Page:Life and transactions of Mrs Jane Shore (4).pdf/3

 This lovely woman, was the de- light of her father, who clothed her richly, adorning her with jewels; and his trade lying among the court ladies, he often carried her with him to shew her the pastimes which were made frequently there, to divert the queen, &c. which gave her an early longing after a greater gentility than she had ever yet attained to, or her city breeding was fit to produce.

When she grew to the age of fifteen her competent stock of beauty and good carriage, caused many to fall in love with her, and some great lords fixed their eyes upon her, to get her for a mistress, which her father perceiving, sent her to his sister at Northampton, where she remained about a year, till he supposed the inquiry after her was over, and that she might return without any hazard of being any further tempted to lewdness. Yet she was no sooner returned, than a plot was laid one night to have her carried away by Lord Hastings, who, after the death