3o8 THE HISTORY OF NEWMARKET. [Book XIL 



now in a mighty favour, and had with him that im- 

 putant woman, the Countess of Shrewsbury,* with 

 his band of fiddlers, etc." The court returned to 

 Whitehall on the 21st of October. 



^^2 Louise Renee de Penencovet de Ouerouaille, afterwards 

 Duchess of Portsmouth, was a frequent habitue at New- 

 market during the reign of the Merry Monarch. The 

 duchess came over to England in the suite of the Princess 

 Henrietta on the occasion of H.R.H.'s mission in connection 

 with the revocation of the Triple AUiance, and when this 

 novel embassy landed at Dover, May 25, 1670, Mademoiselle 

 de Querouaille, one of the five maids of honour in attend- 

 ance on the princess, made her first appearance in England. 

 " Louis XIV.," says Hume, " in order to fix Charles in the 

 French interests, resolved to bind him by ties of pleasure, 

 the only ones which with him were irresistible ; and he made 

 him a present of a French mistress by whose means he 

 hoped for the future to govern him." Mademoiselle de 

 Ouerouaille was the person alluded to by the historian. Her 

 manners were ingratiating, her wit agreeable, and her face, 

 still familiar to the visitors to the picture galleries at 

 Hampton Court and South Kensington, was of surpassing 

 beauty. The king was fascinated by her accomplishments, 

 and, as Buckingham and the enemies of the Duchess of 

 Cleveland assisted with their intrigues, it was not long before 

 she became the professed mistress of the easy monarch, who 

 gave her a magnificent suite of apartments in Newmarket 

 Palace, and she continued his favourite to the day of his 

 death. When the mission of the Princess Henrietta was 

 concluded Charles presented his sister with a present of 6000 

 pistoles, to enable her to meet the expenses of her journey, 

 which were very heavy. He also gave her a costly parting 



* The Countess of Shrewsbury, whose husband having challenged the 

 Duke, she is said to have held the horse of the latter in the habit of a 

 page whilst they fought. The four seconds, each of whom were wounded, 

 participated in this extraordinary duel, in which Shrewsbury was slain. 



