Blessington

Blessington, Margaret Power, Countess of, novelist, was born in 1799, at Knockbrit, Tipperary. Marrying first at the age of fourteen, she lived only three months with her husband, but on his death married in 1818 the Earl of Blessington. She became an intimate friend of Lord Byron, who addressed several poems to her, and alludes often to her charms in his Diary and Letters. On her husband's death in 1829 she became the mistress of a large fortune, and her house at Kensington Gate became the resort of men of distinction of every country. Amongst her writings are The Idler in, France, The Idler in Italy, Conversations with Lord Byron, Victims of Society, The Lottery of Life, etc. She was also the editor of Heath's Book of Beauty and the Keepsake. She died in 1849, in Paris, whither she had fled with Count D'Orsay from creditors.