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Dudley Costello

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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DUDLEY COSTELLO (1803-1865), English journalist and novelist, son of Colonel J. F. Costello, was born in Ireland in 1803. He was educated for the army at Sandhurst, and served for a short time in India, Canada and the West Indies. His literary and artistic tastes led him to quit the army in 1828, and he then passed some years in Paris. He was introduced to Baron Cuvier, who employed him as draughtsman in the preparation of his Regne animal. He next occupied himself in copying illuminated manuscripts in the Bibliotheque Royale; and to him and his sister belongs the merit of being the first to draw general attention to this beautiful forgotten art, and of thus leading to its revival. About 1838 Costello became foreign correspondent to the Morning Herald; in 1846 he became foreign correspondent of the Daily News; and during the last twenty years of his life he held the post of sub-editor of the Examiner. He wrote A Tour through the Valley of the Meuse (1845) and Piedmont and Italy, from the Alps to the Tiber (1859-1861). Among his novels are Stories from a Screen (1855), The Millionaire (1858), Faint Heart never won Fair Lady (1859) and Holidays with Hobgoblins (1860). He died on the 30th of September 1865. His elder sister, Louisa Stuart Costello (1799-1870), author and miniature painter, was born in Ireland in 1799. Her father died while she was young, and Louisa, who removed to Paris with her mother in 1814, helped to support her mother and brother by her skill as an artist. At the age of sixteen she published a volume of verse entitled The Maid of the Cyprus Isle, and other poems. This was followed in 1825 by Songs of a Stranger, dedicated to W. L. Bowles. Ten years later appeared her Specimens of the Early Poetry of France, illustrated by beautifully executed illuminations, the work of her brother and herself. It was dedicated to Moore, and procured her his friendship as well as that of Sir Walter Scott. Her principal works are - A Summer among the Bocages and Vines (1840); The Queen's Poisoner (or The Queen -Mother ), a historical romance (1841); Beam and the Pyrenees (1844); Memoirs of Eminent Englishwomen (1844) The Rose Garden of Persia (1845), a series of translations from Persian poets, with illuminations by herself and her brother; The Falls, Lakes and Mountains of North Wales (1845); Clara Fane (1848), a novel; Memoirs of Mary of Burgundy (1853); and Memoirs of Anne of Brittany (18J5). She died at Boulogne on the 24th of April 1870.