Liberation

pp. viii, 700, (4) [Publisher's advertisement] + Nine engraved plates (foxed). 8vo. Original full leather binding, boards almost detached. Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany (1763-1827), was the second son of George III and Queen Charlotte. His career at court, in the House of Lords, and in the military makes fascinating reading, but it is a great controversy and scandal that most concerns us here. He had become entangled with a handsome adventuress, Mary Anne Clarke (1776-1852). The precise facts of Mary's early love life and adventures are open to speculation. It is certain that in 1803, under the name of Mrs. Clarke, she took a great house in Gloucester Place and began to entertain sumptuously, and that rumor from the first coupled her name with that of the Duke of York. She rushed into the wildest extravagances; she kept ten horses and twenty servants, including three men professed as 'cooks'; she ate off the plate which had belonged to the Duc de Berri, and her wineglasses cost two guineas each. The Duke of York had promised her 1,000 L a month, but it was very irregularly paid. She was soon much pressed by creditors, and there is no doubt that in order to get money she promised to use her influence with the Duke of York. The Duke was at that time commander-in-chief, and had enormous patronage at his disposal, and as he was known to be an easy-going man, it was believed by those about her that he would do whatever she wished. For the promise of her influence she received various sums of money, especially from officers in the army, and the matter came public knowledge at last. The man who brought up the question in the House of Commons in 1809, Colonel Gwillym Lloyd Wardle, was probably no better than herself. He brought eight charges against the Duke for wrong use of his military patronage, and won for himself a short season of popularity. But the charges were found not proven against the Duke, though there was no doubt Mrs. Clarke had received money for her influence with him, and her beauty and courage, and even the sauciness with which she stood her long examination at the bar of the House, won her many admirers. The result of the investigation was that the Duke resigned his post of commander-in-chief, to which, however, he returned in two years, and that he broke off his connection with Mrs. Clarke. This scandalous case raised a cloud of pamphlets, some of which are very amusing, and most of them full of falsehoods. Later in 1809 Colonel Wardle prosecuted Mrs. Clarke and two pamphleteers, F. and D. Wright, for libeling him, and after a trial, which did not resound to his credit, the prisoners were all found "not guilty". Mrs. Clarke next proposed to publish the letters she had received from her princely lover. This had to be stopped at all risks, and Sir Herbert Taylor bought up the letters, and offered Mrs. Clarke 7,000 L. down and a pension of 400 L. a year, and for this consideration the printed edition was destroyed, with the exception of one copy deposited at Drummond's bank. Her next publication, "A Letter to the Right Hon. William Fitzgerald," brought her into trouble, and she was condemned in 1813 to nine months' imprisonment for libel. She then settled down and devoted herself to the education of her daughters, who all married well. After 1815 she removed to Paris, where she was still sought after by the numerous admirers of her wit, to listen to her scandals of old days. Especially attentive to her was the Marquis of Londonderry. She died at Boulogne, at 76 years of age. - Paraphrased from the DNB. W141