and of the lying-in-state of his first Lady in there, trunks and branches, yet unremoved, were Dublin "under a velvet pall of the finest lying on the ground. The stumps of the felled texture, embroidered in gold and silver, which trees, in the midst of the debris of scattered had been purchased in France for the occa- timber, gave an unpleasant and uncoutho aspect sion, and had recently been used at a public it for one who had known the noble owner of this to a scene, that had some melancholy interest in funeral in Paris of great pomp and splendor, vast property." that of Marshal Duroc "-remind us that this fantastic and extravagant nobleman is said to In Dr. Madden's account of Lord and Lady have been the original of Lord Rosbrin, in Lady Blessington's Italian journey-during which he Morgan's "Florence Macarthy." His private made their acquaintance-the meeting with theatricals, too, at Rash, in Tyrone, merited Byron, which served to introduce the Lady honorable mention in Moore's Review article prominently into authorship, makes a handon the subject. some figure, thanks, chiefly, to quotations of the best passages in the Lady Blessington's About 1807, he expended a great deal of book. In the second volume, however, where a money in enlarging the offices, building an considerable space is devoted to La Contessa extensive kitchen and wine cellars, and erecting Guiccioli (now Marquise de Boissy) the amount a spacious and elegantly decorated theatre, and of the Irish Lady's opportunities for observaproviding "properties," and a suitable wardrobe of magnificent theatrical dresses for it. The tion is curiously diminished by the professional actors and actresses were brought statement :down by his Lordship, for the private theatricals แ at Mountjoy Forest, from Dublin, and some Lady Blessington's intimacy with Byron was even from London. But there were amateur only for a period of two months, and during those performers also, and two of the old tenants re-two months, I am informed by the Countess Guicmember seeing his Lordship act cioli (now that interviews parts;" but what they were, or whether of a between Lady Blessington and Byron did not extragic or a comic nature, they cannot say, they ceed five or six; and that the feelings of friendonly knew he was thought a fine actor, and the ship entertained by his Lordship were n not of dresses he wore were very grand and fine." The that very ardent nature which would have preladies who acted were always actresses from the vented him from indulging in his favorite proDublin theatres, and during the performances at pensity of bewildering his entourage, by giving Rash, his Lordship had them lodged at the expression to satirical observations even on a house of the school-mistress, in the demesne friend on whom he had written such eulogistic near the avenue leading to the house. The verses as he had composed for the Countess of "Quality," who came down and remained at Blessington."** Lady Blessington courted the Rash during the performances, which generally society of Madame Guiccioli, it is true, showed lasted for three or four weeks each year, were en-her great civility, and made a great deal of her tertained with great hospitality by his Lordship. in the salons; but any little peculiarities of the The expenditure was profuse in the extreme for Italian lady were seized hold of eagerly, and their entertainment, and the fitting up and fur-made the most of in society, and laughed at in nishing of places of temporary accommodation it. Like most Italian women, Madame Guic for them during their brief sojourn. The dwell-cioli has very little comprehension of badinage ing house of Rash was more a large cottage, with or irony in conversation. The Guiccioli could some remains of an older structure, than a noble- not understand anything like a joke; she could man's mansion. There was an Irish close to the absurd and disproportionate pageant,-type, it might be added, of much that subsequently befell the pomps and glories of Lord Blessington's wealth: "The house became in a short time so dilapidated, as to be unfit to live in. His Lordship gave directions to have extensive repairs and additions made to a thatched house of middle size, about a quarter of mile distant from Rash. The furniture was removed to this place, which Lord Blessington called "the Cottage," and the old home at Rash was left to go to ruin. When I visited the place recently, nothing remained but some vestiges of the kitchen and the cellars. The theatre had utterly disappeared, and nothing could be more desolate than the site of it. The grounds It must also be observed, that the interview and garden had been broken up, the trees had with her Ladyship is described as having been been all cut down in the vicinity. Here and sought by Lord Byron. It is more than pro bable, however, a little ruse was practised on his and think it possible that the Diary may have Lordship to obtain it. It is stated by one who been destroyed by himself, in order to render has a good knowledge of all the circumstances all temptation impossible.— of this visit, that a rainy forenoon was selected his house." What's done we partly can compute, Among other residents in Italy who gathered around Lady Blessington, Dr. Madden (whose own acquaintance with her began during that period) makes honorable mention of the quaint, learned humorist, Mr. Mathias, author of The Pursuits of Literature" and a translation into Italian of Beattie's "Minstrel," Dr. Millingen, the antiquary, and the venerable and gracious Archbishop of Tarentum, whose courThis anecdote is, of its order, a pendant to tesies and whose cats make a figure in the the well-known enterprise of the French Lady pages of almost every tourist who has written who, despairing of otherwise obtaining access of society in Italy since the century began. to Mr. Mississippi Law, when that financier Who has forgotten the chaplain's solemn was in the flood-tide of his popularity, direct- answer at an Arch-Episcopal dinner-party, ed her coachman to overturn her carriage in when, on the host inquiring whether his torthe Rue Quincampoix, "over against" his re-toise-shell favorites were served to their liking, sidence. the attendant replied, "Desdemona will wait of The reminiscences of these Genoa days and for the roasts"?-But the liveliest of the cirByron, of course, include the English poet's cle was Sir William Gell, whose letters figure well-recollected mention of Count d'Orsay and brightly in the second volume. The history his commendations of that MS. Diary kept by of The English in Italy" (and a curious the young "De Grammont redivivus," which book of virtù and anecdote might be written from the day when Moore's "Life" was pub- with such a title) will not be complete without lished, so sharpened public curiosity and ex-liberal extracts from this correspondence, with pectation. In that journal a lively picture of its references to Sir William Drummond at the dandy days of English high-life was said Monte Cassino,-to Mrs. Dodwell's dazzling to exist, as bright and pointed as those chroni- beauty, to the Hon. Keppel Craven's hoscles of la Blanche Wetenhall and la Belle Mus-pitalities in "the tremendous large old conkerry-which, in some sense, have made the vent," which Sir William maintained he inBeauties of Charles the Second classical hero-habited half out of perversity,-to the deines. Brilliant and shrewd any journal kept licious malaprop of that Irish lady, who talked by Count d'Orsay must have been; though, pos- (among other wonders) of the "liquidation". sibly, in his compliments, Byron may have of the blood of St. Januaris. But the above somewhat exaggerated his admiration, accord- are somewhat local and dowager topics ing to his usage; but the author of the "Lite- more general interest is the following, from a rary Life" before us gives a death-blow to letter addressed to Lady Blessington in the curiosity, by stating that Count d'Orsay's Diary year 1833 :— exists no more, having been burnt by its writer some years since. If this be the case, it should "At this moment, I received a little work of a have been added, that the MS. was destroyed few pages from the Archbishop upon Cats, on the in no fit of spleen (for never was diarist, to the occasion of a cat's mummy brought for him from last, less splenetic than Count d'Orsay;) but Egypt by a friend of mine, Dr. Hogg, who is just out of gentlemanly regard for the society in come from that country. The good old soul is which, long after the journal of a passing he is now ninety-one; but I cannot imagine how really very little altered since you saw him, though stranger was written, its writer made himself the machine is to go on much longer. He deat home. Yet more, in cannot have been burnt sires one thousand loves to you, and I am to take without cogent temptations offered to its writer the Bulwer to dine with him shortly, though I to adopt the contrary course. We believe that fear if he is not quick at Italian, he will scarcely during the later part of Count d'Orsay's resi- become very intimate, as I observed Walter dence in England, when his embarrassments Scott and Monsignore did not make it out very were notorious, he might again and again have well together, for the Archbishop will not take coined money on the pages of a manuscript the trouble to talk much or long together in reputed (on no less an authority than Byron's) life of Walter Scott in Italy, which I wrote by French. By-the-by, I observed to you that my to be so piquant. We have heard him again the desire of Miss Scott, was very entertaining in and again declare that he never would "sell its way, and I sent it to Mr. L. by Mr. Hamilton. the people at whose houses he had dined!" He has never, however, thanked me for it, nor even acknowledged the receipt of it, nor sent me Sir Walter's works, which he ordered for me with almost the last sentence he uttered that was intelligible, and if it does not appear in the work, it will be really worth publishing, and I the channel between the Isle of Skye and t shall send it to you." These letters contain more concerning the Gell MS. furnished to the Author of The Life of Scott," with the reception of which, by that gentleman, Sir William seems to have been anything rather than content, vide the following passage from a letter written in 1834 brought to Sir Walter's mind the refutation of the antiquity of Mcpherson's Ossian by Mr. Laing, who had shown that the names of the heroes were taken from the map, I think, of main land." of these names,' "happens to have been given in the last centu ry, and the date of that is well known." Mr. Laing knew those countries well, and his proof Mr. Laing came originally from Orkney, and he was striking and satisfactory. I think he said added, "I once went to see him, and carried over in my boat a faggot of sticks for the peas in his garden, which were reckoned there a great curiosity." He said, however, that elders would grow, and that the face of the country might be As to Mr. L- I fear much that he is not improved by them. From this he good for much, and I am certain he got the compare the once flourishing state work, for I sent it to Mr. William Hamilton, islands with their who gave it with a request that he would not omit a word of it in printing I kept a copy of it, however, and I will send it to you. There are no remarks, except such as tend to explain away and render less ridiculous the total want of classical taste, and knowledge of the hero, in a situation full of classical recollections, and which I have added, that I might not seem insensible to his real merits. They were written for the family, and by the desire of Miss Scott herself, and therefore nothing offensivo could have been inserted; and when I had finished the anecdotes, I was surprised myself at the number of circumstances I had recollected, and perceived that the account of the last days of so distinguished a person was really interesting, when told with strict regard to truth. The circumstances of his illness having changed his mind, or deprived it of its consistency, which I myself much doubt, might be judged of from his way of treating the subjects of conversation which presented them- home was in the Scottish poet; and can easily We already knew how strong the love of selves, and this alone would be of consequence conceive how one so imbued with Southernes to his numerous friends. I think it scarcely pos present forlorn appearance and observed, to a people from the est north, these might perhaps have seemed the abodes of the blessed. They were certainly, said he, esteemed holy, and there was a great circular building like Stonehenge, and not far from Kirkwall, which proved the importance of the place. Saying this, he searched for, and presented to me, a pencil drawing of the temple, which I preserve and highly value. It is entitled, "Standing Stones of Stenhouse in Orkney," and has on the back inscribed the name of J. Keene, Esq., by whom it was probably drawn. Sir Walter mentioned another pillar, called the stone of Odin, which is perforated, and afterwards descanted on the ordeal, by which persons accused of crime were deemed innocent, if capable of passing through this species of aperture, in very remote ages." jelt lle faltou as sau dass sible that any of those most attached to him dilettantism (the inevitable condition apparentcould be displeased at my manner of represent-ly of a protracted residence in Italy) as Sirs ing him, and at all events, I have repeated what William Gell, may have been a sarcastic, rathhe said, and related what he did in Italy, in a er than a sympathetic, observer of a guest, way that satisfied every one here, who was the so pre-occupied and so little flexible. But on q witness of his sayings and doings. However, I all occasions there seems to have been an shall send the copy to you, and if the life is published by the said L, without use and acknowledgment of my papers, the best way will be to sell it to the bookseller, and let it come before the public. I will affix, or rather prefix, Miss S- 's request, that I would write it, and will suppose that the original had been lost or mislaid, in consequence of her premature decease. In this case, I shall beg of you to make the most advantageous bargain you can, for a poor author under your protection. I extra drop or two of vitriol in Gell's ink; as, supposing they had not quarrelled with her, to publish their wife and cousin's correspondence, as they have cheated me out of my pension." passing acquaintances) fill sundry pages. After these comes an elaborate and not very living picture of La Contessa Guiccioli, whose self and present husband are spoken of with as The following anecdote is short and sharp curious and critical a coolness as if both were: enough : "Dear Gell, I send you my friend Mr. you will find him the greatest bore and the most disputatious brute you ever knew. Pray ask him to dinner, and get any one you know of the same character to meet him."-This was brought mo by the man himself, and I found him in every way answering to the character. It should be recollected, in conclusion, that Gell was tempted to the indulgence of the humor which speaks out in the above,-not merely by the training which he must have aquired in the years when he served a royal mistress whom he despised, but also from the influence of long-protracted bodily suffering. His later years were passed in martyrdom from gout and rheumatism. defunct or a pair of waxen celebrities in the Tussund gallery. In this "article," however, we find a pair of stanzas by Byron, which "we tell as they are told to us.' "Four had met with some loss, which he made the sub- Stanzas, by Lord Byron. I heard thy fate without a tear, I know not what hath seared mine eye Yes-deep and heavy, one by one, They sink and turn to care; Than feelings sunk remain, There are some plausible letters from Count Matuschewitz, written in wonderfully good English; others from Prince Schwartzenberg, who made use of the nom-de-guerre of Capt. Wolf, after the safe fashion of old-fashioned Austrian diplomacy. To these follow some letters and a notice of that finished gentleman, the late Duke of Ossuna, prefaced with the somewhat astounding remark, that "the present Duke has inherited all that was his brother's except his intelligence :"-which, we submit, is tolerably personal as applied to a gentleman at present circulating in London society. Dr. Madden does scanty justice to the dead as well as to the living. The polished breeding which distinguished the late Duke of Ossuna was remarkable enough to merit especial commemoration. How completely, but how courteously, he contrasted with the members of the circle into which he was thrown in England; and how he "held with a quiet ease, independent of commanding intellectual superiority, will not be forgotten by any one accustomed to study what is called "manner" who saw him in society. It was he who, when pressed by an Not without protest do we read another English nobleman with some inquiry more" Memoir of L. E. L.," which is mainly declose than considerate as to the exact amount voted to a fresh raking-up (as it were) of the of his vast fortune, replied, with a polite dust among which she lies, without any clear smile, My Lord, I do not understand your light being thrown upon the circumstances of English money." her sudden death. Will there never be an his own -The above lines were obtained from the late Mr. R. A. Davenport, compiler of a Dictionary of Biography, and author of several works, who had the kindness to communicate them to my publisher, with a note, wherein he said:-"These lines are in Lord Byron's own handwriting. I received them from him, along with another poem, in 1815. I add the seal and postmark, in confirmation of my statement. R. A. DAVENPORT.'" M. Eugène Sue, characterized as "a strange end of these cruel surmises-these unproved compound of credulity and imposition," M. accusations? The letters from Miss Landon le Vicomte d'Arlincourt, whose letters are in- to Lady Blessington are merely heart-warm dorsed by Dr. Madden as about "the most acknowledgments of service rendered her on remarkable specimen "s of "intense literary the occasion of an election to the Secretaryship vanity" and " consummate self-conceit (of the Literary Fund. Some book in which which any language affords, MM. Casimir Lady Blessington was concerned had been Delavigne and Alfred de Vigny (the last mere critically disparaged by Miss Landon,-but this was forgotten by the former when a case happy to go myself into the Himalaya to procure occurred in which she could help a literary specimens.The kind interest which you have contemporary. Remembrance of the matter, shown in my welfare has encouraged me to however, may have added earnestness to her trouble you with these details. I feel that I have expressions of affectionate thankfulness-for some claim upon patronage, since my patriotic she was visited by compunctions as impulsive the British dependencies for the purpose of makfeelings have induced me to prefer travelling in as the praise or blame commanded from her ing them better known, instead of going to pen had been mechanical. During this very America, notwithstanding the offers made to me Literary Fund canvass, when a stranger called by publishers at home, who would have made on her with some slight information of service very liberal advances for the expenses of my to the cause she had at heart. Miss Landon journey." age A ban burst into sudden tears, exclaiming " O, you don't know the unkind things I have said about The most interesting pages in the cond you in print!" Her notes here published are volume are the letters addressed to Lady Blespainful in the excess of their gratitude. Lady sington by Mr. W. S. Landor. Her letters to Blessington, Dr. Madden adds, gave him the the poet, too, are , are her best, as to the high commission, on his departing for Cape Coast, nature and great endowments of her corres to erect a monument there to poor Mrs. pondent imperceptibly nerved her when she Maclean at her expense. In this, however, he sate down to talk to him on paper. But was anticipated. Among these "Memorials," Lady Blessington's writings, we must again too, is a musical "lament" in verse on her repeat, whether imaginative or epistolary, in death, given as copied in the handwriting of no respect did her justice. bedrooms bus .Est Mr. Landor, which we rather believe may be the composition of Miss Theodosia Garrow.We last week spoke of the correspondence Dr. Madden might further have given as an betwixt lady Blessington and Mr. Landor, illustration of the humor of one whose name mentioning at the same time that some of the fills a large space in these pages, the manner Lady's best letters are those addressed to the in which the one authoress was pointed out to Author of the "Imaginary Conversations." the other, at a very early stage of their corres- Of these, a brief and graceful example may pondence, before they had met personally. be given: I have The place was the Opera, at which Miss Lan-Gore House, Kensington Gore, March 10, 1888. don appeared one evening, wearing a dark velvet Scotch cap and feather. "Look!" "I write to you from my new residence, in cried Count Orsay, in a gay, eager voice, rais what I call the country, being a mile from Loning his lorgnette, "Look that is Miss Landon, announced the pleasing intelligence that you forgotten that your last letter with her inkstand on her head, and her pen were to be in London in April, and I write to in it!" request that you will take up your residence at Every page, almost, reminds us of the uses my house. I have a comfortable room to offer for which Lady Blessington's constant kindness you; and what is better still, a cordial welcome. and large London acquaintance were claimed Pray bear this in mind, and let me have the by her correspondents. Poor Miss Emma pleasure of having you under my roof. Have Roberts, writing from Parell (India), in 1839, you heard of the death of Sir William bespoke her interest to obtain commissions Gell? He expired at Naples, on the 4th of from the nobility and gentry desirous of pos-firmity. Poor Gell! I regret him much; he February, literally exhausted by his bodily insessing Indian rarities. was gentle, kind-hearted and good-tempered, possessed a great fund of information, which "I often wish to procure a commission from was always at the service of any one requiring the Duke of Devonshire, or other wealthy patron, it, and if free from passion (not always in my for the collection of horticultural or zoological opinion a desirable thing), totally exempt from specimens, which would have assisted to defray prejudice, which I hold to be most desirable. the enormous expenses of travelling. Were I to How much more frequently we think of a friend remain at Bombay I could limit my expenditure we have lost than when he lived! I have thought within very reasonable bounds, but in this case of poor Gell continually, since I got Mr. CraI should acquire a very small quantity of inform-ven's melancholy letter, announcing his demise, ation; I have therefore determined upon making a journey into the provinces, and should you have an opportunity of recommending me as a useful agent to, some liberal, person at home, I feel assured you would do your utmost to forward my plans. Amid many other objects of interest for a nobleman's park, the yak or yew of Thibet is the most desirable; it will not live in India on the plains, but might in the cold season be carried up the Red Sea; and I should be most yet when he lived I have passed weeks without bestowing a thought on him. Is not this a curious fact in all our natures, that we only begin to know the value of friends when they are lost to us forever? It ought to teach us to turn with increased tenderness to those that remain. I always feel that my affection for living friends is enlivened by the reflection that they too may pass away. If we were only half as lenient to the living as we are to the dead, how much hap |