Life and Death of the Wicked Lady Skelton

by Rowland Hughes

  2 The reign of King Charles II was calculated from the execution of his father, King Charles I, in 1649, rather than his Restoration in 1660. Hence, the thirty-sixth year of his reign was 1685.

  3 King Charles II married Catherine of Braganza (1638–1705) in 1662. She was the daughter of King John IV of Portugal, and a Roman Catholic. As such, she was the object of much suspicion in England, and was accused by Titus Oates of plotting to murder the King, during the Popish plot paranoia of 1678–81. The ‘papist French whore’ almost certainly refers to Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth (1649–1734), who became the mistress of the King in the early 1670s. She was also a Roman Catholic and was instrumental in his deathbed conversion to Catholicism. She remained an advocate of French interests throughout her time with Charles, and was greatly mistrusted and disliked by many members of the court.

  4 This is a quotation from the account of the Great Plague of 1665 by the famous diarist John Evelyn (1620–1706), specifically from his entry for 11th October 1665. King-Hall here shows that she was familiar with first-hand accounts of life in London at the time, and provides a textual echo of the earlier period of the plague to reinforce her evocation of the great frost as a comparable cataclysm.

  5 Sometimes known as ‘Brunswick Mum’. A beer made in Brunswick, Germany, available in varying degrees of alcoholic strength. It lasted well, allowing for its wide distribution.

  6 After the Restoration, King Charles II reopened London’s theatres after an eighteen-year period of closure under the Puritan Commonwealth. He granted licenses to two rival theatrical companies to perform plays in the capital. The first, led by Thomas Killigrew, had Charles himself as its patron, and hence was known as the King’s Company. The second, led by Sir William Davenant, had the King’s brother, James, the Duke of York, as its patron, and hence was known as the Duke’s Company. They each constructed purpose built ‘patent’ theatres to stage their productions. The King’s Playhouse was in Drury Lane, on the site of the modern Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. It opened in 1663, burned down in 1672, and was rebuilt and reopened in 1674. The Duke’s Company performed in various venues in London until 1671, when it moved into the Dorset Garden Theatre, also known as the Duke of York’s Theatre. This was located in Whitefriars, on the north bank of the Thames, just to the west of the modern Blackfriars Bridge. It was, at the time, the most sophisticated theatre in London, both in terms of its elegance and luxury, and in terms of the scenic technology built into its stage, allowing for elaborate and spectacular performances.

  7 St Sepulchre-without-Newgate is located on Holborn Viaduct. As its name suggests, it was located just outside the walls of the City of London, by the gate known as Newgate, which had long been in use as a prison. The prison had been destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666, and a newly rebuilt and extended prison had opened in 1672.

  8 This bequest is well summarised in an article by Francis W. Rowsell, entitled ‘Charities’, and published in a Victorian weekly periodical called The Quiver: An Illustrated Magazine for Sunday and General Reading, on November 14th 1868: “One of the most quaint in style and singular in purpose of the many gifts to charity, within the city of London, is the following, which was given to the church of St. Sepulchre by Newgate, in 1605, by Robert Dowe. Fifty pounds were left to the parish, on condition that a person should go to Newgate, in the still of the night before every execution day, and standing as near as possible to the cells of the condemned, should with a hand-bell (which was also bequeathed) give twelve solemn tolls, with double strokes; and then, after a proper pause, deliver a solemn exhortation. Robert Dowe also ordered that the great bell of the church should toll on the morning, and that as the criminals passed the wall on the way to Tyburn, the bellman or sexton should look over, and say, ‘All good people pray heartily unto God for these poor sinners, who are now going to their death.’”

  9 Holborn’s nickname of ‘the heavy hill’ derived from its being on the route from Newgate and the Tower of London to the gallows at Tyburn. ‘Heavy’ in this context almost certainly means ‘doleful’ or ‘grave’, although it may also signify the difficulty the carts on which the condemned men were transported may have had in ascending the hill, particularly when the weather was bad and the roads muddy.

  Summer’s Date

  1 This is a misquotation, presumably from memory, of Shakespeare’s famous Sonnet 18, (‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’). The fourth line of the poem actually reads ‘And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.’

  2 Masques were elaborate dramatic entertainments, often featuring music and dance, performed for (and sometimes by) members of the royal court or wealthy aristocrats. They were particularly prevalent across Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and many significant literary figures, including Ben Jonson and even John Milton, wrote masques. They often took a classical theme and used allegory to flatter the vanities of whichever wealthy patron they were sponsored by, though many had moral or political subtexts. Although they were often performed in private homes and gardens, it was not uncommon for masques to feature extravagant staging and costumes; Inigo Jones, for instance, one of the most important architects and set designers of the early seventeenth century, collaborated with Jonson on numerous masques.

  3 In this classical myth, a young hunter named Actæon stumbles across Diana (as she was known to the Romans; Artemis to the Greeks), the goddess of the Hunt and of the Moon, as she is bathing with her nymphs. Enraged by his intrusion, Diana transforms Actaeon into a stag, and he is then chased down and killed by his own hounds. The story is included by Ovid in his Metamorphoses. Diana seems an ironically inappropriate character for Barbara to play, because of her association with chastity, and yet also somehow apposite, as the story demonstrates her vengefulness and power over a man.

  4 A flageolet is a woodwind instrument, first invented in the late sixteenth century and widely played until the nineteenth century. It resembles the modern recorder.

  5 This poem features in Jonson’s satirical play Cynthia’s Revels, or The Fountain of Self-Love (1600).

  Lovers’ Meeting

  1 This is the refrain from the ‘cushion dance’. See note 6 to Part II, Chapter 1: The Wedding.

  2 The closing couplet of the poem ‘The Surrender’ by Henry King (1592– 1669). King was a metaphysical poet, influenced in his style by his friend and contemporary, John Donne.

  3 A reference to the superstitious belief that burning three candles is unlucky. This remains part of theatre lore, according to which three candles should never be lit on stage. The origins of the superstition are unclear.

  4 To be ‘on a lay’ means to be pursuing a particular line of business or adventure. This slang phrase is most often used in exactly this construction – to be ‘on (a particular) lay’. Hence, to be ‘on the Highway lay’ means to be out adventuring on the Highway. See note 3 to Part II, Chapter 6: At the Sign of the Golden Glove.

  Cover Her Face

  1 The lines are taken from an anonymously authored seventeenth-century Scottish ballad entitled ‘The Wife of Usher’s Well’. The poem describes how, after being lost at sea, the ghosts of three brothers return to visit their grieving mother, before having to depart when the cock crows at dawn.

  2 Brussels lace was a very high quality, decorative bobbin lace made, naturally enough, in Brussels. Between 1662 and 1699, however, Parliament prohibited the importation of foreign lace into England, in order to protect the interests of English lace manufacturers. Brussels lace was therefore expensive not only because of its high quality, but also because it would have been illegally smuggled into the country.

  3 ‘Cypress’ was a light, gauzy material, similar to crape, and much used, in black, for mourning clothes. It was originally imported from Cyprus, hence its name.