Duke of York by G. L. Wardle, Esq., M.P. for Devon, with the Evidence
and Remarks of the Members._ Containing fourteen scarce portraits by
Rowlandson, amongst which are Mrs. M. A. Clarke, Sir F. Burdett, Duke
of York, Colonel Wardle, &c. 2 vols., 12mo.
FOOTNOTES:
[10] Mary Moser, the lively lady Royal Academician, and famous
flower-painter, writing to Mrs. Lloyd, the first wife of the gentleman
she subsequently honoured with her hand, conveys the following account
of the reigning mode in town, to her friend in the country: 'Come to
London and admire our plumes; we sweep the sky! a duchess wears six
feathers, a lady four, and every milk-maid one at each corner of her
cap! Your mamma desired me to inquire the name of something she had
seen in the windows in Tavistock Street; it seems _she_ was afraid to
ask; but _I_ took courage, and they told me they were _rattle-snake
tippets_; however, notwithstanding their frightful name, they are not
unlike a _beaufong_, only the quills are made stiff, and springy in the
starching. Fashion is grown a monster! pray tell your operator that
your hair must measure just three quarters of a yard from the extremity
of one wing to the other.'
[11] 'Eighteen years before the date of the investigation (February
1809), Mrs. Clarke, then being about fourteen years of age, resided
with her mother and step-father in Black Raven Passage, Cursitor
Street. She was a very pretty, sprightly, gaily-disposed girl, being
very fond of showing herself, and attracting attention. At this time
Mr. Joseph Clarke, son of a respectable builder on Snow Hill (his
father was the "great contractor" of his day, and a _man reputed to
be enormously rich_) became enamoured of Miss Thompson, who readily
received his addresses. She eloped with him, and they lived together
about three years, when he married her. She conducted herself with
propriety, and they lived together decently several years; in the
course of which she bore him several children, four of whom are
alive.'--_Gentleman's Magazine_, February, 1809.
[12] The name of Mrs. Clarke's father was Thompson, and he, it appears,
was a master printer of some respectability, residing in Bowl and
Pin Alley, near White's Alley, Chancery Lane, where Miss Thompson
was ushered into the world, as Sterne has it, with 'squalls of
disapprobation at the journey she was compelled to perform.'
Upon the death of Mr. Thompson, his widow married a Mr. Farquhar,
who was engaged as a compositor in the printing house of Mr. Hughes.
Miss Thompson was occasionally employed in reading copy to the person
engaged as corrector of the press, in which situation she soon
attracted the notice of the son of the overseer, who, recognising
her abilities, had her placed at a boarding school at Ham, where the
young lady, whose 'capacity for elegant improvements' was, if we
trust her biographers, of an advanced order, soon acquired ornamental
accomplishments; and, from the natural quickness of her parts, she
returned, after an absence of two years, so completely altered in her
ideas that she thought proper to despise and treat with coldness the
attentions of Mr. Day, the well-meaning young gentleman who had been at
the charge of finishing her education, it is said, with the view to a
future union with this sprightly and promising female prodigy.
Her biographers have hinted at least one flirtation, possibly of a
harmless description, before she arrived at the age of seventeen, when
she threw in her future with Mr. Joseph Clarke, the hopeful son of a
wealthy builder and contractor in Snow Hill. After a union of many
years, during which she had experienced various vicissitudes, we find
that the misconduct of her husband, who seems, on the whole--from
the accounts of some of his contemporaries--to have done his best to
deserve the treatment he received, although there are two sides to
this story, determined the fascinating Mary Ann to trust to her own
resources for support.
During her tenure of the 'neutral territory,' the name of more than one
gentleman of gallant reputation and of rank was coupled with her own;
but passing over the list of her admirers, we must mention a certain
Mr. Dowler (whose name occurred frequently during the investigation),
who seems to have had more faithful regard for the lady than her
other doubtful lights of love. Mrs. Clarke further became ambitious
of shining on a larger scale, and she had the honour of appearing on
the boards of the Haymarket Theatre in the character of Portia. Great
praise was awarded her performance; her natural abilities, with a
certain vivacity, added to a well modulated voice and graceful action,
were sufficient to qualify her for a successful actress; but she
felt that her proper stage was the world, and she merely secured her