The Wits and Beaux of Society Volume 1   By: A. T. Thomson (1797-1862)

BY GRACE AND PHILIP WHARTON

New Edition with a Preface

BY JUSTIN HUNTLY MCCARTHY, M.P.

And the original illustrations by H. K. BROWNE AND JAMES GODWIN

TWO VOLS. VOL. I.

New York WORTHINGTON CO., 747 BROADWAY 1890

[Illustration: WHARTON'S ROGUISH PRESENT.]

DEDICATION.

DEAR MR. AUGUSTIN DALY,

May I write your name on the dedication page of this new edition of an old and pleasant book in token of our common interest in the people and the periods of which it treats, and as a small proof of our friendship?

Sincerely yours, JUSTIN HUNTLY M'CARTHY.

LONDON, July, 1890.

CONTENTS.

PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION p. xi PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION p. xxv PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION p. xxix

GEORGE VILLIERS, SECOND DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.

Signs of the Restoration. Samuel Pepys in his Glory. A Royal Company. Pepys 'ready to Weep.' The Playmate of Charles II. George Villiers's Inheritance. Two Gallant Young Noblemen. The Brave Francis Villiers. After the Battle of Worcester. Disguising the King. Villiers in Hiding. He appears as a Mountebank. Buckingham's Habits. A Daring Adventure. Cromwell's Saintly Daughter. Villiers and the Rabbi. The Buckingham Pictures and Estates. York House. Villiers returns to England. Poor Mary Fairfax. Villiers in the Tower. Abraham Cowley, the Poet. The Greatest Ornament of Whitehall. Buckingham's Wit and Beauty. Flecknoe's Opinion of Him. His Duel with the Earl of Shrewsbury. Villiers as a Poet. As a Dramatist. A Fearful Censure! Villiers's Influence in Parliament. A Scene in the Lords. The Duke of Ormond in Danger. Colonel Blood's Outrages. Wallingford House and Ham House. 'Madame Ellen.' The Cabal. Villiers again in the Tower. A Change. The Duke of York's Theatre. Buckingham and the Princess of Orange. His last Hours. His Religion. Death of Villiers. The Duchess of Buckingham. p. 1

COUNT DE GRAMMONT, ST. EVREMOND, AND LORD ROCHESTER.

De Grammont's Choice. His Influence with Turenne. The Church or the Army? An Adventure at Lyons. A brilliant Idea. De Grammont's Generosity. A Horse 'for the Cards.' Knight Cicisbeism. De Grammont's first Love. His Witty Attacks on Mazarin. Anne Lucie de la Mothe Houdancourt. Beset with Snares. De Grammont's Visits to England. Charles II. The Court of Charles II. Introduction of Country dances. Norman Peculiarities. St. Evremond, the Handsome Norman. The most Beautiful Woman in Europe. Hortense Mancini's Adventures. Madame Mazarin's House at Chelsea. Anecdote of Lord Dorset. Lord Rochester in his Zenith. His Courage and Wit Rochester's Pranks in the City. Credulity, Past and Present 'Dr. Bendo,' and La Belle Jennings. La Triste Heritière. Elizabeth, Countess of Rochester. Retribution and Reformation. Conversion. Beaux without Wit. Little Jermyn. An Incomparable Beauty. Anthony Hamilton, De Grammont's Biographer. The Three Courts. 'La Belle Hamilton.' Sir Peter Lely's Portrait of her. The Household Deity of Whitehall. Who shall have the Calèche? A Chaplain in Livery. De Grammont's Last Hours. What might he not have been? p. 41

BEAU FIELDING.