"To the vitiated taste of the gallants of the court, many of whom
might have proved powerful rivals, had they been so inclined,
marriage had no attractions. The acknowledged distaste of Charles for
a matrimonial life, and his avowed infidelities, sanctioned the
disdain of his dissolute companions for all the more holy and
endearing ties of existence. I had therefore little to fear from
competition; indeed among the maids of honour of the Queen, whose
situation threw them into hourly scenes of revelry and dissipation,
Theresa Marchmont, who was universally acknowledged to be the
loveliest of the train, excited less than any those attentions of
idle gallantry, which however, sought and prized by her livelier
companions, are offensive to true modesty. I attributed this
flattering distinction to the respect ensured by the extreme _retenue_
and propriety of her manners, but I have had reason since to ascribe
the reserve of the courtiers to a less commendable motive. On
occasion of a masqued festival given by Her Majesty on her birth-day
at Kew, the king, in distributing the characters, allotted to Miss
Marchmont that of Diana. 'Your Majesty' said the Duchess of Grafton,
'has judiciously assigned the part of the frigid goddess, to the
only statue of snow visible among us. _Mademoiselle se rencherit sur
son petit air de province, si glacial et si arrange_,' continued
she, turning to the Comt de Gramont.
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