Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 15.djvu/259

 don he himself had an allowance from the court of chancery in Ireland of 550l. a year, and from Lady Harriet d'Orsay of 400l. He founded the Société de Bienfaisance, which still exists. For two years before the break-up at Gore House he was in continual danger of arrest. The final crash came in April of 1849, when D'Orsay started for Paris, taking with him his valet and a single portmanteau. Lady Blessington followed him soon afterwards. Their old friend, Prince Louis Napoleon, was president of the French Republic. According to Greville's ‘Journal’ (1837–52, iii. 468), ‘Napoleon wished to give D'Orsay a diplomatic mission, and he certainly was very near being made minister at Hanover, but that the French ministry would not consent to it.’ Meanwhile D'Orsay took an immense studio, attached to the house of M. Gerdin, the marine painter, and fitted it up with his own works of art. One of his most frequent visitors was the ex-king Jerome. He completed the model of a full-sized statue of Jerome, ordered by the government for the Salle des Maréchaux de France, and began a colossal statue of Napoleon. He executed busts of Lamartine, of Emile de Girardin, and of Prince Napoleon. The prince-president at last appointed him director of the fine arts. Directly afterwards, in the spring of 1852, the spinal affection, which eventually proved fatal, declared itself unmistakably. He went to Dieppe, but sank rapidly. He was visited by Dr. Madden, to whom he declared significantly that Lady Blessington had been a ‘mother’ to him. He died on 4 Aug. 1852, in the house of his sister, the Duchesse de Grammont. Napoleon III was conspicuous among the mourners at his funeral. He was buried in the mausoleum which he had raised in memory of Lady Blessington at Chambourcy, near St. Germain-en-Laye.

[Memoir of the Countess of Blessington prefixed to vol. i. of Country Quarters, pp. iii–xxiii, 1850; Madden's Life of Lady Blessington, vol. i. ch. xiii. pp. 318–72, 1855; Willis's Pencillings by the Way, p. 355, 1835; Grantley Berkeley's Recollections, vol. iii. ch. x.; Gore House, pp. 201–231, 1865; Charles Mathews's Autobiography, i. 60–165, 1879; Times, 6, 7, and 10 Aug. 1852; Emile de Girardin in La Presse, 6 Aug. 1852; Annual Reg. 1852, pp. 296–8; Gent. Mag. 1852, 308–10.]  DORSET,. [See, 1690-1676.]

DORSET,. [See .]

DORSET, CATHERINE ANN (1750?–1817?), poetess, was the younger daughter of Nicholas Turner, gentleman, of Stoke, near Guildford, and Bignor Park, Sussex. Her mother, Ann, daughter of William Towers, died shortly after her birth (1750?). The care of the child devolved upon an aunt. Her sister was Mrs. Charlotte Smith [q. v.] About 1770 she married Michael Dorset, captain in the army, probably son of Michael Dorset, M.A., incumbent successively of Rustington and Walberton, Sussex. In 1804 some poems by Mrs. Dorset appeared anonymously in her sister's ‘Conversations.’ About 1805 she was left a widow. In 1806 she sold the interest bequeathed to her by her father in Bignor Park. In 1807 her poem for children, ‘The Peacock “at Home,”’ was published, as ‘By a Lady,’ for No. 2 of Harris's ‘Cabinet Series,’ illustrated by Mulready (cf. Gent. Mag. 1807, ii. 946, 998, 1222). In the same year, also, and as a further number of Harris's ‘Cabinet Series,’ appeared ‘The Lion's Masquerade, by a Lady,’ probably by Mrs. Dorset. In 1809 was published her ‘Think before you speak, or The Three Wishes,’ from the French of Mme. de Beaumont. Mrs. Dorset published, unillustrated, also in 1809, revised versions of ‘The Peacock “at Home” and other Poems,’ with her name attached. The ‘Peacock’ was reprinted in 1849, illuminated by Mrs. Dorset's grandniece, Mrs. W. Warde; again in 1851; and by Mr. Charles Welsh (a careful facsimile of the original edition) in 1883.

In 1816 Mrs. Dorset was still alive. A son, an officer in the army, wrote some poems and military works.

[Dictionary of Living Authors; Welsh's Peacock ‘at Home’ preface; Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary, article ‘Charlotte Smith;’ Allen's History of Surrey and Sussex, ii. 156 note; Elwes's History of Western Sussex, 32 and note, 33; Dallaway's History of Western Sussex, 1832 ed., ii. 25, 70, 248, 249; Gent. Mag. lxxvi. pt. ii. 1073. lxxvii. pt. ii. 846, 998, 1222, lxxxv. pt. ii. 589.] 