deed being Lord Blessington of the first part, Count D'Orsay of the second part, Lady Harriet Gardiner of the third part, the Duc de Guiche, Lieutenant-General and Premier (ecuyer) of his Royal Highness the Dauphin, and Robert Power, formerly Captain of the 2nd Regiment of Foot, then residing at Mountjoy Forest, of the fourth part.

The deed is stated to be for the purpose of making a provision for the said Alfred, Count D'Orsay, and Lady Harriet Gardiner, who is described as "then an infant of the age of fifteen years, or thereabouts."

Lord Blessington bound himself by this deed to pay, within twelve months after the solemnization of this marriage, the sum of £20,000 British to the trustees, the Duc de Guiche and Robert Power; and bound his executors, within twelve months after his decease, to pay said trustees £20,000 more, to be invested in the funds, and the interest thereof to be paid to Count D'Orsay, and after his decease, to the said Lady Harriet during his life; the principal at her death to go to any issue by that marriage, and in the event of failure of issue, to be held in trust for the executor and administrator of the said Alfred, Count D'Orsay.

Then the act recites the marriage of the Count D'Orsay with Lady Harriet, during the life-time of the said Earl, of there being no issue by that marriage, and of their being separated in the year 1831, and having lived wholly separate from that time.*

The death of the Earl is then mentioned, having occurred on the 25th May, 1829, and the fact of the will being duly proved in the Prerogative Court; and it is also stated that his Lordship was possessed of estates in Kilkenny, which were not devised by his will: that his Lordship's son, Charles John Gardiner, had filed a bill against Lady Blessington, Count

* The date of the deed of separation between the Count and Countess D'Orsay, is the 15th and 16th February, 1838.

and Countess D'Orsay, in 1831; that the will was declared by a decree in Chancery, well proven, and that the trusts therein specified should be carried into execution, that receivers should be appointed, that Luke Norman should continue agent of the estates, and that an account should be taken of all debts and incumbrances on the same; that the 18th June, 1834, the Master in Chancery reported on the charges and debts on the estates, and on the 14th of July, 1834, an order was made directing a sum of £500 to be paid yearly to the Count D'Orsay, and £450 to the Countess D'Orsay, for their main

tenance.

Various bequests of his Lordship are recited in this document to Lady Blessington he bequeathed the lease of his house in London (in St. James's Square); at the expiration of the lease, the furniture, books, &c., were to be removed to Mountjoy Forest Estate in Tyrone, where a house was to be built according to plans then laid down, empowering executors to borrow money for the purpose. "All his carriages, her paraphernalia and plate," he left also to his wife; to his son John

his plate, wardrobe, swords, &c. &c." He appointed Alfred D'Orsay guardian of his son Charles John Gardiner, till he came of age, the previous settlement of £12,000 to be null and void on his obtaining the Tyrone estates. "He appointed his beloved wife guardian of his daughter, Harriet Anne, and appointed his sister Harriet guardian of his daughter, commonly called Lady Mary." To his sister, Miss Harriet Gardiner, he left an annuity for life of £500.

A deed of separation between the Count and Countess D'Orsay is referred to, setting forth that Count D'Orsay had granted several annuities for his life to his creditors, with power to repurchase the same, and had charged the interest on the two sums of £20,000 settled on him, at the period of his marriage, by Lord Blessington, and that he required a sum to redeem the same, amounting to about £23,500.

That Countess D'Orsay had also incurred some debts, and required a sum of £10,000, or thereabouts, to discharge the same; that Charles John Gardiner had incurred some debts, secured by judgments on the Tyrone estates, amounting to £10,000; and that Countess D'Orsay had entered into an agreement to purchase all the interests and claims of the several parties to whom bequests were made, and debts were due, and that to pay off said incumbrances and liabilities, a sum of £120,500, applicable to the purchase of Count D'Orsay's annuities, and some other purposes, would be required. By a subsequent agreement the latter sum was raised to £180,000," and such other sums as might be found necessary," among other objects for securing to Count D'Orsay, within a period of ten years, a sum of £42,000.

Eventually, by two orders of the Court of Chancery, one of the 6th February, 1845, and another the 13th February, 1846, it was decreed, the trustees, when the sanction of an act should be procured, would be empowered to make sales of several estates to the amount of £350,000, to pay off all incumbrances and claims.

The act for the sale of the Blessington estates was passed in 1846. Its provisions have been duly carried into execution. Of the vast estates of the Mountjoys there remains a small remnant of landed property in Tyrone, to be still disposed of.

Lord Blessington by his will put an end to the wealth, honour, and territorial greatness of the ancient race of the Mountjoys.

Thus passes away the glory of "the English Pale" in Ireland.

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CHAPTER VII.

CONVERSATIONAL POWERS OF DISTINGUISHED PERSONSSEAMORE PLACE AND GORE HOUSE LITERARY CIRCLESRIVAL SALONS OF HOLLAND HOUSE, AND REUNIONS AT THE COUNTESS OF CHARLEVILLE's—RESIDENCE OF LADY BLESSINGTON AT SEAMORE PLACE FROM 1832 тo 1836, AND AT GORE HOUSE, KENSINGTON GORE, FROM 1836 TO APRIL, 1849.

ABOUT twenty years ago there were three circles of fashionable society in London, wherein the intellectual celebrities of the time did chiefly congregate. Three very remarkable women presided over them; the Countess of Blessington, the Countess of Charleville, and Lady Holland. The qualities, mental and personal, of the ladies, differed very much: but their tastes concurred in one particular; each of them sought to make society in her house as agreeable as possible, to bring together as much ability, wit, and intellectual acquirements, as could be assembled and associated advantageously-and endeavoured, in her circle, to make men of letters, art, or science, who had been previously unacquainted, or estranged, or disposed to stand aloof from their fellows, think kindly and favourably of one another. I am not quite sure, however, that a very kindly feeling towards each other prevailed among the rival queens of London literary society.

The power and influence of Lady Blessington's intellectual qualities consisted chiefly in her conversational talents. It would be difficult to point out any particular excellence, and

to say that one constituted the peculiar charm of her conversation.

It was something of frankness and archness, without the least mixture of ill nature, in everything she said, of enjouement in every thought she uttered, of fullness of confidence in the outspeaking of her sentiments, and the apparent absence of every arriere pensée in her mind, while she laughed out unpremeditated ideas, and bon mots spontaneously elicited, in such joyous tones, that it might be said she seldom talked without a smile-at least on her lips; it was something of felicity in her mode of expression, and freedom in it from all reserve, superadded to the effect produced by singular loveliness of face, expressiveness of look and gesture, and gracefulness of form and manner, that constituted the peculiar charm of the conversation of Lady Blessington.

She seldom spoke at any length, never bored her hearers with disquisitions, nor dogmatized on any subject, and very rarely played the learned lady in her discourse. She conversed with all around her in "a give and take" mode of interchange of sentiments, that reminded one of Luttrell's description of the talk of his hero, Charles, in "Advice to Julia:"

"Seldom embarrassed, never slow,
His maxim always 'touch and go;'
From grave to gay, he ran with ease,
Secure alike, in both to please."

She expressed her opinions in short, smart, and telling sentences; brilliant things were thrown off with the utmost ease; one bon mot followed another, without pause or effort, for a minute or two, and then, while her wit and humour were producing their desired effect, she would take care, by an apt word or gesture, provocative of mirth and communicativeness, to draw out the persons who were best fitted to shine in