Vanity Fair - Page 392/573

Besides his town palace, the Marquis had castles and palaces in various

quarters of the three kingdoms, whereof the descriptions may be found

in the road-books--Castle Strongbow, with its woods, on the Shannon

shore; Gaunt Castle, in Carmarthenshire, where Richard II was taken

prisoner--Gauntly Hall in Yorkshire, where I have been informed there

were two hundred silver teapots for the breakfasts of the guests of the

house, with everything to correspond in splendour; and Stillbrook in

Hampshire, which was my lord's farm, an humble place of residence, of

which we all remember the wonderful furniture which was sold at my

lord's demise by a late celebrated auctioneer.

The Marchioness of Steyne was of the renowned and ancient family of the

Caerlyons, Marquises of Camelot, who have preserved the old faith ever

since the conversion of the venerable Druid, their first ancestor, and

whose pedigree goes far beyond the date of the arrival of King Brute in

these islands. Pendragon is the title of the eldest son of the house.

The sons have been called Arthurs, Uthers, and Caradocs, from

immemorial time. Their heads have fallen in many a loyal conspiracy.

Elizabeth chopped off the head of the Arthur of her day, who had been

Chamberlain to Philip and Mary, and carried letters between the Queen

of Scots and her uncles the Guises. A cadet of the house was an

officer of the great Duke and distinguished in the famous Saint

Bartholomew conspiracy. During the whole of Mary's confinement, the

house of Camelot conspired in her behalf. It was as much injured by its

charges in fitting out an armament against the Spaniards, during the

time of the Armada, as by the fines and confiscations levied on it by

Elizabeth for harbouring of priests, obstinate recusancy, and popish

misdoings. A recreant of James's time was momentarily perverted from

his religion by the arguments of that great theologian, and the

fortunes of the family somewhat restored by his timely weakness. But

the Earl of Camelot, of the reign of Charles, returned to the old creed

of his family, and they continued to fight for it, and ruin themselves

for it, as long as there was a Stuart left to head or to instigate a

rebellion.

Lady Mary Caerlyon was brought up at a Parisian convent; the Dauphiness

Marie Antoinette was her godmother. In the pride of her beauty she had

been married--sold, it was said--to Lord Gaunt, then at Paris, who won

vast sums from the lady's brother at some of Philip of Orleans's

banquets. The Earl of Gaunt's famous duel with the Count de la Marche,

of the Grey Musqueteers, was attributed by common report to the

pretensions of that officer (who had been a page, and remained a

favourite of the Queen) to the hand of the beautiful Lady Mary

Caerlyon. She was married to Lord Gaunt while the Count lay ill of his

wound, and came to dwell at Gaunt House, and to figure for a short time

in the splendid Court of the Prince of Wales. Fox had toasted her.

Morris and Sheridan had written songs about her. Malmesbury had made

her his best bow; Walpole had pronounced her charming; Devonshire had

been almost jealous of her; but she was scared by the wild pleasures

and gaieties of the society into which she was flung, and after she had

borne a couple of sons, shrank away into a life of devout seclusion.

No wonder that my Lord Steyne, who liked pleasure and cheerfulness, was

not often seen after their marriage by the side of this trembling,

silent, superstitious, unhappy lady.