She is known to this later generation only as a superb beauty who
stands with such opulent charm of costume, and of fine hauteur of
manner, amid the noble groves of Chatsworth--as the once potential
original of Gainsborough's greatest portrait. "The bust outlasts the
throne, the coin Tiberius."
A most pathetic tribute to the beauty of the Duchess was paid by
"Peter Pindar" (Dr. Wolcot), who addressed "A Petition to Time in
favor of the Duchess of Devonshire," and implored the Inexorable
thus:--
"Hurt not the form that all admire.
Oh, never with white hairs her temple sprinkle!
Oh, sacred be her cheek, her lip, her bloom!
And do not, in a lovely dimple's room,
Place a hard mortifying wrinkle.
"Know shouldst thou bid the beauteous duchess fade,
Thou, therefore, must thy own delights invade;
And know, 't will be a long, long while
Before thou givest her equal to our isle.
Then do not with this sweet _chef-d'oeuvre_ part,
But keep to show the triumph of thy art."
A dramatic fate has befallen the original canvas. In 1875, it was sold
at auction, and was bought by a firm of dealers for the then highest
price paid for a single picture in England. The publicity gained by
this was taken advantage of by the purchasers to exhibit the picture.
One morning when the gallery was opened, the frame only was there; the
picture had vanished.
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