Lady Morgan’s Memoirs
William Ponsonby to Lady Morgan, 26 January [1828]
St. James’s Square,
January 26.
My dear Madam,
The interest which you have felt for my dear sister, makes me anxious that you should not
hear from common report the termination of her long and severe sufferings. From
the beginning of her illness, she had no expectation of recovery, and only felt
anxious to live long enough to see Mr. Lamb
once again. In this she was gratified, and was still able to converse with him
and enjoy his society; but for the past three days, it was apparent that her
strength was rapidly ![]()
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declining, and on Sunday night at
about nine o’clock, she expired without a struggle. A kinder or a better
heart has never ceased to beat; and it was to her a great consolation, and is
now to us, that her mind was fully prepared and reconciled to this awful
change. She viewed the near approach of death with the greatest calmness; and
during the whole of her severe sufferings, the patience with which she endured
them, or her kind and affectionate feelings for those about her, never failed
for one moment. Mr. Lamb has felt and acted as I knew he
would, upon this sad occasion.
Believe me, dear madam,
Very faithfully yours,
Lady Caroline Lamb [née Ponsonby] (1785-1828)
Daughter of the third earl of Bessborough; she married the Hon. William Lamb (1779-1848)
and fictionalized her infatuation with Lord Byron in her first novel,
Glenarvon (1816).
William Lamb, second viscount Melbourne (1779-1848)
English statesman, the son of Lady Melbourne (possibly by the third earl of Egremont) and
husband of Lady Caroline Lamb; he was a Whig MP, prime minister (1834-41), and counsellor
to Queen Victoria.
