The following letter marks the commencement of a friendship which lasted unbroken and unclouded till death set the final seal upon its permanence. Lady Charleville loved and esteemed Lady Morgan; she had a great respect for her as a woman, and a profound admiration of her genius. That Miss Owenson won such a friend for herself in the height of her first flush of worldly success, that she was able to retain her as a friend for life, speaks with emphasis for the sterling quality of her character. Lady Charleville was herself a very remarkable woman, remarkable for her own strength of character and soundness of judgment; a woman not to be led away either by affection or vanity. If Miss Owenson had not deserved Lady Charleville’s friendship it would not have been bestowed upon her.
“So many deaths we suffer ere we die,” |
| 312 | LADY MORGAN'S MEMOIR. |
Lady Charleville was the daughter and sole heiress of Thomas Townley Dawson, Esq.; she married first, James Tisdall, Esq., and after his death, she married, in 1798, Lord Tullamore, who was created Earl of Charleville in 1806.
The letter which will introduce this clever and charming woman to the reader, is endorsed by Lady Morgan, “Lady C.’s first letter to me.”
I return you a thousand thanks for the honour of your letter, and I can only say in reply to those too flattering illusions, which you teach me to believe at present exist in my favour, that, what though a very few hours intercourse must put them all to flight,—you shall not find me deficient in taste to acknowledge your merit, or zeal to prove it by every attention in my power.
Lady Asgill certainly intended me the
pleasure of presenting Miss Owenson, and has
a genuine wish to make known a person whom she esteems and admires; but crowds
and local matters defeat half the time our most rational objects; however, as
neither my health nor taste permits me to lead a life of hurry anywhere, I
shall request your company in Dublin the first time I am there, with the select
few who are willing to enjoy a little society, and if anything should bring you
| A NEW FRIEND AND A BROTHER-IN-LAW | 313 |
I am, madam, with perfect esteem of your character and sincere admiration of your very elegant talents,
It is only by the incidental mention of them in letters that we can gather any particulars of Miss Owenson’s life at this period. She kept up a constant correspondence with Mr. Walker, who was not only her friend, but her book of reference and her encyclopaedia of all things connected with Irish history or antiquities.
You are perfectly right in enjoying the gay season of life. When time advances, we must be content to look on the world through “the loopholes of retirement,” as Cowper says. The delicate state of my health has, in a great degree, banished me from society; but I am not the less sensible to its charms, and do not yet despair, if it should please God, of enjoying them again.
Lady Worthington is an old friend, for whom I have
| 314 | LADY MORGAN'S MEMOIR. |
Poor Mrs. Tighe! Still, however, I am not without hopes of her perfect recovery. Of Lady Moira’s illness I heard last Wednesday, with the deepest concern. I have since heard, with infinite pleasure, that she is recovering. Heaven, I trust, will yet spare her many years to her friends. I have no friend whose dissolution I should more deeply deplore.
I am rejoiced to find that you have another work in
contemplation. From you more than common success will be expected. Your name
(to use, perhaps, a vulgarism), is up; and I have no doubt that your future
productions will raise it still higher. As you visited a part of the country
where society is, in some degree, in a primitive state, you will, of course, be
minute with regard to customs and manners. You should also give all the
traditions that prevail, particularly those relating to the heroes and heroines
of the metrical tales of the Irish, some of whom, it is said, may be traced to
oriental tales. It is not improbable but you may have heard stories similar to
some of those which you have read in the Arabian Nights Entertainments. Keep
these hints in your mind when you are reflecting upon the days you spent on the
shores of the “Steep Atlantic” Allow me further to observe, that
you should look over the Irish historians (Keating, O’Hilloran, Leland, &c.), for such remarkable events as may have occurred
in any of the scenes
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I shall embrace an early opportunity of sending you the romances. In the meantime I would beg leave to recommend it to you. Borrow and read Mr. Ellis’s Specimens of Early English Romances, particularly the first volume. Mr. Ellis read your Wild Irish Girl, and was much pleased with it.
I have not seen any of the criticisms on your publication in the Freeman’s Journal. Permit me, as a friend, to recommend it to you not to disregard the critics. If they should point out any faults (for no human work is perfect), silently correct them in a second edition. Adieu, dear madam. Make my best compliments to your father, and believe (in haste),
I think you should look over the antiquity papers on the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy. Any of the members could get you access to the library, where you might pass two or three hours with pleasure and advantage.
It is not, I am sure, necessary to recommend it to you to avoid all political reflections in your tour.
| 316 | LADY MORGAN'S MEMOIR. |
Miss Owenson had been a collaborateur in writing a musical operetta, called “The Whim of the Moment.” She wrote the words, and Mr. Cooke, a popular composer of the day, wrote the music, or adapted old national airs. The operetta itself has long since disappeared, but an occasional copy of the songs and music may still be found at old book-stalls. It is quite impossible to guess from them the story of the drama. The scene was laid in Spain. Spanish ladies and Irish lovers, who seem to have escaped from shipwreck, sing pleasantly together. The old-fashioned music lesson for young beginners, which used to be strummed in all school-rooms, under the inscrutable title of “Tink a Tink,” occurs in this operetta; it forms the refrain of a Spanish girl’s song to her guitar:
“Tinkle, tinkle; tink a tink!” |
Miss Owenson’s songs are lively and spirited, and seem to sing of themselves. There was one charming, rollicking, Irish song, written with a view to her father, all about kissing and fighting. The “shilelah” figures as “This Twig in my Hand,” and serves both to swear by and to fight with. Mr. Atkinson wrote the prologue. The operetta was produced in Dublin, before a crowded audience. The Lord-Lieutenant went in state to the first night. It was completely successful; and it was the last play in which Mr. Owenson sustained a character. He had not acted in Dublin for many years previously; and the year following the production of the “Whim of the Moment,” he quitted the stage entirely.
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One of the few letters existing from Mr. Owenson to his daughter relates to this operetta, and is very touching: it shows how completely Sydney Owenson had become the stay of her family.
I am afraid my dear Syd your little head will be quite turned giddy with pleasure and applause. Your dear sister, my darling Livy, will leave me on Monday, and I should be willing my life should leave me at the same time; for parting with her, and you away, is separating soul and body; remember, however, what I say, as if they were my last words to you, that the very first time she finds the least thing disagreeable, that you take her away and send her back to me. She is, I am afraid, in a poor state of health. I have made her take four glasses of wine every day for ten days back, and it has done her, I think, much good. Be kind to her, and keep her two or three days with you before she goes. I got her three gowns, and some other clothes, as well as I knew how. Be sure you meet her at the coach-office on Tuesday evening, and have a coach ready. Bring some male friend with you, that she may not be imposed upon. She will leave me in very, very low spirits; and God only knows what I hourly feel for her, and what I am still to feel when she leaves me. She goes in the same coach you did.
I think the terms you mention for your farce, hard.
| 318 | LADY MORGAN'S MEMOIR. |
Paying the full expenses, which I hear will be a hundred pounds, is out of all reason. I would stipulate for sixty pounds, or guineas, at most.
Bargain I shall go up to play for you, and which I think he will not refuse, and it would be a great deal in your way. Phillips, like all the rest, is a thief. Write fully by Saturday night’s mail.
The foregoing letter refers to the separation between Mr. Owenson and his youngest daughter Olivia. His
circumstances had become more embarrassed, his health was breaking, and he was not able to
keep together such a home as was desirable for a young and very beautiful girl. Nothing but
the sense of what was for her welfare would have induced him to allow her to leave him. He
was proud of Sydney, who was his friend as well as his
daughter; but for Olivia he had a peculiar
tenderness. Amongst the many friends and acquaintances which Sydney
had made for herself, was Mrs. Brownrigg, whose
husband, General Brownrigg, held a high military
position in Dublin at that time. They had two little girls and they proposed to receive
Olivia as governess. Olivia’s health
was delicate; and she needed care and comforts which her father could not supply. The
Brownriggs were most kind and considerate, and treated her as
though she had been their own child. The separation that
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| 320 | LADY MORGAN'S MEMOIR. |
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