Our army, despite its defects, was nevertheless infinitely better
administered at home when I joined than it had been a few years before;
owing principally to the inquiry that had taken place in the House of
Commons, relative to the bribery and corruption which had crept in, and
which had been laid open by the confessions of a female, who created no
small sensation in those days, and who eventually terminated her
extraordinary career, not very long since, in Paris.
The squibs fired off by Mrs. Mary Anne Clarke had a much greater
influence, and produced more effect upon the English army, than all the
artillery of the enemy directed against the Duke of York when
commanding in Holland. This lady was remarkable for her beauty and her
fascinations; and few came within the circle over which she presided
who did not acknowledge her superior power. Her wit, which kept the
House of Commons, during her examination, in a continued state of
merriment, was piquant and saucy. Her answers on that occasion have
been so often brought before the public, that I need not repeat them;
but, in private life, her quick repartee, and her brilliant sallies,
rendered her a lively, though not always an agreeable companion. As
for prudence, she had none; her dearest friend, if she had any, was
just as likely to be made the object of her ridicule as the most
obnoxious person of her acquaintance.
Her narrative of her first introduction to the Duke of York has often
been repeated; but, as all her stories were considered apocryphal, it
is difficult to arrive at a real history of her career. Certain
however, is it that, about the age of sixteen, she was residing at
Blackheath--a sweet, pretty, lively girl--when, in her daily walk
across the heath, she was passed, on two or three occasions, by a
handsome, well-dressed cavalier, who, finding that she recognised his
salute, dismounted; pleased with her manner and wit, he begged to be
allowed to introduce a friend. Accordingly, on her consenting, a person
to whom the cavalier appeared to pay every sort of deference was
presented to her, and the acquaintance ripened into something more than
friendship. Not the slightest idea had the young lady of the position
in society of her lover, until she accompanied him, on his invitation,
to the theatre, where she occupied a private box, when she was
surprised at the ceremony with which she was treated, and at observing
that every eye and every lorgnette in the house were directed towards
her in the course of the evening. She accepted this as a tribute to her
beauty. Finding that she could go again to the theatre when she
pleased, and occupy the same box, she availed herself of this
opportunity with a female friend, and was not a little astonished at
being addressed as Her Royal Highness. She then discovered that the
individual into whose affections she had insinuated herself was the son
of the King, the Duke of York, who had not long before united himself
to a lady, for whom she had been mistaken.
Mrs. Mary Anne Clarke was soon reconciled to the thought of being the
wife of a prince by the left hand, particularly as she found herself
assiduously courted by persons of the highest rank, and more especially
by military men. A large house in a fashionable street was taken for
her, and an establishment on a magnificent scale gave her an
opportunity of surrounding herself with persons of a sphere far beyond
anything she could in her younger days have dreamt of; her father
having been in an honourable trade, and her husband being only a
captain in a marching regiment. The duke, delighted to see his fair
friend so well received, constantly honoured her dinner-table with his
presence, and willingly gratified any wish that she expressed; and he
must have known (and for this he was afterwards highly censured) that
her style of living was upon a scale of great expense, and that he
himself contributed little towards it. The consequence was that the
hospitable lady eventually became embarrassed, and knew not which way
to turn to meet her outlay. It was suggested to her that she might
obtain from the duke commissions in the army, which she could easily
dispose of at a good price. Individuals quickly came forward, ready to
purchase anything that came within her grasp, which she extended not
only to the army, but, as it afterwards appeared, to the Church; for
there were reverend personages who availed themselves of her
assistance, and thus obtained patronage, by which they advanced their
worldly interests very rapidly.