The British and Irish in Paris
Impressions of the social and literary scene in the French capital, as recorded by nineteenth-century visitors.
During the year 1829, an intrepid foreign visitor descended on Paris to record the cultural scene. Lady Morgan was known as ‘the Wild Irish Girl’, after her famous novel of that name. The daughter of a Dublin actor, she had earned her living as a governess before her writing became remunerative. She owed her social triumph largely to her character.
She was tiny, and ill-formed; but her eyes flashed fire, and she had ‘a witty word for everybody’. At the age of thirty-five she had married Charles Morgan, an obstetrician. He had been knighted on their wedding day, an event that gave her satisfaction. A lively snob, she hurried across the Channel and produced a book called France which went through four editions in a year.
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