hear of him often as "the faithful Tony," | his first cousin, Miss Lennox, at whose following his master wherever he went. father's house in Sussex he had been On the conclusion of the American war, staying on a visit. In this case, too, the the 19th Regiment proceded to the island course of true love refused to run smoothof Saint Lucia, in the West Indies. ly. The lady's father would not hear of Having remained with it there some their marrying, his leading objections months, Lord Edward returned home at being their youth, and the inadequacy of the instance of his relations in Ireland. their means. At length, seeing that his About the same time a dissolution of Par-nephew was likely to prove a lover more liament took place, and he was brought constant than reasonable, he forbade him in by his eldest brother, the Duke of to enter his house. Leinster, as representative for the borough of Athy. He now settled down to lead a life which, when contrasted with the stirring scenes in which he had taken part in America, seemed tame enough. Still the time passed pleasantly, for he spent it chiefly with his mother, whom he loved with a tenderness not at all too common among sons, either then or now. The duchess, it may here be observed, was that lady the full sweetness of whose expression of countenance Sir Joshua Reynolds, when painting her portrait, found it difficult to render, and told Burke

Dublin at this period was a gay capital (not a dowdy dowager among cities), and Lord Edward, while mixing in society there, met, and fell in love with, Lady Catherine Meade,* a daughter of Lord Clanwilliam. Before this affair of the heart had advanced too far, his cautious stepfather, to get him out of temptation's way, hurried him off to England, and suaded him, as Parliament was then up, to go through a course of gunnery instruction at Woolwich. Lord Edward consented to the plan; yet that, in the midst of his studies, his heart remained in Ireland, is pretty clear from the tone of his letters to the duchess. "I am as busy as ever," he writes in midsummer, 1786;

per

it is the only resource I have, for I have no
pleasure in anything. I need not say I hope
you are kind to pretty dear Kate; I am sure
you are.
I want you to like her almost as
much as I do; it is a feeling I always have
with people I love excessively.

It would be unfair to accuse Lord Ed-
ward of fickleness, when he at last ap-
pears to have been serious: nevertheless,
it is certain that, before the year was out,
he had forgotten
pretty Kate," and
fallen a victim to the superior charms of

* Afterwards Lady Powerscourt.

This was a cruel disappointment to the young man, and the inactive life he led on his return to Dublin varied only by his Parliamentary duties - made him feel it all the more. His one wish now was to get away he cared not how far-anywhere, so that the scene were changed. Without telling anybody of his intentions, he set out to join the 54th Regiment, into which he had exchanged at the time of his leaving the West Indies, and which was now stationed at St. John, New Brunswick. He went first to Halifax, and made the journey thence to St. John by land. His letters, recounting what he saw on the way, show that he possessed no mean powers of observation and description.

A lovesick man is usually attracted by solitude, and so it was with the subject of this paper. Uppermost in his thoughts was the remembrance of his cousin, and he repines at the idea that she might have been his, had the social status of each been other than it was. "If it were not," he writes,

that the people I love, and wish to live with, really would join the savages, and leaving all are civilized people, and like houses, etc., I our fictitious, ridiculous wants, be what nature intended we should be. Savages have all the real happiness of life without any of those inconveniences, or obstacles to it, which custom has introduced among us. They enjoy the love and company of their wives, relations, and friends, without any interference of interests or ambition to separate them.

Fortunately, his regimental duties kept his mind employed, or he might have given way overmuch to gloomy reflections. He relates in what manner his days were spent:

I get up at five o'clock, go out and exercise the men from six till eight, come home and breakfast; from that till three I read, write, and settle all the different business of the regiment; at four we dine, at half after six we go out, parade, and drill till sundown; from that till nine I walk by myself, build castles in the air, think of you all, reflect on the pleasant time past as much as possible, and on the dis

agreeable as little as possible; think of all the | had long since been formed. When sitpleasant things that may yet happen, and of none of the unpleasant ones. When I am tired of myself, come home to bed and sleep till the faithful Tony comes in the morning; His black face is the only thing that I yet feel attached to.*

In summer, this routine was varied by exploring expeditions up some river or creek in his canoe; in winter, by skating or moose-hunting.

The celebrated William Cobbett was at this time a sergeant-major in the 54th, engaged, in his moments of leisure, in that task of self-instruction and self-improvement which enabled him to make a figure in the world. He tells us that it was owing to the good offices of his ma jor, Lord Edward, that he afterwards obtained his discharge from the army.

In 1789 FitzGerald set out homewards on leave. His first stage was to Quebec from Fredericton, a journey of one hundred and seventy-five miles, described as being "entirely through uninhabited woods, morasses, and mountains a route never before attempted even by the Indians." He and his companions accomplished this unprecedented journey in twenty-six days, steering their course by compass. But this exploit did not satisfy him. He had long set his heart on descending the Mississippi to New Orleans, and here was his opportunity for so doing. The voyage, full as it was of interest and variety delighted him. "It has done me a great deal of good," he says in a letter to one of his brothers: "I have seen human nature under all its forms. Everywhere it is the same; but the wilder it is, the more virtuous."

While at New Orleans, awaiting a pas sage to England, he heard of the marriage of his charming cousin, Miss Lennox, with Lord Bathurst. He says that he bore the unwelcome intelligence "tolerably well;" but, for all that, he keenly felt so sudden a dissipation of his dreams.

On his arrival in England, he was offered by Pitt, whom he met at dinner at the Duke of Richmond's, the command of the then projected expedition against Cadiz. The opening, an excellent one for a young, ambitious soldier, was readily and thankfully snatched at. Next day, however, he learned what he was ignorant of before, namely, that, during his absence, his brother of Leinster, had returned him to Parliament for the county of Kildare. Now his political opinions

* Letters to his mother, August, 1788.

ting for Athy, three years before, he had consistently followed the lead of such lights as Grattan and Curran, and his vote had been invariably given against the government.

The ministry from whom he received an appointment, would, of course, expect his support in return. But to desert the ranks of the opposition, and act against his conscience, was what a man, honest as he was, could not bring himself to do. Accordingly, he withdrew his acceptance of the command that had been offered to him. At this his uncle was much incensed; and it is supposed, not without reason, that the English government began, from this moment, to watch his conduct with suspicion.

Liberal as Lord Edward's opinions already were, the close friendship he formed while in London with Fox, Sheridan, and other Whig leaders, did not tend to make them less so. The political turmoil commencing in France was occupying the attention, and (as yet) winning the sympathy of all lovers of liberty. It was impossible for any patriotic Irishman to watch the progress of the Revolution there, and not look forward to a time when his own country might free herself from the bonds that English misrule had cast around her. So eagerly did he follow the struggle that he seems almost to have remained blind to the hideous excesses which accompanied it. Here is the tone of exultation in which he alludes to it, when writing to his mother from London in October, 1792. It must be remembered that only a month had passed since the authorized massacres committed at the prisons in Paris, had made the civilized world shudder.

I dined with Charles Fox, Saturday, on coming to town; he was quite right about all the good French news. Is it not delightful? It is really shameful to see how much it has affected our aristocrats. I think one may fairly say the Duke of Brunswick and his Germans are bedevilled.

next few sentences, the softer side of his He speaks out thus bluntly, but in the character is apparent.

I begin to feel a little pity for the emigrants, though I am sure they deserve none. They have so completely ruined their cause, that I believe they will lose everything. Some, I am honorably; and these, though surprised and sure, thought they were acting aright and angry at their errors, one cannot help pitying.

To be absent from the scene of action

was no longer possible. He hurried over | found her as ardent in the cause of liberty to Paris, and put up with his friend, as he was himself; but when the lovely Thomas Paine, the author of " The Rights Pamela raised her splendid eyes to his, of Man," for whom he had the profound- and breathed the same sentiments, in est admiration, and to whose "simplicity language simpler though none the less of manner, goodness of heart, and strength sincere, he was enslaved at once. of mind," he bears testimony. He attended a meeting at which, besides a host of English, several deputies from the Convention assembled. Here ultra-republican speeches were made, and highly significant toasts proposed. To one of the latter, the following fervent wish was tacked on: May the patriotic airs 'Ca ira,' the Carmagnole,' and the 'Marseillaise,' soon become the favorite music of every army, and may the soldier and the citizen join in the chorus!" Another followed "to the speedy abolition of all hereditary titles and feudal distinctions."

66

These irregular doings quickly became known to the authorities at home, the result being that FitzGerald's name was straightway removed from the army list.

He was not unprepared to hear this: indeed it was only what he expected. He dismissed the matter from his thoughts, which were now completely absorbed, not only by the political crisis of which he was a witness, but by a subject more nearly affecting his own personal happiness. In the love affair with his cousin, his hopes, as we have seen, had been blighted. He had since then indulged in divers fleeting liaisons, but in no serious attachment. He was not destined, though, to continue heart-whole for long.

Going to the theatre one evening with his friend Mr. Stone, to see a play called "Lodoiska," his attention was caught by the extreme beauty of a young girl who, in company with two other ladies and a gentleman, sat in a box near his own. Mr. Stone was happily acquainted with the whole party, which consisted of Madame de Genlis, her daughter and son-inlaw (M. and Madame de Valence) and her so-called adopted child, Pamela Sims. As soon as the curtain had fallen on the first act, he led the impatient Irishman to the box, and introduced him to those within.

FitzGerald was very cordially received by Madame de Genlis, who had only recently arrived from England, where she had enjoyed the friendship and hospitality of their mutual friend Sheridan.* He

The poet Rogers states that Sheridan was himself one of Pamela's numerous admirers, and gave himself considerable trouble, on one occasion, in putting together some French verses for her acceptance. "Table-talk of Samuel Rogers," p. 69.

And if Lord Edward was attracted by Pamela, no less so was she by him. He was now in his twenty-ninth year. In stature, he was rather short than tall. His figure was strongly and symmetrically built. His face was oval in form, his features regular, and his complexion healthfully ruddy. His dark full blue

eyes were shaded by jet-black lashes which lent a peculiar softness to their expression. His gait was easy and active, his demeanor marked by an Irish heartiness, together with a certain courtliness acquired during his early youth in France. To complete his portrait, the following encomium passed on him by General Sir John Doyle, who had served on the staff with him in America, may here be quoted:

Of my friend FitzGerald's excellent qualities, I should never tire in speaking. I never knew so lovable a person, and every man in the army, from the general to the drummer, would cheer the expression. His frank and open manner, his universal benevolence, his gaité de cœur, his valor almost chivalrous, and above all, his unassuming tone, made him the idol of all who served with him. He had great animal spirits which bore him up against all fatigue; but his courage was entirely independent of those spirits-it was a valor sui generis. Had fortune happily placed him in a situation, however difficult, where he could into play, I am confident he would have proved legitimately have brought those varied qualities a proud ornament to his country.*

to have

And now, quitting our main subject for a space, let us turn to Pamela, who, if only for her beauty, merits more than a passing glance. In the first place, who was she? She is declared by Madame de Genlis in her "Memoirs been the daughter of an Englishman named Seymour, or Seymours,t who, though well-born himself, had married beneath him, thereby offending his relations. After his marriage, Seymour (alias De Brixey) and his wife (whose maiden name was Sims) fled together from the frowns of his family, and settled at Fogo Island, off the north-east coast of Newfoundland. There, in process of time, Mrs. Seymours de Brixey gave birth to

Moore's Life and Death of Lord Edward FitzGerald, pp. 26, 27.

† Strange to say, this gentleman figures in Pamela's marriage contract as William de Brixey.

a daughter, who received the name of there is no difference of opinion among Nancy. The father then died, and his those who knew her. Her beauty is exwidow, accompanied by Nancy, returned tolled by all. Visitors to the palace of to England in a state of destitution, and Versailles may remember a picture there establishing herself at Christchurch in in which she is represented. The canvas Hampshire, kept the wolf from the door is a large one, the figures somewhat under by taking in needlework. She resumed life-size. To the right sits Madame de for herself, and her child, her maiden Genlis, twanging her harp; in the centre name. Four years afterwards, a Mr. is Mademoiselle d'Orléans, also sweeping Forth, whom the Duke of Orleans had the strings, and reading from a musiccommissioned to pick up une petite An- book held for her by Pamela, whose face glaise as a schoolroom companion for his is seen in profile - a very Hebe such as children, happening to be at Christchurch, Flaxman might have designed, or Thorsaw little Nancy Sims, and having some-waldsen wrought in marble. How pure how persuaded her mother to part with in outline are mouth, nose, and chin! her, took her away to France. Madame How gazelle-like in expression is the de Genlis, governess -or governor as downcast eye! She is clad in white, her she styled herself - of the duke's chil- gown fitting close around the neck. Over dren, took a strong fancy to the little one shoulder a yellow scarf is negligently stranger, re-named her Pamela, for the thrown. Her hair, raised, frizzled, and sake of euphony, and bestowed the same slightly powdered, is bound by a pale-blue care on her education as on that of her ribbon, from which a bunch of cherries, more distinguished pupils. Fearing how-stuck at random, gives a little air of coever lest the widow Sims should reclaim Pamela at some future time, she went to England, and there induced the good woman to sign an acte de cession of the girl in the Court of King's Bench, in return for the sum of twenty-five guineas! This odd story, received with distrust from the first, is now classed with the many other fictions for which we are indebted to the authoress of "Les Annales de la Vertu." The explanation to which the unkind public lent a readier ear, was that Pamela was the daughter of Madame de Genlis herself, by the Duke of Orleans. Indeed, the striking resemblance she bore to madame on the one side, and to one if not two of the duke's legitimate children on the other, was taken as sufficient proof that such was the case.*

As to the personal charms of Pamela,

"Ma

*It is amusing to hear how the tongue of London society wagged on this topic. When the celebrated instructress of youth paid her first visit to England in 1785, she went to see Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill; and that prince of gossips in relating the circumstance to his correspondent, Lady Ossory, says, dame de Genlis was accompanied by Pamela, whom she did not even present to me, and whom she has educated to be very like herself in the face." Later on too, in spent in this country, Miss Townshend, a lady holding 1791, the greater part of which year Madame de Genlis post at court, was similarly impressed. "I went last night," she writes, "to Lady Hume's, to see some French curiosities, Madame de Genlis, Mademoiselle d'Orléans, and the English foundling, as they call her, Pamela, who has as French a face as possible, and in my opinion, and in the opinion of many others last night, is very like the first-mentioned lady; though Madame de Genlis is very ugly now, while Pamela is beautiful. But it is only the difference of age. They sat in a circle to be stared at, and seemed to like it.". Letter from the Hon. Georgina Townshend to Mrs. Stapleton, published in "Memoirs of Field-Marshal Lord Combermere," Appendix.

quetry to an otherwise simple attire.

But we have left Lord Edward in the theatre conversing with his new acquaintances. Before they left, he received from Madame de Genlis an invitation to dinner at Raincy, a villa outside Paris belonging to the Duke of Orleans, where she was then staying. He went, of course, and was more than ever captivated by Pamela. He afterwards repaired thither daily, enjoying to the full the delights of courtship.

Early in December, Madame de Genlis set out for the Belgian frontier, in coinpliance with the urgently-expressed desire of the Duke of Orleans, who wished the princess, his daughter, removed from French territory till affairs grew more settled. Lord Edward joined the travellers at the first stage from Paris, and accompanied them to Tournay, where they halted for some weeks. It was here that his marriage with Pamela took place, and that over, he started homewards with his bride.

On getting to Ireland, the young couple settled for a time at Frescati, a place near Dublin belonging to the Duchess of Leinsthence, we obtain some pleasing glimpses ter. In Lord Edward's letters to her of his early married life. Here is one:

We came here last night, got up to a delightful spring day, and are now enjoying the little book-room with the windows open, hearing the birds sing. The place looks beautiful. The plants in the passage are just watered; and with the passage door open, the room smells like a greenhouse. Pamela has dressed four beautiful flower-pots, and is now working

one hundred and twenty-three members of the other branch; and of a House of Commons of three hundred so-called representatives of the people, scarcely one-lar election." -"Personal Recollections of Lord Clonthird of whom were freely and fairly returned by popu- curry," p. 22.