he had on a cobweb-laced
handkerchief, a pink satin long cloak, lined with ermine
mixed with squirrel-skins. On her head a French cap that
just covered the top of her head, of blond, and stood in
the form of a butterfly with wings not quite extended;
frilled sort of lappets crossed under her chin, and tied
with pink and green ribbon--a head-dress that would have
charmed a shepherd! She had a thousand dimples and
prettinesses in her cheeks, her eyes a little drooping at
the corners, but fine for all that."

Such vanities may be pardoned in a woman so lovely and so spoiled by
Fortune, especially as her reign was fated to be as brief as it was
splendid. She was, perhaps, too fair a flower to be allowed to bloom
long in the garden of this world. Before she had been long a bride
consumption sowed its deadly seeds in her; and she drained the cup of
pleasure with the fatal sword hanging over her head. She knew she was
doomed, that all the medical skill in the world could not save her; and,
with characteristic courage, she determined to enjoy life to its last
dregs.

She saw her beauty fade daily, and pathetically tried to conceal its
decay by powders and paints. She grew daily weaker; but, with a brave
smile, held her place in the vortex of gaiety. Even when the inevitable
end was near she insisted on attending the trial of Lord Ferrers for the
murder of his steward. As Horace Walpole says,

"The seats of the Peeresses were not nearly full, and
most of the beauties were absent; but, to the amazement
of everybody, Lady Coventry was there, and, what
surprised me more, looked as well as ever. I sat next but
one to her, and should not have asked her if she had been
ill, yet they are positive she has few weeks to live. She
was observed to be 'acting over all the old comedy of
eyes' with her former flame, Lord Bolingbroke, an
unscrupulous rake, who seems to have striven for years to
make her the victim of his passion."

Her conduct, indeed, seems never to have been very discreet.

"Her levities," says a chronicler of the time, "were very
publicly talked of, and some gallantries were ascribed to
her which were greatly believed. However, they were never
brought home to her; and, if she were guilty, she escaped
with only a little private scandal, which generally falls
to the lot of every woman of uncommon