Eleanor Gwynn, better known by the familiar name of Nell, was, at her first setting out in the world, a plebeian of the lowest rank, and sold oranges in the playhouse. Nature seems to have qualified her for the theatre. Her person, though below the middle size, was well turned; she had a good natural air, and a sprightliness that promised every thing in comedy. She was instructed by Hart and Lacy who were both actors of eminence; and, in a short time, she became eminent herself in the same profession. She acted the most spirited and fantastic parts, and spoke a prologue or epilogue with admirable address. The pert and vivacious prattle of the orange-wench, was, by degrees, refined into such wit as could please Charles II. Indeed it was sometimes carried to extravagance: but even her highest flights were so natural, that they rather provoked laughter than excited disgust. She is said to have been kept by lord Dorset, before she was retained by the king, and to have been introduced to the latter, by the duke of Buckingham, with a view of supplanting the dutchess of Cleveland. Nell ,who knew how to mimic every thing ridiculous about the court, presently ingratiated herself with her merry sovereign, and retained a considerable place in his affection to the time of his death.—She continued to hang on her cloaths with her usual negligence when she was the king’s mistress: but whatever she did became her. Ob. 1687.
—A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1775.
‘Cinder Nelly’, people called her, after Cinderella, and in the later, richer years of her life she did indeed purchase herself a coach of glass.
Nell’s particular talent was comedy. She had to respond to gibes and catcalls from the rowdy Restoration crowds. But she effortlessly put down the hecklers with her rapier wit: ‘pretty, witty Nell’ was how man-about-town Samuel Pepys described her. She also excelled in the ‘breeches parts’, in which females played women disguised as men. This was partly to show off their legs in trousers, but also to mock masculine values.
vaporwave
blakekathryn
kianamaiart
izzy806
germansingergirl
romaincrisis
gummygunk