" The gallant to whom the worthy bishop refers
was John Churchill, afterwards the great Duke of Marlborough, at
this time a handsome stripling of eighteen summers. In his
office as page to the Duke of York, he frequently came under
notice of her ladyship, who, pleased with the charms of his
boyish face and graceful figure, intimated his love would not
prove unacceptable to her. Accordingly he promptly made love to
the countess, who, in the first fervour of her affection,
presented him with five thousand pounds. With this sum he
purchased a life annuity of five hundred pounds, which, as Lord
Chesterfield writes, "became the foundation of his subsequent
fortune." Nor did her generosity end here: at a cost of six
thousand crowns she obtained for him the post of groom of the
bedchamber to the Duke of York, and was instrumental in
subsequently forwarding his advancements in the army.
My Lady Castlemaine was by no means inclined to spend her days in
misery because the royal favour was no longer vouchsafed her; and
therefore, by way of satisfying her desires for revenge,
conducted intrigues not only with John Churchill and Harry
Jermyn, but likewise with one Jacob Hall, a noted acrobat. This
man was not only gifted with strength and agility, but likewise
with grace and beauty: so that, as Granger tells us, "The ladies
regarded him as a due composition of Hercules and Adonis." His
dancing on the tight rope at Bartholomew Fair was "a thing worth
seeing and mightily followed;" whilst his deeds of daring at
Southwark Fair were no less subjects of admiration and wonder.
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