The story of Nell Gwyn (25 page)

p. 141. The Duchess of Portsmouth, when in England, in 1699.

This is doubtful. In 1697 she certainly received permission from Louis XIV. to visit London, but William III. forbade her landing. George Granville, Lord Lans-downe, says the duchess "only repeated what she had heard from others," and then proceeds to give his own opinion concerning Charles's mysteriously sudden end :—

"As to the poisoning part of the story, it was always my opinion, and not ill-grounded neither, that the King hastened his death by his own quackery. The last year of his life he had been much troubled with a sore leg which he endeavoured to conceal, and trusted too much

NOTES

to his own drugs and medicines. On a sudden the running stopt, and it was then he was seized with his apoplexy: a common case, fatal the moment those sort of sores dry up" (A Letter, etc., 1732, p. 14).

p. 145. Peg Hughes the actress.

On June 20, 1670, Grace, Lady Chaworth, in a letter to her brother, Lord Roos, at Belvoir Castle, says :—

" One of the K[ing's] servants hath killed Mr. Hues, Peg Hues' brother, servant to P[rince] Robert [Rupert] upon a dispute whether M'^ Nelly 01 she was the handsomer now att Windsor." {Duke of Rutland's MSS., ii. 17.)

In the scandalous Letters from the Dead to the Living of the facetious Tom Brown and others, " N[e]ll G[wy]n" arraigns " P[e]g H[ug]hes " for having wasted over cards and dice the money she received from Prince Rupert. In the answer, which, like the attack, is, of course, imaginary, the charge is admitted.

p. 146, Bestwood Park.

Bestwood Park, which still belongs to the Duke of St. Albans, is described in an Inquisition in 1281 as "a park of our Lord the King wherein no man commons " (Cornelius Brown's History of Nottinghamshire, 1891, pp. 26, 27). Leases of land in Bestwood Park were granted to Nell Gwyn in 1681, as may be seen from Additional Charters, 15,862—15,864 in the British Museum.

p. 148. The visits of Lower.

Richard Lower, M.D. (born 1631, died 1691), on the death of Dr. Willis in 1675, " was esteemed," according to Wood, " the most noted physician in Westminster and London, and no man's name was more cried up at Court than his." His political sympathies, however, interfered with his professional success, for on the occasion of the "Titus Gates Plot" in 1678 (as Wood tells us), "he

NOTES

closed with the Whigs, supposing that party would carry all before them ; but being mistaken, he lost much of his practice at and near the Court, and so consequently his credit." It was not, however, Lower who attended Nell Gwyn in her last illness: lier physician was Christianus Harrell, M.D., one of the many doctors present at the deathbed of Charles II. Among the papers of Messrs. Child, the bankers (with whose firm, then Child and Rogers, Nelly banked), the following roceipt was found in 1875:—

" Received by the hand of Mr. Child the summe of one hondert and nine pound yn full of all remedes and medecins delivered to M'^ Ellin Gwyn deceased—I say received by me this 17 November 1688, Christianus IlARRKLL, 2'i09 • 00 . 00 " (Munk's Roll of College oj Physicians, 1878, i. 452 ; Notes and Queries, 9th sen, vi. 350)-

p. 149. SJie no7v made her will.

This document, which is registered in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 164, Foot, has been compared wiL'i that in the text, and some mistakes corrected.

p. 150. Thomas, Earl of Pembroke.

The eighth earl (born 1656, died 1733). In his youthful days he drew his sword in support of Nelly, as recorded by Luttrell (Feb. 26, 1679-80) : " Mrs. Ellen Gwyn being at the dukes playhouse was affronted by a person who came into the pitt and called her whore ; whom Mr. Herbert, the earl of Pembrokes brother, vindicating, there were many swords drawn, and a great hubbub in the house " {Brief Hist. Relation, i. 34-5). He was afterwards president of the Royal Society (1689-90), and as a virtuoso and collector of what Pope called "statues, dirty gods, and coins " had a high reputation. To him Locke dedicated his famous Essay, " in token of gratitude for kind offices done in evil times" (Dasent, History of St. James's Square, p. 138 sq.).

NOTES

p. 151. Mrs. Rose Forster.

Nell Gvvyn's sister, who appears to have been twice married, first to John Cassells and secondly to one Forster. She is probably identical with the Rose Gwynne who in Dec. 1663 was imprisoned in Newgate. Her offence was robbery, but she possessed influence enough to gain a reprieve before judgment at the Old Bailey, and she was visited in prison by the King's favourite, the well-known Thomas Killigrew, and the Duke of York's cupbearer (Browne). On Dec. 26 she wrote to Browne begging him and Killigrew to obtain her release on bail "from this woeful place of torment until a pardon is pleaded." Her father, she adds, lost all he had in service of the late King, and it is hard she should perish in a gaol. A few days later (Dec. 30) she obtained her discharge {Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1663-4, pp. 390, 393). The mention of her father tallies with what is known concerning the father of Nell Gwyn.

Rose Gw)m's first husband is stated to have been John Cassells, another dilapidated "captain," who likewise expended his little all "in the service of the Crown," and died in 1675, leaving his widow penniless. "Charles II. gave her a pension of ;^20o a year," which she enjoyed until the accession of William and Mary. " Captain " John Cassells bears a suspicious resemblance to the highwayman and burglar of those names, who would be a suitable enough mate for Miss Rose Gwynne. He, too, could boast oi his and his father's loyalty, and h(; certainly possessed a powerful friend at Court. Thougii by a proclamation of Dec. 23, 1667, or 1668, he was ordered to be apprehended and proceeded against with other disorderly persons, he obtained (Feb. 17, 1669) a warrant for his enlargement. In July following he attempted to rob the Lieutenant-Governor of Jersey while travelling through Warwickshire {ibid., Dom., Oct. 1668—Dec. 1669, pp. 199, 215, 430, 438). He is next heard of in Sept. 1671, when he sent a delightfiilly impudent petition to the King, asking pardon for "being seduced to aid in the robbing of Sir Henry Littleton's house, his father having lost a plentiful estate in Ireland

NOTES

for his loyalty, and he having served under his Majesty s ensigns till the Restoration." Instead of being hanged he was granted a general pardon a few days later {ibid., Dom., Jan.—Nov. 1671, pp. 495, 496).

p. 151. To this, three months later, was added a codicil.

Another codicil, which had escaped the observation of Peter Cunningham, is here appended; it was proved separately, and is registered in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 162, Exton :—

"The second Codicill of M''^ Ellen Gwinn deceased publiquely declared by her before divers credible witnesses after the makeing of her last Will and Testament and former Codicill according as it pronounced in and by the sentence given by the Right worshipfull Sir Richard Raines knight Doctor of Lawes and Master Keeper or Commissary of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury the nineteenth day of July One Thousand and Six Hundred Eighty Eight in a Cause lately depending before him concerning the Proofe thereof fol-loweth vizt. The said M'^ EHen Gwinne did give and bequeath to 'W^ Rose ifoster her sister the summe of two hundred pounds over and above the summe of two hundred pounds which shee gave to her the said Rose in her former Codicill. To M"' fifoster husband of the said Rose ffoster a ring of the value of forty pounds or forty pounds to buy him a ring. To Doctor Harrell (meaning Christianus Harrell Doctor of Physicke and one of her Physitians) twenty pounds. To M' Derricke Nephew of the said Doctor Harrell tenn pounds. To Doctor Le ffebure (meaning Joshua Le ffebure Doctor of Physicke and the other of her Physitians) twenty pounds respectively to buy them rings. To Bridget Long whoe had beene her sei'vant for divers yeares the summe of twenty pounds of lawful! money of England yearely dureing her naturall life. To M""^ Ediing meaning Anne Edling a new gowne. And M' John Warner her Chaplaine was present with others at the declareing thereof and that a little before the declareing of the same shee being of perfect mind and memory did order or desire the said

NOTES

M' Warner to put into writeing what shee should then declare. And that the said Legacys were wrote and read to the deceased and by her approved and declared as parte of her last Will and Testament as by the proofes made and Sentence given in the said Cause doe appeare."

This codicil was proved on ^ December, 1688.

Joshua Le Febure, M.D., F.R.C.P., was one of the many physicians in attendance on Charles II. in his last illness.

p. 152. Lady Fairborne.

Dame Margery Fairborne. It is said that her maiden name was Devereux, and that she first married a Mr. Mansell, who must have died before 1666. She married, secondly, Sir Palmes Fairborne, Knt., Governor of Tangier, where he was slain, Oct. 24, 1680. He has an honorary monument in Westminster Abbey. She married, thirdly, at St. Marylebone, Middlesex, April I, 1683, Jasper Paston, third son of Robert, first Earl of Yarmouth, whom she survived, being buried in Westminster Abbey, June 9, 1694.

p. 152. She died . . . in November \(>%'].

Nell Gwyn must have suffered acutely for many months before the end came. Writing on March 29, 1687, Sir Charles Lyttelton says : " Mrs. Nelly has bine dying of an apoplexie. She is now come to her sense on one side, for ye other is dead of a palsey. She is thought to be worth loooooli; 200oli in revenue, and ye rest jeweHs and plate " {Hatton Correspondence, Camd. Soc, vol. ii. pp. 66-67).

p. 153. The bequest to the poor prisoners.

So far as regards Whitecross Street Prison the dole had not ceased in 1850, when W. Hepworth Dixon published his book on The London Prisons.

In the 7tli Report of the Historical MSS. Commission (App., p. 406a) we are told that " Madame Gwin gave ^100 towards the relief of the sufferers by the late dreadful fire which happened at Wapping Dec. il, 1682."

NOTES

Other stories told of her generosity, such as the money left to the bell-ringers of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, lack confirmation.

p. 153 n. Francis G'^vynne, Esq.

He was no connection of Nell Gwyn's, but the particular friend of Lord Rochester, one of Nelly's executors. In the IVeiihvorth Papers (p. 163) occurs the sentence, "Frank Gwin, Lord Rotchester's gvvine as they call him." He was son and heir of Edward Gwyn, of Llansannor, Glamorganshire, by Eleanor, youngest daughter of Sir Francis Popham, of Littlecote, Wilts, and was born at Combe Florey, Somerset, about 1648. From 1679 to 1685 he acted as clerk of the Privy Council, was a groom of the bedchamber to Charles IL, and sat in parliament for many years. In Nov. 1688 he accompanied James II. on his expedition to the west, and his diary of the journey was printed by Mr, C. T. Gatty in the Fortnightly Review for Sept. 1886 (xlvi. 358-64). He died at his seat, Ford Abbey, Devonshire, June 2, 1734, aged eighty-six.

p. 156. He died intestate.

The Duchess of St. Albans took out letters of administration June 2, 1726, but the duke's will was found soon afterwards, and it was proved by her Aug. 25 following. It is remarkable that this document, dated July 19, 1694, shortly after his marriage, in which he left all his estate to his wife, was never altered or added to.

To the information in the text concerning him it may be added that he was created, Dec, 27, 1676, Baron Headington and Earl of Burford, both in co. Oxford, and Jan. 10, 16S3-4, Duke of St. Albans. He was, according to Evelyn, in 1684, "a very pretty boy," though Macky in 1704 calls him "of a black complexion," and "very like King Charles." He adds that "he is a gentleman every way de bon naturel, well bred, doth not love business, is well affected to the constitution

NOTES

of his country." He died May lo, 1726, at Bath, and was buried on the 20th in Westminster Abbey. On April 13, 1694, he married Lady Diana de Vere, eldest daughter and eventually sole heiress of Aubrey, twentieth and last Earl of Oxford of the name, who survived him, and died Jan. 15, 1741-2. For a short time he lived at No. 5 St. James's Square, a house which had been previously occupied by another of Charles's many natural sons, Charles, Duke of Richmond (Dasent's Hist, of St. James's Square, p. loi w.). The duke's house in Old Bond Street, London, was advertised for sale in the London Gazette for June 27, 1727.

The Genealogical Magazine for Jan. 1901 contains a list of three hundred and eleven persons then living who are descended from Nell Gwyn. The list includes many names of notable persons among the peerage, the baronetage, and the commonalty, and, with its accompanying note, is a curious and interesting one.

p. 156. There are many portraits of Nell Gwyn.

A portrait by Lely at Windsor, with a landscape background of that place, was long called Nell Gwyn; it was in reality a picture of James IL's queen, Mary of Modena. At Burton Hall another Lely, representing a lovely girl " with a particularly innocent expression of face," passed for a portrait of Nelly, and the belief was so strong that the then Duke of St. Albans offered to purchase it. A duplicate was at Waldershare, where it was known as Lady Lewisham, who afterwards married Francis, Lord North ; and two other duplicates were at Lees Court and Rockingham Castle. At length, through the patient research of Lord Monson, the portrait was discovered to be that of Lady Arabella Wentworth, daughter of the celebrated Earl of Strafford and sister of Ann, Lady Rockingham, whose descendants were to be found in each of these four mansions (Lord Monson in Notes and Queries, 2nd ser., v. 137). Lord Rosebery also possesses a Lely, but to judge from the Goupil reproduction (1901) it is not much like, and its pedigree

NOTES

appears to be unknown. Then there is the Lely known to us by the charming mezzotint of Valentine Green, in which Nelly is seated half naked. There is still another Lely to be mentioned—that of a decidedly embonpoint young lady sitting on a bank and holding some grass to a lamb; it has been finely mezzotinted by McArdell, but it resembles neither Nelly nor Miss Elizabeth Hamilton (afterwards the Comtesse de Grammont), under whose name it is sometimes catalogued.