A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Gwynne, Eleanor
Gwynne, Eleanor,
Better known as Nell Gwynn, (her real name was Margaret Symcott,) rose from an orange-girl of the meanest description, to be the mistress of Charles the Second. She first gained her bread by singing from tavern to tavern, and gradually rose to be a popular actress at the Theatre Royal. She is said to have been exceedingly pretty, but below the ordinary height. In her elevation she shewed great gratitude to Dryden, who had befriended her in her poverty. She was also faithful to her royal lover, and after his death retired flora the world, and passed the remainder of her life in seclusion. She died in 1691, and was pompously interred in the parish church of St. Martin's in the Fields; Dr. Tennison, then vicar, afterwards Bishop of Canterbury, preaching her funeral sermon. This sermon, it was reported, was shortly afterwards brought forward by Lord Jersey to impede the Rev. Doctor's preferment; but Queen Mary, having heard the objection, answered gravely, "What then? I have heard as much; this is a sign that that poor unfortunate woman died penitent; for, if I can read a man's heart through his looks, had she not made a pious and Christian end, the doctor could never have been induced to speak well of her." This repentance is not recorded of any other mistress of the profligate king. "Poor Nelly" was the victim of circumstances, not the votary of vice; and of the inmates of that wicked and corrupt court, she only has won pity and forgiveness from posterity. She deserves this, for she was pitiful to others. In the time of her prosperity she never forgot to relieve distress; and at her death she left a fund for annual distribution at Christmas among the poor debtors, which is to this day distributed in the prisons of London. From Nell Gwynne descended the Dukes of St. Albans.