A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Devonshire, Duchess of, Georgiana Cavendish
DEVONSHIRE, DUCHESS OF, GEORGIANA CAVENDISH.
A lady as remarkable for her talents as her beauty, was the eldest daughter of Earl Spenser, and was born in 1757. In her seventeenth year, she married the Duke of Devonshire, a distinguished nobleman. The beautiful Duchess, in the bloom of youth, became not only the leader of female fashions, and the star of the aristocratic world, but she also aspired to political influence. In 1780, she became the zealous partizan of Mr. Fox, and canvassed successfully for votes in his favour. The story of the butcher selling her his vote for a kiss, is well known. Among a variety of other jeux d'esprits which appeared on that occasion, was the following:—
"Array'd in matchless beauty, Devon's fair.
In Fox's favour takes a zealous part;
But oh! where'er the pilferer comes, beware—
She supplicates a vote, and steals a heart."
The Duchess was benevolent, as well as patriotic, and few ladies in her high station have left such an impression of the kindly feelings of the heart on the public mind.
An anecdote is related of her by Gibbon, the celebrated historian, who became acquainted with her while she passed through Switzerland, during her travels abroad. The Duchess returned to London; it was in the year 1793, when England was at war with France. The patriotism of the Duchess now displayed a truly feminine character; she took an anxious interest in the health and comfort of the protecting armies; and when, late in the autumn. Gibbon revisited England, and renewed his acquaintance with the Duchess of Devonshire, he found her "making flannel waistcoats for the soldiers." This was more lady-like than canvassing for votes.
The Duchess had three children, two daughters and a son, and seems to have been a careful and loving mother, as she was an excellent wife. She died, after a short illness, on the 30th. of March, 1806, in the forty-ninth year of her age. She possessed a highly cultivated taste for poetry and the fine arts, and was liberal in her encouragements of talents and genius. She wrote many poems, but only a few pieces have been published. These are spirited and elegant, and show a mind filled with enthusiasm for the true and the good.