COURT AND FASHIONABLE MAGAZINE, For MARCH, 1809. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. The Forty-third Pumber. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LADY CHARLOTTE DUNCOMBE. LADY CHARLOTTE DUNCOMBE, whose Portrait, from the fascinating pencil of Hoppner, is prefixed to the present Number of La Belle Assemblée, is the only daughter of William, Earl of Dartmouth (the present Lord Chamberlain), by Frances Catharine, sole daughter and heiress of Sir | Charles Gounter Nicoll, K. В. Her Ladyship is married to Charles Duncombe, Esq. eldest son of Charles Slingsby Duncombe, of Duncombe Park, in the county of York. The painting, from which we have obtained an exclusive permission to copy the present Portrait, was executed by Mr. Hoppner a few years since, and is now in the possession of the Hon. and Rev. Edward Legge. In order to retain the decided character of the Painter and the peculiar characteristics of the portrait, our readers will remark that the present Print is engraven in the most prominent chalk manner, so as to preserve the air, the taste, and full freedom of the original drawing. Some of our correspondents have imagined, on this account, that the Portrait was unfinished and imperfectly executed; but the amateur will imme. diately decide, that the value of the Print is increased by this fidelity and adherence to the style of the original master. Much of the beauty of the chalk engraving depends upon its close imitation of the freedom of touch, and the bold carelessness of drawing, and a laborious finishing, and too attentive polish would perhaps hazard the resemblance of the Print to the character of the original, without improving the engraving in any other quality. MR. EDITOR, ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. HYMENEA IN SEARCH OF A HUSBAND. I AM One of those beings of whom it is very difficult to say whether they are to be envied or pitied. If the possessor of an ample fortune, of a good person, and a tolerable understanding, be sufficient to render a woman an object of envy to some of her sex, Ilymenaca is, in these points, most assuredly to be envied. But, on the other hand, if those are to be pitied on whom all such advantages are nearly thrown away, who has a sufficient fortune without being enabled to employ it in the way she wishes, who has personal beauty without having obtained a lover whom she can esteem, and whose understanding is as useless as her fortune, Hymenza is to be pitied. I wish to stand well with you, Mr. Editor, and therefore that you may not imagine my dissatisfaction to arise from any of those fanciful causes, by which people so ingeniously torment themselves, shall make no farther preface or apology, but enter at once on the pith and marrow of my subject; you will best understand this by the narrative of my operations, active and passive, for the last ten years. office during the last twelve years, and it is with regret I have to add, that in all this time, and with the selection out of many, I have never been able to make such a choice as iny understanding approved. Perhaps, you may here feel inclined to apply to me the common adage, "More nice than wise," but before you adopt this conclusion, have the goodness to read my statement, and give some attention to my reasons. My father was one of those country gentlemen who seem to have no other purpose or ob'ect in life than to inheritand transmit an estate of three thousand pounds a year in the line of lineal descent. He was a country gentleman, in the true sense of the word, with a tolerable understanding, and about as much of manners and decorum as his own dogs. He employed the winter in shooting, and the autumn in hunting, and in the two other seasons of the year, when the weekly justice meeting did not necessarily require his attention, in sleeping. His education was precisely squared with his style and manner of life, he knew the point of excellence in a pointer, and would give the price of one of his best acres for a greyhound. He was well read in Burn's Justice, but was so apt to mistake the application of the cases, that he had been two or three times before the Court of King's Bench. His table was hospitable beyond his income, and, in a word, he was generally reputed a good neighbour, and a very worthy member of the peace. One thing, however, it is necessary to premise as the clue to this narration. You must know, Mr. Editor, that I am now in my twenty eighth year, anda single woman. I need say no more, I think, as to my previous assertion, that my dissatisfaction is not founded in any fanciful causes; and when I add, that my fortune does not fall short of a good forty thousand pounds in the five per cents, and that, as I have said My mother was in every possible respect befarc, I am generally acknowledged by a totally different woman. She was one of the gentlemen not to be wanting in per- the numerous daughters of a decayed noblesomal beauty, you will very naturally con-man, and had therefore brought nothing to clude, that my present state is Lot for want my father, but herself. But in this one of offers. No, Sir, I have had as many offers as might have been anticipated from || this enumeration of my advantages, and I have had no difficulty in consequence but to make my selection. I have exerted al the powers of my understanding in this word, was included every thing which would have made a wise man happy, and have satisfied the most unreasonable one. To an uncoinmon share of personal beauty she added a still more uncommon good sense, and such a sweetness of temper, and constant complacency, as threw a charm || avail myself of it as an amusement, if not to over every society in which she moved. My father was certainly very ill calculated for a woman like this, but being himself a very good tempered man, he compensated by this quality for many defects. They accordingly lived very happy together, and had less bickerings than fall to the share of the greater part of married families. My brother and myself were the only children of this union. My brother, after having been kept at home, in despite of my mother's remonstrances, till nearly twelve years old, was then dispatched to learn Latin and writing at a school about ten miles from my father's residence. Here, being the Squire of the school, and the practise it as a science. I had learned enough of French not to be dumb in the presence of a foreigner, but as I see no sufficient cause for deception, I must be free to avow that this was the extent of my acquisition. I could neither read Leonora in German, nor the indecencies of Boccaccio in Italian; -I had attended no lectures at the Institution; -I knew nothing of the laws of the circulation of the blood, and no more of those of gravity, than that if a tea-cup slipt from my hands it must necessarily fall to the ground. But when Lady Letitia Medlecot, one of the subscribers and patronesses of this Institution, once asked me, why it fell to the ground, vanity of the master being tickled by hav- | and by what laws it was attracted?-what ing such a scholar, Squire Dick, as he was called, was even more indulged than at home. If he had not learned his lessons before the usual hour of the scholars being set at liberty to their play, the lesson of the morning was passed over to the lesson of the afternoon, and if in the afternoon he was still backward, his task was remitted to the succeeding morning. He was introduced and called out to every visitor of his master, so that, with such indulgences, he would have been a miracle of capacity, if in eight years he had acquired any thing beyond his grammar and the first lines of Ovid My brother's capacity was no such miracle, and he accordingly, after a course of education of eight years at a private school in the country, returned as might have been expected, but a very few degrees from a perfect ignoramus. Under the immediate care of my mother, the course, and therefore very naturally the result of my education, had been very different. My mother loved me with the most maternal affection, but had too good an understanding to suffer the effect of this tenderness to relax the necessary discipline of early education. My capacity being quick I improved very rapidly under such an instructress, so that at the age of sixteen, I had acquired whatever is deemed necessary to female education. I could not indeed paint on velvet, nor dance with the figurantes at the Opera, but I could draw with sufficient skill to copy the landscapes in the neighbourhood of my father's house; and as to music, I knew enough to No. XLIII.-Vol. VI. was the cause of its fall, and the measure of its descent? I must confess that she puzzled me. I knew of no cause but the removal of my hand, and of no reason for its breaking with so much force, but that it had fallen upon a marble hearth. Being a very tall girl of my age, my father thought it high time that I should make a proper match, as he expressed it, a determination to which he was hastened by a circumstance of considerable weight. In his immediate neighbourhood were two country gentlemen, with both of whom he was in the habits ofstrict intimacy, and for both of whom he entertained an equal respect, for there was no perceptible difference in their estates, and little in their talents as sportsmen. One of them, Sir Toby Wilkins, was a young heir just arrived at his majority; of robust health, and of never ceasing good-humour. The other. gentleman was an only son, a young man of great expectations, and reputed the most sober sensible youth in the county; he had been chiefly educated under an old Admiral, his uncle, and at the death of whom he was expected to inherit his immense wealth. My father addressing me one day, whilst I was working at my needle with my mother, told me, that he put the finishing hand to a job that morning which would make a woman of me; that nothing now remained but to conduct myself in a manner worthy of his kindness, and thereby justify all the praises which he had given me. My mother here demanding an ex K are at perfect liberty." Sir Toby called on me the same day; informed me what he had communicated to my father, and hoped my approbation.-I very naturally suggested that we were as yet early acquaintance; in a word, the business immediately took its proper shape, the two gentlemen became my professed lovers, and without presuming that either had more right than the other, each endeavoured to recommend himself. planation." Why you must know," said || feelings and reason shall impel you.-You he, "that Sir Toby Wilkins rode home with me yesterday from the justice meeting at B. In the course of our journey the young man seemed to have something on his mind, and at length with great difficulty brought forth; that he had taken a great fancy to Hymenæa, and that if I had no objection, and his mother should have none, he should wish to be permitted to visit her as her intended husband. I gave my consent; and I feel some surprize that he has not already availed himself of it, and made you a visit to day. However, when I thought last night in my bed on what I had done, I began to think that I had been | too precipitate, and that something was due to Hymenza herself, and that she should have a choice. I formed my resolution accordingly, and ordered my horse early this morning for the purpose of executing it. And I have so executed it; and now guess what it is."-" It can be but one thing," said my mother; "you doubtless rode over to Sir Toby". -" No such thing," replied my father.-"No, my dear, Sir Toby offered himself to my daughter; but one, as you know, makes no choice; so I rode over to Mr. Honeycomb, and made an offer of my daughter to his eldest son, provided the parties could be agreeable to each other. So you see that I have kept my word to you, Madam," said he, turning to my mother; " and I have given Hymenæa the power of choosing." My mother smiled at my father's plan; and after he had withdrawn inquired of me, if either of the gentlemen had ever spoken to me on the subject. I replied that Sir Toby had certainly made those kind of Justic addresses from which I might fairly presume that I was not indifferent to him; but that on my part, though I liked his good-humour, and was accustomed to him as an early friend, I had no decided sentiment either for or against him." Well," replied my mother, " you must receive these gentlemen according to your father's wishes, but you have his permission to make a choice, and you have mine to re. ject both if your understanding should so dispose you. But as you owe some respect to your father's desire, you must not decide abruptly. See them both; see the character of both, and then act as your Sir Toby is a character which I conceive myself to have already sufficiently described. He was a good-natured country Baronet, with a good estate, and robust habit, managing what business he had with sufficient discretion, and by no means deficient in a plain understanding. Such was Sir Toby.-My other lover, Mr. Honeycomb, or rather Major Honeycomb, was totally a different man; he had been very well educated, having been brought up at Harrow, and thence passed through the regular collegiate course at Oxford. An old uncle, an Admiral, who had made an immense fortune by prize money, having taken a fancy to him, bad taken him to live with himself. Mr. Honeycomb was naturally rather a calculating man, and with this turn of mind was not insensible to the advantages of his situation. He accordingly applied himself to every effort which could confirm or augment the favour of the Admiral, and had thus become habituated at once to the most abject servility, and the most narrow selfishness. Every word and every look was measured. He almost thought as well as spoke by an adopted rule. Such was my second lover, the silver-tongued Mr. Honeycomb. Shall I confess to you, Sir, that though neither of these gentlemen were much to my taste, I had still so much of the vanity of my sex that I was pleased with their addresses, and therefore had no intention of rejecting either, and with my good will they might have dangled about me till this time. But Sir Toby, having most frequent opportunities, had insensibly gained on my attention, and I was so accustomed to see him, that I felt a kind of feeling is certainly not love, but at a certain vacuum when he was not present. This age is so like it, and therefore is so fie quently mistaken for it, that I am persuad-and simple words, he wanted nothing but ed from what has fallen within my own observation, that the greater part of fashionable marriages are entirely founded upon it. Be this as it may, Sir Toby had once pressed me hard to consent to our union; the opportunity, as the poets say, was favourable to him; we were returning from an assize ball by moonlight, and my father had got so intoxicatedat the dinner that he was senseless, and in a profound sleep in one corner of the coach. Sir Toby and myself were on the opposite seat; the moon, as I said, shone bright, and it being midsummer the nightingales were singing: you will allow that this was a happy moment for a lover. Not to go into the detail of a novel, Sir Toby pressed my consent to a day which he named, and being perfectly in good-humour with him, I was on the point of pronouncing my irrevocable doom, when one of those accidents which at once vary the whole tenour of life, interposed in the very moment that the word was on my lips. Sir Toby happened to tread on my father's gouty foot; he awoke in the instant, and the conversation necessarily took another turn. fortune, and this he certainly most completely wanted. Whether this gentleman was struck with me, or fancied that I was so with him, I know not, but his first visit was soon followed by a second, and by rendering himself agreeable to my father he received a general and daily invitation to our house. Insensibly the whole of his time was spent with us. To make short of the matter, we soon became agreeable to each other, and as usually happens in such cases, soon made the discovery of our secret. The dif ference of fortune necessarily compelled us to discretion and present secrecy, but we continued to cherish our mutual attachment in the confidence that an opportunity might at length occur which would favour the discovery of it to my father. On the following day whilst I was expecting the usual visit of Sir Toby, I was summoned down to a gentleman who wished personally to speak to me from him. To make short of the matter, Sir Toby had slipped his shoulder in a coursing match the same morning, and had sent me the information as an apology for his absence. The hurt was not indeed dangerous, though such as necessarily to confine him to his chamber for a few days. Things were in this situation; Sir Toby confined to his room, but daily writing to me, whilst another had totally supplanted him; in this manner, I say, were our affairs situated when a new occurrence took place in my family. My brother had been long paying his addresses to Lady Emily Belcour, and after much difficulty on the side of the nobleman her father, the union was to take place on the following condition, that in the event that my brother had no children by Lady Emily, the family estate of my father was still to pass into the family of the old Earl, Lady Emily's father. My father, in his eagerness for this splendid match, overlooked the peculiar modesty of this proposal; he accordingly consented to it, but as the estate was a general entail, it was necessary likewise to procure my consent. I gave it most cheerfully. "There is one other requisite," said my father.-" Your two lovers, Mr. Honeycomb and Sir Toby, are addressing you under the impression that the estate is yours on failure of issue, or the death of your brother; I am sorry to say that the latter is but too probable from his late state of health. It is necessary, therefore, that I should inform these gentlemen how the matter now stands, that all may be open and mutually understood between us; I shall do it instantly," The gentleman who brought me this information, and whom I shall call Horatio, as he is now living, and might not approve the publicity of his real name, was the son of an officer of very small fortune; his interest, however, had procured the young man a commission, and he had been quartered in the neighbourhood of Sir Toby. I will not lose myselfin words by a detailed description of this young Lieutenant, whom you may readily imagine a new lover. Suffice it to say, that to the good-humour of Sir Toby he added the manners of the accomplished gentleman, and the knowledge of the scholar refined and familiarized by a converse with the world. In plained, that he had addressed me for myself Ka The letters were accordingly sent the same day. Sir Toby immediately answer |