Washington Sentinel

DUKE OF WELLINGTON AS A GALLANT.

As early as 1809, two of the daughters of Mr. Caton were reigning belles of Baltimore and Washington. The memories of the eldest would constitute a narrative of singular and romantic interest. In the first flowering of womanly beauty she was married to Mr. Robert Patterson, an accomplished and wealthy merchant of Baltimore, with whom she travelled in Europe, where she attracted the attention of Sir Arthur Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wellington, who followed her over half the continent, and by his unguarded devotion incurred not a little scandal. Mrs. Patterson returned to Maryland, and her admirer for many months wrote a minute diary of what occurred in the gay world abroad, which he transmitted in letters by every packet for the United States. When she became a widow, she revisited London; but the future hero of Waterloo was now himself married, and therefore unable to offer her his hand; he, however, introduced his elder brother, the Marquis of Wellesley, "that great statesman, whose outset in life was marked by a cordial support of American Independence," and was now Viceroy of Ireland, and he soon after became her husband. Sir Arthur continued, through all his splendid career, to be one of the warmest of her friends. The Marchioness of Wellesley died at Hampton Court on the 17th of December, 1853. One of her sisters was married to Colonel Harvey, an aid-de-camp to Lord Wellington in the battle of Waterloo, and, becoming a widow, was subsequently united to the Marquis of Carmarthen, afterwards Duke of Leeds. Another sister married Baron Stafford, and another Mr. McTavish, for many years British consul at Baltimore. Mrs. McTavish still survives, and is one of the most distinguished and respectable women of her native city.