The Diary of a Young Lady of Fashion in the Year 1764-1765, Cleone Knox
[ETA: Damn. The book's a fraud.]
Actual review portion: What a trip! Cleone Knox comes across as a smart, energetic Irish girl with an eye for the fellas and a fine sense of adventure. She outrides at least one importunate admirer, gets a double salute from the King when presented at Versailles (Louis XV liked the pretty girls), and dishes hilariously entertaining gossip. It’s a pity that the diary is so short, but what there is of it is marred only by the prudish editing in the early 1900s. The editor's prim notes indicate that there were some juicy details that were simply too scandalous, darlings, which makes me miss them all the more.
On to the quotes!
Wondering whether to run away with the dashing David Ancaster: “My inclination is to go—my prudence bids me stay but Lud! if one listen to prudence one might die a Spinster!”
Further considerations in re: bolting with Mr. A.: “’Twould be Highly Indelicate for me to show my doubts to Mr. A., and I could scarcely say as I stepped into the Chaise, ‘By the by, Sir, I hope you are not trying to ruin me,’ yet the more I think of it, the more I recollect the fact that amidst all his passionate love Making the magical word ‘marriage,’ so dear to the heart of every young unwedded female, did not once occur!”
The idea of the European Tour with her father and brother no consolation for being torn from Mr. A.: “Would the sight of the finest Churches and palaces be more agreeable to me than a loving glance from his Wicked black eyes. Plainly no.”
On the Bath fad of publishing poems praising the ladies of town: “I have had 3 addressed to me, but they are Too Insipid and Weak to waste time and Paper upon copying them in. I suspect that they find my name not an easy one for rhyming, else one poor Youth would not have been constrained to couple Cleone with Moaning!”
Fellow travelers unintentionally plant the seed for Cleone’s future adventures: “Last evening 2 young gentlemen arrived at our Auberge in a chaise…[to] all appearances Brothers…This morning coming downstairs I passed their chamber and glanced in, the door being ajar. What was my surprise to perceive seated on the bed in Deshabille not 2 young men, but One young man and a Pretty girl with long black hair. Yet two young Gentlemen left the Inn half an hour later.”
Distressed at the arrest of a French admirer, she cross-dresses (see?) and sneaks off to go see a spiritualist for news and instead encounters an unwanted admirer: “I hastened into an inner chamber and came face to face with the detestable De Belisle, who grabbed me in his arms and began embracing me like a Lunatick…In a great fright I yelled and kicked and screamed. Thank the Lord, I had the good sense to draw my sword and deliver him a blow in the chest with the hilt, which made him leave go.”
While wandering the sights of Venice: “A gallant in a crimson cloak slipped a three cornered note into the bosom of my gown. The usual request for a rendezvous.”
Sneaking out of the house to tour Carnival: “…I slipped on a cloak and mask over male attire (breeches and coat of rose satin and sulphur waistcoat) climbed down the balcony into a gondola, and so away!...Kisses are plentiful but the Mask is mighty convenient, for it does away with the need to blush. Took me an hour to return from the Piazza to this place. Experienced some odious little adventures, and was constrained to draw my little dagger now and again.”
Final entry, dated May 29, 1765: “Stupendous Discovery! Mr. A. is in Venice.” And they lived happily ever after.
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1 comment:
I'm so grumpy that it's turned out to be a fraud. Dagnabit and other strong language.
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