Love Romances of the Aristocracy

eorge opened his eyes at Brookesby, in Leicestershire. From being a "threadbare hanger-on" at Court this son of an obscure knight rose to

r, the richest heiress in the land; and for some years dazzled the world by his splendours and wealth as he alienated it by h

in a Palace nursery, and had for playmates the children of Charles I.; and who, after a career wh

's worst room, wi

. Of all the vast estates he had inherited, his kinsman, Lord Arran, said: "The

o many of their sex. From Barbara Chaffinch, whose intrigues secured the Earldom of Jersey for her husband in William III.'s reign, to the Lady Adela Villiers who ran awa

one of the most dramatic unions recorded in the annals of our Peerage. A year before she was cradled her mother was Anne Child, the richest heiress in England-the only daughter of Robert Child, head of the gr

s; but the most prodigal, as also the most ingratiating, of them all was the young Earl of Westmorland, who, not content with mak

face and figure and his courtly manners; but the father had other designs for his heiress than marrying

art. If he could not wed the heiress with her father's blessing, he would dispense with the benediction. That

, there is another matter on which I should be grateful for your opinion." "What's that?" enquired the banker, beaming benevolently on his guest, as a man who has dined well and is at peace with the world. "Well, sir, suppose yo

have a rude awaking. In the middle of the night he was aroused by the watchman to learn that his front door had been found open; and a little later the alarming discovery was made that his daughter had flown. His suspicions fell at

orses, more frequent changes, and a heavier purse, he had little doubt that he would soon overtake them. But the chase was sterner and longer than he had imagined. Cupid lends wings to runaway lovers. Fast as Mr Child's sweating horses raced, they gained but little on

th body half protruding from the chaise, calls loudly on the fugitives to halt, shaking his fist at the smiling face of the Earl, who with one hand waves a graceful adieu, with the other presents a pistol a

a start that they could laugh at further pursuit; and by the time Child's chaise rattled i

he Earl, indeed, he never did forgive, but his daughter won her way back into his heart, and to her

Sarah needed no such rich dower as was hers to commend her to the eyes of wooers. From the Fanes she inherited a full share of the beauty for which their women were noted, and to it she ad

sey, a man of towering stature and handsome face, aristocrat and courtier to his finger-tips, a fearless and graceful rider, and an expert in manly sports. Such a combination of attractions the daughter of Anne Child could not long,

supreme and unassailable, as long as life lasted. Her salon was a second Royal Court to which flocked all the greatest in the land, proud to pay homage to the "Empress of Fashion." She entertain

, drank champagne and hock like water; her housemaids had their riding horses, and dressed in silks and satins. Among her thousands of guests were such men as Wellington and Peel, Castlereagh and Canning, all humble worshippers at her shrine; and Lord Byron who, in his gloomy moods, would shut himself in his bedroom for

irer than Byron, whose muse was in

race o

laddens and th

kness of that

shows that forehea

stoop to frivolity without losing a shred of dignity. Surely never was

of this house. She begins to sing at eleven o'clock, and, with the interval of the hour when she retires to her cage to rest, she sings till twelve at

e. Tongue and body alike never seemed

ll over Paris, and at all the campagnes within ten miles, and in all petites soirées. She begins the day with a dancing-master at nine o'clock, and never rests till midnight.... At ten o'clock y

o an amazing degree the bloom and freshness of youth. And when she appeared at a fancy-dress ball arrayed as a Sultana, in a robe of sky-blue with coral embroideries and a turban of gold and white, she wa

nd repelled with a freezing coldness the slightest approach to familiarity. So prudish was she that on one occasion she declined to share a carriage alone with Lord John Russell, one of the least p

th the Prince Regent scandalised the world in an age of lax morals; and the outraged Princess Caroline had no more valiant champion. She not only declined to have anything to say to her husband's mother, she carried her disapproval to the extent of

e Regent coming towards them. As he approached he drew himself to his full height, and passed with an insolent and disdainful stare, which Lady Jersey retu

c club in Berkeley Street, Piccadilly, the membership of which was the supreme hall-mark of the world of fashion. No rank, however exa

Lady Harrington were coldly turned away from the doors by the male members of the club; while the ladies shut them in the face of Lord March and Brook Boothby, to the amazed disgust of these men of fashion and conquest-for, by the rules of the club, male members were selected by the ladies, and vice vers

nto this sanctum sanctorum, of course, the sons of commerce never think of intruding; and yet into the very 'blu

ns whose rank and fortunes entitled them to the entrée anywhere, were excluded by the cliqueism of the Lady patronesses; for the female government of Almac

eches, white cravat, and chapeau bras. On one occasion, the Duke of Wellington was about to ascend the staircase of the ballroom, dressed in black trousers, when the vigilant Mr Willis, the g

announced an attendant, "the Duke of Wellington is at the door, and desires to be admitted." "What o'clock is it?" she asked. "Seven minutes after eleven, your Ladyship." She paused for a moment, and then said with emphasis and distinctness, "Give my compliments-Lady Jersey's compliments-to the Duke of Wellington, an

t was this "Que

at ruled the whole machine; hers the eloquent tongue that could both persuade and command. And she was never idle. Her rest

s Bryon, her intimate friend, once said, "She was the veriest tyrant that ever gover

g to recall, that Lady Jersey first

ever danced there. They were Lady Jersey, Lady Harriet Buller, Lady Susan Ryder, and Miss

duced the waltz, which so shocked the p

hat giddiness and confusion at the end! It was, perhaps, owing to the latter circumstance that so violent an opposition soon arose to the new recreation on t

another graceful exponent of the new dance, for partners; and her victory was complete when the world of fashion saw the arm of the Emperor Al

irs and scoffed at her graces. Lady Granville called her "a tiresome, quarrelsome woman"; the Duke of Wellington, one of her most abject slaves, once exclaimed, "What -- nonsense Lady Jersey talks!" and Granville d

ntervals between her bereavements she showed as brave and bright a face as in the days of her unclouded youth. The death in 1858 of her daughter, Clementina, the darling of her old age, was a terrible blow; but still the hand of the slayer of her hopes was not

, she passed suddenly and painlessly away, and the world was the poorer by the loss of on