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Page 10
Her ladyship was ever ambitious of literary eminence. Possessed of
great beauty, and after a time high station and wealth, she yet
yearned for the recognition by great writers of her position as one of
them. She had published, previous to her continental trip, two
volumes,--one called "The Magic Lantern," the other, "Sketches and
Fragments," both being accounts of and comments upon London society;
both were unsuccessful. Her one book which will remain in literature
was consequent upon her meeting with Lord Byron in Genoa, in 1823, and
is a record of her conversations with the poet. She who aspired to
make her mark in literature has made it, but as the chronicler of the
sentiments, vanities, whims, and oddities of another. But it was no
ordinary ability that was competent to persuade the great poet,
usually unapproachable, to avow, in picturesque language, his opinions
on men, women, and manners,--to provide for later times the data from
which to gauge his strange personality.
She has written much of herself into her records; and calumny urged,
at the time of publication, that she insinuated in her writings a far
greater degree of friendship on the poet's part than really existed.
Yet, in refutation of this is Byron's letter to Moore:--
"I have just seen some friends of yours, who paid me a visit
yesterday, which, in honor of them and of yours, I returned to-day, as
I reserve my bear-skin and teeth and paws and claws for our enemies.
"Your allies, whom I found very agreeable personages, are Milor
Blessington and _�pouse_, travelling with a very handsome companion,
in the shape of a 'French count' (to use Farquhar's phrase in the
'Beau's Stratagem'), who has all the air of a _cupidor d�cha�n�_.
Milady seems highly literary; to which, and your honor'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 on which the
sun of Italy does not shine so frequently as the chandelier."
The Countess Guiccioli was among those who depreciated the
Blessingtons' accounts of the conversations; but then, perchance,
there may have been some jealousy of the attractive English woman's
influence over the poet. The Blessingtons left Genoa in June of 1823,
and continued their journeyings throughout Italy until 1828. In the
preceding year, Count D'Orsay had become the husband of the Earl of
Blessington's daughter, Lady Harriet Frances Gardiner, when she was
but little over fifteen years of age; but they lived together but
three years. In 1829, the Earl died in Paris; and the Countess
continued there until after the Revolution of 1830, when she returned
to England. Her journal of the trip from Naples to Paris, and her stay
in that city, was published in 1841, under the title of "The Idler in
France." In England she took a house in Seamore Place, Mayfair, and
later removed to Gore House, Kensington, with which place is
associated the traditions of her elegant entertainings and her
intercourse with many men of eminence, but also with a course of
living which compromised her reputation in society. Her son-in-law,
the Count, continued to form one of her household, though separated
from his wife, the Lady Harriet. Though not received in general
society, the Countess surrounded herself with celebrities of all
nations; and it was at her house that Louis Napoleon was a cherished
guest in his years of exile, and from whence he proceeded to head the
government of France. Here Bulwer came as perhaps her most intimate
friend; here Thackeray was made most welcome, and Lord John Russell
and Lord Palmerston, Canning and Castlereagh were frequent guests.
Dickens,--then a dandy like unto D'Orsay, who seemed to be his
model,--"Rejected Addresses" Smith, the banker-poet Rogers, Kemble,
Wilkie, and Dr. Parr engaged in sparkling converse with their hostess,
who sat in a deep arm-chair while Tom Moore was privileged to perch
himself on a footstool at her feet; and by all these men she was
held in unqualified respect. Her income became impaired and unequal to
the expense of entertaining. She resorted to literature to add to her
resources. She was engaged by Heath, the engraver, to edit a certain
class of annuals popular in those days. For some years her income from
"The Keepsake" and "The Book of Beauty" exceeded one thousand pounds a
year. Her novels, too, were a source of some profit. For "Strathern"
she received about three thousand dollars. These romances were weak in
character and plot, but were fair pictures of society portrayed with
much piquancy. In one, "Grace Cassidy," she describes interestingly
scenes of her youth in Ireland. But interest in her work waned, and as
she seems not to have thought of retrenchment of her expenditure,
disaster rapidly descended. In 1849, she had perforce to sell out, and
then moved to Paris, where she died in the same year. She was buried
at Chambourcy, near St. Germain-en-Laye, the residence of the Duc and
Duchesse de Grammont, the sister and brother-in-law of Count D'Orsay.
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