LA BELLE ASSEMBLÉE,

FOR MARCH, 1828.

ILLUSTRATIVE MEMOIR OF MRS. FITZ GERALD.

of Waterford.

About a century back, one of the ancestors of Mrs. Fitz Gerald married a daughter (and coheiress with Lady Fauconburg) of Thomas Fowle, Esq., of the Priory of St. Thomas, in the county of Stafford, and thereby brought into this family large estates in the counties of Stafford, Flint, and Lancaster.

MRS. FITZ GERALD, an admirable por- || for many centuries settled in the county trait of whom, by Chalon, forms the leading embellishment of this month's LA BELLE ASSEMBLEE, is the only daughter and heiress of the late John Fitz Gerald, Esq., of the little Island in the county of Waterford, and of Pendleton, in the Coun- || ty Palatine of Lancaster. She is married to her first cousin, John Fitz Gerald, Esq.,|| of Naseby, in the county of Northampton, and one of the members, in the present Parliament, for the Borough of Seaford, in the county of Sussex.

This branch of the illustrious family of Fitz Gerald is lineally descended from the second son of Richard Fitz Thomas, the third Earl of Kildare,† and has been

* Alfred Edward Chalon, R.A.

+ The family of Fitz Gerald derives its origin || from Otho, or Other, a powerful English Baron, in the time of King Edward the Confessor, whose son, Walter Fitz Other, was, at the general survey of England, 1078, castellan of Windsor. From the same Walter also descended the families of Windsor, Carew, Fitz Maurice, Gerard, and many others. The oldest title of honour used by this family, was that of Barons of Offaley, by which Gerard Fitz Maurice, great grandson of Walter Fitz Other, was designated as early as 1205; and his descendant in the No. 39.-Vol. VII.

sixth degree, John Fitz Thomas, was created Earl of Kildare on the 14th of May, 1316, the tenth year of the reign of Edward II. His grandson, Richard Fitz Thomas, was the third Earl mentioned above. The Earldom of Kildare was merged in the Dukedom of Leinster, in the person of James, the twentieth Earl. This nobleman, a Lieutenant General in the army, and Master General of the Ordnance in Ireland, succeeded his father in the year 1743. In 1747, he was created a peer of Great Britain by the title of Viscount Leinster, of Taplow, in the county of Buckingham; in 1761, he was raised to the dignity of Marquess of Kildare; and, in 1766, he was advanced to the farther dignity of Duke of Leinster. The Duke of Leinster is Marquess and Earl of Kildare, Earl and Baron of Offaley, originally by tenure, Premier Marquess, Earl, and Baron of Ireland, and Viscount Leinster, of Taplow, in the county of Buckingham.

N

RECOLLECTIONS OF LADY CAROLINE LAMB.

We love not to see genius, talent, and worth pass away without a sigh, without a tear. It is not our intention to attempt a regular biographical memoir of Lady Caroline Lamb; but we cannot refrain from offering an humble tribute to her memory, because we happen to be amongst those, who, from conviction, most sincerely attribute all the inconsistencies that existed in her character to a highly excited nervous temperament, which did not, at all times, leave her entirely mistress of herself. Many a strange conversation, many a strange scene could we sketch, were such our taste; but, feeling for, and sympathizing with, || the infirmities of our nature, we refrain from the odious task; and, even were we under the influence of less honourable principles, we should shrink from the fear of being branded with epithets due only to writers such as Medwin, Hunt, &c., who are deservedly covered with opprobrium in every well regulated society.

Lady Caroline Ponsonby was born on the 13th of November, 1785. Her father was the Right Hon. Frederick Ponsonby, Earl of Besborough; her mother, the Lady Henrietta Frances Spencer, daughter of John, the first Earl of that name. She was an only daughter; and, from her earliest infancy, she had the opportunity of receiving the instruction, and improving by the example, of her venerable grand-mother, the highly accomplished Countess Dowager Spencer.* Thus she was blessed with every advantage of birth and education; and, in the very bloom and beauty of youth, she was equally fortunate in an honourable matri

1814.

||

monial alliance. Entering into life with a fine form, a highly cultivated understanding, and bright prospects, she could not be long without admirers. Accordingly, on the 3d of June, 1805, before she had attained the age of twenty, she was married to the Hon. Wm. Lamb, eldest son of the Viscount Melbourne, a gentleman of splendid talents, and not undistinguished as an active member of the House of Commons. The issue of this marriage was three children; of whom one only is living-George Augustus Frederick, so named in honour of his present Majesty, who stood sponsor at his baptism.

In literary, and other elegant pursuits, there was perfect congeniality of taste between the married pair. Lady Caroline read and studied the classics with her husband; and, amongst the results of such association, was one of her many accomplishments, that of reciting the noblest Greek odes with extraordinary grace, and most impressive effect. Indeed her taste and skill in reading, and reciting from, the living as well as the dead languages-English, French, Italian, German, &c.—were at all times pre-eminent. In conversation, her wit was lively and sparkling; in her easy, natural, and graceful style of relating an anecdote, or delivering a connected narrative, she has rarely been equalled; her imagination was brilliant, fervid, and powerful; of the sweetest, tenderest, deepest pathos she was perfect mistress. She was at once a lover and a patroness of the Fine Arts. Some of her pencil sketches, executed in childhood, are remarkable for the spirit and freedom of their touch.

This lady died at the age of 78, in the year As a writer, and also as a woman, "Her mind was richly stored with Lady Caroline Lamb has been much misvarious reading, and what she acquired was ap-understood, much misjudged. With cerplied to the best purposes. She had an extensive range of acquaintance, who regarded her correspondence and conversation as an inestimable

treasure. In sprightliness of style, her letters would rival those of Sevigné or Montague; while, in solidity of thought and ethical purity, they might rank with the epistles of Carter. On the paternal side, she was of the ancient family of Poyntz, and her mother was daughter of the great Earl of Peterborough."

tain allowances, her literary productions
are entitled to esteem; for, certainly, her
object in them was to impart the most
useful lessons to her young and ardent
We are
contemporaries of both sexes.
aware that, on the publication of "Gle-
narvon," an outcry was raised against
that work: it was denounced as an "im-
moral book, that no young person ought

to read!" That some of its scenes were being was unhappy at once erased from too highly coloured, we must allow ; but her mind the recollection either of enmity what did it contain? The first witnessing, or of error." Again:-" Before I finish that had been given in the form of a the sad history, upon which my imaginanovel, of the dangers of the life of fashion. || tion loves to dwell, of a being as fair as It was, therefore, the drawing up of a ever nature created-let me at least have curtain-the display of scenes-which the the melancholy consolation of holding up actors did not like to have exposed to public to others those great and generous qualiscrutiny; and that was the main cause of ties, which it would be well if they would the outcry that was raised against it. What imitate, whilst they avoid her weaknesses a host of able writers have since availed and faults. Let me tell them that neither themselves of the hint given by "Gle- || loveliness of person, nor taste in attire, narvon !" Our authors of "Matilda," nor grace of manner, nor even cultivation "Granby," "Tremaine," "Vivian Grey," || of mind, can give them that inexpressible "Honor O'Hara," "Flirtation," "Coming || Out," &c., have made many a successful march over the field that was first opened by Lady Caroline Lamb. It is not to be denied that the writer's unconstrained fancy, in many parts of "Glenarvon," renders that leading excursion more like the wild inroad of a border forayer than a regular essay of disciplined reviewers of the land. Still Lady Caroline had the merit of first unveiling the follies and vices of fashion; and, surely, even should it be admitted that her own peculiar temperament and exposure on that dangerous stage caused her to suffer some of the stings which she described to be caught in her own flesh, she is not to be less credited for shewing whence the shafts that inflicted them came.

Lady Caroline Lamb's highly imaginative romance of "Ada Reis," is not obnoxious to the objections, which have, with some plausibility, if not justice, been urged against "Glenarvon." It is full of purity of heart. So also is the novel of "Graham Hamilton;" a work, the leading object of which is to shew that an amiable disposition, if unaccompanied by firmness and resolution, is frequently productive of more misery to its owner and to others, than even the most daring vice, or the most decided depravity.

As this is the only production of Lady Caroline's that we happen to have in our possession at the moment, we shall venture to make from it a brief extract, in which, it strikes us forcibly, her ladyship has, unconsciously, delineated much of her own character. Speaking of Lady Orville, Graham Hamilton says " I never heard her breathe an unkind word of another. The knowledge that a human

charm which belonged to Lady Orville above all others, and which sprang from the heart of kindness that beat within her bosom. Thence that impression of sincere good-will, which at once she spread around; thence that pleasing address which, easy in itself, put all others at their ease; thence that freedom from all mean and petty feelings-that superiority to all vulgar contentions. Here was no solicitude for pre-eminence-here was no apprehension of being degraded by the society of others-here was no assumed contempt-here was the calm and unassuming confidence which ought ever to be the characteristic of rank and fashion."

One little specimen of Lady Caroline Lamb's poetical talent, from the same work, will not be unacceptable:

If thou could'st know what 'tis to weep,

To weep unpitied and alone,
The live long night, whilst others sleep,
Silent and mournful watch to keep,

Thou would'st not do what I have done.

If thou could'st know what 'tis to smile,

To smile, whilst scorn'd by every one,
To hide, by many an artful wile,
A heart that knows more grief than guile,
Thou would'st not do what I have done.

And, oh, if thou could'st think how drear,
When friends are changed and health is
gone,

The world would to thine eyes appear,
If thou, like me, to none wert dear,

Thou would'st not do what I have done. We have, however, had the pleasure of perusing some manuscript productions of Lady Caroline's, evincing poetic powers of a much higher grade.

It has been remarked that much of Lady Caroline's character was delineated

ture.

in the novel of “ Graham Hamilton." If || gering and almost hopeless complaint. we mistake not, a more complete portrait || Three or four months ago she underwent of her ladyship will be found in Lady an operation, from which she experienced Cordelia Trevillion, one of the dramatis some relief, but only of a temporary napersona of " Dame Rebecca Berry, or Court She expired without pain, and Scenes in the Reign of Charles the Second," without a struggle, on the evening of the production of a dear and intimate || Friday, the 25th of January. On the friend of Lady Caroline's-of one who was morning of February 4, her remains were much with her in her last illness. removed in a hearse and six from the house in Pall-Mali, in which her ladyship breathed her last, for the purpose of being conveyed to the cemetery belonging to Lord Melbourne's family at Hatfield. Two mourning coaches and four, in which were Dr. Goddard, Dr. Hamilton, and two other gentlemen, followed the hearse. The carriages of the Duke of Devonshire, Earl Spencer, Earl Carlisle, Earl Besborough, Lord Melbourne, Viscount Duncannon, Mr. Wm. Ponsonby, and Mrs. Hunter, followed the funeral procession to a short distance out of town. The Hon. William Lamb, husband to the deceased, and Mr. Wm. Ponsonby, joined the procession at Belvoir, to attend the funeral, as chief mourners.

To the feeling heart, to the religious mind, it is eminently gratifying to know, that the last days of Lady Caroline Lamb were quite free from those nervous distractions of thought which so often distressed herself and her friends; and that her death-bed was perfectly tranquil, and demonstrative of every Christian conviction and its consequent peace. It is also gratifying to know that her husband arrived in town, from Ireland, sufficiently early to receive her latest blessing.

Lady Caroline Lamb had long been declining under the pressure of a lin

For a review of this work, vide LA BELLE ASSEMBLEE, vol. v. page 126.

PATIENCE: A TALE FOR WIVES.

-Much did she suffer; but, if any friend,

Beholding her condition, at the sight

Gave way to words of pity or complaint,

She stilled them with a prompt reproof, and said,
"He who afflicts me knows what I can bear;
And when I fail and can endure no more,
Will mercifully take me to himself."-WORDSWORTH.

IN that delightful part of sunny Italy || where the Po commences its rapid and || majestic course, there reigned, about the twelfth century, a certain Prince named Eugene Armedia. His estates, though far from extensive, awarded to their possessor a sufficiency of worldly advantages wherewith to maintain the rank by Providence assigned to him, whilst his subjects enjoyed under his dominion all that safety and abundance which poets dream of in the golden age. It was, indeed, a delightful spot; the fields, demanding the lightest cultivation, returned a hundred-fold the wealth of Ceres; the vine hung, "purple and gushing," from the elm; a thousand limpid streams murmured "o'er their

pebbled beds," and the pipe of the shepherd came upon the wind. It was a place, where humanity, pure from the soil and grossness of the world, might have found a foretaste of the after-pleasures promised to the good. It had pleased Nature to adorn the Prince Eugene with all those nobler qualities which, whilst they exalt the inward self, bless and conciliate depending man. His court was free from those silver-tongued pests, those smilers that abuse a prince's ear-those fawners,

"Whose dimples scem a sort of honeycomb, Filled and o'erflowing with suavity."

He had about him men upright of heart and simple of speech, men who, had it

Armedia, unconscious of this, lived "heart-whole," and unfettered. At length, incapable of further resisting the kind entreaties of his people, he promised them, whilst he avowed his scepticism, if they could bring to him a maiden " ever fair yet never proud," one of gentleness, modesty, patient of suffering, yet learned and wise, the marvel of her sex, he would consent to wive. Satisfied with this, the people were for a time silent, whilst Armedia, in the blindness of his bigotry, feeling certain that his anxious subjects might as successfully seek for the phoenix, or to catch the rainbow from the heavens, as the maiden he had pictured, promised himself a freedom from their future entreaties. In the mean time he pursued his wonted sports. It was his only violent recreation to rouse the wild boar, and to prove his manhood against the rugged bear. Thus, he would at times remain whole days from his castle, accompanied by his huntsmen and his dogs.

It was their excessive love for Armedia which urged his subjects to solicit the Prince to an alliance with some noble lady worthy of his virtues and his greatness, lest he, living a life of uncheering celibacy, might "die and leave the world no copy." This request the Prince had for some time adroitly evaded. With all the golden gifts which nature had lavished upon him-with a form to win the eyes of woman, with a mind fraught with a true nobility of sentiment, with courage, eloquence, with nearly all the possessions" which make the happy One day, the horn summoned the Prince man," there was still one speck upon this to the chase; the game was quickly starthuman sun, one blot upon the lily of his ed, the forest echoed with the barking of mind, which too often made his other dogs, and the shout of men; the stag virtues seem a mockery to themselves,- bounded through the forest; whilst Arhe was a heretic to the sweet faith of wo- media, ever foremost, set spurs to his man. He had never carried " within the steed, and, intent only upon the prey, was red-leaved tablet of his heart," the en- speedily far beyond his lagging comgraven recollection of woman's love-he panions. After many devious turns and laughed at the cherry lip of Cupid, and subtle shifts, the stag escaped, and the made a jest of the saffron-mantled god. Prince, on looking round, discovered himHe had early imbibed most erring notions self to be in the thickest part of the forest, of the strength, of the fidelity of woman's wholy unattended. He dismounted, and, love, and the prejudice once received, || after a search, discovered a narrow track, nurtured itself; he had carefully abstain- which he imagined would again lead him ed from all converse with the gentle sex; into the open country. The further, howand thus, like a rude, wayward Pagan, ever, he proceeds, the more closely he exclaimed against the creed, before he finds himself shut in by the umbrageous had even conned the text. He knew not wood; at length he can neither hear the the generative powers of love-the new barking of the dogs, nor the cries of the virtues, the fresh delights it gives a being hunters. to ;-for

love first learned in a lady's eyes,
Lives not alone immured in the brain;
But with the motion of the elements,
Courses as swift as thought in every power;
And gives to every power, a double power,
Above their functions and their offices.
It adds a precious seeing to the eye:
A lover's eye will gaze an eagle blind;
A lover's ear will hear the lowest sound,
When the suspicious head of theft is stopp'd."

By chance he arrived at a grove, through which a brook babbled its way amid the flowers which clustered its narrow banks. Nature was here in her most beautiful and flourishing simplicity; the Prince, overcome with the beauty of the place, "for there is a spirit in the woods," blessed a thousand times the chance which had directed him to the spot. He abandoned himself to the influence of the scene; and,