British Ladies of former Days. CHAP. XVI. BRITISH LADIES OF FORMER DAYS. These are stars indeed; And sometimes falling ones. SHAKESPEARE. EDWARD still continued to treat the Princess of Savoy with the most contemptuous neglect and marked indifference; and his name became a jest at that court, which, though gratified that England should seek its alliance, was conscious that it strengthened the throne of Britain, by uniting its force to that kingdom. Vandevilles were sung in ridicule of Edward and his bigoted favourite; for British Ladies of former Days. France had thrown off the supremacy of the pope; and, to ridicule some gross absurdities in the church of Rome, had become fashionable. Those who had formerly admired Edward for the graces of his youth, and his many accomplishments, to which, they flattered themselves, was subjoined - an excellent heart, were grieved at their disappointed hopes; and, though they tolerated the ludicrous songs in ridicule of him, which were often sung in their presence, the relatives of the princess exclaimed, with serious concern, "Ah! qu'il soit gueri, ce cœur gatè!" Ah! may this corrupted heart be made whole! Since the last short peace with France, English women had adopted a change of manners and appearance, which astonished their countrymen, who still possessed that saturnine distance and gravity so pe 1 J British Ladies of former Days. culiar to their character; a distance that appears to dread an incroachment on the plenitude of their purse, and a gravity proceeding too often from the low pride of knowing it to be well filled. The dress of the ladies became more simple, but infinitely more tasteful: it bore a resemblance to the costume of the Roman and Grecian ladies. But Roman virtue and Grecian industry seemed to be little understood by the British dames; who, while they displayed every feminine attraction to the most alluring advantage, coarse and masculine manners, with an impudent nonchalance, that set modesty at defiance, were practised by the greatest part of those who claimed pretensions to rank in the higher circles of fashion. They quaffed the rosy bowl of wine with convivial freedom, and ate like farmers. Indefatigable in the ardour of the chace, British Ladies of former Days. they followed the sports of the field with avidity and delight. The Duchess of Suffolk mounted a spirited charger, and ran him against that of Lord Stanley, for twelve flaggons of the choicest wine. She had prepared herself also for a tilting match, at a tournament, with a knight of high renown in arms. The gilded armour was purchased, the golden high-plumed helmet, and a shield with the device of " The gifts of Bacchus for the conqueror !" But the husband of this fair heroine laid his positive commands on her, to forbid and prevent the exposure of a person peculiar for feminine grace and delicacy, though the outward covering of such a daring and masculine mind. The Duchess of Suffolk's horse-racing and intended tilting match, on which considerable bets were laid, that she would British Ladies of former Days. undertake it, in spite of the duke's restrictions, furnished sufficient matter for conversation amongst the higher circles, for some time; till the following circumstance excited the attention of all ranks of people. A young lady, of interesting appearance, possessed of an ample fortune, the natural daughter of a nobleman of high rank, for some domestic disagreement, lived separated from her husband, to whom she had been united very early in life. Though the age was in a great degree enlightened, yet a firm belief in witchcraft continued to prevail; and, not very long before this lady's marriage, in the early part of the reign of Henry VI. Bolingbroke and his associates were burnt for the crime of witchcraft; being accused of having made a figure of wax, which, con |