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Eliza Courtney (20 February 1792 – 2 May 1859) was the illegitimate daughter of the Whig politician and future Prime Minister Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey and the society beauty Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, while Georgiana was married to William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire. The Duchess was forced by her husband to relinquish Eliza shortly after her birth, to be raised by Charles Grey's parents, Charles Grey, 1st Earl Grey and Elizabeth Grey, Countess Grey. The Duchess came to visit Eliza in secret. Eliza named her firstborn daughter Georgiana. The name Courtney, extinct since the death of Charles Kelland Courtney in 1761, was derived from her great-uncle, her maternal grandmother's brother, William Poyntz (d.1809), having married Isabella (d.1805), sister and co-heiress of the aforementioned Charles Courtney, the last of the west country family of ''Courtney of Trethurfe'' and ''Courtney of Tremeer''. ==Upbringing== Eliza Courtney was born in France, in Aix-en-Provence on 20 February 1792. She was brought to Falloden, Northumberland in northern England and adopted by her paternal grandparents. Unlike her mother's legitimate children from her marriage, Eliza was not raised as part of the Devonshire House set in London. Her mother, Georgiana, could not acknowledge her daughter and visited her in secret until her own death. Several anguish-ridden poems from mother to daughter survive; two are reproduced below: And yet remote from public view flower there is of timid hue, Beneath a sacred shade it grows, But sweet in native fragrance blows. From storms secure, from tempests free, But ah! too seldom seen by me. For scarce permitted to behold With longing eyes each grace unfold. My bosom struggles with its pain And checks the wishes form'd in vain; Yet when I perchance supremely blest, I hold the floweret to my breast, Enraptur'd watch its purple glow And blessings (all I have) bestow. The gentle fragrance soothes my care And fervent is my humble prayer That no dread evil may beset My sweet but hidden violet.〔(December 1805) Copied from Lord Bessborough's ''Georgiana'', 1955, appendix IV〕 Unhappy child of indiscretion, poor slumberer on a breast forlorn pledge of reproof of past transgression Dear tho' unfortunate to be born For thee a suppliant wish addressing To Heaven thy mother fain would dare But conscious blushes stain the blessing And sighs suppress my broken prayer But in spite of these my mind unshaken In present duty turns to thee Tho' long repented ne'er forgotten Thy days shall lov'd and guarded be And should th'ungenerous world upbraid thee for mine and for thy father's ill A nameless mother oft shall assist thee A hand unseen protect thee still And tho' to rank and wealth a stranger Thy life a humble course must run Soon shalt thou learn to fly the danger Which I too late have learnt to shun Meanwhile in these sequested vallies Here may'st thou live in safe content For innocence may smile at malice And thou-Oh ! Thou art innocent〔copied from Foreman, 1998, page 267/8. From: ''Verses copied by Lady Charlotte Cholomondeley in her common place book, circa 1816''. Lady Charlotte (Seymour) was the mother-in-law of Eliza's daughter Georgiana.〕 Georgiana was allowed to see her daughter occasionally when the Greys brought Eliza to London, and acted as a sort of unofficial godmother. In 1808, her maternal aunt Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough, who didn't know she was Eliza's aunt, visited the Greys and was dismayed at what she observed: Eliza was not informed of her true parentage until after the death of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eliza Courtney」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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