p. 391 _Complaint of the poor Cavaliers._ The _Muses Mercury_, June 1707, prefixes the following to this poem: ‘All the World knows Mrs. _Behn_ was no _Whig_, no _Republican_, nor _Fanatick_; her Zeal lay quite on the other Side: And tho her Manners was no Honour to any, yet her Wit made her acceptable to that which she espous’d. She was a _Politician_, as well as a Poet: for we find in the short Account of her Life, printed with those of other _Poets_, she was employ’d by _Charles II._ in the Discovery of the Dutch Intrigues in the Dutch War; which she was the better qualifi’d to do by her knowledge of their Language, she having liv’d a long time in _Surinam_, a Colony where there were many Dutch Merchants; and not long after she left it ‘twas surrendered to that Republic by King _Charles_. ‘Tis well known, that the Gentlemen she speaks of in the following Poem, had too much reason to complain; and that the very Men, who had been so much instrumental in keeping King _Charles_ the II. out of his Dominions, were most caress’d after his _Restoration_.’ p. 393 _Mrs. Harsenet._ Carola, daughter of Sir Roger Harsnett, knight. These verses are a variation of ‘_To my Lady_ Morland _at_ Tunbridge.’ _vide_ p. 175. p. 395 _A letter to the Earl of Kildare._ John FitzGerald, 18th Earl of Kildare, lived in St. James’ Square, and in 1648 married, as his second wife, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Charles Jones, 1st Earl of Ranelagh (’. fortune of £10,000.’. She died in 1758 at the great age of ninety-three. She was extremely beautiful, and either she or one of her unmarried sisters was a mistress of the King. The Lady Mary Howard, sister to the Earl of Carlisle, died in the last week of October, 1694. She was notorious for her intrigues, and the satires of the time accuse her of being little better than a procuress both for King Charles II and the Earl of Dorset. cf. Rochester’s _The Royal Angler_ My Lady _Mary_ nothing can design But feed her lust with what she get’s for thine, and the Earl of Dorset’s _Lamentation for Moll Howard’s absence_ (Harleian MSS.), which ends Oh Love! Oh Love! Ye Pow’rs above Intriguing _Moll_ restore, The best Interpreter of Love, That ever message bore. Amongst her lovers were Harry Lumley, Hungerford, Howe. It is noticeable that the lampoons inevitably refer to her in the grossest terms. All the World can’t afford Such a Bitch as Mall Howard, writes one versifier, and in _Rochester’s Ghost addressing itself to the Secretary of the Muses_ she is found bracketed with seven other ladies of the most dubious repute, And here, would time permit me, I could tell, Of Cleveland, Portsmouth, Crofts, and Arundel, Mol. Howard, Su[sse]x, Lady Grey, and Nell, Strangers to good, but bosom Friends to ill, As boundless in their lusts as in their will.