Lady Hunloke and various other people are inquiring for houses here.
Mrs Evelyn carried off her daughter in a hurry, as all the men were after her.
It appears, however, that later the delinquents were honoured by some "faire parts" being sent out to their friends by their nearer relatives. Folded up with these old letters are two announcements, each printed on a large sheet of paper, one surmounted by a Cupid holding a blazing torch and supporting a large M.:—
Mr and Mme. SHAKERLEY out l'honneur de vous faire part du mariage de
M. SHAKERLEY, leur fils, avec Mlle. D'AVARAY.
The other (on which a Cupid has just lit two hearts flaming on one altar) runs thus:—
Mr le Duc et Mme. la DUCHESSE D'AVARAY, M. le MARQUIS et Mme. la
MARQUISE D'AVARAY ont l'honneur de vous faire part du Mariage de Mlle.
D'AVARAY, leur petite fille et fille, avec M. SHAKERLEY.
Sad to relate, this romance had an untimely ending. Gronow states:—
"It was the only case I remember of a young French lady running away from her father's house, and the sensation created by such an extraordinary occurrence was very great. The marriage, as runaway marriages usually are, was a very unhappy one; and the quarrels of the ill-matched couple were so violent that the police had to interfere. Unfortunately, the fair lady having once eloped, thought she might try the same experiment a second time, and one cold winter's night she decamped from a ball at the Austrian Ambassador's with a black-haired Spanish Don, the Marquis d'Errara."
* * * * *
After this unprecedented Parisian excitement, the news from England which filtered through the post to the family in exile must have appeared lacking in interest. On March 25th, 1819, John Stanhope mentioned a little incident which has since become history. "Yesterday, I went to Almack's," he relates, "a tolerably full ball. Many people were shut out, as at twelve Lady Castlereagh ordered the doors to be closed. In the number were her Lord and Master, and the Duke of Wellington." From Brighton came news of another old friend, Mr Macdonald, who was under a course of treatment from "Mr Mahomet, the Oriental Vaporist, "during which he sent them a description of his surroundings, which might be written to-day.