In 1833 by a robbery of jewellery and plate at Seamore Place, Lady Blessington lost something like £1000.
These losses, the continual strain of working to obtain the funds necessary for her luxurious mode of life and the difficulties in which D’Orsay was involved told heavily upon her health and spirits. As she herself writes in her commonplace book:—
“Great trials demand great courage, and all our energy is called up to enable us to bear them. But it is the minor cares of life that wear out the body, because, singly, and in detail, they do not appear sufficiently important to engage us to rally our force and spirits to support them.… Many minds that have withstood the most severe trials, have been broken down by a succession of ignoble cares;” and there is a touch of sorrowful bitterness in this: “Friends are the thermometers by which we may judge the temperature of our fortunes.”
Not that she was ill-served by her friends, rather the contrary; few women have had so many or so faithful.
The following letter paints the situation better than can any words of ours; it was written to Lady Blessington in or about 1848:—
“My Dearest Friend,—You do not do me more than justice in the belief that I most fully sympathise with all your troubles, and I shall be only too happy if my advice can in any way assist you.
“First. As to your jointure, nothing in law is so indisputable—as that a widow’s jointure takes precedence of every other claim on an estate. The very first money the agent or steward receives from the property should go to the discharge of this claim. No subsequent mortgages, annuities, encumbrances, law-suits, expenses of management, etc., can be permitted to interfere with the payment of jointure; and as, whatever the distress of the tenants, or the embarrassments of the estate, it is clear that some rents must have come in half-yearly; so, on those rents you have an indisputable right; and, I think, on consulting your lawyer, he will put you in a way, either by a memorial to Chancery, or otherwise, to secure in future the regular payment of this life-charge. Indeed, as property charged with a jointure, although the rents are not paid for months after the proper dates, the jointure must be paid on the regular days, and if not, the proprietor would become liable to immediate litigation. I am here presuming that you but ask for the jointure, due quarterly, or half-yearly, and not in advance, which, if the affairs are in Chancery, it would be illegal to grant.
“Secondly. With respect to the diamonds, would it be possible or expedient, to select a certain portion (say half), which you least value on their own account; and if a jeweller himself falls too short in his offer, to get him to sell them on commission? You must remember, that every year, by paying interest on them,[33] you are losing money on them, so that in a few years you may thus lose more than by taking at once less than their true value. There are diamond merchants, who, I believe, give more for those articles than jewellers, and if you know Anthony Rothschild, and would not object to speak to him, he might help you.…
“I know well how, to those accustomed to punctual payments, and with a horror of debt, pecuniary embarrassments prey upon the mind, but I think they may be borne, not only with ease, but some degree of complacency, when connected with such generous devotions and affectionate services as those which must console you amidst all your cares. In emptying your purse you have at least filled your heart with consolations, which will long outlast what I trust will be but the troubles of a season.”