THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF COMMODORE BYRON MCCANDLESS niOl DEGREE BEING PORTRAITS AFTER ENGLUH MA5TER5. N^ITH DECORATION AND blOGRAPMICAL NOTE3 5Y TMOMJON bQSTON-THE JQ5EPM KINIGMT COMPANY- MDCCCXCV1 Copyright, 1895, by JOSEPH KNIGHT COMPANY DA HER GRACE OF MARLBOROUGH . . Portrait after Sir Godfrey Kneller. PAGE 3 "MY GOOD HOWARD," COUNTESS OF SUFFOLK ... 17 Portrait after a picture in the collection at Strawberry Hill. LADY SARAH LENNOX Portrait after Sir Joshua Reynolds. 29 HER GRACE OF GLOUCESTER, COUNTESS WALDEGRAVE 43 Portrait after Sir Joshua Reynolds. HER GRACE OF CUMBERLAND 57 Portrait after Catharine Read. "TRUE BLUE AND MRS. CREWE" Portrait after Sir Joshua Reynolds. 69 VI CONTENTS. HER GRACE OF GORDON Portrait after Sir Joshua Reynolds. PAGE 87 THE MARGRAVINE OF ANSPACH, LADY CRAVEN ... 99 Portrait after George Romney. " SWEET LASS OF RICHMOND HILL," MRS. FITZHERBERT 1 13 Portrait after Thomas Cosway. THE COUNTESS OF ASHBURNHAM 127 Portrait after John Hoppner. JAKAtl DUOO or flARLDOROUGH * TIER GI^ACE Or DARLbOROUGI No woman of modern times has displayed a career of such emphasis as Sarah Jennings, has exhibited the incisive personality in shaping plans, the virile energy in pushing her projects, and the large grasp of public affairs, the fore- sight and the sanity. With all her beauty and her ability, " shrewd " is the epithet that thus clung to her name. " Queen Sarah," " the Viceroy," and " La Belle Jennings " are the epithets used in sketches of her career, but references in his- tory to her character are most often made to the harsher, the unlovely, the contentious phases of her composite character. Contentious she was, but not until she had been intrigued against by those at court who should have been most grateful to her ; uncharitable she was when the 4 DAMES OF HIGH DEGREE. great glory wrought for his country by her hus- band was made of no account by those who shared most in the glory ; and shrewish she be- came when contemned by court, when persecuted by opponents, and left alone by relatives. Not a lovely personality was hers, but a powerful one, one that, with a little more charity of heart, a trifle more suavity of manner, and a little more maintenance of majesty might have made for the betterment of Britain, and wrought for her- self a sweet and fair renown. Her career was indeed splendid. Making her debut in the Caro lan court, a vivacious beauty when the court was famed for the beauties assembling there, she rose to shape the affairs of the nation. Sarah, the third daughter of Richard Jennings, was born at Holy well, near St. Albans, in May, 1660. Her father was a country gentleman of moderate income, who had married Frances Thornhurst, daughter and heiress of Sir Giffard Thornhurst of Agnes Court, in Kent. Jennings was a Prot- estant, but a zealous Stuart adherent. To the court, two of his daughters were sent. The eldest, Frances, was a lovely girl of blond com- HER GRACE OF MARLBOROUGH. 5 plexion, with wit and vivacity as well as beauty. She is " La Belle Jennings " we meet in the pages of Grammont. In that iniquitous envi- ronment she preserved her respectability, repuls- ing all gallants, even the Duke of York, and became Duchess of Tyrconnel. Her portrait by Lely graced the gallery at Whitehall in that splendid collection there of the surpassing beau- ties of the time. The second sister, Barbara, did not go to court, but married Edward Griffith. The third sister, our Sarah, at twelve years of age, entered the service of Anne Hyde, Duchess of York. Besides wishing to surround herself with youth and beauty, the Duchess wished a playmate to the Princess Anne, afterwards Queen. This youthful companionship of the staid and sedate princess with the lovely, impetuous girl continued long after the death of Anne Hyde 1671 and long after James had married Mary Beatrix d'Este. The new Duchess was of the same age as the young maid of honor. She, too, was a beauty, of dark hair and eyes, a con- trast to Sarah, to whom she was kind and affec- tionate. In her service, and under her influence, 6 DAMES OF HIGH DEGREE. Sarah developed into a well-conducted and pru- dent woman, a woman of great intelligence, and her lively wit sparkled and her splendid beauty shone. Hers was a beauty that lasted. She had soft, deep blue eyes ; a delicate rosy mouth, of much sweetness of expression, a clear skin and blond hair, long and glossy, glorious in its effect. Her figure was most perfectly propor- tioned. When the Duke of York was married to Mary of Modena, one of the appointments to gentlemen of the bedchamber was that of the son of Sir Winston Churchill, of Ashe, in Dorsetshire, Colonel John Churchill, who after being page to the Duke had attained, at the age of sixteen, a commission in the army. He was an extremely handsome young man, with clear- cut, regular features, high forehead, and thought- ful eyes, with a figure above the average ; he was called "the handsome Englishman." His manners were as fine as his appearance. His sister Ara- bella had been the mistress of James II. during his first marriage, and Lady Castlemaine was his cousin ; and it was to the latter he was indebted for means to appear at court, and for HER GRACE OF MARLBOROUGH. 7 a powerful influence in his favor. When hand- some Colonel Churchill was twenty-four years of age he was attracted by the pretty Sarah Jennings. They were engaged for three years, a period of alternation in the intensity of their attachment. They were married in pri- vacy at last, Mary Beatrix being their only confidante. The soldier's duty called him to the continent, From Antwerp he wrote to his wife a letter characteristic of the many he sent throughout his career when he had to be away from her. " My soul's soul, I do with all my heart and soul long to be with you, you being dearer to me than my own life." Preferment soon came to the young soldier. He was favored of his royal master. He had been made Master of the Robes before James was King, and after was created Baron Churchill of Eyemouth in Scotland. Lady Churchill increased in favor with her girl playmate Anne. When the latter, a placid, respectable lady of commonplace mind, married the more sedate Prince George of Denmark, Sarah became more necessary for Anne as an antidote. With these 8 DAMES OF HIGH DEGREE. two, intimacy ripened into familiarity, and familiar- ity at last? bred contempt. The Princess wished forms of address put aside ; so proposed to her lady in waiting to adopt familiar names. The lady became to the Princess " Mrs. Freeman," and the Princess to her lady was " Morley." For long years they never addressed each other by any other title than these. She was the friend of Anne throughout that troublesome period when James had to flee, and Anne's sister Mary, and her husband from Holland became joint monarchs. Though an adherent of the Stuarts, Churchill wisely withdrew from the court and service of James long before his flight. In the new reign the Baron was at once raised to an earldom. But he had no part in affairs. The sisters Mary and Anne did not live in great amity, and as the Countess of Marlborough was the close companion of the heir to the throne, and not the Queen, her and her husband's in- fluence was small. At this period was the greatest glory of Countess Sarah as a leader of society. With her bright intelligence, sparkling wit, and great good sense, she attracted to HER GRACE OF MARLBOROUGH. 9 Anne's court at Whitehall all the able and bril- liant men of the day. Some came from interested motives, in being friendly with the adviser of the successor to the throne, others came for her own sake.; and chief among these was the noble Sidney Godolphin, who had been Lord Treasurer under James II. and who retained the office under William. He was an admirer of the shrewd sense of Sarah, and became a life-long friend. But all through her career this brilliant woman had no admirer like unto her husband. Loyal and loving when at home and abroad, his affection for her is a great tribute to her worth ; and that affection was reciprocal. Never did he leave her but he sent most tender messages of love. He who knew her best complained not of that violent temper or hasty speech. When he was away in the midst of his battles he wrote to her: " Put your trust in God, and be assured that I think I can't be unhappy as long as you are kind ;" and again, when he was a man of fifty-two, and his wife a decade younger, he wrote, on leaving her for a time : " It is impossible to express with what a heavy heart I parted from you when I was by the JO DAMES OF HIGH DEGREE. water's side. I could have given my life to have come back, though I knew my own weakness so much that I durst not, for I know I should have exposed myself to the company. I did for a great while with a perspective glass look out upon the cliffs, in hopes I might have had one sight of you." Lady Marlborough was of a most intense nature. She liked heartily, and she disliked just as heartily. Queen Mary was one of those she disliked. The royal sisters disagreed much, and these disagreements were attributed by the Queen to the influence of Lady Sarah on Anne. Her Majesty determined to have her dismissed, and commanded Anne to have her leave Whitehall. She left, but the Princess went with her. Marl- borough had been expelled the court by the King for carrying on a correspondence with his late monarch. The Queen was attacked with the small-pox and died, and after this the King was reconciled to his sister-in-law. At her residence in Berkeley House she again held court, and with her Lady Sarah the dictatress was as im- portant as ever. Marlborough somewhat recov- HER GRACE OF MARLBOROUGH. I I ered the confidence of the court, and was made governor to Anne's son, the young Duke of Gloucester. When William III. died, in 1702, Lady Marlborough was forty-three years of age, and now was the period of her greatest power, - the period preceding her downfall. Her husband had full command of the army, and gained such glory on the continent as raised the prestige of England and gained a lasting renown for the General. Honors were showered on him, in which his consort shared. He was made a Prince of the Roman Empire abroad, and a Duke at home. A ducal seat at Woodstock was given him by the nation, and Blenheim was built. His consort, during his career abroad, looked after his interests at court. He was not without ene- mies who belittled his conquests. What great man is not attacked and aspersed by those who have not the largeness of view to comprehend the motives and principles of the great ? " Queen Sarah," termed now " the Viceroy " by reason of her influence with the Queen Anne, confounded his enemies. But she, who had foiled many a minister, fell a victim to the intrigue of a humble 12 DAMES OF HIGH DEGREE. relative, Abigail Hill, whom she had introduced at court, and who was bedchamber woman to the Queen. As honors were heaped upon the Duchess, she became haughty and dictatorial. The taciturn Queen came at last to resent her dictation in politics. The question was in regard to Church and State, Anne being a strict, even a narrow church-woman, and the Duchess being wise enough to see the trend of thought was against intolerant laws. The political differ- ence soon became a personal difference, and " Mrs. Freeman " and " Morley " were friends no more, for Abigail Hill had treacherously intrigued against the Duchess, being guilty of backbiting and deceit. From the time of the disfavor of the Marlboroughs, Queen Anne's prestige abroad waned and she had no prosperity at home. In 1722, the Duke died. His widow was sought in marriage by Lord Coningsby and by the Duke of Somerset; but she replied, " The widow of Marl- borough shall never become the wife of any other man." The family of the Duchess was five daughters and one son, Lord Blandford, who died in his HER GRACE OF MARLBOROUGH. 13 youth. The daughters were all beautiful like their mother, and, like her, intelligent and virtu- ous. The eldest, Lady Henrietta Churchill, in her eighteenth year was married to Lord Rial- ton, eldest son of her mother's friend Godolphin. She afterwards became Duchess of Marlborough in her own right. The second daughter, Lady Anne, was married to Lord Sunderland, and through her descendant the titles and estates of the Churchills have been enjoyed by the Spencers. This union was not a felicitous one. The third daughter, Lady Elizabeth, married the Earl of Bridgewater. The fourth, Lady Mary, became Duchess of Montagu. The latter was of a hasty temper and disagreed sadly with her mother. The later life of the Duchess was not placid. Her acerbity of temper increased with age, and brought her into many a turmoil. Many are instances given of her imprudent and caustic speech, and many the anecdotes told of her keen wit, and her uncharitable conduct. She wrote the defence of her course with the Queen ; she was attacked severely by Pope and by Swift, and was defended by Fielding. Indeed, such a strong 14 DAMES OF HIGH DEGREE. personality as hers must needs stir up strife. She made many enemies, and her enemies did not fail to magnify her failings. She died at eighty-four years of age, and was buried beside her husband at Blenheim. Lord Bolingbroke was once spoken to of Marlborough's penuriousness. He stopped the comment by saying, " He was so very great a man that I forgot he had that vice." We would that the chroniclers had treated his Duchess in the same spirit. She had several blemishes of character, but she was a very great woman. HENRIETTA, COUNTE.15 or JurroiK MY GOOD h OWARD" IN Thackeray's ever interesting and keen com- ments on the Courts of the Georges, he says, " Of all the Court of George and Caroline I find no one but Lady Suffolk with whom it seems pleasant and kindly to hold converse. Even the misogynist Croker, who edited her letters, loves her, and has that regard for her with which her sweet graciousness seems to have inspired almost all men and some women who came near her." Strange language this. In searching for the most honest, the most sane talker, and the least vainglorious, least lacquered of the world, among the women of that age, we come upon one who was chronicled for a century as mistress of the Kinar. The edition of her letters combats this 1 8 DAMES OF HIGH DEGREE. established repute of her position. But beyond the general esteem of her associates and the adu- lation of her admirers, he adduces no evidence to controvert the grave asseverations of history. In a letter to her, Mr. Hobart says, " You have hardly yet ever received a letter but sil- ver-tongued praise sweetened every line. Pope and Swift for you laid by satire, and joined for once in panegyric." How grateful we are they did preserve to us in these panegyrics the sweet character of one whose position at Court would lead to cruel comment and adverse estimate ! " I know a thing that 's most uncommon, (Envy, be silent and attend ! ) I know a reasonable woman, Handsome and witty, yet a friend. " Not warp'd by passion, awed by rumor, Not grave through pride, or gay through folly, An equal mixture of good-humor, And sensible soft melancholy. " ' Has she no faults then (Envy says), sir? ' Yes, she has one, I must aver ; When all the world conspires to praise her, The woman 's deaf, and does not hear ! " "MY GOOD HOWARD. 19 This is the compliment paid by little Mr. Pope, " To a Certain Lady at Court." Swift's char- acter sketch is in prose, and is prefaced to the collection of Lady Suffolk's letters. After pass- ing by the subject of her wit and beauty as being freely conceded and also being apart from her character, the Dean sketches very lightly her career, and then proceeds to a recital of her char- acteristics. Supreme tact and diplomacy, mod- esty and kindliness, are her attributes. " If she had never seen a court, it is possible she might have been a friend," and " She is upon the whole an excellent companion for men of the best ac- complishments who have nothing to ask," are the comments of the satiric churchman; and he con- cludes with the opinion that " her talents as a courtier will spread, enlarge, and multiply to such a degree that her private virtues, for want of room and time to operate, must be folded and laid up clean, like clothes in a chest, never to be put on till satiety or some reverse of fortune shall dispose her to retirement." Beyond the compliments of Pope and Swift in adulation and incense is the poem of Lord Peterborough addressed to Mrs. Howard : 2O DAMES OF HIGH DEGREE. " I said to my heart, between sleeping and waking, Thou wild thing, that always art leaping or aching, What black, brown, or fair, in what clime, in what nation, By turns has not taught thee a pit-a-patation? " The heart is not affected by Celia, by Sappho, or Prudentia, but by another finer than these. " But Chloe, so lively, so easy, so fair, Her wit so genteel, without art, without care ; When she comes in my way the motion, the pain, The leapings, the achings, return all again. " O wonderful creature ! a woman of reason ! Never grave out of pride, never gay out of season ; When so easy to guess who this angel should be, Would one think Mrs. Howard ne'er dreamt it was she ? " This sweet lady, who drew men unto her, was Henrietta, eldest daughter of Sir Henry Hobart, fourth Baronet of his family. She was born about 1688, and married, in her twentieth year, the Honorable Charles Howard, third son of Henry, fifth Earl of Suffolk, who in 1731 became, by the deaths of his nephews and two elder brothers, ninth Earl of Suffolk. The union was not feli- citous from the first. Howard was without "MY GOOD HOWARD. 21 income ; his wife's was but small. His tastes and temperament were reprehensible. About the close of Queen Anne's reign, the couple went to Hanover with the view of conciliating the favor of their future sovereign. The lady gained much favor with the Electress Sophia, and on her son's accession to the throne was ap- pointed woman of the bedchamber to the Princess of Wales. It was long after this, however, that the Prince became at all enamoured of her. Mrs. Howard found it expedient to give a dinner to the Hanoverian ministers, but in order to do so made the sacrifice of selling her beautiful head of hair to procure the wherewithal. On the trans- ference of the Court to England, the apartment of the bedchamber woman of the Princess be- came the rendezvous of all the beauties, gallants, and wits of the day. Here Molly Lepel was gracious to all, but loving to one, Lord Hervey, especial friend of the Princess; here Mary Bellenden, the vivacious, and Margaret her sister, added gayety to the court. Among all the ladies Mrs. Howard was the favorite. She was a good friend to all, and kept her friends long after her 22 DAMES OF HIGH DEGREE. Court days. Many of them became her corre- spondents; and in their letters we find a loyalty, a happy spirit of comradeship, and withal a sin- cerity which was rare in those days. Mary Bellenden, become Mrs. Campbell, wrote to her in 1722: "I wish you might leave that life of hurry, and be able to enjoy those that love you, and be a little at rest ; and I really do believe you have as many people that love and value you as ever came to one woman's share." This is the burden of all the letters sent her, good wishes for her welfare, and expressions of affection. The Prince of Wales, accustomed to having his wishes gratified, desired for himself her who was the admired of all the court. Not that he was of an amorous disposition, did he desire her, so much as to disprove the rumors that he was ruled by his wife, and from a silly idea that gallantry was becoming. While Mrs. Howard submitted to the position of favorite to the Prince, this did not alter her pleasant relations with the Princess. The lady's husband of course became acquainted with the intrigue, and helped to publish it by vociferously demanding her before the guards " MY GOOD HOWARD. 23 and congregated auditors in the quadrangle of St. James' Palace. He had a letter delivered to her by the Archbishop of Canterbury. But all this was in the nature of blackmail, for he was quieted with a pension of twelve hundred a year. Never was royal mistress less avaricious or sel- fish than she. In her career she was not able to aggrandize more than the cost of a small villa at Twickenham, known as Marble Hill, the cost of which was but ten or twelve thousand pounds. Gay writes of the building of it: " My house was only built for show, My lady's empty pockets know ; And now she will not have a shilling To raise the stairs or build the ceiling. 'T is come to what I always thought, My dame is hardly worth a groat." The place was comfortable and tasteful rather than magnificent. Her friends had aided its accomplishing. Lords Burlington and Pem- broke designed the house ; Lord Bathurst and Mr. Pope laid out the gardens ; and Gay, Swift, and Arbuthnot had constituted themselves super- intendents of the household. Here were spent 24 DAMES OF HIGH DEGREE. her happiest hours. In 1731, Mr. Howard suc- ceeded to the Earldom of Suffolk, and as a countess could not hold the subordinate posi- tion of bedchamber woman, the Queen trans- ferred her to the office of Mistress of the Robes. This gave my lady less exacting duties and more leisure to enjoy her villa on the Thames. Her husband died in 1733, which increased her in- come, so in the following year she retired from Court. She lived not long in widowhood, but married, in 1735, the Hon. George Berkeley, the youngest son of the second Earl of Berkeley. They lived a happy life, as appears from their correspondence and as testified to by Lady Suf- folk after her husband's death in 1 746. Lady Suffolk had one child by her first husband, a son, who became tenth Earl, and died without issue in 1745 at the age of thirty-five. By her second husband she had no children, but adopted and educated her niece, Lady Dorothy Hobart, and her grand-niece, Lady Dorothy's daughter by Colonel Hotham. From the time of her retirement from Court until her death in 1767, she lived a life of tranquillity, the object of " MY GOOD HOWARD. 25 affection from many loyal friends. Her neighbor at Twickenham, Mr. Walpole, used to spend his autumn evenings in her gardens, enjoying her Court reminiscences and unmalicious gossip. Her memory was wonderful, and all her comment sen- sible. Her hearing had always been defective ; but even this did not detract from the charm of reconnoitring her memories of early days in high circles, and listening to their interesting recital. Her appearance, as described by Wal- pole, is what one would imagine to be consonant with her character: "She was of a just height, well made, extremely fair, with the finest light brown hair, and features regular and agreeable, rather than beautiful. She was remarkably gen- teel, and always dressed with taste and simpli- city. Her personal charms had suffered but little diminution up to the period of her death, at the advanced age of seventy-nine. Her mental quali- fications were by no means shining ; her eyes and countenance showed her character, which was grave and mild. She preserved uncommon respect to the end of her life, and, from the pro- priety and decency of her behavior, was always 26 DAMES OF HIGH DEGREE. treated as if her virtue had never been ques- tioned, her friends even affecting to suppose that her connection with the King had been confined to pure friendship." The Queen, though professing great fondness for Mrs. Howard, took a malicious delight in employing her in menial duties, and subjecting her to mortifications. " My good Howard " is the phrase she became accustomed to use when addressing her, and this is the phrase we like to recall her by. The frailty, weaknesses, and ill in her character have nigh vanished as her career is empurpled by time, and that character's tone and tint is best sketched by the simple phrase, " My good Howard." IN the collection of Carolan Court beauties painted by Lely, the most interesting portrait, next to that of the graceful Countess of Gram- mont, is of Louise de Keroualle, the patrician mistress brought from France by the Merry Mon- arch. The lovely olive flesh-tones of this were a characteristic of her descendants for many a generation. Her grandson, Charles Lennox, second Duke of Richmond, born 1701, only son of the first Duke, who during the lifetime of his father was Earl of March, on the death of his grandmother Louise succeeded to the Dukedom of Aubigny in France. When but eighteen, he was married, to cancel a gambling debt, to Lady Sarah, eldest daughter of William, first 3