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Louisa Stuart Costello

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Louisa Stuart Costello (October 9, 1799 - April 24, 1870) was an English poet, novelist, prose writer on travel and French history, and artist and illustrator.

Rose Garden frontispiece

Louisa Stuart Costello (1799-1870), The Rose Garden of Persia, 1845, frontispiece. Courtesy Internet Archive.

Life[]

Overview[]

Costello, born in Ireland, lived chiefly in Paris, where she was a miniature-painter. In 1815 she publihed The Maid of the Cyprus Isle, etc. (poems). She also wrote books of travel, which were very popular, as were her novels, chiefly founded on French history. Another work, published in 1835, is Specimens of the Early Poetry of France.[1]

Youth and education[]

Costello, the daugher of James Francis Costello and the only sister of Dudley Costello, was born in 1799.[2]

After the early death of her father, she went with her mother in 1814 to Paris. Although not yet 16 she was a proficient artist, and was able to add so considerably to her mother's pension by painting miniatures that she maintained her young brother at Sandhurst College, and assisted him not only while he served in the army, but subsequently till his death.[2]

Career[]

Moving after some years to London to practice miniature painting as a profession, and almost unknown, she published in 1825 Songs of a Stranger, dedicated to Lisle Bowles. Her pale pretty face and engaging conversation soon gained friends, none firmer or more helpful than Sir Francis and Lady Burdett and their daughter.[2]

The Maid of the Cyprus Isle, and other poems attracted the attention of Thomas Moore, to whom, in 1835, she dedicated Specimens of the Early Poetry of France. This work, by which she became generally known, procured for her the friendship of Sir Walter Scott, and caused her to devote herself entirely to literature.[2]

With her brother, to whom she was devotedly attached, she was one of the earliet to call attention to the occupation of copying illuminated manuscripts, and she worked at this business herself both in Paris and in London.[2]

She was among the most voluminous and popular writers of her day. Her best books, describing those parts of France least known in England, combine graphic description with anecdotal archæology which varies the narrative of travel and adventure. Louis-Philippe marked his approval of these works by presenting Miss Costello with a very valuable jewelled ornament.[2]

She at length acquired by her industry a small competence, which was supplemented by a liberal pension from the Burdett family.[2]

Her mother died at Munich in 1846, and her brother died in 1865, when, although she was blessed with troops of friends in England, she retired to live alone at Boulogne. Here she died from the effects of a virulent cancer in the mouth on 24 April 1870, and was buried in the cemetery of St. Martin, Boulogne, on 27 April.[2]

Writing[]

Her Songs of a Stranger, 1825, are graceful verses, and so tunable that some of them set to music became popular.[2]

She was the author of the following works: ‘The Maid of the Cyprus Isle and other Poems,’ 1815. ‘Redwald, a Tale of Mona, and other Poems,’ 1819. ‘Songs of a Stranger,’ 1825. ‘Specimens of the Early Poetry of France, from the Time of the Troubadours and Trouvères to the Reign of Henri Quatre,’ 1835. ‘A Summer among the Bocages and the Vines,’ 1840. ‘A Pilgrimage to Auvergne from Picardy to Le Velay,’ 1841. ‘The Queen's Poisoner, or France in the 16th Century,’ 1841; republished as ‘Catherine de Medicis, or the Queen Mother,’ 1859. ‘Gabrielle, or Pictures of a Reign,’ 1843. ‘Memoirs of Eminent Englishwomen,’ 1844. ‘Béarn and the Pyrenees, a Legendary Tour,’ 1844. ‘The Falls, Lakes, and Mountains of North Wales,’ 1845. ‘The Rose Garden of Persia,’ 1845. ‘A Tour to and from Venice, by the Vaudois and the Tyrol,’ 1846. ‘Jacques Cœur, the French Argonaut, and his Times,’ 1847. ‘Clara Fane, or the Contrasts of a Life,’ 1848. 16. ‘Memoirs of Mary, the young Duchess of Burgundy,’ 1853. ‘Memoirs of Anne, Duchess of Brittany,’ 1855. ‘The Lay of the Stork, a poem,’ 1856.[2]

Sample[]

An example of her work - an early expression of anti-war sentiment:

On Reading the Account of the Battle of Waterloo

Oh! who can listen with delight
To tales of battles won?
And who can hear without affright
The news of war begun.
Oh! when the glory does their hearts inspire,
Did they reflect what woes some bosoms fire?
Oh did their thoughts fly to the battle plain,
And mark the writhing agony and pain,
And hear the cries, and see the bleeding slain !
Ah! sure no more their hearts with joy would bound,
But shrink in horror from the vict'ry's sound.
While thro' the streets the news of conquest spread,
Each parent listens with consuming dread.
Those shouts of triumph breath'd from every tongue,
Some anxious heart with agony has wrung.
The meanest soldier sunk to death's repose,
Has cuas'd some breast to fell affliction's throes:
How can they bear each joyful shout to hear,
Which still renews remembrances so dear!
Oh! long may battle's terrors cease!
Be war and vengeance fled:
That Europe, wrapt in lasting peace,
May rest her laurell'd head!

Recognition[]

On 9 August 1852 Costello was awarded a Civil List annuity of £75,[2] "In consideration of her merits as an authoress, and her inability, from the state of her health, to continue her exertions for a livelihood" (Colles, Literature and the Pension List).[3]

Publications[]

Poetry[]

  • The Maid of the Cyprus Isle, and other poems. London: Sherwood, Nealy & Jones [et al], 1815.
  • Songs of a Stranger. London: Taylor & Hessey, 1825.

Novels[]

Non-fiction[]

Translated[]


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[4]

The_Inca_-_Louisa_Stuart_Costello_poem_reading_-_Jordan_Harling_Reads

The Inca - Louisa Stuart Costello poem reading - Jordan Harling Reads

See also[]

References[]

  •  Boase, George Clement (1887) "Costello, Louisa Stuart" in Stephen, Leslie Dictionary of National Biography 12 London: Smith, Elder, p. 277 

Notes[]

  1. ↑ John William Cousin, "Costello, Louisa Stuart," A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, 1910, 96. Web, Dec. 29, 2017.
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Boase, 277.
  3. ↑ Anne Lohri, Louisa Stuart Costello, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 1973. Dickens Journals Online, University of Buckingham. Web, July 26, 2013.
  4. ↑ Search results = au: Louisa Stuart Costello, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, July 26, 2013.

External links[]

Poems
Books
About

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen & Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Costello, Louisa Stuart

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