Lady Morgan’s Memoirs
Sydney Owenson to Robert Owenson, [April? 1800]
Dominic Street.
My dearest Sir,
A thousand thanks for sending me Lady Moira’s amiable letter, but I am so
sorry, dear papa, that you wrote to her on my account.
The idea of my being dame de
compagnie to so great a lady is too presumptuous, and a “humble companion” I will not be to any one. I could never walk out with
little dogs or “run little messages” to the housekeeper’s
room, as poor Miss Harriet Ronker told me she was obliged to do at Lady
Shannon’s, although she, Miss Ronker,
is of one of the best French families that emigrated at the Edict of Nantes.
What objections can you have to my occupying a position
as teacher to the young? It is a calling which enrols the names of Madame de Maintenon, ![]()
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Madame de Genlis, and I believe, at this
moment, even of the young Duke of
Orleans; Dr. Pellegrini saw
him at a school in Switzerland when he (the Dr.) was making the grand tour with
Mr. Quentin Dick; and I believe
Dr. Moore is the tutor to the
Duke of Hamilton,—by-the-bye I
have just read his delightful book Travels through France, Italy and
Germany. It strikes me that we asked quite enough of Lady Moira when we asked her to give her name to
the dedication of my poems, and
to which she has so kindly acceded.
Always your old dutiful
Quintin Dick (1777-1858)
The son of a West-India planter, he was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and was MP
for West Looe (1803-06), Cashel (1807-09), Orford (1826-30), Maldon (1830-47), and
Aylesbury (1848-52). He is depicted as the wealthy Ormsby in Disraeli's
Coningsby (1844).
Douglas Hamilton, eighth duke of Hamilton (1756-1799)
The son of James Hamilton, sixth Duke of Hamilton; upon the death of his elder brother he
succeeded to the title in 1769. He travelled on the Continent with Dr. John Moore,
1772-76
Louis Philippe, king of the French (1773-1850)
The son of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans; he was King of France 1830-48; he
abdicated following the February Revolution of 1848 and fled to England.
Françoise d'Aubigné marquise de Maintenon (1635-1719)
After the death of her first husband, the writer Scarron, she became the second wife of
Louis XIV; her letters were widely admired.
John Moore (1729-1802)
Scottish physician and writer; author of the novel
Zeluco: various
Views of Human Nature, taken from Life and Manners, 2 vols (1786).
Alfonso Pellegrini (d. 1824 c.)
He was professor of Italian and Spanish at Trinity College Dublin (1799-1824).
Elizabeth Rawdon, countess of Moira [née Hastings] (1731-1808)
The daughter of the ninth earl of Huntingdon and his third wife, the evangelical Selina
Hastings; in 1752 she married Sir John Rawdon, afterwards earl of Moira; she patronized
Thomas Percy and his Irish literary circle.
