He had been dangling about her for some time,
and seemed nerved to the wedding by his Grace of Hamilton's
precipitate action. The Earl took her for a trip on the Continent in
company with Lady Caroline Petersham, that other great beauty. Neither
caused much comment abroad, and Paris did not ratify the repute of
London. My Lady was at a disadvantage from her ignorance of the French
language. She complained, too, of the arbitrary rule of her husband in
not allowing her red nor powder, so much in vogue with the Parisian
beauties. It is told how he saw her appear at a dinner with some on,
and took out his handkerchief, and there tried to rub it off. But her
fame abated not in England. Crowds continued to mob her whenever she
appeared on the street. The King was pleased to order that whenever my
Lady Coventry walked abroad she should be attended by a guard of
soldiers. Shortly after this she simulated great fright at the
curiosity of the mob, and asked for escort. She then paraded in the
park, accompanied by her husband and Lord Pembroke, preceded by two
sergeants, and followed by twelve soldiers. Surely this outdoes the
advertising genius of any latter-day American actress! A shoemaker at
Worcester gained two guineas and a half by exhibiting at a penny a
head a shoe he had made for the Countess. She was in much favor at
Court, and always circulated in an atmosphere of adulation and
sensation.
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