The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1873-05-01
Recollections of the Countess Guic.
cioli.

Recollections of the Countess Guic.
cioli.
was living in Paris in 1874 or AS, at
all events about the time that Eugene's
Sues novel of the "Juif Errant APP
peared. The glowing description of his
heroine, Adrienne de Cardouville's gol-
den hair, not only male auburn popu-
lar, which had hitherto been rather at II
discount because other women wolld
unpleasantIy suggest its being rcd, but
brought out with successful self-asser-
ton even the carroty locks which mp to
this time had been kept in the back
ground or had sought conceaIment of
hair dye. | was walking just about the
beginning of the twilight hour, with II
lady on my arm, when young damseI,
as thought, passed us, accompanied
bv her cavalier. Her prOfuse reddish
golden hair hung down below her we'll
developed bosom. Notwithstanding
her embonpoint l should have judged
her to be between eighteen and two-aud-
twenty, and remarked to my fair COM
panion, "There goes Cardouville girl
who ought to be the height of the fash
ion." "Girl, indeed" :" said she, with Il
toss of her head "don't you know who
that is? That is the Guiccioli She is
IS years old if she is day" Shortly
after met her at the house of Mons eur
and Madame Sierra. On closer inspec-
ton she looked much older than | had
taken her to be, and though she must
have been nearer 45 than 40, did not
look 80 years of age. Byron in one OF
his letters, writes, in reference to her ;
81 have fallen in love with red-headed
woman !" but her glorious, indescrib.
able hair was really of that hue Dever
found but in the south of Europe, rare
lv there, and most frequently in the
north of Italy, where it is derived from
the Lombard blood, and which is truly
designated as gClden-the hair which
the ancient Greeks ascribed to Apollo
and Homer to his Achilles. Though
far from being brilliant, though in fact
| intellectually ather below than above
the average of women, there was an un-
accountable fascination about her. Some
one attributed this to her being in
tensely feminine" and said of her that
though what she did might be uncon
ventional and improper, and thougl
what she said might not be sensible, ye
that she could not do or say anything
that was not graceful even if she tried
Her liaison with Byron was the glory
of her life, and she was never weary o.
talking of it. Though she never cared
about or understood his poetry, she wa'
in love with his memory, and gloried ii
his glory because it was his Though
like every Italian woman, she had hei
fits of religious devotion-superstitior
still lingering where faith is dead-nev
er could she be persuaded that there
was anything wrong about their inter
course, and when an eminent French
divine once spoke to her on the subject,
she told him, with flashing eyes, that
"she had enjoyed her heaven already,
and never would she give up her recol-
lection of it for another, even though
everlasting" Subsequently she visited
England, where her reception as By
ron's mistress was the greatest tribute
ever paid to genius. All the proprieties
or pruderies Of conventionality fell be-
fore that name. The highest and most
yirtuous ladies in the land threw open
their doors to her but, strangest OF all
Lady Byron herself invited her to visit
her, which she did Some years after
the fashionable world OF Paris wa
astounded by an astonishing event
There was certain marquis de Boissy
of illustrious lineage, large hereditar
wealth, and unsullied reputation. Fl
was considered the highest referee in a
matters Of honor his appreciation Of
statue or picture, his applause of 6
opera, an actor, or a singer insured i
success. In the Chamber of Peers
r was an eccentric le itimatist orato
a permitted to say what no one eli
would have been. For years all IL
. matchmaking mothers in the fsubour
9 had be n trying in vain to capture hi
as the most eligible part in France