Note 173 — BOOK IX[156]

Gillion Gaspard Alfred de Grimaud, Comte d'Orsay (1801-1852), long a leader of society in London and Paris, and noted for his intimacy with the Countess of Blessington. In 1827, he married Lady Harriet Gardiner, daughter of Lord Blessington by his first wife. She soon left him, and Lady Blessington, who was then a widow, took up her abode with him at Gore House. D'Orsay became bankrupt in 1849 and, to escape arrest, fled, on the 1st of April, to Paris, where Lady Blessington followed him in a fortnight. She died, suddenly, about a month after.—T.