The Ladies of Llangollen | Page 3

lady from Ireland
told the collector of these articles the following anecdote relative to
these female friends:--An Irish nobleman (Lord Fingal) happening to be

travelling in the neighbourhood of Llangollen Vale, and having heard
much of Lady E. Butler and Miss Ponsonby, felt a desire to see and
converse with them. But how he could obtain this pleasure (as the
ladies seldom or never saw company, and were fond of a recluse life)
was the question. At length he bethought himself of a method the most
likely to answer the purpose, without the appearance of forwardness or
indelicacy. He sent his servant with the following verbal
message:--'Lord Fingal, travelling in this neighbourhood, sends his
respectful compliments to Miss Butler and Miss Ponsonby, and informs
them that he sets out to-morrow morning for Ireland, and would be
happy to be the bearer of any commands of theirs to that country.' This
message had the effect which his lordship desired. He received, in
return, a kind and friendly invitation to take tea with the ladies, which
he, of course, accepted with much pleasure.--Lord Fingal (the
collector's informant added) was peculiarly charmed with the amiable
behaviour of these interesting enthusiasts of friendship. He found not in
them the gravity, formality, and demureness of virgin recluses, but the
ease of liveliness, and animated conversation of happy, cultivated, and
polished minds."
On June 2, 1829, death severed the faithful friendship which had
existed for so many years between the eccentric residents at Plas
Newydd, by removing from this earthly scene Lady Eleanor Butler,
who had attained the advanced age of 90; and in December 9, 1831,
Miss Ponsonby, who was seldom seen (except by her domestics) after
the decease of her attached companion, was called to her "long home."
They are both buried in the church-yard of Llangollen, where a stone
monument is erected to their memory. On this record of mortality are
inserted the following memorials:--
Sacred to the Memory of
_The Right Honourable_
LADY ELEANOR CHARLOTTE BUTLER,
Late of Plas Newydd in this Parish.
_Deceased_ 2_nd June_, 1829,
Aged 90 Years.
_Daughter of the Sixteenth_, _Sister of the Seventeenth_

_EARLS OF ORMONDE AND OSSORY_.
Aunt to the late, and to the
present
MARQUESS OF ORMONDE.
_Endeared to her friends by an almost unequalled excellence of heart_,
_and by manners worthy of her illustrious birth_, _the admiration and
delight of a very numerous acquaintance from a brilliant vivacity of
mind undiminished to the latest period of a prolonged existence_. _Her
amiable condescension & benevolence secured the grateful attachment
of those by whom they had been so long and so extensively
experienced_. _Her various perfections crowned by the most pious and
cheerful submission to the Divine Will_, _can only be appreciated_,
_where it is humbly believed_, _they are_ now _enjoying their Eternal
Reward_, _and by her of whom for more than fifty years_, _they
constituted that happiness_, _which through our Blessed Redeemer_,
_she trusts will be renewed_ when THIS TOMB _shall have closed
over its latest tenant_.
"Sorrow not as others who have no hope."
1 _Thess._ _Chap._ 4. _v._ 13.
SARAH PONSONBY