Two Wanton Ladies. "But why do you go?' said the lady, while both sat under the yew, And her eyes were alive in their depth, as the Kraken beneath the sea-blue. 'Because I fear you,' he answered;-because you are far too fair, And able to strangle my soul in a mesh of your gold-coloured hair." Elizabeth Barrett Browning. NELL Gwynn and Louise Renée de Penencovet de Quérouailles, Duchess of Portsmouth, figure in the two following ballad-dialogues, which mark the conclusion of Charles the Second's reign. We know not another copy, or a reprint. Readers who desire to read any amount of prosy moralizing, on the profligacy of those times, can find ample material provided elsewhere. Nothing is easier than to denounce unblushing wickedness in high places, and to set forth the evils caused by rioting in sensuality or prodigal expenditure. There is a close connexion between a wasteful Court and an over-taxed country; a niggardly House of Commons and an indignant Monarch, who is thus driven into tyrannical acts whereby money may be extorted, since it is otherwise refused. Thus the mistresses of Charles attain an historical importance. But we leave to others the invidious task of flinging stones at them. Andrew Marvel indulged in this plentifully, to the no-small damage of the respect we might otherwise accord him. Worthy Samuel Pepys had retained much of the Commonwealth Puritanism, of occasional sanctimoniousness, while ready enough in general to enjoy all pleasures with a Cavalier's freedom. He makes many an entry in his inestimable Diary, in rebuke of the waste and riot of the reigning favourites. No doubt words fell from him to the same effect, although he had seen quite enough of formal hypocrisy cloaking immorality during the days of "the Rump." He, therefore, was too sensible a man to hold himself qualified as a public corrector of morals. John Evelyn is careful to wear a grave face in reprobation of the prevailing libertinism, being a cold steady man, free from temptation. But we should have esteemed his virtue to be of a higher caste if he had avoided the scenes of debauchery, on which he bestows his censure, and not made profit and repute by his presence in a Court which he held to be contaminated. We 1 Thus, on Sunday, the 25th of January, 1685, he records, "Dr. Dove preached before the King. I saw this evening such a profuse gaming, and the King in the midst of his three concubines, as I had never before seen. Luxurious dallying and prophanenesse." Charles died early on 6th Feb., and Evelyn returns to the subject in the well-known passage, "I can never forget the inexpressible luxury are thankful to De Grammont and the Chevalier Hamilton for all they tell us, concerning the free-and-easy fair ones who intrigued, quarrelled, coquetted, and came to grief, surrounding the Merry Monarch. If these ladies, with the beauty of person which Sir Peter Lely has made immortal, seem devoid of soul, and only rarely are capable of any nobility of passion, even in love itself, the deficiency in them makes us less exorbitant in demand for heroic qualities in the men whom they enslaved. Frivolity tainted every one. It is quite as well that the full development was not arrested, of their reaction against the intolerable tyranny of the canting Puritans which had ended in making religion and virtue seem nothing beyond a name. Thus Venus victrix, even when she became Venus meretrix, courted homage from those who felt disgusted by the sullen hypocrisy and intolerance of the self-elected Saints. It is natural, after experience of repulsive Puritanical morality, that such a foolish pendulum as man swings himself in an opposite direction: Thou wert fair in the fearless old fashion, What ailed us, O gods, to desert you For creeds that refuse and restrain ? Some hankering after an enthroned life of pleasure, some unsatisfied yearnings to see the revival of that cheerful exuberance of spirit, which had earlier kept our country celebrated as "Merry England," might have haunted the world incessantly, if the experiment had not been made, with its ensuing nausea. The conviction nationally arrived at, since their date, is that both extremes are as foolish as they are insupportable. We reserve for the next ballad's introduction the little we have to write concerning the "Two Wanton Ladies of Pleasure." The death of Charles II., in February, 1685, was speedily followed by the Duchess of Portsmouth's preparations for return and prophanenesse, gaming and all dissoluteness, and as it were total forgetfulnesse of God (it being Sunday evening), which this day se'nnight I was witnesse of, the King sitting and toying with his concubines, Portsmouth, Cleaveland, and Mazarine, &c., a French boy singing love-songs in that glorious gallery, whilst about twenty of the greate courtiers and other dissolute persons were at Basset round a large table, a bank of at least two thousand [pounds] in gold before them; upon which two gentlemen who were with me made reflexions with astonishment. Six days after was all in the dust."-Evelyn's Diary. BAGFORD. 2 R to France. Despite the enormous sums of money that had been lavished on her, she appears to have been at this time crippled by debts. In both ballads the superior popularity of honest untitled "Nelly" shows to advantage. She was well known to be less grasping than all the other favourites, and far more constant to her royal lover. The being a stanch Protestant, as well as a daughter of the people, and a fearless, witty, beautiful actress, until Charles removed her from the stage, assisted to make her beloved. Her influence was never exerted in politics to the injury of her country, but she was the chief instigator of the foundation of Chelsea Hospital' for disabled soldiers. The admiration expressed for her by Samuel Pepys, when he saw her standing at her door, "in her smock sleeves and boddice," "a mighty pretty creature," is such as few except gloomy precisians would even now withhold. No wonder he is careful to record how pleased he was when he kissed her.2 It remains to tell of the tune, which was also known by the title "The Crost Couple," from a ballad in Roxb. Coll., ii. 94, beginning "I'll tell you a tale, no stranger than true." This name of the tune is mentioned in another ballad, "News from Hyde Park," Roxb. Coll., ii. 379, which gave other two names, "Hyde Park," and, from the burden, "Tantivee." See Popular Music, p. 326, and Pills, iv. 139, where it is entitled The HidePark Frolick. It begins, One evening, a little before it was dark, Sing tan tara, rara tan-tivee; I call'd for my Gelding, and rode to Hide Park, It was in the merry Month of May, When Meadows and Fields were gaudy and gay, I got upon my Tan-tivee. (Ouvry Coll., i. 47.) In twelve verses it tells of the country squire being deceived by a fine painted madam, whose false tresses, teeth, etc., he discovers in time to escape from her clutches, "and down to my country again to my Boors." So the tune was appropriately chosen. 1 "The plan of that fine institution, Chelsea Hospital, would probably never have been completed, at least in the reign of Charles, but for the persevering and benevolent enthusiasm of this woman [Nell Gwynn], who never let the King rest till it was carried into execution."-Mrs. Jameson's Memoirs of the Beauties of the Court of Charles the Second, p. 155, edition 1851. 2 Diary, January 23, 1667-8. The time when he saw her, on a Mayday, as she looked out from her lodgings' door in Drury Lane, at the milkmaids going around with garlands on their pails, was in 1667. [Bagford Collection, II. 170.] A Pleasant Dialogue betwixt Two Wanton Ladies of Pleasure. Dr, The Dutchess of Por[t]smouths woful Far[e]wel to her former One Lady she Couragiously stands in her own defence; BRave Gallants, now listen and I will you tell, with a fa, la, la, la, fa, la, la, A pleasant discourse that I heard at Pell-Mell, Between two fair Ladys of the wanton strain, I wish I was over in France now again, Quoth Nelly, I prithee, who sent for thee here, with a fa, la, &c. 4 8 'Tis you with a shame that put in for a share, with a fa, la, &c. 12 O do you remember when I was dismay'd, When you in attire was richly array'd, Alas I poor Nelly was wrong'd in my trade, with a fa, la, &c. 16 I pray now could you not your honour advance, with a fa, la, &c. With some noble Peer, in the Nation of France, with a fa, la, &c. 20 Forsooth you must needs leave your country dear 24 Dear Nelly, be loving, and do not reflect, with a fa, la, &c. But prithee now shew me some civil respect, with a fa, la, &c. For now I am in a most pittiful case, For shame will not let me uncover my face, My honour is turn'd to a wail of disgrace, with a fa, la, &c. Quoth Nelly, pray send for the treasure again, with a fa, la, &c. That you did send over while you were in fame : with a fa, la, &c. Come, come, I must tell ye that you was too bold 28 32 336 40 |