Ex Libris
C. K. OGDEN
THE AMAZING DUCHESS
THE AMAZING DUCHESS
'BEING THE ROMANTIC BISTORT OF
ELIZABETH CHUDLEIGH
MAID OF HONOUR, THE HON. MRS. HERVEY,
DUCHESS OF KINGSTON, AND COUNTESS OF
BRISTOL
By CHARLES E. PEARCE
AUTHOR or "LOVE BESIEGED," "THE BUNGALOW UNDER THE LAKE," KTC.
WITH THIRTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS
INCLUDING TWO PHOTOGRAVURES
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. II
LONDON
STANLEY PAUL & CO.
PRINTED BY
HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD.,
LONDON AND AYLESBURY.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
The judgment of the Ecclesiastical Court held to be decisive — The
Archbishop of Canterbury grants a special licence — Elizabeth's second
marriage — Unfounded rumours — The great Douglas cause — The letters
of Thomas Whitehead, the duke's valet . . . Pages 13-24
CHAPTER II
A hurried marriage — Whitehead's description of the wedding — The
duchess is presented at Court — Her wonderful dress — A cold reception
by Queen Charlotte — The duchess's lady attendants . Pages 25-37
CHAPTER III
The duchess's musical evenings — Miss Bate and Miss Penrose — The
heroine of Windsor Castle stairs — Whitehead rakes up an old scandal
and adds a new one — The Duke of Kingston's Light Horse : its history
— Field, the duchess's lawyer Pages 38-46
CHAPTER IV
Whitehead's letters continued — A reminiscence of Madame de la
Touche — The duchess's passion for angling — A day's fishing at Rick-
mansworth — Whitehead's allegations against Dr. Collier, the duchess's
proctor — How the duke and duchess journeyed to Weymouth — White-
head's stories of the duchess's tyranny . . . Pages 47-61
5
2000587
Contents
CHAPTER V
A trip to Plymouth — Whitehead's squabble with the duchess —
Christmas at Pierrepont Lodge — How the evenings were spent — The
duchess's black boy — A merry party at The Beggar's Opera — Miss
Brent, the popular vocalist — Sir John Fielding and David Garrick
Pages 62-78
CHAPTER VI
Life and amusements at Thoresby — The lake and its singular fleet —
Lord Byron and his hounds — The duchess ignored by the county
ladies — The duchess discharges her servants wholesale — Whitehead's
narrow escape — Lord Byron's fatal duel with Mr. Chaworth
Pages 79-96
CHAPTER VII
A day's shooting in the eighteenth century — Whitehead receives a
rebuke — A journey across country — The wardrobe of an eighteenth-
century valet — Whitehead's grumbles — The second marriage of Mrs.
Amis, the Lainston clergyman's widow — The duke's marriage not an
unhappy one — The duke's illness and last moments — Alleged attempt
of the duchess to substitute a second will — An improbable story
Pages 97-119
CHAPTER VIII
Death of the duke — His will — The duchess's grief ridiculed — The
funeral of a great nobleman — Elaborate ceremonial — Embarrassing
position of the duchess — She sets out for Rome — Is hospitably received
by Clement XIV. — The duchess's yacht on the Tiber — Entertainments
in her honour at Rome Pages 120-135
CHAPTER IX
The Medows family make secret inquiries about the marriage at
Lainston — The duchess visits London hurriedly — She returns to Rome
— Rumours of a prosecution for bigamy — Anne Cradock secured as
a witness against the duchess — Augustus Hervey becomes Earl of
Bristol — The grand jury of Middlesex return a bill of indictment for
bigamy against the duchess — Her adventure with Jenkins, the banker,
at Rome — She travels post-haste to England — is taken ill on the
journey— Crosses the Alps in a litter — Arrives at Dover
Pages 136-149
Contents 7
CHAPTER X
The story of Anne Cradock — Contradictory statements — The duchess
surrounded by enemies — She prepares to defend herself — Extraordinary
attack upon her by Samuel Foote — A Trip to Calais and " Lady Kitty
Crocodile " — How Foote obtained his information . Pages 150-167
CHAPTER XI
Foote approaches the duchess — His motive for writing A Trip to
Calais — The Lord Chamberlain refuses to license the play — Foote
demands money from the duchess to defray his " expenses " — She sets
him at defiance, and Foote withdraws his claim — A bitter correspondence
— Walpole's sarcastic comments Pages 168-185
CHAPTER XII
The effects of the Foote controversy — The Perreaus and the notorious
Mrs. Rudd — The duchess's bigamy charge discussed by the peers —
Lord Mansfield in her favour — An improbable story concerning Anne
Cradock — The date of the trial fixed — Illness of the duchess
Pages 186-199
CHAPTER XIII
A bombshell for the Lords — The duchess claims to be tried as a
peer — The real object of the bigamy charge — The spite of the prosecu-
tion— Bewilderment of the peers — They alter the indictment — The
duchess to be tried in Westminster Hall — The Lords faced by a new
difficulty Pages2oo-2ii
CHAPTER XIV
The trial in Westminster Hall — Stately procedure — The Queen and
Royal Family present — Hannah More's lively description — The duchess
pleads not guilty — The prosecution opened by the Attorney-General —
The duchess hands in her plea of justification — The decision of the
Ecclesiastical Court — The plea discussed at great length, and the
proceedings adjourned — The behaviour of the duchess admired
Pages 212-228
8 Contents
CHAPTER XV
Wordy arguments on both sides — The duchess is taken ill and the
trial is adjourned — The Lord Chamberlain in a difficulty : no tickets !
The trial resumed — The plea of justification rejected — The Solicitor-
General enters upon a history of the case — His unfairness towards the
duchess — Anne Cradock gives evidence — Her evasive answers — Mr.
Caesar Hawkins in the witness-box — The fourth day of the trial — Lord
Harrington a reluctant witness Pages 229-247
CHAPTER XVI
Lord Harrington's evidence — Mrs. Phillips tells the story of the
register — Her unsatisfactory statement — The tale of the leaf torn from
the register by the duchess proved to be false —Mrs. Phillips again
called — She contradicts herself Pages 248-261
CHAPTER XVII
The fifth day of the trial — The duchess addresses the Lords — She
gives her reason for instituting the jactitation suit — Explains why the
duke disinherited Evelyn Medows — Denies that she ever promised to
pension Anne Cradock — Asks that Dr. Collier, who obtained the
licences from the Archbishop, be allowed to give evidence at his house,
where he is lying ill — The Lords refuse her request — She is found
guilty, and pleads for benefit of clergy, which is granted — The sentence
Pages 262-278
CHAPTER XVIII
Abortive result of the trial — The duchess flies to Calais to avoid a
writ of ne exeat — How she escaped — Public opinion of the case — Her
position in Calais embarrassing — Is swindled by an hotel keeper —
Settles in Calais — The Earl of Bristol seeks to have the sentence of
the Ecclesiastical Court revoked — Death of the earl . Pages 279-292
CHAPTER XIX
The duchess is suddenly called to Rome — A maid-servant's adventure
— An amorous friar and his rival the Cardinal — The duchess robbed
by the friar — She returns to Calais — The Medows family threaten
fresh proceedings — The duchess's anxiety — Is assured she is safe from
further prosecution and sets out for Russia in her own ship — Her
acquaintance with Major Semple, the "Northern Impostor" — Major
Semple and Thackeray's Barry Lyndon Pages 293-304
Contents 9
CHAPTER XX
Flattering reception of the duchess by Catherine, who places a house
at the disposal of her visitor — The duchess gives balls and entertain-
ments— Major Semple tells the story of his association with the
duchess — A bragging rogue — His real character exposed
Pages 305-316
CHAPTER XXI
Similarity between the duchess and Catherine of Russia — Catherine's
simplicity in private life — Difficulty of following the doings of the
duchess during her last decade — Unfair summary of her character —
The duchess easily duped — She buys an estate in Russia and sets up
a vodki distillery — Her introduction to Prince Radzivil — An extra-
ordinary entertainment — Prince Radzivil and Count Oginski are rivals
in paying her attentions — Her infatuation for Worta, a clever charlatan
Pages 319-333
CHAPTER XXII
The duchess no longer a favourite at the Court of Russia — She
determines to settle in Paris — The history of her life, written by
herself — Is taken in over the purchase of a house — Commences an
action at law — Buys an estate and chateau at St. Assise — Takes a
hurried journey to Russia and returns to find the lawsuit has gone
against her — The news throws her into convulsions — She breaks a
blood-vessel — Rallies and insists upon rising from her bed — Her
obstinacy and her craving for Madeira wine — Her sudden death — Her
eccentric will — Sale of her jewels — Conclusion . . Pages 334-355
AUTHORITIES Pages 357-359
INDEX . . . . . I . . . Pages 361-364
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ELIZABETH, DUCHESS OF HAMILTON (THE BEAUTIFUL MISS
GUNNING) Frontispiece
PAGE
GEORGE III. ON HIS ACCESSION 33
CATHERINE HYDE, DUCHESS OF QUEENSBERRY . . 51
EVELYN PIERREPONT, DUKE OF KINGSTON .... 69
CAPTAIN THE HON. AUGUSTUS HERVEY (AFTERWARDS EARL
OF BRISTOL) 87
POPE CLEMENT XIV. (GANGANELLi) ..... 105
THOMAS PELHAM, DUKE OF NEWCASTLE . . . .123
SAMUEL FOOTE ......... 141
QUEEN CHARLOTTE (AT THE AGE OF 23) .... 159
LORD MANSFIELD . . . , . . . . 177
PLAN OF THE COURT IN WESTMINSTER HALL FOR THE
TRIAL OF THE DUCHESS OF KINGSTON . . .195
MRS. DELANY . . . . . . . . .213
WESTMINSTER HALL IN 1766 231
ELIZABETH, DUCHESS OF KINGSTON, AT THE BAR OF THE
HOUSE OF LORDS 249
MISS HANNAH MORE 283
HORACE WALPOLE . . . . . . . -317
CATHERINE II. (EMPRESS OF RUSSIA) . 335
II
THE AMAZING DUCHESS
CHAPTER I
The judgment of the Ecclesiastical Court held to be decisive — The
Archbishop of Canterbury grants a special licence — Elizabeth's
second marriage — Unfounded rumours — The great Douglas cause
— The letters of Thomas Whitehead, the duke's valet.
¥ ^ LIZABETH was now, rightly or wrongly,
-L-' Duchess of Kingston. Her elevation gave
great offence to the ladies of the Court. They had
no objection to tolerate and recognise Miss Chudleigh
as mistress of the duke, but when his grace made
her " his wife " they were highly indignant. The
reason, of course, was plain. As Miss Chudleigh they
condescended to be amused by her, and accept her
hospitality, and they could patronise her or not as
they pleased, but as the Duchess of Kingston she was
of their own rank, and took precedence of many of
them, and they were perfectly well aware she was
not the woman to be snubbed without retaliating.
The effect of the judgment of the Consistory Court
on public opinion was adverse to the newly made
duchess, and her enemies made the most of it. The
decision enabled her to marry the duke — no one
14 The Amazing Duchess
could deny that — but how it was obtained was an-
other matter. Captain Hervey had nothing to gain
and everything to lose by defending the suit. It
was no advantage to him to be Elizabeth's husband,
rather the reverse. Why did he not let judgment
go by default ? The question is not difficult to
answer. Had he not put in a defence the contention
of the lady would have placed him in a somewhat
odious light. If only for the sake of appearances,
then, it was necessary for him to persist in his asser-
tion that he had been really married to Miss Chud-
leigh. The public at that time knew nothing of Anne
Cradock, and the easiest explanation of the situation
was the suggestion that the " notorious Miss Chud-
leigh " had connived with her husband in an u ar-
rangement " by which he was to take part in the
jactitation farce to secure the freedom which they
both desired. People were ready enough to believe
anything to the detriment of Miss Chudleigh, but
no one ventured to assert that she had not a legal
right to enter into matrimony. One of her bio-
graphers, in somewhat involved language, puts the
matter thus :
u During the life of the duke, a space of five years,
not a doubt was promulged, or a legal step taken
to impeach this marriage. The civilians (i.e. the
doctors of civil law), tenacious of their jurisdiction,
had held that the decree of the judges was not liable
to be disturbed by any extrinsic Court, and the duchess
rested perfectly contented under their opinions, which
though certainly sanctified by an acquiescence of ages,
will presently appear to have been founded in pre-
A Quiet Wedding 15
sumption, and contrary to the wise superintending
power of the common law of the land."
It is not to be supposed that Elizabeth was not
perfectly well aware of the rumours afloat concerning
her, and she was too shrewd to flaunt herself in the
public eye by any extravagant proceeding in regard
to her marriage with the duke. The biographer whom
we have just quoted says "the marriage was solemnised
with the utmost magnificence" ; but this was not the
case. The decision of the Consistory Court was given
on February loth, and on March 8th, barely four
weeks afterwards, the marriage took place. To have
made the affair one of pomp and ceremony would
have been to court rebuffs on every side. As a
matter of fact, both the date and the place were kept
secret, and until Lord Masham asked permission of
the King to be relieved from his court duties so that
he might attend the Duke of Kingston's wedding and
" give Mrs. Chudleigh away " no one knew where or
when the affair was to come off. Lord Masham was
a close friend of the duke's. They were boon com-
panions, and on more than one occasion got drunk
together ; while Lady Masham, when she was Miss
Charlotte Dives, was maid of honour with Miss Chud-
leigh to the Princess of Wales. The fact of the
marriage taking place in mid-Lent was one of the
points made by Foote in his Trip to Calais, the play
which very naturally brought on him the dire resent-
ment of the duchess, as will be related in its proper
place.
So quiet was the affair kept that, notwithstanding the
rumours current, many refused to accept the news as
1 6 The Amazing Duchess
true. Lady Mary Coke was quite sceptical, in spite of
what should have been positive evidence — the wearing
of wedding favours. She writes a few days after the
marriage : " At eight o'clock went to Northumberland
House. The duchess had said it was to be a private
party, but she received the company in the Gallery
and owned she expected a hundred people. She
shew'd me a letter from Edinburgh giving an account
of the great rejoicings on the news being received
of Mr. Douglas having carried his cause. Some of
the Duke of Kingston's relations coming in with
favours, I said to Lady Mary Fitzgerald, ' I see a great
many favours ; I think this late event outdoes all the
extraordinary ones that this year has produced.' She
agreed with me, but with a smile she said she thought
she ought to have had a favour. 'Tis most certain
Mrs. Chudleigh is her sister-in-law, and as certain that
she is not the Duke of Kingston's wife. Prince
Ernest said that the Duke of Kingston had sent
favours to him and his brother and asked me whether
he should have worn it. My answer was that, as he
had done me the honour to ask my advice, I should
think his highness need not wear it till their
Majesties wore theirs."
The '{ rejoicings " in consequence of " Mr. Douglas
having carried his cause " were not without interest to
the newly made Duchess of Kingston. She was now
on an equality with the " beautiful Miss Gunning "
whom the Duke of Hamilton married in such breath-
less haste at midnight in Keith's chapel. The duke
was dead, and the duchess had married again and was
now Duchess of Argyll. The Douglas " cause " was
The Douglas "Cause" 17
one which touched her grace very nearly simply be-
cause it concerned the interests of her first husband's
family, and she was very zealous in fighting on behalf
of the Douglas-Hamiltons, who had laid claim to the
Douglas estates on the failure of the elder male line of
the great house of Douglas. The lawsuit was long
and costly, and fierce was the feud of controversy. The
efforts of the Beautiful Duchess were in vain, for
ultimately the Douglas-Hamiltons were defeated, ap-
parently to the satisfaction of the majority of Scotsmen,
and no doubt to the disgust of her grace of Hamilton
and Argyll. Naturally the non-success of the lady
who had in a way once been her rival could not have
been unpleasing to her grace of Kingston. We cannot
resist giving a characteristic story of the times in refer-
ence to this lawsuit which agitated so many aristocratic
circles, and, together with " Mrs. Chudleigh," furnished
a subject for conversation. The heroine of the story
is the Beautiful Duchess and the narrator an eighteenth-
century lady whose letters have been published under
the title of " Gleanings from an Old Portfolio."
" Lady Harriet," writes the lady in question, " sur-
prises me by saying she has been here with the Duchess
of Douglas [who lived here till she died] and I am not
a little entertained with some anecdotes she told me
this morning of the Douglas cause. The duchess, she
said, after warming herself with a cup or two after
supper, began one night to talk very freely of her own
life and adventures, among other things relating her
marriage with the duke, their parting reconciliation, but
when she came to the great point she declared she
always favoured Mr. Douglas ; but what gave her first
VOL. II 2
1 8 The Amazing Duchess
a desire of supporting him to the utmost was a visit
she made to the Duchess of Argyll, whom she found
lolling in her usual nonchalant manner upon a settee
and beating the devil's tattoo with one leg over the
other. Down she set herself opposite, kand for some
time tried to enter into conversation, till at last tired
with the other's careless, contemptuous manner and
impertinent answers. * I looked her,' said she, c in
the face and thought to myself! Ay ; play awa' with
that bonny fit ! Play awa' and show your leg, and
what a bonny ankle ye ha' ! Gif my duke were alive
it micht cast dust in his e'en, but troth ! I am a woman
like yourself, and I'll gar ye rue your wagging your
fute at me ! ' So much for old stories.
The success of Mr. Douglas afforded Elizabeth's
staunch friend, the Duchess of Queensberry, an oppor-
tunity of showing her strong individuality. She gave
a ball in his honour, and, in inviting Lady Mary Coke,
told her " she would not have a bone [meaning she
admitted no hoops], not even in her chickings ; they
were, she said, to be boned before they came to table."
It may be taken for granted that no lady dared to
disobey the orders of the despotic duchess, and that for
once hoops were tabooed.
Walpole with great alacrity circulated a statement-
given on the authority of Lord Frederick Campbell — that
the Archbishop of Canterbury had refused to grant a
licence for the marriage of the Duke of Kingston. He
was misinformed, and the duchess gave a totally differ-
ent version in her defence before the Lords. However,
when the time came for the ceremony there was
evidently a hitch somewhere, if Thomas Whitehead,
The Duke's Valet Whitehead 19
who for years was the duke's valet, describes the scene
accurately. /
Whitehead compiled a series of " letters " published
in 1792, the title-page of the little volume running
as follows : " Original Anecdotes of the late Duke of
Kingston and Miss Chudleigh, alias Mrs. Hervey, alias
Countess of Bristol, alias Duchess of Kingston, inter-
posed with memoirs of several of the Nobility and
Gentry now living. Written in a series of letters to a
gentleman by Thomas Whitehead, many years servant
to the Duke of Kingston and now musician at Bath."
The " Advertisement " otherwise the Preface, informs
the reader that " the following letters were written
at the desire and for the amusement of a particular
friend. The author having since been much reduced
both in health and circumstances, was advised to publish
them as a means of adding to the little he now gets by
his profession. He was encouraged in this idea by the
rapid sale of a book entitled * Authentic Memoirs,
etc.,' containing but a collection from old newspapers
and magazines. However, he never would have
troubled the world with the present publication but for
some disappointments and ill-treatment he experienced ;
which the reader will discover in the body of the work.
Thus candidly confessing the motives that induced him
to appear in print, he relies on the public for protec-
tion, acknowledging his incapacity as an author, but
assuring them that, as this is the^rtf, so shall it be the
last time of his appearance in that character."
Whitehead is the typical domestic to be found in every
great eighteenth-century household. Sly, observant,
full of grumbling, always on the look-out for his own
2o The Amazing Duchess
interest, ever ready to take the side that paid him
best, and, we doubt not, cringing or insolent according
to circumstances, Mr. Thomas Whitehead might have
stepped direct from Swift's " Directions to Servants."
Although Whitehead at times indulges in scurrility
and coarseness, always aimed at his mistress, while
he is very rambling as to dates and occurrences, there
is no reason to doubt the general truth of many of his
statements. Here and there the pictures he draws
of the domestic life of his master and mistress are
piquant and ill-natured enough, but for the most
part they do not read like exaggerations, and we give
the letters in extemo wherever it is possible, and without
altering the author's phraseology and mis-spelling of
names. It will be noticed that with Whitehead Pierre-
pont is always Pierrepoint and Medows Meadows.
LETTER I
" She had great influence over his grace ; the duke
doted on her ; she knew it well, and took advantage
of it by tying him down, so that whenever she should
prove herself a single woman he should either marry
her or forfeit ten thousand pounds per ann. during
her life. Some few years before her second marriage
she was informed that the captain paid his devoirs
to Miss Moysey, of Bath, and soon after she received
a message from him, begging her to consent to a
divorce, and promising her a handsome gratuity.
Her answer was, not all the powers on earth could
or should persuade her to it ; that she would keep
as she was on purpose to plague him. She knew she
Whitehead's Letter 21
had the duke fast in her toils, and began about this
time to set her art to work. She took a journey
to Lanston [Lainston] for the certificate of her
marriage with Captain Hervey. Being arrived at
the house of the Rev. Mr. Auress [Amis] (the clergy-
man that performed the ceremony), Mrs. Auress
informed her she could not be admitted to see her
husband, as he was given over by the physicians —
they did not expect his life from one minute to the
other. This was no hindrance to her, as she soon
forced herself into his room and accomplished her
wish. This point being gained, her cunning soon
made her mistress of the register-book, the leaf
of which that mentioned her marriage she tore out.
Being thus possessed of both certificate and register,
on her return to town she employed Dr. Collier,
of Doctor's Commons, and defied the captain. * Now,'
says she, ' I can either be Countess of Bristol or
Duchess of Kingston, which I please.' Dr. Collier's
harvest now began ; he was continually invited to
dinners and jaunts to Pierrepoint Lodge — in short,
nothing could be done without the doctor. These
intimacies continued till the marriage of her and the
duke became no secret, the rumour of which, reaching
the Bishop of Bristol's ears in Ireland, he hurried
over to prevent it, if not too late, well knowing, should
it take place, it would give his brother an opportunity
of marrying Miss Moysey, of Bath, which (should
they have issue) would prevent his (the bishop's)
children from enjoying the paternal estate, the captain
being the eldest brother. Miss Chudleigh soon
received intelligence of the bishop's arrival in London ;
22 The Amazing Duchess
this set her wits to work to find the Duke of Kingston
and be married that very day, which she eventually
accomplished.
" I make no doubt, sir, but you think it extra-
ordinary odd, as Captain Hervey wanted to get a
divorce, that he did not endeavour to prove a crim.
con. with the duke, but that would have been
impossible unless she had been pregnant, while the
duke, his grace, being always on his guard, and so
extremely cautious that, the twelve years before he
married, I never saw him kiss her lips, not even
when he took leave of her at Harwich, at her taking
shipping for Saxony to pay a visit to the Electoress,
nor at her return to England, I being present each
time. He took particular care to bolt his chamber
door on going to bed, either in town or country ;
indeed, when Miss C. had been at Thoresby or
Pierrepoint Lodge the housemaids have frequently
brought me a white pocket handkerchief of the
duke's^ which they said, with a smile, they found in
making her bed. I believe this to be the strongest
proof he could have obtained, had he sued for a
divorce."
Mr. Whitehead, it will be seen, starts with what
nowadays would be called a " sensation." The
" tying down " of the duke and the forfeiting of
" ten thousand pounds per ann.," we are disposed to
think, are fairy tales, and so also is the offer of Captain
Hervey to present his wife with a handsome gratuity
if she would but assent to a divorce. This is a
variation on the original fable. Hitherto it was
The Archbishop's Licence 23
Miss Chudleigh who wanted to bribe Captain Hervey,
now it is Captain Hervey who is bribing Miss
Chudleigh. The popular and inaccurate version of
the business of the register is repeated, but in a
more muddled form, and Miss Chudleigh's defiance
of the captain and her triumphant utterances are
simply inventions. Whitehead apparently disliked
Dr. Collier, for no other reason than that he was
the proctor engaged by Miss Chudleigh to conduct
the jactitation suit. Dr. Collier does not seem to
have acted otherwise than in a legal and regular
manner. Elizabeth's statement to the Lords was
that, after the Consistory Court had given its decision,
she sent a message to the Archbishop of Canterbury
by Dr. Collier asking his grace whether she was free,
and that the archbishop, after taking time to consider
the matter, told Dr. Collier that, in his opinion, she
was a single woman, and might marry again, and,
in confirmation of his sentiments, the archbishop
granted a special licence. It is quite certain that
she and the duke were married under this licence,
and, justified by the opinion of the highest prelate
in the land, Miss Chudleigh, as she believed herself
to be, might well go through the marriage ceremony
with confidence.
Whitehead's reference to the Bishop of Derry is,
in a way, borne out by a passage in a letter from
the Countess Temple to her husband. Lady Temple
writes : " They say the Bishop of Derry is coming
to annul the match, and that he has a living witness
to produce." Was this " living witness " Anne
Cradock ? Had the -bishop heard of Anne, and did
H The Amazing Duchess
he want to spite his brother, with whom he was on
bad terms ? This is quite possible, and it may be
that Elizabeth, apprehending some interference from
the bishop, hurried on the marriage, and that his
lordship, finding he had been forestalled, abandoned
his journey. At all events, there is no evidence that
he left Ireland, nor that he took any steps to stay the
ceremony. As for the last portion of the letter, it
may be dismissed as an echo of tittle-tattle in the
servants' hall.
CHAPTER II
A hurried marriage — Whitehead's description of the wedding — The
duchess is presented at Court — Her wonderful dress — A cold
reception by Queen Charlotte — The duchess's lady attendants.
IN Whitehead's second letter is given the only
account of the duke's wedding which is known
to exist. We have only Whitehead's word for what
happened, but we cannot help thinking it reads true.
It is easy to understand the valet's laments over the
step his grace was about to take and his dismal
forebodings. The Duke of Kingston was one of the
easiest-natured men possible, and Mr. Whitehead for
twelve years had done pretty much as he liked, and
probably had never neglected an opportunity of
feathering his nest. This happy state of things was
now at an end. The day of the wedding was the
beginning of a new experience. He was to leave
the duke's house in Arlington Street, where, in the
servants' hall, he had been looked up to as a personage
in favour with the duke and of great importance in
consequence, and be lodged in Kingston House under
the control of the autocratic duchess. It must have
been intensely galling to the gentleman's gentleman,
and it is not wonderful that he took every opportunity
26 The Amazing Duchess
of revenging himself when, pen in hand, he sat down
to outdo the " Authentic Detail."
\
LETTER II
"The day of marriage, which ought to be the
beginning of happiness, proved the beginning of sorrow
to the duke ; which will appear in the following facts.
The ceremony was performed in the duke's dressing-
room, at his grace's house in Arlington Street, in
the parish of St. Margaret, Westminster, about eight
o'clock in the evening, on the 8th day of March,
1769.
u In the morning of that day Sir James Laroche
waited on the duke to breakfast, and take a walk
into the city, which they frequently did. About
one o'clock the same day Miss C. called in her
vis-a-vtsy to enquire if the duke was at home. The
porter informed her of his going out with Sir James.
She immediately departed in search of him, and at
about half-past three (which was his grace's usual
time) returned again, seemingly much agitated. The
porter was ordered to call Whitehead. When I came
to her she asked if I knew where the duke was gone.
I told her he was gone into the city with Sir James,
but to what part I knew not. She ordered her carriage
to turn about and go to Knightsbridge. It was near
five o'clock before his grace and Sir James returned,
which was very late, as he seldom exceeded the hour of
four. In about an hour she returned, and was ushered
into the duke's apartment, he being just come home.
Ten minutes afterwards all the footmen and chairmen
Whitehead Describes the Wedding 27
were dispatched to different parts, for lawyers, clergy-
men, etc., etc. ; and in two hours they were all
assembled. Just before the ceremony began I was
desired to inform those upper servants, who wished
to see it performed, that they might go into the duke's
dressing-room. I believe not one of his grace's
servants, except myself, took advantage of this
invitation ; nor should I, had it not been by his
command, for it was to me the worst ceremony I
ever saw in my life. When it was over the duke
desired me to order his coach immediately, at the same
time told me to put up his dressing-things and a
few other articles to send to Knightsbridge, and to be
there myself as soon as possible. This being settled,
and the company all departed, I took leave of my good
twelve-years' fellow-servants, to mix with others whom
I knew to be hypocritical, and at a house where I durst
speak my mind to no one, except a footman that
went with us. By the time I got to this unwelcome
place, to me, the dinner and supper (being one meal),
was brought into the steward's, or rather the house-
keeper's room. You may believe me, sir, when I
tell you that I had but little stomach to this repast,
though that was the last day of my board wages. The
first toast given was, ' May the single be married,
and the married happy ! ' As I could not dissemble,
I took the liberty to change it to " May the married be
single, and the single happy ! " They seemed thunder-
struck, but asked me no questions. Soon after I was
shewn the duke's dressing-room, when the maid gave
me a night-cap for his grace, trimmed with the finest
point lace. ' What is this ? ' said the duke to me
28 The Amazing Duchess
when he came to undress. I answered, ' The duchess
sent it and desired your grace would wear it.' This
was the first time I had the honour of calling her
duchess ; it was uttered very faintly. The next
morning he did not look with that cheerfulness as
usual the twelve years before ; I never saw him
appear so dejected. When I went to dress him he
presented me with the cap, saying, c Here, Whitehead,
take this ; never let me see it again.' Alas ! I thought
the cap would not fit him.
"... For a few months after the time was chiefly
taken up in preparing the duchess's wedding suit, for
her appearance at Court. She was so loaded with
jewels, pearls, etc., that she could scarcely move :
indeed, it was thought that no bride ever appeared at
St. James's so richly dressed. When the bustle of
visiting, etc., was over, the duke made his will, and it
was signed at Kingston House by three very creditable^
respectable men. There, sir, were L s, a linen-
draper, who then kept a shop not a hundred miles
from Coventry Street, Haymarket ; Sip — i, a performer
on the violoncello, since turned wine merchant ; and
one E s, an apothecary at Knightsbridge. These
gentlemen, it was observed, might have done well
enough for a cobbler, not for a duke ; but, indeed,
they were of the duchess's acquaintance ; the two last
travelled abroad with her a few years before the duke
married, and were very necessary attendants, for often
at dinner her grace, willing to convince her guests
of the goodness of her viands, overcharged, brought on
a vomiting : she then retired, and the apothecary was
very useful.
The Duchess's Household 29
"... The Jew musician used to attend her grace
after an extra glass in the afternoon, while she dozed
on the sopha. She had an excellent strong tone
through her nostrils when asleep, which overpowered
his instrument ; but while awake rather through her
throat piano. . . . This morning the maids were
whispering and tittering to each other. I soon arrived
at the bottom of the secret, which was this : The
duchess, undressing the wedding night, speaking to her
maid, says : ' What do you think, Sally ? ' 'I don't
know, ma'am.' c Ma'am, indeed ! Don't you know
that I'm a duchess now ? I desire, therefore, you will
remember for the future to pay me the respect due
to my rank by answering me " Yes," or " No, and
please your grace," or " I will, and please you, my
lady duchess." The girl begged pardon, and promised
to remember her grace's instructions."
It would appear that Elizabeth's second marriage
was as hurried and as scrambling as her first. If
Whitehead's account is true, and there is no reason
why it should not be, the affair suggests an eighteenth-
century comedy more than a scene in real life. We
have all the elements of drama in the duke sallying
forth as usual for a placid constitutional with his friend,
Sir James Laroche (who afterwards stood bail for the
duchess in the time of her great trouble), in the hasty
visit of the lady on matrimonial thoughts intent, in
her vexation at finding her prospective husband absent,
in her excited and fruitless chase after him up and
down the town, in her return in the afternoon, probably
boiling over with passion at her failure. We may be
30 The Amazing Duchess
pretty sure Whitehead was not inclined to give her
much information, and one can imagine the lady
speeding back to her Knightsbridge house more deter-
mined than ever to finish the business that very day.
What had happened to make the marriage a matter of
such urgency ? Was she really afraid of the coming
of the Bishop of Derry ? There is no information on
this point. One of Elizabeth's strongly marked
characteristics was her self-reliance and individuality.
She asked no one's advice when faced with a crisis, but
went her own secretive, masterful way. The circum-
stances connected with her marriage to the duke are as
elusive as those of every other episode of her eventful
life.
It is, however, very clear that, once married, the
duke and duchess were constant companions. Immedi-
ately after the ceremony she carried him off to Kingston
House, and from that time to his death, a little more
than four years after, they were seldom separated.
Whitehead's insinuations as to her tyranny are not to
be accepted without question. The Duke of Kingston's
brain was never robust, and there is every probability
that at the time of his marriage the creeping paralysis,
or palsy, as it was called, was beginning to assert
itself. The duchess was always with him, probably
because she recognised the necessity of constant watch-
fulness.
From the very first the gentleman's gentleman makes
no secret of his hatred towards his mistress, and one
can imagine his sneer and his disgust when he had to
speak of her for the first time as " duchess," even
though " it was uttered very faintly." The fellow
Presented at Court 31
evidently fancied himself a humorist, and hence the
introduction of the sprightly talk from the servants'
hall. His comments on the preparations of the duchess
for her presentation at Court on her marriage are
probably well founded. Elizabeth does not appear to
have had a particularly cordial reception at the Court.
The Countess of Temple, describing the drawing-room
and the presentation of the duchess, says : " The King
hardly spoke to the bride, the Queen little more.
Lord Bristol did not appear. Augustus chose to be
there, and said he came to take one look at his widow.
She had a white-and-silver [dress] and pearl lappets,
which were the most curious piece of workmanship
that was ever seen ; they looked like the finest Brussels
point. Nobody ever saw such before. The pearl gown
is not finished." Lady Temple adds : " Politics subside,
and nobody talks of anything but the Chudleigh farce,
which may end in a tragedy. The Duke of Kingston
gets drunk every day with Lord Masham, which must
be to drown care, for that vice has never been reckoned
amongst his faults." Of the wondrous lappets,
Walpole sarcastically says they were worn " as a
proof of her purity and poverty." Lord Masham
was a Lord of the King's Bedchamber. When
he died, in 1776, the Barony of Masham became
extinct.
In his third letter, Whitehead harks back to the
journey Elizabeth took to Saxony for the benefit of
her health, as she alleged, but really to get rid of her
ill-humour, and to read the inconstant duke a lesson
in consequence of the affair of the little milliner of
Cranbourne Alley. The valet is provokingly erratic
32 The Amazing Duchess
in his reminiscences, and oftentimes one has to judge
by the context when and where the incidents he is
relating took place.
LETTER III
" I think I cannot amuse you better at present than
by giving you a description of the coach ordered for
the Saxony journey, as mentioned in my last letter.
It was bespoke of Mr. Wright, in Long Acre. You
must observe, this was Miss C.'s first journey thither
while she was maid of honour. There was not a
foreign ambassador at our Court but Miss C. provided
an entertainment for, at some time or other ; amongst
whom was one from the Electoress of Saxony. The
high character he gave his mistress of Miss C. induced
her highness to send her a pressing invitation to her
Court, which she readily accepted. Accordingly the
carriage was ordered of Mr. W., as aforesaid. This
was to convey her over the Alps, etc., in her conti-
nental journey. It was to hold four or five persons
on occasion ; to be made very strong, without a box
(instead of which a large trunk was contrived, to hold
her clothes, with a seat on the cover, having elbows
and back like an easy-chair : it was fixed on the spring
of the fore-carriage). Her domestics were a man-
servant of her own and the Marquis of Granby's
hussar, who, by permission of the marquis, attended
her through the country — he being well acquainted
with it, having been in the German service some time
before. He was a very active, clever, handsome fellow,
and a great favourite with the marquis, so that he
GEORGE III. ON HIS ACCESSION
33 .
Her " Maids of Honour" 35
always attended him wherever he went ; he was with
him at his unfortunate death, afterwards, at Scarborough.
I need not acquaint you, sir, that the marquis was
one of the most free-hearted noblemen, both in house-
keeping and private charities ; 'tis a pity this should
accelerate his much-lamented death, which certainly
was the case. I shall proceed (begging your pardon
for this small digression) to mention Miss C.'s other
attendants. She had at this time a Miss Bate, daughter
of Captain Shuckburgh's wife, by a former husband,
and sister of Sir George Shuckburgh ; she was her com-
panion many years before, and a few years after, her
marriage with the duke, but was obliged at last to take
French leave, owing to the ill-treatment she received.
This was about a year after I quitted the duke's ser-
vice, for the same reason, and came to reside in Bath.
There was likewise companion to Miss C. at the same
time a Miss Penrose, daughter of the Rev. W. Pen-
rose, of Penryn, in Cornwall. Of both these ladies I
intend to give you some account hereafter. . . . That
summer the duke visited Weymouth for the pleasure
of bathing. This place his grace is very fond of ; he
much regretted the absence of Miss C., being a very
shy man, and not fond of new faces. Miss Bell Chud-
leigh, her cousin, was then at Weymouth [her mother
lived about twenty miles from there, at Chalmington,
twelve miles from Dorchester]. Whether she was
placed there to watch the duke, or not, I cannot say,
but I am certain they need not have doubted his con-
stancy, as I could, I think, safely swear that he never
knew any other woman after his first connection with
Miss C. — an instance of fidelity which but few in his
VOL. ii 3
36 The Amazing Duchess
grace's situation would have shown for her. Miss Bell
had some ladies with her, whose names I have now
forgotten. She was the only female his grace visited
during his stay there. He generally rode in the morning,
after bathing, until dinner-time, and in the afternoon
paid Miss Bell a visit to tea. The duke was ever fond
of keeping good hours."
The travelling carriage which Mr. Whitehead de-
scribes with more freedom and attention to details
than we dare reproduce would seem to have been very
much like that constructed for Buonaparte for use
while on his campaigns. No doubt it was convenient
enough, and unless the valet has had recourse to his
invention (and malice), was a proof of the lady's
originality.
The Marquis of Granby's hussar who acted as
Elizabeth's attendant was, according to Sir Joshua
Reynolds, a Swiss in the Hessian Hussars. He was
said to have rendered some timely service in action
to the Marquis of Granby, who, in consequence, em-
ployed and befriended him. He accompanied Lord
Granby to England after the close of the German
War, continuing as his lordship's devoted attendant
until the former's death. The marquis was a friend
of the duke's, and lived in Rutland House, next to
Miss Chudleigh's house in Knightsbridge.
Miss Bell Chudleigh belonged to a branch of
the family settled in Dorsetshire. By this time his
grace apparently had got tired of the milliner, and,
having sent her about her business, was amusing
himself at Weymouth, which the King was beginning
Her Cousin Bell Chudleigh 37
to patronise. Whitehead, of course, cannot resist a
thrust at Elizabeth, and his insinuation that she had
put her cousin to spy on the duke is wholly without
foundation. The remark that * the duke was ever
fond of keeping good hours ' bears out Lady Temple's
statement as to his habits of sobriety.
\
CHAPTER III
The duchess's musical evenings — Miss Bate and Miss Penrose — The
heroine of Windsor Castle stairs — Whitehead rakes up an old
scandal and adds a new one — The Duke of Kingston's Light
Horse : its history — Field, the duchess's lawyer.
LETTER IV. is evidently intended to throw dis-
credit upon the duchess, by a side-issue. It
is quite outside the thread of the narrative, and may
be left in the obscurity which befits it.
LETTER V
u Miss Chudleigh's second journey to the Electoress
of Saxony was, I believe, two years only after the
first. The duke was at that time at his seat at
Thoresby, and Miss C. with him on a visit, which
she often paid him in the summer when she was not
in waiting. She had not been there more than a
week before she received a letter from the Electoress
(which was forwarded from her house at Knightsbridge
under cover to the duke) informing her that her
highness was taken ill -of the small-pox, and could
not die in peace without once more beholding her
dear Miss Chudleigh, and begging she would im-
mediately set out for her palace. A great bustle
38
Musical Evenings at Kingston House 39
now commenced. Miss C. gave orders to prepare
all things for her departure, as she intended to set
off that very night for Knightsbridge, which she
did. Miss Bate was to attend her, she having been
with her on her first foreign journey.
"... As I promised in a former letter to give
you some further account of this young lady, I think
this place not very improper for that purpose. I have
already acquainted you with her parentage ; she was
a very agreeable young woman. On Col. Shuck-
burgh's decease, her mother enjoyed the widow's
pension till her death, when it was continued to
Miss Bate, at the instance of Miss Chudleigh. This
was one good act of hers, however, you will say ;
but, sir, she afterwards forfeited the applause she
would otherwise have deserved by endeavouring to
get Mr. Field, the attorney, to make a codicil to the
duke's will, wherein he had left Miss Bate £60 per
annum for her life. This was just before his death.
Had Mr. Field consented, the major part of the will
would have been set aside, and Miss Bate become
one of the sufferers. She was an excellent singer, had
a strong, pleasing voice, and a very good method. At
Miss C.'s private concerts she sung with Miss Brent,
pupil to the late Dr. Arne ; their voices were so much
alike that, were you in the next room, you would
have found it impossible to distinguish one from the
other. Miss Bate sung * The Soldier tired,' and ' I
know that my Redeemer liveth,' most admirably.
She resembled Miss Brent as much in stature and
features as in voice. Soon after the duke's death
Miss Bate's ill-treatment obliged her to quit the
4° The Amazing Duchess
duchess, as already related ; she came to Bath, and
soon married the Rev. Mr. Williams, of Lad-Dock,
near Truro, in Cornwall, whom she certainly makes
happy, being mistress of an amiable temper and
disposition.
<c . . . Of Miss Penrose I can only say that she
was a beautiful, fine-grown young woman, about
nineteen or twenty. She became the favourite of the
duchess on Miss Bate's leaving her ; was with her
grace in France, where she soon experienced the same
treatment as her predecessor. This determined her
to follow her example, which she accomplished not
long after, in getting well married, and returning to
her parents in Cornwall.
"... As the duchess had now but one maid of
honour left (the name her upper maids usually went
by) she raised her to succeed Miss Penrose. This
young woman she brought from Plymouth ; her sur-
name, or parentage, I am unacquainted with, as she
always went by the name of Betty. She was of short
stature, but had a very pretty face. Betty being with
the duchess, while Miss C., in Saxony, a footman of
hers, highly favoured on account of his musical abilities
(who used to play a second horn to Lilly, whose son
the duchess promoted to be her page afterwards in
France), paid his addresses to her ; his name was
Presly, a German. Betty received his devoirs very
favourably, though he was as ordinary a man as ever
you saw. Miss C. was soon informed of their mutual
attachment by one of her spies, and poor Betty lost
her lover by the following stratagem. Miss C. sent
for Presly, told him she had left something at Calais,
The Duke's Friends 41
which he must return for, as he was the only person
she could confide in ; desired him to pack up what
things he should want on his journey, while she
finished her letter, which he must deliver to her
steward, Mr. , the instant he arrived. When
the steward received it, he found another letter
directed to Kingston House, with orders to send
Presly immediately ; which he did, telling him that
what Miss C. wanted was left there. After refreshing
himself he set off for England, and at Kingston House
delivered it to Mr. Williams ; this contained his
discharge in Miss Chudleigh's own handwriting ; how-
ever, he soon got a much better place.
" . . . The duke, finding Miss C. was determined
to set off that night, ordered his horses to her carriage,
to drive her to Nottingham ; this, I have observed
in a former letter, was twenty-three miles over the
the forest. It was twelve o'clock when she set out,
a very dark night, and not one mile of turnpike
road ; however, the boys, by going it so often, took
her safe to Sims's, the f Black-moor's-head,' in about
five hours. While she was gone this journey Colonel
Litchfield and Captain George Brown were continually
with the duke : these gentlemen had apartments at
his grace's house whenever he resided in Notting-
hamshire ; they were both officers in the regiment of
light horse which the duke raised during the rebellion
in the year 1745, and the first ever raised in England.
I believe the duke's stay at Thoresby, after Miss C.'s
departure, might be near three weeks ; during that
period he appeared more thoughtful than usual. The
colonel and captain, guessing at the cause of his
42 The Amazing Duchess
uneasiness, took the liberty of addressing him on the
subject : c My lord, Elizabeth, the servant of Miss
Chudleigh, is a fine young woman; we wish your
grace would . . . marry her. You do not want
a fortune, -but an heir to your estate. . . .' The
duke turned a deaf ear to their advice. Miss C.
so hung on his heart that it was out of the power
of any to persuade him to shake her off. Had he
followed their instructions I think he would have lived
many years longer than he did, as I am confident
that he never enjoyed a week's happiness after his
unfortunate marriage. This young woman's name
was Elizabeth Skinner ; she was (as I have heard
the story) left in a basket, when an infant, at the
door of Mrs. Chudleigh, then housekeeper at Windsor
Castle, who brought her up and gave her a good
education ; she was supposed to be the illegitimate
child of one of Miss Chudleigh's brothers who was
in the army, and killed abroad. At the age of
sixteen Miss C. took her for one of her maids of
honour, as she called her upper maids. Indeed, it
was currently reported by some people that she was
Miss Chudleigh's own child by the duke ; that she
lay in of her at a house she then had at Finchley. If
so, she was very deficient in maternal tenderness, as
I really believe she broke the poor girl's heart. She
died at Thoresby, the year after the duke's marriage.
The day before her death I went to see her ; she told
me she was very ill, and, if she quitted this life, she
hoped the duchess would behave better to her
successor. Within half an hour of her decease she
sat up in her chamber, but soon desired to be put to
The Windsor Castle Foundling 43
bed; she there asked for pen, ink, and paper; which
being brought, she took the pen in her hand, at-
tempted to write, and died in a moment. The
duchess seemed to be shocked at the news of her
death ; ordered everything to be ready for the funeral,
and said : * Poor Elizabeth ! she shall have a monu-
ment.' Perhaps her grace might have bespoken one,
but the mason forgot to make it, and, to her honour
be it mentioned, poor Elizabeth was ordered to be
buried close to the park pales. I saw her grave when
I left Thoresby, about three years afterwards ; there
was no monument or tomb-stone ; and, should any
of her remains be found hereafter, it will be thought
(not without reason) she destroyed herself, being
interred the north side of the chapel."
Whitehead here takes up an old scandal. The
story of the finding of an infant on the stairs leading
to Mrs. Chudleigh's apartment in Windsor Castle
we have already dealt with (see vol. i. p. 176), and
was doubtless true ; but there is no foundation for
the rumour connecting the affair with Elizabeth.
The Duke of Kingston's Light Horse, which the
duke raised at his own expense during the rebellion
of 1745, deserves a passing notice. The regiment
rendered good service throughout the rebellion and
practically originated the reinstatement of light
dragoon regiments which had fallen somewhat into
disrepute in the British Army. The horses were
distinguished by long tails, an example followed in
1 747 by " Cumberland's Dragoons," a fashion after-
wards abandoned when cavalry chargers were docked
44 The Amazing Duchess
to an absurd and cruel degree, and on more than
one critical occasion, as Mr. Walter Evelyn Sutton
tells us, the consequent torment of flies came near
to stampeding them at the battle of Culloden.
Kingston's Light Horse greatly distinguished itself
in this engagement, and three troopers in it, Not-
tingham butchers by trade, were credited with killing
fourteen of the enemy.
Shortly after marching south to Leicester, it was
disbanded, to be revived after a fashion in the
early part of George III.'s reign, when it was
called Elliot's Light Horse (now the I5th King's
Hussars). Previous to the organisation of " Honey-
wood's " and " Elliot's " Light Horse, light cavalry
had been during a considerable time out of vogue
in the British Army. A light troop only was attached
to certain heavy dragoon regiments, but the services
of " Kingston's Light Horse " during the rising of
'45, and the " Duke of Cumberland's Dragoons "
during the Flanders campaign of 1747, had proved
the efficiency of this arm. " Elliot's " was a sort of
lineal descendant of both of these regiments and was
recruited from a superior class to that ordinarily
available, and, strange to say, included a large body
of ci-devant tailors.
In his reference to Miss Bate, Whitehead is the
characteristic tale-bearer of vague whispers, and we are
left in doubt as to what the young lady's ill-treatment
by the Duchess was. If the words mean anything at
all, Whitehead would seem to be thinking of her legacy
and regarded as a grievance something which never
happened. Elizabeth's negotiations with Field took
Her Lawyer Field 45
place while the duke was lying at the point of death,
and she was then so entirely engrossed by the crisis in
her affairs, she was not likely to give Miss Bate a
thought. Miss Penrose proved to be a traitress to
her mistress in regard to Foote, as will be seen
later on.
The attorney Field, who makes his appearance at
intervals through a series of years, was evidently quite
in the confidence of Elizabeth and no doubt knew the
true story of her marriage. It may be that Elizabeth
acted on his advice when she took the fateful journey
to Lainston to settle the question of the register, and
it is pretty certain that it was he who suggested utilising
the antiquated process of jactitation of marriage. Such
a suggestion could only have come from a lawyer.
Field was useful to Elizabeth in ways other than in
questions of law. He helped her to raise money when
she was in debt and difficulty, and she gave him a
letter of attorney by virtue of which he received her
salary (which was £400 and not £600 as Walpole
states), as maid of honour, no doubt by way of repay-
ment of the loans she had effected. Later on Mr.
Field played a most important part in several vital
matters.
As to the story of Elizabeth Skinner, the foundling
of Windsor Castle, being a better wife for the Duke
than Elizabeth, it reads remarkably like the conclusion
which servants chattering about the affairs of their
master and mistress might come to. No doubt White-
head used his eyes and his ears, but he is hardly likely
to have overheard the conversation which he sets down
with such precision, accompanied by plain speaking
46 The Amazing Duchess
which we deem unnecessary to quote. At the same
time, in the free talk which men indulged in over their
wine in those days, it is quite possible the colonel and
the captain might have suggested something of the
kind to their host. The malice contained in the last
words of the letter is pretty evident.
CHAPTER IV
Whitehead's letters continued — A reminiscence of Madame de la Touche
— The duchess's passion for angling — A day's fishing at Rickmans-
worth — Whitehead's allegations against Dr. Collier, the duchess's
proctor — How the duke and duchess journeyed to Weymouth —
Whitehead's stories of the duchess's tyranny.
MR. WHITEHEAD is fond of reverting to the
halcyon times when everything was easy for
him and no questions were asked as to where the
money went. He dwells with fond remembrance on
the days of Madame de la Touche, and does not omit
to draw a comparison between the French lady and the
duchess, of course to the disadvantage of the latter.
But according to a reference to Madame in a French
biography of the duchess, one of the reasons given by
the duke why he was anxious to sever his association
with her was the lady's extravagance. Probably she
never troubled Whitehead to give an account of his
expenditure, and naturally she would be popular. The
careless, good-natured duke, who would rather pay
twice over than dispute a tradesman's account, was
exactly the kind of master to suit Mr. Whitehead,
who, we may be sure, always had a keen eye for his
" perks." When the duchess came on the scene no
47
48 The Amazing Duchess
doubt she " wanted to know, you know," greatly to
Mr. Whitehead's disgust.
LETTER VI
" You have often heard me mention Madame la
Touche. I saw some lines written in one of the
pavilions, on the right side of the large cascade,
opposite the southern part of the house at Thoresby,
supposed to be by her ; they were :
" ' There is a lady in this pavilion who wishes the
Duke of Kingston a good wife.
" ' Give me the duke, and ask me what's my bliss.
I'd clasp him in my arms and answer, This.
I would not part with what my arms enfold
For rocks of diamonds, or for hills of gold.'
" Madame la Touche was a fine, comely woman, of
a brown complexion and black hair ; the duke fell in
love with her at Paris, in his younger days. She was
the wife of some person of consequence ; an elopement
soon took place. A vessel being ready to receive her,
the captain, whose name was Joncceur, brought her to
England, and had apartments given him by the duke
at his house in Arlington Street, where he continued
till he died, as he durst not return to France. Madame
la Touche did the honours of the duke's table like
a duchess for many years, had the love of all the
neighbourhood for her bountiful disposition ; yet she
rather added to, than lessened his grace's fortune, by
good economy. When Miss Chudleigh began her
fascinating arts his passion for La Touche became
cooler every day, till their separation; on her departure
Madame de la Touche 49
for France there was not a dry eye amongst the poor
people near Thoresby. She had a small cottage and
menagerie (manage ?) in Cocklewood [which wood is
mentioned in The Miller of Mansfield] within view of
Allerton and the church and spire of Edwinstow.
Here she used to employ her leisure hours ; her chief
delight was in pleasing the duke and endeavouring to
make him happy. What a wide difference between
her and her successor ! the latter always teasing him
for money to throw away in jewels, or other finery,
except what she deposited in the French funds, which
was very considerable, and driving his friends from his
house and person, whilst the former welcomed them
with unaffected complacency and respect. She died in
France about a year or two before the duke's marriage.
The woman servant she took abroad with her was a
native of Edwinstow, her name Betty Bean. At her
mistress's death Betty Bean returned to her native
village (Madame de Beghn) with an annuity sufficient
to keep her for life. In the room where Captain
Joncoeur died hung the portrait of Madame la Touche.
When the duchess, some years after, had taken every-
thing from Arlington Street house that she chose — this
apartment was Mr. Poynter's — she told him he might
take that picture. He thanked her grace, accepted it,
and I make no doubt but he has it to this day, in
memory of her goodness to the duke and family. I
should have remarked to you, sir, that after La Touche's
elopement from France the duke never revisited Paris,
for fear of the resentment of her friends ; 'tis reported
they burnt him in effigy.
50 The Amazing Duchess
" A circumstance or two just occurs to my memory,
that happened before Miss Chudleigh's marriage with
his grace, which shewed her dislike to me, though for
what reason I know not, as I always paid her proper
respect ; indeed, rather more before than after she was
duchess. On a journey from the West, we put up at
the * Red Lion ' in Bagshot. The moment I got off my
horse I chose a chamber for the duke. When I had
got the bed made, and his grace's things properly
disposed, Miss C. desired to be shown the rooms.
* Whose room is this ? ' said she, pointing to the
duke's. When the maid informed her that I had
chosen it for his grace she began abusing me to her,
and her own woman, telling them I was an impudent
fellow to dare choose before her. Now, whether this
was to blind the chambermaid of the inn, or not, I
cannot tell, but should rather think it was, as she
fixed upon the very next room for herself.
" Another time she was with the duke in Bucking-
hamshire, at an old mansion that belonged to his
estate near Ainslip (? Ruislip). His grace sent me
to the town, while he took an airing on horseback.
As I passed through the yard, in company of some
of Miss C.'s servants, Miss C. was angling in the
well. However incredible this may seem, it is posi-
tively true. At my return she was in the same
situation. I do not believe she caught many fish ;
would to Heaven her hook had not been baited for
the duke ! When she saw me she uttered a whole
volley of abuse, saying she would inform his grace
I had taken the servants out a-drinking ; that I was
CATHERINE HYDE, DUCHESS OF QUEENSBERRY
Her Love for Angling 53
a sottish, idle fellow. It was in vain to answer her ;
she would not hear a word."
LETTER VII
" When Miss Chudleigh quitted her villa at Finchley
she took Percy Lodge, near Colnbrook, for the con-
venience of receiving the duke's visits more privately,
till her house was finished at Knightsbridge. This
was a delightful spot, though a few days soon tired
them. When this was the case, cold provisions were
got ready, to take the next morning to a little farm-
house near Rickmansworth, close to the water, where
was the best trout-fishing and the largest and finest
coloured fish. Hither they repaired in his grace's
coach, passing away the time till evening, when they
returned to Percy Lodge, frequently without catching
a single fish. This was the usual jaunt every other
day, till Miss C. was obliged to attend in waiting. The
next summer, her house at Knightsbridge being finished,
Percy Lodge was given up ; the piece of water near
Rickmansworth was then taken by the duke at the yearly
rent of £ 10, of one farmer Budd — though, poor fellow !
he did not deserve the name of farmer, for of all the
poverty-struck places I ever saw, this was the worst.
A new route now took place : the party to Budd's
farm set out from London of an afternoon, lying at
the White Horse at Uxbridge, where they met Miss
Chudleigh and companion, with a man and maid-
servant. I took care to provide plenty of cold victuals
and beer, that poor Budd's family might have a
bellyful (which I believe was seldom the case, but
VOL. ii 4
54 The Amazing Duchess
upon these occasions), sending the provisions to the
little farm, with plenty of rum for Miss C. to put in
her shoes. I have known her use two quarts in a day,
being obliged to change her clothes twice or thrice
during that time, standing from morning till evening
in the wet, sometimes, too, without catching a single
fish. When they began angling I set about preparing
a stew of chickens (always acting as cook on these
occasions) which was done in a silver pan, fixed in a
box about twice the size of a large tea-chest, keeping
it hot, till wanted, by an iron-heater put in the box.
After dinner, by the time the empty things were
packed up and sent away, coffee and tea succeeded,
which soon brought on night, when we returned to
our inn. This continued sometimes for three or four
days successively, if they met with sport. I believe
every pound of fish they caught, on an average, cost
the duke five guineas, as he never grudged any
expense attending these parties. I knew him pay
Lowe, fishing-tackle maker, in Drury Lane, a bill
of £50. Soon after Lowe's death his executors
brought another account of the same articles. I in-
formed his grace he had paid it to Mr. Lowe
himself; that I saw the receipt given at the bottom
of the bill, and if he would search the box where
those bills were kept that he paid himself he would
certainly find it. He answered he did not know
where to look for it immediately, but believed he
had paid it. However, it did not signify ; and he
paid it over again : thus he lost ^50. These jaunts
to Budd's did not last very long ; for, on the pur-
chasing of Pierrepoint Lodge, Budd's water was given
An Unlikely Story 55
up, to the poor man's sorrow and my comfort : for,
as Hodge says in The Maid of the Mill, c I had a
wearisome time of it.' '
LETTER VIII
" A few days after the duke's marriage his grace
asked me if I knew where Dr. Collier lived. I told
him I did not. He directed me, and said, 'Take
that ; it contains £300. You must see the doctor
yourself and give it into his own hands.' Accordingly
I waited on him at his apartments in Doctor's
Commons. He received me very politely and de-
sired I might be seated while he examined the
contents. On opening the letter he seemed surprised,
changed countenance several times, and at last told
me it required no answer. I believe he expected as
many thousands, through the influence of the duchess.
But her turn was now served — his assistance was no
longer wanted ; consequently no more invitations or
presents for the doctor. I heard him mutter some-
thing to another limb of the law as I went out,
intimating, as near as I could understand, that he
would be even with them yet. In a day or two
afterwards we were ordered to remove to Pierrepoint
Lodge, in Surrey, till the preparations were ready
for their graces' appearance at Court. We set off,
accompanied by Miss Bell Chudleigh, Miss Bate,
and servants. The only person that seemed pleased
with this journey was the duchess, as at every inn
we stopped the landlord or landlady complimented
them with, ' God bless ye both, my Lady Duchess
56 The Amazing Duchess
and my Lord Duke ! May you long be happy !
She smiled with an inward satisfaction ; but the duke,
I believe, had ere this been convinced of his mistake
in giving up his freedom to one who was too artful
for him. However, it was now too late to reflect.
I think I have before informed you that, from the
time of his wedding till I quitted his service, four
years, I never saw him cheerful as before, but always
sighing and thoughtful. We stayed at Pierrepoint
Lodge a fortnight, and then departed for Kingston
House (which was commonly called before this time
Miss Chudleigh's), Paradise Row, Knightsbridge.
Her grace was not much troubled with staying at
home to receive the compliments of the nobility and
gentry, as usual on such occasions. Not a single
lady of quality or fashion paid her a visit, except
the Duchess of Queensberry and Lady Marsham
[Masham]. The latter had been fellow-servant with
Miss C., if I may be allowed the expression, as maid
of honour to the Princess-Dowager of Wales ; her
maiden name was Dives.
" The next journey we took was to Weymouth, of
which place his grace was particularly fond (as I
have remarked before) on account of bathing in the
sea. Taking the city of Bath in our way, we stopped
some few days at the Alley Baths, a house belonging to
the duke ; here the duchess began to unmask and shew
her authority. She engaged a pair of chairmen at
12s. each per week. One week was expired, though
their stay was to have been but a few days. The second
day of the next week orders were given to prepare for
continuing the journey ; and the next day, just at the
Squabbles at Bath 57
duke's dressing time, the duchess ordered me to go to
the Mayor, and know of him if she was obliged to pay
her chairmen for a fortnight, as she would leave Bath
a few days before the time. I thought this very mean,
and answered her, I was preparing his grace's dressing
and begged she would excuse me from going ; that her
own servants were below, and quite at leisure. I then
left her, and retired to the dressing-room, whither the
duke soon followed and told me her grace insisted on
my going. I therefore obeyed her commands, though
much against my will, by waiting on his worship (Mr.
Alderman Chapman), who informed me that, as the
agreement stood, the duchess must certainly pay for
the fortnight. I returned not a little pleased with my
answer ; told it to the duke, and heard no more of
the affair.
" The next evening his grace ordered me to have
the carriages, etc., ready by ten o'clock the morning
following ; he should rise early, he said, and dress,
that the duchess might not wait. Everything was
ready at the time appointed, but her grace, who ever
endeavoured to thwart the duke's punctuality, dis-
patched her servants for different tradesmen to shew
her articles which she had no manner of reason for ;
thus prolonging the time till one o'clock, when they set
off for Weymouth. I believe, during this time, the
duke was up and down stairs fifty times, with gloomy
looks, but said nothing ; he felt the matrimonial chains
gall him severely. It was one o'clock in the morning
before we reached our inn ; and a dismal one it was,
without fires, or lights, the landlord being gone to bed.
However, we knocked him up, and4 CQntimjed there, tjjjt
58 The Amazing Duchess
eleven in the morning, when we set out, and arrived at
Mrs. Templeman's at Weymouth early in the evening,
the lodgings his grace usually resided at. He bathed
but a few times, and did not seem to enjoy the place as
formerly. The Rooms, then kept by De la Motte,
they frequented but little, and saw no company during
their stay, which was but short. The time now drew near
for our return to Kingston House ; the duke addressed
me, saying, ' Whitehead, are my things all ready ? I
shall have the wheels running round to-morrow morn-
ing by six o'clock at farthest, as I cannot bear to see so
many people crowding about the carriage always when
we set off; by going so early, we may avoid them.
Call me at five, to give me time to prepare for the
journey.' Everything being ready at the time appointed,
the duchess, with her usual affection for his grace,
began throwing all his things she could reach from the
coach into the street, and made her footman take out
the rest, saying, * What does that fellow mean (meaning
me) by incumbering the carriage before my baggage is
properly disposed of ? ' One of the duke's footmen
came and informed me of what had happened. I
immediately acquainted his grace, though by this time
he plainly saw the sport himself : alas ! it was sad sport
to him. I never saw him with a more downcast look :
he walked backwards and forwards from the porch
where the coach stood to the hall, and never uttered a
word till the servant had replaced the different articles.
There were by this time near an hundred persons
assembled round the door, who witnessed my good
lord's disgrace. The duchess turned with her usual
dissimulation to the duke, saying, * I am ready ; come,
Her " Tyranny " 59
my dear lord, shall we go ? ' Who answered, * My
dear ma'am, if you please,' shewing no resentment of
his ill-treatment. Indeed, he was ever of a placid
disposition."
The story of Whitehead's visit to Dr. Collier must
be accepted with reservation. Collier was the proctor
who acted for Elizabeth in the jactitation suit, and that
the duke should pay his fees was only natural. White-
head may have been sent with the money, but that
Dr. Collier "changed countenance several times" and
that he should mutter " that he would be even with
them yet " is extremely unlikely. Whitehead's malice
in insinuating that Dr. Collier had been in secret
collusion with his client and that he expected 'f thou-
sands " for proving that the ceremony at Lainston was
no marriage is too evident. At the time Whitehead
was sent to Dr. Collier — assuming, of course, that this
was the case — the valet could not have known the history
of that marriage. No one did until the trial for bigamy
took place. When the duke was married Anne Cradock
was an unknown person, and solely on her evidence,
given seven years after Whitehead's visit to the proctor,
was it made evident that, had Captain Hervey chosen
to produce her as a witness for his defence the Consistory
Court would never have decided in favour of Elizabeth.
Whatever the talk may have been at first, it was finally
accepted that the jactitation suit was conducted fairly
and squarely, and no slur was ever cast on Dr. Collier.
The duke's depression and gloom referred to by
Whitehead were attributed by the earlier biographers
to the " tyranny " exercised over him by the duchess.
60 The Amazing Duchess
Was it tyranny or wifely solicitude ? Creeping paraly-
sis is not a question of a few weeks, but of a lengthened
period. It is more than probable that already the duke
was showing signs of the decay which brought about
his death, and that the alleged " harrying " on the part
of the duchess was due to her desire to counteract his
fits of melancholy. The solemn moralisings which the
author of the " Life and Memoirs " indulges in when
summing up the situation may be taken to represent
the attitude of most of the writers who have essayed
to satisfy the cravings of the public for "revelations"
concerning "the notorious Elizabeth Chudleigh."
"Let us now look," remarks the sententious scribe,
*' to the character of his grace of Kingston, and consider
it in comparison with a few traits of his duchess's
disposition. The inquiry will illustrate this observa-
tion, that love is not the result of admiration from
persons possessing similar dispositions, but may submit
where the parties are of minds diametrically opposite.
The duke was mild, generous, unassuming, and modest
in the extreme. Ostentation he detested, and of pride
he was devoid. As a husband, he blended with the
ardour of love the sincerity of friendship ; and the
happiness of his wife seemed the great end of his
views. The duchess was presumptuous, vain, im-
perious, and passionate. In the height of pride and
insolence she would often compare herself to Juno.
She was ostentatious to excess, yet meanly avaricious
and cunning, and a dupe to the grossest flattery.
Connected with such a woman, it cannot be supposed
that such a man as the Duke of Kingston could enjoy
connubial happiness ; but his duchess had so fascinated
Her Biographers 61
his mind, and obtained such despotic sway over his
reason, as enabled her to turn his understanding to
every measure her passions, inclinations, or caprice
dictated."
Does not this read as if the author had more regard
for his stilted language than for truth ? It is worthy
of note that not one of the gossiping letter-writers of
the day, the Walpoles, the Delanys, the Cokes, who
were in touch with the duke and duchess and their
surroundings, have a word to say bearing out the
assertions of the anonymous biographers who wrote
after the death of the duchess and who were dependent
upon what they could pick up, possibly from discharged
servants. This fact alone ought to make one slow to
believe the version of the married life of the duke
hitherto accepted without question.
CHAPTER V
A trip to Plymouth — Whitehead's squabble with the duchess — Christ-
mas at Pierrepont Lodge — How the evenings were spent — The
duchess's black boy— A merry party at The Beggar's Opera—
Miss Brent, the popular vocalist — Sir John Fielding and David
Garrick.
TOWARDS the end of the ninth letter Mr.
Whitehead excels himself. After exasperating
the duchess beyond endurance by refusing to obey
her orders he sneaks away, " leaving the good duke
to her fury," as he puts it. On second thoughts he
graciously consents to " comply with the duchess's
request," adding, with superb condescension, " as. the
only means of giving my worthy and honoured master
some small cessation from the clamours of an unruly
tongue." The estate mentioned near Ivybridge, no
doubt, is the property purchased by Colonel Chudleigh
previous to Elizabeth's birth.
It is to be regretted that there is not a description
of Whitehead himself from the pen of the duchess.
Some entertaining reading, one may be sure, would
have been the outcome; but it is one of the singular
features of the history of Elizabeth that there is little
emanating from herself outside an autobiographical
sketch, her address at the trial, the letters written
6>
A Trip to Plymouth 63
during the controversy with Foote, of which it may
be doubted whether she was the author, and a frag-
ment of a correspondence with one of the adventurers
of whose wiles she became the prey when getting
on in years. During her whole life Elizabeth Chud-
leigh seems to have been a centre of interest, of
curiosity, of gossip ; but we rarely get near the real
Elizabeth, and all that we know has been passed
through the sieve of other people's opinions and pre-
judices. In judging her, therefore, considerable allow-
ance must be made for this fact.
LETTER IX
" We are now got back to Kingston House.
Nothing happened worth mentioning during this
journey. I shall leave the domestic occurrences of
Kingston for the present, and give you some account
of our next excursion, which was to Plymouth.
When we arrived there a messenger was dispatched
from the c King's Arms,' the inn we put up at, to
Mount Gold, a pleasant cot belonging to the widow
of Captain Yeo, to acquaint her of their arrival. The
messenger soon returned, desiring to have the happi-
ness of seeing their graces as soon as convenient to
them, and that they might bring such of their servants
as were most necessary about their persons. The
house being so small could only accommodate two
men attendants and a maid. Accordingly the carriage
was ordered to take them, and another for those
servants who were to attend. It being but a little
distance from Plymouth, we soon arrived at a small,
64 The Amazing Duchess
but neat place, clean and compact, with a most de-
lightful view of the sea in front, Mount Edgcumbe,
and Plymouth on the right, to the west ; and on the
east a view of Mr. Parker's country seat, a gentleman
well known on the turf, and famous for breeding
many capital racers. I think no situation can be more
delightful, especially at the flowing of the tide.
" Mrs. Yeo received her visitors with the greatest
pleasure, and so hearty a welcome was extended to
each of their attendants that in a few days there
seemed a change in every one's countenance ; even
the duke began to be cheerful, and lost his usual
melancholy. His hostess, by her attention and hos-
pitality, diffused a spirit of love and harmony through
the whole house ; at least, I cannot account for so
sudden a change any otherwise. During the whole
time of our stay here, which was near three weeks,
the weather proved remarkably fine ; this gave their
graces an opportunity of enjoying many select parties,
both by land and water. One in particular I had the
pleasure of being present at, which was a trip to see
the Eddystone lighthouse : the late Admiral Spry
was of the party ; but, to our great disappointment,
when we were within a league of the lighthouse the
tide turned. As it was now against us, and the sea
rough, the waves running high, the admiral said it
was in vain to attempt to land, and advised them to
tack about for the village of Cawsand, on the south-
east side of Mount Edgcumbe. He ordered the men
to get some lines ready, as they got nearer land, to
try for mackerel ; and in the meantime entertained
the company with the history of the lighthouse. He
Whitehead Scolded 65
said two or three men were stationed there for a
month, though sometimes it would be two or more
before they could be relieved on account of the
difficulty of getting near the rock ; that they had
plenty of salt provisions and other necessaries, and
in the winter-time abundance of every sort of wild-
fowl ; they pot down what they can, and use the
rest while fresh, throwing the stale ones into the sea.
In a dark, stormy night, the wind setting off land, if
it is within a point or two of the lighthouse, these
birds so darken the windows that the men are ob-
liged to watch with poles, killing many, and keeping
the rest as well as they can from the lights. While
the admiral was thus entertaining us our men had
drawn up some few mackerel, and before we landed
they caught about three dozen ; some of them were
split open, salted, and laid on the deck until we came
on shore, when they were broiled. I never ate them
in such perfection before or since. When the com-
pany had sufficiently refreshed themselves they re-
embarked on board one of the admiral's barges,
which was soon at Plymouth, where they landed,
well pleased with this little voyage ; some few re-
maining here, but the admiral departed to Stonehouse,
and the duke and duchess to Mount Gold.
u Our time being now expired at Mount Gold, I
had orders from the duke to pack up and bespeak
post-horses for the morning following. As there
lived a person at Plymouth who was coachman formerly
to the duchess, when Miss Chudleigh, on her quitting
her lodgings in St. James's Street, and after she
removed to her new house at Knightsbridge, I ordered
66 The Amazing Duchess
the horses of him. When they were brought Black
Jack (the nickname he usually went by) came with
his men to see everything right ; taking a saddle-
horse for himself to see his old master and mistress,
as he called them, the first stage. The duke re-
membered him, and talked to him in the yard some
time. After taking leave of our generous hostess we
set off, but had not reached above two miles before
the old storm arose ; the duchess ordered her coach
to stop, and asked where was Whitehead ? On being
told I was in the coach behind she desired I might
be called. When I came to her she was busily em-
ployed in taking the duke's things out and strewing
them about in the road, as she had done once before.
* Pray,' said she, { who ordered you to ride in that
coach?* I answered I did not think of hiring a saddle-
horse, as there was room for one in the coach. c No,
sir,' said she, 'you shall ride upon the box. Now,
sir, it is proper I should inform you that the duke's
travelling coach was made with a box over a large
boot ; very easy for the footman to take turns about
when on a long journey.' I begged her grace would
allow me to go this stage at least as I began. She
then began with the duke, who was silent all the time.
'There, my lord,' said she (pointing to the articles
she had thrown about the road), * your things will be
spoiled. Did you ever see such shameful packing ?
1 insist that he rides on the box.' I immediately
walked off to the carriage behind, leaving the good
duke to her fury. At the next stage his grace ex-
pressed his wishes that I would comply with the
duchess's request, which I readily acquiesced in, as
The Duke's Bailiff 67
the only means of giving my worthy and honoured
master some small cessation from the clamours of an
unruly tongue. As we were now come to Ivybridge
it put me in mind of an estate the duchess used to
talk much about ; which enabled her, while maid of
honour, to live in that style of elegance she did.
This estate is within four miles of Ivybridge, and
called Chudleigh Farm. I believe it may be worth
about £200 per annum, not more. This was
the mighty income that supported her in such
splendour.
"To proceed. After sleeping here that night, the
duchess ordered the carriage for herself, the duke, and
one only of her servants to attend them. I here took
no notice of the box, but ordered a saddle-horse for
myself, and set off for Exon, where we lay that night
at the hotel, and the next morning proceeded on our
journey to Kingston House."
LETTER X
" I shall now give you some account of an ungrateful
fellow that was raised from a labourer to be the duke's
bailiff at Pierrepoint Lodge. He was first employed as
gardener to Miss Chudleigh at Knightsbridge, a few
years before her marriage with the duke. This man's
name was Dicks. He had a wife who lived servant to
one of the King's footmen, till Miss C. hired her
for housekeeper. On his promotion to be gardener he
became suddenly a man of consequence, and kept com-
pany with those he formerly worked for as labourer.
Miss C. had as good a garden, and as well stocked
68 The Amazing Duchess
with fruit and vegetables, as any in Knightsbridge, or
within ten miles of the place. As she was often from
home, and the servants on board wages, this fellow
would never give them any garden stuff, though it
was contrary to his mistress's express orders, as she
desired they might have what was necessary for their
use. Being thus treated, they were determined to
watch him narrowly. There was a door at the bottom
of the pleasure-ground, adjoining the garden that led
into the Brompton Road, where many gardeners lived,
by whom he was often noticed, on market-days, to load
a cart and drive to Covent Garden. They remarked
to one of Miss C.'s servants that it was very mean of
their mistress to send her garden stuff to market for
sale, when so many poor gardeners in the neighbour
hood were almost starving. They replied, it was
entirely without her consent or knowledge. And as
this was a discovery they ardently wished for, Dicks
was soon after discharged, and obliged to return to his
labouring once more, till the duke bought Clint9n
Lodge, near Farnham, in Surrey, of the Duke of New-
castle, afterwards called Pierrepoint Lodge ; when this
fellow was strongly recommended to his grace by
Miss Chudleigh as gardener, notwithstanding his late
dismission from her service.
" The duke was so delighted with this place, its situa-
tion, distance from London, and other circumstances,
that he began making many improvements. He built
an excellent kitchen and many conveniences, made a
good coach-road over the heath to Farnham, and
erected a ball-room capable of holding thirty couples to
dance with ease ; it had two parlours on the south side,
EVELYN PIERREPONT, DUKE OF KINGSTON
69
Christmas at Pierrepont Lodge 71
and two bed-chambers over them. When all was
finished Miss C. and a large party of her friends were
invited here to spend the Christmas holidays. Warner,
the harper, and Prosser, the violin, both excellent
country-dance players, were employed. The first ball
began Christmas Eve, which was opened with a minuet
by the duke and Miss C. His grace then called the
first dance, on finishing of which, Miss C. retired
to the bottom ; he then took the second lady, and so
on, till he had danced with every one in the room,
which sometimes amounted to thirteen, seldom less
than eight or nine. On any deficiency the upper ser-
vants were called to make up the number wanting.
This ball continued every night, Sundays excepted, for
one month. I believe you think I now exaggerate a
little, but I assure you I do not. A fine snow lay on
the ground almost the whole time, so that there was
but little stirring out. The ball was generally over at
eleven o'clock ; and at twelve, after stopping, the com-
pany retired to their several apartments.
" I beg leave now to proceed with the story of Mr.
Dicks. The duke began to employ a great number of
men, and Dicks was appointed to overlook and pay
them. He likewise bought the hay, corn, etc., and in
the course of two or three years was seen at every
diversion round the country, elegantly dressed with
plate buttons, and everything answerable. One day
Mr. Clark, an apothecary of Farnham, called to inquire
after the duke's health. As his grace was then out
a-shooting I took the liberty of asking the gentleman
to refresh himself in the steward's room, which he
accepted, and in conversation asked me how his grace
VOL. ii 5
72 The Amazing Duchess
liked the breed of pigs he gave him. He told me
they were a particular sort, made a present to him by
the Bishop of Winchester. I promised to ask the duke
on his return. When I had given Mr. Clarke's
message to him he recollected, he said, the pigs,
but never tasted them. This led to an inquiry, where-
in it was proved Dicks had sold them with several
litters ; and, on examining his accounts, not only pigs,
but corn and hay, and several other articles, went the
same road. He was accordingly discharged ; but his
good mistress Miss C. took him again, and he was
with her, after the duke's marriage, as gardener at
Kingston House. His grace's dressing-room faced
the court-yard where Dicks frequently crossed. 1
have often heard him fetch a deep sigh, saying :
* D — n that fellow. Shall I never be rid of him ? '
I think nothing can be a stronger proof that the good
duke was not his own master.
" At this time the black boy lived with the duchess,
whom she brought up from the age of five or six
years. Whether she bought him or received him
as a present, I know not ; but I should rather think
the latter. She was so fond of this boy that she
dressed him in an elegant style, taking him with her
to most public places she frequented ; especially to the
play, where he sat in the boxes with her. This was
at the time The Beggar's Opera had such a run, and
when Miss Brent was the chief vocal favourite with
the public. Miss Chudleigh and her party attended
almost every night, and drank tea in their box,
making such a noise, and disturbing both the per-
formers and the audience so repeatedly, that at last
Her Black Boy 73
they were determined to rout her. This they effected
by giving her a smart paragraph in the newspapers,
after which she was received at the theatre with
hissings, groanings, and such strong marks of dis-
approbation that she and her whole party were obliged
to decamp before the opera was over ; not appearing
there for some years after."
Whitehead shows to much better advantage when
he drops his malice and forgets the chatter of the ser-
vants' hall. Christmas in the eighteenth century was
honoured to the full if, as Whitehead says in his tenth
letter, dancing was indulged in every night for a whole
month, and the calling in of the upper servants to
make up a set gives one a glimpse of the country
life of a great nobleman in those days which is not
unpleasing.
There is no corroboration elsewhere of the unruly
behaviour of Miss Chudleigh and her friends at the
opera, unless Whitehead is alluding to the nervous attack
which seized the lady on the occasion referred to by
Walpole. Miss Chudleigh, like many other fine ladies
of the period, was subject to fits. Mr. Walter Sichel,
in his life of Sheridan, speaks of her once being
carried screaming in a fit along the Bath Road, a
statement not readily accepted if it rests on Walpole's
fantastical description of the duke's funeral.
The mention of the black boy touches upon one
of the fashionable fads of the times. Every great
lady of town had her black boy, generally from the
West Indies, the principal islands of which had just
then come into our possession. These boys could
74 The Amazing Duchess
be bought for a small sum, and Hogarth has left an
enduring record of the craze in several of his pictures.
Miss Chudleigh's black boy somewhat disgraced him-
self— as indeed did the majority of these young gentle-
men when they grew up after years of petting —
and at the age of eighteen was sent back to the West
Indies. This was after the duke's marriage.
Miss Brent, who was often Elizabeth's guest at
Pierrepont Lodge, was the daughter of a fencing-
master, and the favourite pupil of Dr. Arne, taking a
high position among the vocalists of her day. Arne
composed much of his later and more florid music for
her after his wife, a very popular singer, retired from
public life. She possessed great versatility, and her
roles ranged from 'The Beggar s Operay in which she
took the part of Polly, to oratorio. She was an ex-
cellent exponent of Handel, and sang in Jephtha in
1758, and took part with Tenducci in selections from
Samson and other of Handel's oratorios at Ranelagh
in 1764. Mrs. Papendieck, a musician herself, speaks
with enthusiasm of her singing in crfrtaxerxes, the
songs in which were written for her by Arne, and she
was also a great favourite at the Hereford, Gloucester,
and Worcester Festivals. She had a voice of great
power, flexibility, and sweetness. Though at one time
her income was large, her days ended in poverty.
She died in lodgings on Vauxhall Walk in 1 802, and
for months previous to her death was so poor that
Fawcett, the actor, used to give her a dinner every
Sunday, sometimes cheering the heart of the once
popular vocalist by the present of a bit of finery, of
which we are told she was very fond.
Sir John Fielding 75
LETTER XI
" In my last letter I acquainted you of a Christmas
spent at Pierrepoint Lodge, in Surrey ; forgetting at
that time the names of the visitors, which now occur
to my memory, and were as follows, viz. : Miss
Chudleigh, Miss Bell Chudleigh, her cousin, Miss
Bate, Miss Fielding, daughter of the author of " Tom
Jones," and niece of Sir John Fielding, the Bow Street
magistrate ; Sir James Laroche and lady ; Captain
Moreau, his lady and son ; Rev. Dr. Cotton, of
Winchester, and son ; Colonel Montressor, Governor
of Tilbury Fort ; and Master Richard Shuckburgh,
brother-in-law to Miss Bate, who was a great favourite
of Miss Chudleigh's, being brought up with her from
an infant in petticoats. When in that state she
frequently took him to the play, where he learnt many
speeches by heart, repeating them afterwards to
Mr. Garrick.
" Miss Fielding was of a good stature, about twenty
years of age, a sweet temper, and great understanding ;
but in a deep decline. She had been a visitor and
companion to Miss C. for some years. Colonel Mon-
tressor, who was between fifty and sixty years old, paid
his addresses to her, and in a few months afterwards
they were married ; which so displeased Miss C. that
she never saw them after. If the colonel had not
married her I believe she would never have got a
husband ; being, poor lady, the colour of a ghost — a
mere skeleton, with such coughings and spittings
as would have turned the stomach of a coal-heaver.
Her uncle, Sir John, and Miss C. were very intimate,
76 The Amazing Duchess
so much that she and the duke seldom missed the
examination of any felon brought before the magistrate.
Indeed Miss C.s* carriage and the duke's were as well
known in Bow Street as any of Sir John's thief-takers.
Even the coachmen were ashamed to attend them,
waiting so many hours amongst a nest of thieves and
thief-takers. Sir John and his lady were invited one
summer with Miss C. and some few more, to spend
a week at Pierrepoint Lodge."
Sir John Fielding was a very active magistrate, but
in regard to The Beggar s Opera he allowed his zeal
to outrun his discretion, and his protests against the
elevation of thievery on the stage amused the town
considerably. In The London Chronicle we read : " It
is humorously reported that the correspondence be-
tween Sir John Fielding and Mr. Garrick respecting
The Beggar s Opera commenced with the former
officially desiring of the latter that Macheath might
be hanged, agreeable to the dark complexion of his
crimes. The manager, in return, pleasantly remarked
that it did not seem his interest at present to carry
conviction to such lengths, whatever might be the
knight's, and therefore, without he could point out
how he might likewise gain four-score hard pounds
by every execution of his favourite hero, he must
beg leave to waive a ceremony so disagreeable in
every point of view." This allusion to the profit
yielded by executions no doubt was a hit at the very
questionable methods by which magistrates in those
days were paid. Until 1792 at Bow Street (at which
both Sir John and his brother, the novelist, sat), an
Magistrates Perquisites 77
office which dates from 1770, and at Worship Street,
dating from 1778, the magistrates were paid by fees.
These were obtained in a manner so disgraceful that
the magistrates were given the name of " trading
justices," or "basket justices," in allusion to the
kind of bribes — baskets of game — they accepted.
Old Townsend, the celebrated Bow Street runner,
said : " The plan used to be to issue warrants, and
to take up all the poor devils in the streets, and
then there was the bailing of them, 2s. ^d. each,
which the magistrate had. In taking up one hundred
girls they would make, at is. 4^. each, £11 13^. 4^.
They sent none of them to gaol, for the bailing of
them was so much better." No wonder that under
such rule thieves and blacklegs thrived !
Sir John Fielding at this time (1772) was old and
remarkable for his fatness and blindness. He was
attacked for venality and partiality, and Garrick's
retort must have struck home. For political purposes
rumours of a pretended foreign plot to burn Ports-
mouth dockyard were circulated, and two or three
perfectly harmless individuals were arrested to keep
up the fiction, and caricatures were published re-
flecting on the magistrates who lent themselves to
the designs of the court party. In a satirical list
of imaginary masquerade characters in The West-
minster Magazine for December 1772 the watchful,
but now blind magistrate is thus introduced : " Argus,
whose eyes were sealed by Mercury, Sir J. Fielding."
The caricature alluded to is entitled, " The blind
justice and the secretaries One-eye and No-head
examining the old woman and the little girl about
78 The Amazing Duchess
the firing of Portsmouth dockyard." Justice her-
self is represented as fat and bloated, and as venal
as her official representative. The latter, blind as
he is, addresses himself to the prisoners : " I see
plainly you are guilty ; you have a hanging look."
One of the secretaries of state, who has his eye
covered, adds : " Somebody must be hanged for this,
right or wrong, to quiet the mob and save our credit."
The other secretary, being represented not only in-
tellectually but bodily without a head, says nothing.
The woman accused replies : " No more than your
worships have ; I'm a poor, honest woman. My
betters know more of the fire than I."
Notwithstanding his age and infirmities, Fielding
was occupying his position at Bow Street during the
time of the Gordon riots in 1779.
CHAPTER VI
Life and amusements at Thoresby — The lake and its singular fleet —
Lord Byron and his hounds — The duchess ignored by the county
ladies — The duchess discharges her servants wholesale — White-
head's narrow escape — Lord Byron's fatal duel with Mr. Chaworth.
THE twelfth letter is one of the most interesting
of the series. We are inclined to put up with
Mr. Whitehead's egotism and self-importance for the
sake of his description of Thoresby and of the duke's
life there as a country gentleman, both before and
after his marriage. The duke's amiability and
generous nature no doubt made him exceedingly
popular. Whitehead's account of the oddly assorted
fleet on the lake, from the model of a fifty-gun
frigate to the Scarborough cobbles, explains the some-
what cryptic expression in the quaint description of
the Thoresby lake as a " fine sheet of water bearing
vessels of no great burthen" given by Throsby in
his edition of Thoroton's " Nottinghamshire." The
italics are Throsby's, and are probably used with
ironic intention. Mr. Throsby was not friendly to
Miss Chudleigh. He deliberately ignores her by
name, but he probably had her in his mind by his
contemptuous reference to the appearance of the
79
8o The Amazing Duchess
lake when the duke got together his queer collection
of boats for the amusement of the lady and her
friends.
LETTER XII
" Thoresby, in Nottinghamshire, is one of the
most beautiful inland spots in all England. The
park is fifteen measured miles round. The nearest
house to the duke's is the inn at Palethorp, belonging
to his estate, with a few cottages for labourers. The
house is an elegant building, erected by Mr. Carr,
architect, of York, and finished the year after the
duke married. As his grace kept racehorses, it was
a pretty sight every Sunday (the duke's public day)
to see them dressed, with their riders in crimson
clothes trimmed with white, to the number of eighteen
or more. Westward of the house is a large lake,
near a mile in length and a quarter of a mile broad,
with an island near the top. It contained a large
flat-bottomed yacht, with a cabin capable of dining
twelve persons ; a little sailing-boat, half-decked ; a
Dutch one, with lee-boards. These were all dressed
on public days with their colours. I have often seen
them sail round the island and back again ; but the
Dutch packet was the fleetest, by reason of the lee-
boards, which kept her up to the wind. There was
likewise a model of a fifty-gun frigate, about fifteen
feet long, with brass guns and everything complete.
She was built at Jacob's Wells, near Bristol, and
purchased by Sir James Laroche for £1,600, who
presented her to the duke, and conveyed her over-
Thoresby Described 81
land to Thoresby. Besides these vessels, there were
several Scarborough cobbles, boats, and canoes. When
they all moored near the house, at the bottom of
the lake adjoining the little battery, they had the
appearance of a fleet. The lake emptied itself under-
ground, and, appearing again at the end of a riding,
formed a beautiful cascade into a round basin ;
running from thence into a canal, you lost sight of
it near the kennels, down a second cascade, till it
crossed the high-road from Nottingham to Blithe.
"The kennels were near a mile from the mansion,
by looking through the arch of which you had a
beautiful view of all the buildings, offices, water,
and shipping. The park was stocked with plenty
of deer, reckoned the finest flavoured venison in
England. There were likewise about eight or ten
head of red deer, but these latter, often straying in
the forest of Sherwood, Lord Byron, who then kept
the King's stag-hounds, would pursue them into
Thoresby Park, which so disturbed the herd that
his grace was at last determined to destroy them,
which he did. Before this happened his lordship's
hounds had driven one of the outlying red deer
into the lake ; this was while his grace was at dinner.
As the stag baffled their utmost attempts to take
him, Lord Byron sent to the duke to lend a boat
for that purpose. His grace ordered the captain of
his vessel to lend no boat, or any other assistance,
saying, c As the hounds had driven him in, they might
drive him out again.' His lordship was not much
beloved of the duke, or any of his neighbours. His
grace could not forget the death of his friend Mr.
82 The Amazing Duchess
Chaworth, whom Lord Byron killed at the * Star and
Garter ' tavern, Pall Mall, then kept by Fenmore.
Mr. Chaworth breakfasted with the duke on the
morning of his death. As they went out, I followed
them to the porter's lodge. On their way thither
Mr. Chaworth invited his grace to dine with him
and the Nottingham Club that day ; but, finding
that Lord Byron was of the party, the duke declined
the invitation, saying, * You will excuse me ; you
know I do not like his company.' When his grace
came home that night to bed I informed him of
Mr. Chaworth 's unfortunate death. c I am extremely
sorry,' he replied, ' and am happy I was not of the
party.'
€C When the house at Thoresby was almost finished,
the duke and duchess arrived, yet not a lady of
fashion came to pay her grace a visit ; the Duchess
of Norfolk declared she would never visit her, as did
many other ladies of the country adjoining ; therefore
cards were sent to those gentlemen of small fortune
who had wives, inviting them to Thoresby for a
few days. This was often the case, or she would
have had but very few female visitors. However, these
attended soon, without any further invitation, on
public days ; the reason of which being on Sundays
was owing to some dislike to the company of the
clergy. I must confess I did not wonder at this,
after the duke's marriage with Miss Chudleigh.
" After being at Thoresby a short time the duchess
declared to Mr. Sherring, the land-steward, that she
should part with all the duke's old servants, as she
did not like them. (She knew they were acquainted
Reforms her Household 83
with her past tricks.) Mr. Sherring represented the
impropriety of such an act, as some of them were
born in the family, and others had lived in it many
years : but, finding her determined on their discharge,
he advised her to do it gradually, lest it might give
umbrage to the duke. She accordingly began with
Mr. Simpson, the architect, who had lived with his
grace above ten years, managed the building of the
house according to Mr. Carr's plan already mentioned,
and given great satisfaction. She intercepted and
broke open his letters : one was from a gentleman
in Lincolnshire, wishing to see him about erecting a
hot-house. Now, the duke always permitted him to
make the most of his profession, so that he did not
neglect his grace's business. This indulgence the
duchess would not allow ; she quarrelled with him
every day, abusing him more like a fish-woman than
a lady, till at last he quitted the duke's service.
" She next attempted your humble servant, though
not with equal success. One morning his grace
desired me to remove his clothes from their former
place to his wardrobe in a new part of the house,
while he was out a-shooting ; told me that he should
not take either of his footmen with him that day,
that they might assist me. The instant he was gone
the two men and myself set about our orders. The
duchess met the men with a load as they crossed the
court-yard and made them take it back. I was on
some steps reaching the upper shelves when she
entered ; she took hold of the flap of my coat and
pulled me off, abusing me in her usual manner, for
daring, as she said, to remove anything without ' her '
84 The Amazing Duchess
permission. I told her it was by the duke's orders,
and I should certainly obey them. She then left
me in a dreadful passion. . . . She was one evening
afterwards at cards in company with Sir James Laroche
and Lady, Sir Francis Molyneux (she little thought,
at that time, she should ever be his prisoner), Colonel
Litchfield, Captain George Brown, and many more of
his grace's intimate friends. Having made some mis-
take, it was observed, and the trick challenged by her
opponents ; but, notwithstanding their assertion was
corroborated by her own partner, she would not give
it up, and her fury increased to that degree on being
opposed that she abused every one in the room (the
poor duke not daring to say a word), and at last
ordered them all to quit the house. Sir James and
Lady went early the next morning, without taking
leave of her, and before dinner-time not one of the
rest remained. I met Captain George Brown as he
was going, who told me what had happened over-
night. My good lord was now left without a
gentleman to speak to. However, the day following
a messenger was dispatched with a letter to Colonel
Litchfield, who was his grace's particular friend and
companion. On his return to Thoresby the duke
was again made happy.
The maitrcs d* hotel, or house-stewards, as we called
them, the duchess frequently changed ; she had
three in two years. Her friend, the Duchess of
Queensberry, recommended one of these, whose name
was Graham. This fellow, to gain favour with his
new mistress, used to salt legs and shoulders of mutton
for the servants' hall, and frequently sent them stinking
Whitehead's Narrow Escape 85
meat — so bad that whole joints were thrown into the
hog-tub. Indeed, myself and a few more knew his
character before he came, but durst not acquaint his
grace, for fear of the resentment of the duchess,
who would have called it malice. One night, being
hastily called to wait on the duke, knowing his grace
to be very impatient, I fell down the first flight of
stairs, owing to the carelessness of the steward's- room
man in not lighting the lamp as usual. As I reproved
him for his neglect rather sharply, his grace afterwards
inquired the reason ; on my telling him, he said I
should have acquainted Graham. I answered, he was
of so infamous a character that I would never speak
to him on any account. * No ? ' said his grace,
4 then we must part. Besides,' he continued, c you
never inform me of what's going on in the house.'
I told him I never would see him robbed, or wronged
in anything ; but, if any little incident was to be
mentioned, his grace must devote all his time to
hear complaints. This I thought as derogatory to his
dignity as it was contrary to my temper and disposi-
tion. * Whitehead,' says he, * we must part.' I
comforted myself as well as I could, by reflecting on
my faithful service, and relying on the promises made
by the duke to provide for me for life, if I quitted
him ; however, the next morning Colonel Litchfield
informed me the duke thought no more of the
affair. Indeed, I had fully acquitted him in my
mind of any harshness towards me, as I well knew
my old friend the duchess was at the bottom of the
business, at the instigation, perhaps, of this Graham,
whom I soon afterwards had the satisfaction of
86 The Amazing Duchess
seeing discharged, and hooted out of the park by
the stable-boys.
" Graham learnt her grace some tricks during the
short time he staid in the family ; but this was
needless, as she had plenty of them before. When
the duke was a bachelor, the poor people came from
the neighbouring villages and cottages every Monday
(the day after the public day), bringing their pitchers
for the pot-liquor and broken victuals, and never
went empty away ; but the scene was now changed
— the hog-tub was the only receiver of her grace's
bounty. The poor passing their late hospitable bene-
factor's house, on their way to his grace of Newcastle,
where they were ever sure of relief, was not a pleasing
sight to any humane mind. Our steward's room was
now allowed but two bottles of wine at dinner, and
one at supper, for sixteen people ; no servant per-
mitted to see a friend, or to ask them into the
steward's room. She ordered the curtains to be taken
down, that she might see all over the room ; as the
second best staircase commanded a full view of it, if
the servants were not gone to bed before their graces
went upstairs she would send down orders for that
purpose, saying she would have no guzzling at that
time of night. The porter had special orders to send
from the gate every person who wanted any favour or
assistance. Indeed, if the hearty curses of the poor
did her grace any good, she never failed to enjoy
enough of them."
The storm described in the last letter seems to have
done much to clear the air and bring Mr. Whitehead to
•CAPTAIN THE HON. AUGUSTUS HERVEY (AFTERWARDS EARL OF BRISTOL)
Thoresby Disliked by Walpole 89
his senses. He probably regarded himself as indis-
pensable to the duke, and to receive notice to go must
have made him think twice about his demeanour
towards the duchess. However this may be, he cer-
tainly does her justice in some aspects of her character,
and displays much shrewdness in his observations,
despite his lament over " the bad purposes " to which
her grace applied her common sense — meaning, appar-
ently, her want of appreciation of Mr. Whitehead
himself. Undoubtedly Elizabeth was autocratic, and
understood what was due to her rank, and it is equally
clear that she had a great deal to put up with from the
old servants, who, we may be sure, were well practised
in the arts of petty annoyance. The situation was
exactly what was to be expected, and the duchess saw
perfectly well that there was no other course but to
make a clean sweep of the entire staff, including the
immaculate Mr. Thomas Whitehead. He remained,
it is true, but he was evidently much subdued.
Thoresby does not appear to have roused Walpole
to enthusiasm. " I don't wonder," he writes in 1777,
after the trial of the duchess, and she had left England,
never to return, " Lord Ossery preferred Thoresby to
the three old dukeries. So did I, and did not admire
it much either. . . . Merry Sherwood is a trist region,
and wants a race of outlaws to enliven it, and as
Duchess Robin Hood had run her country, it has little
chance of recovering its ancient glory." It is not
strange that the estate, with its forest surroundings,
struck Walpole as sad. The cynical philosopher was
not happy away from his curios and bric-a-brac, and
his world of gossip and slander.
VOL. II 6
90 The Amazing Duchess
Whitehead is either unaccountably incorrect in his
reference to the profligate Lord Byron, and his quarrel
and fatal duel with Mr. Chaworth, or is more careless
and rambling than usual. It was impossible in the old
coaching days for Mr. Chaworth to have breakfasted
with the duke at Thoresby in the morning, and in the
evening of the same day to have fought his duel with
Lord Byron at the " Star and Garter," Pall Mall. Mr.
Chaworth, who was a neighbour of the duke's in
Nottinghamshire, was staying in London at the time,
and it may very well be that it was at Kingston House
where he had breakfast. This was in 1765, in the
early days of the duke's passion for Elizabeth.
The story of the fatal duel is well told by Mr. Alfred
Hutton in his interesting book " The Sword and the
Centuries." Mr. Hutton says that Lord Byron and
Mr. Chaworth had always been on friendly terms, and
that, whenever they repaired to London, it was their
custom to dine or sup, in company with other county
friends, at the " Star and Garter " tavern in Pall Mall,
where they had established what was known among
themselves as the " Nottinghamshire Club." There
was a very wide difference between the simple but
select club of the last century but one and the palatial
building of this present period. In the eighteenth
century it was the habit of gentlemen of similar tastes
or occupations to form a little social circle of their own.
They agreed with the proprietor of some fashionable,
or at least respectable inn or tavern, to reserve a
special room for their use, from which the ordinary
customer was, of course, excluded. The members of
the little society clubbed together for their meals and
Lord Byron and Mr, Cha worth 91
other requirements, by which means they ensured better
service and attention than if they had dined separately
elsewhere.
On January 26th, 1765, Lord Byron and Mr.
Chaworth dined at their club with a party of some ten
or twelve county friends, when, being all of them
landed proprietors and sportsmen, the conversation
naturally came round to the subject of game and the
preservation thereof. Mr. Chaworth was of opinion
that such a sinner as a poacher should be drastically
dealt with, while Lord Byron held out that it was
far better to let him alone, and allow the rabbits and
hares to look after themselves. This led to a some-
what heated argument, when Mr. Chaworth exclaimed :
" Why, if it were not for Sir Charles Sedley and
myself, you would have no game at all at your
place." Lord Byron retorted by offering to bet £100
that he could show more hares and rabbits than
Mr. Chaworth. The latter gentleman promptly took
up the wager, and, according to one of his historians,
rather pointedly called for pen and ink to make a
record of it, an action which might, but really ought
not to, have nettled his lordship to some degree.
Others of the party, however, intervened with the
opinion that the bet had better not be booked, because
the matter was one upon which it was impossible to
come to any decision. Lord Byron, whose temper
was fast getting the better of him, asked heatedly :
" Where is Sir Charles's property ? I know nothing of
any land of his." Mr. Chaworth replied with equal
warmth : " Why, Nuttal, to be sure : some of my
people sold it to him, and, if you are not satisfied, you
92 The Amazing Duchess
can easily find him and ask himself ; he lives in Dean
Street, and your lordship knows where to find me also."
After this they quieted down again, resumed their
seats, and continued in good-humoured conversation
for another hour, when Mr. Chaworth left the room,
followed by Lord Byron, who said he wished to speak
to him, called a waiter, and bade him show them into
an unoccupied room, which the man did, leaving on
the table a tallow candle, and no other light. The
two gentlemen shut the door, and, after some further
words, drew their swords and attacked one another.
Mr. Chaworth made a lunge, and, having pierced and
entangled his sword in Lord Byron's waistcoat, thought
he had severely wounded him, and, believing the affair
to be over, paused in order to extricate his weapon,
whereupon Lord Byron drew his hand back as far as he
could, and, with his shortened sword, stabbed Mr.
Chaworth in the belly. The clash of arms brought
back those members of the club who had not left the
house, and with them the landlord. They speedily
disarmed and separated the combatants, when Mr.
Chaworth was seen to be seriously hurt. A surgeon
was sent for, who, after due examination, pronounced
the wound to be a mortal one. Lord Byron was
arraigned on the charge of wilful murder, but the
Peers found him guilty only of manslaughter, on which
he claimed the benefit of a statute of the time of King
Edward VI., by which he was discharged, and thus got
away scot-free. Shortly after this affair a rencontre
became impossible, as the constant wearing of the
sword as a necessary part of a gentleman's dress went
out of fashion.
Her Business Capacity 93
LETTER XIII
" The usual amusement of the duchess in the
morning of a wet day when at Thoresby was a con-
cert, during the performance of which she generally
indited her letters, having several pens employed at
the same time in different languages. She would talk
likewise to Mr. Simpson, the architect, about some
alterations, and yet be very attentive to the music;
would often cry, c Bravo ! bravo, Miss Bate ; do me
the favour of singing that again. Mr. Main (the
librarian) you write so and so. Mrs. you
write , and you Miss , etc.'
"This was all done by her with the greatest ease
and perspicuity imaginable. I never heard of her equal,
she being endowed with an uncommon share of sense,
though too often it was employed to very bad pur-
poses. The band generally consisted of the following
performers, viz. : Mr. Markordt, harpsicord ; a ser-
vant, as music-master ; Colonel Glover, first violin ;
Mr. Zun, second violin ; groom of the chamber,
myself, tenor ; the duke's valet, Mr. Siprihni, violon-
cello ; Mr. Lilly, sen., first horn, footman to the
duchess ; Mr. Presly, second horn, footman likewise ;
and Miss Bate sung.
a When their graces expected company to tea and
cards, the music was ordered to play them upstairs
into the drawing-room, her three maids of honour to
attend and usher the ladies into her presence, being
at those times ranged in a row, according to preced-
ence. When tea was over, and the visitors ready for
cards, the music ceased.
94 The Amazing Duchess
"At dinner-time, and in company of a dozen or
more, I have often known the duchess rise from the
table, having stuffed most immoderately, go into the
adjoining room, leaving the door open . . . presently
returning to her company smiling and say : ' I beg
your pardon, a fit of the gout just took me in the
stomach ; but I am now much better.'
" * We are extremely happy to hear that your grace
is better ; you must have another glass of Madeira.
Pray fill her grace a good bumper, and we will take
one to drink to her better health.'
" * Indeed, it will be too much for me.'
u c Oh no, your grace must have it ; it will do you
good.'
" * Well, if you insist.'
" After the bumpers had gone round the conversation
recommenced. ' Now your grace must endeavour to
eat a bit; your stomach being empty, it will do you
infinite service.'
" The dinner and dessert being over, and well washed
down with plenty of her favourite liquor, ' Well, my
good duchess, how does your grace now ? '
" * I think I find myself a very little better ; and,
if this good company will excuse me, I will retire to
the next room.'
" * By all means, if it will be conducive to your
grace's health.'
" Her maids of honour were then called, the duke
attended her to the room, and when she was settled
on the sofa he returned, ordering the door to be shut.
As the company were generally now more quiet than
usual, for fear of disturbing her slumbers, she, in
Her Home Life 95
return for such complaisance, entertained them with
the melody of her throat and nostrils till tea-time.
When she re-entered the room she would be much
better, except a violent head-ache that troubled her ;
thus she continued, with a white pocket-handkerchief
tied round her head till cards began. Now, should any
trick of Dame Fortune discompose her sweet temper
(which was but too often the case), if the company
escaped, the servants were sure of feeling the effects
of her resentment the remainder of the evening. It
was her usual custom in hot weather, while at table,
to rise from her chair, and fan herself, by taking hold
of her petticoats and well shaking them.
" Her grace was ever complaining of a pain in her
stomach and head, though it could not be wondered
at, for she never allowed nature sufficient time to
digest her victuals. Between breakfast and dinner-
time, while airing in the park, I have known her order
the carriage home five or six times, and take tea,
chocolate, sweet cakes, and Madeira, or some other
damper, every time she returned.
" I cannot help venturing one instance of her cunning,
though I believe other ladies have found this trick
answer their ends as well as the duchess ; it was this.
When she wanted a sum of money of the duke, to
remit abroad to the funds, or for some other purpose,
if she found any difficulty in procuring it — which was
sometimes the case, as she kept his grace as poor as
a mouse — she would order her maid to tell Whitehead
that the duke was to lie in such a room, therefore
he must see the bed ready that night. One of her
maids must now attend, and sit up with her every
96 The Amazing Duchess
night, not leaving her even in the day-time without
another supplying her place ; nor were they suffered
to quit the room, though his grace might wish to
speak to her on particular business ; thus keeping him
at a distance, till she had gained her point, though it
were a month or more."
CHAPTER VII
A day's shooting in the eighteenth century — Whitehead receives a
rebuke — A journey across country — The wardrobe of an eighteenth
century valet — Whitehead's grumbles — The second marriage of
Mrs. Amis, the Lainston's clergyman's widow — The duke's mar-
riage not an unhappy one — The duke's illness and last moments —
Alleged attempt of the duchess to substitute a second will — An
improbable story.
SPORT, so far as shooting was concerned, must
have been more enjoyable and more exciting a
hundred and fifty years ago than it is to-day. It was
certainly less artificial and less monotonous, though the
bags were not so big. Game was not strictly pre-
served, and the birds were in their natural wildness ;
there was no army of keepers and beaters to make
the shooting easier for the " quality," and there was
nothing like the wholesale slaughter which is now
called " shooting." A day's shooting at Thoresby
meant hard work, a steady aim, pleasant companion-
ship, a healthy appetite, and a good dinner at what
we should now call an early hour. The duke seems
to have been a model host, allowing his guests to do
pretty much as they liked — a freedom which they do
not appear to have abused. Whitehead indulges in
pne of his frequent laments over these happy days ;
97
98 The Amazing Duchess
but, apart from this, he has little to say about the
duchess. Probably by this time he had discovered
the uselessness of resisting the masterful lady, and had
acknowledged himself beaten.
Letter XIV may be omitted as containing much
irrelevant matter and we pass on to —
LETTER XV
" His grace was one of the first noblemen who
discovered their attachment to the present illustrious
family on the throne by the raising of a regiment to
assist his Majesty's forces in crushing the rebellion in
1745. He was endowed with many shining virtues;
indeed, could he ever have had his will, the severe
tongue of slander herself could never have impeached
his conduct. Never was a man happier than the duke
before he parted with his freedom. He could then
enjoy the company of his friends, which he did at
Thoresby in the shooting season ; at that time the
Marquis of Granby, Lord Robert Sutton, Colonel
Mordaunt (who was one of his grace's officers in his
regiment and brother to the Earl of Peterborough),
the honourable Mr. Bellisy (brother to Lord Falcon-
bridge), Colonel Litchfield, Captain George Brown, Sir
Charles Sedley, and many others, to the number of
twelve or fourteen. The duke was generally the first
up in the morning, giving orders to call the gentlemen.
After breakfast they were divided into small parties,
taking different routes, first fixing the place and hour
of meeting for refreshment. The horses were then
Sport at Thoresby 99
loaded with canteens, containing cold provisions of all
kinds, and several stewpans for warming, which was
oftener done under a hedge than at a farmhouse.
Dinner was ordered at six o'clock ; the servants'-hall
dinner was at one, for the stablemen, footmen, etc.
I have frequently counted above a hundred set down
at once. The steward's-room dinner was at two. This
table would not disgrace a gentleman of ten thousand
a year. If a gentleman called while the duke was
out a-sporting, if the steward's-room dinner was ready
they dined with us. The servants were then at board
wages, which were never taken off, though his grace
provided everything during the company's stay with
him. At these times, if he went on a visit ever so
long, the servant who attended him enjoyed the same
indulgence. I believe there are few like him at this
day. When the duke and his company returned to
dinner, their conversation chiefly turned on sporting.
His grace was reckoned the best nobleman shot in
England, except Lord Ravensworth, whom the duke
sometimes visited at Denaby Dale, in Yorkshire.
After they had finished their bottle, cards or con-
versation took place till supper-time, when some cold
things were served up — in particular a loin of mutton,
which Lord Robert Sutton was so fond of that he
never sat down to supper without one. It would do
you good to see with what appetite he ate it ; I have
seen him scrape the bones of a small one entirely him-
self. His grace seldom exceeded the hour of twelve,
retiring and leaving the gentlemen to enjoy their bottle
as long as they thought proper. Thus every one was
pleased during their stay.
ioo The Amazing Duchess
" Sometimes they took a trip to Holme Pierrepoint
for variety. The duke had not such visits then as he
was obliged to put up with after his marriage. He
had not the least pride in his composition ; would con-
verse with his most menial servant with the greatest
affability and good-nature. Polite to all, having no
vulgarity about him ; never swore, or called any one
out of his name. In return, he expected his orders to
be obeyed most scrupulously. He was very whimsical
in dressing in the country. I have known him change
his shooting-dress four times in a morning before he
went out, returning often to change something or other.
I shall give you a list of articles taken to Pierrepoint
only for one week's shooting, viz. : Six frocks or
jackets ; 1 2 waistcoats, different sorts ; 30 pair of
breeches ; 20 pair of different sorts of stockings ;
1 5 shirts ; 6 pair of boots ; 6 pair of half-boots ;
6 pair of spatter-dashes ; 6 pair of shoes ; 6 pair
of gloves ; 3 hats ; with other things in proportion.
Add to these his guns, etc. So that his carriage was
loaded, inside and out, like a stage-coach.
" The year after his marriage the duke took his
duchess with him to Holme Pierrepoint estate, worth,
as I have been informed, ten thousand pounds per
annum ; the pasturage being very good, and only four
miles from Nottingham. One day's residence did for
her grace ; she would not stay there on any account.
The church being so near the house, she said, it put
her in mind of her mortality : to think her remains
must lie there made her very unhappy. She there-
fore returned to Thoresby the next day, desiring
her dear lord would stay there till the Saturday
Whitehead's " Tiresome " Journey 101
following with the rest of the gentlemen, making
themselves as easy as they could in her absence ;
though she might have spared herself that speech,
they being always much happier without her com-
pany than with it."
The sixteenth letter is the shortest in the col-
lection, but it contains one or two touches which are
full of meaning. Whitehead unconsciously betrays
himself in his true character, that of an indolent,
" pampered menial," with more regard for his own
comfort than for the comfort of his master. It is
quite refreshing to find the duke asserting himself;
and one can imagine Whitehead comparing notes with
his fellow-servant Poynter, and taking the lesson of
the latter's experience to heart.
LETTER XVI
" I cannot forbear giving you some little account
of the tiresome journeys I have frequently taken
while in his grace's service. Coming from London
to Thoresby, his grace intended to lie that night at
Mr. Crabtree's, the f George,' at Grantham, which is
one hundred and ten miles ; the stone stands close
to the gateway. The Rev. Richard Sutton, of Kelham,
accompanied the duke, who always called him Dicky.
We left London at eight o'clock in the morning and
arrived at Grantham at six in the evening. There
had been a wedding kept that day at Crabtree's ; and
the house being dirty, his grace would not stay, but
ordered the horses on immediately for Newark, thirteen
102 The Amazing Duchess
miles further, to the sign of the ' Duke of Kingston's
Arms.' When he got there a company or two of
soldiers were just come to town, and all the rooms
were taken up by the officers ; we therefore went on
to Scarthingmore, within three miles of Tuxford.
This house was built by the duke for drovers, etc.
One Wadsworth took it, who had been waiter at
Marmaduke Skerry's, commonly called Duke Skerry,
who kept the * George Inn ' at Stamford. As Wadsworth
was much respected, and the house likely to succeed
as an inn, his grace ordered several additions to be
made, which rendered it fit to accommodate any
travellers of what rank or respectability soever. This
was thirteen miles further, and within ten miles of
Thoresby, seven of which were across the country.
The duke therefore determined to stay here the night,
especially as it was now past eleven o'clock. I made
his grace's bed, which I always did myself on a
journey. After supper he asked me * if I had put
his sheets and mattress on ? ' I answered, I put on
the sheets ; but, there being a very good mattress,
I had not put his grace's on. f Then,' said he, * put
it on immediately.' I was obliged therefore to
remake the bed, though very much fatigued with so
long a journey. We reached Thoresby the next
morning at twelve o'clock.
" When I mentioned this circumstance to Mr.
Poynter, * What's that,' says he, ' to what happened
to me during the rebellion ? His grace had a tent-
bedstead, which was put up every night during the
march. I left it behind, and was obliged to go back
twenty miles to fetch it before he would go to bed.'
The " Beehive" at Grantham 103
This made me remember not to neglect anything for
the future.
" Another time his grace came from London on
purpose to dine with Lord Robert Sutton, according to
promise : this was one hundred and twenty-six miles.
When we reached Duke Skerry's, at Stamford, his
grace had a mild refreshment. Having rode ninety
miles, I thought he would have excused me from
waiting on him at table ; but he insisted on my attend-
ance. We then proceeded on our journey to Lord
Sutton, and arriving just as the second course was
serving in.
" His grace, with Dr. Richard Sutton, being deter-
mined another time to go from Thoresby to New-
market in one day, sent his carriage the preceding
evening to Duke Skerry's, at Stamford, with two
footmen to be ready the next morning, intending to
ride thither on horseback himself. I must confess
I felt myself a little piqued in not being allowed to
go in the carriage the evening they departed, it being
a great way to ride horseback to Newmarket. How-
ever, we set off early the next morning across the
country, as though on a fox-chase, for Grantham, to
the inn with this couplet written on the signpost,
which holds a beehive :
14 Two rarities are, Grantham, only thine :
A lofty steeple and a living sign.
" Here the post-chaise was ordered for the duke and
the doctor to take them to Stamford, where we were
no sooner arrived than the duke told me I might
have the chaise if I pleased. I believe I was wrong
104 The Amazing Duchess
in refusing his kind offer ; but 1 thanked his grace,
telling him, as I had rode so far, I would endeavpur
to reach Newmarket on horseback, which I elected.
After his grace had gone to bed that night I searched
his pockets (which I always did before I put away his
clothes) ; I found six guineas. When he came to
dress the next morning, as usual, I gave him the money,
together with some papers and a few shillings. He
returned the money, saying, ' Here, Whitehead, you
had a hard journey yesterday ; take this for your
resolution.' Though I every night took papers as
well as money from his pockets, yet I can safely swear
to deny the whole time of my servitude I never once
looked at the inside of any letter they contained. . . .
During the sixteen years that I served the duke I had
but two lots of clothes given me ; the first amounted
to fifty and the second to ninety pounds, though his
grace, when Mr. Poynter was his valet, gave his
wardrobe regularly the Saturday before Easter New-
market Meeting and the Saturday before October
Meeting — never less than twenty pounds at a time.
At the duke's decease his wardrobe was not worth
less than ,£2,000. This, I might say, I had been
working for day and night — in riding post, this and
many more disagreeable journeys during my servitude.
At his grace's marriage, when Mr. Fozard left him,
I should have followed his example had not the duke
promised to provide for me. When I mentioned
his promise his grace replied : * Never speak to
me again on this subject ; I certainly will take care
of you that you shall never want.' He died within
a twelvemonth after I quitted his service, to the
POPE CLEMENT XIV. (GANGANELLl)
•
Trouble Foreshadowed 107
disappointment of the hopes and wishes of your very-
humble servant."
The full and correct reading of the rhymed
sign of the " Beehive Inn " at Grantham runs as
follows :
Stop, traveller ! this wondrous sign explore,
And say, when thou hast viewed it o'er,
"Grantham, now two rarities are thine:
A lofty steeple and a living sign.'1
The sign of the Beehive is to be found else-
where (there is a hostelry in Walworth known by
this name), and, according to Mr. F. W. Hack-
wood, is nearly always accompanied by some such
rhyme.
The resigned tone of the sixteenth letter shows that
the end of Whitehead's service was near at hand. In
his next epistle he makes an interesting reference to
Mrs. Amis, who played so important a part in the
preparation of the register at Winchester when
Elizabeth was anxious to be in possession of proofs
of her marriage to Captain Hervey. Apparently the
duchess had considered it advisable to look after the
widow of the clergyman who had performed the
ceremony at Lainston Church. Mrs. Amis married
Phillips, the duke's butler, and, as Whitehead re-
lates, the duchess obtained for Phillips the position
of steward of one of the duke's estates in Notting-
hamshire. Mrs. Phillips, no doubt, told her husband
the story of the secret marriage, and the ex-butler,
confident in the hold he had over the duchess, took
advantage of his knowledge to give himself airs and
VOL. II 7
io8 The Amazing Duchess
squeeze money out of the poor tenants. Whitehead
does not appear to have read the report of the trial
in Westminster Hall, or he surely would have remem-
bered that Mrs. Phillips gave evidence adverse to
the duchess, evidence discredited by an assertion that
her husband left the duke's service of his own accord,
it being established that he was discharged. The
reason for his dismissal is given by Whitehead.
LETTER XVII
" Mrs. Auress [Mrs. Amis], the widow of the
clergyman who married Captain Hervey to Miss
Chudleigh (as mentioned in my first letter), coming
to London soon after her husband's death, was often
invited to Knightsbridge by Miss C., who made very
much of her, for reasons that I need not mention.
At that time one Thomas Phillips lived with the
duke as butler, whom Miss C. soon contrived to get
married to Mrs. Auress [Mrs. Amis]. She had
provided him with a place, which was steward of the
Holme Pierrepoint estate, having a house given him
within fifty yards of the duke's. Here they resided
till near two years after his grace's marriage. Phillips
now assumed the great man, screwing the tenants so
intolerably that they made heavy complaint of him.
He would take hay, straw, or poultry from them, as
he pleased. A poor woman's sow, with a litter of
young pigs, were taken away and sent to Nottingham
market by him, where they were sold, never returning
any of the money, the poor woman being afraid to
Tricks of the Duke's Steward 109
remonstrate with him, as he threatened to turn any
of the duke's tenants out of their farm who gave him
the least offence. This latter story being told to his
grace, with many more, he went to Home Lane, to
the inn belonging to his grace's estate, kept by
Mr. Sandy, and ordered dinner. During the pre-
paration he looked over his young stud, as he always
kept his brood-mares there in paddocks, the pasturage
being very good. He likewise fattened all his own
beef. When a drove of Scotch cattle came through
Palethorpe, the landlord of the inn, who formerly
was groom to Madame la Touche, picked out as
many of the pollards as he thought his grace might
want and turned them into the park (never letting
cattle with horns be with the stud) till the fat ones
were wanted ; the others were then driven to Holme
Pierrepoint, where they were soon fattened. His grace,
returning to dinner, discoursed with Mr. Sandy and
questioned him concerning the stories about Phillips.
Finding them true, he was soon afterwards discharged.
Phillips then took a house at Bristol, living on what
he had squeezed from the poor tenants about four
years, and then died. What became of his wife
I know not.
" The year after I left the duke part of his grace's
stud was sold by auction by Mr. Sandy, so much to
the satisfaction of the duke, and finding no one more
capable of taking the stewardship at Holme Pierre-
point, being well acquainted with the estate, he was
appointed to that office immediately, and continues in
the same station now, under the Honourable Charles
Pierrepoint. I know I have been blamed for leaving
no The Amazing Duchess
his grace ; but I could not brook the treatment
I continually received from the duchess."
So much for Mr. Thomas Whitehead and his
revelations. To the last he preserves his attitude
of injured innocence, posing as the faithful servant
whose devotion is unappreciated by a wicked and
designing woman. How long he remained in the
duke's service after the marriage he does not tell
us ; probably not so long as the letters might lead
one to suppose. When all he has to say against
the duchess is summed up, his indictment does not
amount to very much ; strip it of a few coarse
allusions, and it is reduced to fits of anger caused
(and fully justified in all probability) by the valet's
own insolence and disobedience. On rare occasions
Whitehead is moved to do his mistress justice, perhaps
unintentionally, and if so his insight into her character
is the more noticeable. In one of his concluding
letters he says : " The last time the duke and duchess
came to Bath she took lodgings of Mrs. Hodgkinson,
in the Orange Grove, for one month ; but, not finding
them agreeable, she removed before the expiration
of the time agreed on to the Abbey Bath House, from
whence she again removed his grace to the centre
house on the South Parade, where he died. During
his illness she sat by his side when any of the faculty
or others entered, with a Prayer-book in her hand.
His convulsions were so strong that three men could
hardly hold him, biting his tongue almost through.
Some time after his grace's death Mrs. Hodgkinson
expected to be paid for the full time the lodgings
Fatal Seizure of the Duke m
were engaged ; was informed by the duchess she
would never agree to it. As she was very obstinate
in everything, she said, in parting, she would not have
her will disputed ; therefore, rather than pay this just
demand, she made her a present a short time after-
wards of a piece of plate ten times the value of the
cheque. This circumstance, amongst many others,
proved her worth of the motto under her coat of
arms, Aut vincit aut pent"
It is difficult to find the ground on which Elizabeth's
biographers based their charge that the duke was
harried and hurried to the grave by the duchess. The
various lives of " Miss Chudleigh " were published
three years before Whitehead compiled his " Letters,"
and it is not to be supposed that the ex-valet, interested
in everything that concerned his old master and mis-
tress, did not read these productions, which were sold
in such numbers as to bring in large profits to the
booksellers. Yet what corroboration is there in White-
head of such a statement as this ? " At nearly the
expiration of five years after his marriage the duke
was afflicted with a paralytic stroke, probably the
consequence of the continual irritation under which
his nerves had suffered from matrimonial discontent.
In this condition he was hurried about by his duchess
in journeys from one place to another, under the pre-
tence that change of air would prove salutary to his
health."
If any one could have known of the " matrimonial
discontent " under the effects of which the duke was
supposed to be pining away it ought to be Whitehead.
But what he has to say concerning the demeanour of
ii2 The Amazing Duchess
the duchess towards her husband is really of a very
trivial character, and, in Mr. Whitehead's opinion, of
not nearly so much importance as her grace's demean-
our towards himself.
It is not without significance that, from the time of
the marriage of the duke in March 1769 to the fatal
turn his failing health took in the autumn of 1773, the
aristocratic letter-writers who, previous to Elizabeth's
becoming a duchess, were never tired of enlivening their
letters with stories of her doings, do not, save in one
instance, mention either her or the duke. The exception
is provided by Lady Mary Coke. Lady Mary could
not, of course, write of the duchess without a sneer, but
there is nothing in the letter discreditable to Elizabeth
or that suggests the tyranny of which she was accused.
Lady Mary, writing from Vienna, says: "The lady who
calls herself Duchess of Kingston wrote a letter to the
Electoress after the duke was struck with palsy, that if
he recovered she should carry him next year to the
Bathes of Carlsbad, in Bohemia, and should take
Dresden on the way. If he dyed the affliction she
shou'd be in would make those Bathes absolutely
necessary to re-establish her health ; so that, at all events,
she would see the Electoress next summer. When
first I came they told me the Electoress wou'd certainly
speak to me about her. I told them my answer was
ready ; that I had very little acquaintance with that lady,
which I imagined wou'd put an end to the discussion.
Accordingly she did mention her, but in no way that
embarrassed me the least. She said she had had a letter
from the Duchess of Kingston that mentioned the
duke's illness. She feared, she added, her anxiety for
The Duke not Unhappy 113
him wou'd injure her own health. I answer'd my
letters from England mentioned the Duke of Kingston
being attacked with paralytic disorder. This succeeded.
She never renewed the discussion." Lady Mary's
manner was probably more significant than her words.
The Electoress showed her good sense by her silence.
All things considered, it seems a fair inference that
the married life of the duke and duchess was not an
unhappy one ; that they passed the time quietly in the
country, and that Elizabeth was doing her best to care
for a man whose decaying powers must have been
evident. At any rate, until positive evidence of the
" harrying " process is forthcoming we prefer to believe
that Elizabeth has been maligned, and that she was not
the tyrannical, grasping woman her detractors have
tried to picture her. Walpole, in a passing mood of
repentance, puts the matter fairly in the letter to be
quoted presently, when he repeated the Countess of
Uppin Ossory's words : " Much will be said that she
does deserve, and more that she does not."
One thing is very certain : that after the marriage
there was an end to the junketings at Kingston House,
and to Elizabeth's extravagant eccentricities. Had she
plunged into the excesses to which her enemies have
asserted she was addicted would there not have been
some record of the fact ? But from the time of her
marriage in 1769 to the duke's death in 1773 the
letter-writers are silent as to her doings or movements.
This silence is all the more remarkable because at that
time the rage in London for masquerades was at its
height, and had the newly made duchess preserved the
frivolity and love of excitement with which her days as
ii4 The Amazing Duchess
Miss Chudleigh were marked it is certain that, had she
been inclined to take her share in what was going on
in the gay world of London, the duke would have been
powerless to prevent her.
The entertainments at Mrs. Cornelys' rooms in
Soho were in 1770-71 patronised by the aristocratic
leaders of fashion and the belles and beaux vie with
each other in the wearing of outrageous costumes.
The Public Advertiser gives a graphic account of one
of these functions. " Monday night," we read, " the
principal nobility and gentry of this kingdom, to the
number of near eight hundred, were present at the
masked ball at Mrs. Cornelys' in Soho-square, given
by the gentlemen of the Tuesday Night's Club, held
at the ' Star and Garter ' Tavern in Pall-mall. Soho-
square and adjacent streets were lined with thousands
of people, whose curiosity led them to get a sight of
the persons going to the Masquerade ; nor was any
coach or chair suffered to pass unreviewed, the windows
being obliged to be let down, and lights held up to
display the figures to more advantage. At nine o'clock
the doors of the house were opened, and from that
time for about three or four hours the Company con-
tinued to pour into the Assembly. At twelve the lower
rooms were opened ; in these were prepared the side-
boards, containing sweetmeats and a cold collation, in
which elegance was more conspicuous than profusion.
The feast of the night was calculated rather to gratify
the eye than the stomach, and seemed to testify the
conductor's sense of its being prepared almost on the
eve of Ash Wednesday. The richness and brilliancy
of the dresses were almost beyond imagination ; nor
Mrs. Cornely's Masquerades 115
did any assembly ever exhibit a collection of more
elegant and beautiful female figures. Among them were
Lady Waldegave, Lady Pembroke, the Duchess of
Hamilton, Mrs. Crewe, Mrs. Hodges, Lady Almeria
Carpenter, etc. Some of the most remarkable figures
were — a Highlander (Mr. R. Conway) ; a double man,
half Miller, half Chimney Sweep (Sir R. Phillips) ; a
Political Bedlamite, run mad for Wilkes and Liberty,
and No. 45, a figure of Adam in flesh coloured silk, with
an apron of fig leaves ; a Druid (Sir W. W. Wynne) ;
a figure of Somebody ; a figure of Nobody ; a running
Footman, very richly dressed, with a cap set with
diamonds, and the words ' Tuesday Night's Club ' in
the front (the Earl of Carlisle) ; His Royal Highness
the Duke of Gloucester in the old English habit, with
a star on his cloak ; Midas (Mr. James, the painter) ;
Miss Monckton, daughter to Lord Gallway, appeared
in the character of an Indian Sultana, in a robe of
cloth of gold, and a rich veil. The seams of her
habit were embroidered with precious stones, and she
had a magnificent cluster of diamonds on her head ;
the jewels she wore were valued at ^30,000."
Possibly the gentleman who went as Adam re-
membered the sensation caused by Miss Chudleigh's
Iphigenia, and determined to go one better. However
this may be, the only part which concerns us is that, in
all the notices of these masquerades — and the newspapers
of that date are full of them — there is no mention of the
Duchess of Kingston. Considering the curiosity she
always excited, a curiosity stimulated by the circum-
stances of her marriage with the duke, the journalists,
like the letter-writers, would have been only too glad
n6 The Amazing Duchess
to seize upon the slightest thing to chronicle con-
cerning the " notorious Elizabeth Chudleigh." But
the journals are as barren as the letters during
the whole time of the married life of the duke .and
duchess.
During the duke's illness, on September 24th, the
alarming reports of his health caused Walpole to break
his long silence. We have him writing to the Earl
of Strafford thus : " Her Grace of Kingston's glory
approaches to consummation in a more worldly style.
The duke is dying, and had given her the whole estate,
seventeen thousand a year. I am told she has already
notified the contents of the will and made offers of the
sale of Thoresby. Pious matrons have various ways of
expressing decency."
Here Walpole gives the keynote of the abuse which
was afterwards showered upon the duchess. Because
she looked after herself in regard to the duke's will,
which she had a perfect right to do, she has been
denounced as an adventuress and a schemer. We hold
that Elizabeth conscientiously believed that she was the
duke's legal wife, and, having this belief, she only did
what every wife would have done in her place. It
must not be forgotten that her marriage with the duke
raised a host of bitter enemies against her. The duke's
relations and connections were furious to think that
nearly ^20,000 a year was passing from them, and it
may be accepted without question that the Pierreponts
and the Medowes, who were the next of kin, did not
keep their sentiments to themselves. So when it was
rumoured that the duke was lying at the point of
death excitement ran high, not only in the family
The Duke's Will 117
circle but outside it, on the subject of his will. It was,
in fact, the one topic of the fashionable gossips.
Bearing all this in mind, we approach the story of
the duchess's conduct during the last moments of her
husband. We are told that when she discovered death
was imminent she dispatched a messenger to London
to bring down her friend Mr. Field, the lawyer, post-
haste to Bath. What happened after Mr. Field's
arrival we give in the words of Elizabeth's biographer
of 1789. How the author came to know what most
certainly must have been a confidential transaction has
never been settled. The only person likely to be
informed of what took place was Mr. Field himself,
and he was in no position to contradict the biographer,
for in 1789 the lawyer was dead. u Her business with
this gentleman of the law," says the author of the
" Life and Memoirs," " was of a curious nature. The
duke had made a will, by which he cut off his elder
nephew, and entailed his estate upon a younger. For
this will she would have substituted another, which
she had prepared without the duke's knowledge, and
which she desired Mr. Field to procure his grace to
sign, and to witness it himself. The difference between
these two wills, as they respected the duchess, was this :
by the first will the duke had bequeathed the income
of his estate to his duchess for life, expressly under
condition of her continuing a widow ; by the second
will this restriction was taken away. That a woman
turned fifty should consider restraint from matrimony
a grievance is rather extraordinary ; but more particu-
larly such a woman as her grace, who considered the
ceremony merely useful from its legal operation, and
n8 The Amazing Duchess
never considered it as a religious union. When Mr.
Field was introduced to the duke he found his grace's
intellect materially affected. A transient knowledge
of his intimates and domestics were the only signs of
mental ability that remained. Mr. Field, of course,
remonstrated with the duchess on the danger and dis-
honesty of introducing a will to a man so debilitated in
mind ; and in return received very severe reprehension
from her grace. He, however, quitted the house, and
to his honesty and honour his client owed everything
the law afterwards allowed her to possess."
We give this story for what it is worth, and whether
it is true or false or garbled it is impossible to decide ;
all we need remark is that not a shred of corroboration
is to be found anywhere. Whitehead once more makes
his appearance in connection with the duke's last
illness. What he says forms the concluding portion of
the letter, the first half of which appears above.
" When the duke came afterwards to Bath, where
he died, I was informed of his arrival and illness by
one of his servants, who likewise told me his grace
wanted very much to see me ; that he enquired for me
two or three times a day. I went immediately to his
house, sending a servant to inform the duchess (as no
one durst wait on his grace, nor even carry a message
to him, without her leave). She sent me word to call
the next morning. When I attended, the same orders
were sent for calling in the evening, and then in the
morning again. This continued for three days, with-
out ever letting me see him, though the servant in-
formed me that his grace was always asking for me,
taking it unkind I did not wait upon him. He durst
Death of the Duke 119
not acquaint him with my unsuccessful attempts for
that purpose, for fear of his kind lady's resentment. I
then wrote a letter begging Dr. Rains to deliver it to
my honoured master, though to no purpose ; he durst
not. This Dr. Rains the duke had a great opinion of,
having brought him from Thoresby. I next wrote to
the duchess begging the favour of attending on his
grace during his illness ; being so long used to his
person, and better acquainted with his manner than the
servant who then waited on him. This was he whom
the duchess recommended from Lord Barrington, as
already mentioned. I believe she foresaw she might
want his lordship's assistance. She sent me answer
that when she wanted me she would send for me. As
I almost now despaired of seeing my dear lord, I was
determined to make one grand push for that purpose.
Accordingly I went the next morning and entered a
room on the left hand, as you go into the Abbey bath-
house. In about two minutes I heard the duke at the
top of the stairs enquiring ' Where's Whitehead ? '
the duchess at the same time asking if he would have
his chair brought in. ' No,' said he, ' I want to see
Whitehead.' I instantly rushed past her grace, who
endeavoured to stop me at the bottom of the stair-
case, asking me where I was going. I met the good
duke with tears in my eyes. I never saw a man so
altered in so short a time. The duchess hurried him
immediately into the chair, obliging me to go away ;
and I never spoke to him afterwards."
CHAPTER VIII
Death of the duke — His will — The duchess's grief ridiculed — The
funeral of a great nobleman — Elaborate ceremonial — Embarrass-
ing position of the duchess — She sets out for Rome — Is hospitably
received by Clement XIV. — The duchess's yacht on the Tiber —
Entertainments in her honour at Rome.
r I ^HE duke died at Bath on September 23rd, 1773,
and immediately the fashionable letter-writers
reopened their batteries of raillery, making fine sport
with the funeral and the grief of the duchess. Wai-
pole's wit is none the less venomed because of his long
neglect of the lady who was once the pet target for his
shots. In a letter to the Countess of Upper Ossory
he says : " I do not agree with your ladyship that the
Duchess of Kingston will have recourse to the protec-
tion of the King of Prussia. His Majesty has not
shown such partiality to Hymen as implies a propensity
to bigamy. It might be charity to continue her maid
of honour, after she was married and had two children,
and was starving at Chudleigh House, like poor fat
Mrs. Pritchard in Jane Shore ; but every Court is
neither so pious nor so gallant as to wear favours every
time a virgin loses her vestality. I am charmed with
what you say, that much will be said that she does
deserve^ and more that she does not. One may always
Walpole's Sarcasm 121
venture to bet that the world's ill-nature will out-do
anybody's ill-deeds ; and I am persuaded that Nero
and Ca?sar Borgia will, as well as Richard III., come
out much better characters at the Day of Judgment,
and that the pious and grave will be the chief losers at
that solemnity. I have not yet heard the Duke and
Duchess's will. She moved to town with the pace of
an interment, and made as many halts between Bath
and London as Queen Eleanor's corpse. I hope, for
mercy, she will not send for me to write verses on all
the crosses she shall erect where she and the horses
stopped to weep ; but I am in a panic, for I hear my
poor lines at Ampthill are already in the papers. Her
black crape veil, they say, contained a thousand more
yards than that of Mousseline la Serciuse, and at one
of the inns where her grief baited she was in too great
an agony to descend at the door, and was slung into a
bow-window, as Mark Antony was into Cleopatra's
monument. . . . The duchess is a miracle of modera-
tion ! She has only taken the whole real estate for her
own life, and the personal estate for ever. Evelyn
Medows is totally disinherited. The whole real estate,
after Andromache, the duke gives to the next brother
(who took Hermione), and, in failure of his heirs, to his
three brothers in succession ; and, in default of issue
thence, to the Duke of Newcastle's second son, Lord
Thomas Clinton. Wortley Montagu gets an estate of
£1,200 a year that was settled on him. There are
small legacies to the amount of £1,200, and Mr. Brand
is not mentioned. Still, the most curious part I am
yet to learn : my letters do not tell me what stylcy
as the heralds call it, he has proclaimed his heiress."
122 The Amazing Duchess
Evelyn Medows was the next of kin and the one
who felt the effects of the duke's will most keenly.
He was the eldest son of Philip Medows by Lady
Frances Pierrepont, sister of the late Duke of Kingston.
His " next brother " was Captain Charles Medows,
who took the name of Pierrepont in 1778 when he
succeeded to the duke's estates and was created Viscount
Newark in 1796 and Earl Manvers in 1806. The
Lord Thomas Pelham-Clinton mentioned was second
son of the second Duke of Newcastle, whom he
succeeded in 1794, and Mr. Thomas Brand was the
duke's uncle by marriage.
A week later Walpole returns to the charge : " I
cannot yet tell you positively, Madam, whether the
Duke of Kingston has indited the duchess by all her
aliases or not. I believe so, positively, for two days,
but I heard to-night that the will was made before
they were married. I will not swear to this, nor
to what I heard farther, that her first husband has
been seen coming out of her house since she arrived.
I do not mean his ghost, for the first husband
is not dead, though the second is. I hope it is
true, and that Augustus Hervey will be as like Cato
as two peas, and take his Portia again after the loan
of her."
Mrs. Delany's pen is not idle on the subject. She
gives her friend, Mrs. Port, a sprightly piece of gossip,
dashed with pious moralising, in the following :
" Everybody gapeing for the Duke of Kingston's will
— £4,000 a year he settled on her at his marriage (if
such it may be allowed) ; her widow'd grace fell into
fits at every turn on the road from Bath : true
THOMAS PELHAM, DUKE OF NEWCASTLE
123
The Reading of the Will 125
affection and gratitude surely cannot inhabit such a
breast ? "
The Dowager-Countess of Gower is also full of the
burning topic. She writes to Mrs. Delany : " The
Dss of K ! (alias Mrs. H.) must have been struck
wth a whim for ye D to apear a Grand Seignior before
he died. She and her six women attending wth all
humility gives me an idea of a seraglio. Wlh all her
ceremony, ye water must have lost its vertue before it
reached ye D."
The water alluded to by the Countess was from the
river Jordan. At one time this water was used for the
royal christenings ; for what purpose it was employed
in connection with the duke we are left in doubt.
Probably it was intended for washing the corpse ; but
if so it is difficult to believe it could have arrived in
time.
The Hon. Mrs. Boscawen contributes her mite of
gossip to the general fund thus : " The Duke of New-
castle had the custody of the D. of K.'s will, but the
Dss was so ill (of grief) that she cou'd not bear to
have it open'd ! At length the D. of N. said he cou'd
wait no longer and appointed last Friday for Mr.
Medows to meet him at Kingston (alias Chudleigh
House). He went ; his sons remain'd at the outside
of the gate walking to and fro with their cousin,
Spencer Boscawen, for whom this account came (I
think, too, Mr. Brand was at the opening of the will) ;
Mr. Medows (the father) came out but cou'd not
speak for tears. His eldest son, Mr. Evelyn Medows,
is totally disinherited, and is cut off with £ S°° left him
in a codicil. Boscawen could not be positive in this
VOL. II 8
126 The Amazing Duchess
circumstance. Mr. Eve. Medows express'd no concern
at his disappointment : his father was excessively
affected."
The will was executed on the fifth day of July 1770,
and the following are the extracts which relate to the
duchess : " I do by this will ratify and confirm a
settlement, which I made of the annual sum, or yearly
rent charge, of four thousand pounds, on my wife,
Elizabeth, Duchess of Kingston ; and that the said
sum should be unto and to the use of the said
Elizabeth, Duchess of Kingston, my wife, and her
assigns, for and during the term of her natural
life, in case she so long continues my widow, and un-
married, and no longer. And my said wife shall be
permitted during her widowhood, to receive and take
the whole yearly rents, and profits, of all the manors,
lands, and hereditaments, before devised, if full
satisfaction, recompence and discharge of and for so
much of the said annual sum, or yearly rent charge of
four thousand pounds, as shall grow due during her
widowhood, but in case my said wife shall determine her
widowhood during her life, then I shall give and devise
the same to Charles Medows, second son of Phillip
Medows.
" Also I give and bequeath to my said wife, Elizabeth,
Duchess of Kingston, all my furniture, pictures, plate,
jewels, china, arrears of rent, and all other my effects,
and personal estate, of what nature or kind soever, for
her own proper use absolutely, and as and for her own
goods, chattels and effects for evermore"
It is not unwelcome, after the ill-nature of the
letter-writers, to read the sober account of the pro-
The Duke's Funeral 127
ceedings given in 'The London Chronicle of October
1 9th : " On Tuesday were interred in the family vault
at Holme Pierrepont, in Nottinghamshire, the remains
of his Grace the Duke of Kingston. The procession
from Bath which set out on Wednesday last was
as follows : Six mutes. A coach with four clergymen.
The Coronet and cushion, carried on the state-horse
by the Duke's Gentleman, attended by two Grooms
and two Pages. The plume of feathers. The hearse.
Six bearers on horseback. The coach with his Grace's
stewards as Mourners. Ditto with the Duke's ser-
vants as Mourners. A coach with his Tenants.
Another ditto. The Duke's tradesmen on horseback,
36 in number. Thirty-two men bearing truncheons,
viz. : four to each coach, and eight to the hearse,
which was richly ornamented with escutcheons of
his Grace's arms, and upon each coach a Ducal
Coronet. The coaches were drawn by six horses each.
The coffin is covered with crimson velvet, and on
the breast-plate his Grace's titles are thus inscribed :
'The Most High, Mighty, and Most Noble Prince
Evelyn Pierrepont, Duke of Kingston upon Hull,
Marquis of Dorchester, Earl of Kingston upon Hull,
Viscount Newark, Baron Pierrepont of Holme Pierre-
pont, Knight of the Most Noble order of the Garter,
and General in His Majesty's Army, Died the 2jrd
day of September 1773. Aged 61 years.' The corpse
lay in state at the principal inns at every stage on
the road ; and was met on the borders of the county
and attended by vast numbers of Gentlemen, etc., to
shew their respect to so valuable a man."
Whitehead has left an account of his share in the
128 The Amazing Duchess
funeral, not forgetting to air a grievance in his cus-
tomary manner and complaining that the duchess
furnished him with no mourning, and would not
pay his travelling expenses, together with collateral
damages to recompense him for the " loss of my
business." He says : " After the duke's death, the
duchess sent for me, and asked me to accompany his
funeral as one of the chief mourners, Mr. Poynter
being the other, who met us at Loughborough, near
Nottingham, on his way from London to Holme
Pierrepoint. The next day we arrived at Bunny,
where, resting to arrange some matters a short time,
we again departed for Holme Pierrepoint, within four
miles of which we were met by the Duke of New-
castle (an intimate friend of his late grace) and about
a hundred more noblemen and gentlemen of his
particular acquaintance ; upwards of fifty carriages,
with three times the number of horsemen, the foot
people lining the road all the way with men, women,
and children an incredible number. I have never
saw so many on such an occasion, either before or
since. After a little refreshment at Holme Pierre-
point, the process began. As the house joined the
churchyard, they had not far to walk. When the
corps was deposited in the vault with his ancestors,
the Duke of Newcastle pressed my shoulder, saying,
* Whitehead, this is a sorry meeting : you have lost a
good friend, and I an agreeable companion.'
** Being desired by the duchess herself to attend the
funeral, I made no doubt of her grace's reimburse-
ment for the expenses of putting myself in mourning,
and other necessaries for the journey ; together with
Evelyn Medows Disinherited 129
the loss of my business. However, I never got a
sixpence or thanks for my trouble. I wrote several
times to the duchess, but never could obtain an
answer. I likewise sent a letter to France, directed to
Captain Evelyn Meadows, who was then the greatest
favourite with her grace (the duchess doing nothing
without first consulting him), but this application was
equally unsuccessful as the former ones. Perhaps the
conscience of the duchess reproached her for the injury
she did the captain, in setting the duke against him,
and persuading his grace to leave his estate from him ;
he being the next heir at law, if the duke had died
without a will. He was the eldest son of Lady
Frances Meadows, the duke's eldest sister ; whom,
during the whole time that I lived with his grace,
he never saw. Mr. Meadows, Mr. Charles Meadows,
now Mr. Pierrepoint, General Meadows, who is now
in the West Indies, and two other brothers, were
permitted to see the duke within four years of his
marriage ; but the porter had particular orders never
to let in the captain on any account whatever. I have
been informed (but one cannot vouch for the truth
of the story) that Captain Evelyn had disobliged Miss
Chudleigh, by using ill some young lady of her
acquaintance, whom he paid his addresses to. I never
heard the reason of his grace's dislike to his sister,
and her husband, or the other three sons ; but find
it continued till his death. The first time the duchess
sent for Captain Evelyn to France she dispatched a
favourite servant whom she first took as a chairman
into her service, but soon promoted him to be her
footman and chief confidant, till her marriage with
130 The Amazing Duchess
the duke, when he was made butler in the room of
Mr. Fozard, who resigned. This person, whose name
was Williams, was to wait on the captain and bring
him to France in her yacht, that waited at Dover for
that purpose ; but the Captain then rejected her offer,
and would not go. This I had from Mr. Williams'
own mouth afterwards at Bath."
Whitehead adds a little item of information respect-
ing the duke's will, which is very likely to be true :
" I must remark that the wary duchess, foreseeing
what might be the consequence of the duke's death
should she survive him, had caused him to write every
word of the will relating to herself with his own hand"
Elizabeth's position in court and aristocratic circles
after the death of the duke was embarrassing and
uncomfortable. The general opinion was that she had
coerced the duke into making a will in her favour,
but direct evidence of this is wanting, and, looking at
the matter apart from personal feeling, it does not seem
extraordinary that his grace should have left her his
wealth voluntarily. The duke was evidently at variance
with the next heir, Evelyn Medows, and it was but
natural he should show his affection for the duchess,
who, if the truth could be ascertained, might, for the
reasons already put forward, have devoted herself to
him. However, at the time no one would venture
to take this line of argument ; the late duke's relations
and friends were up in arms against her, and Elizabeth's
own supporters held aloof. She had been absent from
the Court more than four years, and had lost touch
with many with whom she had been closely associated.
She saw plainly enough that to remain in England was
She goes Abroad 131
but to court snubs and insults. It is true that, with an
income of nearly £20,000 a year, the enjoyment of the
duke's landed property for life, and his personalty hers
absolutely, she could" afford to be indifferent to gibes
and innuendoes ; but her spirit was too high to permit
her to remain in the cold shade of neglect, and she
determined to seek new worlds to conquer. White-
head's nineteenth letter throws a little light on her
doings at this turn of her affairs. He says :
" When Sir Charles Sedley came to Bath the spring
after the duke's death, as he was generally laid up with
the gout, and I always a great favourite of his, he sent
for me and told me the duchess had written him a
letter to Nuttal, sending it by one of her grooms,
desiring to have the pleasure of his company at
Thoresby in his way to Newmarket, having something
particular to communicate. When he waited on her,
he found the apartments stripped of everything of
value, so that it put him in mind of Sharpe's lodgings
in the Lying Valet. She kept him up till three o'clock
in the morning telling what grievances she had sus-
tained : that it had cost her sixteen hundred pounds in
law since the duke's death, which was but five months ;
that Lord Mansfield had the chief part of it. She
added she had been so ill-treated since her worthy
lord's decease that she was determined to quit this
vile country and reside in France, where she should
have proper respect shown her ; for that reason she
had sent all the best of the furniture, with the pictures
and plate, except the gilt plate belonging to the
church (which, by-the-by, she dispatched with the rest
but was obliged to return it, saying she did not know
132 The Amazing Duchess
it was in her possession). The duke's service of plate
was one of the richest in the kingdom. Sir Charles
told me it was out of respect to his late grace that he
called to see her, than from any regard to her, as he
well knew her deceit. ... I have known Sir Charles
go to the post office in Lombard Street to purchase
letters whose owners could not be found, diverting
himself and company with the contents." If Sir
Charles Sedley's favourite amusement was the opening
of other people's letters, even though he may have
paid for them, the charge of deceit he brings against
the duchess does not come very well from his mouth.
Elizabeth did not go to France as Whitehead
suggests, but to Rome, and there were many induce-
ments to tempt her thither. She hated everything
that was commonplace, and at that moment the ponti-
fical chair was occupied by a very exceptional man,
John Vincenti Antony Ganganelli, better known as
Clement XIV. Ganganelli was the son of a physician,
and was elected Pope in 1769, at a time when almost
all the European Powers were meditating attacks on
the Papal authority. Ganganelli was remarkably broad
in his views, but diplomatic and tactful at the same
time. He began with a conciliatory policy, and gradu-
ally wore down all hostility, but only by a concession
which was of vital consequences to the Catholic Church.
The great public event of Ganganelli's pontificate was
the final suppression of the order of Jesuits. After
a mature deliberation on the subject for four years,
he signed the brief for this purpose on July 2ist,
1773, and the suppression was succeeded by an im-
mediate reconciliation with the discontented Courts.
Received of Pope Clement 133
The step was not taken without care to supply what
was lost, and Clement provided successors to the Jesuits
in the institutions for education of which they had
obtained the chief management. After this event he
fell into a declining illness, was racked by excruciating
pains, and worn to a skeleton. Poison was suspected,
and it is said that Clement himself knew the cause.
At the time, however, of the visit of the Duchess of
Kingston Clement was at the height of his powers.
The famous edict of suppression had been in force
a few months, and the Pope was the most talked of
man throughout Europe. He was not merely a
diplomatist and reformer — a spoliator many members
of his Church would possibly call him — but he was
distinguished by his urbanity and his simplicity.
" A monk's life," he is reported to have once said,
" is to be directed by his rule, but the wants of his
subjects point the hours of a sovereign." When he
was told that he ought to keep a more splendid table
he said that u Neither St. Peter nor St. Francis had
taught him to dine splendidly " ; yet upon occasion he
could entertain guests with proper dignity, and even
magnificence. But in the midst of pomp and ceremony
he preserved his simplicity of character and his
humorous turn of conversation, and loved nothing so
much as to chat at ease with his old friends. ** I have
been [said he one evening] a prince and a pope all
day ; that I may not be quite suffocated, let me now
be Father Ganganelli again."
This mixture of a due appreciation of the responsi-
bilities of high dignity and state with striking personal
qualifications appealed strongly to Elizabeth's love for
134 The Amazing Duchess
unconventionality — an unconventionality which, when
it was necessary, she could drop and be as exacting in
the matter of etiquette as the occasion demanded. It
is worthy of note that the three great personages who
honoured the duchess with their friendship had much
in common. Clement XIV., Frederick the Great, and
Catherine II. of Russia, while observant of the
restrictions of rank, and of the homage due to that
rank, delighted in unbending whenever they could do
so with propriety. That the Duchess of Kingston
succeeded in ingratiating herself with each is a tribute
not only to her charm and fascination, but to the
powers of her mind and originality of thought. She
would not have been tolerated simply on account of
her wealth had she been vain and empty-headed, or the
scheming adventuress such as her biographers have
represented her.
The Pope received Elizabeth with the utmost
cordiality, endowed her with many privileges, enjoyed
only by princes, and lodged her in the palace of one
of the cardinals. The duchess was quite equal to
entertaining a pope, and, in return for his hospitality
and distinction, spent money right royally in the
diversions she afforded the inhabitants of Rome.
Even here she has not escaped ill-natured criticism,
and one of the anonymous scribes could not allude
to her lavish expenditure without gratuitously adding
" notwithstanding her avarice." We are told that
" She had built an elegant yacht in England, which
she had brought into Italy under the direction of a
gentleman who had served in the British Navy ; and
this vessel, with considerable labour and an immense
Her Yacht in the Tiber 135
expense, was conveyed up the Tiber. The modern
Romans crowded from all parts. To the degenerate
Italians an English yacht was as great a curiosity as
the ancient vessels of the Carthaginians were to their
renowned and virtuous ancestors."
The accounts of the magnificent reception given
Elizabeth by the Pope, and of her flinging away
thousands of the duke's money, reached England,
and maddened the disappointed Evelyn Medows and
his friends. Walpole's friend, Sir Horace Mann, was
travelling in Italy at the time, and Walpole thus
writes to him : "What think you of that pompous
piece of effrontery and imposture, the Duchess of
Kingston ? Is there common sense in her ostentation
and grief, and train of black crape and band of music ?
I beg you would not be silent on that chapter ; it
is as comic a scene as that of the Countess Trifaldine
in ' Don Quixote,' and, though she is the high and
mighty princess, at least she does not yet pretend
to be a royal one." Four months later he flings
this at her : " Her Grace of Kingston, though a
phenomenon, is no original ; the purchase of Sixtus
Quintus's villa seems to be an imitation of that
Stroller, Queen Christina."
CHAPTER IX
The Medows family make secret inquiries about the marriage at
Lainston — The duchess visits London hurriedly — She returns to
Rome — Rumours of a prosecution for bigamy — Anne Cradock
secured as a witness against the duchess — Augustus Hervey
becomes Earl of Bristol — The grand jury of Middlesex return a
bill of indictment for bigamy against the duchess — Her adventure
with Jenkins, the banker, at Rome — She travels post-haste to
England — Is taken ill on the journey — Crosses the Alps in a litter —
Arrives at Dover.
THE author of the " Life and Memoirs " informs
us that " while festivity, praise, and respect
elated her heart in the dominions of the Pope, a
storm was gathering in the dominions of her King
to level her even to the dust." This storm, so
grandiloquently described, arose out of the simmering
rage of the disinherited Evelyn Medows. He and
his friends were casting about for a plan of attack,
and it was only reasonable that they should pitch
upon the form of marriage at Lainston, which the
decision of the Ecclesiastical Court had declared to
be null and void. It is by no means certain that
at this time they were aware of the important evidence
Anne Cradock was prepared to give. Whitehead, if
we may believe him, was, however, approached. He
says : " The year after his grace's decease, Mr. Pierre-
136
Evelyn Medows makes Enquiries 137
point's eldest brother, Captain Evelyn Medows, came
to Bath and asked me some questions concerning
the duchess's behaviour to the duke, in order, if
possible, to get the will set aside. I told him of her
ill-treatment of my good lord ; that he had no will
to act as he pleased ; that he could not even go an
airing without her leave ; with many other things,
the chief part of which I have related in my former
letters. He wished I would make a memorandum of
them and give it to his attorney ; and likewise
accompany him to Bristol to find out Mr. Phillips's
wife, the late Mrs. Auress [Mrs. Amis], promising
to reward me for my trouble."
Tongues were once more at work, and Lady Mary
Coke was in her element in circulating every piece
of scandal she could get hold of. Writing to one
of her friends, she says : " The newspapers will have
informed you that the lady who called herself Duchess
of Kingston is proved to be no other than Mrs.
Hervey, and her ill-acquired fortune will soon follow
her title, for 'tis said she will certainly lose it by these
words in the Duke of Kingston's will, that he gives
her all his estate, etc., as long as she continues his
widow, and no longer. Lord Bristol is a little better,
and is going to the Bath. Most people think Mr.
Hervey will be divorced, as he will have little trouble
in obtaining it."
According to the fair journalist, it would appear
that Queen Charlotte was not so favourably disposed
towards the Duchess of Kingston as she had been
towards Elizabeth Chudleigh. Lady Mary, talking
with the Queen about Elizabeth's great friend, the
138 The Amazing Duchess
Electoress of Saxony, records : " The Elector had
built a new Menage with a gallery round, where all
the Court were assembled, which, being ill-built, the
number of people made it give way and fall with all
the Company. Many of which were extremely hurt,
and, among the rest, the Electoress-Dowager of
Saxony had her leg broke, which she bore with
uncommon patience, tho' her suffering must have
been great, for so many people fell over her, it was
some time before she could have any assistance. 1
had some conversation with her Majesty about her,
as also about the lady who calls herself Duchess of
Kingston. The Queen said that things always came
out at last, and did not seem sorry, as I thought,
that all that infamy was brought to light."
Despite the clouds gathering about the duchess,
the Electoress remains staunch in her friendship, and
we have Lady Mary writing, with considerable acerbity,
a few weeks later : " Sir Horace Mann wrote Mr.
Walpole word that the lady who calls herself Duchess
of Kingston is expected at Florence, and that the
Electoress of Saxony had recommended her to the
great duchess. I'm persuaded she will be very well
received, for virtues are no recommendations at that
Court, and tho' Lady Hertford told Mr. Walpole she
supposed her going there would be a great distress
to Sir Horace Mann, I am not of her opinion, and
am sure he will be as civil to her as he ever was to
anybody, and much more so than he was to me.
Did I tell you that Mr. Fitzroy saw the terrible
woman at Calais ? and she complained bitterly of the
Medows family, saying how cruel it was of them to
Her Hurried Visit to London 139
interrupt her peace of mind. If, with all her crimes,
her peace of mind is only disturbed by the Medows
family, 'tis extraordinary indeed."
In the middle of all this smouldering turmoil the
duchess pays a hurried and semi-secret visit to
London. Walpole alludes to it in the following :
" Christina, Duchess of Kingston, is arrived, in a
great fright, 1 believe, for the duke's nephews are
going to prove her first marriage, and hope to set the
will aside. It is a pity her friendship with the Pope
had not been earlier ; he might have given her a
dispensation. If she loses her cause, the best thing he
can do will be to give her the veil."
This was in July 1774 ; in August Walpole
writes : u I told you in my last that her Grace of
Kingston was arrived. Had I written it four-and-
twenty hours later, I might have told you she was
gone again, with much precipitation, and with none
of the pomp of her usual progresses. In short, she
had missed her lawyer's letters, which warned her
against returning. A prosecution for bigamy was
ready to meet her. She decamped in the middle of
the night ; and six hours after the officers of justice
were at her door to seize her. This is but an unheroic
catastrophe of her romance ; and though she is as
thorough a comedian as Sixtus Quintus, it would be
a little awkward to take possession of his villa, after
being burnt in the hand. What will be the issue of
the suit and law-suit I cannot tell. As so vast an
estate is the prize, the lawyers will probably protract
it beyond this century. Her friend, the Electoress of
Saxony, said to the Duke of Gloucester : " Poor thing !
i4° The Amazing Duchess
what could she do ? she was so young when she was
first married ! "
Mrs. Delany has something to say about Elizabeth's
sudden appearance in London. Writing to the Rev.
John Dawes she tells him : " The Dss of Kingston
made a short visit to England ; she came from Rome,
where she was settled. She stayed twenty-four hours
at her house at Knightsbridge, and then set off for
Russia — her sudden flight, they say, occasioned by Mr.
Evelyn Medows having gone to law with her, to
prove her marriage with Mr. Hervey, which it is
thought he will certainly do, having gained a certain
evidence of it — a man who the Dss of Kingston gave
ten thousand pounds of hush-money, and who for
the same sum from Mr. Evelyn Medows is gained
against her. So rogues betray rogues ; it is happy
when innocence escapes their snares." Mrs. Delany
is occasionally very haphazard in her statements,
and this cock-and-bull story of the £10,000 is one
of the most reckless.
A " law student " who published a pamphlet on the
legal aspects of the case while the trial for bigamy
was pending, wrote with all the vigour of the time
thus: "The charge of collusion was equally injurious
to the Earl of Bristol as the Duchess of Kingston ; a
charge founded on the most infamous surmises and
propagated in The Morning Posty the most illiberal
paper which disgraces this Metropolis, in which lurid
and hidden assassins and mercenary scribblers, while
lurking in obscurity, wound the most respectable
characters and wantonly aim to ruin the peace of mind
and destroy the property of private families. For this
SAMUEL FOOTE
Anne Cradock's Threats
attack on the Earl of Bristol, they, however, received
the chastisement of the Court of King's Bench, tho'
the proprietors now affect to boast that they shall
escape paying the fine so justly inflicted for their
nefarious publication, as the ostensible defendant,
Griffin, is since dead."
The hasty visit of the duchess to England was, of
course, to consult her friend, lawyer Field, how to
meet the threatening danger. Field, confident in the
validity of the decision of the Ecclesiastical Court,
advised her wrongly. The two no doubt talked over
what Anne Cradock could do, 'and the attorney ought
to have seen how advisable it was that she should be
kept quiet. Anne was entitled to say that, had she
not kept herself in the background during the jacti-
tation proceedings, the marriage with the duke could
not possibly have taken place. The responsibility of
behaving meanly towards Anne has been fixed on
Elizabeth ; it was far more likely to have rested on
Field. The few pounds which would have satisfied
Anne were not worth thinking of, and we are inclined
to think Elizabeth left the matter to be dealt with
by the lawyer and that he mismanaged it. Elizabeth,
at the trial, denied that she paid Anne money, or even
promised to do so. Whatever the truth of the matter
may be, it would appear that Cradock threatened to
disclose everything to Evelyn Medows, which was
just what might have been expected. Field, however,
depending on the judgment of the Ecclesiastical Court,
set her at defiance, and she went straight to the other
side, and, her evidence being put into writing, Evelyn
Medows laid his case before counsel, who advised a
VOL. ii 9
144 The Amazing Duchess
bill of indictment to be preferred against the duchess
on a charge of bigamy, which at that time was classed
as felony.
The law moves slowly, and in the eighteenth
century, hampered by an elaborate and tortuous pro-
cedure, it went at a snail's pace. The duchess was
once more enjoying herself at Rome, fondly imagining
she had settled everything in England, when all the
time the cumbrous legal machinery was being put in
action against her. Towards the end of 1774 another
event of importance, of great interest to the duchess,
was foreshadowed. The Earl of Bristol was taken
seriously ill, and there was every prospect of his
brother, Captain Hervey, the bridegroom of the
midnight marriage at Lainston, coming into the
title. Walpole, writing on November nth, 1774,
to Horace Mann, says :
" The bigamist duchess is likely to become a real
peeress at last. Lord Bristol has been struck with
a palsy that has taken away the use of all his
limbs. If he dies, and Augustus should take a
fancy to marry again, as two or three years ago
he had a mind to do, his next brother, the bishop,
may happen to assist the Duke of Kingston's re-
lations with additional proofs of the first marriage.
They now think they shall be able to intercept
the receipt of the duke's estate ; but law is a
horrid liar, and I never believe a word it says before
the decision."
Five months later the earl died. Captain Hervey
succeeded him, but Elizabeth made no sign. She
stayed in Rome, thinking she was perfectly safe.
Augustus Hervey becomes Earl of Bristol 145
Walpole sums up the situation in his cynical fashion :
" I just now hear that Lord Bristol is dead at the
Bath. He was born to the gout from his mother's
family, but starved himself to keep it off. This
brought on paralytic strokes, which have dispatched
him. Will her Grace of Kingston now pass eldest,
and condescend to be, as she really is, Countess of
Bristol ? or will she come over and take her trial
for the becoming dignity of the exhibition in West-
minster Hall ? How it would sound, * Elizabeth,
Countess of Bristol, alias Duchess of Kingston, come
into court ' ! I can tell you nothing more extra-
ordinary, nor would any history figure near hers. It
shows genius to strike out anything so new as her
achievements."
This was on March 26th, 1775. Before June was
out the legal machinery had moved to a point which
necessitated immediate action. The bill of indictment
against the duchess had been presented, and, being
found by the grand jury, it was advised, if her grace
did not appear in proper time to plead to the indict-
ment that process of outlawry should be commenced
against her. Mr. Field, having received notice of the
prosecution, took immediate advice of counsel, who in
consultation directed information to be sent to the
duchess at Rome, urging her immediate return to
England. " This intelligence, like the shock of a
paralytic stroke, numbed every sense ; her strength
was scarcely able to bear against it ; and she was
recovered from the first paroxysms of surprise with
the utmost difficulty. Reason, however, at last re-
suming her seat, a carriage was ordered, and this
The Amazing Duchess
now unhappy woman was drove to the house of
Mr. Jenkins, her banker."
Thus runs the version given in "The Authentic
Detail." Judging, however, by what happened at the
banker's house, we take leave to doubt whether even
one sense, let alone " every sense," was in the least bit
numbed. In the exciting episode which followed
Elizabeth showed herself to be a true daughter of
the intrepid Mrs. Chudleigh, who was not to be
intimidated by highwaymen.
This Mr. Jenkins was a remarkable character. He
was at one time a broker of curiosities, and, settling
at Rome, became banker to almost every British subject
that visited the capital of the Holy See. In his
house the duchess had placed money and securities
to a very considerable amount, and, needing funds
for her post-haste journey to England, she called on
the banker for a large sum which she wanted in hard
cash. To her amazement and disgust, she was told
he was out, a statement which the lady refused to
believe, and, as she could get no reasonable explanation
of the banker's unaccountable absence, she began to
suspect some deep design. There was no justification
for denying himself to her, for he was perfectly secure
so far as any advance he might make, and it flashed
across the mind of the astute duchess that the banker
was behaving treacherously. Her suspicion was well
founded ; the intent was to delay her return to
England till judgment of outlawry could be obtained,
the execution of which would have operated upon
her property at home, though not to the advantage
of her husband's relations, as the confiscations
Her Arduous Journey H7
would, of course, have gone into his Majesty's
exchequer.
The duchess, alarmed by these circumstances,
mustered her spirit, and resolved not only on en-
forcing an interview with her banker, but on obtaining
a restitution of the securities she had deposited in
his hands. It was characteristic of Elizabeth never
to entrust to other people what she thought she
could do herself, and, quietly purchasing a pair of
pistols, she returned to the banker's house and again
asked to see him. The answer, as usual, was that
Mr. Jenkins was not at home, upon which his re-
solute creditor placed herself at his door, declaring
she would there remain sentinel, and not quit her
post till he made his appearance, though he should
remain absent for a month. The threat had the
desired effect, and Jenkins, seeing the impossibility of
longer avoiding an interview, at last showed himself.
The duchess addressed the banker in terms which
must have considerably astonished him, and demanded
her money. The banker would have prevaricated —
she produced her pistol, and he saw the wisdom of
yielding. Triumphantly she took her departure with
all the money she wanted, and commenced her return
to England.
The journey proved very arduous ; difficulties dogged
her, and before she reached the Alps " the pertur-
bation of spirit, upon which passions and disappoint-
ments had powerfully wrought, produced a violent
fever that terminated in an abscess which gathered in
her side. Thus tormented in mind and body, her
situation was truly pitiful." But her courage and
i48 The Amazing Duchess
resourcefulness were unabated, and, finding the jolting
of the carriage intolerable torture, she had a litter
constructed, and in this primitive fashion was con-
veyed as far as Calais. Here she rested until her
health improved ; but in the meantime her distress
of mind increased, and one can well credit the state-
ment that " her apprehensions overpowered her reason,
and her conversation often indicated approaching in-
sanity." These fears arose from a misapprehension
of the consequences of the indictment. The fact was
she supposed that the offence precluded her from bail,
and that on her arrival she would be committed to
the common gaol. Colonel West, brother to Lord
Delaware, chanced to be in Calais at the time, and
she consulted him on the point, but the colonel was
as little acquainted with the law of bigamy as the
duchess, and his opinions rather increased than dimin-
ished her apprehensions. He considered it felony with-
out benefit of clergy ; in other words, that if found
guilty she would be branded in the hand in accordance
with the brutal law of the period.
Elizabeth's arrival at Calais was soon noised abroad,
and Mrs. Delany gives circulation to a foolish piece
of gossip which was as senseless as it was untrue.
" The Duchess of Kingston," she writes, " who has
been some time at Calais, has a ship of her own,
which she sends on her errands to England, etc.
She expected its return, and, on hearing it was coming
into harbour, she went to the strand immediately on
board, and asked the captain * if he had brought her
birds ? ' ' No, madam, I have not brought your birds,
but I have brought Captain Hervey.' Upon which
Lord Mansfield's Advice 149
her graceless grace hurried out of the ship with all
possible speed. I want to hear the sequel ; when I
do you shall." Mrs. Delany, it need hardly be said,
waited for the sequel in vain.
While plunged in doubt and distress of mind the
duchess was unexpectedly cheered by a visit from Lord
Mansfield, who happened to be passing through Calais.
The great lawyer explained to her the nature of the
offence with which she stood charged, the consequences
of the indictment, and of conviction ; and, being eased
of her fears by his information, her mind became
serene, her health improved, and she soon embarked
for Dover, a piece of news of which Walpole made
instant use : " The Duchess of Bristol," he writes,
" is returned to avoid outlawry. The earl, whom
she has made a dowager, talks, and seems to act,
resolution of being divorced ; and the Ecclesiastical
Court, who has been as great a whore as either of
them, affects to be ashamed, and thunders against
the duchess. In the meantime the Meadowses prose-
cute the earl for the whole receipt of the Kingston
estate, as her grace is his countess. People cry
out that the House of Lords cannot grant a divorce
after such symptoms of collusion. I beg their pardons ;
I do not know what the House cannot do." All
this, it is evident, was simply skirmishing to prepare
the way for the great battle.
CHAPTER X
The story of Anne Cradock — Contradictory statements — The duchess
surrounded by enemies— She prepares to defend herself — Extra-
ordinary attack upon her by Samuel Foote — A Trip to Calais
and " Lady Kitty Crocodile " — How Foote obtained his informa-
tion.
ON Elizabeth's arrival at Kingston House she
discovered that neither absence nor the prosecu-
tion had lessened her friends, among the most zealous
of whom she found the Dukes of Newcastle, Ancaster
(one of her early sweethearts), and Portland ; also
Lord Mountstuart, and a numerous circle of other
distinguished personages.
The first step was to put in bail to the indictment,
Earl Mansfield, the Duke of Newcastle, and Lord
Mountstuart becoming her sureties ; many persons
of high rank and fortune offering to join, among
them being the Marquis of Granby, her neighbour of
Rutland House, Knightsbridge. These voluntary acts
of friendship " considerably alleviated her distress ;
and, coming from such personages, flattered her vanity,
solaced her mind, and strengthened it to meet with
intrepidity the ordeal in preparation, which was the
most severe that a woman of her rank had been
brought to for many years." While one may agree
150
Her Negotiations with Anne Cradock 151
with these observations, it is difficult to admit the
justice of the following : " To herself, however, she
had principally to impute her wretched situation, and
all its consequences. Avarice had superseded prudence.
She depended upon cunning and chicane, in a case
that required the utmost wisdom conducting ; and,
instead of purchasing off the evidence against her,
she applied to lawyers, whose interest was to promote
litigation."
It is not quite clear where the "cunning and chicane"
came in. Elizabeth would have been more open to
this charge had she " purchased off " the evidence
rather than applying to lawyers. The author of the
" Life and Memoirs " does not seem to appreciate
the courage and determination of a woman who, when
she believes she is in the right, will fight for that right
and take the consequences. Nor is he to be depended
upon in his account of the negotiations with Anne
Cradock. The version, as presented in this biography,
runs thus : " Mrs. Cradock, the principal existing
witness against her, the only one who could prove
the actual performance and consummation of the
marriage ceremony, had, in old age, personally solicited
a decent maintenance for the remnant of her life ;
and had voluntarily offered, in case of acquiescence,
to retire to her native village and never more obtrude
herself upon the peace of her benefactress. This
offer was rejected by the duchess, who, though
wallowing in accumulating wealth, would not consent
to allow Mrs. Cradock more than the wretched stipend
of £20 a year, and that on the hard condition that
she should live sequestered in an obscure village near
i52 The Amazing Duchess
the Peak of Derby. The ungracious proposal of the
duchess was rejected with contempt, but her grace,
considering her conduct on the occasion extremely
liberal, expressed her astonishment by exclaiming :
'Has the old devil the assurance to reject my bounty!'
and she was then set at defiance, though shortly after
Mrs. Cradock might have commanded thousands to
desert from the service of the duchess's prosecutors."
Anne Cradock is here represented to have approached
the duchess, after her arrival in England, whereas,
if the personal solicitation took place at all, it must
have happened before the journey to Rome, or how
could she have set the law in motion by disclosing
Elizabeth's secret to Evelyn Medows while the
duchess was out of England ? Whitehead, at the
end of Letter XX., tells another story, and this story,
to our mind, is not to be lightly disregarded. He
says : " The Mr. Fozard whom I have so often
mentioned lived with the duke from a child. He
was recommended to his grace by Colonel Litchfield;
on his quitting his grace's service at his marriage
with Miss Chudleigh, Fozard married her maid.
With what he had saved, and the assistance of the
colonel, he took Hall's stables at Hyde Park Corner,
now kept by his widow and eldest son. Captain
Evelyn Meadows's horses standing at livery at his
stables, Fozard, talking to him one day concerning
the duke's will, informed him that he knew some
people who could prove the duchess to be the wife of
Lord Bristol. His own wife had heard Mrs. Cradock
say that she saw them married and bedded. . . . Mrs.
Cradock was then in town, being come from Thoresby,
Anne's Duplicity 153
where the duchess had treated her very ill. The
story is as follows. Her grace had promised her thirty
pounds per annum for her life, with the proviso she
would live at Yarm, in the North Riding of York-
shire (no doubt she had some reasons for this in-
junction); but Mrs. Cradock did not like the distance
from London, being so far from her friends and
acquaintances. Soon afterwards the duchess went to
Lincoln, taking Mrs. Cradock with her, where she
lived for some time after her return to Thoresby.
" During Mrs. Cradock' s absence there came a
letter for her, and, as her grace always took the
liberty of opening the post-bag and every packet,
though directed to the duke, she made no scruple
of making free with this letter likewise, wherein
Mrs. Cradock was desired to send word to whom
she would have the interest of three hundreds paid,
which she had in the stocks. This was, hitherto, a
secret to the duchess, not knowing her to be worth
a shilling. Her husband had acquired this money in a
place Captain Hervey had got for him in the customs.
On this discovery her grace was exceedingly enraged,
and sent immediately to London for her return. When
she came and was informed that the duchess had
opened her letter, she was ready to sink. Her grace
abused her for her secrecy. She excused herself as
well as she could, and told the duchess if she would
but allow her twenty pounds instead of thirty pounds,
letting her reside in London, she would be happy.
Her grace answered she might go and live wherever
she pleased, as she would never grant her a sixpence.
Mrs. Cradock immediately departed for London, as
154 The Amazing Duchess
aforesaid, where Captain Meadows took care of her till
the trial commenced, though the duchess endeavoured
to kidnap her, having persons employed for that
purpose."
Whitehead, throughout his letters, shows so much
malice towards the duchess that this version comes upon
one quite unexpectedly. It is distinctly favourable
to Elizabeth, and contradicts the generally accepted
story as to her " meanness " towards Anne being the
cause of the subsequent trouble. Anne, with £300
in the stocks, could hardly have been in the indigent
circumstances represented by all who have written
biographies of the duchess, and it is easy to under-
stand the anger of the headstrong lady at the dis-
covery. Of all women in the world, the duchess was
the last to endure quietly the feeling that she was
being imposed upon. It must never be forgotten
that Elizabeth was a creature of moods. If she was
mean at one moment, she could be generous at
another. The incident with Mrs. Hodgkinson, the
lodging-house keeper at Bath, proved this, extorting
what from the reluctant Whitehead is fairly entitled
to be called praise. All the fine ladies of the
eighteenth century were impulsive and irrational.
There was too much excitement, too much frivolity,
too much love of admiration and notoriety, too much
gambling, too much eating, and — too much drinking.
Everything was carried to excess, and most of all
was the offensive affectation of a regard for religion
and morality. The strangest incongruities were
possible, and nobody appeared to see anything un-
natural in the spectacle. We have Lord Sandwich,
Grub Street Scribblers 155
one of the most profligate men of his day, bringing
Wilkes's " Essay on Woman " before the House of
Lords " in holy horror." Judges who were remark-
ably lenient to their own vices could not send unfor-
tunate wretches, even boys, to their deaths without
" improving the occasion." Every criminal died on
the gallows " truly repentant," or were made to do
so by the authors of their " last dying words and
confession," many of which emanated from the brain
of the ingenious and pious ordinary of Newgate,
the Rev. W. Cotton, who made a snug addition to
his stipend by selling his effusions. The fashion
was to —
Compound for sins they were inclined to,
By damning those they had no mind to.
And so it has come about that the horror of Eliza-
beth's judges at the enormity of her offence in con-
tracting what was alleged to be a bigamous marriage,
the denunciations of the prosecuting counsel, and the
industrious efforts of Grub Street scribblers to point
a moral in everything they chose to set down con-
cerning the Duchess of Kingston have been taken
seriously, and without due regard to eighteenth-
century characteristics.
Elizabeth Chudleigh has not been fairly dealt by,
and especially in regard to her alleged " meanness,"
her "avarice," her "cunning," and "chicane." The
charge brought against her of being " cunning " is
certainly not borne out by her course in regard to
those who knew her secret. If she erred at all it
was on the side of heedlessness. Ever since the
156 The Amazing Duchess
Lainston episode she was surrounded by a coterie
of persons in humble life, belonging to a class whose
tongues were always wagging scandal, and who were
ready to sell what they knew to the highest bidder.
Anne Cradock married a man in the service of Captain
Hervey, and one hardly likely to be friendly towards
the duchess ; Fozard, one of the duke's household,
and a bosom friend of the grumbler Whitehead, took
for his wife Elizabeth's maid ; Mrs. Amis, the widow
of the parson of Lainston, married Phillips, also one
of the duke's servants, whom the duchess got appointed
to a better post, and who, shamefully abusing his
trust, was discharged, and was no doubt glad to
have a chance of retaliating upon the duchess. Eliza-
beth kept all these individuals about her ; she must
have known Whitehead was her bitter enemy ; never-
theless, she went on her way with the dauntless spirit
which, to her last moment, never deserted her. Yet
her detractors were never tired of calling her
" cunning." Surely a more inaccurate term, as
applicable to her conduct at this time, could hardly
have been selected.
" Her grace," so one reads, " now sat down to the
study of jurisprudence. Her drawing-room became
a law library, and not a day passed without con-
sultations. Like Mr. Blackacre in the comedy, she
drove from the Temple to Lincoln's Inn, and from
Lincoln's Inn to Doctor's Commons, loaded with
law cases extracted from reports, civil institutes,
and church canons. Her carriage groaned under the
weight of Lord Coke, Justinian, and Taylor. From
the opinions of her counsel she daily experienced
Caricatured by Foote 157
hope and consolation. The civilians [proctors at
this time were termed ' civilians '] produced incon-
trovertible arguments to prove the judgment in the
Commons [i.e. Doctor's Commons] irrevocable. The
common lawyers declared conviction impossible, and
the clergy assured her no force her enemies were
capable of bringing into the field could stand before
the thundering force of the canon law. Under these
assurances the duchess rested satisfied that her acquittal
was inevitable, and had soothed her mind into placid-
ness, when a fresh breeze arose to disturb the calm and
create a storm in her mind."
This piece of ornamental writing, after the manner
of the period, no doubt fairly describes the position
taken up by the duchess, and her belief in the solidity
of her defence, and it must have caused her the
greatest possible annoyance to find herself threatened
to be held up to ridicule by Samuel Foote, the greatest
mimic of that or any other age, at the very time when
she was anxious to stand well with the public.
It is a mystery why Foote had the bad taste — one
might almost write, the brutality — to think of cari-
caturing the duchess when she was at a disadvantage
and needed all her energies to undergo the arduous
ordeal in store for her. Mr. Fitzgerald, in his life
of Foote, says : ** It seems hardly credible that Foote,
a seasoned man of the world — a ' hard hitter,' old
stager, and experienced reader of character and events
— should in his folly have lightly thought of meddling
with this adventuress. . . . She was not a person
likely to yield to him. But in his thoughtless, reck-
less way he took up the business with a light heart."
158 The Amazing Duchess
Foote is to be condemned, not because he was likely
to get the worst of an encounter with the intrepid
duchess, but because he should contemplate attacking
her at all. However, there it was, and whether or not
Foote had any thought of exacting blackmail (which
was roundly asserted at the time) he certainly saw his
way to make capital out of the duchess. She was to
be introduced into a new piece called A 'Trip to Calais,
the selection of the locality alone having its significance.
Mr. Fitzgerald calls it a " curious coincidence that
Foote should have fixed on Calais as the locality and
also tide of his piece ; a town which was presently to
become the place of refuge and protection for the
pseudo-duchess herself, and where she was later to
die." But there was no coincidence ; it was intention.
As already related, Elizabeth had just returned from
Calais — where, perhaps we may be pardoned for point-
ing out, she did not die any more than that she came
from Dorsetshire, as Mr. Fitzgerald tells us — and this
was perfectly well known to the town. Apart from this,
and, despite Foote's assertion that he did not intend to
pillory the duchess, there is not the least doubt that he
put into the mouth of4' Lady Kitty Crocodile" ("Lady
Barbara Blubber " was the original name, but on second
thoughts Foote altered it) allusions which could apply
to no one but the Duchess of Kingston.
In this matter, as in so many others concerning
Elizabeth Chudleigh, it is difficult to discover the truth.
The version given by the author of the " Life and
Memoirs" (1780) is the most complete and circum-
stantial, and, if we .may believe it, Foote's object was
undoubtedly to obtain a sum of money as the price of
QUEEN CHARLOTTE (AT THE AGE OF 23)
'59
"A Trip to Calais " 161
his silence. But the authority on which the statement
rests is somewhat tainted, and it would not be fair on
this authority alone to accept the charge of attempted
blackmail as proved.
In one life of Foote, published the year following
his death, we read : " 'Tis said that Foote asked her
grace three thousand pounds to lay it aside, but this
was a misrepresentation of the affair. Foote only re-
marked to a gentleman employed to go between him
and her grace that it would be a loss to him of three
thousand pounds, for, as the season was advanced, he
could not possibly provide another piece, and the
profits reasonably to be expected from it would amount
to that sum, and therefore he could not possibly
suppress it without what he might expect to recover
from the representation." Foote's explanation as here
rendered is not very convincing, and simply shifts
the ground.
The author of the " Life and Memoirs " states that
A 'Trip to Calais was based on information supplied to
Foote by aa young lady named Pomose, who, having
long been deceived by her grace's promises, was forced
by necessity to convert her secrets into saleable com-
modities, and disposed of them to Foote for a sum
of money." " Pomose " is evidently a misprint for
" Penrose," the " beautiful, fine-grown young woman "
who is mentioned by Whitehead (see Letter V., p. 40) as
a sort of protege of the duchess. Miss Penrose was at
first in high favour with Elizabeth, but, according to
Whitehead, was afterwards ill-treated by her mistress
and quitted her service in consequence. The internal
evidence to be found in A Trip to Calais is pretty
VOL. II IO
1 62 The Amazing Duchess
conclusive that Miss Penrose (or some one who filled
a similar position in the duchess's household) supplied
Foote with material.
A Trip to Calais^ like all Foote's comedies, depends
upon sprightly talk. It has the merest thread of a
plot, but this was of no consequence, as the public
went to see Foote and his mimicry, and cared for
nothing else. One of the characters is an Irish monk
called O'Donovan. Previous to the entry of Lady
Kitty Crocodile, he and another character, Mrs. Clack,
a mantua-maker, talk as follows :
O'DONOVAN. She couldn't bear to stay in England
after the death of her husband ; everything there put
her so much in mind of her loss. Why, if she met by
accident with one of his boots it always set her a-crying.
Indeed the poor gentlewoman was a perfect Niobe.
CLACK.. Indeed, I found her ladyship in a very
incontionable way when I waited on her upon the
mournful occasion. Indeed, she was rather more
cheerful when she tried on her weeds ; and no wonder,
for it is a dress vastly becoming, especially to people
inclined to be fat. But I was in hopes, by this time,
she had got over her griefs.
O'DONOVAN. Not at all, indeed. Indeed with the
French she is facatious and pleasant enough ; but she
no sooner set sight on anything English than the tears
burst out like a whirlwind.
This, of course, is an allusion to the extravagant
outward show of grief in which the duchess, as Walpole
alleged, indulged on the death of her husband.
Foote's Pointed Allusions 163
A Miss Lydell, apparently meant for Miss Penrose,
figures in the play. She is a companion to Lady Kitty,
and in her first reference to the lady we get the key-
note. "Sure, never was so capricious a being," says
Miss Lydell to her maid, Hetty, and Hetty replies,
u Not of the same mind two minutes together " —
Elizabeth's own and oft-quoted words.
Presently we have Miss Lydell protesting: <c For at
the same time that she is teasing, torturing, and load-
ing me with every mortification in private, you see
with what particular regard and attention she affects to
treat me in public."
HETTY. True enough, I must own, Miss ; exactly
like her pretended grief for Sir John. She howls and
cries over the poor boot for all the world like the
strange creature I have read of.
The " strange creature " is, of course, no other than
the Duchess of Kingston. Lady Kitty now enters and
indulges in a tirade of abuse directed against the com-
panion, and reminds her of the favours she has
showered upon her, thus : "As to you, did not I, for
no reason that I know, unless, indeed, that you are a
distant relative, take you into my house, put you above
my own women, and make you one of my maids of
honour at once ? "
Here is another direct hit. The duchess affected
royal state in her private life, and called her companions
a maids of honour." Elizabeth's enemies saw in this
a proof of her vanity, but it may have been pure whim-
sicality. Lady Kitty continues to upbraid Miss Lydell,
and pointedly exclaims : " In Italy there was Prince
164 The Amazing Duchess
Pincossi and Cardinal Grimski, you could not help
throwing out your traps to ensnare them. . . . Besides,
Miss, you know I never durst carry you with me to
my conference I had with the Pope for fear you should
be trying some of your coquettish airs upon him."
Surely nothing could be plainer than this.
In the middle of her furious reproaches a Colonel
Crossly is introduced, and the scene is made the vehicle
to exhibit the hypocritical side of Lady Kitty. One
quotation will suffice. On Colonel Crossly remarking
upon Miss Lydell's distressful face, Lady Kitty says :
" Yes, the poor child has just received a letter from her
mother, one of the best kind of women that ever was :
dry up your tears, Lydie, my love." Then she adds,
in an aside, "You sullen, sulky, stomachful slut!" and
continues in the same style for some time. On
Crossly's exit Lady Kitty soliloquises in this fashion :
" This part that I play begins to grow horribly tedious.
In my husband's lifetime, indeed, I had one consola-
tion at least : that I could always make him pay me in
private for the good-humour and fondness I lavished
on him in public. But now I have no other resource
but in servants, and they, too, at times are rebellious.
These common creatures get such odd notions about
liberty into their heads. I fancy the Turks would
make good domestics enough, but then the brutes are
so dumb and submissive that it is scarce possible to
tease and torment them. Now the great pleasure
of power is in ruling over sensible [sensitive ?]
subjects, who wince and feel the yoke when it
galls them."
A piece of dialogue between Lady Kitty and Mrs.
Scurrilities of the Play 165
Clack, the mantua-maker, contains a very palpable
allusion to the duchess :
LADY KITTY. Well, Mrs. Clack, you find me
vastly altered since the death of Sir John ?
CLACK. To be sure, your ladyship is something
changed since the day I had the honour of trying on
your ladyship's clothes for your ladyship's wedding.
LADY KITTY. True. You, I think, Mrs. Clack,
decked me out like another Iphigenia to be sacrificed
at the temple of Hymen. Don't you recollect the
tremors, the terrors that invaded each nerve on that
solemn, that awful occasion ? You must remember
with what reluctance I was dragged by Sir John to
the altar.
CLACK. To be sure, your ladyship showed a becom-
ing coyness upon the occasion. I remember about the
hour of bedding you hid yourself behind the bottle-
rack in the beer-cellar to avoid Sir John. If your
ladyship hadn't happened to have coughed, we
shouldn't have found you.
LADY KITTY. The conflict was great ; but, dear
Mrs. Clack, what could I do ? Troy stood a siege
for only ten years ; now sixteen were fully accom-
plished before I was compelled to surrender.
CLACK. That was standing out vastly well, to be
sure. I recollect what added to your ladyship's grief
was that the nuptials should happen to fall out in the
middle of Lent.
Lady Kitty then breaks out into a rhapsodical
lament over the loss of her husband.
1 66 The Amazing Duchess
LADY KITTY. His arms encircle me round, and
now together we plunge into the gulf". Raging
billows surround us ! Now they rise o'er our
heads ! Now we sink, we sink, in silence together,
and (Falling) Curse the chair ! How came
I to miss it ?
CLACK. Mercy upon us ! Help ! for Heaven's
sake help ! What, is there nobody left in the
house ?
Enter HETTY
CLACK. Lord, Mrs. Hetty, I'm glad you are come !
My poor lady, she's quite gone, I'm afraid.
HETTY. On the ground in one of her fits, I sup-
pose. No doubt it's dreadful to you, but we're used
to 'em every day.
Iphigenia ; the sarcastic hit at the lady's coyness ;
the sixteen years of resistance, very nearly the length
of time between 1744, when Elizabeth married
Augustus Hervey, and 1769, when she went through
the matrimonial ceremony with the duke; the middle
of Lent (the second marriage was in March) ; the
fits to which the duchess was subject, — what could
be clearer ? The reference to the Pope which occurs
farther on and Lady Kitty's advice to the girl who
is in a dilemma between two lovers, that " Suppose,
then, by way of reconciling all parties, you were to
marry them both," are hardly needed to complete
the parallel. How Foote could have had the hardi-
hood to protest that the duchess was not intended
in all this is inconceivable save on the ground that
"Lady Kitty Crocodile" 167
Foote was impudent enough for anything. Ample
corroboration also is to be found in Whitehead's
letters, even to the duchess's disgust for English
ways and her preference for France, where she was
free from the constant pin-pricks of the slanderers.
The very name " Lady Kitty Crocodile " was in-
tended as a sneer at the tears the duchess shed at
the death of the duke. These tears were believed
at the time to be affected, though it is hard to see
why they should not have been genuine. But
Elizabeth never had credit given to her for her
good intentions. She could not do the slightest
thing but it was distorted.
CHAPTER XI
Foote approaches the duchess — His motive for writing A Trip to
Calais — The Lord Chamberlain refuses to license the play —
Foote demands money from the duchess to defray his
" expenses " — She sets him at defiance, and Foote withdraws
his claim — A bitter correspondence — Walpole's sarcastic
comments.
WHATEVER may have been Foote s real
motives, his method of procedure hardly
clears him from the charge that gain was his object.
We quote the history of the transaction as it is
given in the " Life and Memoirs " :
" To effect this purpose, he [Foote] contrived that
the duchess should be informed, by an apparently
indifferent person, of his intending to open his theatre
with the new comedy, in which, she was also informed,
he had delineated her character to the life. The
information, as intended, was like an electrical shock
to her grace. She sent for Foote ; he attended her
with the piece in his pocket, and she solicited him
to read it to her, which he obeyed.
" When he had gone through a scene in which Kitty
Crocodile, her representative, bore a considerable share,
she found it impossible to stand the probe ; pain
elevated her to rage, and, rising in a fever of passion,
til
Prohibition of the Lord Chamberlain 169
she exclaimed, ' Why, this is scandalous, Mr. Foote !
Why, what a wretch you have made me ! * The
humorist, suppressing his internal satisfaction and
commanding his risible muscles into an assemblage
of gravity, while his heart laughed within, answered,
* You, madam ! this is not designed for your grace !
It is not you ! '
<c The duchess, assuming a hypocritical smile,
entreated the author to leave her the piece, and
he, affecting the utmost candour, put it into her
hands, she promising faithfully to return it the
ensuing morning ; and so much did her grace dis-
like the portrait of herself, whether drawn from
nature or in caricature, that she resolved on exerting
every interest in her power to prevent it from being
exhibited.
" To effectuate this end she proposed, the next
morning, to become a purchaser of the copyright,
but the author demanding £2,000, the enormity of
the sum alarmed her grace's avarice. A negotiation
took place for lessening it, but he refused to abate
a guinea, and actually refused £1,600, flattering
himself, no doubt, that the peculiar circumstances of
the duchess's situation would have induced her to
comply with his exorbitant extortion.
" In his expectations, however, he was disappointed.
The duchess returned the manuscript ; the author sent
it to the Chamberlain, and by him it was disapproved
and prohibited from representation.
" In the obtaining of this prohibition her grace
again experienced the zeal and friendship of his
grace of Newcastle, whom she consulted. By his
1 7° The Amazing Duchess
advice she took the opinion of counsel, and the
counsel were unanimous that the comedy was a gross,
false, and malicious libel. Of course they did not
fail of advising a prosecution, and Blanchard, the
shorthand writer, was retained to take it down in
case of representation.
" Foote, now stung by disappointment, exerted the
whole of his connections to procure a licence from
the Chamberlain ; but that officer was not to be
moved. He acknowledged the wit and humour of
the performance, but was irritated at their prostitu-
tion. Indeed, the demand was little less than an
attempt to rob ; it was putting a libel instead of a
pistol to the breast of a female, saying, * Deliver your
money, or I'll destroy your reputation.' The critical
situation, too, at which this attack was made upon
the purse and character of the duchess alarmed all her
friends and interested them in her favour. Previous
to her arrival in London, from the commencement
of the prosecution, every method had been adopted
by her opponents to degrade her in the opinion of
the public ; and now that she had fairly surrendered
to submit to the verdict of her peers, and the
judgment of the law if found guilty, a mercenary
literary assassin draws a poisoned dagger to extort
money or stab her fame. The conduct of those
who protected her was founded in principles of
law and equity, which lay down as a maxim that,
pending a prosecution, no publication shall appear
to bias opinion against the culprit who is the object
of it.
" Foote, on receiving the Chamberlain's interdic-
Footers Letter to the Chamberlain 171
tion, sat down to expostulate, and wrote his lordship
the following letter :
" ' I did intend troubling your lordship with an
earlier address ; but the day after I received your
prohibitory mandate I had the honour of a visit
from Lord Mountstuart, to whose interposition I find
I am indebted for your first commands, relative to
the Trip to Calais, by Mr. Chetwynd, and your final
rejection of it, by Colonel Keen.
" ' Lord Mountstuart has, I presume, told your lord-
ship that he read with me those scenes to which
your lordship objected ; but he found them collected
from general nature, and applicable to none but those
who, through consciousness, were compelled to a
self-application. To such minds, my lord, " The Whole
Duty of Man," next to the sacred writings, is the
severest satire that ever was written ; and to the same
mark, if Comedy directs not her aim, her arrows are
shot in the air ; for by what touches no man, no man
will be amended.
" * Lord Mountstuart desired that I would suffer
him to take the play with him, and let him leave it
with the Duchess of Kingston. He had my consent,
my lord, and at the same time an assurance that I was
willing to make any alteration that her grace would
suggest. Her grace saw the play, and in consequence
I had an interview with her grace. With the result of
that interview I shall not at this time trouble your
lordship. It may, perhaps, be necessary to observe
that her grace could not discern (which your lordship,
I daresay, will readily believe) a single trait in the
character of Lady Kitty Crocodile that resembled herself.
172 The Amazing Duchess
" * After this representation your lordship will, I
doubt not, permit me to enjoy the fruits of my labour ;
nor will you think it reasonable that, because a
capricious individual has taken it into her head that
I have pinned her ruffle awry, I should be punished
by a poniard struck deep in my heart. Your lordship
has too much candour and justice to be the means
of giving so violent and ill-directed a blow.
" ' Your lordship's determination is not only of the
greatest importance to me now, but must inevitably
decide my fate for the future, as, after this defeat,
it will be impossible for me to muster up courage
enough to face Folly again. Between the muse and the
magistrate there is a natural confederacy. What the
last cannot punish, the first often corrects ; but when
she not only finds herself deserted by her ancient
ally, but sees him armed in the defence of her foe,
she has nothing left but a speedy retreat.
" * In that case, adieu, my lord, to the stage !
Valeat res ludicra ! — to which I hope I may with
justice add, Plaudit e ! — as, during my continuance
in the service of the public, I never profited by
flattering their passions or falling in with their
humours. Upon all occasions I have exerted my
little powers (as, indeed, I thought it my duty) in
exposing follies, how much soever the favourites of
the day ; and pernicious prejudices, however protected
and popular. This, my lord, has been done (if those
may be believed who have the best right to know)
ometimes with success. Let me add, too, that in
doing this I never lost my credit with the public,
because they knew I proceeded upon principle ; that
A Fresh Attack on the Duchess 173
I disdained either being the echo or the instrument
of any man, however exalted his station ; and that
I never received reward or protection from any other
hands than their own.'
" Notwithstanding the independent spirit breathed
in this letter, even the admirers and friends of the
writer must allow that he acted with meanness and
duplicity, and when hard run, and forced to enter
into a defence of his conduct to the duchess, with
a wretched pusillanimity denied that he ever had
made so exorbitant a demand as ^2,000 for the
suppression of the piece. But unhappily for the
character of his veracity, the reverend Mr. Foster,
a clergyman of respectability, considerably advanced
in years, and who had, through life, mingled with
the great world, came voluntarily forward and made
an affidavit of the following facts : ' That in conse-
quence of the threat to perform the Trip to Calais,
he had waited on Mr. Foote and remonstrated with
him on the extreme barbarity of such an attack at
such a particular juncture : that Mr. Foote had only
agreed to suppress the piece, on condition of his
receiving from the duchess the sum of ^2,000.'
" Foote's letter to the Chamberlain having no effect
in procuring the licence for acting, he determined to
recommence his attack on the duchess, by threatening
her with a publication of the piece, and a fresh
negotiation for extorting hush-money was commenced.
" It was now intimated that, though precluded from
performing his comedy on the stage, the press was
still open to him, and he had it in his power to
publish ; but if his expenses were reimbursed, and
174 The Amazing Duchess
the sum which her grace had formerly offered him
paid, he would desist, and the copy should be de-
stroyed.
" On this information the duchess consulted her
friends ; but, as was generally the case, with a pre-
determination to follow her own opinion. The persons
to whom she applied were the late Earl of Peter-
borough, Doctor Isaac Schomberg, remarkable for having
been pilloried for a libel against the present Government,
the Rev. Mr. Foster, and Mr. Field, her solicitor.
These gentlemen, she found, all held the same opinion,
reprobating Foote's demand as an extortion, which
to comply with would be folly, by admitting the
application of the satire, and Schomberg declared that
'although he had been many years intimate with
Foote, and had spent some of the pleasantest hours
of his life in his company, yet he would tell him
to his face, as a man, that he deserved to lose his
life for such an attempt — it was more ignoble than
the conduct of a highwayman.'
" This union of opinion had considerable weight
with the duchess, yet she still dreaded the pen of
her antagonist, and herself unable to support a literary
contest, she called to her aid a clergyman named
Jackson, who was well experienced in all the manoeuvres
of newspaper contests ; a man also of a bold spirit,
not remarkably strict in attention to the character of
his function, and who, though neither a wit, a humorist,
or a satirist, yet was master of a strong, vindictive
style, and wrote with a tolerable share of asperity.
" The opinion of this gentleman being demanded,
it coincided exactly with the judgement of those who
Parson Jackson 175
had been before consulted. He advised that, instead
of complying, the duchess should obtain complete
evidence of the menace and demand, and then advise
with counsel on the proper mode of prosecuting the
extortion ; which advice being pleasing to all parties
and urged by the Duke of Ancaster as necessary to
be put into immediate execution, Mr. Jackson was
appointed to call on Foote for the purpose of collecting
the necessary evidence.
" An interview being obtained at Foote's house,
the parson informed the player that he had waited
on him as a friend from the Duchess of Kingston,
and requested an answer to this question, * Whether
Mr. Foote intended to publish the piece which
the Chamberlain had prohibited called A 'Trip to
Calais ? '
" Foote proceeding with a long detail of the vast
expense which had been incurred by preparing the
Comedy for representation, on which Jackson in-
terrupted him by observing that, if he supposed the
whole, or even the most minute part of his expense
would be reimbursed by the duchess, he was mistaken,
for she was determined, by the advice of her friends,
not to give him a single guinea.
" Foote endeavoured to put this off by a laugh,
and, instead of making any positive answer to the
parson's question, produced the letter which he had
sent to the Chamberlain, which we have already stated,
and requested his visitant would attend to the reading
of it. The requisition being complied with, and, the
auditor having paid many compliments to the wit and
humour of the reader, again pressed for an answer
176 The Amazing Duchess
to his original question, when Foote at last said, or
rather exclaimed : ' Oh, I shall certainly publish the
piece, unless the duchess will consider the heavy loss
I should sustain,' and added, f Why the devil does
Isaac Schomberg interfere ? We should hunt down
these reps of quality in couples; besides, Lady Kitty
Crocodile will suit nine out of ten widows of fashion in
the kingdom. Their damned tears are like a shower
in sunshine, refreshing their weeds and making their
faces look the brighter.'
" Jackson considering he had now received an answer
to his question sufficient to qualify him as a witness
against Foote, was about to retire, when Foote clapped
him on the shoulders and said, * What, and so I am
to be attacked if I publish the 'Trip to Calais ? ' — an
intimation which a good deal surprised Jackson, as it
convinced him that Foote must have some friend in
the duchess's house, her grace having determined
upon libelling her enemy, and Jackson being the person
who was to officiate as her literary friend in the
business. However, recovering from his surprise,
he answered, c The publication will be an attack
from you, Mr. Foote, the effect of which I, as
the friend of the duchess, will do my utmost to
prevent.'
<c Foote, dreading a paper war, and knowing that
his adversary Jackson had the command of a news-
paper, through which he could daily attack him with
impunity, considered it prudent to bring about a com-
promise, and for that purpose wrote the following
letter to the duchess :
LORD MANSFIELD
177
Foote Climbs Down 179
"'To HER GRACE THE DUCHESS OF KINGSTON
"'NORTH END,
" ' Sunday, August i^th, 1775.
" « MADAM,
" ' A member of the Privy Council and a friend
of your grace's (he has begged me not to mention his
name, but I suppose your grace will easily guess who),
has just left me. He has explained to me what I did
not conceive, that the publication of the scenes in the
Trip to Calais at this juncture, with the dedication and
preface, might be of infinite ill-consequence to your
affairs.
" ' I really, madam, wish you no ill, and should be
sorry to do you an injury.
" c I therefore give up to that consideration what
neither your grace's offers nor the threats of your
agents could obtain. The scenes shall not be pub-
lished, nor shall anything appear at my theatre or
from me that can hurt you, provided the attacks made
on me in the newspapers do not make it necessary
for me to act in defence of myself. Your grace will
therefore see the necessity of giving proper directions.
" c I have the honour to be
" 'Your grace's most devoted servant,
"* SAMUEL FOOTE.'
"It is evident, from this letter, that Foote stood in
awe of the newspapers, that he dreaded being squibbed
through their medium, and that he knew the Duchess
of Kingston had engaged agents for that purpose.
Of course this epistolary harbinger to reconciliation
VOL. II II
i8o The Amazing Duchess
gave her grace infinite satisfaction. It discovered the
vulnerable part of her enemy ; she anticipated triumph
from his fears ; she resolved immediately to commence
hostilities, and instantly dispatched an aide-de-camp
for Lieutenant-General Parson Jackson.
" On the parson's arrival he found the duchess all
ecstasy. She produced the letter with an elevation of
pride and joy ; it was a trophy torn from the foe,
and to the parson she imputed the glory and honour
of the deed. Her praises on her ecclesiastical champion,
her church-militant ally, were lavish, and she insisted
on his giving Foote's letter an answer in her name
and publishing both in the newspapers.
" Mr. Jackson has declared that he declined at first,
and long argued on the impropriety of a newspaper
contest, as beneath the dignity of her station. She
was, however, peremptory, and Jackson at last wrote
the following answer :
"•KINGSTON HOUSE,
" ' Sunday, August i^th.
"'SlR,
" * I was at dinner when I received your ill-
judged letter. As there is little consideration required,
I shall sacrifice a few moments to answer it.
" * A member of your privy council can never hope
to be of a lady's cabinet. I know too well what is
due to my own dignity to enter into a compromise
with an extortionable assassin of private reputation.
If I before abhorred you for your slander, I now
despise you for your concessions. It is a proof of
the illiberality of your satire when you can publish
Letter 181
or suppress it as best suits the needy convenience of
your purse. You first had the cowardly baseness to
draw the sword ; and if I sheathe it until I make
you crouch like the subservient vassal as you are,
then is there not spirit in an injured woman, nor
meanness in a slanderous buffoon.
" ' To a man, my sex alone would have screened me
from attack ; but I am writing to the descendant of a
merry-andrew, and prostitute the term of manhood by
applying it to Mr. Foote.
" c Clothed in my innocence as in a coat of mail, I
am proof against a host of foes ; and, conscious of
never having intentionally offended a single individual,
I doubt not that a brave and generous public will
protect me from the malevolence of a theatrical assassin.
You shall have cause to remember that, though I would
have given liberally for the relief of your necessities,
I scorn to be bullied into a purchase of your silence.
" < There is something, however, in your pity at which
my nature revolts. To make an offer of pity at once
betrays your insolence and your vanity. I will keep
the pity you send until the morning before you are
turned off, when I will return it by a Cupid, with a
box of lip-salve ; and a choir of choristers shall chant
a stave to your requiem.
" £E. KINGSTON.'
" Whether Foote was pleased or mortified at this
letter is hard to determine. Having given up every
pecuniary view, he could have felt no regret on that
account, and this dull epistle appearing before the
public, with her grace's signature, served as a whet-
1 82 The Amazing Duchess
stone to sharpen his wit and satire, as will appear by
the polish and keenness of the reply, which was :
" 'MADAM,
" c Though I have neither time nor inclination
to answer the illiberal attacks of your agents, yet a
public correspondence with your grace is too great an
honour for me to decline.
" * I cannot help thinking that it would have been
prudent in your grace to have answered by letter
before dinner \ or at least postponed it to the cool hour
of the morning ; you would then have found that I
had voluntarily granted the request which you had
endeavoured by so many different ways to obtain.
" ' Lord Mountstuart (for whose amiable qualities I
have the highest respect, and whose name your agents
very unnecessarily produced to the public) must recol-
lect that, when I had the honour to meet him at
Kingston House, by your grace's appointment, instead
of begging relief from your charity, I rejected your
splendid offers to suppress the Trip to Calais with
the contempt they deserved. Indeed, madam, the
humanity of my royal and benevolent master, and
the public protection, have placed me much above
the reach of your bounty.
" ' But why, madam, put on your coat of mail against
me ? I have no hostile intentions. Folly, not vice,
is the game I pursue. In those scenes which you
so unaccountably apply to yourself you must observe
there is not the slightest hint at the little incidents
of your life which have excited the curiosity of the
grand inquest for the county of Middlesex. I am
Footers Sarcastic Reply 183
happy, however, madam, to hear that your robe of
innocence is in such perfect repair ; I was afraid it
might be a little the worse for wearing. May it hold
out to keep your grace warm the next winter !
" ' The progenitors your grace has done me the
honour to give me are, I presume, merely metaphorical
persons, and to be considered as the authors of my
muse, and not of my manhood. A merry-andrew and
a prostitute are no bad poetical parents, especially for
a writer of plays — the first to give the humour and
mirth, the last to furnish the graces and powers of
attraction. Prostitutes and players too much live by
pleasing the public ; not but your grace may have
heard of ladies who by private practice have accumulated
great fortunes.
" ' If you really mean that I owe my birth to that
pleasant connection your grace is grossly deceived.
My father was, in truth, a very useful magistrate and
respectable country gentleman, as the whole county of
Cornwall will tell you ; my mother the daughter
of Sir Edward Goodere, Baronet, who represented the
county of Hereford. Her fortune was large, and her
morals irreproachable till your grace condescended to
stain them. She was upwards of fourscore years old
when she died, and, what will surprise your grace, was
never married but once in her life.
" ' I am obliged to your grace for your intended
presence " on the day " (as you politely express it)
" when I am to be turned off." But where will your
grace get the Cupid to bring me the lip-salve ? That
family, I am afraid, has long quitted your service.
" £ Pray, madam, is not J n the name of your
184 The Amazing Duchess
female confidential secretary ? and is not she generally
clothed in black petticoats made of your weeds ?
" ' So mourn'd the dame of Ephesus her love !
I fancy your grace took the hint when you last
resided at Rome. You heard then, I suppose, of
a certain Pope, and in humble imitation have con-
verted a -pious parson into a chambermaid. The scheme
is new in this country, and has, doubtless, its particular
pleasures. That you may never want the benefit of the
clergy in every emergence is the sincere wish of
" ' Your grace's most devoted,
" < Most obliged humble servant,
"<SAM. FOOTE.'"
Foote's reply to the injudicious letter of the duchess,
or rather of Jackson, was at the time considered ex-
ceedingly smart and clever. It was ingenious enough,
but if Foote intended to sting his adversary into pro-
longing the controversy it failed in its object. His
attempt to show that the play had no reference to the
duchess simply because it contained no reference to
the indictment on which a Middlesex grand jury had
returned a true bill, is very weak. The fact was
Foote had no case, and he knew it. The letter,
however, delighted Walpole, as might be expected,
and we have the cynic of Strawberry Hill writing to
Horace Mann : " That heroine of Doctor's Commons
about whom you enquired, the Duchess of Kingston,
has at last made her folly, which 1 have long known,
as public as her shame by entering the lists with a
merry-andrew, but who is no fool. Foote was to
Walpole's Comments 185
bring her on the stage. Lord Hertford prohibited
his piece. Drunk with her own triumph, she would
give the vital blow with her own hand :
" Pallas te hoc vulnere Pallas immolat.
But as the instrument she chose was a goose quill
the stroke recoiled on herself. She wrote a letter in
'The Evening Post which not the lowest of her class
who tramp in pattens would have set her mark to.
Billingsgate from a ducal coronet was irritating ; how-
ever, Foote, with all the delicacy she ought to have used,
replied only with wit and irony and confounded satire.
The Pope will not be able to wash out the spots with
all the holy water in the Tiber. I imagine she will
escape a trial, but Foote has given her the coup
de gr&ce"
Never was Walpole's judgment more at fault ; the
duchess did not escape a trial, and it was not she who
received the coup de grdce, but Foote himself.
CHAPTER XII
The effects of the Foote controversy — The Perreaus and the notorious
Mrs. Rudd — The duchess's bigamy charge discussed by the peers
— Lord Mansfield in her favour — An improbable story concerning
Anne Cradock — The date of the trial fixed — Illness of the duchess.
FOOTE committed a fatal mistake when he con-
ceived the idea of making a butt of the Duchess
of Kingston. The sequel was terrible for his reputa-
tion and without a doubt hastened his death. Jackson
was relentless, pursued him in the newspapers, and
before the final stab came Foote turned the 'Trip to
Calais into 'The Capucin, in which he threw all the
venom he could muster to hold up Jackson and Foster
to scorn. The attack was as bitter as it could well be,
and provoked the unscrupulous Jackson to reprisals.
In May 1776, a month after the trial of the duchess,
Foote produced his last play, ominously entitled 'The
'Bankrupt. It was a failure, not so much on account
of the play itself as on account of the rumours which
had begun to circulate concerning a charge which, it
was alleged, was about to be brought against him.
This charge was gone into in the following July and
was proved to be baseless, but the actor was crushed.
He died on October 2ist, 1777, a broken-hearted
man.
1 14
Attacked on all Sides 187
Meanwhile the influence of the bitter controversy
with Foote upon the prospects of the duchess was any-
thing but favourable to her cause. She would have
been well advised had she rested content with her
triumph when Foote virtually admitted his defeat ; but
she was either actuated by a feminine love for complete
victory, or was egged on by Jackson and Foster, who
no doubt were well paid for their services. The result
was that she was attacked on all sides, the Medows
party secretly encouraging her slanderers.
" Every anecdote of her life," we are told, " was
brought forward, and many, even innocent, transactions
were aggravated into offences ; she sought Calumny,
and she felt the poison of her sting, and this at a time
when she should have studiously avoided every step
that could have incurred censure, and have sedulously
solicited every means of obtaining popularity." Wai-
pole has not much to say about her at this period, but
Mrs. Delany makes up for his deficiencies. She writes :
" Lady Cowper is to have a magnificent lighting up
of her fine room on ye 9th or nth. She has beat
the drum and volunteers will flock in, tho' she seemed
distress'd for want of maccaronis ; but to obviate that
she told me she had invited Lady Harrington, and
desired her to bring as many men as she can pick up ;
but I believe I may apply to her lady what Mr. Foote
did to the Dss of Kingston, that ' the Cupid had for-
saken her long ago. ' ' The Dowager-Countess Gower,
in her quaint style, is curious to know the latest news
about the duchess, and thus questions Mrs. Delany as
the distributor of gossip : " I was much entertain'd
with ye description of Foote's antagonist's coach, yacht,
1 88 The Amazing Duchess
etc. One knows not w* to name her— alias , alias, alias.
she has ye assurance now to be at Thoresby. Wu
come of her law-suit and trial ? " Though the reply
is not extant, no doubt Mrs. Delany told the dowager
everything she could. At all events, we get a scrap of
information in the following, written to Mrs. Port :
" Much is said about the Dss of Kingston's tryal,
which she will not stand if she can help it. But every-
body wishes she may have her due. They say Lord
Lyttelton is so charmed with the cleverness of Mrs.
Rudd (adores a mind so like his own) that they say he
has adopted her as his mistress — and what mischief
may not two such heads and two such hearts do ? It is
frightful to think of. That human creatures should
be so depraved ! "
Connecting the name of the moral and almost prig-
gishly virtuous Lord Lyttelton with the notorious
Mrs. Rudd was a bit of feminine raillery (probably
based on Walpole's reckless gossip) which Mrs. Port
no doubt heartily enjoyed. For some months the only
topic the town thought worth talking about outside the
Duchess of Kingston's affairs was the sensational trial
of the Perreaus and Mrs. Rudd. The lady was a
dashing adventuress with whom two brothers, Daniel
and Robert Perreau, became entangled. They com-
mitted forgery to supply funds for her extravagances
and were hanged in consequence. Mrs. Rudd narrowly
escaped sharing their fate ; only her assurance, her
adroitness, and her pertinacity served her. Walpole
said of her : " Mrs. Margaret Caroline Rudd's history
would make as large a volume as Madame de Kings-
ton's. She sent her lawyer a brief of which he could
The Notorious Mrs. Rudd 189
not make head or tail. He went to her for one more
clear. * And do you imagine,' said she, * that I will
trust you, or any attorney in England, with the truth
of my story ? Take your brief, meet me in the Old
Bailey, and I will ask you the necessary questions.' At
her trial she did write sixty notes to him, with such
artful interrogatories that she was acquitted, and the
whole court shouted with applause."
Mrs. Papendieck, the artless author of " Court
and Private Life in the time of Queen Charlotte,"
makes an interesting reference to Mrs. Rudd, the
Perreaus, and to another unfortunate forger of this
date, Dr. Dodd. Mrs. Papendieck paid a visit to
Newgate immediately after it was burnt by the Gordon
rioters and described how, at one side of the Debtor's
Court which was not burnt, " were the three rooms
lately occupied by Dr. Dodd, which carried great
interest with them. They were neatly furnished by
Mrs. Rudd, who had been the mistress of one of
the brothers Perreaus, who were hanged for forgery, a
year or so before Dr. Dodd. The wife of one of the
Perreaus herself presented a petition to the Queen for
the life of her husband, having obtained access to one
of the rooms through which her Majesty had to pass
on her way to hold a drawing-room. The Queen was
greatly upset by the circumstances, and not only
interceded with the King urgently for the life of this
man and his brother, but also for that of Dr. Dodd, it
seeming to her kind heart such a terrible thing that
any one should be hanged, and much more so a divine,
and one so eminent as Dr. Dodd. The King, however,
could not reconcile it to his conscience to reprieve
190 The Amazing Duchess
either of these offenders, although it cost him pain to
refuse any request of the Queen's ; in addition to the
distress he invariably felt, even to considerable emotion,
when it was necessary that he should sign a death-
warrant. Mrs. Rudd was acquitted, and left these
rooms just as she had used them. As the dress called
the ' Polonaise ' jacket and coat is still seen at fancy
assembles, I must mention that this extravagant and
unfeeling woman set that fashion while she was in this
very place. Oh how differently did the divine fill up
the remaining measure of his time ! There was his
little inkstand upon a small table at which he constantly
wrote, his chair, the table where he ate — I kissed them
all. Nothing had been used since he was called to
leave all earthly scenes. His memory I must ever
revere, for early did he lead me to love religion, from
the impressive manner in which he delivered his dis-
courses and read the Liturgy of our Church."
It was considered quite a good joke to rank the
duchess with Mrs. Rudd, and in December 1775,
when the day (afterwards postponed) for the trial of
the duchess was fixed, Walpole again writes : " They
say Mrs. Rudd has been at the play in Lord Lyttelton's
chariot. If the duchess is acquitted I suppose he will
take her, to show he is convinced of her virtue alsoy
and wronged her innocence."
Whatever may have been Elizabeth's real thoughts
on the vital contest which was rapidly approaching, she
publicly affected to be at perfect ease, and strongly
expressed her desire of having the trial accelerated.
The points at issue were by no means so clear as to
make the duke's relations sure of success, and wishes
The Peers Discuss the Bigamy Charge 191
were privately expressed for a compromise. The cer-
tain expense and trouble were objects not to be ignored,
and there is little doubt that Elizabeth at this junc-
ture could have come to some arrangement had she
chosen. But her combative spirit and her indomitable
courage urged her onward. <^fuf vincit aut perit !
Earl Mansfield continued, at least apparently, her
friend, and, whether from regard to her or consideration
for the public, on whom an immense expense would
ultimately fall, from the necessary disbursements of
the Treasury to defray the costs of the trial, delivered
his sentiments in the House of Lords. " The argu-
ments about the place of trial," said he, " suggest to
my mind a question about the propriety of any trial
at all. Cut bono ? what utility is to be obtained ?
Suppose a conviction be the result — the lady makes
your lordships a curtsey and you return a bow."
This observation coming from the Lord Chief
Justice of the King's Bench, the first law-officer of the
kingdom, though strongly opposed by Lord Chancellor
Bathurst, had a considerable effect on the spirits of the
prosecutors. They justly dreaded Mansfield's influence
and legal knowledge, and, on very reasonable grounds,
apprehended that he might procure the exertion of
royal prerogative, or some other means to defeat their
ends.
" This was the time for the duchess," says the author
of the " Life and Memoirs," " to disengage herself
from the labyrinth of difficulties which she had raised
— a private intimation was conveyed to her that
£ 1 0,000 would satisfy every demand and terminate
the prosecution. An authoritative proposal followed,
192 The Amazing Duchess
and the duchess was strenuously entreated by her
zealous and sincere friends immediately to close with
the offer of her opponents ; but weak and interested
advice prevailed. The subtlety of legal reason super-
seded the candour of common sense ; a negative
answer, couched in terms of contempt, was returned,
and of course resentment was irritated into persevering
revenge by this improper instance of contumely.
" Her counsel were all of one opinion, every argu-
ment terminated with an assurance that she had nothing
to fear from the prosecution. Sergeant Davy had been
of a little different opinion. He had publicly declared
that * the case lay in a nutshell, and the culprit must
inevitably be convicted,' yet being introduced to Kings-
ton House, by a retainer of ^20, and twenty pounds
for every visit, the arguments of his brethren of the
coif and long robe wrought conviction on his mind,
as appears by the following anecdote. Being at the
duchess's table in company with Lord Peterborough,
her grace received a letter from her leading counsel,
Mr. Wallace, then at Bath. The contents produced
an immediate elevation of her spirits, which, notwith-
standing a free circulation of burgundy and champagne,
had been remarkable heavy that day, and in tones of
rapture she communicated the cause to the company,
adding, * My heart is now at rest ; Mr. Wallace wishes
for the trial that he may give me joy of a triumph ! '
4 Why ! ' exclaimed Sergeant Davy, striking his ponder-
ous hand upon the table with a force that set the
glasses jingling, * if my friend Wallace knows your
grace's case as well as I do, he will, I am confident,
agree with me in opinion. I will forfeit my right hand
A Preposterous Story 193
as a man, and my reputation as a lawyer, if your grace
has not less than nothing to fear ! ' The Earl of
Peterborough, astonished at this instance of pro-
fessional meanness and pliability, inquired of Parson
Jackson ' if he could account for the learned sergeant's
conversion ' — on which the divine pointed to a written
order for a side of venison and some dozens of old
Madeira which were to be sent to the sergeant's house ;
* And these,' he said, l with the fees in hand, and those
in expectation, were the arguments which had made a
proselyte of brother Davy.' '
The story is not impossible, but that which follows
we beg leave to doubt. The author again sounds his
favourite note, and we are told that, " Notwithstanding
the flattered hopes with which she [i.e. the duchess]
indulged and deceived her mind, and the visible
measures she took to expedite her trial, she still con-
tinued to exercise that cunning which had so repeatedly
plunged her into difficulties ; for at the very time that
her petition lay before the Lords, praying for the
privilege of a peeress, and a speedy trial before their
lordships, she was busily employed in a scheme to entrap
Mrs. Cradock into a private interview, that she might
prevail on her to quit the kingdom. To consummate
this design a near relation of Mrs. Cradock's was
applied to by one of the duchess's agents ; who en-
gaged, on promise of reward, to procure the desired
interview ; it being agreed, however, that the duchess
should attend in disguise, and not be known till she
chose to disclose herself. The duchess accordingly
attended at the appointed place in man's apparel, but
neither Mrs. Cradock nor her friend appeared ; and for
194 The Amazing Duchess
this reason, they had betrayed the whole scheme to the
opposite party." This evidently is the story Whitehead
told some twelve years after of the duchess's attempt
to abduct Cradock. The tale is not only improbable
in itself, but it does not fit in with known events.
If Elizabeth and her advisers were so certain of their
case, why should they go against their convictions by
smuggling Cradock away ? They could hardly have
perpetrated a bigger blunder. For this and other
reasons the story may be dismissed.
Meanwhile the wheels of the law were moving, and
early in the month of November 1775 the matter was
brought before the House of Lords, and their lordships
proceeded to deal with it after their stately and elaborate
manner. The House of Peers can do nothing without
ceremonial observances, and the indictment and recogni-
sance entered into for the appearance of the duchess
being read, Mr. Woodcock, the agent for the prosecu-
tion, and Mr. Field, the agent for the duchess, were
each questioned formally by Lord Mansfield, the first
saying he was quite prepared to pursue the indictment
and the second replying that he was equally prepared
for the defence. The next step was the passing, five
days after, of a resolution that circular letters be written
to all the peers acquainting them that the trial was
fixed for Monday, December i8th, at the bar of the
House. But before that day arrived the duchess was
taken ill, and Doctors Schomberg, Warren, and Falke
attended the house and were interrogated respecting
her health. Dr. Schomberg described her grace's illness
as a " stupour," and further added that she was " at
present afflicted with an ' Alienation of Mind.' ' Dr.
PLAN OF THE COURT IN WESTMINSTER HALL FOR THE TRIAL OF
THE DUCHESS OF KINGSTON
195
Arrangements for the Trial 197
Warren stated that she had been seized with a " fit of
a * paralytic ' tendency," and Dr. Falke attributed her
grace's disorder to the debilitated state of her nervous
system.
Doctors, of course, are bound to differ, but in this
case they probably meant the same thing ; at any rate
their testimony was accepted, and then the Lords pro-
ceeded to discuss what was to their mind a much more
important matter — should the trial be held in the
" Chamber of Parliament," or in some more com-
modious place? A committee was appointed, and the
following resolutions were come to (i) that it appears
that the Chamber of Parliament is for the purpose of
the trial a very inconvenient place ; that it be recom-
mended to consider of some other ; (2) that upon
search for precedent we find none of any peer being
tried for felony in the Chamber of Parliament ; (3)
that the proper officer of the Board of Works do make
an estimate of the expenses of the proper works for
such trial ; (4) that if the trial be in the Chamber of
Parliament, the two side doors be left open below the
bar, and there be an apartment for the prosecutor's
counsel, witnesses, etc., as well as those of the person
calling herself Duchess-Dowager of Kingston ; (5) that
the rail behind the archbishop's bench be continued to
the woolsack to prevent crowding about the fire and
for a convenient entrance ; (6) that no person be
admitted within the bar ; (7) that no persons be
allowed about the throne but peers of Great Britain
not of this House and sons and heirs of peers."
These resolutions were not considered at the time
they were submitted, but two days later on, when Lord
VOL. II 12
198 The Amazing Duchess
Mansfield, acting in Elizabeth's interest, expressed his
opinion that the Chamber of Parliament would afford
sufficient publicity, and, should there not be room
enough for the spectators, a gallery might be erected.
Lord Lyttelton, the champion of public morality, con-
tended that Westminster Hall was the proper place, as
he considered " the offence of so atrocious a nature as
to affect civil society more than many other crimes
which carried at first a blacker complexion." In solemn
tones he warned their lordships that " the line of peer-
age might be affected if such enormous crimes were
suffered to go unexplored."
The mind of the Lord Chancellor was equally exer-
cised. He insisted that the offence of which the
duchess was accused was " a crime of the blackest
dye. The punishment also was great, for if it should
come out that the sentence of the Ecclesiastical Court
had been obtained by collusion the offence would be
aggravated. The personal estate of the offender the
Attorney-General might think fit to claim in behalf of
the Crown. The benefit of clergy could be allowed
but once, and who could answer for what the criminal
might be charged with after the first conviction ? "
In short, the Chancellor tried to make their lord-
ships' flesh creep, and the peers began to look upon the
duchess as a very dangerous and wicked person ; but
whether they would have been so troubled about her
offence if so comfortable a rent-roll had not been at
stake may be (doubted. Ultimately, after much talk,
the peers decided that the only place for a trial of such
magnitude and importance was Westminster Hall, and
that " a humble address be presented to his Majesty
The Date Fixed 199
to desire he will be graciously pleased to give directions
for a party of guards to attend on the day of the trial,
the said address to be presented to his Majesty by the
Lords with White Staves."
The date fixed was January 24th, 1776 ; but before
the day arrived much happened. The duchess was
not only suffering both in mind and body, but was
preparing a counter-stroke which considerably perturbed
the minds of their lordships.
CHAPTER XIII
A bombshell for the Lords — The duchess claims to be tried as a peer
— The real object of the bigamy charge — The spite of the prosecu-
tion— Bewilderment of the peers — They alter the indictment — The
duchess to be tried in Westminster Hall — The Lords faced by a
new difficulty.
IF Elizabeth was not a genuine duchess she deserved
to be one, for she understood perfectly what was
due to her rank, and refused to abate a jot of her
privileges. The Lords, in their lofty, superb way, had
entered upon a course without considering where it
would take them,. and they were pulled up sharply
by a petition presented by the duchess, the purport
of which was as clever as it was unexpected. This
petition prayed for the removal of the certiorari, the
writ of certiorari itself, the bill of indictment, and
the presentment signed by the grand jurors who found
the bill, on the ground that the Lords proposed to
try her as a commoner and not as a peeress, as she
claimed to be. Of course the petition was worded
by a lawyer, and its " prayer " was arrived at only
after due consultation with her legal advisers ; but
that the initiatory idea was due to Elizabeth is more
than probable. To find herself styled, as the grand
jury had styled her, ** Elizabeth Hervey," must have
The Duchess's Counter Movement 201
excited the wrath of the high-spirited woman. In
spite of the House of Lords and its musty pretensions
she would never, to the day of her death, budge
from her position. The Lords made the uncomfort-
able discovery that what they proposed to do was
not nearly so easy as they, in their conceit, had
imagined. It was clear the point would have to be
settled before the trial came on, and once more the
day had to be postponed while their lordships made
up their minds how to meet the duchess's contention.
To make the position of affairs clear, it may be
well at this juncture to give a resum£ of the steps
taken by Elizabeth previous to presenting her petition.
What really happened was this : The heirs at law to
the duke filed a bill in equity against the duchess,
as wife of Captain Hervey, to set the will aside on
the ground that they would prove a former marriage
with Captain Hervey, and that the sentence obtained
in the Ecclesiastical Court was by»collusion. To this
will the sentence was put in as a regular plea, and,
relying on its force, they instituted the prosecution
for bigamy, which was to all intents and purposes
converted into a means of trying the question of
property. Much stress was laid on this point by
Lord Mansfield, who put it forward as the chief excep-
tion he took to the trial. " For," said he, " I shall
always be against criminal prosecutions laying a ground
for pursuing and maintaining civil claims." Without
a doubt the object of the prosecution was to wrest
the duke's fortune and property from the duchess,
and to this end the prosecution got a bill of indictment
returned by a Middlesex grand jury, sitting at Hicks
202 The Amazing Duchess
Hall. In reference to this bill and the jury, it was
pointed out by the " Law Student," the author of the
pamphlet already alluded to, that " it having been
brought before a quarter-session jury of Middlesex
at Hicks Hall, men of their circumscribed stations in
life are incapable of judging the nice circumstances or
intent of the prosecution — I would not be misunder-
stood to say case — they being to find only a matter of
fact."
The author proceeds to throw a side-light on the
system adopted by the Middlesex officials in regard
to the summoning of jurymen, remarking : " A con-
venience of getting persons to serve as jurymen in
this populous county has begot an illegitimate custom
of choosing them of the lowest householders, against
a rule of law practised everywhere else throughout
England and dependent on express statutes of the
necessity of summoning freeholders to a certain amount.
. . . Had the cause proceeded with a courage of its
merits the indictment had come with better appearance
before the grand inquest in the higher Court of the
Crown at Westminster, which is composed of men
respectable in their status of life and fortune, before
whom all indictments against persons of any rank are
so generally brought that the contrary is almost with-
out precedent." The point was of more importance
than one can appreciate at this time, when the courts
of law are no longer surrounded by an atmosphere
of venality and corruption. That it was so regarded
by Lord Hillsborough is evident from his severe
condemnation subsequently of this particular u grand
jury."
Claims to be Tried by her Peers 203
When Elizabeth returned from Italy with all possible
speed it was with the intention of fighting the case
there and then. It had not occurred either to her or
to her advisers to appeal to the House of Lords,
for, being indicted as a commoner, she was under no
necessity to plead her privilege ; on the other hand,
had she been indicted according to her dignity she
could not have waived her appeal. Directly she
arrived in London after her terribly arduous journey
across the Alps, she moved the case, by certiorariy into
the Court of King's Bench, as a place of more dignity
than the Old Bailey ; but afterwards perceiving that
the object of the prosecution was an attack on her
property, she determined to take advantage of such
protection as the House of Lords would give her.
Accordingly the indictment was remanded back, by a
procedendo^ to its former Court. She then surrendered
herself to the Sheriff of Middlesex and was immedi-
ately brought, by habeas corpus^ into the Court of
King's Bench, where she entered into a recognisance,
as " Duchess-Dowager of Kingston, to appear at the
said Court or before the King in Parliament to answer
the said indictment whenever thereunto demanded."
As a further means to hasten the proceedings, she
petitioned the Lords as above described.
When the peers accepted the duchess's petition
they had not the least idea of the difficulties ahead.
The situation was wholly unprecedented, and it is not
remarkable that the House should not see the pitfalls
in front of every step. By consenting to her petition
the Lords admitted that the petitioner had a right
to claim as a duchess ; on the other hand, had they
204 The Amazing Duchess
at once denied it and the duchess had been sent
back to take her trial under her recognisance in the
Court of King's Bench, she certainly would have
pleaded privilege, no judge would have ventured to
have tried the right set up, and the trial could not
have proceeded. There was also a third course their
lordships could have followed : they might have
referred the claim to the Attorney and Solicitor-
General, these officers could have proceeded on the
evidence of the ecclesiastical decision, and the register-
ing of the marriage would have proved her claim of
Duchess of Kingston. Obviously the second and the
third course meant surrender to the duchess, and the
Lords therefore admitted the petition as 'the least evil
of the three, and probably it did not occur to them
that " if they allowed her privilege as Duchess of
Kingston it must be on the established marriage with
the late duke: that marriage being admitted legal,
there was an end of the question and the necessity
of a trial " ; recourse must then be had to the
ecclesiastical sentence or a noli prosequi to stop all
confusion.
The above represents the views of the author of
the pamphlet, and it is difficult to see how his con-
clusions can be avoided. The real truth is that the
affair was one with which the Lords had no right
to meddle, but they were eager to defend their order
and help the Medows, and so commenced a series of
complications which led to very little beyond making
them ridiculous and saddling the country with a vast
expense. However, once started the matter had to
be proceeded with, and on February 2gth the Earl
Defended by Lord Hillsborough 205
of Hillsborough brought it before the House, pointing
out that the lady had been indicted as a commoner and
by her petition she claimed her peerage, but by what
legal designation was it apparent that the lady was in
truth a peeress ? The wife of Augustus John Hervey,
Esq., must be, to all intents and purposes, legally
speaking the wife of a commoner. Was the lady's
own allegation of sufficient validity to constitute her a
peeress ? It was not sufficient for the party to claim
a privilege. The law officer of the Crown was
to certify the legality of the claims. The right of
the lady to be tried as a peeress had not been
judicially recognised. All men knew that a peerage
had devolved upon Augustus John Hervey, but
was it certain that the indictment specified the wife
of this gentleman ? No such thing appeared. On
the contrary, the lady indicted might, for aught
that appeared on the record, as well be the wife of
any other commoner of the same Christian and surname
as of him on whom the title of Earl of Bristol had
devolved. As to the trial itself the noble lord brought
forward quite a new and original view, and used
some very strong language about the grand jury. It
appeared to him a measure calculated to answer a
vindictive purpose. The jury who found the bill
were " men of as unpleasant a cast as the refuse of
human nature could produce." Many years had
elapsed since the commission of the supposed offence ;
during these years the marriage of the unhappy lady
with the Duke of Kingston had been notorious, her
title had been formally recognised, her rank univer-
sally admitted. Why, therefore, had the commission
206 The Amazing Duchess
of this offence been connived at for so long a time ?
Why was it now arraigned, unless to answer some
latent purpose ?
This argument came like a thunderbolt on the
startled Lords, and there was really much force in it.
There could hardly have been a peer present who
did not know that the action had been set on foot
by the Medows family, and that money had been
lavished to procure evidence against the duchess.
The Duke of Richmond called the noble lord to order
on the ground that he was anticipating the merits
of the case the peers were about to try, and the earl
accordingly confined himself to the legal aspects of the
matter, saying that he would propound to the learned
judges present the following queries : " Whether
this House can legally proceed in the trial of the
lady styling herself Duchess of Kingston by the name
of Elizabeth, the wife of Augustus John Hervey, Esq. ?
Whether, if she could be so tried upon this indict-
ment and found guilty, she may not move in arrest of
judgment, alleging incompetency of jurisdiction, and
what would be the legal effects of such motion ? "
The law lords would have nothing to say to the
second question; they opposed it tooth and nail, and
it was withdrawn. To the first Lord Denbigh pro-
posed to add the words, " now Earl of Bristol," after
" Augustus John Hervey, Esq.," and this was agreed
to by a majority of 14. The Lords have always had
a very high opinion of their powers, but it seems to
have struck some of them that to make an addition
to an indictment which the grand jury had already
considered and approved was going a little too far,
The Peers in a Dilemma 207
and a long and weary debate followed as to whether
the question, thus amended, should be referred to the
judges for their opinion. Lord Lyttelton was horrified
at such a suggestion. Everything was ready for the
trial, he exclaimed indignantly. Had not the House
made several orders and passed several resolutions ?
Had not his Majesty been approached to appoint a
Lord High Steward, and — most important of all — had
not the Board of Works received directions to prepare
the scaffolding ? For the Lords now to recede would
be to confess that u folly," not <c wisdom," was the
dictation of their measures ; and much more to the
same effect. Such a presumption as suggested by
the noble duke that the Lords were guided by folly
was, of course, not to be thought of. Still the possi-
bility was in the minds of the majority, for when
a division was taken there was found to be a majority
of 33 for referring the question to the opinion of
the judges.
The judges debated the matter among themselves,
and their unanimous opinion was delivered by Lord
Chief Baron Smythe as follows : " That the House
could legally proceed in the trial of the lady styling
herself Duchess-Dowager of Kingston on the indictment
preferred against her by the name of Elizabeth, now wife
of Augustus John Hervey, Esq., now Earl of Bristol."
The affair was rapidly developing into a farce. The
Lords had no sooner extricated themselves from one
dilemma than they found themselves in another, as
will be seen later on. Meanwhile, the unlucky in-
dictment seemed doomed to be a cause of ridicule,
for when it was read to the peers previous to the
208 The Amazing Duchess
debate it stated that " the jurors appointed by their
Sovereign Lord the King to inquire into the matter
charged against the said Elizabeth Hervey, wife of
Augustus John Hervey, had found that the said
Elizabeth did on such a day and place, in the county
of Southampton, on the twenty-fifth of the late King,
marry the said Augustus John Hervey, and on such a
day in the eighth of his present Majesty, in the parish
of St. George's, Hanover Square, with force and arms,
etc., did marry the said Evelyn, Duke of Kingston,
her said previous husband being then alive." This
expression, "with force and arms," was too much
for the House, and their Lordships burst into guffaws
of merriment.
No doubt when the Lords decided to alter the
indictment, as the only way out of the difficulty
raised by the duchess, they thought they had nothing
more to do but wait until the Board of Works had
put Westminster Hall in a fit state to exhibit them-
selves in all their dignity. They were wrong, for in a
little more than a month they were faced with a new
problem to solve. On April ist the Lord Chancellor,
in reporting upon the various stages of the business,
from the day on which the duchess petitioned to have
her trial brought on until the period when orders were
issued for the erection of the scaffolding in West-
minster Hall, informed the House there was one
matter still left undecided — it was impossible to try
the lady unless she was in custody ! She must be
a prisoner before she could be tried.
This, of course, was obvious, and it is rather
singular the law lords should not have previously
An Awkward Point 209
thought of the obligation. But who was to have
the custody of the prisoner ? The Lord Chancellor
objected to Black Rod being appointed, as he was
" an officer so essential to the formalities of the
House that, on the approaching trial, his presence
could not be dispensed with for a moment." Exactly ;
the House of Lords without Black Rod is hardly
conceivable. The Lord Chancellor, having thrown
his protection over this important functionary, pro-
ceeded to add to the muddle by suggesting that it
might be sufficient if the lady was simply required
to surrender, and moved " that notice be given to
the Duchess-Dowager of Kingston to appear at the
bar of this House in Westminster Hall on Monday,
the fifteenth day of April, at ten o'clock in the
forenoon, and that her grace's bail be apprised of
this requisition."
Really it seemed as if no one, not even the Lord
Chancellor, could take the matter seriously, for this
was a worse blunder than any of the previous ones,
as Lord Ravensworth pointed out. Throughout the
whole of the proceedings the Lords had continually
avoided recognising the lady as " Duchess of
Kingston." In every order they had made relative
to the trial they had styled her " the lady calling
herself Duchess of Kingston." Wherefore, asked
the noble lord, was this phraseology to be now de-
parted from ? The Lord Chancellor excused him-
self for having adopted the objectionable term by
alleging that, in the recognisance entered into before
the Court of King's Bench, the lady was styled
" Duchess of Kingston." Propriety required that
210 The Amazing Duchess
the notice should, in this respect, be a transcript of
the recognisance. The excuse was ingenious, but,
nevertheless, his lordship had made a slip, and so
a number of the peers thought. If an indictment
could be altered, why not also a recognisance, and
Lord Ravensworth moved that the words "calling
herself" be inserted. The motion was, however,
defeated, and it was decided to issue the notice in
the form at first suggested by the Chancellor.
The duchess had scored a point, and the House
must have been conscious of the fact, for when
Lord Mansfield spoke at some length on the knotty
point of the custody of the duchess, and wound up
with suggesting that the question might be reserved
to the day of the trial, everybody breathed a sigh of
relief, and, on the motion of the Lord Chancellor,
"every resolution relative to the imprisonment of
the Duchess of Kingston was postponed," and if the
business could have been postponed for ever many
of the Lords would not have been displeased.
A fortnight later, after more solemn speeches, the
matter was settled. Black Rod was to have the lady
in custody, and if the trial lasted more than one day
she might either go home to her own house or return
to apartments in the neighbourhood, or in those
fitted up for her in the House ; but, let her be
where she might, she would still be supposed to be
in the custody of Black Rod. Truly a pleasant,
go-as-you-please, comic-opera kind of arrangement,
the humour of the situation being heightened by the
fact that Black Rod was Sir Francis Molyneux, the
prisoner's particular friend !
The Real Object of the Prosecution 211
However, the matter was settled, and, as the trial
was to take place in two days' time, the House rose,
heartily glad it would be troubled no more by the
tiresome woman, and no doubt feeling intensely
relieved that the responsibility for what might happen
afterwards would devolve upon the law officers of
the Crown.
But the decision was not arrived at without many
ponderous speeches, one of which, that of the Duke
of Manchester, completely let the cat out of the bag.
His grace thought the dignity of the " peerage to
be most essentially interested — the preservation of
the titles and fortunes of their Lordships stood upon
a very precarious footing indeed if both could be
transferred at the will and pleasure of interested
parties from the legal and rightful heir — robbing a
family of an estate of several thousand pounds -per annum
was not of light or trivial consideration." The duke
could not have put the real motive of the Lords
better. Whether he knew he was giving their case
away is not so certain.
CHAPTER XIV
The trial in Westminster Hall— Stately procedure — The Queen and
Royal Family present — Hannah More's lively description —
The duchess pleads not guilty — The prosecution opened by the
Attorney-General — The duchess hands in her plea of justifi-
cation— the decision of the Ecclesiastical Court — The plea dis-
cussed at great length, and the proceedings adjourned — The
behaviour of the duchess admired.
AT length all the important points were settled
and the public awaited the day, April I5th,
1776, with feverish impatience. Meanwhile the
officials of the House of Lords were hard at work
raking up authorities for the order of the procession
and the subsequent proceedings. Trials within West-
minster Hall for criminal offences with a noble lord
as the prisoner were not numerous, and the trial of
a peeress was quite without precedent. To transfer
the pompous etiquette of the Chamber of Parliament
to another place and adapt it to new surroundings
must have entailed much searching of musty regula-
tions. The form of procedure was deemed of great
importance and the programme of the order of the
procession and the seating of the peers and the officers
of the House was published in 'The London Chronicle
two days before.
212
MRS. DELANY
213
Preparations for the Trial 215
Never was there such excitement over a trial, never
such clamouring for tickets for admission. Every
official who had the slightest influence was besieged
by excited ladies ; even the foreign Ambassadors were
pestered by petitioners. The duchess was well known
on the Continent, she had come fresh from her triumphs
at Rome, and the foreign residents in the metropolis
were as eager to see and hear the proceedings as
the Londoners themselves. Indeed many notabilities
crossed the Channel on purpose to be present, among
them the Countess Castiglioni from Milan.
Mrs. Delany, writing to Mrs. Port, says : " All
the world, great and small, are gone to Westminster
Hall. This accidental rhyme is enough to draw me
into a poetical rhapsody, and had I as fluent a tallent
as the author of c The Election Ball,' I have subjects
enough to have added a second part. The solicitude
for tickets, the distress of rising early to be in time
enough for a place, the anxiety about hairdressers
(poor souls hurried out of their lives) mortifications
that feathers and flying lappets should be laid aside
for that day, as they would obstruct the view from
those who sit behind, — all these important matters
were discussed in my little circle last night. Bernard
dined here, Mrs. Boscawen came by appointment in
the evening to settle their going together this morning
to the tryal ; here they met at seven, and went to-
gether in Mrs. Boscawen's coach. Bernard had his
ticket from the Duke of Beaufort. How long it will
last nobody knows. I bravely refused a ticket for
the Queen's box, and going with our dear duchess,
for I feared the bustle my spirits would be in now,
VOL. ii 13
216 The Amazing Duchess
unused to such splendid appearances, and doubted
whether my eyesight and hearing would have been
at all gratified, as both those senses are a little clouded
by old Father Time. So I content myself with my
own chimney corner, and have resigned my place to
one more worthy of it. . . ."
But Mrs. Delany's self-denial was quite exceptional,
as maybe also was the self-denial of her friends in
forgoing feathers and flying lappets, which must have
been as irritatingly obstructive as the twentieth-cen-
tury matinee hat. Royalty headed the crowd, and
nearly all the great families of England were repre-
sented. If Elizabeth Chudleigh ever desired to be
the one object of interest to a whole nation, and even
outside that nation, her ambition was gratified. It was
an ordeal calculated to try the nerves to the utmost,
and no wonder that more than once during the trial
the strain proved too much for her marvellous self-
possession and endurance.
The arduous first day began early for the duchess.
She was carried in her sedan-chair from her mansion
in Knightsbridge to the Duke of Newcastle's house in
Palace Yard, where her grace met Lord Mountstuart
and Sir James Laroche, her bail, who accompanied
her to Westminster Hall. Crowds assembled in
the streets to see her pass, but curiosity was their
only object, and there was no demonstration of
any kind.
At a quarter past ten Queen Charlotte entered the
Hall, with the Duke of Newcastle, the Prince of Wales,
the Bishop of Osnaburgh, and the Princess Royal.
Her Majesty sat in the centre of the Duke of New-
The Scene in Westminster Hall 217
castle's gallery " on the left-hand side of the Hall
going from Palace Yard, and the scaffolding was so
much exalted that many of the spectators were
alarmed for the safety of the distinguished personages
who sat on it."
It would be difficult to find a parallel to the scene.
The peers in their gorgeous robes ; the ladies attired
in the very latest mode (their towering complications
of hair must alone have been a sight worth seeing,
for it was the time when fantastic dressing of hair
had reached its height in more senses than one) ; the
picturesque costumes of the men, the varied colours
of their long-skirted coats and flap waistcoats, their wigs,
their ruffles, and lace-cuffs ; the stately hall, with its
noble roof, — all combined to form a picture which must
have dwelt in the memories of those present for many
a long year. Perhaps they were only dimly conscious,
at least at first, of their surroundings, for every eye
could not fail to be fixed on the sombre patch of
black in the very centre of the hall, the prisoner,
who for seven years had been known as the Duchess
of Kingston, and who, if the decision of the assembled
lords was adverse to her claim, would for the future be
entitled to be called the Countess of Bristol, for by
this time the Hon. Augustus Hervey had come into
the earldom. Was the earl present ? None of the
gossiping writers of the period mention him, and it
is fair to assume that he had the good taste to stay
away. The rules governing the proceedings of the
House of Peers are crusted with the harshness of
medievalism, and for aught we know it might have
been within the Earl of Bristol's prerogative to take
2i 8 The Amazing Duchess
his seat among the judges. If so, he did not exercise
his power, for his name is not in the list.
The newspaper reporter of that day was not given
to indulging in descriptive writing. Newspapers were
costly productions, the space was limited, and every
item of news was boiled down to its dregs. But the
trial of Elizabeth Chudleigh, duchess or not, was
something altogether out of the common, and we
have the editor of The Gentleman s Magazine, at the
end of its report, gravely announcing, with com-
mendable frankness and honesty, that " The importance
of the above trial, and our desire to gratify our readers
with the substance of it at once, has obliged us to
postpone the Account of American Affairs, and the
rather as our late advices from thence are not to be
relied upon." The representative of The London
Chronicle is moved to go beyond giving a merely
formal report, and remarks, in the issue of the day
following, that " Imagination can hardly picture a
more solemn, august, and at the same time brilliant,
appearance than the Court of Westminster Hall cut
yesterday as soon as the High Steward and Lords
had taken their places. It was computed that no
less than 4,000 persons were present, that out of that
number 2,500 were ladies."
At a quarter after eleven the procession began in
the following order : Peer's eldest sons, preceded by
the Lord High Steward's domestics, the Masters in
Chancery, King's Serjeants and judges (the legal
functionaries having been fortified by an " elegant
breakfast" at the Lord High Steward's house); barons ;
bishops ; viscounts, earls, marquises, and dukes ; the
How the Duchess was Dressed 219
Serjeant-at-Arms, the Lord President and Lord Privy
Seal. The barons went to their seats next the bar,
the junior baron taking the left-hand seat next the
bar ; and so in the same manner till the benches in
the front of the court were filled. The archbishops
and bishops occupied the side-benches on the right,
and the dukes the side-benches from the throne down
as far as the table.
As soon as their lordships had taken their seats,
and the usual formalities of opening the Commission
and reading the indictment had passed, the Clerk of
the Crown made proclamation for Elizabeth, Duchess
of Kingston, to appear, and save her bail, etc. Her
grace immediately entered the court, in custody of
the Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod, attended by
two ladies of her bedchamber, her chaplain, physician,
and apothecary. So runs the official report, but one
eye-witness speaks of three lady attendants and another
of four. Two of the ladies were Mrs. Egerton, related
by marriage to the Duke of Bridgewater, and Mrs.
Barrington, the widow of General, brother to Lord
Barrington. The demeanour of the duchess excited
admiration on all sides, and even extorted praise from
those who were unfriendly towards her. The repre-
sentative of The London Chronicle was quite enthusiastic.
" The duchess was dressed in mourning," he says,
" without the least ornament imaginable. On her
approaching the bar she curtsied thrice to the House.
It has always been customary for peers to kneel at
the bar previous to their trial. The instant the
Duchess of Kingston approached the bar the Lord
High Steward addressed her grace in the following
220 The Amazing Duchess
terms : c Madam, you may rise,' which was politely
saying : ' Madam, you have no occasion to kneel.'
The duchess behaved with the spirit of a heroine.
She was dignified without arrogance, collected without
audacity, and humble without any of those sycophantic
arts which characterise the vulgar."
The Lady's Magazine announced that " the im-
portance, the novelty of a case of this kind having
excited the curiosity of every female of the kingdom,
many thousands of which could not have had access
to the most august tribunal that this nation can
exhibit, we thought it our duty to meet our fair
correspondents and patronesses on this ground, and give
them all the information they could have reaped from
a ticket signed by the Lord Chamberlain." The
dress worn by the duchess was, of course, a matter
of intense interest also to " every female," and 'The
Lady's Magazine describes it as " a black polinesse
with a black gauze cape." We are further told that
" she seemed cheerful and composed after the first
shock."
Proper and pious Hannah More was among the
spectators, and took a huge delight in the pillorying
of the duchess. One may forgive the spotless
Hannah's uncharitable satisfaction for the sake of
her graphic account. She writes : " I wish it were
possible for me to give you the slightest idea of the
scene I was present at yesterday. Garrick would
make me take his ticket to go to the trial of the
Duchess of Kingston : a sight which, for beauty and
magnificence, exceeded anything which those who were
never present at a Coronation or a trial by peers can
Hannah More's Description 221
have the least notion of. Mrs. Garrick and I were
in full dress by seven ; at eight we went to the
Duke of Newcastle's house adjoining Westminster
Hall, in which he has a large gallery communicating
with the apartments in his house. You will imagine
the bustle of five thousand people getting into one
hall ! Yet in all this hurry we walked in tranquilly.
When we were all seated, and the King-at-Arms had
commanded silence on pain of imprisonment (which,
however, was very ill observed), the Gentleman of
the Black Rod was commanded to bring in his
prisoner. Elizabeth, calling herself Duchess-Dowager
of Kingston, walked in, led by Black Rod and Mr.
Laroche, curtesying profoundly to her judges. When
she bent the Lord Steward called out, ' Madam, you
may rise,' which, I think, was literally taking her up
before she was down. The peers made her a slight
bow. The prisoner was dressed in deep mourning,
a black hood on her head, her hair modestly dressed
and powdered, a black silk sacque with crape trimmings,
black gauze, deep ruffles, and black gloves.
" The Counsel spoke about an hour and a quarter
each. Dunning's manner is insufferably bad, coughing
and spitting at every few words ; but his sense and
his expression pointed to the last degree ; he made
her grace shed bitter tears. I had the pleasure of
hearing several of the lords speak, though nothing
more than proposals of common things. Among
these were Lyttleton, Talbot, Townshend, and Camden.
The fair victim had four virgins in white behind the
bar. She imitated her great predecessor, Mrs. Rudd,
and affected to write. However, I plainly perceived
222 The Amazing Duchess
she only wrote as they do their love epistles on the
stage, without forming a letter. I must not omit
one of the best things. We had only to open the
door to get at a very fine cold collation of all sorts
of meats and wines, with tea, etc., a privilege con-
fined to those who belonged to the Duke of New-
castle. I fancy the peeresses would have been glad
of our places at the trial, for I saw Lady Derby and
the Duchess of Devonshire with their work-bags full
of good things. Their rank and dignity did not
exempt them from the ' villainous appetites of eating
and drinking.'
" Foote says that the Empress of Russia, the
Duchess of Kingston, and Mrs. Rudd are the three
most extraordinary women in Europe ; but the duch-
ess disdainfully, and I think unjustly, excludes Mrs.
Rudd from the honour of deserving to make one
of the triple alliance. The duchess has but small
remains of that beauty of which kings and princes
were once so enamoured. She looked very much
like Mrs. Pritchard; she is large and ill-shaped. There
was nothing white but her face, and had it not been
for that she would have looked like a ball of bom-
bazine. There was a great deal of ceremony, a great
deal of splendour, and a great deal of nonsense :
they adjourned upon the most trivial pretence im-
aginable, and did nothing with an air of business as
was truly ridiculous. I forgot to tell you the duchess
was taken ill, but performed it badly."
The proceedings commenced with the reading of
the indictment, after which the Lord High Steward
addressed the prisoner in a short speech, explaining
The Plea of Justification 223
the nature of the offence with which she was charged,
and indulging in a little homily suitable to the occasion,
wherein he pointed out how destructive that offence
was u to the peace and well-being of society, how
hateful in the sight of God, and how much it behoved
her to manifest her own innocence against so heavy
and criminal a charge." The duchess was then asked
by the Clerk of the Crown whether she was guilty
of the felony whereof she was indicted, or not guilty.
She answered with great firmness, " Not guilty, my
lords." Mr. Dunning now opened the pleadings on
behalf of the prosecution " in a very concise manner,"
and was followed by Mr. Thurlow, the Attorney-
General of the voice like " a kind of rolling, murmur-
ing thunder," and " black eyebrows exceeding in size
any I have ever seen," said Creevy; but before he
had time to proceed the duchess, having a paper in
her hand, tendered her plea of justification as matter
of record.
This paper was an " authenticated copy of the
sentence of the Ecclesiastical Court, in the year 1758,
previous to her marriage with the late Evelyn, Duke
of Kingston, deceased." Mr. Wallace, who was one
of the prisoner's counsel, contended the plea was a
good plea in bar of the indictment; that it was a matter
of record of a Court which had competent jurisdiction
to decide upon suits of matrimonial espousals, that
" consequently no parole testimony could now be
legally received to impeach it ; and, that being the
case, the prisoner stood at their lordship's bar to all
intents and purposes whatsoever in the light of a single
woman the day she intermarried with her deceased
224 The Amazing Duchess
husband, Evelyn Pierrepont, Duke of Kingston. For
these reasons, he humbly submitted to their lordships
that the sentence of the Ecclesiastical Court be now
read, as conclusive evidence of the premises ; and
that the plea be recorded, as a bar to all indict-
ments for the felony with which the prisoner stood
charged."
Nothing apparently was further from the intentions
of their lordships than the collapse of the entertainment
at the very outset. All the care taken and the time
spent on the preparation of the elaborate paraphernalia
must not be wasted. If the grand ladies discovered
that they sat up all the previous night while their hair
was being built up, for no purpose, they would want
to know the reason why. It is not to be supposed
that the married dames had not discussed the matter
pretty freely with their husbands, and had made
up their minds before the trial commenced. The
presentation of the plea was accordingly received
with much shaking of heads, but ultimately the lords
were graciously pleased to permit the counsel for
prisoner to address the House on the point, and
accordingly Mr. Wallace, as soon as the proceedings
and the sentence pronounced in consequence of them
were read, was heard in support.
The general ground he took was that the Eccle-
siastical Court had a competent jurisdiction to decide
on all matters relative to matrimony. " The laws
had given it a competent and conclusive jurisdiction
in matters cognisant by the Court. There was but
one law in being which broke in upon its jurisdiction
and brought offences against the right of marriage
The "Civilian's" Arguments 225
before the Temporal Courts ; and that, so far as a
power of judging of the act as a matter of moral
turpitude was concerned, the jurisdiction of the
Ecclesiastical Court was as entire and decisive as if
the act of the ist of James I. had never passed."
This was the great basis of his argument, in support
of which he cited general cases ; as well to prove
that the decisions of the Ecclesiastical Court had been
at all times, both before and after the passing of the
statute of the ist of James I., deemed valid and con-
clusive, even in our Temporal Courts ; and that there
did not exist a single precedent in the law-books,
either directly or by analogy, sufficient to maintain the
present prosecution, though the sentence had proceeded
on false information.
Dr. Calvert, a civilian, as the Doctors of Civil Law
were then termed, followed Mr. Wallace, and spoke
near two hours in favour of her grace. He quoted
several cases in point, to prove that the sentence of
the Consistory Court was to all intents conclusive.
The most striking was : " If a will was ever forged, if
it had received the probate of the Commons, the will
was valid, notwithstanding the discovery of the forgery,
and not cognisable by any Temporal Court whatever."
Dr. Calvert instanced the case of Hatfield against
Hatfield, where in the House of Lords, 1725, on
an appeal from Ireland, a woman brought a bill against
her supposed husband's son by a former wife. " The
son insisted that she was never married to his father,
but that she was the wife of one Porter ; and the
marriage with Porter was clearly proved. Upon such
proof she sued Porter in the Spiritual Court in a
226 The Amazing Duchess
jactitation cause, and, on his failing to prove her his
wife, she obtained a sentence against him, and after-
wards made that sentence her case in Chancery, where
it was held conclusive evidence ; and the Lord Chan-
cellor's opinion was affirmed upon appeal."
Dr. Wynne, another civilian, argued upon the same
grounds, and produced many more cases in point,
challenging his opponents to produce a single precedent
on the other side " to show that the sentence of the
Ecclesiastical Court had ever been controlled or set
aside in cases of marriage."
By the time the civilians had said everything they
could think of to establish the argument that the
sentence of the Ecclesiastical Court should stand, and
if so the charge of bigamy could not be proceeded
with, it was half-past six, and their lordships very
hungry, their usual dinner-hour being six at the latest.
Lord Gower moved for an adjournment, " whereupon
the Lord High Steward, returning to the chair, ad-
journed the House," and the procession slowly filed
out. The great majority of the fashionable crowd
were not so fortunate as Hannah More ; and among
the hungry ones were Mrs. Delany's friends. Mrs.
Delany's dinner-hour was four o'clock, an absurd time
as it would seem to us to-day, and she only waited
half an hour. " Nothing now," she writes, " is
thought of but the Duchess of Kingston's tryal, for
such she is till publicly declared otherwise. I waited
no longer for my guests than half an hour after four,
and at seven they came starved, having been twelve
hours fasting, and ate their little dinner voraciously
(mutton-chops and lamb-pye, lobster and apple-puffs),
The Duchess in Custody 227
drank their coffee between eight and nine, and then
came to my little drawing-room, where they found
Lady Mary Mordaunt and Mrs. Gordon. The show
of the tryal was awfull, and splendid beyond imagi-
nation ; but very little more done than a preparation
for what's to come, and nobody can guess yet what
time it will take. The prisoner walk'd in very
decently, dress'd in black silk, two damsels in mourn-
ing attending her, and led in by a person also in
mourning."
Walpole, after commencing with one of his character-
istic sneers, goes on, wonderful to say, to praise the
duchess. "The doubly noble prisoner went through
her part with unusual admiration," he records. " Instead
of her usual ostentatious folly and clumsy pretensions
to cunning, all her conduct was decent, even seemed
natural. Her dress was entirely black and plain, her
attendants not too numerous, her dismay at first
perfectly unaffected. A few tears balanced cheerful-
ness enough, and her presence of mind and attention
never deserted her. This natural behaviour and the
pleadings of her counsel, who contended for the finality
of the Ecclesiastical Court's solemn injunction against
a second trial, carried her triumphantly through the
first day, and turned the stream much in her
favour."
As for the principal figure in the picture of splendour,
she went back in her chair to Knightsbridge, attended
by Sir Francis Molyneux, Usher of the Black Rod,
who remained at Kingston House while the trial
lasted, the duchess thus being in custody in her own
house. Apropos of this, Walpole could not resist
228 The Amazing Duchess
repeating what sounds like a piece of childish gossip.
" On some altercation," he writes, " between her and
Sir Francis Molyneux, she carried him into another
room and showed him a hole in the ceiling, or wainscot,
made by a pistol-ball. I have heard formerly that she
used to terrify the Duke of Kingston in that manner
with threatening to murder him or herself." It was
in this letter that Walpole thought the Court favoured
Elizabeth in making out her age to be fifty. He
considered she must have been fifty-five at least (see
vol. i. p. 93).
CHAPTER XV
Wordy arguments on both sides — The duchess is taken ill and the
trial is adjourned — The Lord Chamberlain in a difficulty: no
tickets ! — The trial resumed — The plea of justification rejected —
The Solicitor-General enters upon a history of the case — His
unfairness towards the duchess — Anne Cradock gives evidence —
Her evasive answers — Mr. Caesar Hawkins in the witness-box —
The fourth day of the trial — Lord Harrington a reluctant witness.
THE proceedings of the second and third days
were tedious in the extreme, the Attorney-
General and the Solicitor-General occupying the whole
of the time in wordy argument to refute the contention
of the defence. According to the report in 'The
Gentleman's Magazine Attorney-General Thurlow was
very " full and able," and examined several of the cases
cited on the other side, and particularly that of Hatfield
v. Hatfield, where a man, after forging a will and
obtaining a probate of it, was indicted ; but pleaded
that the probate was good because it was granted by
a Court which had jurisdiction in the matter. The
learned judge before whom the culprit was arraigned
held the plea to be good, and the man was discharged.
This, said Thurlow scornfully, was the great authority
urged in support of the most extraordinary doctrine,
considered in all its circumstances, he ever heard. For
it fairly amounted to this : that if a person who com-
229
230 The Amazing Duchess
mittcd a crime, for which he was liable to suffer a
capital punishment, was lucky enough to add another
crime to it — that of imposing on the Court, by gaining
letters of administration — he was not punishable, but
might laugh at his accusers ! As to the arguments
chiefly relied on by the two learned doctors who
maintained the conclusive power of the Ecclesiastical
Court, in all matters competent to their jurisdiction,
they amounted, he urged, to this : " That whatever the
Ecclesiastical Court determined was final and con-
clusive to every other Court but itself. Their edicts
were sacred everywhere but in Doctors' Commons ;
there they were liable to be questioned, examined, and
reserved day after day till the day of judgment, but
nowhere else. For instance, the gentleman said, that
the present sentence might now undergo a review in
the Ecclesiastical Court. The parties were at liberty
to bring it into the Commons (i.e. Doctors' Commons),
and have everything already done (if they should
produce the proofs necessary for such a reversal) again
undone. This, he could not help saying, was a doc-
trine directly of a texture similar to the case last
mentioned. We may have done wrong ; we will see
if we have ; if we have we will rectify it ; but whether
or not, no other Court, however great, shall interfere
to do justice, though we have failed, or may hereafter
refuse to administer it."
Solicitor-General Dunning, 'The Gentleman's Magazine
tells us, spoke <l in a very pointed manner " to the
case alluded to relative to the forgery of the will, and
the obtaining of probate, and held out in a very ridi-
culous light that matter, in which it appeared that
231
The SoIicitor*GeneraI Replies 233
the man who was arraigned for the forgery had forged
the will of a woman then living, and, by obtaining
letters of administration, got possession of some stock
belonging to the pretended deceased. The woman
who had been thus robbed prosecuted the robber ;
and this was one of the chief cases relied on by the
gentlemen of the other side. Dunning next entered
into a long examination of the conclusive jurisdiction
of the Ecclesiastical Court, and of suits of jactitation,
and showed that the latter bore no more relation to
their proceedings, or causes in which they proceeded
to judgment, than any two things in the world,
however different. In this part of his argument
he was " extremely jocular," remarking that, if the
jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Court was final
and ultimately conclusive to the extent contended
for, " by consequence a man marrying at twenty-
one might, by the time he attained the age of
thirty-five, have seventy-five wives living at the
same time, and yet defy the whole power and force
of any Court or Courts of criminal jurisdiction in
the kingdom ! "
The above only represents a very minute portion of
the prolix arguments to which their unfortunate lord-
ships were compelled to listen. The cases cited — for
that of Hatfield v. Hatfield was only one out of many
which were quoted — must alone have plunged them
into a condition of mental confusion, and whether at
the end of a few hours they understood what Dunning,
with his coughing and spitting, and Thurlow, in his
portentous way, were talking about may very well be
doubted. It is not therefore surprising to find, when
VOL. II 14
234 The Amazing Duchess
the Solicitor-General sat down and Mr. Wallace rose
to reply, Lord Talbot interposing with the remark
that " the matter already offered was sufficient for
their lordships' present discussion," and suggesting an
adjournment. The proposition was approved with
alacrity, and the peers promptly vanished, to return
to the hall in half an hour. The proceedings were
about to be resumed, when it was discovered that
some of the noble lords, including the Chief Justice,
had played truant. Lord Townshend took advantage
of the fact to once more urge an adjournment, but the
suggestion was hailed with cries of " Proceed !
Proceed ! "
It probably did not occur to the peers that the
prisoner might be exhausted. However, her condition
was noticed by Lord Camden, who, dropping the
hostility he usually displayed towards the duchess,
remarked that, though the reasons already suggested
were sufficient, he had a more forcible one, that was
the indisposition of the lady. He begged leave to
inform their lordships that she had been extremely
unwell for a considerable time. He then moved that
she might have permission to retire. This being
consented to, his lordship acquainted the House that
the lady was so very ill that a surgeon had been sent
for to bleed her, and that her grace's physicians had
been likewise sent for. He thought it, therefore, very
necessary that their lordships should adjourn, in order
to determine what was proper to be done. This, after
a few minutes' consideration, was agreed to, and their
lordships again marched to the Parliament Chamber,
where, after three quarters of an hour's deliberation,
Illness of the Duchess 235
they agreed to adjourn over till Friday, on a division,
80 against 59.
Meanwhile the duchess had retired in the custody of
the Black Rod to an apartment at the Duke of New-
castle's adjoining to the hall, and was really very ill, so
much so that " she could hardly keep her seat for some
minutes before she had leave to retire from the bar."
No doubt this was the occasion on which Hannah
More, in anything but Christian-like spirit, could see
nothing but acting, " but performed badly." Had the
duchess chosen to " act," and had she been well enough,
she would have found no difficulty in doing it in a
fashion to satisfy all the requirements of dramatic
effect. Hannah More, of course, estimated Elizabeth
on the basis of the slanders so industriously circulated
by her enemies, which, if they were to be believed,
made out that she was a consummate mistress of
cunning and duplicity. Yet, until it became the policy
of the Medows family and their supporters to blacken
her character, never had she been charged with being
crafty. Walpole did not love her, neither did Lady
Mary Coke, or Mrs. Delany, or Mrs. Montagu ; but
what they sneered at was not her cunning, but her
audacity and disregard of the conventionalities.
Walpole alludes to this supposed phase of her character
but once, and he could only say that her " pretensions
to cunning " were clumsy. The arduous journey from
Rome in a jolting litter, at a time when she was suffer-
ing intense pain from an ailment the nature of which
showed how terribly she was run down, her anxiety of
mind added to by the inexcusable conduct of Foote
and the vindictive attacks of anonymous enemies, were
236 The Amazing Duchess
no shams. The marvel is that she went through the
ordeal of the trial without utterly breaking down.
The strain on her nerves must have been so intense
that she had no need to " act " either " badly " or
well.
The next day the House of Lords was informed
that the prisoner continued to be ill, and on the
question of the day to which the trial should be
adjourned, the House was again in trouble. The
Lord Chamberlain had to confess that, anticipating the
proceedings would last but two days at the most, he
had only had tickets prepared for that time. To
resume on the following day was therefore impossible,
and the adjournment was extended for three days to
enable fresh tickets to be prepared, when the trial was
resumed, and after more dreary talk it was held, as
might be expected, that the decree of the Ecclesiastical
Court was not binding on the House of Lords.
The real business, establishing the bigamous mar-
riage, was at last entered upon, and Attorney-General
Thurlow started upon the charge on which the duchess
was arraigned. He went over the story of the secret
marriage at Lainston, which story there is no need to
repeat. No exception can be taken to this part of
Thurlow's speech : it was a dispassionate narrative of
the various incidents of the duchess's life up to the
time when she instituted the jactitation suit ; but when
he proceeded to argue on the question of the bigamy,
his language strikes one as unnecessarily venomous,
preposterous, and hypocritical. After denouncing the
offence of the second marriage, he put forward, as
aggravating the crime, the prisoner's " perfect indiffer-
An Inhuman Law 237
ence which husband she adhered to so that the profit to
be drawn from this marriage or from that was tolerably
equal. The crime stated under these circumstances,
and conveying this impression, is an offence to the law
which, if it be less aggravated in some particulars,
becomes only more odious in others."
According to Thurlow the offence of bigamy, which
by the barbarous and inhuman provisions of the Act
of James I., commonly called the Statute of Bigamy,
was made a felony to be punished by death, whipping,
or burning in the hand, was aggravated by the motive.
There was not the slightest proof adduced to show that
Elizabeth was actuated by a mercenary spirit more
than that which might be reasonably expected from
any woman who marries a rich man. The possibility
of the duchess having as much affection for the duke
as she had dislike for Hervey was ignored ; everything
she did, Thurlow contended, was in order to enrich
herself. When one remembers that during the
eighteenth century no one ever missed a chance of
pocketing anything that happened to be worth taking,
and that the grossest examples of greed were to be
found among the upper classes, it is difficult at this
distance to read Thurlow's speech with patience. At
the moment when he was mouthing his affected
indignation, unblushing intrigue for '£ place " and
" sinecure " was a matter of every-day occurrence. It
was a common thing for men of wealth and position
to hold lucrative posts with no duties other than what
could be performed by a clerk, who was paid a miserable
pittance ; jobbery abounded, and at the time of the
Wilkes controversy it was roundly asserted that the
238 The Amazing Duchess
ministry of Lord Bute had no supporters but those
whom it paid.
Member's votes were sold for pensions. Dunning
himself secured a peerage and a pension, though he
was in office but three months. Thurlow had no
scruple in advising Pitt to appropriate the clerkship
of the Pells, one of the most lucrative among the
many comfortable sinecures ; the Grenvilles' rapacity
was notorious. These are only a few instances out of
many. The traffic in honours was shameless. The
creation of peers was never ending. Venality and
corruption abounded everywhere ; even justice was
not above suspicion so far as the minor officers of
the law were concerned. In the face of this Thurlow's
denunciations sound the veriest fustian ; but, as the
writer of his life in the " National Dictionary of Bio-
graphy " remarks, his conduct of the case against the
duchess was " marked both by bad taste and cruelty."
He was fighting not to punish an offence, but to upset
the will of the duke, force the duchess to surrender
the wealth and the broad acres which were hers by
law, and hand them over to the prosecutor, Evelyn
Medows, whom the duke disliked and had specifically
cut out of his will.
The business from first to last was a piece of make-
believe and a sham, and Walpole put the matter
concisely when he wrote : " The Earl of Bristol
does not stand in a fairer predicament, and is not
the whole a burlesque, where, except the foreigners,
there could not be one person in the hall who
was not as much convinced of the bigamy as of
their own existence ? But the world can make laws
Thurlow Opens the Case 239
against crimes till nobody knows whether there is
any crime which may not be committed legally." As
for Thurlow's arguments in respect to the jactitation
suit, they were narrow and one-sided. The procedure
was termed a " gross and palpable evasion " on the
part of the duchess, but the part played by Augustus
Hervey was wholly ignored. But it must have been
clear that Hervey was equally to blame, and that
he could have prevented the decision of the Ecclesias-
tical Court, had he chosen to do so, by the production
of the material witness, Anne Cradock.
Thurlow occupied an unconscionable time in
reviewing the whole affair, and wound up by calling
the first witness, Anne Cradock, whose story in extenso
has already been told (see vol. i. p. 121). When Anne
Cradock was summoned a confusion, according to
'The London Chronicle, " ensued about placing her ;
the Duke of Richmond, observing her stand near the
prisoner, moved that she might be placed elsewhere.
After much time spent on the occasion, Mr. Quarme,
the Deputy Usher of the Black Rod, was placed
between them, and the examination began, one of
the clerks of the House putting each question from
the counsel, and making the witness's replies to
the House, with an audible voice." The reason
of the Duke of Richmond's extreme caution is
evident. His grace was one of the duchess's pro-
nounced antagonists, and he did not scruple to show
his suspicions lest the close proximity of Anne Cradock
to the prisoner might influence the evidence of the
witness. The duke was one of the noble lords whose
feelings were intensely outraged at the thought that the
240 The Amazing Duchess
duchess should enjoy the fortune which had been left
her, to the disadvantage of her husband's relatives.
The Duke of Richmond's hostility on this ground
came with a particularly bad grace from a man de-
scended from the infamous Louise de Querouaille, who
became the mistress of Charles II. so that she might
serve the interests of France, and who was more
unscrupulous in lining her pockets than even the
Kielmansegge, the first George's favourite. The
suspicious duke of the trial had a supreme contempt
for all who were not aristocrats ; and in after-years
he sneered at Thurlow's lowness of birth, leading
to the keen retort from the Lord Chancellor, as
Thurlow then was, that the duke himself was but
" the accident of an accident."
When the lords were satisfied that Anne could not
act in collusion with the prisoner, or be intimidated
by her too close neighbourhood, the woman, now
considerably advanced in years, entered upon her
evidence. The material parts were unshaken by her
cross-examination at the hands of Mr. Wallace, the
counsel for the duchess, and her adroitness in answer-
ing awkward questions is well shown in the following
extract from the official report of the trial.
" Have you never declared to anybody that you
had an expectation of some provision from the cause
now in hand? — I could not declare it, as I had no
offers made me from the prosecutor.
" Have you declared it ? — I have said j ust now I
I could not.
" Would you be understood that you have not ? —
What was I to declare ?
Anne Cradock Cross-examined 241
" Whether you have not declared, whether true
or false I do not care, that you had an expectation
of some provision from this prosecution ? — I could
not declare it before it was made to me.
a You must say whether you did say so or not. —
I never had any offer from the prosecution.
" Had you not an expectation from the prosecution ?
— No, I could not say that when they never offered
it me.
" Do you understand the question generally or
confined to the prosecutor ? — I think it can be con-
fined to none but himself.
" Have you any expectation from anybody else ? —
No, none.
" Nor ever declared so ? — No, I never declared
that I had any such expectations."
At this point Mr. Wallace gave up labouring the
point and went on to other matters. Later on Anne
was tackled by several noble lords on the question
which Mr. Wallace had relinquished in despair, and,
in replying to Lord Hillsborough, she admitted
receiving a letter from a friend wherein she was
told that a gentleman of his acquaintance would get
her a sinecure, but on what account she knew not.
This was hardly to be accepted without further
inquiry ; and Lord Hillsborough, who seems to have
had some skill for cross-examining, went on to inquire
who the acquaintance was.
Said Anne : " I do not know who the gentleman
was : nor I never asked.
" Who was the friend who wrote the letter to
you ? — Mr. Fozard, of Piccadilly,
242 The Amazing Duchess
€C What answer did you make to the letter ? — I
made no answer any further but that it was very
kind in anybody that would assist me in getting
anything."
This admission of Anne's bears out Whitehead's
statement that Fozard, who, after leaving the Duke
of Kingston's service, started as a livery-stable keeper,
was the first to put Mr. Evelyn Medows on the track
of Anne Cradock. In reply to further questions, Anne
persisted in asserting that she did not know the person
who had offered to make " provision " for her. She
admitted she had showed the letter to a friend " to
let him know I had received such a letter, but I did
not know what it might be upon, or what it might
not." Anne, on the whole, did not come out of the
ordeal of Lord Hillsborough's questions particularly
well. When asked what she had done with the letter
she could only say she did not know, but she had it
not ; and, after a good deal of fencing, she admitted
she had told the friend she had consulted that " she
might have the same settled on her as the lady (i.e.
the prisoner) promised her."
Cradock's evidence was followed with the closest
attention by the lords. It was felt that the question
of the inducement which had led the woman to break
the silence of some thirty years was of vital importance,
and at this dramatic point in her cross-examination
we have the Earl of Derby interposing with the
following : " My lords, we are now in that inter-
esting part of the trial that requires the utmost
deliberation and circumspection. The many hours we
have sat, and the total darkness that must presently
Walpole's Reckless Statements 243
prevail will, I fear, be a bar to our proceeding with
that attention the importance of the crime demands ;
I therefore humbly move that, as many lords seem
desirous of asking this witness many questions, her
further examination may stand over till to-morrow,
and that we now adjourn to the Chamber of Parlia-
ment."
The peers were never slow in the matter of adjourn-
ing, and adjourn they did. On this day's proceedings
Walpole comments in quite his old bitter, sarcastic
vein : " Her grace bore the narration [i.e. Thurlow's
opening statement] with a front worthy of her exalted
rank. Then was produced the capital witness, the
ancient damsel who was present at her first marriage,
and tucked her up for consummation. To this witness
the duchess was benign, but had a transitory swoon
at the mention of her dear duke's name, and at
intervals has been blooded enough to have supplied
her execution if necessary. Two babes were likewise
proved to have blessed her nuptials, one of which,
for aught that appears, may exist and become Earl
of Bristol. The gallant and faithful Earl of Hills-
borough used all his powers to cross-question and
brow-beat the deponent, but her grace's other champion
[Lord Mansfield] did not enter the lists."
Walpole's allusion to the " two babes " combines his
recklessness with his desire to utilise anything that
told against Elizabeth, no matter how slight the founda-
tion. The ground of his assertion that two children
were born, made more than once in his letters, rests
entirely upon Anne Cradock's answer to Thurlow,
who, examining her in reference to the negotiations
244 The Amazing Duchess
previous to the jactitation proceedings, asked whether
she had delivered a message from Captain Hervey to
the duchess. " I told her," said Anne, " Mr. Hervey
desired me to let her know that he was determined
to be — I should have said divorced, but I said parted —
and also that he desired me to tell the lady she had
it in her own power to assist him. I delivered the
message, and the lady replied was she to make herself
a whore to oblige him ? '
Then said Thurlow : " Did she appear to be with
child before this conversation with you ? — She did
appear to be so."
The question was absolutely unjustifiable, and may
be taken as a specimen of Thurlow's brutal method.
Walpole, of course, made the most of the baseless
insinuation.
On the following day Anne Cradock was further
questioned, when she admitted she had sent Fozard's
letter to Captain Hervey, which looks very much as
if she wanted to make something out of everybody.
At all events, one can hardly believe, when she went
to see Fozard on such an important and delicate
matter, that " nothing in particular passed, further
than relating to where I was born, and my life,"
but she was good enough to add that she did
think it extraordinary Fozard should ask her such
questions.
Lord Derby next tackled the shifty witness, but
could get no more out of her than that the prisoner
at the bar, three or four years before, had offered to
give her twenty guineas a year to settle in the country.
No part of the annuity, she asserted, had ever been
Lord Harrington a Witness 245
paid, but she had been given several presents " in point
of friendship " by the prisoner.
So much for Anne Cradock. Mr. Caesar Hawkins,
the surgeon who attended Elizabeth in her embarrass-
ment at Chelsea was next called. He told the story
of the birth of the child, and passed on to speak of
the negotiations, of which he was the instrument,
between Captain Hervey and the duchess previous to
the jactitation suit. His story has already been given
(see vol.fi. p. 120). Then came Lord Harrington,
who observed a very becoming delicacy in regard to
what he knew concerning the prisoner, contending
that, if anything had been confided to his honour or
confidentially told him as a man of honour, as a man
regardful of the laws of society, he could not reveal
it. Upon this the duchess intervened, and her words
may be quoted in full.
"I do relieve my Lord Barrington," said she, "from
any obligation of honour. I wish and earnestly desire
that every witness who shall be examined may deliver
their opinions in every point fully, whether for me or
against me. I came from Rome at the hazard of my
life to surrender myself to this Court. I bow with
submissive reverence to every decree, and do not even
complain that an ecclesiastical sentence has been deemed
of no force, although such a sentence has never been
controverted during the space of one thousand four
hundred and seventy-five years."
The demeanour of the duchess at this trying moment,
and the dignity of her words, had their effect, for the
prosecuting counsel desired to withdraw the witness,
but Lords Camden and Lyttleton, who never scrupled
246 The Amazing Duchess
to show their animosity towards the duchess, were not
inclined to let off Lord Barrington so easily. They
interposed, and other noble lords joined in, and then
followed the inevitable adjournment to the Chamber
of Parliament to discuss the point among themselves.
Truly, as Hannah More phrased it, their lordships
were ready to adjourn " on the most trivial pretence
possible " ; but much may be excused them. They
must have been bored to death ; the self-denying
ordinance of abstention from the cheerful glass to
which everybody in those days resorted on every
possible occasion, in season and out of season, must
have tried them severely, and it is not wonderful they
were ready to seize any opportunity to adjourn,
whether for discussion or for refreshment does not very
much matter. When the peers returned, after a long
interval, it was apparent they had not settled whether
Lord Harrington's honourable scruples should be
observed, but a certain number were very anxious
that he should speak, notwithstanding the fact that
the counsel on both sides had refused to question
him, and Lord Radnor cut the Gordian knot by
boldly declaring that he did not look upon the witness
to be the witness of the prosecuting counsel or of
the prisoner, but u the witness of the House." This
was a happy idea, and appealed directly to their
lordships, for did it not suggest that the "House"
was above observing the niceties of ordinary legal
procedure ?
Walpole, writing of the day's proceedings, said :
" Lord Barrington, subpoenaed against her, after taking
the oath, declared he would betray no confidential
Lord Harrington refuses to give Evidence 247
secret. . . . His lordship faltered, told more than he
had declared he would not tell, and yet prevaricated. . . .
To-night the duchess makes her defence, and on
Tuesday the Lords give sentence. She has not pre-
served the philosophy of the first day, but abused
the first female evidence while giving testimony.
Lord Mansfield left the Ecclesiastical Court in the
lurch; his cowardice always supplanting his knavery."
It is only necessary to say that not a word of this
alleged " abuse " of the witness appears in the official
report taken on behalf of the prosecutor, in that of the
duchess, or in Hargrave's " State Trials." Walpole
could not resist saying anything which gratified his
personal enmity. Lord Mansfield's " knavery " is a
case in point.
CHAPTER XVI
Lord Harrington's evidence — Mrs. Phillips tells the story of the
register — Her unsatisfactory statement — The tale of the leaf torn
from the register by the duchess proved to be false — Mrs. Phillips
again called — She contradicts herself.
WHEN the peers had discussed the nice point of
Lord Harrington's honour they returned to
the hall and, finding the counsel on both sides dis-
inclined to assist them, proceeded to examine their
colleague for themselves, but without extracting very
much that was material to the issue. Lord Radnor put
the question whether Lord Barrington knew any fact by
which he was convinced that Mr. Hervey was married
to Miss Chudleigh.
" I do not know," said Lord Barrington, " of any
fact which will prove the marriage to my own know-
ledge."
Some uneasy qualms at this point overtook one of
their lordships, who evidently had his doubts whether
the peers were not proceeding somewhat irregularly.
The nobleman in question, whose name is not given,
expressed his fear that their lordships by their acqui-
escence had admitted a rule of proceeding which would
not be admitted in any inferior Court in the kingdom.
In spite of this doubt, however, the noble lord asked a
24*
ELIZABETH, DUCHESS OF KINGSTON, AT THE BAR OF THE
HOUSE OF LORDS
249
What the Duchess told Lord Harrington 251
question on his own account. He desired to know
from Lord Harrington precisely the information
which Harrington had found himself unable to give
to Lord Radnor. " If I had the information," re-
plied Lord Barrington, " I could not reveal it, nor
could I answer the question without betraying pri-
vate confidence."
At this unsatisfactory answer their lordships, in their
disappointment, had recourse to their usual plan when
in doubt — they retired to the Chamber of Parliament,
where they remained for some time. When they
returned the counsel on both sides were still passive,
but, not to be denied, several noble lords gallantly
rushed into the breach, and at last Lord Barrington
admitted that the duchess did communicate to him
that a matrimonial engagement had passed between her
and Mr. Hervey, but whether it amounted to a
marriage or not he was not enough of a lawyer or
civilian to judge. The duchess, said he, spoke of this
engagement, whatever it was, as a " trivial circum-
stance."
It is fair to the duchess to bear in mind that all along
she regarded the ceremony in Lainston Church, with its
secrecy, its absence of a register, and the separation from
Lieutenant Hervey within forty-eight hours, as a sort
of escapade, and it is quite reasonable to suppose that,
until Hervey insisted upon his rights as a husband, she
had not considered she was legally married. There is
nothing extraordinary in this, as the headstrong woman
had a way of making up her mind, right or wrong,
and when she had arrived at her own conclusions
nothing could make her budge from them. It may
VOL. n 15
252 The Amazing Duchess
fairly be contended, then, that throughout she acted
conscientiously and without the craft which has been
alleged against her.
Lord Harrington was nervously anxious that his
views in regard to honourable obligations as to secrecy
should not be misrepresented, and he asked to have
that portion of his evidence read over by the clerk ;
but as that official had not thought it necessary to take
any notice his lordship expressed himself satisfied, and
he retired in favour of a most important witness,
Mrs. Judith Phillips, once the wife of the Rev. Mr.
Amis, now deceased. The clergyman's widow, as
Whitehead has already told us, married a man named
Phillips, who was in the service of the Duke of Kings-
ton, and who, after his marriage, through the good
offices of the duchess, was promoted to be steward at
Holme Pierrepont, one of the duke's estates in Notting-
hamshire.
Mrs. Phillips told the story of Elizabeth's visit to
Winchester to obtain a " register of marriage," and in
the course of her narrative said that, when Mrs.
Hervey's baby was born, the mother borrowed a hun-
dred pounds of her aunt, Mrs. Hanmer, to buy baby's
things. Mrs. Phillips appeared to have kept up her
intimacy with the duchess for some time after the affair
of the register. She visited her once at Kingston
House, and told her that she had delivered the register,
as the duchess had directed her, to Mr. Merrill, when
her husband, Mr. Amis, died. Until his death the
clergyman had had the books in his custody. On
another occasion she " went fishing with the lady."
This was after Mr. Merrill's death, and " the lady "
The True Story of the Register 253
told her she had got all the papers Mr. Merrill had
of hers, and that the successor of Mr. Amis at Lains-
ton had the register in his possession. The third time
Mrs. Phillips visited the duchess was at the duke's
house in Arlington Street after her marriage. " She
said to me," Mrs. Phillips remembered, " ' Was it
not very good-natured of the duke to marry an old
maid ? ' I looked in her face and smiled, but said
nothing then " — from which it may be surmised
that Mrs. Phillips said a good deal afterwards, but
not to the duchess.
After this came what in some respects was the most
dramatic incident of the trial — the production of the
very register from which it has been asserted by
biographer after biographer Elizabeth tore the leaf
containing the entry of her marriage. Not one of
these biographers, some of whom should have known
better, appears to have taken the trouble to read
the official report of the trial. The book was
shown to Mrs. Phillips, and we give what followed
in full. It is the Solicitor-General who is asking
the questions.
" Can you be sure whether that is the book you have
been speaking of? — I am very sure.
" I believe there are the vestiges of the seals about
it still ? — Yes.
" Where it was sealed up ? — Yes.
" Look at the entries in the book ; are they not
in your husband's writing ? — They are my husband's
handwriting, and they were made in my presence.
" They were made likewise in the presence of the
lady at the bar, were they not ? — They were."
254 The Amazing Duchess
The clerk then read the following : " Marriages,
Births, and Burials in the Parish of Lainston. 2nd
August, Mrs. Susannah Merrill, relict of John Merrill,
Esq., buried. 4th August, Married the Honourable
Augustus Hervey, Esq., in the parish church at Lains-
ton, to Miss Elizabeth Chudleigh, daughter of Colonel
Thomas Chudleigh, late of Chelsea College, deceased.
By me, THOMAS AMIS."
Said Mr. Solicitor-General Dunning : " My lords,
I have done with this witness."
One would fain hope that the fiction of the secret
journey to Lainston Church by Elizabeth and the
tearing of the leaf from the register while the clerk's
head was turned away is done with too. The story is
a complete fabrication. No one has thought it worth
while to investigate it, and it has done more damage to
the reputation of Elizabeth Chudleigh than anything
else recorded against her.
Mr. Mansfield (not to be confused with Lord
Mansfield) now cross-examined, and the inference of his
questions was obvious. The lady's reply was that she
was living at Bristol on her own private fortune, that
her husband was alive and that he also lived at Bristol
" upon his fortune." She explained he had been
steward to the Duke of Kingston and a grazier. The
matter of Mr. Phillips's doings while in the service
of the duke gave rise to some very searching
questions.
" Was he not," asked Mr. Mansfield, " turned out
of the service of the Duke of Kingston? — I believe he
was not turned out.
" Does not the witness know whether he was or
Mrs, Phillips Prevaricates 255
not ? — He wrote a letter to the duke and desired to
leave him.
" Do you know, then, that he was not turned out ?
—Yes.
" Had he been threatened to be turned out
before he sent that letter ? — Not that I ever
heard of.
" Had your husband had any difference or
dispute with the Duke of Kingston ? — No, not
that I know.
" Was the reason, then, for quitting the service of
the Duke of Kingston merely his own inclination with-
out any particular reason or cause ? — He thought the
duke looked coldly upon him ; for what reason he
could not tell.
" Had the duke ever expressed any dislike to him ?
— Not that I know of."
Mrs. Phillips was a witness of a very different type
from the reticent Anne Cradock. She was easily made
to tell a good deal that she did not intend to tell. She
admitted she had left Bristol about four months before
the trial and that she and her husband had during that
time lived at different places, " sometimes at the Turf
Coffee House and sometimes in St. Mary Axe."
Though she protested she and her husband supported
themselves at the Turf Coffee House, she did not
know whether she had paid the expenses. As
this was a contradiction which required to be
explained, Mr. Mansfield proceeded to put a few
crucial questions.
" Do you know that the whole of your expenses
at the Turf Coffee House is to be defrayed by the
256 The Amazing Duchess
prosecutor, Mr. Evelyn Medows ? — I don't know
that it is.
" Have you not understood so ? — I have not.
" Do you believe it ? — I cannot tell what to believe
or what is to be done.
" Can you not tell whether you believe that your
expenses at the Turf Coffee House are to be defrayed
by Mr. Medows? — No, I do not. I don't know
anything of that.
" Do you not know by whom you expect the ex-
pense of your support at the Turf Coffee House is
to be paid ? — I don't know by whom it is to be
paid."
The unhappy Judith Phillips must by this time
have felt that she was gradually slipping into a quick-
sand, but the relentless counsel had not yet done
with her. He went on to ask :
c< Have you seen Mr. Evelyn Medows at the Turf
Coffee House? — I have.
" How often may you have seen that gentleman
there ? — I could not tell.
" Many times, or only once or twice ? — I may have
seen him twice or three times.
" Have you not seen him oftener than that there ?—
I have seen him frequently in the yard.
" Have you not had frequent conversations with
him ? — Not frequent.
" Have you not conversed with him sometimes at
the Turf Coffee House, sometimes at other places ? —
Nowhere but at the Turf Coffee House.
" Who has been present at such conversations ? —
My husband.
Fresh Admissions 257
" Who else ?— No one else."
Unluckily for Mrs. Phillips, her tormentor took her
to what she knew of Fozard's share in the transaction,
and here she was made to confess that what she had
previously said about the opportunities she had had
of conversing with Mr. Evelyn Medows were not
confined to the Turf Coffee House, for after beating
about the bush considerably, and asserting that Fozard
was never present at the conversations with Mr.
Medows, she admitted she had talked with Medows
at Fozard's house. Then followed another turn of
the rack :
" Do you not know that Mr. Fozard has assisted
Mr. Medows in looking out for witnesses ? — I don't
know anything about it.
" Have you not yourself been present at conver-
sations with Mr. Fozard about this prosecution ? —
Nothing but what was merely accidental.
" How often has that accident happened that you
have been present at conversations with Mr. Fozard
about this prosecution ? — I never was at Mr. Fozard's
but twice."
Poor Mrs. Phillips was rapidly losing her head,
for it appeared from her answers to other questions
that Fozard came pretty often to the Turf Coffee
House, and it was made clear that she, her husband,
and Fozard had frequently talked of the business
of the duchess, but as to any benefit or advantage
she was to receive from the evidence she might give
she could or would say nothing.
" I don't want it," she exclaimed, " I don't
wish it."
258 The Amazing Duchess
The lady was then cross-examined about the pre-
paration of the register, and from her replies it would
almost seem as if she had become utterly bewildered,
for she made the curious statement that although
she knew all about the entry of the marriage
she knew nothing about the previous entry of
the burial of Mrs. Merrill, though she was in the
room all the time. This was all that Mrs. Phillips
had to say, and she retired, doubtless heartily
thankful that her ordeal was over. It was not
long, however, before she was made to feel still
more uncomfortable.
Following Mrs. Phillips came the Rev. Stephen
Kinchin, who succeeded Mr. Amis at Lainston
Church. His evidence helped to nail down the
lie of tearing of the leaf from the register, for he
swore the book was handed to him at the death
of Mr. Merrill, and it had remained in his possession
ever since.
Neither Mr. Kinchen nor the clerical witness who
was called to speak to the handwriting of Mr. Amis
was asked any questions, and thus the history of the
register, the cause of so much talk and falsehood, was
disposed of once and for all. The next business was
the production of the proof of the marriage of the
Duke of Kingston. The Rev. James Prebeck pro-
duced the register of St. Margaret's, Westminster,
and read this entry :
"No. 92. Marriage in March 1769. The most
Honourable Evelyn Pierrepont, Duke of Kingston,
bachelor, and the Honourable Elizabeth Chudleigh
A Lie Nailed Down 259
of Knightsbridge, in St. Margaret's, Westminster,
were married by special licence of the Archbishop of
Canterbury, this 8th day of March 1769, by me,
Samuel Harpur, of the British Museum. This mar-
riage was solemnised between us,
KINGSTON,
ELIZABETH CHUDLEIGH.
In the presence of
MASHAM,
WILLIAM E. O. YEO,
A. K. F. GILBERT,
JAMES LAROCHE, junior,
ALICE YEO,
J. Ross MACKYE,
E. R. A. LAROCHE,
ARTHUR COLLIER,
C. MASHAM.
A touch of dry humour was given at this juncture
by Dunning, who, apologising for his inability to pro-
duce Mr. Spearing, the Winchester lawyer, whose
services were so hastily called into requisition at the
preparation of the register, said in his halting way :
" Mr. Spearing cannot be found. He, though Mayor
of Winchester, is now found to be amusing himself
somewhere or other beyond sea, God knows where."
Spearing's absence having thus been accounted for,
Mrs. Phillips had another bad quarter of an hour in
the witness-box. Mr. Wallace now took her in hand,
and, showing her a letter, asked her whether it was
in her handwriting.
260 The Amazing Duchess
The unlucky Mrs. Phillips was as reluctant as ever
to give a direct answer.
" The name is in my handwriting," she admitted.
<c Is that your letter ?" thundered Mr. Wallace.
"It is my letter," faltered the unhappy witness.
The letter was read. It is a good specimen of the
ultra-respectful way in which lords and ladies were
approached in the epistles of those days. " My Lady
Duchess," it ran, " I write your grace this letter.
My heart has ever been firmly attached to your
grace's interest and pleasure, and my utmost wish
to preserve your favour and countenance, suffer me
not, then, in my declining years to think I have for-
feited that favour and protection without intentionally
giving the most distant cause. May I entreat your
grace to accept this as a sincere and humble sub-
mission for any failure of respect and duty to your
grace, and permit me most humbly to entreat your
grace's kind intercession to my lord duke to continue
Mr. Phillips his steward, whose happiness consists only
in acting and discharging his duty to his grace's
pleasure. This additional mark of your grace's good-
ness we hope to be happy in, and in return the
remainder of our lives shall be passed in gratitude
and duty."
Of course this was in direct contradiction to what
Mrs. Phillips had said before about the reason of her
husband leaving the duke's service, and another letter
put in written by Phillips to the duke showed that
he was in disgrace. The reply of the duke was as
typical in its way as the appeal of Mrs. Phillips and
her husband. u Mr. Phillips," wrote the duke, " your
Why Phillips was Dismissed 261
letter came to me at Newmarket. After what has
passed there is no occasion for many words. Sherin
will be at Holme Pierrepont some time next week
with my orders about stating your business, which I
flatter myself you will readily comply with."
This was the end of the prosecution, and their
lordships adjourned until the following Monday.
CHAPTER XVII
The fifth day of the trial — The duchess addresses the Lords — She
gives her reason for instituting the jactitation suit — Explains
why the duke disinherited Evelyn Medows — Denies that she
ever promised to pension Anne Cradock — Asks that Dr. Collier,
who obtained the licences from the Archbishop, be allowed to
give evidence at his house, where he is lying ill — The Lords
refuse her request — She is found guilty, and pleads for benefit
of clergy, which is granted — The sentence.
THE fifth day was all-important. The duchess
was to address the House and put forward
her evidence. Counsel in those days could only
examine witnesses, and the onus of defence by
argument rested on the prisoner, thus giving the
prosecution a most unfair advantage. The duchess
faced her accusers with dauntless courage, and read
from a paper in a firm, clear voice, which she main-
tained almost to the end of her lengthy speech.
This oration even the grudging Walpole allowed
she " pronounced well." There is internal evidence
that she wrote most of it herself, and it may be
true that " her counsel would have curtailed this
harangue, but she told them they might be good
lawyers but they did not understand speaking to the
passions." But her judges were, in a sense, her
prosecutors ; they were sitting in support of their
262
The Duchess Addresses the Lords 263
order and their wealth, and an appeal to their
sympathies was not likely to be successful. Taking
into account the over-elaboration from which few
literary compositions of that day were free, the
duchess put her case with great force. She failed
to remove the stumbling-block to her defence, the
testimony of Anne Cradock, simply because the task
was impossible ; but she gave a new and ingenious
view of the reasons which led her to institute the
jactitation proceedings. About Augustus Hervey she
said very little. We have not given the duchess's
speech in full, but only such portions as enable one
to grasp her arguments.
" My lords, — This my respectful address will, I
flatter myself, be favourably accepted by your lord-
ships. My words will flow freely from my heart,
adorned simply with innocence and truth. My lords,
I have suffered unheard-of persecutions ; my honour
and fame have been severely attacked ; I have been
loaded with reproaches, and such indignities and
hardships have rendered me the less able to make
my defence before this august assembly and against
a persecution of so extraordinary a nature and so
undeserved. My lords, with tenderness consider
how difficult is the task of myself to speak, not say
too little nor too much : degraded as I am by my
adversaries ; my family despised, the honourable titles
on which I set an inestimable value, as received from
my most noble and late dear husband, attempted to
be torn from me. Your lordships will judge how
greatly I stand in need of your protection and
indulgence. . . .
264 The Amazing Duchess
" My lords, your unhappy prisoner is born of an
ancient and not ignoble family, the women distin-
guished for their virtue, the men for their valour ;
descended in an honourable and uninterrupted line
for three centuries and a half. Sir John Chudleigh,
the last of my family, lost his life at the siege
of Ostend, at eighteen years of age, gloriously pre-
ferring to die with his colours in his bosom rather
than accept of quarter from a gallant French officer
who, in compassion to his youth, three times offered
him his life for that ensign which was shot through
his heart. A happy death ! that saves the blush he
would now feel for the unheard-of injuries and
dishonour thrust on his unfortunate kinswoman who
is now at the bar of this right honourable House. . . .
" My lords, I now appeal to the feelings of your
hearts whether it is not cruel that I should be brought
as a criminal to a public trial for an act committed
under the sanction of the laws — an act that was
honoured with his Majesty's most gracious appro-
bation and previously known and approved by my
royal mistress, the late Princess-Dowager of Wales,
and likewise authorised by the ecclesiastical jurisdic-
tion. Your lordships will not discredit so respectable
a Court and disgrace those judges who there so
legally and honourably preside. The judges of the
Ecclesiastical Court do not receive their patents from
the Crown, but from the Archbishop or bishops. . . .
My lords, I earnestly look up to your lordships
for protection as being now a sufferer for having
given credit to the Ecclesiastical Court. I respect-
fully call upon you, my lords, to protect the spiritual
Why was the Prosecution Delayed ? 265
jurisdiction and all the benefits of religious laws, and
me, an unhappy prisoner who instituted a suit of
jactitation upon the advice of the learned civilian
who carried on the prosecution, from which I obtained
the sentence that authorised your prisoner's marriage
with the most noble Evelyn, Duke of Kingston, that
sentence solemnly pronounced by John Bettesworth,
doctor of laws, vicar-general of the Right Reverend
Father in God, Richard, by Divine permission, Lord
Bishop of London and Official Principal of the Con-
sistorial Court of London, the judge thereof calling
on God and setting Him alone before his eyes, and
hearing counsel in that cause, did pronounce that your
prisoner, then the Honourable Elizabeth Chudleigh,
now Elizabeth, Duchess-Dowager of Kingston, was
free from all matrimonial contracts or espousals, as
far as to him at that time appeared, more especially
with the said Right Honourable Augustus John
Hervey.
" My lords, had this prosecution been set on foot
simply for the love of justice or good examples to
the community, why did they not institute their
prosecution during the five years your prisoner was
received and acknowledged the undoubted and un-
molested wife of the late Duke of Kingston ? . . .
My lords, I have observed that I had greatly suffered
in fame and fortune by the reports of Mr. Hervey,
and I beg leave to mention in what manner. Your
prisoner was at that time possessed of a small estate
in the county of Devon, where Sir George Chudleigh,
her father's eldest brother, had large possessions. The
purchase of that estate was much solicited in that
266 The Amazing Duchess
county, and, having frequent opportunities of disposing
of it, it was ever made an insuperable objection by the
intending purchasers that I could not make a clear
title to the estate on account of Mr. Hervey's claim
to your prisoner as his wife ; and your prisoner,
being also possessed of building-lands for a great
number of years, for the same reasons she never had
the ground covered (valued at £1,200 per annum) ;
and as your prisoner's health declined and made it
necessary for her to seek relief in foreign climes (which
increased her expenses beyond what her circumstances
could support), and her little fortune daily decreased
by money taken up on mortgage and bonds, her royal
mistress likewise in the decline of life, whose death
would probably deprive her of £400 a year, the
prosecutions threatened on Mr. Hervey's side pre-
senting but a gloomy prospect for her declining life,
your prisoner was induced to follow the advice of
Dr. Collier and institute the suit of jactitation, your
prisoner subscribing entirely to his opinion and fol-
lowing his advice and instructions, which she presumed
alone is a full defence against the charge of felony ;
for your lordships, in your great candour, could not
think that a lady can know more of the civil law than
her learned civilians could point out to her. And as
a criminal and felonious intent is necessary to consti-
tute the offence with which I stand charged, certainly
I cannot be guilty in following the advice I received
and in doing what in my conscience I thought and
authorised an innocent act. . . .
" My lords, though I am aware that any person can
prosecute for the Crown for an offence against an
The Duchess denies using undue Influence 267
Act of Parliament, yet I will venture to say that few
instances, if any, have been carried into execution
without the consent of the party injured ; and, with
great deference to your lordships' judgment, I venture
to declare that in the present case no person whatever
has been injured, unless your lordship's candour will
permit me to say that 7 am injured, being now the
object of the injurious resentment of my enemies. It
is plain to all the world that his grace the Duke
of Kingston did not think himself injured when, in
the short space of five years, his grace made three
wills, each succeeding one more favourable to your
petitioner than the other, giving the most generous
and incontestable proof of his affection and solicitude
for my comfort and dignity ; and it is more than
probable, my lords, from the well-known mutual
friendship subsisting between us, that, had I been
interested, I might have obtained the bulk of his
fortune for my own family. But I respected his
honour, I loved his virtues, and had rather forfeited
my life than have used any undue influence to injure
the family ; and though it has been industriously and
cruelly circulated, with a view to prejudice me, that
the first-born of the late duke's sister was deprived
of his succession to his grace's fortune by my influence,
the wills, my lords, made in three distant periods,
each excluding him, demonstrate the calumny of these
reports.
" I must further observe to your lordships, in opposi-
tion to the charge against me of interestedness, that
had I possessed or exercised that undue influence with
which I am charged by the prosecutor, I might have
VOL. II I 6
268 The Amazing Duchess
obtained more than a life-interest in the duke's fortune,
and through the concern and affection I bore to the
memory of my late much-honoured husband I have
forborne to mention the reason of his disinheriting his
eldest nephew, Charles, the second son, with his heirs,
appears immediately after me in succession, William
and his heirs follow next, after him Edward and his
heirs, and the unfortunate Thomas, Lady Frances's
youngest son, is not excluded, though labouring under
the infirmities of childhood at the age of manhood, and
not able to support himself. For the late noble Duke
of Kingston has repeatedly mentioned to your prisoner,
c I have not excluded him, for he has never offended,
and who can say God cannot restore him to health ? '
My lords, that good man did honour to his peerage,
honour to his country, honour to human nature. . . .
" My lords, worn down by sorrow, and in a wretched
state of health, were I here to plead for life, for fortune,
no words of mine should beat the air. The loss I
sustained in my most kind companion and affectionate
husband makes the former more than indifferent to me,
and when it shall please Almighty God to call me I
shall willingly lay that burden down. I plead before
your lordships for my fame and honour. My lords,
worn down by sorrow, and in a wretched state of health,
I quitted England without a wish for that life which I
was obliged by the laws of God and nature to endeavour
to preserve ; for your prisoner can with great truth
say that sorrow has brought her mind to a perfect
resignation to the will of Providence. And, my lords,
while your unhappy prisoner was endeavouring to
re-establish her greatly impaired health abroad, my
The Offence of Evelyn Medows 269
prosecutor filed a bill in Chancery upon the most un-
just and dishonourable motives. Your prisoner does
not complain of his endeavour to establish a right to
himself, but she does complain of his forming a plea of
dishonourable and unjust opinions of his late noble
relation and generous benefactor, to the prejudice and
discredit of his much-afflicted widow, and, not satisfied
with this prosecution as a bulwark for his suit in
Chancery, he cruelly instituted a criminal prosecution
in hopes by a conviction in a criminal cause to establish
a civil claim, a proceeding discountenanced by the
opinion of the late Lord Northington. . . .
" My lords, I have hitherto forborne, from the great
love and affection to my late noble lord, to mention
what were the real motives that induced his grace to
disinherit his eldest nephew, and when my plea and
answer in Chancery were to be argued, I particularly
requested my counsel to abstain from any reflections
upon my adversaries which the nature of their prosecu-
tions too much deserved, and grieved I am now that I
must no longer conceal them. ... I am reduced to
the sad necessity of saying that the late Duke of
Kingston was made acquainted with the fatal cruelty
with which Mr. Evelyn Medows treated an unfortunate
lady who was as amiable as she was virtuous and
beautiful, to cover which offence he most ungratefully
and falsely declared that he broke his engagement with
her for fear of disobeying the duke, which he has often
been heard to say. This, with his cruelty towards his
sister and mother, and the attempt to quit actual service
in the late war, highly offended the duke, and it would
be difficult for him or his father to boast of the least
2 yo The Amazing Duchess
friendly intercourse with his grace for upwards of
eighteen years.
" My lords, in a dangerous state of health when my
life was despaired of, I received a letter from my
solicitor acquainting me that, if I did not return to
England to put in an answer to the Bill in Chancery
within twenty-one days, I should have receivers put
into my estates, and also that if, in contempt of the
indictment, I did not return I should be outlawed. It
clearly appeared to me, my lords, as I make no doubt
it does to your lordships, that if, in the inclemency of
the weather I risked to pass the Alps my life would
probably be endangered, and the family would imme-
diately enter into possession of the real estates, and if
family affairs should prevail, that I should be outlawed.
Thus was I to be deprived of life and fortune under
cover of law, and that I might not return to this
prosecution summons by some undue and cruel pro-
ceedings, my credit was stopped by my banker for
£4,000, when there remained an open account of
£70,000, and at that instant upwards of £6,000 was in
his hands, my revenues being constantly paid into his
shop to my credit. Thus was I commanded to return
home at the manifest risk of my life, and at the same
time every wit used to deprive me of my means of
returning for my justification. . . .
" My lords, the evidence of the fact of the proposed
transaction of marriage with Mr. Hervey depends
entirely upon the testimony of Anne Cradock. I am
persuaded your lordships, from the manner in which
she gave her evidence, already entertain great suspicions
of the veracity of her testimony. She pretends to
Denounces Anne Cradock 271
speak to a marriage ceremony being performed at
which she was not asked to be present, nor can she
assign any reason for her being there. She relates a
conduct in Mrs. Hanmer, who she pretends was
present at the ceremony, inconsistent with the real
marriage. She acknowledges she was in or about
London during the jactitation suit, and that Mr.
Hervey applied to her on that occasion, and swears
that she then and ever had a perfect remembrance of
the marriage, and was ready to have proved it had she
been called upon, and never declared to any person that
she had not a perfect memory of the marriage, and from
Mr. Hervey's not calling on this woman it is insinuated
he abstained from the proof by collusion with me. She
also swears that I offered to make her an allowance of
twenty guineas a year provided she would reside in
either of the three counties she has mentioned, but
acknowledges that she had received no allowance from
me. Can your lordships believe that if I could have
been base enough to have instituted a suit with the
conviction in my own mind of a real lawful marriage
between Mr. Hervey and myself that I would not,
at any expense, have taken care to put that woman out
of the way ? But, my lords, I trust that your lordships
will be perfectly satisfied that a great part of the
evidence of this woman is made for the purpose of the
prosecution. Though she has denied she has any
expectation from the event or ever declared so, yet it
will be proved to your lordships that her future provi-
sion (as she has declared) depends upon it, and not-
withstanding she has now brought herself up to swear
that she heard the ceremony of marriage performed it
272 The Amazing Duchess
will be proved that she has declared that she did not
hear it, and it will be further proved to your lordships
that Mr. Hervey was extremely solicitous to establish
a legal marriage with me for the purpose mentioned by
Mr. Hawkins (i.e. so that he might bring a suit for
adultery\ and that this woman was actually applied to
and declared to Mr. Hervey's solicitor that her memory
was impaired and that she had not any recollection of
it, which was the reason why she was not called as
a witness. . . .
" My lords, I call God Almighty, the searcher of
hearts, to witness that at the time of my marriage with
the Duke of Kingston I had the most perfect conviction
that it was lawful. That noble duke, to whom every
passage of my life has been disclosed, and whose affection
for me, as well as regard for his own honour, would
never have suffered him to have married me had he
not as well as myself received the most solemn assur-
ances from Dr. Collier that the sentence which had
been pronounced in the Ecclesiastical Court was abso-
lutely final and conclusive, and that I was at perfect
liberty to marry any other person. If, therefore, I have
offended against the law, against the letter of the Act,
I have so offended without criminal intention. Where
such intention does not exist your lordship's justice
and humanity will tell you there can be no crime, and
your lordships, looking at my distressed situation with
an indulgent eye, will pity me as a unfortunate woman
deceived and misled by erroneous opinions of law of
the propriety of which it was impossible for me to
judge."
The conclusion of the duchess's speech must have
Dr. Collier Unable to Attend 273
been spoken without the assistance of notes, for she
explained to their lordships she had mislaid a paper
she had intended to read in reference to the absence
of Dr. Collier. He was very ill, she said, and
unable to attend the Court. Then she enlarged
upon the importance of his testimony, and went
on to say: "It was by his advice I married his Grace
the Duke of Kingston, assuring me it was lawful,
that he had the honour of going to his Grace the
Archbishop of Canterbury to obtain a licence and to
explain every part that regarded the cause ; that his
grace was so just, so pious, and so good as to take
time to consider whether he would grant us a special
licence for the marriage. After mature consideration
and consultation with great and honourable persons
in the law, he returned the licence to Dr. Collier with
full permission for our marriage. Dr. Collier was
present at the marriage, Dr. Collier signed the register
of St. James's Church. I request that Dr. Collier be
examined."
It is pretty clear that this impassioned address,
delivered with all the emotion of an excited woman,
had its effect on their lordships, for at the last appeal
of the prisoner one noble lord exclaimed, " In the
name of God, let us give the prisoner every indulgence.
It appears that she was influenced to marry by the
advice of Dr. Collier. Then I do beg, if the prisoner
does insist upon it, that Dr. Collier may be examined."
Medical evidence, however, was given that it would
not be safe for Dr. Collier, who was suffering from St.
Anthony's fire, to stir from his house, and it was
suggested that his evidence might be taken where he
274 The Amazing Duchess
was lying. This suggestion, however, was not received
with favour. Some of the noble lords said they had
never heard of such a proposition before. It was
contrary to all precedent. The question was referred
to the law lords, and Lord Camden, speaking for the
latter, declared that never had such a course been
pursued. " If," said he, " there has been any instance,
let it be produced, and in God's name let justice be
done."
It was unfortunate for Elizabeth that so important
a witness was absent, though it was doubtful whether
Dr. Collier's evidence would have made any difference.
The witnesses for the defence were now examined,
Mr. Berkeley, solicitor to the Earl of Bristol, being
first placed in the box. He explained how he had
applied to Anne Cradock relative to what she had to
say concerning the marriage. This was after Lord
Bristol, then Captain Hervey, was served with the
citation to Doctors' Commons. Berkeley asked Anne
what she knew of the marriage between Captain
Hervey and Miss Chudleigh. Anne said she was very
old, very infirm, and the transaction happened many
years ago, and she could not at that distance of time
remember anything of the matter. Captain Hervey,
who was present at the interview, seemed vastly
surprised and said, " How can you say so ? " or words
to that effect. Mr. Berkeley also said that he went
about trying to get further evidence of the marriage,
as Captain Hervey was anxious to secure a divorce.
The Attorney-General put rather a suggestive
question to Mr. Berkeley. He wanted to know why
the husband of Anne Cradock, who was not present at
Witnesses for the Defence 275
the marriage, should have been called to give evidence
during the jactitation proceedings, and why the wife,
who was represented to be present, was not called.
Berkeley knew nothing about that. The matter went
out of his hands when it was taken to Doctors'
Commons. He could only act as an attorney, he was
not a proctor.
Mrs. Prichard, a friend of Anne Cradock's, a lady
" in a creditable position and a pretty fortune," living
at Mile End, told how she had heard Cradock say
she was present at the marriage, and that she did not
hear the marriage ceremony read. Anne also told her
friend, Mrs. Prichard, that she was to be provided
for, but in what manner she could not say till that
affair was over, lest it should be deemed bribery.
" Afterwards," said Mrs. Prichard, u I gave her an
invitation to come to tea, when she said it would not
suit her to do so until this affair was over, and then, if
she could get a good fortune she might come and live
with me."
The last witness was Mr. Laroche, junior, who
deposed he had heard Dr. Collier tell the duke that he
might safely marry the prisoner. " Had the duke,
then," said Attorney-General Dunning, " any doubt ? "
" The duke certainly had a doubt," replied Mr.
Laroche, " that is, until the jactitation suit was over.
After the sentence was pronounced the other side had
fourteen days in which to appeal. The appeal was
revoked, and they were married the week after. The
duke had no doubt after he had applied for the licence
and got it from the Archbishop of Canterbury."
The evidence, for and against, was completed and
276 The Amazing Duchess
the Solicitor-General replied at length upon the points,
but declined to offer any observation upon the " mere
argumentative defence put forward by the prisoner."
Thurlow's speech was both dreary and lengthy, and he
was listened to with impatience, for all were waiting for
the curtain to fall on the drama. At last the Attorney-
General sat down and their lordships filed slowly back
to the Chamber \ of Parliament, not to consider their
verdict like common jurymen, but how to arrive at it,
and after a long debate Lord Mansfield moved that
the following question be put by the Lord High
Steward to every peer in the Court.
" Is the prisoner guilty of the felony whereof she
stands charged, or not guilty ? "
Their lordships immediately returned to the hall,
when the Lord High Steward said, "Their lordships
had determined that he should question each peer as to
his opinion, in court, in the absence of the prisoner,
beginning with the junior baron, and, having gone
through the peerage, should call the prisoner into
court, and inform her of the determination of their
lordships." The Lord High Steward accordingly put
the question to the junior baron, Lord Sundridge
(Duke of Argyll, in Scotland): "Is it your lordship's
opinion that the prisoner at the bar is guilty or not
guilty of the felony wherewith she is charged ? " His
lordship, rising in his place, and putting his right
hand on his breast, said, " Guilty, upon my honour."
His grace then proceeded to gather the suffrage of all
the rest, who all answered in the affirmative except the
Duke of Newcastle, who said : " Erroneously, but not
intendedly, guilty, upon my honour."
Found Guilty 277
Black Rod then conducted the duchess into the hall
and the Lord High Steward informed her that all her
peers had found her guilty but one, who had declared
she was guilty erroneously but not intendedly, and
desired to know if she had anything to offer why
judgment should not now be passed against her. No
answer was given, but a slip of paper was handed up,
claiming the benefit of clergy. Most probably the
duchess expected the result. She was perfectly calm
and self-possessed ; the time for emotion had passed.
Praying for the benefit of clergy meant that she
should not be subjected to the barbarity of burning in
the hand. The prayer might as well have been
granted at once, for one can hardly suppose that a
single lord would have desired to see so inhuman a
sentence passed, but the solemn farce had to be kept
up, and Dunning, with a great show of warmth,
arguing at great length, demanded that the hideous law
be observed. He could not have meant it, but it was
necessary to pretend to be serious. When he had sat
down the Lord High Steward adjourned the Court to
the Chamber of Parliament, where Lord Camden and
Lord Mansfield both spoke upon the subject, and it was
settled that the prisoner's prayer should be granted.
Their lordships then returned to the court, where the
Lord High Steward told the prisoner that u their lord-
ships had deliberated on what had been urged by the
counsel, and had agreed to indulge her with the privi-
lege she prayed for. Little or no punishment could
therefore now be inflicted upon her, but that the feel-
ings of her own conscience would supply that defect."
After delivering this little homily his lordship con-
278 The Amazing Duchess
eluded in these terms : a Madam, you are admitted to
your clergy in the form and manner which you have
claimed it. I am now therefore to tell you, that if you
should be ever guilty of a similar offence, or of any
crime amounting to felony, that no such claim can be
again allowed, but that you will thereby incur a capital
punishment. I am further to inform you that the
favour and lenity which the law has allowed to persons
of your rank and condition is, that you are discharged
on paying your fees, and are no longer a prisoner."
Notice being given that the Lord High Steward's
commission was at an end, he rose and broke his white
staff ; and proclamation was made, ordering every
person to depart, and repair quietly home in God's
peace and the King's peace.
The farce thus ended in the greatest piece of
humour of all — the injunction to the duchess not
to commit bigamy a second time ! It is wonderful
their lordships kept their countenances. But perhaps
they were too thankful that the tedious burlesque was
over and, may be, too hungry to care for anything but
scuttling away as soon as possible.
CHAPTER XVIII
Abortive result of the trial — The duchess flies to Calais to avoid a
writ of ne exeat — How she escaped — Public opinion of the case
— Her position in Calais embarrassing — Is swindled by an hotel
keeper — Settles in Calais — The Earl of Bristol seeks to have the
sentence of the Ecclesiastical Court revoked — Death of the earl.
nine days' wonder was over. Its importance
was in every way overrated, but it was an
admirable show and entertaining enough when the
witnesses were giving evidence and the duchess was
speaking, but made terribly wearisome by the legal
arguments droned out at an intolerable length. West-
minster Hall was, if possible, packed more closely
on the last day than on the first, and the decision
gave the greatest possible gratification to the ladies
present. It is doubtful whether one could be found
who was in Elizabeth's favour, but the principles
of religion and morality had been asserted, and, con-
sidering that at that particular period there was little
evidence of the existence of either, especially on the
part of the duchess's noble judges, this was something
gained. A section of the public rejoiced from another
point of view. As one writer puts it :
" Thus ended a prosecution of infinite magnitude,
both in respect to the convict, and Ecclesiastical
279
280 The Amazing Duchess
Court, which now by the judgment of the Lords, in
this cause, has been taught to feel and acknowledge
the superior jurisdiction and controlling power of the
Common Law of England."
But when all was said and done what was gained
by the prosecution ? Though shame and ignominy
were brought upon the duchess, her enemies received
no benefit, his Grace of Kingston's will having been
drawn up with such legal caution that, notwithstanding
the law had declared her second marriage void, the lady
continued to enjoy for her life the great revenues left
her by the duke, and Mr. Evelyn Medows found
himself ruined by the immense expense of the prosecu-
tion— not altogether an inappropriate end to the farce.
Augustus Hervey ought to have been an important
factor in the matter, but he did not intrude himself
and apparently he was not wanted by either side. The
duchess might have had half a dozen husbands for
what their lordships cared : it was her presumption
in marrying a duke, one of the richest in the kingdom,
that constituted her offence. As there was no practical
issue so far as the prosecutor, Evelyn Medows, was
concerned it is difficult to see what satisfaction the
peers got out of the affair.
Miss Hannah More, however, made no secret of
her joy. She writes on April 2yth: " Much cause of
speculation — much hurry — has the late grand tryal
occasion'd. Greatly to the general satisfaction, the
shameless Dss is degraded into as shameless a countess.
Surely there never was so thorough an actress.
Garrick says, ' She has so much out-acted him it is
time for him to leave the stage ' ; but that does her
What the Gossips Said 281
too much honour. One should search the jails amongst
the perjured notorious offenders for a parallel to such
an infamous character. She has, however, escaped
the searing of her hand^ and is turned over for condign
punishment to her conscience ! It was astonishing how
she was able to speak for three quarters of an hour,
which she did yesterday ; but it was labour in vain ! "
Two or three days later we have the following from
the same hand : " This morning Lord Camden break-
fasted with us. He was very entertaining. He was
very angry that the Duchess of Kingston was not
burned in the hand. He says, as he was once a
professed lover of hers, he thought it would have looked
ill-natured and ungallant for him to propose it, but
that he should have acceded to it most heartily, though
he believed he should have recommended a cold iron."
Mrs. Delany was no less pleased and at once posted
the news to Mrs. Port thus : *' I have the great
satisfaction of telling you that Elizabeth, calling herself
Duchess-Dowager of Kingston, was this very afternoon
undignified and un-duchessed and very narrowly escaped
being burned in the hand. If you have been half
as much interested against this unprincipled, artful,
licentious woman as I have you will be rejoiced at
this as I am. All the peers . but two or three (who
chose to withdraw) exclaimed with great emphasis :
' Guilty, upon my honour,' except the Duke of
Newcastle, who said : * Guilty erroneously, but not
intentionally.' Great nonsense, by the by ; but peers
are privileged."
Walpole, of course, has something to say, and in
his usual belittling spirit : " The wisdom of the land
282 The Amazing Duchess
has been exerted five days in turning a duchess into
a countess, and does not think it a punishable crime
for a countess to convert herself into a duchess. After
a paltry defence and an oration of fifty pages which
she herself had written and pronounced well, the
sages, in spite of the Attorney-General, who brandished
a hot iron, dismissed her with the simple injunction of
paying her fees. So ends that solemn farce, which may
be indifferently bound up with the ' State Trials ' and
* The History of Moll Flanders.' If you write to her
you must direct to the Countess of Bristol. The earl,
they say, does not intend to leave her that title, nor
the House of Medows a shilling ; but there will be
queries to both designs. The Ecclesiastical Court,
full as guilty as the culprit, I dare to say, will escape as
well." Writing the day after the date of this letter he
asserts that the duchess " concluded her rhetoric with
a fit and the trial with rage when convicted of the
bigamy. The Attorney-General laboured to have her
burnt in the hand, but the judges were hustled into
an opinion against it and it was waived. So all this
complication of knavery received no punishment but
the loss of the duchy, unless the Civil Courts below
are more severe than the supreme tribunal, and thither
her antagonists intend to resort. The earl's family
have talked loudly of a divorce, but if it is true
he has given her a bond of ,£30,000 not to molest
her, and this bond is in Lord Harrington's hands, either
she will recriminate, and collusion proved prevents a
divorce, or his silence will speak the collusion."
Walpole would seem to have been more angry at
the result than any one, but what could he have
MISS HANNAH. MORE
283
Flight of the Duchess 285
anticipated ? Surely not that the brutal provisions
of the Bigamy Act of James I. would be carried out ?
Both the statement as to the duchess's " fit " at the
end of her " rhetoric " and the story of the bond
of ^30,000 want confirmation.
Meanwhile the legal proceedings against the Countess
of Bristol — for by her conviction she was reduced to
this title from that of Duchess of Kingston — did
not terminate with the trial before the Lords. Her
fortune still remained, Augustus Hervey was still alive ;
and the prosecutors, stimulated by disappointment, took
fresh measures against her. Their next step was to
restrain Elizabeth from leaving the kingdom, and to
harass her by forcing her to reside in England.
Application was accordingly made for a writ of ne
exeat regno ; but, happily for the lady, she received
information of the proceeding, or probably anticipated
it, and she ordered her carriage to be driven about
the streets, with a confidential servant in it, having
previously sent cards of invitation for a party to dine
at Kingston House, while she herself was hastening
towards Dover. Whitehead gives some interesting
details concerning this manoeuvre.
"As she was never at a loss for contrivances," he
writes, " she now planned her escape. She invited a
large party of friends to dine with her on the day
after the trial ended. Having previously arranged
matters for her journey, the instant Sir Francis dis-
charged his prisoner she departed in Sir James
Laroche's carriage to Dover, where her packet waited
to take her to France. The next day her own
vis-a-vis was seen driving about the London streets
VOL. II 17
286 The Amazing Duchess
with Miss Belle Chudleigh, her cousin, and another
lady. The Duchess's carriage being so well known,
and Miss Belle so like her grace, many considerable
bets were lost by people who believed her to be the
duchess."
We may be sure Elizabeth quitted England without
the slightest reluctance. Not only was she in disfavour
with the Court, but she had lost caste among her own
friends. Even the Duchess of Queensberry held
aloof, while the strict and prudish Queen Charlotte
took the lead in moral denunciations, reminding one
somewhat of Matthew Prior's Dame Purganti, than
whom —
No woman led a better life ;
She to intrigues was e'en hard-hearted ;
She chuckled when a bawd was carted.
In her previous journeys to the Continent Elizabeth
had stayed at an hotel in Calais kept by a man named
Dessein, and on her landing at the French port she
went straight to Dessein's house. An account of her
conviction, however, had reached Calais before her,
and Dessein, with the caution of a Frenchman where
money is concerned, had his doubts. He received
her with cold politeness, he shrugged his shoulders,
and by various gesticulations and distortions of face
and limbs, expressed his condolence for the misfortunes
of his guest, but — it distressed him intensely to be
compelled to make the confession — he was unable to
accommodate his visitor with a suite of rooms ; his
whole house was occupied, and it was with the utmost
difficulty he could procure her a single chamber.
Adventures in Calais 287
Elizabeth was fatigued in body and mind, and she
was glad to find rest even in a room on the attic
story. Meanwhile, Dessein made inquiries as to her
position, and, being informed that she was still in the
possession of her fortune, he altered his manner and
the next morning expressed his happiness in being
able to inform his distinguished visitor that " the
company who had occupied apartments suitable in
every respect pour Madame la Duchesse, were gone
to Paris, and consequently they were devoted to her
use, if she should so please." In spite of her shrewd-
ness Elizabeth could be easily taken in by any one
who understood how to approach her. She was
completely won over by the tactful Dessein, and
remained at his hotel long enough to lend him £1,000.
The man was utterly unworthy of her generosity
for no sooner was the money in his pocket than,
knowing her helplessness in France and how impossible
it was for her to return to England, he changed his
tone and made her stay at his house so uncomfortable
that she was compelled to go to another hotel. It is
said the money lent was never repaid, and all that
the duchess ever got back was in the shape of fire-
wood !
One of Elizabeth's most pronounced characteristics
was an utter absence of malice and a surprising readi-
ness to forgive her enemies. The extraordinary will
she commenced to execute, and never completed,
contained ample evidence of this phase of her character.
So, in spite of Dessein's shabby behaviour, she and
the hotel-keeper never encountered each other without
parting the dearest friends in the world ; the lady, with
288 The Amazing Duchess
a gracious inclination of her head, only requesting it
as a favour that more firewood might be sent in to
lessen the debt, and he, with a semi-circular bow of
his body, assuring her that a magazine was at her
command.
Meanwhile the duchess had made the acquaintance
of a family named Cocove, and resolved to take up
her abode permanently at Calais. M. Cocove had
formerly held a commanding post at Calais, and had
had to do with so many people from England, besides
staying for lengthened periods in this country, that
he was as much English as French, while the Marquis
of Granby with whom the duchess was well acquainted,
had been his intimate friend and associate. When the
duchess fled to Calais Cocove himself was living on
a little family estate a few miles away, but he had a
house in Calais which his wife and family occupied.
The duchess treated for the purchase of this house,
and she agreed to purchase it for £1,000, permitting
the family at the same time to occupy one side of
the quadrangle. The duchess took possession, and,
her old restlessness and love of change pursuing her,
she began to pull the greater part of the old mansion
about her ears. No doubt she built more than she
destroyed and that Cocove benefited; for it was her
way to give more than she received. After her
impulsive fashion she took a great fancy to the Cocove
family, and, before she had seen half of its members,
she promised to make them all happy. She astonished
the girls with a sight of her diamonds and her ward-
robe ; she conversed with the boy about the heroic
deeds of her great grandfather, throwing in occasional
Lord Bristol's Action 289
hints that " commissions in the army would be com-
fortable things, and particularly in the French service,
which was so highly honourable under the reigning
monarch, for whom she had a prodigious regard.
She loved the King of France, and she was very
confident he had a regard for her. "Yes, your
King knows I love him," she exclaimed ; " I have
given a proof of it in preferring to spend my
fortune in his country, although my dear friend, the
King of Prussia, has given me the warmest invitation
to reside at Berlin " — an assertion which was not
without foundation.
Altogether the duchess made herself exceedingly
agreeable, and there seemed a probability of her settling
down quietly in Calais. But it was not to be, for
while she was arranging her plans for her future life
on the Continent the Earl of Bristol was busy in
London stirring up the dregs of the jactitation suit,
which seemed destined never to come to an end. His
lordship had determined on establishing his marriage ;
but for what motive never transpired. If he succeeded
he would, in pursuance of his legal rights, claim the
fortune which was now Elizabeth's ; but it can hardly
be presumed that a man of honour, such as there
is every reason to believe Augustus Hervey was,
would be actuated by so sordid and mercenary a
spirit. The purpose, therefore, of the suit which he
now commenced against his lady was most likely to
enable him to obtain sufficient evidence to secure a
divorce.
In the face of the legal power the peers arrogated to
themselves, and the contempt the law officers of the
290 The Amazing Duchess
Crown had expressed for the Ecclesiastical Court and
its decision, which they had declared was not binding
on the House of Lords, this appeal on the part of the
earl would seem to have been superfluous. Had not
the Lords, by their finding the duchess guilty of
bigamy, pronounced that the Lainston marriage was a
legal one ? If this was so why did not the earl, if he
wanted to be divorced, act on that decision and take
immediate steps to be relieved from a tie which had
become intolerable ? The only explanation is that the
earl's legal advisers were not so sure of the validity of
the peers' decision as were the peers themselves, and
they found that, in spite of everything, the judgment of
the Ecclesiastical Court might yet have some force left.
At any rate Lord Bristol, a few weeks after the trial,
gave directions to his proctor to give notice to his wife,
Elizabeth, Countess of Bristol, to appear in the Con-
sistory Court of London, to show cause why the
sentence of the said Court, passed in 1768, enjoining
him perpetual silence as to the premises, should not be
revoked, or set aside. The lady being out of the
kingdom, the affidavits stated that she was served with
a citation, or notice, at her house in Calais, on June
26th, 1776 ; that, inconsequence of her non-appearance,
cither in person or by attorney, a Decree, or Edict,
was issued by the Court, which was afterwards, accord-
ing to usage, posted on one of the pillars of the Royal
Exchange, informing her that the Court would proceed,
in case of non-appearance, or cause shown to the con-
trary, to receive proofs why the said sentence of the
Court, passed in 1768, declaring the said Elizabeth
Chudleigh a spinster, should be set aside or revoked.
Served with a Citation 291
Besides this, there was a short account given of the
substance of the several allegations, answers, replies,
and rejoinders, made by counsel, since the commence-
ment of the citation now mentioned. On the part of
the lady, the only material affidavit was that of one
Williams, her servant at Knightsbridge, who deposed
that Kingston House " is still in the lady's possession ;
that she keeps servants there, and, among others, keeps
him ; that she continued to pay parish taxes and all
other parish dues within the parish of St. Margaret,
Westminster, and that all letters, messages, etc., are
received at that house, and are from thence transmitted
to her in the usual manner."
In due time the matter was brought before the
Ecclesiastical Court and in The Gentleman's Magazine
we read that on July jrd, 1776, " Came on to be heard,
in the Consistory Court of London, a motion on the
part of the Earl of Bristol against the Countess of
Bristol, calling herself Duchess of Kingston, purporting
that the Court should decree a citation to be affixed on
the Royal Exchange, etc., for the said Countess to
shew cause why the sentence pronounced against the
Earl, forbidding him to boast himself to be the husband
of the said Lady, should not be declared null and void,
as his Lordship is now able to prove his marriage. As
there was no person to appear for the Lady, the Judge
expressed his doubts in granting the motion, and, the
marriage with Lord Bristol having been determined
by a verdict, he could not see the reason for coming
to that Court, and, as everything was new, he was
apprehensive of collusion somewhere, and therefore
was cautious of proceeding. However, after hearing
292 The Amazing Duchess
all the counsel had to offer, he decreed the citation to
issue as prayed, observing all due forms as in the case
of a peeress." This cause, however, never proceeded
to effect. The lady was served with a process ; but,
the Earl of Bristol soon after dying, she was freed
from any apprehension of legal molestation on his
account.
CHAPTER XIX
The duchess is suddenly called to Rome — A maid-servant's adventure
— An amorous friar and his rival the Cardinal — The duchess robbed
by the friar — She returns to Calais — The Medows family threaten
fresh proceedings — The duchess's anxiety — Is assured she is safe
from further prosecution and sets out for Russia in her own ship
— Her acquaintance with Major Semple, the " Northern Impostor "
— Major Semple and Thackeray's Barry Lyndon.
I T'LIZABETH was one born to have adventures.
•L--' She was now apparently quite free from legal
embarrassments, but it was not long before she was
embroiled in others in a different direction. A short
time after she had decided to settle in Calais, an
{< express " came to her with news which took her at
once to Rome.
On leaving Rome in 1775 she unwisely left in her
house a renegade friar from Spain, and an English girl,
whom she had carried with her from England on her
last expedition. Had she not been absorbed in her
own pressing affairs the possible risk of such a com-
panionship might have occurred to her. As it was
much annoyance resulted. The girl was prudent, but
handsome, rosy, and plump, with high spirits and good
humour, which qualities had so forcibly attracted the
admiration of a certain Cardinal Albini that the visits
*9S
294 The Amazing Duchess
of his Eminence at her grace's palace were frequent.
Every day he found particular reasons for inquiring
after the duchess's return and discovered that no one
but her grace's maid could give him the information
he wanted. The friar soon penetrated the motives
of the Cardinal's solicitude, and was mad with jealousy,
for he also had a fancy for the fresh young damsel.
The girl was before long in a terrible quandary, for she
could neither drive her admirers from the palace nor
quit it herself without a breach of trust to her em-
ployer, by leaving her effects liable to plunder. The
friar was sufficiently proficient in English to make him-
self understood in common conversation, whereas his
rival, being totally ignorant of that language, could
only express his love by gestures : this gave the friar a
considerable advantage, he being able not only to
insinuate his suit into the heart of his mistress but also
to represent the dignified pillar of the Church in such
odious colours as not only disgusted but terrified the
object of his wishes, who, whenever he made his
appearance, concealed herself and left the friar to enter-
tain him.
The friar by these means being freed from the
interruption of the Cardinal, soon argued down the
virtue and prejudices of the girl, and without objection
she permitted his reverence to convey from the palace
every portable article of value, which he exchanged into
cash. The news of the robbery reached the duchess at
Calais, and this it was which induced her to undertake
a journey to Rome. Her journey was impeded by
a slight illness which seized her on the road, but she
eventually reached Rome, and, on her arrival being
Fresh Troubles 295
announced, Cardinal Albini immediately waited on her
and she poured into his sympathising ear the story of
the perfidious friar. The Cardinal, probably suspecting
the friar could turn the tables on him in regard to his
own designs on the too attractive English damsel,
promised reparation, but did nothing ; the friar had
effectually disappeared, and so also had the property of
the duchess, and the aggrieved lady had no alternative
but to return to Calais, where she found fresh worries
awaiting her.
The Medows family, infuriated at the result of the
trial, which was no victory for them, were trying with
might and main to set aside the will of the Duke of
Kingston. There was no probability of their succeeding,
but still the attempt was to be made. This kept alive
the apprehension of danger in the mind of the duchess,
and, as she had some acquaintance with Sir George
Haye, who was at that time Dean of Arches, she opened
negotiations with him through Doctor Isaac Schomberg,
who had been educated with Sir George at the Merchant
Taylors' School. The opinion of Sir George as to
the validity of the Duke of Kingston's will was
obtained and the dean ridiculed the idea of attempting
to set aside the will. Schomberg, however, desirous of
obtaining the fullest confirmation of the case, pressed
Sir George to dictate a letter which he proposed to
send to the duchess. The reply of Sir George was as
emphatic as it could well be : " Let the duchess
desire her common lawyers to attack the rock of
Gibraltar."
" Schomberg, on this," says the author of " The Life
and Memoirs," " caused every consolatory assurance to
296 The Amazing Duchess
be transmitted to the duchess. She received it, and
professed every feeling which gratitude could inspire.
Doctor Schomberg was an honourable character ! Too
honourable for this world ! The counterpart of her
dear lord in nobleness of soul ! She wished she could
make him happy. As a splendid return for his
real anxiety to put her mind at ease, this was the
gracious manner of her procedure. One morning
Doctor Schomberg was waited on at his apartments
in Conduit Street, and a present from the Duchess
of Kingston was delivered to him. The present was
a ring, brilliantly enriched, the stone a deep blue, and
the words Pour ramitie on the stone. The intrinsic
value was never once considered by Schomberg ; it
was the presumable gratitude which affected his mind.
He wore the ring, and in almost every company pro-
claimed the donor. But a short portion of time
elapsed before one of the brilliants in the word amitie
fell out, as if the very mention of friendship by the
duchess were sufficient to render the term fragile. To
have a substitute replaced a jeweller was sent for.
When he came he looked first at the ring, then at
Doctor Schomberg ; and on being asked * when he
could do what was necessary ? ' the jeweller answered :
' I hope you will not be offended, sir, but it is really
not worth your while to have anything done ; the
middle stone is a composition, and the whole did not
cost more in Paris than six-and-thirty shillings.' * Is
that the case?' said the doctor; 'then I will soon
dispose of it.' He first trampled the contemptible
bauble under his feet, then flung it out of the window,
saying : ' There goes nobility.' ' It is pretty safe to
The Duchess Builds a Ship 297
assert that this story emanated from the brain of the
biographer, to support the charge of meanness which
he was so constantly bringing against her.
The efforts of the Medows's party came to nothing,
as might have been expected ; but probably Elizabeth
considered that Calais was too near England to be
altogether out of the range of anonymous and secret
attacks, and as previous to her trial she had formed
the design of visiting the Court of Catherine of Russia,
she now determined to carry out her plan. But she
did not intend to go as an ordinary personage, much
less as a commoner. She meant to exhibit herself to
Catherine in all the panoply of the rank she claimed
for herself, for she deliberately spurned the House of
Lords and all its works. She was still " Madame la
duchesse," and she insisted upon being addressed as
" Your grace." So carriages and post-chaises were not
nearly good enough to convey her to Russia, but she
must have her own ship !
A love of the sea was in the blood of the duchess.
Did not the Devon men furnish the bold explorers
Drake, Raleigh, Hawkins, and many other gallant
spirits ? On board her own yacht Elizabeth could
indulge that passion for command which was her
second nature. The queer fleet which the duke col-
lected may have suggested the idea of building the
yacht in which she exploited herself at Rome. We
may be sure that the odd notion of buying up all
kinds of vessels to ornament the lake at Thoresby
did not emanate from the indolent and easy-going
duke. It came from the duchess, whose restlessness
required some hobby. For fishing she had quite a
298 The Amazing Duchess
craze, but only at fits and starts, and the management
of one or the other of the incongruous craft gave
much more scope for her energies. The vessel she
had built for her trip to Italy was the first of its kind,
and in becoming a private yacht-owner Elizabeth set
a fashion which, if it was not at first followed, became
the rage some fifty years later.
The ship intended for Russia was of more solid
construction and more commodious than that which
sailed up the Tiber. It had a drawing-room, a
dining-room, a kitchen, and other conveniences, and
its superintendence must have given relief to the
duchess's harassed mind. This ship, however, was
destined to be the cause of much trouble and
embarrassment ; but in this it was only playing its
part in Elizabeth's destiny, for, somehow, fate seemed
to have ordained that nothing should ever go smoothly
with her.
The vessel was constructed at an English port,
possibly Plymouth — Elizabeth's heart ever and anon
went back to her native county — and, when ready, was
ordered to Calais, and the commander of the Italian
yacht, Harding by name, was appointed captain.
When all was in readiness an unexpected obstacle
arose, which led to a host of complications. At that
time the war with America was at its height, the seas
swarmed with privateers, and it became a question of
extreme importance to decide under what colours the
vessel should sail. Eager as the duchess was for ad-
venture she had no fancy for seeing herself a prisoner
in her own ship. There was some risk of this, for
the news was brought that Cunningham, a smart
Starts for Russia 299
American adventurer, had his eye on the vessel as a
possible prize. His schooner was in the Channel ; he
had just captured a Dutch packet ; and, as the time of
the duchess's ship's sailing could not be kept a secret,
Cunningham made certain of securing the vessel — its
value, however, being not so much the temptation as
the capture of its owner and the ransom to be demanded
for her release.
As a necessary precaution, the duchess applied by
letter to the French minister asking for protection
under the colours of France. Consent was obtained,
and Captain Harding was informed of her intention
to hoist the French flag and have the ship manned by
French sailors. Harding, however, had served in the
British Navy, had distinguished himself in action, and
could not relish the idea of commanding a crew made
up of men whom he had always regarded as his
country's natural enemies. The duchess used her per-
suasions, and at length he reluctantly consented to
remain. French sailors were procured, but no sooner
were they engaged than they raised new obstacles.
They would only be commanded by a French
captain ! There was no alternative ; and a French-
man, Le Fevre, offered and was accepted. Harding's
position was too mortifying to be endured ; he threw
up the command and left the duchess to do the best
she could.
In spite of all these worries Elizabeth was not to
be turned from her plans. She meant to travel to
St. Petersburg as a great lady should, and in her train,
besides domestics, were a number of followers with
the specific duties which the complicated position of
300 The Amazing Duchess
affairs brought into existence. The captain and sailors
of the ship being Frenchmen and Roman Catholics, a
chaplain of their language and persuasion was required
to perform the pious offices necessary for the welfare
of their souls. To be supplied in this particular the
duchess despatched a letter to Paris, asking a lady of
her acquaintance to recommend an ecclesiastic proper
for the purpose.
So the author of the " Authentic Detail " tells us,
but it is quite possible the duchess went on this
errand in person, for, from a passage in one of
Walpole's letters to Horace Mann, it is clear she
was in Paris in September 1776.
" You ask what is become of the Duchess of
Kingston," Walpole writes. " I have just heard of
her having met Lady Harriet Vernon, who is returned
from Paris, and saw her there at the Colisee, with
a hat and feathers like Henri Quatre. She has given
orders for a palace to be taken for her in Paris. At
Calais she had a guard at her door, having demanded
it on pretence that her enemies aimed at her life.
She obtained it, and has detained it to this moment.
Her foolish vanity, you see, will never leave her."
It is by no means so certain that the duchess was
actuated by vanity in taking these precautions. She
knew the unscrupulousness of her enemies better than
did Walpole.
The necessary priest was obtained in the person
of an abbe who arrived in Calais travelling by dili-
gence, and his only luggage his violin. The duchess
does not appear to have been dismayed by this sug-
gestion of poverty, and the abbe was appointed joint
Major Scmple 301
chaplain with the Rev. Mr. Foster, the clergyman
who had been very useful during the Foote con-
troversy. The suite was completed by two women
attendants, a coachman, and a footman, so that the
number of passengers must have equalled, if not
exceeded, the crew.
The date at which Elizabeth commenced her voyage
to St. Petersburg is uncertain ; we are told, however,
that the ship reached Elsinore in twelve days, and
that nothing untoward occurred. Previous to her
departure from Calais she had made the acquaintance
of a remarkable individual who was destined, on her
arrival in Russia, to cause her considerable trouble.
This individual was a young gentleman of Scottish
extraction who lived on his wits, and was a past
master in plausibility and craft. He is known in-
differently as Mr. Semple, Captain Semple, Major
Semple, and Major Semple Lisle. Apparently the
name of Lisle was adopted when Semple grew to
be too well known.
This personage becomes of importance if he sug-
gested, as we venture to think he did, the ground-
work of Thackeray's Barry Lyndon. The characters
are, in many respects, very similar. Each was a
handsome, dashing man, successful with women, and
unscrupulous as to whom he swindled. Each had
had a military training, each made a figure on the
Continent, each was a boaster of the first rank, and
each possessed the genius of the rogue in grain.
Barry Lyndon may be said to be an idealised Semple.
Of course the two are not identical, for Thackeray
was too great a master of his art to allow the source
VOL. ii 18
302 The Amazing Duchess
of his inspiration to be obtrusive. For all that, here
and there in Barry Lyndon evidence may be traced
that, in his close study of the eighteenth century,
Thackeray had not passed unnoticed the history of
the gentleman who was known as the " Northern
Impostor," and who wrote his autobiography in quite
the spirit of the novelist's creation. When Thackeray
commenced " Barry Lyndon " he had not finished
" Catherine Hayes," a story which, from the most
sordid materials, he with marvellous art built into a
tragedy of absorbing interest. Thackeray was satur-
ated with the spirit of the time, and the outcome
was seen in " Barry Lyndon," and afterwards in
€C Esmond" and "The Virginians." We have pointed
out in the introductory notice to these volumes
that it is generally accorded that Thackeray had
Elizabeth Chudleigh in his mind in his conception
of Beatrix in " Esmond," afterwards the Baroness
de Bernstein in " The Virginians," and, as one trained
to follow the bypaths which the student of history
constantly meets with, the novelist, in reading all he
could find about the Duchess of Kingston, was certain
to make the acquaintance of the ingenious Major
Semple.
Semple's autobiography is just in the braggadocio
vein which would delight Thackeray. It is a piece
of unconscious personal revelation, and, in a way,
suggests the style of Barry Lyndon. There are also
a few actual coincidences. The Irishman has ex-
periences in Russia, and " won eighty thousand
roubles from Potemkin at Petersburg " ; the Scots-
man is high in Potemkin's favour, and at St. Peters-
Semplc and Thackeray's " Barry Lyndon" 303
burg gambled away the money he made in other
directions. Semble's prowess in the fields of love
and war bears a strong family likeness to the exploits
of Barry Lyndon in the same direction. It is also
interesting to note, as showing the trend of Thackeray's
mind at the time, that the connection of Semple with
the Duchess of Kingston is seen in the circumstance
that Lady Lyndon, the rich widow whom Barry
married, has her estates in Devonshire and her town
house in Berkeley Square — corresponding to the
situation of the duchess's properties. Thackeray
also makes Barry go to Madame Cornely's mas-
querades and see the fashionable lady notabilities
" from the Duchess of Kingston down to the Bird
of Paradise or Kitty Fisher." Although Lady Lyndon
does not, in her general characteristics, resemble the
duchess in the least, yet there is a savour of Elizabeth's
waywardness in that u she was a woman who took
up and threw off a greater number of dear friends
than any one I ever knew." The author of the
" Authentic Detail " says of the duchess that she
was one " to whom a new face and a new adventure
afforded great delight . . . imparting to every visitor
the elevated ideas she had formed of a person whom
she had never seen " ; and that she took violent fancies
and violent dislikes on the spur of the moment her
career amply shows. Mr, Louis Melville claims
Stoney Bowes as the original of Barry Lyndon, and
undoubtedly the story of the unhappy marriage between
this rascal and the Countess of Strathmore is paralleled
by Thackeray. There is also much resemblance be-
tween the Countess and Lady Lyndon, but it is far
304 The Amazing Duchess
otherwise with Stoney Bowes. Bowes was a vulgar
adventurer and an unmitigated brute. Major Semple,
on the other hand, possessed all the adroitness, the
amusing impudence, the amorous propensities, and the
bombast of Barry Lyndon. May not Thackeray have
taken his material from both sources ?
CHAPTER XX
Flattering reception ot the duchess by Catherine, who places a house
at the disposal of her visitor — The duchess gives balls and enter-
tainments— Major Semple tells the story of his association with
the duchess — A bragging rogue — His real character exposed.
THE ingenious, enterprising, and plausible Semple
having married Elizabeth's god-daughter, took
advantage of this fact to call upon the duchess in
Calais and introduce himself. " Being solicited by the
duchess to go to Russia," as he tells us in his auto-
biography, Mr. Semple consented to "follow her,"
went on to St. Petersburg, and waited on the English
Ambassador, Sir James Harris, afterwards Earl of
Malmesbury, who, impressed by the rogue's air of
genuineness, presented him " without a moment's
delay " to Prince Potemkin. Mr. Semple, after some
conversation with Potemkin, was appointed captain
in the Russian Army " that same evening." " Captain
Semple," as he now called himself, had an audience
of the Empress, and then returned to the Duchess,
who by this time was also in Russia, to acquaint her
with his good fortune. He met with a somewhat
cool reception, to quote his own words : c< I was a
good deal surprised that the duchess did not receive
the news of my sudden and honourable appointment
3°s
3°6 The Amazing Duchess
with all the warmth I expected ; but, as I afterwards
found that she wished to retain me about her person,
the mystery was cleared up."
It would seem that the duchess had not failed in
her promise to M. de Cocove, whose acquaintance
she had made at Calais, to befriend the members of
his family, and she took with her to Russia Made-
moiselle de Porquet, M. de Cocove's sister-in-law,
probably in the capacity which Miss Penrose and
Miss Bate filled while the duke was alive. Elizabeth
never forgot the dignity due to her state, and in her
train was a chaplain, a secretary (a Frenchman who
was in love with Mademoiselle de Porquet), a steward,
three " maids of honour," and a retinue of servants.
On his arrival at the duchess's house, Semple says :
" I found they had all quarrelled, and were not upon
speaking terms. Mademoiselle de Porquet was in fact
so much chagrined she kept her room. On which the
duchess, in all the native violence of her disposition,
locked her in, and actually detained her a prisoner in
that state for some days, in spite of all my remon-
strances. The poor French secretary was so much
terrified at these tyrannical proceedings that he ran
away the same night, without even venturing to take
a great-coat with him. In an almost desolate country,
in the dead of winter, and without the smallest know-
ledge of the language, he had to travel twenty miles
to the Baron Rofen's, who, in that dreary spot, is
called a neighbour. He luckily overtook a peasant with
a sledge by the way, to whom, by repeating the name
of Rofen, he fortunately made known his wishes ; and,
being placed in the vehicle, and covered with a sheep-
Semple's Exploits 307
skin, he at length reached the baron's, more dead
than alive.
" As soon as he arrived the baron sent a servant
to me with a letter, wherein he states that he could
not refuse the poor secretary the rights of hospitality ;
adding that he could wish the duchess would abstain
from such acts of violence ; and concluded by desiring
me to endeavour to effect a reconciliation between
them. I laid this letter before the duchess, who sent
me to the baron's ; but the Frenchman would not
listen to the proposals I was authorised to make,
which were to pay him his wages, but persisted in his
intention of going to St. Petersburgh to interest the
French minister in his cause.
" I returned next morning, and prevailed upon the
duchess to permit Mad. de Porquet to go where
she would. This lady, who, it seems, had pre-
concerted matters with her lover, the secretary, went
to St. Petersburgh, and laid her complaint before
the Marquis de Verac, the French minister there.
The marquis apprised the duchess of the complaint,
and I was sent to St. Petersburgh to negotiate for
her with them ; the consequence of which was, that
the duchess was to pay Mad. de Porquet six
hundred ducats in specie, on condition of imme-
diately returning to France ; and I was, at the
expense of the duchess, to conduct her to Dantzic,
whither I was going to meet my own family, to bring
them to the house which the duchess had given me
on her estate, within a short league of that she in-
habited.
<l The duchess had taken my receipt for the money
308 The Amazing Duchess
with which she had entrusted me to pay Madame
de Porquet on her arrival at Dantzic, charging me
to take her receipt there ; a seeming reconciliation
then took place, and Madame de Porquet stayed
a few days at her grace's seat to pack up her effects.
In the meantime, the duchess requested her steward,
Mr. Wilkinson, to order one of those carriages
which are used in Russia in time of snow, and
which resembles the body of a coach, only much
longer, to be got ready. These carriages are furnished
with beds ; and when Mr. Wilkinson informed her
grace that the machine was ready, with two beds,
she smartly enough replied : * You have done well,
Mr. Wilkinson, but your precaution was unnecessary.
I will answer for it, one bed will serve them before
they reach Dantzic/ '
Prince Potemkin appears to have been unable to
dispense with the valuable services of the gallant
captain, and, in obedience to the Prince's orders, Semple
followed him in the direction of Warsaw. Previous
to so doing he wrote a letter to his wife who was
staying with the duchess " to endeavour to soothe
the feelings which an amiable, virtuous, and affectionate
woman must naturally feel at the departure of her
husband," and telling her that his stay with the army
would be but short. He also sent a letter to the
duchess "in a somewhat more military style," de-
claring that, not contented with following where
Potemkin would lead, " he would endeavour to be
foremost in the field of glory." Unluckily, " the
duchess betrayed the confidence I had reposed in
her ; for when my wife showed her the letter she
Semplc and the Duchess 309
had received from me, and even which was hardly
enough to enable her to support my departure,
her grace^ with that hypocritical cant she so well
knew how to assume, inveighed against my false
representations, and, by way of completing her cruelty,
concluded by showing the letter she had received
from me." The sensitive Semple was so outraged
at this breach of confidence that he resolved upon
removing his wife from the companionship of the
duchess, and he goes on to relate how he managed
the business.
" When I reached Narva I left there my military
equipage and went in a small carriage of the country
to the duchess's seat. I found my wife and family
already in the house her grace had given us. I then
began to explain the motives of our intended removal ;
I told her grace that, considering the hazardous service
I was going upon, and that no military man who was
going to the field of action could ever say his return
was certain, I thought it necessary my wife should
have some establishment to call a home ; that, though
she could as often and as long as she chose take up
her abode with her grace, still, should anything happen
to me, Narva would always, particularly in the event
of the duchess leaving Russia, prove a retreat where
she would find friends of her own nation, whereas, in
in her present situation, she was an entire stranger to
every one, nor had more than one servant who
understood the language of the country. To this
the duchess replied, first with a flood of tears,
and a complaint that I was depriving her of her
only companion, and then (finding me unmoved),
3io The Amazing Duchess
with a torrent of abuse which would have done credit
to Billingsgate, concluded with saying we might go
to the de — 1.
" It is necessary to inform my readers that, by the
laws of Russia, no person can travel from the capital
without a passport describing his route, which he is
not at liberty to alter ; in the country, travellers must
have a pass from the person whose estate they may
have been upon, before they quit it, or no postmaster
dare furnish them with horses. On my application
at the post-house, which was not above half a mile
from the duchess's, I was not only told that they
durst not supply me with horses, but that they had
her grace's express prohibition to that effect. I
answered the postmaster that I should remove that
difficulty by taking his or her horses by force. I
instantly removed my family to the post-house. I
just then recollected that I had given the receipt I had
obtained from Madame de Porquet at Dantzig to the
duchess, without her grace having returned me that
which she required of me, when she entrusted the
money to my charge. I began to be apprehensive
of her making a bad use of it ; I therefore wrote a
note to Mr. Wilkinson, her steward, requesting my
receipt. The duchess shuffled with excuses : that she
could not come at it, that she would give it to my
wife, and such like evasions, and, jumping instantly
into her carriage, drove into the woods, to prevent
further applications on my part. I sent one of her
own servants after her grace to tell her that,
unless I had my own receipt, or a discharge from
her, in one hour from that time, that I woulcj
Semple's Swindles in Russia 311
force my way into her house and carry off her
cassette, which I would lay at the Prince's feet, and
entreat him to judge between us. In a few minutes
Mr. Wilkinson brought me the receipt I demanded,
and I set out for Narva, where I rested scarcely
one moment before I proceeded for Cherson to join
the Prince."
Judging by the light of Captain Semple's subsequent
acts, we are inclined to think that the duchess's version
of this affair might be somewhat different. At all
events, it would seem that meanwhile some very
ugly rumours concerning the rascal had reached the
British representatives in Russia, and in a life of
Catherine, published in 1786, we find quite another
story. " By his [Semple's] advice," we read, " the
Prince introduced several new regulations into the
army, both in regard to dress and manoeuvres ; and,
had it not been for some manoeuvres of another nature,
such as writing to the Duchess of Kingston that he
would come by night with some soldiers and break
into her house, unless she sent him a certain sum of
money, etc., there is not a doubt but he would soon
have been raised to the rank of a general officer, or
appointed consul at whatever place he chose." The
writer, not contented with this, cruelly continues :
" After his dismission from the confidence of Prince
Potemkin, on his way to England, Major Semple
laid the merchants of St. Petersburgh, Narva,
Riga, etc., under contribution by a variety of im-
postures."
Semple's righteous indignation at this aspersion on
his honesty is a delightful specimen of bombastic
312 The Amazing Duchess
writing. He declares : " It is the eternal fate of
falsehood to contradict itself; and, though I have
given in the preceding pages an account of my affairs
with the Duchess of Kingston, which I challenge earth
or hell to contradict, still, as this worthless scribbler,
who would tremble at my very shadow, may gain
credit with some, I will in one moment explain his
absurdities. Had I dared to have threatened the
Duchess of Kingston, as he has asserted, a well-founded
complaint (to which my own letter must have given
an irresistible weight) would have procured me a
banishment for life to Siberia ; besides, this quarrel
happened before I joined the Prince at Cherson ; and
was it, I will ask, probable that he would have received
me into his favour, entrusted me with the organising
of a new corps, and afterwards treated me as will
appear hereafter, had I been stained with robbery ?
As to my frauds on the merchants, while I was in
favour they might have been possible ; but, for a
man disgraced, they would have been an utter im-
possibility. Besides, I did not pass through, or near
Riga ; for I went from St. Petersburgh to Narva, where
I embarked and went down the East Sea to Copen-
hagen. Such pestilent libellers are unfit to be suffered
in the world. Such have been my ruin ; and the
author of the above, who, I am informed, is a priest,
certainly affords a shocking proof of that depravity
which perhaps may, if ever I live to meet him, render
his gown but an insecure protection. If he has any
honour, let him contradict his unfounded assertions ;
but why should I ask him ? Had he any honour, he
would not have wrote it."
A Doubtful Story 313
But Semple had not yet done with the duchess, and
Prince Potemkin's return from the Crimea gave him
an opportunity of saying something ill-natured con-
cerning the lady whom there is little doubt he swindled,
as he swindled hosts of other people. Entertainments
were given in Potemkin's honour by the nobility, and
these invitations to entertainments were always under-
stood to include the Prince's suite, though they were
not specially mentioned. " The Duchess of Kingston,"
he says, " willing to imitate those of the most dis-
tinguished rank, and wishing at the same time to
affront me, sent an invitation to Potemkin ; but, instead
of saying nothing about his suite, she sent letters of
invitation to every individual officer except myself.
The Prince, who hated her, was resolved to take the
same opportunity to mortify her that she had destined
to gratify her malice to me ; so, contriving that I should
be on his duty that day, he told me he would give me
my revenge, for I should not only go with him, but I
should sit next her at table. Being on duty, I was
obliged to attend him everywhere, and accordingly
attended him to the duchess's, where I, with the rest,
proceeded to pay our compliments to her grace. My
brother officers she received with politeness, but when
I approached to make my bow, she turned aside from
me. When we went to be seated at table, the Prince,
under pretence of speaking to me on business, kept me
near him, and so arranged that he seated me at the
duchess's elbow. It would be difficult to depict the
manner in which she sate fretting and fuming all the
time of dinner ; however, I was seated, and she could
not move ; she had therefore nothing to do but conceal
The Amazing Duchess
her anger, and that, to a woman of her violence, was no
easy task." Surely, considering the rogue's character
and conduct, impudence could hardly be carried further.
The story, as Semple relates it, is a piece of boasting
and braggadocio. Semple was an ungrateful scoundrel,
for, on his own showing, the duchess must have behaved
kindly to him and his wife. He unintentionally admits
as much in the last quotation we shall give from his
precious autobiography : " The great encouragement I
had hitherto received had naturally encouraged me to
splendid living ; few can bear the idea of retrenching,
and I am unfortunately not one of the self-denying
class. While I had the Duchess of Kingston's house,
it saved me much money ; but now, though I myself
had a lodging and table at the Prince's, I was obliged
to provide quarters for my family at an enormous
expense, for houses are not easily to be hired at
St. Petersburgh."
Semple's allegations concerning the duchess must be
taken with considerably more than the traditional pinch
of salt. But lest there should be any doubt as to his
true character, it may be as well to quote the version
of his exploits in Russia, given in a little volume
entitled " Memoirs of Major Semple, the Northern
Impostor and Prince of Swindlers," in which we find
various circumstances which the captain's modesty led
him to omit in his autobiography.
" By the recommendations of the Duchess of
Kingston," we read, " he came to St. Petersburgh, and
by her interest he obtained the rank of aide-de-camp
to Prince Potemkin, and with that general went to the
Crimea. On Mrs. Semple's writing to her husband
A Superlative Rogue 31$
complaining of the Duchess of Kingston slighting her,
he returned to St. Petersburgh, and by a great deal of
bluster so frightened her that he obliged the duchess,
before he left the house, to give him five hundred
roubles (about three and sixpence each) ; he staid after-
wards in St. Petersburgh, but before he left the place sold
his carriage to four different Russian noblemen, took
the cash of every one of them, and promised to send
the carriage to each. His method of getting out of
the country was as follows : he was accustomed to
walk out at the gate of Narva, on the frontiers of
Poland, with a servant carrying his great-coat, and after
his walk to return ; but one day his memory failed him,
and he never came back. He also swindled a Russian
officer out of a rich uniform by the following stratagem :
he met him at Court, and begged he would let his
[Semple's] tailor look at the suit of clothes to make
some like it in order to bring to England. The
credulous officer delivered them to Semple's servant,
but never saw them after."
From a footnote to the foregoing we learn Major
Semple's distresses were impressed on the mind of the
Duchess of Kingston by her secretary, Mr. Lilly, in
the first instance, for which service, and many other
acts of kindness, the major very gratefully swindled
Mr. Lilly out of a gold watch and thirty guineas in
money. To complete the character of this superlative
rogue, it is only necessary to add that, on his return to
England, he swindled tradesmen right and left, and was
rewarded for his efforts by seven years' transportation,
escaping hanging only by the cleverness of his counsel,
Mr. Garrow. This event happened on September 2nd,
3i 6 The Amazing Duchess
1786, at the very time when the duchess was lying
dead in Paris. The European Magazine describes him
as " a genteel young man of twenty-seven years of age,"
so that he could hardly have been twenty when he
entered upon his exploits in Russia.
HORACE WALPOLE
317
CHAPTER XXI
Similarity between the duchess and Catherine of Russia — Catherine's
simplicity in private life — Difficulty of following the doings of the
duchess during her last decade — Unfair summary of her char-
acter— The duchess easily duped — She buys an estate in Russia
and sets up a vodki distillery — Her introduction to Prince Radzivil
— An extraordinary entertainment — Prince Radzivil and Count
Oginski are rivals in paying her attentions — Her infatuation for
Worta, a clever charlatan.
MEANWHILE Elizabeth was making friends
with Catherine, who was, it is certain, greatly
taken with the heroine of Westminster Hall. There
was much in the two women that was alike, with the
drawback that the similarity was against a sustained
friendship. Both had highly original minds, and were
not governed by conventionalities, though they did
not despise them. Both had a love of command
combined with a tact which made that command
ensure obedience. Both could be easily flattered and
easily duped, and both had the faculty of keeping their
hearts young though their bodies aged. Catherine,
like her predecessor Peter the Great, was fond of
the English. She had had herself inoculated — this
supposed safeguard against smallpox introduced from
the East by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu with
such terrible results was at that time the rage in
VOL. II 3»9 1
320 The Amazing Duchess
England — by an English physician, Dr. Dimsdale, and
her chief pets were six English greyhounds presented
to her by the doctor. She was one of the most
hospitable of monarchs, and delighted in entertaining
foreign visitors. While punctilious in regard to
matters of court etiquette and ceremonial, never was
there so slipshod an Empress in private life. She shared
her breakfast with her dogs and at her meals cared only
for the simplest of dishes, liking nothing so much
as boiled beef and salted cucumber. The wine she
fancied was Madeira, also the taste of the duchess.
While she did not take snuff herself, she had a
snuff-box in every corner of the palace for those
who did.
Outside court functions she was the most tolerant
and human of potentates. On one occasion, when
playing cards — her usual recreation during the evening
— her chamberlain, who was one of the party, burst into
a furious passion, and, accusing her Majesty of not
playing fair, wound up by flinging the cards in her
face. Catherine bore the insult without losing her
temper in the least. Sometimes the Court played
at childish games while the rest were at whist. The
Empress was deep in a rubber when she was told
she had incurred a forfeit. " What must I do ? "
she asked. " Sit on the ground, Matoucha," and
she meekly obeyed. She was very fond of cards,
but rarely gambled. Once, when a page was wanted
to send on an errand, there was no response to her
summons, and angrily she went in search of him. In
one of the ante-chambers was the official, intent upon
a game of whist. Anger at once disappeared, and,
Catherine of Russia 321
sending the page on her business, she took his hand
meanwhile and continued the game !
Masson, a French political refugee who spent seven
years at the Russian Court, has left an interesting
description of the Empress. " Her hair," he says,
" was always dressed in the old style of simplicity and
with peculiar neatness, and no head ever became a
crown better than hers. She was of the middle stature9
and corpulent. Few women, however, with her
corpulence would have attained the graceful and
dignified carriage for which she was remarked. In
private the good-humour and confidence with which
she impressed all about her served to keep up an
unceasing source of youthful playfulness and gaiety.
Her charming conversation and familiar manner placed
all those who were admitted to her dressing-room
or assisted at her toilet perfectly at ease ; but the
moment she had put on her gloves to make an
appearance at the neighbouring apartments she assumed
a very different countenance and deportment. From an
agreeable and facetious woman she appeared all at once
the reserved and majestic Empress."
It may be that the ascendancy of women at Catherine's
Court made the Empress recognise in the boldness and
audacity of her adventurous visitor a woman after
her own heart. Walislewski, who has dug deeply into
the history of Catherine, points out that during her
reign women had assumed a pre-eminence at Court
which they carried with them into society and into their
own houses. The Princess DashkofF, for instance,
masculine in her tastes, her gait, and her exploits,
was still more so in her title and functions of Director
322 The Amazing Duchess
of the Academy of Science. She long solicited Catherine
to appoint her Colonel of the Guards, a post in which she
would undoubtedly have acquitted herself better than
most of those by whom it was held. The women were
so steadily getting the upper hand that Masson was
moved to exclaim, " One more female reign, and we
might have seen a woman general of an army or
minister of State."
Catherine, like Queen Elizabeth and other women of
great distinction, had her own fashion of unbending.
Some of her court functions must have been highly
amusing. We read that the Empress and Prince
DashkofF, on occasions, favoured the company with
music of a highly original character. Masson describes
their singing of a duet. Neither had the slightest
idea of music, and " a sudden burst of the most exalted
and ridiculous discordant tones was the consequence,
one seconding the other with scientific shrugs and all
the solemn, self-complacent airs and graces of musicians.
From this, perhaps, she passed to a cat concert, and
imitated the purring of poor puss in the most droll
and ludicrous manner, taking care to add appropriate
half-coarse, half-sentimental words, which she invented
for the occasion ; or, spitting like a cat in a passion with
her back up, she suddenly boxed the first person in her
way making up her hand into a paw and moving so
outrageously that instead of the great Catherine nothing
but the wrongs of a grimalkin remained upon one's
mind."
It is difficult to follow the movements of Elizabeth
during the last ten years of her life, which were spent
entirely on the Continent and for the most part in
The Duchess well Received 323
Russia. Never once did she set foot in England after
her trial, and there is no record of her having corre-
sponded with any of her friends. The duchess does
not appear to have cared for writing letters. Walislew-
ski sums up the career of the Duchess in Russia by a
brief reference in which he adopts the views of her
detractors. He unfairly classes her among the adven-
turesses whom Catherine was continually taking up
and dropping. The term " adventuress " does not in
the least apply to Elizabeth ; she certainly was very
" adventurous," but that is vastly different.
Walislewski says, " She came to St. Petersburgh with
an enormous following and an almoner, Abbe Des-
champs. She is presented to the Empress under the
title she disputed in England, is supposed to belong to
the royal family, is invited to Tsarskoye Selo and meets
with the most flattering reception. She gives balls
to which everybody in St. Petersburgh goes, both on
board her yacht, whose luxurious fittings cause universal
admiration, and in her house, one of the finest in the
city, which is put at her disposal by the Empress.
The yacht having been somewhat damaged in a storm,
the Empress has it put right at her own expense. The
adventuress is cunning enough to tell every one that
she has come simply and solely to have the delight
and honour of seeing the most extraordinary woman of
the past and present times, and Semiramis likes to hear
it said. Patiomkin openly pays court to the pseudo-
duchess, and Catherine lets him do it. It should be
said that this new rival is fifty-seven years of age and is
beginning to be deaf, and she also appears to take
special interest in one of the favourite secretaries,
The Amazing Duchess
Garnovski, who comes later to appropriate a part of her
large fortune. For, wishing to push her claims, she
begins to dream of gaining official standing at the Court,
and buys an estate in Esthonia. But unfavourable
rumours begin to be circulated on her account, and she
thinks it best to go into retirement for a time ; and when
in 1782, she returns, it is all up, no one will have any-
thing to do with her at the Court or elsewhere, the
favourite turns his back on her, and Garnovski, in
whom she has placed all her confidences, takes advan-
tage of it to lay hands on her Esthonian estate."
These statements, in the main, are probably correct.
It is difficult to see, however, why Elizabeth should
not have been sincere in her motives for visiting
Catherine. Walislewski drags in the word u cunning"
simply, we presume, because he found it used with tire-
some iteration by the English biographers. It would
appear to be vain to ask for evidence of this a cunning."
It is like Elizabeth to be rashly generous and to find
herself duped. Patiomkin, to adopt Walislewski's
spelling, was the most mercenary of admirers, and one
may be certain that he, no less than the secretary, did
not lavish attentions on the visitor without finding it
to his advantage. One instance of Patiomkin's greed
will suffice. We quote from Catherine's biographer :
" To suit his own purposes, and to please his royal
mistress, Patiomkin on one occasion took the trouble
to find an object on which to engage Catherine's
affections for the time, and Catherine rewarded him with
a present of one hundred thousand roubles. The
Prince had an unlimited thirst for money, and it became
a custom, with the accession of a new favourite, to be
Catherine's Generosity 325
given some mark of the Empress's continual esteem.
She also found it necessary apparently to remind him
of this esteem on other set occasions, such as his birth-
day. The story is told that on one birthday she was
out of humour with him, and only sent him a tooth-pick
case set with diamonds worth about thirty thousand
roubles. Patiomkin became so highly indignant that
Catherine ended by sending him his usual hundred
thousand in addition. " So that the resentment which
she wished to show," says the teller of the story, " cost
her Majesty thirty thousand roubles above what she
had been used to give on these occasions." As for the
" unfavourable rumours " concerning the duchess, they
may have been spread through ambassadorial channels.
From the first Sir James Harris gave the duchess the
cold shoulder, and all her efforts to become friendly
with his family were repulsed. While Harris writes
in his despatches on matters in Russia, social as well
as political, he carefully avoids mentioning anything
relating to his countrywoman.
Now and again news of the once a notorious Miss
Chudleigh " reaches London by way of private letters,
and Walpole, writing to Horace Mann, says: "You
have heard of the inundation in Petersburgh. That ill-
wind produced luck to somebody. As the Empress
had not distressed objects enough among her own
people to gratify humanity, she turned the current of
her bounty toward that unhappy relict the Duchess
of Kingston, and ordered her Admiralty to take par-
ticular care of the marvellous yacht that bore Messalina
and her fortune. Pray mind that I bestow the latter
Empress's name on the duchess only because she
326 The Amazing Duchess
married a second husband in the lifetime of the first.
Amongst other benevolences, the Czarina lent her grace
a courier to dispatch to England — I suppose to acquaint
Lord Bristol that he is not a widower." It is wonder-
ful to find Walpole's conscience smiting him. He
seems to have felt, for once, that he had gone beyond
the line in his craving for smartness, or he would not
have had the grace to explain why he classed the
duchess as a Messalina.
Elizabeth could not remain idle long, and when the
mood seized her she did not hesitate to plunge into
enterprises quite opposed to aristocratic notions. One
cannot help thinking that, while she would not abate
a jot of the respect due to the title which she persisted
in holding, there were moments when she had a con-
tempt for mere rank. The duchess always had a fancy
for a country life, and she took readily to the quietude
and placid occupations of Thoresby and Pierrepont
Lodge. When she retired to her estate in Esthonia,
which she called " Chudleigh," it was not for the
purpose of meditation, but to employ her never-flagging
energies. She built at Chudleigh a distillery for the
manufacture of vodki, and one would like to know
how the autocratic and wayward duchess fared in this
strange enterprise. There was probably a large ex-
penditure and no profit, excepting to the crafty
Garnovski, who, according to Walislewski, contrived to
make himself master of the property.
Perpetual restlessness haunted her. She was con-
tinually travelling, and always in great state. Sometime
during 1780 she paid a visit to her friend, the Electoress
of Saxony, and here she met Prince Radzivil, an
Prince Radzivil 327
illustrious personage who had pretensions to the crown
of Poland. The Prince was immensely wealthy, and
lived in a style of regal splendour commensurate with
his immense revenues. When the duchess was about
to make a second visit to St. Petersburg, this time
overland, she wrote to Prince Radzivil telling him she
intended to pass through his dominions on her way to
the Russian capital. The Prince appointed Berge, a
village in one of his duchies and situated about forty
miles from Riga, for the rendezvous.
No sooner was she arrived than she was waited
on by an officer on behalf of the Prince, who informed
her that his master proposed to dispense with the
ceremonial of rank, and visit her as a friend. The
Prince had exalted ideas of hospitality, and at his
interview with the duchess he begged she would
permit herself to be escorted to an hotel some ten
miles distant, whither he had previously dispatched
a small army of cooks and other attendants to wait
upon his visitor.
Prince Radzivil's ideas of a visit without ceremony
were peculiar. On the next morning his highness
came with forty carriages, each drawn by six horses,
the different vehicles containing his female relatives,
the ladies of his principalities, and other illustrious
personages. In addition there were six hundred horses
led in train, a thousand dogs, and several boars. A
guard of hussars completed the procession. The
village was surrounded by a forest, and the sombre-
ness and the solitude gave a strange air of romance
and mystery to the motley gathering, the men in
grotesque dresses, the women in gorgeous apparel,
328 The Amazing Duchess
whilst the shouting of huntsmen, the barking of
dogs, the wild barbaric dancing to instruments, now
sad and wailing, now fervent and passionate, con-
tributed to produce an excitement which was quite
to the taste of the duchess, whose spirit in her declining
days was as buoyant as in her youth.
Among other eccentricities for amusing his distin-
guished guest, the Prince erected a village consisting
of forty houses all wood and fancifully decorated with
the leaves and branches of trees. These houses were
built in a circle, in the middle of which three spacious
rooms were erected — one for the Prince, a second
for his suite, and the third for a banqueting-hall.
The fete began with a display of fireworks on the
lake adjoining, a special feature of which was a mock
battle between two vessels. After this came the
feast, which was served with regal magnificence. The
duchess was fascinated by the splendour of her recep-
tion ; she entered with spirit into the festivities, and
it is said entertained the company with a song. The
feast being over, Prince Radzivil conducted the
duchess to the balcony outside the banqueting-hall,
and, giving the signal, the forty houses, which hitherto
had looked deserted, were suddenly converted into
forty open shops brilliantly decorated and containing
the richest commodities. The Prince sauntered from
shop to shop, selecting a variety of articles, among them
being a number of valuable jewels. The company
then returned to the rooms, which were thrown into
one, and a ball was opened by the host and the
duchess. The principal surprise was left to the last.
The dancing over, the company quitted the ball-room,
Radzivil's Extravagance 329
and in an instant the whole village was in a blaze,
and the villagers dancing frantically round the burning
pile.
This absurd entertainment cost Prince Radzivil
an enormous sum, but to spend money in a
crazy fashion was his mania. Truth to tell,
owing to excessive drinking, he was not far
from being a lunatic. Sir James Harris says of him :
" Prince Radzivil was one of the most powerful
princes in Poland. His revenues, were they in order,
amounted to eighteen millions of Polish florins, equal
to near £500,000, but much diminished during the
interregnum by the devastations the Russian troops
made on his estates. He was at that time the declared
enemy of Russia, and had an army of 8,000 men,
with which he opposed all her measures ; the con-
sequence of which was his being routed and obliged
to seek protection at Dresden, during which his
immense possessions were a prey to the enemy. On
the new tumults he changed his party and became
fame damnee of the Empress, was put by her at
the head of the Confederation, and was rewarded at
the end by the first Palatinate in the kingdom and
a present of upwards of ,£100,000. He is about
thirty-five years old (1768), goes always dressed in
the old Polish habit, and is so great a sot that a
colonel and sixty men were quartered in his hotel
to prevent him from drinking, during the time he
held such considerable posts. I saw him myself the
very day after the Diet was dissolved and the soldiers
returned from his palace, come quite drunk and bluster
that now he had a right so to do. He talks no French,
33° The Amazing Duchess
and his morals and behaviour little excel his own vassals.
He gave a masquerade on the Empress's birthday to
near three thousand masks, and they calculated that,
besides other wines, there was drunk a thousand bottles
of champagne. The profuse prodigality of all Polish
feasts is beyond comprehension. This Prince every day
keeps an open house to so many people that his five-
and-twenty cooks can scarce supply them.'
Another close friend of Elizabeth at this date was
Count Oginski, whose musical attainments made him
particularly acceptable to her. Oginski composed a
very charming polonaise which was very popular on
the Continent and in England. The count, who was
a man of enormous wealth, spent ,£25,000 a year on
musical entertainments alone. At a concert he gave
in honour of the duchess he played on six different
instruments. He had a theatre in which plays in
French, Polish, and Russian were performed. He
also had a passion for horses, many of which came
from distant parts ; one which the duchess admired
very much came from Jerusalem. He had lived for
nine years at the Court of France, and was very
intimate with Louis XV. Among his other accom-
plishments was painting, and, in fact, he seems to have
been a sort of Polish Admirable Crichton. Prince
Radzivil accompanied the duchess to Oginski's mansion,
and, though Elizabeth was sixty years of age, she must
have preserved some of her fascination, for we are told
that between Radzivil and Oginski " an emulation
seemed to prevail as to who most should show her a
marked attention."
But, of all the acquaintanceships the duchess formed,
The Mysterious World 331
none was stranger than that which she struck up with
a mysterious individual known as Worta. The
adventure is thus described : " In one of her peregri-
nations the duchess met with a person habited as a
pilgrim. His figure was a good one. In his eye
there was penetration, and in the whole of his counten-
ance there was marked expression. He was much
inclined to cultivate an intimacy with the duchess,
but he rather chose to correspond than converse with
her. . . . The letters teemed with professions of admira-
tion of so illustrious a character as the duchess. She
was more than woman ! The wonder of the age !
and deserving celebrity to the end of time ! This
incense was the more acceptable because offered by a
total stranger. Her grace became enamoured with
the pilgrim, and, as there was something of mystery
in his manner and garb, she was solicitous to have
the whole explained. This favour, however, was denied,
and the only thing which she could obtain was an
appointment to meet her at a future time. The
correspondence in the interim continued, and the
letters were in the same adulatory vein. The ap-
pointed time arrived, and the duchess, instead of a
pilgrim, met an abbe ! It then became necessary
to throw the veil a little aside. The stranger gave
an account of himself, and thus ran his story : That
he was by birth an Albanian Prince ; that he had
travelled through Europe under different disguises,
and had only formed attachments with the most exalted
personages. At Berlin Prince Henry of Prussia had
honoured him with his intimacy, at Rome most of
the Cardinals were his familiars, their Neapolitan
332 The Amazing Duchess
Majesties particularly esteemed him, and with the
Emperor of Germany he was most intimate ! This
style was the very thing. It operated like a charm.
The name of the stranger was required, and he
announced his travelling one to be Worta."
Who Worta was the duchess never inquired. She
took it on trust that he was a very great man, and,
as for his honesty, it was a quality entirely out of the
question. A diamond box was exhibited to Worta,
and admired as the duchess directed. A ring of value
was presented him, and, he being a prince, it was
deemed very gracious in him to accept it. At last
the object in view was disclosed. Worta, having satisfied
himself with the visits he had made to the different
Courts of the reigning powers, proposed returning to
his own country, and proposed also to marry the
duchess. Elizabeth, however, had had enough matri-
mony to last her her lifetime, and there was, in addition,
the clause in the duke's will prohibiting her from
marrying again to be thought of.
The real name of this man was Stiepan. He was a
swindler of a very high order, and had considerable
literary gifts. His assumed titles were prodigious :
Annibale, Prince, vieux berger d'Albanie, Due et
Capitan-General du Montenegro, Despote de Gruda,
Due de St. Saba, Dinaste des Haute Montagnes, Pre-
tendant d'Albanie, etc., etc. Stiepan fooled the duchess
out of large sums of money, yet she was slow to
believe he was a rogue. Stiepan 's biographer says of
Elizabeth : " She was very constant in her friendship,
and nothing could shake it ; she remained devoted to
Stiepan through his misfortunes." His career came
Worta's Suicide 333
to an end in Amsterdam, where he was arrested for
forgery, and he committed suicide in prison.
Stories of Elizabeth's adventures found their way
to England, and Mrs. Delany was kept au courant
with the latest news by her friend, Mrs. Boscawen,
news, which she promptly transmitted to Mrs. Port
thus : ct Mademoiselle Chudleigh, Hervey, Kingston,
Bristol, Wartz [Worta ?] is now Princess de Radzivil,
and may be Queen of Poland, really married to him.
The Prince of Radzivil is a grandee of Poland, and has
it in contemplation to be King there at the next
general election, which will make a curious finishing
to the edifice of her extraordinary future. I wish
she would write her own memoirs faithfully, they
would exceed all that the folly and madness of the
world have produced before them, and might well be
styled extravaganzas. Future ages will hardly give
credit to such a narrative." One may well echo Mrs.
Delany's wish. Wonderful Elizabeth's memoirs would
have been, no doubt, but whether so mad as gossiping
Mrs. Delany imagined is another matter. Because the
duchess did not choose to do things like anybody else
she was accounted preposterous. Walpole was told
something about her at this date ; what it was he does
not state, but it gave rise to a comment more than
usually venomous. "Your Duchess of Kingston," he
writes, " is a paltry mountebank. It is too ridiculous
to have airs after conviction."
CHAPTER XXII
The duchess no longer a favourite at the Court of Russia — She deter-
mines to settle in Paris — The history of her life, written by herself
— Is taken in over the purchase of a house — Commences an action
at law — Buys an estate and chateau at St. Assise — Takes a hurried
journey to Russia and returns to find the lawsuit has gone against
her — The news throws her into convulsions — She breaks a blood-
vessel— Rallies and insists upon rising from her bed — Her obstinacy
and her craving for Madeira wine — Her sudden death — Her eccentric
will — Sale of her jewels — Conclusion.
NOW and again the duchess, in her restless, erratic
fashion, made flying visits to Paris. She had in
1777 taken care to register herself as a French land-
owner, and from time to time she purchased small
properties. Out of favour at the Court of Russia,
swindled right and left by handsome, insinuating adven-
turers, she grew tired of her roving life and had a
desire to settle down in Paris.
A lively Alsatian lady, the Baroness d'Oberkirch,
who moved in the highest circles in France previous
to the Revolution, was industrious enough to keep a
diary, which she published in 1789, and from this diary
we glean a good deal relating to the duchess, of whom
the baroness saw much at this time. On March 2ist,
1785, she writes: "The Duchess de Bourbon took
great interest in this lady (the Duchess of Kingston),
334
CATHERINE II. (EMPRESS OF RUSSIA)
335
The Duchess's Autobiography 337
and was anxious to know the real state of the case, and
she said so once to the celebrated person herself, who
very politely replied, ' If your highness wish, I will
read you a few pages that contain the entire history.' "
A day was appointed for the purpose, and, says
Madame d'Oberkirch : " I was not a little proud of
the distinction of being admitted as one of the audience
. . . the evident interest I took in the Duchess of
Kingston influenced her so much that she had the
kindness to leave me the manuscript to copy it, which
I did, and now transcribe it here for the benefit of my
readers. The heroine of the tale speaks of herself as if
she were a stranger and with all the impartiality of an
interested person. Although this lady was then sixty-
six years of age, she still retained traces of more than
ordinary beauty, and her deportment was the most
dignified I have ever remarked. She moved with all
the grace and majesty of a goddess, and our own lovely
Queen (Marie Antoinette) alone could rival her in the
just proportions of her figure."
This praise is wholly unexpected after the ill-natured
criticism of Walpole and others, but there is no reason
why it should not be true, even after making allow-
ances for the possibility that Madame d'Oberkirch
came under the fascination which Elizabeth could still
exercise.
Of the autobiography itself it is, like everything that
Elizabeth did, perfectly original in treatment. As
Madame d'Oberkirch points out, she might be writing
of some other person. Here is an example :
" Reared at the country seat of her father, her child-
hood passed happily and innocently, and to this period
VOL. II 2O
33 8 The Amazing Duchess
she ever looked back with pleasure. . . . She who
now writes these lines knew Elizabeth Chudleigh better
than any other could, and will describe her character
with true impartiality, without concealing what it
possessed of good or evil. One thing is certain, that
from her earliest years Elizabeth was remarkable for
her wit and power of repartee as well as for the elegance
and fascination of her manners. The peasantry on her
father's estate said that she was charmed, that the
beasts would follow her without being called, and that
no person could know her without loving her."
Though this may sound like vanity, it was probably
no exaggeration. Coming to her love affair with the
Duke of Hamilton, the duchess gives a totally different
version from that which had hitherto passed current.
There is, for instance, not a word concerning Mrs.
Hanmer's alleged treachery in the suppression of the
duke's letters. The Duchess writes of herself : " He
[the duke] was accepted and she returned his love
with true affection as deep as her nature would allow
her to feel for any one. When this brilliant prospect
for the young lady became generally known, it excited
the envy and jealousy of many who would willingly
have taken her place, and no calumny was spared that
was thought likely to prevent the marriage. The
duke, devoted to the lady of his choice, refused to
believe aught that could be said against her ; but she,
whose judgment was more easily swayed, lent a willing
ear to the slanderous reports uttered against a man
who only lived for her. In a fit of displeasure, excited
by the report of his infidelity to her, she wrote to her
lover forbidding him her presence, and saying that she
She Criticises Herself 339
would never again receive him. To make their separa-
tion more secure, she immediately gave her hand to
Captain Hervey. . . . The very day of her marriage
she repented of what she had done, and when she
found herself alone with a man whom she felt to be
unworthy of her, she began to feel an intolerable
repugnance for him, and all her love for the duke
returned with fresh force."
This is quite as reasonable an explanation as any
other, but it may be left where it is, for who is to
decide the current of a woman's will ? After referring
to her visits to the Continent, and to the friendship of
Frederick the Great, she writes with delightful na'ivet£
of her return, when the Princess-Dowager of Wales
wished to have her with her again : " She came back,
therefore, to London, more beautiful and brilliant than
ever ; the Queen made her her chief favourite, seeming
to feel no pleasure in any other society. This favour
of her sovereign gave her great influence at Court ; she
led the fashion in all things, and her caprice and whim,
the most extravagant, was law to the courtiers — and
Heaven knows that she was not deficient either in
whim or caprice."
The duchess is equally frank when she contrasts
herself with the Duke of Kingston. " The characters
of these two persons were completely opposite. The
duke was simple, gentle, and retiring, while the lady
was exacting, vain, and violent almost to fury ; but
she exercised an influence over her lord's mind that
he was unable to resist." Of Captain Hervey she
says : " He would not consent to a legal separation,
as that would enable the woman he hated to become
34° The Amazing Duchess
a duchess. However desirous of his own freedom,
he felt more pleasure in her mortification than in the
prospects of his own liberty." When, however, Hervey
fell in love with another lady, " he gladly sought a
separation." Further on, speaking of her life with the
duke, she confesses it to be both wasteful and penurious ;
the most enormous sums were constantly expended to
gratify her love of display, at the same time that she
refused to incur some trifling necessary expense in her
household. In the same remorseful, penitent spirit
she goes on : " The fervour of his passion cooled, the
duke began to perceive the faults of his wife and
to grieve extremely at her extravagance and careless-
ness ; he expostulated with her, but it was useless.
Elizabeth acknowledged no law but her own capricious
and arrogant will, and made her husband feel the full
weight of the chains he had assumed."
After passing in review her extravagant exploits at
Rome, her arduous and daring journey across the Alps
to defend herself against the attack of the Medows
family, the duchess candidly remarks, apropos of what
was said concerning her at the time, that " it is only
too true that she was herself anything but popular.
She had never considered public opinion, and even
now, when so much depended on the impression she
should make, she showed no respect for popular
prejudices. . . . Two things that she did, and at
which great offence was taken, were that she would not
observe the Sabbath with all the strictness required by
her fellow-countrymen, and, her neck and arms being
very handsome, she very naturally wished to display
them. These were considered unpardonable crimes."
She Criticises Herself 341
She is immensely lavish in praising her demeanour
at the trial. She spoke " with a lucidity and a pre-
cision that could not be surpassed by the most
experienced lawyer." When the sentence was pro-
nounced " she sank lifeless to the ground ; but, aided
by a good conscience, she soon recovered, and rose
with dignity, though without the slightest ostentation."
During her tempestuous voyage across the Channel in
an open boat " she sat all night exposed to wind and
rain without any protection but an old hat and coat,"
and " in truth, few men could show more firmness or
strength of mind in danger than did Elizabeth."
The duchess refers to her experience in Calais,
which has already been related, and we learn by
a side-light the difficulties she found in designating
herself so as to satisfy the scruples of etiquette. She
was still termed the Duchess of Kingston save in
England and Vienna, Maria Theresa refusing to
receive her save as the Countess of Bristol. Maybe
it was to relieve her of embarrassment that the
Elector of Saxony, whose wife was her staunch
friend, bestowed upon her the title of Countess
of Warth — an honour which the duchess evidently
appreciated, for the signature appended to her will is
" Elizabeth Kingston Warth."
After explaining how she was disappointed in Russia
of obtaining the rank of Dame an Portrait, a dis-
tinction which she discovered was only granted to
Russians, she enters upon the delicate subject of her
passion for the mysterious " Worta." She is quite
as frank as a woman could possibly be ; indeed so
frank that one is inclined to doubt whether she is
342 The Amazing Duchess
really telling the truth or is romancing. However,
here is what she says — and, be it remembered, it is
about herself she is writing :
" The Duchess of Kingston was no longer young,
but she still retained sufficient of that beauty which
had once ranked her as the loveliest woman in
England (no small pre-eminence) to make her
believe Prince Worta when he vowed her charms
had subdued his heart and made him for ever her
slave. . . . She loved him more than she loved the
Duke of Hamilton, she loved him with that excess
of passion that is felt by some as they decline in
years, when they seem to gather all the energies of
their being into one last effort of tenderness. This
strange passion conquered all the lesser feelings of
her soul : her vanity, her desire to shine in society
— all were forgotten and utterly abandoned for the
happiness of constantly enjoying the society of the
man she loved."
Later in her diary Madame d'Oberkirch again
refers to the duchess. " Her suppers," the diarist
says, u are celebrated for their refinement and luxury.
She is somewhat of a gourmand and patronises the
gastronomic art. She is really a most extraordinary
woman, who, having lived all her life in the society
of learned and celebrated people, has gleaned from all
some portion of their knowledge, with which she after-
wards adorns her conversation so skilfully that at least
for a time she would deceive one as to the extent of
what she knew. Her great knowledge of society,
her wit, and brilliant imagination, which reflected as
£ mirror all that passed before it, gave a brilliancy
The Duchess Buys a House in Paris 343
to her conversation that I have seldom seen equalled.
She is proud and self-willed, opposed to almost all
received maxims, and yet variable and inconsistent both
in her faults and opinions. She sometimes regretted
England, and would feel anxious to return to her
native land if the injustice she had suffered did not
prevent her ; but that most of her early friends were
dead. . . . Sometimes the duchess would say : ' I shall
certainly never return to England ; it is a slipshod
place. The English are for ever seeking amusement
without finding it, whilst the French possess it without
the fatigue of running after it. . . .' After supper she
showed us her jewels, which were altogether more
valuable than the treasury of St. Mark at Venice.
One diamond she showed was very valuable and
of the purest water. This she intended to leave to
the Pope. For the Duke of Newcastle she intended
a necklace of precious stones, and for the Czarina an
entire set of ornaments of different jewels. But the
most curious part of the collection was a necklace
and string of pearls that belonged to the celebrated
Countess of Salisbury, which the duchess intended
leaving to the present countess of that name."
There is little doubt that Elizabeth contemplated stay-
ing permanently in Paris. She had been received with
so much favour by the old French nobility that she
probably looked forward with confidence to spending
the last years of her stormy, restless, strenuous life
in comparative repose. A house on Montmartre took
her fancy, and in her impulsive way she purchased it
without careful examination. No sooner was it in
her possession than she made the discovery that it
344 The Amazing Duchess
was nearly falling to pieces. She at once commenced
an action against the vendor to recover the money she
had paid him and looked about for another habitation.
Her eccentricity and recklessness had no doubt increased
with age, for she selected a most preposterous place —
an estate at St. Assise, just outside Paris, the property
of the King's brother, and more fitted for the court
and entourage of a monarch than for the wants of an
elderly gentlewoman. The price of the estate was
£75,000, and, large as Elizabeth's income was, she
had not this sum at her command, so it was agreed
that she should pay £15,000 down and the rest by
instalments.
Why, at the age of sixty-eight, the duchess should
buy an estate and mansion which would tax all her
energies to superintend is incomprehensible. There
was accommodation for at least three hundred beds and
the reception-rooms were of vast proportions. The
woods were stocked with game and so overrun with
rabbits that she had quantities killed, and it is said
realised three hundred guineas by their sale ! Suitable
or not, she installed herself in the rambling chateau and
had not been there long before business called her to
Russia. She took a hurried journey to her estates in
that country, and, returning to Paris fatigued in mind
and body, she hoped to forget her troubles in her
domain at St. Assise.
She was sitting at dinner when the decision of the
judges in the action she had brought against the
vendor of the Montmartre mansion arrived, and
the news was told her suddenly. The decision was
adverse, and, communicated as the intelligence was at
A Fatal Fit of Passion 345
an unfavourable moment, she was thrown into one
of the hysterical fits of passion to which she was
subject. In the midst of her fury she fell back in
her chair pale and trembling. She had burst a small
blood-vessel. It was not a serious affair could she
have remained quiet, but she would only stay in
bed a few days, and, feeling better, persisted in
getting up. Her attendants in vain tried to dissuade
her, but the mere fact of being opposed was enough
to rouse the old spirit of domination. '{ I am not
very well," she cried, " but I will rise. At your
peril disobey me. I shall get up and walk about the
room. Ring for the secretary to be ready for me."
She was obeyed ; she dressed, and the secretary
entered the chamber. The duchess then walked
about for a while, complained of thirst, and said :
" I could drink a glass of my fine Madeira and eat
a slice of toasted bread." The attendant reluctantly
brought both, and the duchess drank the wine. Then
she exclaimed laughingly : " I am perfectly recovered.
I knew the Madeira would do me good." A pause
followed, and she said, in a faltering voice : " My
heart feels oddly. I will have another glass." The
attendant would have disobeyed her, but she dared
not. The second glass of Madeira was brought ; the
duchess drank it at a gulp, and triumphantly declared
she was nearly well.
Again she walked a little about the room, evidently
uneasy. In a minute or so she said : "I will lie on
the couch. I can sleep, and after a sleep I shall be
entirely recovered." She sank on the couch, the
frightened women each side of her holding her
346 The Amazing Duchess
hands. They watched her anxiously and apprehen-
sively, and they felt her hands become colder and colder.
But for this they would have thought she was asleep.
Suddenly they realised the truth — the duchess was
dead ! She had died as she had lived, fighting for
her own will and pleasure, to her last moment
capricious and defiant. Her end was a merciful
one to herself. She was but sixty-eight, but she
had lived strenuously, and, for the last ten years
of her life had never known repose of body or
tranquillity of mind. As her age increased, so
probably would her continual unrest and irritability
of temper. She would have been a terrible old
woman.
According to Whitehead, directly she was dead a
great confusion instantly arose, " every one striving
to get what they could before the broad seal was
put on." This we may readily believe, for, ever
since she came into her fortune, the duchess was
the prey of adventurers and of the crowd of harpies
who formed her household. The latter were not
likely to lose the opportunity of enriching them-
selves.
Elizabeth Chudleigh, Duchess of Kingston, once
the great attraction wherever fashion was to be
found, whose hospitality, when she was at her
zenith, the highest nobles were glad to accept, the
favourite of a monarch, and the chosen confidant of
a Princess of Wales, died desolate and friendless ;
even the place of her sepulture is not known pre-
cisely. Whitehead mentions a curious rumour. He
says : u I find that her desire of being buried by
The Duchess's Will 347
the side of the Duke of Kingston at Holme Pierre-
point, in Nottinghamshire, and that the coffins
might be chained together, is not complied with."
The story is probably a piece of invented gossip,
for in that strange document, her will, she expressly
orders that she is to be buried at Chudleigh.
Whitehead adds : "She was embalmed, which took
up five days' labour for five people ; this being done,
she was laid in the vault, without any burial service,
where the corpse was to remain until the executors
thought proper to send for it."
Death made no difference to Walpole's venom. He
could not resist a parting thrust in his last reference to
the woman whom he had made the target of his spite
for over thirty years, and its manner was in the vilest
taste, and showed even more than his customary heart-
lessness. The duchess died on August 28th, 1788,
and on September I2th Walpole wrote to the Earl of
Straffbrd : " I do not find that her grace the Countess
of Bristol's will is really yet known. They talk of two
wills — to be sure in her double capacity, and they say
she has made three co-heiresses to her jewels — the
Empress of Russia, Lady Salisbury, and the Whore of
Babylon."
The duchess's will was as extraordinary as herself.
It was terribly lengthy, and full of minute details.
Every inch of land, every article of value was specifically
mentioned and parcelled out to the different legatees,
excepting where she could not make up her mind who
these legatees should be. Many of the clauses con-
tained blank spaces for names to be inserted when they
were decided upon. It was characteristic of the duchess
348 The Amazing Duchess
to bear no malice, and, despite the fact that Evelyn
Medows was her bitter enemy, she left him £15,000.
Madame la de Touche, whom she had supplanted in the
duke's favour, was also made the recipient of a small
legacy. Charles Medows was the heir-at-law, and in
addition she left him " all the communion plate which
belonged to the chapel at Thoresby, and which were
taken away with the other vessels and sent by mistake
to St. Petersburg " ; all her gold and silver plate (the
weight of every article, over a hundred in number, is
precisely stated), and " also the several pieces of cannon
and the ships and vessels on Thoresby lake."
The communion plate here mentioned is, of course,
that which Whitehead erroneously says was sent to
France, and which the duchess was " obliged to return."
There is no reason to believe it was not packed, with
the rest of the valuables, without the knowledge of the
duchess, and that as soon as she discovered the mistake
she sent it back. Her biographers sneered at her
explanation, as they were certain to do, and saw in the
incident a fresh proof of her " avarice." The author
of the " Authentic Detail " is very severe in his com-
ments : " To strip a chapel of the communion plate, and
pretend that the sacramental vessels could be sent from
Nottinghamshire to Russia by mistake, is adding a
lie to sacrilege. If it were possible that the plate were
sent to St. Petersburg by mistake how came it not to
be returned when the mistake was discovered ? It is
shocking to consider to what length the lust of avarice
can compel the human mind." But if, as Whitehead
suggests, the plate was returned the reproof falls rather
flat.
Her Bequest to the Lord Mayor 349
The duchess also bequeathed sixteen pictures by
Mignard to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London,
begging " that they would place them in the Egyptian
Hall of the Mansion House." The writer of the
" Authentic Detail " tells us that the pictures " are very
valuable, but whether they may ever come into the
possession of the Corporation of London is at present
a little problematical. The relations of the duchess
may think it quite as well to convert them into cash
as to have them ornament the Hall to which the
duchess, in a moment of folly, consigned them."
Inquiry at the Mansion House confirms the accuracy
of the writer's surmise. The officials of the Corpora-
tion know nothing of the bequest.
The duchess gave her estate in Russia called Chud-
leigh to her apothecary living there, which does not
look as if the royal secretary, Garnovski, possessed
himself of it, as Walislewski suggests. A curious
reference to serfdom in Russia is contained in the
clause ordering that her " four musical slaves and
their wives, bought of Mr. Douglas at Revel, shall
have their liberty six years " after her decease. The
following clause stimulates curiosity : " I give and
bequeath," it runs, " as an act of justice to the said
Charles Medows, to be reputed an heirloom of
Thoresby, the two pictures which are in the possession
of Count de . . . through the misunderstood interpre-
tation of a letter which he received and which he
maintains to have been presented to him, viz. one of
the said pictures known and attested by Carlo Maratti
for an original of Raphael, the Holy Family, and the
other a Claude Lorraine. It is said in the said letter
35° The Amazing Duchess
that these two pictures were much esteemed and
admired by the late Duke of Kingston. I set a great
value on them, and I trusted them to his care. The
expression in French was ' Je vous le confie ' (I trust
them to you). This circumstance can be attested by
Major Moreau, at that time my secretary, who wrote
that letter signed by me. They have been demanded
and refused several times, and particularly once by my
painter, Mr. Le Sure, who presented the request in
writing signed by me."
It is impossible to trace the history of these
pictures. The " Authentic Detail " has its own version.
Writing in reference to the duchess taking up her
residence in Russia, the author says that " Count
Chernikoff was represented to the duchess as an ex-
alted character to whom she ought, in policy, to pay
her devoirs. She accordingly sent him two pictures.
As little skilled in painting as in music, she had no
idea of the value of the pictures. They happened to
be originals by Raphael and Claude Lorraine. The
count was soon apprised of this, and on the arrival
of the duchess at St. Petersburg he waited on her
grace, thanked her for the present, and assured her
that the pictures were estimated at a value in Russian
money amounting to ,£10,000. The duchess could
hardly hide her chagrin. She told the count that
she had other pictures which she should consider as
an honour were he to accept them. That the two
paintings in his possession were particularly the favour-
ites of her departed lord, but that the count was
extremely gracious in allowing them to occupy a space
in his palace until her mansion was properly prepared
Her Jewels Sold by Auction 351
for decoration. This manoeuvre did not succeed.
The count has the pictures at this moment." All
one can say is that it is hardly likely the duchess did
not know the value of the pictures, and that there
was some misunderstanding. As she did not write
the letter herself the fault may have been with her
secretary. It is probably a vain question to ask what
has become of these pictures.
There are a multitude of other bequests, but they
need not be gone into, especially as it is very doubtful
whether the provisions of the will could be legally
acted upon. The last public notice of the duchess
is contained in the catalogue of the sale of her jewels
by Mr. Christie in 1792, and this catalogue, with the
prices fetched by the various lots written in the
margin by the auctioneer, may be seen in the British
Museum. The collection consisted of " a profusion
of superlatively elegant and rich articles, etc., viz.
necklaces, stomachers, sleeve-knots, bracelets, earrings,
particularly a pair of large drops of uncommon beauty
and perfection ; a capital single-stone brilliant ring ;
capital pearl necklace of unique pearls for size, beauty,
and perfection ; emeralds, rubies, etc., in crosses,
necklaces, and earrings." As to the prices, twenty-
two brilliant buttons and tassels fetched 850 guineas ;
a pair of single-drop brilliant earrings enriched with
twenty-three large diamonds, pearls, etc., 920 guineas ;
and a superb brilliant necklace of nineteen collets,
fine water, 456 guineas. These were the principal
items, the collection in its entirety realising ^7,400.
With the sale of her personal adornments the
curtain falls on the drama of which the duchess was
352 The Amazing Duchess
the central figure. From the day she became maid
of honour to the moment she stepped from West-
minster Hall, declared under a brutal law to be guilty
of felony, she had ever been in the glare of the foot-
lights, save during her four years of married life with
the Duke of Kingston. Practically her career was
over when she left England. For the last ten years
of her life she had been ignored by English society,
and her death was hardly noticed in this country.
The London papers, once ready to chronicle the
smallest details concerning the doings of the woman
on whom the eyes of the fashionable world had been
fixed for thirty-five years, were silent when her last
moments came. The obituary notices, as also the
history of her life, were left to the tender mercies of
the anonymous scribes whose interest it was to justify
the epithet " notorious " which had become attached to
her name.
When all that is known about Elizabeth Chudleigh
has been said, she still remains a profound puzzle. It
will not suffice to assign the key to her character to
caprice, to vanity, or, as one modern biographer puts
it, to " idleness." She had the first and second defects,
doubtless ; but with caprice and vanity she united an
iron will and unbounded energy. That she was more
than ordinarily courageous her whole life shows. But
who can pass judgment on a wayward, impulsive,
masterful woman, confident in the power of her beauty
and fascinations, often swayed solely by her emotions, and
defiant of the opinion of others where her inclinations
were concerned ? What if she were fond of flattery,
and, being so, could be easily duped ? What if she
An Estimation of her Character 353
was at one moment extravagant and at the next
economical to the point of meanness ? Are not such
contradictions purely feminine, and does not man
stand baffled before them ?
Elizabeth was unquestionably a type of the
eighteenth-century woman, and in endeavouring to
arrive at an estimate of her character one must not
forget the freedom, the lawlessness, the coarseness
of the times. Society lived on scandalous gossip,
and, though Walpole's pen is more vitriolic than
usual when writing of Elizabeth, it may be that he
had no personal animosity towards her. A lady with
such strong individuality was, to use a journalistic
phrase of to-day, always " good copy," and for such
" copy " Walpole had ever-watchful eyes and ears.
The lady diarists wrote from a different standpoint.
Lady Mary Coke, Mrs. Delany, Mrs. Elizabeth
Montagu, Miss Hannah More, and the rest had
some sort of standard of conduct (varying according
to circumstances and people) by which they judged
their own sex, and too much importance need not
be placed on their virtuous indignation concerning
the duchess.
The fashionable women of the first half of the
Georgian era were vain, frivolous, extravagant, and
tormented by " vapours " ; in other words, they
were neurotic. They carried pleasure to an excess.
They ate too much, they drank too much ; they
had no occupation ; they read but little ; they had
no accomplishments beyond dancing and the use
of the fan ; and last, but not least, they were adepts
in the art of love. Intrigue was part of their exis-
VOL II. 21
354 The Amazing Duchess
tence, and all they dreaded was being found out.
The curious in such matters will find the modish lady
of the first half of the eighteenth century drawn to the
life in the pages of Congreve, Wycherley, Vanbrugh,
and Farquhar ; and she had not altered very much
up to the time when George III. ascended the
throne.
Elizabeth no doubt drained the cup of pleasure to
its dregs, and it may be ate and drank too much,
and at times had violent fits of passion ; but there
is no evidence that she gambled, no evidence that
she was given to indiscriminate intrigue. She might
have been too friendly with his Majesty King
George II., but again proof is wanting. That she
was the mistress of the Duke of Kingston was no
very great matter in those days ; it was only when,
being free to marry the duke, as she had a right to
believe, that she was assailed with a shower of abuse
and the smiles of royalty were withdrawn.
Remembering all these considerations, it is singular
that Elizabeth should have been treated with so little
sympathy by her various biographers. Those of to-day
who have dealt with her history have unfortunately
been contented to rest on the memoirs which appeared
shortly after the death of the duchess. The Peck-
sniffian tone adopted by the writers of these productions,
due to the more decorous ways of high society, is very
marked. The prudish Queen Charlotte had in some
measure purified the morals of the Court, and no doubt
the effect had permeated downward. Dr. Johnson's
literary influence had also something to do with the
didactic moralisings indulged in by Elizabeth's
The Real Elizabeth Chudleigh 355
biographers. Hence they could find little in her
conduct worthy of praise, and she appears in their
pages an abandoned woman full of deceit and trickery,
whose only thought was to enrich herself.
We contend that this view is wholly false. When
we commenced the labour of collecting all the material
concerning Elizabeth Chudleigh that could be found
outside the early memoirs we had no reason to believe
that the modern biographers were wrong in terming
her an " adventuress," if not something worse. As
our investigations proceeded, however, it seemed clear
to us that this contemptuous term would have to be
modified, if not altogether abandoned. Whatever the
real Elizabeth was no one knows ; what she was not
we hope we have succeeded in showing.
AUTHORITIES
ANONYMOUS
A Brief for the Duchess of Kingston (by a Student of Gray's
Inn). 1776.
An Authentic Detail. 1778.
Catalogue of Jewels, etc. . . . late the property of the Duchess
of Kingston. 1791.
Histoire de la vie et des avantures de la Duchess de Kingston.
1789.
History of Stoney Bowes. 1810.
Les Avantures tres amoureuse ou Elizabeth Chudleigh. 1776.
Life and Memoirs of Elizabeth Chudleigh. 1789.
Life of Samuel Foote. 1788.
Memoirs of Elizabeth Chudleigh. 1788.
Mrs. Cornelys' Entertainments. 1840.
The Fair Concubine. 1732.
The Northern Impostor. 1786.
Vanella in the Straw. 1732.
Vanella, or the Amours of the Great. 1732.
A Collection of Poems (Sir Charles Hanbury Williams). 1763.
Autobiography of Mrs. Piozzi. 1861.
British Magazine. 1782.
Caricature History of the Georges (T. Wright). 1848.
Court and Private Life in the Time of Queen Charlotte (Mrs.
Papendieck). .1887.
Court Life (J. Fitzgerald Molloy). 1882.
Diaries and Correspondence of James Harris, First Earl of
Malmesbury. 1844.
VOL. II. 357 22
Authorities
Diary of Bubb Dodington. 1784.
Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 26.
England and the English (VV. C. Sydney). 1891.
Gentleman's Magazine. 1751 and 1776.
Hannah Lightfoot (W. J. Thorns). 1867.
History of Caricature (George Paston).
„ Chelsea (S. Bryan). 1869.
„ „ (Faulkner) 1810.
„ Nottinghamshire (Throsby). 1790.
,, Leicester Square (Tom Taylor). 1874.
„ Surrey (Bray and Manning). 1804.
In the Days of the Georges (\V. B. Boulton). 1909.
Lady's Magazine. 1776.
Letters of Lady Jane Coke. 1907.
„ and Journals of Lady Mary Coke. 1889.
,, of Mrs. Delany. 1821.
„ „ Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu. 1906.
„ „ Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. 1837.
,, „ Miss Hannah More. 1860.
„ ,, Horace Walpole. 1857.
LifeofFoote. (Percy FitzGerald). 1910.
Life of the Marquis of Granby (Walter Evelyn Manners). 1 89 1 .
London Chronicle. 1773, 1775, 1776.
London Pleasure Gardens (A. E. Wroth). 1896.
Lord Chesterfield's Witticisms. 1773.
Memoirs of the Court of George III. (Grenville). 1853.
„ „ „ England (J. H. Jesse). 1843.
„ George II. (Lord John Hervey). 1848.
„ III. (R. Huish). 1821.
„ his own Time (N. Wraxall).
„ Baroness d'Oberkirch. 1852.
„ Sir Robert Walpole (Archdeacon Coxe). 1798.
Memorials of Knightsbridge (Davis).
Minutes of Westminster Monthly Meeting of the Society of
Friends. 1775, 1776.
Monthly Magazine. 1815 and 1821.
Original Anecdotes of the Duke of Kingston (T. Whitehead).
1792.
Our Old Nobility (Howard Evans). 1907.
The Fair Quaker (M. L. Pendered). 1910.
Authorities 359
Reminiscences of Harry Angelo. 1904.
Sir Joshua Reynolds : Gleanings from his Diary (W. Cotton).
1856.
Romance of Royalty (J. FitzGerald Molloy). 1904.
Royal Register (W. Combe). 1778.
Rudiments of Genteel Behaviour (F. Nivelon). 1737.
Sidelights on the Georgian Period (George Paston). 1903.
Social Caricature in the Eighteenth Century (George Paston).
1905.
State Trials (Hargrave). 1776.
Story of Elizabeth Gunning (H. Bleackly). 1907.
Trial of the Duchess of Kingston. 1776.
The Whole of the Evidence in the Trial . . . published by
Order of Her Grace. 1776.
A Trip to Calais (Samuel Foote). 1778.
The Romance of an Empress (Walislewski). 1894.
Westminster Magazine. 1776.
INDEX
Amis, Mrs. : marries the Duke of
Kingston's butler, ii. 107 ; gives
evidence at the trial, 252 ; her
story of the register, 253.
Amis, Rev. T. : vicar of Lainston,
i. 96 ; prepares the marriage
register, 257 ; his death, 258.
Ashe, Miss Elizabeth : story con-
cerning, i. 126; the mystery of
her birth, 144 ; her escapades
and elopement, 144 ; at a Vaux-
hall frolic with Lady Caroline
Petersham, 147.
Harrington, Lord : refuses to speak
against the duchess at the trial,
ii. 245 ; his evidence subse-
quently, 251.
Brett, Anne: favoured by George I.,
i. 42 ; amusing squabble with
the princesses, 42.
Bute, Earl of: influence over
George III., i. 276 ; Walpole's
scandalous gossip, 277.
Byron, Lord : Duke of Kingston's
dislike of, ii. 82 ; fatal duel of
with Mr. Chaworth, 92.
Charlotte, Queen : her uncom-
fortable voyage to England, i.
278 ; tries to reform English
fashions, 288 ; her frugality,
and shortcomings of the royal
kitchen, 290; present at the
trial of the duchess, ii. 216.
Chesterfield, Earl of: his wit, i.
32 ; his oft-told story of Eliza-
beth Chudleigh doubtful, 126.
Chudleigh, Elizabeth : family his-
tory, i. i ; her childhood at
Chelsea Hospital, 26 ; her edu-
cation, 39 ; meets Mr. Pulteney,
53 ; his influence, 57 ; appointed
maid of honour, 59 ; her life at
Court, 74 ; secretly engaged to
the Duke of Hamilton, 81 ; visits
Lainston, 85 ; meets Lieutenant
Hervey, 86 ; description of, 92 ;
the question of her age, 93 ;
married to Lieutenant Hervey,
95 ; returns to Leicester House,
101 ; court frolic, 112; pursued
by her husband, 113 ; a fateful
meeting at Conduit Street, 1 16 ;
birth of her child, 120; an im-
probable story concerning, 126 ;
refuses the Dukes of Hamilton
and Ancaster, 130; misstate-
ments of biographers concerning,
134 ; her practical joke at Tun-
bridge Wells, 136 ; the Somerset
House masquerade, 158; the
" Iphigenia " sensation, 161 ; at-
tracts the notice of George II.,
165 ; a questionable story of,
167 ; unfounded scandal con-
cerning, 179 ; at Tunbridge
Wells, 207 ; rumours concerning
her and the Duke of Kingston,
208 ; acquires landed property,
219; her alleged "assistance"
in the Hannah Lightfoot affair,
361
362
Index
228 ; at Kingston House with
the duke, 248 ; anxieties con-
cerning her marriage with
Hervey, 253 ; her journey to j
Winchester, 254; the making I
of the register, 257 ; entertain- ]
ments at Kingston House, 262 ;
Queen's birthday ball at Kings-
ton House, 295 ; visits Electoress
of Saxony, 299; rumours of
divorce, 307 ; the mythical story
of the torn register, 321 ; com-
mences jactitation suit, 334 ;
suit decided in her favour, 345 ;
marries the Duke of Kingston,
359; her singular travelling
carriage, ii. 35 ; her fancy for
angling, 54 ; life and amuse-
ments at Thoresby, 93 ; her ob-
stinacy, Hi; allegation against,
117; her yacht at Rome, 134;
her hurried visit to London, 139 ;
extraordinary adventure of with
Jenkins the banker, 147 ; her
arduous journey across the Alps,
147 ; answers the indictment,
150; Samuel Foote and, 158;
caricatured in A Trip to Calais,
162 ; the charge of bigamy
discussed by the House of
Lords, 194; claims to be tried
as a peeress, 200 ; the lords
allow her claim, 208 ; her trial
in Westminster Hall, 216; she
addresses the peers, 263 ; the
verdict, 276 ; admitted to the
benefit of clergy, 277 ; her ruse
to fly from England, 285 ; ad-
ventures in Calais, 287 ; served
with citation at the instance of
Earl of Bristol, 290 ; fits out a
ship for her journey to Russia,
298 ; adventures in Russia, 323 ;
is entertained by Prince Radzivil,
327 ; her attachment to the mys-
terious Worta, 332 ; her history
\vritten by herself, 338 ; de-
scribed by Madame d'Oberkirch,
342 ; purchases a house in Paris,
343 ; an unfortunate lawsuit,
344 ; sudden death of, 346 ; her
extraordinary will, 347 ; estimate
of her character, 353.
Chudleigh, Colonel Thomas : ap-
pointed Governor of Chelsea
Hospital, i. 19 ; his speculations,
22 ; death, 36.
Chudleigh, Mrs. : her courage, i.
38 ; her " fashionable town resi-
dence,'1 39 ; her will, 1 32 ; ap-
pointed housekeeper at Windsor
Castle, 1 66.
Cradock, Anne : her usefulness
at the secret marriage, i. 95 ;
her story of the birth of
Elizabeth's child, 121 ; ap-
proached by the Medows fami-
ly, ii. 137; the question of her
bribery, 153; apocryphal story
°f» *93 J gives evidence at trial,
239.
Delany, Mrs. : description of coro-
nation, "George II,1' i. 46;
letters concerning the trial of
the duchess, ii. 188, 215.
Dodington, Bubb: the butt of
Frederick, Prince of Wales, i.
85; Chesterfield's joke, 173;
his talk with the Princess
Augusta, 184.
Ferrers, Earl : trial, i, 267 ; execu-
tion, 269.
Fielding, Sir John : visits Pierre-
pont Lodge, ii. 76 ; The Beggars
Opera and, 76.
Foote, Samuel : caricatures the
duchess in A trip to Calais,
ii. 162; his celebrated letter, 182.
Frederick, Prince of Wales : a
characteristic adventure, i. 65 ;
the story of Miss Vane, 66;
Lady Archibald Hamilton's
ascendancy, 67 ; his amuse-
ments and superstition, 103 ;
his miniature Court at Carlton
House, 172; sudden death of,
1 80; a shabby funeral, 183.
Ganganelli Vincenti(Pope Clement
XIV.) : visited by Duchess of
Kingston, ii. 133.
Index
363
George I. : his mistresses, " The
Maypole" and "The Elephant,"
i. 31 ; tragic death, 43.
George II.: death, i. 271.
George III. : the Hannah Light-
foot mystery, i. 227 ; favours
Lady Sarah Lennox, 275 ; his
marriage, 279; his coronation,
281.
Gunning, Elizabeth : (Duchess of
Hamilton) : Mrs. Piozzi's story I
of the beautiful Gunnings, i. 90 ; j
her midnight marriage at Keith's
chapel, 191 ; a story of the
Douglas case, ii. 18.
Gunning, Maria (Countess of
Coventry) : mobbed at the
Queen's Drawing-room, i. 200 ;
at Paris with Lady Caroline
Petersham, 201 ; her use of
dangerous cosmetics, 202 ;
anecdotes of, 222, 265, 266 ;
pathetic death, 270.
Hamilton, Duke of: secret engage-
ment to Elizabeth Chudleigh,
i. 8 1 ; his pride and wildness,
130'; refused by Elizabeth, 131.
Hamilton, Lady Archie : governs
Prince Frederick, i. 79 ; her
influence at the Leicester House
Court, 80.
Hanmer, Mrs. : suppresses the
Duke of Hamilton's letters, i. 90;
arranges Elizabeth Chudleigh's
secret marriage, 94.
Hawkins, Caesar: attends Eliza-
beth at her confinement, i. 120 ;
acts as intermediary previous
to the jactitation suit, 350.
Hervey, the Hon. Augustus :
marries Elizabeth Chudleigh,
i. 95 ; leaves England for the
West Indies, 97 ; pursues his
wife, 112; is ordered to the
Mediterranean, 113 ; visits her
in Conduit Street, 115 ; story of
his career, 324 ; is defeated in
the jactitation suit, 345 ; death
of his mother, Lady Hervey, 348;
becomes Earl of Bristol, ii. 144 ; i
takes proceedings to set aside ;
verdict in the jactitation suit,
289 ; death, 292.
Kilmarnock, Lord : executed, i.
109.
Kinchen, Stephen Rev. : his
evidence at the trial respecting
the register, ii. 258.
Kingston, Duchess of: see Eliza-
beth Chudleigh.
Kingston, Duke of: present at the
Vauxhall frolic, i. 147; Wai-
pole's description of, 152; lives
with Elizabeth at Kingston
House, 295 ; the pretty milliner,
297 ; purchases Clinton Lodge,
1760, 315; description of the
duke's seat at Thoresby, 316 ;
his character, 329 ; married to
Elizabeth, 359; Whitehead's
account of the marriage cere-
mony, ii. 27 ; love of sport, 98 ;
death, 120.
Mansfield, Lord : advises the
duchess, ii. 149 ; addresses the
House of Lords on the pro-
secution of the duchess, 191,
2OI, 2IO.
Medows, Evelyn : disinherited,
ii. 125 ; institutes proceedings
against the duchess by indict-
ment, 143 ; how he knew of
Anne Cradock, 152; why he
was disinherited, 269.
Merrill, Mr. : Elizabeth married
from his house at Lainston, i.
95 ; the marriage register in the
custody of, 258 ; death, 259.
Montagu, Edward Wortley : his
runaway marriage and adven-
tures in Paris, i. 45.
Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley :
her description of the corona-
tion of George II., i. 45 ; de-
cribes the ladies' assault on the
House of Lords, 72
More, Hannah: description of trial
in Westminster Hall, ii. 220.
Murray, Miss Fanny : the " Essay
on Woman," i. 197 ; her extraor-
dinary sandwich, 198.
3^4
Index
Petersham, Lady Caroline : her
hot temper, i. 146 ; at a Vaux-
hall frolic with Miss Ashe, 147 ;
avariciousness of her father, the
Duke of Grafton, 203.
Pulteney, W. : meets Elizabeth
Chudleigh, i. 53 ; quarrels with
Lord John Hervey, 55 ; his duel,
56 ; his frugality, 58 ; deceived
by Sir Robert Walpole, 6 1 ;
created Earl of Bath, 62.
Queensberry, Duchessof :astaunch
friend of Elizabeth, i. 300; her
eccentricity, 301, 303.
Radzivil, Prince : his attentions to
the duchess, ii. 327.
Ranelagh, Lord : his shrewdness,
i. 25.
Rudd, Mrs. : her singular story, ii.
1 88.
Selwyn, George: present at the
execution of Damien, i. 154;
his morbid mania, 154; epi-
gram on Elizabeth Chudleigh,
179
Semple, Major: makes the ac-
quaintance of the duchess, ii.
301 ; resemblance between
Semple and Thackeray's Barry
Lyndon, 302 ; his extraordinary
career, 315.
louche de la, Madame : her love
affair with the Duke of Kingston,
i. 209; her life with him and
separation, 210; Whitehead's
recollections of, ii. 48.
Tovvnshend, Lady : her wit, i. 216;
her jealousy, 218 ; a disagree-
able adventure, 219.
Walpole, Horace: his doubtful
parentage, i. 29 ; his story of
George Selwya and Lord Lovat,
in; his stories of Lady Caroline
Petersham, 206 ; his sarcastic
references to the duchess, ii.
145, 149, 185, 243, 282, 300, 325,
333, 347-
Walpole, Sir Robert : his house at
Chelsea, i. 26 ; rescues his
sister, 28; his mistress, Molly
Skerret, 30 ; attacked by
Pulteney in House of Commons,
60 ; " Sir Blue String," 79.
Wharton, Lord : his profligacy, i. 28.
Whitehead, Thomas : letters, ii.
20, 26, 32, 38, 48, 53, 55, 63, 67,
75. 80, 93, 98, 101, 108, 131.
Worta : affection of the duchess
for, ii. 331 ; his strange history,
332.
Prtnte* by Htuttl, Watson &• Vinty, Ld.. London and Aylesbury.
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