There are some omissions, and two or three incorrect statements, in
Thomas Raikes’s account of this notorious
woman. Her original name was Nancy Dawes, not
Dawe. Her father was a boatman and fisherman in the Isle of Wight.
I have known persons who remembered her brothers and others of her relations as labourers
and fishermen. As a girl, she was not only very handsome, but also very clever. Her first
lover was a young English officer belonging to one of the regiments or one of the depots in
the Isle of Wight. He took some pains in instructing her himself; and, on being ordered on
foreign service, he sent her to a ladies’ school at Old Brompton, where she certainly
remained some time. According to one account, the officer was killed in battle; according
to another, he died of a West Indian fever; and according to a third account—as likely to
be as true as either of the others—he grew tired of the expense, and ashamed of the
connection. It may be, that when she first attracted the notice of the Duc de Bourbon, she was living with the fruiterer in
Oxford Street, just opposite
| 218 | BARONNE DE FEUCHÈRES | [CHAP. XXII |
She had previously taken care of this precious relative, for he had been
brought up in good English
| CHAP. XXII] | HER NEPHEW, DAWES | 219 |
My friend got domiciled with him, and stayed with him at the Château for some months.
How he survived the visit I could hardly make out, for
Dawes was constantly putting his life in jeopardy, either by sea
or on dry land. I have rarely heard, or read of, such a dare-devil, godless ruffian. But,
though a tremendous bully, the fellow was no coward. It may be fancied how he, a rich
Englishman, and rich by French spoils, and the nephew and heir of such a woman as Madame la Baronne, was treated by the Frenchmen who lived
in his neighbourhood. Before he had been two years in France, in possession of the estate,
he had fought about a dozen duels, and had each time come off triumphantly. Rapier or
sabre, pistol or rifle, all was the same to Dawes. At the time of my
quondam friend’s visit, he had so established a reputation for courage, daring, and
address, that the French had made up their minds to leave him alone. This was about the
year 1843. A year or two later, he purchased a beautiful place in the Isle of Wight, his
native place as well as that of his notorious aunt, and here he established his
headquarters; and here, I believe, he is now living (1856). N. went
several times to the Isle of Wight to visit him. He had collected a set of ferocious dogs,
a wolf or two, some foxes, an enormous eagle, and other beasts and birds of prey, and these
were so disposed round the house and in the grounds that it was very dangerous for a
stranger to walk there.
| 220 | BARONNE DE FEUCHÈRES | [CHAP. XXII |
Such was the nephew and part-heir of Madame la Baronne de Feucheres. Louis Philippe’s son, His Royal Highness the Duc d’Aumale, was a co-heir.
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