18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 35

[cahn]

In the previous post Charles II found AITA:

Look, I, m, believe in live and let live. (And in not going on my travels again. Had enough of that to last a life time.) Why can't everyone else around me be more chill? Instead, my wife refuses to employ my girlfriend, my girlfriend won't budge and accept another office, my brother is set on a course to piss off everyone (he WILL go on his travels again), and my oldest kid shows signs of wanting my job which is just not on, sorry to say. And don't get me started about Mom (thank God she's living abroad). What am I doing wrong? AITA?

Comments

Fun Gossip: Elizabeth Gunning

[luzula]

Came across this and thought I'd share: Elizabeth Gunning and her sister Maria were daughters of impoverished Irish gentry. They managed to get to London and went to balls etc in order to catch rich/titled husbands, which they did on account of their beauty and wit.

Duke of Hamilton: *proposes to Elizabeth the very same night he meets her*
They get married in 1752, but he dies in 1758.
Elizabeth: Well, I guess I need to find a new Duke now…
Duke of Bridgwater: *proposes*
Elizabeth: *accepts*
Duke of Bridgwater: But you can't hang out with your sister, with her scandalous behavior!
Elizabeth: What? I only have one sister, but I can totally get another Duke! *breaks off engagement*
Future Duke of Argyll: *proposes, with no such conditions*
Elizabeth: Yeah, I guess you’ll do! *accepts*

Her sister was married to an Earl, but she sadly died of lead and mercury poisoning from her beauty regimen.

(I only have a dubious source for why Elizabeth broke off her engagement with the Duke of Bridgwater: a historian(?) said it on a British Museum podcast which was actually mostly about the landscape gardener Capability Brown. According to Wikipedia, it isn't known why she broke it off. But it was too good not to share!)

Re: Fun Gossip: Elizabeth Gunning

[selenak]

Now that's a woman after my own heart. *googles* Who was friends with Peg Woffington and Thomas Sheridan in her youth as well, I see! (Yay theatre history!) Wiki's entry for the deservedly dumped Duke of Bridgewater also says it was because of his demand re: her sister, but has a "citation needed" footnote on this.

I see the eventual Duke of Argyll served with Cumberland at Culloden. (It's a small 18th century world!) And the wiki entry for the killed-by-makeup sister has this bit: Maria, who was notoriously tactless, was reported to have made a notable gaffe by telling the elderly George II that the spectacle she would most like to see was a royal funeral. Fortunately, the king was highly amused.

And here the Whig memoirists claim the Hannover cousins had no sense of humor.

The same entry also has this on Maria vs her husband's mistress, famous courtesan Kitty Fisher:



In the park Lady Coventry asked Kitty Fisher for "the name of the dressmaker who had made her dress."
Kitty Fisher answered she ..."had better ask Lord Coventry as he had given her the dress as a gift."
The altercation continued with Lady Coventry calling her an impertinent woman.
Kitty replied that she ... "would have to accept this insult because Maria was socially superior since marrying Lord Coventry, but she was going to marry a Lord herself just to be able to answer back."

Giustiniana Wynne, visiting London at the time.

Kitty Fisher's entry tells me she did land a lord eventually, but died only four months after, either from lead poisoning as well, or from the consumption. Elizabeth seems to have had a rare happy ending by comparison with these two!

Re: Fun Gossip: Elizabeth Gunning

[luzula]

Indeed everyone is connected...thanks for the further gossip, I laughed over Maria's gaffe!

Re: make-up, I wrote a fic scene where 18th c people wore make-up (because they were at a ball) and then they were kissing after that, and hoped none of my readers would be thinking "OMG, lead poisoning...".

Re: Fun Gossip: Elizabeth Gunning

[cahn]

Maria, who was notoriously tactless, was reported to have made a notable gaffe by telling the elderly George II that the spectacle she would most like to see was a royal funeral. Fortunately, the king was highly amused.

lol! Glad he was amused :D

Oh, perhaps her getting into altercations with her husband's mistress was the scandalous behavior? :) Aw, poor Kitty. (Though I am now imagining Kitty and Maria putting on more and more makeup to try to win Lord Coventry and... both losing :( )

Re: Fun Gossip: Elizabeth Gunning

[cahn]

That is AWESOME. I am super a fan of Elizabeth!

(...But what was so scandalous about Maria, who appears to have gotten an Earl in any case?)

Wow, how many people died of lead and mercury poisoning from their cosmetics?? Eek.

Re: Fun Gossip: Elizabeth Gunning

[mildred_of_midgard]

Don't forget mercury was the standard treatment for syphilis! D:

Re: Fun Gossip: Elizabeth Gunning

[selenak]

Add blood-letting as everyone‘s default medical treatment, and it‘s a miracle humanity survived!

Re: Fun Gossip: Elizabeth Gunning

[cahn]

...this led me down a (small) rabbit hole where I found out that, at least according to History Interwebs, mercury was used because it made the patients salivate more and that was thought to expel the disease. But the salivation is actually a symptom of mercury poisoning. aaaaaaagh.

I also like this line from Wiki:

Unpleasant side effects of mercury treatment included gum ulcers and loose teeth.

a) I bet that's not all the umpleasant side effects, omg! b) I realize medications do have unpleasant side effects sometimes, but in this case I think those are... your body trying to tell you something...