you . We propose , therefore , to give % SHCcmet account of Lady Blessnigtoirs career ; collected with some trdttbte front this imbroglro ; then to examine the mass of correspondence J & re printed , and , lastly , to offer a few critical observations on Dr . Madden ' s execution of'his task . _ ¦ .. - . - . ...
. . _ Margaret Power waa born either in 17 S 9 or 17 S 0 . Her fether , Edmund Bower , was a perfect specimen of an trash Jsmtleman of the good old times . For iafterest ' s sake he sided with the Loyalists in the . great Rebellion ., became ; the terror of Xipperary ift . behalf of Church and King , and
uothappy , and . on Farmer going , to India she separated on plea of climate * privately , however , intuaatiog . ill-usage and no-love as tke cause . After a short residence with her father she proceeded to London to her , brother *; and lived with Mm untH her marriage with Lord Bless * - iT ^ ow ™ in l « i «; h ^ vibrm ^ Bnp- ^^^ h ^^ 1817 . -In Lord ^ esHington ' s 4 i «» ds JiM & y l & essfargfcon speedily feecam © what , with all lrer good-nature , she continued to be till death , a thorough Sybarite . She was essentially -spoiled by tilis brief rergn of lavish extravagance . With a renti ^ ll of iSfybOOf ., h . er husband not only contrived to spend his income , but to add to it encumbrances which , the moment the Encumbered Estates Act was passed , j > ut -an end for ever to the . glory of the Mountjoys * When he takes iier to his rural lodge , he has her . private' sittiag-rooHa " hang with ^ imson Jf *\ ^ Jill— . . . l .. A i J . « .. iAWkM . ^ ^ rZ # ¦!¦» ^» j- * 1 * 1 l ^ « a 3 J *^ -wk AunmoA . A ivnl AlliN > iMk < Afl ^* t ^ l 4 n 9 M ^ tA . WM ? Genoa silk velvettrimmed ^^ olu Imluon fringeaitdallitRtt ftavnituce ot
, wwx , . equal richness . " The same tfeuig occucxred wherev « iJ' tJiey won * . The palaces ^ of Oriental despots were never more splendid tJi & B the boudoir of this elevated Tipperary girl . Erom . JErelatti'd they proceeded to the family mansion in St . James ' s-square , and here I > ady Blessmgton made her first acquaintance with the London worid of literature and fashion , including D'Ofsay , then , a young man . In 1822 , fatigued with English fashion , Lord and . Lady & kss < - ington . tuvned to the Continent to seek new pastures for future eixhau ^ tiony accompanied by the public ' s beet fr iend Charles Mathews ^ then a 1 »< 3 , and by Lady Blessington ' s sister . Of course they " did" the usual round- — -iVance * Switzerland , Italy . Iu Avignom they added Count d'Orsfly . to their cortege ,. and from that day to her death he was scarcely ever separated from , Lady Blessington . At . Genoa she met Byron ^ and considerii > g that her supposed intimacy with him firat , gave , her any literary importance im Engla must & coratuveu to return out oi
ncu , we sy ^ sue . ma-jce a large a very small capital . It will hardly be believed that she only was acquainted with the poet for two montlw , and only saw him six times . At Naples the Blossingtons resided a long time , the centre of , its : fashion * gathering around them all . the English notabilities , in the chatuctor of My Lord and My L « 4 y . Before leaving Italy Count d'Orsay-was married to Lord Blessing ' ton ' s only legitimate child , by his first wife . ; an act which , served to ens * bitter the lives of all concerned in the transaction , to throw a scandal round them in virtuous , scandal-loving England ,: and to limit Lady Blessington ' s sphere of society . This marriage was a freakof Lord Blesaington ^ s . He mat' for his daughter from England post haste * compelled her to niarry X ^ Ocsay , , having previously bribed the Count by large settlements . This , was in I 8 iii ; they lived together till 1831 , when they had a legal ejeparatioa . The lady rs stili living , and remarried . Such is the exact truth . of thistitdc episode , and all nuuuaov of scandalous variations can now di » , JTrom . Italy the Blcssingtone returned to Paris , and took up their
abode there , in the . palace of Marshal Ney ou ( a . £ cale of uoparatteledrspl « en dovr . , . In 18-29 Lord Blessington died of a fit of apoplexy in the Clwu » f » s , Elys * es Shordy afterward ,. Lady Blessington came to London and .: comcaenced hec vocation as reine de salon in Seataore t -place , with . all the splendour . her . join * ture of 2000 Z . per annutn and liberal borrowings would admit . Beautiful * accomplished , widow of a peer , and reputed intimate friead of Byron , the wit , -rank ,-. and talent of London soon , became hatitaated . to tbe almost nightly reunions at Lady . Blessington ' s . At first - these meetings " were gia > r thered together from an intellectual Sybaritism on Lady Blesslngtott ' iS part : —a desire to be surrounded ; by the true aristocracy of London ^ the beati minds and the best manners , for pure enjoyment ' s sake . After ward *; when she removed to G < ore House , the motive and the meetings'deteriorated The motive then became a mere settled and ravenous desire to-collect arouad
her all the notabilities of the season without regard to desert : and there is little disguising of the . fact in these volumes , that in the end the Gere Housesoirees grew insincere , empty , andfalse- ^ -a race of' over-refined men , with no : real energy or force ; contributors to Annuals and -Books of Beauty were , puffed into celebrities there ,, pufiing . gratefully in their tuara—worthy eccentricities , were invited solely to be quizzed by D'Orsay and the hostess for the general amusement—and scandal , ever active in our moral land ,. kej > t away virtuous women aad many sterner men , until the high comedy became a froti ^ y vaudeville ,, and the . impatient Jews brought tJie curtaia down . To state who were Lady Blessingfeon ' s acquaintances * , visitors , and correspondents , would be to catalogue nearly every male eelebrity of the nineteenth century . Politicians , lawyers , poets , philosophers * , historians , rwiaters , lHflJsicians , sciaJptors --every notoriety , except parsons and correct
ladies— -were her visitors and correspondents . How should it : not be so ?' Lady Bleswngton was ravenous for celebrities on the one hand—on the other , it had become aa indispensability to an aspiring witling to have the ; ento-ee to Gore House . She removed to Gore House in 1836—Count d'Orsay living in a . small h © use chise by ; soon , however , ifcey resided , -under the saaie root To keep up this new establishment she was ^ driven to literature , writing some twenty novels , editing innumerable annuals , & c , and making about 2 O 0 OZ . a year by her pen . But title * and a clique cannot long carry off mediocrity—the public emphatically > abstained from buying , anauals— the publishers lost by her novels and . would publish no more—aad poor Lady Blessington dwindled in despair to the Sunday 2 Hmes and . Lady ' Newspaper ^ but all in vain . In 1849 Gore House was cleared out . by auction , and Lady Biessiagtonand Count
d'Orsay proceeded to Earis . to solve the dreadfiil problem of trying to live = on 2 fO 0 O / . per anaun . But it was not to be solved . " Put not your faith in Princes' * was oaee mor ^ to receive a cr uel iHustration > . Among thefavoured ^ -nay , the protected guests of Gore House , was ^ one Lows Bo--na ^ asxe , a political refugee of the adventurous , order , taking rank with ' disinherited Dukes of Brunswick , ail stuck with diamonds and made up / with rouge ^ and regarded askan ce by the politioal aristocracy . _ He had net * as yet won his spurs by triple perjury and by wholesale civic slaughter ; , He was then living " on his wits , " ai ^ was = not yet kno wn to Loi'd Derby , as that great man . " We need not here tell how that l-efugee became Prince-President of the French Republic . What we have to relate in this place is , that when his friend in adversity , whose house had been the home of his-exiie , called at the Elysee Palace in 1 « 40 , the Prince-President was engaged , and-amidst a xa-owdiof place-hunters in the ante-chambers Lady Blessington was invited to-wait her turn ! With all her experience of the worlds gratitude and fidelity it may be the repulse was . felt ; She did net wait her turn ! In fbiar months she died with mysterious suddenness , and
is interred side by side with D'Orsay , who soon followed her * after re » pudiaiiiTig the Prince-President" as an ingrate , and showing : M . de Per » - signy " the door ? ' " Bei ¥ tifin , *' captivatiftgr w ^^ feelings ^ , s he will be a historic name in literature , not for what , she wrote , but for what she was c a-iwl her chequered destiny leaves behind this moral —terrible to the rich , solacing to the poor—that neither beauty nor talent , riches « or < sumptw 0 sity , *» t the most brilliant society , nor the putplest rai * ment . or finest linen , « an > oreadier happy a life without a purpose . Two outiofi the tlii'ee of theee ponderous volumes are filled with letters written by and to Lady Blessington : the latter by far the most numerous . O £ Lady BUessingtonte letters it mil be sufficient to say that they do not correspond to her literary reputation . The letters addressed to her com * pr ise letters from every illustrious name who has taken a permanent or teinjvornry seat in the Temple of Fame , and from dozens ot insects who h * ve ciytwled in sui'reptAtkwiBly througli its kcyholea . The vast maj ority of tketo should nevei * . liave . beoo printed , being mere eanpty notes of form , of
which tke followuaur >» a . < speo > men : — April 2 ( 7 , 1838 . I am happy to say Sir J . Harvey has-appointed your friend to anoffiw in tho de 4 partmont of tho Crown lands . Guenelo . Not do any of the longer and seemingly important epistles add totheir \ vriters' reputations . Volume II . contains numerooa letters from Sir William Gell , L . Jiw L ., and W . S :. kawdor . Gen ' s letters arc the modfc amusing 1 ; L .. E . L . ' s have only a personal interest ; Labor ' s are intriiwtcally the beet , and the only letters th «* can be road with any profit . Ttoereis alsoa correspooden-ce with the Gu-iecioli , interesting on Byron ' s account . Thero is afao n fine bold letter from th « t Btrana-e woman tire Coun * oss America
VoBpucci . * None of these letters adm . it « f ox tract ; except in their entirety , tor wnich they are too long ; Volume IU . contains shorter correspondence witft " everybody conceivable ^ ft- om the Dnko of Wellingt on to Genera * l hipp s , from Charles Dickoiw to M *; S . C . Hall . None are of high merit , teirshould hftw-been printed . It is a great proiao to these writers « hat they bear no trace of having been written for publicatiow , they are gonerauy free , careless » wt « s dashed off at the moment ' s exigence , ^ and ttoai ^ writers a »? e clearly not to bo binmod or dei > reciate < l becouse they arc Wot « ntet « . taining or c . l » vor as the public would demand . In Charios DickottB ^ lettew there is one touch only that reminds us of " Bbz : •—I bbg to be Wytdly nmomba ^ A to your nieces . I Iras f ^*™* £ ™ i N , 99 te Power , " but it looks ho like tho blue board at a ladies' school , tftat VWoppoA anon .
Tenr Was The Fbbb^Kwrl7, 1855.] ' Wimm L...
tenr was the FBBB ^ kwrl 7 , 1855 . ] ' WimM liJBABrB ^ im
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 17, 1855, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17021855/page/19/
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