s are those by Catharine Read, who died, in
1786; and who is chiefly known by her winsome delineations of the
graces of the Gunning girls. We could readily judge from these that
the girls were attractive. There is a genial graciousness in the face
of she of Coventry, while the Scotch duchess is possessed of a
persuasive sweetness of mien. The mob-cap frames a face almost
faultless in the regularity of its features. For all the pleasant
flavor of these facial charms, there is absent that peerless, regal
loveliness, that compelling magnificence of presence, that hauteur
which dazzles and enthrals.

The originals of these various portraits have been retained at Croome
Court, near Worcester; the seat of the Coventry family, at Inverary
Castle, Argyllshire; and at Hamilton Palace.

Three weeks after the romantic marriage of her younger sister, Maria
Gunning was married to George William, who was Lord Deerhurst--"that
grave young Lord," Walpole calls him--until 1750, when he succeeded to
the Earldom of Coventry. 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. The Duke of Cumberland was