BORN 1787, DIED 1869.
By Hoppner and Jackson.
THE only daughter and youngest child of the first Viscount Melbourne, by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Ralph Milbanke. When only eighteen she became the wife of Peter Leopold, fifth Lord Cowper, in the same year that her brother William married Lady Caroline Ponsonby. We are confident we cannot do better than quote some passages from an article, published on Lady Palmerston’s death, by an eminent writer, who was her personal friend: ‘On her marriage, Lady Cowper immediately took her place amid that brilliant galaxy of beautiful and accomplished women who continued to form the chief ornament of the British Court, through successive reigns, till they were gradually replaced (not outshone) by a younger race.’ He goes on to describe how Lady Cowper was admired and distinguished in the brilliant seasons of 1814 and 1815, on the occasion of the Royal and Imperial visits to England. While speaking of later years, after her second marriage, he says at that time coteries, cliques, and, above all, party exclusiveness in politics, prevailed. But at Cambridge House there were no such limitations. All classes—political, diplomatic, literary, scientific, artistic—found a welcome, even the proverbially dull ‘country cousin,’ who had any claim on Lady Palmerston’s notice; they were all received with a gracious smile and a kind word by the amiable hostess. Her country houses bore the same character for hospitality and variety of attraction as the London dwelling, and foreigners, in particular, were never tired of recording the delights of Panshanger, Brocket (to which she succeeded on her brother’s death), and Broadlands. The same biographer says of Lady Palmerston that she never forgot a friend, or remembered an injury; and, speaking of her devotion to her husband: ‘She was most jealous of his reputation, and proud of his distinction as a Minister. Every night she sat up for him until his return from the House of Commons, and her many anxieties on his account were often hurtful to her health.’ After his death, her circle was almost entirely restricted to her own family and connections.
Lady Palmerston was esteemed a most excellent ‘man of business,’ managing her vast property and large households with consummate skill. She died in her eighty-second year.
London in her time was especially rich in courtly beauties, the fame of whose charms still survives: the Duchess of Rutland, Ladies Jersey and Tankerville, Charlotte Campbell, and many other names, well known to those who read the memoirs of the period. Among such formidable competitors Lady Cowper held her own for grace and beauty, while she far surpassed most of her contemporaries in intellectual gifts. She was much attached to her brother, whose upward career was a source of pride and satisfaction to her. But in early life she evinced no personal interest in politics.
Lord Cowper died in 1837; his widow married, in 1839, Lord Palmerston, and from that moment she became immersed in political life, watching with the keenest interest the public events which were passing around her.
Her brother, Lord Melbourne, was at this period at the head of the Government, and ere long her husband was destined to occupy the same position. Lady Palmerston now formed a salon, which continued for the lapse of many years to constitute one of the greatest attractions of London society. We use the word salon advisedly, for these assemblies bore a nearer resemblance, in character and quality, to the salons of Paris, than most congregations of guests to be met with in a London drawing-room.
This picture was begun by Hoppner, and finished after his death by Jackson.