xile, and enlivened their recess, both by her writing and
conversation, as appears by the many compliments and addresses he made
her on that occasion.

The lady undertook a voyage into England, in order to obtain some of
the marquis's rents, to supply their pressing necessities, and pay the
debts they had been there obliged to contract; and accordingly went
with her brother to Goldsmith's Hall, where, it seems, the committee
of sequestration sat, but could not obtain the smallest sum out of the
marquis's vast inheritance, which, amounted to 20,000 l. per annum;
and had it not been for the generosity and tenderness of Sir Charles
Cavendish (who greatly reduced his own fortune, to support his brother
in distress) they must have been exposed to extreme poverty.

Having raised a considerable sum, by the generosity of her own, and
the marquis's, relations, she returned to Antwerp, where she continued
with her lord, till the restoration of Charles II, upon which, the
marquis, after six years banishment, made immediate preparation for
his return to his native country, leaving his lady behind him to
dispatch his affairs there, who, having conducted them to his
lordship's satisfaction, she soon followed her consort into England.
Being now restored to the sunshine of prosperity, she dedicated her
time to writing poems, philosophical discourses, orations and plays.
She was of a generous turn of mind, and kept a great many young ladies
about her person, who occasionally wrote what she dictated. Some of
them slept in a room, contiguous to that in which her Grace lay, and
were ready, at the call of her bell, to rise any hour of the night, to
write down her conceptions, lest they should escape her memory.

The young ladies, no doubt, often dreaded her Grace's conceptions,
which were frequent, but all of the poetical or philosophical kind,
for though she was very beautiful, she died without issue: she is said
to have been very reserved and peevish, perhaps owing to the
circumstance just mentioned, of having never been honoured with the
name of mother.

Mr. Jacob says, that she was the most voluminous writer of all the
female poets; that she had a great deal of wit, and a more than
ordinary propensity to dramatic poetry; and Mr. Langbaine tells us,
that all the language and plots of her plays were her own, which, says
he, is a commendation preferable to fame built on other people's
foundation, and will very well atone for some fault