residence, Plas Newydd, at Llangollen, for so many years the home of Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Ponsonby.
About the year 1778, these ladies, impelled by a desire to lead a secluded life of celibacy, forsook the gay and fashionable circles in which they had moved; and in their search for a fitting spot, on which to pass their days together in devoted friendship to each other, and in acts of benevolence and charity to their neighbours, they visited Llangollen. Rambling along this charming locality one balmy evening, when the tranquil beauty of the lovely valley was lighted up by the mild splendour of the moon, their eyes rested upon a cottage that stood on a gentle eminence near the village; and there they resolved to fix their abode. They accordingly purchased the estate; built a new cottage on the site of the old one, in a remarkably unique and somewhat grotesque style of architecture; and laid out gardens, pleasure grounds, and rural walks with grottoes, temples, conservatories, rustic bridges, and other accessories for enjoying, in the undisturbed quiet of their own domain, the natural charms of their picturesque retreat. Their mode of life being singular, and their costume still more so (for they assumed a style of head-dress resembling that of men, and always wore long cloth coats, rather like ladies’ riding habits), they soon attracted the attention of the many travellers who passed through North Wales; and as they kept up an extensive and active correspondence with several eminent authors
and persons of distinction, the “Ladies of Llangollen,” for so they were always designated, made a much greater sensation in their seclusion, than many less remarkable persons who are constantly living in the business and bustle of society. Hence many literary pilgrimages were made to the recluses of Plas Newydd; and the “even tenor” of their way was often diversified by the calls of the illustrious, the learned, and the curious; from whom they were as willing to learn what was passing in politics, literature, and general gossip, as were their visitors desirous of having a peep within the charmed circle of this mountain solitude. Their motive for adopting this romantic seclusion is thus stated in “Steward’s Collections and Recollections:”—
“Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Ponsonby were young ladies of beauty and rank, who loved each other with so true an affection, that they could never bear the afflicting idea of a separation, which the marriage of either might occasion. They therefore resolved on lives of celibacy, and refusing many handsome offers, and remaining deaf to the persuasions of their friends, they retired to the beautiful Yale of Llangollen, to enjoy the happiness of each other’s company, that as their friendship began in infancy, it might be perpetuated through life. The traveller, in passing by the celebrated abode of these interesting women, must contemplate with a sigh that excessive friendship which could tear from the bosom of society two of its brightest ornaments, to bury them in the depths of seclusion:—
‘Full many a gem, of purest ray serene,
The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear;
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.’“It is on this subject Miss Seward employs her poetical talents, in her well-known poem of ‘Llangollen Vale.’—The following is an account of these celebrated ladies, extracted from a periodical work published in the year 1796. ‘Miss Butler and Miss Ponsonby are now retired from the society of men into the wilds (!) of Llangollen in Wales, where they have resided seventeen years. Miss Butler is of the Ormond family, and had five offers of marriage, all of which she rejected. As Miss Ponsonby, her particular friend and companion, was supposed to have been the bar to her matrimonial union, it was thought proper to separate them, and Miss Butler was confined. The two ladies, however, found means to elope together, but being soon overtaken, were brought back to their respective relations. Many attempts were again made to draw Miss Butler into marriage, though in vain; not many weeks after, the ladies eloped again, each having a small sum with her. The place of their retreat was confided to a female servant of the house. Here they lived many years, unknown to any of the neighbouring villagers, otherwise than by the appellation of the ‘Ladies of the Vale.’ No persuasions could ever get them from this retreat. A lady from Ireland told the collector of these articles the following anecdote relative to these female friends:—An Irish nobleman (Lord Fingal) happening to be travelling in the neighbourhood of Llangollen Vale, and having heard much of Lady E. Butler and Miss Ponsonby, felt a desire to see and converse with them. But how he could obtain this pleasure (as the ladies seldom or never saw company, and were fond of a recluse life) was the question. At length he bethought himself of a method the most likely to answer the purpose, without the appearance of forwardness or indelicacy. He sent his servant with the following verbal message:—‘Lord Fingal, travelling in this neighbourhood, sends his respectful compliments to Miss Butler and Miss Ponsonby, and informs them that he sets out to-morrow morning for Ireland, and would be happy to be the bearer of any commands of theirs to that country.’ This message had the effect which his lordship desired. He received, in return, a kind and friendly invitation to take tea with the ladies, which he, of course, accepted with much pleasure.—Lord Fingal (the collector’s informant added) was peculiarly charmed with the amiable behaviour of these interesting enthusiasts of friendship. He found not in them the gravity, formality, and demureness of virgin recluses, but the ease of liveliness, and animated conversation of happy, cultivated, and polished minds.”
On June 2, 1829, death severed the faithful friendship which had existed for so many years between the eccentric residents at Plas Newydd, by removing from this earthly scene Lady Eleanor
Butler, who had attained the advanced age of 90; and in December 9, 1831, Miss Ponsonby, who was seldom seen (except by her domestics) after the decease of her attached companion, was called to her “long home.” They are both buried in the church-yard of Llangollen, where a stone monument is erected to their memory. On this record of mortality are inserted the following memorials:—
Sacred to the Memory of
The Right Honourable
LADY ELEANOR CHARLOTTE BUTLER,
Late of Plâs Newydd in this Parish.
Deceased 2nd June, 1829,
Aged 90 Years.Daughter of the Sixteenth, Sister of the Seventeenth
EARLS OF ORMONDE AND OSSORY.Aunt to the late, and to the present
MARQUESS OF ORMONDE.Endeared to her friends by an almost unequalled excellence of heart, and by manners worthy of her illustrious birth, the admiration and delight of a very numerous acquaintance from a brilliant vivacity of mind undiminished to the latest period of a prolonged existence. Her amiable condescension & benevolence secured the grateful attachment of those by whom they had been so long and so extensively experienced. Her various perfections crowned by the most pious and cheerful submission to the Divine Will, can only be appreciated, where it is humbly believed, they are now enjoying their Eternal Reward, and by her of whom for more than fifty years, they constituted that happiness, which through our Blessed Redeemer, she trusts will be renewed when THIS TOMB shall have closed over its latest tenant.
“Sorrow not as others who have no hope.”
1 Thess. Chap. 4. v. 13.
SARAH PONSONBY
departed this Life
on the 9th December, 1831, Aged 76.She did not long survive her beloved Companion LADY ELEANOR BUTLER, with whom she had lived in this valley for more than half a century of uninterrupted friendship. “But they shall no more return to their House, neither shall their place know them any more.” Job, Chap. 7. v. 10.
Reader pause for a moment and reflect not on the uncertainty of human life but upon the certainty of its termination, and take comfort from the assurance that “As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him, shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Heb. Chap. 9. v. 27, 28.
On the same tombstone is also the following inscription, to the memory of a faithful servant, who accompanied “the Ladies” from Ireland, the country of their nativity.
In Memory of
MRS. MARY CARRYL,
Deceased 22 November, 1809.This Monument is erected by Eleanor Butler and Sarah
Ponsonby of Plas Newydd in this Parish.Released from Earth and all its transient woes,
She whose remains beneath this Stone repose,
Steadfast in faith resigned her parting breath,
Looked up with Christian joy and smiled in death.
Patient, Industrious, Faithful, Generous, Kind,
Her Conduct left the proudest far behind;
Her Virtues dignified her humble birth,
And raised her mind above this sordid earth.
Attachment (Sacred bond of grateful breasts)
Extinguished but with life, this Tomb attests,
Reared by Two Friends who will her loss bemoan,
Till with her ashes—Here shall rest their own.
In 1832, the home of “the Ladies of Llangollen” was sold by auction, by the late renowned “knight of the hammer,” Mr. George Robins, who put forth the following advertisement, in his characteristic style of decorative description.