LA BELLE ASSEMBLÉE, FOR JANUARY, 1831. ILLUSTRATIVE MEMOIR OF HER HIGHNESS, MARIE THERESE, PRINCESS ESTERHAZY. FROM her near relationship to the royal family of England, her beauty, her high consideration in the world of fashion, we feel proud in the honour of introducing to the circle of LA BELLE ASSEMBLEE an exquisite portrait, accompanied by an illustrative memoir, of Her Highness, Marie Thérèse, Princess Esterhazy. This distinguished lady's maternal grandfather was Charles Louis Frederick IV. (son of Charles Louis Frederick, by the Princess Albertina Elizabeth, daughter of Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe Hildburghausen) Duke of Mecklenburgh Strelitz, brother of Her Majesty, Sophia Charlotte, Queen consort of George III., of England, and father of Her Royal Highness Charlotte Georgiana Louisa Frederica, Duchess of Sachsen-Hildburghausen; of Her Royal Highness Thérèse Mathilde Amélie, Princess of Tour and Taxis, and mother of the present Princess Esterhazy; of Her Majesty Louisa Augusta Wilhelmina, late Queen of Prussia; and of Her Royal Highness Frederica Sophie Charlotte, Duchess of Cumberland.* The present Princess Marie Thérèse Esterhazy, is therefore first cousin to the Empress of Russia, the Queen of Bavaria, and the hereditary Prince of Prussia, and is related to most of the Royal reign- || ing families in Europe. the Duke of Cumberland-of Georges Fréderic Charles Joseph, reigning Duke of Mecklenburgh Strelitz-and of three other children, all daughters.† The father of the Princess EsterhazyHis Serene Highness, Charles Alexandre, Prince of Tour and Taxis, in Bohemia, Grand Duke of Posen, Privy Councillor to His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Austria, &c.—was born on the 22d of February, 1770; and he succeeded his father, Prince Charles Anselme, on the 13th of November, 1805. He married, on the 25th of May, 1789, Thérèse Mathilde Marie, third daughter of the Duke of Mecklenburgh Strelitz, born on the 5th of April, 1773. By this marriage he had two daughters, and a son: the Princess Marie Thérèse, born on the 6th of July, 1794, married, on the 18th of June, 1812, to His Highness Prince Paul Antoine Esterhazy, of Galantha, in Hungary, Ambassador Extraordinary from His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Austria, to the British Court;-the Princess M. Sophie Dorothée Caroline, born on the 4th of March, 1800;—and Maximilien Charles, present Prince of Tour and Taxis, born on the 3d of November, 1803, and succeeded to the sovereignty on the 15th of July, 1827. The princely house of Esterhazy is His Serene Highness, the Duke, mar- of ancient and noble standing. Nicolas ried, in succession, two daughters of d'Estoras obtained, in the year 1421, the George William, Prince of Hesse Darm- seigniory of Galantha, in the comté of stadt; the first of whom Frederique || Presburg. In 1683, two lines of this Caroline-was mother of Thérèse Ma- house were invested with the dignity of thilde Amélie, married to Charles Alexandre, Prince of Tour and Taxis-of Frederique Sophie Charlotte, married to * For a Portrait and Memoir of Her Royal Highness, vide LA BELLE ASSEMBLEE, Vol. XI., page 1. No. 73.-Vol. XIII. comte; the third acquiring, about the same time, the seigniory of Forchtenstein. The branch descending from the third line was, in 1637, elevated to the dignity of Prince of the Empire, by right A + Ibid. page 3. of primogeniture; and, in 1783, all the other branches of the family obtained the same rank. The Prince of Esterhazy, in acquiring the seigniory of Edelstetten, in 1804, rendered it an estate of the empire; its proprietorship being held under the sovereignty of Bavaria. Her Highness, the Princess Esterhazy, is the mother of three children:-the Princess Marie Thérèse, born on the 27th of May, 1813; the Princess Thérèse, born on the 12th of July, 1815; and the Prince Nicolas, born on the 28th of June, 1817. OMENS. Now is the season for talking about ghosts and fairies, signs and omens. Not for the sake of novelty, but for the pleasure of recollection-the amusement of the hour-to fill up the fragment of a page-let us advert to a few of the last. If a black cloud be seen in Scotland, on new year's eve, it portends some dreadful calamity to the nation, or to the person over whose estate or house it hovers. If you are cross-ladies beware!-upon the day of the Holy Innocents, you are sure to be cross all the year round. And, again, be cautious in your trystings; for the day of the week on which the third of May happens, will certainly be unlucky throughout the year. This year, remember, it will be Tuesday. But, in the Isle of Mull, Tuesday is the luckiest day for the sowing of corn; and the first day in every quarter is deemed fortunate. On Friday, peat should never be cut ; nor should the sheep upon a farm be counted. If a damsel step over a gun, a fishingrod, or boys' marbles, it is a sure signat all events a likely one-of spoiling sport. If a candle be snuffed out, the clumsy snuffer must remain single for a year. The use of lamps and gas seems likely to render this omen obsolete. In Ireland, a child born on Whit Monday is a predestined homicide. What would John Varley say to this? Cannot the stars be stayed in their courses? Very unlucky to meet a squinting person, or one with red hair, the first in the morning. To kill a magpie is an irretrievable misfortune; to the poor bird, certainly. If you meet a funeral, turn back, and walk some steps in the procession, to avoid death yourself. To meet two magpies, portends marriage-three, a successful journey-four, unexpected good news-five, that you will soon be in the company of the great. The first person at whom a cat looks, after washing her face (cats are all shes, and dogs hes) is sure to die soon. Suppose the cat were to laugh at the moment, what then might be the consequence? Better that the child had never been born, than that it should cut its horn, ALIAS its nails, on a Friday-or its hair on a Sunday. If you meet a sow on your journey, and she cross the road-a most rare occurrence-be sure you ride, or walk, round about, or your expedition will be unfor tunate. An infallible preventive of tooth-ache is, to put the stocking on the left leg first. To find a horse-shoe is lucky-for it is worth something; to nail it on the threshold is a protection against the evil one. and all his imps. Mothers, wean your children on Good Friday-even if they should be but a week old, or indulge them till the following year. If a house take fire during the moon's increase, it portends prosperity; if, during the wane, the contrary-especially if uninsured. Elderly maidens, if your younger sisters marry, dance barefoot at their weddings, or you may never hope for husbands. Every day of fog in February should be noted, for a corresponding number of rainy days in harvest is sure to happen. If, when making a bed, the servant sneeze, the sleep of the person who is to lie in it will be disturbed: to prevent this, rip the tick open, pull out some of the feathers, and throw them into the fire. MRS. JORDAN AND HER BIOGRAPHER. WE deprecate, we execrate the spirit || conjures up the idea of a duck attempting in which the volumes referred to below to nibble a lion to death. Now, just for a are published.* A professional life of Mrs. || moment-though it is hardly worth the Jordan would, at any time, have proved interesting to many readers, for theatrical gossip is exceedingly amusing in its way; sacrifice of a moment-let us hear Mr. Boaden: "A most generous brother (THINGS fancied every day) MAKES a but a professional life, merely, of this great || handsome provision for both parties." actress, whose "like" we may never hope || Alluding to George Colman's nom de to see again," would not have promised an extensive sale. And why? Because it would not have involved the expectation of an exciting mass of scandal- || scandal of the GREAT. The production of such a work as the present, and at such a period, could not have originated in fair, just, or honourable motives. The manner, too, in which these volumes have been thrown together-not written-is a || disgrace to the literature of the age. They are bad-ALL bad-with scarcely one redeeming trait of merit, of any description. Mr. Boaden has brought him- || self to his task, utterly unprepared-unqualified for its execution. He is not even possessed of the requisite material. Of Mrs. Jordan, he knows nothingliterally nothing, but what all the world has been acquainted with for years past. As to information, of any description, one hundred pages might contain more than is to be found in these two unreadable octavo volumes; by far the greater portion of which, if given at all, should have been given in foot notes, and not in text. But then, how could two volumes have been manufactured? The language of the work is neither common English nor common sense; it abounds with an affectation of point-wretched play upon words -that is altogether pointless; the diction is loose, feeble, and contemptible to a degree that places it beneath criticism. Yet how Mr. Boaden hacks and hews at poor Steele, for his occasional lapses in The Tatler! "Did Steele read what he has written? What did his friend Addison think of the slip-slop?" &c. Why, this guerre, "Arthur Griffinhoof, of Turnham Green," he says "I presume this terrible appellation was suggested to the manager by the proprietor of the Monthly Review, Ralph Griffiths, who, I knew, had a house at Turnham Green; as indeed was the case with Kemble himself, in bad odour from the Iron Chest." Pray, what would friend Addison, or Master Lingo, or Mrs. Grundy, or any body else, say to "the slip-slop?" Does Mr. Boaden read what he has written? With such "flowers of literature" Mr. Boaden's garden is not only bestrewn but over-run. This is a little-some will think not a little-strange, from a professional critic of thirty or forty years' standing. In these remarks, Mr. Boaden will not venture to charge us with prejudice or unfairness, illiberality or injustice; for he knows that, to his Life of Kemble, and even to its inferior pendant, the life of Mrs. Siddons, we awarded ample, cordial, and deserved praise.* However, if the biographer and critic have nothing to say about Mrs. Jordan, he, in swelling out his volumes, gives us the lives and characters of all sorts of actors and actresses; and, moreover, treats, at large, of the Regency Question of 1788-9; of the sale of the Shakspeare Gallery; of the duel between the Duke of York and Colonel Lennox; of the ballroom scene that followed-all so new and SO germane to the purpose;" of the Young Roscius; of Didot, the printer, at Paris; of the Tenth Hussars; of the two famous Blues, Mrs. Montague and Mrs. or Miss Carter; of Burke, upon style; of one Cobbett (why do we write the fellow's Vide "The Life of Mrs. Jordan; in-name?), here designated " an American cluding Original Private Correspondence, and Numerous Anecdotes of Her Contemporaries; by James Boaden, Esq., Author of The Life of Kemble," &c. No. 73.-Vol. XIII. *Vide LA BELLE ASSEMBLEE, Vol. I. pp. 126 and 285; and Vol. V. pp. 83 and 293. B |