Walpole's
comment on this was: "Who could have believed a Gunning would unite
the two great houses of Campbell and Hamilton? For my part I expect to
see Lady Coventry Queen of Prussia. I would not venture to marry
either of them these thirty years, for fear of being shuffled out of
the world prematurely, to make room for the rest of their adventurers.
The first time Jack Campbell carries the Duchess into the Highlands, I
am persuaded that some of his second-sighted subjects will see him in
a winding-sheet with a train of kings behind him as long as those in
Macbeth." And again: "A match that would not disgrace Arcadia ... as
she is not quite so charming as her sister, I do not know whether it
is not better than to retain a title which puts one in mind of her
beauty."
The Dukes of Argyll--Lords of the Isles--have always shown a
partiality for beauties as brides. This Duke's father married the
beautiful Mary Bellenden, daughter of John, Lord Bellenden,--
"Smiling Mary, soft and fair as down."
* * * * *
She is mentioned otherwise as by Gay:--
"Bellenden we needs must praise,
Who, as down the stairs she jumps,
Sings 'Over the hills and far away,'
Despising doleful dumps."
Walpole says she was never mentioned by her contemporaries but as the
_most perfect creature_ they had ever known.
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