THE BARONESS BURDETTCOUTTS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 223, 20 September 1880, Page 4

THE BARONESS BURDETTCOUTTS.

[Truth.] , Any person who has had the honour, of conversing with the most munificent lady in the land must have been pleased and refreshed by her extremely sharp common sense. She does not waste words, and has no sentimental fripperies in her talk. Not even an Irishman, and St. Patrick knows how hard he tried, could ruffle the serene calm of manner which distinguished the great heire?s, though she was jusfc entering public life, when Mr. Dunn desired to make himself happy with more gallantry and perseverance than delicacy or discretion. Then, no sooner did it become known that Miss Coutts had a mind intent on charity, than all the bogging letter-writers of the three kingdoms and elsewhere entered into the liveliest correspondence with her. The postmen who came to No. 1 , Stratton street, Piccadilly, ancl to Holly Lodge, Highgatc, groaned in spirit under their burthen, and the robust porters of both establishments .turned pale under the avalanche of paper thafc fell upon them. Not so Miss Coutts ; she was fully equal to the occasion, and had a neat little circular printed to check the true born Briton's enterprise in this direction. Also, very early after her accession to supreme wealth, she chose Mr. Charles Dickens as her minister for public charities, and the choice was in every respect a judicious one. Mr. Dickens knew more of the London poor in his time than any of his contemporaries, and he had a large command of popular prose always afc Miss Coutts' command in " Household Words." Mr. Dickens was succeeded by Mr. Wills, the kindest and mosfc genial of litterateurs, and whether Mr. Wills' natural talent for finance was higher than was that of Mr. Dickens, or whether some other more occult cause may have enabled him to discharge the delicate functions of his administration more satisfactorily, certain it is that thje benefactions placed under his salutary discipline have all gone as upon wheels smoothly oiled. As for the title of baroness which this great lady has consented to adorn, she is understood tp have had no other reason for desiring it than a sense of the incongruity which attaches to a person being called " Miss ■' who has gone out of the hail of her teens. Many a higher title has been within her reach. At one time the gossips set about an absurd story that she was going to be married to the Iron Duke of Wellington. The late Sir Robert Inglis, wondering much at such a rumour, bluntly asked the Duke if he had really offered to marry her, on which there came out a story not unlike the three black crows of the monkish legend. " I said," growled his Grace, and his Grace growled awfully in his last decade, " I said that Bhe deserved to be a duchess ; I did nofc say I would make her one." "The Duke should have said 'could,' nofc 'would,'" remarked the Baroness drily, when fche queer story was repeated to her, and it is the only epigram attributed to her ladyship in circulation. She is nofc a eayer of sayings, bufc a somewhat taciturn woman of business. Her beneficence has been amazing from its vastness. Mart and church, schools for the young, asylums for the old, have risen into being afc her word of command. In patronage and influence she is probably the mosfc powerful woman in the world. No other similar figure in English history stands oufc with such

clearness and grandeur. Yet her individuality has not made itself much felt either in society or politics. She merjts, indeed, a civic crown, bufc has hardly . the personal popularity of Miss Nightingale, nor does she excite any of tjiat enthusiasm with which our coast; 'folk used to speak of Grace Darling. Perhaps opportunity may haye v been wanting ; perhaps the one element of heroism may be deficient in a character 1 ' otherwise almost perfect. Ifc is only jusfc jfco say thafc her ladyship has showni a remarkable kindness to actors ; and, considering thafc her fortune was bequeathed to her by thafc Miss Mellon who married Thomas Coutts and fche ninth Duke of St. Albans, ifc is only jusfc thafc she should think kindly ofthe stage and its beloDgings. No ridicu'e has eyer attached to Lady Burdetfc- Coutts, and probably she has never excited laughter in the whole course of her life by anything she did or said. Ladies are seldom conspicuous for the sense of humour, and ifc has been alleged thafc the Baroness has no humour afc all. Her acts, her manners, belong fco thafc creditable school which never gives offence ; they do not seek to attract, still less fco charm and captivate. She has more friends perhaps than any individual iv the kingdom, bufc nofc one of the hundred tongues of rumour has ever raised one friend above another in the serene height; of her esteem. Her well-wishers may be counted by numbering the wbole adult population of tbe. British Empire. Ifc is impossible thab she can have an honest enemy. Bufc there is nofc a single sensational story mixed up with her name. She has called forth none of the devotion wbich woman far less worthy have inspired ; which have . made the name of Gourney and of Fry so tenderly remembered amongst us ; and which have given almost an odour of sanctity to thafc of Selina, Conntess of Huntingdon. We have in our midst . an immaculate lady, who is without sin and without weakness. She is ready fco bestow alms, but; fche mosfc skilful impostors have never been able to impose upon her. Her good sense and h^r clearness of judgement; are as great; as her benevolence. i ! -CM-_---_»_--__ICMB__-__-_. — |!_. {