Rowlandson, the caricaturist, once published a cartoon entitled "Juno
Devon, All Sublime." The rival goddesses in competition with her
before that modern Paris, the Prince of Wales, being their Graces of
Gordon and Rutland. Beyond the various written records of the opposing
beauty of those aristocratic dames who dominated society in their day,
we have ample painted evidence of their loveliness. Of her Grace of
Devonshire, we have, first, the engraved renderings of "the lost
Gainsborough." There are other Gainsboroughs, too,--Georgiana as a
child, and a full-length of her standing at the edge of a lawn, her
face looking down, wearing a white dress, her right elbow on the base
of a column, a scarf in both hands, her hair piled high, but without
the hat, as in the more famous picture. There are then several by Sir
Joshua. The first, where she stands as a child beside her mother;
then, she as a mother with her own child,--a very charming profile,
and a picture that insinuates the vivacity of demeanor and the abandon
so characteristic of her.
Walpole wrote of this as "Little like and not good." Yet, as to
goodness, a modern authority has said: "It is a superb work; and, in
motive, color, and composition, it ranks as a triumph alike of nature
and art." Again, there is a whole-length showing her about to descend
some steps to a lawn, her superb shoulders and neck bare, and her hair
highly bedecked with feathers. Walpole writes of another portrait,
drawn by Lady Di Beauclerck, and engraved by Bartolozzi: "A Castilian
nymph conceived by Sappho and executed by Myron, would not have had
more grace and simplicity. The likeness is perfectly preserved, except
that the paintress has lent her own expression to the Duchess, which
you will allow is very agreeable flattering." In the Royal collection
of miniatures at Windsor, are three charmingly executed ivories of her
by Cosway. Lawrence, too, made a chalk drawing of her, which now hangs
at Chiswick House, in the room in which Charles Fox died. This is an
interesting work from being a very early effort of the after-time
President of the Academy, and showing that then he had not attained
the trick of flattering his sitters, even when they were noted
beauties. Angelica Kauffman painted her, and John Downman also made a
portrait replete with elegance and picturesqueness. In fact, the
comely Duchess pervaded the art of the period. Of her Grace of Gordon,
we have, as our ideal presentment of her, the portrait by Sir Joshua.
In it her hair is done up high, and two rows of pearls are intertwined
therein. The dress is of the Charles the First period, and shows the
sweetly modulated shoulders leading up to--
"The pillared throat, clear chiselled cheek,
High arching brows, nose purely Greek,
Set lips,--too firm for a coquette."
We have also an interesting portrait of her by Romney.
Of her Grace of Rutland, we have also several pictures by Sir Joshua.
There is a whole-length with a decorative head-dress, and a landscape
background. The original of this was destroyed by fire at Belvoir
Castle. Another, a half-length, in the same costume, and a
three-quarter face, is mostly pervaded by a serene sense of pride.
There is a drawing of her done by the Hon. Mrs. O'Neil, which is
interesting from the picturesque head-dress shown. Her Grace of
Gordon was as great a power in the political world as she of
Devonshire,--probably greater, for her alliance and principles were
with the ruling power. This lady was to Pitt's party what Fair Devon
was to Fox's. In fact, it was asserted she endeavored to marry her
daughter, Lady Charlotte, afterwards Duchess of Richmond, to the
premier. When Georgiana made her famous canvass in favor of Fox, the
Tories opposed to her the Scotch Duchess.
She lived and entertained then in a splendid mansion in Pall Mall; and
there assembled the adherents of the Administration.
Jane was the daughter of Sir William Maxwell, of Monreith, and in her
youth, even, was noted for beauty. A ballad, "Jenny of Monreith,"
written in her honor, was often chivalrously sung by her son George,
the last Duke of Gordon. "Jenny" married the fourth Duke, Alexander,
in 1767. The career of the Duke's youngest brother George, identified
with the "Gordon Riot," caused the family much embarrassment, and even
threatened to derogate from the Duchess's dominance with the ruling
party.
Her Grace was of somewhat stronger fibre than she of Devon; more
masculinity, ay, even more principle, characterized her. Thrift was a
visible virtue, in contrast to Georgiana's improvidence. Command,
rather than cajolery, was her political method. Her later life was
devoted to securing sons-in-law; three dukes, a marquis, and a knight
were of her garnering. She was on good terms with the Regent, and
endeavored to aid him in his differences with his Princess Caroline.
She is remembered, too, as a patron and friend of Dr. Beattie, the
poet, who has eulogized her in these lines "To a Pen":--
"Go, and be guided by the brightest eyes,
And to the softest hand thine aid impart;
To trace the fair ideas as they arise,
Warm from the purest, gentlest, noblest heart."
The third in that group of goddesses was surely the fairest of them
all, of more perfect form, more noble bearing, having that ultimate
element of the greatest beauty,--distinction. She came of a longer
lineage, and was the consummate flower of beauty wrought by the sun
and summers through many generations of patrician life,--life amid the
palatial parks, the superb scenery, and majestic castles of England.
Such living weaves its sweetest elements into the tissues of the being
and works a spell of loveliness such as Lady Mary Somerset. She was
the youngest daughter of Charles, fourth Duke of Beaufort, a
descendant of the Plantagenets. In 1775, she was married to Lord
Charles Manners, eldest son (born in 1754) of John,--that Marquis of
Granby whom Junius attacked, who was associated in the government, in
George the Second's time, with the Earl of Chatham. The Marquis was a
man of much force, and a most hospitable entertainer. He died before
his father, the third Duke of Rutland.
Lord Charles succeeded to the dukedom in 1779. He had formed a
friendship at Cambridge with Pitt, the son of his father's colleague,
and through his influence Pitt entered Parliament. In 1784, he was
induced by the young premier to accept the Lord-Lieutenancy of
Ireland, and it is with the lavish entertainment and high revelries at
Dublin Castle that his name and that of his beautiful Duchess is
connected.
High living soon told its tale, for the Duke died in 1787, at the
early age of thirty-three. Though having the most beautiful wife in
England, his affections wandered, and tales are told of his attachment
to that siren singer, Mrs. Billington. The Duchess's manner had
somewhat of levity and much coquetry in it, though she could not be
classed with that company who have not time to be virtuous. At the
time of her lord's death, she was living with her mother, the Dowager
Duchess of Beaufort, in Berkeley Square, London, having been partially
estranged from her husband. On hearing of his illness, she started to
set out for Dublin; but a message of his death came fast upon the
trail of the first news. Perchance it was this estrangement at death,
this having parted in anger without the chance of reconciliation in
life, that affected her so deeply that, though sought by many suitors,
the widow was true to the memory of her late lord. Her son, John
Henry, succeeded to the title; and his bride, a daughter of the Earl
of Carlisle, was also known as a beauty, and her portrait was painted
by Hoppner, in 1798. It was she of whom Greville wrote in his Memoirs,
and commented on her lack of taste in spoiling the magnificent Castle
of Belvoir, the pride and glory of the Eastern Midlands.
The beauty of the Duchess Mary Isabella was statuesque, classical; her
features were noble. She received admiration as her right, but gave
not largesse of smiles and wit in return. She was not as the Devonian
divinity, "The woman in whose golden smile all life seems enchanted."
Wraxall writes of a lady telling of witnessing a prenuptial display of
her person, and being entranced by lithe limb, by the fine and
faultless form. Reynolds has hinted at the beauteous body, and the
hint ensnares us. Verily, "the visible fair form of a woman is
hereditary queen of us." Wraxall also likens the Duchess to an
older-time beauty, Diane de Poitiers,--that famous lady of France, the
favorite of François I. and Henri II. Of that lady's beauty, it was
written, that it was of the form and feature rather than the radiance
of the mind and manner transforming them; and like her, too, our
Duchess retained her beauty to an advanced age. She died in 1821. To
the last, she impressed one with her dignity, her nobility, her
loveliness.
"And they who saw her snow-white hair.
And dark, sad eyes, so deep with feeling,
Breathed all at once the chancel air,
And seemed to hear the organ pealing."
[Illustration: LAVINIA COUNTESS SPENCER by REYNOLDS]