Contemplations upon a Coronet

Contemplations upon a Coronet purports to show the actress Elizabeth Farren sitting at the dressing table of her bedroom contemplating her likely future after receiving the news that the estranged wife of Lord Derby was now dead. Miss Farren and the Earl of Derby had been carrying on a platonic affair since at least 1781, two years after his first wife, Elizabeth Hamilton, had run off with the Duke of Dorset. And it had long been assumed (correctly as it turned out) that as soon as his first wife died that the Earl would make the actress the next Countess of Derby.*

Contemplations upon a Coronet, © Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

Contemplations upon a Coronet [March 20, 1797]
© Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

As in a Hogarth print, the objects surrounding the actress and the text below the print provide a satiric commentary on her past and present situation. At her feet is a fragment from Pope's "Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady" here alluding to the recent death of the first Countess. Behind her on the wall is a "Map of the Road from Strolling Lane to Derbyshire Peak," including such satiric stops along the way as "Beggary Corner" and "Servility Place" before arriving at "Fool-Catching Alley" and "Devil's Ar." On the dressing table itself, is draped a "Geneological Chart of British Nobility." And, of course, the object of Miss Farren's ecstatic gaze is an Earl's coronet upon a block which strikingly resembles Derby's well-known profile. All three suggest a rather cold-hearted and well-plotted design to travel from rags to riches through her relationship with the Earl.

It is true that Elizabeth Farren came from humble beginnings, most likely the daughter of two strolling players. After her father's early death when Elizabeth was eleven, she and her family certainly struggled for several years to make ends meet. But if she were really motivated by wealth and status, the actress could have found several quicker paths to that objective. Well before Miss Farren's name began to be mentioned with his, the Earl had decided to refuse to divorce his first wife. So the only path to "Derbyshire Peak" was through the death of the present Countess, a death that only occurred after sixteen years of waiting.

Behind Miss Farren, on the bed canopy, the valance is decorated with the bonnet rouge of Libertas and the words "Vive la Egalite." This is probably a jab at both Miss Farren and the Whiggish Earl and their support for egalitarian principles demonstrated by a willingness to marry outside their rank in life. That theme is carried on in Gillray's next print about the relationship, The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche where a putto wearing a bonnet rouge/fool's cap attempts to place the Earl's coronet on Miss Farren's (Psyche's) head.

But the location of the words above the bed canopy may have also been intended to suggest that the relationship had already been consummated. Gillray had made a similar insinuation in his A Peep at Christies... (1796) by implicitly comparing Miss Farren to the courtesan Phryne. But there is no evidence to support that suggestion, and Miss Farren seems to have been scrupulous in avoiding any appearance of impropriety by providing chaperones (usually her mother) whenever she met with the Earl.

Similarly, there is no justification other than a generic satire on the vanity of actresses for the jars labelled "For Bad Teeth," "Cosmetick," and "For the Breath" or for the bottle of Holland's gin on the floor.

But Gillray was certainly on firmer ground in including in his depiction the bolster that is draped across the stool next to the dressing table. Miss Farren was famously lacking in shapeliness. After seeing her in a "breeches role" where her figure (or lack thereof) was on fuller display, Charles James Fox is supposed to have remarked,

D––n it, she has no prominence either before or behind—all is a straight line from head to foot. . .

Indeed, in spite of their popularity, Miss Farren avoided boyish roles and preferred to be cast as society women such as Lady Townly or Lady Teazle whose figures were well hidden in drapery.

And Gillray was also correct in suggesting Miss Farren's excitement at leaving the acting profession and quickly assuming her new role as the Countess of Derby.

...no more Straw-Beds in Barns; - no more scowling Managers! & Curtsying to a dirty Public! - but a Coronet upon my Coach; - Dashing at the Opera! - shining at the Court! - O dear! dear! what I shall come to!

The Countess of Derby died on March 14th. Elizabeth Farren appeared for the last time on stage on April 8th. She married the Earl on May 1st. And she made her first appearance at court on May 18th at the marriage of the Princess Royal to The Hereditary Prince Frederick of Wuerttemberg. The sixteen year courtship did nothing to diminish their mutual ardor for the match, and despite their respective ages at the time of the wedding, (he was 45 and she was 38), the couple proceeded to have three children of their own.

——

* There were several false starts in the newspapers and prints of the time eager to have the scoop on the story. In the October 22, 1788 edition of the Morning Post and Daily Advertiser, for instance, we find the following notice:

The Countess of Derby has at present but very indifferent health; if she should not soon get better, it will be a matter of serious concern to a prim lady of Drury-lane theatre.

In a 1795 print by Dighton called Derby and Joan featuring the Earl and Miss Farren in a theatre box gazing lovingly at one another, the Earl holds a progam with the words "The Constant Couple or a Trip to the Oaks . . . to conclude with the Wedding Day." And beneath the title:

Long look'd for - Come at Last.
Riches - Honor - & Titles, the reward of Virtue.

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