il in 1817, when her husband's death occurred by his
falling out of a window when in a state of drunken frenzy. Four months
after this she became the second wife of an Irish nobleman of a
dashing person and little brains, Charles John Gardiner, second Earl
of Blessington, when she was twenty-eight and he was thirty-five years
of age. With this marriage came a reversal of her misfortunes. Her
generosity, sympathy, and good heart soon prompted the improvement of
the conditions of her own family, and in this gave emphatic evidence
of that devotedness to duty and friends which became her strongest
trait. Her youngest sister, Marianne, was adopted and educated by her,
and became her travelling companion, and long afterwards her modest
biographer. Her sister Ellen married first, Mr. Home Purves, and
afterwards, Viscount Canterbury, speaker of the House of Commons.

Lord Blessington's income was great, but his tastes were extravagant
as were also his wife's, and luxurious was their home in St. James's
Square, and magnificent the manner in which they entertained the
brilliant society gathered there; and for three years their brilliant
companies of beauty and intellect outshone the congregations at
Holland House. In 1822, Count D'Orsay, a polished and accomplished
young Frenchman, visited London, and was made most welcome by the
Blessingtons. In August of that year they started for a leisurely tour
of the Continent. The Countess kept a diary during this journeying,
which was published in 1839, under the title of "The Idler in Italy,"
revealing a keen observation and a capacity for entertaining comment.

Her ladyship was ever ambitious of literary eminence. Possessed of
great beauty, and after a time high station and wealth, she yet
yearned for the recognition by great writers of her position as one of
them. She had published, previous to her continental trip, two
volumes,--one called "The Magic Lantern," the other, "Sketches and
Fragments," both being accounts of and comments upon London society;
both were unsuccessful. Her one book which will remain in literature
was consequent upon her meeting with Lord Byron in Genoa, in 1823, and
is a record of her conversations with the poet. She who aspired to
make her mark in literature has made it, but as the chronicler of the
sentiments, vanities, whims, and oddities of another. But it was no
ordinary ability that was competent to persuade the great poet,
usually unapproachable, to avo