The story of Nell Gwyn (24 page)

It was this brave Elevation above the unthinking Croud, which induc'd me amongst the rest of your Admirers to think such extraordinary parts worthy of more than a common adoration, and therefore I have presum'd to bring the heathen gods to do you Homage; they lye prostrate at your feet, intreating

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your acceptance, and protest they shall live longer and happier under your Protection, in these poor Robes, than they can expect to do under any others, tho adorn'd with all the gayest Habilements of Poesie. I, conscious to their Infirmities, quarrelled at their Ambition for imploring so Judicious a Patroness ; but they would hear of no denial : replying, that as you had Judgment, you had Candor likewise ; and were more addicted to forgive than censure. Apollo told me, that in you only he should meet with his Primitive Wisdom. Mercury with his Pristine Wit. Juno with her old Soveraignty or greatness of Mind. Venus with her delicate beauty. And Alcides with his Godlike Courage and brave Spirit. And in short, they affirm'd, that all those Noble Qualifications for which they were formerly Deify'd, were only Concenter'd in your Self, and therefore humbly desired the Honor of your Patronage, tho Presented by so mean a Hand as that of

Madam, Your most humble

and Devoted servant,

Robert Whitcombe.

Headline : The Epistle Dedicatory.

For the above information we are indebted to the kindness of Mr. G. Thorn Drury,

p. 134. A garter . . . a7uaited the son of , . , the Duchess of Portsmouth.

Tlie Duke of Richmond, who was elected K.G., April 7, l68l, when nine years old. It is said that this pretty boy having accidentally placed the blue ribbon of the garter over his left shoulder, in lieu of round his neck (as hitherto), was the occasion of an order from the King that henceforth it should be so worn (Collins's Peerage, cd. Brydges, i. 206).

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p. 136. This highly characteristic letter.

Nell Gwyn was illiterate. Her letters are written by other hands, and signed (after a fashion) " E. G." by her. The letter in the text was shown by Dr, East Apthorp, vice-provost of Eton, to the Rev. William Cole, the well-known antiquary, Nov. 16, 1774 ; the description of the letter is that given by Cole, together with a copy of it, in one of his MSS. in the British Museum (now catalogued as Additional MS. 5847, f. 398). Horace Walpole'sletterofthanksisdatedjan.9,1775. Hewrote:—

" I every day intended to thank you for the copy of Nell Gwyn's letter, till it was too late ; the gout came and made me moult my goose quill. The letter is very curious, and I am as well content as with the original" {Letters, ed. Cunningham, vi. 166).

" It is possible," writes our valued correspondent Mr. H. Lavers-Smith, " that the ' Madam Jennings ' to whom the letter is addressed may be Mrs. Frances Jennings, the mother of the celebrated Frances and Sarah Jennings. She was certainly living at this date, since Steinman has found her will dated Feb. 12, 1691-2, proved Jan. Ii, 1693-4 (registered in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 12, Box). The reference to 'your son Griffin' may be to Mrs. Jennings's son-in-law Edward Griffith, who married her third daughter, Barbara, as mentioned by Steinman in his Althorp Memoirs (1869), p. 50."

"Dear Lord Kildare," was John FitzGerald, l8th Earl of Kildare. He lived in St. James's Square, and in this very year (1684) married, as his second wife, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Charles Jones, 1st Earl of Ranelagh ("a fortune of ;^io,ooo"). Her beautiful features are preserved to us in R. Williams's mezzotint engraving after one of Wissing's best portraits ; she died in 1758 at the great age of 93 (Dasent's History of St. James's Square, p. 33). Either she, or one of her unmarried sisters was a mistress of Charles II., and the possessor of a kind heart, for in March 1680 this particular mistress "brought Monmouth to the King for reconciliation " (Henry Sidney's Diary, ed. Blencowe; Notes and Queries, ist series, vol. i. p. 478).

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** My Ladie Williams " is undoubtedly the Lady Williams who was a near neighbour of Nelly's in St. James's Square, and a reputed mistress of the Duke of York. She was Susanna, daughter of Sir Thomas Skip-with, serjeant-at-law, knt. and bart. of Metheringham, CO. Lincoln, and married in 1673 Sir John Williams, bart., of Marnhull, co. Dorset (he was born in 1642 and died in 1680). There is a whole-length portrait of her in free and easy attire by Wissing, which was engraved by Isaac Beckett. Lady Williams died in Sept. 1689 (Chester's Registers of Westminster Abbey, pp. 9, 224; Chaloner Smith's British Mezzotinto Portraits, pt. i. pp. 52-3 ; Dasent's ZTw^ijrj/ of St. James's Square, p. 34).

A letter to Laurence Hyde, second son of the great Earl of Clarendon, and afterwards Viscount Hyde and Earl of Rochester, was purchased by Sir William Tite at Samuel Weller Singer's sale, Aug. 3, 1858. It has been printed in the Camden Miscellany (vol. v.) and in Notes and Queries (4th ser., vii. 2). The letter, which appears to have been written in August 1678, when Hyde was envoy extraordinary to The Hague, is as follows :—

"pray Deare Mr. Hide forgive me for not writeing to you before now, for the reasone is I have bin sick thre months, & sinse I recoverd I have had nothing to inter-taine you withall, nor have nothing now worth writing, but that I can holde no longer to let you know I never have ben in any companie wethout drinking your health, for I love you with all my soule. the pel mel is now to me a dismale plase sinse I have uterly lost S' Car Scrope never to be recourd agane, for he tould me he could not live allwayes at this rate, & so begune to be a littel uncivil, which I could not sufer from an uglye baux garscon. M^ Knights Lady mothers dead, & she has put up a scutchin no beiger then my Lady grins scunchis [scuchins]. My lord Rochester is gon in the cuntrei. M' Savil has got a misfortune, but is upon recovery & is to mary an hairres, who I thinke wont wont [sic] have an ill time ont if he holds up his thumb. My lord of Dorscit apiers wonse in thre munths, for he drinkes aile with Shadwell & M' Haris at the Dukes house all day

NOIES

long, my Lord Burford remimbers his sarvis to you. my Lord Bauclaire is is [sic] goeing into france. we are a goeing to supe with the king at whithall & my lady Harvie. the King remembers his sarvis to you. now lets talke of state affairs, for we never caried things so cunningly as now, for we dont know whether we shall have pesce or war, but I am for war, and for no other reason but that you may come home. I have a thousand merry conseets, but I cant make her write um, & therefore you must take the will for the deed, god bye. Your most loueing obedunt faithfull & humbel sarvant,

"E.G."

Sir Carr Scrope, mentioned in the lettei', was well known as a wit and a poet. Of Mrs. Knight's lady mother nothing is known. Lady Greene, when Miss Katherine Pegge, was one of Charles II.'s mistresses ; her son by him was nicknamed " Don Carlos " (see Hat ton Coi-respondence, Camd. Soc, vol. i. p. 96). John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, died in 1680 ; two years later his title was given to Hyde himself, Henry Savile, subsequently Vice-Chamberlain, did not marry the heiress. Thomas Shadwell became poet laureate at the Revolution in 1688 through the interest of Lord Dorset. Of Henry Harris, the actor, who posed as a rival to Betterton, and was a particular friend of Samuel Pepys, mention has been frequently made. Lady Plarvey's husband, as ranger of Richmond Park, received the Countess of Castlemaine into his house during her quarrels with Charles II. The amiable Countess returned his kindness by inciting Mrs. Corey, the actress called by Pepys Doll Common, to "take off" Lady Harvey on the stage in the character of Sempronia in Ben Jonson's Catiline. Lady Harvey "procured people to hiss her and fling oranges at her, and, that being unsuccessful, procured the Lord Chamberlain to imprison her." Lady Castlemaine " made the King to release her," and much disturbance both in the theatre and at Court resulted.

Two letters written for Nell Gwyn are in the Evidence Chamber, Kilkenny Castle. By the courtesy of the

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Marquis of Ormonde we are enabled to print them from transcripts kindly made by Mr. C. Litton Falkiner:—

" My Lord

This is to beg a favour of your Grace, w^^*" I hope you will stand my friend in—I lately gott a freind of mine to advance me on my Irish Pencon halfe a year's Pay™' for last Lady Day (w'^'^ all People have rec«^ Out me) and I drew bills upon M' Laurence Steele my Agent for ye Pay™' of ye money, nott thinking but long before this ye bills had been paid : but contrary to my expectation I last night re=

"Your Grace formerly upon the King's Letter (w'='' this inclosed is the coppy of) was so much mine and Mrs. Forster's freind as to give necessary orders for our Paymts^ notwithstanding the stop. I hope you will obleige me now, upon this request to give yo' direcons to ye Farmers ; y' we may be paid our Arrears ; and what is growing due & you will obleige My Lord

Your Grace's most b amble serv' to command

Ellen Gwin." "Sept. 4'h 1682■•

[Addressed]

" To His Grace James Duke of Ormond Present" [Endorsed]

" Madam Ellin Gwyn to his Grace le"* Sept '82,"

" My Lord

I hope yo' Lords'"? will now obleige me so much as to stand my Freind. I have w"> much Importunity gott ye Lords of the Treary to give an order to my Lord brmond to cause the Arrears of my Pencon stopt in Ireland to be paid what is due to me to Last Michas with

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my sisters Mrs. Forster & others whome tlieir Letter mencons : my Agent is M' Laurence Steele tq_ whom I have sent this letter to diliver to your Lordshp hoping for my sake you will be pleased to give him a speedy dispatch in this businesse & obleige your Lor^^ps most humble servant to command

Ellen : Gwin " " November 26

1682 "

[Addressed] "To/

The Right Hori^^ the Earle of Arran psnt"

The Mrs. Forster referred to was Nelly's sister. Richard, Earl of Arran, to whom the second of these letters is addressed, was the fifth son of James, ist Duke of Ormonde, and at the date of the letter was acting as deputy to his father, then lord lieutenant of Ireland, during his absence in England.

Two other letters attributed to her are addressed to James II. shortly after his accession in 1685. They originally formed part of the Melfort papers, and were purchased in 1856 for the British Museum, where they are catalogued as Additional MS. 21,483, ff. 27, 28. Both letters, which are unsigned, were printed in Notes and Queries, 4th ser., vi. 431. Owing to a writ of outlawry being out against her it was necessary for Nelly to see even the King secretly. The allusion in the second letter to what Charles II. intended doing for his mistress can only refer to her creation as Countess of Greenwich.

The letters are as follows :—

" Had I suferd for my God as I have don for y' brother and y", I shuld not have needed ether of y' kindnes or justis to me. I beseecch you not to doe anything to the setling of my buisines till I speake w* you, and apoynt me by M"" Grahams wher I may speake with you privetly. God make you as happy as my soule prayes you may be, Y"^^."

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" S', This world is not capable of giving me a greater joy and happynes than y"" Ma^'^s favour, not as you are King and soe have it in y"^ power to doe me good, having never loved y' brother and y' selfe upon that acount, but as to y' persons. Had hee lived, hee tould me before hee dyed, that the world shuld see by what hee did for me that hee had both love and value for me, and that hee did not doe for me as my mad Lady Wester. Hee was my frind and alowed me to tell him all my grifes, and did like a frind advise me and tould me who was my frind and who was not. S'' the honour y"^ Ma*'* has don me by M"" Grahams has given me great comfort, not by the present you sent me to releeve me out of the last extremety, but by the kind expressions hee made me from you of y" kindnes to me, w<=h to me is above al things in this world, having, God knows, never loved y' brother or y' selfe interestedly. All you doe for me shall be yours, it being my resolution never to have any interest but y^ and as long as I live to serve you, and when I dye to dye praying for y"."

p. 137. The pious Ken.

"The 23rd of the month of March, 1683, vvas a day much to be remembered in the history of Winchester. , . . The official known as the ' harbinger ' . . . fixed on Ken's prebendal house for [Nell Gvvyn]. It was probably assumed that one who had been recently appointed as a Court chaplain would be subservient after the manner of his kind. With Ken ... it \yas quite otherwise. He met the message with an indignant refusal. ' A woman of ill-repute ought not to be endured in the house of a clergyman, least of all in that of the King's chaplain.' 'Not for his kingdom' would he comply with the King's demands. A local tradition relates that he took a practical way of settling the matter, by putting his house into the builder's hands for repairs and having it unroofed. Mrs. Eleanor Gwyn was, however, at last provided for. The Dean (Dr. Meggot) was found more compliant than the Prebendary. A room was built for her at the south end of the deanery, and was

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known familiarly by her name till it was destroyed by Dean Rennell, perhaps as perpetuating an unsavoury association, about 1835. . . . According to the current tradition of the time, Ken owed his advancement to that which, in the eyes of courtiers, would have seemed most likely to hinder it. When men were applying to him on behalf of this or that candidate, Charles is said to have stopped their representations with the declaration, ' Odds fish ! who shall have Bath and Wells but the little black fellow who would not give poor Nelly a lodging ?' " \^\M.m^\xe% Life of Thomas Ken, D.D., I., 158, 178).

p. 140, The testimony of Sir Thomas Millington.

This interesting circumstance in the professional life of Sir Thomas Millington, M.D., is not mentioned by Munk {Roll of College of Physicians) or in the Dictionary of National Biography. He was born at Newbury, Berkshire, in 1628, and died Jan. 5, 1704. He was an original Fellow of the Royal Society, and received knighthood in 1680. He became physician to William and Mary, and occupied the same office under Queen Anne. In 1696 he was chosen president of the Royal College of Physicians. He is now chiefly remembered as the alleged discoverer of sexuality in plants.