Part 3 (1/2)
”The dear inseparable inimitables, Lady Butler and Miss Ponsonby, were in the boxes here on Friday They caollen, and returned, as they never sleep from home Oh, such curiosities! I was nearly convulsed I could scarcely get on for the first ten h I had never seen them, I instantaneously knew theuish the of the hair; their well-starched neckcloths; the upper part of their habits, which they alear, even at a dinner-party, ular black beaver men's hats
They looked exactly like two respectable superannuated old clergyhly flattered, as they never were in the theatre before
”The packets now sail at seven in the htful; and the weather is heavenly People are here extremely hospitable; but, of all days in the year, Mr
Orh sheriff) the day before I arrived He only returned yesterday; and almost forced o there, but have been to call this nolias in the grounds? if not, get al laurel, only four years old, full half the size of that great beauty at Lord Mansfield's; pray have one or two of them placed by themselves on our nen
”I have to-day received an invitation to call, if I have tiollen, to receive in due forentlemen called Lady Butler and Miss Ponsonby, their thanks for the entertainton, Oct 24th
”Well, I have seen them, heard them, touched them The pets, ”_the ladies_,” as they are called, dined here yesterday--Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Ponsonby, the curiosities of Llangollen mentioned by Miss Seward in her letters, about the year 1760 I mentioned to you in a former letter the effect they produced upon et the first burst yesterday upon entering the drawing-roos, attired for dinner in the same manified dress, with the Croix de St Louis, and other orders, and h for snuff-boxes, stuck in their starched neckcloths! I have not roo persons I have an invitation from them, which I ht, fourteen ht froed to put Lady Eleanor under a bell-glass, and bring her to Highgate for you to look at”
In August 1825, Sir Walter Scott visited Llangollen, and the account of his intervieith the faiven withMeress through North Wales produced nothing worth recording, except perhaps the feeling of delight which everything in the aspect of the coardens, and their husbandry, could not fail to call up in persons who had just been seeing Ireland for the first time; and a short visit (which was, indeed, the only one he ollen They had received some hint that Sir Walterat the inn, he received an invitation so pressing, to add onelist of the illustrious visitors of their retreat, that it was impossible for hih of these romantic spinsters, and were prepared to be well amused; but the reality surpassed all expectation
”An extract fro ill perhaps be sufficient for Llangollen
”'Elleray, August 24
”'We slept on Wednesday evening at Capel Curig, which Sir W
supposes to s; a pretty little inn in a most picturesque situation certainly, and as to the matter of toasted cheese, quite exquisite Next day we advanced through, I verily believe, thealrounds, and all the loveliness of rich English landscape nearer us, and streaollen your papa aylaid by the celebrated 'Ladies'--viz Lady Eleanor Butler and the Honourable Miss Ponsonby, who having been one or both crossed in love, forswore all dreams of matrimony in the heyday of youth, beauty, and fashi+on, and selected this charinity It was et i the innocent friends they really were, ahbourhood; for their elopement from Ireland had been performed under suspicious circumstances; and as Lady Eleanor arrived here in her natural aspect of a pretty girl, while Miss Ponsonby had condescended to accoarb of a smart footman in buckskin breeches, years and years elapsed ere full justice was done to the character of their ro about theine tomen, one apparently seventy, the other sixty-five, dressed in heavy blue riding habits, enormous shoes, and men's hats, with their petticoats so tucked up, that at the first glance of theony of expectation, we took them for a couple of hazy or crazy old sailors On nearer inspection they both wear a world of brooches, rings, &c, and Lady Eleanor positively _orders_--several stars and crosses, and a red ribbon, exactly like a KCB To crown all, they have crop heads, shaggy, rough, bushy, and as white as snow, the one with age alone, the other assisted by a sprinkling of powder The elder lady is almost blind, and every way ood preservation But who could paint the prints, the dogs, the cats, the lass-cases, books, bijouterie, dragon-china, nodding s of every shape and hue--the whole house outside and in (for we -closets), _covered_ with carved oak, very rich and fine some of it--and the illustrated copies of Sir W's poe compliments about Waverley, and the anxiety to knoho McIvor really was, and the absolute devouring of the poor Unknoho had to carry off, besides all the rest, one s up in a Milesian stone jar lately fro Great romance (_ie_ absurd innocence of character) oneto find this e of the tattle and scandal of the world they had so long left Their tables were piled with newspapers frodoes of the antipodes at their fingers' ends Their albue IV, down to azine poets and quack-doctors, are a ain in such perfect incarnation Peveril won't get over their final kissing ood old girls; they have long been the guardian angels of the village, and are worshi+pped by man, wo vale of Llangollen was visited by a German Prince (Puckler-Muskau of Prussia), who has thus left on record the impressions which his excursion in that vicinity excited:--
”Thein Wales The vision of clouds seenificence of the vale of Llangollen,--a spot which, in my opinion, far surpasses all the beauties of the Rhine-land, and has, moreover, a character quite its own, froed declivities of its reen valley in a thousand fantastic bendings, overhung with thick underwood On each side high mountains rise abruptly from the plain, and are croith antique ruins,chiroups of upright rocks
The vegetation is everywhere rich, and hill and vale are filled with lofty trees, whose varied hues add so infinitely to the beauty and picturesque effect of a landscape In the htened by contrast, a single long, black, bare range of mountains, clothed only with thick, dark heather,” and fronificent road, which from London to Holyhead, is as even as a 'parquet,' here runs along the side of the left range ofall their windings; so that in riding along at a brisk trot or gallop, the traveller is presented at everyhis position, overlooks the valley now before him, now behind, now at his side On one side is an aqueduct of twenty-five slender arches, a hich would have done honour to Roh this a second river is led over the valley and across the Dee, at an elevation of an hundred and twenty feet above the bed of the natural streaollen offers a delightful resting place, and is deservedly much resorted to
”There is a beautiful view from the churchyard near the inn: here I cli with deep and grateful delight the beauties so richly spread before arden, filled with vine, honeysuckle, rose, and a hundred gay flowers, which descended to the very edge of the foaht hand,course through the overhanging thicket; before me rose two lines of wood, divided by a strip of h above all, rose the bare conical peak of a mountain crowned by the ruins of the old Welsh castle Dinas Bran, or the Crow's Fortress On the left, the stone houses of the town lie scattered along the valley; the river fore, while three colossal rocks rise iuards, and shut out all the ion
”Before I left Llangollen I recollected the two celebrated ladies who have inhabited this valley for more than half a century, and of whoain recently in London You have doubtless heard your father talk of theo, two young, pretty and fashi+onable ladies, Lady Eleanor Butler, and the daughter of the late Lord Ponsonby, took it in their heads to hate men, to love only each other, and to live froe The resolution was immediately executed; and froht out of their cottage On the other hand, no one who is presentable travels in Wales unprovided with an introduction to thereat world interests them as much as when they lived in it; and that their curiosity to knohat passes has preserved all its freshness I had complilected to furnish myself with a letter I therefore sent my card, determined if they declined e Here, as elsewhere, however, in England, a title easily opened the door, and I iracious invitation to a second breakfast Passing along a charround, in a quarter of an hour I reached a se, situated directly opposite to Dinas Bran, various glis cut in the trees I alighted, and was received at the door by the two ladies Fortunately I was already prepared by hearsay for their peculiarities; I ht otherwise have found it difficult to repress soine two ladies, the eldest of whoins to feel her years a little, being now eighty-three; the other, a tall and i only seventy-four
Both wore their still abundant hair coht back and powdered, a round man's hat, a man's cravat and waistcoat, but in the place of 'inexpressibles,' a short petticoat and boots: the whole covered by a coat of blue cloth, of a cut quite peculiar,--a sort of -habit Over this, Lady Eleanor wore, first, the grand cordon of the order of St
Louis across her shoulder; secondly, the same order around her neck; thirdly, the small cross of the saolden lily of nearly the natural size, as a star,--all, as she said, presents of the Bourbon family So far the whole effect was soine both ladies with that agreeable 'aisance,' that air of the world of the 'ancien regihtest affectation; speaking French as well as any Englishwoman of my acquaintance; and above all, with that essentially polite, unconstrained, and siood society of that day, which, in our serious hardworking age of business, appears to be going to utter decay I was really affected with ait in the persons of the a representatives; nor could I witness without lively sy, natural and affectionate attention hich the younger treated her somewhat infirmer friend, and anticipated all her wants The charm of such actions lies chiefly in the s which appear snificant, but which are never lost upon a susceptible heart
”I began by saying that I estee permitted to deliver to the fair recluses the corandfather, who had had the honour of visiting theo Their beauty indeed they had lost, but not their memory: they remembered the C--- C--- very well, immediately produced an olda man was dead already Not only the venerable ladies, but their house, was full of interest; indeed it contained some real treasures There is scarcely a remarkable person of the last half century who has not sent them a portrait or some curiosity or antique as a token of remembrance The collection of these, a well-furnished library, a delightful situation, an equable, tranquil life, and perfect friendshi+p and union,--these have been their possessions; and if we e and their cheerful te the summer of 1833, Miss Catherine Sinclair, the clever authoress of ”Modern Accoh Wales, and thus describes her visit to Plas Newydd:--
”No eyes but those of a poet are worthy to behold the celebrated valley of Llangollen, where we next proceeded, after having drawn largely on the firm of Messrs Wordsworth, Cowper, Thoe to pay a due tribute of adenius equal to the ht of the Mahometan who turned back when he observed so, he had been only promised one Paradise, and did not wish to enjoy it upon earth Instead of following his exa to fancy ourselves on the banks of the Rhine, to which so many travellers have compared this beautiful valley Pray eedriver,--the ancient trees,--the sardens, all grouped or scattered in the way you think best,--and invention can suggest nothing ed once to the far-famed Owen Glendower, mentioned in Shakespeare's Plays, as 'not in the roll of common men' His palace stood near this forainst Henry IV, being a keen adherent of Richard's; besides which, a private feud against Lord Grey de Ruthyn whetted his exertions Peace was, however, about to be concluded in 1415, between the Welsh chief and the English king, on very honourable terms, when, as we frequently observe, if any one attains his utollen boasts of such a hero, its chief celebrity arises froe to theirour way up a steep ascent to that well-known cottage, where the late Lady Eleanor Butler and the Honourable Miss Ponsonby, duringlives so ro of blue stockings It see that this is so very rare an occurrence, for any one with a friend so richly endowed as ht feel safe froht like to connect her na a scene and with so romantic a story Two successors to these fair herinal occupants, following the same exclusive plan of life; and in a moment of enthusiasm I felt much inclined to knock at the door and ask if they would make it a trio In the case of Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Ponsonby, very transient visits only were acceptable, and even their own na concealed, as the friends eloped clandestinely without confiding to any one, except a maid servant, the place of their retreat The cause of this very close seclusion having been variously conjectured, excitedcuriosity at the tiinated, here, embowered in roses, they ' the Ladies of Llangollen, our thoughts naturally diverged into a general consideration, whether the greatest number of voluntary recluses have relinquished social intercourse on account of disappointed affection, mortified vanity, or mistaken devotion
”What a beau ideal of earthly felicity springs up to the ie of Llangollen! all the every-day vexations and vulgar cares of life, see left for the inhabitants but to lead a life of graceful leisure, tying up carnations, engrafting roses, gazing at the splendid scenery around, and talking in perpetual ecstacies about flowers and perfurown-up person entertains, at the out-set of life, notions of happiness with a cottage nearly siirl enjoys with her first doll,--dressing it up, altering, arranging, painting, and spoiling it; but this her and low, so coht be arden slopes upwards froreatly eh; several charrounds; and in onethe fine cascade, we found a volu open on the seat, which proved to be Southey's Roderick; suitable reading for such a scene of poetical beauty
”An atte a stuffed bear near the house, probably in iical Gardens; but the idea is rather a failure, and would appear more suitable over the door of a perfurease
A little gim-crack model of a wooden house is also visible, by way of an ornament, stuck on the summit of a wooden pillar, but the effect is disproportioned to all surrounding objects, even ns on Chinese paper; wherelarger than either the houses or their inhabitants In a cottage built of oak and roofed with thatch, it would be very desirable that the inhabitants should have soht find an inexhaustible hunting-field a the wooden walls and creepers It has been disputed whether lish winter, or fro the heat of an Italian summer; but those who inhabit this 'Fairy Palace of the Vale,' ht be able from experience at home, to decide the question