Next in succession came my sister Caroline (Caddy), who was often absent
from home, going abroad with our Uncle and Aunt Poyntz, whose three
daughters[9] were nearer her age and more fitted to be her companions
than myself, her junior by several years. Wherever she went, Caddy was
much admired. Her colouring was exceptionally bright, and even in her
eightieth year, her eyes literally sparkled, and her complexion was of
that red and white, so softly blent that it might have become an infant
in the cradle. Yet the real, surpassing gift of beauty was reserved for
my brother Charles. Ah! what a store of love and memory is connected
with that dear name, and how well did the Greek epithet “Kalos” become
him, which implies in its melodious sound both moral and physical
beauty. The term beautiful does not appear, perhaps, often applicable to
a man, but it certainly was to Charles. In feature, colouring and
expression he was the counterpart of our mother, the same soft brown
hair, the same sapphire blue eyes, the same faultless outline of
profile. I have a very fine painting of him by Samuel Reynolds, the son
of the celebrated engraver. I have also a sketch of his head, a crayon
drawing of great beauty, which is doubly valuable to me, as the work and
precious gift of our dear friend and world-famed painter, George Watts.
Footnote 9:
Frances, Lady Clinton; Elizabeth, Countess Spencer; Isabella,
Marchioness of Exeter.
“Blest be the hand, whose touch can give
The looks that last, the smiles that live!
Blest be the hand that gives us back
The looks we miss, the smiles we lack,
‘Mid time and absence, distance, space,
Recalls the one familiar face
With us to dwell, with us abide,
Which our own tears alone can hide!”
An earlier friend, John Hayter, brother of Sir George Hayter, some time
President of the Royal Academy, also made an equestrian sketch in
coloured crayons of Charles in a gorgeous Albanian costume, which he
brought with him from Greece, on his return from a cruise with our
sailor brother. I shall never forget the sensation caused at the fancy
ball at Brighton, when our young Albanian appeared with his sister
Caroline, also arrayed in a genuine Greek costume. They were indeed a
most beautiful pair, and looked the very embodiment of the hero and
heroine of one of Byron’s Eastern poems.
Fourth in succession came a little blue-eyed, fair-haired sister,
Charlotte by name, who died when only six years old. In what high relief
do such early records stand out on the tablet of a child’s memory. Never
shall I forget the tone of deep melancholy in which my mother would
exclaim: “No one knows what real sorrow is till they have lost a child.”
[Sidenote: EPITAPH ON CHARLOTTE BOYLE]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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