Now
there was one honour which she coveted above all others, that of
being appointed a lady of the bedchamber to the Duchess of York.
This her royal lover, following the example of his majesty,
sought to obtain for her; but the duchess, who had already
suffered many indignities by reason of her husband's
improprieties, refused him this request, which would render her
liable to continual insult in her own court. The duke, however,
had a strong will, and the duchess was on the point of yielding
to his demand, when rumour announced that Lady Denham had been
taken suddenly ill, and scandal declared she had been poisoned.
The wildest sensation followed. His royal highness, stricken
with remorse and terror, hastened to Scotland Yard and sought his
beloved mistress, who told him she believed herself poisoned, and
felt she was now dying. The most eminent physicians were
speedily summoned, but their skill proved of no avail, for she
gradually became worse, and finally died, leaving instructions
that her body should be opened after death, in order that search
might be made for the fatal drug.
The surgeons followed these directions, as we learn from the
Orrery state papers, but no trace of poison was discovered. For
all that the public had no doubt her husband had destroyed her
life, and Hamilton tells us the populace "had a design of tearing
Sir John in pieces as soon as he should come abroad; but he shut
himself up to bewail her death, until their fury was appeased by
a magnificent funeral, at which he distributed four times more
burnt wine than had ever been drunk at any burial in England.
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