"The scene opened on Wednesday with all its pomp," wrote
Walpole, who although not present seems to have followed
the trial with the keenest interest, "and the
doubly-noble prisoner went through her part with
universal admiration. Instead of her usual ostentatious
folly and clumsy pretensions to cunning, all her conduct
was decent, and even seemed natural. Her dress was
entirely black and plain; her attendants not too
numerous; her dismay at first perfectly unaffected. A few
tears balanced cheerfulness enough, and her presence of
mind and attention never deserted her. This rational
behaviour and the pleadings of her Counsel, who contended
for the finality of her Ecclesiastical Court's sentence
against a second trial, carried her triumphantly through
the first day, and turned the stream much in her favour."
The following day proved a much more severe test to her Grace's
composure; and no sooner had the Court risen than "she had to be
blooded, and fell into a great passion of tears." And each succeeding
day added to the tension and anxieties which she struggled so bravely to
conceal.
On the third day of the trial Walpole says:
"The plot thickens, or rather opens. Yesterday the judges
were called on for their opinions, and _una voce_
dismantled the Ecclesiastical Court. The
Attorney-General, Thurlow, then detailed the 'Life and
Adventures of Elizabeth Chudleigh, _alias_ Hervey,
_alias_ the most high and _puissante_ Princess, the
Duchess of Kingston.' Her Grace bore the narration with a
front worthy of her exalted rank. Then was produced the
first capital witness, the ancient damsel who was present
at her first marriage. To this witness her Grace was
benign, but had a transitory swoon at the mention of her
dear Duke's name; and at intervals has been blooded
enough to have supplied her execution if necessary. Two
babes were likewise proved to have blessed her first
nuptials, one of whom, for aught that appears, may exist
and become Earl of Bristol."
Three days later Horace Walpole concludes his narrative of the trial,
which we are afraid his antipathy to the adventurous Duchess has
coloured a little too vividly:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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