Hannah More to her Sister-Trial of the Duchess of Kingston. me take his ticket to go to the trial of the Duchess of Kingston; a sight which, for beauty and magnificence, exceeded any thing which those who were never present at a coronation, or a trial by peers, can have the least notion of. Mrs. Garrick and I were in full dress by seven. At eight we went to the Duke of Newcastle's, whose house adjoins Westminster Hall, in which he has a large gallery, communicating with the apartments in his house. You will imagine the bustle of five thousand people getting into one hall! yet in all this hurry we walked in tranquilly. When they were all seated, and the king-at-arms had commanded silence on pain of imprisonment, which, however, was very ill-observed, the gentleman of the black rod was commanded to bring in his prisoner. Elizabeth, calling herself Duchess-dowager of Kingston, walked in, led by the black rod who was regarded as one of the most beautiful young women of her time, was privately married to Lord Bristol, then Lieutenant Hervey. A separation, for some reason never clearly explained, took place almost immediately. A child, the fruit of the union, survived its birth but a short time, and the marriage was kept a profound secret from the world. Mrs. Hervey being still young, beautiful, and ambitious, determined to break the chain which bound her to a husband she disliked, and who annoyed her with constant importunities. Ascertaining that the clergyman who married her was dead, she repaired to the parish church where the ceremony was performed, and while a friend engaged the clerk in conversation in another part of the vestry, contrived to abstract the entry of her marriage from the parish register. She soon afterwards became the wife of the Duke of Kingston, with whom, it was believed, she had long carried on an illicit intercourse. On the death of the Duke, his nephew and heir at law, whose suspicions had been aroused, instituted proceedings against the Duchess for bigamy. She was found guilty, but as she claimed the privilege of the peerage, was discharged from custody on payment of the usual fees. Horace Walpole writes thus to Mann, on the 24th April, 1776: "If the Pope expects his Duchess back, he must create her one, for her peers have reduced her to a countess. Her folly and obstinacy now appear in their full vigor, at least her faith in the Ecclesiastical court, trusting to the infalibillity of which she provoked this trial, in the face of every sort of detection. A living wit Hannah More to her Sister-Trial of the Duchess of Kingston. and Mr. La Roche, courtesying profoundly to her judge; when she bent, the lord-steward called out, "Madam, you may rise;" which, I think, was literally taking her up before she was down. The peers made her a slight bow. The prisoner was dressed in deep mourning: a black hood on her head, her hair modestly dressed and powdered, a black silk sack with crape trimmings, black gauze deep ruffles, and black gloves. The counsel spoke about an hour and a quarter each. Dunning's manner is insufferably bad, coughing and spitting at every three words, but his sense and his expression pointed to the last degree; he made her Grace shed bitter tears. I had the pleasure of hearing several of the lords speak, though nothing more than proposals on common things. Among these were Lyttleton, Talbot, Townsend, and Camden. The fair victim had four virgins in ness of the first marriage; a register of it fabricated long afterwards by herself; the widow of the clergyman who married her; many confidants to whom she had trusted the secret; and even Hawkins, the surgeon, privy to the birth of her child, appeared against her. The Lords were tender, and would not probe the Earl's collusion. The Duchess, who could produce nothing else of consequence in her favor, tried the powers of oratory, and made a long oration, in which she cited the protection of her late mistress. Her counsel would have curtailed this harangue, but she told them they might be good lawyers, but did not understand speaking to the passions. She concluded her rhetoric with a fit, and the trial with rage, when convicted of the bigamy. The Attorney-General labored to have her burnt in the hand, but the judges were hustled into an opinion against it, and it was waived. So all this complication of knavery receives no punishment but the loss of the duchy." After her trial the Duchess proceeded to Rome, and thence to St. Peters burg, where she was admitted to the friendship of the famous Catharine. An entertainment which she gave to the Empress, is said to have been more magnificent than any which had hitherto been given in that country. Finding herself, however, neglected by the English ambassador and the Russian nobility, she removed to France, where she died in 1778, in the fifty-ninth year of her age.-H. Hannah More to her Sister-Trial of the Duchess of Kingston. white behind the bar. She imitated her great predecessor, Mrs. Rudd, and affected to write very often-though I plainly perceived she only wrote as they do their love epistles on the stage, without forming a letter. I must not omit one of the best things: we had only to open a door to get at a very fine cold collation of all sorts of meats and wines, with tea, &c., a privilege confined to those who belonged to the Duke of Newcastle. I fancy the peeresses would have been glad of our places at the trial, for I saw Lady Derby and the Duchess of Devonshire with their workbags full of good things. Their rank and dignity did not exempt them from the "villanous appetites" of eating and drinking. Foote says that the Empress of Russia, the Duchess of Kingston, and Mrs. Rudd, are the three most extraordinary women in Europe; but the Duchess disdainfully, and I think unjustly, excludes Mrs. Rudd from the honor of deserving to make one in the triple alliance. The Duchess has but small remains of that beauty of which kings and princes were once so enamored; she looked very much like Mrs. Prichard; she is large and illshaped; there was nothing white but her face, and had it not been for that, she would have looked like a bale of bombazine. There was a great deal of ceremony, a great deal of splendor, and a great deal of nonsense; they adjourned upon the most foolish pretences imaginable, and did nothing with such an air of business as was truly ridiculous. I forgot to tell you the Duchess was taken ill, but performed it badly. 6 Hannah More to Martha More-A Royal Wedding. XXVIII.—A ROYAL WEDDING. Hannah More to Martha More. FULHAM PALACE, May, 1797. I am just come from attending the royal nuptials at St. James's. It was, indeed, a most august spectacle. If, indeed, it had been only the spectacle and the procession which I could have seen, I should have had little curiosity; but the bishop, who has the management of the whole chapel, secured me a place with Mrs. Porteous so near the altar that I could hear every word distinctly. The royal bride behaved with great feeling and modesty; the Prince of Wurtemberg had also a very be coming solemnity in his behavior. The King and Queen wept, but took great pains to restrain themselves. As I looked at the sixteen handsome and magnificently dressed royals sitting round the altar, I could not help thinking how many plans were perhaps at that very moment forming for their destruction; for the bad news from Ireland had just arrived. They talk of the number of acknowledged malcontents being 150,000, but I believe not a large part of that number have arms. I forgot to say that the King gave his daughter away, and it was really very affecting. The archbishop read the service with great emphasis and solemnity. The newspapers will have described all the crape, and the foils, and the feathers, and the diamonds, &c. We were four hours in chapel.. Lord Orford's executors, Mrs. Damer and Lord Frederick Campbell, have sent me word they will return all my letters, which they have found carefully preserved. I am also applied to in form to consent to give up such of his letters to me as are fit for publication. I have told them how extremely careful I Hannah More to Martha More-A Royal Wedding. am as to the publication of letters, and that I cannot make any positive engagement; but if, when I get to Cowslip Green, I should find, in looking them over, that any are quite disencumbered of private history, private characters, &c., I probably shall not withhold those in my possession ; but I am persuaded that, after they are reduced as much as will be necessary, there will be little left for publication. I dined one day at Admiral Gambier's, my kindly-attached friend with whom I spent so many pleasant days at Teston, to meet Sir Charles Middleton, who really brings a comfortable account of Mrs. Bouverie, and I begin to take hope about her. The "Morning Chronicle" and other pious newspapers have labored to throw such a stigma on the association for the better observation of Sunday, that the timid great are sheering off, and very few, indeed, have signed. It has, however, led to so much talk and discussion on the subject as to produce a very considerable effect, and a number of high people have said, that though they will not bind themselves in form, they will conform to the spirit of the resolution. I doubt, however, whether those who show a timidity so little creditable to them, will do much. The Duchess-Dowager of Beaufort, with her usual kindness to me, said if I wished she would certainly sign, otherwise she thought such an old woman could add no credit to it; but I suggested that her high rank might attract others. Friday I dined at the Bishop of London's, and spent the evening at Gloucester House. I know not whether it comes under the act of treason or misprision of treason, to go to a royal house in colors, for people are in such deep mourning as to wear black handkerchiefs and gloves. It is not, however, universal; for, at a small party on Saturday at Mr. M. Montagu's, many were in colors. I met |