1828.] 



Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



437 



genial with those of her husband ; and, 

 with him, she was accustomed to read and 

 study the classics. She was mistress of 

 several of the living as well as of the dead 

 languages ; as a reader she was greatly 

 admired ; and her style of reciting the 

 noblest Greek odes was of the most grace- 

 ful and impressive character. Yet, with 

 all this, not the slightest pedantry was 

 apparent in Lady Caroline Lamb. Her 

 powers of conversation were lively and 

 brilliant ; and her compositions, in verse as 

 well as in prose, were evidently the emana- 

 tions of an elegant and benevolent mind. 

 Some of her poems, however, which are as 

 yet in manuscript, are superior to any that 

 have hitherto appeared in print. Lady 

 Caroline was an amateur and a patroness 

 of the fine arts. Some of her pencil 

 sketches, executed even in childhood, are 

 strongly indicative of genius. 



Living in the gay world, and possessing 

 a fervid and eccentric imagination, she 

 appears to have been fascinated by the 

 poetical and intellectual powers of Lord 

 Byron; between whom and her ladyship 

 there was an intimacy of nearly three 

 years' duration. The rupture of that inti- 

 macy produced a depression of spirits in 

 Lady Caroline, amounting, at times, al- 

 most to insanity. According to Captain 

 Medwin and we know it from better au- 

 thority than his Lord Byron most cruelly 

 and culpably trifled with her feelings. 



For several years Lady Caroline led a 

 life of comparative seclusion, not uninter- 

 rupted, however, by many a painful recol- 

 lection of his lordship. It happened, very 

 remarkably, that, while riding with her 

 husband, she met, just by the park gates, the 

 hearse which was conveying the remains 

 of Lord Byron to Newstead-abbey. The 

 shock was dreadful. She was carried home 

 in a state of insensibility ; a long and se- 

 vere illness ensued ; and that, during her 

 sufferings, there were, at times, wander- 

 ings of intellect, is, we believe, beyond a 

 doubt. A change came over her habits ; 

 and, about three years ago, a separation 

 took place between her and Mr. Lamb. It 

 should be known, however, that her hus- 

 band continued to visit her, to correspond 

 with her, to treat her with the utmost 

 kindness ; and that, when her last hour 

 approached, he travelled from Dublin to 

 London, to be present at the sad and clos- 

 ing scene. 



It was after her difference with Lord 

 Byron that Lady Caroline wrote her novel 

 of Glenarvon ; the chief character in which 

 was generally understood, at the time, to 

 have been intended as a portrait of his 

 lordship. Some of the scenes of this novel 

 were too highly coloured ; yet it success- 

 fully exposed many of the vices of the 

 fashionable world, and conveyed important 

 lessons to the young and ardent of both 

 sexes. 



Lady Caroline's next production, said 



to have been suggested by Ugo Foscolo, 

 was Graham Hamilton. " Write a book," 

 said Foscolo, " which will offend nobody : 

 women cannot afford to shock." This 

 book was written with great care, and it8 

 sentiments are those of the utmost purity. 

 Her next, and, as it is said , her favourite 

 work, was the highly imaginative romance 

 of Ada Reis. That, too, in point of mo- 

 rality, is altogether unobjectionable. 



The impassioned workings of Lady Ca- 

 roline's spirit seem to have been too power- 

 ful for her slight and fragile frame. She 

 had long been in a state of declining health. 

 Three or four months before her departure 

 she underwent the operation of tapping for 

 a dropsical affection. Temporary relief 

 only was experienced. On her death bed, 

 her mind was perfectly tranquil and lucid. 

 Without pain, and without a struggle, she 

 expired, as a Christian would wish to ex- 

 pire, on the evening of Friday, the 25th of 

 January. 



It was in Pail-Mall that her ladyship 

 died. Her remains were removed thence 

 for interment to the cemetery belonging 

 to Lord Melbourne's family, at Hattield. 

 The Hon. William Lamb, her husband, 

 and Mr. William Ponsonby, attended the 

 funeral as chief mourners. 



LORD DOUGLAS. 



Archibald Douglas, Baron Douglas, of 

 Douglas Castle, in the county of Lanark, 

 Lord Lieutenant and hereditary Sheriff of 

 the county of Forfar, was born on the 10th 

 of July 1748. His lordship's father was 

 Sir John Stewart, Bart, of Grandtully, 

 who married Jane Douglas, only sister and 

 heiress of Archibald, Duke of Douglas ; 

 on the decease of whom, in 1751, the duke- 

 dom became extinct ; but the marquisate 

 of Douglas devolved upon the heir male, 

 the Duke of Hamilton. Archibald, a twin, 

 but eldest son, by this marriage, was born 

 at Paris. On the death of his uncle, the 

 Duke of Douglas, he succeeded to his es- 

 tates," and assumed the name and arms of 

 Douglas ; and, on the 8th of July 1790, he 

 was created Baron Douglas, of Douglas 

 Castle. Pi-eviously to his elevation to the 

 peerage, he married, first, in 1771, Lucy 

 Graham, sister to the pi-esent duke, and 

 only daughter of William, fifth Marquess 

 and second Duke of Montrose. By that 

 lady, who died in 1779, he had a family of 

 three sons, and one daughter, married to^ 

 Lord Montague, second son of Henry, the v 

 third Duke of Buccleugh. Lord Douglas 

 married, secondly, in 1785, Frances Scott, 

 sister to Henry, third Duke of Buccleugh, 

 by whom he had three sons and three 

 daughters. 



His lordship died at Bothwell Castle, La- 

 narkshire, on the 26th of December, and 

 was succeeded in his title and estates by 

 his eldest son, by his first marriage, Archi- 

 bald, now Lord Douglas. 



