The Windsor Beauties

The Duchess of York wished to have the portraits of the most beautiful women at Court Anthony Hamilton wrote in the Memoirs of Count Grammont. Lely painted them and employed all his art in the execution. He could not have had more alluring sitters. Every portrait is a masterpiece.The original set of Beauties painted by Lely were as we find from James II's catalogue eleven in number their names being Barbara Duchess of Cleveland (née Villiers); Frances Duchess of Richmond and Lennox (née Stuart); Mrs. Jane Myddleton (née Needham); Elizabeth Countess of Northumberland (née Wriothesley); Elizabeth Countess of Falmouth (née Bagot); Elizabeth Lady Denham (née Brooke); Frances Lady Whitmore (née Brooke); Henrietta Countess of Rochester (née Boyle); Elizabeth Countess de Grammont (née Hamilton); and Madame d'Orleans. It will be seen that in this list of Beauties Anne Hyde Duchess of York does not figure; but since she was responsible for the collection it would be peculiarly ungracious to omit her from a volume that treats of it. Also she deserves inclusion for her supreme courage in selecting the sitters-for what must the ladies who were not chosen have said and thought of her? Nor in the series are Nell Gwyn Louise de Kéroualle and the Duchess Mazarin; but no account of the social life of the Court of Charles II can possibly omit mention of them and therefore something has been said about each of these ladies.The new Revised Edition restores Melville's masterpiece of the intricate relationships and day-by-day account of court life in the reign of Charles II of England. This edition also adds a new glossary bibliography and extended footnotes for the lay history reader. Also included are first-ever translations of French language poems letters and epitaphs of St. Evremond completed by Coby Fletcher.