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If the reader refers to the title of Lord
Audley, in Collins', or Sharpe's, or Burke's ' Peerage,' he will see that
George, eleventh Baron Audley, was raised by James I to the earldom of
Castlehaven in Ireland. This nobleman had, by his marriage with the
heiress of the Mervins, of Fonthill, in
Wiltshire, a son named Mervin, twelfth Baron
Audley, and second Earl of Castlehaven, who, unhappily, offended against
the law so far that, being accused of sundry crimes, by virtue of a
'commission of oyer and terminer,' he was
sentenced to death, and was executed on Tower Hill in 1631, when his title
was forfeited to the Crown.
His son John, however, had sufficient influence to obtain a reversal
of the attainder, and to obtain a new patent of the earldom of Castlehaven.
The family were zealous Roman Catholics. During the civil wars in Ireland
he held a command under the Duke of Ormonde, and ultimately was chosen
general of the forces which were enrolled to serve against Oliver Cromwell
and the Parliamentarians. He married a daughter of the noble house of
Chandos, and his brother Mervin, who succeeded to his honours, was
fortunate enough to secure in marriage one of the fair daughters of John,
Earl of Shrewsbury. The fourth earl allied himself in marriage with one of
the Arundells of Wardour staunch Roman Catholics and Jacobites, like
himself by whom he had two daughters. About this
lady I have a little story to tell, which I think will interest my
readers. The story shall be told almost wholly in the words of her
brother-in-law:
Lady Mary Touchet, a
beautiful Englishwoman, made her first public appearance at a ball at
Paris given by the Chevalier Charles Edward just before his expedition
into Scotland in the year 1745. The prince, attracted not only by her
personal charms, but also by the fact that she was the sister to an
English Catholic peer, tools her as his partner in the dance; and before
they parted he communicated to her whither he was going and the importance
of his expedition . . . . I can easily conceive to what a pitch of
enthusiasm a beautiful young Englishwoman, of the same religious
principles with the prince, and so particularly honored by him at that
time, might be worked up, and what she might be led to say upon so trying
an occasion ; but, whatever it were, he instantly took his penknife from
his pocket, ripped the star from his breast, and gave it her as a token of
his particular regard; and I doubt not that she concluded such an external
mark of his partiality, had lie succeeded in his enterprise, was given as
a prelude to the offer of a more precious jewel which had lain under the
star within his bosom.
As that beautiful woman
cued at the age of twenty, the star fell into the lap of her sister, and
as she soon after fell into mine as my wife, I became possessed of that
inestimable badge of distinction, together with a fine portrait of the
prince, by Hussey. Being a Whig and a military man, I did not think it
right to keep either of them in my possession, and a simple old Jacobite
lady offered me a considerable sum of money for them ; but having three
nieces, whose father had lived in intimacy with the late Sir John Dolben,
I presented both to them, and I believe that valuable relic of the
departed Prince Charles is now in the possession of Airs. Lloyd, my eldest
niece, and wife to the present Dean of Norwich.'
Thus far writes Captain
Thicknesse. He adds:
'Lady Mary Touchet was
the first woman who appeared in England in a French dress, about the year
1748, which was then so particular, that she never went out at Bath, the
place of her constant residence, without being followed by a crowd; for at
that time the general dress of France was deemed so outré
in this country that in most eyes it diminished the charms of both her
face and person, to which she otherwise had the utmost claim. She danced
on a Friday night ball, and died the Sunday following. A lady, who
assisted in laying her out, told me she could scarcely believe she was
dead, for that she never saw so much beauty in life, and that she exceeded
in symmetry even Titian's Venus. It should be added that at her death Lady
Mary Touchet had scarcely completed her twentieth year.
Chapters From the Family Chests, 1887
Chapters From the Family Chest |
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