Code: 11749
Lady Diana Beauclerk (née Lady Diana Spencer) (1734-1808)
“William beseeching Lenore to mount his steed”
&
“William and Lenore reunited in the grave”
Illustrations from the English translation of “Lenore” by Gottfried August Bürger (1747-1794)
Engraved by Edward Harding (1755-1840))
First published 1796, reissued here 1808 (probably to mark the artist’s death)
Very scarce - Not in BM
Bürger‘s ballad of ‘Lenore’ (‘Leonora’ in translation) was profoundly influential on the development of Romantic and Gothic literature.
“Come, dearest, come, the moon is bright,
The dead and we ride quick by night.
To-day thou shalt, I vouch,
Lie on thy nuptial couch.”
In the tale, Lenore’s fiancée, William, has not returned from the Battle of Prague during the Seven Years War. After his comrades’ homecoming, to her mother’s shock, Lenore proclaims God unjust at depriving her of happiness. That night she is visited by an apparition of William, who sweeps her away on horseback. He tells Lenore that there will be room enough for both of them in their marriage bed which will be:
“Cool, small, and quiet, far from here,
“Eight boards, two small, six great!”
At the tale’s climax the lovers are reunited in the grave!
“Now in the moonlight danced the train Of phantom spirits round, In giddy circles, in a chain;
Thus did their howl resound:
“Forbear! forbear! though hearts should break,
“Blaspheme not, lest God’s wrath thou wake!
“Thy body’s knell we toll,
“May God preserve thy soul!””
Lady Diana Beauclerk led a fascinating and scandalous life. A daughter of 3rd Duke of Marlborough, she counted Horace Walpole and Sir Joshua Reynolds amongst her friends (Reynolds painted her portrait which hangs at Kenwood). After a notorious failed first marriage, she established herself as an artist at a time when few women were able to succeed at such a career. She produced five illustrations and four vignettes for an English version of Lenore, translated by her brother William Robert Spencer (1740-1820).
