Lord Dorchester, however, did not leave his daughter alone, and when a more complaisant suitor with a handsomer income offered himself, briefly commanded her to marry him. To disobey such an order was then the height of undutiful conduct; yet so great was the disgust which Lady Mary entertained for the gentleman proposed that she ventured to write to her father, offering not to marry at all rather than to unite with him. The furious parent sent for his daughter, and told her that she must marry him at once, or consent to pass the rest of her days, while he lived, in retirement in a remote part of the country.-from "Lady Mary Wortley Montagu"A queen of society is a woman who, by force of her reputation, good management, abilities, manners, and even her rank and fortune commands a circle of persons of eminence, of fashion, and of celebrity. So say "Grace and Philip Wharton"-a dual pseudonym for one writer, British author KATHERINE BYERLEY THOMSON (1797-1862), who also wrote the three-volume Memoirs of the Jacobites of 1715 and 1745-by way of introduction to this charming two-volume collection of biographies of some of the most marvelous women of their day.In Volume I we meet:• Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough• Madame Roland• Lady Mary Wortley Montagu• Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire• Letitia Elizabeth Landon• Madame de Sévigné• Sydney Lady Morgan• Jane, Duchess of GordonFirst published in 1861, this is a replica of the beautifully illustrated 1890 second edition. It will delight readers of aristocratic lives and fans of modern fabulosity.