To MISS RUXTON.
LONDON, May 1813.
I fear Madame de Staël's arrival may be put off till after we leave
town. The Edinburgh review of her book has well prepared all the world
for her. The first persons who came to see us were Sir Humphry and Lady
Davy, who have been uniformly and zealously kind and attentive to us. We
have been frequently at their dinners and parties, and I should fill a
roll as long as that genealogy Foote unrolled across the stage, if I
were to give you a list of the names of all the people we have met at
their house. Of Lord Byron I can tell you only that his appearance is
nothing that you would remark. The Miss Berrys are all that you have
heard of them from people of various tastes; consequently you know that
they are well bred, and have nice tact in conversation. Miss Catharine
Fanshaw I particularly like; she has delightful talents. Her drawings
have charmed my mother, full of invention as well as taste; her "Village
School" and "Village Children at Play" are beautiful compositions, and
her drawings for the Bath Guide are full of humour and character.
Lady Crewe has still the remains of much beauty. Except her dress, which
happened to be blue, there appeared to be nothing else blue about her. The contrast between her really fashionable air and manners and that of the strugglers and imitators struck me much: Lady Elizabeth Whitbread is, in one word, delightful. Miss Fox very agreeable—converses at once, without preface or commonplace: Lady Charlotte Lindsay ditto: Lady Darnley has been very polite in her attentions: both Lord and Lady Hardwicke peculiarly gracious. Lord Somerville I cannot help being charmed with, for he says he is charmed with Lady Delacour and Lady Geraldine, whom he pronounces to be perfect women of fashion, and says they are in high repute in the equerry's room at Court. He was quite indignant against certain pretenders to fashion. I told him the remark of a friend of ours, that a gentleman or gentlewoman cannot be made under two generations. "In less than five, madam, I think it scarcely possible," said he.
Lady Lansdowne, taking in beauty, character, conversation, talents, and
manners, I think superior to any woman I have seen; perfectly natural, daring to be herself, gentle, sprightly, amiable, and engaging. Lydia Whyte has been very kind to us, and eager to bring together people who would suit and please us: very agreeable dinner at her house; she conducts these bel esprit parties well; her vivacity breaks through the constraint of those who stand upon great reputations, and are afraid of committing themselves.
Charming, amiable Lady Wellington! As she truly said of herself, she is
always "Kitty Pakenham to her friends." After comparison with crowds of
others, beaux esprits, fine ladies and fashionable scramblers for
notoriety, her dignified graceful simplicity rises in one's opinion, and
we feel it with more conviction of its superiority. She showed us her
delightful children. Lord Longford, just come to town, met us yesterday
at the Exhibition of Sir Joshua Reynolds's pictures. Some of these are
excellent: his children, from the sublime Samuel to the arch Gipsy, are
admirable.