Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-11-23
DAILY
WITTY AND PRETTY WOMEN OF
WALPOLES TINE.
We take from an English magazine the
following account, from Horace Walpole's
letters, of some of the court beauties and
-oolob-itias Of whom he gossins.

. We take from an English magazine tn
) following account, from Horace Walpole'
/, letters, of some of the court beauties an,
celebrities Of whom he gossips;
QUEEN CAROLINE.
Her beauty, which had been great q
J the time of her marriage, had fallen
c victim to the fatal ravages of the terribl,
I distemper which was then so little under
stood ard SO unscientifically treated tina
, Il is q matter for wonder that any sur
vived to bear upon their countenances fol
life the Distinguishing sign and seal witt
which "small pOx' marked the victims WIZ
had escaped its clutches alive.
The beaming eyes of the queen, indeed
were as expressive as ever, and could kin
die with Indignation and afironted majesty
from under the royal brow. Another
great beauty which the queen could boast
was the marvellous symmetry of her
" small, plump and graceful hands"
charm by no means to be despised, and
one far less common than that of a pretty
face or a bright, rosy complexion. Her
personal attributes, indeed, were so far
from contemplate that the king himself,
thoughatyrann.calan and unfaithfulh husband,
frequently declared in public that he had
never yet seen a woman whose charms
equaled those of the queen and when he
described his own idea of beauty, he al
ways literally described that of his own
wife. Upon more than one occasion; in
decd, he subjected the "gOOd Howard .
herself to exquisite modification on the
queens account for, coming into the
room as that lady was manipulating the
royal head, Ia mental occupation to which
the wife had the power of submitting the
mistress, he snatched off the handkerchief
which concealed the fair and beautifully
modelled throat of the former, saying an
grily to Mrs. Howard as he did SO, BE
cause you have an ugly neck yourself, you
hide the queens"
&sBut majesty also has its moments of soH-
imposed humiliation; and at such times
we hear of the queen herself rising meek
ly and offering to retire, wheh the king
Land his prime minister, Sir Robert Wal
pole. for whom she had a great personal
regard, consulted upon the business Of the
State-gmatters which" says Horace Wal
/ pulg. ashe and M father had previously
settled between -tifem.' She was fond of
laying out and improving her garden at
Richmond; and she managed being a
clever woman) to hoodwink the king into
! believing that the expenses of these i'm
proyements were betrayed out of her
privy purse. while she was, in fact, sup
piled with the necessary funds by the aid
and conniyance of the first minister OF
State.
She understood perfectly the art OF
managing a coarse and tyrannical hus-
b,p1 bu al oea,unaI onnaaraOpa of the
most profound submission and respect.
| She died, indeed, a martyr to this princi-
pleyuf implicit and unquestionable obedi-
ence to the arbitrary rule Of her exacting
| spouse; for, rather than oppose any wish
or command of his, she underwent hours
of fierce torture, and kept secret within
her W breast the progress of the mala-
DIV which was soon to terminate In death.
When suffering from the govt in her
leg. she did not hesitate to plunge the
limb SO affected into cold water, that she
might be enabled to attend the king In
his morning walk.
HIGH rENfERgD DUCHESS.
aOId Marlborough" she was in Horace
Walpole's time. zone OF her principal
charms" he tells US, was her fine, fair
hair"
These fair, showering golden locks were
themselves doomed to be sacrificed to the
passionate temper of their mistress; for
tone day at her toilette, in anger TO her
husband, she cut off all those command
ing tresses, and flung them at his face"
This curious outburst of conjugal malice
was practiced in later years by a celebra-
ted beauty. whose husband, like the great
duke. took pride in his wife's hair. She
cut it off in anger, on purpose to vex him,
and was stung to the heart, at his death,
to find the fading relics of that beauty,
which with woman is power, carefully
cherished in his most private and sacred
depository.
The temper of this celebrated duchess
was that of an unmitigated vixen-pas-
sionate. violent and malicious. Shefeared
her superiors, and trampled her interiors
and her children under her feet. With
her eldest daughter (who succeeded her,
by act of Parliament, as Duchess of MARI
borough she was at open war. With
her y~ounrest. the Duchess Of Montague,
she agreed no better.
al wonder" said the Duke, her hus-
band, with less knowledge of human ma
ture than the art of war, "that you two
cannon agree yOu arc 90 mNN
Lady Bateman, daughter of the Ouch
! ess, persuaded her brother to marry a
handsome young lady, who u~nluckily was
the daughter of Lord Trevor, who had
been a bitter enemy of his grandfather,
the victorious duke, The grandam's rage
exceeded all bounds. Having a portrait
of Lady Bateman, she blackened her face,
and wrote on it: Nov her outside is as
black as her inside"
This is the last We hear of her from her
graphic pen; excepting a few lines an
| %1ouncing her death, which took place
| soon after. "Old Marlborough is dying
but who can tellr' Last year she had
lain i'll for a great while without speak
ing her physician said: "She must be
| blistered, or she will die" She called out:
Il won't be blistered, and 1 won't die"
FEMALE vANITY.
Next in the succession of courtly celeb
rites comes Oatharine, Duchess DOwager
of Buckingham, who was a natural
daughter of james IL. She was remark
ABLY ~princely for her overweening pride
and for her affectation of regal privileges
and prestige. Of her Horace Walpole re-
lates: 1.-THE Duchess of Buckingham,
| who IS more mad with pride than any