XV: I Pay Court to My Lady Lyndon explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Marriage as Transaction

  Barry's pursuit of Lady Lyndon is driven by her wealth and status; he treats marriage as a strategic acquisition.

• Deception and Self-Delusion

  Barry exaggerates his military exploits and wealth to intimidate Poynings; Lady Lyndon's denial of knowing Barry is a form of self-delusion.

• Class and Pedigree

  Barry asserts his noble blood against Lord George's claims of superior lineage; class distinctions are central to the rivalry.

Characters to notice

• Barry Lyndon

  Returns to Ireland wealthy and determined to win Lady Lyndon; confronts Lord George Poynings; seeks his uncle's advice; attempts reconciliation with his mother.

• Lady Lyndon

  The wealthy widow Barry pursues; she has forgotten him and shown favor to Lord George Poynings; her letters to Barry are used as leverage.

• George Poynings

  Young nobleman and rival for Lady Lyndon's affections; wounded in a duel with Barry; shown Lady Lyndon's letters to Barry.

• Monsieur de Balibari

  Barry's uncle, the Chevalier de Balibari; provides strategic advice from Brussels on how to win Lady Lyndon.

• Mrs. Barry

  Barry's mother; initially rejects him and his gifts but later welcomes him when he appears in distress after a duel.

• Lord Bullingdon

  Lady Lyndon's son; mentioned as having identified Barry at Spa.

• Ulick Brady

  Barry's factotum; sent to Mrs. Barry but receives a hostile reception.

• Mr. Jowls

  Mrs. Barry's clerical director; present during her rejection of Barry's gifts.

Key passages

• ““Chevalier,” said he to me one morning when I went to pay him my compliments, “I find you are an old acquaintance with my kinswoman, the Countess of Lyndon. She writes me a page of abuse of you in a letter here; and the strange part of the story is this, that one day when there was talk about you at Castle Lyndon, and the splendid equipage you were exhibiting in Dublin, the fair widow vowed and protested she never had heard of you.””

  Lord George Poynings tells Barry that Lady Lyndon has written a page of abuse about him and, when asked, claimed she never heard of him.

  Reveals Lady Lyndon's denial of Barry and her correspondence with Poynings.

• ““I mean that I passionately loved Lady Lyndon. I mean that I am a⁠—that I rather was not indifferent to her. I mean that I love her to distraction at this present moment, and will die myself, or kill the man who possesses her before me.””

  Barry declares his passionate love for Lady Lyndon and threatens to kill any rival who marries her.

  Barry's dramatic declaration of intent to Poynings.

• ““I have been in fourteen pitched battles as a private soldier, and have been twenty-three times on the ground, and never was touched but once; and that was by the sword of a French maître-d’armes, whom I killed. I started in life at seventeen, a beggar, and am now at seven-and-twenty, with twenty thousand guineas.””

  Barry boasts of his military experience, dueling record, and rapid rise from poverty to wealth.

  Barry exaggerates his achievements to intimidate Poynings.

• ““Here,” said I, “look⁠—I show it you in confidence⁠—it is a lock of her Ladyship’s hair; here are her letters signed Calista, and addressed to Eugenio. Here is a poem, ‘When Sol bedecks the mead with light, And pallid Cynthia sheds her ray,’ addressed by her Ladyship to your humble servant.””

  Barry shows Poynings a lock of Lady Lyndon's hair, her letters signed 'Calista' to 'Eugenio,' and a poem she wrote to him.

  Barry uses physical evidence of Lady Lyndon's past affection to assert his claim.

• “I endeavoured to sweeten the disappointment by sending my mother a handsome satin sack and velvet robe, which I purchased for her at the best mercers in Dublin (and indeed told her I had brought from Paris expressly for her); but the messenger whom I despatched with the presents brought back the parcels, with the piece of satin torn halfway up the middle.”

  Barry sends his mother expensive gifts to apologize for missing her dinner, but she returns them torn.

  Mrs. Barry's anger at Barry's neglect.

• “I had been giving one night an entertainment to some of the genteelest company in Dublin, and was showing my Lord Marquess downstairs with a pair of wax tapers, when I found a woman in a grey coat seated at my doorsteps: to whom, taking her for a beggar, I tendered a piece of money, and whom my noble friends, who were rather hot with wine, began to joke, as my door closed and I bade them all good night. I was rather surprised and affected to find afterwards that the hooded woman was no other than my mother; whose pride had made her vow that she would not enter my doors, but whose natural maternal yearnings had made her long to see her son’s face once again, and who had thus planted herself in disguise at my gate.”

  Barry mistakes his mother for a beggar outside his door after a party, only to realize she had come in disguise out of maternal longing.

  Mrs. Barry's pride and love conflict; she watches Barry from outside.