you my general confession), those insipid buffoons, were frequently
telling her some diverting stories, which passed pretty well with the
help of a few old threadbare jests, or some apish tricks in the recital,
which made her laugh heartily. As for myself, who know no stories, and
do not possess the talent of improving them by telling, if I did know
any, I was often greatly embarrassed when she desired me to tell her one:
'I do not know one, indeed,' said I, one day, when she was teazing me on
the subject. 'Invent one, then,' said she. 'That would be still more
difficult,' replied I; 'but if you will give me leave, madam, I will
relate to you a very extraordinary dream, which has, however, less
appearance of truth in it than dreams generally have.' This excited her
curiosity, which would brook no denial. I therefore began to tell her
that the most beautiful creature in the world, whom I loved to
distraction, paid me a visit in my sleep. I then drew her own portrait,
with a rapturous description of all her beauties; adding, that this
goddess, who came to visit me with the most favourable intentions, did
not counteract them by any unreasonable cruelty. This was not sufficient
to satisfy Miss Stewart's curiosity: I was obliged to relate every
particular circumstance of the kindness I experienced from this delicate
phantom; to which she was so very attentive, that she never once appeared
surprised or disconcerted at the luscious tale. On the contrary, she
made me repeat the description of the beauty, which I drew as near as
possible after her own person, and after such charms as I imagined of
beauties that were unknown to me.
"This is, in fact, the very thing that had almost deprived me of my
senses: she knew very well that she herself was the person I was
describing: we were alone, as you may imagine, when I told her this
story; and my eyes did their utmost to persuade her that it was herself
whom I drew. I perceived that she was not in the least offended at
knowing this; nor was her modesty in the least alarmed at the relation of
a fiction, which I might have concluded in a manner still less discreet,
if I had thought proper. This patient audience made me plunge headlong
into the ocean of flattering ideas that presented themselves to my
imagination. I then no longer thought of the king, nor how passionately
fond he was of her, nor of the dangers attendant upon such an engagement:
in short, I know not what the devil I was thinking of; but I am very
certain that, if you had not been thinking for me, I might have found my
ruin in the midst of these distracted visions."
Not long after, the court returned to London; and from that time, some
malevolent star having gained the ascendant, every thing went cross in
the empire of Love: vexation, suspicions, or jealousies, first entered
the field, to set all hearts at variance; next, false reports, slander,
and disputes, completed the ruin of all.
The Duchess of Cleveland had been brought to bed while the court was at
Bristol; and never before had she recovered from her lying-in with such
a profusion of charms. This made her believe that she was in a proper
state to retrieve her ancient rights over the king's heart, if she had an
opportunity of appearing before him with this increased splendour. Her
friends being of the same opinion, her equipage was prepared for this
expedition; but the very evening before the day she had fixed on to set
out, she saw young Churchill, and was at once seized with a disease,
which had more than once opposed her projects, and which she could never
completely get the better of.
[Churchill--Afterwards the celebrated Duke of Marlborough. He was
born midsummer-day, 1650, and died June 16, 1722. Bishop Burnet
takes notice of the discovery of this intrigue. "The Duchess of
Cleveland finding that she had lost the king, abandoned herself to
great disorders; one of which, by the artifice of the Duke of
Buckingham, was discovered by the king in person, the party
concerned leaping out of the window."--History of his own Times,
vol. i. p. 370. This was in 1668. A very particular account of
this intrigue is to be seen in the Atalantis of Mrs. Manley, vol.
i., p. 30. The same writer, who had lived as companion to the
Duchess of Cleveland, says, in the account of her own life, that she
was an eye-witness when the duke, who had received thousands from
the duchess, refused the common civility of lending her twenty
guineas at basset.--The history of Rivella, 4th ed. 1725, p. 33.
Lord Chesterfield's character of this noblemen is too remarkable to
be omitted.
"Of all the men that ever I knew in my life, (and I knew him
extremely well,) the late Duke of Marlborough possessed the graces
in the highest degree, not to say engrossed them: and indeed he got
the most by them! for I will venture, (contrary to the custom of
profound historians, who always assign deep causes to great events,)
to ascribe the better half of the Duke of Marlborough's greatness
and riches to those graces. He was eminently illiterate, wrote bad
English, and spelled it still worse. He had no share of what is
commonly called parts; that is, he had no brightness, nothing
shining in his genius. He had, most undoubtedly, an excellent good
plain understanding, with sound judgment. But these alone would
probably have raised him but something higher than they found him,
which was page to King James II.'s queen. There the graces
protected and promoted him; for while he was an ensign of the
guards, the Duchess of Cleveland, then favourite mistress to King
Charles II., struck by those very graces, gave him five thousand
pounds; with which he immediately bought an annuity for his life, of
five hundred pounds a-year, of my grandfather, Halifax; which was
the foundation of his subsequent fortune. His figure was beautiful;
but his manner was irresistible by either man or woman. It was by
this engaging, graceful manner, that he was enabled, during all his
wars, to connect the various and jarring powers of the grand
alliance, and to carry them on to the main object of the war,
notwithstanding their private and separate views, jealousies, and
wrong-headednesses. Whatever court he went to, (and he was often
obliged to go himself to some restive and refractory ones,) he as
constantly prevailed, and brought them into his measures. The
pensionary Heinsius, a venerable old minister, grown grey in
business, and who had governed the republic of the United Provinces
for more than forty years, was absolutely governed by the Duke of
Marlborough, as that republic feels to this day. He was always
cool; and nobody ever observed the least variation in his
countenance. He could refuse more gracefully than other people
could grant; and those who went away from him the most dissatisfied,
as to the substance of their business, were yet personally charmed
with him, and, in some degree, comforted by his manner. With all
his gracefulness, no man living was more conscious of his situation,
or maintained his dignity better."--Chest. Letters, letter 136.]
A man who, from an ensign in the guards, was raised to such a fortune,
must certainly possess an uncommon share of prudence, not to be
intoxicated with his happiness. Churchill boasted in all places of
the new favour he had received: the Duchess of Cleveland, who neither
recommended to him circumspection in his behaviour, nor in his
conversation, did not seem to be in the least concerned at his
indiscretion. Thus this intrigue was become a general topic in all
companies, when the court arrived in London, and occasioned an immense
number of speculations and reasonings: some said she had already
presented him with Jermyn's pension, and Jacob Hall's salary, because
the merits and qualifications of both were united in his person: others
maintained that he had too indolent an air, and too delicate a shape,
long to maintain himself in her favour; but all agreed that a man who was
the favourite of the king's mistress, and brother to the duke's
favourite, was in a fair way of preferment, and could not fail to make
his fortune. As a proof, the Duke of York soon after gave him a place in
his household: this was naturally to be expected; but the king, who did
not think that Lady Cleveland's kindness to him was a sufficient
recommendation to his favour, thought proper to forbid him the court.
This good-natured king began now to be rather peevish: nor was it
altogether without reason: he disturbed no person in their amours, and
yet others had often the presumption to encroach upon his. Lord Dorset,
first lord of the bed-chamber, had lately debauched from his service Nell
Gwyn, the actress. Lady Cleveland, whom he now no longer regarded,
continued to disgrace him by repeated infidelities with unworthy rivals,
and almost ruined him by the immense sums she lavished on her gallants;
but that which most sensibly affected him, was the late coldness and
threats of Miss Stewart. He long since had offered her all the
settlements and all the titles she could desire, until he had an
opportunity more effectually to provide for her, which she had pretended
only to decline, for fear of the scandal they might occasion, on her
being raised to a rank which would attract the public notice; but since
the return of the court, she had given herself other airs: sometimes she
was for retiring from court, to appease the continual uneasiness her
presence gave the queen: at other times it was to avoid temptations,
by which she wished to insinuate that her innocence was still preserved:
in short, the king's heart was continually distracted by alarms, or
oppressed by humour and caprice.
As he could not for his life imagine what Miss Stewart wished him to do,
or what she would be at, he thought upon reforming his establishment of
mistresses, to try whether jealousy was not the real occasion of her
uneasiness. It was for this reason that, after having solemnly declared
he would have nothing more to say to the Duchess of Cleveland, since her
intrigue with Churchill, he discarded, without any exception, all the
other mistresses which he had in various parts of the town. The Nell
Gwyns, the Misses Davis, and the joyous rain of singers and dancers in
his majesty's theatre, were all dismissed. All these sacrifices were
ineffectual: Miss Stewart continued to torment, and almost to drive the
king to distraction; but his majesty soon after found out the real cause
of this coldness.
This discovery was owing to the officious Duchess of Cleveland, who, ever
since her disgrace, had railed most bitterly against Miss Stewart as the
cause of it, and against the king's weakness, who, for an inanimate
idiot, had treated her with so much indignity. As some of her grace's
creatures were still in the king's confidence, by their means she was
informed of the king's uneasiness, and that Miss Stewart's behaviour was
the occasion of it--and as soon as she had found the opportunity she had
so long wished for, she went directly into the king's cabinet, through
the apartment of one of his pages called Chiffinch. This way was not new
to her.
The king was just returned from visiting Miss Stewart, in a very ill
humour: the presence of the Duchess of Cleveland surprised him, and did
not in the least diminish it: she, perceiving this, accosted him in an
ironical tone, and with a smile of indignation. "I hope," said she,
"I may be allowed to pay you my homage, although the angelic Stewart has
forbid you to see me at my own house. I will not make use of reproaches
and expostulations, which would disgrace myself: still less will I
endeavour to excuse frailties which nothing can justify, since your
constancy for me deprives me of all defence, considering I am the only
person you have honoured with your tenderness, who has made herself
unworthy of it by ill conduct. I come now, therefore, with no other
intent than to comfort and to condole with you upon the affliction and
grief into which the coldness, or new-fashioned chastity of the inhuman
Stewart have reduced your majesty." These words were attended by a fit
of laughter, as unnatural and strained as it was insulting and
immoderate, which completed the king's impatience: he had, indeed,
expected that some bitter jest would follow this preamble; but he did not
suppose she would have given herself such blustering airs, considering
the terms they were then upon; and, as he was preparing to answer her:
"be not offended," said she, "that I take the liberty of laughing at the
gross manner in which you are imposed upon: I cannot bear to see that
such particular affectation should make you the jest of your own court,
and that you should be ridiculed with such impunity. I know that the
affected Stuart has sent you away, under pretence of some indisposition,
or perhaps some scruple of conscience; and I come to acquaint you that
the Duke of Richmond will soon be with her, if he is not there already.
I do not desire you to believe what I say, since it might be suggested
either through resentment or envy: only follow me to her apartment,
either that, no longer trusting calumny and malice, you may honour her
with a just preference, if I accuse her falsely; or, if my information be
true, you may no longer be the dupe of a pretended prude, who makes you
act so unbecoming and ridiculous a part."
As she ended this speech, she took him by the hand, while he was yet
undecided, and pulled him away towards her rival's apartments. Chiffinch
being in her interest, Miss Stewart could have no warning of the visit;
and Babiani, who owed all to the Duchess of Cleveland, and who served her
admirably well upon this occasion, came and told her that the Duke of
Richmond had just gone into Miss Stewart's chamber. It was in the middle
of a little gallery, which, through a private door, led from the king's
apartments to those of his mistresses. The Duchess of Cleveland wished
him good night, as he entered her rival's chamber, and retired, in order
to wait the success of the adventure, of which Babiani, who attended the
king, was charged to come and give her an account.
It was near midnight: the king, in his way, met his mistress's
chamber-maids, who respectfully opposed his entrance, and in a very low
voice, whispered his majesty that Miss Stewart had been very ill since he
left her: but that, being gone to bed, she was, God be thanked, in a very
fine sleep. "That I must see," said the king, pushing her back, who had
posted herself in his way. He found Miss Stewart in bed, indeed, but far
from being asleep: the Duke of Richmond was seated at her pillow, and in
all probability was less inclined to sleep than herself. The perplexity
of the one party, and the rage of the other, were such as may easily be
imagined upon such a surprise. The king, who, of all men, was one of the
most mild and gentle, testified his resentment to the Duke of Richmond in
such terms as he had never before used. The duke was speechless, and
almost petrified: he saw his master and his king justly irritated. The
first transports which rage inspires on such occasions are dangerous.
Miss Stewart, window was very convenient for a sudden revenge, the Thames
flowing close beneath it: he cast his eyes upon it; and, seeing those of
the king more incensed and fired with indignation than he thought his
nature capable of, he made a profound bow, and retired, without replying
a single word to the vast torrent of threats and menaces that were poured
upon him.
Miss Stewart, having a little recovered from her first surprise, instead
of justifying herself, began to talk in the most extravagant manner, and
said everything that was most capable to inflame the king's passion and
resentment; that, if she were not allowed to receive visits from a man of
the Duke of Richmond's rank, who came with honourable intentions, she was
a slave in a free country; that she knew of no engagement that could
prevent her from disposing of her hand as she thought proper; but,
however, if this was not permitted her in his dominions, she did not
believe that there was any power on earth that could hinder her from
going over to France, and throwing herself into a convent, to enjoy there
that tranquillity which was denied her in his court. The king, sometimes
furious with anger, sometimes relenting at her tears, and sometimes
terrified at her menaces, was so greatly agitated, that he knew not how
to answer, either the nicety of a creature who wanted to act the part of
Lucretia under his own eye, or the assurance with which she had the
effrontery to reproach him. In this suspense, love had almost entirely
vanquished all his resentments, and had nearly induced him to throw
himself upon his knees, and entreat pardon for the injury he had done
her, when she desired him to retire, and leave her in repose, at least
for the remainder of that night, without offending those who had either
accompanied him, or conducted him to her apartments, by a longer visit.
This impertinent request provoked and irritated him to the highest
degree: he went out abruptly, vowing never to see her more, and passed
the most restless and uneasy night he had ever experienced since his
restoration.
The next day the Duke of Richmond received orders to quit the court, and
never more to appear before the king; but it seems he had not waited for
those orders, having set out early that morning for his country seat.
Miss Stewart, in order to obviate all injurious constructions that might
be put upon the adventure of the preceding night, went and threw herself
at the queen's feet; where, acting the new part of an innocent Magdalen,
she entreated her majesty's forgiveness for all the sorrow and uneasiness
she might have already occasioned her. She told her majesty that a
constant and sincere repentance had induced her to contrive all possible
means for retiring from court: that this reason had inclined her to
receive the Duke of Richmond's addresses, who had courted her a long
time; but since this courtship had caused his disgrace, and had likewise
raised a vast noise and disturbance, which perhaps might be turned to the
prejudice of her reputation, she conjured her Majesty to take her under
her protection, and endeavour to obtain the king's permission for her to
retire into a convent, to remove at once all those vexations and troubles
her presence had innocently occasioned at court. All this was
accompanied with a proper deluge of tears.
It is a very agreeable spectacle to see a rival prostrate at our feet,
entreating pardon, and at the same time justifying her conduct. The
queen's heart not only relented, but she mingled her own tears with those
of Miss Stewart. After having raised her up, and most tenderly embraced
her, she promised her all manner of favour and protection, either in her
marriage, or in any other course she thought fit to pursue, and parted
from her with the firm resolution to exert all her interest in her
support; but, being a person of great judgment, the reflections which
she afterwards made, induced her to change her opinion!
She knew that the king's disposition was not capable of an obstinate
constancy. She therefore judged that absence would cure him, or that a
new engagement would by degrees entirely efface the remembrance of Miss
Stewart, and that, since she could not avoid having a rival, it was more
desirable she should be one who had given such eminent proofs of her
prudence and virtue. Besides, she flattered herself that the king would
ever think himself eternally obliged to her, for having opposed the
retreat and marriage of a girl, whom at that time he loved to
distraction. This fine reasoning determined her conduct. All her
industry was employed in persuading Miss Stewart to abandon her schemes;
and what is most extraordinary in this adventure, is, that, after having
prevailed upon her to think no more either of the Duke of Richmond, or of
a nunnery, she charged herself with the office of reconciling these two
lovers.
Indeed it would have been a thousand pities if her negotiation had
miscarried but she did not suffer this misfortune; for never were the
king's addresses so eager and passionate as after this peace, nor ever
better received by the fair Stewart.
His majesty did not long enjoy the sweets of a reconciliation, which
brought him into the best good humour possible, as we shall see. All
Europe was in a profound peace, since the treaty of the Pyrenees: Spain
flattered herself she should be able to recruit, by means of the new
alliance she had contracted with the most formidable of her neighbours;
but despaired of being able to support the shattered remains of a
declining monarchy, when she considered the age and infirmities of her
prince, or the weakness of his successor: France, on the contrary,
governed by a king indefatigable in business, young, vigilant, and
ambitious of glory, wanted nothing but inclination to aggrandize herself.
It was about this time, that the king of France, not willing to disturb
the tranquillity of Europe, was persuaded to alarm the coasts of Africa,
by an attempt, which, if it had even been crowned with success, would
have produced little good; but the king's fortune, ever faithful to his
glory, has since made it appear, by the miscarriage of the expedition of
Gigeri, that such projects only as were planned by himself were worthy of
his attention.
[Gigeri is about forty leagues from Algiers. Till the year 1664 the
French had a factory there; but then attempting to build a fort on
the sea-coast, to be a check upon the Arabs, they came down from the
mountains, beat the French out of Gigeri, and demolished their fort.
Sir Richard Fanshaw, in a letter to the deputy governor of Tangier,
dated 2nd December, 1664, N.S., says, "We have certain intelligence
that the French have lost Gigheria, with all they had there, and
their fleet come back, with the loss of one considerable ship upon
the rocks near Marseilles."--Fanshaw's Letters, vol. i. p. 347.]
A short time after, the king of England, having resolved also to explore
the African coasts, fitted out a squadron for an expedition to Guinea,
which was to be commanded by Prince Rupert. Those who, from their own
experience, had some knowledge of the country, related strange and
wonderful stories of the dangers attendant upon this expedition that they
would have to fight not only the inhabitants of Guinea, a hellish people,
whose arrows were poisoned, and who never gave their prisoners better
quarter than to devour them, but that they must likewise endure heats
that were insupportable, and rains that were intolerable, every drop of
which was changed into a serpent: that, if they penetrated farther into
the country, they would be assaulted by monsters a thousand times more
hideous and destructive than all the beasts mentioned in the Revelations.
But all these reports were vain and ineffectual: for so far from striking
terror into those who were appointed to go upon this expedition, it
rather acted as an incentive to glory, upon those who had no manner of
business in it. Jermyn appeared among the foremost of those; and,
without reflecting that the pretence of his indisposition had delayed
the conclusion of his marriage with Miss Jennings, he asked the duke's
permission, and the king's consent to serve in it as a volunteer.
Some time before this, the infatuation which had imposed upon the fair
Jennings in his favour had begun to subside. All that now inclined her
to this match were the advantages of a settlement. The careless
indolence of a lover, who faintly paid his addresses to her, as it were
from custom or habit, disgusted her; and the resolution he had taken,
without consulting her, appeared so ridiculous in him, and so injurious
to herself, that, from that moment, she resolved to think no more of him.
Her eyes being opened by degrees, she saw the fallacy of the splendour,
which had at first deceived her; and the renowned Jermyn was received
according to his real merit when he came to acquaint her with his
heroical project. There appeared so much indifference and ease in the
raillery with which she complimented him upon his voyage, that he was
entirely disconcerted, and so much the more so, as he had prepared all
the arguments he thought capable of consoling her, upon announcing to her
the fatal news of his departure. She told him, "that nothing could be
more glorious for him, who had triumphed over the liberty of so many
persons in Europe, than too and extend his conquests in other parts of
the world; and that she advised him to bring home with him all the female
captives he might make in Africa, in order to replace those beauties whom
his absence would bring to the grave."
Jermyn was highly displeased that she should be capable of raillery in
the condition he supposed her reduced to; but he soon perceived she was
in earnest: she told him, that she considered this farewell visit as his
last, and desired him not to think of making her any more before his
departure.