return, Dennis immediately sobered up. He tried to calm her, but a crowd had already gathered at the door. He escaped out of the window. No dishonour was done to Miss Swinburne, âwho was altogether as chaste as she was charmingâ.
A Late Unfortunate Adventure at York. Dennis OâKelly (centre â note the portrait of Eclipse above the bed) tries to get out of trouble with both bluster and cash, while Miss Swinburne swoons. âHoni soit qui mal y penseâ says the motto â rough translation: âShame be on him who makes a scandalous interpretation of this.â
The fact that the York meeting had not yet started and Dennisâs winnings were still to arrive dents the credibility of this account of his behaviour. The Town & Country version rings truer: you can picture the ever-bullish and well-oiled Dennis hoping to seduce the terrified young woman, still trying to win her round as she flees into the corridor, and conceding defeat only when rescuers appear on the scene.
How extraordinary it was, the Memoirs added, that Miss Swinburne should have been given Dennisâs room. âThe cause of the young ladyâs nocturnal invasion could never be rightly accounted for. Beds were, no doubt, scarcely to be obtained by fair means â¦â Yes; or Dennisâs avowal that it was his room was a desperate attempt to soften the offence.
Anyway, there was a stink. A prosecution was mooted. But Dennis, thanks to representations by influential friends, escapedwith a payment of £500 to local charities and an advertisement in the press. On 2 October, the York Courant ran the following notice on its front page:
I do hereby acknowledge that I was (when in liquor) lately guilty of a very gross affront and rudeness to a young lady of a very respectable family, which I am now very much concerned at, and humbly beg pardon of that lady and her friends for my behaviour to her, being very sensible of her lenity and theirs in receiving this my public submission and acknowledgement; and, as a further atonement for my offence, I have also paid the sum of five hundred pounds to be disposed of for such charitable purposes as that lady directs; and am content that this may be inserted in any of the public newspapers. Witness my hand this 25th day of August 1770. D. OâKelly
Dennis may have had to prostrate himself before another. Town & Country amused itself in this respect, inventing a letter to Dennis from Charlotte Hayes:
Sir,
Your behaviour at York, which is in every bodyâs mouth, strongly merits my resentment, that the condescension of writing to you is more than you ought to expect. After the many repeated vows you have made, and oaths you have sworn, that I, and I alone, was the idol of your heart, could so short an absence entirely efface me from your remembrance? And was I to be abandoned for the accidental rencounter of a new face? Had she yielded to your embraces, your amour would probably have remained a secret to the world, and I only from your behaviour might have made the discovery. But you are justly punished, did I not share in the loss.
Oh! Dennis, are my charms so faded, my beauty so decayed, my understanding so impaired, which you have so often and so highly praised, as to destroy all the impressions you pretended they hadmade upon you! But if love has entirely subsided, surely gratitude might have pleaded so strongly in my behalf as to have excluded all other females from your affections. Remember when in the Fleet, when famine stared you in the face, and wretched tatters scarce covered your nakedness â I fed, clothed, and made a gentleman of you. Remember the day-rules I obtained for you â remember the sums you won through that means â then remember me.
But why do I talk of love or gratitude! Let interest plead the most powerful reason that will operate on you. What a wretch! To fling away in a drunken frolic â in the ridiculous attempt of an amour
A Late Unfortunate Adventure at York. Dennis OâKelly (centre â note the portrait of Eclipse above the bed) tries to get out of trouble with both bluster and cash, while Miss Swinburne swoons. âHoni soit qui mal y penseâ says the motto â rough translation: âShame be on him who makes a scandalous interpretation of this.â
The fact that the York meeting had not yet started and Dennisâs winnings were still to arrive dents the credibility of this account of his behaviour. The Town & Country version rings truer: you can picture the ever-bullish and well-oiled Dennis hoping to seduce the terrified young woman, still trying to win her round as she flees into the corridor, and conceding defeat only when rescuers appear on the scene.
How extraordinary it was, the Memoirs added, that Miss Swinburne should have been given Dennisâs room. âThe cause of the young ladyâs nocturnal invasion could never be rightly accounted for. Beds were, no doubt, scarcely to be obtained by fair means â¦â Yes; or Dennisâs avowal that it was his room was a desperate attempt to soften the offence.
Anyway, there was a stink. A prosecution was mooted. But Dennis, thanks to representations by influential friends, escapedwith a payment of £500 to local charities and an advertisement in the press. On 2 October, the York Courant ran the following notice on its front page:
I do hereby acknowledge that I was (when in liquor) lately guilty of a very gross affront and rudeness to a young lady of a very respectable family, which I am now very much concerned at, and humbly beg pardon of that lady and her friends for my behaviour to her, being very sensible of her lenity and theirs in receiving this my public submission and acknowledgement; and, as a further atonement for my offence, I have also paid the sum of five hundred pounds to be disposed of for such charitable purposes as that lady directs; and am content that this may be inserted in any of the public newspapers. Witness my hand this 25th day of August 1770. D. OâKelly
Dennis may have had to prostrate himself before another. Town & Country amused itself in this respect, inventing a letter to Dennis from Charlotte Hayes:
Sir,
Your behaviour at York, which is in every bodyâs mouth, strongly merits my resentment, that the condescension of writing to you is more than you ought to expect. After the many repeated vows you have made, and oaths you have sworn, that I, and I alone, was the idol of your heart, could so short an absence entirely efface me from your remembrance? And was I to be abandoned for the accidental rencounter of a new face? Had she yielded to your embraces, your amour would probably have remained a secret to the world, and I only from your behaviour might have made the discovery. But you are justly punished, did I not share in the loss.
Oh! Dennis, are my charms so faded, my beauty so decayed, my understanding so impaired, which you have so often and so highly praised, as to destroy all the impressions you pretended they hadmade upon you! But if love has entirely subsided, surely gratitude might have pleaded so strongly in my behalf as to have excluded all other females from your affections. Remember when in the Fleet, when famine stared you in the face, and wretched tatters scarce covered your nakedness â I fed, clothed, and made a gentleman of you. Remember the day-rules I obtained for you â remember the sums you won through that means â then remember me.
But why do I talk of love or gratitude! Let interest plead the most powerful reason that will operate on you. What a wretch! To fling away in a drunken frolic â in the ridiculous attempt of an amour
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