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Lady Morgan’s Memoirs
Sydney Owenson to Margaret Featherstone, 29 December 1801
INTRODUCTION & INDEXES
DOCUMENT INFORMATION
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Preface
Vol. I Contents.
Prefatory Address
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Chapter XIII
Chapter XIV
Chapter XV
Chapter XVI
Chapter XVII
Chapter XVIII
Chapter XIX
Chapter XX
Chapter XXI
Chapter XXII
Chapter XXIII
Chapter XXIV
Chapter XXV
Chapter XXVI
Chapter XXVII
Chapter XXVIII
Chapter XXIX
Chapter XXX
Chapter XXXI
Chapter XXXII
Chapter XXXIII
Chapter XXXIV
Chapter XXXV
Chapter XXXVI
Chapter XXXVII
Chapter XXXVIII
Vol. I Index
Vol. II Contents
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter IV
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Chapter XIII
Chapter XIV
Chapter XV
Chapter XVI
Chapter XVII
Chapter XVIII
Chapter XIX
Chapter XX
Chapter XXI
Chapter XXII
Chapter XXIII
Chapter XXIV
Chapter XXV
Chapter XXVI
Chapter XXVII
Chapter XXVIII
Chapter XXIX
Chapter XXX
Chapter XXXI
Chapter XXXII
Chapter XXXIII
Chapter XXXIV
Chapter XXXV
Chapter XXXVI
Chapter XXXVII
Chapter XXXVIII
Chapter XXXIX
Chapter XL
Vol. II Index
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Fort William, Nenagh,
December 29, 1801.

Many happy Christmases and New Years to all the family of Bracklin, and very many thanks to my dearest Margo for her welcome and charmingly written letter, which nearly equals C.’s in style (who, however, promises to be the Sevigné of the family), and surpasses it in writing. Here we are, singing, playing, and dancing away as merry as crickets, and ushering in the seasons with all due merriment. So now for some little account of our festivals. The other day we had upwards of forty people to dinner; among others, Lord Dunally, Lord and Lady Clonbrock, Honourable Miss Dillon, the Vaughans, of “Golden Grove,” whom I think I heard mamma mention to a great many other fine people. We began dancing, without the gentlemen, almost immediately after tea. I had the felicity of opening our female ball with Miss
PERIOD OF 1801.225
Dillon—the nicest girl I have seen anywhere—gentle, humble, and unaffected. I was most heroically gallant, and played the beau in the first style. We sang and played a good deal too, and the night finished most pleasantly with my Irish jig, in which I put down my man completely. This has produced an ode to a jig, which I will send, when I can get a frank, to your papa; for I know it will please him. Well, the other night we were at an immense row at Lady Clonbrock’s, to whom I owe so many obligations for her marked attention to me since my residence here that I am at a loss how to mention them. It was quite a musical party, and (give me joy), on the decision of Lord Norbury (who was of the party), I bore away the palm from all their Italian music by the old Irish airs of “Ned of the Hills,” and the “Cooleen,” to which I had adapted words, and I was interrupted three times by plaudits in “The Soldier Tired.” Now, I know you will all laugh at me, but the people here are setting me mad, and so you must bear up with the effects of it for a little while, until I become accustomed to the applause of the great. This is the Athens of Ireland, music and literature carry everything before them; and Lady Clonbrock who is one of the leading women here, is an enthusiast in both. It is to this, I believe, as well as to the conduct of Mr. and Mrs. Crawford that I received such kind attentions from all the first people here. My invitations are always separate from theirs, and I have long been forced to consider myself as their child and friend. Miss D. draws nicely, and has just sent me some transparent screens to copy, which I wish you
226 LADY MORGAN'S MEMOIR.  
had. At present there is staying with them an old friend of mine who spends many of his mornings here—a Mr. Wills, you have heard me mention him and his sisters as being among my earliest friends.

Nothing can be pleasanter than our life at present; to-morrow we are to have Lord Norbury, and all the world to dinner, and music in the evening. We got a delightful piano and tambourine, and I do nothing but sing and play, and am much improved in voice and singing since you heard me. Do you know our house is not much more than half the size of Bracklin—everything in the simplest style; neither can I say much for Lord Clonbrock’s mode of living—there was a thousand times more show at Bracklin on a gala-day than we had at Latteville. My little girls are the best and most attentive creatures in the world, and if mamma and papa do not flatter, are making a wonderful progress; but you shall see them in spring, for we all go for two or three months to Dublin, from that to Ballyspellin Spa, and then make a tour to Killarney, and so back home; such is the plan laid down for the present; but give me Fort William, and I am content. Why do you force me to tell you my pupil’s names, or why cannot I answer you by writing Rosabella or Angelica? Alas! no, I must stain this sublime epistle by confessing their names are——Miss Bridget and Miss Kate: after that can you ask me to write more than that I am,

Dearest Margo’s attached friend,
Sydney Owenson.