The Attempted Abduction, Original painting by B. Wesley Rand
Beaux & Belles of England:
Mrs. Mary Robinson
Written by Herself
With the Lives of the Duchesses of Gordonand Devonshire by Grace and Philip Wharton
London, EDITION DE LUXE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION
GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE
INTRODUCTION TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION
The following brief memoirs of a beautiful, engaging, and, in manyrespects, highly gifted woman require little in the way of introduction.While we may trace same little negative disingenuousness in the writer,in regard to a due admission of her own failings, sufficient ofuncoloured matter of fact remains to show the exposed situation of anunprotected beauty—or, what is worse, of a female of great personal andnatural attraction, exposed to the gaze of libertine rank and fashion,under the mere nominal guardianship of a neglectful and profligatehusband. Autobiography of this class is sometimes dangerous; not so thatof Mrs. Robinson, who conceals not the thorns inherent in the pathsalong which vice externally scatters roses; For the rest, thearrangement of princely establishments in the way of amour is pleasantlyportrayed in this brief volume, which in many respects is not withoutits moral. One at least is sufficiently obvious, and it will be found inthe cold-hearted neglect which a woman of the most fascinating mentaland personal attractions may encounter from those whose homage is merelysensual, and whose admiration is but a snare.
EDITOR'S PREFACE
The author of these memoirs, Mary Robinson, was one of the mostprominent and eminently beautiful women of her day. From the descriptionshe furnishes of her personal appearance, we gather that her complexionwas dark, her eyes large, her features expressive of melancholy; andthis verbal sketch corresponds with her portrait, which presents a faceat once grave, refined, and charming. Her beauty, indeed, was such as toattract, amongst others, the attentions of Lords Lyttelton andNorthington, Fighting Fitzgerald, Captain Ayscough, and finally thePrince of Wales; whilst her talents and conversation secured her thefriendship and interest of David Garrick, Richard Brinsley Sheridan,Charles James Fox, Joshua Reynolds, Arthur Murphy, the dramatist, andvarious other men of distinguished talent.
Though her memoirs are briefly sketched, they are sufficiently vivid topresent us with various pictures of the social life of the period ofwhich she was the centre. Now we find her at the Pantheon, with itscoloured lamps and brilliant music, moving amidst a fashionable crowd,where large hoops and high feathers abounded, she herself dressed in ahabit of pale pink satin trimmed with sable, attracting the attention ofmen of fashion. Again she is surrounded by friends at Vauxhall Gardens,and barely escapes from a cunning plot to abduct her,—a