Page:Poems of Anne Countess of Winchilsea 1903.djvu/26

 xxii INTRODUCTION ���Dorothy Ogle to be her last will and testament in ye presence of us; and by us subscribed in ye presence of ye testator. Jere Bellyrout �John Hatton my mind and desire �his mark is that my cozen M rs �Will A Dawson Portman have my Shag- �green tooth-pick case in remembrance of me. �Of "sister bidy," as Dorothy called her, we know practically nothing except that she died unmarried in 1719-20. Wil- liam was knighted and married as soon as he attained his majority. His relation to his sisters does not seem to have �been close. In a codicil to his will he left Anne and � �Bridget 100 each, but his great ambition was to bequeath his estates so that they would remain under the Kingsmill name. He died in 1698 leaving a son of four who lived to the age of eighty-one unmarried. The estate, which was a large one, was apparently managed by Anne's husband, in whose note-book are many records of accounts paid for " my nephew Kingsmill," even the house servants receiving their wages through Mr. Finch. At the death of this nephew, the last male heir, the estates devolved upon a granddaughter whose husband took the name of Kingsmill. His nephew, the distinguished Admiral Sir Robert Kingsmill, a friend of Nelson, succeeded to the estates in 1805. �In 1683 we find Anne Kingsmill as one of the six maids of honor of Mary of Modena. G-regario Leti, historio- As Maid of grapher to Charles II., gives the list of the Honor ladies who made up the household of the �duchess in that year. First, there was Penelope O'Brien, Countess of Peterborough, who spoke French well, drew a salary of 1600 crowns, and had been with the duchess since her marriage. A more exciting personality was Susanna Armine, the famous Lady Belasyse, who, coming to court as a very young widow in 1670, had so attracted James by her ��� �