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W. R. H. Trowbridge. Court Beauties of Old Whitehall: Historiettes of the Restoration
Court Beauties of Old Whitehall: Historiettes of the Restoration
Table of Contents
Preface
HORTENSE MANCINI, DUCHESSE DE MAZARIN. AN ADVENTURESS OF THE RESTORATION
BARBARA VILLIERS, DUCHESS OF CLEVELAND. A COURTEZAN OF THE RESTORATION
"LA BELLE STUART," DUCHESS OF RICHMOND. A PRUDE OF THE RESTORATION
"LA BELLE HAMILTON," COMTESSE DE GRAMONT. A GOOD WOMAN OF THE RESTORATION
"THE LOVELY JENNINGS," DUCHESS OF TYRCONNEL. A SPLENDID FAILURE OF THE RESTORATION
"WANTON SHREWSBURY"—LADY ANNA MARIA BRUDENELL, COUNTESS OF SHREWSBURY. A MESSALINA OF THE RESTORATION
"MADAME"—HENRIETTA, DUCHESS OF ORLEANS. THE FRENCH COURT—THE EVIL GENIUS OF THE RESTORATION
LOUISE DE KÉROUAL, DUCHESS OF PORTSMOUTH. A SPY OF THE RESTORATION
Index
Отрывок из книги
W. R. H. Trowbridge
Published by Good Press, 2021
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At the end of seven years the Duchesse de Mazarin, who had borne her husband three daughters and one son, in spite of her own disregard of the value of money, became alarmed at the rapidity with which her uncle's millions were being squandered on the crowd of becowled hangers-on who directed the life and conscience of their cranky dupe. She protested on behalf of her children. The Duc de Mazarin answered by seizing her jewels, on the ground that jewels encouraged vanity and immodesty, and ordered her to accompany him to Alsace, of which province he was governor, intending to keep her with him there for the rest of her life. After a scandalous attempt at force, witnessed by the entire domestic establishment of the Palais Mazarin, the Duchesse escaped to her brother's, the Duc de Nevers.
In this age of the emancipation of women it is amusing to read of the grave scandal the Duchesse de Mazarin caused by leaving her husband. Such an action, which to-day would scarcely cause a ripple of excitement, was then a criminal offence. It was the first step in defiance of convention that gave her freedom and deprived her of her reputation. But, considering the life she had led, the wonder is not that she did not leave her husband sooner, but that she had ever put up with him at all. Arguing, perhaps, from her indolent and easy-going temperament, which, because it had endured for seven years the vagaries of such a husband, seemed to prove an unlimited capacity of endurance, she was pestered by the Duc, her relations, and even the King himself, to return to the Palais Mazarin. But she refused to listen to all offers of reconciliation and mediation. Any fate, she declared, was preferable to living again under the same roof with her husband. He, in his exasperation, seized the power the law gave him and had her arrested and imprisoned in the convent of Les Filles de St. Marie, a sort of aristocratic home for fallen women. The Duchesse, now as alert and vindictive as she had previously been indolent and submissive, retorted from her convent-prison with a demand for her jewels, an allowance, and a separation.
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