all, of more perfect form, more noble bearing, having that ultimate
element of the greatest beauty,--distinction. She came of a longer
lineage, and was the consummate flower of beauty wrought by the sun
and summers through many generations of patrician life,--life amid the
palatial parks, the superb scenery, and majestic castles of England.
Such living weaves its sweetest elements into the tissues of the being
and works a spell of loveliness such as Lady Mary Somerset. She was
the youngest daughter of Charles, fourth Duke of Beaufort, a
descendant of the Plantagenets. In 1775, she was married to Lord
Charles Manners, eldest son (born in 1754) of John,--that Marquis of
Granby whom Junius attacked, who was associated in the government, in
George the Second's time, with the Earl of Chatham. The Marquis was a
man of much force, and a most hospitable entertainer. He died before
his father, the third Duke of Rutland.

Lord Charles succeeded to the dukedom in 1779. He had formed a
friendship at Cambridge with Pitt, the son of his father's colleague,
and through his influence Pitt entered Parliament. In 1784, he was
induced by the young premier to accept the Lord-Lieutenancy of
Ireland, and it is with the lavish entertainment and high revelries at
Dublin Castle that his name and that of his beautiful Duchess is
connected.

High living soon told its tale, for the Duke died in 1787, at the
early age of thirty-three. Though having the most beautiful wife in
England, his affections wandered, and tales are told of his attachment
to that siren singer, Mrs. Billington. The Duchess's manner had
somewhat of levity and much coquetry in it, though she could not be
classed with that company who have not time to be virtuous. At the
time of her lord's death, she was living with her mother, the Dowager