simpleton was ushered into a court life with the most favourable
auspices. Jermyn Street (built in 1667) recalls to us the residence of
Lord St. Albans, the supposed husband of Henrietta Maria. It was also
the centre of fashion when Henry Jermyn the younger was launched into
its unholy sphere. Near Eagle Passage lived at that time La Belle
Stuart, Duchess of Richmond; next door to her Henry Savile, Rochester's
friend. The locality has since been purified by worthier associations:
Sir Isaac Newton lived for a time in Jermyn Street, and Gray lodged
there.

It was, however, in De Grammont's time, the scene of all the various
gallantries which were going on. Henry Jermyn was supported by the
wealth of his uncle, that uncle who, whilst Charles II. was starving at
Brussels, had kept a lavish table in Paris: little Jermyn, as the
younger Jermyn was called, owed much indeed to his fortune, which had
procured him great _éclat_ at the Dutch court. His head was large; his
features small; his legs short; his physiognomy was not positively
disagreeable, but he was affected and trifling, and his wit consisted in
expressions learnt by rote, which supplied him either with raillery or
with compliments.

This petty, inferior being had attracted the regard of the Princess
Royal--afterwards Princess of Orange--the daughter of Charles I. Then
the Countess of Castlemaine--afterwards Duchess of Cleveland--became
infatuated with him; he captivated also the lovely Mrs. Hyde, a
languishing beauty, whom Sir Peter Lely has depicted in all her sleepy
attractions, with her ringlets falling lightly over her snowy forehead
and down to her shoulders. This lady was, at the time when Jermyn came
to England, recently married to the son of the great Clarendon. She fell
desperately in love with this unworthy being: but, happily for her