Ireland -- History -- Rebellion of 1798; Women -- Ireland -- Biography
Nor was it the populace alone whom Pamela won by her beauty. Lord
Charlemont, whose authority in all matters of taste was regarded as
second to none in Europe, was charmed by her. Jepham was with him one
day in 1793 in Charlemont house, when Pamela and Lord Edward came to
view its treasures, and he wrote to his uncle describing the visit. “She
is elegant and engaging in the highest degree, and showed the most
judicious taste in her remarks about the library and curiosities. The
Dublin ladies wish to put her down. She promised Lord Charlemont with
great good humour to assist him in keeping her husband in order.... She
was dressed in a plain riding habit, and they came to the door in a
curricle.”[82]
Footnote 82:
Moore tells us that Lord Edward first introduced this style of vehicle
into Ireland.
The attitude of the women of her class whom she met in society, probably
spoiled her party-going for her, and doubtless she was eager enough,
before long, to share with her husband the quiet country life, which he
loved so well. After a few months in the Duchess of Leinster’s charming
seaside residence, Frescati, Blackrock (where Pamela had plenty of
opportunity, in conjunction with the enthusiastic gardener, who was her
husband, to put into practice the gardening lore she had acquired at
Saint Leu) the young couple settled in a lodge belonging to Mr. Connolly
(husband of Lady Louisa Connolly, Lord Edward’s aunt), in Kildare. Lord
Edward has left in a letter to his mother, dated June 23rd, 1794, a
charming description of the place, which was to be the setting for their
lives during the short years that were destined for them to spend
together. In that little cottage a good deal of Irish history was to be
made in the short space of four years. Let us then look in it as Lord
Edward has painted it for us—for, alas! no trace of it now remains.
“After going up a little lane, and in at a close gate, you come on a
little white house, with a small gravel court before it. You see but
three small windows, the court surrounded by large old elms; one side of
the house covered with shrubs, on the other side a tolerable large ash;
upon the stairs going up to the house, two wicker cages, in which there
are at this moment two thrushes, singing _à gorge déployée_. In coming
into the house you find a small passage-hall very clean, the floor
tiled; upon your left a small room; on the right, the staircase. In
front you come into the parlour, a good room, with a bay window looking
into the garden, which is a small green plot, surrounded by good trees,
and in it three of the finest thorns I ever saw, and all the trees so
placed that you may shade yourself from the sun all hours of the day;
the bay window covered with honeysuckle, and up to the window some
roses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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