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 5
 
 NELL GWYN
 
 \F this Edition of the Story of Nell 
 Gwyn Two Hundred and Fifty 
 Copies are printed for England and America.
 
 - 
 
 I 
 
 tfcr
 
 THE STORY OF 
 
 ELL IP W Y N 
 
 '. ' '> AND THE 
 
 SAYINGS OF CHARLES II. 
 
 RELATED AND COLLECTED BY 
 
 PETER CUNNINGHAM, F.S.A. 
 
 WITH THE AUTHOR'S LATEST CORRECTIONS 
 
 PORTRAITS AND ALL THE ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 EDITED, WITH INTRODUCTION, ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 AND A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, BY 
 
 HENRY B. WHEATLEY 
 F.S.A. 
 
 W. W. GIBBINGS 
 18 BURY STREET, LONDON, W.C. 
 
 Fifteenth 1 892 f November
 
 4H1 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 'THE STORY OF NELL GWYN ' has long been 
 out of print, and, in consequence, has taken 
 rank as a very scarce book. It is a work of 
 distinct value, and one that should not be out 
 of reach of the student of this period of our 
 history. There is, therefore, strong reason why 
 it should be republished. 
 
 Since the time when Peter Cunningham wrote, 
 many new facts connected with Nell Gwyn have 
 come to light. Some of these are mentioned 
 in the notes, but it has been thought well to 
 gather together the most important of these 
 facts in an Introduction to the book, where can 
 be discussed some of the disputed points in Nell 
 Gwyn's life. 
 
 Mrs. Peter Cunningham, the author's widow, 
 has informed me that her husband always 
 intended to publish a new edition, and she has 
 kindly placed at my disposal the contents of his 
 annotated copy. The present edition, there- 
 fore, contains the author's latest corrections.
 
 vi PREFACE. 
 
 Such additional notes by the author as have 
 been added have the letters f P. C. ' placed after 
 them, but it has not been thought necessary to 
 draw special attention to such verbal alterations 
 as Mr. Cunningham may have made in the 
 text. For the notes marked { Ed. ' I alone am 
 responsible. 
 
 H. B. W. 
 
 October 1892.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 NOTES ON THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, xi 
 
 INTRODUCTION, xxi 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Nell's birth and birthplace Horoscope of her nativity 
 Condition in life of her father Her account of her 
 early days Becomes an orange-girl at the theatre 
 Effects of the Restoration Revival of the stage Two 
 theatres allowed Scenery and dresses Principal actors 
 and actresses Duties and importance of the orange- 
 girls, . 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Pepys introduces us to Nelly Character of Pepys Nelly 
 at the Duke's Theatre Who was Duncan ? Nell's parts 
 as Lady Wealthy, Enanthe, and Florimel Charles 
 Hart Nell's lodgings in Drury Lane Description of 
 Drury Lane in the reign of Charles II. The Maypole 
 in the Strand Nell and Lord Buckhurst Position in 
 society of actors and actresses Character of Lord 
 Buckhurst Nelly at Epsom, 25 
 
 Til
 
 viii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Epsom in the reign of Charles II. England in 1667 Nelly 
 resumes her engagement at the King's Theatre Inferior 
 in Tragedy to Comedy Plays Mirida in ' All Mistaken ' 
 Miss Davis of the Duke's Theatre Her song, ' My 
 lodging it is on the Cold Ground,' parodied by Nell 
 Influence of the Duke of Buckingham in controlling the 
 predilections of the King Charles II. at the Duke's 
 Theatre Nelly has leading parts in three of Dryden's 
 new Plays Buckhurst is made a Gentleman of the 
 Bedchamber, promised a peerage, and sent on a sleeve- 
 less errand into France Nell becomes the Mistress of the 
 King Plays Almahide in ' The Conquest of Granada ' 
 The King more than ever enamoured Parallel case 
 of Perdita Robinson and George iv., .... 55 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Personal Character of King Charles n. , . . .83 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Sayings of King Charles n., 107 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Birth of the Duke of St. Albans Arrival of Mademoiselle 
 de Querouaille Death of the Duchess of Orleans 
 Nelly's house in Pall Mall Countess of Castlemaine 
 created Duchess of Cleveland Sir John Birkenhead, 
 Sir John Coventry, and the Actresses at the two Houses 
 Insolence of Dramatists and Actors Evelyn over- 
 hears a conversation between Nelly and the King The 
 Protestant and Popish Mistresses Story of the Service
 
 CONTENTS. ix 
 
 PAGE 
 
 of Plate Printed Dialogues illustrative of the rivalry 
 of Nelly and the Duchess of Portsmouth Madame de 
 Sevigne's account of it Story of the Smock Nelly in 
 mourning for the Cham of Tartary Story of the two 
 Fowls Portsmouth's opinion of Nelly Concert at 
 Nell's house The Queen and la Belle Stuart at a Fair 
 disguised as Country Girls Births, Marriages, and 
 Creations Nelly's disappointment Her witty Remark 
 to the King Her son created Earl of Burford, and 
 betrothed to the daughter and heiress of Vere, Earl of 
 Oxford, 128 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Houses in which Nelly is said to have lived Burford House, 
 Windsor, one of the few genuine Her losses at basset 
 Court paid to Nelly by the Duke of Monmouth, Lord 
 Cavendish, etc. Death of her mother Printed elegy 
 on her death Nelly's household expenses Bills for her 
 chair and bed Death of Mrs. Roberts Foundation of 
 Chelsea Hospital Nelly connected with its origin 
 Books dedicated to Nelly Death of her second son 
 The Earl of Burford created Duke of St. Albans 
 Nelly's only letter Ken and Nelly at Winchester 
 Nelly at Avington Death of the King Was the King 
 poisoned? Nelly to have been created Countess of 
 Greenwich if the King had lived, . 158 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Nelly in real mourning, and outlawed for debt Death of 
 Otway, tutor to her son James II. pays her debts 
 The King's kindness occasions a groundless rumour that 
 she has gone to mass Her intimacy with Dr. Tenison, 
 then Vicar of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, and Dr. Lower, 
 the celebrated physician She sends for Tenison in her
 
 x CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 last illness Her death and contrite end Her will and 
 last request to her son Her funeral Tenison preaches 
 her funeral sermon False account of the sermon cried 
 by hawkers in the streets The sermon used as an argu- 
 ment against Tenison's promotion to the See of Lincoln 
 Queen Mary's defence of him and of Nelly Her son 
 the Duke of St. Albans Eleanor Gwyn and Harriet 
 Mellon Various portraits of Nelly Further Anecdotes 
 Conclusion, . ...'." : . '. . .185 
 
 INDEX, 215 
 
 LIST OF PLATES 
 
 NELL GWYN. From an engraving by Wright, after Lely. 
 
 [Frontispiece. 
 
 From an engraving by Becket, after 
 
 Verrhells, . . . facing page i 
 
 ,, From an engraving by Valck, after 
 
 Lely, ,,38 
 
 ,, From an engraving, . . . ,, 76 
 
 CHARLES il. From an engraving by Smith, after 
 
 Wissing, . . . . ,,84 
 
 DUCHESS OF " From an engraving by Wagstaff, 
 PORTSMOUTH. J after Lely, . . . . ,,130 
 
 NELL GWYN ^ From an engraving by Tompson, 
 WITH CHILDREN/ after Lely, 154 
 
 NELL GWYN. From an engraving by P. V. B. , 
 
 after Lely, . . - . - i ,, 176 
 
 From an engraving after Gascar, . ,, 205
 
 NOTES ON THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR 
 
 FEW literary men have been better equipped for the 
 work of their lifetime than Peter Cunningham. Being 
 a son (the third) of Allan Cunningham, 1 the poet, he 
 grew up from his earliest years with a taste for litera- 
 ture. He was an admirable editor, who did not 
 overload his author with long and unnecessary notes, 
 but was able from a wide reading to illustrate difficult 
 passages by reference to what contemporary authors 
 had said. The chief work by which he will always 
 
 1 Allan Cunningham's four sons were all more or less contri- 
 butors to English literature. Mrs. Cunningham has kindly favoured 
 me with the following particulars : 
 
 1. Captain Joseph Cunningham, Bengal Engineers, author of 
 History of the Sikhs, published by John Murray in 1852-3. 
 Served in the first Afghan War and Sutlej Campaign, and died in 
 India, a young officer, full of promise. 
 
 2. Major-General Sir Alexander Cunningham, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., 
 R. E. , late Director-General Indian Archaeological Survey. Author 
 of Ladak, The Bhilsa Topes, etc. He was present at the battles 
 of Punniah and Chillianwallah, and was created Major for services 
 at the siege of Mooltan. 
 
 3. Peter Cunningham. 
 
 4. Colonel Francis Cunningham, Madras Army, born 1820, 
 died 1876. Many years on the literary staff of the Saturday 
 Review. Edited Marlowe's Works, Massinger's Plays, and Ben 
 Jonson's Works. Served in first Afghan War, and was one of the 
 heroes of the defence of Jellalabad. 
 
 3d
 
 xii THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 be known is the Handbook of London^ in which the 
 history of the great city was treated in a novel 
 manner, and with great spirit and accuracy ; but the 
 publication of this work forms by no means his only 
 claim upon our regard. He wrote out of a full 
 knowledge of his subject, and with great spirit and 
 aplomb, qualities which are not always found as 
 characteristics of the antiquary. 
 
 Peter Cunningham was born at Pimlico on April 7, 
 1 8 1 6, when his father was foreman and manager to 
 Sir Francis Chantrey, the great sculptor; and from 
 1825 to 1831 he was a schoolboy at Christ's Hos- 
 pital. These dates are obtained from an article in The 
 Builder (October 26, 1867) on the Scotch in London 
 (Scotland Yard), where he wrote : c I do not re- 
 member when I was a Bluecoat boy a period ex- 
 tending from 1825 to 1831 that there was a sample 
 of a Scot to be found in the school. Had there been 
 one, the boy, whether a red or black Douglas, would 
 have found Christ's Hospital off Newgate Street a 
 little too hot for his Caledonian " bluid." * 
 
 Soon after Peter Cunningham left school he began 
 his literary career by writing a life of Drummond of 
 Hawthornden, which was prefixed to a selection from 
 the poems of that famous Scotsman published in 1833. 
 In the following year he was introduced as a clerk 
 into the Audit Office through the influence of Sir 
 Robert Peel. In the preface to his Extracts from 
 the Accounts of the Revels at Court in the Reign of
 
 NOTES ON LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, xiii 
 
 )ueen Elizabeth and King James /., published by 
 the Shakespeare Society in 1842, he alludes to his 
 entry into the Civil Service 
 
 When by the kindness of the Rt. Hon. Sir Robert 
 Peel I was appointed to a situation in the Audit Office, 
 Somerset House, one of my first inquiries unconnected 
 with my official duties was, what old papers there were in 
 the place. To this there was a ready reply. I was told 
 of Books of Enrolments and of Declared Accounts as far 
 back as the reign of Henry vui. ; but no one could tell 
 me of their contents, for few could read them : while 
 some had heard that we were in possession of the expenses 
 of building Dover Castle and the Tower of London 
 ' Ye towers of Julius, London's lasting shame ' 
 
 signed it was said by no less ancient a personage than 
 Julius Cassar. Of course I did not confound with these 
 very worthy gentlemen and clever in their way, though 
 indifferent antiquaries, honest Sir Julius Cassar, Under- 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer in the reigns of Queen 
 Elizabeth and King James, with the great historian of his 
 own successes, the hero of Pharsalia. 
 
 Again, in an article on Edward Norgate in The 
 Builder^ Jan. 12, 1867, he wrote 
 
 When a clerk under the Commissioners of Audit in 
 Somerset House, many a Saturday afternoon hour (attend- 
 ance closed) I have spent in the Archbishop of Canterbury's 
 Official Will Office in Heraldic and Prerogative Doctors' 
 Commons. Those were hard-paying separate shilling 
 calendar searching in those days, and my dinner was often 
 reduced in quantity by this longing for learning. 
 
 In 1835 he published a work on the Songs of
 
 xiv THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 England and Scotland, which is often erroneously 
 attributed to his father. In 1841 he printed for 
 private circulation seventy-five copies of a small 
 volume of 47 pages entitled Poems upon Several 
 Occasions, by Peter Cunningham, a Prentice in the 
 Divine Art of Poesy. 
 
 In 1842 he married Zenobia, second daughter of 
 John Martin, the great painter, a lady who is happily 
 still with us, and who has kindly allowed the editor to 
 use the author's latest corrections in this new edition 
 of his book. 
 
 In 1 842 Cunningham had become treasurer to the 
 Shakespeare Society, and in this same year he pre- 
 pared for that Society a print of the Accounts of the 
 Revels at Court. For this Society he also wrote 
 a Life of Inigo Jones. In 1844 he prepared a new 
 edition in one volume, royal octavo, of Campbell's 
 Specimens of the British Poets. 
 
 In this same year he edited for the Percy Society a 
 reprint of Rich's Honestie of the Age ; and in 1847 he 
 published an edition of his father's Poems and Songs, 
 with an introduction, glossary, and notes. 
 
 About this time Cunningham compiled a use- 
 ful Handbook to Westminster Abbey, which went 
 through several editions. In 1849 he published the 
 book by which his name will best be remembered, 
 viz. the valuable Handbook for London , Past and 
 Present. This was in two volumes, post octavo, and 
 formed part of Mr. Murray's popular series of hand-
 
 NOTES ON LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, xv 
 
 books. In 1850 a second edition, corrected and 
 enlarged, was ready, but by means of printing in 
 double columns and the use of a smaller type the 
 work was compressed into a single volume. The 
 wording of the title was changed to Handbook of 
 London. Mr. Cunningham prepared for Mr. Murray 
 a small volume on Modern London which has gone 
 through several editions. By this time he had become 
 a man of established literary repute, and when the 
 first Lord Lytton's comedy of Not so Bad as we 
 Seem was acted at Devonshire House in 1851, he 
 was asked to assist in the production. The part 
 of the hero Lord Wilmot was acted by Charles 
 Dickens, and John Forster took the character of Mr. 
 Hardman. Charles Knight was Jacob Tonson ; and 
 of the three frequenters of Will's Coffee-House the 
 part of Lord Le Trimmer was taken by Cunningham, 
 that of Sir Thomas Timid by Westland Marston, and 
 that of Colonel Flint by R. H. Home. It is in- 
 teresting to read the dramatis personte with its list of 
 distinguished names names of great men who have 
 passed away ; but it is still more interesting to find 
 there the name of one of our greatest artists, and, 
 moreover, one who is happily still with us. Mr. 
 John Tenniel filled the part of Hodge, servant to Sir 
 Geoffrey Thornside, a character which was taken by 
 Mark Lemon, a former editor of Punch. 
 
 In 1852 Cunningham wrote a memoir of Turner 
 the painter, which was published in Burnet's Turner^
 
 xvi THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 and in this same year appeared the work on Nell 
 Gwyn which is now reprinted. From 1854 to 1858 
 were busy years with Mr. Cunningham. In the 
 former year he produced his handsome and useful 
 edition of Goldsmith's Works, and also his annotated 
 edition of Johnson's Lives of the Poets. In the pre- 
 face to the first volume of the latter book the editor tells 
 an anecdote of his father, who, when a stonemason in 
 Edinburgh, bought a copy of Johnson's Lives for three 
 shillings and elevenpence. Mr. Cunningham goes on 
 to say 
 
 From this acquisition (gained by the sweat of the 
 brow, in later years honoured with a better binding) my 
 father learned much, and I have learned something. The 
 reader who delights in biography, and has any liking for 
 the notes that follow will excuse this anecdote. To my 
 father's cheap but highly-prized acquisition the public is 
 mainly indebted for a good work (the Lives of the British 
 Painters, Sculptors, and Architects), and in that edition I 
 first read Johnson, and determined twenty years ago to 
 become his editor. 
 
 In 1856 he commenced the publication of his 
 second most important work, viz. the edition of 
 Horace Walpole's Letters, which were then for the 
 first time published in a chronological sequence. This 
 work, which extended to nine volumes, was com- 
 pleted in 1858, and it is an interesting monument of 
 Cunningham's industry and ability. His knowledge 
 of the period and his sympathy with the pursuits of 
 Walpole peculiarly fitted him for his task. In his
 
 NOTES ON LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, xvii 
 
 preface he sets forth the leading features of the edition 
 thus : 
 
 I. The publication for the first time of the entire 
 Correspondence of Walpole (2665 Letters) in a chrono- 
 logical and uniform order. 
 
 II. The reprinting greatly within the compass of nine 
 volumes the fourteen, far from uniform volumes, hitherto 
 commonly known as the only edition of Walpole's Letters. 
 
 III. The publication for the first time of 117 Letters 
 written by Horace Walpole ; many in his best mood, all 
 illustrative of Walpole's period, while others reveal matter 
 of moment connected with the man himself. 
 
 IV. The introduction for the first time into any col- 
 lection of Walpole's Letters of 35 letters hitherto scattered 
 over many printed books and papers. 
 
 In the midst of his work of editing Walpole he was 
 called upon to collect and arrange a British Portrait 
 Gallery at the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition 
 of 1857. This was one of the first attempts to do 
 what has since been done on a large scale, and 
 Cunningham was very successful in his undertaking. 
 The work, however, was one which occupied much 
 time, and he obtained six months' leave of absence 
 from his official duties for the purpose of carrying it 
 out. Although Cunningham had many friends, he 
 must also have had enemies, for in the copy of his 
 Poems, 1841, in the British Museum, which formerly 
 belonged to George Daniel, there is preserved a scur- 
 rilous account of Cunningham taken from a forgotten 
 paper named The Idler (1856). Although written in 
 
 b
 
 xviii THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 a very unfriendly spirit, this paper shows the promi- 
 nent position which its subject occupied in literary 
 society, for it forms No. 3 of a series on c Eminent 
 Modern Writers.' Daniel has added a note in which 
 he calls the paper a Fleet Ditch libel, and says, c It is 
 here preserved as a mendacious literary curiosity.' 
 In 1859 Cunningham printed in the fourth volume 
 of the Miscellanies of the Philobiblon Society eight 
 Letters from Thomson, the poet, to Mallet, in the pos- 
 session of the late Mr. John Murray. In the following 
 year he added these letters to the Aldine Edition of 
 Thomson's poetical works, which he re-edited in 1860. 
 
 In 1854 he had become chief clerk at the Audit 
 Office, but in 1860 he retired from the Civil Service, 
 and after that date he did not publish anything of 
 importance. He contributed to magazines, and was 
 engaged in collecting materials for a Biograpbia 
 Britannica and a Dictionary of British Poets. He 
 also helped the Rt. Hon. J. Wilson Croker in his 
 projected edition of Pope, an edition which was sub- 
 sequently taken in hand by Mr. Elwin and completed 
 by Mr. Courthope. Some articles which he contri- 
 buted to The Builder in 1866-67 are full of curious 
 facts gathered from various sources and set forth in a 
 very entertaining manner. 
 
 During Cunningham's active life he lived in London, 
 at first in his father's house, 27 Lower Belgrave Place. 
 In 1849 ne was h'ving in Victoria Road, Kensington, 
 and in 1858 he was at Chertsey. In an amusing
 
 NOTES ON LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, xix 
 
 article in The Builder on c London Revisited ' (April 
 13, 1867) he refers to his living out of London 
 thus : 
 
 In a self-chosen exile from London of some six or 
 seven years we of course had all but forgotten the capital 
 of the world, and were about to turn to a Gazetteer or 
 M'Culloch's Geographical Diet, for some account of 
 ' London as it is,' when we bethought ourselves that we 
 would see London again for ourselves. What, we asked, 
 is there new to attract us ? 
 
 At this time the life of the learned editor and 
 agreeable author was fast nearing a close, and on 
 May 1 8, 1869, he drew his last breath at St. Albans. 
 
 I had not the privilege of personal acquaintance 
 with Mr. Cunningham, but having gone over much 
 of his work and prepared a new edition of his Hand- 
 book of London, I feel to some extent as if I knew 
 him, and that it is not presumption to say I am in a 
 position to appreciate his work, which is excellent in 
 itself, and is not likely to be superseded by the re- 
 searches of others. The main characteristics of his 
 editorial work are sympathy with his author and insight 
 into that author's feelings. It is these characteristics 
 that will cause his annotations to live as long as the 
 writings he illustrated. Any writer might be proud 
 to know that his name will go down to posterity 
 honourably linked with those of Johnson, Goldsmith, 
 and Horace Walpole. H. B. W. 
 
 October 1892.
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 And once Nell Gwynne, a frail young sprite, 
 
 Look'd kindly when I met her ; 
 I shook my head perhaps but quite 
 
 Forgot to quite forget her. 
 
 Fred Locker [ Lampson]'s St. James's Street 
 (London Lyrics). 
 
 WE know that Nell Gwyn was born on the 2d 
 February 1650-51, but the place of her birth and her 
 parentage are more than doubtful. The preponder- 
 ance of opinion may be said to be in favour of 
 Hereford as the birthplace, although there is little or 
 no evidence on the subject. The local feeling has 
 not been so strong in London, and no one has urged 
 the claims of the Coal Yard with any force, but the 
 inhabitants of Hereford have been anxious to claim 
 this famous woman as their own. The street in 
 which the house popularly supposed to have been her 
 birthplace was situated, 4 Pipe Well Lane,' has now 
 been renamed in her honour Gwyn Street. More- 
 over, in 1883, the Bishop of Hereford gave his consent 
 to the fixing of a memorial tablet to Nell Gwyn on 
 the outer face of his garden wall. This is intended 
 to mark the site of the house where the royal favourite 
 is supposed to have been born. 
 
 xzi
 
 xxii THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 Family. As to Nell Gwyn's father opinion is 
 even more divided than it is in respect to her birth- 
 place. When she had become prosperous some sub- 
 servient person found her a coat of arms, but there 
 is no evidence that she was of gentle birth. c Captain 
 Thomas Gwyn, of an ancient family in Wales,' is a 
 singularly shadowy personage, and from the sordid 
 circumstances of Nell's early life it seems much more 
 probable that her father was a man of low extraction. 
 In a catchpenny Life of Eleanor Gwinn, published 
 in 1752, she is said to have been the daughter of a 
 tradesman in mean circumstances. 
 
 Of Nell's mother more is known. As Cunningham 
 mentions, she lived for a time with her daughter in 
 Pall Mall, but at the time of her death in 1 679 she 
 was living at the Neat Houses in Chelsea. Here she 
 fell in the water and was drowned, and ill-natured 
 persons say that she was drunk at the time. None 
 so ill-natured as the so-called gentlemen, Rochester 
 and Etherege, who were not ashamed to vent their 
 spite against Nell Gwyn by inhuman remarks upon 
 her poor mother. Lord Rochester in his libel, entitled 
 A Panegyrick on Nelly ^ wrote 
 
 Nor was the mother's funeral less her care, 
 No cost, no velvet did the daughter spare : 
 Fine gilded 'Scutcheons did the Herse inrich, 
 To celebrate this Martyr of the Ditch ; 
 Burnt brandy did in flaming Brimmers flow, 
 Drank at her funeral, while her well-pleas'd shade 
 Rejoyc'd, even in the sober Fields below 
 At all the drunkenness her Death had made.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxiii 
 
 Sir George Etherege, in his The Lady of Pleasure^ 
 a Satyr^ which begins 
 
 I sing the story of a scoundrel Lass, 
 Rais'd from a dunghill to a King's embrace, 
 
 refers to 'the pious mother,' 
 
 Maid, Punk, and Bawd, full sixty years and more, 
 Dy'd drunk with brandy in a common-shore. 1 
 
 Less highly placed verse-writers followed the lead 
 of Rochester and Etherege. A black-bordered broad- 
 side was circulated, entitled, c An Elegy upon that 
 never-to-be-forgotten Matron, Old Maddam Gwinn^ 
 who was unfortunately drown'd in her own Fish-pond 
 on the 2gth of July 1679.' The lampoon begins, 
 'Mourners, prepare, let doleful, echoes sound,' and 
 ends with this 
 
 EPITAPH. 
 
 Here lies intomb'd, within this Marble Pile, 
 The wonder of her Sex, who for a while 
 Fate durst not venture on, but taking breath, 
 He has resign'd her to the Arms of Death. 
 Readers, lament ! for seldom shall you find 
 The weaker sex to bear so strong a mind. 
 Strengthen'd with all the virtues France or th' Rhine, 
 England or Spain could e're infuse from Wine. 
 But Bacchus unkind did tempt her to ingage 
 Where she expir'd, by subtle Neptune's rage. 
 Tho' fate was cruel, yet her Fame remains, 
 For drinking, none like her the world contains : 
 To after-ages then a Statue raise, 
 That so we may eternalize her Praise. 
 
 1 Roxburghe Ballads, ed. J. W. Ebsworth, part 12, p. 524.
 
 xxiv THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 In Satyr Unmuzzled Nell Gwyn is called the c She- 
 Buffoon,' and her dead mother is cruelly attacked : 
 
 To see the Daughter mourn for such a Beast, 
 Is like her life, which makes up but one Jest. 1 
 
 In the south, aisle of the old church of St. Martin's 
 in the Fields was a monument to the memory of old 
 Mrs. Gwin with this inscription, * Here lyes interred 
 the body of Helena Gwynn, born in this parish, who 
 departed this life ye 2Oth of July MDCLXXIX. in the 
 Ivi yeare of her age.' 2 When the church was rebuilt 
 the monument disappeared. It may be incidentally 
 noticed that the statement that old Mrs. Gwyn was 
 born in the parish is to some extent a reason for sup- 
 posing that the daughter was also born in London. 
 
 The only other near relation known to us was Rose 
 Gwyn (sister of Nell), whose name is mentioned in a 
 sedan chairman's bill, and in the codicil to Nell's will. 
 She married Captain John Cassells, who died in 1675, 
 leaving her penniless. Charles n. gave her a pension 
 of j20O per annum, which she received till the 
 accession of William and Mary. She married one 
 Forster before 1687, and was living a widow in 1694. 
 There was a Rose Gwynne who was convicted at 
 the Old Bailey in 1663 but was allowed to go free. 3 
 This could scarcely have been the same woman, as 
 Nell Gwyn was too young at that time to possess 
 
 i Roxburghe Ballads, ed. J. W. Ebsworth, part 13, p. 33. 
 3 C. Hopper, Notes and Queries, ad Series, v. 9. 
 3 Notes and Queries, 2d Series, viii. 306.
 
 INTR OD UCTION. xxv 
 
 influence to obtain the release of a sister. It is 
 necessary to bear in mind in this connection that the 
 name Gwin is by no means an uncommon one, and 
 there are many instances of persons bearing it who 
 were in no way related to Nell Gwyn. For example, 
 Francis Gwynne, a man of good family, is mentioned 
 in the entry of the expenses of Nell's funeral, but he 
 was no connection of hers. He was Clerk of the 
 Privy Council to Charles n. and James u., and con- 
 tinued in the service of the Crown till the death of 
 Queen Anne. He died in 1734 (aged 91) at his 
 seat, Ford Abbey in Devonshire. 
 
 Plays. Nothing is known with certainty of Nell 
 Gwyn's life before we find her established as an 
 orange-girl at the theatre. She said herself that she 
 was brought up in a brothel and served strong waters 
 to gentlemen, but she appears to have obtained a 
 standing on the stage at the early age of fourteen. 
 Her first appearance was made at Drury Lane 
 Theatre in 1665, when she undertook the important 
 character of Cydaria, Montezuma's daughter, in 
 Dryden's Indian Emperor (sequel to the Indian 
 Queen). Pepys did not see this first appearance, but 
 on August 22d, 1667, he expressed the opinion that 
 Cydaria, being a great and serious part, was a very 
 unsuitable one for Nell Gwyn. On another occasion 
 (November u, 1667) he was quite mad with her in 
 this character. When, on December 8, 1666, Pepys
 
 xxvi THE STOjR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 saw Nell as Lady Wealthy in the Hon. James 
 Howard's play The English Monsieur^ he was 
 mightily pleased with her in a comedy character that 
 thoroughly suited her. On January 23, 1666-67, 
 he saw her as Celia in Beaumont and Fletcher's 
 Humorous Lieutenant^ but he was not so enthusiastic 
 about the acting, though he thought the woman 
 'mighty pretty.' When on March 2, 1666-67, he 
 saw her as Florimel in Dryden's Secret Love^ or the 
 Maiden H^ueen, he could scarcely find words to 
 express his admiration of the perfection of her acting. 
 The Epilogue, written by a person of honour, was 
 spoken by Nell Gwyn, and her name is introduced 
 into it: 
 
 Our poet, something doubtful of his fate, 
 Made choice of me to be his advocate, 
 Relying on my knowledge in the laws ; 
 And I as boldly undertook the cause. 
 I left my client yonder in a rant, 
 Against the envious, and the ignorant, 
 Who are, he says, his only enemies ; 
 But he condemns their malice, and defies 
 The sharpest of his censurers to say, 
 Where there is one gross fault in all his play. 
 The language is so fitted for each part, 
 The plot according to the rules of art, 
 And twenty other things he bid me tell you ; 
 But I cried, E'en go do 't yourself for Nelly ! 
 Reason with judges, urged in the defence 
 Of those they would condemn, is insolence ; 
 I therefore waive the merits of his play, 
 And think it fit to plead this safer way, 
 If when too many in the purchase share, 
 Robbing's not worth the danger nor the care
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxvii 
 
 The men of business must, in policy, \ 
 
 Cherish a little harmless poetry, 
 All wit would else grow up to knavery. ) 
 
 Wit is a bird of music, or of prey ; 
 Mounting she strikes at all things in her way. 
 But if this birdlime once but touch her wings 
 On the next bush she sits her down and sings. 
 I have but one word more ; tell me, I pray, 
 What you will get by damning of our play? 
 A whipt fanatic, who does not recant, 
 Is, by his brethren, called a suffering saint ; 
 And by your hands should this poor poet die, 
 Before he does renounce his poetry, 
 His death must needs confirm the party more, 
 Than all his scribbling life could do before : 
 Where so much zeal does in a sect appear, 
 'Tis to no purpose, faith, to be severe. 
 But t'other day, I heard this rhyming fop 
 Say, Critics were the whips, and he the top ; 
 For as a top spins more, the more you baste her, 
 So, every lash you give, he writes the faster. 
 
 A new Prologue and Epilogue were written when 
 in 1672 the male characters of the play were acted 
 by women. The former for Mrs. Boutell and the 
 latter for Mrs. Reeves. 
 
 In the roll of accounts of the Earl of Rochester, 
 Gentleman of the Robes to Charles 11., is the following 
 entry under date 1 667 : ' Making a purple cloth suit, 
 embroidered, a flannell waistcoat e, altering ii coates 
 and ringraves [breeches] with other furniture for Mrs. 
 Gwinn, x/r vi/s.' l This looks as if Nell Gwinn acted 
 at Court at this time, although the eyes of the king 
 had not yet been caught by her charms. 
 1 Notes and Queries^ 2d Series, vii. 299.
 
 xxviii THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 In July 1667 she became the mistress of Lord 
 Buckhurst, and went with him to keep merry house 
 at Epsom. Pepys writes on the I3th of this month, 
 ' My Lord Buckhurst hath got Nell away from the 
 King's house and gives her jClOO a year, so as she 
 hath sent her parts to the house and will act no more.' 
 This arrangement was of very short duration, for 
 we learn that in August she was back at the King's 
 house acting Cydaria in the Indian Emperor again, 
 and Pepys writes on the 2gth : c Sir W. Pen and I 
 had a great deal of discourse with Moll, who tells us 
 that Nell is already left by my Lord Buckhurst, and 
 that he makes sport of her, and swears that she hath 
 had all she could get of him.' In September she 
 acted Mirida in the Hon. James Howard's All 
 Mistaken, or the Mad Couple ; and in October Flora 
 in Richard Rhodes's Flora's Vagaries. Genest says 
 that Nell Gwyn acted Alizia in Lord Orrery's Black 
 Prince ; but although Pepys saw the play three times, 
 he does not mention Nell in connection with it. We 
 find in Downes's Roscius Anglicanus that Alizia was 
 acted by ' Mrs. Gwin,' so this was probably the 
 other actress of the same name who was constantly 
 confused with Nell. See p. 75, note. 
 
 In 1668 Nell Gwyn acted Bellario in Beaumont 
 and Fletcher's Philaster, and Jacinta in Dryden's 
 An Evenings Love, or the Mock Astrologer. 
 
 According to Curll, Charles u. was captivated 
 with the lively actress when she spoke the comic
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxix 
 
 epilogue to Dryden's tragedy Tyrannic Love, or the 
 Royal Martyr in the winter of 1668-69, but Pepys 
 tells us that the connection began somewhat earlier, 
 for on January n, 1667-68, he writes, 'The King did 
 send several times for Nelly, and she was with him.' 
 
 This epilogue formed an odd sequel to a tragedy, 
 and appears to have been written for the sole purpose 
 of making use of Nell Gwyn's comic powers after she 
 had been condemned to act a serious character. The 
 epilogue was c spoken by Mrs. Ellen when she was to 
 be carried off dead by the bearers.' 
 
 To THE BEARER. 
 
 Hold ; are you mad ? you damn'd confounded dog ! 
 I am to rise, and speak the epilogue. 
 
 To THE AUDIENCE. 
 
 I come, kind gentlemen, strange news to tell ye ; 
 
 I am the ghost of poor departed Nelly. 
 
 Sweet ladies, be not frighted ; I '11 be civil, 
 
 I 'm what I was, a little harmless devil. 
 
 For, after death, we spirits have just such natures 
 
 We had, for all the world, when human creatures ; 
 
 And, therefore I, that was an actress here, 
 
 Play all my tricks in hell, a goblin there. 
 
 Gallants, look to 't, you say there are no sprites ; 
 
 But I '11 come dance about your beds at nights. 
 
 And faith you '11 be in a sweet kind of taking, 
 
 When I surprise you between sleep and waking. 
 
 To tell you true, I walk, because I die, 
 
 Out of my calling, in a tragedy. 
 
 O poet, damn'd dull poet, who could prove 
 
 So senseless, to make Nelly die for love !
 
 xxx THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN, 
 
 Nay, what 's yet worse, to kill me in the prime 
 Of Easter Term, in tart and cheesecake time ! 
 I '11 fit the fop ; for I '11 not one word say, 
 To excuse his godly out-of-fashion play ; 
 A play, which if you dare but twice sit out, 
 You '11 all be slander'd, and be thought devout. 
 But, farewell, gentlemen, make haste to me, 
 I 'm sure e'er long to have your company. 
 As for my epitaph, when I am gone, 
 I '11 trust no poet, but will write my own. 
 Here Nelly lies, who tho' she lived a slattern, 
 Yet died a Princess acting in Saint Catharine. 
 
 In the following year (1670) Nell Gwyn was 
 called upon to perform another eccentricity. She 
 was deputed to speak the Prologue to the first 
 part of Almanzor and Almahide^ or the Conquest of 
 Granada by the Spaniards^ and in ridicule of a piece 
 of foolery at the Duke's Theatre she was provided 
 with a broad-brimmed hat as big as a cart-wheel : 
 4 Spoken by Mrs. Ellen Gwyn, in a broad-brimmed 
 hat and waist-belt.' 
 
 This jest was first of the other house's making, 
 
 And, five times tried, has never fail'd of taking ; 
 
 For 'twere a shame a poet should be kill'd 
 
 Under the shelter of so broad a shield. 
 
 This is that hat, whose very sight did win ye 
 
 To laugh and clap as though the devil were in ye. 
 
 As then, for Nokes, so now I hope you'll be 
 
 So dull, to laugh once more for love of me. 
 
 I '11 write a play, says one, for I have got 
 
 A broad-brimm'd hat, and waist-belt, towards a plot. 
 
 Says the other, I have one more large than that, 
 
 Thus they out-write each other with a hat ! 
 
 The brims still grew with every play they writ ; 
 
 And grew so large, they covered all the wit.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxxi 
 
 Hat was the play ; 'twas language, wit, and tale : 
 
 Like them that find meat, drink, and cloth in ale. 
 
 What dulness do these mongrel wits confess, 
 
 When all their hope is acting of a dress ! 
 
 Thus, two the best comedians of the age 
 
 Must be worn out, with being blocks o' the stage ; 
 
 Like a young girl, who better things has known, 
 
 Beneath their poet's impotence they groan. 
 
 See now what charity it was to save, 
 
 They thought you liked, what only you forgave ; 
 
 And brought you more dull sense, dull sense much worse 
 
 Than brisk gay nonsense, and the heavier curse. 
 
 They bring old iron and glass upon the stage, 
 
 To barter with the Indians of our age. 
 
 Still they write on, and like great authors show, 
 
 But 'tis as rollers in wet gardens grow 
 
 Heavy with dirt, and gathering as they go. 
 
 May none, who have so little understood, 
 
 To like such trash, presume to praise what 's good ! 
 
 And may those drudges of the stage, whose fate 
 
 Is damn'd dull farce more dully to translate, 
 
 Fall under that excise the state thinks fit 
 
 To set on all French wares, whose worst is wit. 
 
 French farce, worn out at home, is sent abroad 
 
 And patch'd up here, is made our English mode. 
 
 Henceforth, let poets, ere allow'd to write, 
 
 Be search'd like duelists before they fight, 
 
 For wheel-broad hats, dull honour, all that chaff, 
 
 Which makes you mourn, and makes the vulgar laugh : 
 
 For these, in plays, are as unlawful arms, 
 
 As, in a combat, coats of mail, and charms. 
 
 Douglas Jerrold brought out his play, Nell 
 Gwynne^ or the Prologue in 1833, and the author 
 stated that a chance perusal of Downes's history of 
 the hat in his Roscius Anglicanus first suggested to him 
 the idea of his drama. This story is not told by
 
 xxxii THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 Downes himself, but is found in Waldron's edition of 
 the Roscius Anglicanus^ 1789. It is as follows : 
 4 At the Duke's theatre, Nokes appeared in a hat 
 larger than Pistol's, which took the town wonderful, 
 and supported a bad play by its fine effect. Dryden, 
 piqued at this, caused a hat to be made the circumfer- 
 ence of a timber coach wheel ; and as Nelly was low 
 of stature, and what the French call mignonne or 
 piquante^ he made her speak under the umbrella of 
 that hat, the brims thereof being spread out horizon- 
 tally to their full extension. The whole theatre was 
 in a convulsion of applause, nay, the very actors 
 giggled, a circumstance none had observed before. 
 Judge, therefore, what a condition the merriest Prince 
 alive was in at such a conjuncture ! 'Twas beyond 
 odso and ods foh, for he wanted little of being suffocated 
 with laughter.' Jerrold ended his play with some 
 lines spoken by Nell, the first eight of which were 
 taken from the above Prologue, and the rest, beginning 
 
 For Dryden's syllables pray take my own, 
 
 were added by himself. 
 
 Jerrold's characters are fairly true to life, but he 
 does not allude to Nell's connection with Charles 
 Hart, although the latter was one of the dramatis 
 persona. Keeley played the character of Orange Moll, 
 which the author alluded to as inimitably acted. 
 
 Nell Gwyn took the character of Panthea in the re- 
 vival of Beaumont and Fletcher's A King and No King.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxxiii 
 
 Nell remained on the stage for a short time after 
 she became mistress to the King, but there is little 
 doubt but that she permanently retired in 1670. 
 
 In a ballad * on the burning of the Theatre Royal, 
 Drury Lane, January 25, 1671-2,' occurs this 
 couplet : 
 
 He cryes just judgment and wished when poor Bell 
 Rung out his last, 't had been the stage's kNell. 
 
 On a copy of the ballad in the British Museum 
 Library there is a contemporary manuscript note to 
 the effect that this was supposed to reflect upon Nell 
 Gwyn, and although the verses were licensed, Sir 
 Roger L'Estrange threatened to trouble the printer 
 for making a great N. 1 
 
 Allusion has already been made to the fact that 
 Nell was off with the old love (Lord Buckhurst) 
 before she was on with the new love (Charles n.) 
 but unfortunately the exact contrary is very generally 
 believed. Cunningham, in a note to Johnson's Life 
 of Dorset (Lives of the Poets'), writes: 'One em- 
 bassy was, as Dryden is said to have called it, "a 
 sleeveless errand." Charles u. had become enamoured 
 of Nell Gwyn, with whom Lord Buckhurst was then 
 living, and a short embassy was invented by the King 
 to get rid of his rival.' 
 
 The late Mr. Dutton Cook, in an article in the 
 Gentleman's Magazine (May 1883), pointed out that 
 Lord Buckhurst was 4 not the man to sell his mistress'; 
 
 1 Notes and Queries, 2d Series, ix. 121.
 
 xxxiv THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 but one does not feel inclined to stake much upon the 
 honour of any of the courtiers of Charles ii.'s reign, 
 and Lord Buckhurst's good fame would have con- 
 tinued with this slur upon it if Pepys had not made 
 the matter of chronology so clear in his diary. 
 
 Genest supposes that Nell Gwyn returned to the 
 stage in 1677, in which year he gives her credit for 
 having acted Angelica Bianca in Mrs. Behn's Rover, 
 Astraea in The Constant Nymph^ and Thalestris in 
 Pordage's Siege of Babylon. In the following year 
 he gives her the characters of Lady Squeamish in 
 Otway's Friendship in Fashion^ and Lady Knowell in 
 Mrs. Behn's Sir Patient Fancy^ and in 1682 Sunamire 
 in Southerne's Loyal Brother^ and Queen Elizabeth in 
 Banks's Unhappy Favourite. This must surely be a 
 mistake, caused by some confusion with the other 
 actress who bore the same name of Gwyn. It is 
 impossible to imagine the volatile Nell Gwyn creating 
 the character of Queen Elizabeth. If there were no 
 other reason for doubting this supposition of a return 
 to the stage it would be found in the fact that in 1675 
 Nell was appointed a Lady of the Privy Chamber to 
 the Queen. 
 
 Houses. Nell Gwyn is associated with several 
 houses in London and the country, houses in which 
 we know that she lived, but tradition has added to the 
 list several others about the claims of which one cannot 
 but be very sceptical. Pepys has a pleasing picture
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxxv 
 
 of the gay young actress in Drury Lane standing at 
 her door and watching the milkmaids on May-day. 
 
 This house was situated at the south end of Drury 
 Lane on the west side, and was nearly opposite Craven 
 Buildings. It was long known as the Cock and Pye 
 tavern, and had been so from the time of Henry vn. 
 The house was pulled down in 1891, and the opening 
 still remains [1892] unoccupied. 
 
 Not long after Pepys saw Nell Gwyn at her door 
 in Drury Lane she was living in Lincoln's Inn Fields. 
 Here was born her eldest son Charles, who was 
 created Earl of Burford in 1676 and Duke of St. 
 Albans in 1684. 
 
 In 1670 she had removed to a house on the north 
 side of Pall Mall. Pennant describes it as c the first 
 good house on the left of the square as one entered 
 from Pall Mall.' It was pulled down in 1848, when 
 the Army and Navy Club was built on the site of 
 that and some other houses. Nell Gwyn's looking- 
 glass is now preserved in the visitors' dining-room of 
 the club. She did not occupy this house many months, 
 for in 1671 we find her on the opposite side of the 
 street, where she remained till her death in 1687. 
 The house is numbered 79, and is now occupied by 
 the Eagle Insurance Office. It was at one time in the 
 possession of the celebrated physician, Dr. Heberden 
 who rebuilt it. Cowper sings of 
 
 Virtuous and faithful Heberden, whose skill 
 Attempts no task it cannot well fulfil.
 
 xxxvi THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 Afterwards the house was occupied by the Society 
 for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. 
 The Directors of the Insurance Office purchased the 
 freehold for 17,000, and built the present house. 
 We are told that this is the only freehold on the south 
 side of Pall Mall, and thus is corroborated the story 
 of how Nell obtained the house free from the King. 
 (See p. 132.) 
 
 The gardens of these houses in Pall Mall ran down 
 to the garden of St. James's Palace, and we must 
 bear in mind that in the well-known scene described 
 by Evelyn the King was walking in his own garden, 
 and not, as is usually supposed, in the mall of the public 
 park. 
 
 4 1 walked with the King through St. James's Park 
 to the garden, where I both saw and heard a very 
 familiar discourse between Mrs. Nelly, as they call an 
 impudent comedian, she looking out of her garden on 
 a terrace at the top of the wall.' What this garden 
 was is proved by the Act for erecting St. James's 
 parish, 1685, c and from thence [St. James's gate] to the 
 said Pall Mall Street, comprehending all the houses, 
 buildings, and yards backwards to the wall, which 
 incloses that part of St. James's Park which has been 
 lately made into a garden, extending to a house 
 inhabited by Anthony Verrio, painter, lately in the 
 occupation of Leonard Gile, gardener.' Queen Anne 
 gave land to the great Duke of Marlborough for 
 building his town mansion, and cut off a portion of
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxxvii 
 
 the royal garden to serve as garden to Marlborough 
 House. 
 
 Nell Gwyn's second son James, Lord Beauclerc, 
 was born at this house on the south side of Pall Mall 
 on the afth December 1671. 
 
 A house in Wardour Street, at the corner of Rich- 
 mond Street, was associated with the name of Nell 
 Gwyn, but there is no evidence that she ever lived 
 there. The house was at one time No. 38 Princes 
 Street, but when the name Princes Street was abo- 
 lished and the whole length from Oxford Street to 
 Coventry Street was called Wardour Street, it became 
 No. 53 Wardour Street. By the deed of Covenant 
 the Covenanter was bound to produce, among other 
 documents, one described as follows: 
 
 Letters Patent of King Charles the 2nd, dated 1st 
 Deer., z8th Chas. 2nd, under the Great Seal to Chaffinch 
 [sic] & Folkes, 5th and 6th April 1677. Indentures of 
 lease and release between William Chaffinch & Martin 
 Folkes of the first part, Henry, Earl of St. Albans of the 
 second part, and Mrs. Ellen Gwynne, John Mollins & 
 Thomas Grounds, gentlemen, of the third part. 1 
 
 At the famous eighteenth-century place of enter- 
 tainment at Bagnigge Wells there used to be what 
 purported to be a bust of Nell Gwyn in the Assembly 
 Room, and tradition affirmed that at one time she 
 lived at Bagnigge House, adjoining the Wells on the 
 south, but this tradition is not corroborated by any 
 
 1 Notes and Queries, 4th Series, iii. 479.
 
 xxxviii THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 evidence, and as the bust is said to have represented 
 a woman in Roman dress, it seems very unlikely that 
 it ever was intended for Mrs. Eleanor Gwyn. 
 
 Another residence which has on very doubtful 
 authority been associated with the King's mistress is 
 Sandford House, at Sandy End, Chelsea. 
 
 Lauderdale House, Highgate, which is now included 
 in Waterlow Park, is not only supposed to have been 
 one of Nell's residences, but has been made the scene 
 of the well-known anecdote connected with her eldest 
 son's title. One day when the King was present she 
 called her boy to her by the use of the term c bastard.' 
 When Charles expostulated she said she had no better 
 name to call him by whereat the King at once 
 bestowed the title of Earl of Burford upon him. A 
 variant of this story makes Nell threaten to throw her 
 boy out of the window if the King did not at once 
 confer a title upon him. 
 
 Edward Jerningham published anonymously in 1799 
 a comedy in three acts, entitled The Peckham Frolic^ 
 or Nell Gwyn. The scene is laid in Peckham, 
 where Charles n. -is supposed to have frequently 
 resided with some select companions, and Nell Gwyn 
 was one of these. What authority there is for this 
 supposition further than the playwright's imagination 
 does not appear. 
 
 Nell is also said to have lived in a house at Mill Hill 
 named Littleberries, but there is no evidence for this. 1 
 1 Notes and Queries, 6th Series, iv. 48.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxxix 
 
 At Sunninghill, Berks, there is an avenue of limes 
 near the church which goes by the name of Nell 
 Gwyn's Avenue. It is said that this formerly led 
 to a mansion called King's Wick, but whether or not 
 the actress lived there is not affirmed. Another 
 tradition is that a two-storied bow-windowed house 
 nearly opposite Leyton Parsonage, Essex, was Nell's 
 residence for many years. 2 
 
 These seem to be all evidences of the popular 
 delight in associating places with well-known char- 
 acters, and it is pleasant to come upon one residence 
 respecting which there can be no doubt. This is 
 Burford House, Windsor, the site of which is now 
 occupied by the Queen's Mews. The original grant 
 of this house was to Ellen Gwyn for and during her 
 life, and after her decease in trust for Charles, Earl of 
 Burford, and the heirs male of his body; but this was 
 altered to include his heirs female, as seen in the 
 following memorandum : 
 
 Charles u. to Charles, Earl of Dorset and Middlesex, 
 Sir George Hewitt, Bart., and Sir Edward Villiers, Kt., 
 and W. Chiffinch, Esq. After reciting that by Deeds of 
 1 3th and 1 4th of Sept. 32 Car. u., Chiffinch conveyed to 
 them (Dorset, Hewitt, and Villiers) Burford House with 
 the gardens, &c., at New Windsor, Berks, in trust for 
 Ellen Gwyn for life, remainder to the Earl of Burford, 
 our natural son, in tail male, remainder to the King in 
 fee ; the King orders the declaration of new trusts to let 
 
 1 Notes and Queries, yh Series, vi. 67. 
 
 2 Ibid., 6th Series, xi. 275.
 
 xl THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 in the heirs female of the Earls of Burford, with ultimate 
 remainder to Ellen Gwyn in fee. 1 
 
 Verrio was employed by the King's order to paint 
 the staircases of this house, 2 and Mons. Bodevinewas 
 paid ^"50 between 1675 and 1678 ' for repairing of 
 Madam Gwin's house.' 3 
 
 Prince George of Denmark and the Princess Anne 
 lived at Burford House in 1689 and 1690. In the 
 Chamberlain of Windsor's accounts for 1689 is this 
 entry : 
 
 More for Madm. Gwynn's house in the possession of 
 the Prince of Denmark, 1 5 years in arrear at 2s. per ann. 
 
 From a subsequent entry it appears that the Duke of 
 St. Albans afterwards paid the arrears. 
 
 Letters. Since Peter Cunningham wrote, several 
 letters of Nell Gwyn's have been discovered. In 
 the list of persons whose letters are preserved in the 
 Ormonde Collection to A.D. 1688 is the name of 
 Eleanor Gwin, as printed in the third Report of the 
 Historical Manuscripts Commission. 4 And letters in 
 which Nell complains of the nonpayment of her 
 pension have been referred to. 
 
 The following letter to Lawrence Hyde, second 
 son of the great Earl of Clarendon, was formerly in 
 
 1 Hist. MSS. Comm., 4th Report, part i. p. 303 a. 
 
 2 Tighe and Davis, Annals of Windsor, ii. 327, 441. 
 
 * Historical MSS. Comm., App. to 9th Report, p. 450 b, 
 
 * Ibid., p. 429.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xli 
 
 the possession of the late Sir William Tite, and he 
 sent a copy to the Notes and Queries^ where it is 
 printed. 1 Sir William Tite purchased the letter at 
 Mr. Singer's sale, 3d August 1858, for ^3, I2S. It 
 had been previously printed in the Camden Miscellany 
 (vol. v.), with notes in explanation of various points in 
 the letter by John Bruce. The letter appears to have 
 been written in August 1678, when Hyde was Envoy 
 Extraordinary to The Hague. In the ninth Report of 
 the Historical MSS. Commission there is a note of a 
 letter of Ralph Montagu, afterwards Duke of Mon- 
 tagu, in which occurs this passage : 1 1 know for 
 certain there is a great caball to bring in Mr. Hyde, 
 and that Nelly and the Duke of Buckingham are 
 in it.' In 1681 Hyde was created Viscount Hyde. 
 In the following year he became Earl of Rochester. 
 The letter is as follows : 
 
 Pray Deare Mr. Hide forgive me for not writeing to 
 you before now, for the reasone is I have bin sick thre 
 months, & sinse I recoverd I have had nothing to inter- 
 taine you withall, nor have nothing now worth writing, 
 but that I can holde no longer to let you know I never have 
 ben in any companie wethout drinking your health, for I 
 love you with all my soule. The pel mel is now to me a 
 dismale place since I have uterly lost Sr. Car Scrope never 
 to be recoverd agane, for he tould me he could not live 
 alwayes at this rate, and so begune to be a littel uncivil, 
 which I could not sufer from an uglye bauxgarscon. Mrs. 
 Knight's lady mother 's dead, and she has put up a scut- 
 
 1 Notes and Queries, 4th Series, vii. 2.
 
 xlii THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 chin no beiger then my Lady Grin's scunchis. My lord 
 Rochester is gone in the cuntrei. Mr. Savil has got a 
 misfortune, but is upon recovery & is to mary an hairess, 
 who I think wont wont [sic] have an ill time out if he 
 holds up his thumb. My lord of Dorscit apiers worze in 
 thre months, for he drinkes aile with Shadwell and Mr. 
 Haris at the Duke's home all day long. My lord Burford 
 remimbers his sarvis to you. My Lord Bauclaire is is 
 [j/V] goeing into franc e. We are agoeing to supe with the 
 king at Whithall & my lady Harvie. The King remem- 
 bers his sarvis to you. Now lets talke of state affairs, for 
 we never caried things so cunningly as now, for we don't 
 know whether we shall have peace or war, but I am for 
 war, and for no other; reason but that you may come 
 home. I have a thoussand merry conseets, but I can't 
 make her write me, and therefore you must take the 
 will for the deed. God bye. Your most loveing obedient 
 faithfull and humbel sarvant, E. G. 
 
 The substance of the notes of Mr. Bruce is as 
 follows : 
 
 Sir Carr Scrope was created a baronet 1667-68, 
 and died unmarried 1680. He was one of the witty 
 companions of Charles n., and author of various 
 poetical effusions. to be found in Dryden's Miscellany. 
 Johnson notices him in his Life of Rochester. 
 
 Mrs. Knight was a singer of great ability and a rival 
 to Nell Gwyn. The name of her lady mother has 
 not been found. 
 
 Lady Greene was Katherine, daughter of Thomas 
 Pegge, Esq., of Yeldersley, co. Derby, and wife of Sir 
 Edward Greene, Bart, of Sampford, in Essex, who
 
 INTRODUCTION. xliii 
 
 died in Flanders 1676. She was one of the King's 
 mistresses, and had two children by him a son 
 named Charles Fitz-Charles, and created Earl of Ply- 
 mouth in 1675 (died 1680), and a daughter named 
 Katherine. She probably died shortly before this 
 letter was written. 
 
 Scunchis should probably be scuchins. 
 
 Nothing need be said of John Wilmot, Earl of 
 Rochester, who died in 1680, and whose title was 
 given to Hyde himself two years afterwards. 
 
 Henry Savile was subsequently Vice-Chamberlain. 
 The projected marriage did not come off. 
 
 The Earl of Dorset was Lord Buclchurst when 
 Nell Gwyn knew him best. 
 
 Thomas Shadwell owed to Lord Dorset his appoint- 
 ment to the poet-laureateship when Dryden was 
 ejected from that office at the Revolution in 1688. 
 
 Harris, the actor, who set himself up as a rival to 
 Betterton, and was an intimate friend of Samuel Pepys, 
 has usually been supposed to be Joseph Harris, but Mr. 
 Robert W. Lowe has lately, in his Life of Thomas 
 Betterton (1891), proved him to be Henry Harris, 
 whose name appears in Sir William Davenant's agree- 
 ment, dated November 5, 1660. 
 
 Nell's elder son had been created Earl of Burford in 
 December 1676. 
 
 James, Lord Beauclerk, her younger son, died at 
 Paris in September 1680, not being quite nine years 
 of age.
 
 xliv THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 Lady Harvey was Elizabeth, sister of Ralph, third 
 Lord Montagu of Boughton, afterwards Earl and 
 Duke of Montagu, and wife of Sir Daniel Harvey. 
 Her husband, as ranger of Richmond Park, gave 
 shelter in his house to Lady Castlemaine during her 
 quarrels with Charles n. Lady Castlemaine rewarded 
 Lady Harvey by encouraging Mrs. Corey, the actress, 
 known as Doll Common, to mimic her on the stage 
 in the character of Sempronia. Lady Harvey c pro- 
 vided people to hiss her and fling oranges at her, and, 
 that being unsuccessful, procured the Lord Chamber- 
 lain to imprison her. Lady Castlemaine c made the 
 King to release her,' and a great disturbance was 
 created both in the theatre and at Court. 
 
 The next two letters are of later date, and are 
 addressed to James u. after he had come to the 
 throne. The Mr. Grahams who was the bearer of 
 the King's bounty was Colonel Richard Graham of 
 James's household. The allusion to what Charles 
 u. meant to do for Nell would appear to refer to her 
 creation as Countess of Greenwich, which is said to 
 have been decided upon. The first letter appears to 
 have been written at the time that a writ of outlawry 
 was out against Nell Gwyn, and it was necessary for 
 her to see even the King privately. These two 
 letters are in the British Museum (Add. MS. 21,483 
 ff, 27, 28) and were purchased by the trustees in the 
 year 1856. They originally formed part of the 
 Melfort Collection of Papers. Both letters are
 
 INTRODUCTION. xlv 
 
 anonymous, and are written in a lady's hand, in a 
 large free character. They were sent to the Notes 
 and Queries by Mr. E. Maunde Thompson, D.C.L., 
 LL.D., now Principal Librarian, and are printed in 
 that valuable periodical. 1 
 
 Had I sufered for my God as I have don for y r 
 
 brother and y u , I shuld not have needed ether of y r kind- 
 nes or justis to me. I beseech you not to doe anything to 
 the settling of buisines till I speake w th you, and apoynt 
 me by Mr. Grahams wher I may speake with you privetly. 
 God make you as happy as y soule prayes you may be, y rs . 
 
 S r , This world is not capable of giving me a greater joy 
 and happynes then y r Ma tie * favour, not as you are King 
 and soe have it in y r power to doe me good, having never 
 loued y r brother and y r selfe upon that acount, but as to 
 y r persons. Had hee lived, hee tould me before hee dyed, 
 that the world shuld see by what hee did for me that hee 
 had both love and value for me, and that hee did not doe 
 for me as my mad Lady Woster. Hee was my frind and 
 allowed me to tell him all my grifes, and did like a frind 
 advise me and tould me who was my frind and who 
 was not. S r the honour y r Ma tie has don me by Mr. 
 Grahams has given me great comfort, not by the present 
 you sent me to releeve me out of the last extremety, but 
 by the kind expressions hee made me from you of y r 
 kindnes to me, w ch to me is above al things in this world, 
 having, God knows, never loved y r brother or y r selfe in- 
 terestedly. All you doe for me shall be yours, it being my 
 resolution never to have any interest but y rs , and as long as 
 I live to serve you, and when I dye to dye praying for y u . 
 
 1 Notes and Queries, 4th Series, vi. 431.
 
 xlvi THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 In Tom Brown's Letters from the Dead to the 
 Living are printed one letter purporting to be written 
 by Nell Gwyn to Peg Hughes, and another supposed 
 to be Peg Hughes's answer to Nell Gwyn. 
 
 Annuity and Bounties. In 1673 the King was 
 heavily in debt by reason of the Exchequer being 
 closed in the preceding year, and on the 28th Sept. 
 Dr. Henry Stubbes wrote to the Earl of Kent that 
 neither 'Madame Kerwell's (Querouaille's), nor the 
 Duchess of Cleveland's, nor Nell Gwynne's warrants 
 would be accepted.' 
 
 In the Qth Report of the Historical MSS. Com- 
 mission there is an entry of the Secret Service 
 Account to 30th April 1675 : 
 
 Feb. 4. Paid to Mrs. Helen Gwyn, ^1000. March 
 25. Paid to the Duchess of Portsmouth, ^2000, and to 
 Mrs. Hellen Gwyn, ^"1000. More ordered to be paid to 
 Mrs. Gwin, 500. 
 
 In the same Report is a reference to a grant of 
 16,000 to Nell. 
 
 These are entries of an earlier date than those given 
 in the volume of 4 Secret Service Moneys of Charles 
 II. and James n.,' printed by the Camden Society in 
 1851. A power of attorney from Nell Gwyn to 
 Mr. James Fraizer, of Westminster, to receive her 
 pension of 5000 per annum (dated June i, 1680) 
 was printed in 1868 by William Henry Hart, F.S.A.,
 
 INTRODUCTION. xlvii 
 
 under the title of ' A Memorial of Nell Gwynne, the 
 actress, and Thomas Otway, the dramatist.' Otway 
 was one of the witnesses of the power of attorney. 
 
 In the Qth Report of the Historical MSS. Com- 
 mission is a receipt of Eleanor Gwynne (dated 2ist 
 August 1684) for ^500 in part payment of a quarter 
 of yearly allowance for and towards the support of 
 herself and Charles, Earl of Burford, now Duke of 
 St. Albans. Andrew Marvell, writing in December 
 1674, says that 4000 a year was settled upon Nell's 
 children (Hist. MSS. Comm., 6th Report, part. i. 
 
 P- 473 *) 
 
 The following entries are taken from the volume 
 
 of the Camden Society Secret Services of Charles II. 
 and James II. (1851): 
 
 1685, September. To Richard Graham, Esq., to be 
 by him paid over to sev'al tradesmen, creditors of Mrs. 
 Ellen Gwynne, in satisfac'on of their debts, for which the 
 said Ellen stood outlawed, 729, 2s. 3d. 
 
 1685, December. To Ellinor Gwyn bounty ^500. 
 To the said Ellinor Gwynne more 500. 
 
 1687, October. To Sir Stephen Fox, for so much by 
 him paid to Sir Robert Clayton, in full of 3,774 //', 2s. 6d., 
 for redeeming the mortgage of Bestwood Parke made to 
 Sir John Musters, to settle the same upon Mrs. Ellen 
 Gwynn for life, and after her death upon the Duke of St. 
 Albans and his issue male, with the reversion in the 
 crowne, .... 1.256, os. zd. 
 
 1687-8, January. To Roger Hewitt upon the like
 
 xlviii THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 sume that would have become due at Xtmas to Mrs. 
 Ellinor Gwynn dec'd on a penc'on of 1, 500 //p. annum 
 in the name of Francis Gwynne, Esq., to reimburse so 
 much money paid by Sir Stephen Fox for the funeral of 
 the said Mrs. Gwynn 37,500. Secret Services of Charles 
 II. and James II., 1851 (Camden Society). 
 
 The first entry illustrates the letter to James u. 
 printed on a previous page. 
 
 Evelyn entered in his diary on the igth January 
 1685-86 that 'Dryden, the famous playwriter, and his 
 
 sons, and Mrs. Nelly (misse to ye late ) were 
 
 said to go to masse,' and adds, c Such proselytes were 
 no greate losse to the church.' We know that he was 
 quite correct as regards Dryden, but there was no 
 truth in the report respecting Nell Gwyn. 
 
 The life of the actress and mistress of a king was 
 a short one, and death came at the early age of thirty- 
 four. In March she was struck with apoplexy, and 
 as Luttrell recorded, c her recovery is much doubted.' 1 
 
 It was not, however, until the I4th of the following 
 November that she died. c It was reported,' says 
 Luttrell, that c she hath left a considerable estate to 
 her son, the Duke of St. Albans.' 2 
 
 There is little to be said of Nell Gwyn's character. 
 The public has made up its mind on this point. In 
 spite of all drawbacks she holds a place in popular 
 esteem, and the few facts which slowly accumulate 
 
 1 Brief Relation of State Affairs ; i. 397. 
 
 2 Ibid., \. 420.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xlix 
 
 around her name leave us no reason for attempting to 
 disturb the favourable estimate. She was a child of 
 nature, and her character is well exhibited in Granger's 
 remark respecting her dress : c She continued to hang 
 on her cloaths with her usual negligence when she was 
 the King's mistress, but whatever she did became her.' 1 
 
 The stories of her generosity are numerous. She 
 is said to have paid the debt of a worthy clergyman 
 whom she saw being hurried to prison by some 
 bailiffs. She distributed money to the inmates of 
 Whitecross Prison, a dole which had not ceased in 
 1850, when Mr. Hepworth Dixon wrote his work on 
 London Prisons. Andrew Marvell introduced into his 
 verse the story of her giving a Bible to Cromwell's 
 tall porter, Daniel, when he was confined in Bedlam. 
 
 She never forgot a friend who was in misfortune, 
 and among Sir Harry Verney's papers there is an 
 account of her interceding with Charles n., when the 
 Duke of Monmouth was in disgrace. This was in 
 1 679 : l Nell Gwin begg'd hard of his Majesty to 
 see him, telling him he was grown pale, wan, lean, 
 and long visaged, merely because he was in disfavour, 
 but the King bid her be quiet, for he would not see 
 him.' A little farther in the same letter we read : 
 * Sir Thomas Lee was on Saturday to visit Monmouth, 
 but Nell Gwyn and Sir Stephen Fox being there 
 before him, Sir Thomas could not see his Grace.' 2 
 
 1 Granger's Biographical History of England, iv. 188. 
 
 2 Hist MSS. Comm., 7th Report, part i. p. 478 a. 
 
 d
 
 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 Some of the stories, however, have been found to 
 be without foundation ; for instance, no record of 
 money left to the bell-ringers of St. Martin's-in-the- 
 Fields has been traced, although the supposed fact has 
 been very confidently repeated : 
 
 On one of Nell's portraits is this inscription : 
 
 The sculptor's part is done, the features bit 
 Of Madame Gwynn no art can show her wit. 
 
 The biographer lies under the same difficulty. He 
 can gather together the few facts that are related of 
 her life, but although all the witnesses unite in 
 affirming that this famous woman was very witty, 
 they do not tell us much that will enable us to judge 
 for ourselves in this matter. 
 
 Here is one of the stories told of her, but it is not 
 very funny. The date is about 1675. Charles was 
 complaining of want of money, when Nell answered 
 that if he would take her advice she believed he 
 would be well supplied. On the King asking which 
 way, c she told him his parliament being to sit he 
 should treat them with a French ragoe, Scots collops, 
 and a calfs head, at which his Majesty laughed and 
 was well pleased.' The ragout was supposed to 
 represent the Duchess of Portsmouth, the Scots 
 collops Lord Lauderdale, and the calf's head Lord 
 Sunderland, whose face was said to resemble a 
 calf's. 
 
 1 Hist. MSS. Comm., Appendix to ad Report, p. 22 b.
 
 INTR OD UCTION. li 
 
 It is difficult to account for the popularity of 
 certain historical characters, and we can only accept 
 it as a fact that while large numbers of distinguished 
 men and women are completely forgotten, the whole 
 world knows Nell Gwyn. 
 
 Portraits. This popularity has naturally given rise 
 to a demand for her portrait, and as these increase it 
 is sometimes necessary to exhibit caution in accepting 
 as genuine all that bear her name. It is said that one 
 portrait by Lely at Windsor, with a view of that 
 place in the background, was really intended for 
 Mary of Modena, queen of James n., and not for 
 Nell Gwyn, to whom it was long attributed. Lord 
 Monson told a very good story, bearing on this 
 point, which is well worth quoting here. 
 
 He wrote to Notes and Queries : 
 
 With respect to portraits of pretty Nell caution should 
 be taken in ascertaining their authenticity, for it has been 
 too much the custom of attributing to her the portrait of 
 any beauty of that period. I will give you an instance. 
 There is a picture at Burton Hall of a lovely girl with a 
 particularly innocent expression of face, painted by Sir 
 Peter Lely. It has always, within the recollection of the 
 family, been called Nell Gwyn, and the belief was so 
 strong that many years ago the Duke of St. Albans offered 
 to purchase it. I discovered some time ago a copy of 
 this picture at Waldershare, where it is called Lady 
 Lewisham, who afterwards married Francis, Lord North, 
 but the anachronism of both the style and dress proves
 
 Hi THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 this an error. Since this I have become aware of two 
 other duplicates, at Lees Court and at Rockingham 
 Castle, and have now ascertained that it is a portrait of 
 Lady Arabella Wentworth, daughter of the celebrated 
 Earl of Strafford and sister of Ann, Lady Rockingham. 
 The presence of the portraits in all these mansions is 
 easily accounted for. The families of Lord Monson, 
 Lord Sondes, and Mr. Watson are all lineally descended 
 through the Rockinghams from Lord Strafford, and by an 
 alliance with the same (Rockingham) family the Walder- 
 share property came to the Guilfords. The loveliness of 
 the original must have been the inducement for so many 
 portraits having been taken of her. 1 
 
 The King's Mistresses. The Court of Charles n. 
 stands alone in history for the vulgarity of its sur- 
 roundings, surpassing even that of the first two 
 Georges. Walpole very justly remarks, in a letter 
 to the Countess of Ossory (June 14, 1787), some 
 wrote good comedies c because they lived in the best 
 company ; . . . Wycherly, Dryden, Mrs. Centlivre, 
 etc., wrote as if they had only lived in the Rose 
 Tavern ; but then the Court lived in Drury Lane too, 
 and Lady Dorchester and Nell Gwyn were equally 
 good company.' The immorality of the Court was so 
 flagrant, and the characters of nearly all who frequented 
 it were so bad, that it seems to be a waste of words 
 to express indignation. Mr. Cunningham has shown 
 that there was some good even in Charles himself, 
 although his conduct to his queen would have dis- 
 
 1 Notes and Queries, 2d Series, v. 137.
 
 INTRODUCTION. liii 
 
 graced the most abandoned of men. With dogged 
 
 o OO 
 
 perseverance he made Queen Katharine take the 
 Countess of Castlemaine into her service immediately 
 after his marriage, and actually, in 1675, he had the 
 effrontery to make the illiterate actress a Lady of the 
 Privy Chamber. Samuel Pegge records this fact in 
 his Curialiaf where he says she was sworn in to that 
 post in 1675, c as appears from the books in the 
 Lord Chamberlain's office.' 
 
 Andrew Marvell constantly alluded in his verses to 
 Charles's amours. In Royal Resolutions the King is 
 made to say 
 
 I '11 wholly abandon all publick affairs, 
 
 And pass all my time with buffoons and players, 
 
 And saunter to Nelly when I should be at prayers.* 
 
 The King had an eye for beauty, but otherwise his 
 mistresses did not do any credit to his good taste. 
 Lucy Walter, the companion of his wanderings, 
 publicly disgraced herself and every one connected 
 with her. 
 
 Until Mr. Steinman, the biographer of the ladies 
 of Charles ii.'s Court, 3 undertook the investigation 
 
 1 Curialia, i. (1791), 58. 
 
 2 Poems on Affairs of State, i. (1703) p. 252. 
 
 3 Althorp Memoirs, or Biographical Notices of Lady Denham, 
 the Countess of Shrewsbury, the Countess of Falmouth, Mrs. 
 Jenyns, the Duchess of Tyrconnel, and Lucy Walter, six ladies 
 whose portraits are to be found in the Picture Gallery of His 
 Excellency Earl Spencer, K.G., K.P. By G. Steinman Steinman, 
 Esq., F.S.A. Printed for Private Circulation, 1869.
 
 liv THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 of the particulars of this woman's life, we were 
 singularly misinformed as to her parentage and the 
 period of her death. What is the more singular, the 
 mistakes rest upon contemporary and, it might have 
 been presumed, good evidence. Francis Sandford, 
 author of the Genealogical History of the Kings of 
 England^ 1707, says that Lucy Walter's father was 
 Richard Walters of Haverfordwest, co. Pembroke ; 
 and Evelyn says that her parents were l some very 
 mean creatures of the name of Barlow.' Mr. Steinman 
 shows that she was daughter of William Walter of 
 Roch Castle, co. Pembroke, a man of good lineage. 
 James n. affirmed that her death took place after 
 the Restoration, but Colonel Chester found an 
 administration entry in the register of the Prerogative 
 Court which proves that she died in 1658. 
 
 In 1644 Roch Castle, which was garrisoned by 
 Charles I., was taken and burnt by the Parliamentary 
 forces. The family of the proprietor was separated, 
 and in 1648 Lucy Walter is found in London, and 
 here she made the acquaintance of Colonel Algernon 
 Sydney. The latter turned her over to his brother, 
 Colonel Robert Sydney. Not long after, Charles n. 
 made her acquaintance at The Hague, and claimed as 
 his son the child born on April 9, 1649 (afterwards 
 the Duke of Monmouth), although Evelyn said the 
 boy most resembled Robert Sydney, and James u. 
 asserted that Sydney was Monmouth's father. When 
 Charles was absent in Scotland in 1650, Lucy Walter
 
 INTRODUCTION. lv 
 
 intrigued with Colonel Henry Bennet (afterwards 
 Earl of Arlington). On his return to France from 
 Scotland in 1651, Charles terminated his connection 
 with this woman, but he was to have much trouble 
 before he was finally rid of her. She was granted 
 an annuity on condition that she returned to 
 England, and about this time she seems to have 
 adopted the name of Barlow. When she was arrested 
 in 1656 the document granting her this annuity was 
 found on her, and it was printed in the Mercuriui 
 Politicus, No. 318. It runs as follows : 
 
 CHARLES R. Wee do by these presents of our especial 
 grace, give and grant unto Mrs. Lucy Barlow, an annuity 
 or yearly pension of five thousand livres, to be paid to 
 her or her assignes in the City of Antwerp or in such 
 other convenient place as she shall desire, at four several 
 payments by equal portions, the first payment to begin 
 from the first of July 1654, and so to continue from three 
 months to three months during her life ; with assurance 
 to better the same, when it shall please God to restore us 
 to our kingdoms : Given under our sign manual at our 
 Court at Collogne this 21 day of January 1655, and in 
 the sixth year of our Reign. 
 
 By His Majesties command, 
 
 EDWARD NICHOLAS. 
 
 Charles made several ineffectual attempts to get 
 possession of his son, and at last he was successful. 
 The friends of the Duke of Monmouth pretended 
 that his father was married to Lucy Walter, but this 
 1 monstrous and ridiculous ' claim to legitimacy was
 
 Ivi THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 thoroughly baseless. Bishop Kennett records that 
 William Erskine, who was'cupbearer to the King, and 
 afterwards Master of the Charterhouse, said positively 
 that ' the King had never any intention to marry her 
 [Lucy Walter], and indeed she did not deserve it, 
 being a very ill woman.' Erskine was in a position 
 to know, as he had care of her, and buried her in 
 Paris. Thomas Ross, the boy's tutor, put the idea 
 into Monmouth's head, but although he was turned off 
 in consequence of this, the report continued to gain 
 some kind of credence, until in June 1678 the King 
 set the matter at rest by publishing a declaration 
 which was entered in the Council-book and registered 
 in Chancery. The words of Charles were, ' that to 
 avoid any dispute which might happen in time to 
 come concerning the succession of the Crown, he 
 did declare in the presence of Almighty God, that he 
 never gave, nor made any contract of marriage, nor 
 was married to Mrs. Barlow, alias Waters, the Duke 
 of Monmouth's mother, nor to any other woman 
 whatsoever, but to his present wife, Queen Catherine, 
 then living.' 
 
 Immediately on his restoration to the crown 
 Charles commenced his connection with Mrs. Palmer 
 (afterwards Countess of Castlemaine and Duchess of 
 Cleveland), who was, if possible, a more worthless 
 woman than Lucy Walter. 
 
 Bishop Burnet wrote of her : c She was a woman 
 of great beauty, but most enormously vicious and
 
 INTRODUCTION. Ivii 
 
 ravenously foolish but imperious ; very uneasy to the 
 King, and always carrying on intrigues with other 
 men, while yet she pretended she was jealous of him. 
 His passion for her and her strange behaviour towards 
 him did so disorder him, that often he was not master 
 of himself, nor capable of business which in so critical 
 a time required great application.' 
 
 There is ample evidence that this unflattering char- 
 acter is by no means overdrawn, and most things that 
 are related of her make us turn away with loathing 
 and disgust. 
 
 Barbara, only child of William Villiers, second 
 Viscount Grandison, was born in 1640, and Mr. 
 Steinman, in his Memoir of Barbara, Duchess of Cleve- 
 land (1871), proves that when she was only sixteen 
 or seventeen years of age she had become the mistress 
 of Philip, Earl of Chesterfield. How beautiful she 
 was, and how much she was admired by Samuel 
 Pepys, we all know, but the incidents of her life are so 
 repulsive that there is no satisfaction in relating them. 
 The King had abundant reasons for reposing little 
 faith in her fidelity. 
 
 When in 1670 the Countess of Castlemaine was 
 created Duchess of Cleveland in her own right, the 
 names of her first and third natural sons Charles 
 Palmer and George Palmer were inserted in the 
 patent, and George Palmer was described as her 
 second son. This proves that at that time the King 
 would not acknowledge the second son, Henry, but
 
 Iviii THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 subsequently he was induced to do so, and Charles, 
 Henry, and George Palmer all took the name of 
 Fitzroy. Charles was created Duke of Southampton, 
 Henry, Duke of Grafton, and George Duke of North- 
 umberland. In the words of the patent these honours 
 were conferred upon the King's mistress l in con- 
 sideration of her noble descent, her father's death in 
 the service of the Crown, and by reason of her own 
 personal virtues.' 
 
 The Duchess of Cleveland having become a 
 Roman Catholic, was in consequence of the passing 
 of the Test Act in 1673 no longer able to continue 
 as one of the Ladies of the Bedchamber to Queen 
 Katherine. Not long after she was given up by 
 Charles 11., and about the year 1677, she withdrew 
 for a time to France, but did not die until October 
 9, 1709. 
 
 In one of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's letters 
 to the Countess of Mar (April 1727) we come upon 
 a curious union of the names of Cleveland and Nell 
 Gwyn. The daughter-in-law of the Duchess of 
 Cleveland fell in love with the grandson of the 
 actress. Lady Mary writes : 
 
 The man in England that gives the greatest pleasure 
 and the greatest pain is a youth of royal blood, with all 
 his grandmother's beauty, wit, and good qualities [Lord 
 Sidney Beauclerk]. In short he is Nell Gwyn in person, 
 with the sex altered, and occasions such fracas amongst 
 the ladies of gallantry that it passes [description]. You '11
 
 INTRODUCTION. lix 
 
 stare to hear of her Grace of Cleveland at the head of 
 them. If I was poetical I would tell you 
 
 Her children banish'd aye forgot, 
 
 Lord Sidney is her care ; 
 And what is much a happier lot, 
 
 Has hopes to be her heir. 
 
 Lord Sidney Beauclerk was the fifth son of the 
 Duke of St. Albans, and 25 years old at this date. 
 Sir Charles Hanbury Williams calls him c the worth- 
 less Sidney.' He was the father of Topham Beauclerk, 
 the friend of Johnson. 
 
 Frances Theresa Stuart (or Stewart), daughter of 
 William Stuart, third son of the first Lord Blantyre, 
 was for a few years a prominent beauty at the Court 
 of Charles n., whose head she turned ; but although 
 her conduct was careless, there seems no reason to 
 believe that she was the King's mistress, at all 
 events, before her marriage in 1667 with Charles 
 Stuart, sixth Duke of Lenox and third Duke of 
 Richmond. After her marriage her conduct was 
 not supposed to be free from reproach. 
 
 The beautiful Mrs. Myddelton, wife of Charles 
 Myddelton of Plas Baddy or Morton Hall, in the 
 township of Morton Below and parish of Ruabon, 
 co. Denbigh, had the Chevalier de Grammont among 
 her lovers, and report said that she was at one time a 
 rival of Lady Castlemaine in the affections of the 
 King.
 
 Ix THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 One of the three daughters of Richard, Earl 
 Ranelagh, was mistress of the King about 1680, and 
 this is believed to have been Lady Elizabeth Jones, 
 who in 1684 married John, eighteenth Earl of Kildare, 
 and died April 10, 1757, aged ninety-three. 1 
 
 Of the numerous mistresses of the King three only 
 were attached to him for any length of time. These 
 were the Duchess of Cleveland, Nell Gwyn, and the 
 Duchess of Portsmouth. Charles's last years were 
 fully occupied by the constant bickerings between the 
 two last-named, who were both mentioned by the 
 King in his last illness, and commended to the care 
 of his brother and successor. 
 
 These bickerings gave the balladmonger constant 
 occupation, and several ballads relating to the two 
 mistresses have been preserved in the collections. 
 Among the Broadsides of the Society of Antiquaries 
 is c A Dialogue between the Dutchess of Portsmouth 
 and Madam Gwin at Parting,' which is dated 1682. 
 Nell taunts the Duchess with her intrigue with the 
 grand Prieur de Vendome, brother of Marshal V en- 
 dome. The Duchess is supposed to have been sent 
 away by the King, and she went to the Baths of 
 Bourbonne for the good of her health. Mr. Ebs- 
 worth quotes the following lines from a MS. copy of 
 The Duchess of Portsmouth's Garland 'in the Advocates' 
 Library : 
 
 1 Steinman's Memoir of Mrs. Myddelton (1864), pp. 43, 73 ; 
 Addenda (1880), p. 6.
 
 INTRODUCTION. Ixi 
 
 When Portsmouth did from England fly, to follow her 
 
 Vandome, 
 
 Thus all along the gallery, the Monarch made his moan : 
 4 O Chantillion, for charity, send me my Cleaveland home ! 
 Go nymph, so foolish and unkind, your wandering knight 
 
 pursue, 
 And leave a love-sick King behind, so faithful and so 
 
 true ; 
 You gods, when you made Love so blind, you shou'd 
 
 have lam'd him too.' l 
 
 Another ballad appeared in several forms and with 
 several titles. In the Luttrell Collection is The 
 Duchess of Portsmouth's Farewell. Here 
 
 The Duchess holds a Dialogue, 
 
 And talks with Madam Gwin, 
 Yea doth relate the wretched state 
 
 That now she liveth in. 
 
 Nell Gwin is made to say : 
 
 But, madam, from hence you sent treasure away, 
 
 With a fa la, etc., 
 And I suppose for a while you must stay ; 
 
 With a fa la, etc. 
 
 But what I myself have got by my game, 
 I freely in England expended the same. 
 But you have transported yours to your shame, 
 
 With a fa la, fa la la. 
 
 In the Bagford Collection are c A Pleasant Dia- 
 logue between Two Wanton Ladies of Pleasure, or 
 the Dutchess of Portsmouth's Woful Farewell to her 
 Former Felicity,' and * Portsmouth's Lamentation, or 
 a Dialogue between Two Amorous Ladies, E. G. 
 and D. P. 
 
 1 Roxburghe Ballads, part x. p. 286.
 
 Ixii THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 Among the Poems on State Affairs is one on c Eng- 
 land's Court Strumpets,' which is unquotable as a 
 whole. Cleveland is said to be fled and Nelly for- 
 gotten, while Mazarin is called old, and Portsmouth 
 rotten, for no other reason apparently than to rhyme 
 with forgotten. Near the end we are told : 
 
 Since women at helm have ruined the realm 
 
 And statesmen have lost their anchors, 
 The Lords and Commons know what will come on us, 
 
 But the Kingdom must break like the Bankers. 
 
 It is impossible not to feel that the popular esti- 
 mate of Nell Gwyn is a just one. Brought up under 
 the most unfavourable circumstances, her native good- 
 ness of heart shone forth, and she alone of all the 
 mistresses of Charles the Second did anything that it 
 is possible for us to admire.
 
 ADVERTISEMENT TO FIRST 
 EDITION. 
 
 THE following story was originally published 
 in The Gentleman's Magazine for the year 
 1851, and now appears as a separate publica- 
 tion for the first time : corrected throughout, 
 and enlarged with such new matter as my 
 own diligence, and the kindness of friends, have 
 enabled me to bring together. It must be 
 read as a serious truth, not as a fiction as 
 a biography, not as a romance. It has no 
 other foundation than truth, and will be heard 
 of hereafter only as it adheres to history. 
 
 PETER CUNNINGHAM.
 
 THE 
 
 STORY OF NELL GWYN 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introduction Birth and birthplace Horoscope of her nativity 
 Condition in life of her father Her account of her early 
 days Becomes an orange-girl at the theatre Effects of the 
 Restoration Revival of the stage Two theatres allowed 
 Scenery and dresses Principal actors and actresses Duties 
 and importance of the orange-girls. 
 
 DR. THOMAS TENISON, afterwards Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, preached the funeral sermon of 
 Nell Gwyn. 1 What so good a man did not 
 think an unfit subject for a sermon, will not be 
 thought, I trust, an unfit subject for a book : 
 for the life that was spent remissly may yet 
 convey a moral, like that of Jane Shore, which 
 the wise and virtuous Sir Thomas More has 
 
 1 The author of this book asked in Notes and Queries if a copy 
 of this Funeral Sermon was known to exist either in print or in 
 manuscript, but no reply was elicited. (See Notes and Queries, 
 1st Series, i. 28). ED. 
 
 A
 
 2 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 told so touchingly in his History of King 
 Richard in.' 
 
 The English people have always entertained 
 a peculiar liking for Nell Gwyn. There is a 
 sort of indulgence towards her not generally 
 conceded to any other woman of her class. 
 Thousands are attracted by her name, they 
 know not why, and do not stay to inquire. It 
 is the popular impression that, with all her 
 failings, she had a generous as well as a tender 
 heart ; that when raised from poverty, she 
 reserved her wealth for others rather than her- 
 self ; and that the influence she possessed was 
 often exercised for good objects, and never 
 abused. Contrasted with others in a far superior 
 rank in life, and tried by fewer temptations, 
 there is much that marks and removes her 
 from the common herd. The many have no 
 sympathy, nor should they have any, for 
 Barbara Palmer, Louise de Querouelle, or 
 Erengard de Schulenberg ; but for Nell Gwyn, 
 'pretty witty Nell,' there is a tolerant and 
 kindly regard, which the following pages are 
 designed to illustrate rather than extend. 
 
 The Coal Yard in Drury Lane, 1 a low alley, 
 
 1 This place is now named Goldsmith Street. ED.
 
 TIME AND PLACE OF BIRTH. 3 
 
 the last on the east or City side of the lane, and 
 still known by that name, was, it is said, the 
 place of Nell Gwyn's birth. They show, how- 
 ever, in Pipe Lane, in the parish of St. John, 
 in the city of Hereford, a small house of brick 
 and timber, now little better than a hovel, in 
 which, according to local tradition, she was 
 born. 1 That the Coal Yard was the place of 
 her birth was stated in print as early as 1721 ; 
 and this was copied by Oldys, a curious inquirer 
 into literary and dramatic matters, in the account 
 of her life which he wrote for Curll. 2 The 
 Hereford story too is of some standing ; but 
 there is little else, I am afraid, to support it. 3 
 The capital of the cider country, however, does 
 not want even Nell Gwyn to add to its theatrical 
 reputation ; in the same cathedral city which 
 claims to be the birthplace of the best-known 
 English actress, was born, seventy years later, 
 David Garrick, the greatest and best-known 
 actor we have yet had. 4 
 
 1 The house was pulled down in 1859, and the name of the 
 place has been changed from Pipe Well Lane to Gwyn Street. ED. 
 
 2 Curll's History of the English Stage, 8vo, 1741, p. in. 
 
 * There is little or no evidence either way, but the preponder- 
 ance of opinion may now be said to be in favour of Hereford as 
 the place of birth. ED. 
 
 4 ' When I went first to Oxford, Dr. John Ireland, an antiquary,
 
 4 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 The horoscope of the nativity of Eleanor 
 Gwyn, the work perhaps of Lilly, is still to be 
 seen among Ashmole's papers in the Museum 
 at Oxford. She was born, it states, on the 2d 
 of February i65o[-i]. The horoscope, of 
 
 which I have had a facsimile made, shows what 
 stars were supposed to be in the ascendant at 
 
 assured me that Nelly was born in Oxford. He named the parish, 
 but I have forgot it. It is certain that two of her son's titles 
 Headington and Burford were taken from Oxfordshire localities.' 
 MS. note by the late Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, the antiquary 
 and genealogist. Oddly enough, one of Nelly's grandsons died 
 Bishop of Hereford.
 
 HER FATHER AND MOTHER. 5 
 
 the time ; and such of my readers as do not 
 disdain a study which engaged the attention and 
 ruled not unfrequently the actions of vigorous- 
 minded men like Lord Chancellor Shaftesbury 
 and the poet Dryden, may find more meaning 
 in the state of the heavenly bodies at her 
 birth than I have as yet succeeded in detecting. 
 Of the early history of Nell, and of the rank 
 in life of her parents, very little is known with 
 certainty. Her father, it is said, was Captain 
 Thomas Gwyn, of an ancient family in Wales. 1 
 The name certainly is of Welsh extraction, and 
 the descent may be admitted without adopting 
 the captaincy ; for by other hitherto received 
 accounts her father was a fruiterer in Co vent 
 Garden. 2 She speaks in her will of her * kins- 
 man Cholmley,' and the satires of the time have 
 pilloried a cousin, raised by her influence to an 
 
 1 MS. note by Van Bossen, made in 1688, and quoted at length 
 in a subsequent page (chapter vii. ). 
 
 2 A correspondent of the Notes and Queries mentions that 
 ' David Gwyn ' is a name affixed to a petition of parishioners of 
 St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, undated, but read 24th January 1653, 
 and suggests that this may have been Nell's father, but the sugges- 
 tion by itself is not of much value, as the name Gwyn was by 
 no means uncommon at this time. (See Notes and Queries, 2d 
 Series, xi. 173.) A tradition that Nell Gwyn's real name was 
 Margaret Symcott is mentioned in Doran's Their Majesties 
 Servants (ed. Lowe, i. 91). ED.
 
 6 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 ensigncy from the menial office of one of the 
 black guard employed in carrying coals at 
 Court. Her mother, who lived to see her 
 daughter a favourite of the King, and the 
 mother by him of at least two children, was 
 accidentally drowned in a pond near the Neat 
 Houses at Chelsea. Her Christian name was 
 Eleanor, but her maiden name is unknown. 
 
 Whatever the station in life to which her 
 pedigree might have entitled her, her bringing 
 up, by her own account, was humble enough. 
 * Mrs Pierce tells me,' says Pepys, ( that the 
 two Marshalls at the King's House are Stephen 
 Marshall's, the great Presbyterian's daughters ; 
 and that Nelly and Beck Marshall falling out 
 the other day, the latter called the other my 
 Lord Buckhurst's mistress. Nell answered her, 
 " I was but one man's mistress, though I was 
 brought up in a brothel to fill strong water l to 
 the gentlemen ; and you are a mistress to three 
 or four, though a Presbyter's praying daughter.'" 
 This, for a girl of any virtue or beauty, was 
 indeed a bad bringing-up. 2 
 
 1 Among Mr. Akerman's Tradesmen's Tokens current in London, 
 1648 to 1672, is that of ' a strong water man.' 
 
 2 Colonel Chester has proved conclusively that the story first 
 started by Pepys that the actresses, Ann and Rebecca Marshall,
 
 HER EARL Y LIFE. 7 
 
 The Coal Yard, infamous in later years as 
 one of the residences of Jonathan Wild, was 
 the next turning in the same street to the 
 still more notorious and fashionably inhabited 
 Lewknor Lane, 1 where young creatures were 
 inveigled to infamy, and sent dressed as orange- 
 girls to sell fruit and attract attention in the 
 adjoining theatres. 
 
 That this was Nelly's next calling we have 
 the testimony of the Duchess of Portsmouth 
 and the authority of a poem of the time, attri- 
 buted to Lord Rochester : 
 
 But first the basket her fair arm did suit, 
 Laden with pippins and Hesperian fruit ; 
 This first step raised, to the wondering pit she sold 
 The lovely fruit smiling with streaks of gold. 
 
 Nell was now an orange-girl, holding her 
 
 were daughters of Stephen Marshall, the eminent preacher, is 
 untrue. Marshall died rgth November 1655, and his will was 
 proved llth February 1655-56. At the date of his will his wife 
 was dead and five of his daughters were already married, three 
 of them at least to clergymen, and had several children. His 
 remaining daughter Susan was unmarried, but more than twenty- 
 one years of age, as she proved her father's will. (See Westminster 
 Abbey Registers, 1876, p. 149). ED. 
 
 1 Lewknor's Lane, on the east side of Drury Lane, opposite 
 Short's Gardens, is now called Charles Street. It was here that 
 Jonathan Wild lived, and Jack Sheppard was taken after his second 
 escape from Newgate. Sir Lewis Lewknor, after whom the lane 
 was named, was an inhabitant of Drury Lane in the reign of 
 James i. ED.
 
 8 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 basket of fruit covered with vine-leaves in the 
 pit of the King's Theatre, and taking her stand 
 with her fellow fruit-women in the front row 
 of the pit, with her back to the stage. 1 The 
 cry of the fruit-women, which Shadwell has 
 preserved, ' Oranges ! will you have any 
 oranges ? ' 2 must have come clear and invit- 
 ingly from the lips of Nell Gwyn. 
 
 She was ten years of age at the restoration 
 of King Charles u., in i66o. 3 She was old 
 enough, therefore, to have noticed the extra- 
 ordinary change which the return of royalty 
 effected in the manners, customs, feelings, and 
 even conversation of the bulk of the people. 
 The strict observance of the Sabbath was no 
 longer rigidly enforced. Sir Charles Sedley 
 and the Duke of Buckingham rode in their 
 coaches on a Sunday, and the barber and the 
 shoeblack shaved beards and cleaned boots on 
 the same day, without the overseers of the 
 poor of the parish inflicting fines on them for 
 such (as they were then thought) unseemly 
 breaches of the Sabbath. Maypoles were once 
 
 1 T. Shadwell's Works, iii. 173. 
 
 2 Davies's Dramatic Miscellanies, iii. 464. 
 
 8 This should be nine years, as she was born in 1651. ED.
 
 THE RESTORATION. 9 
 
 more erected on spots endeared by old associ- 
 ations, and the people again danced their old 
 dances around them. The Cavalier restored 
 the royal insignia on his fireplace to its old 
 position ; the King's Head, the Duke's Head, 
 and the Crown were once more favourite signs 
 by which taverns were distinguished ; drinking 
 of healths and deep potations, with all their 
 Low-Country honours and observances, were 
 again in vogue. Oughtred, the mathematician, 
 died of joy, and Urquhart, the translator of 
 Rabelais, of laughter, at hearing of the en- 
 thusiasm of the English to f welcome home 
 old Rowley.' 1 The King's health- 
 Here's a health unto his Majesty, with a fa, la, la, 2 
 
 1 ' Welcome home, old Rowley,' is the name of the well-known 
 Scottish tune called ' Haud awa' frae me, Donald. ' See Johnson's 
 Scots Musical Museum, iv. 318. 
 
 2 In Catch that catch can ; or, The Musical Companion, contain- 
 ing Catfhes and Rounds for three and four -voices, etc., 1667,410, 
 is this health 
 
 ' Here's a health unto his Majesty, with a fa, la, la, 
 Conversion to his enemies, with a fa, la, la. 
 And he that will not pledge his health, 
 I wish him neither wit nor wealth, 
 Nor yet a rope to hang himself. 
 With a fa, la, la, la, 
 With a fa, la,' etc. 
 
 The music appears to have been the composition of ' Mr. 
 Jeremiah Savile.' Shad well refers to the song, Works, ii. 268 ; 
 iii. 52. P. C.
 
 io THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 was made a pretext for the worst excesses, and 
 irreligion and indecency were thought to secure 
 conversation against a suspicion of disloyalty 
 and fanaticism. Even the common people 
 took to gay-coloured dresses as before ; and a 
 freedom of spirits, rendered familiar by early 
 recollection, and only half subdued by Presby- 
 terian persecution, was confirmed by a licence 
 of tongue which the young men about court 
 had acquired while in exile with their sovereign. 
 
 Not the least striking effect of the Restoration 
 of the King was the revival of the English 
 theatres. They had been closed and the players 
 silenced for three-and-twenty years, and in that 
 space a new generation had arisen, to whom the 
 entertainments of the stage were known but by 
 name. The theatres were now reopened, and 
 with every advantage which stage properties, 
 new and improved scenery, and the costliest 
 dresses, could lend to help them forward. But 
 there were other advantages equally new, and 
 of still greater importance, but for which the 
 name of Eleanor Gwyn would in all likelihood 
 never have reached us. 
 
 From the earliest epoch of the stage in 
 England till the theatres were silenced at the
 
 REVIVAL OF THE STAGE. n 
 
 outbreak of the Civil War, female characters 
 had invariably been played by men, and during 
 the same brilliant period of our dramatic history 
 there is but one instance of a sovereign witness- 
 ing a performance at a public theatre. Henrietta 
 Maria, though so great a favourer of theatrical 
 exhibitions, was present once, and once only, 
 at the theatre in the Blackfriars. The plays 
 of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, 
 
 Which so did take Eliza and our James, 
 
 were invariably seen by those sovereigns, as 
 afterwards by Charles i., in the halls, banqueting- 
 houses, and cockpits attached to their palaces. 
 With the Restoration 
 
 When Love was all an easy Monarch's care, 
 Seldom at council, never in a war, 
 
 came women on the stage, and the King and 
 Queen, the Dukes of York and Buckingham, 
 the chief courtiers, and the maids-of-honour, 
 were among the constant frequenters of the 
 public theatres. 
 
 Great interest was used at the Restoration 
 for the erection of new theatres in London, 
 but the King, acting it is thought on the 
 advice of Clarendon, who wished to stem at all 
 points the flood of idle gaiety and dissipation,
 
 12 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 would not allow of more than two the King's 
 Theatre, under the control of Thomas Killi- 
 grew, and the Duke's Theatre (so called in 
 compliment to his brother, the Duke of York), 
 under the direction of Sir William Davenant. 
 Better men for the purpose could not have 
 been chosen. Killigrew was one of the Grooms 
 of the Bedchamber to the King, a well-known 
 wit at court and a dramatist himself; and 
 Davenant, who filled the office of Poet Laure- 
 ate in the household of the King, as he had 
 done before to his father, King Charles i., had 
 been a successful writer for the stage, while Ben 
 Jonson and Massinger were still alive. The 
 royal brothers patronised both houses with 
 equal earnestness, and the patentees vied with 
 each other in catering successfully for the 
 public amusement. 
 
 The King's Theatre, or ' The Theatre,' as it 
 was commonly called, stood in Drury Lane, 
 on the site of the present building, and was the 
 first theatre, as the present is the fourth, erected 
 on the site. 1 It was small, with few preten- 
 
 1 Killigrew's Company commenced acting at a house in Vere 
 Street, Clare Market, previously Gibbons's Tennis Court, on 
 November 8, 1660 : they opened Drury Lane Theatre on May 7, 
 1663 (not April 8 as stated in the text on the authority of
 
 KING'S AND DUKE'S THEATRES. 13 
 
 sions to architectural beauty, and was first 
 opened on the 8th of April 1663, when Nell 
 was a girl of thirteen. The chief entrance was 
 in Little Russell Street, not as now in Brydges 
 Street. The stage was lighted with wax 
 candles, on brass censers or cressets. The pit 
 lay open to the weather for the sake of light, 
 but was subsequently covered in with a glazed 
 cupola, which, however, only imperfectly pro- 
 tected the audience, so that in stormy weather 
 the house was thrown into disorder, and the 
 people in the pit were fain to rise. 
 
 The Duke's Theatre, commonly called f The 
 Opera,' from the nature of its performances, 
 stood at the back of what is now the Royal 
 College of Surgeons, in Portugal Row, on the 
 south side of Lincoln's Inn Fields. 1 It was 
 originally a tennis-court, and, like its rival, was 
 run up hurriedly to meet the wants of the age. 
 The interior arrangements and accommodation 
 were much the same as at Killigrew's house. 
 
 The company at the King's Theatre in- 
 
 Downes). The theatre was burned in 1672 and at once rebuilt. 
 Reopened March 26, 1674. ED. 
 
 1 Davenant's Company commenced acting in Salisbury Court, 
 on November 15, 1660, and removed to Portugal Row, Lincoln's 
 Inn Fields, in June 1661. ED.
 
 i 4 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 eluded among the actors, at the first opening 
 of the house, Theophilus Bird, Charles Hart, 
 Michael Mohun, John Lacy, Nicholas Burt, 
 William Cartwright, William Wintershall, 
 Walter Clun, Robert Shatterell, and Edward 
 Kynaston ; and Mrs. Corey, Mrs. Ann Mar- 
 shall, Mrs. Rebecca Marshall, Mrs. Eastland, 
 Mrs. Weaver, Mrs. Uphill, Mrs. Knep, and 
 Mrs. Hughes l were among the female per- 
 formers. Joe Haines, the low comedian, and 
 Cardell Goodman, the lover of the Duchess of 
 Cleveland, were subsequent accessions to the 
 troop ; and so also were Mrs. Boutell and 
 < Mrs. Ellen Gwyn.' 
 
 Bird belonged to the former race of actors, 
 and did not long survive the Restoration. 
 Hart and Clun had been bred up as boys at 
 the Blackfriars to act women's parts. Hart, 
 who had served as a captain in the King's army, 
 rose to the summit of his profession, but Clun 
 was unfortunately killed while his reputation 
 was still on the increase. Mohun had played 
 at the Cockpit before the Civil Wars, and had 
 
 1 Mrs. Hughes (Prince Rupert's mistress) was said to be the 
 Desdemona ' regarding whom Jordan's prologue was written, and, 
 therefore, the first woman who acted on the English stage after the 
 Restoration.' (See Lowe's Thomas Betterton, 1891, p. 81.) ED.
 
 ACTORS AT THE KING'S THEATRE. 15 
 
 served as a captain under the King, and after- 
 wards in the same capacity in Flanders, where 
 he received the pay of a major ; he was famous 
 in lago and Cassius. Lacy, a native of York- 
 shire, was the Irish Johnstone and Tyrone 
 Power of his time. Burt, who had been a 
 boy first under Shank l at the Blackfriars, and 
 then under Beeston at the Cockpit, was famous 
 before the Civil Wars for the part of Clariana 
 in Shirley's play of ( Love's Cruelty,' and after 
 the Restoration equally famous as Othello. 
 Cartwright and Wintershall had belonged to 
 the private house in Salisbury Court. Cart- 
 wright won great renown in FalstafF, and as 
 one of the two kings of Brentford in the farce 
 of the f Rehearsal.' Wintershall played Master 
 Slender, for which Dennis the critic commends 
 him highly, and was celebrated for his Cokes 
 in Ben Jonson's f Bartholomew Fair.' Shat- 
 terell had been quartermaster in Sir Robert 
 Dallison's regiment of horse, the same in 
 which Hart had been a lieutenant and Burt a 
 cornet. Kynaston acquired especial favour in 
 female parts, for which, indeed, he continued 
 
 1 John Shanke was one of the actors on the list printed in the 
 first folio of Shakespeare (1623). ED.
 
 1 6 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 celebrated long after the introduction of women 
 on the stage. Such were the actors at the 
 King's House when Nell Gwyn joined "the 
 company. 
 
 Mrs. Corey (the name Miss had then an 
 improper meaning, and the women though 
 single were called Mistresses) 1 played Abigail, 
 in the ' Scornful Lady ' of Beaumont and Flet- 
 cher ; Sempronia, in Jonson's Catiline'; and 
 was the original Widow Blackacre in Wycher- 
 ly's c Plain Dealer'; Pepys calls her Doll 
 Common. The two Marshalls, Ann and 
 Rebecca (to whom I have already had oc- 
 casion to refer), were the younger daughters 
 of the well-known Stephen Marshall, the 
 Presbyterian divine, who preached the sermon 
 at the funeral of John Pym. 2 Mrs. Uphill 
 was first the mistress and then the wife of Sir 
 Robert Howard, the poet. Mrs. Knep was 
 the wife of a Smithfield horsedealer, and the 
 mistress of Pepys. 3 Mrs. Hughes, better 
 
 1 The first unmarried actress who had Miss before her name 
 on a playbill was Miss Cross, the original Miss Hoyden in Van- 
 brugh's Relapse. 
 
 2 See ante (p. 6) for note on this blunder respecting the two 
 Marshalls. ED. 
 
 3 Mrs. Knipp is frequently mentioned in Pepys's Diary, but it 
 gives a false impression to style her the diarist's ' mistress.' Eu.
 
 A CTORS A T THE D UKE 'S HO USE. 1 7 
 
 known as Peg, was the mistress of Prince 
 Rupert, by whom she had a daughter ; and 
 Mrs. Boutell was famous for playing Statira 
 to Mrs. Barry's Roxana, in Lee's impressive 
 tragedy of ' Alexander the Great.' Such were 
 the actresses when Nell came among them. 
 
 Among the actors at the Duke's were 
 Thomas Betterton, the rival of Burbage and 
 Garrick in the well-earned greatness of his 
 reputation, and the last survivor of the old 
 school of actors ; Joseph Harris, 1 the friend of 
 Pepys, originally a seal-cutter, and famous for 
 acting Romeo, Wolsey, and Sir Andrew Ague- 
 cheek ; William Smith, a barrister of Gray's 
 Inn, celebrated as Zanga in Lord Orrery's 
 'Mustapha'; Samuel Sandford, called by King 
 Charles n. the best representative of a villain 
 in the world, and praised both by Langbaine 
 and Steele for his excellence in his art ; James 
 Nokes, originally a toyman in Cornhill, famous 
 for playing Sir Nicholas Cully in Etherege's 
 c Love in a Tub,' for his bawling fops, and for 
 his ' good company ' ; Cave Underbill, clever 
 
 1 Later researches on the history of the stage have made it 
 almost certain that the celebrated actor who was Pepys's particular 
 friend was Henry Harris, and not Joseph Harris. See R. W. 
 Lowe's Thomas Betterton, 1891, p. 72. ED. 
 
 B
 
 1 8 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 as Cutter in Cowley's comedy, and as the 
 grave-digger in f Hamlet,' called by Steele 
 * honest Cave Underhill ' ; and Matthew 
 Medbourne, a useful actor in parts not re- 
 quiring any great excellence. The women 
 were, Elizabeth Davenport, 1 the first Roxolana 
 in the ( Siege of Rhodes,' snatched from the 
 stage to become the mistress of the twentieth 
 and last Earl of Oxford of the noble family of 
 Vere ; Mary Saunderson, famous as Queen 
 Katherine and Juliet, afterwards the wife of 
 the great Betterton ; Mary or Moll Davis, 
 excellent in singing and dancing, afterwards 
 the mistress of Charles n. ; Mrs. Long, the 
 mistress of the Duke of Richmond 2 celebrated 
 for the elegance of her appearance in men's 
 clothes ; Mrs. Norris, the mother of Jubilee 
 Dicky ; 3 Mrs. Holden, daughter of a book- 
 seller to whom Betterton had been bound 
 apprentice ; and Mrs. Jennings and Mrs. 
 Johnson, both taken from the stage by 
 
 1 This actress is usually styled Mrs. Davenport, and it is not 
 certain that she was one of the sisters named respectively Elizabeth 
 and Frances. ED. 
 
 2 MS. note by Isaac Reed, in his copy of Downes's Roscius 
 Anglicanus. 
 
 3 Henry Norris, who gained the name of Jubilee Dicky from 
 his acting that character in Farquhar's Constant Couple ; or, A 
 Trip to the Jubilee. En.
 
 DRESSES AND SCENERY. 19 
 
 gallants of the town, the former but little 
 known as an actress, the latter celebrated as a 
 dancer and for her Carolina in Shadwell's 
 comedy of f Epsom Wells.' 
 
 Such were the performers at the Duke's 
 House. Anthony Leigh and Mrs. Barry, both 
 brought out at the same theatre, were acces- 
 sions after Davenant's death, and, as I see 
 reason to believe, after Nell Gwyn had ceased 
 to be connected with the stage. 
 
 The dresses at both houses were magnificent 
 and costly, but little or no attention was paid 
 to costume. The King, the Queen, the Duke, 
 and several of the richer nobility, gave their 
 coronation suits to the actors, and on extra- 
 ordinary occasions a play was equipped at the 
 expense of the King. Old court dresses were 
 contributed by the gentry, and birthday suits 
 continued to be presented as late as the reign 
 of George n. The scenery at the Duke's 
 House was superior to the King's, for Dave- 
 nant, who introduced the opera among us, 
 introduced us at the same time to local and 
 expensive scenery. Battles were no longer 
 represented 
 
 With four or five most vile and ragged foils,
 
 20 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 or coronations by a crown taken from a deal 
 table by a single attendant. 
 
 The old stock plays were divided by the two 
 companies. Killigrew had c Othello/ ' Julius 
 Caesar,' 'Henry the Fourth/ 'The Merry Wives 
 of Windsor/ ' A Midsummer-Night's Dream ' ; 
 four of Ben Jonson's plays ' The Alchemist/ 
 c The Fox/ ' The Silent Woman/ and 
 ' Catiline ' ; and the best of Beaumont and 
 Fletcher's ' A King and no King/ 'The 
 Humorous Lieutenant/ ' Rule a Wife and have 
 a Wife/ { The Maid's Tragedy/ ' Rollo/ < The 
 Elder Brother/ ' Philaster/ and ' The Scornful 
 Lady ' ; with Massinger's ' Virgin Martyr ' and 
 Shirley's f Traitor.' Davenant played ' Hamlet/ 
 'Lear/ 'Macbeth/ 'Romeo and Juliet/ 'Henry 
 the Eighth/ ' Twelfth Night/ and c The Tem- 
 pest ' ; Webster's ( Duchess of Malfi ' and ' Mad 
 Lover ' ; Middleton's ' Young Changeling ' ; 
 Fletcher's 'Loyal Subject' and 'Mad Lover' ; 
 and Massinger's ' Bondman.' 
 
 The new plays at the King's House were 
 contributed by Sir Robert Howard, Sir Charles 
 Sedley, Major Porter, Killigrew himself, Dry- 
 den, and Nat Lee ; at the Duke's House by 
 Davenant, Cowley, Etherege, Lord Orrery, 

 
 ARRANGEMENTS AT THE THEATRES. 21 
 
 and others. The new tragedies were principally 
 in rhyme. At the first performance of a new 
 comedy ladies seldom attended, or, if at all, in 
 masks such was the studied indecency of the 
 art of that period. 
 
 The wits of Charles found easier ways to fame, 
 Nor wished for Jonson's art or Shakespeare's flame ; 
 Themselves they studied as they felt they writ 
 Intrigue was plot, obscenity was wit. 
 
 The performances commenced at three. 1 It 
 was usual, therefore, to dine beforehand, and 
 when the play was over to adjourn to the 
 Mulberry Garden, to Vauxhall, or some other 
 place of public entertainment 
 
 Thither run, 
 Some to undo, and some to be undone. 
 
 The prices of admission were, boxes four 
 shillings, pit two-and-sixpence, middle gallery 
 eighteenpence, upper gallery one shilling. 
 The ladies in the pit wore vizards or masks. 2 
 The middle gallery was long the favourite 
 resort of Mr. and Mrs. Pepys. 
 
 1 Plays began at one in Shakespeare's time, at three in Dryden's, 
 at four in Congreve's. In 1696 the hour was four. [Plays began 
 at three in 1610 (Histriomastix) and in 1635 (Thomas Cranley's 
 Amanda). Mr. R. W. Lowe quotes from the prologue to Dryden's 
 Wild Gallant in support of half-past three {Thomas Betterton, 
 p. is).-ED.] 
 
 2 Masks, long the mark of a courtesan, were ' disallowed ' in 
 theatres as early as the accession of the House of Hanover. (See 
 Steele's Town Talk, No. 5, dated I3th January 1715-16.) P. C.
 
 22 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 The upper gallery, as at present, was attended 
 by the poorest and the noisiest. Servants in 
 livery were admitted as soon as the fifth act 
 commenced. 
 
 With the orange-girls (who stood, as we have 
 seen, in the pit, with their back to the stage) 
 the beaux about town were accustomed to break 
 their jests ; l and that the language employed 
 was not of the most delicate description, we 
 may gather from the dialogue of Dorimant, in 
 Etherege's comedy of c Sir Fopling Flutter.' 
 
 The mistress or superior of the girls was 
 familiarly known as Orange Moll, and filled 
 the same sort of office in the theatre that the 
 mother of the maids occupied at court among 
 the maids-of-honour. Both Sir William Penn 
 and Pepys would occasionally have c a great 
 deal of discourse ' with Orange Moll ; and Mrs. 
 Knep, the actress, when in want of Pepys, sent 
 Moll to the Clerk of the Acts with the welcome 
 message. To higgle about the price of the 
 fruit was thought beneath the character of a 
 gentleman. c The next step,' says the ' Young 
 Gallant's Academy,' c is to give a turn to the 
 
 1 Prologue to Lord Rochester's Valentinian ; T. Shadwell's 
 Works, i. 199.
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE ORANGE-GIRLS. 23 
 
 China orange wench, and give her her own rate 
 for her oranges (for 'tis below a gentleman to 
 stand haggling like a citizen's wife), and then 
 to present the fairest to the next vizard mask.' 1 
 Pepys, when challenged in the pit for the price 
 of twelve oranges which the orange-woman said 
 he owed her, but which he says was wholly 
 untrue, was not content with denying the debt, 
 { but for quiet bought four shillings'-worth of 
 oranges from her at sixpence apiece.' 2 This 
 was a high price, but the Clerk of the Acts was 
 true to the direction in the ' Gallant's Academy.' 
 
 1 The Young Gallanfs Academy, or Directions how he should 
 behave in all places and company. By Sam. Overcome, 1674. 
 
 2 Pepys, nth May 1668. That sixpence was the price of an 
 orange at this time, and even later, see Pepys, 26th March 
 1668. P. C. 
 
 ' Half-crown my play, sixpence my orange cost.' 
 
 Prologue to Mrs. Behn's Young King, 1698. 
 ' Nor furiously laid orange-wench a-board 
 For asking what in fruit and love you 'd scored.' 
 
 Butler, A Panegyric on Sir John Denham. 
 
 ' When trading grows scant, they join all their forces together, 
 and make up one grand show and admit the cutpurse and ballad- 
 singer to trade under them, as orange- women do at a playhouse.' 
 
 Butler, Character of ajugler. 
 
 ' Mr. Vain. I can't imagine how I first came to be of this 
 humour, unless 'twere hearing the orange-wenches talk of ladies 
 and their gallants. So I began to think I had no way of being in 
 the fashion, but bragging of mistresses. ' 
 
 Hon. James Howard, The English Monsieur, p. 4, 4to, 1674. 
 
 ' Mrs. Crafty. This life of mine can last no longer than my 
 beauty ; and though 'tis pleasant now, I want nothing whilst I am
 
 24 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 Mr. Welbred's mistress, yet, if his mind should change, I might 
 e'en sell oranges for my living, and he not buy one of me to relieve 
 me.' Hon. James Howard, The English Monsieur, p. 10. 
 
 ' She outdoes a playhouse orange-woman for the politick manage- 
 ment of a bawdy intrigue. ' 
 
 Tunbridge Wells, a Comedy, 4to, 1678. 
 
 ' In former times, a play of humour, or with a good plot, could 
 certainly please ; but now a poet must find out a third way, and 
 adapt his scenes and story to the genius of the critic, if he'd have 
 it pass ; he '11 have nothing to do with your dull Spanish plot, for 
 whilst he 's rallying with the orange-wench, the business of the act 
 gets quite out of his head, and then 'tis "Damme, what stuff's 
 this?" he sees neither head nor tail to't.' 
 
 D'Urfey, Preface to The Banditti, 4to, 1686. 
 
 ' The noble peer may to the play repair, 
 Court the pert damsel with her China-ware 
 Nay, marry her if he please no one will care.' 
 
 D'Urfey, Prologue to A Foots Preferment, 4to, 1688. 
 
 ' The orange-miss that here cajoles the Duke 
 May sell her rotten ware without rebuke.' 
 D'Urfey, Prologue to Don Quixote, Part I., 4to, 1694. 
 
 ' Frouzy (a campaigning Bawd). 
 
 If this is the playhouse, give me but thy billet, 
 And the orange-wench shall deliver it immediately to her.' 
 Dennis, A Plot and no Plot, 410, 1697. P.C.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Pepys introduces us to Nelly Character of Pepys Nelly at the 
 Duke's Theatre Who was Duncan ? Nell's parts as Lady 
 Wealthy, Enanthe, and Florimel Charles Hart Nell's 
 lodgings in Drury Lane Description of Drury Lane in the 
 reign of Charles n. The Maypole in the Strand Nell and 
 Lord Buckhurst Position in society of Actors and Actresses 
 Character of Lord Buckhurst Nelly at Epsom. 
 
 OUR earliest introduction to Nell Gwyn we 
 owe to Pepys. This precise and lively diarist 
 (who makes us live in his own circle of amuse- 
 ments by the truth and quaintness of his 
 descriptions) was a constant playgoer. To 
 see and to be seen, when the work of his 
 office was over, were the leading objects of his 
 thoughts. Few novelties escaped him, for he 
 never allowed his love of money to interfere 
 with the gratification of his wishes. His situa- 
 tion, as Clerk of the Acts, in the Navy Office, 
 while the Duke of York was Lord High 
 Admiral, gave him a taste for the entertain- 
 ments which his master enjoyed. He loved to 
 be found wherever the King and his brother 
 were. He was fond of music, could prick down 
 
 25
 
 26 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 a few notes for himself, and when his portrait 
 was painted by Hales, was drawn holding in his 
 hand the music which he had composed for a 
 favourite passage in the f Siege of Rhodes.' 1 He 
 was known to many of the players, and often 
 asked them to dinner, now and then not much 
 to the satisfaction, as he tells us, of his wife. 
 
 1 This hitherto unengraved portrait was bought by me at the 
 sale, in 1848, of the pictures, etc., of the family of Pepys Cockerell. 
 It was called by the auctioneer ' portrait of a Musician,' but is 
 unquestionably the picture referred to by Pepys in the following 
 passages of his Diary : 
 
 '1666, March 17. With my wife out to Hales's, where I am 
 still infinitely pleased with my wife's picture. I paid him 14 for 
 the picture, and^i, 55. for the frame. . . . This day I began to 
 sit, and he will make me, I think, a very fine picture. He pro- 
 mises it shall be as good as my wife's, and I sit to have it full of 
 shadows, and do almost break my neck looking over my shoulder 
 to make the posture for him to work by. 
 
 ' March 30. To Hales's, and there sat till almost quite dark 
 upon working my gowne, which I hired to be drawn in ; an 
 Indian gowne. 
 
 'April ii. To Hales's, where there was nothing found to be 
 done more to my picture, but the musique, which now pleases me 
 mightily, it being painted true. 
 
 'April 13. To Hales's. . . . Here we fell into discourse of 
 my picture, and I am for his putting out the Landskipp, though he 
 says it is very well done, yet I do judge it will be best without it, 
 and so it shall be put out, and be made a plain sky like my wife's 
 picture, which will be very noble.' 
 
 See also The Atheruzum for 1848. Lord Braybrooke (Pepys, 
 iii. p. 178) doubts the likeness, but admits that the portrait 
 answers the description. [This portrait is now in the National 
 Portrait Gallery. It was purchased by the Trustees in February 
 1866. The landscape background was painted out as stated in 
 the passage from the Diary of the 1 3th, which Mr. Cunningham 
 did not quote. ED.]
 
 PEPYS'S MEETING WITH NELL. 29 
 
 Mrs. Knep, of the King's House, and Joseph 
 Harris 1 of the Duke's (to both of whom I have 
 already introduced the reader) were two of his 
 especial favourites. The gossip and scandal of 
 the green-room of Drury Lane and Lincoln's 
 Inn Fields were in this way known to him, and 
 what he failed to obtain behind the scenes he 
 would learn from the orange-women at both 
 houses. 
 
 Nell was in her sixteenth, 2 and Mr. Pepys in 
 his thirty-fourth year, when, on Monday the 
 3d of April 1665, they would appear to have 
 seen one another for the first time. They met at 
 the Duke's Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields dur- 
 ing the performance of c Mustapha,' a tragedy, 
 by the Earl of Orrery, in which Betterton 
 played the part of Solyman, Harris that of 
 Mustapha, and Mrs. or Miss Davis that of 
 the Queen of Hungaria. Great care had been 
 taken to produce this now long-forgotten 
 tragedy with the utmost magnificence. All the 
 parts were newly clothed, and new scenes had 
 
 1 Henry Harris (not Joseph). See ante, p. 17. ED. 
 
 3 Sixteenth is a mistake. As Nell was born in February 1651, 
 she really was a couple of months over fourteen, and had of 
 course just entered her fifteenth year. The author has not taken 
 into account that a contemporary record of February 1650 would 
 really mean 1651. ED.
 
 30 THE STOR Y OF NELL GWYN, 
 
 been painted expressly for it. Yet we are told 
 by Pepys that ' all the pleasure of the play ' 
 was in the circumstance that the King and my 
 Lady Castlemaine were there, and that he sat 
 next to ' pretty witty Nell at the King's House ' 
 and to the younger Marshall, another actress 
 at the same theatre a circumstance, he adds, 
 with his usual quaint honesty of remark, ' which 
 pleased me mightily.' Yet the play was a good 
 one in Pepys's eyes. Nine months later he 
 calls it f a most excellent play ' ; and when he 
 saw it again, after an interval of more than two 
 years, he describes it as one he liked better the 
 more he saw it : c a most admirable poem, and 
 bravely acted.' l His after entries, therefore, 
 more than confirm the truth of his earlier im- 
 pressions. The real pleasure of the play, how- 
 ever, was that he sat by the side of 'pretty 
 witty Nell,' whose foot has been described as 
 the least of any woman's in England, 2 and to 
 Rebecca Marshall, whose handsome hand he 
 has carefully noted in another entry in his 
 Diary. The small feet peeping occasionally 
 from beneath a petticoat, and the handsome 
 
 1 Pepys, Sept. 4, 1667. 
 
 2 Oldys, in Curll's History of the Stage, p. III.
 
 THE CHARACTER OF ROXOLANA. 31 
 
 hands raised now and then to check a vagrant 
 curl, must have held the Clerk of the Acts in 
 a continual state of torture. 
 
 There was a novelty that night which had 
 doubtless drawn Nell and old Stephen Marshall's 
 younger daughter 1 to the pit of Lincoln's Inn 
 Fields. Mrs. Betterton was playing Roxolana 
 in place of the elder Davenport, and Moll 
 Davis had begun to attract the notice of some 
 of the courtiers, and, as it was whispered, of 
 the King himself. The old Roxolana had 
 become the mistress of the twentieth and last 
 earl of the great race of Vere ; and Nell, while 
 she reflected on what she may have thought to 
 have been the good fortune of her fellow-actress 
 might have had her envy appeased could she 
 have foreseen that she should give birth to a 
 son (the mother an orange-girl, the father the 
 King of England) destined to obtain a duke- 
 dom in her own lifetime, and afterwards to 
 marry the heiress of the very earl 2 who had 
 taken the old Roxolana from a rival stage 
 first to deceive and afterwards to desert her. 
 
 1 See ante, p. 6, for note as to Stephen Marshall's daughters. ED. 
 
 * Nell Gwyn's eldest son, Charles Beauclerc, Duke of Si. 
 Albans, married Lady Diana Vere, eldest daughter of Aubrey 
 last Earl of Oxford, April 17, 1694. ED.
 
 32 THE STOR Y OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 Nell was indebted, there is reason to believe, 
 for her introduction to the stage, or at least to 
 another condition in life, to a person whose 
 name is variously written as Duncan and as 
 Dungan. Oldys, who calls him Duncan, had 
 heard that he was a merchant, and that he had 
 taken a fancy to her from her smart wit, fine 
 shape, and the smallness of her feet. The 
 information of Oldys is confirmed by the satire 
 of Etherege, who adds, much to the credit of 
 Nelly, that she remembered in after years the 
 friend of her youth, and that to her interest it 
 was he owed his appointment in the Guards. 
 To sift and exhibit the equal mixture of truth 
 and error in these accounts would not repay the 
 reader for the trouble I should occasion him. 
 I have sifted them myself, and see reason to 
 believe that Oldys was wrong in calling him a 
 merchant ; while I suspect that the Duncan 
 commemorated by Etherege, in his satire upon 
 Nelly, was the Dongan described by De Gram- 
 mont as a gentleman of merit who succeeded 
 Duras, afterwards Earl of Feversham, in the 
 post of Lieutenant in the Duke's Life Guards. 
 That there was a lieutenant of this name in the 
 Duke's Life Guards I have ascertained from
 
 NELL Y AN A C TRESS. 3 3 
 
 official documents. He was a cadet of the 
 house of Limerick, and his Christian name was 
 Robert. If there is truth in De Grammont's 
 account, he died in or before 1669. A Colonel 
 Dungan was Governor of New York in the 
 reign of James n. 1 
 
 Such, then, is all that can be ascertained, 
 atter full inquiry, of this Duncan or Dungan, 
 by whom Nelly is said to have been lifted 
 from her very humble condition in life. Such, 
 indeed, is the whole of the information I have 
 been able to obtain about c pretty witty Nell ' 
 from her birth to the winter of 1666, when we 
 again hear of her through the indefatigable 
 Pepys. How her life was passed during the 
 fearful Plague season of 1665, or where she 
 was during the Great Fire of London in the 
 following year, it is now useless to conjecture. 
 The transition from the orange-girl to the 
 actress may easily be imagined without the 
 intervention of any Mr. Dungan. The pert 
 vivacity and ready wit she exhibited in later 
 life must have received early encouragement 
 
 i Secret Service Expenses of Charles II. and James //., p. 195. 
 There is in one of Etherege's MS. satires a very coarse allusion 
 to Duncan and Nelly. 
 
 C
 
 34 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 and cultivation from the warmth of language 
 the men of sort and quality employed in speak- 
 ing to all classes of females. This very 
 readiness was her recommendation to Killigrew, 
 to say nothing of her beauty or the merry 
 laugh, which is said in after life to have 
 pervaded her face till her eyes were almost 
 invisible. 1 
 
 As we owe our first introduction to Nelly to 
 the Clerk of the Acts, so to him are we in- 
 debted for the earliest notice yet discovered of 
 her appearance on the stage. Her part was 
 that of the principal female character in a 
 comedy ( c The English Monsieur') by the Hon. 
 James Howard, a son of the Earl of Berkshire, 
 the brother-in-law of Dryden, and brother of 
 Philip, an officer in the King's Guards, and of 
 Robert and Edward Howard, both also writers 
 for the stage. But these, as we shall see here- 
 after, were not the only connections with the 
 stage of the Berkshire Howards. There is not 
 much story in the ' English Monsieur,' much 
 force of character, or any particular vivacity in 
 the dialogue. It is, however, very easy to see 
 
 1 The London Chronicle for Aug. 15 18, 1778; Waldron's 
 Downes, p. 19.
 
 FIRST APPEARANCE ON THE STAGE. 35 
 
 that the situations must have told with the 
 audience for whom they were intended, and 
 that the part of Lady Wealthy was one par- 
 ticularly adapted to the genius of Nell Gwyn ; 
 a part, in all probability written expressly for 
 her. Lady Wealthy is a rich widow, with 
 perfect knowledge of the importance of wealth 
 and beauty, a good heart, and a fine full vein 
 of humour, a woman, in short, that teases, and 
 at last reforms and marries, the lover she is 
 true to. The humour of the following dialogue 
 will allow the reader to imagine much of the 
 by-play conducive to its success : 
 
 Lady Wealthy. When will I marry you ! When will I 
 love ye, you should ask first. 
 
 Welbred. ^N\^ ! don't ye ? 
 
 Lady W. Why, do I ? Did you ever hear me say I did ? 
 
 Welbred. I never heard you say you did not. 
 
 Lady W. I '11 say so now, then, if you long. 
 
 Welbred. By no means. Say not a thing in haste you 
 may repent at leisure. 
 
 Lady W. Come, leave your fooling, or I '11 swear it. 
 
 Welbred. Don't, widow, for then you '11 lie too. 
 
 Lady W. Indeed it seems 'tis for my money you would 
 have me. 
 
 Welbred. For that, and something else you have. 
 
 Lady W. Well, I '11 lay a wager thou hast lost all thy 
 money at play, for then you 're always in a marrying 
 humour. But, d' ye hear, gentleman, d' ye think to gain me 
 with this careless way, or that I will marry one I don't think 
 is in love with me ? 
 
 IVettredWhy, I am.
 
 36 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 Lady W. Then you would not be so merry. People in 
 love are sad, and many times weep. 
 
 Welbred. That will never do for thee, widow. 
 
 Lady W. And why ? 
 
 Welbred. 'Twould argue me a child ; and I am confident 
 if thou didst not verily believe I were a man, I should ne'er 
 be thy husband. . . . Weep for thee ! ha ! ha ! ha ! if 
 e'er I do ! 
 
 Lady W. Go, hang yourself. 
 
 Welbred. Thank you, for your advice. 
 
 Lady W. When, then, shall I see you again ? 
 
 Welbred. When I have a mind to it. Come, I '11 lead 
 you to your coach for once. 
 
 Lady W. And I '11 let you for once. {Exeunt. 
 
 Pepys, who saw it on the 8th Dec. I666, 1 
 commends it highly. ' To the King's House, 
 and there,' his entry runs, c did see a good part 
 of the " English Monsieur," which is a mighty 
 pretty play, very witty and pleasant. And the 
 women do very well ; but above all, little 
 Nelly ; that I am mightily pleased with the 
 play, and much with the house, the women 
 doing better than I expected ; and very fair 
 women.' Nor was his admiration abated when 
 he saw it many months afterwards, 7th April 
 1668, at the same house. 
 
 1 Nell's first appearance on the stage is supposed to have taken 
 place in the previous year. She then undertook the character of 
 Cydaria, in Dryden's Indian Emperor, a character which Pepys 
 saw her in in 1667, when he expressed the opinion that it was 
 quite unsuitable to her. ED.
 
 PARTS PL A YED B Y NELL Y. 37 
 
 Nell's success on the stage was such that she 
 was soon called to represent prominent parts in 
 the stock plays of her company. What these 
 parts were, is, I believe, with very few excep- 
 tions, altogether unknown. One part, however, 
 has reached us that of Enanthe, or Celia, in 
 the c Humorous Lieutenant ' of Beaumont and 
 Fletcher, a play that was long a favourite with 
 the public continuing to be frequently acted, 
 and always with applause, throughout the reign 
 of Charles n. The wit and fine poetry of the 
 part of Celia are known to the readers of our 
 English drama, nor is it difficult to conceive 
 how effectively language like the following 
 must have come from the lips of Nell Gwyn. 
 She is in poor attire amid a mob when she sees 
 the King's son : 
 
 Was it the prince they said ? How my heart trembles ! 
 
 [Enter Demetrius 'with a javelin in his hand. 
 
 'Tis he indeed ? what a sweet noble fierceness 
 Dwells in his eyes ! Young Meleager-like, 
 When he returned from slaughter of the boar, 
 Crown'd with the loves and honours of the people, 
 With all the gallant youth of Greece, he looks now 
 Who could deny him love ? 
 
 On one occasion of its performance Pepys was 
 present, and though he calls it a silly play, 
 his reader smiles at his bad taste, while he is
 
 38 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 grateful for the information that when the play 
 was over he had gone with his wife behind the 
 scenes, through the introduction of Mrs. Knep, 
 who ' brought to us Nelly, a most pretty 
 woman, who acted the great part of Celia to- 
 day very fine, and did it pretty well. I kissed 
 her, and so did my wife, and a mighty pretty 
 soul she is.' Nor was his chronicle of the day 
 concluded without a fresh expression of pleasure 
 at what he had seen, summing up all as he does 
 with the satisfactory words 'specially kissing of 
 Nell.' 1 The remark of Walter Scott will occur 
 to many, c It is just as well that Mrs. Pepys 
 was present on this occasion.' 
 
 Her skill increasing with her years, other 
 poets sought to obtain the recommendations 
 of her wit and beauty to the success of their 
 writings. I have said that Dryden was one of 
 the principal supporters of the King's House, 
 and ere long in one of his new plays a principal 
 character was set apart for the popular come- 
 dian. The drama was a tragi-comedy called 
 * Secret Love, or the Maiden Queen,' and an 
 additional interest was attached to its pro- 
 
 1 Pepys, Jan. 23, 1666-7. Mr. Augustus Egg, A.R.A., has 
 painted a clever picture from this passage.
 
 PL A YS FL ORIMEL IN DR YDEN'S PLA Y. 39 
 
 duction from the King having suggested the 
 plot to its author, and calling it ' his play.' 
 The dramatis persona consist, curiously enough, 
 of eight female and only three male parts. 
 Good acting was not wanting to forward its 
 success. Mohun, Hart, and Burt, three of the 
 best performers then on the stage, filled the 
 only male parts while Mrs. Marshall, Mrs. 
 Knep, f Mrs. Eleanor Gwyn,' and Mrs. Corey, 
 sustained the principal female characters. The 
 tragic scenes have little to recommend them ; 
 but the reputation of the piece was thought to 
 have been redeemed by the excellence of the 
 alloy of comedy, as Dryden calls it, in which 
 it was generally agreed he was seldom happier. 
 Even here, however, his dialogue wants that 
 easy, brisk, pert character which Congreve, 
 Vanbrugh, and Farquhar afterwards brought 
 to such inimitable perfection, and of which 
 Etherege alone affords a satisfactory example 
 in the reign of Charles n. 
 
 The first afternoon of the new play was the 
 2d of February 1666-7. The King and the 
 Duke of York were both present : so too 
 were both Mr. and Mrs. Pepys, who had heard 
 the play mightily commended for the regularity
 
 40 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 of its story, and what Mr. Pepys is pleased to 
 call ' the strain and wit.' The chief parts (its 
 author tells us) were performed to a height of 
 great excellence, both serious and comic ; and 
 it was well received. The King objected, in- 
 deed, to the management of the last scene, 
 where Celadon and Florimel (Hart and Nelly) 
 are treating too lightly of their marriage in the 
 presence of the Queen. But Pepys would not 
 appear to have seen any defect of this descrip- 
 tion. c The truth is,' he says, * there is a 
 comical part done by Nell, which is Florimel, 
 that J never can hope ever to see the like 
 done again by man or woman. ... So great 
 performance of a comical part was never, I 
 believe, in the world before as Nell do this, 
 both as a mad girl, then most and best of all 
 when she comes in like a young gallant, and 
 hath the motion and carriage of a spark the 
 most that ever I saw any man have. It makes 
 me, I confess, admire her.' Nor did the worthy 
 critic change his opinion. He calls it, after his 
 second visit, an ' excellent play, and so done 
 by Nell her merry part as cannot be better 
 done in nature.' l While after his third visit 
 
 1 Pepys, March 25, 1667.
 
 FLORIMEL A SUCCESS. 41 
 
 he observes that it is impossible to have 
 Florimel's part, which is the most comical 
 that ever was made for woman, ever done 
 better than it is by Nelly. 1 
 
 The support of the performance rested, it 
 must be owned, on Hart's character of Celadon, 
 and on Nelly's part of Florimel. Nell indeed 
 had to sustain the heavier burden of the piece. 
 She is seldom off the stage all the loose rattle 
 of dialogue belongs to her, nay more, she 
 appears in the fifth act in male attire, dances a 
 jig in the same act, often of itself sufficient to 
 save a play, and ultimately speaks the epilogue 
 in defence of the author : 
 
 I left my client yonder in a rant 
 Against the envious and the ignorant, 
 Who are, he says, his only enemies ; 
 But he contemns their malice, and defies 
 The sharpest of his censurers to say 
 Where there is one gross fault in all his play, 
 The language is so fitted to each part, 
 The plot according to the rules of art ; 
 And twenty other things he bid me tell you, 
 But I cry'd ' E'en go do't yourself, for Nelly ! ' 
 
 There are incidents and allusions in the parts 
 of Celadon and Florimel which must have 
 carried a personal application to those who 
 were, speaking technically, behind the scenes. 
 
 1 Pepys, May 24, 1667.
 
 42 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 Nelly, if not actually the mistress at this time 
 of Charles Hart, was certainly looked upon 
 by many as very little less. Their marriage 
 in the play is more of a Fleet or May Fair 
 mockery than a religious ceremony, as if, to 
 use Florimel's own language, they were married 
 by the more agreeable names of mistress and 
 gallant, rather than those dull old-fashioned 
 ones of husband and wife. 
 
 Florimel, it appears to me, must have been 
 Nelly's chef d'ceuvre in her art. I can hear her 
 exclaiming, with a prophetic feeling of its truth, 
 c I am resolved to grow fat and look young till 
 forty, and then slip out of the world with the 
 first wrinkle and the reputation of five-and- 
 twenty ' ; while I can picture to myself, as my 
 readers will easily do, Nelly in boy's clothes, 
 dressed to the admiration of Etherege and 
 Sedley, scanned from head to foot with much 
 surprise by Mr. Pepys and Sir William Penn, 
 viewed with other feelings by Lord Buckhurst 
 on one side of the house, and by the King 
 himself on the other, while to the admiration of 
 the author, and of the whole audience, she 
 exclaims, with wonderful by-play, f Yonder 
 they are, and this way they must come. If
 
 HER L OD GING IN DR UR Y LANE. 43 
 
 clothes and a bonne mien will take 'm, I shall 
 do't. Save you, Monsieur Florimel ! Faith, 
 methinks you are a very janty fellow, poudrd et 
 ajustd as well as the best of 'em. I can manage 
 the little comb set my hat, shake my garni- 
 ture, toss about my empty noddle, walk with a 
 courant slur, and at every step peck down my 
 head : if I should be mistaken for some cour- 
 tier, now, pray where 's the difference ? ' This 
 was what Beau Hewit or Beau Fielding were en- 
 acting every day in their lives, and Colley Gibber 
 lived to be the last actor who either felt or could 
 make others feel its truth and application. 
 
 Nelly was living at this time in the fashion- 
 able part of Drury Lane, the Strand or Covent 
 Garden end, for Drury Lane in the days of 
 Charles n. was inhabited by a very different 
 class of people from those who now occupy it 
 or, indeed, who have lived in it since the 
 time Gay guarded us from f Drury's mazy 
 courts and dark abodes ' since Pope described 
 it only too truly as peopled by drabs of the 
 lowest character, and by authors f lulled by soft 
 zephyrs,' through the broken pane of a garret 
 window. The upper end, towards St. Giles's 
 Pound and Montague House, had its squalid
 
 44 
 
 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 quarters, like Lewknor's Lane and the Coal 
 Yard, in which, as we have concluded, our 
 Nelly was born ; but at the Strand end lived 
 
 Nell at her lodgings door in Drury Lane. The Maypole in 
 the Strand restored. 
 
 the Earl of Anglesey, long Lord Privy Seal, 
 and the Earls of Clare and Craven, whose
 
 HER LODGING IN DRUR Y LANE. 45 
 
 names are still perpetuated in Clare Market 
 and Craven Yard. Drury Lane, when Nelly 
 was living there, was a kind of Park Lane of 
 the present day, made up of noblemen's man- 
 sions, small houses, inns, and stable-yards. Nor 
 need the similitude be thus restricted ; for the 
 Piazza of Covent Garden was then to Drury 
 Lane what Grosvenor Square is at present to 
 Park Lane. Squalid quarters indeed have 
 always been near neighbours to lordly locali- 
 ties. When Nelly lodged in Drury Lane, 
 Covent Garden had its Lewknor Lane, and 
 Lincoln's Inn Fields their Whetstone Park. 
 Belgravia has now its Tothill Street Portman 
 Square has its contaminating neighbourhood 
 of Calmel Buildings and one of the most in- 
 famous of alleys is within half a stone's-throw 
 of St. James's Palace. 1 
 
 Nelly's lodgings were near the lodgings of 
 Lacy the actor, at the top of Maypole Alley, 2 
 
 Where Drury Lane descends into the Strand, 
 
 1 This refers to Pall Mall Place leading from King Street to 
 Pall Mall. The disreputable inhabitants were turned out some 
 years ago. ED. 
 
 2 The old house in Drury Lane which is associated with Nell 
 Gwyn was pulled down in 1891, and the open space still remains 
 (1892). ED.
 
 46 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 and over against the Gate of Craven House. 
 The look-out afforded a peep into a part of 
 Wych Street, and whiJe standing at the door- 
 way you could see the far-famed Maypole in 
 the Strand, at the bottom of the alley to which 
 it had lent its name. 
 
 This Maypole, long a conspicuous ornament 
 to the west-end of London, rose to a great 
 height above the surrounding houses, and was 
 surmounted by a crown and vane, with the 
 royal arms richly gilded. It had been set up 
 again immediately after the Restoration. Great 
 ceremonies attended its erection : twelve picked 
 seamen superintending the tackle, and ancient 
 people clapping their hands, and exclaiming, 
 * Golden days begin to appear ! ' Nelly must 
 have remembered the erection of the Maypole 
 at the bottom of the lane in which she was 
 born ; but there is little save some gable-ends 
 and old timber-fronts near her * lodgings door ' 
 to assist in carrying the mind back to the days 
 of the Maypole and the merry monarch whose 
 recall it was designed to commemorate. 
 
 Among the many little domestic incidents 
 perpetuated by Pepys, there are few to which 
 I would sooner have been a witness than the
 
 HER LODGING IN DR UR Y LANE. 47 
 
 picture he has left us of Nelly standing at her 
 door watching the milkmaids on May-day. 
 The Clerk of the Acts on his way from 
 Seething Lane in the City, met, he tells us, 
 ' many milkmaids with garlands upon their 
 pails, dancing with a fiddle before them,' and 
 saw pretty Nelly standing at her lodgings door 
 in Drury Lane in her smock sleeves and bodice 
 looking upon one. f She seemed,' he adds, ' a 
 mighty pretty creature.' This was in 1667, 
 while her recent triumphs on the stage were 
 still fresh at Court, and the obscurity of her 
 birth was a common topic of talk and banter 
 among the less fortunate inhabitants of the lane 
 she lived in. The scene so lightly sketched 
 by Pepys might furnish no unfitting subject 
 for the pencil of Leslie or Maclise a subject 
 indeed which would shine in their hands. That 
 absence of all false pride, that innate love of 
 unaffected nature, and that fondness for the 
 simple sports of the people which the incident 
 exhibits, are characteristics of Nelly from the 
 first moment to the last following her natur- 
 ally, and sitting alike easily and gracefully 
 upon her, whether at her humble lodgings 
 in Drury Lane, at her handsome house in
 
 48 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 Pall Mall, or even under the gorgeous cornices 
 of Whitehall. 
 
 But I have no intention of finding a model 
 heroine in a coal-yard, or any wish either to 
 palliate or condemn too severely the frailties of 
 the woman whose story I have attempted to 
 relate. It was, therefore, within a very few 
 months of the May-day scene I have just de- 
 scribed, that whispers asserted, and the news was 
 soon published in every coffee-house in London, 
 how little Miss Davis of the Duke's House had 
 become the mistress of the King, and Nell 
 Gwyn at the other theatre the mistress of Lord 
 Buckhurst. Whoever is at all conversant with 
 the manners and customs of London life in the 
 reign of Charles u. will confirm me in the 
 statement that two such announcements, even 
 at the same time, would cause but little sur- 
 prise, or indeed any other feeling than that of 
 envy at their good luck. With the single 
 exception of Mrs. Betterton, there was not, I 
 believe, an actress at either theatre who had 
 not been or was not then the mistress of some 
 person about the Court. Actors were looked 
 upon as little better than shopmen or servants. 
 When the Honourable Edward Howard was
 
 SOCIAL CONDITION OF PLA YERS. 49 
 
 struck by Lacy of the King's House, a very 
 general feeling prevailed that Howard should 
 have run his sword through the menial body 
 of the actor. Nor was this feeling altogether 
 extinguished till the period of the Kembles. 
 It was entirely owing to the exertions of the 
 great Lord Mansfield, that Arthur Murphy, 
 less than a century ago, was allowed to enter 
 his name on the books of Lincoln's Inn. 
 He had been previously refused by the 
 Benchers of the Middle Temple, for no 
 other reason than that he had been an actor. 
 Nay, George Selwyn, it is well known, ex- 
 cluded Richard Brinsley Sheridan from Brooks's 
 on three occasions because bis father had been 
 upon the stage. 
 
 Nor did actresses fare better than actors. If 
 anything, indeed, they were still worse treated. 
 They were looked upon as women of the worst 
 character, possessed of no inclination or induce- 
 ment to virtue. Few, indeed, were found to 
 share the sentiment expressed by one of Shad- 
 well's manliest characters, ' I love the stage too 
 well to keep any of their women, to make 'em 
 proud and insolent, and despise that calling to 
 take up a worse.' The frailty of ' playhouse 
 
 D
 
 50 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 flesh and blood ' * afforded a common topic for 
 the poet in his prologue or his epilogue, and 
 other writers than Lee might be found who 
 complain of the practice of c keeping ' as a 
 grievance to the stage. 2 Davenant, foreseeing 
 their fate from an absence of any control, 
 boarded his four principal actresses in his own 
 house ; but, with one exception (that of Mrs. 
 Betterton before referred to), the precaution 
 was altogether without effect. The King, 
 Prince Rupert, the Duke of Richmond, the 
 Earl of Oxford, Lord Buckhurst, Sir Charles 
 Sedley, Sir Philip Howard, his brother, Sir 
 Robert Howard, were all successful in the arts 
 of seduction or inducement. So bad indeed 
 was the moral discipline of the times, that even 
 Mrs. Knep, loose as were her notions of virtue, 
 could see the necessity of parting with a pretty 
 servant-girl, as the tiring-room was no place 
 for the preservation of her innocence. 3 The 
 virtuous life of Mrs. Bracegirdle, and her 
 spirited rebuke to the Earl of Burlington, stand 
 out in noble relief from the conduct of her 
 
 1 Dryden's Prologue to Marriage-h-la-Mode. 
 
 2 Epilogue to The Rival Queens. 
 
 3 Pepys, April 7, 1668.
 
 SOCIAL CONDITION OF PLAYERS. 51 
 
 fellow-actresses. The Earl had sent her a letter 
 and a present of a handsome set of china. The 
 charming actress retained the letter and informed 
 the servant of the mistake. The letter, she 
 said, was for her, but the china was for Lady 
 Burlington. When the Earl returned home 
 he found his Countess all happiness at the un- 
 expected present from her husband. 1 
 
 Times, however, changed after Nelly had 
 gone, and the Stuarts had ceased to reign, for 
 ennobled actresses are now common enough in 
 the English peerage. Other changes too took 
 place. Mrs. Barry walked home in her clogs, 
 and Mrs. Bracegirdle in her pattens ; but Mrs. 
 Oldfield went away in her chair, 2 and Lavinia 
 Fenton (the original Polly Peachum) rolled 
 westward in her coroneted carriage as Duchess 
 of Bolton. 3 
 
 It says little for the morality of London in 
 the reign of Charles n., but something for the 
 taste of the humble orange-girl, that the lover 
 
 1 Walpole to Mann (Mann Letters), iii. 254. 
 
 3 Walpole, May 26, 1742. 
 
 3 Mr. Murray, of Albemarle Street, possesses Hogarth's interest- 
 ing picture of the first representation of the Beggar's Opera, in its 
 original frame. Here his Grace of Bolton is gazing upon Polly 
 from one stage-box while in the other, Bolingbroke is seated by 
 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.
 
 
 52 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 who had attracted her, and with whom she 
 was now living in the lovely neighbourhood of 
 Epsom, was long looked up to as the best bred 
 man of his age : 
 
 None ever had so strange an art 
 
 His passion to convey 
 Into a list'ning virgin's heart, 
 
 And steal her soul away. 1 
 
 But Buckhurst had other qualities to recom- 
 mend him than his youth (he was thirty at this 
 time), his rank, his good heart, and his good 
 breeding. He had already distinguished him- 
 self by his personal intrepidity in the war against 
 the Dutch ; had written the best song of its 
 kind in the English language, and some of the 
 severest and most refined satires we possess ; 
 was the friend of all the poets of eminence in 
 his time, as he was afterwards the most munifi- 
 cent patron of men of genius that this country 
 has yet seen. The most eminent masters in 
 their several lines asked and abided by his 
 judgment, and afterwards dedicated their works 
 to him in grateful acknowledgment of his taste 
 and favours. Butler owed to him that the 
 
 1 Song by Sir C. S. [Sir Carr Scroope or Sir Charles Sedley] in 
 Etherege's Man of Mode ; or, Sir Fopling Flutter.
 
 LORD BUCKHURST. 53 
 
 Court { tasted ' his ' Hudibras'; Wycherly that 
 the town ' liked ' his * Plain Dealer ' ; and the 
 Duke of Buckingham deferred to publish his 
 f Rehearsal ' till he was sure, as he expressed it, 
 that my Lord Buckhurst would not ' rehearse ' 
 upon him again. Nor was this all. His table 
 was one of the last that gave us an example of 
 the old housekeeping of an English nobleman. 
 A freedom reigned about it which made every 
 one of the guests think himself at home, and 
 an abundance which showed that the master's 
 hospitality extended to many more than those 
 who had the honour to sit at table with himself. 1 
 Nor has he been less happy after death. Pope 
 wrote his epitaph and Prior his panegyric 
 while Walpole and Macaulay (two men with 
 so little apparently in common) have drawn his 
 character with a warmth of approbation rather 
 to have been expected from those who had 
 shared his bounty or enjoyed his friendship, 
 than from the colder judgments of historians 
 looking back calmly upon personages who had 
 long ceased to influence or affect society. 
 
 With such a man, and with Sedley's resistless 
 
 1 Prior's Dedication of his Poems to Lord Buckhurst's son, 
 Lionel, first Duke of Dorset.
 
 54 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 wit to add fresh vigour to the conversation, it 
 is easy to understand what Pepys had heard, 
 that Lord Buckhurst and Nelly kept f merry 
 house ' at Epsom, 
 
 All hearts fall a-leaping wherever she comes, 
 
 And beat night and day like my Lord Craven's drums. 1 
 
 What this Epsom life was like shall be the 
 subject of another chapter. 
 
 1 Song by Lord Buckhurst.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Epsom in the reign of Charles n. England in 1667 Nelly 
 resumes her Engagement at the King's Theatre Inferior in 
 Tragedy to Comedy Plays Mirida in ' All Mistaken ' Miss 
 Davis of the Duke's Theatre Her song, ' My Lodging it is 
 on the Cold Ground,' parodied by Nell Influence of the 
 Duke of Buckingham in controlling the predilections of the 
 King Charles II. at the Duke's Theatre Nelly has leading 
 parts in three of Dryden's new Plays Buckhurst is made a 
 Gentleman of the Bedchamber, promised a peerage, and sent 
 on a sleeveless errand into France Nell becomes the Mistress 
 of the King Plays Almahide in ' The Conquest of Granada ' 
 The King more than ever enamoured Parallel case of 
 ' Perdita ' Robinson and George IV. 
 
 NELLY was now at Epsom, then and long after 
 the fashionable resort of the richer citizens of 
 London. * The foolish world is never to be 
 mended,' is the remark of ' a gentleman of 
 wit and sense ' in Shadwell's comedy of c The 
 Virtuoso.' f Your glass coach,' he says, f will 
 to Hyde Park for air ; the suburb fools trudge 
 to Lamb's Conduit or Tottenham ; your sprucer 
 sort of citizens gallop to Epsom ; your mechanic 
 gross fellows, shewing much conjugal affection, 
 strut before their wifes, each with a child in his 
 
 55
 
 56 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 arms, to Islington or Hogsden.' The same 
 agreeable writer, whose plays supply truer and 
 happier illustrations of the manners and cus- 
 toms of the time than any other contemporary 
 dramatist, has left us a comedy called f Epsom 
 Wells,' in which, notwithstanding the sneer of 
 Dryden about his ' hungry Epsom-prose,' he 
 has contrived to interest us by peopling the 
 place with the usual frequenters out of term- 
 time ; men of wit and pleasure ; young ladies 
 of wit, beauty, and fortune ; with a parson and 
 a country justice ; with two cheating, sharking, 
 cowardly bullies ; with two rich citizens of 
 London and their wives, one a comfit-maker, 
 the other a haberdasher, and both cuckolds 
 ( f Epsom water-drinking ' with other ladies of 
 pleasure) ; with hectors from Covent Garden, 
 a constable, a Dogberry-like watch, and two 
 country fiddlers in short, by picturing f the 
 freedom of Epsom ' as it existed in an age of 
 easy virtue. 
 
 The Derby and the Oaks, the races which 
 have rendered Epsom so famous, and our not 
 less celebrated Tattenham Corner, were then 
 unknown ; but the King's Head and the New 
 Inn, Clay Hill and Mawse's Garden, were
 
 NELL Y AT EPSOM 5 7 
 
 favourite names, full of attractions to London 
 apprentices, sighing to see their indentures at 
 an end, and Epsom no longer excluded from 
 their places of resort. The waters were con- 
 sidered efficacious, and the citizens east of 
 Temple Bar were supposed to receive as much 
 benefit from their use, as the courtiers west of 
 the Bar were presumed to receive from the 
 waters of Tunbridge Wells. The alderman or 
 his deputy, on their way to this somewhat 
 inaccessible suburb of the reign of Charles n., 
 were met at Tooting by lodging-house keepers, 
 tradesmen, and quack-doctors, with so many 
 clamorous importunities for patronage, that 
 the very expressive English word touting derives 
 its origin from the village where this plying for 
 trade was carried to so importune an extent. 1 
 
 There is now at Epsom, or was to be seen 
 there till very lately, a small inn with the sign 
 of the King's Head, lying somewhat out of the 
 present town, on the way to the wells. It was 
 at ' the next house ' to this inn, or to an inn 
 with the same name, that Nelly and Lord 
 Buckhurst put up, keeping c merry house,' 
 
 1 This explanation of the word ' touting ' may be taken as a 
 joke. ED.
 
 58 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 with Sedley to assist them in laughing at the 
 c Bow-bell suckers ' who resorted to the Epsom 
 waters. 1 Nelly would contribute her share to 
 the merriment of the scene around them. The 
 citizens of London were hated by the players. 
 They had successfully opposed them in all 
 their early attempts in the reigns of Elizabeth 
 and James i. to erect a theatre within the 
 jurisdiction of the City ; and at no time had 
 they ever encouraged the drama by their 
 presence. The poets and actors lived by the 
 King and Court, while they repaid their 
 opponents and gratified the courtiers by 
 holding up every citizen as a cuckold and 
 a fool. So long was this feeling perpetuated 
 on the stage (it still lives in our literature), 
 that Garrick, in his endeavour to supplant the 
 usual performance of the ' London Cuckolds ' 
 on the o,th of November (Lord Mayor's day), 
 was reduced to play first to a noisy, and next to 
 an empty house. 
 
 Whilst Buckhurst and Nelly kept f merry 
 house ' at Epsom in the months of July and 
 August 1667, lt was not altogether merry in 
 England elsewhere. The plague of 1665 had 
 
 1 Pepys, I4th July 1667.
 
 ENGLAND IN 1667. 59 
 
 been followed by the fire of 1666, and both 
 Plague and Fire in 1667 by the national shame 
 of a Dutch fleet insulting us in the Thames, 
 burning some of our finest ships in the Medway 
 at Chatham, and by the undeserved disgrace in- 
 flicted by the King and his imperious mistress, 
 Castlemaine, on the great Lord Clarendon. 
 Wise and good men, too, were departing from 
 among us. Cowley finished the life of an elegant 
 and amiable recluse at Chertsey in Surrey, 
 and Jeremy Taylor that of a saint at Lisne- 
 garry, in Ireland. England, too, in the same 
 year, had lost the loyal Marquess of Worcester 
 and the virtuous Earl of Southampton, neither 
 of whom could she well spare at such a period ; 
 on the other hand, the country was receiving a 
 noble addition to her literature by the publica- 
 tion of c Paradise Lost ' ; but this few at the 
 time cared to read, as the work of ( that 
 Milton who wrote for the regicides,' 1 'that 
 Paradise Lost of Milton's which some are 
 pleased to call a poem,' 2 or chose to under- 
 stand, from the seriousness of the subject, or 
 the grandeur of its treatment. 
 
 1 Evelyn's Diary, 2d June 1686. 
 
 3 Rymer's Letter to Fleetwood Sheppard, p. 143.
 
 6o 
 
 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 At the Court, where undisguised libertinism 
 was still triumphant, the burning of the city 
 began to be talked of as an old story, like that 
 of the burning of Troy, and the disgrace at 
 Chatham as something to be obliterated by the 
 disgrace of the Lord Chancellor. Indeed, there 
 
 Covent Garden in the reign of Charles the Second. 1 
 
 was no feeling of fear, or any sentiment of 
 deserved dishonour, maintained at Court. On 
 the very day on which the Great Seal was 
 taken from Clarendon, and his ruin effected, 
 
 1 Compiled from pictures, drawings, prints, and descriptions.
 
 RESUMES HER OLD PARTS. 61 
 
 the Countess of Castlemaine, one of the leading 
 instruments of his fall, was admiring the rope- 
 dancing of Jacob Hall, and laughing at the 
 drolls and odd animals exhibited to the citizens 
 at Bartholomew Fair! 
 
 Nelly, after a month's absence, returned to 
 London in August 1667, and resumed some of 
 her old parts at the theatre in Drury Lane, 
 playing Bellario in Beaumont and Fletcher's 
 c Philaster ' ; Panthea, in f A King and No 
 King ' of the same authors ; Cydaria, in * The 
 Indian Emperor' of Dryden and his brother- 
 in-law ; Samira, in Sir Robert Howard's ' Sur- 
 prisal ' ; Flora, in * Flora's Vagaries,' a comedy 
 attributed to Rhodes ; and Mirida, in * All 
 Mistaken, or the Mad Couple,' of the Hon. 
 James Howard. Of her performance in some of 
 these parts Pepys again is our only informant. 
 How graphic are his entries ! 
 
 '22 Aug. 1667. With my lord Broun cker and his mis- 
 tress to the King's playhouse, and there saw the " Indian 
 Emperor," where I found Nell come again, which I am 
 glad of ; but was most infinitely displeased with her being 
 put to act the Emperor's daughter, which is a great and 
 serious part, which she does most basely. The rest of the 
 play, though pretty good, was not well acted by most of 
 them, methought ; so that I took no great content in it. 
 
 '26 Aug. 1667. To the King's playhouse and saw "The 
 Surprisal, a very ^ean play I thought, or else it was
 
 62 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 because I was out of humour, and but very little company 
 in the house. Sir W. Pen and I had a great deal of dis- 
 course with [Orange] Moll, who tells us that Nell is already 
 left by my Lord Buckhurst, and that he makes sport of her, 
 and swears she hath had all she could get of him ; and 
 Hart, her great admirer, now hates her ; and that she is 
 very poor, and hath lost my Lady Castlemaine, who was 
 her great friend also ; but she is come to the house, but is 
 neglected by them all. 
 
 '5 Oct. 1667. To the King's house, and there going in met 
 with Knipp, and she took us up into the tiring rooms ; and 
 to the women's shift, where Nell was dressing herself [as 
 Flora], and was all unready, and is very pretty, prettier 
 than I thought. And so walked all up and down the house, 
 above and then below into the scene-room, and there sat 
 down, and she gave us fruit ; and here I read the questions 
 to Knipp, while she answered me through all the part of 
 " Flora's Figarys," which was acted to-day. But, Lord ! to 
 see how they were both painted would make a man mad, 
 and did make me loath them ; and what base company of 
 men comes among them, and how lewdly they talk ! and 
 how poor the men are in clothes, and yet what a show they 
 make on the stage by candle-light, is very observable. But 
 to see how Nell cursed for having so few people in the pit 
 was pretty ; the other house carrying away all the people 
 at the new play, and is said now-a-days to have generally 
 most company, as being better players. 
 
 ' n Nov. 1667. To the King's playhouse, and there saw 
 the " Indian Emperor," a good play, but not so good as 
 people cry it up. I think, though, above all things, Nell's 
 ill-speaking of a great part made me mad. 
 
 '26 Dec. 1667. With my wife to the King's playhouse, 
 and there saw "The Surprisal," which did not please me 
 to-day, the actors not pleasing me, and especially Nell's 
 acting of a serious part, which she spoils. 
 
 ' 28 Dec. 1667. To the King's house, and there saw 
 " The Mad Couple," which is but an ordinary play ; but 
 only Nell's and Hart's mad parts are most excellent done, 
 but especially hers, which makes it a miracle to me to
 
 INDIFFERENT IN SERIOUS PARTS. 63 
 
 think how ill she do any serious part, as, the other day, 
 just like a fool or changeling ; and in a mad part do beyond 
 imitation almost.' 
 
 That Nell hated f serious parts,' in which, as 
 Pepys assures us, she was poor, we have her own 
 testimony, in an epilogue which she spoke a 
 few months later to the tragedy of the c Duke 
 of Lerma ' : 
 
 I know you in your hearts 
 
 Hate serious plays as I hate serious parts. 
 
 And again in the epilogue to 'Tyrannick Love' : 
 
 I die 
 
 Out of my calling in a tragedy. 
 
 The truth is (as I see reason to believe), such 
 parts were thrust upon her by Hart, her old 
 admirer, who hated her for preferring Lord 
 Buckhurst to himself. But this feeling was 
 soon overcome, and Nell, as Mirida in the 
 comedy of f All Mistaken,' added to her well- 
 earned reputation as an actress, obeying the 
 advice of Mrs. Barry, ' Make yourself mistress 
 of your part, and leave the figure and action to 
 nature.' l 
 
 f All Mistaken, or the Mad Couple,' a play 
 commended by some, says Langbaine, ' as an 
 excellent comedy,' has little merit of its own 
 
 1 Curll's Stage, p. 62.
 
 64 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 to recommend it to the reader. The whole 
 success of the performance must have rested 
 on Hart and Nelly. Philidor (Hart) is a mad, 
 or, as we should now call him, a madcap, kins- 
 man of an Italian duke, and Mirida (Nelly) is 
 a madcap young lady of the same eccentric 
 school. Philidor is troubled with clamorous 
 importunities for marriage from six young 
 ladies whom he has betrayed, and for money 
 from those nurses by whom his children have 
 been taken ; and Mirida is persecuted with the 
 importunate addresses, at the same time, of a 
 very lean and of a very fat lover. Some of 
 the pleasantries to which the madcap couple 
 resort are of a coarse and practical character. 
 Philidor tricks his besiegers, and Mirida replies 
 to her importunate lovers that she will marry 
 the lean one when he is fatter, and the fat one 
 when he is leaner. The arts which the suitors 
 have recourse to are somewhat tedious, and 
 certainly not over decent. Yet it is easy to 
 see that the play would tell with the audience 
 to whom it was addressed, for many of the 
 situations are humorous in the extreme. In 
 one of the scenes Philidor and Mirida are 
 bound back to back by the six ladies, Philidor
 
 NELL AS MADCAP MIRIDA. 65 
 
 losing his money and his hat, and Mirida con- 
 soling herself by the entry of a fiddler. 
 
 [Enter Fiddler?^ Mirida. A fiddle, nay then I am made 
 again ; I 'd have a dance if I had nothing but my smock on. 
 Fiddler, strike up and play my jig, call'd ' I care not a pin 
 for any man.' 1 
 
 Fiddler. Indeed I can't stay. I am going to play to 
 some gentlemen. 
 
 Mirida. Nay, thou shalt stay but a little. 
 
 Fiddler. Give me half-a-crown then. 
 
 Mirida. I have no money about me ; but here, take my 
 hankercher. [Dante and Exit. 
 
 In another part Mirida manages a sham 
 funeral for Philidor, to which the six young 
 ladies are invited, to hear the will of the 
 deceased. 
 
 Mirida. Poor young man, he was killed yesterday by a 
 duel. 
 
 ' Item. I give to Mrs. Mary for a reason that she knows, 
 5oo/. Item. 5007. to Mrs. Margaret for a reason she 
 
 1 Nell was famous for dancing jigs. The Duke of Buckingham, 
 in his Epilogue to The Chances, laughs at poets who mistook 
 the praise given to Nelly's jig for the praise bestowed on their 
 own performances. 
 
 [Besides the author dreads the strut and mien 
 
 Of new prais'd poets, having often seen 
 
 Some of his fellows, who have writ before, 
 
 When Nel has danc'd her Jig, steal to the door, 
 
 Hear the pit clap, and with conceit of that, 
 
 Swell, and believe themselves the Lord knows what. 
 
 Epilogue to Fletcher's comedy of The Chances as altered by 
 Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, and performed at the theatre in 
 Dorset Gardens^in 1682. ED.] 
 
 E
 
 66 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 knows. Item. joo/. to Mrs. Sarah for a reason she knows. 
 Item. 5oo/. to Mrs. Martha for a reason she knows. Item. 
 5oo/. to Mrs. Alice for a reason she knows. Item. 5oo/. to 
 Mrs. Elinor for a reason she knows, and so to all the rest. 
 Item. To my nurses I leave each of them 2o/. a year apiece 
 for their lives, besides their arrears due to them for nursing. 
 These sums of money and legacies I leave to be raised and 
 paid out of my manor of Constantinople, in which the Great 
 Turk is now tenant for life.' [Laughs aside.} If they should 
 hear how their legacies are to be paid, how they'd fall 
 a-drumming on his coffin ! 
 
 There is more of this ; but it is time to turn 
 to that incident from which the play derived 
 its popularity, its satire on a recent event at 
 the Duke's Theatre. 
 
 c The Rivals/ a play altered by Davenant 
 from f The Two Noble Kinsmen ' of Beaumont 
 and Fletcher, or rather of Fletcher alone, was 
 brought upon the stage about 1664, but would 
 not appear to have met with any great success 
 till 1667, when the part of Celania was repre- 
 sented by little Miss Davis, who danced a jig 
 in the play and then sang a song in it, both of 
 which found their way direct to the heart of 
 the merry monarch. The jig was probably 
 some fresh French importation, or nothing 
 more than a rustic measure, with a few foreign 
 innovations. The song has reached us, and 
 has much ballad beauty to recommend it.
 
 SONG SUNG BY MOLL DA VIS. 67 
 
 My lodging it is on the cold ground, 
 
 And very hard is my fare, 
 But that which troubles me most is 
 
 The unkindness of my dear. 
 Yet still I cry, O turn, love, 
 
 And I prythee, love, turn to me, 
 For thou art the man that I long for, 
 
 And alack what remedy ! 
 
 I '11 crown thee with a garland of straw, then, 
 
 And I '11 marry thee with a rush ring, 
 My frozen hopes shall thaw then, 
 
 And merrily we will sing. 
 O turn to me, my dear love, 
 
 And prythee, love, turn to me, 
 For thou art the man that alone canst 
 
 Procure my liberty. 
 
 But if thou wilt harden thy heart still, 
 
 And be deaf to my pitiful moan, 
 Then I must endure the smart still, 
 
 And tumble in straw alone. 
 Yet still I cry, O turn, love, 
 
 And I prythee, love, turn to me, 
 For thou art the man that alone art 
 
 The cause of my misery. 1 
 
 
 The success of the song is related by the 
 prompter at the theatre in his curious little 
 volume, called Roscius Anglicanus. f All the 
 women's parts,' says Downes, 'were admirably 
 acted, but what pleased most was the part of 
 Celania, a shepherdess, mad for love, and her 
 song of " My lodging is on the cold ground," 
 
 1 The stage direction is ' That done she lies down and falls 
 asleep. '
 
 68 THE STORY OF. NELL GWYN. 
 
 which she performed,' he adds, c so charmingly 
 that not long after it raised her from her bed 
 on the cold ground to a bed royal.' l 
 
 I might be excused for referring, at this 
 period of Nelly's life, to the ribald person- 
 alities common to the stage in the reign of 
 Charles u., but I am unwilling to stop the 
 stream of my narrative by delaying to relate 
 the personal reference made by Nell, in the 
 play of c All Mistaken,' to the song and the 
 incident at the Duke's House, which raised 
 little Miss Davis to a 'bed royal.' The'scene 
 in c All Mistaken ' which doubtless gave the 
 greatest delight to the audience at Drury Lane 
 was that in the last act, where Pinguisier, the 
 fat lover, sobs his complaints into the ear of 
 the madcap Mirida. 
 
 Mirida. Dear love, come sit thee in my lap, and let me 
 know if I can enclose thy world of fat and love within these 
 arms. See, I cannot nigh compass my desires by a mile. 
 
 Pinguisier. How is my fat a rival to my joys ! sure I 
 shall weep it all away. [Cries. 
 
 Mirida. 
 
 Lie still, my babe, lie still and sleep, 
 It grieves me sore to see thee weep, 
 Wert thou but leaner I were glad ; 
 Thy fatness makes thy dear love sad. 
 What a lump of love have I in my arms ! 
 
 1 Roscius Anglicamts, p. 24, ed. 1708.
 
 NELL MIMICS MOLL DA VIS. 69 
 
 My lodging is on the cold boards, 
 
 And wonderful hard is my fare, 
 But that which troubles me most is 
 
 The fatness of my dear. 
 Yet still I cry, Oh melt, love, 
 
 And I prythee now melt apace, 
 For thou art the man I should long for 
 
 If 'twere not for thy grease. 
 Pinguisier. 
 
 Then prythee don't harden thy heart still, 
 
 And be deaf to my pitiful moan, 
 Since I do endure the smart still, 
 
 And for my fat do groan. 
 Then prythee now turn, my dear love, 
 
 And I prythee now turn to me, 
 For, alas ! I am too fat still 
 
 To roll so far to thee. 
 
 The nearer the fat man rolls towards her, the 
 further she rolls away from him, till she at 
 length rises and laughs her hearty Mrs. Jordan- 
 like mirth-provoking laugh, first at the man 
 and then towards the audience, seizes a couple 
 of swords from a cutler passing by, disarms her 
 fat lover, and makes him the ridicule of the 
 whole house. It is easy to see that this would 
 not take now, even with another Nelly to repre- 
 sent it ; but every age has its fashion and its 
 humour, and that of Charles u. had fashions 
 and humours of its own, quite as diverting as any 
 of the representations and incidents which still 
 prove attractive to a city or a west-end audience.
 
 70 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 f Little Miss Davis' danced and sang divinely, 
 but was not particularly beautiful, though she 
 had fine eyes and a neat figure, both of which 
 are preserved in her portrait at Cashiobury, by 
 Sir Peter Lely. 1 The popular belief still linger- 
 ing among the cottages surrounding the old 
 Jacobean mansion of the Howards at Charlton 
 in Wiltshire, that she was the daughter of a 
 blacksmith, and was at one time a milkmaid, 
 can only in part be true. Pepys was informed 
 by Mrs. Pearse, wife of James Pearse, surgeon 
 to the Duke of York, and surgeon of the regi- 
 ment commanded by the Duke, that she was 
 an illegitimate child of Colonel Howard, son 
 of the Earl of Berkshire, and brother of James 
 Howard, author of the play in which, as we 
 have seen, she was held up to ridicule through 
 the inimitable acting of Nell Gwyn. The 
 King's affection for her was shown in a marked 
 and open manner. The ring of rushes referred 
 to in the song was exchanged for a ring of the 
 value of ^700, and her lodging about Ludgate 
 or Lincoln's Inn (the usual resorts of the 
 
 1 This is a half-length, seated, the same portrait, I suspect, 
 which Mrs. Beale saw in Bap. May's lodgings at Whitehall. The 
 curious full-length portrait of her in after-life by Kneller, and now 
 at Audley End, barely supplies a single feature that is attractive.
 
 CHARLES IN LOVE WITH MOLL DAVIS. 71 
 
 players at the Duke's Theatre) for a house in 
 Suffolk Street, Haymarket, furnished by the 
 King expressly for her use. 1 The Queen, 
 before she was worn into complete indifference 
 by the uncontrolled vices of her husband, 
 resented them at times with the spirit of a 
 woman. When Miss Davis was dancing one 
 of her favourite * jigs' in a play at Court, the 
 Queen rose and ' would not stay to see it.' 
 Nor was the imperious Countess of Castlemaine 
 less incensed than the Queen herself at the 
 unwelcome intrusion of little Miss Davis within 
 the innermost chambers and withdrawing-rooms 
 of Whitehall. Her revenge, however, was 
 peculiarly her own she ran into open infideli- 
 ties ; and, as the King had set her aside for an 
 actress at his brother's house, so, to be ' even ' 
 with him (the expression is in Pepys), she 
 extended her favours to Charles Hart, the 
 handsome and celebrated actor, at his own 
 house. 
 
 The Duke of Buckingham (the wit, and the 
 second and last Duke of the Villiers family) is 
 thought to have been the principal agent at this 
 
 1 Moll Davis lived in Suffolk Street from 1667 to 1674, in which 
 year she removed to St. James's Square. ED.
 
 72 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 time in directing and confirming the predi- 
 lections of the King. The Duke and Lady 
 Castlemaine had newly quarrelled, fiercely and 
 almost openly, and both were devising means 
 of revenge characteristic of their natures. By 
 the influence of the Countess the Duke was 
 removed from his seat at the Council, and the 
 Duke in return ' studied to take the King from 
 her by new amours,' and thinking, truly enough, 
 that a ' gaiety of humour ' would take with his 
 Majesty more than beauty without humour, he 
 encouraged his passion for little Miss Davis by 
 all the arts and insinuations he was master of. 
 The King, too, was readier than usual to adopt 
 any new excess of enjoyment which Buckingham 
 could offer him. La Belle Stuart, the only 
 woman for whom he would seem to have enter- 
 tained any sincere affection, had left his court 
 in secret a few months before, and worse still, 
 had given herself in marriage to the Duke of 
 Richmond, without his approbation, and even 
 without his knowledge. Castlemaine was now 
 past her zenith, though she retained much 
 beauty to the last, and found admirers in the 
 great Duke of Marlborough, when young, and 
 in Beau Fielding, long the handsomest man
 
 MOLL DA VIS AT DUKE'S PL A YHOUSE. 73 
 
 about town. Yet Charles was not really unkind 
 to her at any time. The song which he caused 
 Will Legge to sing to her 
 
 Poor Alinda 's growing old, 
 Those charms are now no more, 1 
 
 must have caused her some temporary uneasi- 
 ness and a disdainful curl of her handsome and 
 imperious lip ; but she knew her influence, and 
 managed to retain it almost unimpaired to the 
 very last, in spite of many excesses, which 
 Buckingham seldom failed to discover and make 
 known to the King. 
 
 Of the King, the Countess, and pretty Miss 
 Davis, at this period, Pepys affords us a sketch 
 in little but to the point : 
 
 '21 Dec. 1668. To the Duke's playhouse, and saw 
 " Macbeth." The King and court there ; and we sat just 
 under them and my Lady Castlemaine, and close to a 
 woman that comes into the pit, a kind of loose gossip, that 
 pretends to be like her, and is so, something. And my 
 wife, by my troth, appeared I think as pretty as any of 
 them ; I never thought so much before ; and so did Talbot 
 and W. Hewer, as I heard they said to one another. The 
 King and the Duke of York minded me, and smiled upon 
 me at the handsome woman near me ; but it vexed me to 
 see Moll Davis, in the box over the King's and my Lady 
 Castlemaine's, look down upon the King, and he up to her ; 
 and so did my Lady Castlemaine once, to see who it was ; 
 but when she saw Moll Davis she looked like fire, which 
 troubled me.' 
 
 1 Lord Dartmouth's note in Burnet, i. 458, ed. 1823. Where 
 are these verses to be found ?
 
 74 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN, 
 
 To complete the picture which Pepys has 
 left us, we have only to turn to c The True 
 Widow,' of Shadwell, where, in the fourth act, 
 the scene is laid in ' the Playhouse,' and stage 
 directions of this character occur: f Enter women 
 masked ; ' ' Several young coxcombs fool with 
 the orange-women ; ' c He sits down and loll$ 
 in the orange-wench's lap ; ' { Raps people on 
 the backs and twirls their hats, and then looks 
 demurely, as if he did not do it ; ' such were 
 daily occurrences at both theatres in the reign 
 of Charles n. 
 
 Such were our pleasures in the days of yore, 
 When amorous Charles Britannia's sceptre bore ; 
 The mighty scene of joy the Park was made, 
 And Love in couples peopled every shade. 
 But since at Court the moral taste is lost, 
 What mighty sums have velvet couches cost ! l 
 
 We are now less barefaced in our immoralities, 
 but are we really better ? Was Whitehall in 
 the reign of Charles u. worse than St. James's 
 Palace in the reign of George n., or Carl ton 
 House in the regency of George iv. ? Were 
 Mrs. Robinson, Mary Anne Clarke, or Dora 
 Jordan, better women than Eleanor Gwyn or 
 Mary Davis ? Will future historians prefer 
 
 1 Gay to Pulteney.
 
 LORD ORRERY'S ' BLACK PRINCE: 75 
 
 the old Duke of Queensbury and the late 
 Marquis of Hertford to the Duke of Bucking- 
 ham and the Earl of Rochester ? 
 
 A new play of this period, in which Nelly 
 performed the heroine, 1 is the f Black Prince,' 
 written by the Earl of Orrery, and acted for 
 the first time at the King's House, on the I9th 
 October 1667. Nelly's part was Alizia or 
 Alice Piers, the mistress of Edward in. ; and 
 the following lines must have often in after life 
 occurred to recollection, not from their poetry, 
 which is little enough, but from their particular 
 applicability to her own story : 
 
 You know, dear friend, when to this court I came, 
 My eyes did all our bravest youths inflame ; 
 And in that happy state I lived awhile, 
 When Fortune did betray me with a smile j 
 Or rather Love against my peace did fight ; 
 And to revenge his power, which I did slight, 
 Made Edward our victorious monarch be 
 One of those many who did sigh for me. 
 All other flame but his I did deride ; 
 They rather made my trouble than my pride : 
 But this, when told me, made me quickly know, 
 Love is a god to which all hearts must bow. 
 
 The King was present at the first perfor- 
 mance, when his own heart was acknowledging 
 
 1 It is by no means certain that it was Nelly who acted this 
 part. Downes says it was acted by ' Mrs. Gwin,' and it is not 
 unlikely that this was the other actress referred to in the note on 
 p. 82. ED.
 
 76 THE STOR Y OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 and his own eyes betraying the sense he enter- 
 tained of the beauty and wit of the charming 
 actress who played Alizia on the stage, and 
 who was hereafter to move in the same sphere 
 in which the original had moved with greater 
 honesty and much more affection. 
 
 While little Miss Davis was living in hand- 
 some lodgings in Suffolk Street, and baring her 
 hand in public in the face of the Countess of 
 Castlemaine, to show the 7oo/. ring which the 
 King had given her, a report arose that ( the 
 King had sent for Nelly.' 1 Nor was it long 
 before this gossip of the town was followed by 
 other rumours about her, not likely, it was 
 thought, to be true, from her constant appear- 
 ance on the stage, speaking prologues in 
 fantastic hats and Amazonian habits, 2 playing 
 as she did, too, at this time, Valeria in Dryden's 
 last new tragedy of f Tyrannick Love, or the 
 Royal Martyr,' and Donna Jacintha in Dryden's 
 latest comedy, called f An Evening's Love, or 
 the Mock Astrologer.' Other rumours, re- 
 lating to Lord Buckhurst, and since found to 
 
 1 Pepys, nth January 1667-8. 
 
 2 Before the 1669 edition Catiline is a prologue 'to be merrily 
 spoke by Mrs. Nell in an Amazonian habit.' Pepys and Evelyn 
 both saw Catiline acted on the igth Dec. 1668.


 
 GREEN-ROOM RUMOURS. 77 
 
 be true, were current at the same time, that 
 he had been made a groom of the King's bed- 
 chamber, with a pension of a thousand pounds 
 a year, commencing from Michaelmas, 1 1668 ; 
 that he had received the promise of a peerage 
 at his grandfather's death ; and that he had 
 been sent by the King on a complimentary 
 visit to a foreign power, or, as Dryden is said 
 to have called it, on a * sleeveless errand ' 2 into 
 France. In the meantime gossips in both the 
 theatres were utterly at a loss to reconcile the 
 stories repeated by the orange-women that 
 Nelly was often at Whitehall with her con- 
 stant attention to her theatrical engagements, 
 and the increasing skill she exhibited in the 
 acquirements of her art. Nor was it till the 
 winter of 1669, or ra ther the spring of 1670, 
 that the fact of the postponement of a new 
 
 1 Lord Buckhurst had given up Nell Gwyn some little time 
 before the King made her his mistress, and, therefore, the popular 
 charges against him fall to the ground. It has been observed that 
 he was not the kind of man to sell his mistress. In July 1667, 
 Lord Buckhurst and Nelly were keeping house at Epsom, but on 
 the 2Qth of the following August the latter was on the stage again, 
 and then Orange Moll told Pepys ' that Nell is already left by 
 my Lord Buckhurst, and that he makes sport of her.' There is 
 no hint of Charles II. having sent for Nell till January 1668. ED. 
 
 2 Note by Boyer in his translation of De Grammont, 8vo, 1714, 
 P- 343-
 
 78 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 tragedy by Dryden, on account of Nelly's being 
 away, confirmed some of the previous rumours ; 
 and it was known even east of Temple Bar, and 
 among the Puritans in the Blackfriars, that 
 Nelly had become the mistress of the King. 
 
 When this important change in her condition 
 took place a change that removed her from 
 many temptations, and led to the exhibition of 
 traits of character and good feeling which more 
 than account for the fascination connected with 
 her name she was studying the part of Alma- 
 hide in Dryden's new tragedy, f The Conquest 
 of Granada.' Before, however, the play could 
 be produced, Nelly was near giving birth to 
 the future Duke of St. Alban's, and therefore 
 unable to appear, so that Dryden was obliged 
 to postpone the production of his piece till 
 another season. The poet alludes to this 
 postponement in his epilogue : 
 
 Think him not duller for the year's delay ; 
 
 He was prepared, the women were away ; 
 
 And men without their parts can hardly play. 
 
 If they through sickness seldom did appear, 
 
 Pity the virgins of each theatre ; 
 
 For at both houses 'twas a sickly year ! 
 
 And pity us, your servants, to whose cost 
 
 In one such sickness nine whole months were lost. 
 
 The allusion is to Miss Davis at the Duke's,
 
 NELL AS ALMAHIDE. 79 
 
 and to Nelly at the King's ; but the poet's 
 meaning has escaped his editors. 
 
 The 'Conquest of Granada' was first per- 
 formed in the autumn of 1670, Hart playing 
 Almanzor to Nelly's Almahide. With what 
 manliness and grace of elocution must Hart 
 have delivered the well-known lines, 
 
 I am as free as Nature first made man, 
 Ere the base laws of servitude began, 
 When wild in woods the noble savage ran. 
 
 The attraction, however, of the play rested 
 mainly upon Nelly, who spoke the prologue 
 c in a broad-brimmed hat and waist-belt,' and 
 apologised in the following manner for her 
 appearance, to the renewed delight of the whole 
 audience : 
 
 This jest was first of th' other House's making, 
 And, five times tried, has never failed of taking ; 
 For 'twere a shame a poet should be kill'd 
 Under the shelter of so broad a shield. 
 This is that hat whose very sight did win ye 
 To laugh and clap as though the devil were in ye. 
 As then for Nokes, so now I hope you '11 be 
 So dull to laugh once more for love of me. 
 
 The jest c of the other house's making ' is 
 said to have occurred in May 1670, while the 
 Court was at Dover to receive the King's 
 sister, the beautiful Duchess of Orleans. The 
 reception of her royal highness was attended
 
 8o THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 with much pomp and gaiety the Duke's com- 
 pany of actors playing ShadwelPs c Sullen 
 Lovers,' and Caryl's ' Sir Solomon, or the 
 Cautious Coxcomb,' before the Duchess and 
 her suite. One of the characters in Caryl's 
 comedy is that of Sir Arthur Addle, a bawling 
 fop, played by Nokes with a reality of action 
 and manner then unsurpassed upon the stage. 
 The dress of the French attending the Duchess, 
 and present at the performance of the plays, 
 included an excessively short laced scarlet or 
 blue coat, with a broad waist-belt, which Nokes 
 took care to laugh at, by wearing a still shorter 
 coat of the same character, to which the Duke 
 of Monmouth added a sword and belt from his 
 own side, so that he looked, as old Downes the 
 prompter assures us, more like a dressed-up 
 ape, or a quiz on the French, than Sir Arthur 
 Addle. The jest took at once, King Charles 
 and his whole Court falling into an excess of 
 laughter as soon as he appeared upon the stage, 
 and the French showing their chagrin at the 
 personality and folly of the imitation. The 
 sword, which the Duke had buckled on the 
 actor with his own hands, was kept by Nokes 
 to his dying day.
 
 CHARLES II. IN LOVE WITH NELLY. 81 
 
 It was in the character of Almahide in ' The 
 Conquest of Granada,' and while wearing her 
 broad-brimmed hat and waist-belt in the pro- 
 logue to the same play, that Charles became 
 more than ever enamoured of Nelly. A satirist 
 of the time has expressed the result of the 
 performance in a couplet not wholly destitute 
 of force : 
 
 There Hart's and Rowley's souls she did ensnare, 
 And made a King a rival to a player ; 
 
 while Granville, who enjoyed the friendship of 
 Waller, and lived to be the patron of Pope, 
 has told the result in his poem called c The 
 Progress of Beauty ' : 
 
 Granada lost, behold her pomps restor'd, 
 And Almahide again by Kings adored. 
 
 An effect from a stage performance which some 
 still live to remember, when it found a parallel 
 in the passion which George iv., when Prince 
 of Wales, evinced for Mrs. Robinson, while 
 playing the part of Perdita in 'A Winter's 
 Tale.' What a true name is Perdita indeed for 
 such a fate, and what a lesson may a young 
 actress learn from the story of poor Mrs. 
 Robinson, when told, as I have heard it told, 
 
 F
 
 82 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 by her grave in Old Windsor churchyard ! 
 Nor is Nelly's story without its moral and 
 now that we have got her from the purlieus of 
 Drury Lane, and the contaminations of the 
 green-room, for the part of Almahide was her 
 last performance on the stage, 1 we shall find 
 her true to the King, and evincing in her own 
 way more good than we should have expected 
 to have found from so bad a bringing up. 
 
 1 A Mrs. Quin, Quyn, or Gwyn, an actress at the King's House, 
 is constantly confounded with 'Mrs. Ellen Gwyn.' Her name 
 was Anne Quyn. She was one of His Majesty's comedians in 
 1666, as I gather from the warrant entered in the warrant books 
 of the Lord Chamberlain, v. 376. Both had parts in Dryden's 
 Evening's Love, 1671, and in the dramatis persona of the first 
 edition are distinguished as ' Mrs. Ellen Gwynn ' and ' Mrs. Quin.' 
 Downes distinguishes Nelly by calling her 'Madam Gwin,' or 
 ' Mrs. Ellen Gwin ' ; the other is always ' Mrs. Gwin.' P. C.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF KING CHARLES II. 
 
 THE character of King Charles n. has been 
 drawn with care and skill by several writers 
 of distinguished reputation to whom he was 
 known : by the great Lord Clarendon ; by the 
 Marquess of Halifax ; by the Duke of Buck- 
 ingham ; by Evelyn and Sir William Temple ; 
 by Burner., Dryden, and Roger North. Lord 
 Clarendon had been acquainted with him from 
 his boyhood, and had been his principal adviser 
 for many years; Halifax had been his minister; 
 Buckingham had received distinguished marks 
 of favour at his hands ; Evelyn not only 
 frequented his court, but had often conversed 
 with him on matters of moment, and was in- 
 timate with many who knew him well ; Temple 
 had been his ambassador ; Burnet had spoken 
 to him with a freedom which nothing but 
 his pastoral character would have sanctioned ;
 
 84 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 Dryden was his Poet Laureate ; and North 
 added to his own his brother the Lord Keeper's 
 experience of the King's character. From such 
 writers as these, and with the aid of such in- 
 cidental illustrations as a lengthened interest 
 in the subject will supply, I propose to draw 
 the portraiture of the King, using, where such 
 fidelity is requisite, the very words of the 
 authorities I employ. 
 
 His personal appearance was remarkable. 
 He was five feet ten inches in height, and 
 well made, with an expression of countenance 
 somewhat fierce, and a great voice. 1 He was, 
 says Saville, an illustrious exception to all the 
 common rules of physiognomy ; for, with a 
 most saturnine, harsh countenance, he was both 
 of a merry and merciful disposition. His eyes 
 were large and fine ; and his face so swarthy, 
 that Monk, before the Restoration, used to 
 toast him as * the black boy.' 2 ' Is this like 
 me ? ' he said to Riley, who had just completed 
 his portrait; 'then, odd's fish [his favourite 
 phrase], I am an ugly fellow.' Riley, however, 
 must have done him an injustice ; certainly, at 
 all events, he is not an ugly fellow on the 
 
 1 Evelyn, ii. 207, ed. 1850. 2 Hinton's Memoirs, p. 29.

 
 CHARACTER OF CHARLES II. 85 
 
 canvas of Lely, in the miniatures of Cooper, 
 the sculpture of Gibbons, or the coins of Simon. 
 He lived a Deist, but did not care to think 
 on the subject of religion, though he died pro- 
 fessedly a Roman Catholic. His father had 
 been severe with him, and once, while at 
 sermon at St. Mary's in Oxford, had struck 
 him on the head with his staff for laughing at 
 some of the ladies sitting opposite to him. 1 
 Later in life the ill-bred familiarity of the 
 Scottish divines had given him a distaste for 
 Presbyterian discipline, while the heats and 
 animosities between the members of the Estab- 
 lished Church and the Nonconformists with 
 which his reign commenced made him think 
 indifferently of both. His religion was that 
 of a young prince in his warm blood, whose 
 inquiries were applied more to discover argu- 
 ments against belief than in its favour. The 
 wits about his Court, who found employment 
 in laughing at Scripture 
 
 All by the King's example liv'd and loVd 
 delighted in turning to ridicule what the 
 preachers said in their sermons before him, 
 and in this way induced him to look upon 
 
 1 Dr. Lake's Diary ; p. 26.
 
 86 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 the clergy as a body of men who had com- 
 pounded a religion for their own advantage. 1 
 So strongly did this feeling take root in him, 
 that he at length resigned himself to sleep 
 at sermon-time not even South or Barrow 
 having the art to keep him awake. In one 
 of these half-hours of sleep when in chapel, he 
 is known to have missed, doubtless with regret, 
 the gentle reproof of South to Lauderdale 
 during a general somnolency : f My lord, my 
 lord, you snore so loud you will wake the 
 King.' 
 
 He loved ease and quiet ; and it was said, 
 not untruly, that there was as much of laziness 
 as of love in all those hours he passed among 
 his mistresses. Few things, remarked Burnet, 2 
 ever went near his heart. It was a trouble to 
 him to think. Unthinkingness, indeed, was 
 said by Halifax to be one of his characteris- 
 tics 3 and 
 
 Unthinking Charles, ruled by unthinking thee, 
 
 is a line in Lord Rochester. Sauntering is an 
 epithet applied to him by Sheffield, Saville, and 
 Wilmot. He chose rather to be eclipsed than 
 
 1 Clarendon's Life, iii. 3, ed. 1826. 
 
 2 Burnet, ii. 469, ed. 1823. 3 Halifax, p. 4.
 
 CHARACTER OF CHARLES II. 87 
 
 to be troubled, to receive a pension from France 
 rather than ask his Parliament for subsidies. 
 
 His affection for his children was worthy of 
 a better man. He loved the Duke of Mon- 
 mouth with the fondness of a partial parent, 
 and forgave him more than once for injuries, 
 almost amounting to crimes of magnitude, per- 
 sonal and political. The Duke of Grafton, 
 one of his sons by the Duchess of Cleveland, 
 he loved * on the score of the sea,' l and for the 
 frankness of his nature. His queen's manners 
 and society he never could have liked, though 
 his letter to Lord Clarendon, written from 
 Portsmouth, upon her first arrival, is ardent in 
 passion, and might have been held to promise 
 the most constant affection for her person. 2 
 He grew at last to believe that she never 
 could bring him an heir, 3 an opinion in which 
 he was confirmed by the people about him ; 
 but, anxious as he certainly was for another 
 wife, he rejected with scorn a proposition that 
 was made to him to send her away in disguise 
 to a distant region. His steadiness to his 
 
 1 Pepys's Tangier Diary, ii. 36. 
 
 2 See it among the Lansdowne MSS. (1236) in the British 
 Museum. It is not fit to print. 
 
 * Clarendon's Life, iii. 60, ed. 1826.
 
 88 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 brother, though it may, and indeed must, in 
 a great measure be accounted for on selfish 
 principles, had at least, as Fox remarks, a 
 strong resemblance to virtue. 1 Prince Rupert 
 he looked upon, not unjustly, as a madman. 2 
 If he was slow to reward and willing to for- 
 give, he was not prone to forget. His secret 
 service expenses record many payments, and 
 at all periods, to the several branches of the 
 Penderells, to whom he was indebted for his 
 preservation after the battle of Worcester. 3 
 
 He lived beloved, and died lamented, by a 
 very large portion of his people. What helped 
 to endear him has been happily expressed by 
 Waller : 
 
 the first English born 
 
 That has the crown of these three kingdoms worn. 
 
 Then, the way in which he was seen in St. 
 James's Park feeding his ducks ; 4 or in the 
 Mall playing a manly game with great skill ; 5 
 or at the two theatres encouraging English 
 
 1 Fox's /ames II., p. 70. 2 Pepys's Tangier Diary, ii. 36. 
 
 3 Printed for the Camden Society. Mr. Macaulay says, harshly 
 enough 'Never was there a mind on which both services and 
 injuries left such faint and transitory impressions.' 
 
 4 Gibber's Apology, p. 26, 8vo, 1740. 
 
 8 Waller's poem ' On St. James's Park.'
 
 CHARACTER OF CHARLES //. 89 
 
 authors, and commending English actors and 
 actresses, added to his popularity. He really 
 mixed with his subjects ; and though a stand- 
 ing army was first established in his reign, it 
 was needed more for his throne than for his 
 person. 
 
 He did not study or care for the state 
 which most of his predecessors before him had 
 assumed, and was fond of dropping the for- 
 mality of a sovereign for the easy character of 
 a companion. He had lived, when in exile, 
 upon a footing of equality with his banished 
 nobles, and had partaken freely and promiscu- 
 ously in the pleasures and frolics by which 
 they had endeavoured to sweeten adversity. 
 He was led in this way to let distinction and 
 ceremony fall to the ground, as useless and 
 foppish, and could not even on premeditation, 
 it is said, act for a moment the part of a king 
 either at parliament or council, either in words 
 or gesture. When he attended the House of 
 Lords, he would descend from the throne and 
 stand by the fire, drawing a crowd about him 
 that broke up all the regularity and order of 
 the place. In a very little time he would have 
 gone round the House, and have spoken to
 
 90 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 every man that he thought worth speaking to. 1 
 He carried his dogs to the council table 
 
 His very dog at council board 
 Sits grave and wise as any lord, 2 
 
 and allowed them to lie in his bedchamber, 
 where he would often suffer them to pup and 
 give suck, much to the disgust of Evelyn, and 
 of many who resided at court. 3 His very 
 speeches to his parliament contain traits of his 
 personal character. c The mention of my wife's 
 arrival,' he says, f puts me in mind to desire 
 you to put that compliment upon her, that 
 her entrance into the town may be with more 
 decency than the ways will now suffer it to be, 
 and for that purpose I pray you would quickly 
 pass such laws as are before you, in order to 
 the amending those ways, and that she may 
 
 1 Burnet, i. 472-3, ed. 1823. In his speech in the House of 
 Commons, March i, 1661, he says: 'In a word, I know most of 
 your faces and names, and can never hope to find better men in 
 your places.' 
 
 2 Lord Rochester's Poems, 1697, p. 150. [Confirmed by Pepys 
 under 4th September 1667. Charles II. 's love of dogs is well 
 known, and his name is associated with a special breed. His 
 dogs were continually stolen from him, and he as continually 
 advertised for their return. Some of these amusing advertisements 
 are printed in Notes and Queries (7th S. vii. 26). ED.] 
 
 3 Evelyn, vol. ii. p. 207, ed. 1850. Charles was fond of 
 animals and natural history. In the Works Accounts at Whitehall, 
 for 1667-8, I observe a payment for 'the posts whereon the king's 
 bees stand.'
 
 CHARACTER OF CHARLES II. 91 
 
 not find Whitehall surrounded by water.' l 
 Nothing but his character, as Sir Robert Wai- 
 pole observed of Sir William Yonge, could 
 keep down his parts, and nothing but his parts 
 support his character. 
 
 His mistresses were as different in their 
 humours as in their looks. He did not care to 
 choose for himself, so that, as Halifax observes, 
 it was resolved generally by others whom he 
 should have in his arms as well as whom he 
 should have in his councils. Latterly he lived 
 under the traditional influence of his old engage- 
 ments ; and though he had skill enough to 
 suspect, he had wit enough not to care. 2 His 
 passion for Miss Stuart, as I have already said, 
 was a stronger feeling of attachment than he is 
 thought to have entertained for anybody else. 3 
 
 His understanding was quick and lively ; but 
 he had little reading, and that tending to his 
 pleasures more than to instruction. He had 
 read men rather than books. The Duke of 
 Buckingham happily characterised the two 
 brothers in a conversation with Burnet. c The 
 
 1 Speech, March i, 1661-2. See the allusion explained in my 
 Handbook for London, art. 'Whitehall.' 
 
 2 Halifax's Character, p. 21. 
 
 8 Clarendon's Life, iii. 6l, ed. 1826.
 
 92 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 King,' he said, f could see things if he would, 
 and the Duke would see things if he could.' l 
 Nor was the observation of Tom Killigrew, 
 made to the King himself in Cowley's hearing, 
 without its point. This privileged wit, after 
 telling the King the ill state of his affairs, was 
 pleased to suggest a way to help all. ' There 
 is,' says he, f a good honest able man that I 
 could name, whom if your majesty would em- 
 ploy, and command to see things well executed, 
 all things would soon be mended, and this is 
 one Charles Stuart, who now spends his time 
 in employing his lips about the court, and hath 
 no other employment ; but if you would give 
 him this employment, he were the fittest man 
 in the world to perform it.' 2 He had what 
 Sheffield called the foible of his family, to be 
 easily imposed upon; for, as Clarendon truly 
 remarks, it was the unhappy fate of the Stuart 
 family to trust too much on all occasions to 
 others. 3 To such an extent did he carry un- 
 necessary confidence, that he would sign papers 
 without inquiring what they were about. 4 
 
 He drew well himself, 5 was fond of mathe- 
 
 1 Burnet, i. 288, ed. 1823. 2 Pepys, 8th Dec. 1666. 
 
 3 Clarendon's Life, iii. 63, ed. 1826. 4 Burnet, i. 417, ed. 1823. 
 5 Walpotis Anecdotes, by Wornum, p. 427.
 
 CHARACTER OF CHARLES II. 93 
 
 matics, fortification, and shipping ; knew the 
 secrets of many empirical medicines, passed 
 many hours in his laboratory, and in the very 
 month in which he died was running a process 
 for fixing mercury. 1 The Observatory at 
 Greenwich, and the Mathematical School at 
 Christ's Hospital, are enduring instances of his 
 regard for science. 
 
 He had all the hereditary love of the Stuarts 
 for poetry and poets, and in this respect was 
 certainly different from George n., who con- 
 sidered a poet in the light of a mechanic. 2 He 
 carried Hudibras about in his pocket, 3 protected 
 its publication by his royal warrant, but allowed 
 its author to starve. Nor was this from want 
 of admiration, but from indolence. Patronage 
 had been a trouble to him. The noble song 
 of Shirley 
 
 The glories of our blood and state, 
 
 1 Burnet, ii. 254, ed. 1823. Among the satires attributed to 
 Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, is one on Charles II., called 'The 
 Cabin Boy.' U an - X 5> 1668-69, Pepys went to see the King's 
 laboratory : ' Then down with Lord Brouncker to Sir R. Murray 
 into the king's little elaboratory under his closet, a pretty place, 
 and there saw a great many chymical glasses and things, but under- 
 stood none of them.' ED.] 
 
 2 Lord Chesterfield's Works, by Lord Mahon, ii. 441. 
 
 3 Dennis's Reflections on Pope's Essay on Criticism, p. 23.
 
 94 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 was often sung to him by old Bowman, and, 
 while he enjoyed the poetry, he could have 
 cared but little for the moral grandeur which 
 pervades it. He suggested the Medal to 
 Dryden as a subject for a poem while walking 
 in the Mall. c If I was a poet,' he said, f and 
 I think I am poor enough to be one, I would 
 write a poem on such a subject in the following 
 manner.' Dryden took the hint, carried his 
 poem to the King, and had a hundred broad 
 pieces for it. 1 A good new comedy, we are 
 told by Dennis, took the next place in his list of 
 likings immediately after his last new mistress. 
 In points connected with the stage he was even 
 more at home than in matters of poetry, inso- 
 much that the particular differences, pretensions, 
 or complaints of the actors were generally 
 ended by the King's personal command or 
 decision. 2 This, however, he would at times 
 carry to excess, and it has been even said that 
 * he would hear anybody against anybody.' 
 One of his latest acts was to call the attention 
 of the poet Crowne to the Spanish play ' No 
 puede ser ; or, It cannot be,' and to command 
 
 1 Spence's Anecdotes, p. 171. 
 
 2 Gibber's Apology, p. 75, ed. 1740.
 
 CHARACTER OF CHARLES II. 95 
 
 him to write a comedy on a somewhat similar 
 foundation. To this suggestion it is that we 
 owe the good old comedy of c Sir Courtly 
 Nice.' l 
 
 He hated flattery, 2 was perfectly accessible, 
 would stop and talk with Hobbes, or walk 
 through the park with Evelyn, or any other 
 favourite. Steele remembered to have seen 
 him more than once leaning on D'Urfey's 
 shoulder, and humming over a song with him. 3 
 Hume blames him for not preserving Otway 
 from his sad end ; but Otway died in the next 
 reign, more from accident than neglect. 
 
 His passion for music (he preferred the violin 
 to the viol) is not ill illustrated in the well- 
 known jingle 
 
 Four-and-twenty fiddlers all in a row, 
 
 And there was fiddle-fiddle, and twice fiddle-fiddle, etc., 
 
 written on his enlargement of his band of 
 fiddlers to four-and-twenty, his habit, while 
 at his meals, of having, according to the French 
 mode, twenty-four violins playing before him ; 5 
 
 1 Crowne's Preface to Sir Courtly Nice, 4to, 1685. 
 
 2 Temple's Works, ii. 409, ed. 1770. 3 The Guardian, 
 
 4 There is a list of the King's twenty-four fiddlers in 1674 in 
 North's Memoirs of Musick, ed. Rimbault, 1846, p. 99 (notes). 
 ED. 
 
 5 Antony a Wood's Life, ed. Bliss, 8vo, p. 70.
 
 96 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 or by his letters written during his exile. ' We 
 pass our time as well as people can do,' he 
 observes, f that have no more money, for we 
 dance and play as if we had taken the Plate 
 fleet ' ; l ( Pray get me pricked down,' he adds 
 in another, f as many new corrants and. sarabands 
 and other little dances as you can, and bring 
 them with you, for I have got a small fiddler 
 that does not play ill.' 2 
 
 Like others of his race, like James i. and 
 James v. of Scotland, like his father and his 
 grandfather, he was occasionally a poet. A 
 song of his composition is certainly characteristic 
 of his way of life : 
 
 I pass all my hours in a shady old grove, 
 But I live not the day when I see not my love ; 
 I survey every walk now my Phillis is gone, 
 And sigh when I think we were there all alone ; 
 
 O then, 'tis O then, that I think there 's no hell 
 
 Like loving, like loving too well. 
 
 But each shade and each conscious bow'r when I find, 
 Where I once have been happy, and she has been kind ; 
 When I see the print left of her shape on the green, 
 And imagine the pleasure may yet come again ; 
 
 O then 'tis I think that no joys are above 
 
 The pleasures of love. 
 
 1 Mis. Aulica, p. 117. 
 
 2 Ellis's Letters, 2nd series, iii. p. 376, and Mis. Aul. p. 155.
 
 CHARACTER OF CHARLES II. 97 
 
 While alone to myself I repeat all her charms, 
 She I love may be lock'd in another man's arms, 
 She may laugh at my cares, and so false she may be, 
 To say all the kind things she before said to me : 
 
 O then, 'tis O then, that I think there 's no hell 
 
 Like loving too well. 
 
 But when I consider the truth of her heart, 
 Such an innocent passion, so kind without art ; 
 I fear I have wronged her, and hope she may be 
 So full of true love to be jealous of me : 
 
 And then 'tis I think that no joys are above 
 
 The pleasures of love. 1 
 
 That he understood foreign affairs better 
 than all his councils and counsellors put to- 
 gether was the repeated remark of the Lord 
 Keeper Guilford. In his exile he had acquired 
 either a personal acquaintance with most of the 
 eminent statesmen in Europe, or else from such 
 as could instruct him he had received their 
 characters : and this knowledge, the Lord 
 Keeper would continue, he perpetually im- 
 proved by conversing with men of quality and 
 ambassadors, whom he would sift, and by what 
 he obtained from them (' possibly drunk as well 
 as sober'), would serve himself one way or 
 other. ' When they sought,' his lordship added, 
 
 1 From Choice Ayres, Songs, etc., 1676, folio; see also Roger 
 North's Memoirs of Mustek, 410, 1846, p. 104 ; Hawkins's History 
 of Music, v. 447 ; and Park's ed. of Walpole's Royal and Noble 
 Authors, i. 154. 
 
 G
 
 98 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 ' to sift him who, to give him his due, was 
 but too open he failed not to make his best 
 of them.' l 
 
 His love of wine was the common failing of 
 his age. The couplet which I shall have 
 occasion hereafter to include among his happy 
 replies : 
 
 Good store of good claret supplies everything 
 And the man that is drunk is as great as a king, 
 
 affords no ill notion of the feeling current at 
 Whitehall. When the Duke of York, after 
 dinner, asked Henry Saville if he intended to 
 invite the King to the business of the day, 
 Saville wondered what he meant, and incurred 
 the displeasure of the Duke by continuing the 
 King in the belief that hard-drinking was the 
 business before them. 2 
 
 His great anxiety was the care of his health, 
 thinking it, perhaps, more reconcilable with 
 his pleasures than he really found it. He rose 
 early, walked generally three or four hours a 
 day by his watch, and when he pulled it out, 
 skilful men, it is said, would make haste with 
 what they had to say to him. He walked so 
 
 1 North, ii. 102, ed. 1826. 
 
 2 Lady R. RusselFs Letters^ by Miss Berry, p. 177.
 
 CHARACTER OF CHARLES II. 99 
 
 rapidly with what Teonge calls 'his wonted 
 large pace,' l that it was a trouble, as Burnet 
 observes, for others to keep up with him. 
 This rapid walk gives a sting to the saying of 
 Shaftesbury, that ' he would leisurely walk his 
 Majesty out of his dominions,' 2 while it ex- 
 plains his advice to his nephew, Prince George 
 of Denmark, when he complained to Charles 
 of growing fat since his marriage, ' Walk with 
 me, hunt with my brother, and do justice on 
 my niece, and you will not be fat.' 3 
 
 His ordinary conversation and much of his 
 time was passed in e discoursing,' 4 hovered 
 too frequently between profanity and indecency, 
 and in its familiarity was better adapted to his 
 condition before he was restored than after- 
 wards. Yet it had withal many fascinations of 
 which the best talker might be proud possess- 
 ing a certain softness of manner that placed his 
 hearers at ease, and sent them away enamoured 
 with what he said. 5 When he thought fit to 
 unbend entirely, he exhibited great quickness 
 
 1 Teonge's Diary, p. 232. 
 
 2 Sprat's Account of the Rye- House Plot. 
 
 3 Antony $ Wood's Life, ed. Bliss, p. 260. 
 
 4 North's Lives, ed. 1826, ii. 
 
 5 Burnet, ii. 467, ed. 1823.
 
 ioo THE STORY OF NELL GIVYN. 
 
 of conception, much pleasantness of wit, with 
 great variety of knowledge, more observation 
 and truer judgment of men than one would 
 have imagined by so careless and easy a manner 
 as was natural to him in all he said or did. 1 
 Such at least is the written opinion of Sir 
 William Temple. His speech to La Belle 
 Stuart, who resisted all his importunities, 
 that he hoped he should live to see her ' ugly 
 and willing ; ' 2 his letter to his sister on hear- 
 ing of her pregnancy, 3 and his speech to his 
 wife, * You lie : confess and be hanged,' 4 must 
 be looked upon in connection with the out- 
 spoken language of his age an age in which 
 young women, even of the higher classes, con- 
 versed without circumspection and modesty, 
 and frequently met at taverns and common 
 eating-houses. 5 
 
 f If writers be just to the memory of King 
 Charles n.,' says Dryden, addressing Lord 
 Halifax, ' they cannot deny him to have been 
 an exact knower of mankind, and a perfect 
 
 1 Temple, ii. 408, ed. 1770. 
 
 2 Lord Dartmouth's note in Burnel, i. 436, ed. 1823. 
 
 3 Dalrymple's Memoirs, Appendix, p. 21, ed. 1773. 
 
 4 Pepys. 
 
 5 Clarendon's Life, i. 358, ed. 1826.
 
 CHARACTER OF CHARLES II. 101 
 
 distinguisher of their talents.' 'It is true,' he 
 continues, < his necessities often forced him to 
 vary his counsellors and counsels, and sometimes 
 to employ such persons in the management of 
 his affairs who were rather fit for his present 
 purpose than satisfactory to his judgment ; but 
 where it was choice in him, not compulsion, he 
 was master of too much good sense to delight 
 in heavy conversation ; and, whatever his fav- 
 ourites of state might be, yet those of his 
 affection were men of wit/ l 
 
 He was an admirable teller of a story, and 
 loved to talk over the incidents of his life to 
 every new face that came about him. His stay 
 in Scotland, his escape from Worcester, and 
 the share he had in the war of Paris, in carry- 
 ing messages from the one side to the other, 
 were his common topics. He went over these 
 in a very graceful manner, but so often and so 
 copiously, says Burnet, that all those who had 
 been long accustomed to them were soon weary, 
 and usually withdrew, so that he often began 
 them in a full audience, and before he had 
 done there were not above four or five left 
 about him. But this general unwillingness to 
 
 1 Dryden Dedication of King Arthur, 4(0, 1691.
 
 102 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 listen is contradicted by Sheffield, who observes 
 that many of his ministers, not out of flattery, 
 but for the pleasure of hearing it, affected an 
 ignorance of what they had heard him relate 
 ten times before, treating a story of his telling 
 as a good comedy that bears being seen often, 
 if well acted. This love of talking made him, 
 it is said, fond of strangers, who hearkened to 
 his stories and went away as in a rapture at 
 such uncommon condescension in a king ; while 
 the sameness in telling caused Lord Rochester 
 to observe, that f he wondered to see a man 
 have so good a memory as to repeat the same 
 story without losing the least circumstance, and 
 yet not remember that he had told it to the 
 same persons the very day before.' l 
 
 He was undisturbed by libels ; enjoying the 
 severities of Wilmot, enduring and not resent- 
 ing the bitter personalities of Sheffield. 2 To 
 have been angry about such matters had been 
 a trouble ; he therefore let them alone, banish- 
 ing Wilmot only for a time for a libel which 
 he had given him on himself, and rewarding 
 
 1 Burnet, i. 458, ed. 1823. 
 
 2 Lord Rochester to Saville, relative to Mulgrave's Essay on 
 Satire. (Malone's Life of Dry den, p. 134.) See also Burnet, 
 i. 433, ed. 1823.
 
 CHARACTER OF CHARLES II. 103 
 
 Sheffield for a satire unsurpassed for boldness 
 in an age of lampoons. He was compared to 
 Nero, who sung while Rome was burning, and 
 pardoned the malice of the wit in the satire of 
 the comparison. He loved a laugh at court 
 as much as Nokes or Tony Leigh did upon 
 the stage. 
 
 Yet he would laugh at his best friends, and be 
 Just as good company as Nokes or Leigh. 1 
 
 Few indeed escaped his wit, and rather than 
 not laugh he would turn the laugh upon 
 himself. 
 
 Words or promises went very easily from 
 him, 2 and his memory was only good in such 
 matters as affection or caprice might chance 
 to determine. Had he been less c unthinking,' 
 we should have had an epic from the muse of 
 Dryden, ' but being encouraged only with fair 
 words from King Charles n.,' writes the great 
 poet, * my little salary ill paid, and no prospect 
 of a future subsistence, I was thus discouraged 
 in the beginning of my attempt.' If we 
 
 1 Mulgrave's Essay on Satire. Mr. Bolton Corney, in vol. 
 iii. p. 162 of Notes and Queries, has in a most unanswerable 
 manner vindicated Mulgrave's claim to the authorship of this satire. 
 
 - Burnet, ii. 466.
 
 1 04 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 lost f King Arthur,' we gained c Absalom and 
 Achitophel.' Thus discouraged, Dryden took 
 to temporary subjects, nor let us regret 
 the chance that drove him from his heroic 
 poem. 
 
 Among the most reprehensible of the minor 
 frailties of his life, for which he must be con- 
 sidered personally responsible, was his squander- 
 ing on his mistresses the ^70,000 voted by the 
 House for a monument to his father, and his 
 thrusting the Countess of Castlemaine into 
 the place of a Lady of the Bedchamber to 
 his newly-married wife. The excuse for the 
 former fault, that his father's grave was un- 
 known, was silly in the extreme, and has since 
 been proved to be without foundation ; while 
 his letter in reply to the remonstrance of 
 Lord Clarendon, not to appoint his mistress 
 to a place of honour in the household of 
 his wife, assigns no reason for such a step, 
 while it holds out a threat of everlasting en- 
 mity should Clarendon continue to oppose his 
 will. 1 
 
 One of his favourite amusements was fish- 
 ing, and the Thames at Datchet one of his 
 
 1 See it in Lister's Life of Clarendon, iii. 202.
 
 CHARACTER OF CHARLES II. 105 
 
 
 
 places of resort. Lord Rochester alludes to 
 his passion for the sport in one of his minor 
 poems, 1 and among his household expenses is 
 an allowance to his cormorant keeper for his 
 repairing yearly into the north parts of Eng- 
 land ' to take haggard cormorants for the 
 King's disport in fishing.' 2 His fancy for his 
 ducks was long perpetuated in the public ac- 
 counts, as Berenger observed, when a century 
 after he was making his inquiries at the Mews 
 for his c History of Horsemanship.' Struck by 
 the constant introduction of a charge for hemp- 
 seed, he was led at last to inquire for what 
 purpose the seed was wanted. That none was 
 used was at once admitted, but the charge 
 had been regularly made since the reign of 
 Charles n., and that seemed sufficient reason for 
 its continuance in the Mews accounts. 3 Many 
 an abuse has been perpetuated on no better 
 grounds. 
 
 1 State Poems, 8vo, 1697, p. 43. Reresby's Memoirs, 8vo, 1735, 
 p. 100. Lord Rochester's poem, in a MS. of the time, is headed 
 ' Flatfoot, the Gudgeon Taker.' (MS. in possession of R. M. Milnes, 
 Esq., M.P. [Lord Houghton], ii. 240.) ' I July 1679. Little was 
 done all day [at Windsor] but going a fishing. At night the 
 Duchess of Portsmouth came. In the morning I was with the 
 King at Mrs. Neil's. ' Henty Sidney, Lord Romney's, Diary, i. 20. 
 
 2 Audit Office Enrolments (MSS.), vi. 326. 
 
 3 Nichols's Taller, 8vo, 1786, iii. 361.
 
 106 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 Such was Charles n. : 
 
 Great Pan who wont to chase the fair 
 And loved the spreading oak ; l 
 
 and such are the materials from which David 
 Hume and Sir Walter Scott, Mr. Fox and Mr. 
 Macau lay, have drawn in part their characters 
 of the King. But there are other materials for 
 a true understanding of the man : 
 
 A merry monarch, scandalous and poor, 
 
 and these are his sayings, which Walpole loved 
 to repeat, and of which I have made a collec- 
 tion in the following chapter. 
 
 1 Addison 'To Sir Godfrey Kneller.'
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE SAYINGS OF KING CHARLES II. 
 
 ' I HAVE made a collection,' said Walpole, f of 
 the witty sayings of Charles u., and a collection 
 of bon-mots by people who only said one witty 
 thing in the whole course of their lives.' 1 
 Both these collections are, it is believed, 
 unfortunately lost. The former deficiency I 
 have, however, attempted to supply (I fear 
 imperfectly) in the following chapter ; regard- 
 ing remarkable sayings as among the very best 
 illustrations of individual character and manners. 
 The satirical epitaph written upon King 
 Charles u. at his own request, 2 by his witty 
 favourite the Earl of Rochester, is said to be 
 not more severe than it is just: 
 
 Here lies our sovereign lord the King, 
 
 Whose word no man relies on ; 
 Who never said a foolish thing, 
 
 And never did a wise one. 
 
 1 Walpoliana, i. 58. 
 
 * So Sir Walter Scott in Misc. Prose Works, xxiv. 171 but 
 upon what authority ? 
 
 107
 
 io8 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 How witty was the reply. ' The matter,' he 
 observed, f was easily accounted for his dis- 
 course was his own, his actions were his 
 ministry's.' 1 
 
 A good story of the King and the Lord 
 Mayor of London at a Guildhall dinner has 
 been preserved to us in 'The Spectator. The 
 King's easy manner, and Sir Robert Viner's 
 due sense of City hospitality, carried the 
 dignitary of Guildhall into certain familiarities 
 not altogether graceful at any time, and quite 
 out of character at a public table. The King, 
 who understood very well how to extricate 
 himself from difficulties of this description, 
 gave a hint to the company to avoid ceremony, 
 and stole off to his coach, which stood ready 
 for him in Guildhall Yard. But the Mayor 
 liked his Majesty's company too well, and was 
 grown so intimate that he pursued the merry 
 sovereign, and, catching him fast by the hand, 
 cried out with a vehement oath and accent, 
 f Sir, you shall stay and take t'other bottle.' 
 ' The airy monarch,' continues the narrator of 
 the anecdote, ' looked kindly at him over his 
 shoulder, and with a smile and graceful air (for 
 
 1 Hume's History of England, viii. 212.
 
 SA YINGS OF CHARLES II. 109 
 
 I saw him at the time and do now), repeated 
 this line of the old song : 
 
 He that 7 s drunk is as great as a king, 1 
 
 and immediately turned back and complied 
 with his landlord.' 2 This famous anecdote is 
 importantly illustrated by a letter from the 
 Countess- Dowager of Sunderland to her brother, 
 Henry Sidney, written five years after the 
 mayoralty of Sir Robert Viner. 3 The King 
 had supped with the Lord Mayor; and the 
 Aldermen on the occasion drank the King's 
 health over and over upon their knees, wish- 
 ing every one hanged and damned that would 
 not serve him with their lives and fortunes. 
 But this was not all. As his guards were 
 drunk, or said to be so, they would not trust 
 his Majesty with so insecure an escort, but 
 attended him themselves to Whitehall, and, as 
 the lady-writer observes, ( all went merry out 
 of the King's cellar.' So much was this ac- 
 cessibility of manner in the King acceptable to 
 
 1 In Tate's Cuckold 's Haven, 410, 1685, is the following coup!et : 
 
 Good store of good claret supplies every thing, 
 And the man that is drunk is as great as a king. 
 
 2 Spectator, No. 462. 
 
 * Letter of March 12 [1679-80], in Henry Sidney's Diary, etc., 
 i. 300.
 
 1 10 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 his people, that the Mayor and his brethren 
 waited next day at Whitehall to return thanks 
 to the King and Duke for the honour they had 
 done them, and the Mayor, confirmed by this 
 reception, was changed from an ill to a well 
 affected subject. 
 
 It was an age of nicknames the King him- 
 self was known as ( Old Rowley,' in allusion to 
 an ill-favoured but famous horse in the Royal 
 Mews. Nor was the cognomen at all dis- 
 agreeable to him. Mrs. Hoi ford, a young 
 lady much admired by the King, was in her 
 apartments singing a satirical ballad upon Old 
 Rowley the King y when he knocked at her 
 door. Upon her asking who was there, the 
 King, with his usual good humour, replied, 
 f Old Rowley himself, madam.' 1 Hobbes he 
 called c the Bear.' < Here comes the Bear to 
 be baited,' was his remark, as soon as he saw 
 the great philosopher surrounded by the wits 
 who rejoiced in his conversation. 2 A favourite 
 yacht received from him the name of Fubbs 
 in honour of the Duchess of Portsmouth, who 
 
 1 Granger's Biog. Hist. iv. 50, ed. 1775. 
 
 a Aubrey's Life of Hobbes. See also Tom Brown, i. 174, ' King 
 Charles n. compared old Hobbes to a bear.'
 
 SA YINGS OF CHARLES II. 1 1 1 
 
 was become notably plump in her person. 1 
 The Queen he called ' a bat,' in allusion to 
 her short, broad figure, her swarthy complexion, 
 and the projection of her upper lip from a 
 protuberant foretooth. 2 
 
 His politeness was remarkable, and he could 
 convey a rebuke in the style of a wit and a 
 gentleman. When Penn stood before him with 
 his hat on the King put off his. c Friend 
 Charles,' said Penn, ' why dost thou not keep 
 on thy hat ? ' c 'Tis the custom of this place,' 
 replied the monarch, ' that only one person 
 should be covered at a time/ 3 The well- 
 known English schoolmaster, Busby, excused 
 himself to the King for wearing his hat in his 
 Majesty's presence in his own school at West- 
 minster : c If I were seen without my hat, even 
 in the presence of your Majesty, the boys' 
 respect for me would certainly be lessened.' 
 The excuse, such is the tradition at Westminster, 
 was at once admitted, and Busby wore his hat 
 
 1 Hawkins's History of Music, iv. 359, n. 
 
 ' The lean provokes me with her naughty rubs, 
 But if she 's plump, 'tis then my pretty Fubbs.' 
 
 Poems, collected by N. Tate, 1685, p. 35. 
 
 2 Lord Dartmouth in Burnet, i. 299, ed. 1823. 
 
 3 Grey's Hudibras, i. 376.
 
 1 1 2 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 before the King as he still is seen to wear it in 
 his portrait in the Bodleian. 
 
 When reprimanded by one of his courtiers 
 for leading or interlarding his discourse with 
 unnecessary oaths, he defended himself by say- 
 ing, { Your Martyr swore twice more than ever 
 I did.' l And, in allusion again to his father's 
 character, he observed to Lord Keeper Guil- 
 ford, who was musing somewhat pensively on 
 the woolsack, f My Lord, be of good comfort, 
 I will not forsake my friends as my father did.' 2 
 To Reresby he remarked, * Do not trouble 
 yourself; I will stick by you and my old 
 friends, for if I do not I shall have nobody 
 stick to me ; ' and on another occasion he said 
 to the same memorialist, ' Let them do what 
 they will, I will never part with any officer at 
 the request of either House ; my father lost his 
 head by such compliance, but as for me, I 
 intend to die another way.' 3 
 
 While Prince, seeing a soldier of the Parlia- 
 ment one of Cromwell's officers, and one 
 active against the King led through the streets 
 
 1 Rev. Mr. Watson's Apology for his conduct on Jan. 30, 8vo, 
 1756, p. 34, and Ma/one's Shakespeare^ by Boswell, iii. 235. 
 
 2 North, i. 387. 
 
 3 Reresby's Memoirs, ed. 1735, pp. 103, 105.
 
 SAYINGS OF CHARLES II. 113 
 
 of Oxford as a prisoner, he asked what they 
 designed to do with him. They said they were 
 carrying him to the King, his father ; * Carry 
 him rather to the gallows and hang him up,' 
 was the reply ; * for if you carry him to my 
 father he '11 surely pardon him.' l This was 
 assuredly not cruelty in Charles but merely 
 an odd specimen of his ever playful tempera- 
 ment. 
 
 He was altogether in favour of extempore 
 preaching, and was unwilling to listen to the 
 delivery of a written sermon. Patrick excused 
 himself from a chaplaincy, t finding it very 
 difficult to get a sermon without book. 2 On 
 one occasion the King asked the famous 
 Stillingfleet, * how it wa that he always reads 
 his sermons before him, when he was informed 
 that he always preached without book else- 
 where ? ' Stillingfleet answered something about 
 the awe of so noble a congregation, the presence 
 of so great and wise a prince, with which the 
 King himself was very well contented. { But 
 pray,' continued Stillingfleet, 'will your Majesty 
 give me leave to ask you a question ? Why 
 
 1 Dr. Lake's Diary in Camden Miscellany, vol. i. 
 
 2 Patrick's Autobiography, p. 66. 
 
 H
 
 1 14 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 do you read your speeches when you can have 
 none of the same reasons ? ' * Why truly, 
 doctor/ replied the King, c your question is a 
 very pertinent one, and so will be my answer. 
 I have asked the two Houses so often and for 
 so much money, that I am ashamed to look 
 them in the face.' l This * slothful way of 
 preaching,' for so the King called it, had arisen 
 during the civil wars ; and Monmouth, when 
 Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, in 
 compliance with the order of the King, directed 
 a letter to the University that the practice of 
 reading sermons should be wholly laid aside. 2 
 
 When Cosin, Bishop of Durham, reminded 
 the King that he had presumed to recommend 
 Bancroft and Sudbury as chaplains to his 
 Majesty, the King replied, f My Lord, recom- 
 mend two more such to me, and I will return 
 you any four I have for them.' 3 
 
 One of his replies to Sir Christopher Wren 
 is characteristic both of the monarch and his 
 architect. The King was inspecting the new 
 apartments which Wren had built for him in 
 his hunting-palace at Newmarket, and observed 
 
 1 Richardsoniana, p. 89. 2 Wilkins's Concilia^ iv. 594- 
 
 3 Dr. Lake's Diary in Camden Miscellany ', vol. i.
 
 SA YINGS OF CHARLES II. 115 
 
 that ' he thought the rooms too low.' Sir 
 Christopher, who was small in height, walked 
 round them, and looking up and about him, 
 said, f I think, and it please your Majesty, they 
 are high enough.' Charles, squatting down to 
 his architect's height, and creeping about in this 
 whimsical posture, cried, 'Ay, Sir Christopher, 
 I think they are high enough.' l 
 
 The elder Richardson was fond of telling 
 a characteristic story of the King and kingly 
 honour. A cutpurse, or pickpocket, with as 
 much effrontery of face as dexterity of finger, 
 had got into the Drawing-room on the King's 
 birthday, dressed like a gentleman, and was 
 detected by the King himself taking a gold 
 snuff-box out of a certain Earl's pocket. The 
 rogue, who saw his sovereign's eye upon him, 
 put his finger to his nose, and made a sign to 
 the King with a wink to say nothing. Charles 
 took the hint, and, watching the Earl, enjoyed 
 his feeling first in one pocket and then in 
 another for his missing box. The King now 
 called the nobleman to him. ' You need not 
 give yourself,' he said, * any more trouble about 
 it, my Lord, your box is gone ; I am myself 
 
 1 Kichardsoniana, p. 187.
 
 1 1 6 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 an accomplice : I could not help it, I was 
 made a confidant.' l 
 
 Of his graver and deeper remarks Dryden 
 has preserved a specimen. f I remember a 
 saying,' writes the poet, f of King Charles u. 
 on Sir Matthew Hale (who was, doubtless, an 
 uncorrupted and upright man), that his servants 
 were sure to be cast on any trial which was 
 heard before him ; not that he thought the 
 Judge was possibly to be bribed, but that his 
 integrity might be too scrupulous ; and that 
 the causes of the Crown were always suspicious 
 when the privileges of subjects were concerned.' 2 
 The wisdom of the remark as respects Sir 
 Matthew Hale is confirmed by Roger North. 
 ' If one party was a courtier,' says North, ' and 
 well dressed, and the other a sort of puritan, 
 with a black cap and plain clothes, Hale insen- 
 sibly thought the justice of the cause with the 
 latter.' 3 Nor has it passed without the censure 
 of Johnson. c A judge,' said the great Doctor, 
 ( may be partial otherwise than to the Crown ; 
 we have seen judges partial to the Populace.' 4 
 
 1 Richardsoniana, p. 103. 
 
 2 Dryden's Prose Works, by Malone, iv. 156. 
 
 3 North, i. 119. 4 Boswell, by Croker, p. 448, ed. 1848.
 
 SA YINGS OF CHARLES II. 117 
 
 His easy, gentlemanlike way of expressing 
 disapprobation is exemplified in a saying to 
 which I have already had occasion to refer. 
 ' Is that like me ? ' he asked Riley the painter, 
 to whom he had sat for his portrait ; f then, 
 odds fish ! I am an ugly fellow.' l 
 
 When told that the Emperor of Morocco 
 had made him a present of two lions and thirty 
 ostriches, he laughed, and said he f knew 
 nothing more proper to send by way of return 
 than a flock of geese.' 2 
 
 Of Harrow Church, standing on a hill and 
 visible for many miles round, he is said to have 
 remarked that ( it was the only 'visible church 
 he knew'; 3 and when taken to see a fellow 
 climb up the outside of a church to its very 
 pinnacle and there stand on his head, he offered 
 him, on coming down, a patent to prevent any 
 one doing it but himself. 4 
 
 ' Pray,' he said at the theatre, while observing 
 the grim looks of the murderers in f Macbeth,' 
 1 pray what is the reason that we never see a 
 rogue in a play, but, odds fish ! they always 
 
 1 Walpole's Anecdotes. 
 
 2 Reresby's Memoirs, ed. 1735, P- I 3 2 - 
 
 3 Remarks on Squire Ay re's Life of Pope, I2mo, 1745, p. 12. 
 
 4 Horace Wai pole, in Gentleman's Magazine for January 1848.
 
 1 1 8 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 clap him on a black periwig, when it is well 
 known one of the greatest rogues in England 
 always wears a fair one ? ' The allusion was, 
 it is asserted, to Gates, but, as I rather suspect, 
 to Shaftesbury. The saying, however, was told 
 by Betterton to Gibber. 1 
 
 He was troubled with intercessions for 
 people who were obnoxious to him ; and 
 once, when Lord Keeper Guilford was solicit- 
 ing his favour on behalf of one he did not 
 like, he observed facetiously, f It is very strange 
 that every one of my friends should keep a 
 tame knave.' 2 
 
 One day while the King was being shaved, 
 his impudent barber observed to him that ' he 
 thought none of his Majesty's officers had a 
 greater trust than he.' * Oy,' said the King, 
 * how so, friend ? ' f Why,' said the barber, c I 
 could cut your Majesty's throat when I would.' 
 The King started up and said, c Odds fish ! 
 that very thought is treason; thou shalt shave 
 me no more.' 3 The barber of Dionysius, who 
 had made the same remark, was crucified for 
 
 1 Gibber's Apology, ed. 1740, p. III. 
 
 2 North's Lives, ii. 247, ed. 1826. 
 
 3 Richardsoniana, p. 106.
 
 SAYINGS OF CHARLES II. 119 
 
 his garrulity ; but honest Rowley was not 
 cruel. His loquacious barber was only dis- 
 missed. ' Falsehood and cruelty,' he said to 
 Burnet, ' he looked on as the greatest crimes in 
 the sight of God.' l 
 
 Of Wool ley, afterwards Bishop of Clonfert, 
 he observed wittily and with great knowledge 
 of character, that he ' was a very honest man, 
 but a very great blockhead that he had given 
 him a living in Suffolk, swarming with Non- 
 conformists that he had gone from house 
 to house and brought them all to Church 
 that he had made him a Bishop for his dili- 
 gence ; but what he could have said to the 
 Nonconformists he could not imagine, except 
 he believed that his nonsense suited their 
 nonsense.' 2 
 
 On one occasion, when unable or unwilling 
 to sleep, he was so much pleased with a passage 
 in a sermon by South, that he laughed outright, 
 and turning to Laurence Hyde, Lord Rochester, 
 c Odds fish ! Lory,' said he, ( your chaplain 
 must be a Bishop, therefore put me in mind of 
 
 1 Burnet, ii. 169, ed. 1823. 
 
 3 Ibid., i. 449, ed. 1823. The story is spoilt in Walpoliana, 
 i. 58, and in Walpole's Letter to Mann of 3ist July 1762, and 
 to Lady Ossory i8th October 1783. P. C.
 
 120 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 him next vacancy.' 1 Of Barrow, he said that 
 f he was an unfair preacher,' 2 because, as it has 
 been explained, he exhausted every subject and 
 Jeft no room for others to come after him ; 
 but the King's allusion was made somewhat 
 slyly to the length as well as excellence of 
 Barrow's sermons.' 3 
 
 He said often he c was not priest-ridden : 
 he would not venture a war nor travel again 
 for any party.' 4 Such is Burnet's story, curi- 
 ously confirmed as it is by Sir Richard Bul- 
 strode's conversation with the King on his 
 former exile and the then condition of the 
 country. c I,' said the King, most prophetically 
 indeed, f am weary of travelling I am resolved 
 to go abroad no more ; but when I am dead 
 and gone, I know not what my brother will do. 
 I am much afraid that when he comes to the 
 Crown he will be obliged to travel again.' 5 
 
 He observed, in allusion to the amours of 
 the Duke of York and the plain looks of his 
 mistresses, that he ' believed his brother had 
 
 1 Biographia Britannica, art. 'South.' 
 
 2 Life in Biographia Britannica. 
 
 3 Biographia Britannica, art. 'Barrow.' 
 * Burnet, i. 356, ed. 1823. 
 
 6 Sir Richard Bulstrode's Memoirs, p. 424.
 
 SA YINGS OF CHARLES II. 121 
 
 his favourites given him by his priests for 
 penance.' l 
 
 After taking two or three turns one morning 
 in St. James's Park, the King, attended only 
 by the Duke of Leeds and Lord Cromarty, 
 walked up Constitution Hill into Hyde Park. 
 When he was crossing the road, where Apsley 
 House now is, the Duke of York, who had 
 been hunting that morning on Hounslow 
 Heath, was seen returning in his coach, 
 escorted by a party of the Guards, who, as 
 soon as they perceived the King, suddenly 
 halted, and stopped the coach. The Duke 
 being acquainted with the occasion of the halt, 
 immediately got out, and after saluting the 
 King, said he was greatly surprised to find 
 his Majesty in that place, with so small 
 an attendance, and that he thought his 
 Majesty exposed himself to some danger. 
 { No kind of danger, James,' was the reply : 
 { for I am sure no man in England will take 
 away my life to make you King.* The old 
 Lord Cromarty often mentioned this anecdote 
 to his friends. 2 
 
 1 Burnet, i. 288, ed. 1823. 
 
 2 King's Anecdotes of his Own Times, p. 61.
 
 1 2 2 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 f It is better to be envied than pitied,' was 
 his observation to Lord Chancellor Clarendon. 1 
 
 ( He that takes one stone from the Church 
 takes two from the Crown,' was another of his 
 sayings preserved by Pepys. 2 
 
 He said to Lauderdale, to { let Presbytery 
 go, for it was not a religion for gentlemen.' 3 
 
 That c God would not damn a man for a 
 little irregular pleasure,' he observed in one of 
 his free discourses with Burnet on points of 
 religion. 4 
 
 If his short characters of men were in 
 common at all like the one that has been 
 preserved to us of Godolphin, we have lost 
 a good deal by the lack of reporters. Of 
 Godolphin, when only a page at court, he said, 
 that f he was never in the way, and never out 
 of the way ' ; 5 and this was a character, says 
 Lord Dartmouth, which Godolphin maintained 
 to his life's end. 
 
 When told by Will Legge, that the pardon- 
 ing of Lord Russell would, among other things, 
 lay an eternal obligation upon a very great 
 
 1 Clarendon's Own Life, i. 412, ed. 1827. 
 
 2 Pepys, 29th March 1669. 
 
 8 Burnet, i. 184, ed. 1823. 4 Ibid., ii. 23, ed. 1823. 
 
 5 Lord Dartmouth in Burnet, ii. 240, ed. 1823.
 
 SAYINGS OF CHARLES II. 123 
 
 and numerous family, he replied, with reason 
 on his side, c All that is true ; but it is as true, 
 that if I do not take his life he will soon have 
 mine.' l 
 
 Eager for the marriage of the Princess Mary 
 to the Prince of Orange, on being reminded of 
 his promise to the Duke of York (to whom 
 the match was unwelcome), that he would not 
 dispose of the daughter without the father's 
 consent, he replied it was true he had given his 
 brother such a promise, e but, odds fish ! he 
 must consent.' 2 After the marriage the King 
 entered their room as soon as they were in bed, 
 and drawing the curtains, cried out to the 
 Prince it is the chaplain who tells the story, 
 an archdeacon and prebendary of Exeter, whose 
 words I would fain quote in full c Now, 
 Nephew. Hey ! St. George for England ! ' 3 
 
 When Bancroft, dean of St. Paul's, was 
 brought to Whitehall by Will Chiffinch, that 
 Charles might tell him in person of his appoint- 
 ment to the archbishopric of Canterbury, the 
 dean urged his unfitness for that office, and 
 
 1 Lord Dartmouth's note in Burnet, ii. 370, ed. 1823. 
 
 2 Ibid., i. 1 1 8, ed. 1823. 
 
 3 Dr. Lake's Diary in Camden Miscellany ; vol. i.
 
 1 24 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 requested his Majesty to bestow it on some 
 more worthy person. The King replied, 
 that, 'whether he would accept the Primacy 
 or not, his Deanery was already given to Dr. 
 Stillingfleet.' 1 
 
 When Sir John Warner turned Papist and 
 retired to a convent, his uncle, Dr. Warner, 
 who was one of the King's physicians, upon 
 apprehension that Sir John might convert his 
 property to popish uses, pressed his Majesty to 
 order the Attorney-General to proceed at law 
 for securing his estate to himself, as next male 
 heir. * Sir John at present,' said the King, f is 
 one of God Almighty's fools, but it will not be 
 long before he returns to his estate, and enjoys 
 it himself 2 
 
 One of his last sayings related to his new 
 Palace at Winchester. Impatient to have the 
 works finished, he remarked that f a year was a 
 great time in his life.' 3 
 
 When on his deathbed, the Queen sent him 
 a message that she was too unwell to resume 
 her post by the couch, and implored pardon for 
 any offence which she might unwittingly have 
 
 1 Dr. Lake's Diary in Camdcn Miscellany, vol. i. 
 
 2 Secret History of Whitehall. s North, ii. 105, ed. 1826.
 
 SA YINGS OF CHARLES II. 125 
 
 given. ' She ask my pardon, poor woman ! ' 
 cried Charles. ' I ask hers with all my heart.' 
 
 In his last moments he apologised to those 
 who had stood round him all night for the 
 trouble he had caused. ( He had been,' he 
 said, c a most unconscionable time dying ; but 
 he hoped that they would excuse it.' 1 A like 
 feeling ruffled the last moments of the polite 
 Earl of Chesterfield, whose only expressed 
 anxiety related to his friend Dayrolles being 
 in the room without a chair to sit down upon 
 f Give Dayrolles a chair.' 
 
 If he was ready at a reply, there were others 
 about him who were not less happy. When he 
 called Lord Chancellor Shaftesbury, in Ashley's 
 own hearing, * the greatest rogue in England,' 
 the reply was ' Of a subject, sir, perhaps I 
 am.' 2 Not less witty was the sarcastic answer 
 of the Lord Dorset, to whom I have already 
 introduced the reader as a lover of Nell 
 Gwyn. The Earl had come to court on 
 Queen Elizabeth's birthday, long kept as a 
 holiday in London and elsewhere, and still, I 
 
 1 Macaulay, i. 439. 
 
 2 Preserved by the witty Lord Chesterfield. Works, by Lord 
 Mahon, ii. 334.
 
 126 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 believe, observed by the benchers of Gray's 
 Inn. The King, forgetting the day, asked 
 f what the bells rang for ? ' The answer 
 given, the King asked further, * how it came 
 to pass that her birthday was still kept, while 
 those of his father and grandfather were no 
 more thought of than William the Con- 
 queror's ? ' ' Because,' said the frank peer to 
 the frank King, f she being a woman chose men 
 for her counsellors, and men when they reign 
 usually choose women.' l Of the same stamp 
 was the more than half-heard aside of the Duke 
 of Buckingham, to an appeal to the monarch 
 * as the father of his people.' * Of a good 
 many of them,' whispered the author of the 
 Rehearsal. 
 
 I have referred in a former chapter to the 
 King's partiality for his dogs, one species of 
 which is still celebrated among the fancy as 
 King Charles's breed. On the occasion of an 
 entry into Salisbury, an honest Cavalier pressed 
 forward to see him, and came so near the 
 coach that his Majesty cautioned the poor 
 man not to cling too close to the door lest 
 one of the little black spaniels in the coach 
 
 1 Richardsoniana,
 
 SA YINGS OF CHARLES II. 127 
 
 should chance to bite him. The loyalist still 
 persisting in being near, a spaniel seized him 
 by the finger, and the sufferer cried with a 
 loud voice, ' God bless your Majesty, but G d 
 d n your dogs ! ' l This story has been pre- 
 served to us by the mercurial Duke of Wharton 
 as an illustration of the indulgence which the 
 King accorded to his subjects on all occasions, 
 as an instance of the popular, easy, and 
 endearing arts which ensure to a monarch the 
 love and good-will of his people. But his 
 best saying was his last, ' Let not poor Nelly 
 starve!' and this, the parting" request of the 
 Merry Monarch, reminds us that it is time 
 once more to return to Nelly. 
 
 1 Duke of Wharton's Works.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Birth of the Duke of St. Albans Arrival of Mademoiselle de 
 Querouaille Death of the Duchess of Orleans Nelly's house 
 in Pall Mall Countess of Castlemaine created Duchess of 
 Cleveland Sir John Birkenhead, Sir John Coventry, and the 
 Actresses at the two Houses Insolence of Dramatists and 
 Actors Evelyn overhears a conversation between Nelly and 
 the King The Protestant and Popish Mistresses Story of 
 the Service of Plate Printed Dialogues illustrative of the 
 rivalry of Nelly and the Duchess of Portsmouth Madame 
 Sevigne's account of it Story of the Smock Nelly in 
 mourning for the Cham of Tartary Story of the two Fowls 
 Portsmouth's opinion of Nelly Concert at Nell's house 
 The Queen and la Belle Stuart at a Fair disguised as Country 
 Girls Births, Marriages, and Creations Nelly's disappoint- 
 ment Her witty remark to the King Her son created 
 Earl of Burford, and betrothed to the daughter and heiress 
 of Vere, Earl of Oxford. 
 
 ON the 8th of May 1670, while the court was 
 on its way to Dover to receive and entertain 
 the Duchess of Orleans, Nell Gwyn was de- 
 livered of a son in her apartments in Lincoln's 
 Inn Fields. The father was King Charles n., 
 and the son was called Charles Beauclerk. 
 The boy grew in strength and beauty, and 
 became a favourite with his father. Where 
 the child was christened, or by whom he was 
 
 128
 
 DUCHESS OF PORTSMOUTH. 129 
 
 brought up, I have failed in discovering. 
 There is reason to believe that Sir Fleetwood 
 Sheppard, the friend of the witty Earl of Dorset, 
 was his tutor, and that the poet Otway was in 
 some way connected with his education. 1 To 
 Sheppard one of the best of the minor poems 
 of Prior is addressed. 
 
 In the suite of followers attending the beauti- 
 ful Duchess of Orleans to Dover came Louise 
 Renee de Penencourt de Querouaille, a girl of 
 
 1 Then for that cub her son and heir, 
 Let him remain in Otway's care. 
 
 Satire on Nelly. Harl. MS. 7319, fol. 135. 
 
 I
 
 1 30 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 nineteen, of a noble but impoverished family 
 in Brittany. She was one of the maids-of- 
 honour to the Duchess, and famous for her 
 beauty, though of a childish, simple, and some- 
 what baby face. 1 Charles, whose heart was 
 formed of tinder, grew at once enamoured of 
 his sister's pretty maid-of-honour. But Louise 
 was not to be caught without conditions affect- 
 ing the interests of England. While the court 
 stayed at Dover was signed that celebrated 
 treaty by which England was secretly made 
 subservient to a foreign power, and her King 
 the pensioner of Louis xiv. When this was 
 done Clarendon was living in exile, and the 
 virtuous Southampton, and the all-powerful 
 Albemarle, were in their graves. I cannot 
 conceal my opinion that Nokes was not making 
 the French so ridiculous at Dover (the reader 
 will remember the incident related in a former 
 chapter), as the French were making the 
 English infamous, at the same time and in 
 the same place, by this same treaty. 
 
 The Duchess remained for a fortnight in 
 London, and Waller sung her leave-taking in 
 
 1 Such is Evelyn's description, confirmed by the various portraits 
 of her preserved at Hampton Court Palace, at Goodwood, the seat 
 of the Duke of Richmond, etc.
 
 NELL'S HO USE IN PALL MALL. 1 3 1 
 
 some of his courtly and felicitous couplets. 
 It was indeed a last farewell. In another 
 month the royal lady by whom the treaty 
 was completed was no more. She died at 
 St. Cloud on the 3Oth of June, in her twenty- 
 sixth year, poisoned, it is supposed, by a dose 
 of sublimate given in a glass of succory-water. 1 
 
 Louise de Querouaille abiding in England, 
 became the mistress of the King, Duchess of 
 Portsmouth, and the rival of Nell Gwyn. 
 Her only child by the King was recognised 
 by the royal name of Lennox, 2 created Duke 
 of Richmond, and was the lineal ancestor of 
 the present Goodwood family of that noble 
 name and title. 
 
 On the return of the court to London, Nelly 
 removed from Lincoln's Inn Fields to a house 
 on the east end of the north side of Pall Mall, 
 from whence in the following year she removed 
 
 1 See Bossuet's account of her death in Gentleman's Magazine 
 for August 1851. [Of late years the question of the death of 
 Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans, has been investigated by Littre, 
 who came to the conclusion that she died a natural death. The 
 Duke de Saint-Simon's account of the poisoning in his Memoirs is 
 very circumstantial. ED.] 
 
 2 Charles Lennox, natural son of Charles II., was born July 29, 
 1672, created Earl of March and Duke of Richmond 1675, also in 
 the same year Earl of Darnley and Duke of Lennox ; K.G. 1681. 
 He died May 27, 1723. ED.
 
 132 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 to a house on the south side, with a garden 
 towards St. James's Park. Her neighbour on 
 one side was Edward Griffin, Esq., Treasurer of 
 the Chamber, and ancestor of the present Lord 
 Braybrooke ; and, on the other, the widow 
 of Charles Weston, third Earl of Portland. 1 
 Nelly at first had only a lease of the house, 
 which, as soon as she discovered, she returned 
 the conveyance to the King, with a remark 
 characteristic of her wit and of the monarch 
 to whom it was addressed. The King enjoyed 
 the joke, and perhaps admitted its truth, so 
 the house in Pall Mall was conveyed free to 
 Nell and her representatives for ever. The 
 truth of the story is confirmed by the fact that 
 the house which occupies the site of the one in 
 which Nelly lived, now No. 79, and tenanted 
 by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 
 in Foreign Parts, is the only freehold on the 
 south or Park side of Pall Mall. 2 
 
 For many months preceding the retirement 
 of Nelly from the stage, the palace of White- 
 
 1 Cunningham's Handbook for London, article ' Pall Mall.' 
 
 2 It is right to add, as Mr. Fearnside has kindly informed me, 
 that no entry of the grant is to be found in the Land Revenue 
 Record Office. [No. 79 is now occupied by the Eagle Insurance 
 Office. The house has been twice rebuilt since Nell Gwyn lived 
 in it. ED.]
 
 IMPUDENCE OF ACTORS. 133 
 
 hall had hardly been a place for either the wife 
 or the mistress the Queen or the Countess of 
 Castlemaine. The King, in November 1669, 
 when his intimacy with f Madam Gwin,' as she 
 was now called, had begun to be talked about, 
 had settled Somerset House, in the Strand, on 
 his Queen for her life; and, in August 1670, 
 when his liking for Nelly was still on the 
 increase, and his growing partiality for Louise 
 de'Querouaille the theme of common conversa- 
 tion, the imperious Countess of Castlemaine was 
 appeased, for a time, at least, by the Heralds 
 College title of Duchess of Cleveland. 
 
 There were people, however, and those too 
 not of the sourer kind, who were far from 
 being pleased with the present state of the 
 morality at court, and the nature and number 
 of the King's amours. The Theatres had 
 become, it was said, nests of prostitution. In 
 Parliament it was urged by the opponents of 
 the court that a tax should be levied on the 
 playhouses. This was of course opposed ; 
 and by one speaker on that side the bold 
 argument was advanced, that c the players were 
 the King's servants, and a part of his pleasure.' 
 The speaker was Sir John Birkenhead, a man
 
 134 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 of wit, though not over lucky on this occasion. 
 He was followed by Sir John Coventry, who 
 asked, with much gravity, 'whether did the 
 King's pleasure lie among the men that acted 
 or the women?' The saying was conveyed to 
 the King, and Sir John Coventry was waylaid 
 on his road to his house in Suffolk Street, on 
 a dark night in December, and his nose cut to 
 the bone that he might remember the offence 
 he had given to his sovereign. The allusion 
 chiefly applied to Moll Davis and Nell Gwyn, 
 and was made in the very year in which the 
 latter gave 'birth to the Duke of St. Albans; 
 while the punishment was inflicted in the very 
 street in which Moll Davis lived. 1 
 
 Players and authors required looking after. 
 Shadwell brought Sir Robert Howard on the 
 stage in the character of Sir Positive Atall, and 
 in so marked a manner that the caricature was 
 at once apparent. Mrs. Corey (of whom I 
 have already given some account) imitated the 
 oddities of Lady Harvey, 2 and was imprisoned 
 for her skill and impertinence. Lacy, while 
 
 1 Burnet, i. 468, ed. 1823. He was taken out of his coach 
 (Reresby, p. 18, ed. 1735). The well-known Coventry Act 
 against cutting and maiming had its origin in this incident. 
 
 2 Pepys, I5thjan. 1668-9.
 
 CHARLES II. UNMOVED BY ABUSE. 135 
 
 playing the Country Gentleman in one of Ned 
 Howard's unprinted plays, abused the court 
 with so much wit and insolence for selling 
 places, and doing everything for money, that 
 it was found proper to silence the play, and 
 commit Lacy to the Porter's Lodge. 1 Kynaston 
 mimicked Sir Charles Sedley, and was severely 
 thrashed by Sedley for his pains. 2 The Duke of 
 Buckingham, while busy with { The Rehearsal,' 
 threatened to bring Sir William Coventry (uncle 
 of Sir John) into a play at the King's House, 
 but Coventry's courage averted the attempt. 3 
 He challenged the Duke for the intended insult, 
 and was committed to the Tower by the King 
 for sending a challenge to a person of the 
 Duke's distinction. 
 
 Charles's conduct was in no way changed by 
 the personality of the abuse employed against 
 him in the House of Commons. He still 
 visited 
 
 His Clevelands, his Nells, and his Canvells. 
 
 Evelyn records a walk made on the 2nd March 
 1671, in which he attended him through St. 
 
 Pepys, I5th, 2Oth April 1667. 2 Ibid., 1st Feb. 1668-9. 
 
 8 Ibid., 4th March 1688-9.
 
 136 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 James's Park, where he both saw and heard f a 
 familiar discourse between the King and Mrs. 
 Nelly, as they called an impudent comedian, 
 
 she looking out of her garden on a terrace at 
 the top of the wall, and the King standing on 
 the green walk under it.' The garden was
 
 E VEL YN AND NELL Y. 137 
 
 attached to her house in Pall Mall, and the 
 ground on which Nelly stood was a Mount or 
 raised terrace, of which a portion may still be 
 seen under the park wall of Marlborough 
 House. 1 Of this scene, at which Evelyn tells 
 us he was * heartily sorry,' my friend Mr. Ward 
 has painted a picture of surprising truthfulness 
 and beauty. 2 
 
 When this interview occurred the King was 
 taking his usual quick exercise in the park, on 
 his way to the Duchess of Cleveland, at Berk- 
 shire House 3 subsequently, and till within 
 these few years, called Cleveland House a 
 detached mansion built by the Berkshire branch 
 
 1 The King stood in the garden, which had been added to St. 
 James's Palace, and not, as is generally supposed, in the Mall. 
 The gardens of the Pall Mall houses did not run down so far as 
 the Park. ED. 
 
 2 In Ravenscroft's London Cuckolds (410, 1683) is the following 
 stage direction 'Dash well and Jane upon a mount, looking over 
 a wall that parts the two gardens,' p. 73. Among Mr. Robert 
 Cole's Nell Gwyn Papers (Bills sent to Nelly for payment) there is 
 a charge for this very Mount. 
 
 8 Berkshire House was built about 1630. It was purchased by 
 Charles II. in 1668 and presented to the Countess of Castlemaine. 
 It took the name of Cleveland House when the Countess became 
 Duchess of Cleveland. On the death of Charles Fitzroy, Duke 
 of Cleveland and Southampton, in 1730, the house was bought 
 by the Duke of Bridgewater and took his name. The present 
 Bridgewater House was built on the site of the old house in 
 1847-1850 for Francis, Earl of Ellesmere, great nephew and prin- 
 cipal heir of Francis Egerton, Duke of Bridgewater. ED.
 
 138 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 of the Howard family, on the site of the 
 present Bridgewater House. Charles at this 
 time divided his attentions between Nelly and 
 the Duchess. Moll Davis had fallen out of 
 favour, though not forsaken or unpensioned : 
 while many open and almost avowed infidelities 
 on the part of the Duchess of Cleveland had 
 lessened the kindly feelings of the King towards 
 her, though he continued to supply ample 
 means for the maintenance of the rank to which 
 his partiality had raised her. 1 Poor Alinda, 
 however, was no longer young, and the memory 
 of old attractions could make but little way 
 with Charles against the wit and beauty of Nell 
 Gwyn, and the engaging youth and political 
 influences of the new maid-of-honour, Louise 
 de Querouaille, or Mrs. Carwell, as she was 
 called by the common people, to whom the 
 name offered many difficulties for its proper 
 pronunciation. 
 
 There is no reason to suspect that either 
 
 1 She had ^6000 a year out of the excise, and yxx) a year 
 from the same quarter for each of her sons. (Harl. MS. 6013, 
 temp. Chas. II.) Her pension from the Post Office of .4700 a 
 year was stopped for a time in William HI.'S reign; but the 
 amount then withheld was paid in George i.'s reign to her son 
 the Duke of Grafton, sole executor and residuary legatee. (Audit 
 Office Enrolments. )
 
 SHE IS THE IDOL OF ' THE TOWN: 139 
 
 Nelly or Louise was ever unfaithful to the 
 light-hearted King, or that Charles did not 
 appreciate the fidelity of his mistresses. The 
 people (it was an age of confirmed immorality) 
 rather rejoiced than otherwise at their sovereign's 
 loose and disorderly life. Nelly became the 
 idol of ' the town,' and was known far and near 
 as the Protestant Mistress; while Mrs. Carwell, 
 or the Duchess of Portsmouth, as she had now 
 become, was hated by the people, and was 
 known, wherever Nelly was known, as the 
 Popish Mistress. It is this contrast of position 
 which has given to Nell Gwyn much of the 
 odd and particular favour connected with her 
 name. Nelly was an English girl of humble 
 origin a favourite actress a beauty, and a 
 wit. The Duchess was a foreigner of noble 
 origin with beauty certainly, but without 
 English wit ; and, worse still, sufficiently 
 suspected to be little better than a pensioner 
 from France, sent to enslave the English King 
 and the English nation. To such a height did 
 this feeling run that Misson was assured hawkers 
 had been heard to cry a printed sheet, advising 
 the King to part with the Duchess of Ports- 
 mouth, or to expect most dreadful conse-
 
 1 40 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 quences ; l while a still stronger illustration of 
 what the people thought of the Duchess is 
 contained in the reply of her brother-in-law, 
 the Earl of Pembroke, of whom the Duchess 
 had threatened to complain to the King. The 
 Earl told her that if she did he would set her 
 upon her head at Charing Cross, and show the 
 nation its grievance. 2 
 
 A feeling of antipathy between Protestants 
 and Roman Catholics was at this time exciting 
 the people to many ridiculous pageants and 
 expressions of ill-will to those about the court 
 suspected of anti-Protestant principles. A True 
 Blue Protestant poet was a name of honour, 
 and a Protestant sock a favourite article of 
 apparel. 3 When Nelly was insulted in her 
 coach at Oxford by the mob, who mistook her 
 for the Duchess of Portsmouth, she looked out 
 of the window and said, wirh her usual good- 
 humour, f Pray, good people, be civil ; I am 
 the Protestant whore.' This laconic speech 
 drew upon her the favour of the populace, and 
 
 1 Misson's Memoirs, 8vo, 1719, p. 204. 
 
 2 Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, ed. Wornum, p. 464. 
 
 3 Shadwell was called the True Blue Protestant poet ; for the 
 Protestant sock, see Scott's Dryden.
 
 HER POPULARITY. 141 
 
 Nell was suffered to proceed without further 
 molestation. 1 
 
 An eminent goldsmith of the early part of 
 the last century was often heard to relate a 
 striking instance which he himself remembered 
 of Nelly's popularity. His master, when he 
 was an apprentice, had made a most expensive 
 service of plate as a present from the King to 
 the Duchess of Portsmouth : great numbers of 
 people crowded the shop to see what the plate 
 was like ; some indulged in curses against the 
 Duchess, while all were unanimous in wishing 
 the present had been for the use of Mrs. 
 Gwyn. 2 With the London apprentices, long 
 an influential body east and west of Temple 
 Bar, Nell was always a favourite. 
 
 She and the Duchess frequently met at 
 Whitehall, often in good-humour, but oftener 
 not in the best temper one with the other, for 
 Nelly was a wit, and loved to laugh at her 
 Grace. The nature of these bickerings between 
 
 1 The great Lord Peterborough, when mistaken for the Duke 
 of Marlborough, made a similar escape : ' Gentlemen, I can 
 convince you by two reasons that I am not the Duke. In the first 
 place, I have only five guineas in my pocket j and in the second, 
 they are heartily at your service. ' 
 
 2 The London Chronicle, Aug. 15, 18, 1778.
 
 142 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 them has been well but coarsely described in a 
 single half-sheet of contemporary verses printed 
 in 1682 'A Dialogue between the Duchess of 
 Portsmouth and Madam Gwyn at parting.' 
 The Duchess was on her way to France, I 
 believe, for the first time since she landed at 
 Dover, and the language employed by the rival 
 ladies is at least characteristic. Nelly vindicates 
 her fidelity : 
 
 Let Fame, that never yet spoke well of woman, 
 Give out I was a strolling whore and common ; 
 Yet have I been to him, since the first hour, 
 As constant as the needle to the flower. 
 
 The Duchess threatens her with the people's 
 f curse and hate,' to which Nell replies : 
 
 The people's hate, much less their curse, I fear 
 I do them justice with less sums a year. 
 I neither run in court nor city's score, 
 I pay my debts, distribute to the poor. 
 
 Another single sheet in folio, dated a year 
 earlier, records f A pleasant Battle between 
 Tutty and Snapshort, the two Lap-Dogs of 
 the Utopian Court.' Tutty belonged to Nell 
 Gwyn, and Snapshort to the Duchess, and the 
 dialogue is supposed to allude to some real fray 
 between the rival ladies. Tutty describes the 
 mistress of Snapshort as one of Pharaoh's lean
 
 HER QUARREL WITH PORTSMOUTH. 143 
 
 kine, and with a countenance so sharp as if she 
 would devour him as she had devoured the 
 nation, while Snapshort observes of Nelly that 
 she hopes to see her once more upon a dung- 
 hill, or in her old calling of selling oranges and 
 lemons. 
 
 But a still livelier description has been left 
 us by one of the most charming of lady letter- 
 writers : f Mademoiselle amasses treasure,' says 
 Madame Sevigne, * and makes herself feared 
 and respected by as many as she can ; but she 
 did not foresee that she should find a young 
 actress in her way, whom the King dotes on, 
 and she has it not in her power to withdraw 
 him from her. He divides his care, his time, 
 and his wealth between these two. The actress 
 is as haughty as Mademoiselle ; she insults her, 
 she makes grimaces at her, she attacks her, she 
 frequently steals the King from her, and boasts 
 whenever he gives her the preference. She is 
 young, indiscreet, confident, wild, and of an 
 agreeable humour. She sings, she dances, acts 
 her part with a good grace ; has a son by the 
 King, and hopes to have him acknowledged. 
 As to Mademoiselle, she reasons thus : " This 
 lady," says she, " pretends to be a person of
 
 H4 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN 
 
 quality ; she says she is related to the best 
 families in France : whenever any person of 
 distinction dies she puts herself into mourning. 
 If she be a lady of such quality, why does she 
 demean herself to be a courtesan ? She ought 
 to die with shame. As for me, it is my pro- 
 fession. I do not pretend to be anything 
 better. He has a son by me ; I contend that 
 he ought to acknowledge him, and I am 
 assured he will ; for he loves me as well as 
 Mademoiselle." ' 
 
 The good sense of this is obvious enough ; 
 but the satire which it contains will be found 
 to merit illustration. 
 
 There is a very rare print of the Duchess of 
 Portsmouth reclining on a mossy bank, with 
 very little covering over her other than a laced 
 chemise. There is also an equally rare print 
 of Nelly in nearly the same posture, and 
 equally unclad. The story runs that Nell 
 had contrived to filch the chemise from the 
 Duchess, and by wearing it herself at a time 
 when the Duchess should have worn it, to have 
 attracted the King, and tricked her rival. 1 
 
 1 Morse's Catalogue of Prints, made by Dodcl, the auctioneer, 
 by whom they were sold in 1816.
 
 HER RETORT ON PORTSMO UTH. 1 45 
 
 There is yet another story illustrative of 
 Madame Sevigne's letter. The news of the 
 Cham of Tartary's death reached England at 
 the same time with the news of the death of a 
 prince of the blood in France. The Duchess 
 appeared at Court in mourning so did Nelly. 
 The latter was asked in the hearing of the 
 Duchess, for whom she appeared in mourning. 
 f Oh ! ' said Nell, f have you not heard of my 
 loss in the death of the Cham of Tartary ? ' 
 
 * And what relation,' replied her friend, ' was 
 the Cham of Tartary to you ? ' ' Oh,' answered 
 Nelly ; f exactly the same relation that the 
 
 Prince of l was to Mile. Querouaille.' 
 
 This was a saying after the King's own heart. 
 
 Another of her retorts on the Duchess has 
 been preserved in a small chap-book called 
 
 * Jokes upon Jokes,' printed in London about 
 the year 1721. Its doggerel hobbles thus : 
 
 The Duchess of Portsmouth one time supped with the 
 
 King's Majesty ; 
 Two chickens were at table, when the Duchess would 
 
 make 'em three. 
 
 1 Prince de Rohan. In a letter to Sir Henry Thompson of Escrick, 
 Co. York (dated 'Westminster, Dec. 1674'), Andrew Marvell 
 wrote : ' The Duchess of Portsmouth is in deep mourning for the 
 Chevalier de Rohan, as being, forsooth, of kin to that family.' 
 Historical MSS. Comm., 6th Report, part i. p. 473 b. En. 
 
 K
 
 146 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 Nell Gwyn, being by, denied the same ; the Duchess 
 
 speedily 
 Reply'd here 's one, another two, and two and one makes 
 
 three. 
 
 'Tis well said, lady, answered Nell : O King, here 's one 
 
 for thee, 
 
 Another for myself, sweet Charles, 'cause you and I agree ; 
 The third she may take to herself, because she found the 
 
 same : 
 The King himself laughed heartily, whilst Portsmouth 
 
 blush'd for shame. 
 
 It was on a somewhat similar occasion that 
 Nell called Charles the Second her Charles the 
 third meaning that her first lover was Charles 
 Hart, her second Charles Sackville, and her 
 third Charles Stuart. The King may have 
 enjoyed the joke, for he loved a laugh, as I 
 have before observed, even at his own ex- 
 pense. 
 
 What the Duchess thought of such jokes, 
 was no secret to De Foe. { I remember ' (he 
 says), c that the late Duchess of Portsmouth in 
 the time of Charles n. gave a severe retort to 
 one who was praising Nell Gwyn, whom she 
 hated. They were talking of her wit and 
 beauty, and how she always diverted the King 
 with her extraordinary - repartees, how she had 
 a fine mien, and appeared as much the lady of
 
 THE KING AT NELLY'S CONCERT. 147 
 
 quality as anybody. ' Yes, madam,' said the 
 Duchess, ' but anybody may know she has been 
 an orange-wench by her swearing.' l 
 
 Of her manner in diverting the King, Gibber 
 has preserved a story from the relation of 
 Bowman, the actor, who lived to a green old 
 age, and from whom Oldys picked up some 
 characteristic anecdotes. Bowman, then a 
 youth, and famed for his voice, was ap- 
 pointed to take part in a concert at the 
 private lodgings of Mrs. Gwyn ; at which 
 were present the King, the Duke of York, and 
 one or two more usually admitted to those 
 detached parties of pleasure. When the music 
 was over, the King gave it extraordinary com- 
 mendations. c Then, sir,' said the lady, ' to 
 show that you do not speak like a courtier, I 
 hope you will make the performers a handsome 
 present.' The King said he had no money 
 about him, and asked the Duke if he had any. 
 * I believe, sir ' (answered the Duke), f not 
 above a guinea or two.' Merry Mrs. Nell, 
 turning to the people about her, and mak- 
 ing bold with the King's common expression, 
 
 1 De Foe's Review, viii. 247-8, as quoted in Wilson's Life of 
 De Foe, i. 38.
 
 148 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 cried, * Odds fish ! what company am I got 
 into?' 1 
 
 What the songs at Nell's concert were like 
 we may gather from Tom D'Urfey, a favourite 
 author for finding words to popular pieces of 
 music. His < Joy to great Caesar ' was much 
 in vogue : 
 
 Joy to great Caesar, 
 Long life, love, and pleasure ; 
 'Tis a health that divine is, 
 Fill the bowl high as mine is, 
 
 Let none fear a fever, 
 But take it off thus, boys ; 
 
 Let the King live for ever, 
 'Tis no matter for us boys 2 
 
 No less was the chorus of a song in his 
 * Virtuous Wife.' 
 
 Let Caesar live long, let Caesar live long, 
 
 For ever be happy, and ever be young ; 
 
 And he that dares hope to change a King for a Pope, 
 
 Let him die, let him die, while Caesar lives long. 
 
 If these were sung, as I suspect they were, at 
 Nelly's house, it was somewhat hard that the 
 King had nothing to give, by way of reward, 
 beyond empty praise for so much loyalty in 
 what was at least meant for song. 
 
 There were occurring in England at this 
 
 1 Gibber's Apology, ed. 1740. p. 448. Bowman died 23d March 
 1739. aged 88. 
 
 2 D'Urfey's Pills, ii. 155.
 
 E VENTS AT COURT. 149 
 
 time certain events of moment to find places 
 either in the page of history or biography ; 
 but in many of which { the chargeable ladies 
 about the court,' as Shaftesbury designated the 
 King's mistresses, would probably take very 
 little interest. The deaths of Fairfax or St. 
 John, of Clarendon or Milton, of the mother 
 of Oliver Cromwell, or of the loyal Marquess 
 of Winchester (all of which happened during 
 the time referred to in the present chapter), 
 would hardly create a moment's concern at 
 Whitehall. The news of a second Dutch war 
 might excite more, as it involved an expense 
 likely to divert the King's money from his 
 mistresses. Greater interest, we may be sure, 
 was felt in the death of the Duchess of York 
 and the speculations on the subject of her suc- 
 cessor, in Blood's stealing the crown, in the 
 opening of a new theatre in Dorset Gardens, 
 in the representation of ' The Rehearsal,' in the 
 destruction by fire of the first Drury Lane, 
 and in the marriage of the King's eldest child 
 by the Duchess of Cleveland, to Thomas, Lord 
 Dacre, 1 afterwards Earl of Sussex. 
 
 1 Thomas, Lord Dacre, married Lady Anne Palmer (alias Fitz- 
 Roy), May 16, 1674. He was created Earl of Sussex on October 
 5th of the same year. ED.
 
 1 50 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 While 'The Rehearsal ' was drawing crowded 
 houses, indeed, in the same month in which 
 it first appeared, Nell Gwyn was delivered 
 (25th Dec. 1671) of a second child by the 
 King, called James, 1 in compliment to the 
 Duke of York. The boy thrived, and as he 
 
 grew in strength became, as his brother still 
 continued, a favourite with his father. The 
 Queen, long used to the profligate courses of 
 her husband, had abandoned all hope of his 
 reformation, so that a fresh addition to the list 
 of his natural children caused no particular 
 
 1 Lord James Beauclerc, died at Paris in 1680. ED.
 
 A FROLIC NEAR A UDLE Y END. 1 5 1 
 
 emotion. Her Majesty, moreover, enjoyed 
 herself after an innocent fashion of her own, 
 and at times in a way to occasion some merri- 
 ment in the court. One of her adventures 
 in the company of La Belle Stuart and the 
 Duchess of Buckingham (the daughter of Sir 
 Thomas Fairfax) deserves to be related. The 
 court was at Audley End in the autumn of 
 1670, and the temptation of a fair in the 
 neighbourhood induced the Queen and several 
 of her attendants to visit it in disguise. They 
 therefore dressed themselves like country girls, 
 in red petticoats and waistcoats. Sir Bernard 
 Gascoign rode on a cart-jade before the Queen, 
 another gentleman in like fashion before the 
 Duchess of Richmond, and a Mr. Roper before 
 the Duchess of Buckingham. Their dresses, 
 however, were, it is said, so much overdone, 
 that they looked more like mountebanks than 
 country clowns, and they were consequently 
 followed as soon as they arrived at the fair 
 by a crowd of curious people. The Queen, 
 stepping into a booth to buy a pair of yellow 
 stockings for her sweetheart, and Sir Bernard 
 asking for a pair of gloves, striped with blue, 
 for his sweetheart, they were at once detected
 
 152 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 by their false dialect and gibberish. A girl in 
 the crowd remembered to have seen the Queen 
 at dinner, and at once made known her dis- 
 covery. The whole concourse of people were 
 soon collected in one spot to see the Queen. 
 It was high time, therefore, to get their horses 
 and return to Audley End. They were soon 
 remounted and out of the fair, but not out of 
 their trouble, for as many country-people as 
 had horses followed with their wives, children, 
 sweethearts, or neighbours behind them, and 
 attended the Queen to the court gate. c And 
 thus,' says the writer to whom we are indebted 
 for the relation of the adventure, f was a merry 
 frolic turned into a penance.' * The readers of 
 Pepys and De Grammont will remember that 
 La Belle Jennings had a somewhat similar 
 mishap when, dressed as an orange-girl, and 
 accompanied by Miss Price, La Belle sought 
 to visit the German fortune-teller. 
 
 While the court was alternately annoyed and 
 amused with .diversions of this description, and 
 the death of the Earl of Sandwich and the war 
 with the Dutch were still subjects of conversa- 
 
 1 Mr Henshaw to Sir Robert Paston, October 13, 1670. Ives's 
 
 Sekct Papers, 4to, 1773, P- 39-
 
 MARRIAGES AND PEERAGES. 153 
 
 tion, the Duchess of Cleveland, on the i6th of 
 July 1672, was delivered of a daughter, and on 
 the 2 pth of the same month and year the fair 
 Querouaille produced a son. The King dis- 
 owned the girl but acknowledged the boy, 
 and many idle conjectures were afloat both 
 in court and city on the subject. The father 
 of the Cleveland child was, it is said, Colonel 
 Churchill, afterwards the great Duke of Marl- 
 borough, then a young and handsome adven- 
 turer about Whitehall. The girl was called 
 Barbara, after her mother, and became a nun. 
 
 These events were varied in the following 
 month by the marriage of the Duke of Grafton, 
 the King's son by the Duchess of Cleveland, 
 to the only child of the Earl and Countess of 
 Arlington ; by the birth of a first child to the 
 Duke and Duchess of Monmouth ; and by the 
 widowhood in December of La Belle Stuart, 
 the beautiful Duchess of Richmond. In the 
 following year other occurrences took place 
 in which Nelly was interested. On the ipth 
 August 1 6 73 Mademoiselle de Querouaille was 
 created Duchess of Portsmouth, and in October 
 following, Moll Davis, her former rival in the 
 royal affections, was delivered of a daughter,
 
 154 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 called Mary Tudor, and acknowledged by the 
 King. Following close on these was the 
 marriage of the Duke of York to his future 
 queen ; the introduction of the opera into 
 England ; the opening of the new theatre in 
 Drury Lane ; the marriage of the future 
 Earl of Lichfield to Charlotta, another natural 
 daughter of the King by the Duchess of Cleve- 
 land ; the creation of Charles Fitzroy to be 
 Duke of Southampton ; the marriage of the 
 Duchess of Portsmouth's sister to the Earl of 
 Pembroke ; Lord Buckhurst's elevation to the 
 earldom of Middlesex ; that of the King's son 
 by Katharine Pegg to be Earl of Plymouth ; 
 and that of the Duchess of Portsmouth's son 
 to be Duke of Richmond. 
 
 Some of these creations, both natal and 
 heraldic, were little to the liking of Nelly, 
 who took her own way of showing her dis- 
 satisfaction. c Come hither, you little bastard,' 
 she cried to her son Charles, in the hearing 
 of his father. 1 The King remonstrated, and 
 Nelly, with a snappish and yet good-natured 
 
 1 Granger, Hi. 211, ed. 1779. [Charles Beauclerc was created 
 Earl of Burford in 1676, and Duke of St. Albans in 1684. The 
 story connected with the creation of the Earl is sometimes told as 
 having occurred at Lauderdale House, Highgate. ED.]
 
 KING CHARLES'S CHILDREN. 155 
 
 laugh, replied ' I have no better name to call 
 him by.' Never was a peerage sought in so 
 witty and abrupt a manner, and never was a 
 plea for one so immediately admitted, the King 
 creating his eldest son by Nell Gwyn, on the 
 27th December 1676, Baron of Headington 
 and Earl of Burford. Nelly had now another 
 name to give to her child. But this was not 
 all that was done, and, as I see reason to 
 believe, at this time. The heiress of the Veres, 
 the daughter of the twentieth and last Earl of 
 Oxford of that illustrious family, was betrothed 
 by the King to the young Earl of Burford ; 
 and, though the lively orange-girl was not 
 spared to witness the marriage, yet she lived 
 to see the future wife of her son in the infancy 
 of those charms which made her one of the 
 most conspicuous of the Kneller Beauties, still 
 so attractive in the collection at Hampton 
 Court. 1 
 
 1 When Dugdale was busy with his Baronage, he laid the 
 following statement of difficulties before the King : 
 
 ' Whereas the second volume of an Historicall Worke, intituled 
 the Baronage of England (being extracted from publiq records, 
 and other authorities) is now in the presse ; and extending from the 
 end of K. Henry the Third's reigne containeth what is most memor- 
 able of the English Nobility throughout all times since ; in w ch 
 the preambles of most Creation Patents have been usefull.
 
 156 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 [Among the verses written in 1 703 by 
 Lord Halifax * for the toasting glasses of 
 the Kit-Kat Club ' is one on the Duchess of 
 St. Albans. 
 
 Descending down to the reign of this king, the Author humbly 
 concieveth, that there is some deficiency in that of the Duke of 
 Monmouth's Creation ; no mention at all being made that he is 
 his Ma tics naturall son, though in some patents, and other instru- 
 ments since, he hath been owned so to be. In that also of the 
 Countesse of Castlemaine, whereby she hath the title of Coun- 
 tesse of Southampton and Dutchesse of Cleveland, conferred on 
 her ; her eldest son (on whom those honours are entailed) is de- 
 nominated Charles Palmer, and George (her third son) to whom, 
 in case Charles die w th out issue male, the remaynder is limitted, is 
 sayd to be her second son, and likewise surnamed Palmer ; but 
 afterwards, upon his being created Earle of Northumberland, 
 called Fitz-roy, and sayd to be her third son. Also in the 
 Creation-Patent of the same Charles, to be Duke of Southampton, 
 the name of Fitz-roy is attributed to him. These things con- 
 sidered, the Author most humbly craveth direction what to do 
 herein ; whether to decline the mention of all his Ma ties creations, 
 rather than from the authoritie of these Patents to divulge such 
 contradictions ; though thereby he shall hazard the displeasure of 
 some, whom his Ma tie hath deservedly raysed to such degrees of 
 honour, since his happy restoration. 
 
 'If it be resolved, that all of them shall be called Fitz-roys ; 
 Then forasmuch as the Duke of Southampton, and Earle of Nor- 
 thumberland, and likewise the Duke of Grafton, are sayd to be 
 the King's naturall sons by the sayd Dutchesse of Cleveland ; 
 whether it will not be as proper to make mention on what particu- 
 lar woman his Ma tie begot the Dukes of Monmouth, Richmond, 
 and E. of Plimouth ? 
 
 ' This being shewed to K. Charles the Second, by the Earl 
 of Anglesey, then L d Privye Scale, the king directed that these 
 his naturall children should be all of them called Fitz-Roys ; but 
 no mention to be made of the mothers of these three last-named ; 
 viz. Monmouth, Richmond, and Plymouth.' 
 
 Hamper's Life of Dugdale, p. 494.
 
 THE DUCHESS OF ST. ALBANS. 157 
 
 The line of Vere so long renowned in arms 
 Concludes with lustre in St. Albans' charms, 
 Her conquering eyes have made their race compleat. 
 They rose in valour and in beauty set. 
 
 Imitated from Waller ('On St. James's Park') 
 
 Making the circle of their reign complete 
 Those suns of empire, where they rise they set.]
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Houses in which Nelly is said to have lived Burford House, 
 Windsor, one of the few genuine Her losses at basset Court 
 paid to Nelly by the Duke of Monmouth, Lord Cavendish, 
 etc. Death of her mother Printed elegy on her death 
 Nelly's household expenses Bills for her chair and bed 
 Death of Mrs. Roberts Foundation of Chelsea Hospital 
 Nelly connected with its origin Books dedicated to Nelly 
 Death of her second son The Earl Burford created Duke of 
 St. Albans Nelly's only letter Ken and Nelly at Win- 
 chester Nelly at Avington Death of the King Was the 
 King poisoned? Nelly to have been created Countess of 
 Greenwich if the King had lived. 
 
 THERE are more houses pointed out in which 
 Nell Gwyn is said to have lived than sites 
 of palaces belonging to King John, hunting- 
 lodges believed to have sheltered Queen Eliza- 
 beth, or mansions and posting-houses in which 
 Oliver Cromwell resided or put up. She is 
 said by some to have been born at Hereford ; 
 by others at London ; and Oxford it is found 
 has a fair claim to be considered as her birth- 
 place. But the houses in which she is said to 
 have lived far exceed in number the cities 
 contending for the honour of her birth. She 
 
 158
 
 HO USES IN WHICH NELL Y LIVED. 1 5 9 
 
 is believed by some to have lived at Chelsea, 
 by others at Bagnigge Wells, Highgate, and 
 Walworth, and Filberts, near Windsor, are 
 added to the list of reputed localities. A 
 staring inscription in the Strand in London in- 
 structs the curious passenger that a house at 
 the upper end of a narrow court was ' formerly 
 the dairy of Nell Gwyn.' 1 I have been willing 
 to believe in one and all of these conjectural 
 residences, but, after a long and careful in- 
 quiry, I am obliged to reject them all. Nell's 
 early life was spent in Drury Lane and Lincoln's 
 Inn Fields ; her latter life in Pall Mall, and in 
 Burford House in the town of Windsor. 2 The 
 rate-books of the parish of St. Martin's-in-the- 
 Fields record her residence in Pall Mall from 
 1670 to her death, and the site of her house 
 in Windsor may be established, were other 
 evidence wanting, by the large engraving after 
 Knyff. 
 
 1 This house is on the north side of the Strand, in the row in 
 front of Holywell Street, and is numbered 272. It is stated on 
 the front that the Dairy was established in 1 666. The house has 
 been rebuilt lately, and is now occupied by the Express Dairy 
 Company. ED. 
 
 2 ' The Prince of Wales is lodged [at Windsor] in the Princess 
 of Denmark's house, which was Mrs. Ellen Gwyn's.' Letter, 
 Aug. 14, 1688, Ellis Correspondence, ii. Il8.
 
 160 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 We have seen from Gibber that Nelly was 
 fond of having concerts at her house, and that 
 she never failed in urging the claims of those 
 who played and sang to the favourable con- 
 sideration of the King and the Duke of York. 
 She had her basset-table, too, and in one night 
 is said to have lost to the once beautiful 
 Duchess of Mazarine as much as 1400 guineas, 
 or 5000 at least of our present money. 1 
 Basset, long the fashionable game, was, I 
 believe, introduced into this country from 
 France. Etherege and Lady Mary Wortley 
 have sung its attractions and its snares, and 
 D'Urfey has condemned it in one of the best 
 of his plays. Nor will Evelyn's description of 
 the basset-table which he saw on a Sunday night 
 at Whitehall, only a few hours before the King 
 was seized with his last illness, be effaced from 
 the memory of those to whom his work is 
 known. 
 
 Nelly possessed great interest with the King, 
 and her house at Windsor, with its staircases 
 painted expressly for her by the fashionable 
 
 1 Lucas's Lives of Gamesters, I2mo, 1714. Lord Cavendish 
 lost a thousand pounds, in two nights, at Madame Mazarine's. 
 Countess- Dowager of Sunderland to the Earl of Halifax, Aug. 
 5, 1680 (Miss Berry's Lady Rachael Russell, p. 373).
 
 MONMOUTH AMONG HER FRIENDS 161 
 
 pencil of Verrio, 1 was the rendezvous of all 
 who wished to stand well at the Castle. The 
 Duke of Monmouth, the handsome Sydney 
 of De Grammont's Memoirs, afterwards Earl 
 of Romney, and the patriot Lord Cavendish, 
 afterwards Duke of Devonshire, were among 
 Nelly's friends. Such constant court was paid 
 to her for political purposes by the Duke of 
 Monmouth and Lord Cavendish, that Lady 
 Rachael Russell records the King's command 
 that Nelly should refuse to see them. 2 Mon- 
 mouth was endeavouring to regain his situa- 
 tions, of which he had been properly deprived 
 by his father, and Cavendish was urging the 
 claims of the Protestants on behalf of the 
 famous Bill for excluding the Duke of York 
 from the succession to the Crown. Nelly, it 
 will be remembered, had already identified her- 
 self with the Protestant interest, but the regard 
 with which she was treated by King James is 
 
 1 Accounts of the Paymaster of His Majesty's Works and Build- 
 ings, preserved in the Audit Office. [Between 1675 and 1678 a 
 sum of S was paid to Mons. Bodevine ' for repairing of Madam 
 G win's house.' Appendix to <jth Report of Historical MSS. 
 Comm., p. 450 b. ED.] 
 
 8 Lady Sunderland to Henry Sydney, l6th Dec. 1679. (Romney's 
 Diary, etc., i. 207.) Lady Rachael Russell to her husband, 3rd 
 April 1680. (Miss Berry's Lady Rachael, pp. 210, 215, 367.) 
 
 L
 
 1 6 2 THE STOR Y OF NELL G W YN. 
 
 ample evidence that she had never abused her 
 influence, in order to prejudice Charles ir. 
 against his brother. Indeed she would appear 
 to have been among the first who foresaw the 
 insane ambition of Monmouth. Nell is said to 
 have called him f Prince Perkin ' to his face, 
 and when the Duke replied that she was Mil- 
 bred,' c Ill-bred,' retorted Nelly, was Mrs. 
 Barlow l better bred than I ? ' 2 
 
 I have introduced the mother of Nelly by 
 name to the reader, and I have now to record 
 her death, * We hear,' says the Domestic 
 Intelligencer of the 5th of August 1679, 
 ' that Madam Ellen Gwyn's mother, sitting 
 lately by the water-side at her house by the 
 Neat-Houses, near Chelsea, fell accidentally 
 into the water and was drowned.' Oldys had 
 seen a quarto pamphlet of the r time giving 
 an account of her death. This I have never 
 
 1 Lucy Walter, mother of the Duke of Monmouth, was the 
 daughter of William Walter of Roch Castle, 'co, Pembroke. 
 She was in London in 1648, when she made the acquaintance of 
 Colonel Algernon Sidney. She then fell into the possession of 
 his brother, Colonel Robert Sidney, and afterwards was taken up 
 by Charles, Prince of Wales. Charles terminated hisxonnection 
 with her in October 1651, and she died in 1658. She assumed the 
 name of Barlow. ED. 
 
 2 Gentleman's Magazine for November 1851, p. 471.
 
 DEATH OF HER MOTHER 163 
 
 met with, but among the Luttrell Collection of 
 ballads and broadsides sold in 1849 at the 
 Stowe sale was an elegy * upon that never-to- 
 be-forgotten matron Old Madam Gwyn, who 
 died in her own fishpond, 29 July 1679.' The 
 verse is of the lowest possible character of Grub 
 Street elegy, nor could I, after a careful per- 
 usal, glean from it any biographical matter 
 other than that she was very fat and fond of 
 brandy. She was buried in the church of St. 
 Martin's-in-the-Fields, and it is said with five 
 gilded scutcheons to the hearse ; but this could 
 hardly be, if the ballad-monger's date of the 
 29th is correct, for the register of St. Martin's 
 records her burial on the 3Oth, the next day. 1 
 That the old Lady resided at one time with 
 her daughter and in her house in Pall Mall, 
 may, I think, be inferred from some curious 
 bills for debts incurred by Nelly, accidentally 
 discovered among the mutilated Exchequer 
 papers : an apothecary's bill containing charges 
 for cordial juleps with pearls for ' Master 
 
 1 1679, 30 July. Mrs. Ellinor Gwin, w. Burial Register of 
 St. Martiris-in-the-Fidds. See also Gentleman's Magazine for 
 November 1851, p. 470. [There was a monument to her memory 
 in the old church of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields (see Introduction), 
 ED.]
 
 164 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 Charles,' and ' plasters,' f glysters,' ' cordials,' 
 for ' old Mrs. Gwyn.' 
 
 From these bills, the originals of which have 
 been kindly entrusted to me by Mr. Loddy 
 and Mr. Robert Cole, some extracts may be 
 made that will interest the reader. 1 The bills 
 are of a miscellaneous nature a chance saving 
 from a bundle of household and other expenses 
 of the years 1674, 1675, an< ^ 1676. They 
 include charges for a French coach, and for a 
 great cipher from the chariot painter ; for a 
 bedstead, with silver ornaments ; for side-boxes 
 at the Duke's Theatre, to which she never 
 went alone, but often with as many as four 
 people, Nell paying for all ; for great looking- 
 glasses ; for cleansing and burnishing the warm- 
 ing-pan ; for the hire of sedan-chairs ; for 
 dress, furniture, and table expenses ; for white 
 satin petticoats, and white and red satin night- 
 gowns ; for kilderkins of strong ale, ordinary 
 ale, and ' a barrel of eights ' ; for alms to poor 
 men and women ; for oats and beans, and 
 * chancy ' oranges at threepence each ; ' for a 
 
 1 These documents were in the possession of the Rev. Francis 
 Hopkinson, LL.D., of Malvern Wells, co. Worcester, when 
 calendered by Mr. Alfred J. Horwood in Appendix to yd Report 
 of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, p. 266. ED.
 
 BILL FOR SEDAN CHAIR HIRE 165 
 
 fine landskip fan ' ; for scarlet satin shoes 
 covered with silver lace, and a pair of satin 
 shoes laced over with gold for f Master Charles.' 
 One or two of these documents have escaped 
 entire. A bill for Nell's sedan-chair runs 
 thus : 
 
 June 17, 1675. 
 
 J- d. 
 
 The body of the chaire 3100 
 
 the best neats leather to cover the outside . . 3 10 o 
 600 inside nailes, coulered and burnishd . . o 1 1 o 
 600 guilt with water gold at 55. per cent. . . i 10 o 
 1 200 outside nailes, the same gold, at 8s. per cent. 416 o 
 
 300 studds, the same gold I 16 o 
 
 2000 halfe roofe nailes, the same gold . . . i 14 o 
 
 200 toppit nailes, same gold 3 14 o 
 
 5 sprigs for the top, rich guilt . . . .400 
 a haspe for the doore, rich guilt . . . . i 10 o 
 
 ffor change of 4 glasses 200 
 
 2 pound 55. for one new glasse, to be abated out 
 
 of that ffor a broken glasse 1 53. . . . i 10 o 
 ffor guilding windows and irons . . . .150 
 
 Serge ffor the bottom .020 
 
 canuisse to put vnder the leather . . . .080 
 
 all sorts of iron nailes 050 
 
 workmanshipe, the chaire inside and outside . 2 10 o 
 
 34 u o 
 Reict. dated 13 July, 1675, for ' y> in full discharge.' 
 
 That Nell did not always employ her own 
 sedan is evident from the following bill : 
 
 For careing you to Mrs. Knights and to Madam 
 Younges, and to Madam Churchfillds, and 
 wating four cures 050
 
 1 66 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 For careing you the next day, and wating seven 
 
 cures ( . t . .076 
 
 For careing you to Mrs. Knights, and to Mrs. 
 
 Cassells, 1 and to Mrs. Churchills, and to Mrs. 
 
 Knights .. 040 
 
 For careing one Lady Sanes to y play at White 
 
 Halle, and wayting 036 
 
 For careing you yesterday, and wayting eleven 
 
 cures .... o 1 1 6 
 
 Y e some is . .1116 
 13 October, 75. 
 Reed, them of Tho. Groundes in full of\ 
 
 these Bills and all other demands {-2. . 
 from Madam Gwin, . . . . ) 
 
 by me William Calow. 
 
 Chairman Callow, with singular discreetness, 
 omits, it will be seen, to name the places at 
 which he waited longest. Eleven shillings and 
 sixpence seems little for carrying and waiting 
 eleven hours. But the most curious bill, and 
 it is one with which I have been (1852) only 
 recently supplied, is a silversmith's in which 
 the principal sum is a charge for making a 
 bedstead for Nelly, with ornaments of silver, 
 such as the King's head, slaves, eagles, crowns, 
 and Cupids, and Jacob Hall dancing upon a 
 
 1 Nell's sister, wife of Captain John Cassells, a man, it is said, 
 of some fortune, who spent it in the service of the Crown. He 
 died in 1675. King Charles II. gave her a pension of 200 a 
 year. This she received until the accession of William and Mary. 
 She married in Nell's lifetime, and is mentioned in her will (p. 196) 
 as ' Mrs. Rose Forster. ' P. C.
 
 HER BEDSTEAD 167 
 
 rope of wirework. The document must be 
 given entire : 
 
 Work done for y e righte Hon ble . Madame Guinne. 
 John Cooqus, siluersmyth his bill. 
 
 1674. Deliuered the head of y e bedstead weigh- 
 ing 885 onces 12 Ib. and I haue received 
 636 onces 15 dweight so that their is 
 over and aboue of me owne siluer two 
 hundred [and] forty eight onces 17 
 dweight at 75. nd. par once (y e siluer 
 being a d't worse par once according s. d. 
 y e reste) wich comes to . . . 98 10 2 
 For y e making of y e 636 onces 15 d't at 
 2s. i id. par once, comes to . . . 92 17 3 
 
 onces. dweight. 
 
 Deliuered y e kings head weigh- 
 ing 197 5 
 
 one figure weighing . . . 445 15 
 y e other figure with y e caracter 
 
 weighing ..... 428 5 
 y 6 slaues and y e reste belonging 
 
 unto it 255 
 
 ye two Eagles weighing . . 169 10 
 one of the crowne[s] weighing . 94 5 
 y e second crown weighing . 97 10 
 ye third crowne weighing . . 90 2 
 y e fowerd crowne weighing . 82 
 one of y e Cupids weighing .121 8 
 y e second boye weighing . . 101 10 
 y third boye weighing . 93 1 5 
 y e fowered boye weighing . 88 17 
 Altogether two thousand two hundred 
 sexty fiue onces 2 d wight of sterling 
 siluer at 8s. par once, comes to . . 906 o 10 
 Paid for y e Essayes of y e figures and other 
 things into y e tower . . . .050
 
 1 68 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 Paid for iacob haalle [Jacob Hall] dansing s. d. 
 
 upon y e robbe [rope] of Weyer Worck 1 i 10 o 
 For y e cleinsing and brunisching a sugar 
 
 box, a pepper box, a mustard pott and 
 
 two kruyzes . . ,-'.' v . o 12 o 
 For mending y e greatte siluer andyrons . o 10 o 
 Paid to y e cabbenet maker for y e greatte 
 
 bord for y e head of the bedstead and 
 
 for y e other bord that comes under it 
 
 and boorring the wholles into y e 
 
 head . . . * . . .300 
 Paid to Mr. Consar for karuing y e said 
 
 bord i o o 
 
 For y e bettering y e sodure wich was in 
 
 the old bedstead 537 
 
 Paid to y e smid for y e 2 yorne hoops and 
 
 for y e 6 yorn baars krampes and nealles 150 
 Paid for y e wood denpied de staall for one 
 
 of y e figures 046 
 
 Paid y e smith for a hoock to hang up a 
 
 branche candlestick . . . .020 
 Paid to y e smith for y e baars kramps and 
 
 nealles to hold up y e slaues . . .050 
 Given to me Journey man by order of 
 
 Madame Guinne too 
 
 Paid to y e smyth for y e yorn worck to hold 
 
 up y e Eagles and for y e two hoocks to 
 
 hold the bedstead again the wall . .030 
 Paid for y e pied de stalle of Ebony to hold 
 
 up the 2 georses . . . . . i 10 o 
 For y e mending of y e goold hower glasse 026 
 Deliuered two siluer bottels weighing 37 
 
 onces 17 d't at 8s. par once, comes to . 15 2 9 
 Paid for y e other foot to hold up y e other 
 
 figure 046 
 
 1 In another bill I observe a charge ' for y e cleensing of Jacobs 
 halle of weyer worck.'
 
 DEA TH OF MRS. R OBER TS. 169 
 
 For sodering y e wholles and for repairing 
 mending and cleinsing the two figures s. d. 
 of Mr. Traherne his making . . .300 
 
 For y 6 making of a crowne upon one of 
 y e figures . . . . . .100 
 
 Giuen to me iourney man by order of 
 
 Madame Guinne i o o 
 
 Deliuered a handel of a kneif weighing 
 1 1 dweight more then y e old one wich 
 comes with y e making of it to . . 0510 
 
 For y e cleinsing of eight pictures . . o 10 o 
 
 "35 3 i l 
 
 And now, quitting Nelly's household and 
 other expenses, it is full time to turn to matters 
 of more moment. 
 
 In the autumn of 1679 died Mrs. Roberts, 
 the daughter of a clergyman, who had lived 
 with the King, though she is not known to 
 have had any children by him. 2 She had sent 
 for Burnet when dying, and expressed her sense 
 of sorrow for her past life in so sincere a manner, 
 that he desired her to describe her contrition in 
 a letter to the King. At her request Burnet 
 
 1 In the Works Accounts of the Crown at Whitehall, in 1662-3, 
 is a payment (.53, 12s. 2d. ) to Paul Audley 'for silvering a rayle 
 to goe about the Duchess of York's bed, with seven pedestals and 
 60 Ballisters.' The bed, as was long the custom, stood in an 
 alcove off and yet in the bedchamber. 
 
 2 Unless, indeed, the ' Carola Roberts,' of the Secret Service 
 Expenses of Charles //., is the daughter of this Mrs. Roberts by 
 the King.
 
 1 70 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 drew the draft of such a letter, but she never 
 had strength enough to copy it out. Burnet 
 on this wrote in his own name to the King, and 
 sent a strong letter of remonstrance through 
 Will Chiffinch, the keeper of the backstairs. 
 Seldom, indeed, has a sovereign been addressed 
 so boldly as by Burnet in this letter. 1 The 
 King read it twice over, and then threw it in 
 the fire ; expressing himself not long after with 
 great sharpness when Burnet's name was men- 
 tioned to him. But Charles had his own way, 
 in this life at least, of atoning for his misdeeds, 
 and to one of his best actions he is said to 
 have been instigated by no less a person than 
 Nell Gwyn. 
 
 This was the erection of a Royal Hospital at 
 Chelsea for aged and disabled soldiers, the first 
 stone of which was laid by the King himself 
 in the spring of i682. 2 The idea, it is said, 
 
 1 Burnet, i. 457, ii. 287, and vi. 257, ed. 1823 ; also, Calamy's 
 Life, ii. 83. 
 
 2 There is no corroboration in history of the popular tradition 
 that Nell Gwyn suggested the foundation of Chelsea Hospital. 
 Evelyn was intimately associated with the early history of the 
 hospital, and he says that to Sir Stephen Fox was due the sug- 
 gestion to Charles II. of the erection of a Royal Hospital 'for 
 emerited soldiers.' Fox was a great benefactor to the hospital, 
 ' as became him who had gotten so vast an estate by the soldiers. ' 
 Evelyn makes no mention of Nell Gwyn as having had any hand 
 in the matter. ED.
 
 SUGGESTER OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. 171 
 
 originated with Nelly, and I see no reason to 
 doubt the tradition, supported as it is by 
 the known benevolence of her character, her 
 sympathy with the suffering, and the fact that 
 sixty years ago at least Nelly's share in its 
 foundation was recorded beneath her portrait 
 serving as the sign of a public-house adjoining 
 the Hospital. 1 The sign remains, but not the 
 inscription. 2 Yet the tradition is still rife in 
 Chelsea, and is not soon likely to die out. 
 Ormonds, and Granbys, and Admiral Vernons 
 disappear, but Nelly remains, and long may she 
 swing with her favourite lamb in the row or 
 street commemorated for ever in the Chelsea 
 Pensioners of Wilkie ! 
 
 There were thousands alive when the Hospital 
 was first thought of, who carried about them 
 marks of service in the recent struggle which 
 distracted the three kingdoms, in a way in 
 which, let us hope, they will never again be 
 made to suffer. There were old men who had 
 fought at Edge Hill and Marston Moor, and 
 
 1 Lysons's Environs of London, ii. 155. 
 
 2 A house with the sign of Nell Gwynne is now numbered 
 105 Pimlico Road. Another public-house with the same sign is 
 in Bull Inn Court, Strand, a place associated with the actress by 
 tradition. ED.
 
 1 7 2 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 younger ones who could show that they had bled 
 at Naseby or at Worcester. The Restoration 
 had witnessed the establishment of a standing 
 army, and many of Cromwell's Ironsides filling 
 the ranks of the Coldstream Guards and Oxford 
 Blues were now unfit for active service, and 
 younger men were required to fill their places. 
 What was to become of the veterans when their 
 pay was gone ? Their trade had been war, and 
 their pay never sufficient for more than their 
 immediate wants. But for Chelsea Hospital 
 they might have starved on the casual bounty 
 of the people and the chance assistance of their 
 younger comrades. 
 
 In an age when new books were numerous 
 and few appeared without a dedication it is 
 natural to infer that Nelly would not escape. 
 Three dedications to her are known. One in 
 1674, by Duffet, before his play of e The 
 Spanish Rogue' ; a second in 1678, by Whit- 
 combe, before a rare little volume called f Janua 
 Divorum : or the Lives and Histories of the 
 Heathen Gods'; and a third in 1679, by 
 Mrs. Behn, before her play of c The Feigned 
 Courtezans.' All are adulatory. DufFet was 
 unknown to her, and he was not certain, he
 
 DEDICATIONS TO NELLY. 173 
 
 tells us, that Nelly had ever seen his play. It 
 was, however, necessary, he observes, to have a 
 dedication to his book, and he selected c Madam 
 Ellen Gwyn,' deeming that f under the protec- 
 tion of the most perfect beauty and the greatest 
 goodness in the world' his play would be safe. 
 ' Nature,' says Duffet, f almost overcome by 
 Art, has in yourself rallied all her scattered 
 forces, and on your charming brow sits smiling 
 at their slavish toils which yours and her en- 
 vious foes endure; striving in vain with the 
 fading weak supplies of Art to rival your 
 beauties, which are ever the same and almost 
 incomparable.' This is high-flown enough; but 
 all is not like this ; and there is one passage 
 which deserves to be remembered. Nelly, he 
 says, was so readily and frequently doing good, 
 ' as if/ he observes, ' doing good were not her 
 nature, but her business.' The person who 
 wrote thus happily had been a milliner in the 
 New Exchange before he took to literature as 
 a profession. 
 
 Whitcombe inscribes his book 'To the illus- 
 trious Madam Ellen Gwyn ' ; but Aphra Behn, 
 the Astrea of the stage, is still stronger ; ' Your 
 permission has enlightened me, and I with
 
 174 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 shame look back on my past ignorance which 
 suffered me not to pay an adoration long since 
 where there was so very much due ; yet even 
 now, though secure in my opinion, I make this 
 sacrifice with infinite fear and trembling, well 
 knowing that so excellent and perfect a creature 
 as yourself differs only from the divine powers 
 in this the offerings made to you ought to 
 be worthy of you, whilst they accept the will 
 alone.' Well might Johnson observe, that in 
 the meanness and servility of hyperbolical adula- 
 tion, Dryden had never been equalled, except 
 by Aphra Behn in an address to Eleanor Gwyn. 
 But the arrow of adulation is not yet drawn 
 to the head, and Mrs. Behn goes on to say, 
 * Besides all the charms, and attractions, and 
 powers of your sex, you have beauties peculiar 
 to yourself an eternal sweetness, youth, and 
 air which never dwelt in any face but yours. 
 You never appear but you gladden the hearts 
 of all that have the happy fortune to see you, 
 as if you were made on purpose to put the 
 whole world into good humour.' This, how- 
 ever, is not all, for the strain turns to her 
 children, and her own humility, and is therefore 
 nearer the truth. * Heaven has bestowed on
 
 HER TROUBLES. 175 
 
 you,' adds Aphra, ' two noble branches, whom 
 you have permitted to wear those glorious titles 
 which you yourself generously neglected.' Two 
 noble branches indeed they were, if the graver 
 of Blooteling, who wrought while Nelly was 
 alive, has not done more than justice to their 
 looks. 
 
 Troubles were now surrounding Nelly. At 
 Paris, in September 1680, died James, Lord 
 Beauclerk, her second and youngest son. In 
 the summer of the succeeding year, Lacy, the 
 actor, was buried in St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, 
 whither she herself was soon to follow. In 
 1683 died Charles Hart, her old admirer; and 
 in the following year died Major Mohun. A 
 garter 1 and other honours awaited the son of 
 her old rival, the Duchess of Portsmouth. Yet 
 she was still cheerful, and sought even more 
 assiduously for other honours for her only child. 
 Nor was the King unwilling to hearken to the 
 entreaties of Nelly in her boy's behalf. On the 
 loth of January 1683-4, eight days after the 
 death of old Henry Jermyn, Earl of St. Albans, 
 the boy Earl of Burford was created Duke of 
 
 1 The Duke of Richmond, who was created a Knight of the 
 Garter in 1681. ED.
 
 1 76 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 St. Albans, and appointed to the then lucrative 
 offices of Registrar of the High Court of 
 Chancery and Master Falconer of England. 
 The latter office is still enjoyed by the present 
 Duke of St. Albans. 
 
 The only letter l of Nelly's composition 
 known to exist relates to this period of her 
 life. It is written on a sheet of very thin gilt- 
 edged paper, in a neat, Italian hand, not her 
 own, and is thus addressed : 
 
 These for Madam Jennings over against the 
 Tub Tavern in Jermyn Street, London. 
 
 WINDSOR, BURFORD HOUSE, 
 April 14, 1684. 
 
 MADAM, I have received y Letter, and I desire y u 
 would speake to my Ladie Williams to send me the Gold 
 Stuffe, & a Note with it, because I must sign it, then she 
 shall have her money y e next Day of Mr. Trant ; pray tell 
 her Ladieship, that I will send her a Note of what Quantity 
 of Things I 'le have bought, if her Ladieship will put her- 
 selfe to y e Trouble to buy them ; when they are bought I 
 will sign a Note for her to be payd. Pray Madam, let 
 y e Man goe on with my Sedan, and send Potvin and Mr. 
 Coker down to me, for I want them both. The Bill is very 
 dear to boyle the Plate, but necessity hath noe Law. I am 
 afraid M m . you have forgott my Mantle, which you were to 
 line with Musk Colour Sattin, and all my other Things, for 
 you send me noe Patterns nor Answer. Monsieur Lainey 
 is going away. Pray send me word about your son Criffin, 
 
 1 Several letters of Nell Gwyn have come to light since this was 
 written. Some of these are printed in the Introduction to this 
 volume. ED.
 
 HER LETTER TO MRS. JENNINGS. 177 
 
 for his Majestic is mighty well pleased that he will goe 
 along with my Lord Duke. I am afraid you are so much 
 taken up with your owne House, that you forget my Business. 
 My service to dear Lord Kildare, and tell him I love him with 
 all my heart. Pray M m . see that Potvin brings now all my 
 Things with him : My Lord Duke's bed, &c. if he hath not 
 made them all up, he may doe that here, for if I doe not get 
 my Things ouf of his Hands now, I shall not have them 
 until this time twelvemonth. The Duke brought me down 
 with him my Crochet of Diamonds ; and I love it the better 
 because he brought it. Mr. Lumley and everie body else 
 will tell you that it is the finest Thing that ever was seen. 
 Good M m . speake to Mr. Beaver to come down too, that 
 I may bespeake a Ring for the Duke of Grafton before 
 he goes into France. 
 
 I have continued extreme ill ever since you left me, and 
 I am soe still. I have sent to London for a Dr. I believe I 
 shall die. My service to the Duchess of Norfolk, and tell 
 her, I am as sick as her Grace, but do not know what I 
 ayle, although shee does. . . . 
 
 Pray tell my Ladie Williams that the King's Mistresses 
 are accounted ill paymasters, but shee shall have her Money 
 the next Day after I have the stuffe. 
 
 Here is a sad slaughter at Windsor, the young mens 
 taking y Leaves and going to France, and, although 
 they are none of my Lovers, yet I am loath to part with 
 the men. Mrs. Jennings, I love you with all my Heart 
 and soe good bye. 
 
 E. G. 
 
 Let me have an Answer to this Letter. 
 
 This highly characteristic letter was found by 
 Cole, and transmitted to Walpole, who has 
 expressed the delight he felt at its perusal. 1 
 
 1 Horace Walpole's letter to the Rev. William Cole is dated Jan. 
 9, 1775. He wrote : ' I every day intended to thank you for the 
 copy of Nell Gwyn's letter, till it was too late ; the gout came and 
 
 M
 
 1 78 THE STOR Y OF NELL 
 
 Who Madam Jennings was I am not aware ; 
 nor have I succeeded in discovering anything 
 of moment about Lady Williams. Potvin was 
 an upholsterer. 1 The Duchess of Norfolk was 
 the daughter and sole heir of Henry Mordaunt, 
 Earl of Peterborough, and Nelly would appear 
 to have been on intimate terms with her. 
 When, on account of Her Grace's illicit in- 
 timacy with Sir John Germain, her divorce 
 from the Duke was before a court of law, 
 Nelly's evidence, imperfectly as it has reached 
 us, was very characteristic of her mode of reply 
 even to an ordinary question. Germain had 
 sought, it appears, to seduce her from the 
 King, and Nell is said to have replied, ' she 
 was no such sportsman as to lay the dog where 
 the deer should lie.' Sir John Germain, after- 
 wards married to the Duchess, was a Dutch 
 adventurer, of mean extraction, grown rich by 
 gambling. The father of Secretary Craggs was 
 footman to the gallant Duchess. 
 
 made me moult my goose quill. The letter is very curious, and 
 I am as well content as with the original ' (Letters, ed. Cunning- 
 ham, vi. 166). ED. 
 
 1 Privy Purse Expenses of the Reigns of Charles II. and James 
 If., printed by the Camden Society, p. 186. ' Tho. Otway ' and 
 ' Jhon Poietevin ' are witnesses to a power of attorney of Nelly's, 
 now in Mr. Robert Cole's possession.
 
 NELLY AT WINCHESTER. 179 
 
 When the Rye House Plot had given to 
 
 Charles a distaste for Newmarket and Audley 
 End, Charles determined on building a palace 
 at Winchester, and Wren was required to de- 
 sign a structure worthy of the site and the 
 monarch. The works were commenced in 
 earnest, and Charles was often at Winchester 
 watching the progress of the building, and 
 enjoying the sports of the hase in the New 
 Forest, or his favourite relaxation of fishing in 
 the waters of the Itchin. Nelly accompanied 
 him to Winchester, and on one occasion the 
 pious and learned Ken, then a chaplain to the 
 King, and a prebendary of Winchester, was re- 
 quired to surrender his prebendal house as a 
 lodging for Nelly. 1 Ken properly remonstrated, 
 and, if it be indeed true that she had taken 
 possession of the assigned lodging, she speedily 
 removed from it. 2 Nor was the King displeased 
 with the firmness displayed by this exemplary 
 man. He knew that Ken was right; appreciated 
 his motives ; and one of his last acts was to make 
 the very person by whom he was thus so pro- 
 
 1 Hawkins's Life of Ken. 
 
 2 The tradition at Winchester was, that Nell refused to move, 
 and did not move, till part of the roof was taken off. Bowles's 
 Life of Ken, ii. 7.
 
 1 80 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 perly admonished Bishop of Bath and Wells, 
 the see of which he chose to be conscientiously 
 deprived, as Sancroft from Canterbury, rather 
 that forget the oath he had taken of fealty to a 
 former sovereign. 
 
 Unable to obtain or retain the use of the 
 canonical apartments of the pious Ken, Nelly 
 found quarters in a small attached room of 
 brick at the end of the large drawing-room in 
 the Deanery, still from tradition called c Nell 
 Gwyn,' 1 and afterwards at Avington, the seat 
 of a Countess of Shrewsbury, notorious for the 
 part she took in the duel in which her husband 
 was slain by Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. 
 Avington lies about three miles to the north- 
 east of Winchester, and before the death of the 
 last Duke of Chandos Nelly's dressing-room 
 was still shown. 2 Another attraction of the 
 same house was a fine characteristic portrait, by 
 Lely, of the Countess of Shrewsbury as Min- 
 erva, recently sold at the sale at Stowe, whither 
 it had been removed from Avington with the 
 rest of the Chandos property. 
 
 Ken's refusal occurred, I see reason to think, 
 
 1 Bowles's Life of Ken, ii. 56. 
 
 2 Forster's Stowe Catalogue, p. 179.
 
 SUNDAY AT WHITEHALL. 181 
 
 during the last visit which Nelly was to make 
 to Winchester. The following winter was 
 spent by the court at Whitehall, amid gaieties 
 common to that festive season ; and what these 
 gaieties were like we may learn from the picture 
 of a Sunday preserved by Evelyn. f l can 
 never forget,' writes the high-minded author of 
 Sylva, c the inexpressible luxury and profane- 
 ness, gaming, and all dissoluteness, and, as it 
 were, a total forgetfulness of God (it being 
 Sunday evening), which this day se'nnight I 
 was witness of; the King sitting and toying 
 with his concubines, Portsmouth, Cleveland, 
 Mazarine, &c., a French boy singing love-songs 
 in that glorious gallery, whilst about twenty of 
 the great courtiers and other dissolute persons 
 were at basset round a large table, a bank of at 
 least ^2000 in gold before them ; upon which 
 two gentlemen who were with me made strange 
 reflections. Six days after all was in the dust/ l 
 The fatal termination of this Sunday scene was 
 even more sudden than Evelyn has described. 
 The revels extended over Sunday night until 
 the next morning. At eight of that same 
 morning the King swooned away in his chair, 
 
 1 Evelyn, 4th Feb. 1684-5.
 
 1 82 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 and lay for nearly two hours in a state of 
 apoplexy, all his physicians despairing of his 
 recovery. Charles rallied for a time, regained 
 possession of his intellects, and died, on the 
 following Friday, sensible of his sins, and seek- 
 ing forgiveness from his Maker. His end was 
 that of a man, never repining that it was so 
 sudden ; and his good-nature was exhibited 
 on his deathbed in a thousand particulars. 
 Charles sought pardon from his Queen, forgive- 
 ness from his brother, and the excuses of those 
 who stood about his bed. What his last words 
 were, is, I believe, unknown ; but his dying 
 requests made to his brother and successor 
 concluded with, f Let not poor Nelly starve ' ; l 
 a recommendation, says Fox, in his famous 
 introductory chapter, that is much to his 
 honour. 
 
 That Charles n. was poisoned was the belief 
 of many at the time. It was the fashion in 
 that, as in the preceding age, to attribute the 
 sudden death of any great person to poison, and 
 the rumour on this occasion should, we suppose, 
 form no exception to the rule of vulgar delu- 
 sions. Yet in Charles's case the suspicions are 
 
 1 Burnet, ii. 460, ed. 1823. Evelyn, 4th Feb. 1684-5.
 
 DEATH OF CHARLES II. 183 
 
 not without support from apparently rather 
 weighty authorities. c I am obliged to observe,' 
 says Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, l that the 
 most knowing and the most deserving of all his 
 physicians did not only believe him poisoned, 
 but thought himself so too, not long after, for 
 having declared his opinion a little too boldly.' 1 
 Bishop Patrick strengthens the supposition, from 
 the testimony of Sir Thomas Mellington, who 
 sat with the King for three days, and never 
 went to bed for three nights. 2 The Chesterfield, 
 who lived among many who were likely to be 
 well informed, and was himself the grandson of 
 the Earl of Chesterfield who was with Charles 
 at his death, states positively that the King was 
 poisoned. 3 The Duchess of Portsmouth, when 
 in England, in 1699, is said to have told Lord 
 Chancellor Cowper that Charles n. was poisoned 
 at her house by one of her footmen in a dish of 
 chocolate, 4 and Fox had heard a somewhat 
 similar report from the family of his mother, 
 who was great-grand-daughter to the Duchess. 5 
 
 1 Buckingham's Works ; ii. 82. 8vo, 1729. 
 
 2 Bishop Patrick's Autobiography, p. 101. 
 
 3 Letters to his Son. 
 
 * Dean Cowper in Spence's Anecdotes, ed. Singer, p. 367. 
 5 Fox, p. 67. Granville, Lord Lansdowne, in his Vindication of 
 Central Monk against Burnet, throws suspicion on the story from
 
 184 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 The supposed parallel cases of the deaths of 
 Henry, Prince of Wales and King James i. are 
 supported by no testimony so strong as that 
 advanced in the case of Charles n. 
 
 Had the King lived, Nelly was to have had 
 a peerage for herself, and the title chosen was 
 that of Countess of Greenwich. 1 This of course 
 she was not now likely to obtain if indeed she 
 would have cared so to do. Her own end was 
 near. 
 
 a reply made by the Duchess of Portsmouth at Paris to the truth 
 of the passage in Burnet. ' 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 to his own drugs 
 and medicines. On a sudden the running stopt, and it was then 
 he was seized with his apoplexy ' (Granville, Lord Lansdowne, 
 A Vindication of General Monk}. P. C. 
 
 1 This I give on the authority of the curious passage in a MS. 
 book by Van Bossen, kindly placed at my disposal by Mr. David 
 Laing. The whole passage is as follows : 
 
 ' Charles the 2d. naturall sone of King Charles the 2d. borne of 
 Hellenor or Nelguine, dawghter to Thomas Guine, a capitane of 
 ane antient family in Wales, who showld bein advanced to be 
 Countes of Greeniez, but hindered by the king's death, and she 
 lived not long after his Made. Item, he was advanced to the title 
 s of Duke Stablane and Earle of Berward. He is not married.' 
 The Roy all Cedar ; by Frederick Van Bossen, MS. folio, 1688, 
 p. 129. 
 
 One of the last acts of the antiquarian life of that curious 
 inquirer, Mr. Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, was to note down some 
 valuable memoranda for this story of Nell Gwyn. Among other 
 things, Mr. Sharpe directed Mr. Laing's attention to the curious 
 entry in the volume by Van Bossen, still in Mr. Laing's possession.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Nelly in real mourning, and outlawed for debt Death of Otway, 
 tutor to her son James II. pays her debts The King's kind- 
 ness occasions a groundless rumour that she has gone to mass 
 Her intimacy with Dr. Tenison, then Vicar of St. Martin's- 
 in-the-Fields, and Dr. Lower, the celebrated physician She 
 sends for Tenison in her last illness Her death and contrite 
 end Her will and last request of her son Her funeral 
 Tenison preaches her funeral sermon False account of the 
 sermon cried by hawkers in the streets The sermon used 
 as an argument against Tenison's promotion to the See of 
 Lincoln Queen Mary's defence of him and of Nelly Her 
 son the Duke of St. Albans Eleanor Gwyn and Harriet 
 Mellon Various portraits of Nelly Further anecdotes- 
 Conclusion. 
 
 IT was no fictitious mourning, for the Cham of 
 Tartary or a Prince of France, which Nelly 
 and the Duchess of Portsmouth were both 
 wearing in the spring of 1685. Each had 
 occasion, though on very unequal grounds, to 
 lament the monarch so suddenly removed from 
 his gorgeous chambers at Whitehall to the cold 
 damp vaults of Westminster Abbey. It was at 
 this period, if not on other occasions, that Nelly 
 must have called to mind Shirley's noble song, 
 
 186
 
 1 86 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 which old Bowman used to sing to King 
 Charles : 
 
 The glories of our blood and state 
 Are shadows, not substantial things ; 
 
 There is no armour against fate : 
 Death lays his icy hands on kings. 
 
 Lely should have painted Nelly in her mourn- 
 ing; but the delicate hand which drew with so 
 much grace the Beauties of King Charles the 
 Second's Court, and Nelly with her lamb among 
 them, was lying torpid under the church in 
 Covent Garden, and the painters who succeeded 
 him, Wissing, Kneller, and Verelst, had little 
 skill in transferring from life to canvas those 
 essential graces of expression which Lely caught 
 so inimitably in his La Belle Hamilton and 
 his Madame Gwyn. 
 
 While her grief was still fresh, Nelly had 
 occasion to remember the friend she had lost. 
 The King's mistresses, as Nelly herself informs 
 us, were accounted but ill paymasters, for the 
 King himself was often at a loss for money, 
 and the ladies were, we may safely suppose, 
 generally in advance of the allowances assigned 
 them. The f gold stuff' was indeed scarcer 
 than ever with her in the spring of the year in 
 which the King died, and we know what became
 
 NELLY OUTLAWED FOR DEBT. 187 
 
 of at least some of her plate only a year before. 
 * The bill is very dear,' she says, ' to boil the 
 plate ; but necessity hath no law.' What was 
 to be done ? shopkeepers were pressing with 
 their bills, and the apprentices who would at 
 once have released f Protestant Nelly ' from 
 their own books had no control over those of 
 their masters ; so Nelly, if not actually arrested 
 for debt in the spring of 1685, was certainly 
 outlawed for the non-payment of certain bills, 
 for which some of her tradespeople, since the 
 death of the King, had become perseveringly 
 clamorous. 
 
 Nelly's resources at this period were slender 
 enough. In the King's lifetime, and after 
 Prince Rupert's death, she had paid to Peg 
 Hughes the actress and her daughter Ruperta 
 as much as 4520 c for the great pearl neck- 
 lace ' which she wears in so many of her 
 portraits. 1 This would now probably pass to 
 the neck of another mistress (such is the 
 lottery of life and jewels) perhaps to that 
 of Katherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester ; 
 but Nelly would not care much about this : 
 it went more to her heart to hear that during 
 
 1 Warburton's Prince Rupert and the Cavaliers, iii. 558.
 
 1 88 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 her own outlawry for debt her old friend Otway, 
 the tutor of her son the poet, whose writings 
 she must have loved had died of starvation, 
 without a sympathising Nelly near at hand to 
 relieve the wants in which she herself was now 
 participating. 1 
 
 It was Nelly's good fort ne, however, never 
 to be without a friend willing and able to assist 
 her. The new King had not forgotten the 
 dying request of his only brother, c Let not 
 poor Nelly starve ' : above all, he had not for- 
 gotten Nelly's conduct during that hard period 
 of his life when the Bill of Exclusion was pushed 
 in both houses with a warmth and animosity 
 which argued indifferently for his obtaining the 
 crown to which he was entitled. James, though 
 in trouble himself Monmouth had landed at 
 Lyme, and the battle of Sedgemoor was not 
 yet fought found time in the midst of his 
 anxieties to attend to his brother's last request ; 
 the secret service expenses of the King (only 
 recently brought to light) exhibiting a pay- 
 ment to Richard Graham, Esq., of 729, 
 2S. jd. c to be by him paid over to the several 
 
 1 Otway died I4th April 1685. He dedicated his Venice Pre- 
 served to the Duchess of Portsmouth.
 
 NELL Y DOES NOT STAR VE. \ 89 
 
 tradesmen, creditors of Mrs. Ellen Gwyn, in 
 satisfaction of their debts for which the said 
 Ellen stood outlawed.' 1 
 
 Nor was this the only way in which James 
 exhibited his regard for Nelly, and his remem- 
 brance of a brother to whom he was sincerely 
 attached. In the same year in which he relieved 
 Nelly from her outlawry, two additional pay- 
 ments of ^500 each were made to her by way 
 of royal bounty ; and two years afterwards the 
 same book of accounts records a payment to 
 Sir Stephen Fox of 1256, os. 2d. for so much 
 by him paid to Sir Robert Clayton, the alder- 
 man and great city merchant, in full of 3774, 
 2s. 6d. for redeeming the mortgages to Sir 
 John Musters, of Bestwood Park, for settling 
 the same for life upon Mrs. Ellen Gwyn, * and 
 after her death upon the Duke of St. Albans, 
 and his issue male, with the reversion in the 
 crown.' 2 Bestwood Park is in the county of 
 Nottingham, on the borders of merry Sher- 
 wood, and was long an appurtenance to the 
 Crown, eagerly sought for by royal favourites. 
 Whether it remains in the possession of the 
 
 1 Secret Service Expenses of Charles II. and James II. (printed 
 for the Camden Society), p. 109. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 167.
 
 190 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 present Duke of St. Albans, as the descendant 
 of Nelly, I am not aware. 1 
 
 James's kindness to Nelly, and his known 
 design of reconciling the nation to the Church 
 of Rome, gave rise to a rumour, perpetuated 
 by Evelyn in his Memoirs, that she at this 
 time f was said to go to mass.' He alludes to 
 her conversion in the same brief entry with that 
 of Dry den: 'Such proselytes,' he adds, 'were 
 of no great loss to the Church.' 2 The rumour 
 as to her, however, was untrue. Nelly was 
 firm to the Protestant religion so firm, indeed, 
 that her adherence to the faith of our fathers is 
 one of the marked characteristics of her life. 
 
 Some strict disciplinarians of the Church will 
 hear perhaps with a smile that Nell Gwyn was 
 troubled at any time with a thought about re- 
 ligion. But their incredulity is uncharitable. 
 Nelly doubtless had her moments of remorse ; 
 and, though her warmth in the cause of Pro- 
 testantism may, in the first instance, have been 
 strengthened by her hatred to the Duchess of 
 
 1 Best wood Park is described in an Inquisition in 1281 as 'a 
 park of our Lord the King wherein no man commons. ' Richard in. 
 was at Bestwood when he heard of Henry Tudor's approach. It still 
 remains the property of the Duke of St. Albans. See Brown's 
 History of Nottinghamshire, 1891, pp. 26, 27. ED. 
 
 2 Evelyn, iQth January 1685-6.
 
 TENJSON AT ST. MARTIN'S. 191 
 
 Portsmouth, yet the kindly feeling avowed for 
 her by Tenison affords surely a strong pre- 
 sumption that her faith was unshaken and her 
 repentance sincere. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that we know so 
 little of the life of Archbishop Tenison. He 
 seems to have risen into importance about the 
 year 1680, when he was recommended by 
 Tillotson to the vacant living of St. Martin's- 
 in-the-Fields, in London, then an extensive 
 parish, where, as Baxter described it, ' neigh- 
 bours lived like Americans, without hearing 
 a sermon for many years.' Tenison filled his 
 cure at St. Martin's with so much courage, 
 toleration, and discretion in the worst days 
 of the Church, that few, except the extreme 
 partisans of Popery, have been found to quarrel 
 with his ministry. 1 It was as Vicar of St. 
 Martin's, in which parish Pall Mall is situated, 
 that he became acquainted with Nell Gwyn, 
 perhaps, as I suspect, in the first instance, 
 through the instrumentality of Lower, then the 
 most celebrated physician in London. 2 Dr. 
 
 1 Compare Burnet in his History with Lord Dartmouth's Notes, 
 and Burnet's own account of Tenison to King William in Romney's 
 Diary, ii. 283. See also Evelyn's Memoirs for a high character of 
 Tenison. 2 Burnet, ii. 284, ed. 1823.
 
 192 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 Lower was a sturdy Protestant, and one, as 
 King James was known to observe, f that did 
 him more mischief than a troop of horse.' He 
 was often with Nelly, and, as Kennet had heard 
 from Tenison's own lips, ' would pick out of her 
 all the intrigues of the Court of King Charles n.' 
 Nor was his faith questionable, evincing as he did 
 his regard for the Reformation by the bequest 
 of a thousand pounds to the French and Irish 
 Protestants in or near London. 1 
 
 But the visits of Lower 2 to Nelly were not 
 for gossip only. She was now far from well, 
 and her complaints were put into rhyme by the 
 satirical pen of Sir George Etherege. There 
 is, however, little wit in this instance, and just 
 
 1 Kennet's note in Wood's Aih. Ox. , ed. Bliss, iv. 299. Lower 
 died I7th January 1691. See Bramston's Memoirs, p. 364. P.C. 
 
 2 Richard Lower, M.D., on the death of Dr. Willis in 1675, 
 was esteemed 'the most noted physician in Westminster and 
 London ; no man's name was more cried up at court than his ' 
 (Wood); on the breaking out of the Popish Plot in 1678 he 
 espoused the Whig cause, and lost most of his practice about the 
 court (Munk's Roll of the Royal College of Physicians, 1878, 
 i. 381). Lower did not attend Nell Gwyn in her last illness ; her 
 physician was Christian Harrell, M.D. Among the papers of 
 Messrs. Child, the bankers, the following receipt was found a few 
 years ago : ' Received by the hands of Mr. Child the summe of 
 one hundert and nine pounds yn full of all remedes and medecins 
 delivered to Mrs. Ellin Gwyn deceased. I say received by me this 
 I7th of November 1688. CHRISTIANUS HARRELL, 109.00.00. 
 (Munk's Roll, i. 452.) ED.
 
 HER WILL. 193 
 
 as little truth in the malice of the author of 
 c The Man of Mode.' One line, however, 
 deserves to be recorded : 
 
 Send Dr. Burnet to me or I die. 
 
 It was time indeed for Nelly to send for 
 some one. Burnet had attended Rochester, 
 and Mrs. Roberts, and the Whig ' martyr,' 
 William Lord Russell. Tenison had attended 
 Thynne, Sir Thomas Armstrong, and the un- 
 happy Monmouth. Tenison was sent for, and 
 attended Nelly. 
 
 She now made her will, and to the following 
 effect : 
 
 In the name of God, Amen. I, Ellen Gwynne, of the 
 parish of St. Martin-in-the-fields, and county of Middlesex, 
 spinster, this Qth day of July, anno Domini 1687, do make 
 this my last will and testament, and do revoke all former 
 wills. First, in hope of a joyful resurrection, I do recom- 
 mend myself whence I came, my soul into the hands of 
 Almighty God, and my body unto the earth, to be decently 
 buried, at the discretion of my executors, hereinafter named ; 
 and as for all such houses, lands, tenements, offices, places, 
 pensions, annuities, and hereditaments whatsoever, in Eng- 
 land, Ireland, or elsewhere, wherein I, or my heirs, or any 
 to the use of, or in trust for me or my heirs, hath, have, or 
 may or ought to have, any estate, right, claim, or demand 
 whatsoever, of fee-simple or freehold, I give and devise the 
 same all and wholly to my dear natural son, his Grace the 
 Duke of St. Alban's, and to the heirs of his body ; and as 
 
 N
 
 194 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 for all and all manner of my jewels, plate, household stuff, 
 goods, chattels, credits, and other estate whatsoever, I give 
 and bequeath the same, and every part and parcel thereof, 
 to my executors hereafter named, in, upon, and by way of 
 trust for my said dear son, his executors, administrators, 
 and assigns, and to and for his and their own sole use and 
 peculiar benefit and advantage, in such manner as is here- 
 after expressed ; and I do hereby constitute the Right Hon. 
 Lawrence, Earl of Rochester, the Right Hon. Thomas, Earl 
 of Pembroke, the Hon. Sir Robert Sawyer, Knight, his 
 Majesty's Attorney-General, and the Hon. Henry Sidney, 
 Esq., to be my executors of this my last will and testa- 
 ment, desiring them to please to accept and undertake the 
 execution hereof, in trust as afore-mentioned ; and I do 
 give and bequeath to the several persons in the schedule 
 hereunto annexed the several legacies and sums of money 
 therein expressed or mentioned ; and my further will and 
 mind, and anything above notwithstanding, is, that if my 
 said dear son happen to depart this natural life without 
 issue then living, or such issue die without issue, then and 
 in such case, all and all manner of my estate above devised 
 to him, and in case my said natural son die before the age 
 of one-and-twenty years, then also all my personal estate 
 devised to my said executors not before then by my said 
 dear son and his issue, and my said executors, and the 
 executors or administrators of the survivor of them, or by 
 some of them otherwise lawfully and firmly devised or dis- 
 posed of, shall remain, go, or be to my said executors, their 
 heirs, executors, and administrators respectively, in trust of 
 and for answering, paying, and satisfying all and every and 
 all manners of my gifts, legacies, and directions that at any 
 time hereafter, during my life, shall be by me anywise 
 mentioned or given in or by any codicils or schedule to be 
 hereto annexed. And lastly, that my said executors shall 
 have, all and every of them, ioo/. a-piece, of lawful money, 
 in consideration of their care and trouble herein, and 
 furthermore, all their several and respective expenses and 
 charges in and about the execution of this my will. In
 
 CODICIL TO HER WILL. 195 
 
 witness of all which, I hereunto set my hand and seal, the 
 
 day and year first above written. E. G. 
 
 Signed, sealed, published, and declared, in the presence 
 
 of its, who at the same time subscribe our names, also in her 
 
 presence. 
 
 LUCY HAMILTON SANDYS, 
 EDWARD WYBORNE, 
 JOHN WARNER, 
 WILLIAM SCARBOROUGH, 
 JAMES BOOTH. 
 
 To this, three months later, was added a 
 codicil written on a separate sheet of paper, 
 and called : 
 
 The last request of Mrs. Ellen r Gwynn to his Grace the 
 Duke of St. Albaris, made October the i8M, 1687. 
 
 1. I desire I may be buried in the church of St. Martin's- 
 in-the-fields. 
 
 2. That Dr. Tenison may preach my funeral sermon. 
 
 3. That there may be a decent pulpit-cloth and cushion 
 given to St. Martin's-in-the-fields. 
 
 4. That he [the Duke] would give one hundred pounds 
 for the use of the poor of the said St. Martin's and St. 
 James's, Westminster, to be given into the hands of the 
 said Dr. Tenison, to be disposed of at his discretion, for 
 taking any poor debtors of the said parish out of prison, 
 and for cloaths this winter, and other necessaries, as he 
 shall find most fit. 
 
 5. That for showing my charity to those who differ from 
 me in religion, I desire that fifty pounds may be put into 
 the hands of Dr. Tenison and Mr, Warner, who, taking to 
 them any two persons of the Roman Religion, may dispose 
 of it for the use of the poor of that religion inhabiting the 
 parish of St. James's aforesaid.
 
 196 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 6. That Mrs. Rose Forster 1 may have two hundred 
 pounds given to her, any time within a year after my 
 decease. 
 
 7. That Jo., my porter, may have ten pounds given him. 
 
 My request to his Grace t's, further 
 
 8. That my present nurses may have ten pounds each, 
 and mourning, besides their wages due to them. 
 
 9. That my present servants may have mourning each, 
 and a year's wages, besides their wages due. 
 
 10. That the Lady Fairborne 2 may have fifty pounds 
 given to her to buy a ring. 
 
 11. That my kinsman, Mr. Cholmley, may have one 
 hundred pounds given to him, within a year after this date. 
 
 12. That His Grace would please to lay out twenty 
 pounds yearly for the releasing of poor debtors out of 
 prison every Christmas-day. 
 
 13. That Mr. John Warner may have fifty pounds given 
 him to buy a ring. 
 
 14. That the Lady Hollyman may have the pension of 
 ten shillings per week continued to her during the said 
 lady's life. 
 
 Oct. 1 8, 87. This request was attested and acknow- 
 ledged^ in the presence of us, 
 
 JOHN HETHERINGTON, 
 HANNAH GRACE, 
 DANIEL DYER. S 
 
 She died of apoplexy in November i68y, 4 
 in her thirty-eighth year, but the exact day is 
 
 1 Mrs. Rose Forster was Nell Gwyn's sister. See ante, p. 166. 
 P. C. 
 
 2 Wife of Sir Palmer Fairborne. P. C. 
 
 3 The will was proved, Dec. 7, at the Prerogative Will Office 
 in Doctors' Commons, and the original on the 1 8th of February 
 following, delivered to Sir Robert Sawyer, the King's Attorney- 
 General, one of the executors. 
 
 * Letter of 22nd March 1687, in Ellis's Correspondence, i. 264 : 
 ' Mrs. Nelly is dying of an apoplexy.'
 
 HER DEATH. 197 
 
 unknown. 1 f Her repentance in her last hours,. 
 I have been unquestionably informed,' writes 
 Gibber, ' appeared in all the contrite symptoms 
 of a Christian sincerity.' c She is said to have 
 died piously and penitently,' writes Wigmore 
 to Sir George Etherege, then Envoy at Ratis- 
 bon, c and, as she dispensed several charities in 
 her lifetime, so she left several such legacies at 
 her death.' 2 The bequest to the poor prisoners 
 may receive some illustration from the satires 
 of the time. Her father is said to have died in 
 a prison at Oxford and Nelly, it is added, 
 ( gloried ' in relieving the necessities of the 
 poorer prisoners. 
 
 On the night of the lyth November 1687, 
 the orange-girl in the playhouse pit the pretty 
 witty Nelly of Pepys and the Almahide of 
 Dryden's play and King Charles's admiration, 
 was buried, according to her own request, in 
 the church of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. There 
 was no great ostentation considering the style 
 in which funerals were then commonly con- 
 
 1 Luttrell (Brief Relation of State Affairs, i. 420), records the 
 date of death as the I4th November 1687. ED. 
 
 2 Gibber's Apology, p. 451, ed. 1740. Letter of i8th Nov. 
 1687, in Seward's Anecdotes. Her wealth in the letter is stated 
 at a million.
 
 198 
 
 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 ducted ; the expenses of her interment, ^"375, 
 were advanced by Sir Stephen Fox, from the 
 next quarter's allowance of 1500 a year, 
 which King James had settled upon her. 1 
 Good Dr. Tenison too complied with her re- 
 
 Old Church of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, in which Nelly was buried. 
 
 quest, and preached her funeral sermon ; but 
 what the Doctor said except that he said 
 
 1 Secret Service Expenses of Charles II. and fames II,, p. 177. 
 [' To Roger Hewitt, upon the like sume that would have become 
 due at Xtmas last to Mrs. Ellinor Gwynn, dec'd on a penc'on 
 of 1500/4 per ann. in the name of Francis Gwynne, Esq., to 
 reimburse so much money paid by S r Stephen Fox for the 
 funeral of the said Mrs. Gwynn, 375/2', o. o.' ED.]
 
 HER FUNERAL SERMON. 199 
 
 ' much to her praise ' no one has told us. 
 The church was crowded all the apprentices 
 who could obtain leave from their masters for 
 such a lesson were there, and many a wet eye 
 was seen, for Nelly was a good subject for a 
 sermon, and the then vicar of St. Martin's was 
 an impressive preacher. 
 
 It was bold in Tenison to preach such a 
 sermon, and on such a person ; but he knew 
 the worth of Nelly, and was not afraid. He 
 escaped not, however, without censure. Some 
 mercenary people printed and employed hawk- 
 ers to cry in the streets a sham, or largely 
 transmogrified discourse which the vicar him- 
 self was obliged to denounce as a l forgery.' * 
 Others went further ; and when in 1691 the see 
 of Lincoln was vacant, and Tenison was all but 
 appointed to it, Viscount Villiers, afterwards 
 the first Earl of Jersey, in his zeal for the 
 rector of the parish of St. Giles's-in-the-Fields, 
 immediately adjoining St. Martin's, made it a 
 reason to Queen Mary for the exclusion of the 
 
 1 Advertisement. Whereas there has been a paper cry'd by 
 some hawkers, as a sermon preached by D. T. at the funeral 
 of M. E. Gwynn, this may certify, that that paper is the forgery 
 of some mercenary people. Mr. Pulton considered by Tho. 
 Tenison, D.D., 4to, 1687.
 
 200 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 honest Doctor that he had preached c a notable 
 funeral sermon in praise of Ellen Gwyn.' But 
 the daughter of King James, and the wife of 
 King William, who had her own channels of 
 information, was not to be led aside from what 
 she knew was right by so weak a complaint, 
 though advanced by a highly-favoured servant 
 of her own. f I have heard as much,' said the 
 good Queen Mary to her Master of the Horse, 
 f and this s a sign that the poor unfortunate 
 woman died penitent ; for, if I have read a 
 man's heart through his looks, had she not 
 made a truly pious end, the Doctor could never 
 have been induced to speak well of her.' l I 
 need hardly add that Tenison obtained the see, 
 and that he lived to fill with honour to himself 
 and service to the Church the more important 
 office of Archbishop of Canterbury. It may, 
 however, be new to some that in his own Will 
 he strictly forbids either funeral sermon or 
 oration at his own interment. There is satire 
 in this. To have praised even Tenison might 
 by some courtier or another have been made a 
 
 1 Life of Tenison, p. 20. Lord Jersey should have recollected 
 that the father of his own wife was no less a person than the 
 infamous Will. Chiffinch. [The first Earl of Jersey married 
 Barbara, daughter of William Chiffinch. ED.]
 
 THE DUKE OF ST. ALBANS. 201 
 
 barrier to the promotion of an able, and perhaps 
 better deserving person. 
 
 The son acceded to the dying requests of his 
 mother by the following memorandum beneath 
 the codicil : 
 
 Dec. 5, 1687. I doe consent that this paper of request 
 may be made a codicil to Mrs. Gwinn's will. 
 
 ST. ALBANS. 
 
 King James continued the mother's pension 
 to the son, and in the same month in which his 
 mother died gave him the colonelcy of that 
 regiment of horse from which Lord Scarsdale 
 had been dismissed, for his opposition to the 
 well-known designs of King James. 1 
 
 While still young he distinguished himself 
 at the siege of Belgrade, became in after-life a 
 Knight of the Garter, and died the father of 
 eight sons by his wife, the high-born and 
 wealthy heiress, Lady Diana de Vere, a beauty 
 included as I have already observed in the 
 Kneller collection at Hampton Court. He 
 died intestate in I/26. 2 His widow survived 
 
 1 Letter from Atterbury, dated Covent Garden, Dec. I, 1687. 
 Nichols's Atterbury, i. I. 
 
 2 To be let or sold. A House in old Bond Street, Piccadilly, 
 of four rooms on a floor with closets, good cellar, and all other 
 conveniences. Being the House in which the late Duke of St. 
 Albans lived. Inquire at the said House. London Gazette, June 
 27, 1727. P. C.
 
 202 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 till 1742. The title still exists and has been 
 in our own time rather conspicuously before 
 the public from the enormous wealth of the 
 late Harriet, Duchess of St. Albans, widow of 
 Coutts the banker, but originally known, and 
 favourably too, upon the comic boards. Not 
 unlike in many points were Eleanor Gwyn and 
 Harriet Mellon. The fathers of both were in 
 the army, and both never knew what it was to 
 have a father. Both rose by the stage, both 
 had wealthy admirers and both were charitable 
 and generous. Here, however, the parallel 
 ceases. Harriet was no wit, nor, with all 
 respect for Mr. Coutts's taste, can we well 
 believe that she had ever been a beauty. 
 
 There are many portraits of Nell Gwyn 
 few heads of her time make a more profitable 
 traffic among dealers. Yet very few are genuine. 
 She sat to Lely, to Cooper, and to Gascar. An 
 c unfinished ' portrait of her was sold at Sir 
 Peter Lelys sale to Hugh May, for z$. 1 
 No. 306 of King James ii.'s pictures was 
 ' Madam Gwyn's picture, naked, with a Cupid,' 
 done by Lely, and concealed by a < sliding 
 
 1 Accounts of Roger North, the executor of Lely. Addit. MS. 
 in Brit. Mus. 16,174.
 
 HER PORTRAITS, 203 
 
 piece/ a copy by Danckers of the Countess of 
 Dorset, by Van Dyck. 1 Among the pictures 
 ' of Mr. Lely's doing ' which Mrs. Beale, the 
 painter, saw at Bap. May's lodgings at White- 
 hall, in April 1677, was f Mrs. Gwyn, with a 
 lamb, half-length.' 2 * Some years since,' says 
 Tom Davies, writing in 1784, 'I saw at Mr. 
 Berenger's house in the Mews a picture of Nell 
 Gwyn, said to have been drawn by Sir Peter 
 Lely ; she appeared to have been extremely 
 attractive.' 3 
 
 With the single exception of a too grave and 
 thoughtful picture in the Lely room at Hamp- 
 ton Court, there is not a single picture of Nelly 
 in any of the royal collections. When Queen 
 Charlotte was asked whether she recollected a 
 famous picture of Nell Gwyn, known to have 
 existed in the Windsor gallery, and which Her 
 Majesty herself was suspected of having re- 
 moved, she replied at once f that most assuredly 
 since she had resided at Windsor there had been 
 no Nell Gwyn there.' 4 
 
 1 Harl. MS. 1890 ; compare Wai pole, edit. Dallaway, iii. 58. 
 There is a unique print of this in the Burney Collection in the 
 British Museum. 2 Walpole by Dallaway, iii. 140. 
 
 3 Davies's Dramatic Miscellanies, iii. 269. 
 
 4 Mrs. Jameson's Preface to Beauties oj the Court of King 
 Charles IL
 
 204 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 A full-length portrait of her, in a yellow and 
 blue dress, and black-brown hair, fetched at the 
 Stowe sale 100 guineas, and has been engraved. 
 At Goodwood is a full-length of her, neither 
 clever nor like. Other portraits of her are to 
 be seen at Elvaston (Lord Harrington's) ; at 
 Althorp (Lord Spencer's) ; at Welbeck (the 
 Duke of Portland's), in water colours, with her 
 two children, at Sudbury (Lord Vernon's); and 
 at Oakley Grove, Cirencester (Lord Bathurst's). 
 That curious inquirer, Sir William Musgrave, 
 had seen portraits of her at Smeaton and at Lord 
 Portmore's at Weybridge. At the Garrick 
 Club is a namby-pamby and pretty small por- 
 trait called Nell Gwyn, but surely not Nelly. 
 Marshall Grosvener had the fine portrait with 
 the lamb, once belonging to the St. Albans 
 family, and since so finely engraved for Mrs. 
 Jameson's Beauties. f The turn of the neck/ 
 says Mrs. Jameson, ' and the air of the head, 
 are full of grace and character, and the whole 
 picture, though a little injured by time, is 
 exquisitely painted.' A duplicate of this is at 
 Goodrich Court one of the acquisitions of Sir 
 Samuel Meyrick the petticoat is of a pink or 
 carmine colour. The portrait at Drayton

 
 HER PORTRAITS. 205 
 
 Manor, bought by the late Sir Robert Peel, is 
 also the same as the Grosvenor picture, except 
 that the lamb is omitted. 1 At Mr. Bernal's, in 
 Eaton Square, is a clever copy of the time, after 
 Lely ; and among the miniatures of the Duke 
 of Buccleuch is her head by Cooper, for which 
 it is said the Exchequer papers record the price 
 paid to that painter. 
 
 Of the early engravings from her portraits, 
 the best are by Gerard Valck, the brother-in- 
 law of Blooteling. Valck was a contemporary 
 of Nell Gwyn, and fine impressions of his Lely 
 engraving realise high prices ; but the print of 
 her which collectors are most curious about is 
 that after Gascar, evidently engraved abroad, 
 it is thought by Masson in which she is repre- 
 sented covered by the famous laced chemise, 
 lying on a bed of roses, from which her two 
 children, as Cupids, are withdrawing the cur- 
 tains King Charles u. in the distance. She 
 wears as well the famous Rupert necklace of 
 pearls. The Stowe impression the last sold 
 brought eight guineas. The Burney copy, 
 now in the British Museum, cost Dr. Burney at 
 Sir Egerton Brydges' sale 39, i8s. In all 
 
 1 Mrs. Jameson's Private Picture Galleries, p. 375.
 
 206 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 her pictures we have what Ben Jonson so much 
 admires 
 
 Hair loosely flowing, robes as free. 
 
 But few the Lely with the lamb excepted 
 render justice to those charms of face and figure 
 which her contemporaries loved to admire, and 
 which Lely alone had the skill to transfer even 
 in part to canvas. 1 
 
 Relics of Nelly are of rare occurrence. A 
 warming-pan said to have been in her possession 
 with, for motto, the slightly modified text, 
 c Fear God and serve the King,' was in exist- 
 ence at the close of the last century. A 
 looking-glass of great elegance of form, and 
 with a handsomely carved frame with figures, 
 lately, if not still, in the collection of Sir Page 
 Dicks of Port Hall, is said, on good authority, 
 to have belonged to her. The bills of her 
 household and other expenses, from which I 
 have derived some particulars, are characteristic 
 memorials of her in another way. Till the 
 recent sale of the mutilated Exchequer papers 
 
 1 For her bust or effigy at Bagnigge Wells, see Waldron's ed. of 
 Downes, p. 16, and Gent. Mag. for June 1835, p. 562. I do not 
 believe in the straight-armed portrait engraved by Van Bleeck and 
 now in Mr. Bernal's possession.
 
 HER SIGNATURE. 207 
 
 her autograph was not known to exist. She 
 could not sign her name, and was content 
 with an E. G. many with 
 better opportunities could 
 do no more dotted at the 
 commencement and termin- 
 ation of each letter, as if she 
 was at a loss where to begin and how to leave 
 off. Not more than ten or twelve of her 
 signatures are known, and these when they have 
 occurred for sale have sold at prices varying 
 from two guineas and a half to three guineas 
 each. 
 
 On looking back at what I have written of 
 this Story, I see little to omit or add unless 
 I wander into the satires of the time, and poison 
 my pages with the gross libels of an age of 
 lampoons. Not to have occasioned one satire, 
 or even more, would have been to say little 
 for the reputation (of any kind) of a lady 
 who lived within the atmosphere of Whitehall. 
 Like her 
 
 Who missed her name in a lampoon, 
 And sigh'd to find herself decay'd so soon 
 
 Nelly did not escape, and, though the subject 
 of some very gross satires, she had this con-
 
 2 o8 THE STOR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 solation, if she heeded them at all, that there 
 were others who fared still worse, and perhaps 
 deserved better. 1 Yet it would be wrong to 
 close any sketch of her life without mentioning 
 the present of the large Bible which she made 
 to Oliver Cromwell's porter, when a prisoner 
 in Bedlam, often referred to by the writers of 
 her age ; 2 her paying the debt of a worthy 
 clergyman whom, as she was going through the 
 City, she saw bailiffs hurrying to prison ; or her 
 present to Pat O'Bryan, so characteristically 
 related in the following quotation : 
 
 Afterwards Pat O'Bryan, scorning to rob on foot, he 
 would become an absolute highway-man, by robbing on 
 horseback. The first prey he met was Nell Gwyn ; and 
 stopping her coach on the road to Winchester, quoth he, 
 ' Madam, I am, by my salvashion, a fery good shentleman, 
 and near relation to his Majesty's Crash, the Duke of 
 Ormond ; but being in want of money, and knowing you to 
 
 be a sharitable w , I hope you will give me shomething 
 
 after I Ve took all you have away.' Honest Nell, seeing 
 the simplicity of the fellow, and laughing heartily at his 
 bull, gave him ten guineas, with which Teague rid away, 
 without doing any further damage. 3 
 
 1 Wycherly has ' A Song : upon a vain foolish Coxcomb, who 
 was banish'd the Court, for owning a witty Libel written by 
 another.' Poems, 1704, p. 319. 
 
 2 Granger, iv. 210 and 1 88. ' Like Oliver's porter, but not 
 so devout,' is a line in D'Urfey's Prologue to Sir Barnaby Whigg, 
 1681. 
 
 8 Capt. Alexander Smith's Lives of Highwaymen (London, 
 1719), i. 260.
 
 ANECDOTES. 209 
 
 Anecdotes of this sort, though perhaps only 
 coloured with truth, are not to be made light 
 of by biographers. They show the general 
 appreciation at the time of the individuals to 
 whom they relate. There is not a story told 
 of Nelly in the commonest chap-book or jest- 
 book, published while her memory was yet 
 fresh among the children to whose fathers and 
 mothers she was known, but what evinces either 
 harmless humour or a sympathising heart. No 
 wonder, then, that there is still an odd fascina- 
 tion about her name, and that Granger's sen- 
 tence, c Whatever she did became her ' is at 
 least as worthy of credit as Burnet's in calling 
 her c the indiscreetest and wildest creature that 
 ever was in a court.' 1 
 
 The true apology for this Story and for Nell 
 Gwyn is to be found in Gibber's defence of his 
 own conduct, where, when speaking of Nelly, 
 he observes : c If the common fame of her may 
 be believed, which in my memory was not 
 doubted, she had less to be laid to her charge 
 than any other of those ladies who were in the 
 same state of preferment. She never meddled 
 in matters of any serious moment, or was the 
 
 1 Bumet, i. 457, ed. 1823. 
 O
 
 zio THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 tool of working politicians. Never broke into 
 those amorous infidelities which others are 
 accused of ; but was as visibly distinguished by 
 her particular personal inclination for the King 
 as her rivals were by their titles and grandeur/ l 
 Another, if another is wanting, may be found 
 in a far graver author, Sir Thomas More. c I 
 doubt not,' says that great and good man, 
 c that some shall think this woman (he is writing 
 of Jane Shore) too slight a thing to be written 
 of and set among the remembrances of great 
 matters ; but meseemeth,' he adds, f the chance 
 worthy to be remembered for, where the King 
 took displeasure she would mitigate and appease 
 his mind ; where men were out of favour she 
 would bring them in his grace ; for many that 
 had highly offended she obtained pardon ; of 
 great forfeitures she gat men remission ; and, 
 finally, in many weighty suits she stood more 
 in great stead.' Wise and virtuous Thomas 
 More, pious and manly Thomas Tenison, 
 pretty and witty and surely with much that 
 was good in her ELEANOR GwYN. 2 
 
 1 Gibber's Apology, p. 450, ed. 1 740. 
 
 2 I have great pleasure in extracting the following defence of 
 Nelly from the preface to Douglas Jerrold's drama of Nell Gwyn, 
 or The Prologue, a capitally constructed piece, and one true
 
 JERROLHS OPINION OF HER. 2 1 1 
 
 throughout to its heroine and the manners of the age in which 
 Nelly lived : ' Whilst we may safely reject as unfounded gossip 
 many of the stories associated with the name of Nell Gwyn, we 
 cannot refuse belief to the various proofs of kind-heartedness, 
 liberality, and taking into consideration her subsequent power 
 to do harm absolute goodness of a woman mingling (if we may 
 believe a passage in Pepys) from her earliest years in the most 
 depraved scenes of a most dissolute age. The life of Nell Gwyn, 
 from the time of her connection with Charles n. to that of her 
 death, proved that error had been forced upon her by circum- 
 stances, rather than indulged from choice. It was under this 
 impression that the present little comedy was undertaken : under 
 this conviction an attempt has been made to show some glimpses 
 of the "silver lining" of a character, to whose influence over an 
 unprincipled voluptuary we owe a national asylum for veteran 
 soldiers, and whose brightness shines with the most amiable 
 lustre in many actions of her life, and in the last disposal of 
 her worldly effects.' 
 
 [The original edition contains two appendixes, one 'on the 
 chronology of the English portion of De Grammont's Memoirs,' 
 and the other, ' some account of Hamilton, his brothers and sisters.' 
 These have really nothing to do with Nell Gwyn, and have 
 been omitted. They are, however, intrinsically valuable, and 
 will be incorporated in the edition of the Memoirs of De Grammont 
 to be published in this series. ED.]
 
 INDEX
 
 INDEX 
 
 ACTORS and Actresses, social position of, 49. 
 Actresses, their moral character not high, 48, 49. 
 Audley End, the Queen's frolic at, 151. 
 Avington, Nell Gwyn at, 180. 
 
 BARRY (Mrs.), actress at the Duke's House, 19. 
 
 Basset, the game of, 160. 
 
 Beauclerk (Lord James), 150; his death, 175. 
 
 Beauclerk (Lord Sidney), lix. 
 
 Beaux of the Restoration period, 43. 
 
 Behn's (Aphra) dedication to Nell Gwyn, 173. 
 
 Berkshire House, St. James's, 137. 
 
 Bestwood Park, settled upon Nell Gwyn, 189. 
 
 Betterton (Mrs.), actress at the Duke's House, 18, 31 ; her high 
 
 moral character, 48. 
 
 Betterton (Thomas), actor at the Duke's House, 17. 
 Bird (Theophilus), actor at the King's Theatre, 14. 
 Birkenhead (Sir John), 133. 
 
 Bossen's (F. van) Royall Cedar quoted, 184 (note). 
 Boutall (Mrs.), actress at the King's Theatre, 14, 17. 
 Bowman, the actor, 147 ; sings Shirley's song, 186. 
 Bracegirdle (Mrs.), and her rebuke to the Earl of Burlington, 50. 
 Buckhurst (Lord). See Dorset. 
 Buckingham (Sheffield, Duke of), his opinion on Charles II. 's 
 
 death, 183. 
 Buckingham (Villiers, Duke of), his quarrel with the Countess of 
 
 Castlemaine, 71. 
 
 Burford (Earl of), created Duke of St. Albans, 175. 
 Burnet (Bishop), writes to Charles II. on the death of Mrs. Roberts, 
 
 169, 193. 
 
 Burt (Nicholas), actor at the King's Theatre, 14, 15. 
 Busby (Dr.) and Charles n., in. 
 
 215
 
 2 1 6 THE STOJR Y OF NELL G WYN. 
 
 CALLOW, Nell Gwyn's chairman, 166. 
 
 Cartwright (William), actor at the King's Theatre, 14, 15. 
 
 Cassells (Mrs.), Nell Gwyn's sister, xxiv, 166. 
 
 Castlemaine (Countess of). See Cleveland (Duchess of}. 
 
 Cavendish (Lord), pays his court to Nell Gwyn, 161. 
 
 Charles II. , joy at his Restoration, 8 ; his nickname of Rowley, 9, 
 no; frequent attendant at the theatres, n ; in love with Moll 
 Davis, 71 ; makes Nell Gwyn one of his mistresses, 77, 81 ; his 
 personal character, 83-106; his personal appearance, 84; his 
 own opinion of Riley's portrait of him, 84, 117 ; his views on 
 religion, 85 ; his unthinkingness, 86 ; his love of sauntering, 86 ; 
 affection for his children, 87 ; treatment of his wife, 87 : steadi- 
 ness to his brother, 87 ; mixed freely with his people, 89 ; love 
 of dogs, 90, 126 ; easily imposed upon, 92 ; interest in scientific 
 pursuits, 92 ; love of poetry and poets, 93 ; liking for the stage, 
 94 ; passion for music, 95 ; song written by him, 96 ; understood 
 foreign affairs, 97 ; love of wine, 98 ; care of his health, 98 ; a 
 fast walker, 98 ; his talk, 99 ; Dryden's character of the King, 
 IOO ; admirable teller of a story, 101 ; must have his laugh, 103 ; 
 misuse of money, 104 ; fond of fishing, 104 ; feeding his ducks, 
 105 ; Sayings of Charles //., 107-127 ; reply to Lord Rochester's 
 satirical epitaph, 107 ; his drinking with Lord Mayor Vyner, 
 1 08 ; reply to Penn the Quaker, III; permits Busby to wear 
 his hat, in; his oaths, 112; did not desert his friends, 112; 
 in favour of extempore preaching, 113 ; replies to Bishop Cosin 
 and Sir Christopher Wren, 114; the King and the pickpocket, 
 115 ; remark on Sir Matthew Hale, 116 ; the loquacious barber, 
 118; Charles's opinion of Bishop Woolley, 119; of South and 
 Barrow, 119; said he was weary of travelling, 120; meeting 
 with James, Duke of York, by Constitution Hill, 121 ; character 
 of Godolphin, 122 ; persistence in favour of the marriage of 
 William of Orange to his niece, 123 ; his opinion of Sir John 
 Warner, 124 ; has no money at Nell Gwyn's concert, 147 ; his 
 deathbed, 124, 182; doubt as to his being poisoned, 182; his mis- 
 tresses, lii, 91, 169; his children, 153; named Fitzroy, 156 (note). 
 
 Charlotte (Queen), would have no portrait of Nell Gwyn at 
 Windsor, 203. 
 
 Chelsea Hospital, Nell Gwyn said to have suggested its foundation, 
 170. 
 
 Chesterfield (Philip, Earl of), his courtesy, 125 ; his opinion on 
 Charles ll.'s death, 183.
 
 INDEX. 217 
 
 Cholmley, kinsman of Nell Gwyn, 5. 
 
 Citizens hated by the players, 58. 
 
 Clayton (Sir Robert), 189. 
 
 Cleveland (Duchess of), Ivi, 133, 137, 138; her jealousy of Moll 
 
 Davis, 71 ; her quarrel with the Duke of Buckingham, 71 ; her 
 
 daughter Barbara, 153. 
 
 Clun (Walter), actor at the King's Theatre, 14. 
 Coal Yard in Drury Lane, now Goldsmith Street, 2, 7. 
 Corey (Mrs.), actress at the King's Theatre, 14, 16; imitates 
 
 Lady Harvey on the stage, 134. 
 Coventry (Sir John) and his punishment, 134. 
 Coventry (Sir William), saves himself from being brought into 
 
 The Rehearsal by his courage, 135- 
 
 Crowne's ' Sir Courtly Nice,' suggested by Charles n., 94. 
 Cunningham (Sir Alexander), xi (note). 
 Cunningham (Colonel Francis), xi (note). 
 Cunningham (Captain Joseph), xi (note). 
 Cunningham (Peter), his life at Christ's Hospital, xii ; introduced 
 
 into the Audit Office by Sir Robert Peel, xii ; acts in Lord 
 
 Lytton's play Not so Bad as we Seem, xv ; his edition of Johnson's 
 
 Lives of the Poets, xvi ; his edition of Walpole's Letters, xvi ; 
 
 retires from the Civil Service, xviii. 
 
 DAVENANT (Sir William), manager of the Duke's Theatre, 12. 
 
 Davenport (Mrs.), actress at the Duke's House, 18, 31. 
 
 Davis (Moll), actress at the Duke's House and mistress of Charles II., 
 18, 31, 48; out of favour, 138; in the part of Celania, 66; 
 Nell Gwyn's mimicry of her, 69 ; her portrait, 70 ; said to be 
 the daughter of Colonel Howard, 70 ; her lodgings, 70-71 ; her 
 daughter, Mary Tudor, 153- 
 
 Dongan or Duncan, who introduced Nell Gwyn to the stage, 32. 
 
 Dorset (Earl of), the best bred man of his age, 52 ; takes Nell 
 G-wyn to Epsom, 54 ; answer to Charles II., 125. 
 
 Downes, Roscius Anglicanus quoted, 67. 
 
 Drury Lane, Nell Gwyn's lodging in, 43. 
 
 Dryden, opinion of Charles II., 100 ; not sufficiently paid by 
 the King to take his hint as to writing an epic, 103 ; Con- 
 quest of Granada, Nell Gwyn's part Almahide, 79; poem, 
 ' The Medal,' suggested by Charles n., 94 ; Secret Love ; or, the 
 Maiden Queen, Nell Gwyn's great success in the character of 
 Florimel, 39.
 
 2i8 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 Buffet's dedication to Nell Gwyn, 172. 
 
 Dugdale's (Sir William) queries to the King as to names of Charles's 
 
 children, 155 (note). 
 
 Duke's Theatre, opened, 13 ; company, 17. 
 Dungan, Duncan, or Dongan, who introduced Nell Gwyn to the 
 
 stage, 32. 
 D'Urfey's (Tom) songs, 148. 
 
 EPSOM in the reign of Charles n., 55. 
 Etherege (Sir George), his satire against Nell Gwyn, 192. 
 Evelyn's account of a Sunday at Whitehall, 181 ; his Diary 
 quoted, xlviii, 59, 90, 130, 135, 137, 181, 182, 191. 
 
 FEMALE characters in plays acted by women for the first time, II, 
 
 14. 
 
 Fenton (Lavinia), becomes Duchess of Bolton, 51. 
 Forster (Mrs. Rose), Nell Gwyn's sister, xxiv, 166. 
 Fox (Sir Stephen), 189, 198 (note). 
 
 GASCOIGN (Sir Bernard), 151. 
 
 Godolphin (Lord), Charles II. 's character of him, 122. 
 
 Goodman (Cardell), actor at the King's Theatre, 14. 
 
 Grafton (Duke of), his marriage, 153. 
 
 Graham (Colonel Richard), xliv, 188. 
 
 Greene (Lady), xlii. 
 
 Guilford's (Lord Keeper) opinion of Charles II., 97. 
 
 Gwyn (Mrs. Anne), an actress often confounded with Nell Gwyn, 
 82 (note). 
 
 Gwyn (David), suggested to be father of Nell, 5 (note). 
 
 Gwyn (Eleanor), sen., drowned near the Neat Houses, xxii, 6; 
 buried in the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 163 ; ill- 
 natured verses on her, xxii, 163. 
 
 Gwyn (Nell), her birth and birthplace, xxi, 3 ; her horoscope, 4 ; her 
 parents, xxii, 5, 162 ; her sister, Rose, xxiv, 166; her early life, 6; 
 becomes an orange-girl, 7 ; meeting with Samuel Pepys, 25, 29 ; 
 introduced to the stage by Duncan, Dungan, or Dongan, 32 ; first 
 appearance, xxv ; acts the character of Lady Wealthy, 34 ; takes 
 the character of Cydaria, 36 (note) ; Enanthe or Celia, 37 ; 
 Florimel, 38 ; epilogues, xxvi ; her connection with Hart, 42 ; 
 her lodging in Drury Lane, 43 ; becomes the mistress of Lord 
 Buckhurst, xxviii, 48 ; goes to Epsom with him, 54, 57 ;
 
 INDEX. 219 
 
 resumes her engagement at the King's Theatre, 61 ; her dislike 
 of serious parts, 63; Mirida in All Mistaken; or, the Mad 
 Couple, 63 ; mimicry of Moll Davis, 69 ; her supposed acting 
 of the part of Alice Piers, 75 ; is given up by Lord Buckhurst 
 and becomes mistress of the King, xxviii, xxxii, 76 ; takes the 
 part of Almahide in The Conquest of Granada, 78 ; her speak- 
 ing of the prologue, xxx, 79 ; the King particularly taken with 
 her in this part, 81 ; Almahide her last character on the stage, 
 82 ; birth of her son, Charles Beauclerk, 128 ; her houses, xxxiv, 
 1 58 ; removes from Lincoln's Inn Fields to north side of Pall 
 Mall, 131 ; removes to south side, 132 ; her talk with Charles II. 
 n St. James's Park, xxxvi, 136 ; loved by the people because 
 she was English, 139 ; in mourning for the Cham of Tartary, 
 145 ; she calls Charles II. her Charles III., 146 ; concert at her 
 home, 147 ; birth of her second child, 150; has a basset-table, 
 160 ; made a Lady of the Privy Chamber, liii ; dedication of 
 books to her, 172 ; bill for sedan chair hire, 165 ; her bedstead, 
 166 ; her letters, xl, 176 ; her visit to Winchester, and Dr. Ken's 
 refusal to surrender his prebendal house to her, 179 ; her annuity, 
 xlvi ; her generosity, xlix, 197 ; intercedes with Charles II. for 
 the Duke of Monmouth, xlix ; quarrels with the Duchess of Ports- 
 mouth, xl ; her present of a Bible to Oliver Cromwell's porter, 
 xlix, 208 ; buys Peg Hughes's pearl necklace, 187 ; to have 
 been created Countess of Greenwich, 184 ; outlawed for debt, 
 187 ; ill-founded report that she had become a Roman Catholic, 
 xlvii ; firm in her Protestantism, 187, 190 ; grief for the loss of 
 Charles II., 185 ; James II. kind to her, 188 ; her will, 193 ; 
 codicil, 195 ; her death, 196 ; buried in the church of St. 
 Martin-in-the-Fields, 197 ; her funeral sermon, 199 ; her 
 portraits, li, 144, 202 ; her warming-pan, 206 ; her signature, 
 207. 
 Gwyn (Captain Thomas), supposed father of Nell, 5, 184 (note). 
 
 HAINES (Joe), actor at the King's Theatre, 14. 
 
 Hale (Sir Matthew), as a judge, 116. 
 
 Harrell (Christian), M.D., and his bill for attending Nell's death- 
 bed, 192 (note). 
 
 Harris (Henry), actor at the Duke's House, and friend of Pepys, 
 xliii, 17 (note), 29 (note). 
 
 Hart (Charles), actor at the King's Theatre, 14. 
 
 Harvey (Lady), xliv.
 
 220 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 
 Henrietta Maria, once only at the Blackfriars Theatre, n. 
 
 Hereford, supposed birthplace of Nell Gwyn, 3. 
 
 Holden (Mrs.), actress at the Duke's House, 18. 
 
 Holford (Mrs.), no. 
 
 Howard (Hon. Edward), his quarrel with Lacy, the actor, 49. 
 
 Howard (Hon. James), his English Monsieur, extracts from, 35. 
 
 Hughes (Peg), actress at the King's Theatre, 14, 16 ; supposed to 
 be the first woman who acted on the English stage after the 
 Restoration, 14 (note}, her pearl necklace sold to Nell Gwyn, 
 
 !8 7 . 
 
 Hyde (Laurence), afterwards Earl of Rochester, xli. 
 
 IRELAND (Dr. John), his assertion that Nell Gwyn was born at 
 Oxford, 3 (note}. 
 
 JAM ES, Duke of York, afterwards James 1 1. , meeting with Charles IT. 
 near Constitution Hill, 121 ; his first wife dies, 149 ; marries his 
 second wife, 154 ; kind to Nell Gwyn when he became king, 188. 
 
 Jennings (La Belle), 152. 
 
 Jennings (Madam), Nell's letter to her, 176. 
 
 Jennings (Mrs.), actress at the Duke's House, 18. 
 
 Jerrold's (Douglas) play Nell Gwynne, xxxi, 210 (note). 
 
 Jersey (ist Earl of), married to Barbara Chiffinch, 200. 
 
 Jigs, Nell Gwyn dances, 65 (note). 
 
 Johnson (Mrs.), actress at the Duke's House, 18. 
 
 Jones (Lady Elizabeth), Ix. 
 
 KATHERINE of Braganza (Queen), her frolic near Audley End, 151. 
 Ken's (Bishop) refusal to surrender his prebendal house to Nell 
 
 Gwyn, 179. 
 
 Killigrew (Thomas), manager of the King's Theatre, 12. 
 King's Theatre, opened, 12 ; company, 13. 
 Knep or Knipp (Mrs.), actress at the King's Theatre, 14, 16, 38, 
 
 So. 
 
 Knight (Mrs. ), the singer, xlii. 
 Kynaston (Edward), actor at the King's Theatre, 14, 15 ; mimics 
 
 Sir Charles Sedley and is thrashed, 135. 
 
 LACY (John), actor at the King's Theatre, 14, 15 ; his quarrel with 
 the Hon. Edward Howard, 48 ; abuses the court, 135. 
 
 Lansdowne's (Granville, Lord) opinion that Charles ii.'s death 
 was caused by his own quackery, 183 (note). 
 
 Lauderdale House, Highgate, xxxviii.
 
 INDEX. 221 
 
 Leigh (Anthony), actor at the Duke's House, 19. 
 
 Lely (Sir Peter), 186. 
 
 Lewknor's Lane, now Charles Street, 7. 
 
 Long (Mrs.), actress at the Duke's House, 18 
 
 Lower (Richard), M. D., Nell Gwyn's medical attendant, 191. 
 
 MARSHALL (Ann and Rebecca), actresses at the King's Theatre, 
 14, 16 ; not daughters of Stephen Marshall, 6 (note), 31 (note). 
 
 Marvell (Andrew), quoted, liii. 
 
 Masks used by ladies at the play, 21. 
 
 Maypole in the Strand, 46. 
 
 Mazarin (Duchess of), wins at basset, 160. 
 
 Medbourne (Matthew), actor at the Duke's House, 18. 
 
 Mellington (Sir Thomas), his opinion on Charles ii.'s death, 183. 
 
 Mellon (Harriet), compared with Nell Gwyn, 202. 
 
 Milton's Paradise Lost, 59. 
 
 Miss, title just used for an unmarried actress, 16. 
 
 Mistress, title of actresses even when single, 16. 
 
 Mohun (Michael), actor at the King's Theatre, 14. 
 
 Monmouth (Duke of), xlix ; makes his court to Nell Gwyn, 161 > 
 Nell intercedes for him with Charles II., xlix. 
 
 Murphy (Arthur), entered at Lincoln's Inn through the exertions 
 of Lord Mansfield, 49. 
 
 Myddelton (Mrs.), lix. 
 
 NOKES (James), actor at the Duke's House, 17 ; ridicules the 
 
 French in the character of Sir Arthur Addle, 79, 130. 
 Norfolk (Duchess of), 177, 178. 
 Norris (Henry), styled 'Jubilee Dicky,' 18 (note). 
 Norris (Mrs.), actress at the Duke's House, 18. 
 
 O'BRYAN (Pat), highwayman, his adventure with Nell Gwyn, 208. 
 Oldfield (Mrs.), left the Theatre in her chair, 51. 
 Oldys (William), a biographer of Nell Gwyn, 3. 
 Orange-girls at the theatres, 7, 22, 23. 
 Orange Moll, 22. 
 
 Orleans (Henrietta, Duchess of), her death, 130-131. 
 Orrery's (Lord) Black Prince, 75. 
 Otway (Thomas), xlvii, 129 ; his death, 188. 
 Oughtred (William), died of joy on hearing of the Restoration, 9. 
 Oxford, supposed by Dr. John Ireland to be the birthplace of Nell 
 Gwyn, 3 (note).
 
 2 2 2 THE STOR Y OF NELL G W YN. 
 
 PALL MALL, gardens in, xxxvi, 137. 
 
 Pall Mall Place, 45 (note}. 
 
 Penn (William) and Charles II., in. 
 
 Pepys (Samuel), quotations from his Diary, xxv, 6, 23, 26, 30, 36, 
 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 47, 5, 5 8 , 6l > 73, 76, 9, 92, 100, 122, 134, 
 135 ; his introduction to Nell Gwyn, 25 ; his portrait by Hales, 
 26 ; he sees Nell Gwyn as Lady Wealthy, 36 ; sees her at her 
 lodging in Drury Lane, 47 ; his anecdote of Moll Davis, 73. 
 
 Peterborough (Earl of), mistaken for the Duke of Marlborough, 
 141. 
 
 Portsmouth (Duchess of), her arrival in England, 129 ; becomes 
 mistress of the King, 131 ; hated by the people as the Popish 
 mistress, 139 ; her portrait, 144 ; her quarrels with Nell Gwyn, 
 Ix, 141 ; her relationship to the Prince de Rohan, 145 ; her 
 opinion of Nell Gwyn, 147 ; her statement that Charles II. was 
 poisoned, 183 ; her grief for the loss of Charles II., 185. 
 
 Potvin, an upholsterer, 1 78. 
 
 QUROUAILLE (Louise Renee de Penencourt de). See Portsmouth 
 
 (Duchess of). 
 Quin (Mrs. Anne), an actress often confounded with Nell Gwyn, 
 
 82 (note). 
 
 RESTORATION of the Monarchy, joy at, 8. 
 
 Richmond (Charles, Duke of), son of Charles n., 131. 
 
 Richmond (La Belle Stuart, Duchess of), Charles II. 's love for 
 
 her, lix, 72, 91, IOO ; loses her husband, 153. 
 Roberts (Mrs.), one of Charles ii.'s mistresses, her death, 169. 
 Robinson (' Perdita '), her grave in Old Windsor Churchyard, 181. 
 Rochester (John Wilmot, Earl of), xliii ; his allusions to Nell 
 
 Gwyn, 7 ; satirical epitaph on Charles II., 107. 
 Rochester (Laurence Hyde, Earl of), xli. 
 Rohan (Chevalier de), 145 (note). 
 Rowley, nickname of Charles n., 9. 
 
 ST. ALBANS (Duke of), Nell Gwyn's son, born, 128 ; his honours, 
 176, 201 ; his house in Old Bond Street, 201 (note). 
 
 St. Albans (First Duchess of), 155, 201. 
 
 St. Albans (Harriet, Duchess of), 202. 
 
 St. Mardn's-in-the-Fields, Mrs. Gwyn, sen., buried in the church, 
 163 ; Nell Gwyn buried there, 197. 
 
 \
 
 INDEX. 223 
 
 Sancroft (Dr.), Charles II. 's reply to, 123. 
 
 Sandford (Samuel), actor at the Duke's House, 17. 
 
 Saunderson (Mary), afterwards Mrs. Betterton, actress at the 
 
 Duke's House, 18, 31. 
 Savile (Henry), xliii. 
 Savile (Jeremiah), musical composer, 9. 
 Scenery at the theatres, 19. 
 Scrope (Sir Carr), xlii, 52 (note). 
 Sevigne (Madame de), her account of the jealousies of Nell Gwyn 
 
 and the Duchess of Portsmouth, 143. 
 
 Shadwell (Thomas), xliii ; the True Blue Protestant Poet, 140. 
 Shaftesbury (Earl of), called by Charles II. the greatest rogue in 
 
 England, 125. 
 
 Shanke (John), actor at the Blackfriars Theatre, 15 (note). 
 Sharpe (Charles Kirkpatrick), 184 (note). 
 Shatterell (Robert), actor at the King's Theatre, 14, 15. 
 Sheppard (Sir Fleetwood), tutor to Charles Beauclerk, Nell Gwyn's 
 
 son, 129. 
 
 Sheridan excluded from Brooks's by Selwyn, 49. 
 Shirley's song sung by Bowman, 186. 
 Shrewsbury (Countess of), 180. 
 Sign of ' Nell Gwynne,' 171. 
 Smith (William), actor at the Duke's House, 17. 
 South (Dr.), Charles ii.'s opinion of him, 119. 
 Stage, revival of the, at the Restoration, 10 ; licence of the, 134. 
 Steinman's (G. S. ) Althorp Memoirs quoted, liii. 
 Stillingfleet's sermons before Charles II., 113. 
 Strand, Nell Gwyn's supposed house in, 159. 
 Strong- water = spirits, 6. 
 
 Stuart (La Belle). See Richmond (Duchess of). 
 Sussex (Thomas, Earl of), 149. 
 Symcott (Margaret), said to be Nell Gwyn's real name, 5 (note). 
 
 TENISON (Archbishop), his acquaintance with Nell Gwyn, 191 ; 
 his funeral sermon on Nell Gwyn, i, 199; forbids in his own 
 will the preaching a funeral sermon on his death, 200. 
 
 Theatres, prices of admission, 21 ; amusements at the, 74. 
 
 UNDERBILL (Cave), actor at the Duke's House, 17. 
 Uphill (Mrs.), actress at the King's Theatre, 14, 16. 
 Urquhart, died of laughter on hearing of the Restoration, 9.
 
 224 THE STORY OF NELL GWYN. 
 VYNER (Sir Robert) and Charles n., 108. 
 
 WALPOLE'S (Horace) appreciation of Nell's letter, 177. 
 
 Walter (Lucy), mother of the Duke of Monmouth, liii, 162. 
 
 Warner (Sir John), Charles n.'s opinion of him, 124. 
 
 Whitcombe's dedication to Nell Gwyn, 172. 
 
 William of Orange, Charles II. eager for his marriage to the 
 
 Princess Mary, 123. 
 Williams (Lady), 177, 178. 
 
 Wintershall (William), actor at the King's Theatre, 14, 15. 
 Woolley (Bishop of Clonfert), Charles II. 's opinion of him, 119. 
 Wren (Sir Christopher) and Charles n., 114. 
 
 Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty, 
 at the Edinburgh University Press.
 
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