The welcome that she gave at her various houses attracted leading men of her time: William Thackeray, John Stuart Mill and especially Thomas Carlyle enjoyed her company.

Jane Carlyle was jealous of the attention that her husband gave to his hostess, but was also professed herself one of her admirers, describing her as "the wittiest and most highly bred woman of her time".

[3][4] As a literary hostess, she had been described as chinless, large, and with an unusual nose, but both the Carlyles recognised her intelligence.

"[1] This said, Jane was however scathing about Harriet's personality: “A very loveable spoilt Child of Fortune — that a little whipping, judiciously administered, would have made into a first-rate woman.” [4] She died in Paris on 4 May 1857 having had only one child who died as an infant.

Her husband married Louisa Caroline Stewart-Mackenzie at Bath House in Piccadilly on 17 November 1858.