Lady Anne

“ When the Lady Anne of York, in her innocent girlhood, scarcely more than a child, stood at the altar with Henry Duke of Exeter, she would probably have repulsed with indignant horror the prophet who should have told her that ere twenty years were over, she would fling overboard, careless what fate he met, the husband who would have loved her if she had given him leave, for the sake of a young man who was merely attracted by her beauty, rank, and wealth. ”

“ Who can describe the feelings of the Lady Anne—alone, in her chamber, looking up at the portrait of her mother, upon which she had so often gazed with delight and reverence! "Is it possible?" said she to herself, "can this be she, of whom I have read such dreadful things? Have all my young and happy days been but a dream, from which I wake at last? Is not this dreadful certainty still as a hideous dream to me?"
She had another cause of bitter grief. She loved the young and noble-minded Lord Russell, the Earl of Bedford's eldest son; and she had heard him vow affection and faithfulness to her. ”

“ But, in spite of all this, though they make her stiff, and pale, and silent, none of these cares have at all tarnished the gentle lustre of Lady Anne’s good heart; for, to tell truth, embroidery, and prejudices, and steel-collars, though they cramp both body and mind a little, by no means have a bad effect—or, at least, by no means so bad an effect as people ascribe to them in these days—upon the heart; and there lived many a true lady then—lives many a true lady now—to whom devout thoughts have come in those dim hours, and fair fancies budded and blossomed in the silence. ”

“ Of late, whenever Lady Anne had either talked or thought beyond her strength, exhausted nature found refuge in short but refreshing snatches of sleep, and she was thus situated when Georgiana sought to bid her farewell, which she could only do by touching her thin, withered fingers with her lips, affording a strong contrast to the blighted yet still fine outline of her mother's wasted features. ”

“ Though the earl did not suspect his lady of being the adept she was, yet he had long known she disliked his sister, which he accounted for from the circumstance of Lady Anne's superior personal attraction; the countess, though with a pretty face and at least ten years younger, cutting comparatively no figure when placed beside the tall and graceful form of Lady Anne, whose beautiful bust and slender waist never failed to attract admiration. ”

“ Those must have been pleasant sittings which gave the veteran portrait painter Miss Anne for a subject. [17] Plainly there was a perfect sympathy between sitter and painter. The smile the lady turns towards the easel is as naïve as that of Miss Bowles herself. She watches his clever work with an artist's delight, and with the simple spirit of a child.
[17] When her father was created an earl in 1795, she became Lady Anne.
Nothing could be more distasteful to such a character than the affected pose of a woman of fashion. ”

“ Lady Anne early in life studied how best despotic power could be exercised on a small scale; like Henry VII.,** See Bacon's Life of that monarch.>/ref> she preferred the homage exacted by respect and fear, to that which is offered by love, and she had firmly abided by her choice, being neither drawn aside by a husband whom any other woman would have found irresistibly seducing, nor by five sweet children, all calculated to win a mother's heart to weakness, and all imbued remarkably with domestic attachments. ”

“ As the Lady Anne grew up to womanhood, the sweetness of her disposition and manners began to be acknowledged by those, who had seen without astonishment her extraordinary beauty; and many persons of distinction, who would hold no kind of fellowship with the Lord Somerset, sought the acquaintance of his innocent daughter for her own sake.
The most beloved friend of the Lady Anne was the Lady Ellinor G——, the eldest daughter of the Earl of G——: and with her, Lady Anne often passed several months in the year. A large party of young ladies were assembled at G—— Castle ”

“ A whole string of great names rose, uncalled for, to Lady Anne's mind of her own compeers, whose lives are daily passing in the practice of every virtuous action and elegant occupation suitable to their high station, their talents, and attainments ”

“ Dear Sir Julien, rub your eyes! I want you to see—all the way to the skies. Lady Anne is a sweet girl who will look nice at the head of any one's table. She will read the papers and take an intelligent interest in her husband's work, and ask him trite and obvious questions to prove that she understands all about it. She will give you phenacetin when you have a headache, she will fill your house with the right sort of people. She will be very amiable and very satisfied. She'll always read the debates and she'll sit up for you at night in a pretty dressing-gown. ”

“ There was more dancing and singing up stairs, more wit and conversation below; all were at liberty, and all stayed late; and all talked so much of the happiness they had enjoyed, that Lady Anne felt herself exceedingly tempted to give another party before the season finally closed. She had been even bespattered with praise, so abundantly had it been showered upon her; and, like Lord Byron, she "awoke and found herself famous," not like him, for doing great things, but little ones ”

“ Whatever might be the talents of the party, it is certain Lady Anne was always received with the most flattering distinction, few amongst the gifted throng had so learned to estimate their own pretensions, as to be critically inclined towards so fine a woman, who was the daughter of an earl. ”

“ Whether Lady Anne perceived what was passing in her friend's bosom, from the varied expressions which flitted over her countenance, or whether she only suspected it from the intuitive knowledge which almost every woman has of woman's heart, I cannot tell; but after an instant's pause she went on, with a slight toss of her head, saying--
"After all, you know, Maria, at the worst, they could but say I was in love with him, and he with me; and, besides knowing ourselves that it is no such thing, we could soon prove to them that there was not a word of truth in it. ”

“ During the very bad weather, when persons could neither ride nor walk, the duchess, either by beautiful notes (to be kept as heirlooms) or by calls at the nearest houses, got people to work for the bazaar, and kept Lady Anne always in sight and in employment, of one kind or other, as she had superior taste, and could tell how many things ought to be done, though she did them no longer ”

“ Lady Anne, she is the most virtuous and discreetest Lady. I should be the happiest man in the world, if she would but shew a little more consideration to my friend.' I think it a pity he does not know his happiness, as I have not the least doubt of F. and her Ladyship having a pretty good understanding together." Thus was the thoughtless creature running on unheeded by either of us, when her harangue was interrupted by an alarming accident happening to me. ”

“ Even among the most experienced and discriminating of men, she rarely allowed the élite of the high-born or distinguished to escape her temporary allurements, so that she was the absolute horror, alike of the designing, whose baits she rendered nugatory, and the innocent attached ones, whose expectations she blighted, and whose young hearts were lacerated by the perfidy of those whom she misled. Of course she was a dangerous woman, from whom many would shrink, and certainly not one to whom Lady Anne could for a moment commit her daughters, either on the score of friendship, or example. ”

“ What do you say, dear Isabella, to my having actually picked up another ci-devant lover of one of your sisters, poor little Georgiana, who is at present wearing the willow, as well as this fine young man, who is really the beau ideal of a sailor-gentleman, because Lady Anne must have lords at least for the rest of her daughters? ”

“ He used to go errands sometimes to [45] the great Hall of the neighbourhood, and there he saw Lady Anne, the beautiful daughter of Lord Wharton, and fell desperately in love with her. One day when she was out riding he was able to save her from the attack of an infuriated stag, and I suppose she was very grateful, and perhaps showed her feelings too plainly, for her father shut her up in a turret-room, and ordered her to marry somebody whom she didn't like at all. ”

“ Anne was seemingly disinterested in her friendship with Lady Churchill, having nothing to gain but services, for which she liberally compensated her. But the society of a weak woman could not have had much fascination for so independent and self-sustained a person as was the proud peeress. It eventually became irksome to her. But there was no outward flaw in the friendship until Anne ascended the throne in 1702,--not even for several years after.
The accession of William and Mary in 1689 changed the position of Anne, to whom the nation now looked as a probable future queen. ”

“ Such was Lady Anne's reply.
"And now," she added, "let us go and take a walk farther in the park."
"Will you not put something on?" asked Maria. "You will catch cold."
"Not I," answered Lady Anne: "I am so full of warm, high spirits, that nothing, cold can get in. I feel like a general, who is sure of winning, just preparing for a battle. So let us go."
They walked for nearly an hour, and as they were returning they saw a gentleman's carriage standing before the door of the house.
"That's either Sir Harry Henderson or Colonel Mandrake," said Lady Anne. "I hope Mr. ”

“ The death of Mary brought Princess Anne more into public notice as heir presumptive to the throne, though it was many years before she became Queen of England. Heretofore, as we have seen, she lived like a private person at Berkeley House, and had not even been permitted to appear at court, because of the ill-feeling that existed between her and her sister Mary. Lord and Lady Marlborough, whose devotion to Princess Anne had seriously offended the queen, still continued her warm friends, and the princess wrote letters to her father filled with professions of loyalty and affection as before. ”

“ Anne had forborne going to bed, and waited for her return, longing to see her spirit’s face again before she slept; for this poor tender creature, being denied all woman’s loves and joys by Fate, who had made her as she was, so lived in her sister’s beauty and triumphs that ’twas as if in some far-off way she shared them, and herself experienced through them the joy of being a woman transcendently beautiful and transcendently beloved. To-night she had spent her waiting hours in her closet and upon her knees, praying with all humble adoration of the Being she approached. ”

“ Neither did she know that the report of her grand contribution had already run through all ranks and conditions, gathering as it went the usual exaggerations, until the molehill of a deal packing-case became the mountain of a waggon-load; after which, Lady Anne's good name sunk in an inverse ratio. "It was quite abominable, that a widow lady, with a large family and a small income, should presume to rival a duchess, especially such a handsome, amiable, cheerful duchess as her Grace of C——, who had a kind word for every body, whether gentle or simple ”

“ What do you call it?”
76 “Secretary? No, indeed, little Anne! Miss Abercrombie is a royal lady; not even a poet would she serve,” said Kit.
“Well, what makes her mean?” asked little Anne, candidly; she had used her keen young eyes and ears to some purpose. “Miss Anne’s ever’n’ ever so much nicer, and ever’n’ ever so much prettier, even if she isn’t, because she looks so kind of dear and sweet. I know she’s being not nice to my Anne, because when anybody isn’t nice to someone I love, and I don’t know what it is they’re doing, that makes me mad, and I remember my vocation.” ”

“ Anne was a grim, sullen woman, frankly sensual, but as well-meaning as ignorance and vindictiveness would allow her to be. But she had much natural good sense, was a true friend and, in her more cheerful moments, an amiable companion. Lady Rondeau’s portrait of the empress shows her to the best advantage. She is described as a large woman, towering above all the cavaliers of her court, but very well shaped for her size, easy and graceful in her person, of a majestic bearing, but with an awfulness in her countenance which revolted those who disliked her. ”

“ He beheld a creature in all the gentle bloom of highbred beauty—tall, well-formed, and radiating a sort of natural elegance, with a fine-shaped, expressive face, to which great speaking eyes and a mouth half pensive, half smiling, lent an air of rare distinction. These were the eyes which in after years Anne would half close in a roguish way, as when, for instance, she meditated a brilliant stroke as Lady Betty Modish, and then, opening them defiantly, would make them glisten with the spirit of twinkling comedy. ”

“ Home. "She is, as you say, very nice and kind. But now, Anne, we must not talk any more. Your master won't be in for an hour, but I shan't wait tea for him; we will have some fresh [Pg 81] made later. Please bring me in a cup at once, for I am very tired."
Anne gazed at her mistress in open-eyed astonishment. Any one—any one as poor as she well knew missis to be—who could take the fact of being cousin to so beautiful and rich a young lady with such coolness and apparent indifference quite passed Anne's powers of comprehension. ”