Ticknor ('Life', vol. i. p. 57),
speaking of Davy in 1815, says,
"He is now about thirty-three, but with all the freshness and bloom of
five-and-twenty, and one of the handsomest men I have seen in England.
He has a great deal of vivacity, talks rapidly, though with great
precision, and is so much interested in conversation, that his
excitement amounts to nervous impatience, and keeps him in constant
motion."
Davy married, in 1812, a rich widow, Jane Aprecce, 'nee' Kerr
(1780-1855). The marriage brought him wealth; but it also, it is said,
impaired the simplicity of his character, and made him ambitious of
social distinction. Miss Berry ('Journal', vol. ii. p. 535) supped with
Lady Davy in May, 1813, to meet the Princess of Wales, and notes that
among the other guests was Byron. Lady Davy, who was so dark a brunette
that Sydney Smith said she was as brown as a dry toast, was for many
years a prominent figure in the society of London and Rome. It was of
her that Madame de Stael said that she had "all Corinne's talents
without her faults or extravagances." Ticknor, who called on her in
June, 1815,
"found her in her parlour, working on a dress, the contents of her
basket strewed about the table, and looking more like home than
anything since I left it. She is small, with black eyes and hair, a
very pleasant face, an uncommonly sweet smile, and, when she speaks,
has much spirit and expression in her countenance. Her conversation is
agreeable, particularly in the choice and variety of her phraseology,
and has more the air of eloquence than I have ever heard before from a
lady.
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