Note 257 — INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO CHAPTER VI

Lady Blessington (1789–1849) was at the zenith of her career, editing Books of Beauty, writing novels, and entertaining celebrities at Gore House, Kensington. She was married when young and beautiful to Lord Blessington, an elderly and easy-going Peer, whose daughter by his first wife was the wife of Count d’Orsay. This unfortunate young woman was eclipsed in the affections of d’Orsay by her stepmother. After Lord Blessington’s death, d’Orsay and Lady Blessington presided over a brilliant salon at Kensington Gore, principally attended by the male sex. Lady Blessington recorded in several volumes her conversations with Byron. Disraeli, as a young man, flaunted his most elaborate waistcoats at Gore House.