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MELESINA,

DUCHESS OF KENDAL.

Sister of the Count of Schulenberg. Appointed Maid of Honour to the Electress Sophia, mother of George the First. -The Duchess's birth in 1659.-Her personal appearance. -Reluctantly accompanies George the First to England. Created an Irish peeress, Duchess of Munster, in 1716.— Afterwards created an English peeress, Duchess of Kendal, for life, and, subsequently, Princess of Eberstein in Germany. -Supposed to have contracted a left-handed marriage with George the First. Her assumption of piety.-Sir R. Walpole's mean opinion of her. Her political influence. Letter respecting her from Count Broglio to Louis the Fifteenth. The latter's reply.-The Duchess presides at the King's evening parties.-His nightly visits to her apartments. -Accompanies him on his last visit to Hanover.-Her grief on hearing of his death.-Singular anecdote. - The Duchess's death in 1743.

ERENGARD MELESINA SCHULENBERG, the celebrated mistress of George the First, was sister of Frederic Achatius, Count of Schulenberg and Hedlen. The influence of her family procured her the appointment of Maid of Honour to the Electress Sophia, mother of George the First, at the period when her royal lover was only Electoral Prince. Thus early did their intercourse commence, and it is remarkable that the influence obtained by the one, and the affection felt by

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the other, should have survived till both were progressing towards their seventieth year. As Mademoiselle Schulenberg is said to have been a year older than her royal lover, the date of her birth must be placed in 1659.

It must have occasioned no slight degree of astonishment to the English people, and no small contempt for the taste of their new monarch, when, at the head of the extraordinary seraglio which accompanied him to England, they beheld a woman whose face was not only plain, and whose elongated figure was attenuated almost to emaciation, but who at this period must have entered on her fifty-fifth year.

This uninteresting Sultana, satisfied with the small pension which she enjoyed in Hanover, was with great difficulty prevailed upon to accompany her royal lover to England. According to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu," She even refused coming hither at first, fearing that the people of England, who, she thought, were accustomed to use their Kings barbarously, might chop off his head in the first fortnight; and had not love or gratitude enough to venture being involved in his ruin." The King, however, who had been accustomed to saunter away his idle hours in the apartments of the women, and who dreaded the long evenings which he was likely to pass in England without female society, found arguments sufficiently forcible to effect a change in her resolution.

For this compliance with her lover's wishes

Mademoiselle Schulenberg was speedily and profusely rewarded. In 1716, the King created her a peeress of Ireland, with the titles of Baroness of Dundalk, Countess and Marchioness of Dungannon, and Duchess of Munster. She was afterwards raised, in 1719, to be a peeress of England with the additional titles of Baroness Glastonbury, Countess of Feversham, and Duchess of Kendal, for life, and was subsequently created Princess of Eberstein in Germany. It has been affirmed that George the First was married to the Duchess of Kendal with his left hand; and though an unauthorised ceremony of this nature must have appeared sufficiently ridiculous to the people of England, yet it was a kind of marriage which was not unfrequently practised in Germany, for the purpose of lulling inconvenient scruples, and creating for the lady an adventitious respect. The Duchess herself, by assuming an extraordinary semblance of piety and attending strictly to her devotional duties, appears to have been eager to countenance such a belief. It is said to have been her custom to attend different Lutheran chapels as many as seven times on every Sunday. To her great mortification, however, the minister of the Lutheran chapel in the Savoy, notwithstanding her assumption of superior piety, positively refused

*There is reason to believe, from the contents of a letter from Etough to Dr. Birch preserved in the British Museum, that the ceremony was actually performed in this country by the Archbishop of York. Add. MSS. 4326. B.

to administer the sacrament to her, on the ground that she was living in a state of adultery, though she subsequently met with more complaisance from a clergyman of the same persuasion in the city.

Horace Walpole speaks of the Duchess of Kendal as "by no means an inviting object"; and, on another occasion, alluding to the impression which her appearance made on him in his youth, he describes her as "a very tall, lean, illfavoured old lady." She was one day waiting behind the chair of the old Electress Sophia at a ball, when the latter, pointing her out to Mrs. Howard, afterwards Countess of Suffolk, observed,-" Look at that mawkin, and think of her being my son's mistress." Neither does her mind appear to have been more gifted than her person. She ever remained in ignorance of the English language, and Sir Robert Walpole, who was well acquainted with her, spoke of her capacity as contemptible in the extreme. A love of money, he said, was the ruling passion of her life; and it was one of his remarks, that were the King's honour put up to auction, she would have sold it, for the consideration of a shilling, to the highest bidder.

The correspondence which passed between Louis the Fifteenth, and his minister, Count Broglio, discovers how much importance was attached to the good word of the Duchess of Kendal, and how paramount was believed to be her influence over the King. Count Broglio writes to his royal master, on the 6th of July

1724,-" As the Duchess of Kendal seemed to

express a desire to see me often, I have been very attentive to her; being convinced that it is highly essential to the advantage of your majesty's service to be on good terms with her, for she is closely united with the three ministers who now govern." And again, the Frenchman writes, on the 10th of the same month,-"The more I consider state affairs, the more I am convinced that the Government is entirely in the hands of Mr. Walpole, Lord Townshend, and the Duke of Newcastle, who are on the best terms with the Duchess of Kendal. The King visits her every afternoon from five till eight, and it is there that she endeavours to penetrate the sentiments of his Britannic majesty, for the purpose of consulting the three ministers, and pursuing the measures which may be thought necessary for accomplishing their designs. She sent me word that she was desirous of my friendship, and that I should place confidence in her. I assured her that I would do everything in my power to merit her esteem and friendship. I am convinced that she may be advantageously employed in promoting your majesty's service, and that it will be necessary to employ her, though I will not trust her further than is absolutely necessary."

It seems to be in reply to these curious passages, that the French King writes to Count Broglio on the 18th of July, following,-"There is no room to doubt that the Duchess of Kendal,