This request the king complied with readily enough, and she was
accordingly soon added to the list of his mistresses. Nell
Gwynn, who was at this period in her eighteenth year, had joined
the company of players at the king's house, about the same time
as Moll Davis had united her fortunes with the Duke of York's
comedians. Her time upon the stage was, however, but of brief
duration; for my Lord Buckhurst, afterwards Earl of Dorset, a
witty and licentious man, falling in love with her, induced her
to become his mistress, quit the theatre, and forsake the society
of her lover, Charles Hart, a famous actor and great-nephew of
William Shakespeare. And she complying with his desires in these
matters, he made her an allowance of one hundred pounds a year,
on which she returned her parts to the manager, and declared she
would act no more.
Accordingly in the month of July, 1667, she was living at Epsom
with my Lord Buckhurst and his witty friend Sir Charles Sedley,
and a right merry house they kept for a time. But alas, ere the
summer had died there came a day when charming Nell and his
fickle lordship were friends no more, and parting from him, she
was obliged to revert to the playhouse again.
Now Nell Gwynn being not only a pretty woman, but moreover an
excellent actress, her return was welcomed by the town. Her
achievements in light comedy were especially excellent, and
declared entertaining to a rare degree. Pepys, who witnessed her
acting "a comical part," in the "Maiden Queen," a play by Dryden,
says he could "never hope to see the like done again by man or
woman.
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