"She was of a lovely height, with dark brown hair and
eyebrows, black sparkling eyes, and a fresh blushing
complexion; and, whenever she exerted herself, had an
involuntary flushing in her breast, neck, and face."

Such, in the cold medium of print, was Mrs Bracegirdle when she became
the central figure of a great tragedy, the horrors of which have sent a
thrill down to our own time.

Among Mrs Bracegirdle's many baffled wooers was Captain Richard Hill, a
boon companion of Charles, Lord Mohun, and a man of unrestrained
passion. To all the Captain's coarse advances the actress turned a
contemptuous shoulder, until in his rage he swore that at any cost she
should be his. There was, he was convinced, only one real obstacle to
the success of his suit, Jack Montford, the handsomest actor of his day,
to whom Mrs Bracegirdle was said to be very kind; and the furious
Captain vowed: "I am resolved to have the blood of Montford, and to
carry off his charmer by force if need be."

Captain Hill made no concealment of his purpose. He mouthed his threats
aloud at his favourite tavern in Covent Garden and elsewhere; and he
found a willing helper in Lord Mohun, who was always ripe for any
dastardly scheme; and, with Mohun's help, he carefully prepared his
plans for both murder and abduction, for on both his heart was set.

By lavish bribes the two conspirators engaged half a dozen soldiers to
assist in their scheme; they arranged that a coach with two horses, and
four others in reserve, should be in waiting at nine o'clock in Drury
Lane, close to the theatre at which Mrs Bracegirdle made her appearance
nightly; and, equipped with a formidable armoury of swords, daggers, and
pistols, they repaired at the appointed time to the scene of action.

For a full hour they waited, watching with lynx eyes the door from
which the fair actress would emerge; but, as luck would have it, she was
not playing that night. She was, in fact, at the moment supping at the
house of a friend, Mrs Page, in Princes Street, close by; and they were
on the point of proceeding there when the lady made her appearance, with
her mother as companion and Mr Page and her brother for escort, on her
way home to her lodgings in Howard Street across the Strand.

At sight of their fair prey two of the soldiers rushed forward, snatched
Mrs Bracegirdle from her mother's arm and dragged her, screaming and
resisting, towards the coach in which Lord Mohun