The history of Court beauties is too often a story of plot and counterplot, jealousy, envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitable-ness. It is refreshing, therefore, to find in such a period of artificiality as the late eighteenth century a figure so thoroughly delightful as that of Lady Sarah Lennox. From the very beginning her story is human, charming, and romantic.

Her parents were the happy victims of an absurd marriage. This seeming contradiction in terms may be explained by saying that, in order to settle a gambling debt, the second Duke of Richmond, when a boy, was summoned from school to be married to a plain little girl just fetched from the nursery. When the boy saw his bride he exclaimed, "They are never going to marry me to that dowdy!" After the ceremony a postchaise was waiting at the door, the bridegroom was bundled into this with his tutor, and off he went on the Grand Tour.

Husband And Wife Meet

He was then Earl of March, and for several years he wandered round the Continent, occasionally casting discontented thoughts to the plain little bride at home. When he came back to England, a good-looking, cultivated young man, he was in no hurry to go down into the country and claim his wife. On the contrary, he stayed in town to have a final fling at the theatre, and did it so thoroughly that he fell desperately in love at first sight with one of the reigning beauties who was seated in a box.

This lady was so lovely and so charming, that he went round the house seeking for someone to introduce him, and at last found a friend, who said with some natural bewilderment, "Do you mean to say that you don't know that that is the Countess of March?" He was no longer unwilling to present himself before his lady, and no more devoted couple ever figured in history than these two. In fact, the Duchess died of a broken heart a year after her husband, leaving five children, of whom Lady Sarah, then aged five, was the loveliest.

Lady Sarah Comes To Court

Lady Sarah went to stay with her grownup sister, Lady Caroline Fox, at Holland House, and the romance of her life began early. When playing one day in Kensington Gardens she broke away from her nurse, and, dashing up to George II., as he proceeded with stately gait down the Broad Walk, cried in French - the only language she then spoke - "How do you do, Mr. King? What a lovely, big house you have here, haven't you?" The King was delighted, and carried her off into Kensington Palace. Many was the romp she had with him after that. One day he shut her into a great china jar to test her courage, and the only effect it had was to start her carolling the old French rhyme, "Malbrouck s'en va-t-en guerre!"

When she was a little older, Lady Sarah went to Ireland to her grandmother, and did not come back to London till she was fourteen. Hearing of her return, George II. sent for her to Court, in spite of her youth; and when she appeared, he came to her and began to tease her and play with her as though she were still five years old.

Shy and blushing, the poor girl shrank back, and the King, petulantly exclaiming, "Bah! She has grown quite stupid!" at the top of his voice, added to her confusion. Covered with distress, lovely and modest, she stood there, and it was then that the young Prince of Wales caught sight of her, and in so doing looked for the first time on the only real romance of his long and prosaic life.

"Farmer George" of the after years was a high-spirited youth enough, and such frank, unspoiled beauties as Lady Sarah Lennox were not frequent at Court.

By the time she was fifteen Lady Sarah was a radiant creature, of whom a delightful description has been left by her uncle. Uncles are not, as a rule, the most enthusiastic admirers of a girl, but no young lover could have been more fervent than Lord Holland on his niece's charms.

Refuses to Become a Queen

"Her beauty is not easily described, otherwise than by saying she had the finest complexion, most beautiful hair, and pret-tyest person that ever was seen, with a sprightly and fine air, a pretty mouth, and remarkably fine teeth, and excess of bloom in her cheeks, little eyes - but this is not describing her, for her great beauty was a peculiarity of countenance, that made her at the same time different from and prettyer than any other girl I ever saw."

When George III. became King, the question of his marriage very soon arose. A Princess of Brunswick was mentioned, but his heart was far nearer than that. Not one of Lady Sarah's least charms was the fact that, when a child, she formed a friendship with Lady Susan Fox Strangeways, which lasted till they were old ladies in their eighties, when death ended it.

To this friend George III. practically proposed for Lady Sarah. But the next time he saw his love at Court, and asked her if she had heard what he had said to Lady Susan, and what she thought of it, she said crossly, "Nothing, sir!" Thus she refused a throne as lightly as though it had been a sugar biscuit. The fact was, she was rather attracted by young Lord Newbattle, and some hitch had occurred between her and him. She liked the King well enough, but she did not love him.

However, this was not her final opportunity of being Queen of England. On every occasion when she appeared at Court, the King made opportunities of talking to her long and publicly. On one occasion there was some pretty badinage between them about a lady from Ireland who had taught him a certain dance. Lady Sarah pretended not to know who this lady was, and the Court stood looking on at as pretty a scene of love-making as the most romantic heart could desire.

The Wedding of King George III

At his birthday ball the King had no eyes for anyone but her. He brought her forward to stand by his chair, and her uncle has recorded that, "if possible, she looked prettyer than ever." She was frankly pleased, and " the language of the eye" again, according to Lord Holland, passed between them; and the girl's natural modesty made his pride in his niece even greater than it had been.