444
NOTES AND QUERIES, tio s. vm. DEC. 7, 1907.
marry Barbara St. John, his second countess,
until 26 September, 1764. It is evident
that the lady mentioned by Casanova was
Elizabeth, Duchess of Hamilton, nee Gun-
ning, a sister of the late Lady Coventry,
who, according to Lady Mary Coke, was a
frequent guest at the Countess of Harring-
ton's entertainments. With this knowledge
it is possible to fix the date of the card party
with tolerable precision, for the Duchess
of Hamilton left the Bristol Hotwells for
London on 15 June (' Proof for the Duke of
Hamilton,' p. 595), and quitted London for
Paris on 21 June (Jesse's ' George Selwyn,'
i. 227 ; Public Advertiser, Thursday,
23 June). Hitherto, the encounter between
Casanova and the famous beauty, who was
then thirty years of age, has been passed
over without comment by the modern
chroniclers of the eighteenth century.
There is another instance in which the adventurer mistakes a name, for he speaks of "a brother of Lord Brockill, who was -executed for murder." Naturally, MB. EDGCUMBE has been unable to discover a, nobleman bearing that title. However, as Laurence, fourth Earl Ferrers, had been hanged at Tyburn three years previously for shooting his steward, it is a reasonable conjecture that Casanova referred to one of the four brothers of that unhappy peer. L^nless one questions the accuracy of the memoirist no other explanation is possible.
On pp. 34-5, vol. vi. (ed. 1871), Casanova describes an interview with " a very beautiful person sparkling with diamonds," whom he calls ' the celebrated actress Miss Fisher,' but who, apparently, was the famous cour- tesan Kitty Fisher, afterwards Mrs. John Norris. Of this lady he relates the following tory :
" The master of the house told me that this famous Miss had eaten on a piece of bread and butter a bank note of a hundred livres, and that another time the Chevalier Stihens, brother-in-law to Mr. Pitt, had lighted the lady's punch with a note of the same value."
Here we have another curious confusion of names, similar to Casanova's mistake with regard to Sir John Fielding. Evidently the " Chevalier Stihens " was meant for Sir Richard Atkins (d. 10 June, 1756), whose sister Penelope married George Pitt, not, as Casanova apparently imagined, the Great Commoner. At first sight one might imagine bearing in mind that Horace Walpole tells the story of the banknote sandwich with reference to Sir Richard Atkins and Fanny Murray (Toynbee, ii. 246) that the foreigner had once more mistaken an English sur- name, and that the " very beautiful person
sparkling with diamonds " was not Kitty
Fisher, but the heroine of the ' Essay on
Woman.' This, however, is impossible,
since at that time Fanny Murray was the
wife of David Ross, the actor, and had
become a reformed character. Besides,
the story of the banknote sandwich has
been told of several fair Cyprians. George
Hanger declares that Kitty Fisher " ate
a hundred-pound banknote between two
slices of bread and butter," while Grantley
Berkeley relates that Sophia Baddeley was
the performer of a similar deed. Such
anecdotes invariably have several interpreta-
tions. Therefore there is little reason to
doubt that " the Chevalier's " beautiful
acquaintance was the one and only Miss
Fisher. That she should laugh in the face
of her admirer, and " chatter like a magpie,"
is quite consistent with the character that
her contemporaries have given her ; but
Casanova's account shows clearly that the
assertion that she spoke French like a native
is untrue.
There is more obscurity with reference to another courtesan, who is described by the adventurer in vol. v. p. 445, and whose name, he says, was Miss Kennedy. It seems improbable that this lady was the celebrated Polly Kennedy, who saved her two brothers from the hangman in the year 1770, and who was immortalized by Sir Joshua Reynolds. The name of Kennedy occurs frequently in the annals of gallantry, for the courtesan was in the habit of assum- ing the name of a famous sister. Moreover, there was a second notorious Pol Kennedy, a contemporary of the friend of George Selwyn and John St. John, who was cele- brated for her avarice.* Since Casanova's acquaintance began the conversation with the remark, " Won't you give me a little present ? " it seems probable that this was the very lady.
It would be an interesting task to search the columns of The St. James's Chronicle during September, 1763, for the account of Casanova's adventure with Mile. La Char- pillon. The names of " the Chevalier " and the lady are described as being indicated merely by initials, but the names of Rostaing and Bottarelli, two persons called as wit- nesses, are given in full. There is little doubt that the newspaper files will afford another testimony to the accuracy of Casa- nova. HORACE BLEACEXEY. Fox Oak, Hersham.
- There was indeed a third Polly Kennedy, a
contemporary of the other two, who lived in Piercy Street.
