LITERATURE AND EMO COURT

Lady Caroline Dawson, 1^st Countess of Portarlington

Gleanings from an Old Portfolio: containing some correspondence between Lady Louisa Stuart and her sister Caroline, Countess of Portarlington and other friends and relations. Edited by Mrs Godfrey Clark: privately printed in 3 vols by David Douglas of Edinburgh 1895 – 98.

These three volumes contain, amongst other material, letters written by the first Lady Portarlington (and also some by Lord Portarlington before his death in 1798). Many of these were written from Dawson Court, the house which preceded Emo Court. They describe daily life in the family, the weather, visits to friends, balls at Dublin Castle and political and local events of the time, and cover the years 1778 to 1813. Lady Portarlington was an accomplished artist and musician, and was close friends with Lady de Vesci in Abbeyleix. Through letters to and from her sister we can find out what it was like for a young English lady to have arrived from London into the heart of the Irish countryside in the late eighteenth century.