Life
1799-1870; popular travel writer; her first book was noticed by Thomas
Moore; Specimens of the Early Poetry of France (1835) [ded. to
Moore]; The Rose Garden of Persia, 1845, et al.; taken to France
in childhood; Memoirs of Eminent Englishwomen (1844); Bearn
and the Pyrenees (1844); Falls, Lakes and Mountains of Wales
(1845); The Rose Garden of Persia (1845); A Tour
to and from Venice (1846) [TRAV], among most successful books. [But
which are which?]. Made it possible for her brother to remain at Sandhurst
when her father died thourgh her miniatures; he illustrated her books,
esp. The Rose Garden, when he left army on half-pay; drew fashionable
attention to medieval illuminations, copying them in Paris and London
museums. Her brother Dudley became foreign corr. for the Daily News,
and wrote popular books incl. Tour through the Valley of the Meuse
(1845), which long remained in circlation. DIB, miniaturist and writer,
taken by her mother to Paris in 1814; supported the family; moved to London,
and was successful with her first vol. of poetry; many novels and travel
books highly popular; retired to Boulogne. DNB, artist and author, worked
as miniaturist in Paris; d. 24 Apr. DNB PI DIB DIW SUTH OCIL
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Notes
John Sutherland, The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction,
(Harlow: Longmans 1988); b. England, dg. Irish officer; verse known to
Scott and Moore; miniatures and copied illum. mss; spinster, providing
for her mother and brother, less competent than she as a writer; rewarded
by French Govt. for work in preserving heritage, and Civil Pension List,
1852; novels drawing on cosmopolitan experience incl. French hist. settings
and trans. of old poets, incorporated in her narrative; The Queen’s
Poisoner (1841), set in 16th c. Paris, regarded as her best work;
Clara Fane, or the Contrasts of A Life (1848) has a contemp. governoress
recalling her own experience; Gabrielle (1843), set in France in
reign of Louis XIV. Costello died of cancer of the mouth. Dudley, son
of colonel [d. 1814, inference], b. Sussex; Sandhurst, served in West
Indies till 1828; half-pay; copied illuminated mss; foreign corr. for
Morning Herald from 1838; depended on his sister for support; his
serial fiction, approved by WH Ainsworth, Herald editor, incl.
Stories from A Screen (1855), The Joint Stock Bank (1856);
The Millionaire of Mincing Lane (1858); Faint Heart Never Won
Fair Lady (1859). DNB NCBEL RLF Wol BL4
D. J. O'Donoghue, The Poets of Ireland: A Biographical Dictionary, (Dublin: Hodges Figgis & Co 1912); The Maid of the Cypress Isle And Other Poems, (Lon. 1815); Rewaldh, A Tale of Mona, And Other Poems (1819), Songs of a Stranger (Lon 1825), Specimens of the Early Poetry of France (Lon 1835); The Lay of the Stork, a poem (Lon. 1856) etc. died 1870. NOTE var. dates, 1815-1870
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)