Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-12-25

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Grafton as influencing the career of
Endyinion D'Israeli.
The other lady who exerts a spe-
eial influence on Endymion and his
fortunes is called Lady Montfort,
wife of the nobIeman alluded to i'm
the commencement of this article.
1t is one indication how little real
character there is in these imagin-
airy persOnages. that this lady Is ev-
identity a representative of two
ladies in actual life the most dissim-
liar in every respect, except in the
one circumstance that both were of
material assistance to Benjamin
D'Israeli. They are Lady Blessing
ton and Mrs. Wyndham Lewis (aee
Evans), who became Mrs. b. DIS
raeli, and, in good time, Vicountess
Beaconsfield. So far as Lady Mont
fort possesses any salient traits of
character, and so far as she influ-
ences the early life of our hero, she
certainly stands for the Countess
of BlessingtOn, and represents Mrs.
Lewis i'm regard to position rather
than character, ashaving marriedEn-
dymion and so established him in
the possession of an independent
fortune. A prominent trait in re-
spect to which this imaginary per-
sOnage resembles Lady Blessington
is given in the following converse
ton supposed to take place between
two gentlemen at club after the
death of Lady MOntfort's first hus-
band:
81 wonder what is going to happen TO that
gentleman" said Mr.. OrInsby, glancing at
Endymion and speaking to Mr.. Cassilis.
why ?" replied Mr.. Cassilis; sis anything
up2"
s.POh - said Mr.. Cassilis.
..Ysu may 'poh p" said Mr.. Ormsby, "but
he was great favorite."
Lady MontfOrt will never marry. She
had always poodle, and always will have.
She was never so lice with Ferrars as with
the Count of Ferrol and half dozen others;
she must have a slave"
IA very good mistress with thirty thous-
and year"
LADY Montfort, thirty thousand a year"
said Mr.. Cassilis, musingly; "she is only
thirty. She is a woman who viii set the
Thames on fire, but she will never marry"
But she does marry him, and
that very day he gets letter from
her. This poodle trait is very
marked in Lady Montfort, as it was
in Lady Blessington. Lady NJ says
in one place, talking to Endymion's
sister during her husbands life:
Il do not mean to say that it would not be
great loss to me if he lEndyInionl married,
but wish him to marry If you do. For my
self must have a male friend, and he must
be very clever and thoroughly understand
politics. You know you deprived me OF
Lord Roehampton," she continued, smll-
ingly, "whO was everything could desire,
and the Coutn of Ferrol would nave suited
me excellently, put then he ran away. NOW
Endymion could not easily run away, ana
he is so agreeable and so intelligent that at
last 1 thought l had found companion
worth helping" etc, ETC.
Nothing in the novel, in fact,
comes so near description Of actual
life as the picture of the relative po-
sitions of Lady Montfort, the Count
of Ferrol and Endymion, represent
ing respectively Lady Blessington,
Count D'Orsay and Mr.. D'Israeli.
1t may be mentioned in passing
that the Count of Ferrol, like so
many characters in this novel,
passes for two very different per-
sons, Count D'OrSay in the earlier
chapters and Prince Bismarck to-
wards the close.
Ifanyone desires to get II glimpse
of the actual Lady Blessington and
her management of her poodles, he
will find most amusing picture of
it in the Life of Charles Matthews,
the actor, written, or as he mOdestly
terms it, edited by Charles Dickens.
We there see my lord and lady
travelling together in Italy with
Count D'Orsay and young Mathews
in their train, the former in the am
biguous capacity, recognized in TIA
ly, of cuUdIiere SeFUieRte, and Charles
as my lords architect, but both pet
ted, patted and pampered by my
lady as poodle and deputy poodle.
You may there see the two poodles
sometimes fOndling on their mis-
tress, sometimes swapping and
snarling on one another, sometimes
getting a curse and almost a kick
from my lord, while all asperities
are tenderly smOothed over by my
lady. 1t was after all this, however,
that D'Israeli postured as poodle to
her ladyship. My lord was dead
and my lady was the brilliant oceu-
pant of Gore House, Kensington
Count D'Orsay was no longer poodle,
but lord and master of the estab-
lishment, though never married to
her ladyship. The assemblies at
Gore House combined perhaps the
most splendid array of talent then
to be seen in London. Lord Byron
and Tom Moore, the Prince Louis
Napoleon, Lord John Russell, Lord
PaImerston, Mr.. D'Israeli, were
only few of the distinguished hab-
itues of that gay drawing-room-
mostly unmarried gentlemen-there
were no ladies. Alas, my lady had
been a little too fond of pOOdles for
her own good.
Lady BlessingtOn, then, could not
give our author quite the lift in So
ciety which Lady M0ntfort gives
him in the book. She was not her.
self in society, but she enabled him
at least to become accustomed to the
company and manners of aristo-
cratic people of his own sex, an adj
vantage of which he was not slow
70 avail himself. The Blessington
days are therefore carefully yelled
IN the novel, though the character
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