Some Old Time Beauties | Page 9

but a memory; when treasure after treasure,
manuscripts, and sumptuous books were disposed of, and presentation
pictures were pawned,--this picture of St. Cæcilia, a reminder of the
days that had vanished, was the last valued possession to be parted
with.

[Illustration: MARGUERITE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON by
LAWRENCE]
LADY BLESSINGTON
The brilliant Blessington,--brilliant in beauty and in intellect!
Throughout her life of romance she was fortunate in her literary
friendships, through whom a knowledge of her abilities has grown to
tradition, but most fortunate in the portrayer of her beauty. Lawrence
has painted a picture which it is a perpetual pleasure to behold,--the
superb arms and shoulders, the serene, steadfast gaze of the eyes, and
the conscious, yet confident, poise of the head forming a record to
justify the tradition of great personal beauty and alertness of mind.
Marguerite Blessington's youth was ill-regulated and penurious. She

was born in 1789, the second daughter of Edmund Power, of Knockbrit,
near Clonmel, in the county of Tipperary. Her father came of a good
family, as did also her mother, who spoke unduly often of her ancestors,
the Desmonds. Marguerite was not comely in her early girlhood,
though her sister Ellen and her brother Robert were handsome children.
As a child, she was sensitive and sentimental, and her delight was to
browse in a library,--and it was this taste that equipped her for her later
friendships. Her power of imagination was uncommonly strong, and
she became the entertainer of her children-companions with stories of
her own imagining, as well as by her recitals of legends and romance
learned in the library. Her father removed to Clonmel, and became
editor of a paper there. He was not prosperous, and was a man of
perverse temper, which grew with adversity. Marguerite and her sister
were fancied by some wealthy maiden-lady relatives, and were taken
by them to a home of comfort. On their return to Clonmel,--beautiful,
and with the distinction of knowledge and a clever use of it,--they were
a contrast to the ordinary Irish country girl, whose whole equipment of
dress and accomplishments was "two washing gowns and a tune on the
piano." The girls took part in all the gayeties of the town, and, besides
the charm of their conversation, were graceful dancers; and though
Marguerite was less beautiful, she was most tasteful in dress, and this
became always a noted characteristic of hers. They became the
attraction of an English regiment recently stationed in the town, and
Marguerite was soon married, through the insistence of her father, to a
Captain Farmer, when less than fifteen years of age. This was the great
misfortune of her life.
Her husband was subject to fits of insanity, and her whole feeling
towards him was that of aversion. Cruelty and caprice were the chief
components of his character. From his tyranny she fled,--first to her
father's house, but was denied solace there, so sought it elsewhere. She
led a somewhat vagabond existence for about nine years, living first
with one friend, then with another; thankful for any home, and
accommodating herself to any companions. Of this period of her life
not much is recorded, save her beauty, for it was shortly after this that
her peerless portrait was painted, ere her sorrow and suffering had time
to efface the vivacity of youth, but only to give depth to the eyes and
interest to the face. She lived in London with her brother Robert until in

1817, when her husband's death occurred by his falling out of a
window when in a state of drunken frenzy. Four months after this she
became the second wife of an Irish nobleman of a dashing person and
little brains, Charles John Gardiner, second Earl of Blessington, when
she was twenty-eight and he was thirty-five years of age. With this
marriage came a reversal of her misfortunes. Her generosity, sympathy,
and good heart soon prompted the improvement of the conditions of
her own family, and in this gave emphatic evidence of that devotedness
to duty and friends which became her strongest trait. Her youngest
sister, Marianne, was adopted and educated by her, and became her
travelling companion, and long afterwards her modest biographer. Her
sister Ellen married first, Mr. Home Purves, and afterwards, Viscount
Canterbury, speaker of the House of Commons.
Lord Blessington's income was great, but his tastes were extravagant as
were also his wife's, and luxurious was their home in St. James's
Square, and magnificent the manner in which they entertained the
brilliant society gathered there; and for three years their brilliant
companies of beauty and intellect outshone the congregations at
Holland House. In 1822, Count D'Orsay, a polished and accomplished
young Frenchman, visited London, and was made most welcome by the
Blessingtons. In August of that year they started for