file which includes the original illustrations4 ,see #afjgi-;h4htm or #afjgi-;h4zip3 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/dirs_/#a_/ f_/j_/g_/afjgi_/afjgi-;h_/#afjgi-;h4htm7 or 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/dirs_/#a_/ f_/j_/g_/afjgi_/afjgi-;h4zip7 ,,some ,,old ,,time ,,beauties ,after ,portraits by the ,english ,masters1 with ,embellishment and ,comment by ,,thomson ,,willing ,boston ,joseph ,knight ,company ,,mdcccxcv ,,contents ,,georgiana1 ,,duchess ,,of ,,devonshire ,portrait by ,thomas ,gainsborough ,,mary1 ,,honorable ,,mrs4 ,,graham ,portrait by ,thomas ,gainsborough4 ,,emma1 ,,lady ,,hamilton ,portrait by ,george ,romney4 ,,mrs4 ,,sheridan ,portrait by ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds4 ,,marguerite1 ,,countess ,,blessington ,portrait by ,sir ,thomas ,lawrence4 ,,mary ,,isabella1 ,,duchess ,,of ,,rutland ,portrait by ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds4 ,,lavinia1 ,,countess ,,spencer ,portrait by ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds4 ,,elizabeth1 ,,duchess ,,of ,,hamilton ,portrait by ,catharine ,read4 ,,maria1 ,,countess ,,of ,,coventry ,portrait by ,gavin ,hamilton4 ,,elizabeth1 ,,countess ,,grosvenor ,portrait by ,sir ,thomas ,lawrence4 ,illustration3 ,,georgiana1 ,,duchess ,,of ,,devonshire by ,,gainsborough ,,her ,,grace ,,of ,,devonshire ,the ,dashing ,duchess1--the impulsive1 ebullient beauty whose smile swayed ministers1 and for whose favor princes were beggars6 ,a loveliness of manner1 as of feature1 such seductive color1--glowing carnations1--and such golden-brown hair1 with a fine figure1 made up an opulent personality1 than which no more consummate type of beauty has been preserved to us by painter or poet4 ,georgiana ,spencer was the daughter of ,lord ,spencer1 afterwards first ,earl ,spencer2 but her impulsiveness1 her waywardness1 and improvidence were a legacy from her grandfather1 ,jack ,spencer1 the grandson and special favorite of the beautiful ,sarah1 ,duchess of ,marlborough4 ,her ,torismond1 she called him4 ,his was a career of profligacy1 a course of error and extravagance4 ,his mother was ,lady ,sunderland1 known in society as the little ,whig1 from her small stature and her persistent politics4 ,her party badge was always worn1--the black patch on the left side of the face1 as distinguished from the ,tory fashion of wearing it on the right side4 ,so ,georgiana came legitimately by her beauty1 her ,whiggish politics1 and her versatile vivacity of manner1 as well as her improvidence and indiscretion4 ,but her mother's strong character was a potent influence4 ,she was the daughter of the ,right ,honorable ,stephen ,poyntz1 and was of high repute for generosity1 for sensibility1 for charity1 and for courteous dignity of demeanor4 ,we hear of ,georgiana being a beautiful child2 and ,reynolds as well as ,gainsborough1 both made painted record of that childish beauty4 ,her brightness of mind gave her an interest in art1 in music1 and in literature2 and1 though not proficient in the practice of either1 she had more than the society woman's knowledge of them4 ,at seventeen1 she married ,william1 fifth ,duke of ,devonshire1 ten years her senior4 ,his was a temperament antipathetic to hers1--unsympathetic1 unimpressionable1 and taciturn1 yet withal of the ,cavendish characteristic persistency of purpose and honest intent4 ,the ,duchess at once became a queen of society in the ,carlton ,house ,court4 ,devonshire ,house was an assembly place for the ,whigs2 and its lovely mistress was the hostess of many a statesman exalted by his wit1 as of many a politician with following by virtue of his station4 ,like all radical companies1 it was a motley mixture that found welcome there4 ,the ,prince of ,wales was a devotee4 ,the then shining ,sheridan was a frequenter2 but with the name of ,fox has that of the ,duchess been more associated than of aught other4 ,her supremacy among these companions was not in the manner of the ,french ,salon leaders1--while wit1 knowledge1 and tact were hers1 she lived not by learning1 but by her liveliness and jollity4 ,she was not the scholar in politics1 but the politician among scholars out of school4 ,it was a roystering1 revelling company2 and political as well as personal penury became the portion of many as the result of these improvident and profligate days4 ,the episode of the ,duchess's career which is most known1 is her purchase1 by a kiss1 of a vote for ,fox when she was championing his cause in an election1 and canvassing for votes in company with her sister1 ,lady ,duncannon4 ,it was said1 never before had two such lovely portraits appeared on a canvass4 ,a butcher bargained for his vote by asking a kiss from the lovely lips of the seductive ,duchess4 ,the price was paid1 amid the plaudits of the crowd4 ,an ,irish elector1 impressed by the fair appellant's vivacity1 exclaimed3 ,i could light my pipe at her eyes4 ,fox was elected for the ,tory borough of ,westminster1 and great was the rejoicing at ,carlton ,house4 ,a fete was given on the grounds the day following1 and the ordinarily well-apparelled ,prince appeared in a superb costume of the radical colors1 blue and buff4 ,this was the period of the ,duchess's greatest glory1 as well as of her most superb charm of personality2 and it was about this period that ,gainsborough painted his perennially delightful presentment of her4 ,she was then twenty-seven years of age1 and had been married ten years4 ,wraxall wrote what is probably the best contemporary description of her3 ,the personal charms of the ,duchess of ,devonshire constituted her smallest pretensions to universal admiration2 nor did her beauty consist1 like that of the ,gunnings1 in regularity of features1 and faultless formation of limbs and shape2 it lay in the amenity and graces of her deportment1 in her irresistible manners1 and the seduction of her society4 ,her hair was not without a tinge of red2 and her face1 though pleasing1 yet1 had it not been illuminated by her mind1 might have been considered an ordinary countenance4 ,it is said of ,gainsborough that1 while painting the ,duchess1 he drew his wet pencil across a mouth all thought exquisitely lovely1 saying1 ',her ,grace is too hard for me4' ,the lady later knew the cuts of comment1 and the keen pain of justifiable jealousy4 ,the rival in her husband's attentions was ,lady ,elizabeth ,foster1 daughter of the ,earl of ,bristol1 a brunette of handsome presence1 and at the death of ,georgiana1 in #ahjf1 she became the second wife of the ,duke4 ,there was an apparent friendship between the ladies1 and ,lady ,elizabeth for a time lived under the same roof as the ,duchess4 ,madame d',arblay1 in #agia1 visited her at ,bath1 and made record then of her introduction to the ,duchess1 and indicated the premonition of trouble in this wise4 ,presently followed two ladies2 ,lady ,spencer1 with a look and manner warmly announcing pleasure in what she was doing1 then introduced me to the first of them1 saying1 ',duchess of ,devonshire1 ,miss ,burney4' ,she made me a very civil compliment upon hoping my health was recovering2 and ,lady ,spencer then1 slightly1 and as if unavoidably1 said1 ',lady ,elizabeth ,foster4' ,gibbon said of the latter1 that1 ,no man could withstand her2 and that if she chose to beckon the ,lord ,chancellor from his woolsack1 in full sight of the world1 he could not resist obedience4 ,reynolds painted a portrait of her1 showing a bright-eyed1 smiling lady1 with close-curled hair1 of girlish appearance4 ,in ,samuel ,rogers's ,table ,talk are several mentions of the famous ,georgiana1 and especially one which tells of her love for gambling4 ,gaming was the rage during her day2 she indulged in it1 and was made miserable by her debts4 ,a faro-table was kept by ,martindale1 at which the ,duchess and other high fashionables used to play4 ,sheridan said that the ,duchess and ,martindale had agreed that whatever they two won from each other should be sometimes double1 sometimes treble1 what it was called4 ,and ,sheridan assured me that he had handed the ,duchess into her carriage when she was literally sobbing at her losses1 she having lost fifteen hundred pounds1 when it was supposed to be only five hundred pounds4 ,a life such as she then led surely affected her appearance4 ,in #aghc1 ,walpole wrote3 ,the ,duchess of ,devonshire1 the empress of fashion1 is no beauty at all4 ,she was a very fine woman1 with all the freshness of youth and health1 but verges fast to a coarseness4 ,the offspring of the ,duchess ,georgiana were3 ,georgiana ,dorothy1 afterwards ,countess ,carlisle1 whose letters were lately published1 and exhibit an original observation and a terse style of record2 ,henrietta ,elizabeth1 later ,countess ,granville2 and a son1 who succeeded to the ,dukedom4 ,about the latter's birth was some mystery2 insinuation was active4 ,the ,duchess had little liking for domestic life1 so normal neglect of child may have been construed into an unnatural dislike4 ,her son never married4 ,through the stress of the home infelicity1 her beauty waned2 but her bearing and breeding kept her paramount in her set4 ,she is known to this later generation only as a superb beauty who stands with such opulent charm of costume1 and of fine hauteur of manner1 amid the noble groves of ,chatsworth--as the once potential original of ,gainsborough's greatest portrait4 ,the bust outlasts the throne1 the coin ,tiberius4 ,a most pathetic tribute to the beauty of the ,duchess was paid by ,peter ,pindar 7,dr4 ,wolcot71 who addressed ,a ,petition to ,time in favor of the ,duchess of ,devonshire1 and implored the ,inexorable thus3-- ,hurt not the form that all admire4 ,oh1 never with white hairs her temple sprinkle6 ,oh1 sacred be her cheek1 her lip1 her bloom6 ,and do not1 in a lovely dimple's room1 ,place a hard mortifying wrinkle4 ,know shouldst thou bid the beauteous duchess fade1 ,thou1 therefore1 must thy own delights invade2 ,and know1 't will be a long1 long while ,before thou givest her equal to our isle4 ,then do not with this sweet chef-d'oeuvre part1 ,but keep to show the triumph of thy art4 ,a dramatic fate has befallen the original canvas4 ,in #ahge1 it was sold at auction1 and was bought by a firm of dealers for the then highest price paid for a single picture in ,england4 ,the publicity gained by this was taken advantage of by the purchasers to exhibit the picture4 ,one morning when the gallery was opened1 the frame only was there2 the picture had vanished4 ,the canvas is lost4 ,illustration3 ,,mary1 ,,the ,,honorable ,,mrs ,,graham by ,,gainsborough ,,lovely ,,mary ,,cathcart ,like the happiest countries that have no history1 the tranquil life of joyous content leaves little to chronicle4 ,only in the nobility of character of a husband who grieved her loss for years1 and in his strong dignity1 and devotion to her memory1 do we get a hint of the gracious and good lady whom ,gainsborough has made immortal for us4 ,and in that phrase of her lifetime1 lovely ,mary ,cathcart1 is a whole biography of benignity and beauty4 ,she came of one of the most ancient and noble families in ,scotland1 and was the daughter of the ninth ,baron ,cathcart1 called ,cathcart of ,fontenoy4 ,her brother ,william became the tenth ,baron1 and afterwards the first ,earl ,cathcart4 ,he had studied law1 but abandoned it for the army1 and had a gallant career therein2 becoming a lieutenant-general in #ahja1 and commander-in-chief of the expedition to ,copenhagen in #ahjg2 afterwards acquiring reputation as ambassador for several years at ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,he was perhaps the earliest of ,british noblemen to marry ,american beauties2 having wedded the daughter of ,andrew ,elliott of ,new ,york1 in #aggi4 ,in ,november1 #aggd1 there was rejoicing among the retainers of the ,house of ,cathcart1 for there was to be a double wedding4 ,the eldest daughter1 ,jenny1 was married to the ,duke of ,athole1 that same ,duke who became a friendly patron of ,burns1 and in reference to whom the poet writes1 when addressing some verses to him3 ,it eases my heart a good deal1 as rhyme is the coin with which a poet pays his debts of honor and gratitude4 ,what ,i owe to the noble family of ,athole1 of the first kind1 ,i shall ever proudly boast2 what ,i owe of the last1 so help me ,god1 in my hour of need ,i shall never forget4 ,the second sister1 the ,hon4 ,mary1 was married to ,sir ,thomas ,graham of ,balgowan1 a descendant of the ,marquis of ,montrose and of ,graham of ,claverhouse4 ,the youngest sister1 ,louisa1 later became ,countess of ,mansfield1 and her portrait1 by ,romney1--a seated profile figure with flowing draperies1--is that artist's most masterly work4 ,after eighteen years of happy married life1 she died childless2 one of those good women that were-- ,true in loving all their lives1-- a surpassing spirit whose light adorned the world around it4 ,her husband grieved greatly4 ,he was ordered to travel to divert his despair4 ,he visited ,gibraltar1 and there the dormant martial spirit of his ancestors was aroused by his environment4 ,though then forty-three years of age1 he immediately entered the army as a volunteer4 ,he rapidly rose in his profession1 and had an especially brilliant career in the ,peninsular ,war4 ,in #ahaa1 he became the hero of ,barossa1 and in the same year was made second in command to the ,duke of ,wellington4 ,he was created ,lord ,lynedoch of ,balgowan1 ,perthshire1 and frequently was thanked by ,parliament for his services4 ,sheridan said1 ,never was there a loftier spirit in a braver heart4 ,and alluding to his services during the retreat to ,corunna1 he said1 ,graham was their best adviser in the hour of peril2 and in the hour of disaster1 their surest consolation4 ,scott eulogizes him in the poem1 ,the ,vision of ,don ,roderick1 in the lines1-- ,nor be his praise o'erpast who strove to hide ,beneath the warrior's vest affection's wound1 ,whose wish ,heaven for his country's weal denied2 ,danger and fate1 he sought1 but glory found4 ,from clime to clime1 wher'e'r war's trumpets sound1 ,the wanderer went2 yet1 ,caledonia1 still ,thine was his thought in march and tented ground2 ,he dreamed mid ,alpine cliffs of ,athole's hill1 ,and heard in ,ebro's roar his ,lynedoch's lovely rill4 ,o hero of a race renowned of old1 ,whose war-cry oft has waked the battle swell6 ,old ,dr4 ,john ,brown1 of ,edinburgh1 wrote of a late ,duke of ,athole3 ,courage1 endurance1 stanchness1 fidelity1 and warmth of heart1 simplicity1 and downrightness1 were his staples4 ,they are ever the staples of the ,scotch character1 and they were all pre-eminent in ,sir ,thomas4 ,his life was noble1 and his affection was faithful to its early troth4 ,a pathetic history attaches to this picture of ,mrs4 ,graham3 ,when its subject died1 the sorrowing husband had it bricked up where it hung1 and it was only by an accident that it was discovered at his death1 in #ahdc4 ,it now hangs in the ,national ,gallery of ,scotland at ,edinburgh4 ,the present reproduction shows but a part of the picture1 the figure being full length4 ,it has been excellently reproduced in etching by both ,flameng and ,waltner4 ,in #ahhe1 a most comprehensive exhibition of ,gainsborough's works was made at the ,grosvenor ,gallery in ,london4 ,at it was noted the important part this painter had played in perpetuating the lineaments1 bearing1 graces1 and gownings of the great persons of the latter half of the eighteenth century4 ,the lips that laughed an age agone1 ,the fops1 the dukes1 the beauties all1 ,le ,brun that sang and ,carr that shone4 ,there was seen ,the ,hon4 ,miss ,georgiana ,spencer1 at the age of six1 and again a later portrait of her as the ,duchess of ,devonshire1--she of the then irresistibly seductive manners1--and her mother1 ,countess ,spencer1 of whom ,walpole wrote as being one of the beauties present at the coronation of ,george ,,iii41 in #agfa4 ,there1 too1 was ,anne ,luttrell1 daughter of ,simon ,luttrell1 ,baron ,irnham1 who married1 first1 ,christopher ,horton1 and1 secondly1 the ,duke of ,cumberland1 brother of the king4 ,of her ,walpole wrote3 ,there was something so bewitching in her languishing eyes1 which she could animate to enchantment if she pleased1 and her coquetry was so active1 so varied1 and yet so habitual that it was difficult not to see through it1 and yet as difficult to resist it4 ,and here was another widow who captivated royalty1 ,mrs4 ,fitzherbert1 who was a daughter of ,walter ,smythe of ,bambridge1 ,hampshire1 and married1 first1 ,edward ,weld1 secondly1 ,thomas ,fitzherbert of ,synnerton1 ,staffordshire 7who died in #agha71 and was said to have been married to the ,prince of ,wales 7,george ,,iv47 in #aghe4 ,and there also was a more notorious beauty1 ,miss ,grace ,dalrymple1 afterwards ,mrs4 ,elliott1--though divorced later1 and becoming the mistress of various aristocrats1 notably the ,duke of ,orleans4 ,the ,duchess of ,montagu1 granddaughter of the great ,duke of ,marlborough 7one of the ,churchills1--a family prolific of beauties71 was there seen4 ,several pictures of the painter's wife 7who was a ,miss ,margaret ,burr71 of his youngest daughter1 ,mary1 afterwards ,mrs4 ,fischer1 and one of his friend1 ,miss ,linley1 went to augment this superb congregation of beauties shown4 ,portraits of ,garrick1--that intensely interesting ,stratford portrait1--,earl ,spencer1 ,pitt1 ,earl ,stanhope1 ,colonel ,st4 ,leger1 ,george ,,iv41 ,duke of ,cumberland1 ,george ,,iii41 ,earl ,cathcart1 ,canning1 ,dr4 ,johnson1 ,fox1 and several showings of himself1 made up a body of work unsurpassed in importance by that of the president of the ,academy himself4 ,gainsborough was born in #agbg2 he moved to ,bath1 in its most brilliant period1 in #agfj4 ,he died in #aghh1 but had ceased contributing to the ,academy four years before1 because of a disagreement with the hanging committee4 ,his portraits of ladies were always picturesque and individual1 each differentiated from each of his own works as well as from that of other painters4 ,this portrait of the ,hon4 ,mrs4 ,graham is delicate in color1 yellowed somewhat by its long seclusion from the light1--and will remain one of the most delightful and spirituel creations of the old-,english school4 ,illustration3 ,,emma1 ,,lady ,,hamilton by ,,romney ,lady ,hamilton ,with the name of ,lady ,hamilton is ever associated the names of ,england's most famous sailor and of one of her most famous painters4 ,hers was a life redolent of ill-repute4 ,though her beauty was great1 it served her for ill purposes2 but she came by her lack of character by heredity4 ,she was born in #agfa1 the daughter of a female servant named ,harte1 and at the age of thirteen was put to service as a nurse in the house of a ,mr4 ,thomas of ,hawarden1 ,flintshire4 ,she found tending children a tedious task1 and forsook it4 ,at sixteen1 she went to ,london1 and became a lady's maid there4 ,her leisure time was spent in reading novels and plays1 which inspired a love for the drama4 ,she early developed a rare ability for pantomimic representation2 and this became a favorite form of entertainment in drawing-rooms and studios4 ,her duties as a domestic agreed not with the drama1 so her next position was as barmaid in a tavern much frequented by actors and artists4 ,she formed the acquaintance of a ,welsh youth1 on whose being impressed into the navy1 she went to the captain to intercede for him4 ,the boy was liberated1 but the comely intercessor was impressed into the service of the captain4 ,from him she went to live with a man of wealth2 but her extravagance and wilfulness induced him to forego her company4 ,then followed a period of the lowest street degradation4 ,from this state she was taken by a ,dr4 ,graham1 who was a lecturer upon health1 and exhibited the finely-formed ,emma as a perfect specimen of female symmetry4 ,she became the topic of the town4 ,painters1 sculptors1 and others came to admire the shapely limbs shown under but a thin veil of gauze4 ,the young bloods of the time worshipped1--some not afar off2 and one of them1 ,charles ,greville1 of the ,warwick family1 who had essayed to educate her to become a fit companion for his elevated existence1 maintained her for about four years4 ,it is recorded1 that when he took her to ,ranelagh's the sensation was greater than had ever been produced by any other beauty there4 ,not the winsome and witty ,mrs4 ,crewe1 nor her friend ,mrs4 ,bouverie2 not that first flame of the amorous ,prince of ,wales1 ,mrs4 ,robinson1 nor ,anne ,luttrell1 also beloved of royalty2 not the ,marchioness of ,tavistock1 whose loveliness has been preserved to us by ,sir ,joshua1 nor the delightful ,duchess of ,buccleugh2 not ,lady ,cadogan1 and not even the dashing ,duchess of ,devonshire herself1--caused the comment and admiration this low-born unprincipled young woman now excited4 ,mr4 ,greville would have married her had not his uncle1 ,sir ,william ,hamilton1 interfered4 ,it is variously stated that ,sir ,william agreed to pay his nephew's debts if he would yield up his mistress2 and also that1 in endeavoring to free the young man1 the old gentleman himself fell into the snare of her charms4 ,she is better than anything in ,nature4 ,in her own particular way she is finer than anything that is to be found in ,greek art1 exclaimed this savant on first seeing her4 ,she was a most enchanting deceiver1 and a finished actress in the parts of candor and simplicity1 so succeeded in marrying ,sir ,william1 in #agia4 ,he was over sixty years of age1 a man of much classical and scientific erudition1 and had been for many years ambassador at the court of ,naples1 to which place he was soon accompanied by his bride4 ,she became a favorite with the queen1 and a frequent visitor at the palace1 also somewhat of a social success among the ,british residents4 ,she sang well1 and made a specialty of showing herself in attitudes1 or what we term now living pictures1 for the delectation of her guests4 ,you never saw anything so charming as ,lady ,hamilton's attitudes1 wrote the ,countess of ,malmesbury to her sister1 ,lady ,elliot2 the most graceful statues or pictures do not give you an idea of them4 ,her dancing the ,tarantella is beautiful to a degree4 ,it was here began that intimacy with ,nelson which became the great blot on his fair fame4 ,he was then commanding the ,agamemnon1 and she became his constant companion1 and was sometimes useful to him as a political agent4 ,after the victory of ,aboukir ,bay1 when ,naples went wild in its enthusiastic reception of the naval hero1 ,lady ,hamilton shared the honors of the pageant4 ,she accompanied him in a tour through ,germany2 and most reprehensible was their conduct1 at times1 in defying the decencies of polite life4 ,after the ,treaty of ,amiens1 ,nelson1 accompanied by ,sir ,william and ,lady ,hamilton1 retired to his seat at ,merton1 in ,surrey1 and on the death of the ambassador1 in #ahjc1 he vainly endeavored to procure an allowance from the government for the widow1 on the pretext of the services she had rendered the fleet in ,sicily4 ,failing this1 he himself granted her an annuity of twelve hundred pounds4 ,we all know how at ,trafalgar1 when the hero was dying1 he spoke of dear ,lady ,hamilton1 his guardian angel1 and left to her all his belongings1 and recommended her to the grateful care of his country4 ,notwithstanding this1 she died almost in poverty1 in #ahae4 ,in #ahac she had been imprisoned for debt1 and when out on bail she fled to ,calais1 and there the career was closed4 ,it was extraordinary that this woman should subjugate and hold in thrall men of great force of character4 ,she had great loveliness of person2 but physical beauty alone is ineffectual to charm such as these4 ,though not regularly educated1 she acquired much general knowledge1 and was tactful in the display and use of it4 ,it was during the period of her posing for ,dr4 ,graham1 that ,romney became enamoured of her beauty1 and painted for us more than a dozen important pictures of her4 ,those were the days when ladies of rank and beauty were deified2 and1 following this fashion1 ,romney rendered ,fair ,emma in many guises4 ,her ability in acting made her a most useful model4 ,her features had much mobility1 and were capable of expressing1 with facility1 all gradations of passion and niceties of feeling4 ,emma took pride and pleasure in serving ,romney4 ,he repeated to his friend1 the poet ,hayley1 her request1 that in the biography of the painter1 ,hayley would have much to say of her4 ,one of his earliest classical conceptions painted from her1 was a full length of ,circe with her wand4 ,following this was a ,sensibility1 which became the property of ,hayley4 ,though we remember ,romney chiefly in connection with his ,lady ,hamiltons1 yet he had acquired his reputation and much fortune ere he met her4 ,the great bulk of his portrayals of the nobility preceded his classical subjects1 which took form from his superb model4 ,she was ,cassandra2 she was ,iphigenia1 ,st4 ,caecilia1 ,bacchante1 ,calope1 ,the ,spinstress1 ,joan of ,arc1 ,the ,pythian ,princess ,calypso1 and ,magdalene1--the two latter subjects painted to order for the then ,prince of ,wales4 ,allan ,cunningham has this to say in his sketch of ,romney's life3 ,a lady in the character of a saint4 ,this sort of flattery1 once so prevalent with painters1 is now nearly worn out3 we have now no ,lady ,betty's enacting the part of ,diana2 no ,lady ,jane's tripping it barefoot among the thorns and brambles of this weary world1 in the character of ,hebe4 ,we have none now who either 'sinner it or saint it' on canvas2 the flattery which the painter has to pay is of a more scientific kind1--he has to trust alone to the truth of his drawing and the harmony of his colors4 ,romney was a transgressor in this way at times2 but ,lady ,hamilton's form was used to impart correct form to the conceptions of the painter1--not the theme used merely to exploit the beauty of the lady4 ,in the exhibition of fair women in the ,grafton ,gallery in ,london this summer1 she greeted us in the guise of ,ariadne4 ,in this the painter's use of the title was apt and justifiable4 ,here is the lady wholly clothed in the dress of the time1--a dress superb in its simplicity2 but her pose and mien is indicative of the forsaken1 the forlorn1 despairing woman abandoned by her lover1--the fate of which the old story of the ,greeks is the eternal epitome4 ,the pathos of the pose1 it may have been1 as well as the classic face1 allured the wanderer in the galleries1 and anchored him before this canvas4 ,the fame of ,romney has steadily risen in the several generations from the beginning to the end of the century4 ,though the painter of many men of fame and ladies of fashion1 his work was not held in the greatest regard in his lifetime4 ,though often spoken of as the rival of ,reynolds1 he had not the president's grasp of character or his ability in giving classic grace to the dress of the period1 and he was never admitted as a member to the ,academy4 ,when ,lady ,hamilton commenced posing for him1 he1 perhaps wisely for his fame1 reduced the number of his ordinary sitters1 receiving none until afternoon4 ,the picturing of what he termed her divine beauty became a passion with him2 and the enthusiasm of the sitter was nearly as great as that of the painter1 and she enacted his classic conceptions4 ,the result is a superb series of pictures of faultless female form1 and loveliness of feature4 ,of the model's immoral career we have naught now to do4 ,here is perpetual beauty1 and it is ours to enjoy4 ,illustration3 ,,mrs ,,sheridan by ,,reynolds ,,st4 ,,caecilia ,there are few names more associated with the brilliant days of ,bath1 the days of its social and artistic prominence1 than those of ,thomas ,linley1 the composer1 and of his daughter1 ,eliza ,anne1 known abroad as the ,fair ,maid of ,bath4 ,linley was born there1 in #agce2 and after his studies in music on the ,continent1 under ,paradies1 he returned to the then fashionable city on the ,avon4 ,he conducted oratorios and concerts there1 and became a power in the community4 ,delicacy1 tenderness1 simplicity1 and taste were the characteristics of his compositions4 ,it was said of him1 that as ,garrick had restored ,shakspeare1 so ,linley has restored the sublime music of ,handel4 ,he trained his family to take part in the performances4 ,his son ,thomas1 born in #agef1 developed a marvellous ability in music1--playing the violin with great brilliancy and expression4 ,he was the friend of ,mozart1 and took at times his father's place as conductor of the oratorios4 ,his career was cut short by drowning1 in #aggh4 ,but it was his beautiful daughter ,eliza1 born in #aged1 who made the sensation of the time1 when she sang with her sister1 afterwards ,mrs4 ,tickell4 ,a nest of nightingales1 the family was termed4 ,walpole writes1 in #aggc3 ,i was not at the ball last night1 and have only been to the opera1 where ,i was infinitely struck with the ,carrara1 who is the prettiest creature upon earth4 ,mrs4 ,hartley ,i own to still find handsomer1 and ,miss ,linley1 to be the superlative degree4 ,the king admires the last1 and ogles her as much as he dares to do in so holy a place as an oratorio1 and at so devout a service as ',alexander's ,feast4' ,musical prominence and personal beauty in this maid of but twenty made her an attractive flower in bloom to others than the king4 ,the wits and gallants of the gay city sought and courted her4 ,the family of ,tom ,sheridan1 the ,irish actor1 and then a teacher of elocution in ,bath1 was intimate with the ,linley family4 ,richard1 who was born in ,dublin in #agea1 his elder brother ,charles1 and ,nathaniel ,halhed1 a companion and literary partner with ,richard1 all admired the daughter ,eliza4 ,halhed went to ,india1--afterwards becoming a judge there1--and ,charles ,sheridan retired from the race1 and left the literary youth to win as pure a heart as ever cheered incipient genius to works of worth4 ,she was lauded in verse by her young ,irish suitor1 and championed in deed4 ,he asserts his constancy in a poem1 of which the first stanza is-- ,dry that tear1 my gentlest love2 ,be hushed that struggling sigh2 ,nor seasons1 day1 nor fate shall prove ,more fixed1 more true than ,i4 ,hushed be that sigh1 be dry that tear2 ,cease boding doubt1 cease anxious fear2 ,dry be that tear4 ,he proves his devotion by his action when appealed to by his divinity4 ,a certain ,captain ,matthews1 one of a numerous breed in ,bath in those days1--that is1 a fashionable scoundrel and a married man1--made himself obnoxious to ,miss ,linley by improper addresses4 ,he annoyed and harassed her1 threatening to destroy himself unless she gratified him1 and later attempted to sully her reputation by calumnies4 ,this brought about the culmination of her attachment to ,sheridan4 ,she fled her father's house and sought the protection of her lover4 ,accompanied by a chaperon1 they left for ,france4 ,after some romantic adventures1 they were married in ,march1 #aggb1 at a little village near ,calais2 but it was a wedding without the wherewithal to maintain a home1 so the bride entered a convent1 and1 later1 the house of an ,english physician1 until literature should be remunerative4 ,the eloping lady's father sought the runaways2 and1 after some explanations1 they returned with him to ,england4 ,it was shortly after this that ,sheridan fought two duels with ,matthews1 being wounded in the later one to such an extent that his recovery was doubtful4 ,sweet ,betsy claimed the right of a wife to tend her hurt husband1 and so revealed the fact of the marriage in ,france4 ,the old actor rejected his impulsive son1 but ,linley's aversion to the union of his daughter being at last set aside1 the pair were re-married in ,england in ,april1 #aggc4 ,the sweet singer had been admired by another1 an elderly suitor of much fortune1 whom her father had approved1 but to whom she was averse4 ,this gentleman now became the benefactor of the pair4 ,he settled a moiety of three thousand pounds on the bride4 ,her father retained half of this as compensation for the loss of the services of his daughter4 ,on the balance1 the youthful couple lived4 ,sheridan had entered himself a student of the ,middle ,temple shortly before his marriage4 ,though their income was small1 he would not allow his wife to accept several proffered professional engagements2 he did not wish his helpmeet to become a servant of the public4 ,this action incited some discussion1 and much acrimonious comment1 in her family and among their friends4 ,johnson upheld his course4 ,sheridan1 in this instance1 understood himself and understood the times4 ,he knew of the flippant attitude of the young blades of the town toward all public performers2 so he sought to save her1 who was so sacred to him1 from such insult1 insincere adulation1 and insinuation as she had heretofore suffered from4 ,they retired to a cottage at ,east ,burnham2 and there she1 who had received the plaudits of the public as a vocalist1 won as noble a name in the character of the ideal wife1 one in whom were united all the attributes of loveliness1--temper1 manners1 virtues1 and surpassing beauty4 ,what the then public lost1 later generations have gained in the picture of that lovable woman1 making a golden age of happiness for her greatly-gifted husband in the little cottage at ,east ,burnham4 ,fanny ,burney records her pleasant impressions of the bride1--,i was absolutely charmed at the sight of her4 ,i think her quite as beautiful as ever1 and even more captivating2 for she has now a look of ease and happiness that animates her whole face4 ,miss ,linley was with her2 she is very handsome1 but nothing near her sister2 the elegance of ,mrs4 ,sheridan's beauty is unequalled by any ,i ever saw1 except ,mrs4 ,crewe4 ,i was pleased with her in all respects4 ,she is much more lively and agreeable than ,i had any idea of finding her2 she was very gay1 and very unaffected1 and totally free from airs of any kind4 ,in #agge1 the husband's genius was acknowledged by the town2 for in ,january1 that year1 was first presented ,the ,rivals4 ,in that play he draws from the material displayed by the superficial1 flashing1 and piquant society of the day at ,bath1 and from his own experience the inimitable duel scene therein4 ,much success followed for the dramatist4 ,in the following year1 in conjunction with his father-in-law1 he purchased from ,garrick the ,drury ,lane ,theatre4 ,they brought out several operas together2 ,linley's music in ,the ,duenna and ,the ,beggar's ,opera1 being especially fine4 ,hazlitt speaks of the songs in them as having a joyous spirit of intoxication1 and strains of the most melting tenderness4 ,in #aggg1 appeared ,the ,school for ,scandal1 a theme also suggested by scandal-mongering ,bath4 ,his fond and faithful wife lived not to see the dimming of the genius that produced these classics2 she died of a decline1 at ,bristol1 in #agib4 ,her daughter1 too1 died within the same year4 ,two of her accomplished descendants1 through her son1 have displayed some of her romantic taste and charm of manner to a generation just preceding our own1--her granddaughters1 ,lady ,dufferin1 mother of the ,english ambassador to ,france1 and ,hon4 ,caroline ,norton1 author of ,love not1 love not1 ye hapless sons of men4 ,though she whom he had adored was but three years dead1 ,sheridan married1 in #agie1 ,esther ,jane ,ogle1 daughter of the ,dean of ,winchester4 ,with her he obtained some money and this1 added to his own1 purchased the estate of ,polesdon1 in ,surrey4 ,his wife was1 at that time1 spoken of as young1 amiable1 and devoted to him4 ,she died at about the same time as he1 in #ahaf4 ,in the first flush of those romantic wedded days of their youth how impressive must have been the appearance of that markedly clever young man1 eager in the fight for fame1 and of his beauteous bride from ,bath4 ,reynolds painted1 in #aggi1 the standard presentment of ,sheridan4 ,walpole's comment on it was3 ,praise cannot overstate the merits of this portrait4 ,it is not canvas and color1 it is animated nature--all the unaffected manner and character of the great original4 ,the artist said that among all his sitters none had such large pupils of the eyes4 ,with the brilliance of that mind informing the face1 his features1 though not regular1 were handsome4 ,of all the portraits of ,miss ,linley1 perhaps the one by ,gainsborough1 in which she is portrayed with her young brother1 gives the best idea of the special character of her type of beauty4 ,here are the large lustrous eyes and the very delicately modelled1 sensitive1 refined features2 here1 the luxuriant hair1 the slender neck1 and the sloping shoulders2 and here1 the superb poise of head and of mind4 ,there is another fine picture of her by ,gainsborough1 for this painter was one of the brilliant men who frequented her father's house at ,bath4 ,a musician he was1 too1 and an excellent performer on the violin1 so was congenial company in that musical family4 ,he admired the daughter1 and wrought for us the delightful records of her beauty4 ,his change of residence1 from ,bath to ,london1 coincided in date with that of the ,sheridans4 ,opie1 too1 painted her portrait2 not an ideal one1 but good in respect to her eyes4 ,and ,romney has given us good pictures both of her and ,mrs4 ,tickell4 ,reynolds's portrayal is supreme in indicating the exaltation of spirit1 by the poise of head and perfection of profile4 ,this picture of her as the patron saint of song was exhibited at the ,academy1 in #agge1 just about the time its subject had abandoned public singing4 ,it has been most beautifully engraved by ,bartolozzi1 and ranks as one of his best plates4 ,when the days of sorrow came to ,sheridan1--when his weaknesses of character brought him to a low estate2 when poverty became his portion1 and the long lost days of romantic love became but a memory2 when treasure after treasure1 manuscripts1 and sumptuous books were disposed of1 and presentation pictures were pawned1--this picture of ,st4 ,caecilia1 a reminder of the days that had vanished1 was the last valued possession to be parted with4 ,illustration3 ,,marguerite ,,countess ,,of ,,blessington by ,,lawrence ,,lady ,,blessington ,the brilliant ,blessington1--brilliant in beauty and in intellect6 ,throughout her life of romance she was fortunate in her literary friendships1 through whom a knowledge of her abilities has grown to tradition1 but most fortunate in the portrayer of her beauty4 ,lawrence has painted a picture which it is a perpetual pleasure to behold1--the superb arms and shoulders1 the serene1 steadfast gaze of the eyes1 and the conscious1 yet confident1 poise of the head forming a record to justify the tradition of great personal beauty and alertness of mind4 ,marguerite ,blessington's youth was ill-regulated and penurious4 ,she was born in #aghi1 the second daughter of ,edmund ,power1 of ,knockbrit1 near ,clonmel1 in the county of ,tipperary4 ,her father came of a good family1 as did also her mother1 who spoke unduly often of her ancestors1 the ,desmonds4 ,marguerite was not comely in her early girlhood1 though her sister ,ellen and her brother ,robert were handsome children4 ,as a child1 she was sensitive and sentimental1 and her delight was to browse in a library1--and it was this taste that equipped her for her later friendships4 ,her power of imagination was uncommonly strong1 and she became the entertainer of her children-companions with stories of her own imagining1 as well as by her recitals of legends and romance learned in the library4 ,her father removed to ,clonmel1 and became editor of a paper there4 ,he was not prosperous1 and was a man of perverse temper1 which grew with adversity4 ,marguerite and her sister were fancied by some wealthy maiden-lady relatives1 and were taken by them to a home of comfort4 ,on their return to ,clonmel1--beautiful1 and with the distinction of knowledge and a clever use of it1--they were a contrast to the ordinary ,irish country girl1 whose whole equipment of dress and accomplishments was two washing gowns and a tune on the piano4 ,the girls took part in all the gayeties of the town1 and1 besides the charm of their conversation1 were graceful dancers2 and though ,marguerite was less beautiful1 she was most tasteful in dress1 and this became always a noted characteristic of hers4 ,they became the attraction of an ,english regiment recently stationed in the town1 and ,marguerite was soon married1 through the insistence of her father1 to a ,captain ,farmer1 when less than fifteen years of age4 ,this was the great misfortune of her life4 ,her husband was subject to fits of insanity1 and her whole feeling towards him was that of aversion4 ,cruelty and caprice were the chief components of his character4 ,from his tyranny she fled1--first to her father's house1 but was denied solace there1 so sought it elsewhere4 ,she led a somewhat vagabond existence for about nine years1 living first with one friend1 then with another2 thankful for any home1 and accommodating herself to any companions4 ,of this period of her life not much is recorded1 save her beauty1 for it was shortly after this that her peerless portrait was painted1 ere her sorrow and suffering had time to efface the vivacity of youth1 but only to give depth to the eyes and interest to the face4 ,she lived in ,london with her brother ,robert until in #ahag1 when her husband's death occurred by his falling out of a window when in a state of drunken frenzy4 ,four months after this she became the second wife of an ,irish nobleman of a dashing person and little brains1 ,charles ,john ,gardiner1 second ,earl of ,blessington1 when she was twenty-eight and he was thirty-five years of age4 ,with this marriage came a reversal of her misfortunes4 ,her generosity1 sympathy1 and good heart soon prompted the improvement of the conditions of her own family1 and in this gave emphatic evidence of that devotedness to duty and friends which became her strongest trait4 ,her youngest sister1 ,marianne1 was adopted and educated by her1 and became her travelling companion1 and long afterwards her modest biographer4 ,her sister ,ellen married first1 ,mr4 ,home ,purves1 and afterwards1 ,viscount ,canterbury1 speaker of the ,house of ,commons4 ,lord ,blessington's income was great1 but his tastes were extravagant as were also his wife's1 and luxurious was their home in ,st4 ,james's ,square1 and magnificent the manner in which they entertained the brilliant society gathered there2 and for three years their brilliant companies of beauty and intellect outshone the congregations at ,holland ,house4 ,in #ahbb1 ,count ,d',orsay1 a polished and accomplished young ,frenchman1 visited ,london1 and was made most welcome by the ,blessingtons4 ,in ,august of that year they started for a leisurely tour of the ,continent4 ,the ,countess kept a diary during this journeying1 which was published in #ahci1 under the title of ,the ,idler in ,italy1 revealing a keen observation and a capacity for entertaining comment4 ,her ladyship was ever ambitious of literary eminence4 ,possessed of great beauty1 and after a time high station and wealth1 she yet yearned for the recognition by great writers of her position as one of them4 ,she had published1 previous to her continental trip1 two volumes1--one called ,the ,magic ,lantern1 the other1 ,sketches and ,fragments1 both being accounts of and comments upon ,london society2 both were unsuccessful4 ,her one book which will remain in literature was consequent upon her meeting with ,lord ,byron in ,genoa1 in #ahbc1 and is a record of her conversations with the poet4 ,she who aspired to make her mark in literature has made it1 but as the chronicler of the sentiments1 vanities1 whims1 and oddities of another4 ,but it was no ordinary ability that was competent to persuade the great poet1 usually unapproachable1 to avow1 in picturesque language1 his opinions on men1 women1 and manners1--to provide for later times the data from which to gauge his strange personality4 ,she has written much of herself into her records2 and calumny urged1 at the time of publication1 that she insinuated in her writings a far greater degree of friendship on the poet's part than really existed4 ,yet1 in refutation of this is ,byron's letter to ,moore3-- ,i have just seen some friends of yours1 who paid me a visit yesterday1 which1 in honor of them and of yours1 ,i returned to-day1 as ,i reserve my bear-skin and teeth and paws and claws for our enemies4 ,your allies1 whom ,i found very agreeable personages1 are ,milor ,blessington and epouse1 travelling with a very handsome companion1 in the shape of a ',french count' 7to use ,farquhar's phrase in the ',beau's ,stratagem'71 who has all the air of a cupidor dechaine4 ,milady seems highly literary2 to which1 and your honor's acquaintance with the family1 ,i attribute the pleasure of having seen them4 ,she is also very pretty1 even in a morning2 a species of beauty on which the sun of ,italy does not shine so frequently as the chandelier4 ,the ,countess ,guiccioli was among those who depreciated the ,blessingtons' accounts of the conversations2 but then1 perchance1 there may have been some jealousy of the attractive ,english woman's influence over the poet4 ,the ,blessingtons left ,genoa in ,june of #ahbc1 and continued their journeyings throughout ,italy until #ahbh4 ,in the preceding year1 ,count ,d',orsay had become the husband of the ,earl of ,blessington's daughter1 ,lady ,harriet ,frances ,gardiner1 when she was but little over fifteen years of age2 but they lived together but three years4 ,in #ahbi1 the ,earl died in ,paris2 and the ,countess continued there until after the ,revolution of #ahcj1 when she returned to ,england4 ,her journal of the trip from ,naples to ,paris1 and her stay in that city1 was published in #ahda1 under the title of ,the ,idler in ,france4 ,in ,england she took a house in ,seamore ,place1 ,mayfair1 and later removed to ,gore ,house1 ,kensington1 with which place is associated the traditions of her elegant entertainings and her intercourse with many men of eminence1 but also with a course of living which compromised her reputation in society4 ,her son-in-law1 the ,count1 continued to form one of her household1 though separated from his wife1 the ,lady ,harriet4 ,though not received in general society1 the ,countess surrounded herself with celebrities of all nations2 and it was at her house that ,louis ,napoleon was a cherished guest in his years of exile1 and from whence he proceeded to head the government of ,france4 ,here ,bulwer came as perhaps her most intimate friend2 here ,thackeray was made most welcome1 and ,lord ,john ,russell and ,lord ,palmerston1 ,canning and ,castlereagh were frequent guests4 ,dickens1--then a dandy like unto ,d',orsay1 who seemed to be his model1--,rejected ,addresses ,smith1 the banker-poet ,rogers1 ,kemble1 ,wilkie1 and ,dr4 ,parr engaged in sparkling converse with their hostess1 who sat in a deep arm-chair while ,tom ,moore was privileged to perch himself on a footstool at her feet2 and by all these men she was held in unqualified respect4 ,her income became impaired and unequal to the expense of entertaining4 ,she resorted to literature to add to her resources4 ,she was engaged by ,heath1 the engraver1 to edit a certain class of annuals popular in those days4 ,for some years her income from ,the ,keepsake and ,the ,book of ,beauty exceeded one thousand pounds a year4 ,her novels1 too1 were a source of some profit4 ,for ,strathern she received about three thousand dollars4 ,these romances were weak in character and plot1 but were fair pictures of society portrayed with much piquancy4 ,in one1 ,grace ,cassidy1 she describes interestingly scenes of her youth in ,ireland4 ,but interest in her work waned1 and as she seems not to have thought of retrenchment of her expenditure1 disaster rapidly descended4 ,in #ahdi1 she had perforce to sell out1 and then moved to ,paris1 where she died in the same year4 ,she was buried at ,chambourcy1 near ,st4 ,germain-en-,laye1 the residence of the ,duc and ,duchesse de ,grammont1 the sister and brother-in-law of ,count ,d',orsay4 ,she was a woman of great tact1 of a sweet delicacy of manner1 and of a chivalrous devotedness to friendship4 ,her friends were carefully chosen1 and never deserted4 ,perhaps no woman of the century has had so many men of mark as her friends and admirers4 ,she had charity towards others' failings4 ,she gave pleasure where she could4 ,she was elegant and dignified in her bearing1 though possessed of ,irish wit withal4 ,she was very beautiful4 ,lord ,byron was induced to sing the praise of her picture here given3-- ,were ,i now as ,i was1 ,i had sung ,what ,lawrence has painted so well2 ,but the strain would expire on my tongue1 ,and the theme is too soft for my shell4 ,i am ashes where once ,i was fire1 ,and the bard in my bosom is dead3 ,what ,i loved ,i now merely admire1 ,and my heart is as gray as my head4 ,let the young and the brilliant aspire ,to sing what ,i gaze on in vain1 ,for sorrow has torn from my lyre ,the string which was worthy the strain4 ,illustration3 ,,mary ,,isabella ,,duchess ,,of ,,rutland by ,,reynolds ,,her ,,grace ,,of ,,rutland ,rowlandson1 the caricaturist1 once published a cartoon entitled ,juno ,devon1 ,all ,sublime4 ,the rival goddesses in competition with her before that modern ,paris1 the ,prince of ,wales1 being their ,graces of ,gordon and ,rutland4 ,beyond the various written records of the opposing beauty of those aristocratic dames who dominated society in their day1 we have ample painted evidence of their loveliness4 ,of her ,grace of ,devonshire1 we have1 first1 the engraved renderings of the lost ,gainsborough4 ,there are other ,gainsboroughs1 too1--,georgiana as a child1 and a full-length of her standing at the edge of a lawn1 her face looking down1 wearing a white dress1 her right elbow on the base of a column1 a scarf in both hands1 her hair piled high1 but without the hat1 as in the more famous picture4 ,there are then several by ,sir ,joshua4 ,the first1 where she stands as a child beside her mother2 then1 she as a mother with her own child1--a very charming profile1 and a picture that insinuates the vivacity of demeanor and the abandon so characteristic of her4 ,walpole wrote of this as ,little like and not good4 ,yet1 as to goodness1 a modern authority has said3 ,it is a superb work2 and1 in motive1 color1 and composition1 it ranks as a triumph alike of nature and art4 ,again1 there is a whole-length showing her about to descend some steps to a lawn1 her superb shoulders and neck bare1 and her hair highly bedecked with feathers4 ,walpole writes of another portrait1 drawn by ,lady ,di ,beauclerck1 and engraved by ,bartolozzi3 ,a ,castilian nymph conceived by ,sappho and executed by ,myron1 would not have had more grace and simplicity4 ,the likeness is perfectly preserved1 except that the paintress has lent her own expression to the ,duchess1 which you will allow is very agreeable flattering4 ,in the ,royal collection of miniatures at ,windsor1 are three charmingly executed ivories of her by ,cosway4 ,lawrence1 too1 made a chalk drawing of her1 which now hangs at ,chiswick ,house1 in the room in which ,charles ,fox died4 ,this is an interesting work from being a very early effort of the after-time ,president of the ,academy1 and showing that then he had not attained the trick of flattering his sitters1 even when they were noted beauties4 ,angelica ,kauffman painted her1 and ,john ,downman also made a portrait replete with elegance and picturesqueness4 ,in fact1 the comely ,duchess pervaded the art of the period4 ,of her ,grace of ,gordon1 we have1 as our ideal presentment of her1 the portrait by ,sir ,joshua4 ,in it her hair is done up high1 and two rows of pearls are intertwined therein4 ,the dress is of the ,charles the ,first period1 and shows the sweetly modulated shoulders leading up to-- ,the pillared throat1 clear chiselled cheek1 ,high arching brows1 nose purely ,greek1 ,set lips1--too firm for a coquette4 ,we have also an interesting portrait of her by ,romney4 ,of her ,grace of ,rutland1 we have also several pictures by ,sir ,joshua4 ,there is a whole-length with a decorative head-dress1 and a landscape background4 ,the original of this was destroyed by fire at ,belvoir ,castle4 ,another1 a half-length1 in the same costume1 and a three-quarter face1 is mostly pervaded by a serene sense of pride4 ,there is a drawing of her done by the ,hon4 ,mrs4 ,o',neil1 which is interesting from the picturesque head-dress shown4 ,her ,grace of ,gordon was as great a power in the political world as she of ,devonshire1--probably greater1 for her alliance and principles were with the ruling power4 ,this lady was to ,pitt's party what ,fair ,devon was to ,fox's4 ,in fact1 it was asserted she endeavored to marry her daughter1 ,lady ,charlotte1 afterwards ,duchess of ,richmond1 to the premier4 ,when ,georgiana made her famous canvass in favor of ,fox1 the ,tories opposed to her the ,scotch ,duchess4 ,she lived and entertained then in a splendid mansion in ,pall ,mall2 and there assembled the adherents of the ,administration4 ,jane was the daughter of ,sir ,william ,maxwell1 of ,monreith1 and in her youth1 even1 was noted for beauty4 ,a ballad1 ,jenny of ,monreith1 written in her honor1 was often chivalrously sung by her son ,george1 the last ,duke of ,gordon4 ,jenny married the fourth ,duke1 ,alexander1 in #agfg4 ,the career of the ,duke's youngest brother ,george1 identified with the ,gordon ,riot1 caused the family much embarrassment1 and even threatened to derogate from the ,duchess's dominance with the ruling party4 ,her ,grace was of somewhat stronger fibre than she of ,devon2 more masculinity1 ay1 even more principle1 characterized her4 ,thrift was a visible virtue1 in contrast to ,georgiana's improvidence4 ,command1 rather than cajolery1 was her political method4 ,her later life was devoted to securing sons-in-law2 three dukes1 a marquis1 and a knight were of her garnering4 ,she was on good terms with the ,regent1 and endeavored to aid him in his differences with his ,princess ,caroline4 ,she is remembered1 too1 as a patron and friend of ,dr4 ,beattie1 the poet1 who has eulogized her in these lines ,to a ,pen3-- ,go1 and be guided by the brightest eyes1 ,and to the softest hand thine aid impart2 ,to trace the fair ideas as they arise1 ,warm from the purest1 gentlest1 noblest heart4 ,the third in that group of goddesses was surely the fairest of them all1 of more perfect form1 more noble bearing1 having that ultimate element of the greatest beauty1--distinction4 ,she came of a longer lineage1 and was the consummate flower of beauty wrought by the sun and summers through many generations of patrician life1--life amid the palatial parks1 the superb scenery1 and majestic castles of ,england4 ,such living weaves its sweetest elements into the tissues of the being and works a spell of loveliness such as ,lady ,mary ,somerset4 ,she was the youngest daughter of ,charles1 fourth ,duke of ,beaufort1 a descendant of the ,plantagenets4 ,in #agge1 she was married to ,lord ,charles ,manners1 eldest son 7born in #aged7 of ,john1--that ,marquis of ,granby whom ,junius attacked1 who was associated in the government1 in ,george the ,second's time1 with the ,earl of ,chatham4 ,the ,marquis was a man of much force1 and a most hospitable entertainer4 ,he died before his father1 the third ,duke of ,rutland4 ,lord ,charles succeeded to the dukedom in #aggi4 ,he had formed a friendship at ,cambridge with ,pitt1 the son of his father's colleague1 and through his influence ,pitt entered ,parliament4 ,in #aghd1 he was induced by the young premier to accept the ,lord-,lieutenancy of ,ireland1 and it is with the lavish entertainment and high revelries at ,dublin ,castle that his name and that of his beautiful ,duchess is connected4 ,high living soon told its tale1 for the ,duke died in #aghg1 at the early age of thirty-three4 ,though having the most beautiful wife in ,england1 his affections wandered1 and tales are told of his attachment to that siren singer1 ,mrs4 ,billington4 ,the ,duchess's manner had somewhat of levity and much coquetry in it1 though she could not be classed with that company who have not time to be virtuous4 ,at the time of her lord's death1 she was living with her mother1 the ,dowager ,duchess of ,beaufort1 in ,berkeley ,square1 ,london1 having been partially estranged from her husband4 ,on hearing of his illness1 she started to set out for ,dublin2 but a message of his death came fast upon the trail of the first news4 ,perchance it was this estrangement at death1 this having parted in anger without the chance of reconciliation in life1 that affected her so deeply that1 though sought by many suitors1 the widow was true to the memory of her late lord4 ,her son1 ,john ,henry1 succeeded to the title2 and his bride1 a daughter of the ,earl of ,carlisle1 was also known as a beauty1 and her portrait was painted by ,hoppner1 in #agih4 ,it was she of whom ,greville wrote in his ,memoirs1 and commented on her lack of taste in spoiling the magnificent ,castle of ,belvoir1 the pride and glory of the ,eastern ,midlands4 ,the beauty of the ,duchess ,mary ,isabella was statuesque1 classical2 her features were noble4 ,she received admiration as her right1 but gave not largesse of smiles and wit in return4 ,she was not as the ,devonian divinity1 ,the woman in whose golden smile all life seems enchanted4 ,wraxall writes of a lady telling of witnessing a prenuptial display of her person1 and being entranced by lithe limb1 by the fine and faultless form4 ,reynolds has hinted at the beauteous body1 and the hint ensnares us4 ,verily1 the visible fair form of a woman is hereditary queen of us4 ,wraxall also likens the ,duchess to an older-time beauty1 ,diane de ,poitiers1--that famous lady of ,france1 the favorite of ,francois ,i4 and ,henri ,,ii4 ,of that lady's beauty1 it was written1 that it was of the form and feature rather than the radiance of the mind and manner transforming them2 and like her1 too1 our ,duchess retained her beauty to an advanced age4 ,she died in #ahba4 ,to the last1 she impressed one with her dignity1 her nobility1 her loveliness4 ,and they who saw her snow-white hair4 ,and dark1 sad eyes1 so deep with feeling1 ,breathed all at once the chancel air1 ,and seemed to hear the organ pealing4 ,illustration3 ,,lavinia ,,countess ,,spencer by ,,reynolds ,,lavinia ,in ,march1 #agha1 ,walpole writes to a friend3 ,as your lordship has honored all the productions of my press with your acceptance1 ,i venture to inclose the last1 which ,i printed to oblige the ,lucans4 ,there are many beautiful and poetic expressions in it4 ,a wedding1 to be sure1 is neither a new nor a promising subject1 nor will outlast the favors2 still1 ,i think ,mr4 ,jones's ode is uncommonly good for the occasion4 ,the ode was ,the ,muse ,recalled1 and the occasion the nuptials of ,lord ,viscount ,althorp and ,miss ,lavinia ,bingham1 eldest daughter of ,sir ,charles ,bingham1 created1 in #aggf1 ,baron ,lucan of ,castlebar4 ,sir ,charles was a man of culture1 who was intimate with ,johnson1 ,goldsmith1 ,gibbon1 ,reynolds1 and ,burke4 ,he is frequently pleasantly mentioned by ,boswell4 ,he had married1 in #agfj1 ,margaret1 daughter of ,james ,smith1 ,m4,p41 a lady of great good sense and rare accomplishments1 and three lovely daughters were the issue from this union4 ,reynolds found in them most pleasing subjects for his pencil4 ,their pictures appeared at the ,academy1 in #aghf4 ,lavinia was portrayed as shown in the picture here given1 and again in quite as lovely a fashion1--standing out doors and wearing a wide-brimmed hat which casts a broad shade across the face2 the wavy curls of hair fall upon the shoulder2 in the background is a landscape4 ,the naivete of the face is exquisitely delightful4 ,the old-time flavor of the whole causes one to recall ,locker's lines on the picture of his grandmother3-- ,beneath a summer tree4 ,her maiden reverie ,has a charm2 ,her ringlets are in taste2 ,what an arm6 444 what a waist ,for an arm6 ,in the picture of her youngest sister1 ,anne1 is a broad hat1 too2 she sits full-face1 but in her features there is lacking just a little of the quiet dignity of the eldest4 ,all of these portraits have been made familiar to us by the most meritorious mezzotints of them by ,cousins4 ,in ,lavinia's face there lingers all the enchanting grace of girlhood1--a face yet full of that early beauty-- ,which1 like the morning's glow ,hints a full day below4 ,a later president of the ,academy1 ,sir ,martin ,shee1 has shown us that face in the noonday of its matronly beauty1 and the gentle character and sweet sensibility yet outshine through the mask of the flesh as in the earlier pictures4 ,lady ,bingham was careful of the education and company of her daughters4 ,the girls were musical1 and ,lavinia excelled in painting as well4 ,walpole writes of her being in ,italy1 in #aghe1 with ,mrs4 ,damer1 his sculptor friend1 and of her drawing with very great expression4 ,he was not so complimentary of her music some years before1 when he tells of being invited to ,lady ,lucan's to hear her daughters sing ,jomelli's ,miserere1 set for two voices3 ,it lasted for two hours1 and instead of being pathetic was eminently dull1 until at last ,i rejoiced when 'the two women had left the sepulchre4' ,shortly after this he tells of rumors of the attachment of ,george ,john1 ,lord ,althorp1 brother of ,georgiana of ,devonshire1 to that sweet creature ,lavinia4 ,at dinner at ,lord ,lucan's1 ,lord ,althorp sat at a side table with the girls and a ,miss ,shipley4 ,pray1 ,lady ,spencer1 said ,walpole1 is it owned that ,lord ,althorp is to marry--,miss ,shipley8 ,his next reference to the ,lucans is in regard to the wedding ode printed on the ,strawberry ,hill press4 ,the poet therein invokes blessings in this wise3-- ,shine forth1 ye silver eyes of night1 ,and gaze on virtues crowned with treasures of delight4 99 99 99 99 99 ,flow smoothly1 circling hours1-- ,and o'er their heads unblended pleasure pour2 ,nor let your fleeting round ,their mortal transports bound1 ,but fill their cup of bliss1 eternal powers1 ,till time himself shall cease1 and suns shall blaze no more4 ,he essays to eulogize the bride3-- ,each morn reclined on many a rose1 ,lavinia's pencil shall disclose ,new forms of dignity and grace1 ,the expressive air1 the impassioned face1 ,the curled smile1 the bubbling tear1 ,the bloom of hope1 the snow of fear1 ,to some poetic tale fresh beauty give1 ,and bid the starting tablet rise and live2 ,or with swift fingers shall she touch the strings1 ,notes of such wondrous texture weave ,as lifts the soul on seraph wings4 ,he then proceeds to encourage ,althorp to lead a strong1 noble life1 devoting his great abilities to the state1 though he laments the small chances for genuine sterling worth to achieve eminence4 ,in this voluptuous1 this abandoned age1 when the leaders of the country are ,slaves of vice and slaves of gold4 ,there was much fitness in this poet essaying a homily for the groom's benefit1 for he had been the young man's tutor some years before4 ,when the first ,earl--a man of most fascinating manners--placed his son in the tutor's charge1 he said1 ,make him1 if you can1 like yourself and ,i shall be satisfied4 ,johnson said of ,sir ,william ,jones1 ,the most enlightened of the sons of men4 ,he became a great ,indian and ,persian scholar1 and was ever an honored friend of his former pupil4 ,previous to his marriage1 ,lord ,althorp had entered ,parliament1 and1 as a ,whig1 was opposing ,lord ,north4 ,when the ,marquess of ,rockingham came to power1 he was made a ,lord ,commissioner of the ,treasury4 ,in #aghc1 he succeeded to his father's earldom4 ,the ,dowager ,countess lived on until #ahad4 ,her character has been variously described4 ,mrs4 ,delany calls her an agreeable person1 with a sensible1 generous1 and delicate mind4 ,she was termed vain4 ,what woman would not be who was mother to such beauties as ,devonshire1 ,duncannon1 and ,lavinia4 ,in an autobiography by the third ,earl1 he naively remarks that his mother never liked his grandmother4 ,the pleasing picture of ,ruth and ,naomi is the exception in families4 ,on the breaking out of the ,french ,revolution1 ,earl ,spencer gave his support to ,pitt1 by whom he was appointed first lord of the admiralty1 in #agid4 ,it was during the period of her husband's brilliant career in this office that the ,countess made her greatest success as a hostess in ministerial society4 ,she was a good conversationalist1 and especially attractive to men of individuality who admired her sagacious1 picturesque pungency of expression4 ,the great naval commanders1 who frequented the admiralty1 were impressed with the frankness and force of her superior mind1 ,nelson and ,collingwood particularly4 ,she is frequently mentioned in their letters as being sure to have much sympathy in their work4 ,a late biographer of the ,earl wrote3 ,she had the penetration to appreciate ,nelson through the cloud of personal vanity and silly conceit which caused him to be lightly esteemed in ,london society4 ,her bull-dog she used playfully to call him4 ,she visited ,gibbon at ,lausanne1 in #agie1 and he writes3 ,she is a charming woman who1 with sense and spirit1 has the playfulness and simplicity of a child4 ,by some she was accounted haughty and exclusive4 ,perchance she was to those who were without the breeding or the brains to commend them to her4 ,dignified she certainly was1 and her influence was wholly for good in the uplifting of politics and the purifying of society4 ,i would not advise any one to utter a word against any one she was attached to1 once said her father4 ,she became the wise coadjutor of her husband in forming the magnificent ,althorp ,library4 ,when the earl retired from the admiralty1 in #ahjj1 his entertaining became less general4 ,his hospitalities at ,spencer ,house were restricted to his more intimate friends4 ,here came ,lord ,grenville1 ,earl ,grey1 chief of the ,whigs1 ,brougham1 ,horner1 and ,lord ,john ,russell2 the younger men to hold converse with her who had known ,burke1 ,pitt1 ,fox1 and all the older time orators and statesmen4 ,in a series of boyish letters sent by the heir to the earldom to his father the ending of all is in this quaint phrase3 ,my duty to ,mama4 ,the youth did his duty by his mother4 ,she directed his tastes and studies1 and when he was at college incited him to try for high honors1 and urged1 again and yet again1 application to study2 and through her persuasion he became a reading man4 ,he entered ,parliament when of age1 in #ahjc4 ,during the ,fox and ,grenville administration he held office as a lord of the treasury4 ,when his mother was congratulated on his appointment1 she said3 ,jack was always skilful in figures1 and his work is so much to his taste that ,i am sure he will do himself credit4 ,he did himself great credit4 ,his career was consistently courageous1 honorable1 and beneficent4 ,he had character6 ,this is his mother's best eulogy4 ,she died in #ahca1 shortly after her son had become ,chancellor of the ,exchequer1 in which office he earned his greatest repute as a statesman4 ,illustration3 ,,elizabeth1 ,,duchess ,,of ,,hamilton by ,,read ,,elizabeth ,,gunning ,the story of the ,gunnings is as romantic as any ever wrought into imaginative narrative or incorporated in epic poem4 ,the notorious damsels were daughters of ,john ,gunning of ,castle ,coote1 ,county ,roscommon1 ,ireland1 by the ,hon4 ,bridget ,bourke1 daughter of ,theobald1 sixth ,viscount ,bourke of ,mayo1 whom he married in #agca4 ,the family was wofully impecunious2 so when the daughters1 ,maria and ,elizabeth1 grew into marvellously comely maidens1 their mother urged their going on the stage to augment the faulty fortune4 ,they went to ,dublin1 and there were kindly received by ,peg ,woffington1 then in her glory as ,sir ,harry ,wildair1 and by ,tom ,sheridan1 manager of ,dublin ,theatre4 ,the stage had not then become the stepping-stone to the ranks of the nobility1 so the girls were advised to adventure socially1 with their faces for their fortunes4 ,they had not the dresses to be presented in at ,dublin ,castle1 but ,sheridan supplied these from the resources of the green-room wardrobe4 ,attired as ,lady ,macbeth and as ,juliet they made their curtsies to the ,earl of ,harrington1 the then ,lord-,lieutenant4 ,the hostess of the evening was the handsome ,lady ,caroline ,petersham1 bride of the ,earl's eldest son4 ,lady ,caroline had been one of the ,beauty ,fitzroys1 and had been a favorite belle in town before her marriage4 ,when ,fitzroy moves1 resplendent1 fair4 ,so warm her bloom1 sublime her air1 ,her ebon tresses formed to grace ,and heighten while they shade her face4 ,walpole wrote of her in his poem on ,the ,beauties4 ,the raw ,connaught girls outshone this dazzling hostess4 ,their first night was an auspicious success4 ,the debut was applauded1 and the players praised4 ,they were adjudged fitted to star the social capital1 so to ,london they went1 in ,june1 #agea4 ,their reception was magical4 ,the ,west ,end went almost mad over them4 ,when they appeared at ,court1 the aristocracy present was indecorous in its efforts to view the dominant beauties4 ,lords and ladies clambered on any eminence to gaze4 ,the crowd surged upon them1 and it was with difficulty they entered their chairs because of the mob outside4 ,the gayety of ,vauxhall ,gardens was incomplete without them4 ,their campaign was a short and eminently active one2 ,elizabeth triumphed first4 ,at a masquerade at ,lord ,chesterfield's1 in ,february1 #ageb1 ,james1 the sixth ,duke of ,hamilton and ,brandon1 who was enamoured of the younger ,irish girl1 wished to marry her at once4 ,a clergyman was asked to perform the ceremony then and there4 ,he objected to the time and place and the absence of a ring4 ,the ,duke threatened to send for the ,archbishop4 ,with the ring of a bed-curtain1 at half an hour past midnight1 the wedding took place in ,mayfair ,chapel4 ,the ,scotch were enraged at the alliance1 which became an unhappy one4 ,the ,duke was vulgar1 debauched1 extravagant1 and damaged in person and fortune1 yet1 withal1 insolently proud4 ,he betook himself off within six years1 and his two sons by the ,duchess became1 successively1 seventh and eighth ,dukes of ,hamilton2 and a daughter married ,edward1 twelfth ,earl of ,derby4 ,the dowager was less than a year in widow's weeds when she exchanged them for more strawberry leaves4 ,she had two ducal offers1 from their graces of ,bridgewater and of ,argyll2 she accepted the latter4 ,in ,march1 #agei1 she married ,john1 the fifth ,duke of that name4 ,walpole's comment on this was3 ,who could have believed a ,gunning would unite the two great houses of ,campbell and ,hamilton8 ,for my part ,i expect to see ,lady ,coventry ,queen of ,prussia4 ,i would not venture to marry either of them these thirty years1 for fear of being shuffled out of the world prematurely1 to make room for the rest of their adventurers4 ,the first time ,jack ,campbell carries the ,duchess into the ,highlands1 ,i am persuaded that some of his second-sighted subjects will see him in a winding-sheet with a train of kings behind him as long as those in ,macbeth4 ,and again3 ,a match that would not disgrace ,arcadia 444 as she is not quite so charming as her sister1 ,i do not know whether it is not better than to retain a title which puts one in mind of her beauty4 ,the ,dukes of ,argyll--,lords of the ,isles--have always shown a partiality for beauties as brides4 ,this ,duke's father married the beautiful ,mary ,bellenden1 daughter of ,john1 ,lord ,bellenden1-- ,smiling ,mary1 soft and fair as down4 99 99 99 99 99 ,she is mentioned otherwise as by ,gay3-- ,bellenden we needs must praise1 ,who1 as down the stairs she jumps1 ,sings ',over the hills and far away1' ,despising doleful dumps4 ,walpole says she was never mentioned by her contemporaries but as the most perfect creature they had ever known4 ,the present ,duke wedded that charming child1 ,lady ,elizabeth ,leveson ,gower1 who sits on her mother's knee in that surpassingly fine picture by ,lawrence1 called ,lady ,gower and ,child4 ,and his son is allied to the ,princess ,louise1 the most comely of ,victoria's daughters4 ,after her sister's death1 in #agfj1 her ,grace of ,argyll suffered a decline in health4 ,she was ordered abroad for change4 ,she was appointed to accompany the ,princess ,sophia ,charlotte on her journey to ,england to be married to the ,king4 ,as they neared the ceremony in ,london1 the ,princess became nervous4 ,her ,grace essayed to quiet her fears4 ,ah1 my dear ,duchess1 you may laugh at me1 but you have been married twice1 said the ,princess4 ,the ,duchess became one of the ladies of the bedchamber1 and was in much favor with the ,queen4 ,in #agfg1 her father died at ,somerset ,house1 and her mother1 the ,hon4 ,mrs4 ,gunning1 in #aggj4 ,there were three sisters in the family besides our heroines3 ,sophia ,gunning died1 an infant1 in #agcg2 ,lissy1 who died in #ageb1 aged eight years2 and ,catherine1 who was married1 in #agfi1 to ,robert ,travis an ,irish squire in her own rank of life4 ,she died1 too1 at ,somerset ,house1 in #aggc1 where she was an upper housekeeper4 ,a brother entered the army1 fought at ,bunker ,hill1 and became a major-general in #aghg4 ,he was much of a ladies' man4 ,he married a ,miss ,minfie1 author of some novels1 and they had a daughter who aspired to repeat the successes of her famous aunts4 ,she managed to marry the ,hon4 ,stephen ,digby1 who had lost his first wife1 a daughter of ,lord ,ilchester1 in #aghg4 ,the ,duchess of ,argyll was created1 in #aggf1 a peeress of ,england as ,baroness ,hamilton of ,hambledon ,county1 ,leicester1 and died in ,december1 #agij4 ,by her second marriage she had two sons1 successively ,dukes of ,argyll1 and two daughters1 one of whom1 ,lady ,charlotte ,campbell1 attained some fame as a novelist as ,lady ,charlotte ,bury1 she having married ,colonel ,john ,campbell and secondly ,rev4 ,edward ,bury4 ,we have no evidence of the possession of bright ,irish wit by the double-duchessed beauty4 ,ingenuous enthusiasm1 perfect simplicity1 and unfailing good humor ever marked her manner1 and were a captivating adjunct to her great facial charm4 ,walpole writes of a pretty sight when their ,graces of ,hamilton and of ,richmond with ,lady ,ailesbury sitting in a boat together1 and proceeds to tell of the suspected jealousy by she of ,hamilton of the beauty of his niece1 daughter of ,sir ,edward ,walpole1 who became the bride of ,earl ,waldegrave1 and later married the ,duke of ,gloucester1 the ,king's youngest brother4 ,at another time1 when a lady wrote telling him of the advent of a beauty who was expected to outvie the ,gunnings1 he replies3 ,there was to have been a handsomer every summer these seven years1 but when the seasons come they all seem to have been addled by the winter4 ,one day the housekeeper of ,hampton ,court was showing the palace to visitors when the sisters were there4 ,she threw open the door where they were sitting1 saying1 ,this is our beauty-room4 ,the pictures and galleries were forgotten by the crowd1 which gazed on the beauties instead4 ,for a decade their beauty was regnant in ,london4 ,they were not politicians as were their ,graces of ,gordon and ,devonshire1 nor had they the ability to become such4 ,neither were they the associates of brilliant1 intellectual men1 but participants in the gay1 vacuous1 showy society of the rapid set of the aristocracy4 ,the elder sister gained the coronet of ,coventry1 but her vanity caused her own undoing2 the younger was a part of the exhibition of ,beauty and the ,beast4 ,a high price was paid for her position by the endurance of a period of tyranny and terror4 ,some praise must be accorded the beauties1 for at a time of much licentiousness of a profligate society and tolerated coarsenesses1 the sisters determinedly kept their names free from ignoble soil and scandal4 ,illustration3 ,,maria ,,countess ,,of ,,coventry by ,,hamilton ,,maria ,,gunning ,two ,irish girls of no fortune1 who make more noise than any of their predecessors since the days of ,helen1 and who are declared the handsomest women alive4 ,so wrote ,walpole1 in ,june1 #agea4 ,if we were to judge of their beauty by the pictured presentments of it1 we would certainly agree with our ,horace when he says he has seen much handsomer women than either4 ,we have no adequate image of their surpassing loveliness1 the beholding of which would cause us to feel how merited was their meed of praise1 how fair the contemporary comment on their comeliness1 and how just the wide fame of a beauty which tradition has epitomized for us in the phrase1 ,the ,fair ,gunnings4 ,though the print publishers of the time actively issued portraits1 we feel that none of them picture such a person as would set society and the whole city of ,london astir by her blazing beauty4 ,the best-known likenesses are the various pictures by ,francis ,cotes1 one of the founders of the ,royal ,academy1 a painter of considerable merit1 who was born about #agbe1 and died in #aggj4 ,it is said that ,hogarth preferred him as a portrait painter to ,reynolds4 ,his studio was in ,cavendish ,square1 and at his death was taken by ,romney2 and it was while he worked there that ,sir ,joshua referred to his rival as the man in ,cavendish ,square4 ,the studio was later occupied by ,sir ,martin ,shee4 ,cotes's picture of ,maria is a half length of a modestly dignified lady1 having no tendency at all to that silliness that ,walpole insinuates was characteristic of her4 ,the face is oval1 the eyebrows well apart and distinctly arched1 and the hair brushed back from the forehead and falling on the very graceful neck4 ,the dress is cut low1 showing a delicately-moulded bosom4 ,this picture was mezzo-tinted by ,mc,ardell2 and there is another1 somewhat similar1 reproduced superbly by ,spooner4 ,his principal picture of ,elizabeth is not so attractive as the picture of her sister2 the body is too constrained and symmetrically formal2 the dress is very low and edged with lace1 some flowers resting on her bosom4 ,the neck and breast have not the suave grace of the sister's4 ,this has been engraved in mezzo-tint by ,houston4 ,another portrait by ,cotes shows her with fur on the dress4 ,he also painted a portrait of ,kitty in a low dress sprigged with flowers1 with a sash1 and ribbons at the back of the head4 ,this has a wooded landscape background4 ,below the print of this picture is engraved these lines3-- ,this youngest of the ,graces here we view ,so like in ,beauty to the other two ,whoe'er compares their ,features and their ,frame ,will know at once that ,gunning is her name4 ,there is an engraved picture of the two sisters together--based on ,cotes's portrayals--called ,the ,hibernian ,sisters4 ,maria is sitting on the left1 looking toward the right1 with a dog on her lap2 the younger is on the right1 looking to the front1 and holds a fan in her hand4 ,in the background is a garden wall4 ,cupids surmount the picture4 ,the inscription is in this fashion3-- ,hibernia long with spleen beheld ,her ,favorite ,toasts by ours excelled4 ,resolved to outvie ,britannia's ,fair ,by her own ,beauties1--sent a pair4 ,reynolds painted them both1 in #agec2 but he failed to give them the charm we would expect4 ,unless ,sir ,joshua's engravers belie him1 he did not make ,maria even ordinarily fair to look upon4 ,these pictures are not classed among his masterpieces4 ,there is a picture of ,maria by ,b4 ,wilson the engraver1 made before she left ,ireland4 ,in it the features are handsome and the figure graceful1 though over-dressed1 and the whole impression is of a matron in her thirties rather than a maid in her teens4 ,the picture we give of her is from a whole-length by ,gavin ,hamilton1 a ,scotch artist1 a friend of ,burns1 born in ,lanark about #agcj4 ,he must have been a precocious genius1 for this picture was engraved by ,mc,ardell1 and published in #aged4 ,hamilton passed the greater part of his life in ,rome1 painting classical subjects and pursuing archaeological investigations4 ,he died there1 in #agig4 ,portraiture was probably a pecuniary pursuit before the classics claimed him4 ,his portraits savor somewhat of the affectations of the curtain and column school4 ,his canvas of ,elizabeth shows her standing on a terrace with a low dress and long hair1 a veil loosely tied across her chest4 ,her left hand rests on the head of a greyhound4 ,there is a seat to the left and trees in the background4 ,houston engraved a portrait of ,maria after a drawing by ,j4 ,st4 ,liotard4 ,this is a three-quarter length figure4 ,her hair is in large plaits twined with a muslin veil on her head4 ,the dress is open at the throat1 showing a necklace4 ,there is a wide belt with large clasps4 ,her left elbow rests on her knee4 ,perhaps the most satisfactory pictures of the ,beauties are those by ,catharine ,read1 who died1 in #aghf2 and who is chiefly known by her winsome delineations of the graces of the ,gunning girls4 ,we could readily judge from these that the girls were attractive4 ,there is a genial graciousness in the face of she of ,coventry1 while the ,scotch duchess is possessed of a persuasive sweetness of mien4 ,the mob-cap frames a face almost faultless in the regularity of its features4 ,for all the pleasant flavor of these facial charms1 there is absent that peerless1 regal loveliness1 that compelling magnificence of presence1 that hauteur which dazzles and enthrals4 ,the originals of these various portraits have been retained at ,croome ,court1 near ,worcester2 the seat of the ,coventry family1 at ,inverary ,castle1 ,argyllshire2 and at ,hamilton ,palace4 ,three weeks after the romantic marriage of her younger sister1 ,maria ,gunning was married to ,george ,william1 who was ,lord ,deerhurst--that grave young ,lord1 ,walpole calls him--until #agej1 when he succeeded to the ,earldom of ,coventry4 ,he had been dangling about her for some time1 and seemed nerved to the wedding by his ,grace of ,hamilton's precipitate action4 ,the ,earl took her for a trip on the ,continent in company with ,lady ,caroline ,petersham1 that other great beauty4 ,neither caused much comment abroad1 and ,paris did not ratify the repute of ,london4 ,my ,lady was at a disadvantage from her ignorance of the ,french language4 ,she complained1 too1 of the arbitrary rule of her husband in not allowing her red nor powder1 so much in vogue with the ,parisian beauties4 ,it is told how he saw her appear at a dinner with some on1 and took out his handkerchief1 and there tried to rub it off4 ,but her fame abated not in ,england4 ,crowds continued to mob her whenever she appeared on the street4 ,the ,king was pleased to order that whenever my ,lady ,coventry walked abroad she should be attended by a guard of soldiers4 ,shortly after this she simulated great fright at the curiosity of the mob1 and asked for escort4 ,she then paraded in the park1 accompanied by her husband and ,lord ,pembroke1 preceded by two sergeants1 and followed by twelve soldiers4 ,surely this outdoes the advertising genius of any latter-day ,american actress6 ,a shoemaker at ,worcester gained two guineas and a half by exhibiting at a penny a head a shoe he had made for the ,countess4 ,she was in much favor at ,court1 and always circulated in an atmosphere of adulation and sensation4 ,the ,duke of ,cumberland was an admirer1 as was also1 more emphatically1 ,fred ,st4 ,john1 ,viscount ,bolingbroke1--,billy and ,bully these two blades were termed4 ,there was rumor1 at one time1 of the ,earl seriously resenting the attentions of ,bolingbroke4 ,the old ,king1 too1 showed her some courtesies2 and the most oft-told anecdote of her is about ,his ,majesty asking if she were not sorry the masquerades were over4 ,she assured him she was surfeited with pageants1--there was but one she wished yet to see1 and that was a coronation4 ,she saw it not1 for the ,king outlived her by a fortnight4 ,had she but abstained from the use of paint and powder1 her career would not have ended at the early age of twenty-seven4 ,blood-poisoning came from the use of it4 ,her beauty paled rapidly4 ,my lady lay on a couch1 a pocket-glass constantly in hand1 grieving at the gradual decay4 ,the room was darkened1 that others might not discern that which so chagrined her4 ,then the curtains of the bed were drawn to guard her from pitying gaze2 and then1 on a ,september day1 in #agfj1 the pathetic end came4 ,over ten thousand people viewed her coffin4 ,sensationalism even after the drop of the curtain6 ,the ,countess left four children1 two sons and two daughters4 ,of these1 ,anne1 four years old at her mother's death1 was one of the children whom ,george ,selwyn showed much kindness to4 ,the ,earl married again1 the second ,countess being ,barbara1 daughter of ,lord ,st4 ,john of ,bletsoe4 ,george ,william1 the son of ,maria1 came to the earldom in #ahji4 ,in an ode on the death of ,maria the poet ,mason wrote3-- ,for she was fair beyond your brightest bloom 7,this ,envy owns1 since now her bloom is fled73 ,fair as the ,forms that wove in ,fancy's loom1 ,float in light vision round the ,poet's head4 ,whene'er with soft serenity she smiled1 ,or caught the orient blush of quick surprise1 ,how sweetly mutable1 how brightly wild4 ,the liquid lustre darted from her eyes6 ,each look1 each motion1 waked a new-born grace ,that o'er her form its transient glory cast3 ,some lovelier wonder soon usurped the place1 ,chased by a charm still lovelier than the last4 ,illustration3 ,,elizabeth ,,countess ,,grosvenor by ,,lawrence ,,lady ,,elizabeth ,in these latter days can we imagine a lawsuit1 costing contestants thousands of pounds1 over the right to a certain heraldic charge8 ,in the fourteenth century ,sir ,robert ,grosvenor was the defendant in such a suit1 and we read of ,chaucer1 ,john of ,gaunt1 ,owen ,glendower1 and ,hotspur being witnesses before the ,high ,court of ,chivalry4 ,sir ,robert established his defence1 and since those days the ,grosvenors have ever held a high rank in the nobility of ,england4 ,quite as proud a patrician position was held through the centuries by the family of ,gower4 ,in the early part of this century1 the heir of the ,grosvenors espoused the most beautiful daughter of the ,house of ,gower1--,lady ,elizabeth ,mary ,leveson ,gower4 ,this lady was the youngest daughter of ,george1 the second ,marquis of ,stafford1 who married1 in #aghe1 ,elizabeth1 who was ,countess of ,sutherland and ,baroness ,strathnaver in her own right4 ,the ,marquis was created ,duke of ,sutherland in #ahcc4 ,the ,lady ,elizabeth ,mary was born in #agig1 and married1 in #ahai1 ,robert1 ,viscount ,belgrave1 eldest son of the second ,earl of ,grosvenor4 ,the portrait by ,sir ,thomas ,lawrence was painted in the year preceding her marriage4 ,the ,marquisate of ,westminster had been created in #ahca1 and in #ahde1 when the ,viscount's father died1 he succeeded to the title4 ,he had entered ,parliament in #ahah as member for ,chester4 ,he spoke but rarely in the ,house1 although a hard worker on committees4 ,he greatly improved his vast ,london property1 and had the credit of administering his estate with a combination of intelligence and generosity seldom seen4 ,of reserved habits and inexpensive tastes1 he was averse to ostentation and extravagance4 ,he died in #ahfi4 ,his successor was his son 7born in #ahbe7 the present ,duke1 who was elevated to a dukedom in #ahgd4 ,he is one of the wealthiest peers in the kingdom1 is a man of great taste1 and has patronized the arts with almost a ,medician munificence4 ,the seat of the family is the renowned ,eaton ,hall1 near ,chester2 that stately mansion set in the centre of a country rich in pastoral beauty4 ,its enlargement and beautification was begun by the second ,earl in #ahjb1 and has been carried on by its present lord until it is now the most magnificent of all the modern mansions of the nobility4 ,g4,f4 ,watts's heroic equestrian statue of ,hugh ,lupus1 the founder of the family and a nephew of ,william the ,conqueror1 challenges admiration as one enters the grounds4 ,there is no great picture gallery in the ,hall1 for that is at ,grosvenor ,house in ,london1 but the family portraits are here4 ,let into panels of the dining-room are portraits from the time of the first ,earl1 who was painted by ,gainsborough4 ,the ,viscount ,belgrave and his lady were painted by ,pickersgill1 in #ahbe1--this picture of the latter being much inferior to ,lawrence's1--while the present generation was painted almost wholly by ,millais1--that of ,constance1 the ,duke's first wife1 being especially fine4 ,leslie1 in #ahcc1 executed a group of the ,grosvenor family4 ,lawrence and ,hoppner were to the regency what ,reynolds1 ,gainsborough1 and ,romney were to the early days of the reign of ,george ,,iii41 as painters of the patrician beauties4 ,what a marvellous mass of records of fair women these five have left us6--,reynolds1 supreme in style1 painting the character as seen through the fair mask of the flesh2 ,gainsborough1 superbly picturesque1 and a faithful limner withal2 ,romney1 impressively picturesque1 too1 a fine colorist1 imaginative1 and but now1 a century later1 coming into his proper meed of praise2 ,lawrence1 elegant1 charming1--a courtier indeed2 ,hoppner1 through many years a close rival of ,lawrence4 ,to ,hoppner we are indebted for the visible evidence of the beauty of many who had repute as fair women4 ,there is that piquant ,jane ,elizabeth1 ,countess of ,oxford1 who greets us in the ,national ,gallery4 ,then that dark-eyed and winsome ,lady ,kenyon1 who was one of the reigning belles1 on canvas1 at the ,grafton ,gallery show in ,london this year4 ,in this exhibit1 too1 was his ,mademoiselle ,hillsberg1--a tall and dark dancing woman1 which he regarded as his best work4 ,then there is that group of noble dames by him1 which were engraved by ,charles ,wilkin and published under the title ,bygone ,beauties1--,lady ,charlotte ,duncombe2 ,viscountess ,st4 ,asaph2 ,lady ,charlotte ,campbell1 daughter of ,elizabeth ,gunning2 ,viscountess ,andover2 ,lady ,langham2 the ,countess of ,euston1 one of the three beautiful ,ladies ,waldegrave1 painted by ,reynolds2 the ,duchess of ,rutland4 ,these are indeed a select series of ladies of rank and fashion4 ,and with these must be classed that sweet ideal face of ,mrs1 ,arbuthnot1 known as ,marcia4 ,at this late date it gives us greeting from how many a parlor wall6 ,its tender charm makes perpetual appeal to the passer-by from how many a print-shop window6 ,there seems to have been bitter feeling between ,hoppner1 who was an intense ,whig1 and ,lawrence1 who knew no politics1 but was all things to all men4 ,the ladies of ,lawrence show a gaudy dissoluteness of taste1 and sometimes trespass on moral as well as professional chastity1 and ,lawrence shall paint my mistress and ,phillips my wife1 were the two rapier phrases ,hoppner thrust at his rival4 ,but it is recorded that thenceforth ,lawrence's commissions from fair sitters multiplied4 ,sir ,thomas was a finished flatterer4 ,no man ever knew better1 except it was ,lely1 how to pay the compliment of the brush4 ,this form is the substantial1 the lasting compliment for which golden guineas are gladly paid4 ,grace and elegance are the hall-mark of his every picture4 ,but the artist was a courtier in speech and manners as well1 and this got him into trouble once4 ,he was attentive to the ill-used ,princess ,caroline1--markedly attentive6 ,a royal commission inquired into his conduct1 but absolved him from the charges of wrongdoing4 ,when ,lady ,grosvenor1 who had become ,marchioness of ,westminster1 was an old lady1 in #ahha1 she wrote in a letter to ,lord ,leveson ,gower her recollections of the painter3 ,his manners were what is called extremely 'polished' 7not the fault of the present times74 ,he wore a large cravat1 and had a tinge about him of the time of ,george ,,iv41 pervading his general demeanor4444 ,i should not say he was amusing1 but what struck me most1 during my two hours sitting in ,russell ,square1 was the perfection of the drawing of his portraits4 ,before any color was put on1 the drawing itself was so perfectly beautiful that it seemed almost a sin to add any color4 ,this portrait of her1 which was painted at this one sitting1 is considered the very best ,lawrence ever painted4 ,the head has distinction and hauteur1 albeit the face is sweetly ingenuous4 ,and the eyes6 ,well1 ,sir ,thomas always excelled here6 ,never1 since ,titian1 has painter given us such strange sweet maddening eyes1-- ,fathomless dusk by night1 the day lets in ,glimmer of emerald1--thus those eyes of hers6 ,this picture now hangs in the gallery of ,stafford ,house1 and was mezzotinted by ,cousins1 in #ahdd1 and included in the published collection of the artist's works4 ,this volume is representative of the artist4 ,it opens with that perennially delightful picture of the ,calmady ,children1 called ,nature1--one of the very best and sweetest representations of child life ever made4 ,here is the elemental artlessness of nature1 and here the beatitude of innocence4 ,another child-picture is the portrait of ,lady ,emily ,cowper1 afterwards ,lady ,ashley1 called ,the ,rosebud4 ,among the ladies shown are ,lady ,leicester1 ,lady ,lyndhurst1 and ,lady ,georgiana ,agar ,ellis1 the picture of the latter being surpassing in its elegance4 ,that majestically maternal picture is here of ,lady ,gower and ,lady ,elizabeth ,leveson ,gower1--not our ,elizabeth ,mary1 but she who became ,duchess of ,argyll4 ,the ,countess of ,grosvenor was a lady of high character and most affable manners1 and held her exalted position with a dignity of demeanor and a bearing worthy of a descent from the noble ,gowers1 lords of ,sittenham4 ,her residence latterly was ,motcombe ,house1 near ,shaftesbury1 ,dorsetshire4 ,she lived on until our own day1 dying at the age of ninety-four4 ,in #ahdj-da she accompanied her husband on a yacht voyage in the ,mediterranean1 an entertaining account of which she published in two volumes4 ,she was a keen politician1 as so many ladies of rank are in ,england4 ,in #ahgc ,lady ,westminster's son1 then ,lord ,robert ,grosvenor1 spoke in favor of the ,liberal candidate for ,shaftesbury4 ,the candidate told her tenants that he believed her ladyship was not averse to his candidature4 ,it was putting his fingers into the den of the apparently sleeping lioness4 ,she wrote sharply3 ,i beg to undeceive you4 ,i am most anxious for the success of the conservative cause1 connected as it is with the preservation of our religion and our loyalty to our ,queen4