TO OUR READERS.

BY some unfortunate oversight, for which we cannot express cür regret in language too strong, certain expressions, too unguarded and indelicate, crept into a portion of our Magazine last month; the kindness of some of our friends has pointed these inadvertencies out to us, and we conceive ourselves called upon for the present apology,—to which we will likewise add a solemn pledge to watch every part of our miscellany in future with the most jealous eye. A Lady of great distinction in the literary world, and much esteemed for her celebrated work on Female Education, has undertaken the task of supervision; and we may promise the most punctilious of our readers, in future, that their taste shall never more be offended by any similar admissions.

Bell's

COURT AND FASHIONABLE

MAGAZINE,

For SEPTEMBER, 1808.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

OF

ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES.

The Thirty-sixth Number.

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE COUNTESS OF HARRINGTON.

WILLIAM STANHOPE, grandfather of the present Earl of Harrington, was a Brigadier-General in the army and ambassador to the King of Spain. In consideration of his great services at the negociations at Seville, he was elevated by George I, to the Peerage, by the title of Baron Harringten, and some years afterwards invested with the additional honours of Viscount Petersham, and Earl of Harrington.

To the present possessor of these honours, Charles Stanhope, Earl of Harrington, the Lady whose portrait embellishes this Number of our miscellany is united. She was a daughter and coheiress of Sir Michael Fleming, Baronet, of Brompton in Middlesex, and was married to his Lordship on the 22d of May, 1779, very soon after

his accession to the title.

this union, viz-Charles, Viscount Petersham, born in April, 1781; Lincoln Edward Robert, Captain in the 16th regiment of dragoons, born in 1782; Anna Maria, born September 3, 1783, and lately married to the Marquis of Tavistock;* Leicester, born in 1784; Fitzroy, born in 1788; Francis, born in 1789; Henry, born in 1790; Caroline, born in 1791; Charlotte Augusta, born in 1792; Augustus, born in 1794.

Respecting the character of her Ladyship it will be sufficient to observe, that the fashionable world cannot boast a brighter example of conjugal and parental virtue, Her own talents and accomplishments are admirably reflected in those of her numerous and amiable offspring, principally educated under her superintendence.

* For a beautiful portrait of this Lady sce A numerous family has been the issue of the last Number of La Belle Assemblée.

The strongest evidence is borne to her virtues by the favour and familiarity with which her Ladyship has been honoured by the royal family, and particularly by her Majesty, to whose private parties she has been constantly admitted. So far, however, from standing forward as a leader of fashion, or courting public notice by

an ostentatious display of her pretensions, the Countess of Harrington seems to prefer the more solid satisfaction resulting from the performance of domestic duties and the more retired pleasures which a good wife and mother cannot fail to find in the bosom of an amiable family.

EXTRAORDINARY FEMALE DUEL.

NOTWITHSTANDING the great num-gonist, "I will teach you the consequences

ber of duels which are continually occuting, the history of late years does not present us with such a singular rencontre as took place in France in the earlier part of the

, last century. We extract the following account of it from Meiners' interesting History of the Female Sex.

The Duke de Richelieu was the cause of an unprecedented duel between two women, Madame de Polignac and Madame || de Nesle, who disputed the possession of him. The Duke had repeatedly refused to see the former, but this was of no avail. Madame de Polignac still loved her inconstant gallant with as much ardour as ever, and was therefore jealous of all the ladies who had succeeded her, not singly but in troops. Tortured by jealousy, she one day met Madame de Nesle, and challenged her to fight with pistols in the Bois de Boulogne. Madame de Nesle eagerly accepted the challenge, being animated by the same spirit as her fair antagonist, and hoping either to kill her rival, and thus, remain in undisturbed possession of her lover, or to evince the strength of her attachment, and the ardour of her passion, by an honourable death. The ladies met, and fired at each other. Madame de Nesle fell, and her fair bosom was covered with blood. "Come on," exclaimed her auta

of robbing a woman like me of her lover; if I had the perfidious creature in my power I would tear out her heart as I have blown out her brains."

A young man who heard these cruel words, begged her to moderate herself and not to exult over her unfortunate opponent, whose courage, at least, could not but command her respect. "Silence, young coxcomb," cried Madame de Polignac, “it does not become you to presume to give me instruction.”

Madame de Nesle was not wounded in the breast, as had at first been feared, but very slightly in the shoulder. On coming to herself, some person asked her if the lover, for whose sake she had fought, was worth her exposing herself to such a risk for him? "O yes," replied she, “he deserves much better blood than what circulates in my veins to be shed for him. He is the most amiable man of the whole court; all the ladies lay snares for him; but I hope, after this proof of love which I have given, to obtain the exclusive possession of his heart. I am under too great obligations to you," continued she, "to conceal his name:-it is the Duke de Richelieu; yes, the Duke de Richelieu, the first-born of the God of War and the Goddess of Love."