THE WICKED DUCHESS OF KINGSTON.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 152, 16 October 1876, Page 3

THE WICKED DUCHESS OF KINGSTON.

Tha notorious Duchess of Kingston is gne of the most interesting, persona in oar criminal annals. Bold, beautiful, and licentious, she fe a fair type of the gay liuly of that loose time when " George the Third was King.'" ft is just a hundred years since the conclusion of the famous trial which made her nume » household word for all that a woman should not be. Wrasalt, dealing with the narrative, relates several anecdotes about the lewdness of the times. We wtH select one of these, which is taken in il» tarn from Horace Walpofe. Lady Worsley, sister of the Countess of Harrington, says Wra-tall, ran away with :iit officer, and her husband, Sir Richard Worsley, commenced an action against the wilrtcer. Lady Worsley, desirous to save iiar test favorite, called as witnesses thirtyfour gentlemen of the higher classes to wear that they had enjoyed her favors. : Twenty-seven of them really appeared iiv Court, but only a few of thetn were exruined ; for one of them stated that the aiiiintitf had oncer taken him on his back :t» see has lovely wife through a window in fimrbath. The jury displayed their apIprauiationi of Sir .Richard's conduct as a kuaband by giving hint a shilling damages. | It was during a period in which this was possible tha® Miss Chndltsigh, afterwards Duuliesa of Kingston, lived at Plomstead, one of the notorious beauties of the We. Copper-plates may still be a«?*n in W possession of private individuals rsjimsenting the lovely Mtss Chtrdbtgh in •ho costume, or rather no costume, in ditch she appeared- at n fancy ball given liy the Venetian ambassador, It is about ,u hill dress as Eve wore on her expulsion ton* Bwadise. Contemporaries supply iw *itU characteristic anecdotes.

The masked b»»tt took pbet? in 1740. and Mis# appeared at it as Ipht^enb. so ctitsaiea!ty anttepu*. that, is a /"anst lady expressed fum-lf in a totter* " the aacririetvij? priest mishit easily inspect- the entra-tis of thr, victim."' Horace flfaipot® wittily " she more resembled in Andromeda than an Iphigrtftb." The Princes* of Wales* her mistrm, horrified it this display, threw with her own hand» » veil over Mew- Chttdteighi'» shoulders. The yoanjjf bdy was not in the slightest übiiahcd by this ; she simply folded the fail! classically round her. The king* at that time sixty-seven years rf age, was- cllarmod with the fair one, handed her a gold watch worth thirty-five: guineas* gave her mother art appointment ;it VVcnddor, ami asked a kias in thanks, wlucTvhe took in tlie presence eE the whole Cimrt*

When she w.aa a duchess, widow, and possessor of a princely forfc«tt<?, she nn.Wtwit a triumphal procession through Europe, 06 which many characteristic Maudotes are told. t>n arriving at Calais top- the first time,. she put atv adverttseinunt in the paper for a traveling com•Jiuiiun. The first gentleman who. offered Waelf pleased her so that, strangely Mlough, he was permitted to accompany liur tnrowghi the whole tear. She sailed to Roma in her own yacht, a rarity in those daya, naturally with a prine ty smite. Sure the Pope, OangsMwlli, received her nth marked attention, and Frederick 11, is said to have shown her great politeness at Uurtin and Potadaru. Thott :h liar spring md s«mmer were. s«» brilliant. In the tt&umn ©f her days she was destined to ttutjfe with contempt, and even acci.pt oharihy. Trusting in the pride of her bounty, she forgot that in thirty years the jftwa o£ morality had changed for the better ill her native land. Miss Elizabeth Chttdfeigli, born in l««0, waa the daughter of Colonel Thomas Chttdleigh, the youngest of a family which was greatly rejected in Devonshire. It does not appear Mint thta branch was specially favoured by uctunw f bat Miss Elizabeth, richly enuwed with beauty and wit, managed to nd the path that led to fortune. There: are many obstacles; in the poor girl's ay, but she was indefatigable in making 'lends, and waa eventually appointed Hud of honour to the Princess of Wales, liittghfcec-in-law of George 11. We have *iui from the preceding anecdotes that his court waa not exactly a school of Vitality. We are told that Miss Chud'igfo, in addition tootherlove-adventures, freed to tnarvy the son of a duke; but K> match waa oil through romantic aeei'itvts. The records mention nothing of kis ; they begin &rat in 1X44, when she ■®tt in love with a young naval oiheer, Justus Hartsy, son of Lovd John, and [Taadaon of John, Earl of BriatoL Keta'Vija of the young lady favoured the conation, and they made a secret marriage. however, they broke it oLf Jt>y 1 Xt. The ao-eaMed, or real aab-wf, who 1-4 been at sea for ,«»», did not trowa« himself much

whether the lovely Elizabeth ~33 his wife or not, until circumstances changed with both of them. We read, though it is not mentioned in the trial, that after a while Alias Chttdleigh thong.it it advisable to rl.'atroy all proof of tho iH-atativ t Marriage. It had taken pla ;»:• ;;r --. ■■■l vtlfage chnrch, and with her » hand she removed the page from the register. Sometime after, however, the father of Iter httahand died, and the latter became heir to the Earl of Bristol. She anxiously collected all the proofs again, and wrote in her own hand the notice which she had previously abstracted from the church hooka. Be this as it may, the trial proved the following facta :—Both husband and wife, with riper years, felt a mutual desire to be liberated from their fetters, and marry again, or bir free. For this purpose they contrived to come closer together and consult how their marriage cottkl be broken otf legally. These consultations were largely discussed in the report of the trial, for th'-y f©rase£l the basts of the charge. At first, Harvey wished to apply for a divorce on the grounds of adultery on the part of his wife, and he had no necessity to seek for proofs, as they were at his service on all sides; he only required to select the one tiiat suited hint beat. The lady, however, declined this, and found an eaait-r way of settling matters. After various consultations, she—the maid of honor of fifty years of age—demanded the anulment of the marriage, while he ostensibly sought to show its validitv.

But his proofs were so defective or so weak that his objections were repudiated, and the lately gained the day. The Ecclesiastical Court declared that no marriage had taken place between them, and both parties were at perfect liberty to marry again as they pleased. 31 £33 Elizabeth, in the meanwhile, had favored and dismissed a multitude of adorers, mitil, in riper years, she entered into a closer connection with the Duke of Kingston. He was very rich, had no children, and was probal ly an enervated and weak old man. Miss Chttdleigh was for years kept l>v hiin as a mistress, and neither the Court of the pious George 111., nor Augustus Harvey had any objection to offer.

In 1768, after the Ecclesiastical Court had declared her marriage with Harvev annulled, the duke luarrkd his mistress. Two years latter he died, without any posterity, having, so it is said, his whole fortune to his wife. Others say, however, that he favoured his widow more than his natural heirs liked. T.:e tatter, the duke's nephews, with Charles Mamv/s, the elder, at their head (who prusfiitty ac-pured all the duke's estates, and km raised to t-:v peerage tn ITSS as Earl Manvers), had already prs pared for t.,is cvtr.t. an I collected proofs t>f the fonnvr marriajo o: t he do««ag". r-d uefless.

tn ordsr to rob her of all the frni's of : her tnheritar.c r, they w«nt ismra r.uti-:aHy to work than 'by merely assa-lin_j the wish They awnaed Iter of not kuowlrg h»>w u-riou.;iy *he wa» aw\,*r.s,-d or, p«rt ap*, not coring for U, wsis trav«>!tuig in Italy when the was Lroi:;;ht : against Iter, and n>mt appear in f>(ra»»n it ahe wished to jinvc hers; It". H»-r t n-. nti.:.-i txpeeted that site would b« fri«HtcKed, and not put in an appfewßsc, awl for t:ia* ! tried to scrip her of tic money ■ for tier travelling expjn.sjs. Her banker hesitated about p»i_vi cty her a autit »f muney, ; but Elizabeth appeared before him, pi*.tui lin hand. and he very soon pawl tip. Tints slit; appeared in London, prepared and dej termined to do her utmost. But the tragedy was destined t«> be preceded by a , farej. Ast if she had not given the t->wn i sutlicient matter for talk, ve:;at:--rt. R.n.i > malice, she (bred a piper warfare with the most. <tan£ert»tt* of oppjnenw, iS.iintioi Foote. This witty, l.ut unscrupulous playwright, had learned iit►:;» a formvr confiditite of the dttchc&t so;uj piqtunie adventures of her private lii'c; and he worked them up in a fare.-, in which the Duchess of Kingston I would appear on the hoards utul r the name of Lady Kitty CrocoLle. When : all was pi> pared, the author let iter know what she had to expect, and, at the same time, was impudent enough to intimate: | that, if she paid him £2.000, he would ' suppress the pit.ee. According to report, | the duchess began bargaining with t\e dangerous man, and ottered him £1,(300 ; ; for wtttch sum, however, he would not

: surrender his warts. Fortunately for her, ! the Lord Chamberlain interfered, and, on being informed of the scandalous nature of the farce, he prohibited it. When Foote prepared to print it, the duchess managed to prevent its publication by ; threatening him with an action for libel. | Foote wrote her a letter, stating that the matter was at an end, which she was so i foolish as to send to the papers. This ; naturally led to a reply from Foote, and, though the lady was not choice in her language, she got the worst of the affair. The trial for bigamy was to have taken place in the Court of King's Bench, but the ducheas had it removed to the I House of Lords, by appealing to her marj riage with a peer of the realm. The trial ; commenced April 16, 1776, and old West- | minster Hall had rarely collected a more aristocratic audience. Even Queen Charlotte was present, with the young Prince of Wales, and four other children. The dowager Duchess of Kingston, though regarded as a prisoner, was treated with all the respect due to the widow of a peer. She wa3 dressed in deep mourning, but hardly a trace of her once enchanting beauty was visible. Hannah More, wiio was present, tells U3 that, had it not been for her white face, she might easily have been taken for a bale of bonibasin. Still, she behaved herjfcilf properly, and not without dignity, I and her presence of mind did not desert | her for a moment. We have already de- | scribed all the circumstances as proved at

the trial by the witnesses, and need only add that the Lords nnar.im.-r:- *; * • her in " Guilty." Only one, the Duke of Newcastle, proposed to add, " Guilty, but only in err.ir, not purposely." j't c >:::;!'i;ion, I:.e Duchess handed hi a j«;iii:- >:», claiming the bencili of peerage, without which she would have been branded in the hand. The Lords consulted on this point, but at length gave it in her favour, and t!ie Lord High Steward discharged the prisoner, telling her that her conscience would he her severest punishment, and recommending her not to come there again on a similar charge. Thus this remarkii!.!-; trial ended on the eighth day, and ISi d'ichess was conveyed in a fainting Rials to her carriage. She at once quitted England, and died some twenty years later, we believe, in Russia.