Note 274 — INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO CHAPTER VI
Reading edition
The three remarkable Sheridan sisters (granddaughters of R. B. Sheridan, the dramatist) were Lady Seymour (afterwards Duchess of Somerset and Queen of Beauty at the Eglinton Tournament), Lady Dufferin (the Mrs. Blackwood mentioned above), and Mrs. Norton. They possessed in an uncommon degree the gift of beauty inherited from Miss Linley, their grandmother, and gifts of mind inherited from Sheridan. Not only Mrs. Norton, but also Lady Dufferin, wrote verse and prose with distinction. Stuart of Dunleath, a novel by Mrs. Norton, was much and justly admired. She inspired George Meredith with the conception of Diana of the Crossways.