father's house, but was denied solace there, so sought it elsewhere.
She led a somewhat vagabond existence for about nine years, living
first with one friend, then with another; thankful for any home, and
accommodating herself to any companions. Of this period of her life
not much is recorded, save her beauty, for it was shortly after this
that her peerless portrait was painted, ere her sorrow and suffering
had time to efface the vivacity of youth, but only to give depth to
the eyes and interest to the face. She lived in London with her
brother Robert until in 1817, when her husband's death occurred by his
falling out of a window when in a state of drunken frenzy. Four months
after this she became the second wife of an Irish nobleman of a
dashing person and little brains, Charles John Gardiner, second Earl
of Blessington, when she was twenty-eight and he was thirty-five years
of age. With this marriage came a reversal of her misfortunes. Her
generosity, sympathy, and good heart soon prompted the improvement of
the conditions of her own family, and in this gave emphatic evidence
of that devotedness to duty and friends which became her strongest
trait. Her youngest sister, Marianne, was adopted and educated by her,
and became her travelling companion, and long afterwards her modest
biographer. Her sister Ellen married first, Mr. Home Purves, and
afterwards, Viscount Canterbury, speaker of the House of Commons.

Lord Blessington's income was great, but his tastes were extravagant
as were also his wife's, and luxurious was their home in St. James's
Square, and magnificent the manner in which they entertained the
brilliant society gathered there; and for three years their brilliant
companies of beauty and intellect outshone the congregations at
Holland House. In 1822, Count D'Orsay, a polished and accomplished
young Frenchman, visited London, and was made most welcome by the
Blessingtons. In August of that year they started for a leisurely tour