The Portland daily press., 1879-10-18
SATURDAY MORNING, OCTOBER IS

companysevery day. 1 hate retirement and
domestic life, and have sacrificed through lie
everything to my ambition" Mr.. warning
ton would smile, perhaps, at the 1oliy ol io-
cording such sentiments, and more soperly ~
fleet that the words revealed the peautilui
Beatrix more perfectly even than portrait by
Kneller.
As he turned over the fading manuscripts
and perused the record Of so mean worldll-
ness. he might well wonder that woman
could be so beautiful in her face and so de-
formed in her soul. The ghostly letters would
gradually seem to him repulsive from their
want of brilliancy or humor and from the lack
of any glimpse OF the life or society oil the
time, except that of her own spiritual barren
ness. He certainly would find them without
charm of style, or any charm whatever, and
they would be notable only as study OF
character. and character hard and selfish
and wholly without attraction. Doubtless his
.mind would recur to- the famously beautiful
woman, and he would perhaps doubt as he
read whether after all, she did not go off with
a prince, to be disowned possibly, by his
family, yet still to pride herself upon the con-
nection, and to shine in court circles with an
indirect lustre shed by royal name Ii II
were but the imperial family OF Barataria 10
which she could claim some ties II she could
only be recognized as a Princess rama IL
wauld be glory enough, and the Lady Beatrix
would envy no woman.
But how much more would Mr.. Warrington
be amazed il he discovered as he read the yell
4I,ath
had been for time the rightful wife OF king
and by marriage member of the most con-
spicuous family in Europe of her time, and at a
most intcras4 seriod of history! How would
his amaz " as he perceived that the
writer of ,hat he held, lived for many
years in the Ii Us circles frequented by famous
figures of every Kind, herself by her name and
her beauty striking part OF that brilliant So
ciety, and that with her unequalled opportu-
tunities, her letters might well be fascinating
chapters in delightful kind of literature He
would scan the leaves with fresh eagerness
to seize the very FORM and pressure OF a pro-
digious epoch, and if some happy thought sug-
pested to him that a woman of whom tradition
said that women envied her beauty, and WIS
dreaded her wit that kings soughther acquain-
lance and princes claimed her friendship,
might write letters which should snow ! tile
sapoir-yiUre of Chesterfield, the cold cynlclsm
of Rochefoucauld, and the practical economy
of Franklin he would think it only propaDie,
and turn the page to see what the cievef Lazy
Beatrix said of Bolingbroke and Marlborough
and Harley, of Addison and Swift and the
Duchess
This is what he would read-some OF the al
lusions seem indeed, to be singular for beauty
and wit of the last century:
Marriage ought never to be entered INTO lof
IL far
is none without consequence and fortune;
without these it is more prudent TO i've SIN
gle."
'.For this life there is nothing but disap-
pointment. The happiest are those who sup
port misfortune best. ! find that travellers
exaggerate; there is scarcity of money Ill all
families, and in all countries people have poor
relations to support.
.'The-e is no knowing how marriages may
turn out-women may treat husbands ill,
leave them, die before them; but if good pro-
vision be made for the husband, there IS moth
ing lost by risking marriage"
aWalter Scott's novels would amuse you
very much. They are read by people OF all
ages, and are almost all historical. : :.
Walter Scott has made large fortune by his
novels"
"She has made the greatest match that any
woman ever made and l suppose now that
people will see that Mrs. Cation was right IN
starving herself to keep her daughters in Eu-
rope. The Marquis of Wellesley is Lord Lieu
tenant of Ireland. He married an italian sing
er, by whom he had family of children. She
is dead He has no fortune; he is over head
and ears in debt The Catons sup
pose will be enchanted at the match, and with
reason, too, for it gives them rank in Europe;
and with Mr.. Carroll's money to keep IT up,
they may be considered the most fortunate IN
the United States of America can
only say il Jerome were girl, and had MADE
such match, am convinced l should have
died with JOY"
SIN America there are no resources except
marriage; and as there was no one there fof
me to marry, very naturally sought to quit
place where was not pleased"
81 am sure that backwardness has peen
great disadvantage to myself.
"Mrs Cation has set me a good example on
the subject. She has, however, been more for
tunate in fixing her children than can nope
to be. think they are the most fortunate
people have ever heard or read Of. Louisa
has made great match. He is very hand-
some, not more than twenty-eight, and Will be
duke, with thirty thousand pounds year.
I" After 1 had married the brother
of an Emperor / had not the meanness OF spirit
to descend from such an elevation to the deplo-
rable condition of being the wife of an Amerl-
can"
send me a string of achite topazes? l. want to
wear it as necklace, and pretend that they
are diamonds l was very intimate
with Lady Normandy the last year OF heI
reign at Florence. She is the very quintes-
sence of fashion-the fine flower of bon ton.
All is vexation and vanity"
The amazed Mr.. Warrington would turn and
turn and sift and sift, but this is all the Ches-
terfeld and Rochefoucauld and Franklin that
he would find. These are all the glimpses OF
the dazzling Bolingbroke and the famous
Marlborough and the willy Duchess that could
be gathered from the letters OF the beautiful
Lady Beatrix. They would prove to be moth
ing but record of the consuming desire OF a
mercenary woman to marry her son to- for
tune, and of her rage when he marries the wo-
man that he loves; and DOOR Mr.. Warrington
would think that his wits were going, if upon
looking closer at the fading signature upon the
fragile page, he should read instead of BeatriS
Esmond, Betsey Patterson.-Editors Easy
Chair, in Harper's Magazine in November.