as most becoming, by delaying to make a suggestion till I shall be required. Believe me ever "Yours, most sincerely, "Wellington." "London, January 19, 1847, at night. "I received your note of this day when I returned home, at too late an hour to communicate on this day with Mr. Tuffet; but I will do so on Monday. You are quite right. Count D'Orsay's work is of a higher description of art than is described by the word portrait! But I described it by that word, because the likeness is so remarkably good, and well executed as a painting, and that this is the truest of all artistic ability, truest of all in this country. I am really not a judge of the effect of my name in the newspapers, but I am sensible of the effect produced by any manifestations of interest in an officer I might wish dealt with favourably. Believe me, "My dear Lady Blessington, "Wellington." "London, June 19, 1847. "I shall be delighted to see a good engraving of Count D'Orsay's picture of the Queen on horseback. "But I should prefer not to take any steps to attain that object till it is seen what the Queen and the Prince themselves do as to the object of your wishes. "Unless it should be decidedly disadvantageous to the Count to wait a little longer, I would recommend him to do so. "Let me know what he determines. "Ever yours, most faithfully, "Wellington." "London, August 7, 1849. "I have received your Ladyship's note, and am much concerned to learn that the gentleman in question is unwell. "I don't know at what time my daughter-in-law will return. "But if you will write me a note when the gentleman will be sufficiently well to look at pictures in gentlemen's houses, I will send you an order by my servant to shew them, if my daughter-in-law should not be at the moment inhabiting the apartments. "Ever yours, most faithfully, "Wellington." LETTER FROM LORD FITZROY SOMERSET TO LADY BLESSINGTON. "Horse Guards, June 11, 1848. "Dear Lady Blessington, "The Duke of Wellington will be happy to consider your nephew, H. F , a candidate for a commission by purchase, and to introduce him into the service when his other very numerous engagements may permit. "Believe me, very faithfully, "Yours, Fitzrot Somerset." THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. LATE MARQUIS OF DOURO. The eldest son of the late Duke of Wellington, by a daughter of the second Lord Longford, who died in 1831, was one of the most intimate friends of the Countess of Blessington. He was born in 1807; completed his education at Trinity College, Cambridge; was returned to parliament, and represented Aldborough in 1829-30-31, and again entered parliament for Norwich in 1837, which place he represented till 1852. He married, in 1839, Lady Elizabeth Hay, daughter of the Marquis of Tweedale; was aide-de-camp to his father from 1842 to 1852, and in the latter year, succeeded to the title. He was appointed Master of the Horse to the Queen, January, 1853, Lieutenant Commandant of the Victoria (Middlesex) Rifles, August, 1853. Lady Blessington, whose insight into character was not the least remarkable of her qualities, said of the Marquis of Douro, that " he had a fund of common sense, of rich humour, and of good nature, sufficient for half-a-dozen elder sons of the nobility.” It is difficult to touch on the character of a man whose position in society, however exalted, is that of a private individual, bearing an historic name, and having no personal distinction apart from it. Free from ostentation, simple in his tastes and manners, reserved in society, but fond of it, and easily drawn towards those who shine in it, naturally generous and warm-hearted, keenly perceptive of the ridiculous, of a very original turn of mind, shrewd and sensible, a close observer of character, with a profound admiration and respect for the memory of his illustrious father, the qualities of this young nobleman were calculated to render him a favourite in such circles as those of Gore House, and with those who presided over them. FROM THE MARQUIS OF DOURO. “Tuesday. “MY DEAR LADY BLESSINGToN, “I have shewn your verses to the most brilliant German Professor in the world, and he can make nothing of them. I therefore restore them to you, resisting the temptation to compose a translation, which certainly never could be detected. “Yours sincerely, “DOURO.” 27 CHAPTER III. LORD BROUGHAM. Henry, Baron Brougham and Vaux, of Brougham Hall, county Westmoreland,—formerly Lord High Chancellor of England—will be known to posterity as Henry Brougham— the early champion of the Anti-Slavery cause—Queen Caroline's counsel—the indomitable opponent of Castlereagh's policy—the faithful friend and bold defender of civil and religious liberty in the House of Commons. With these titles to respect and honour, he may dispense with the labours of heraldry, in favour of the antiquity of his race, and Sir Bernard Burke's successful effort to trace up his family, and their possessions in Westmoreland, to the Saxon Burghams before the Conquest. His father, Henry Brougham, Esq. (who died in 1810), by his marriage with a sister of Robertson, the historian' Mary Syme (who died in 1839), had five sons, of whom Henry, born September 19, 1778, was the eldest. He married in 1819, the eldest daughter of Sir John Eden, niece of Lord Auckland, and widow of John Spalding, Esq., by whom he had two daughters—Eleanor Sarah, who died in 1820, and Eleanor Louisa, who died in 1839. After a long career of professional labours, and of public services, this distinguished man was appointed Lord Chancellor, and created a peer of the realm, on the accession of the Grey administration in 1830, and retired with his party in 1834. The great tendency to make war on people who seek to be pre-eminent in different pursuits, has been eloquently noticed by Cicero, and bitterly experienced by Lord Brougham. Men smile complacently at the little jealousies of women, who are supposed to take offence at the union of beauty, esprit, literary talents, poetic genius, or intellectual gifts of any very superior order, in the same individual of their own sex. But men—able men too in politics, and in high legal and literary position, feel not unfrequently their merits rebuked in the presence of great successes of men of their own profession or especial avocation, who have acquired pre-eminence in other pursuits. Lord Brougham, in one of his Historical Sketches, says— "The true test of a great man—that, at least, which must secure his place amongst the highest order of great men—is his having been in advance of his age." By this standard, if his Lordship be judged, no doubt he will be found to be a man of more than ordinary greatness— a man of gigantic intellect, the like of which it will be in vain to look for among the great men of this country of the present century. He was in advance of his age on the Slavery question, on that of Catholic Emancipation, of Law Reform, Charitable Bequests' Reform, of National Instruction, of London Collegiate Education. But there is another true test of a great man in a prominent public position; the power of enduring hatred and hostility in high places—of resisting envy, defamation, and ridicule, year after year, throughout a long and arduous career, systematically arrayed against him in the press; and of confronting powerful opponents in parliament, boldly and successfully, and almost singly, in many signal conflicts. Lord Brougham is said to be hot and hasty, vehement, impetuous, and offensively earnest in discussion. The great Lord Chatham has been taxed with similar defects; and like him, Lord Brougham merges all minor imperfections in the |
