The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume IV.Cibber, Theophilus
General
The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume IV.
Cibber, Theophilus
Poets, English -- Biography -- Early works to 1800; Poets, Irish -- Biography -- Early works to 1800
When the duke arrived at Bilboa, he had neither friends, money,
nor credit, more than what the reputation of his Spanish commission
procured him. Upon the strength of that he left his duchess and
servant there, and went to his regiment, where he was obliged to
support himself upon the pay of 18 pistoles a month, but could get no
relief for the poor lady and family he left behind him. The distress
of the duchess was inexpressible, nor is it easy to conceive what
would have been the consequence, if her unhappy circumstances had not
reached the ear of another exiled nobleman at Madrid, who could not
hear of her sufferings without relieving her. This generous exile,
touched with her calamities, sent her a hundred Spanish pistoles,
which relieved her grace from a kind of captivity, and enabled her to
come to Madrid, where she lived with her mother and grandmother, while
the duke attended his regiment. Not long after this, the duke's family
had a great loss in the death of his lady's mother, by which they were
deprived of a pension they before enjoyed from the crown of Spain; but
this was fortunately repaired by the interest of a nobleman at court,
who procured the duchess's two sisters to be minuted down for Maids of
Honour to the Queen of Spain, whenever a vacancy should happen, but
to enter immediately upon the salary of these places. Her Majesty
likewise took the duchess to attend her person.
There have been many instances of people, who have sustained the
greatest shocks which adversity can inflict, through a whole life of
suffering, and yet at last have yielded to the influence of a trifling
evil: something like this was the case of the duke of Wharton, which
the following story will illustrate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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