DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51519#0179
NELL GWYNN.
153
It seems that Nokes, the favourite buffoon of the rival theatre
(the duke’s house,) had lately drawn crowds, by appearing in a
huge broad-brimmed hat, though where the jest lay it is impossible
to guess. Dryden ridiculed this extravagance, by causing Nell to
appear in a hat double the size, with brims as wide as a cart-wheel;
her slight short figure, just visible under this vast overhanging
circumference, and the archness with which she delivered the
satirical address, were irresistibly droll, and produced all the effect
expected ; and much more, if the tradition be true, that it was in
this grotesque costume Nell first captivated her royal lover : but
there is reason to doubt it.* All that can be ascertained is, that
from this time the King openly distinguished her; and after the
first performance went behind the scenes., and took her away in his
carriage to sup with him. Soon after, Lord Buckhurst resigned
her for the consideration of an earldom and a pension.f
After this elevation (as the contemporary writers express it, and,
no doubt, very sincerely thought it,) we find Nelly dignified in the
play-bills with the title of “ Madam Ellen,” by which name she
was popularly known. She appeared on the stage once or twice
after the birth of her eldest son, but retired from it altogether in
1071. About this time she was created one of the ladies of the
Queen’s privy-chamber, under which title she was lodged in
Whitehall.J Madam Ellen lost none of her popularity by her
* See Pepys’ Diary, vol. ii. p. 179.
t Others say that Dorset himself introduced her at court, to shake the influence
of the Duchess of Cleveland.
t Pegge’s Curialia, p. 58. This was too disgraceful, but the disgrace rests
with Charles who offered, and the Queen who endured the outrage, rather than
upon Nell Gwynn, who certainly never sought the dignity. It is illustrative of
the morals of the time, that a female writer, in the Dedication of a Comedy to
Mistress Ellen Gwynn, chooses her principal topic of compliment from the
connexion of that lady with majesty ; and congratulates her upon the children
born from that union, as peculiar blessings sent down from Heaven upon the
mother and the kingdom. “tNor can Heaven give you more, who has expressed
a particular care of you in everyway, and above all in the bestowing on the world
and you two noble branches, who have all the greatness and sweetness of their
153
It seems that Nokes, the favourite buffoon of the rival theatre
(the duke’s house,) had lately drawn crowds, by appearing in a
huge broad-brimmed hat, though where the jest lay it is impossible
to guess. Dryden ridiculed this extravagance, by causing Nell to
appear in a hat double the size, with brims as wide as a cart-wheel;
her slight short figure, just visible under this vast overhanging
circumference, and the archness with which she delivered the
satirical address, were irresistibly droll, and produced all the effect
expected ; and much more, if the tradition be true, that it was in
this grotesque costume Nell first captivated her royal lover : but
there is reason to doubt it.* All that can be ascertained is, that
from this time the King openly distinguished her; and after the
first performance went behind the scenes., and took her away in his
carriage to sup with him. Soon after, Lord Buckhurst resigned
her for the consideration of an earldom and a pension.f
After this elevation (as the contemporary writers express it, and,
no doubt, very sincerely thought it,) we find Nelly dignified in the
play-bills with the title of “ Madam Ellen,” by which name she
was popularly known. She appeared on the stage once or twice
after the birth of her eldest son, but retired from it altogether in
1071. About this time she was created one of the ladies of the
Queen’s privy-chamber, under which title she was lodged in
Whitehall.J Madam Ellen lost none of her popularity by her
* See Pepys’ Diary, vol. ii. p. 179.
t Others say that Dorset himself introduced her at court, to shake the influence
of the Duchess of Cleveland.
t Pegge’s Curialia, p. 58. This was too disgraceful, but the disgrace rests
with Charles who offered, and the Queen who endured the outrage, rather than
upon Nell Gwynn, who certainly never sought the dignity. It is illustrative of
the morals of the time, that a female writer, in the Dedication of a Comedy to
Mistress Ellen Gwynn, chooses her principal topic of compliment from the
connexion of that lady with majesty ; and congratulates her upon the children
born from that union, as peculiar blessings sent down from Heaven upon the
mother and the kingdom. “tNor can Heaven give you more, who has expressed
a particular care of you in everyway, and above all in the bestowing on the world
and you two noble branches, who have all the greatness and sweetness of their