[The late Sir H. Nicolas compiled an account of the publications
of the Record Commission, which was published in his _Notitia
Historica_, and also in an 8vo. vol, and is easily obtainable.
There is also a series of articles in the _Gentleman's Magazine_
for 1834, which contains a good deal of information upon the
subject, with a classified list of the publications. The
principal unpublished records are in the Tower and the Rolls'
Chapel; any record may be inspected or copied at those places,
or in any other Record Office, upon payment of a fee of one
shilling.]
Katherine Pegge.
Sir,--Katherine Pegge, one of the mistresses of Charles II., was the
daughter of Thomas Pegge, of Yeldersley, near Ashborne in Derbyshire,
Esq., where the family had been settled for several generations, and
where Mr. William Pegge, the last of the elder branch, died without
issue in 1768. Another branch of this family was of Osmaston, in the
same neighbourhood, and of this {91} was Dr. Samuel Pegge, the learned
antiquary. They bore for arms:--Argent, a chevron between three piles,
sable. Crest:--A demi-sun issuing from a wreath or, the rays alternately
argent and sable.
It was during his exile that the King first met with the fair Katherine,
and in 1657 had a son by her, whom he called Charles Fitz-Charles,--not
Fitz-roy as Granger says. Fitz-Charles had a grant of the royal arms
with a baton sinistre, vairé; and in 1675 his Majesty created him Earl
of Plymouth, Viscount Totness, and Baron Dartmouth. He was bred to the
sea, and having been educated abroad,--most probably in Spain,--was
known by the name of Don Carlos. In 1678 the Earl married the Lady
Bridget Osborne, third daughter of Thomas Earl of Danby, and died of a
flux at the siege of Tangier in 1680, without issue.
Katherine Pegge, the Earl's mother, after her _liaison_ with the King,
married Sir Edward Greene, Bart., of Samford in Essex, and died without
issue by him in ----. From this marriage the King is sometimes said to
have had a mistress named Greene.
There was long preserved in the family a half-length portrait of the
Earl, in a robe de chamber, laced cravat, and flowing hair (with a ship
in the back-ground of the picture), by Sir Peter Lely; and also two of
his mother, Lady Greene: one a half length, with her infant son standing
by her side, the other a three-quarters,--both by Sir Peter Lely, or by
one of his pupils.
Both mother and son are said to have been eminently beautiful.