Nell Gwyn
Nell Gwyn | |
---|---|
Born | Eleanor Gwyn 2 February 1650 |
Died | 14 November 1687 Pall Mall, London, England | (aged 37)
Nationality | |
Other names |
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Occupation | Actress |
Partner | Charles II of England |
Children |
|
Eleanor Gwyn (2 February 1650 – 14 November 1687; also spelled Gwynn, Gwynne) was an
Called "pretty, witty Nell" by Pepys, she has been regarded as a living embodiment of the spirit of
Early life
The details of Gwyn's background are somewhat obscure. A
The obscurity surrounding Gwyn's date of birth parallels numerous other obscurities that run through the course of her life. The information we have about Gwyn is collected from various sources, including the plays she starred in, satirical poetry and pictures, diaries, and letters. As such, much of this information is founded on hearsay, gossip, and rumour, and must therefore be handled with caution.
Her mother Ellen (or a variant, being referred to in her lifetime as "Old Madam", "Madam Gwyn" and "Old Ma Gwyn") was born, according to a
Nell Gwyn is reported in a manuscript of 1688 to have been a daughter of "Thos [Thomas] Guine a Capt [captain] of ane antient fammilie in
Gwyn was assigned arms similar to those of the Gwynnes of Llansannor.[9][1] However, her specific connection to that family, if any, is unknown.
Three cities make the claim to be Gwyn's birthplace:
One way or another, Gwyn's father seems to have been out of the picture by the time of her childhood in Covent Garden, and her "
It is not out of the question that Gwyn was merely echoing the satirists of the day, if she said this at all.
Various anonymous verses are the only other sources describing her childhood occupations: bawdyhouse servant,
Around 1662, Nell is said to have taken a lover by the name of Duncan or Dungan. Their relationship lasted perhaps two years, and was reported with obscenity-laced acidity in several later satires; "For either with expense of purse or p---k, / At length the weary fool grew Nelly-sick".[15] Duncan provided Gwyn with rooms at a tavern in Maypole Alley,[16] and the satires also say he was involved in securing Nell a job at the theatre being built nearby.
During the
Mary Meggs, a former prostitute nicknamed "Orange Moll" and a friend of Madam Gwyn's, had been granted the licence to "vend, utter and sell oranges, lemons, fruit, sweetmeats and all manner of fruiterers and confectioners wares" within the theatre.
Actress
The new theatres were the first in England to feature actresses; earlier, women's parts had been played by boys or men. Gwyn joined the rank of actresses at Bridges Street when she was fourteen (if we take her birth year to be 1650), less than a year after becoming an orange-girl.
If her good looks, strong clear voice, and lively wit were responsible for catching the eye of Killigrew, she still had to prove herself clever enough to succeed as an actress. This was no easy task in the Restoration theatre; the limited pool of audience members meant that very short runs were the norm for plays and fifty different productions might be mounted in the nine-month season lasting from September to June.[19] She was reputed to have been illiterate.
She was taught her craft of performing at a school for young actors developed by Killigrew
Much as in the dispute over her date of birth, it is unclear when Gwyn began to perform professionally on the Restoration stage. It is possible that she first appeared in smaller parts during the 1664–65 season. For example, The Bodleian Manuscript of The Siege of Urbin has the part of Pedro (Melina- a maid servant in breeches) played by a 'Mrs. Nell'. Additionally, 'Nelle' was intended to play the small role of Paulina, a courtesan, in Killigrew's Thomaso, or The Wanderer in November 1664, but the play seems to have been cancelled.[20] The use of 'Mrs' would imply that Gwyn was more likely born in 1642 than 1650 as it indicates an actress over the age of 21 (not her marital status) for which certain roles would be more suitable. Nonetheless, since players of less substantial parts are seldom mentioned in cast lists or playgoers' diaries of the period, an absolute date for Gywn's debut cannot be ascertained.[21]
Whatever her first role as an actress may have been, it is evident that she had become a more prominent actress by 1665. It is around this time when she is first mentioned in Pepys's diary, specifically on Monday 3 April 1665, while attending a play, where the description 'pretty, witty Nell' is first recorded.[22] This unusual use of only her first name would imply that Gwyn had made herself known both on the stage and off as her celebrity status started to emerge. Her first recorded appearance on-stage was in March 1665, in John Dryden's heroic drama The Indian Emperour, playing Cydaria, daughter of Moctezuma and love interest to Cortez, played by her real-life lover Charles Hart.
However, Pepys, whose diary usually has great things to say about Gwyn, was displeased with her performance in this same part two years later: "...to the King's playhouse, and there saw 'The Indian Emperour;' where I find Nell come again, which I am glad of; but was most infinitely displeased with her being put to act the Emperour's daughter; which is a great and serious part, which she do most basely."[23]
Gwyn herself seems to agree that drama did not suit her, to judge from the lines she was later made to say in the epilogue to a Robert Howard drama:
We have been all ill-us'd, by this day's poet.
'Tis our joint cause; I know you in your hearts
Hate serious plays, as I do serious parts.[24]
It was in the new form of restoration comedy that Gwyn would become a star. In May 1665, she appeared opposite Hart in James Howard's comedy All Mistaken, or the Mad Couple.[25]
There is some debate over the year The Mad Couple debuted, with earlier authorities believing it to be 1667. This was the first of many appearances in which Gwyn and Hart played the "gay couple", a form that would become a frequent theme in restoration comedies. The gay couple, broadly defined, is a pair of witty, antagonistic lovers, he generally a
The Great Plague of London shut down the Bridges Street theatre, along with most of the city, from mid-1665 until late 1666. Gwyn and her mother spent some of this time in Oxford, following the King and his court.[9] The King's Company is presumed to have mounted some private theatrical entertainments for the court during this time away from the virulent capital. Gwyn and the other ten "women comedians in His Majesty's Theatre" were issued the right (and the cloth) to wear the King's livery at the start of this exile, proclaiming them official servants of the King.[26]
After the theatres reopened, Gwyn and Hart returned to play role after role that fit the mould of the gay couple, including in James Howard's The English Monsieur (December 1666), Richard Rhodes' Flora's Vagaries, an adaptation of John Fletcher's The Chances by George Villiers, and then in their greatest success, Secret Love, or The Maiden Queen.[27]
This play, a tragicomedy written by the theatre's house dramatist, John Dryden, was performed in March 1667. It was a great success: King Charles "graced it with the Title of His Play"[28] and Pepys's praise was effusive:
... to the King's house to see 'The Maiden Queen', a new play of Dryden's, mightily commended for the regularity of it, and the strain and wit; and the truth is, there is a comical part done by Nell, which is Florimell, that I never can hope ever to see the like done again, by man or woman. The King and the Duke of York were at the play. But so great performance of a comical part was never, I believe, in the world before as Nell do this, both as a mad girl, then most and best of all when she comes in like a young gallant; and hath the notions and carriage of a spark the most that ever I saw any man have. It makes me, I confess, admire her.[29]
After seeing the play for the third time, Pepys writes, "It is impossible to have Florimel’s part, which is the most comical that ever was made for woman, ever done better than it is by Nelly."[30] Killigrew must have agreed with Pepys's opinion. Once Gwyn left the acting profession, it would be at least ten years before his company revived The Maiden Queen and even the less favoured The Indian Emperour because "the management evidently felt that it would be useless to present these plays without her."[31]
The Maiden Queen featured breeches roles, where the actress appeared in men's clothes under one pretence or another, and as Bax supposes "was one of the first occasions upon which a woman appeared in the disguise of a man";[32] if nothing else this could draw an audience eager to see the women show off their figures in the more form-fitting male attire. The attraction had another dynamic: the theatres sometimes had a hard time holding onto their actresses, as they were swept up to become the kept mistresses of the aristocracy. In 1667, Gwyn made such a match with Charles Sackville, titled Lord Buckhurst at that time. She supposedly caught his eye during an April performance of All Mistaken, or The Mad Couple, especially in one scene in which, to escape a hugely fat suitor able to move only by rolling, she rolls across the stage herself, her feet toward the audience and her petticoats flying about. A satire of the time describes this and also Hart's position now, in the face of competition from the upper echelons of society:
Yet Hart more manners had, then not to tender
When noble Buckhurst beg'd him to surrender.
He saw her roll the stage from side to side
And, through her drawers the powerful charm descry'd.[33]
Beauclerk describes Buckhurst: "Cultured, witty, satirical, dissolute, and utterly charming".
Relationship with King Charles II
Late in 1667, George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, took on the role of unofficial manager for Gwyn's love affairs. He aimed to provide King Charles II with someone who would supplant Barbara Palmer, his principal current mistress and Buckingham's cousin, moving Buckingham closer to the King's ear. The plan failed; reportedly, Gwyn asked £500 a year to be kept and this was rejected as it was regarded as too expensive. Buckingham had an alternative plan, which was to set the King up with Moll Davis, an actress with the rival Duke's Company.[39] Davis would be Gwyn's first rival for the King. Several anonymous satires from the time relate a tale of Gwyn, with the help of her friend Aphra Behn, slipping a powerful laxative into Davis's tea-time cakes before an evening when she was expected in the King's bed.[40]
The love affair between the King and Gwyn allegedly began in April 1668. Gwyn was attending a performance of
Having previously been the mistress of Charles Hart and Charles Sackville, Gwyn jokingly called the King "her Charles the Third". By mid-1668, Gwyn's affair with the King was well-known, though there was little reason to believe it would last for long. She continued to act at the King's House, her new notoriety drawing larger crowds and encouraging the playwrights to craft more roles specifically for her. June 1668 found her in Dryden's An Evening's Love, or The Mock Astrologer, and in July she played in Lacy's The Old Troop, a farce about a company of Cavalier soldiers during the English Civil War, based on Lacy's own experiences. Possibly, Gwyn's father had served in the same company, and Gwyn's part—the company whore—was based on her own mother.[43] As her commitment to the King increased, though, her acting career slowed, and she had no recorded parts between January and June 1669, when she played Valeria in Dryden's very successful tragedy Tyrannick Love.[44]
King Charles II had a considerable number of mistresses through his life, both short affairs and committed arrangements. He also had a wife, Portuguese Queen consort Catherine of Braganza, whose pregnancies all ended in miscarriages, and she had little or no say over Charles's choice to have mistresses. This had come to a head shortly after their marriage in 1662, in a confrontation between Catherine and Barbara Palmer, which became known as the "Bedchamber crisis". Ostracised at Court and with most of her retinue sent back to Portugal, Catherine had been left with little choice but to acquiesce to Charles's mistresses being granted semi-official standing.
During Gwyn's first years with Charles, there was little competition in the way of other mistresses: Barbara Palmer was on her way out, while others, such as Moll Davis, kept quietly away from the spotlight of public appearances or Whitehall. Gwyn gave birth to her first son fathered by Charles II, Charles Beauclerk, on 8 May 1670. He was the King's seventh son by five separate mistresses.
Several months later,
Gwyn returned to the stage again in late 1670, something Beauclerk calls an "extraordinary thing to do" for a mistress with a royal child. Her return was in Dryden's The Conquest of Granada, a two-part epic produced in December 1670 and January 1671. This may have been her last play; 1671 was almost certainly her last season.[48] Gwyn's theatrical career spanned seven years and ended at the age of 21 (if we take 1650 to be her birth year).
In the cast list of Aphra Behn's The Rover, produced at Dorset Garden in March 1677, the part of Angelica Bianca, "a famous Curtezan" is played by a Mrs. Gwin. This has sparked some confusion. The spelling of 'Gwin' does not refer to Nell Gwyn, but to Mrs. Anne Quin. Nell Gwyn had left the stage by this point.[49]
In February 1671, Gwyn moved into a brick
Gwyn gave birth to her second child by the King, christened James Beauclerk, on 25 December 1671, or Christmas Day.
There are two stories about how the eldest of her two children by Charles was given the Earldom of Burford, both of which are unverifiable. The first, and most popular, is that when Charles was six years old, on the arrival of the King, Gwyn said, "Come here, you little bastard, and say hello to your father." When the King protested against her calling Charles that, she replied, "Your Majesty has given me no other name by which to call him." In response, Charles created him
Shortly afterwards, the King granted Gwyn and their son a house, which was renamed Burford House, on the edge of the Home Park in Windsor. She lived there when the King was in residence at Windsor Castle. In addition to the properties mentioned above, Gwyn had a summer residence on the site of what is now 61–63 King's Cross Road, London, which enjoyed later popularity as the Bagnigge Wells Spa. According to the London Encyclopedia (Macmillan, 1983) she "entertained Charles II here with little concerts and breakfasts". An inscribed stone of 1680, saved and reinserted in the front wall of the present building, shows a carved mask which is probably a reference to her stage career.
Just after the death of Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans on 5 January 1684, King Charles granted his son Charles the title of Duke of St Albans, gave him an allowance of £1,000 a year, and also granted him the offices of Chief Ranger of Enfield Chase and Master of the Hawks in reversion; i.e., after the death of the current incumbents.[52]
King Charles died on 6 February 1685.
Death
In March 1687, Gwyn suffered a stroke that left her paralysed on one side. In May, a second stroke left her confined to the bed in her Pall Mall house; she made out her will on 9 July and a codicil on 18 October with her executors, Laurence Hyde (the Earl of Rochester), Thomas Earl of Pembroke, Sir Robert Sawyer the Attorney General, and Henry Sidney each receiving £100. Gwyn died from apoplexy "almost certainly due to the acquired variety of syphilis"[54] on 14 November 1687, at ten in the evening, less than three years after the King's death. She was 37 years old (if she was born in 1650). Her balance at Child's Bank was reported to be well over four figures, and she possessed almost 15,000 ounces of plate.[21] The Oxford Dictionary of Actors therefore suggests that 'perhaps most of her wealth was in trust or not in liquid assets' which might explain why the rich woman was so poor. A letter from Wigmore to Etherege, the day after Gwyn's burial, reports that Gwyn left about £1,000,000, "a great many say more, few less".[21] The majority of her estate went to her son. Gwyn's will also conveys her charitable side with her leaving £100 to be distributed to the poor of the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields and Westminster and £50 to release debtors from prison every Christmas.[21]
She was buried in the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, on 17 November 1687. In compliance with one of Gwyn's final requests, Thomas Tenison, the future Archbishop of Canterbury, preached a sermon on 17 December from the text of Luke 15:7 "Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance."[55] Her will and codicil were proved on 7 December 1687.
Legacy
Though Gwyn was often caricatured as an empty-headed woman,
The author of her 1752 biography relates a conversation (more than likely fabricated) between Gwyn and Charles II in which he, feeling at a loss, said, "O, Nell! What shall I do to please the People of England? I am torn to pieces by their clamours."
"If it please your Majesty," she replied, "there is but one way left, which expedient I am afraid it will be difficult to persuade you to embrace. Dismiss your ladies, may it please your Majesty, and mind your business; the People of England will soon be pleased."[57]
She is noted for another remark made to her coachman, who was fighting with another man who had called her a whore. She broke up the fight, saying, "I am a whore. Find something else to fight about."[58]
In 1937, a new ten-storey block of 437 flats in
Arms and lineage
According to Paul A. Fox, "[The
Titles
Nell Gwyn never received any official titles from
While Fox speculated that Gwyn was descended in the male line from
Charles' younger brother and successor,
By the time William and Mary came to power, Nell Gwyn had already died on 14 November 1687, a full year prior. In 1705,
As Caroline's two sons by her second husband predeceased her, the title became extinct upon her death in 1794, and reverted back to the Crown.
The second creation came in the
Issue
By
- Baron Heddington, in the county of Oxfordshire, on 21 December 1676 at the age of 6, and Duke of St. Albansin 1684 at the age of 14.
- Earl of Burfordtitle in 1676 at the age of 5, should his elder brother fail to produce issue.
James Beauclerk was sent to school in Paris, France when he was 6, where he died there in either September 1680 or 1681. The circumstances of the child's life in Paris and the cause of his death are both unknown, one of the few clues being that he died "of a sore leg", which Beauclerk speculates could mean anything from an accident to poison.[65] It is also unknown if James Beauclerk's body was buried in France or England. The family's history has been published in the authoritative book The House of Nell Gwyn (1974).
Charles Beauclerk, however, survived to adulthood. On 17 April 1694, at the age of 23, he married Lady Diana de Vere, daughter and sole heiress[66] of Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford. She was a well-known beauty, who became a Lady of the Bedchamber to Caroline of Ansbach, Princess of Wales. By his wife, Charles Beauclerk gave Nell Gwyn twelve grandchildren:
Grandchildren
- Charles Beauclerk, 2nd Duke of St. Albans (6 April 1696 – 27 July 1751), eldest son and heir;
- Lady Diana Beauclerk (born c. 1697)
- Lord William Beauclerk (22 May 1698 – 23 February 1733 N.S.)
- Admiral Vere Beauclerk, 1st Baron Vere (14 July 1699 – 21 October 1781)
- Colonel Lord Henry Beauclerk (11 August 1701 – 5 January 1761)
- Lord Sidney Beauclerk (27 February 1703 – 23 November 1744)
- Lieutenant-General Lord George Beauclerk (26 December 1704 – 11 May 1768)
- Lord Seymour Beauclerk (born 24 June 1708 – c. 1709)
- Rev. Lord James Beauclerk (c. 1709 – 20 October 1787); was Bishop of Hereford (1746–1787)
- Lord Aubrey Beauclerk (c. 1710 – 22 March 1741), became a captain in the Royal Navy, and died at the Battle of Cartagena de Indias.
- Lady Mary Beauclerk (born c. 1712)
- Lady Anne Beauclerk (born c. 1714)
Charles Beauclerk died on 10 May 1726 at the age of 56, and was buried at Westminster Abbey on 20 May 1726, but has no monument or marker.[67] His direct male-line descendant, and current holder of the Duchy of St. Albans, is Murray Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St. Albans (b. 19 January 1939), Governor-General of the Royal Stuart Society.
In stage works and literature
Gwyn has appeared as the principal, or a leading character, in numerous stage works and novels, including:
- 1799, The Peckham Frolic : or Nell Gwyn, a comedy in three acts by Edward Jerningham
- 1882, A Royal Amour, a novel by Richard Davey[68]
- 1884, H. B. Farnie
- 1900, Sweet Nell of Old Drury a play by Paul Kester
- 1900, Mistress Nell, a swashbuckling melodrama by George Hazelton[69]
- 1900, English Nell, a play by Edward Rose, later retitled Nell Gwynne, adapted from Anthony Hope's book, Simon Dale. Composer Edward German wrote incidental music for the play which is still performed on occasion[70]
- 1900, Nell Gwyn – Comedian, a novel by Frank Frankfort Moore
- 1924, Our Nell, a musical by Harold Fraser-Simson and Ivor Novello; a rewrite of 1919's Our Peg, replacing Peg Woffington with Nell Gwyn. (The 1922 Broadway musical by George Gershwin, also called Our Nell, was not based on the Nell Gwyn story.)
- 1926, Mistress Nell Gwynne a novel by Marjorie Bowen
- 1928, Orlando: A Biography, a novel by Virginia Woolf, which references "that amorous lady" Nell Gwyn. [71]
- 1939, a character in Bernard Shaw's late play In Good King Charles's Golden Days
- 1944, a character in Kathleen Winsor's novel Forever Amber
- 1975, Here Lies Our Sovereign Lord, the third part of Jean Plaidy's historical trilogy, The Loves of Charles II[72]
- 1986, "Nell Gwyn and her oranges" are referred to in "Move Over Busker", a song from Paul McCartney's Press to Play album.
- 1993, a prominent character in Playhouse Creatures, a play by April De Angelis
- 2006, The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose, a children's historical novel by Mary Hooper where Gwyn is a central character[73]
- 2007, The Perfect Royal Mistress, a novel by Diane Haeger[74]
- 2008, The King's Favorite a novel by Susan Holloway Scott[75]
- 2009, Or, a play by Liz Duffy Adams where Gwynne is a central character[76]
- 2011, The Darling Strumpet, a debut novel by Gillian Bagwell[77]
- 2011, Exit the Actress, a novel by Priya Parmar interwoven with authentic contemporary documents in order to portray the political and social tumult of the time[78]
- 2015, Nell Gwynne: A Dramatick Essaye on Acting and Prostitution, a play by Bella Merlin[79]
- 2015–17, Nell Gwynn, a play by Jessica Swale
In film and television
- In the 1911 film, Sweet Nell of Old Drury (based on the play of the same name described above), Gwyn is portrayed by Nellie Stewart
- In the 1915 film, Mistress Nell, based on Hazelton's play of 1900; Gwyn is portrayed by Mary Pickford
- In the 1922 film, The Glorious Adventure, Gwyn is portrayed by Lois Sturt
- In the 1926 film, Nell Gwyn, Gwyn is portrayed by Dorothy Gish
- In the 1934 film, Love, Life and Laughter, Gwyn is portrayed by Gracie Fields
- In the 1934 film, Nell Gwynn, Gwyn is portrayed by Anna Neagle
- In the 1941 film, Hudson's Bay, Gwyn's minor part is portrayed by Virginia Field
- In the 1949 film, Cardboard Cavalier, Gwyn is portrayed by Margaret Lockwood
- In the 1969 mini-series, The First Churchills, Gwyn is portrayed by Andrea Lawrence
- In the 1995 film, England, My England, Gwyn is played by Lucy Speed
- In the 2003 mini-series, Charles II: The Power and The Passion, Gwyn is played by Emma Pierson
- In the 2004 film, Zoe Tapper
See also
- English royal mistress
Notes
- ^ According to Debrett's Peerage (c. 1769) on courtesy titles, "The son and heir apparent of a duke, marquess or earl may use one of his father's peerage titles by courtesy, providing it is of a lesser grade than that used by his father." In this particular case, the Rt. Hon. Lord James Beauclerk was to be considered as "the son and heir of his elder brother, Charles Beauclerk, Earl of Burford" by royal decree on 21 December 1676, and was thus entitled to use "Baron Heddington" as a courtesy title.
References
Citations
- ^ a b c d Fox, Paul (March 2009). "The Ancestors of Nell Gwyn". Genealogists' Magazine. 29 (9): 319-324. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
- ^ Peter Cunningham, The Story of Nell Gwyn, ed. Gordon Goodwin (London, 1903), pp. 3–4.
- ^ Edward J. Davies, "Nell Gwyn and 'Dr Gwyn of Ch. Ch.'", The Bodleian Library Record, 24(2011):121–28, at 124–27.
- ^ a b Edward J. Davies, "Nell Gwyn and 'Dr Gwyn of Ch. Ch.'", The Bodleian Library Record, 24(2011):121–28, at 124.
- ^ Peter Cunningham, The Story of Nell Gwyn, ed. Gordon Goodwin (London, 1903), p. 125.
- ^ MacGregor-Hastie 1987, p. 16.
- ^ "Canons of Christ Church: Fourth prebend | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk.
- ^ Edward J. Davies, "Nell Gwyn and 'Dr Gwyn of Ch. Ch.'", The Bodleian Library Record, 24(2011):121–28, at 121–23.
- ^ a b c d Dasent, Arthur Irwin (1 January 1924). Nell Gwynne, 1650-1687: Her Life Story from St. Giles's to St. James's with Some Account of Whitehall and Windsor in the Reign of Charles II. Macmillan and Co., limited. p. 31-60.
- ^ Beauclerk 2005, p. 9.
- ^ Weaver, Phillip (2015). A Dictionary of Herefordshire Biography. Almeley, Herefordshire: Logaston Press. p. 185.
- ^ Wilson 1952, p. 13.
- ^ Pepys's diary for 26 October 1667 Archived 16 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine at www.pepys.info
- ^ Beauclerk 2005, pp. 37–38.
- ^ From The Lady of Pleasure, quoted in Beauclerk, p. 40
- ^ "St Mary-le-Strand and the Maypole | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk.
- ^ Beauclerk 2005, p. 56.
- ^ Howe 1992, p. 67: "She began, as has become legendary, selling oranges (and probably herself as well)...".
- ^ Beauclerk 2005, p. 74.
- ^ Beauclerk 2005, p. 73.
- ^ )
- ^ "Diary entries from April 1665 (The Diary of Samuel Pepys)". The Diary of Samuel Pepys. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
- ^ Pepys's diary, 22 August 1667 Archived 7 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Quoted in Beauclerk, p. 78 from the epilogue to Robert Howard's Duke of Lerma.
- ^ a b Howe 1992, p. 66.
- ^ Beauclerk 2005, p. 85.
- ^ Howe 1992, pp. 67–70.
- ^ According to Dryden's preface to the first printed edition, 1668. (Beauclerk, p. 97.)
- ^ Pepys diary for 2 March 1667; spelling and punctuation from Beauclerk, p. 97.
- ^ Melville 1926, p. 74.
- ^ Bax 1969, p. 141.
- ^ Bax 1969, p. 89.
- ^ Anonymous, The Lady of Pleasure. Quoted in Beauclerk, p. 105.
- ^ Beaclerk, p. 103.
- ^ Beauclerk 2005, Quoted from Beauclerk, p. 106.
- ^ Beauclerk 2005, pp. 108–09.
- ^ "Nell Gwyn (The Diary of Samuel Pepys)". The Diary of Samuel Pepys. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
- ^ Beaclerk, p. 62
- ^ Beauclerk 2005, pp. 121–22.
- ^ Beauclerk 2005, pp. 126–27.
- ^ Beauclerk 2005, p. 128.
- ^ Hamilton, Adrian (16 April 2012). "Carry on, your majesty: Charles II and his court ladies". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
- ^ Beauclerk 2005, pp. 131–37.
- ^ Beauclerk 2005, p. 148.
- ^ Melville 1926, p. 268.
- ^ Melville 1926, p. 270.
- ^ Beauclerk 2005, p. 249.
- ^ Beauclerk, pp. 182–83, dismisses reported appearances in the late 1670s and early 1680s as non-credible, noting "the publicity that would have attended such a comeback is absent".
- ^ Oxford English Drama – Oxford World Classics: Aphra Behn: The Rover and Other Plays, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press: 1995, Notes. p. 336
- ^ Details and quotes about the house from Sheppard
- ^ a b Wilson 1952, p. 158.
- ^ Wilson 1952, p. 209.
- ^ Beauclerk 2005, pp. 317, 358.
- ^ Bax 1969, p. 232.
- ^ MacGregor-Hastie 1987, p. 190.
- ^ Beauclerk, p. 307, gives a slightly different quote.
- ^ Melville 1926, p. 273.
- ISBN 978-0-02-865961-9.
- ^ Rooftop statues at knowledgeoflondon.com/rooftops, accessed 13 January 2018
- ISBN 978-0752452357.
- ISBN 978-1-4738-7626-2. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
- ^ Nash Ford, David. "Nell Gwynne (1650-1687)". Royal Berkshire History. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
- ^ Holder, Samantha. "House of Beauclerk: Children of Nell Gwyn". The Wrong Side of the Blanket. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
- ^ "No. 38128". The London Gazette. 21 November 1947. pp. 5495–5496.
- ^ Beauclerk 2005, p. 300.
- ^ Her other sisters died unmarried
- ^ "Beauclerk family". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
- ISBN 978-1-4082-0390-3.
- ^ The Oxford Companion to American Theatre, OUP 2004, p. 437
- ^ The overture and incidental music are available on YouTube
- ISBN 0-15-670160-X.
- ISBN 978-1-4481-5034-2.
- ^ "Online resumé". Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
- ^ "Historical Novels Society".
- ^ "Book review: Susan Holloway Scott's *The King's Favorite: A Novel of Nell Gwyn and King Charles II*". www.curledup.com.
- ^ "Or,". Liz Duffy Adams. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
- ^ "The Darling Strumpet". www.goodreads.com.
- ^ Online review Archived 26 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Fringe Spotlight: Nell Gwynne: A Dramatick Essaye on Acting and Prostitution". 13 May 2015.
Sources
- Adamson, Donald; Beauclerk Dewar, Peter (1974). The House of Nell Gwyn. The Fortunes of the Beauclerk Family, 1670–1974. London: William Kimber.
- Bax, Clifford (1969). Pretty Witty Nell. New York/London: Benjamin Blom. ISBN 0-405-08243-6.
- ISBN 0-87113-926-X.
- Cunningham, Peter (1888). The Story of Nell Gwyn: and the Sayings of Charles the Second. John Wiley's Sons, New York.
- Dasent, Arthur (1924). Nell Gwynne. New York/London: Benjamin Blom.
- Ford, David Nash (2002). Royal Berkshire History: Nell Gwynne. Nash Ford Publishing.
- Howe, Elizabeth (1992). The First English Actresses: Women and Drama, 1660–1700. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-42210-8.
- Lynch, Jack (2007). Becoming Shakespeare: The Strange Afterlife That Turned a Provincial Playwright into the Bard. New York: Walker & Co.
- MacGregor-Hastie, Roy (1987). Nell Gwyn. London: Robert Hale. ISBN 0-7090-3099-1.
- Melville, Lewis (1926). Nell Gwyn. New York: George H. Doran Company.
- Kent, Princess Michael of (2006). Cupid and the King. Simon & Schuster. Chapter one, "Nell Gwyn" available online.
- Sheppard, Francis (1960). "Pall Mall, South Side, Past Buildings: No 79 Pall Mall: Nell Gwynne's House". Survey of London: volumes 29 and 30: St James Westminster, Part 1. pp. 377–78. Online at www.british-history.ac.uk. (URL accessed 10 June 2006.)
- Williams, Hugh Noel (1915). Rival Sultanas: Nell Gwyn, Louise de Kéroualle, and Hortense Mancini. Dodd, Mead and company. Entire book available from Google Books.
- Wilson, John Harold (1952). Nell Gwyn: Royal Mistress. New York: Dell Publishing Company.
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