Part 1 (2/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: MARY, THE HONORABLE MRS GRAHAM by GAINSBOROUGH]
LOVELY MARY CATHCART
Like the happiest countries that have no history, the tranquil life of joyous content leaves little to chronicle. Only in the n.o.bility of character of a husband who grieved her loss for years, and in his strong dignity, and devotion to her memory, do we get a hint of the gracious and good lady whom Gainsborough has made immortal for us.
And in that phrase of her lifetime, ”lovely Mary Cathcart,” is a whole biography of benignity and beauty. She came of one of the most ancient and n.o.ble families in Scotland, and was the daughter of the ninth Baron Cathcart, called ”Cathcart of Fontenoy.” Her brother William became the tenth Baron, and afterwards the first Earl Cathcart. He had studied law, but abandoned it for the army, and had a gallant career therein; becoming a lieutenant-general in 1801, and commander-in-chief of the expedition to Copenhagen in 1807; afterwards acquiring reputation as amba.s.sador for several years at St. Petersburg. He was perhaps the earliest of British n.o.blemen to marry American beauties; having wedded the daughter of Andrew Elliott of New York, in 1779.
In November, 1774, there was rejoicing among the retainers of the House of Cathcart, for there was to be a double wedding. The eldest daughter, ”Jenny,” was married to the Duke of Athole, that same Duke who became a friendly patron of Burns, and in reference to whom the poet writes, when addressing some verses to him: ”It eases my heart a good deal, as rhyme is the coin with which a poet pays his debts of honor and grat.i.tude. What I owe to the n.o.ble family of Athole, of the first kind, I shall ever proudly boast; what I owe of the last, so help me G.o.d, in my hour of need I shall never forget.”
The second sister, the Hon. Mary, was married to Sir Thomas Graham of Balgowan, a descendant of the Marquis of Montrose and of Graham of Claverhouse. The youngest sister, Louisa, later became Countess of Mansfield, and her portrait, by Romney,--a seated profile figure with flowing draperies,--is that artist's most masterly work.
After eighteen years of happy married life, she died childless; one of those good women that were--
”True in loving all their lives,”--
”a surpa.s.sing spirit whose light adorned the world around it.” Her husband grieved greatly. He was ordered to travel to divert his despair. He visited Gibraltar, and there the dormant martial spirit of his ancestors was aroused by his environment. Though then forty-three years of age, he immediately entered the army as a volunteer. He rapidly rose in his profession, and had an especially brilliant career in the Peninsular War. In 1811, he became the hero of Barossa, and in the same year was made second in command to the Duke of Wellington. He was created Lord Lynedoch of Balgowan, Perths.h.i.+re, and frequently was thanked by Parliament for his services. Sheridan said, ”Never was there a loftier spirit in a braver heart.” And alluding to his services during the retreat to Corunna, he said, ”Graham was their best adviser in the hour of peril; and in the hour of disaster, their surest consolation.” Scott eulogizes him in the poem, ”The Vision of Don Roderick,” in the lines,--
”Nor be his praise o'erpast who strove to hide Beneath the warrior's vest affection's wound, Whose wish Heaven for his country's weal denied; Danger and fate, he sought, but glory found.
”From clime to clime, wher'e'r war's trumpets sound, The wanderer went; yet, Caledonia, still Thine was his thought in march and tented ground; He dreamed mid Alpine cliffs of Athole's hill, And heard in Ebro's roar his Lynedoch's lovely rill.
”O hero of a race renowned of old, Whose war-cry oft has waked the battle swell!”
Old Dr. John Brown, of Edinburgh, wrote of a late Duke of Athole: ”Courage, endurance, stanchness, fidelity, and warmth of heart, simplicity, and downrightness, were his staples.” They are ever the staples of the Scotch character, and they were all pre-eminent in Sir Thomas. His life was n.o.ble, and his affection was faithful to its early troth.
A pathetic history attaches to this picture of Mrs. Graham: When its subject died, the sorrowing husband had it bricked up where it hung, and it was only by an accident that it was discovered at his death, in 1843. It now hangs in the National Gallery of Scotland at Edinburgh.
The present reproduction shows but a part of the picture, the figure being full length. It has been excellently reproduced in etching by both Flameng and Waltner.
In 1885, a most comprehensive exhibition of Gainsborough's works was made at the Grosvenor Gallery in London. At it was noted the important part this painter had played in perpetuating the lineaments, bearing, graces, and gownings of the great persons of the latter half of the eighteenth century.
”The lips that laughed an age agone, The fops, the dukes, the beauties all, Le Brun that sang and Carr that shone.”
There was seen The Hon. Miss Georgiana Spencer, at the age of six, and again a later portrait of her as the d.u.c.h.ess of Devons.h.i.+re,--she of the then irresistibly seductive manners,--and her mother, Countess Spencer, of whom Walpole wrote as being one of the beauties present at the coronation of George III., in 1761. There, too, was Anne Luttrell, daughter of Simon Luttrell, Baron Irnham, who married, first, Christopher Horton, and, secondly, the Duke of c.u.mberland, brother of the king. Of her Walpole wrote: ”There was something so bewitching in her languis.h.i.+ng eyes, which she could animate to enchantment if she pleased, and her coquetry was so active, so varied, and yet so habitual that it was difficult not to see through it, and yet as difficult to resist it.” And here was another widow who captivated royalty, Mrs. Fitzherbert, who was a daughter of Walter Smythe of Bambridge, Hamps.h.i.+re, and married, first, Edward Weld, secondly, Thomas Fitzherbert of Synnerton, Staffords.h.i.+re (who died in 1781), and was said to have been married to the Prince of Wales (George IV.) in 1785. And there also was a more notorious beauty, Miss Grace Dalrymple, afterwards Mrs. Elliott,--though divorced later, and becoming the mistress of various aristocrats, notably the Duke of Orleans.
The d.u.c.h.ess of Montagu, granddaughter of the great Duke of Marlborough (one of the Churchills,--a family prolific of beauties), was there seen. Several pictures of the painter's wife (who was a Miss Margaret Burr), of his youngest daughter, Mary, afterwards Mrs. Fischer, and one of his friend, Miss Linley, went to augment this superb congregation of beauties shown. Portraits of Garrick,--that intensely interesting Stratford portrait,--Earl Spencer, Pitt, Earl Stanhope, Colonel St. Leger, George IV., Duke of c.u.mberland, George III., Earl Cathcart, Canning, Dr. Johnson, Fox, and several showings of himself, made up a body of work unsurpa.s.sed in importance by that of the president of the Academy himself.
Gainsborough was born in 1727; he moved to Bath, in its most brilliant period, in 1760. He died in 1788, but had ceased contributing to the Academy four years before, because of a disagreement with the hanging committee. His portraits of ladies were always picturesque and individual, each differentiated from each of his own works as well as from that of other painters.
This portrait of the Hon. Mrs. Graham is delicate in color, yellowed somewhat by its long seclusion from the light,--and will remain one of the most delightful and _spirituel_ creations of the old-English school.
[Ill.u.s.tration: EMMA, LADY HAMILTON by ROMNEY]
Lady Hamilton
With the name of Lady Hamilton is ever a.s.sociated the names of England's most famous sailor and of one of her most famous painters.
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