I.
Thus Kitty beautiful and young,
And wild as colt untam’d,
Bespoke the Fair from whence she sprung
With little rage inflam’d.II.
Inflam’d with rage at sad restraint,
Which wise mamma ordained,
And sorely vex’d to play the saint
Whilst wit and beauty reigned.III.
“Shall I thumb holy books confin’d
With Abigails forsaken?
Kitty’s for other things design’d,
Or I am much mistaken.IV.
“Must Lady Jenny frisk about
And visit with her cousins?
At ball must she make all the rout
And bring home hearts by dozens?“What has she better pray than I,
What hidden charms to boast,
That all mankind for her should die
While I am scarce a toast?VI.
“Dearest mamma, for once let me
Unchain’d my fortune try:
I’ll have an Earl as well as she
Or know the reason why.VII.
“I’ll soon with Jenny’s pride quit score,
Make all her lovers fall;
They’ll grieve I was not loos’d before,
She I was loos’d at all.”VIII.
Fondness prevailed, mamma gave way,
Kitty, at heart’s desire,
Obtained the chariot for a day
And set the world on fire.
This lady’s luck and happiness appear to vanish in later life, both her sons meeting tragic deaths; the eldest, Viscount Drumlanrig, shooting himself, the second, Lord Charles Douglas, dying of consumption at Amesbury, having just escaped the perils of the great earthquake at Lisbon.
The Duchess died July 19th, 1777, aged 77, and the Duke the following year.
The title of Duke of Queensberry descended to the Duke’s cousin, William, Earl of March and Raglin. In 1778 he succeeded his cousin Charles as 4th Duke of Queensberry, and in 1786 was created a British peer, taking the title of Baron Douglas of Ambresbury. This eccentric nobleman never married, and was commonly known by the nickname of “Old Q.” He died in 1810, the Amesbury estate passing to Archibald, Lord Douglas of Douglas, whose executors sold it in 1824 to Sir Edmund Antrobus, Bart., my husband’s great-great-uncle.
No record is to be found of the destruction of the Abbey, Lord Hertford apparently building himself a house in Amesbury. In “Vitruvius Britannicus” there is a picture of a fine mansion in the Palladian style, built for Lord Carleton from designs by Inigo Jones, the architect being Mr. Webb, nephew of Inigo Jones.
The Queensberrys added wings to this house, and caused a beautiful bridge to span the river Avon, which runs through the grounds. A pretty old house stands in the park, near an old entrance: tradition tells us the Duchess of Queensberry used this lodge as a dairy. It possesses two octagon rooms (one over the other), and an underground passage is supposed to connect it with the river. The park is small, but extremely pretty; one enters it through splendid old gates supported by Palladian pillars.
Opposite the dwelling house is a high bank cut into a fantastic shape and known as “The Diamond.” The cave in which the poet Gay loved to write is hollowed in this bank. The wild-bird-frequented Avon [18] runs below, and above it is crowned by a beautiful wood planted over what is called “Vespasian’s Camp.” In this wood are found two avenues of beech-trees, and walking through the old deer park and across the Downs, at a mile and a half’s distance, glorious Stonehenge bursts upon one.
Returning to Amesbury, and following the course of the river in the opposite direction, one comes upon a little house built of flints, with quaint pointed roof and tower, in which the floor of a small upper chamber is found to be movable; outside, over a door, the stone moulding bears this inscription:
“Diana, her hovs—1600.”
Diana certainly possessed a picturesque dwelling, but I can find no clue to her identity. After the death of the last Duke of Queensberry, Amesbury House remained uninhabited for sixty years, except during the tenancy of Sir Elijah Impey, and when some French nuns occupied it for a short period.