Part 1 (1/2)
Some Old Time Beauties.
by Thomson Willing.
HER GRACE OF DEVONs.h.i.+RE
The Das.h.i.+ng d.u.c.h.ess,--the impulsive, ebullient beauty whose smile swayed ministers, and for whose favor princes were beggars! A loveliness of manner, as of feature, such seductive color,--glowing carnations,--and such golden-brown hair, with a fine figure, made up an opulent personality, than which no more consummate type of beauty has been preserved to us by painter or poet.
Georgiana Spencer was the daughter of Lord Spencer, afterwards first Earl Spencer; but her impulsiveness, her waywardness, and improvidence were a legacy from her grandfather, ”Jack” Spencer, the grandson and special favorite of the beautiful Sarah, d.u.c.h.ess of Marlborough. Her ”Torismond,” she called him. His was a career of profligacy, a course of error and extravagance. His mother was Lady Sunderland, known in society as ”the little Whig,” from her small stature and her persistent politics. Her party badge was always worn,--the black patch on the left side of the face, as distinguished from the Tory fas.h.i.+on of wearing it on the right side. So Georgiana came legitimately by her beauty, her Whiggish politics, and her versatile vivacity of manner, as well as her improvidence and indiscretion.
But her mother's strong character was a potent influence. She was the daughter of the Right Honorable Stephen Poyntz, and was of high repute for generosity, for sensibility, for charity, and for courteous dignity of demeanor. We hear of Georgiana being a beautiful child; and Reynolds as well as Gainsborough, both made painted record of that childish beauty. Her brightness of mind gave her an interest in art, in music, and in literature; and, though not proficient in the practice of either, she had more than the society woman's knowledge of them. At seventeen, she married William, fifth Duke of Devons.h.i.+re, ten years her senior. His was a temperament antipathetic to hers,--unsympathetic, unimpressionable, and taciturn, yet withal of the Cavendish characteristic persistency of purpose and honest intent.
The d.u.c.h.ess at once became a queen of society in the Carlton House Court. Devons.h.i.+re House was an a.s.sembly place for the Whigs; and its lovely mistress was the hostess of many a statesman exalted by his wit, as of many a politician with following by virtue of his station.
Like all radical companies, it was a motley mixture that found welcome there. The Prince of Wales was a devotee. The then s.h.i.+ning Sheridan was a frequenter; but with the name of Fox has that of the d.u.c.h.ess been more a.s.sociated than of aught other. Her supremacy among these companions was not in the manner of the French Salon leaders,--while wit, knowledge, and tact were hers, she lived not by learning, but by her liveliness and jollity. She was not the scholar in politics, but the politician among scholars out of school.
It was a roystering, revelling company; and political as well as personal penury became the portion of many as the result of these improvident and profligate days. The episode of the d.u.c.h.ess's career which is most known, is her purchase, by a kiss, of a vote for Fox when she was championing his cause in an election, and canva.s.sing for votes in company with her sister, Lady Duncannon. It was said, ”never before had two such lovely portraits appeared on a canva.s.s.” A butcher bargained for his vote by asking a kiss from the lovely lips of the seductive d.u.c.h.ess. The price was paid, amid the plaudits of the crowd.
An Irish elector, impressed by the fair appellant's vivacity, exclaimed: ”I could light my pipe at her eyes.”
Fox was elected for the Tory borough of Westminster, and great was the rejoicing at Carlton House. A _fete_ was given on the grounds the day following, and the ordinarily well-apparelled Prince appeared in a superb costume of the radical colors, blue and buff. This was the period of the d.u.c.h.ess's greatest glory, as well as of her most superb charm of personality; and it was about this period that Gainsborough painted his perennially delightful presentment of her. She was then twenty-seven years of age, and had been married ten years. Wraxall wrote what is probably the best contemporary description of her: ”The personal charms of the d.u.c.h.ess of Devons.h.i.+re const.i.tuted her smallest pretensions to universal admiration; nor did her beauty consist, like that of the Gunnings, in regularity of features, and faultless formation of limbs and shape; it lay in the amenity and graces of her deportment, in her irresistible manners, and the seduction of her society. Her hair was not without a tinge of red; and her face, though pleasing, yet, had it not been illuminated by her mind, might have been considered an ordinary countenance.”
It is said of Gainsborough that, while painting the d.u.c.h.ess, ”he drew his wet pencil across a mouth all thought exquisitely lovely, saying, 'Her Grace is too hard for me.'”
The lady later knew the cuts of comment, and the keen pain of justifiable jealousy. The rival in her husband's attentions was Lady Elizabeth Foster, daughter of the Earl of Bristol, a brunette of handsome presence, and at the death of Georgiana, in 1806, she became the second wife of the Duke. There was an apparent friends.h.i.+p between the ladies, and Lady Elizabeth for a time lived under the same roof as the d.u.c.h.ess.
Madame d'Arblay, in 1791, visited her at Bath, and made record then of her introduction to the d.u.c.h.ess, and indicated the premonition of trouble in this wise. ”Presently followed two ladies; Lady Spencer, with a look and manner warmly announcing pleasure in what she was doing, then introduced me to the first of them, saying, 'd.u.c.h.ess of Devons.h.i.+re, Miss Burney.' She made me a very civil compliment upon hoping my health was recovering; and Lady Spencer then, slightly, and as if unavoidably, said, 'Lady Elizabeth Foster.'” Gibbon said of the latter, that, ”No man could withstand her; and that if she chose to beckon the Lord Chancellor from his woolsack, in full sight of the world, he could not resist obedience.” Reynolds painted a portrait of her, showing a bright-eyed, smiling lady, with close-curled hair, of girlish appearance. In Samuel Rogers's ”Table Talk” are several mentions of the famous Georgiana, and especially one which tells of her love for gambling. ”Gaming was the rage during her day; she indulged in it, and was made miserable by her debts. A faro-table was kept by Martindale, at which the d.u.c.h.ess and other high fas.h.i.+onables used to play. Sheridan said that the d.u.c.h.ess and Martindale had agreed that whatever they two won from each other should be sometimes _double_, sometimes _treble_, what it was called. And Sheridan a.s.sured me that he had handed the d.u.c.h.ess into her carriage when she was literally sobbing at her losses, she having lost fifteen hundred pounds, when it was supposed to be only five hundred pounds.” A life such as she then led surely affected her appearance. In 1783, Walpole wrote: ”The d.u.c.h.ess of Devons.h.i.+re, the empress of fas.h.i.+on, is no beauty at all. She was a very fine woman, with all the freshness of youth and health, but verges fast to a coa.r.s.eness.”
The offspring of the d.u.c.h.ess Georgiana were: Georgiana Dorothy, afterwards Countess Carlisle, whose letters were lately published, and exhibit an original observation and a terse style of record; Henrietta Elizabeth, later Countess Granville; and a son, who succeeded to the Dukedom. About the latter's birth was some mystery; insinuation was active. The d.u.c.h.ess had little liking for domestic life, so normal neglect of child may have been construed into an unnatural dislike.
Her son never married. Through the stress of the home infelicity, her beauty waned; but her bearing and breeding kept her paramount in her set. She is known to this later generation only as a superb beauty who stands with such opulent charm of costume, and of fine hauteur of manner, amid the n.o.ble groves of Chatsworth--as the once potential original of Gainsborough's greatest portrait. ”The bust outlasts the throne, the coin Tiberius.”
A most pathetic tribute to the beauty of the d.u.c.h.ess was paid by ”Peter Pindar” (Dr. Wolcot), who addressed ”A Pet.i.tion to Time in favor of the d.u.c.h.ess of Devons.h.i.+re,” and implored the Inexorable thus:--
”Hurt not the form that all admire.
Oh, never with white hairs her temple sprinkle!
Oh, sacred be her cheek, her lip, her bloom!
And do not, in a lovely dimple's room, Place a hard mortifying wrinkle.
”Know shouldst thou bid the beauteous d.u.c.h.ess fade, Thou, therefore, must thy own delights invade; And know, 't will be a long, long while Before thou givest her equal to our isle.
Then do not with this sweet _chef-d'oeuvre_ part, But keep to show the triumph of thy art.”
A dramatic fate has befallen the original canvas. In 1875, it was sold at auction, and was bought by a firm of dealers for the then highest price paid for a single picture in England. The publicity gained by this was taken advantage of by the purchasers to exhibit the picture.
One morning when the gallery was opened, the frame only was there; the picture had vanished. The canvas is lost.