[150]. “Memoirs of the Court of Charles II.,” by Count Grammont, ed. by Sir Walter Scott, revised ed. 1846.
Considering the passion which Anne had certainly inspired in several men, and which in the Duke of York had now raised her to her lofty position, one is forced to the conclusion that, in spite of her lack of physical beauty, she must have been possessed of some conquering charm of manner which, joined to undoubted wit and certain brilliant endowments of mind, made up for the want of personal attractions in an age which, perhaps of all others, most prized such an attribute.
This too would partly account for the steady friendship which her brother-in-law the King always testified for her. He was, it is true, a connoisseur of beauty of all types, but he also greatly valued wit, and keenly appreciated any one who could and would amuse him. He had the strong sense of humour which is often allied to a saturnine disposition, and which we know never failed him to the end. His own wife, with all her good qualities, which were quite definite, with her adoring and pathetic devotion to himself, was nevertheless, we fear, not amusing, and he probably found in his plebeian sister-in-law a quickness of apprehension which appealed to his strain of cynicism and impatience of dullness; and which was not always allied to the radiant and undoubted beauty which he admired in other women.[[151]]
[151]. In the year 1661 we find evidence of the King’s kind feeling towards his sister-in-law in a present made to her. The letter is to Sir Stephen Fox:
“Charles R.
“Our will and pleasure is yt you forthwith pay to Sir John Shaw ye sum of one thousand pounds in ys of a necklace of Pearls given by us to ye Dutchesse of Yorke and for yr soe doing this shal be yor warrt. Given at or Court at Whitehall this 19th of July 1661” (Egerton MS.).
Duchess Anne had for her part “wit and agreeable manners, but without personal charm,” and Jesse rather ponderously asserts: “In the character of Anne Hyde there seems to have been more to admire than to love. She was possessed rather of dignity than grace, rather of masculine sense than feminine gentleness.”[[152]] And Burnet further testifies that she was “a woman of great spirit,” “a very extraordinary woman,” who “had great knowledge and a lively sense of things.”
[152]. “Memoirs of the Court of England during the Reign of the Stuarts.” John Heneage Jesse.
Thus equipped by nature, by education, by experience, Nan Hyde, the maid of honour in past years of the Mary who now slept hard by among her kindred in the Abbey, began her career as a princess, fully aware, there can be no doubt, of the many pitfalls which menaced her.
The arena into which she stepped was a brilliant one. The Court of England, after the long stormy interval during which such a thing did not exist, became “very magnificent,” and the fact is readily comprehensible.