GLIMPSES AT GREAT LADIES.
Changes in domestic life--Lady Elizabeth Howard’s household at
Naworth Castle--The Countess of Sunderland--The Belvoir
Castle family--The Countess of Salisbury’s suit--The Countess
of Pembroke and the “boon hen”--Bess of Hardwicke--Court
ladies--Lady Brilliana Harley--Lady Lucas--Match-making--Seizure
of an heiress.
When with the Renaissance old habits of thought changed, the horizon
of domestic life was enlarged. The great lady appears in a different
light. She is no longer merely the loaf-giver and spinster, sitting
in the shadow of her lord. With increased means of comfort, with the
spread of knowledge, life became much more complex. The conditions of
life did not permit that the great lady should herself take such an
active part in all the domestic industries and arts which were carried
on in a large household. She had other occupations. It was the steward
who saw to the providing of the household stuff, to the payment of
servants’ wages, to the almsgiving, and even to the furnishing of the
wardrobe.
Although needlework still filled a large and honoured place in the
lives of women of high station, it was rather an exercise than a
necessity. Girls were taught to spin, to sew, and to embroider; a great
lady might assist in the devising and making of her own apparel, but
more commonly she left it in the hands of the tailors and sempstresses,
and when she busied herself with plain needlework it was for the poor.
Great families in the country would, for ordinary purposes, employ
a local tailor, who would come and do his work at the house. Lady
Elizabeth Howard, of Naworth Castle, who lived in the seventeenth
century, and was one of the greatest ladies of her time, with a
rent-roll of £1040 a year of the money of that period, was satisfied to
have the plain serge gowns which she wore for common use made by the
country tailor. The flax for the household linen was spun at home and
sent to a country weaver. Lady Elizabeth was a woman of simple tastes,
too much engrossed with practical affairs to care for display.
The curious commissions which great ladies in the seventeenth century
gave to their male friends abroad, and the presents exchanged among
members of noble families, show that many ordinary articles now in
domestic use were then luxuries. In 1679, or thereabouts, the Countess
of Sunderland writes to her brother, Mr. Sidney, envoy to Holland, in
the following terms:--
“I desire you to lay out £20 for me in Dutch wax candles,
which my Lady Temple says are very good. I would have them
four to the pound, three parts, and the fourth part six to the
pound; and some tea if you love me, for the last you gave was
admirable.”
One would like to know what quantity of candles Mr. Sidney was able to
buy for £20, which represented a much larger sum then, and whether the
countess kept a private cupboard in which to lock up these precious
articles.
Lady Chaworth, in 1676, writes to her brother, Lord Roos, at Belvoir
Castle, to thank him, among other things, for a present of some
oat-cakes and a pie. She sends him in return a peck of chestnuts and
five pounds of vermicelli, some portion of which, she says, is of the
same quality as that supplied to the king, who had a consignment of
three hundred pounds’ weight. This seems a prodigious quantity, when it
is remembered that farinaceous foods were not a staple article of diet.
She also sends Lord Roos comfits, which she is pleased to hear that he
likes, for she tells him--
“There is four pound of them, and made fresh for you of the
purest sugar, though I gave a little more for them.”
Lord Roos had a sweet tooth, evidently, and it is to be hoped as sound
as sweet, for our ancestors took very little care of their teeth. In
1650 we find Sir Ralph Verney sending to a friend at Florence a present
of “teeth-brushes and boxes,” which were new-fangled Parisian articles,
described by Sir Ralph as “inconsiderable toyes.”
As manners improved there was less separation of the sexes and more
family life. In the absence of the husband, the lady of the manor, as
she may still be called, for she often enriched her lord with the broad
acres of her own inheritance, was much occupied with the management of
the estate. The Lady Elizabeth Howard, already mentioned, who brought
as her dowry the extensive Dacres property about which there was so
much litigation, always attended to the business relating to the manors
during her husband’s absences in London, whither she herself rarely
travelled. Anne, daughter of the second Duke of Norfolk, being burdened
with a husband very deficient in mental and physical parts--“Little
John of Campes,” fourteenth Earl of Oxford--took the control into
her own hands of all the affairs of the household and the estate.
She corresponded about her difficulties with Wolsey, who advised her
to return with her husband to her father’s roof, paying the duke a
reasonable sum for the accommodation. The countess, who had no children
to aid her, was sorely beset, after her husband’s death, by rapacious
relatives, whom during his lifetime she had contrived to keep at bay.
She complains that her park, and even her house, were broken into and
her servants maltreated, and that, although the justices issued a writ
against the offenders, it was not put into execution, and “doth nothing
avail.”
Anne Countess of Warwick, wife of the king-maker, was shamefully robbed
of her possessions by her sons-in-law, the Dukes of Clarence and
Gloucester, and was obliged, she tells us, to write many letters with
her own hand, in the absence of clerks. She finally got back all her
property by Act of Parliament, but she did not keep it. She was either
cajoled out of her estates, or her attachment to the king, whom her
husband had assisted to the throne, was all-powerful; but, whatever
the cause, she passed over one hundred and eighteen manors by private
compact to Henry VII.
Another great lady, Margaret Countess of Salisbury, grand-daughter of
Richard Earl of Salisbury, had a great deal of trouble in keeping a
hold of her possessions. She was engaged in a suit against Henry
VIII. to recover a yearly income of 5000 marks from certain of her
manors. The rapacious king appears to have yielded, and she afterwards
generously presented him with a year’s revenue as an aid in the
prosecution of his wars. A revengeful lover whom she had rejected did
his utmost to deprive her of her estates by filling the king’s mind
with suspicions as to the legality of her claim. She also suffered much
annoyance from marauders, who broke into her domain and cut down her
woods.
Women of property were very liable to be preyed upon by grasping
sovereigns and unscrupulous ministers like Wolsey, who actually led
Elizabeth Dowager Countess of Oxford to endanger the cliff at Harwich,
which formed part of her estate, in order to supply him with stone for
his new college at Ipswich.
The famous Anne Clifford, Countess of Pembroke and Dorset, after
struggling with James I. over her inheritance, found plenty of
occupation in going to law with her numerous tenants, in building, in
causing “bounds to be ridden,” and courts to be kept in her several
manors. She seems to have divided her time pretty equally among her
northern castles, travelling in state in a coach and six from Pendragon
Castle to Appleby, and thence to Skypton and Brougham. She describes
her tenants as frequently obstinate and refractory, and evictions
were sometimes necessary. However, in the midst of these unpleasant
processes, she was building brew-houses, bake-houses, and stables,
repairing decayed mansions which had not been inhabited for years, and
establishing fresh almshouses for the poor.
The Countess was very tenacious of her rights, and refused to yield at
any cost when it was a question of principle. On one occasion a rich
clothier of Halifax, one of her tenants, would not pay the one “boon
hen” which traditional custom demanded from the holder of a certain
tenement. The Countess took the case to the law courts and recovered
the hen, but at a cost of £200 to herself and the same amount to her
adversary. She much resented interference, and when Cromwell sent
down a commission to compose some differences between herself and
her people, she politely but firmly refused to let the commissioners
deal with the matter at all, saying she preferred to leave it to the
decision of the law. As a landlord she did all she could for her county
by buying everything from her neighbours and tenants, very rarely
sending to London or elsewhere as other great folk in the country were
in the habit of doing, and as a mistress she was very kind to her
attendants.
Anne Clifford was not singular in her taste for litigation. Walter Cary
writes, in 1626--
“These three which have turned things upside down and strangely
altered our estate are suits of law, suits of apparel, and
drunkennesse.”
With regard to the last two particulars, Anne Clifford was certainly
blameless, and though she moved about in her own part of the country,
she did not waste her substance on journeys to London, as Cary
complained the country gentlemen were in the habit of doing. In former
times, he says men
“did not long for their neighbours’ land, neither sold of their
own, but keeping good hospitality and plainly ever attired were
very rich.”
The celebrated Bess of Hardwicke, who made her first marriage in 1532,
and was a widow for the fourth time in 1609, after the death of George
Earl of Shrewsbury, spent much of her time and money in building. It
was a passion with her to repair and to erect magnificent piles. She
persuaded her second husband, Sir William Cavendish, to begin the
building of Chatsworth, which she completed after his death. Near the
old home of her childhood she erected a second Hardwicke Hall, and
also built a mansion at Oldcote. She has been described by her greatest
detractor, Lodge, as “a builder, a buyer, a seller of estates, a
money-lender, a farmer, and a merchant of lead, coals, and timber.” She
also built herself a magnificent mural monument in All Saints’ Church,
Derby. It was her fourth husband, the Earl of Shrewsbury, who had for
a long time the custody of Mary Queen of Scots, of whose supposed
influence “Bess” was so jealous. A significant remark which she made to
Queen Elizabeth caused the Earl to be deprived of his fair charge.
The great lady in her own home appears to far better advantage than her
compeers at court, who are thus caustically described by a writer of
the second half of the sixteenth century--
“The women of the Courte have also their vices. For alwaie
we see manie endowed with goodly giftes of the body, fayre,
preatie, handsome and comely. Moreover, richly attired in
purple, golde, jewels, and ryches: but all men cannot see what
filthy monsters do often lurke under those faire skinnes....
“They have mouthes armed for all kindes of clattering trifles
with which they utter idle and foolish communication, and
oftentimes displeasant to those that be compelled to heare
them. For what shoulde we thinke them to speake emong
themselves so many howers, but foolish and idle thinges: as
how the heare should be dressed, how it should be kembed, how
the heare should be coloured, how the face should be rubbed,
after what facion the garment should be playted, and with what
pompe they should go, rise and sit, and what attire they should
weare, to what persons they should geve place, with how many
bowinges salute, what women, and whome they should kisse or
not kisse, what women ought to ride upon an asse, horse, seate
and be carried in a chariote or couche: what women maie weare
golde, pearle, corall, chaines, ringes hanginge at their eares,
bracelets, ringes and tablets and other trifles of Semiramis
lawes.
“There be also ancient matrons whiche tell how many wowers they
have had, how many giftes thei have receaved, with how many
flatteringe wordes they have benne wowed: this woman talketh
of him whome she loveth, that woman cannot skantly forbeare to
speake of him whom she hateth, and every one thinketh that she
speaketh with the admiration of other women, sometimes they
maintaine talke with fonde quippes or very impudent lies. There
wante not emonge them cruell hatredes and eger brawlinges,
malicious detractions, backebitinges, false accusations and
whatsoever be the vices of a naughtie tongue.”
All the blame is laid upon the wives by this moralist, and the husbands
he depicts as long-suffering martyrs--
“O how sorrowful do thei make their good husbandes when
continually they objecte to them their lineage, dowrie,
beautie, and other mens mariages, and with scoldinge and
tauntinge do weary their husbandes, they alwaies lamente,
whilst they dispise housholde and temperate fare, and twite
their husbandes with the courtly excesse and being enured in
pleasant fantasies and gloriouse ostentation do consume theire
riches upon superfluous ornamentes, they bring houses by ruine,
sometimes they enforce their miserable husbandes to dishonest
and naughtie gaines.”
Lady Brilliana Harley, who lived through the Civil War, stands out in
pleasing contrast as a quiet domestic character, a model housewife.
While her husband, who was actively engaged on the Parliamentarian
side, was away from home, she watched over the family interests with
the greatest solicitude, and seems to have been her own housekeeper
and man of business. At one time she was busy with repairs and
alterations to the house, and mentions having to pay five shillings a
day to plumbers and five shillings a hundred to them in addition for
“casting lead.” She was constantly sending provisions to her son at
Oxford University, and sometimes to her husband, and describes with
such minuteness the contents of the pies that one feels she must have
assisted in the making. Very big pies they were; a couple of chickens
would be added as a kind of make-weight, and one of these pasties
contained two whole turkeys. As this was a present to her son at
Oxford, it may be supposed that Lady Brilliana had hospitable thoughts
for the other undergraduates.
Lady Lucas, mother of the learned Duchess of Newcastle, was “very
skilful in leases, setting of lands, court keeping, ordering of
stewards”--useful talents, seeing that she married a rich husband.
After the Civil War, her daughter, who presumably inherited some
portion of the property which her mother had so carefully guarded, was
reduced to great straits. The Duke of Newcastle’s estates were sold by
the Commonwealth, and, the Duke being made a delinquent, his wife was
deprived of the usual allowances. She retired to Antwerp, but returned
to England and spent a year and a half unsuccessfully trying to obtain
some compensation. However, as her chief interest lay in literature,
the absence of outward show in her surroundings did not greatly affect
her, and she bore her losses very philosophically.
Dependent as has been woman’s position up to the present century, in
all the important relations of life, she has always been called upon
as a great lady to bear responsibilities and fulfil duties of no light
character. In mediæval times they were chiefly domestic, but none the
less weighty, for the health and comfort of the household depended
upon the “bread-giver.” As social conditions altered, we see the great
lady extending her duties outside her own walls, and engaged in what
is almost public work. She is frequently drawn into the current of
political life, and her position is considerably affected by the
religious changes in the country. She comes into prominence as an
independent actor in the drama of history, forced oftentimes to stand
alone, and beset by trials and cares which only belong to those who
have much to lose. In times when the power of the sovereign was more
absolute, the position of persons of property and influence, whether
men or women, was less secure, and they were liable to a rise or fall
of fortune according to the caprice of the monarch. A great lady in
the present day could not be brought into collision with the sovereign
over the rights of property, as were Margaret Countess of Salisbury and
Anne Countess of Pembroke. There is no longer that intimate personal
relation between the sovereign and the subject.
The hereditary right of succession to titles of nobility granted by
the Norman kings, without distinction of sex, greatly affected the
position of women among the higher classes. They acquired a dignity and
importance in the eyes of rulers which otherwise they would not have
possessed. An heiress who could convey a title and lands to her husband
was a personage to be reckoned with and considered. There are numerous
instances of men claiming titles and privileges by virtue of their
wives’ position. Richard Neville gained the earldom of Salisbury, and
his son that of Warwick, by marriage with heiresses. But while a woman
could thus confer advantages of a substantial kind upon her husband,
she still lacked that control over her own property which characterized
the position of a wife until recent times. Women’s marriage portions
were denounced by writers in the seventeenth century as the cause of
wedded misery and sin--
“men and women, being byassed by interest in marriage and not
having that firm friendship and love for each other, do seek
for a greater happiness abroad.”
Marriages were arranged among people of good estate and condition
with a very frank display of mercenary motives. For instance, we find
various relatives of the excellent Sir Ralph Verney anxiously engaged
in helping him, after his wife’s death in 1656, to find an heiress for
his son. One, Mrs. Sherrard, writes that she has discovered a lady whom
she thinks would be a suitable mate for young Edmund Verney--
“Her father will give her five thousand pounds, and hath but
on dafter more, and she is sickly and never licke to mary, and
if not shee will have more than enouf, for it is beleved that
her father is worth above thirty thousand pounds, and dooth
daily incres in welth. I hear shee is not but of a very good
disposition.”
Another relative writes--
“Here is a match for your sown, Mr. Wilson’s daughter of Surrey
(formerly a cittizen) that I think worthy yur consideration;
they offer £5,500.”
People used plain language in the seventeenth century, and when a
match was proposed it was in out-spoken terms. The young people were
treated as pawns by their respective guardians, and instead of lawyers
settling matters, it was the parents who wrangled over property and
drove bargains. There is little difference in this respect between
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the following letter of
Lady Katherine Berkeley, though it belongs to the Tudor period, might
well have been written a hundred years later. Lady Berkeley was wife
of Henry, first Lord Berkeley, to whom she was married in the reign of
Queen Mary. She is writing to her confidential man of business, John
Smyth, about her son’s marriage.
“I have received your letter, but doe not think good to show
it to my lord least hee should leave his suits in law whereof
I have soe good hope to a dangerous event, with an imagination
that out of his own judgment hee could conclude a profitable
end upon the overture now made. These imaginations you know
have not produced the best effects. If the motion for my
son’s marriage proceed I doe then believe the politicke lady
will bee glad to come to an end; yet doe I fear her proffer
rather proceeds of policy then from sincere meaning. I have
observed that when she sees anything bending to our good, then
shee proffers an agreement, and yet proceeds in lawe with all
extremity.” She concludes by requesting that “whosoever intends
to match with my son shall only deale with my lord and mee.”
This really meant with Lady Katherine herself. She had but a poor
opinion of her husband’s ability, and was exceedingly anxious to keep
him by her side. She does not at all approve of his going to London by
himself to negotiate marriages or any other business, being confident
that he will only lose his money.
“At London younge crafty courtiers will lay baits which will
bee swallowed with danger; the safest way is to keep him from
London.”
Many romances have been written on the carrying off of heiresses by
bold suitors. During the Commonwealth some effort was made to prevent
scandals of this kind and save women from being married against their
will. There was one case that excited a good deal of attention in
October, 1649. Mistress Jane Puckeringe was abducted from Greenwich
Park while walking with her maids, close to her own house. She was
the daughter of Sir Thomas Puckeringe, and an heiress. The abductors
were some people named Walsh, a Worcestershire family. Joseph Walsh
and his friends seized Mistress Puckeringe, mounted her on a horse,
and, having a hoy in readiness, went across to Dunkirk. Thence they
went to Nieuport, in Flanders, and shut her up in a religious house.
As soon as the affair was made known, there was a great stir in the
official world, and warrants were issued for her recovery and for the
punishment of Walsh and his companions. Walsh maintained that there
had been a marriage ceremony performed. The Spanish ambassador was
appealed to, and steps taken that every one concerned in the affair
might be arrested. The Council of State in England sent over a Mrs.
Magdalen Smith, armed with letters of authority, to seek for the lost
heiress and bring her back; and a ship was ordered to go to Nieuport
to be in readiness to receive her. The English agent at Brussels,
Peter Thelwell, was told to turn his attention to the matter. Still,
the winter sped away and Mistress Puckeringe was not restored to
her friends, so in March the Council of State again took action and
wrote to the archduke. Mr. Peter Thelwell, on his own responsibility,
appealed to Prince Charles, which was distasteful to the officers of
the Commonwealth, who were not disposed to have any dealings with the
Cavalier party, and at last in June, some eight months after the
abduction, the lady was sent back to England in a man-of-war, and her
captors were surrendered to the English authorities and indicted for
felony, the supposed marriage being set aside.