If anyone ever endured for love it was Lady Caroline. It was "Caro" who first said of Lord Byron,"He is mad, bad, and dangerous to know." She fell deeply in love with Lord Byron and just had to have him. She practically stuffed herself into his mailbox and he detested women who chased him. At first he was amused by her and her writing pretensions, but after having his way with her he (as true to his character) tired of her and tried to dump her. She started stalking him, standing in the street no matter how cold or rainy it was, outside any house where he was staying. She dressed herself up as a page and served him at a dinner. His irritation turned to contempt and she redoubled her efforts to get him to pay attention to her. She was utterly heartbroken. Her marriage to her husband deteriorated, of course, and she took up alcohol to an alarming extent, abusing laudenum, and wild unpleasant temper tantrums. It was obvious that she was falling apart. Finally, she divorced her husband and rapidly went downhill due to her bad habits. She ended up contracting dropsy and dying as an outcast to all good society. She had authored quite a few novels and poems but was never to gain even so much as a good reputation for her works.
What shall I make of poor Caro? How can I take this insatiable yearning person and make a portrait of her in perfume? First I will start with rue, a strange herb which has given its name to a feeling one gets after rejection and is considered mildly poisonous, I add some artemisia to that, a white leafed plant with a background of vanilla to its heavily herbal key notes, I finish it all off with a thick coat of frankincense (remember, it is gathered as "tears" of frankincense which is appropriate), and a beautiful amber. This is a pretty extreme perfume, like Caro was. Resinous, musky, spicy, herbal.
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