-Correspondence with Mr. Jennens-Her dispute with Sir R. Wal- pole-Her letter to Dr. Hare on the subject-Lady Diana Spencer writes to complain of the entrance to Marlborough House-Death George II. crowned at Westminster-Arrival of Prince Frederick of Wales-His popularity-His parents' dislike of him-Duchess of Marlborough's sympathy for the prince-She loses her grand- son-Her letter on the subject-Her other grandchildren-Her love for John and Diana Spencer-Her generosity-Her wit and agreeable conversation-Her friendship for Lord Chesterfield- Duchess corresponds with Sir R. Walpole about Windsor Park- Queen Caroline's dispute with the duchess over Wimbledon- Further letters about Windsor Park-Queen Caroline dies-Prince Frederick of Wales-Duchess's almshouses at St. Albans-The election there - The ridicule Lord Grimston's play excited- Duchess of Marlborough's offer to Lord Marchmont-Her friend- ship for Mr. Pitt-Her reflections upon life-The publication of her "Conduct"-Her friendship for Pope: their correspondence -Handel and Buononcini-The duchess and Windsor Park-She employs two historians to write the duke's life-The friends and relations she survived-Her friendship for Lady Mary Wortley LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS SARAH JENNINGS, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH From an Engraving of the portrait painted about 1705 by Sir From the original painting by Mrs. MARY BEALE in the ✓ KING JAMES II. From the original painting by Sir GODFREY KNELler in THE MARLBOROUGH FAMILY (circ. 1692). Reading From the original painting by WILLIAM WISSING in the MAUSOLEUM Erected at WESTMINSTER ABBEY FOR From an Engraving of the portrait by Sir GODFRey Kneller. From the original painting by VOLLEVENS at Welbeck XV From the original painting by WILLIAM WISSING in the PRINCESS ANNE, WITH HER SON THE DUKE OF From the original painting by MICHAEL DAHL in the From the original painting by Sir GODFREY KNELLER in the From the original painting by JOHN SHACKLETON in the DUCHESS SARAH CHAPTER I UNDER CHARLES II "When vice prevails and impious men bear sway, On a bright morning in the summer of 1660, a child who was destined to sway the history of England, if not of Europe, first saw the light. Sarah Jennings was born on the fifth day of June in the early days of the "Merry Monarch's" reign, just when a new epoch was about to commence. She was the youngest of seven children of Richard Jennings and Frances his wife, of Sandridge, in the county of Hertford. There is no authentic record of the actual dwelling in which Sarah made her entry into the world; tradition says it was in a small house in St. Albans, now destroyed, and this is borne out by the Duchess herself, who says St. Albans was her birthplace. The ancestral home of the Jennings family was Water End House (now a farm, also supposed to be the scene of Sarah's birth). Situated on the Sandridge estate, it was built by Sir John Jennings, our heroine's great-grandfather, who was knighted by James I. in 1603. This property and that of Holywell on the other side of St. Albans had formerly belonged to a monastery, A and had been granted by Henry VIII. to Sir Ralph Rowlett, a goldsmith or banker of London. His daughter Joan married Ralph Jennings,' a man of property and means, owner of an estate in Surrey named Fanne. These properties, although greatly involved, descended to Sarah's father, Richard Jennings, who had succeeded his father, the second Sir John Jennings, in 1642. Sir John had been created a Knight of the Bath in 1625, at the coronation of Charles I. Two years before he died, Sir John became a Member of Parliament for St. Albans, and for this reason he had apartments at Whitehall, where Lady Jennings remained with her family after she became a widow. A few years later, in 1650, there was an order in Council to command Richard Jennings to remove himself and family from Whitehall, as he was sheltering there against arrest from debt. The following year Richard married, and became a Member of Parliament for St. Albans, and as long as he retained his seat he was free from bailiffs' importunities. His wife Frances brought him a fortune inherited from her father, Sir Gifford Thornhurst, of Agnes Court, in Kent. This set him up for a time, but not for long, as shortly after Richard's marriage he and his brother Charles gave a bond for £20,000 to Sir Martin Lister, Lady Thornhurst's second husband; this sum paid off some of his liabilities. Two years later, however, being again in need of money, he sold his estate of Churchill, in Somersetshire, and obtained his mother's consent to part with her dower house at Puxton, in the same county. The Stuarts had reason to be grateful to the Jennings family; not only had Sir John impoverished his estate by raising troops to fight for Charles I., but Richard 1 For origin and pedigree of Jennings family see Appendix I. |