A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Guizot, Elise Margaretta
GUIZOT, ELISE MARGARETTA,
Was born in Paris, in 1804. Her father, James Dillon, sprang from a branch of the Irish family of that name, which followed James the Second in his banishment to France. He married Henrietta de Meulan, sister of Pauline, the first wife of M. Guizot Madame Dillon was left a widow at an early age, with small means, and the charge of two children, Elise and Pauline. She, however proved herself equal to this difficult situation. Frugal, simple in her tastes, gifted with an hereditary quickness of intellect, she brought up her daughters in a most admirable manner. Elise, from the dawn of her understanding, manifested unusual aptness for acquirement, and extraordinary love for study. Upon the death of her mother, which occurred while she was a very young girl, she assumed the responsibility of managing the family and bringing up her sister Pauline. These duties she discharged with zeal and discernment, until the illness of her aunt, Madame Guizot, of the preceding sketch, for whom she entertained a peculiar affection, required her society and skill as a nurse, during an excursion to the baths of Piombieres. Madame Guizot was much older than her husband, whom she loved with that affection peculiar to woman, which regards the advantage of its object Setting aside personal considerations, she felt that her husband's happiness would be secured, if at a proper time after her death he could obtain the hand of a young lady whose mind and character she herself had formed, and whose tastes and habits were, as she knew, perfectly congenial with his. She therefore recommended to him this marriage, which actually took place after the lapse of over a year of mourning was expired. This union seems to have been fraught with happiness to both parties. Madame Elise Gulzot preserved her simplicity as wife of the minister, and used her influence, and added fortune only to promote plans of utility and beneficence. M. Guizot's political and literary life is too well known to demand any detail; but that he has maintained through every temptation and trial his consistency of principle, and his untarnished honour, is doubtless to be ascribed, in a great measure, to the purity of heart and uncommon culture of mind which distinguished his two successive wives. Even after their decease, the memory of their pious examples was to him as guardian angels amid the perils of power and the seductions of flattery. Madame Elise Guizot died in 1833, universally regretted, leaving three young children to her husband's care. She was beloved by all her connections; the warmth of her heart being as remarkable as the brilliancy of her intellect. She wrote some works of an ethical character; several novels, somewhat in the style of Miss Martineau; and she was a constant contributor to the "Revue Française," in valuable Essays upon English, German, and Italian Literature.