THE LADIES OF LLANGOLLEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2244, 4 March 1897, Page 49

THE LADIES OF LLANGOLLEN.

To the picturesque little town of Llangollen, by the Dae side, in the year 1779, came two charming Irish ladies who proposed to spend their days in the Bcclusion of the lovely vale. Lady Eleanor Charlotte Butler, the elder of the two, *was about 40 years of age, fresh, vigorous, and handsome, when she wearied of the world, and especially of matrimonial offers, and longed for a quiet residence apart from the conventionalities of the town. Just then she chanced to meet a beautiful girl who had recently been introduced to the fashionable society of Dublin, and the two soon became inseparable friends. The Hon. Sara Ponsonby listened with eager interest to her friend's romantic plan for a life of seclusion ; and as one of Lady Eleanor's suitorß was particularly urged upon her attention at this time, the ladies decided to take matters in their own hands. They ran away in undignified haste ; but as they had neglected to take a sufficient supply of money, they readily yielded to the entreaties of pursuing relatives and returned. A few weeks later, so the story goes, a lady of fine presence, accompanied by a maid-Bervant and a tall, handsome footman in top-boots and livery, took the boat at Dablin for Holyhead ; and when well on their way the footman was metamorphosed into a handsome gill, none other tban the Hon. Swa Pen-.

■onby. Mary Oarryl, a faithful servant, herself a notable character, shared their flight. After some deliberation they selected a beautiful Bite in Llangollen, in North Wales, and built a cottage, which remains to-day as much an object of interest to . readers and travellers as it has ever been since it was chosen and named "a place of sweet and blessed retirement" by the Ladies of the Vale. Both ladles were highly connected, particularly Lady Eleanor, who was nearly related to that Duke of Ormonde who commanded the forces of Charles I in Ireland ; and she was fond of recounting, in her quiet home, -the stirring deeds of her illustrious kinsfolk. The attachment of the pair was ardent and strorg, and their literary tastes were similar. They desired only to be allowed to live and read and study in each other's society; and after a family oouncil of relatives had met and recognised the uselesanesß of further opposition, a comfortable annuity was settled upon them, and they were left to follow the dictates of their own fancy. The ladies were of unusually fine appearance. Lady Eleanor, the stronger-minded of the two, is described as being small, brißk, plump, with a round, fair face and glowing health, when they first came to Llangolien ; while her friend was tall and fair, with a graceful, elegant figure, a beautiful face, and Bweet womanly features. They adopted a costume at once comfortable, serviceable, -and at the same time becoming, from which they never varied. Eaoh wore a heavy, dark bine riding habit with stiffly-starched neckcloth, a gentleman's hat and boots, and a profusion of rings and brooohes. On special occasions Lady Eleanor wore somewhat conspicuous ornaments — the cordon of the Order of St. Louis and a golden lily almost of natural size, presents from the Bourbon family. Tbe villa which they erected at Plas Newydd was unlike any known architectural construction, and the plan of it must have originated in the brains of the owners. The present-day visitor irreverently compares it to an enormous handsomely-carved wardrobe. The low two-storeyed front is enclosed by an oaken palisade, while doors and windowa are richly ornamented with carvings of religious, historical, and mythological figures in picturesque confusion. Abraham, Venue, Julius Cfesar, and the apostles keep friendly company in tbe decorations of Plas Newydd. Rich carvings ornament also the interior of the house. There are only four rooms, email and comfortable; "the kitchen as elegant in its way," writes a visitor, " as the lightsome little dining room," which contrasted well with the gloomy but superior grace of the library just beyond. This library, which was decorated in the Gothic style, had painted-glass windows, and wasJighted by a curious sort of prismatic lantern pf cut-glass of various colours, in which were Enclosed two lamps and their reflectors. This occupied the elliptical arch of the doorway, pnd, when lighted, resembled a small but brilliant volcano. A large 2Eolian harp was placed in one window. Books by the best authors of all lands, portraits of friends, and tare and curious articles of bric-b-brao from all parts of the world, brought or sent to them by their many visitors, were the ornaments of the little library. In 1820, when Lady Eleanor was past 80 and her friend 65, Charles Mathews, the celebrated actor, was playing at Oswestry, 12 miles from Llangollen, and the two ladies Went to see him, having secured seats in one bf the boxes. Their appearance so distracted the actor's attention that he continued his )?art with difficulty. " Though I had never peen them," he says, "I instantaneouly knew them. As they are seated, there is not one point to distinguish them from men — the dressing and powdering of the hair, their well-starched neckcloths, the upper part of their habits, which they always wear, even at a dinner party, and which are made precisely like men's coats. They looked exactly like two respectable superannuated old clergymen." He accepted an invitation to visit the ladies at their cottage, and says that he longed to put Lady Eleanor in a glass case and take her away to show to his friends.— Century Magazine.