[LIEVEN (Dorothea, 1784-1857, Princess, née von Benckendorf)]

Autograph account of the Princess by Harriet, (née Howard, 1806-1868, Mistress of the Robes, wife of the 2nd Duke of Sutherland), saying she "shall always think her 'a woman nobly planned'.- The good part of her nature may have been marr'd by marrying, young, a man she could not love or look up to", but doubting whether "any domestic happiness would have ... weaned her" from her passion for "society and politics", "how true her friendship was to Ld. Aberdeen - what clever men she always seemed to attack if she would, Mr Canning & Ld. Grey", and listing "the charms of her conversation ... its zest ... lucidity ... pungency ... sometimes its charming naiveté - its perfect décence without prudery ... the virility of man's intellect ... the tact of woman's ... one could not imagine vulgarity shewing itself in her presence - & all the many vulgars must have disliked her ... She loved the game of politics too much - if she thought it all the work of men & perhaps did not see that 'God moves them in a mysterious way ... let us trust that before the end ... she did see this", talking of "the man who in her affliction ... pointed to the highest comfort, as I know he did ... in that supreme moment ... of the change from the pigmy, restless interests of life to the blessed hope of eternal Rest", blue embossed crowned 'S', 3 sides 9" x 7¼", no place, no date, with a letter from Lady Clarendon (wife of the 4th Earl, Foreign Minister) to Mr Reeve, (probably Henry, who had been foreign editor of The Times), praising his own letter [not present], "it is well to screen the dead from unmerited abuse - but - she had weak or rather hard points in her character - the world has perhaps nothing to do with them ... the Dss. of Sutherland's letter is curious, the style more forceful than I should have imagined ... the sentiments charitable", 3 sides 8vo, Grosvenor Crescent, 9th February

The Princess, wife of the Russian Diplomat, maintained a famous salon, much frequented by diplomats and politicians. From 1837 she lived mostly in Paris.

Item Date:  1857

Stock No:  53976      £150

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